the Smiling Stomach
Adventures in overcoming stomach issues & healthy eating
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“I’m tired of salads! What if you added mint? I want my damn bread! It’s okay Daniel, just have a smoothie & you’ll be fine. No I won’t. Yes you will. Stop thinking & just do it.”
Oh um, I guess I sound crazy huh? Well, they say often we are own biggest obstacle. And I needed to move myself out of my way.
I woke to a beautiful warm day. Did some sit-ups & push ups; a little stretching / yoga at home. I worked for a while & checked in on my cousin, who’s also doing the cleanse. We had a family baby shower today, sure to be filled with carne asada, manteca & cheese beans & cervezas. So we decided we’d plan ahead; each making a large salad to share with our family & share how we’re taking our health to the next level.
So I got movin’. I made a breakfast smoothie with waaaaaaaaay too much kale in it (you win some you lose some). I ran errands, bought gifts for the baby shower, & picked up the ingredients for my nopal (cactus) mango ensalada at the Latino market. I threw on some good jams, got to choppin’ & sped over to the gathering.
By the time I got there I was so hungry I could eat a hamburger, or even a taco de papa! There was mad food, as prophesied, that was not gonna work for us. So we came in swingin’ with a mango-nopal salad & mixed green mushroom-avocado-onion-corn salad.
As we ate our healthy stuff, my uncle gave me a pep-talk, sort of.
“Hey nephew, so are all the youngster’s on the green ticket now?…You know that’s good, but you also gotta get your magnesium, you know. Eat a banana. And your essential oils. It’s all there in the frijoles you know; & in the bacon grease. Yeah. You gotta have your protein & the oil from the grease there.”
Ha! My cousin called him out on the bacon myth & saying we gotta take our health to the next level. And that “We’re breaking unhealthy habits for ourselves & our kids this year.” Gotta love my familia stepping up to the plate & having a real dialogue about health.
Change starts with a choice. Making new choices, creating dialogue, & showing rather than telling. “Be the Change” as Gandhi said. Slowly but surely we’re all moving forward, learning from each other, & taking our health to the next level. If I didn’t have this supportive community of folks like Sirena Pellarolo my health guru, my neighbors, friends, & family joining me in the cleanse, it would be a lot harder.
Following the BBQ & after visiting two more birthday parties, and dancing at a bar, I was desperate to be done with this stupid cleanse & bite into something cooked. I also remind myself that this is a practice in building discipline, imagination, learning to psyche myself out, & staying focused so I can accomplish anything in life. So while I can’t wait to hit the finish line, I also know I’m gonna keep training & continue more of this raw stuff even after the cleanse.
Bring it on Day 7!
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Day 5:
The hardest day yet. Today I was bored with eating the same ol’ same ol’. I’m getting a little fed up with only eating salad as lunch & dinner. Thankfully though my roommate came to the rescue. She picked up some basil for me & told me about gaspacho.It turns out gaspacho is like a cold tomato soup, usually cooked first. So I decided to go raw with it, and make soup in the blender (something I’ve never imagined doing before). I only ‘cook’ to taste, & never those kind of directions well, so here’s the ingredients. It turned out really well, was filling, & gave me the diversity I needed to not go crazy.
Though I’m not gonna lie, a certain piece of bread was calling my name from the fridge. “Eat me fool. When was the last time you soup & didn’t have some kind of bread or tortilla with it? Huh? WHEN! Eat something real!”
I just told that voice to shut up & slurped away on my cold (I fridged it) gaspacho.
Gaspacho:
- Basil
- tomato
- cayenne pepper
- bell pepper
- almonds (for thickness/creamy ness)
- salt
- pepper
- garlic
- water -
Day 4 of 7-Day Raw Food Cleanse
Tasty smoothie for breakfast/lunch: bell pepper, apple, banana, chard, orange, raw honey (do they normally cook it?), bee pollen, carrots, snap peas (in pod), & dandelion greens (really bitter! They work better for a salad or for a sauteed greens. I learned the hard way, so you don’t have to.) I’d do this one again, minus the dandelion greens (but hey, they were cheap at the farmers market). -
DAY 4 done!
I made it this far. YES! Four down, three more to go.I’ve found the hardest moments of this cleanse are when I let myself get over hungry, waiting to eat because I have to get work done. The hungrier I get, the more I think, “It’s too much work to do this whole raw thing. All this slicing, preparing, thinking about recipes”. So I’m learning to always have tasty raw snacks with me like cashews, dried cranberries, & raw fruit like oranges & apples.
Breakfast:
A pretty tasty smoothie w/: bell pepper, apple, banana, chard, orange, raw honey (do they normally cook it?), bee pollen, carrots, snap peas (in pod), & dandelion greens (really bitter! They work better for a salad or for a sauteed greens. I learned the hard way, so you don’t have to.) I’d do this one again, minus the dandelion greens (but hey, they were cheap at the farmers market).Lunch:
Leftover salad from the day before.Snacks:
Cashews. soaked sunflower seeds (maybe these would taste better with honey. hmmm….),Dinner:
A quick mango/piña/OJ smoothie on the way to go see Fela! downtown. And took an orange, nuts, & water to the show (needed that cuz I was gettin’ hungry!) -
Day 3:
Breakfast Smoothie:
Left-over from day before. + a handful of soaked sunflower seeds (soaked in water to make easier to digest)
Lunch:
Bomb mango salad: mango, cilantro, red onion, cherry tomatoe,
Snacks:
Handfuls of raw nuts. Eating whole fruits; i.e. apple
the Meat:
I started this day with a good paced 3 mile run around the city. I noticed I was a lot more fatigued than usual. I guess it’s my body adjusting to my diet & also maybe not having as much carbs to work with. At the end of the day I was exhausted, still had work to do, & felt cooked. I wanted something cooked & a tasty. So I quickly caught the thought & replaced it with a raw snack. A fresh orange late at night hit the spot!Despite a few random cooked-food fantasies throughout the day, I made it through without problem.
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Day 2:
This day was harder than day 1, but not THAT difficult. I started the day off w/ a bomb smoothie; the leaf greens are rainbow chard. I felt good knowing I had veggies in my belly.I ate nuts & some slices of apple & orange throughout the day & sipped a little Kombucha.
I had two dinners (don’t call me a fatty just yet!)
Dinner #1: an everything salad with kale, arugula, zucchini squash, cranberries, sunflower seeds, tomato, a lil sundried tomatoe, & balsamic vinaigrette.
Dinner 2: Started w/ wheatgrass shots with my prima. Our 1st time. That stuff is po-tent! And we followed up with the bomb salad you see last. Cucumber, aguacate, cilantro, red onion, mixed greens, red bell pepper.
At the end of the day I was feeling tired (as I tend to at the end of a long day). The biggest help to me was my roommate helping to make dinner #1 & having the accountability to my cousin to continue & even cook together.
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Wow. Day 1 of eating only raw living food. Done son!
I started it off with a tropical smoothie. Went downtown to pick up fruit for cheap. TJ’s for sunflower seeds, cashews, dried cranberries, apple cider vinegar & water. Then to Whole Foods for non-dairy yogurt & Kombucha (good for digestion). Then made some beast salads with my homegirl Mari.
Because I didn’t eat much in the middle of the day, I got real tired, moodie, and sleepy. I was not in a very good place, but I stuck with it, ate that bomb salad, & took a nap before band rehearsal.
While I’m very active & usually plan to do a lot each day, I’m learning the importance of rest during this 7-day cleanse, and throughout life. I look forward to day 2. Gotta spice it up somehow tomorrow. Keep things interesting.
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Dinner pt. 2: rainbow chard, zucchini squash, red bell pepper, purple onion, cranberries, sunflower seeds, ‘orange muscat vinagre’ dressing (from the bottle)! And it took longer to make than the time typing all these ingredients. Tasty stuff!
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Highlight of the Day! Raw Nopales (cactus), avocado, purple onion, mango, cilantro & red bell pepper. An original creation by friend Mari. We weren’t sure if we could eat raw cactus. But it’s now been deliciously confirmed!
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Last Saturday Sirena Pellarolo, nutrition & health guru-del-barrio convened about 25 of us young folk to learn about & begin a 7-day raw food cleanse. My first day I ate things that were cooked, so I’m really starting today. Day 1: let’s do this!
