I have moved!

I have moved!

http://alydawg.livejournal.com/

Big News!!

Hello all!!

So, biggest news, I have made a web site! it is www.holistichealthhelper.yolasite.com. I am offering nutritional counseling, as well as yoga classes, raw food cooking classes and my raw food creations for sale! You can find me on face book as well, under groups and it is holistic health helper. I really believe that health is for everyone, and I want to be of service to those who may be having a tough time with it all!

I also wanted to share a recipe with you. This is a fruity raw dip, that is savory. My mom and my sister gobble it up each time I make it, and there are a million ways to serve it, or to alter the recipe to your liking!

Avo fruit dip

1-2 Zucchini - finely grated and allowed to drain in a colander, or squeezed of some of their moister

1 orange, juice and zest

1 lemon or lime, juice and zest

1 large bunch of dill. finely chopped

3-4 avocados, mashed.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, and stir and stir. The more you stir the creamier it will get as the avocado mixes in. You can also add chopped tomato, corn, basil, garlic, more or less citrus or anything you can think of! I serve it with raw veggies to dip, raw cracker, raw chips. Of course, you could serve it with regular chips, but just don't tell me that that is what you did! Here is what it looks like!


If you or anyone you knows would like help with their diet, please don't hesitate to pass along my site to them! www.holistichealthhelper.yolasite.com.

Thanks guys!!

Holistic Health Helper!

Hello all!

So, those of you who read my blog, know that I have had my ups and downs when it comes to food. And those of you who are here for the first time, let me tell you! I have had my ups and downs with food. I have read many, many books concerning nutrition, as well as studying to become a Holistic Nutritional Counselor. I know from all my experience that diet and health is a totaly personal thing. I also know that it can be VERY confusing! With all that I have been through, I want to be the one to help you figure out what works for YOU! I do not believe in a one size fits all diet approach. I believe in a way of life. What you eat, how you eat, when and where you work out, how you sleep and many other factors all contribute to health, and all of them have to fit into the life that YOU lead. If you feel like you are not reaching the heights of health that you would like to, please, alow me to help! If you or anyone you know would like more information or a consultation, please contact me at holistichealthhelper@hotmail.com. Or you can leave a comment for me here on my blog!
Alyssa

Be the change you want to...change

As per the usual, life has carried on its merry way, with me in toe, and sometimes with me in its wake.

My sister and I are moving back to Calgary from Edmonton next Monday, but have already moved almost all of out things. If you were to enter our apartment right now, you would think that sammi and I were squatters. We have no furniture, empty closets, empty cupboards, but our fridge is still full! We have a blanket sprawled out in the middle of our living room, and that is where we have parked out laptops. Ridiculous looking? Yes. We are also without a television. It has been good and bad. Good in that I need a break from that thing. I had no idea how addicted I was to it. I would pretty much always have it on in the background when I was home. I would always turn to t.v when I was bored. No I have to actually entertain myself. How very lazy I was! But at least I have this whole week as a break. It is bad because it is one less distraction from the myriad of mostly UN necessary thoughts that are always swirling away in my brain. I admit to being generally prone to over thinking life, and really having run away fear thoughts when ever I have to much time on my hands to just think. So, learning to deal with that, well it is just something I am going to have to do.

In other news, I have been accepted into pretty much ever university I applied for. I applied to The University of Calgary, The University of Victoria, The University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University. I have been accepted into all but U BC, whom I have just not heard back from yet. I applied for the psychology program at each university apart from Simon Fraser, where I applied for the criminology program. And I was hoping that I would be rejected from at least one or two, to help my narrow down my choices. But alas, nothing doing. I know I want to move to Vancouver, so really U of C and U of Vic are out. But I am still stuck, not knowing if I want to take psychology or Criminology. I feel drawn to The U BC for some reason UN-beknowst to me, but I also think Criminology would be so cool. So I have chosen to wait it out, to make my decision when I know for sure if I am in to U BC or not. And of course, I am such a patient waiter, and this whole thing has been very relaxing for me. Peh. If only that is how I was. I am working on it people, ok?

As for life's bitch slap lessons, I mean, the lovely nibblets of knowledge that are bestowed upon me with love and kindness by life, I have been learning much as of late. The most important lesson that has been coming around and around and around to me, is the power my thoughts have over my life. Basically, I totally live the story that I am telling myself. I generally believe myself to be fat. I know, I know, have I not beat that dead horse enough you ask? Well, apparently not, otherwise I would, you know, stop...beating...it. Anyways. I have been causing myself so much anguish, having this ticker tape going in my mind all the time. My mom the wonderful and wise life coach has helped me out here once again. She told me to see my body in my mind, the way I want it to be. To focus on it, to feel how it feels to be in that body. Then to widen my perspective, to see what is going on in my life when I have this ideal body. What are my days like? How do I live? How do I act? How do I eat? What do I feel in my day to day life? Then she told me to work from that place, backwards to now. So instead of constantly trying to control and subdue and punish my body, desperately trying to make it do what I want to do, I should center myself in the feeling of already having what I want, and then live like that. It is a challenge. But it is working. All throughout that day, before my mom counseled me, I kept hearing and reading the phrase "be the change you want to see in the world." I think this applies to that. When we have a dream, what we need to do is live our lives right now, as though that dream is a reality. We need to act out that dream. That is what makes it come true. The actual doing of the dream. If we just keep sitting around, dreaming of it, it will always stay in the future. What do you wish you had? Think about this thing. Imagine your life when you have what it is that you want. What does it look like? Smell like? Feel like? Connecting with this reality may help you to know which steps to take to get from where you are now to where you want to be. It isn't visualization. It is active. Cultivate the reality of your dreams.

I also made some cookies. They are strawberry macaroon type deals. Sammi liked em! And in other food news, these are some grapes that were in a box labeled "wine on the vine." They were the tastiest grapes I have ever eaten my life. They had seeds, which is also a good thing. That means that they have not yet been rendered infertile by genetic engineering. Yay for viable fruit! And the other bits you see in there are mangoes. Yeah dawg.a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrQX10p6tTCUidOkW0DFuYGPomgfmRcEZHS5GcXc4LL__nZk47bPv7029LhQ_gl3q9Ad95VWO8iA2iKTVdjE4A962R184yzdsdj2ThARZTWGC7aPeoxLJWNQkCEkDVEEoSVEV4xli9qdXf/s1600/001.JPG">

Let me know what you dream!
Tata lovers!

Its all about you, really!

Hello my friends!

I have been inspired to write a bit, after my weekend. As you know, I am in yoga teacher training at the moment, and so I had a nice full weekend of practice, lecture and just general good times with good people.

But I will start at a place that is some what before this weekend occurred. For the past few weeks, I have been feeling so overly frantic, that I was turning into a drama queen. OK, I was turning into a WORSE drama queen. I even had a small emotional break down on the phone with my mother. It all revolved around my feelings that I am just floundering. I was feeling lost, useless, fearful, desperate and most of all tired. I could not see how I was going to figure out what I am supposed to be doing, here on earth, or even for the summer. My mom, the amazing life coach (you can check her out at www.mushroomtosunflower.blogspot.com, she is really quite good), talked me into attempting to pursue selling raw foods and teaching yoga over the summer. I had to turn down a job offer if I was going to do this, and that scared the crap out of me. What if it does not work? What if I don't make any money this summer? Then what will happen to me? I will be poor, then no one will respect me, then I will die a terrible death, freezing cold on the dark streets, all alone! Actually. No wonder I was feeling so tired. Anyways, I decided to take the leap, and start putting together a business plan, so that I can work for myself this summer. And I started to perk up a bit. Then my yoga weekend happened. I have been fighting with my spiritual side my whole life. I have always been extra sensitive, and more inclined towards a spiritual perspective in life, and this has often made living in the world difficult for me. I feel really out of place allot of the time. Like my values just don't seem to line up with the values of the world, but I try my darnedest to fit in. I tell you what, it does not work. That is why this weekend was so amazing. I was surrounded my all these amazing women. All who are gifted in their own amazing ways, who understand what it is like to think unlike the mass population. They are all so warm and accepting. I felt like I was in a place where I belong. And I tell you what, that is no small feat! I actually cant even remember the last time I felt so integrated into the group I was with. I felt peaceful, calm, yet teaming with energy. There was a buzz inside me. I slept for maybe 12 hours over the entire weekend, and yet felt no fatigue at all. I have been living off of 12 hours a night for the past few weeks, and still felling exhausted.

So what does all of that mean? Here is what I think. We are all here for a purpose. And we are all here with a specific design. Everyone on the planet has a different job to do. A destiny if you will. And I think that we are designed to fulfill our destines. But I think that we often become distracted. We loose touch with ourselves, with our core selves, due to out side expectations, fears, judgements and a myriad of other things. This can cause us to start down a path, that was never our path to start down. I believe that we can will ourselves to do ANYTHING, but that our essential selves will fight us, if it is not the thing we are designed for. My body has been fighting me for a long time, or maybe I have been fighting my body. I have been trying to put myself in a life that will be acceptable to some group of people that I have deemed the true and important judges or worthy and worthless. The only problem with that is that I don't actually share any of the same values with that group!! So I have been trucking along, desperately trying to measure up to the worlds view of success, while dieing a little inside. The bible says that man does not live by bread alone. I think that this passage may be referring to just what I am talking about. Talk to anyone who really feels like they are living the life that they were designed to live, and they will tell you that they seem to have more energy now than they have ever had before. Many will tell you stories of mysterious illnesses that plagued them before, disappeared just as mysteriously after they started on this new, right path. I know this to be true for me! I felt so energized this weekend. I am starting to see where I fit. What kind of life I was designed to live. I am working on letting go of values that are not my own, of letting go of the need for approval from people who just don't really understand what I am here for. That is hard and scary work, but it is worth it, if I am going to get to live in the place of energy and life that I experienced this weekend.

So, the question is, what kind of life are you designed for? Are you living it now? Do you feel totally pumped to get out of bed? Do you feel love and compassion for those around you? Do you feel connected to those around you? Or do you suffer from illness or fatigue that you can't explain? Do you feel misunderstood? The best piece of advice I can give to those who are feeling that maybe they are not in the place they want to be (and by they I mean their real, true self), is to get a life coach (www.mushroomtosunflower.blogspot.com) or just start to notice the things that you feel and instinctive draw towards. I grew up with very Christian values, and I was probably the most religious one in my family. Yet I was always so drawn to the yoga studio in my neighbour hood. Every time I walked or drove past it, I just wanted to go in so badly. And now look where i am! I had to let go of quite a few things, to change my perspective. But I feel like all that work was so worth is. So what do you secretly want to do? Paint? Ride horses? Walk along the river? You don't have to know why you want to do it. It does not have to make any sense to you at all. But just allow yourself to try the things you feel the "urge to merge" with. It may not turn out to be what you expect, but it will help you to start tuning into the voice in side you that knows your right life. And this voice will start to get louder and louder, and before you know it, you will be buzzing along in this life, doing what you were always meant to do, and loving ever minute of it! OK, so it might not be "before you know it" It will most likely be after allot of work, but you will get there, if you choose to listen.

Here endeth my sermon.

This, this is a pimp out.

Hello all my friends!

So it is T minus two weeks until I am officially back in Calgs for the summer. And I have decided that I am going to be starting my own businesses!! Yes, that is right people. I am going to be working for myself. What I have decided to embark on is; selling my raw food creations at the Bearspaw Farmers Market(hopefully, if not, I will just have to advertise some other way!), lead yoga classes at some community centers, and do some nutritional counseling, just for good measure. I have a whole wide menu of raw food treats, as any one who is my friend will know, as I have force fed you with them in the past. If you, or any one else would like to order some raw foods, drop me an e-mail at coolywash@hotmail.com, and I can send to you my menu! I am also looking forward to teaching yoga this summer. I would love to get everyone I know, and allot of those I don't know to come out! I will be filling you in on the details as I know what they are. And I am always available for a food coaching session, as I am a Holistic Nutritionist! OK, so that is allot of pimping I just did. But really, I know that so many people are so confused about food and nutrition, and that they need to eat, but don't have the time to make something nutritious and delicious for themselves. I am really hoping that I can be of some help to all the busy people out there! So, if you or any one you know wants some food, counseling, or even some private yoga classes, you know where to find me! And I promise, the nutritional counselling is tailored to YOUR needs. I am not going to try to make you raw, vegan or even vegetarian. It is all about what is going to work for you! Oh, and the picture above is my Raw Chocolate raspberry brownie, pina colada bars and some "power balls."


Love you all!
Alyssa

Hello again my faithful readers!

Fewf! It has been an inexcusably long time since I have written, and for that I have no good excuse. I will offer you a tiered one, and that is that I have been so crazy busy! My life again has been turned upside down. I am now moving, looking for a job and just generally scrounging around for a future! We managed to sell out apartment, which was fast but also a nuisance for a couple of weeks. I have foraged ahead with my yoga teacher training, and I am pleased to say I am half done! Although, and I am almost completely finished my home work, on account of well, being high strung.

Allot has been going on in my mind lately as well. I chose to leave Health Fare, which is ok, since I am moving any ways. But I was getting really bogged down there. I am not sure if it was my essential self (the Self with the big S) that did not like cooking any more, or if it was just me not enjoying the atmosphere. I have taken a break from cooking as of late, and I am still not sure where I stand on the whole issue any more. And that is because I am not sure where my love of cooking really came from. Was it a natural desire, something I was bound to like, or was it caused by my self inflicted starvation? It is well documented that those who are starving become obsessed with cooking and reading about food, and that is defiantly what I was. So I am taking this break, and I will come back to cooking at a later date, and see what it feels like. For now, I am only confused.

I have also been trying to figure out what it is I am meant to be doing in this life. And I think I may just have to live with the fact that the answer is slightly complicated and multi faceted. I get so bored so easily, that I have serious doubts that my life passion could be summed up in one word. A work like "cook" or "writer" or "Twig collector." Perhaps this is due to the fact that I suffer from ADD and this whole world is full of new bright, shiny dis tractors. Or maybe it is just that diversity is the new wave, and I have decided to ride it. Facts are facts I suppose, and at this point, I still want to pursue yoga and life coaching. I also want to know more about horses, I possibly still love to cook, and I want to be out doors in the Mountains and by the sea as much as humanly possible. My future is a jumble of adjectives and verbs at the moment, but alas, that is ok. Or so my mom says.

This age, this being twenty something, it is a sticky wicket. None of us know ourselves well enough to really know what we want to do. And all of us expect ourselves to know what we are supposed to do. We are not children any more, and we need to start taking care of ourselves. But we still don't really know what it is we need to feel taken care of yet. I believe it is different for everyone. Some people really do need the security of a nine to five job and an RR SP to feel taken care of. Where others would feel totally stifled in that life and need to be able to come and go as they please, and just let the future UN fold uninterrupted. I still don't really know what it is that I need. I know I like to have a place to live that is my place. I know I love warm weather and beaches and mountains. I know I love my sister and being close to her. But does all that information point me on any kind of path? No. And so I am left to feel around blindly for what it is I want to do. My mom says that this is perfectly normal, exciting even. The world as it stands for me is one gigantic opportunity. Which is true, but from my vantage point, the world is one gaping black hole or endless choice and no real idea of which is even remotely correct. Does any one else feel this way? Is it really just me, or is it the syndrome of the twenty something? I would love to hear back from all of you, tell me your experience. It would appear that the only thing of which I am absolutely certain, is that I love durian.

I will have more soon, that is time to think and time to write in my life again. So I will be back shortly with more.

Love you all
Alyssa

Its Time For an Update!

>

Hello my friends. I have started this post with the pictures of the durian I enjoyed last Sunday! I actually had two! But I did not eat quite a bit of it, because me stomach was to stuffed. ALSO, in bigger news, MY LITTLE SISTER ATE TWO PODS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She, just like the rest of my family, used to HATE the smell. She said that it used to make her nauseated and gave her a head ache. Now, since I have been eating them in our apartment with her here for a few months, the smell no longer affects her. So I got her to taste one and she loved it!!! It may have been the most exciting moment of my entire week. She is going to have her own this Sunday. I still just can not even believe it. IN other food news, I am officially a food snob. I bought a box of organic bananas, that are ripening still, and I will only eat organic fruit. I have had two orange nights, which have been so lovely. These are called Cara Cara oranges! They are beautiful and pink and so tasty!<
As for life, I have been thinking allot as of late, as to what I want to be doing with myself when my yoga teacher training is over. I have been pretty much promoted to supervisor at my restaurant job, but this is mostly due to my large arsenal of cooking knowledge(all of which was acquired by watching the food network) and my obsessive view on cleaning. It feels strange to be good at something that I am no longer passionate about. I am glad that they value me there. And usually that ego stroke would be enough to convince me to sign my life away, and to pledge my allegiance to the restaurant. But that is just not the case any more. I must of matured something serious! I enjoy the physical nature of my job, and I love the team aspect, but I am un-satisfied on an intellectual level. And I just have this burning desire to really be of impact whilst I am here on earth. Life really is a gift, and I just want to milk it for all it is worth by contributing all that I can. There is just not a whole lot of room for me to go anywhere past where I am already in the restaurant industry. I have been happily reading my required course material with my Yoga Teacher Training. I feel like I learn something new each day about human nature, and how yoga works with it, not against it, but in a way to help people move forward, not feel badly about themselves because they were made aware of their short comings. Yes that was my wink and nudge towards organized religion, but enough of that for today. So, I was researching options for me, come the summer time, and I had quite a few. There is a fruit farm in Hawaii that I could go and live and work on. There is WWOOFing, which would be an amazing travel opportunity. There is joining a friend as she potentially journeys to Australia, and just working for a year. All of those options sound really really fun, but after thinking about it, I know I would just feel like I am taking one more year out of my life, not doing what I ultimately want to be doing, which is helping people. I don't know if it is just because I am turning 21 or what, but I really am feeling that I need to start my life's work. So after thinking quite a bit, the year abroad is ruled out. I know my sister and my mom are very likely going to be re-locating to Vancouver come the summer, and I really want to go with them. So Vancouver is the place. I would miss them way to much, and feel to left out if they moved and set up shop together next year and I was off some place else. So as for the what of my life, I was struggling with How I was going to help people. My mom and I have discussed opening a place together, where I would teach yoga, and she would life coach. She is currently learning so much in the Martha Beck Life Coaching course. And while I believe whole heatedly that yoga touches lives, I still want more. I see myself having one on one contact with people. Looking at what I like, I came down to Life Coaching myself, which I can start in June, as I finish my Yoga Teacher Training, or become a nature path. I want to be a life coach. I will already be dealing with peoples physical selves with yoga, and my nutritionist diploma (tee hee, betcha didn't know I had that did you!?), and the helping people find their right lives, sounds like a plan to me! SO, all in all, I will be moving to Vancouver this summer, starting to teach Yoga, and commencing Life Coaching training with Martha Beck!! Hazza!
Here is a picture of my beautiful sister, and the indispensable Chelsea, along with her overly generous birthday gifts for me!
< We all went to Health Fare(the place I work) for lunch this week. I learned that I just like sweet fruit. I had a bowl of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and lettuce. (I know, I know, not fruit... I didn't even like it boooo!) And I think I am just over it. I will be posting again soon. I have much to say. This was just a logistical up date, more philosophical to come later.

Don't Worry! It's mostly photos!!

!!

Good day all web-surfers and blog devour-ers! I am looking out of my window right now and all the white is reminding me that it is winter!! This week has literally flown by, with out my noticing. It was my first work week as you know, and it was an interesting one. I have made some discoveries. First thing I notice, is that all kitchens are eerily similar to one another. I suppose there is a system that works, and so people abide by it. And it seems to me that the kitchen attracts a certain group of people as well. The meticulous boss is for sure a standard fixture. I also realized that I do not want to own my own restaurant. I don't know, there is just something about the work it takes to work overtime in a restaurant, let alone being in CHARGE of all the things that go on, that does not resonate with me. It is a strange feeling to no longer really really love something I used to really really love. It seems my perspective on food is once again going through a metamorphosis. I used to really value the artistry of cooking and preparing food. I used to think it was so wonderful to mix, add to, take away from, arrange and re-arrange food. Now, it all just looks dull. Like all the things we do to food removes its vibrancy step by step. It is almost like cooking is an attempt to cover up some sort of fatal flaw that lies in raw food! I think as I am transitioning to my fruitarian life style, I am seeing raw fruits as perfection in food, and everything else, is just steps away from that perfection. I still love to companionship in the kitchen...some times. I feel this will very shortly become something that I ride out until my yoga teacher training is over, and I get to move. My sister and I are most likely going to be up rooting from the harsh winds of Southern Alberta to the flowery, green and wet streets of Vancouver!! This is a move I have dreamt of for years, and now, it is looking as though it is going to happen! Updates to follow, fear not.

On my own food front this week, things were a tad of a rough go. It is not because I had a desire to eat anything that was not fruit. It is strange to me, how once I make up my mind about something, all temptation to veer from the path disintegrates. No, it was because of the quality of my conventionally grown produce. It just was not very good. It was obviously picked to early, over treated with chemicals and improperly transported and stored. So my new rule, only organic. This is just something I know I have to do to maintain my health, and my enjoyment. And of course there is the issue of sustainable farming, less impact on our earth, and a smaller carbon foot print to spur me on as well. I generally like to stick with mono-days, of eating just one type of fruit in a day. This is because I know my poor little digestive system is so beyond burnt out, and I would like to be as gentle as I can. And this is fine, as long as the fruit is good. This week saw a myriad of oranges, apples and bananas. All of which were disappointing to a degree. But fear not! I have purchased my very own BOX full of organic bananas which are in the process of ripening as we speak! So this problem is very rapidly becoming a thing of the past.

Yesterday my father arrived from Red Deer, to spend time with my sister and to celebrate my up coming twenty first birthday!!! It was so nice to see him.>
We went out to a little vegan place to eat, because I thought I could order a Greek salad, without the feta, olives or dressing, and extra tomato! I was partially correct, but did end up eating some romaine lettuce, other wise I would have had a half a tomato and a half a bell pepper... So I suppose I "broke" my frutairan rule, but, I figure a little lettuce never hurt anyoneThat is my wee sister Sammi, and my papah!! This is a picture of my salad, I left the onions for the winter mice!.
Finally, after our little trip out, we came home and watched Public Enemies. Well, slightly more honestly, my dad and me sister watched Public Enemies, I surfed the web for blogs! And I ate oranges.Alas, farewell on this day readers, I will be back tomorrow for more insight and DURIAN DAY!!!!

D-DAY!!!

Hello one and all! Yesterday was Sunday, and thus, it was d-day. What is d-day you ask? D-day is my weekly indulgence day. I buy one, gigantic, durian, and this is my feast for the day! Yesterday, my Durian was sooooo creamy, so rich, so soft, so ripe. It tasted of vanilla and caramel and banana and custard. It was heavenly. Generally, I avoide the "super stuffed" feeling when I am eating, but for durain, the subsequent 20 minutes of pain are well worth it. I just love love love durian. It is my food obsession. During the week, I will always have moments of thinking that I smell some durian, or can taste it in my mouth. Ok, enough with my un-healthy affection for an inadiment object, on we go.

Last night also marked the wrap up of my first weekend of yoga teacher training. It was ASTOUNDINGLY different than I though it would be. Basically, the mirror of my spirit was held up to my face, and it was a rather un-pleasant reflection staring back at me. I realized that the nature of any amazing teacher is one of, patience, enthusiasm, grace, poise, and most importantly an amazingly generous spirit. Teachers are basically mooched off of all day long, everyday. I mean, think about it, they are giving information, encouragement, support and love all the time, in order to maximise their students learning potential. That is a huge call. I found out this weekend, that I am rather selfish with information. I feel annoyed when people ask me questions, like they should really be trying to figure it out themselves. I do not feel a burning desire to help people, mostly I feel bombarded by peoples need, and want to retreat. I am frustrated with people easily. I know that this program is really going to help me face these facts and over come them. I see myself as the loving, supportive, generous teacher, I am just not there yet. Also, I noticed that I am so used to learning passively. It has been a long time since I have actually let myself really care about anything. But I want to be enthusiastic about all the little details of yoga. So I am really going to have to let my guard down, and allow myself to be submerged in this training, not just floating above it, only 70% engaged and present. This will take work, but I have a feeling that this is why I was lead to this course.

And my last thing to jabber on endlessly about is how my first day at work went! It was so fantastic! I work at a place called Health Fare, here in Edmonton. (www.healthfare.ca) It is working toward a healthier fare than most take out places. Lost of veg, brown rice, whole wheat flour, and even FRUIT!! I tell you what, you could do a lot worse. I had forgotten how much I adore working in kitchens. The whole set up is something that really resonates with me. We are all active all day, there is no sitting around on a computer, or just sitting around being bored. We all work as a team to get everything done. We are actually literally working together, and I love that. There is rotation of tasks, you are never stuck doing the same thing for more than an hour, which is really good for my over-active brain. And there is a sense of being generous, and giving to the community of people who come in. We are providing nourishment, all be it not the nourishment I would eat, but still nourishment none the less, even if it is just in the love that we all put into the food we make for them. This place is also IMMACULATELY clean, and laid back. There is such a great energy and work ethic. If you live in Edmonton, you must come and see! Alas, I must go forage for some bananas! Untill next time!!

Post number one!! Welcome to my life!

Welcome... Ok, now is the time for me to come clean, I am very very poor at introductions. Once I get started and rolling, I can write up a storm, its just the getting started and the getting rolling part I have a hard time with. Today, I had my first day of yoga teacher training. It was a long day, nine hours to be exact. It was good, and kinda hard. I think that it will be a good thing for me, I just need to get adjusted. How did I get all the way to yoga teacher training you may ask? And what does that have to do with being a frutarian, or a cook? AH! Well I am so glad that you asked. I will tell you. I have had a stomach ache my whole life. (I promise that this is tieing things together, not just a random side note, bare with me) I also developed a poor habit of eating my feelings. By the time grade eight rolled around, I was about thirty pounds over weight and spending 3/4 of my time on the couch, with a stomach ache or a head ache or a chest cough, and also my trusty BOX of cookies. Digestive were my fav, just in case you are wondering. So then, in grade nine, I went on the high protein diet, and I lost twenty pounds, and I started working out. So I was feeling better, but the stomach aches persisted. I was eating better, but I was still dealing with a bit of over eating. I would be really good for a few days, with only meat and veggies, and then I would break down and eat 1/2 a loaf of banana bread with a fork, standing at the counter in a dark kitchen. It was around this time that I really got into baking and cooking. I was trying to make "lower carb, healthier" versions of the baked carbs I craved so much. Then in grade eleven, I came across the raw foods diet. I asked my mom if I could go on it, and she said now, I was a Type O blood type, and they need meat. At this time I was on a steady stream of protein bars and rice flour cookies. I wanted to be a vegetarian, but that was a no go. The grade elven blood drive came along around this time, only to reveal that I was a blood type Ae!! I went vegan overnight. The stomach aches were persistent and consistent, and I was finding it harder and harder to keep living a semi-normal life. In the summer I read a book called "raw foods real world" and I was done eating cooked food. This went along just fine for me until half way through grade twelve. I graduated early and jetted of to New Zealand for YWAM (Youth With A Mission) Long story short, It was very very hard, and I was made to feel VERY bad about my diet. The following year I plummeted into anorexia, and bottomed out at around 84 pounds. I also got a job at a little ready made meal market called Plate It Up! And it was fantastic! I was permanently in love with cooking, and grappling with an eating disorder to recover from. I spent the next year of my life TOTALLY miserable, gaining weight, off and on eating cooked food and just generally hating my life. And just like the first time, about eight months ago, I decided I would commit to raw foods, once and for all. I had familial permission, so long as I was eating enough, they did not care what it was I was eating. And thus, a happy compromise. There was one two month incident where I incorporated copious amounts of protein powder, as I was told this was of vital importance in my diet. I swelled like a balloon, and my skin turned yellow, so that was a short lived experiment. Being back on raw foods was a God send after those months of plight. My stomach aches dissipated, I had renewed energy, and I was actually enjoying my food again. Bu there was still a Small glitch in the works. I had transitioned to an 80/10/10 lifestyle, but was still spending allot of my time making substitution recipes for my friends and family. By this, I mean raw desserts. I had been making three desserts a week since I had gotten back from my trip to New Zealand in 2007. And while I would never actually sit down to a piece of anything I made, I still ate just enough of the batter of whatever I was making to feel ill. There was a special place in my over indulging heart for dates. It was time for yet another transition. So here we are. I have been fully raw for the last eight months, yet still indulging in heavy, fatty desserts. Now, I am dessert free. I will be eating simply, mono fruit days, with the occasional zucchini pasta with tomato. (Both are botanical a fruit, and there fore, REALLY easy on my digestion) I have always gravitated towards this simple way of eating, yet I just had to many addictions in my way before. Now, I feel free. I feel that not having to make the raw desserts any more was the last thing I needed to reach my hearts and bodies desire for ease. Now, here is the kicker. Whilst I was ill, I started to get really heavy into yoga. Yoga may seem like just a series of postures, a form of working out, (hum, mysterious that an anorexic would be drawn to that...) But in reality it is a practice of connecting with the body. To stop all the delusion of physical punishment as being something other than what it really is, destruction of the temple I am blessed by God to have. So through this time, I have decided that I want to take this path of yoga deeper, and become a teacher. So that is what I will be doing one weekend a month, for the next six months. And my day job... I am a cook! That is right. I have no desire what so ever to eat any cooked food, but I still love to prepare it. So, I am the fruitarian cook. I will be documenting my journey as a contraryan here, on this blog. I will post my meals, maybe my work outs, event of the day, photos and what ever else I feel has merit. And that is that! So please join me, as I venture to see what it is like for a young frutarian yogi, in a world of smoke and fire!