I went shopping today. And not just any shopping – whole foods shopping. Can I get a hurray?!

As I mentioned in my recent confessions post, I’ve been a bad, bad girl. I’ve let processed foods slip back into my diet (aka mouth). I’ve grown away from those every day raw juices, smoothies, and Greek yogurt snacks.

But no more!

I’m taking control of my health and life and am getting back on track. I’ve gained weight since being married. But I’m not the only one, I know. Just ask The Healthy Apron!

Nah, I won’t really blame my husband. I’m the one who put the food in my mouth. LOL!

It’s just that since being married, I think I’ve let my guard down and just eaten whatever I want, whenever I want, and have lost sight of my original health goals.

Believe me, it’s easy to get caught up in how juicy or creamy something tastes and just thinking “oh, I’ll get back on the wagon tomorrow” – knowing tomorrow might never come.

I’m not saying just give up all those on-a-whim treats. Those little moments and yummy tastes are the spice of life. I’m just saying I have to reign myself back in and get with the program! My own program!

Look at all the yummy produce!

Yep, our bicycles are parked in the kitchen. LOL! 

Whole Grain, All Natural Oats for chilly mornings!

Cashews ‘cause they’re SO yummy!  

Onions – I love ‘em raw or cooked!  

Bananas aka Nanners – for smoothies + snacks!

Broccoli + Carrots for nibbling!

Potatoes (aka taters) – love ‘em raw or cooked!

My long lost love, Greek yogurt!

Kiwi – SO juicy and delish!

Pears – crisp and delish!  

Avocados – you won’t BELIEVE

what they’re going in!  

Lemons & Limes – for tea and salad!

Grapefruits!

Purdy bell peppers! 

Cantaloupe – for snackin’ + smoothies!

Cucumbers – I could eat gazillions of ‘em!

So many bright and natural colors! 

I also bought some canned goods, tea, eggs, and meat (the husband loves meat and has shared the love with me – he’s a fantabulous cook and I’m spoiled!).

I’m excited to be getting back to more whole foods, my yoga practice, and living a more healthy lifestyle. As friends have called me in the past: healthatarian. LOL! 

So, what about you? Do you cram as many whole foods into your meals as you can? Have you been eating whatever is available just so you can make it through the day? It’s SO easy to fall into that rut. Do you judge others for falling into food and exercise ruts? Do you judge yourself?

If you’re in a rut, just start climbing out like I am. Purpose in your heart to make tomorrow different, even if it’s baby steps. Just start.

We must love ourselves, love whole foods, and enjoy life…

Are you on board? Talk to me, people!

And don’t forget the sweet freebies. You have until the 30th before your coupon code expires!

Do you have bright, sunny skies? I do. Finally! Gosh, there’s been so many dark, gloomy, blech days in a row. Sunshine warms my heart and soul, so I am tickled pink to get a good dose. Phew!

If you’re new to Healing With (Raw) Juices, or are behind on your blog reading, be sure to catch up on my latest posts:

• Aurorae Yoga Mat Review
• Oats in a (Nuttzo!) Jar
• Raw, Green (Vegan) Chicken(less) Salad Recipe
• NuttzOats: An Overnight Oats Recipe
• Agave: Why I Was Hesitant to Use it and Won’t Be Using it Anymore
• Living With Rheumatoid Arthritis + Fibromyalgia 

Caught up yet? Good!

As I recently mentioned, deliveries have been arriving and exciting things are in the works for you fantabulous people!

One of the awesome deliveries included a Spiral Vegetable Slicer from the generous folks at CSN Stores. Eeeek! It was like Christmas morning!!!

I. Am. In. Love. Seriously!

This thing is so much fun. It’s easy to use, easy to clean, and cranks out fancy and beautiful food – love it!! I’ll shut up about it now because I have enough to say in my in-depth review (coming soon!) but right now, I wanted to give you a sneak peek at what spiralizing madness I’ve been up to with this super cool spiralizer.

Um, yes, what you see is spaghetti – made from peeled zucchini and it was an oh-so-delicious meal. I can’t wait to have it again!

Zucchini Spaghetti!

Delivery!!!!

My new love!

Okay, okay. On to the recipe business.

Peeled Zucchini

Put one end of the zucchini here.

And the other end of the zucchini here.

Out comes noodles!!!!

Long and noodley!!!

And this, the core.

What to do? Eat it, of course! I don’t waste around here!! So, I chopped the core and added it to the noodles. A little chunky is good, eh?!

Then I diced an onion.

Read the AMAZING health benefits (Onions: A Pungent Surprise of Natural Healing)

And (gasp!) sautéed it. Yep, cooked; not raw.

While the onions were sautéing, I was heating up water in my tea kettle. Why? I thought it’d be awesome to pour hot water over the zucchini noodles to soften ‘em up a bit. Now, zucchini isn’t that hard of a veggie, in my opinion, but I wanted to really impress a few family members and win them over on the idea of raw veggie pasta. So, I thought I’d meet ‘em half way.

In hot water!!

Up close

While the veggie noodles were enjoying their hot soak, I added spaghetti sauce to the sautéed onion. I don’t have fresh maters from the garden yet (but I will!!) so I just used canned sauce this time. Since the dish wasn’t going to be raw, it really didn’t matter at this point.

S’ghetti Sauce = Yum!

Look at those noodles!!!

When I felt my zucchini noodles had “steeped” long enough (lol!) I strained ‘em and put ‘em back in my bowl. Then I drizzled some olive oil and added a few cranks of freshly ground sea salt and black pepper.

Taste test = DELISH!

Finished product = close to the real thing + DIVINE!!!

Spiralized Veggie S’ghetti Recipe

 

Ingredients:

• zucchini (half a zucchini will do for one person – unless you’re super hungry)
• spaghetti sauce (I used canned, but I’m going to make raw when my garden is flourishing.)
• onion (I sautéed a small onion to add to the canned sauce because I love onion.)

 

Directions:

1. Spiralize the zucchini.
2. Sautée the onion.
3. Prepare your sauce – or open a can.
4. Add sauce to the onion and heat through.
5. Plate up and enjoy!

 

Note: To warm up the zucchini noodles and soften ‘em up a bit, I put ‘em in a glass bowl and filled the bowl with hot water. I’d say you could boil ‘em for a short time, too. Of course, this defeats the purpose of raw noodles – BUT it’s way better than highly processed noodles made from white flour!

Verdict?

I’ve been asked to make this dish again ASAP!!!

And guess what?! I also spiralized an apple and made a yummy sauce off the top of my head – including a healthy dose of cinnamon, which La loves. I’ll be posting that soon, so stay tuned!

Have you ever had spiralized veggie spaghetti? Did you eat it raw? Cook it? Have you had it both ways? Which do you prefer? And low-carbers are going to love these veggie noodles – no more sitting out pasta night!! What’s your favorite way to eat spiralized veggies? Do you use tomato sauce? Whip up your own fancy sauce? Are you a pesto person? I’ve never really been “in to” pesto. I think I’m going to give it another try, though. Chime in with all your spiralizing veggie – or fruit! – adventures! Can’t wait to hear about ‘em!!!

Coming Soon

In no particular order…

• Review of the Paderno World Cuisine Plastic Spiral Vegetable Slicer
• Review of Aurorae Sport Sweat Towel
• Review of Aurorae Slip Free Rosin Bag
• Health Benefits of Blackstrap Molasses – And Why I Drink It
• Tart Cherry Concentrate Health Benefits – And Why I Drink It
• More recipes
• More reviews and giveaways – lots of surprises!

Contest Alerts

Averie, from Love Veggies & Yoga, is giving away an eco-friendly, BPA-free lunchbox and cooler set from EasyLunchBoxes.com!!!

Bitt, from A Bitt of Raw, is giving away a Vivapura raw foods package!

Ashlei, The Vegster, is hosting a $50 shopping spree for Swanson!

And don’t forget about my Tropical Traditions giveaway for organic, raw, wild honey!!

Michele L. Tune

Raw Foodists

Ever wondered what a Raw Foodist’s life is like? What they eat? How they prepare it? How they’re able to get enough nutrition? If you’re curious about the raw food lifestyle, or if you’ve been considering going raw yourself–even for a few weeks or months, just to cleanse your body–Raw People is definitely worth checking out!

About RawPeople.com

RawPeople.com is a website focusing on the raw food lifestyle. They emphasize that eating raw is not a diet, but a way of life. There, you’ll find articles such as Raw Reality: A Snapshot of a Weekend in the Life of a Raw Foodist. In this article, Katy Joy Freeman (Author of Raw Abroad and Raw Chef), allows us a sneak peek of what it’s like to live a healthy, raw lifestyle.

Check out the Raw People logo below. Isn’t it beautiful?!

To give you an idea of what you might find should you visit Raw People, here’s a list of articles already on the site. They’re also diligently adding new topics.

• Animal Rights ( 1 Article )
• Contest ( 1 Article )
• Detox ( 4 Articles )
• Health & Beauty ( 5 Articles )
• Juicing ( 2 Articles )
• RawKids ( 6 Articles )
• Raw People ( 5 Articles )
• Raw Teens ( 1 Article )
• Remedies ( 2 Articles )
• Vitamin ( 2 Articles )
• Water ( 7 Articles )
  
• Weight Loss ( 3 Articles )
  

See, there is a lot of great information available, and new articles are published daily!

I’m a Raw People!!

In January, I was welcomed to the team at Raw People. I’m truly honored to be a part of this amazing site. There aren’t enough fantabulous words to describe working with this wonderful team of health-minded people. They are extremely kind, and are such a blessing in my life! I count it a major blessing to be involved in this healthful, raw project. I have eaten 100% raw for a few months at a time during my health journey. I’ve also juice fasted extensively, which most of you know. So, to be on this Raw Lifestyle team and have the opportunity to share what I’ve learned in my own studies and from my own experiences, as well as glean from the knowledge of the other team members, is just awe-inspiring to me…

So, what do I do on this team? I am a contributing writer and have written on a few different topics: juice fasting, (of course!), raw beauty, raw remedies, and am branching out into other topics to be published soon, like organic gardening and weight loss. You can see everything I’ve written for Raw People so far by visiting my list of articles.

The Community

Come and be a part of the Raw People Community. Learn and grow and share with us!

Raw Tweets

You can also follow Raw People on Twitter! Just foll0w @RawPeople to find out when the latest raw articles are published, news about the raw recipe contest, and more!

Raw Radio

Yes, Raw Radio is coming soon!!!

And… an Awesome Contest!

Have an original, raw recipe you’d like to share? Enter it in Raw People’s Recipe Contest to win an amazing prize!

Don’t miss out on upcoming posts! Be sure to subscribe to Healing with Juices’ Feed for free updates. You can get free updates to your email as well (sign up here). You’ll receive inspiration, juice and smoothie recipes, and juice fasting tips and encouragement to help keep you motivated toward your ultimate health–and more personal posts about stuff that’s going on in my life.

Have you ever thought of going raw? Have you ever even heard of a “Raw Foodist”? Do you know anyone who eats only raw foods, or mostly raw foods? Perhaps you’ve already visited RawPeople.com. What are your thoughts about the site and/or eating raw? What’s on your mind? Please share!

Previous Article: Confessions from an Amish Farm

By

Michele L. Tune

The thought of juice fasting can be a scary one. It might seem like folks are always trying to talk you out of trying it. “Oh, you need to eat!” or “You can’t live on liquid alone.” are things you might here if you mention you’re thinking of going on a juice fast.

What they don’t understand, though, is how beneficial raw juice fasts actually are. In my experience, I have slept more soundly and woke up more rested, gained better vision, thought more clearly, and I simply love how “light” and healthy I feel while juice fasting.

One thing that did surprise me is that juice fasting really becomes a spiritual experience - whatever that means to you. It’s like you’re more in tune with yourself, your goals, your dreams, your visions. I love that feeling and personally take the opportunity to pray more, reflect on my spiritual walk and absorb all the peace I can, while in that quiet, still place juice fasting brings me to.

So, how do you start a juice fast? First, you need to do a little research. What types of fruits and vegetables do you like? What are the benefits of those particular fruits and/or vegetable juices? Do you have any health issues? If so, would certain juices interfere or cause problems? For instance, if you’re a diabetic (and, I’ll tell you that it isn’t recommended for diabetics to juice fast; however, I was on diabetic medication when I started juice fasting.)

If you’re trying to control your blood sugar, and you do decide to try a short juice fast, (or even if you’re just juicing for health), focus on the dark greens: spinach, turnip, beet, etc.

I learned to listen to my body, I stayed away from too much fruit (because the fruit/fruit juice turns to sugar in your bloodstream), and I had to accept that I wasn’t physically able to do a 30- or 40-day juice fast at the beginning.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m a freelance writer. Two articles I’ve written recently that will be of great benefit to you before you begin your juice fast is:

How to Prepare Your Mind for a Juice Fast

and

How to Prepare Your Body for a Juice Fast

With a new year fast approaching us, it’s a great time to focus on improving your health by juice fasting. It’s not necessarily a great idea to write a long list of new years’ resolutions because, let’s face it, most of us never keep them and it only makes us feel worse about ourselves. No need for negativity when 2009 can be the best year of your life!

Here’s to health!