Food adventures: Oat groats and salad; keeping it simple

Aynaria 4 Comments

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’ll be going on a water fast for a few days. As I already mentioned, I’m not doing it for weight loss. I’m not overweight. I just like giving my digestive system a break now and again.

Oat groats - oatmeal with raisins and sunflower seed
Oat groats – oatmeal with raisins and sunflower seed

 

Since I thought it best to be mentally prepared I’m easing into it slowly. These days most of my foods are raw or lightly steamed.  The above dish was simple, oat groats with cinnamon, raw sunflower seeds and raisins. Simple but delicious. I really like oat groats it has a chewier texture than the traditional oats you find in most stores. It’s also minimally processed.

raw food bowl of greens_1
Big bowl of greens

Later in the day I’ll usually have a bowl of greens. Not only are dark leafy greens healthy they’re quite delicious too. This salad had kale, spinach, tomatoes, shredded carrots, raw sunflower seeds and walnuts. I normally don’t use dressing, but for this salad I did add some balsamic dressing. My daughter and I loved this simple salad.

What’s on the menu today? I’m not sure, but I know I’ll have some type of smoothie. We have a lot of mangoes in our house, so that will definitely be added to the drink.

Furbaby Adventures: Pals sharing a snack

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As you can see our furbabies, Angel (our teddy bear guinea pig) and Gracie (our lionhead rabbit) get along well together.

Angel and Gracie eating carrot_1
Angel and Gracie sharing a treat

 

In this picture I snapped a photo of them sharing a carrot. It’s an occasional treat for our guinea pig and rabbits. They were thrilled and stopped eating long enough to pose for the camera. We gave Oreo, our netherland dwarf rabbit, a carrot also.  When I gave the carrot to Oreo, she wiggled her nose excitedly, bumped me gently with her nose, snatched the carrot and started munching contentedly. I guess their Christmas came early. Who am I fooling, just like with loved ones I like giving my furbabies special treats throughout the year. Speaking of Christmas, 90% of the hand crafted items I’m making (crochet, knitting and sewing) are complete! I don’t go crazy designing things for everyone on my list, because not everyone is fiber worthy.

But back on topic…

I’ve just finished uploading all the pictures I’ve taken over the Labor Day weekend. Gardening photos, food photos, daughter and nephew pictures are just a few of things I uploaded. Hopefully I’ll be able to add some of those pictures here sometime this week.

Laboring on Labor Day

Aynaria 7 Comments

Today is Labor Day in the United States…

Although I had every intention of doing absolutely nothing outside of hanging with my daughter and my six year old nephew (he’s visiting for the week) reading and maybe playing a bit of World of Warcraft today proved to be quite busy.

Let’s see… I did some gardening and the rabbit homes were cleaned. Fresh hay was put into their hay box and their old towels swapped out for clean towels. Since their homes get cleaned daily it really doesn’t take that long to complete. One of the perks of cleaning their home daily is that our home doesn’t have a funky animal smell!

Today, besides animal maintenance, our home received it’s usual cleaning. The floors were steam mopped with my Hoover Twin Tank steam mop and the kitchen received some steam action with my portable steam mop.  I washed, dried and folded three loads of clothing. Washing is done several times per week in our household. NO, I don’t always feel like doing laundry, but I do it anyway. My daughter helps too.

After those chores were complete, it was time to “rest.” Late this morning you could find my daughter, nephew and myself outside having a water fight. Since I’m an early riser all those chores were complete before 11:00 a.m. It was a lot of fun. I mainly filled the balloons with water and watched them play about our property. It turns out they wanted me to be more active in the actual water fight. Invitation accepted! Later this week, when we have a water balloon fight, I’ll be sure to play more of an active role.

Since my nephew can be a picky eater. I kept the meals simple. Today, I made hamburgers for their lunch.  The burgers were a blend of ground pork and ground beef. To that, I added eggs, finely chopped onion, roasted garlic, and freshly ground black pepper and sea salt. I mixed everything thoroughly, formed into patties and placed in a skillet. Once they were finished they had the usual condiments (ketchup, mustard, pickles) and there was also spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes and raw onions fresh from the garden. Results? Well they both liked the burgers and my six year old nephew ate two burgers immediately! He ate a third about two hours ago. There’s only one burger left. I guess I should have made more.

Even though my day didn’t go as planned with the reading, knitting and gaming (such as playing World of Warcraft) when my daughter and nephew were entertaining each other, I still had a great day and I got so much accomplished. That feels awesome!

No more candida symptoms?

Aynaria 6 Comments

As  I mentioned before, the garlic enemas have been very helpful in eliminating the candida symptoms I was experiencing. I’m sure candida is still lurking, but the annoying symptoms such as; Small rash on my back, itching, constipation, and a few other “lovely side effects” have been eliminated.

From my research I’ve learned that turmeric can aid in reducing candida symptoms. While turmeric is something I use with my dishes regularly, I’ve been specifically adding it to the first glass of water I drink during the day. I must say that has been effective, at least for me,  since I no longer have a white tongue.

Perhaps part of the reason that I’m experiencing such wonderful results is that I am still following a whole foods diet. The major addition to my lifestyle were the garlic enemas and now… apple cider vinegar enemas.

Bean soup craving…

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Pink beansA few hours ago, I realized that I hadn’t made bean soup in a long time.

Initially I thought about making some type of bean soup this evening, but I knew that wasn’t happening…

My nephew is staying with us for a few days. He and my daughter have been keeping me busy.

Even though I’m not making the soup today, I can still prepare right? I decided to soak the beans overnight (even though you don’t need to with a pressure cooker) and pressure cook them tomorrow morning. Soaking the beans will reduce the cook time by about five minutes?

While I’m unsure of the type of bean soup I’ll make I know it’s going to be creamy and definitely spicy. Garlic and ginger will definitely be added to the bean soup, but it’s open season to what else will be tossed into the mix.

 

The Sound of Silence…

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I really love this song by Simon & Garfunkel.

 

The Sound Of Silence by Simon & Garfunkle

Hello darkness, my old friend, I’ve come with talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping, left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain, still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone, narrow streets of cobblestone
Neath the halo of a streetlamp, I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light, split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw, ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking, people hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never shared, and no one dared
To stir the sound of silence

Fool, said I, you do not know, silence, like a cancer, grows
Hear my words and I might teach you, take my arms then I might reach you
But my words, like silent raindrops fell, and echoed in the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they’d made
And the sign flashed its warning in the words that it was forming
And the sign said the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls, and whispered in the sounds of silence

Slowly easing into fasting

Aynaria 3 Comments

heart-waterEven though I’m physically ready for a water cleanse, I thought I’d do a bit more preparation to make sure I’m mentally ready for my upcoming water cleanse.

I’m actually looking forward to the water cleanse. I haven’t done one in a while and I think it’s time. Based on the wonderful experiences I’m seeing with candida, or should I say, the reduced symptoms I’m experiencing now? The white coating on my tongue has drastically reduced. The small rash I developed because of candida is going away. I’ve also seen candida expelled when I have had bowel movements. Much of that reduction I can definitely attribute to the garlic enemas. Naturally, I think I’ll see even more results with a water fast since I’ll be starving the candida.

I’m unsure how long the water fast will be, but this one won’t be longer than seven days. I’m slowly easing into the cleanse by eating mainly raw foods. I’ve taken a few pictures of what I ate, yesterday evening and this morning, hopefully I’ll get a chance to post the pictures some time today. After the raw foods I’ll transition to freshly juiced vegetables and fruits before moving into a water cleanse.

Water cleanses are nothing new to me. A few members within my family, such as my grandmother and great aunt, did them throughout their life.  They’re both dead now. My grandmother died when she was 93 and my great aunt passed away at the age of 98.

One of my friends, when she first met me, was shocked at the amount of alternative things incorporated into my daily lifestyle. She mentioned that most people within Westernized cultures tend to shy away from trying approaches that are centuries old. I smiled and told her that I’m not most people.

I do a lot of research about whatever I do to my body. Additionally,  I’ve have amazing examples of people who actively incorporated ‘alternative remedies’ into their lifestyle.