EASY JUICE-BASED MEALS

  This week I took lunch with me to work instead of eating out (in which cases I mostly eat plain salad with soy sauce and bread). I came up with a simple plan how to fix both breakfast and lunch simultaneously in two steps.

Cucumber-avocado soup with wholemeal spelt flatbread.

Step 1: The previous evening make two juices. One is fruit-based for breakfast the next morning, and the other veggie-based for lunch the next day. Store in air-tight glass jars in the fridge.

Step 2: In the morning Vitamix your fruit juice with a big bunch of green leaves until creamy and smooth. Voilá, your breakfast is ready!
            Now Vitamix your veggie juice with one ripe avocado until creamy and smooth. Voilá, your lunch is ready! Pour back in the glass jar and take to work.

The beauty in juicing is that you can combine nearly anything together, and still come up with a nice taste. Natural tastes of fruits and veggies are so subtle that they mix well. I usually buy whatever is in season in the grocery store, and either make single juices or combinations according to my imagination. It´s all good for me!

  Now that I´ve been juicing mostly every day for a month, I can honestly say I´m feeling the difference. It is simple to put it in a nutshell: I feel satisfied. Never did think a thin cup of liquid could fill me up, but it does! It is a different, new kind of fullness I can feel in my throat rather than stomach. When I´ve had enough, the thought of more food & juice starts to feel repulsive. And it takes a lot longer to feel hungry again than before. I´d like to think it is because of the abundant amount of nutrients I´m getting now. No matter what the reason, I feel better and stronger now.
  I´d had a juicer for  years and years, but never did I drink juices this much and regularly. The biggest reason for that was that my old juicer didn´t extract as much juice from the same amount of produce as my new one, making more go to waste.

This is apple juice blended with two leaves of kale. Kale makes a nice, thick froth.

3/4 cucumber juice, 1/4 apple juice blended with 1 small avocado. Needs no salt.

  I´m impressed by the power of juice!

THURSDAY TORTILLAS

  Thursday and tortillas rhyme and swing, making my Thursdays as healthy as these vegan and low-fat tortillas are delicious. It is still a weekday, not yet time to indulge in unhealthy and hard-to-digest party foods of weekend. Especially this weekend when it´s Easter!

A complete meal. Marinated veggies and tofu as the filling.

As much as I like to eat home-made foods, tortilla bread is one thing I cannot do. It always ends up either too thick or too thin, and it always tears apart (I use wholemeal spelt flour for the dough). So this is one place where I take a shortcut, buying them ready from the store. I figure that filling them with fresh, fibrous vegetables adds up to a lunch on the healthy side overall. It´s okay to aim for perfection, but it´s also okay to understand it is impossible (and inhuman  =).

  The recipe (yields two big fajitas):



1/2 small zucchini, thinly sliced
1/2 orange bell pepper, thinly sliced
1-2 tomatoes, halved and then thinly sliced
5 mushrooms, thinly sliced
3-4 kale leaves, finely chopped
6 oz. (200g) firm tofu, cubed

Mix all with this marinade:
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp soy sauce
black pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
1 small clove garlic, minced
cayenne pepper, to taste
a squirt of raw honey

+ Let sit in room temperature for 15-30 min, mixing occasionally.
  Ladle on tortillas, roll up and enjoy.

  If you like yours more creamy, some plain (soy) yogurt or avocado do the trick well!

  This is my version of the always gorgeous Mimi Kirk´s fajita recipe from her book Live Raw. She is such an inspiration!

BELUGA SPROUTS

  I discovered beluga lentils last year in Yule. What a masterpiece of taste all on it´s own! My daughter loves them even more than me, and we have had them cooked throughout the year.
  But recently my stomach has begun to dislike cooked foods, so I figured I´ll try sprouting the lentils.
  I had to begin by searching the web of whether they could be sprouted or not, and if they could be eaten raw. The answer to both is yes!

Here´s what belugas look like dried, straight out of the bag.

First I soak them 8 hours, or over night, then rinse them a couple of times and place upside down in our dish drying cupboard at an 45 degree angle (these type of cupboards are common in Finland, but I´m not sure if anywhere else... Anyone?). Then I let them sit there for a couple of days, rinsing twice/thrice daily, until they´re ready.

These are two days old sprouts. Ready to be thrown into my mouth. The taste is awesome. At first bite the taste is somewhat sweet, then it turns rather neutral, and in the end their piquant peppery taste can be recognized. I prefer them plain, straight out of the jar.

We share a passion for these sprouts.

  Earlier I have sprouted mung beans, green lentils, and alfalfa. The first two I do not like the taste of, and the third is quite a job to rinse clean of husks in the end. But man, now I´ve found a sprout I really enjoy, both making and eating!

EATING PLAN FOR YULE

  Evolution has brought me to this:

Breakfast:
1 cup green tea w/ soymilk
2 cups freshly squeezed vegetable/fruit juice
1 banana topped with coconut oil and honey

There´s cucumber, celery, and apple in this glass.

Lunch:
1 cup water w/ Echinacea drops
raw food meal of choice

Tzatziki dip with veggie sticks is a great lunch option.

Dinner:
1 cup green tea w/ soymilk
2-3 cups green smoothie/pudding

Cinnamon-flavored green pudding. Made of spinach, banana, avocado, water, honey, cinnamon, and vanilla. I left the banana a bit chunky for something to bite on.

  If/when I get hungry in the evening after eating all three meals of the day, I´ll grab fresh fruits and veggies to fill me up.

  This plan combines raw foodism and principles of Clean eating by dr. Alejandro Junger (where he recommends eating two liquid meals and one solid meal per day)

  All the above examples happen to be green, but that´s not the intention (except for the green pudding of course =). I use mostly seasonal veggies and fruits as the base of all meals, bulking them up with avocado, coconut oil, and occasional cold smoked salmon or goat´s cheese. I´d love to eat an all-raw vegan diet, but at least for now my stomach doesn´t agree with nuts & seeds. A girl´s gotta do what a girl´s gotta do... which is enjoy this nutrient and enzyme rich fresh diet for the next six weeks or so!

ENJOYING CHOCOLATE - THE HEALTHY WAY

  Hello, I´m Nella, and I´m a chocoholic. For me Yule is all about eating chocolate, no other goodie compares. But instead of gulping down milk and sugar loaded unhealthy pralines day in day out, I try to tame my taste buds with healthier options of the dark brown gold.

One example is this home made chocolate ice cream. Simple and cheap to make, is totally good for you being raw and sugar-free, and is amazingly like the real deal. Check out all three of my favorite pre-Christmas chocolate treats and recipes on my column Nelland Living!

KALE & CRANBERRY SALAD

  This is a super delicious, and healthy, kale salad I had today for lunch:

Cranberries and orange rule the taste, followed by garlic and kale. I never imagined plain kale could be this delicious in a salad!

The recipe (serves 1):

First make the dressing by whisking together:
1/2 orange, juiced
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 small clove garlic, minced
pinch salt
pepper to taste
dash of soy sauce
1 Tbsp olive oil

Then pour half of it over:
100g kale, destemmed and finely chopped. Mix and squeeze the kale with your hands for a while to make it softer. (This is when I started drooling... =)

Finally add and toss in the rest of the ingredients:
1/2 orange, peeled and cubed
a snug 1/2 cup (1dl) dried cranberries
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced finely
1/2 parsnip, grated
1/2 shallot onion, finely sliced
3/4 cup cottage cheese

Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to two days.

This recipe is a slight variation to Mimi Kirk´s "Upscale Kale Salad" from her book. I basically just replaced nuts with cottage cheese and left out additional sweetener (agave or dates). That lady can make some darn tasty raw food dishes, and look fantastic doing so at 75!

PARSNIP COUSCOUS

  This is so good! The taste is mild but so satisfying, and it leaves me full but energetic. One of my favorite lunch finds recently.

Raw couscous made with parsnip and avocado! No nuts or seeds, so my stomach adores it too.

The recipe (serves 1):

1 small parsnip, peeled and roughly chopped
1/2 Tbsp olive oil
a drizzle of lemon juice
pinch of salt
1 oz. (35g) rucola
1 pear, peeled and cubed
1 avocado, cubed

+ Run the parsnip in a food processor until the consistency reminds of rice. Pour into a bowl and add the olive oil, lemon juice and salt. Toss. Add the rucola, pear, and avocado, and mix well.

  The original recipe is from Erica Palmcrantz´s book, and it called for 2 Tbsp pumpkin seeds instead of the avocado I used. Good either way, but my stomach does not agree with seeds right now. =)

TODAY´S GREEN SMOOTHIE

  This is the third day of gulping down masses of green smoothie. Here´s what nourished me today:

Looks delicious like this too, but I would not enjoy eating the greens whole. Blending magically makes the tough greens "disappear", and what´s left is a sweet fruity flavor.

A two-quart (liter) pitcher full of green gold... heavenly.

Here we go again! Yum!

The recipe for "Tummy Settler" by Victoria Boutenko (makes 2 quarts/liters):

3 cups romaine lettuce
1 cup parsley
3 cups pineapple chunks
2 bananas
3 cups water

+ Blend all until smooth.

SLICE N´ STACK PIZZA BITES

  This has got to be the easiest, fastest, and healthiest form of pizza imaginable. I made these for lunch in a super hurry last weekend:

A plate full of bite-size pizzas just waiting to be stuffed in my mouth! And in they went, up to the last piece...

The "crust" is a slice of zucchini, a tomato slice has the role of sauce, and a slice of cheese (goat´s in this particular stack) on top, seasoned and garnished with fresh oregano and basil.

The recipe (for 1):

1/2 zucchini
2-3 tomatoes
3 1/2 oz. (100g) cheese (preferably organic goat´s)
fresh basil and oregano
sea salt
black pepper

+ Slice the veggies and cheese. Sprinkle a serving plate with sea salt lightly, then stack the ingredients and season with black pepper to taste. Enjoy!

CRAZY GOOD CARROT SOUP

  Don´t let the rawness of this soup fool you, it is delicious! And suits the Halloween table well.

Dreamy and creamy, absolutely suitable for non-raw-foodists too.

No clumps or bumps, only smooth and fluffy delight. No salt is needed in the making, this is a naturally sweet soup.

  The recipe (for 1):

1 lb (500g) carrots
1 avocado
1/2 inch (1 cm) piece of fresh ginger
fresh basil

+ Juice the carrots (makes about a cup). In a high-speed blender blend the juice, avocado, and ginger until creamy smooth. Sprinkle generously with chopped basil.

  The first time I ever made this soup I was lazy and skipped the juicing part. Well, it was edible but far from the deliciousness of this one. Juicing is definitely worth the extra dishes!

EATING PLAN FOR SAMHAIN

 My stomach has gotten picky lately, so I´ll have to make some changes to my usual eating habits. It is unhappy with cooked vegetables, nuts and seeds (much fat in any form), and legumes. I don´t know why, and how long it´ll last, but for now I need to replace those foods with something else.
  So here is a brand new, healthy and slimming, eating plan for Samhain, with a new perspective. It now includes some organic dairy and even fish once a week.

 9.00am Breakfast:
 a cup of green tea
 a green pudding made with leafy greens, fruit, and vegetables

Green pudding made with dinosaur kale, zucchini, banana, and water.

1.00pm Lunch:
a cup of water + 20 drops of Echinacea extract
raw-food meal + an avocado, or 3.5 oz. (100g) cold smoked salmon (once a week), or 7 oz.(200 g) cottage cheese

A sample lunch of veggie dip, the sauce made with either avocado or organic sour cream.

4.00pm Tea:
a cup of green tea
a generous cup of flavored yogurt

Yes, dinner is really this simple, a bowl of yogurt. This one is apple & cinnamon flavored. It provides some fat, protein, and good bacteria for the gut, and acts as dessert for the day. Going cold turkey with sugar does not work for me. This much I allow myself.

7.00pm Snack:
a cup of green tea
1-2 apples

9.00pm Nightcap:
a cup of herbal infusion + soymilk
(and raw vegetables if hungry)

Saturdays: feel free to eat your favorite foods!

  This plan bases on one I created when I was sixteen, and lost nearly twenty pounds with it. I was way too skinny then, but luckily soon I left for the U.S. for a year as an exchange student, which fixed the problem more than enough. =)
  I use Erica Palmcrantz-Aziz´s book to guide me with the daily lunches. It keeps the menus varied and interesting without having to think for myself. =)

  I hope my stomach will agree with this plan, as it did twenty years ago. Wow.

ELIXIR OF YOUTH

  A couple of weeks ago I bought a few cans of mild cider at a grocery store, and the cashier lady asked me for id. Me! You need to be 18 here to buy it, and I´ll be 37 next month! Yipee! I thanked the nice lady and told her how she had just made my day. =)

  Every now and then I hear people say how I look younger than my age, including a top photographer (in which case I lost a photo shoot because of looking so young =(, and the head of my modeling agency). My age is not yet an issue to me. 36 is totally young these days. After all, fifty is the new thirty now!

  Still taking care of oneself helps to keep the good looks, and makes you feel great. One of the secrets to a lively and healthy (a.k.a. youthful) appearance is raw leafy greens. The darker the better. I prefer fresh greens over dried superfood ones. Now kale is in season, so it is time to enjoy it.
  After getting a high-speed blender (Vitamix) for Christmas last year, I have been able to enjoy super smooth green juices. They say that when food is broken down to such tiny particles, your body can use it up better. So I figure blending raw leafy greens I get the most out of them. I prefer blending over juicing because then the juice still includes all the fiber too.

A fountain of youth, raw green juice with pulp.

    The recipe (for one):

5 leaves dinosaur kale (or any available raw leafy greens as much as your taste buds can tolerate)
4 sprigs of mint (or any fresh herb desired to taste)
20 drops of Echinacea (I use merely for taste, but possible health benefits are only a big bonus. My aunt has used it for decades, and swears on it´s cold-preventing properties.)
water

+ Blend the kale and mint in a high-speed blender with 1 1/2 cups water until all smooth. Add water enough to reach 2 cups. Pour into a glass and add the Echinacea drops. Stir and drink with your lunch for extra boost.
  Shine, radiate, and get ready for compliments!

RAW STIR-FRY

  This is a raw version of my long time favorite, vegetable stir-fry with brown rice. Raw foodists often substitute rice with finely chopped parsnip. I still like my cooked rice, so I made a compromise by mixing the two. The result is tastier and healthier than plain old brown rice. Yummy!

Vegetables soften without cooking too. Simply marinate them in olive oil and soy sauce. It is easy to prepare them, say the night before or in the morning, and they are ready to eat by lunch. Quick and easy.

Parsnip pulse-chopped in a food processor looks much like rice, and is nice and easy to eat.

Tuck in!

  The recipe (2 portions):

for the vegetables:
2 carrots, cut into matchsticks
1 small bell pepper, thinly sliced (or 1 cup sliced mushrooms if you have any. I didn´t.)
1 cup broccoli, in small florets
1/2 clove garlic, minced
1 inch piece fresh ginger, finely grated
1 Tbsp dried shredded coconut
1 Tbsp olive or sesame seed oil
soy sauce to taste

+ Combine all and let sit in the fridge for at least two hours to let the vegetables soften.

for the rice:
1 parsnip, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 cups cooked brown rice

+  Pulse the parsnip in a food processor until the texture resembles rice. Stir in with the rice.

  Place half of the rice mixture on a plate and add a mound of vegetables on top. Serve and enjoy the good vibrations in your body!

RAW BROCCOLI SOUP

  Wednesdays have been my soup days lately. Today I made broccoli soup seasoned surprisingly with cumin.

The main ingredients.

Blender does the same trick as cooking; softening and breaking down particles to ease chewing and digestion. But blending also reserves all the  enzymes. The recipe is from the gorgeous evergreen miss Mimi Kirk´s, book Live Raw. Oh, how I wish to keep my looks the way she has at still way over seventy!

A smooth and velvety combination of broccoli, avocado, and soymilk seasoned with cumin.

  The recipe (for 2-3):

2 cups almond milk (I used soymilk)
2 cups broccoli florets
1 avocado, cut in chunks
1 tablespoon onion (I used chives)
1 clove garlic
1/2 stalk celery
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste

+ Blend all in a high-speed blender until completely smooth. Refrigerate for 2 hours to meld ingredients. Warm carefully until baby-bottle warm and serve.

  Two slices of wholemeal bread and 1/2 cup of chickpeas accompanied my meal.

BACK TO PRE-BABY WEIGHT?

  Okay, it´s settled. I will try to see if I can get back to my pre-baby weight after nearly eleven years!
  There is about seven pounds (3,5 kg) to drop, so it´s not that much really. But I guess mentally it makes a bigger difference. My BMI is now 21.0 and my goal is to drop it to 20.0. No more, I do not want to be skeletal.

  While getting ready for the lingerie photo shoot I came up with this plan for weightloss. It allows big portions of food, but restricts calorie dense foods to about 1200 kcal a day. Also apart from my usual lifestyle, I did some exercise. As a result I did see progress in less than two weeks!
  Here´s the plan:

Eating:
Include: grains, legumes, nuts & seeds, some eggs, berries, apples, and vegetables. Exclude: dairy, meats, seafood, sugar and fruit. Grains, eggs, and legumes cooked, everything else raw.

Apples grow here locally, and are now in season, so they are on my menu. Berries are the only other sweetish ingredient allowed, thanks to their locality. 

- Breakfast choices:
1. Viking porridge
2. Yogurt

- Lunch choices:
1. 2-egg omelet + 5oz. (150g) corn + raw veggies on top of the cooked omelet
2.  a generous cup (3dl) cooked pasta + 1/2 avocado +  raw vegetable sauce
3. raw vegetable soup + 1/2 avocado + 3 slices of wholemeal bread
4. vegetable salad + 1/2 avocado + 3 slices of wholemeal bread
5. a snug cup (bulging 2dl) cooked brown rice + 1/2 avocado + raw stir fry
6. a home made scone (2oz. (60g) wholemeal flour + pinch of salt + 1/4 tsp baking powder + 1/2 cup (bulging 1dl) finely shredded zucchini/carrot etc. + water. Combine all, adding water enough to reach a thick batter. Form into a flat round on baking sheet and bake at 440F (225C) for 15-20 min.).
7. 1 lb (400g) cooked potatoes + mustard/margarine/soy sauce + raw vegetable pieces

- Dinner choices:
Make a double batch for lunch and eat the other half for dinner to save time in cooking.

- Supper choices:
The same as breakfast.

Salt is used sparingly, but herbs in abundance. Cayenne pepper sprinkled here and there.

  All the above meals contain about 350 kcal, and if extra hungry, it is possible to have a fifth meal per day without gaining weight.
  Saturdays are the days off of the plan. Then I can indulge in anything I have craved during the healthy week. I have a massive sweet tooth, and it is utopia to think I´ll never eat sweets again. One day a week for the sake of staying clean for the rest.  

  Exercise:

On rainy days I feel heavy and soaked like this bumblebee, but I will need to overcome the uninviting feeling for a greater cause...

  Inspired by this I will do some jogging 3-4 times a week plus 30 min. walking (or other light exercise) twice a week. While preparing for the shoot I did 5min. walking for warm up, then 1min. jogging + 1min. walking x 15, followed by another 5min. walking for cool down. It worked.
  Now I´m doing 2min. jogging + 1min. walking x 10. Next step will be 3min. jogging + 1min. walking. Minute by minute rising the amount of jogging, keeping the total in 30min. so it does not become too time-consuming.

Light and pretty as a butterfly in the end?

   I will try to follow the plan until my BMI is that set 20.0. I have no idea how long it will take, but the firmer I am able to stick with the plan, the sooner I will see results.

  If I ever reach the goal, my pre-baby weight, it will be interesting to see what it would take to stay there. But I´m not there yet, so I´ll worry about that later. =)
  Now I´m off to the new start!

EATING PLAN FOR LAMMAS

  I must be out of my mind to do this, but now I feel like I should try shedding sugar from my diet. Not only that, but also test out adding eggs to my mostly vegan eating regimen. I´m not sure how my digestive system will react to that, but since I feel the urge to do so, there must be something my body needs from eggs. We´ll see.

  I ditched fish, seafood, eggs, and all meats in 1993 as a teenager. In 2005 I let go of most dairy too. Every now and then I have had a craving for white fish, but I don´t even like it. I take it as a sign from my body that it is missing something animal-based. B12 vitamin perhaps? In any case, lately I have pondered on what would be the most ethical animal food to consume. I could not kill a living being, so meat is definitely out of the question. Fish is a more simple-looking creature, but I could not kill one only for my culinary pleasure either. I even feel bad for crabs and kinds being thrown in boiling water! What an awful way to die. No way would I ever do that either. Sometimes I have had to kill very sick small fish from my aquarium, and I have done it by boiling them. It feels awful seeing them take the final sprint (although probably purely by reflex) in the hot water.
  Milk (especially cow´s milk) is something I did not even understand to ditch until this millenium. Never before had I thought of what happened to the calves the milk was biologically meant for. It is so sad, and scary, that I dare not google for any links here...  =(
  Overall I do not want to eat anything I could not prepare myself from scratch. It´s just not fair.

  But eggs are a different story. I could easily go grab a fresh one from a chicken´s nest. No killing involved. I make sure I only buy organic eggs during my experiment. It is very important! There is so much inhumanity going on in many egg farms, and I want to do my best not to support them.

  But back to my eating plan. A nice and eco-friendly one.  =)
  My goal now is to reduce sugar consumption. In a way I think I´m substituting sugar with eggs. The experiment is to see whether adding a bit of animal protein will ease my addiction to sugar. Sugar is my only bad habit left, so I´m not majorly worried, but aiming for better is always the way to go.

So here it is, a breakfast omelet. The point of the eggs is mainly to hold the veggies together. This particular one is the second omelet I have ever made in my life (and I´m 36 already =). Tasty, packed with delicious veggies, and low in calories. Keeps me satisfied for surprisingly long, and gives a different kind of fullness than grain. Interesting.

For lunch and dinner, loads and loads of various types of veggies plus whole grain bread. Here is broccoli-potato soup with rye bread.

In the evening, a splash of whiskey or rum seasons my nightcap.. =)

  The plan:

Breakfast:
2 cups of refreshing and cleansing drink (juice of 1/2 lemon+cayenne pepper and ginger to taste)
an omelet made with two organic eggs, 1/3 cup of almond milk, salt and pepper, tons of finely chopped veggies. Once cooked, drizzle a little soy sauce on top and garnish with fresh herbs.

Lunch and Dinner:
2 cups of green tea, plain
1. a fresh, raw, vegetable salad+dressing of choice and whole grain bread. OR
2. vegetable soup made from whole, fresh veggies. Can be cooked or raw. Plus whole grain bread. OR
3. a scone/bread roll made with wholemeal flour and tons of finely shredded vegetables (zucchini is the best, but anything goes) and berries if desired.
 The recipe: 2 cups wholemeal flour
 2 tsp baking powder
 1/2 tsp sea salt
 water
 shredded/finely diced veggies (+berries if desired)
+ Mix the dry ingredients. Add enough water to get a soft/loose dough/batter. Add in the veggies and divide into four flat breads on a baking paper-lined tray. Bake in a 430F (225C) oven for 15-20 min. Butter up and enjoy!

Supper:
2 cups of nightcap (1 cup hot water+1 cup of almond or coconut milk+1/4 cup rum or whiskey to add flavor)
a handful of nuts/seeds OR
2 Tbsp strong tastes like pesto sauce or a few chili marinated garlic cloves

  My mealtimes follow that of my diabetic son´s:
9am Breakfast
1-2pm Lunch
4-5pm Dinner
8pm Supper

I´m trying to eat a steady amount of calories throughout the day, and at regular times to avoid getting too hungry (and then grab anything unhealthy at hand). This is once again an all-you-can-eat eating plan, but one that will not make you fat!

PERFECT SUMMER BITES

  After dinner today I went outside with my kids to hang out and enjoy an awesome, warm summer evening. First we headed backyard to see how the wild blueberries are coming. You know, if by any chance we could get a super-healthy dessert! Here´s what we found:

Loads of ripe blueberries! Yay!

The recipe: pick a handful and pour in to your mouth. Repeat for about twenty times. I like blueberries the most straight off the shrubs, with nothing added, eaten in the forest. They are true superfood.

  Then it was time to hit the kitchen garden. Another pleasant surprise was waiting for us:

Yum! The first strawberries have ripened too! I´m a lazy gardener, and have little interest in watering my plants. No surprise, not many things grow with never-seen-before success in my care. But strawberries are ones that do. And I love them!

The recipe: Pick a deep red strawberry, lift it up in sunlight, and take a big bite. Can summer taste any better?

  With my stomach full of perfect summer bites, I found yet another feast. But this one was for my eyes only:

Goutweed blooms so prettily in our yard. My daughter likes to smell all flowers now, so she was the first one to stick her nose in it. Only a month ago I was still collecting the small and tender leaves of goutweed into my smoothies, and now it continues to please me. I´m glad we have these natural "flower benches" in our yard. No effort, only joy.

So much beauty (and health) lies in weeds!

FRUIT´N NUT SALAD FOR BREAKFAST

  Recently I have learned that raw fruits suit my digestion much better than raw vegetables. They also include much more energy (calories) than vegetables, so they can be eaten for a meal by themselves. At first I thought the idea sounded too calorific, but after a while I noticed that I can´t eat nearly as much as I thought I would have to, to stay satisfied. And my stomach has staid equally satisfied.  =)

  Here is my staple breakfast for this Litha:

A bowl of chopped fruit and a handful of chopped nuts. To drink I have plain green tea. All-I-can-eat style.

  Ingredients vary depending on what´s available, and what I crave. This is what I used to make the above:

The recipe (for one):

strawberries
one banana
green grapes
a handful of pecans

+ Chop the fruit roughly, and the nuts finely. Combine and mix. Eat. Wow.

  Long time ago, ten years to be exact, when this fear of carbs was starting to spread, a friend of mine´s mom went on South Beach Diet. I visited them, and had not heard of low-carb eating before. I remember rolling my eyes when she explained to me about how she could now eat tons of cheese and meat, but no fruit or pasta, and lose weight. Her daughter, my friend, was also still a bit sceptical about it and asked "Have you ever heard of a person being fat for eating too much fruit?". I know I have not. That sentence came back to my mind now when first planning my fruit-boosted eating plan for Litha.
  I do not recall what the end result was for my friend´s mom. But I do know that we are all different, and each must find the way of eating for ourselves to feel and look good. They go hand in hand.

EATING PLAN FOR LITHA

  Eating simple and raw keeps fascinating me. I have tried many different ways of eating in the past, including petit macro and raw foods, and have found both good and bad in most. But none have felt perfect for me, so the search continues.

  I love carbs. Often I have been left craving for more carbs, and therefore indulged in generous amounts of chocolate in the evenings (I seriously wonder why I am not heavier than my current state!). So I figured incorporating more fruit and berries in to my diet might help fight the sugar cravings.
 I searched the net, and found banana diet and fruitarian diets, which both sound like the way I want to try next. Besides, what could be a better time to start eating more fresh produce than now, in the middle of summer?

  Here´s my own plan for this Litha:
 

Breakfast:
green tea, plain
raw fruits and berries + handful of nuts/seeds

Lunch:
water
raw veggies + grains (this can be anything imaginable like salads, dips, sandwiches, pasta, brown rice, lettuce wraps, etc.)

Dinner:
green tea
raw fruits and berries + handful of nuts/seeds
dried fruit for dessert (to imitate the concentrated sugar I´m used to in chocolate :)

  I know if I followed this plan to the letter, I would never have to step on the scale again. But I take baby steps, and think of it like a guide map rather than a book of laws. And I do not want to upset my stomach by making too drastic changes!

  Delicious, energetic, and healthy midsummer to all!