Vegan in South Africa

YAY! I love this video. She is so inspirational. This reminds me of being in South Africa and being at vitamin/food shops in the mall in Cape Town. They had several raw books and recipes. However, this is the first time I have seen a Black South African talking about being a raw vegan.

101 List and other things

I want to start gardening!! Its funny, I have never really been one for gardening or keeping plants alive... I have several plants in garden heaven that can attest to that. I don't exactly know when, where or how a green thumb has sprouted up and wanted to take over my Black body, but all I want to do is put my hands in the dirt. I stumbled across a few sites last night that led me to learning about Jules Dervaes and how he turned his home into an organic garden and homestead in the middle of Pasadena. I would love to start a gigantic garden once I have the house for it, but I don't know about having goats and ducks running around the back yard. But, in the mean time and in between time, I am looking into indoor gardening and hydroponic methods for growing my own food. I am tempted to buy the phytopod 3, but at the moment I don't have a lot of cash coming in, so it may have to wait. I am such a gadget geek, but I can always start with growing my own sprouts. I on a mission to get seeds before the end of next week and get started.

While surfing the web I came across a blog that had a 101 list. Since I am on a temporary hiatus from school and often bored, I think that this is an excellent way to keep me not only entertained, but feeling a bit more fulfilled than I have been lately. And to be honest, nothing brings me more joy than checking something off of a to do list (odd I know, but it always makes me feel so accomplished). Although not complete, I plan on putting the list on the right and adding more when new ideas occur to me. Also, if you have any suggestions, or ideas for ways that I can accomplish these goals please don't hesitate to let me know.

This has been such a rough month! Good news, I'll have my M.A. by the end of next month. Bad news, I have been driving myself insane in the process. I am not one for dairy or candy bars and such, but oh man! Lately I have been eating snickers, cookies and butterfingers like they're going out of style. I think i'm going to attempt to be 100% raw this week and then go from there.

The Miracle Tree

I am not sure if my body has been going through a detox, or if its the remnants of PMS but today (technically yesterday) I was in such a funk all I wanted to do was sleep. I haven't really been making too much raw food lately, Mother Nature blew in to my life and threw me off track a little bit. The past few days I've had a terrible sleep cycle, and I haven't been eating much raw, but then again I haven't really been eating much of anything. I haven't really had an appetite in a couple days. On the plus side, I'm now at 177! :).

On Saturday I went to the Vegetarian Expo. While there, I discovered what may possibly be my new favorite supplement, moringa. I'm going to start putting it in to my smoothies on a regular basis and see if I notice any major differences. The moringa is a tree that is indigenous to Africa, South America, and a few other locations that I cannot recall offhand. The nutrient value in the leaves are quite impressive and in Ghana they are using it to fight against malnutrition. Some are calling it the "Miracle Tree" as it is claimed that it has the ability to cure over 300 diseases. It is one of the most powerful antioxidants, and it has:

15x the potassium of bananas

25x the iron of spinach

17x the calcium of milk

25-30% protein ( which is 9x the amount of protein of yogurt)

10x the vitamin A of carrots

4x the chlorophyll of wheatgrass

Also, the company i was talking to makes delicious vegan brownies using moringa as well. I was a little leery at first, but I really enjoyed the taste. I'm going to have to order some more when I get the chance.

.. day..???

Ever since I fell off of the raw bandwagon I haven't really been back on again. I've had a couple days in which I've been raw, but I haven't consciously been persistent with it the way that I need to be. I find that it has almost been an out of sight out of mind ordeal, so perhaps daily blogging will keep me more focused and on track. I do plan on incorporating a few cooked veggies (I'm not a huge fan of raw broccoli) into my diet, but aside from that being about 90-100% raw.

day 10

So, yesterday was a slight set backward. However, I'm not going to beat myself up over it. I'm just going to dust myself off and move on-to be honest, there are many worse things to have eaten than avocado rolls and cereal. Today is a new raw day!!

This lady loves her some raw tacos!