In the raw...

Today I started my day off with a green smoothie made from a vita mixer. It contained celery, cucumber, a fuji apple, and a banana. It was delicious considering it was a "green" smoothie. What made it tasty was the banana and the apple which added a little sweetness to the juice. The program director Bobby was kind enough to make it for me. After I finished the smoothie, he showed me how to make wheatgrass juice, and we proceeded to make enough to fill a small shot glass. He warned me of it's strength, but I dismissed his warning thinking to myself  "I mean c'mon, how bad can it be?" boy was I in for a rude awakening. Well I exaggerate just a bit, but it did, however, have a strong kind of flavor to it. It was somewhat sweet sort of in relation to beets, but then had a grassy green taste that was somewhat bitter. It didn't end there, about an hour later, I started to feel a bit nauseous, and my stomach started to feel queasy so I immediately stopped what I was doing, which was helping out in the kitchen with dishes, etc.., and yes, went straight to the bathroom! We won't go into too much details about that, but I did feel a little better afterwards. However, the queasiness hadn't completely gone away. I started to ignore it, and when that didn't help, I started to listen to music on my i-pod and at that moment I realized, with greater conviction, the power of music. After maybe 1 song, no exaggeration, the queasiness completely went away. Maybe it's not so much music as it is just engrossing yourself in something that's truly appreciated by you, and for me, it's music!
The music has helped me get through this day of detoxing. I haven't really felt any big symptoms other than feeling queasy upon drinking the wheatgrass juice, but we'll see how things go tomorrow.

Otherwise....

It was a beautiful day in Hodunk, Michigan. It wasn't snowing but there was snow! To top it off, the sun was out. Don't get me wrong, it was still extremely cold, but not too cold for me to not be able to go out and enjoy it. I think I probably like snow more than the average Hodunk resident because I don't get much of it in Los Angeles. All we get is the SUN which I'm surely not complaining about as I appreciate all seasons mother earth has to offer, especially a nice hot summer day throughout the year as it often occurs in LA.  But it's nice to see some snow here and there. Ultimately, from living in New York for about a year, and being in Michigan today, I think I may like the cold weather more than the heat. I love rain, I love snow, and It may be because I love the idea of snuggling indoors with a cup of hot cocoa while watching movies, not that I'll be getting much of that these days with my new raw lifestyle and all. But on the bright side I still have the movies to watch.

I started reading the book "The China Study" by T Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell II and so far, a great read. It's especially good for those who are studying Holistic Nutrition as it further confirms the lifestyle that Holistic Nutritionist usually promote which is a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle. It does this from scientific studies rather than just personal opinion. I've only gotten through the first 2 chapters and thus far it's talking about how Americans, although paying their hard earned tax payer money to help fund research that is supposed to identify a solution to  the problem which is the rise in diseases such as diabetes, cancer, obesity, etc., in our country, the diseases among americans have only increased, which shows our money is being wasted, while the country is growing even sicker. An interesting fact noted in the first chapter "The China Study," is how "MEDICAL CARE" is number 3 in the leading causes of death, right after heart disease, and cancer. Now that right there is very disturbing to me, but from my past experiences in hospitals, I wouldn't doubt it to be true.