When life hands you lemons...

...pack up your lemons and your juicer (and the rest of your veggies) and maybe your dog, and head to your aunt’s house in North Carolina.

At least, that’s what I did this weekend.  Since I like to be completely candid and honest with you, here’s my deal:

I got a 3-day suspension from my restaurant job for doing the crossword puzzle. Yes, perhaps I should not have been doing the crossword puzzle. In my defense, I didn’t have any tables and it was before the lunch crowd was coming in. In any case, a 3-day suspension seemed a bit harsh for a minor infraction, but all that is neither here nor there. Whatever the circumstances were, I was pretty upset about the situation.

So what did I do this weekend when I was not working? Well, I gave myself a much-needed vacation! Instead of wallowing in self-pity, I just got out of town and left all of my troubles behind.

Which is not to say that I avoided dealing with my problems. First I wrote my manager a nice little letter in my journal. I never intend to send it, but it felt really good to get all of my feelings out. After I finished that, I packed up the car and started driving.

When I have a lot to think about, a long drive can be the perfect cure. Something about the solitude and the open road gives me the chance to mull everything over, get out some tears, and see new opportunities in front of me.

While I was in Greensboro, I made sure to breathe in the fresh air, enjoy the beautiful blossoming trees, partake in some delicious homemade meals, and relish the company of family. It’s so easy to get caught up in going at the speed of light in our everyday lives that you forget how nice it is to let someone else take care of you for a few days.


I believe that everything happens for a reason. Not only did this basket of lemons give me an opportunity to get out of the city, take some deep breathes, and nourish my body, but it also got me thinking about my next plan of action. If I’m so unhappy in this job, why don’t I do something about it? I’ve been saying for practically a year now that I’m going to move back to San Francisco, and a job that makes me miserable is no reason to keep putting that off. Pretty great and empowering realization, don’t ya think? Now I’ve got a time line and some monetary goals to turn my dreams into reality.

So thank you, manager who shall not be named, for that lovely gift. I guess I don’t hate you so much after all.

Molasses needed a vacation too!

What do you do when you have a lot on your mind? What’s your favorite way to get out your emotions? Where do you like to escape to? I’d love to hear from you!

P.S. – If you want to help me get out of my job even faster, sign up to be my next client! :)

You RAWk!

If you live in the DC area, then you got to experience some beautiful sunshine this past weekend. Weather likes this puts me in such a good mood – everyone at work can certainly tell you how happy I’ve been since Friday.

The start of spring also makes my body start to crave raw food, interestingly enough. You may or may not know this, but last summer I ate raw for about 50 days, and I felt great! Eating raw during the summer time cools you down, gives you energy, and makes you feel alive! I was fully dedicated to the raw foods lifestyle, until the weather started to get cold. BAM – I started craving brown rice! After that I thought I never wanted to go back to eating raw foods again. I decided that I loved cooked foods too much.

But like I said, it’s starting to get warmer, and all of the sudden I want salad, and fresh raw veggies, and light, uncooked food! Are our bodies intelligent, or what?

So what is a raw food diet? What are the benefits of raw food? Why has my body started to crave them again now that the weather is getting warmer?

Food is considered raw when it is not heated above 118 degrees (this number is slightly up for debate – some people say you have to stay below 104 degrees). A raw foodist is someone who eats anywhere from 75-100% raw foods.

The benefits of raw foods are many, so I will summarize them here for you into my top 3 favorite reasons: 

1. Living and raw foods contain enzymes that our bodies can’t make on their own. Enzymes are essential in keeping your body functioning – they help with everything from digestion to detoxification to brain function and immune health. When you cook food above 118 degrees, those enzymes in your food are destroyed, and you have to spend more energy digesting what you just ate!
2. Raw foods help balance your pH levels. Remember in high school chemistry when you learned about acid and alkaline substances? You may have slept through that lesson, but it’s important to know now that your body has a pH level too! Your body functions best when it is slightly on the alkaline side. When you’re too acidic, you can experience symptoms like a runny nose, heartburn, inflammation, arthritis, poor circulation, chronic fatigue – even cancer! Eating raw foods will keep you on the alkaline side and help you avoid all those nasty-sounding health problems!
3. Raw foods give you energy. When your body is functioning more efficiently and digestion is easier (see point number 1), you have more energy to spend on other things! When I was on a raw food diet, I found that I needed less sleep, could exercise harder, and stay at work longer before I got tired. And who doesn’t want more energy?

But why do I want raw food more now that it’s starting to get warm? Our bodies are intelligent machines, and they are programmed to eat seasonally. Raw foods help cool down and hydrate your body, which feels great when the weather’s hot! Raw foods also help detox your body, which our bodies naturally want to do in the spring as well.

Want to know more about raw food? I’m in the process of putting together a raw food preparation and detox program, so keep an eye out for more information on that in the coming weeks!

These are my confessions

Continuing on the cravings theme from last week, I have something to share with you.

Remember how we talked about honoring your body’s cravings, even when you’re craving something bad for you? Well, I’ve been craving something, and lately I’ve been having an internal debate – “should I just eat it? No, I can’t just eat it, it’s not right.”

I’ve been craving chicken.

WHAT?! I’ve been craving CHICKEN?!

Yes, I’ve been craving chicken. For those of you that don’t know, I’m a tried and true PROUD vegan, and have been for almost 2 years. Before being vegan, I was a vegetarian for 4 years. It’s been a long time since any kind of meat has come near my plate, let alone my mouth.

So why chicken?

I’m thinking there are probably two possible explanations for this strange craving. The first is that I’m missing some of the nutrients that chicken can provide me with. The second is that for me, chicken could mean comfort and a complete meal. I used to survive on chicken. I was never a red meat kind of girl, but I loved me some chicken.

So it’s probably a combination of both. I just got my blood work done and discovered that pretty much everything is in the recommended range, which is awesome. I know I’m not suffering from some major deficiency, but maybe there’s something in the chicken that other plant-type proteins can’t offer me. It could also be partly an emotional craving. I’m around chicken all the time at work, and to be honest with you, those pear salads look much better with chicken on them than with a scoop of beans (protein option number 2). As I mentioned, I also have this intense background of eating chicken, and my body could be associating it with other comfort foods.

Am I going to eat chicken? To be honest with you, I haven’t decided yet. I don’t want to ignore my body’s cravings. I also don’t know if I could physically go through with eating a piece of meat. The idea of eating a cute little animal, even if it was pasture-raised and slaughtered humanely (don’t get my started on how “slaughtered humanely” is such an oxymoron), just doesn’t appeal to me. So I’ve got myself a little conundrum here.

If you were me, what would you do? Have you ever craved something that you thought maybe you should but you reallllllly didn’t want to? What did you do? I’d love to hear from you!

You mean I can still eat chocolate cake??

Pick up any diet book these days and it will tell you what to eat and what not to eat.  Eat a turkey burger, not a hamburger.  Drink red wine, not a vodka cranberry.  Eat fruit for dessert, not that chocolate cake.  If I subscribed to this theory, I would walk around all day thinking about what I could and couldn’t eat, feeling deprived and depressed!  What if one day I just want to eat that chocolate cake? If you approach life thinking about all of the things you can’t have, one day you’re going to snap and binge on that chocolate cake. Trust me, I’ve been there.

Is there an alternative to this way of living? Absolutely, 100% YES!

Yesterday a co-worker approached me at the end of her shift to tell me that she was craving something really bad, and she told me that she needed me to talk her out of eating it. You’re not going to believe it, but I told my coworker to just go ahead and eat that unhealthy food. One hamburger (or whatever your vice may be) is not going to kill you.

I should warn you though, there is a catch. I also told my coworker to order something healthy – like a side salad, some sautéed spinach or grilled asparagus – and to eat that first. Eat that entire bowl of veggies, and THEN start in on your “unhealthy” food. Chances are, you probably won’t be able to finish that whole hamburger after your big bowl of veggies. Approaching your cravings this way will kill two birds with one stone – you’ll get a full serving of vegetables, AND you’ll get a little taste of that food that’s nagging at the back of your mind.

Next time you want those vegan nachos or some chocolate chips (my two out of control addictions right now), eat a salad first. Then fully enjoy some (but not the entire plate) of those vegan nachos. You don’t need to feel guilty, it won’t ruin your diet, and it certainly won’t kill you. It’s great to be healthy 100% of the time, but life is boring if you don’t do a little living!