doing RAW on a budget!

Two dollars for a few apples and eighteen dollars for a jar of almond butter sounds crazy to the average shopper not yet converted to raw. The price of organic produce and raw snacks can be obnoxious and even put a damper on your excitement into raw foods. Yet there is hope! When I first started purchasing foods for my raw food exciteo-prep, my grocery bill tripled which is scary for someone who already doesn’t have a lot of money to eat or set on fire. When I first began playing with raw recipes, I purchased all sorts of expensive foods and in quantities that were even wasteful.

Anything in the produce isle does cost more indeed yet try to look at your food from a new perspective. Instead of viewing your food in how high you can pile it on your plate, put the value in the nutrition and life force it brings to your body. When you are used to buying five, toxic, greasy burgers for the price of two organic raw apples, it can be difficult to see the value at first. By buying foods that do not clog your colon, make your butt bulge, skin erupt, or age you pre-maturely, the fresh raw foods are priceless! The cleaner foods you eat now, the less mess you need to clean up in the body later. What food have better value? Huge plate of processed man made cheap chow or apples straight from Eve’s flawless hands?

Ready for change? Ready to take the plunge into Live Raw Foods?

Have fun: Go ahead and buy all the fresh foods you wish to experiment with! Help yourself to the snackie-snacks offered in the raw food section. In the beginning of your raw food journey, there will be much to taste, enjoy and savor. Eventually there will come a point when you find balance and narrow it down to the nutritional and most delicious essentials, thinning your grocery bill back down to a more realistic expense.

Smoothe transition: Once our bodies get used to eating nutrient-dense food, our bodies run much more efficiently and need less food in portion and weight. For example the size of salad I ate when I first became raw was Gi-normous compared to the present. Back then, I ate what most families shared at the dinner table for holiday. Today, realizing that what I eat is far more nutritionally sound; I eat much less. My body is also cleaner (detoxified), there for utilizing what fuel (food) I do put in. I get much more out of my food because it is alive and organic and my body was able to utilize all that was consumed. Not to mention like mine, your body too will become more efficient as a result of being cleaner from years of sticking with the raw food program.

My transition and tailoring of food was gradual, so it was much easier on my psyche! Psychologically, you may feel that you need more food to be satisfied and that is okey. Just be aware that sometimes we eat more than we truly need.

Be reali-istic: By making major changes with foods or portions too quick, we can put a damper on the whole point and cause an internal conflict; even discontent. Do what feel best and that you can stick to constantly and make gently upgrades as you gain more momentum. Remember what your health goals are, the reasons for making the change and take pride in that you are doing better every day. Strive for consistency rather than perfection.
Budgeting more conservatively and enjoying the process may take time, so do not hurry to scale down your food for the sake of saving money unless that is comfortable with you. Expect to pay more in the beginning, and know that just like a newly tuned car, your engine will burn much cleaner and waste less. Less is more! Below are ways you can get more!

Get more Tip #1: Start or join a CSA in your local area. Getting fresh produce from local farmers is very economical and beneficial in all ways. Buying produce with friends or forming a co-operative can also help keep your costs minimal. Farmer’s markets are a great place for inexpensive produce as well.
Top secret Get more tip #1.5: When I first began eating raw foods, I would visit my local co-op’s composting bin in the back of the store for produce they were tossing out. Most of the produce was just fine just not perfect enough for the average shopper! I found pounds of juice able produce that equals pitchers of fresh juice that equals nutrients! Find out who is in charge in the produce department; make them a magnificent raw dessert and presto! You have a friend on your side and your in! They will set aside all kinds of delicious foods their store would normally toss out or let you know when the best dumpster diving time.
Get more tip #2: When I lived in Arizona, a friend of mine would walk the neighborhood scouting out trees with fresh oranges, grapefruit, lemons, olives, pomegranate, and persimmons even large gardens! I would knock on the door and offer to rake their lawn or do some yard work in exchange for fresh fruits. Ten times out of ten, they would say..”naw..just help yourself!” There are plenty of fresh, free foods growing in your neighborhood if you just look! There are even wild greens that you can snack on such as dandelion, malva, lambs quarters, persaline, and mint . You will never starve! Just have to think outside of the store!

Just recently I was surfin’ the net and found a fun site to be inspired by! Here is a woman who is proving you can eat fresh prepared raw food for $10. A day or less! Take a look!
She is not chewing on celery sticks for dinner. She has full on recipes and pics too!
http://rawon10.blogspot.com/

I will do this same experiment for a week using my own recipes and get back to all of you on the results!

\m/ \m/ Melissa Mango

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Raw Food Recipe: Where the wild things are

There is more buzz about "re-wilding" these days and it is not about stripping down to your wild self and bounding through the Forrest. Although that is much needed! Adding more truly "wildly grown" foods into your daily meals is taking your raw food meals to the next level. So how do we re-wild ourselves while in the city habitat? well....here is what I did today and I am certain you can do the same.

I live just outside Santa Cruz in a small neighborhood and have a large untamed yard. Our space around our home was just dirt when we moved in April. We have not sprayed or dumped any yukk into the soil. Aside from planting our own garden beds, we let what wanted to grow just GROW! We had kamikaze tomato plants under the deck, wild roses springing up next to the kale and huge thistles the size of Christmas trees bushing out amongst the peppers.

Wild greens are easy to find when you consciously look and notice they are everywhere! Thing is, most people pull up, burn or spray these nourishing plants because they don't recognize them as food or even "pretty". It is a shame we have been programmed to snub our noises at these wild foods commonly referred to as pesky"weeds". Wild edibles are free food and do not need to be cultivated like our average food supply that would not last in the wild.

Wild greens are packed, I mean super pumped with protein and other medicinal properties from the wild. Here are some examples of wild greens even you could find right this nano-second by rooting around in your back yard or un sprayed hiking trails.

Meet Mighty Mulva: This "weed" grows like wildfire! The petals are all sizes and resemble a Lilly pad. Malva Leaf is said to help loosen and expel phlegm and congestion from the lungs. It aids the body in expelling excess fluid and mucus, and because of its soothing, demulcent qualities, it not only removes phlegm, it also acts to soothe and relieve inflammation of the larynx and tonsils, dry coughs, sore throat, hoarseness, lung catarrh, bronchitis, asthma, emphysema and irritation of respiratory passages. Lovely Lambs quarter: Sometimes growing waist high with thin branches, this very common backyard snack strengthens our immune system much like most bitter greens. The only weed that round up cannot kill is you guessed it! Lambs quarter! Gimme sum! High in Vit A and C and calcium.
King Daddy Dandylion: The leaves amongst this ever famous yellow flower it use to be used to treat liver issues such as jaundice, gall stones, congested lymph, breast sores and swelling, suppresses lactation, diabetes, delayed menstruation and ulcers.

Here is what my WILD smoothie for today had:

Wild things are smoothies Served 2 yard snackers

2 c ripened on the tree in East LA mangos (organic)

1/2 c frozen Watsonville strawberries

1/2 c Grass fed organic blueberries

2 loose cups of back yard kale with stem

3 palm sized mulva leaves

2 c cage-free pure water

1/2c lambs quarter leaves. stem and bally things removed

Step 1: Place all ingredients into blender.

Step 2: Pour into your favorite recycled glass jar and enjoy!

Dahveed asked me "Aren't you going to take pictures of our smoothie in nice jars?"

well..no. This is just to show how wonderful it is to re-use your jars for your beverages. I you need to take it on the go, you simply snap a lid on and go!

Isn't it wild to know that those with manicured yards or pavement are really missing out.

~Melissa

SIX week postpartum update!

I can hardly believe it has been almost seven weeks since baby Zavier came into this world! WOW! It has just zipped by! Zavier has grown so much and is getting more and more expressive every day! There are days when he is showing all of this “daddy features” then the next day I will see a glimpse of me in those eyes or lips as they curl to laugh. I am in love with my son! He is just amazing!
Breastfeeding has been going very well. I have the hand of it now and feel like a super mom. The first week was a little rough and tough I must admit. My nips felt like they were going to crack and bleed. I was not getting any sleep at night and my back was in knots. A week into mother hood I was still high on “New mommie” yet felt rugged. There were moments I had to say “Are you kidding me! Am I really cut out for this!” Then…
I discovered ways of making my life so much easier and here are the updates!

BREASTFEEDING: It started with learning how to get Zavier to latch properly for comfortable and successful feeding. To my surprise it is not just a matter of giving the baby the nipple. There is a mastered technique to getting the nipple inside the mouth in a that prevents discomfort. My nipples were so red and sore that I thought I would have to stop breastfeeding because it hurt so bad. I would literally almost cry when Zavier would latch and to think it was more painful than childbirth! LOL
I perfected the technique of a proper latch as well as discovered how to breastfeed while lying down at night. YES! What a victory this was. It is most prized between the hours of say 10pm and 5am. Zavi would begin to stir in the middle of the night, I would sit upright, grab the bobby then get him all situated to nurse and try not to fall asleep and hunch over on him. Instead I now scoop him right into my chest, turn him on his side and like a ninja pop a nipple in for a comfortable feeding. He and momma can fall asleep and all is right in the world.

DIAPER LAND: This has been an adventure. I intended on being the ultimate nature lover by going all cloth diaper style and even danced in the world of Elimination Communication. “Diaper free. “ This was just plain nuts in the first week of being home because I had so much to adjust to, that waiting for Zavi to pee or poo and hold him over a bowl wasn't easy. Even though I couldn’t have been happier being a new mom, I found it boarder line irritating trying to master the EC so soon which is unrealistic. I am the kind of person that thrives on figuring things out and master them. HA! No diaper eh? Zavi laughed many times. I decided to just do what I could do with no stress and that was to use cloth diapers and sometimes the biodegradable ones at night or on car rides. I had to let go of the idea that I could or SHOULD be able catch every single poo and pee before it happened by having the bowl ready. I quit shoulding all over myslef! Our washer and dryer hasn’t seen so much action until now! Because I believe it could work with more practice, pacience and care, I will look more into EC at a later time. Phew

MY BODY: When we came home from the birthing center I was instructed by my Midwife to stay in bed naked for the first 2 weeks and bond with Zavier through breastfeeding and cuddlin'. Jeesh! twinst my arm! This sounded like a great plan. I spent many weeks lounging naked, nursing and admiring my little boy. I attempted to do some light house cleaning but what I didn’t realize how much trauma my body endured through birth and that I would need ample healing time. My hips, pelvis and everything else in between was very sore and tender. If I wasn’t careful to move faster than an old lady pace, I would begin to cramp and bleed. I realized I needed to truly take it easy and just relax. My body snapped back rather quickly. By the beginning of week two I was in my pre-pregnancy jeans yet very week muscularly. I was planning on getting into yoga right off the bat since it was mellow, but was hit with a dose of reality which takes me to our next topic:
MOMMA’S WORK OUT PLAN: Like most new mothers I had a whole workout plan and ideal on how I was going to get back into shape after giving birth. I was down to my pre-pregnancy size, however I hadn’t done an intense yoga session, ran, or anything aside from basic stretching in months! I was ready to gain back my strength, gain muscle and stamina.
After five weeks postpartum I was no longer sore and felt like I could begin to kick it up a notch. My new plan was to do yoga online every morning with YogaGlo, then three times a week I would do a ass kicking beachbody© workout called Insanity. Which turned out to be just that. Totally INSANE. I forgot to factor in breastfeeding, sleep and something called TIME! I had no realistic concept of what the demands of being a new mother would be. Dahveed would watch Zavier when I would do my yoga in the am, but then when it came time later in the day to do something more intense like the BeachBody dvds, Zavier needed me or Dhaveed was in class and unable to comfort him. Baby Zavi's needs are simple bless his heart. He wants to be held, a clean diaper and of course the boobies. I tried sitting Zavi up on the couch in front of where I could do my INSANE workout and he wasn’t into it. Maybe he really does know what is best for momma, and an insane workout isn’t it for now. This reminds me of a saying “Make plans; God Laughs”. After a few days of pouting and being resistant to what truly IS. I made a new plan. I love it and the best part is, I can change it moment by moment! In the morning I get up and do my yoga online while Dahveed has Zavi and some back up breast milk I pumped earlier. We then have breakfast together which is typically a smoothie, then a little while after that I take Zavi for a brisk walk and or other movement. It’s a nice fast passed walk and I have him in the MOBY™ which is fantasticly- hands free! Sometime I will even wear Zavier and the Moby and do a light workout video or do some fun stuff outside using him as my weight. This is much better than my INSANE plan and Zavi likes it too. With my old mindset and plan, there were several days in a row I wouldn’t even go outside even for fresh air because I wasn't "doing my planned workout"! I would then be bummed amd grouchie. With this new plan of having Zavi be apart of my fitness plan regardless if Dahveed is available, I find that going on a few walks in a day just to get out of the house ad move my body is vital too!

FOOD and DIET: My diet has been shall we say interesting the past few weeks. The equivalent of Mr. Toad’s wild ride. When I first came home from the Center I didn’t have much of an appetite. I was in LA-LA land nested in bed, so a few smoothies a day and a blended green soup was perfect and sustaining. As I healed and got out and about more I was craving all sorts of just ridiculously-crazy bizarre foods such as French toast, French frys (baked of course), Amy’s pizza and anything in the pastry case that was sweet and dirty. *blush* What on earth sparked this obnoxious-ness! I mean really!? I have to be honest…my diet was frightened there for a few weeks then I pulled my head out! I felt like complete crapola after I would indulge in this $%^&*! That's a no-brainer! So it has been easy to snap out of it. I deserve better and so does my baby. Thank goddess I am now having a deep craving for seaweeds which is a new “crave” for me. Last week I did not desire fruit for breakfast, I wanted soaked arame with minced garlic, lemon, and avocado all mashed up. I repeat FOR BREAKAST! I just went with the feeling and it tasted divine. I then soaked a big bowl of arame for future cravings and have been enjoying it every day at most meals.
Here is what I do and recommend you try:

For one serving:
About 3c salad green
1/3C of already soaked and drained arame seaweed
½ ripe avocado diced
6 cherry tomatoes halved
Toss all ingredients in bowl with my miso lemon dressing WOW! So satisfying.

In the next few weeks I will keep you posted on my routines, any new recipes and of course more baby pics to smile at.

Xx ~Melissa

Raw Food Recipe: Miso-Lemon Vinnie

What’s the secret to eating more salad by the truck loads? A tasty dressin’ ya’ll! I eat way more beautiful alkalizing greens when I have a nice light dressing to kiss the leafy lettuces with. This dressing is easy to whip up and stores well in the fridge even if you are flying solo in your household. Why buy some shwaggy dressing when you can make your own so easily? Enjoy!

Raw Food Recipe: Miso-Lemon Vinnie Yields 1 ½ c

½ c pure water
½ c cold pressed olive oil
3 medium garlic cloves minced fine (thru press)
2 TB mellow light miso
2 TB lemon juice
1/3 tsp pink salt
1/3 tsp course black pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Gently blend on low low low or Wisk all ingredients well. Place in glass bottle and store in fridge.
Shake well before serving. Dressing will keep for 7 days.

Kitchen tip: I recommend saving a previously used glass dressing bottle or buying a nifty-decorative bottle from a second hand store to keep your home made dressings in. By keeping your dressing easily accessable and in a inspiring container, you make it fun and easy to enjoy salad and more salad! Yes please!