{ One of the many juice bars at the historic Marcat de la Boqueria in Barcelona, Spain }

Here on day two, I’m not feeling any different.  I’ve had no big “releases”, and my body has already adjusted well to the all-liquid intake.  It’s good to give the digestive system a break, and I find that once you get over the initial discomfort of not having a solid meal to chew on, your body welcomes the break.

So today I began with a 14 ounce delicious, creamy, easy green piña colada.  Just take about 3/4 cup fresh pineapple, a big handful of spinach, 2 heaping spoonfuls of coconut butter (I LOVE Artisana brand),  8 to 10 ounces of cashew or vanilla milk, 1 vanilla bean, a squirt of agave, and a pinch of sea salt and throw it all into your Vita-Mix or blender and blend well. Soooo good!

Next up for lunch, 14 ounces of apple, baby beet, spinach, ginger, and flax seed oil, plus a few ounces extra for snacking on later.  Later in the afternoon, I had a 2 ounce shot of E3Live followed by a 10 ounce coconut water chaser.

By the time 7:00 pm rolled around, I was a tad hungry, but not too ravenous.  All I had consumed during the day seemed to stick around a good while.  That’s a very good thing when your family members have been in the kitchen cooking, and all those smells dance under your nose!

I came up with a green Tom Kha soup concoction, which was pretty darn good – very rich and filling!  I blended until warm coconut meat, a fennel bulb, one small leek, coconut oil, olive oil, kaffir lime leaves, lime juice, garlic, ginger, water, and a pinch of cayenne and sea salt.

I had a little craving for something sweet around 10:00, so I made a warm “hot chocolate” from cashew milk and cocoa powder.

Not to forget plenty of water between all the liquid meals!  And then I fell asleep easily and content….

<3, JMK

{ How did my apple, baby beet, spinach, and flax seed oil juice turn out looking like green beer? The head was so thick it was like beaten egg whites. Maybe I've just got a mean wrist when using a whisk...}

Ok, so day one had some minor challenges.  I’m not complaining or beating myself up, though.  My decision to cleanse was rather spontaneous and I didn’t lay out a hard-core outline or juicing menu.  In fact I praise myself for getting better and better at just being present.  Whatever strikes me in the moment…have at it!

I’m quite used to having juice for breakfast, even for lunch.  But once the late afternoon into evening rolls around, I begin to get ravenous.  I decided it would be wise to lay off heavy cardio for these few days so I don’t go into carb-craving madness.  A very wise decision, indeed.

My first liquid meal of the day was a 12 ounce apple, carrot, spinach, lemon, ginger, and flax seed oil juice.  For lunch, 10 ounces of fennel, cucumber, parsley, lemon, and cayenne. And then things weren’t sticking to my ribs so well.  By 3:00 pm I was starving, so I chugged 8 ounces of coconut water. Contrary to what it seems, coconut “water” is actually substantial and will hold over a growling stomach.

I waited until 4:30 to prepare 12 ounces of a very rich strawberry shake made with almond butter and coconut to fill me up before the family headed out to pick up my daughter from the airport.  I’d anticipated we’d be dining out in celebration of her return home from a month of summer vacation.  And sure enough, Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza – there we went!

The smell of pizza was enough to make me start gnawing on my wrist, but thankfully I was still somewhat full from the strawberry shake.  Since it’s not fun watching and listening to everyone else praise their amazing pizza, I indulged in a modest portion of salad and one giant plate of broccoli rabe (sans the sausage).

Oh, and water.  Water, water, water…all in between juices and beyond.  I probably had about 32 to 48 ounces cumulatively.

All in all, even though it wasn’t a 100% juice day, it was definitely a 110% immensely nourishing day!  I think having a bit of fiber there at the end could be more of an assist than an obstacle.

And tomorrow’s another day….

<3, JMK

{ Purely Delicious, Summer 2009 }

Have you subscribed yet to Purely Delicious magazine?  It’s probably THE most beautiful and modern raw food periodical out there today.  And this summer’s issue includes the very informative article, “Who’s Afraid of Sea Vegetables” by yours truly, complete with two drool-worthy recipes.  A big THANK YOU to the publisher, managing editor, and my friend, Rebecca Carlson for her amazing talent, limited Zzz’s, and juggling big fat computer FAILS to bring us this lovely quarterly.  Big HUGS and lots of LOVE to Rebecca!

Now for another quick update:  Today I have begun my first ever three day juice cleanse.  It sounds strange to say it, “My first ever three day juice cleanse”, after being raw for over two years.  It seems that when you’re in the infancy of a raw food lifestyle (and I consider two years infancy in proportion to the rest of my physical life), you hear and read an awful lot about everyone’s juice cleanses, juice feasts, “The Master Cleanse”, etc.  I thought everyone was just juice crazy, and why in the world was I not catching the fever until now?

Simply put – my body and my mind were just not ready.  I now realize I’m not weird or dissing the raw food world by not jumping on the juice cleanse bandwagon.  It’s not something you should ever feel obligated to do, and oddly enough that’s just what happened to me at times when I’d read about global juice feasts or about Angela Stokes’ 92-day run…and that SHE is one committed raw food Wonder Woman with an incredible story.

You don’t need to cleanse to get the benefits of living food! However, my time has come.  I’ve been a bit overindulgent in cooked foods and wine over this past month, and I’ve realized this had a direct relationship to my daughter having been away from home (thankfully she’ll be returning this evening).  I’ve also experienced a “calling” if you will, to have out with old – in with the new!  My body and mind are now ready to voluntarily clean house.

I’ll be posting my experience – the good and the potty poopy talk, and surely there will be some.  So consider this fair warning to those that are squeemish.

<3, JMK

I believe I’ve been experiencing another stage of detox over the past week or so, at least I’ve been counting these excretions as such. Lately my hair and face have been uncharacteristically oily, whereas I’m usually quite normal. Also, these tiny little pimples have been popping up randomly on my face along with some other strange unidentifiable red lumps. However this is actually a nice switch from living in the bathroom! For the first 6 weeks of raw, I got very cozy with the loo, even setting up a magazine rack (and I thought only men did this)!

I got my hair cut and colored yesterday and my scalp has been itching like mad. This didn’t used to happen before. I’m well aware of the toxicity and irritation hair color can impose, but until I find a solution to yield equal, professional results, this is a sacrifice that a girly glam puss has to make.

During my hair appointment, I read Juliano’s “RAW” book which got the attention of my hairdresser (insert soapbox). She couldn’t believe that all of the magnificent cuisine jumping out of the pages was raw, or how it could be just that. With pleasure, I went on to thoroughly explain the principles, intricacies, and simplicities of raw. She told me she was going to NYC with a health conscious vegetarian friend next month, so of course I had to go on and on about Pure Food & Wine! I gave her the address and now she’s excited to take her friend and try the RAW SIDE!!!

<3, JMK

I’m a total foodie and a Food Network junkie. I subscribe to most of the popular culinary rags like Bon Appetit, Gourmet, Food & Wine, Saveur, and Vegetarian Times to name a few. When my husband and I travel, a big highlight is all about the restaurants we’ll visit. I’ve managed to find a meat substitute for just about everything and I’m completely seduced by the whole experience of preparing a fine meal and savoring it with a beautiful wine.

Now, if it hadn’t been for all of these aforementioned pleasures, I probably would have gone raw a long time ago. But what I didn’t understand until recently is that raw food is not an end to culinary delights, dooming to a life of celery sticks and sprouts. Raw food, in itself, rather is a whole ‘nother alchemy of food as art. Once that trigger in my little brain activated, I was finally able to let go of what I thought was so scary and see it as a creative venture with the best health benefits and a new world of possibilities.

Yesterday I was not so hungry in general. But by late afternoon, all I could think about was making raw sushi using the “rice” technique in “Raw Food, Real World”. It was my first time preparing this, but not my first time eating it. My husband and I ordered the sushi at Pure Food & Wine back in June and I was amazed that a jicama/pine nut combo could imitate rice and taste so great! I never missed the rice.

I made about 8 total varieties of rolls. They all got wolfed down fast, but my husband and daughters were still hungry and wanted to make some Quorn Chik’n nuggets. If you haven’t tried these, they are delicious and addictive, and proceeded to screw up my 100% raw day because I ate 4 of them.

<3 JMK