After one week of veganism, I am here to report.

Cheats:

one boiled egg – I just had to have it and I was on the run and there it was – waiting for me.  Gratefully, it was organic from free-ranged chickens. This occurred at the halfway point.

Detox or other symptoms:

1) I noticed my skin around my nose and chin cleared up immediately, within hours of re-filling my body up with fruit.

2) I developed an inner cold sore within my bottom inner lip.  As of yesterday, it has gone away.  I am going to go with the notion it was a form of detox.

The skin is your biggest organ and will be the first to show signs of allergy, detox, etc..

Weight loss and energy levels:

My energy surged and has waned.  I know my body is adjusting since another development was the gassy feeling from eating so many complex carbohydrates and fiber.  That settled so I am sure my energy will follow.  I immediately gained two pounds and then proceeded to lose three and a half.  I am encouraged, although the weekend is here and it gets tougher to stay on track.

What I learned:

I enjoyed eating a baked sweet potato (split open, sprayed with olive oil and seasoned with a little salt and cinnamon) the other night for dinner, accompanied first by a salad (romaine, radishes and green onions), an appetizer of hummus with broccoli and finishing off with my apple/walnut bake with the addition of creamed frozen bananas. I felt like I had a four course gourmet meal!

I enjoy making green smoothies, stashing extra into go – to coffee containers and using them whenever I am on the run, after the egg incident.

I am absolutely not starving.  Veggies, all kinds of beans and fruits are my friends. I am having a blast creating food within my new parameters I meted out to myself: low fat, low starch, no sugar vegan, as best as I can.  Best of all, I am moving towards my goals.

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Here’s to our three kids spread out all over the U.S.!!!Our three cats say meow!

Change Your Thoughts, Change your Life is a book by Wayne Dyer that came to mind today when we sat down and explored Lesson 281 today at my Course in Miracles meet up.  Today’s message was: “I can be hurt by nothing but my thoughts.”

It is as simple but not as easy as having the willingness to let go (surrender) all your negative thinking and allow or permit kind thoughts; thoughts of love, peace, serenity, gratitude, light and faith to enter.  Every negative thought is a brick in the wall that blocks us from the sunlight of the spirit.  Allow yourself to have joy knowing the magnitude and the magnificence of who you really are – a product of love.

In the course we learn that the body’s only use is to heal, comfort and bless.  We also get to practice and ask ourselves when upset or disturbed, “What or whom needs to be forgiven? Right now?”

This class really helps me attain and maintain peace.  But we have to be willing and make the decision to choose Joy, Love, Peace.  And the moment is always in the NOW.

Your true north is your calling.  What inspires you?  What is your passion?  What is the purpose of your life?

I have asked these questions of myself throughout my life and receive astounding answers.  I am much more than I have ever realized for I am much more divine than I ever dreamed of.  And so are you.  It’s that knowing.

Because when you begin to ask yourself these questions, you begin to live on a spiritual plane.Just grow into the person you were always meant to be.

It seems my daughter, V, also came to the conclusion she was better off vegan.  Interesting – without a word between us, she jumped into it on Friday.  And, so, the journey begins…Bi-coastal recipe swapping will follow.  We both feel better, btw.

If you plan to eat the vegan way- get your Vitamins D and B12 from a supplement and eat your Vitamin E (walnuts and flaxseed).  You get plenty of Calcium from dark greens, broccoli, etc..but I take a supplement for now.

Apples are arriving at farmstands and local farmer’s markets.  Tis the season to enjoy them.  Yesterday, I cut up three organic Gala apples(skins and all), placed 6oz each into small ceramic mini bun pans.  I sprinkled on some organic cinnamon, tossed in two tablespoons of organic raw walnuts (broken into pieces with my fingers) and added 3 ounces of water.  Then, I covered with foil and baked till the apples were tenderish at @ 400 degrees for @ 20 minutes.  I removed the foil and baked till golden, @ 10- 20 more minutes depending on your oven.  The exquisite juice became syrupy and no need for sugar.  It was like having an apple pie for only 175 calories and organically healthy.  Every bite had crunch, a toasted, nutty flavor as well as a tart and melt in your mouth feel full of apple filling.Before BakingSet in oven, covered, so juices release and steam the apple.Uncover about two thirds the way through.Voila.  Three desserts.

There are some truisms that are universal and then there are specific truths, identified as singular and distinct to each individual and unique person.

For example:

We all need to eat – but each body, temperament, circumstance or environment we find ourselves in will determine what’s healthiest, appropriate or advantageous for us to eat at that moment and at that moment in time of our lives.

What I ate as an active, playful, free-spirited child who didn’t know about calories, fat grams or taxes, is different than a menopausal woman diligently getting to the gym as a matter of discipline with joint pain, calcium, bone density and an enlarged middle to think about.

Which brings me to the next admission:

I continue to experiment with myself for I am not an expert but I do consider myself an experiencer.

Three days ago, I was eating all the fats and proteins I could handle.  For months this was working with a generous amount of vegetables, some fruit, and  here and there -a starchy carbohydrate; but I had begun to slide into a standstill.  I even amped up my exercise which only made my body feel like it required more food.

I pumped it up and got on the Wheat Belly diet or the 2013 version of Atkins.  Somehow, after a few days of no fruit, a wee amount of non-starchy vegetables and not even a mention of simple white carbohydrates or sugar on my lips, my digestive and expelling systems were not too keen on this new regime.  So, I switched it up.

I am now testing an eating practice I have navigated before with previous success.  I am having a go again at low fat, low carb vegan in order to lose a few stubborn pounds I am frustrated with.

What I noticed immediately was the return of my elimination patterns and rumbling in my tummy.  It’s amazing what some fiber, green material and fructose can accomplish in so little time, in one little person.

The other benefit is a complete clearing of my complexion.  For weeks, I have been struggling with flaky, red and blotchy skin around my nose and on my chin.  Within hours, my skin returned to an even tone with no dryness.

I gained two pounds, but I expected a re-adjustment to occur.

I may be romancing the meatless, veggie and fruit extravaganza, but I think I feel livelier, smarter and less anxious, too.

Time will tell and I will keep you posted.

I do not mind a breeze but I detest vehemently strong, unrelenting Santa Ana winds.  Today we are experiencing some extreme nature and it is not to my liking.  So I tell myself, “Go with the flow or you will need tranquilizers to endure life.”  and then I thought, ” Life is not to be endured.”  “Life is to be relished and feasted upon.”

In order to come out of my own discomfort, I reach for the phone and ask if I can do something for someone else.  There is always someone outside myself that may need a helping hand, voice or ear and it’s the only way I know how to get out of self, freeing me from my own internal negative dialogue.  There is an old saying, “I may not be much, but it’s all I think about.”

Today, the winds remind me I need to walk through the unpleasant, perturbing or stressful moments of life, not around them.  And that the solution is being of service to others and/or getting into action, going with the flow of life and releasing the need to swim upstream.

Now, the winds can just mean it’s going to be a bad hair day.

“The truth will set you free, 
but first it will make you miserable.”
 James A. Garfield 


Here’s an example of a saying I kept hearing for years and never knew where it came from originally.  Actually, I heard it as “the truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.”

I have decided that we each get to choose what works for us.  No book or diet or opinion can tell us what is right for us.

I don’t have to fix anything, anyone or any uncomfortable situation.  I don’t have to change my behavior because of someone else’s attitude towards me.  I don’t have to believe your opinion of me or give it power.

Know who you are.  To thine own self, be true.

“And that’s the truth.” As Edith Anne (Lily Tomlin) would say and immediately afterwards, stick her tongue out and blow a raspberry.

It is amazing how everyone is the same actually.  We all have personality quirks of some sort as well as useful qualities.  Like a puzzle piece, I fit into your need and you fit into mine.  Your strengths fit into my jigsaw puzzle cutout.  Your resources fill my vacant needs.  And sometimes, not always, it is vice versa.

Some of us have jagged edges or rounded circles that jut out like arms.  Most puzzle pieces are cut with both outward and inward perimeters.  Some protrusions look like they are going to fit and find a match but do not lock in.  Some knobs or indentations are small, some large.  Some pieces seem to fit but the illustration is not congruent with the big picture.  Sometimes the timing in our lives is all wrong or just right for the inclusion or exclusion of that person, place or thing.

It’s great when you can place together all the jigsaw pieces around a central one.  It’s exciting to find the corners and develop the frame.  The hardest part is filling up the middle just like filling up our own insides.

I can see how we are all jigsaw puzzle pieces; looking, searching, finding, rejecting and if lucky-clicking with other pieces (persons) that fit neatly into our lives.  Perhaps these are our soul mates and kindred spirits that help us along or help us achieve our position in the jigsaw puzzle of the world.

Every piece is necessary and has its place.

We are interdependent.  We support each other in order to feel whole, one with others and make sense of this life.  The pieces I fit into radiate away from me and fit into other pieces that connect me to them, not physically, yet importantly.  It is the Big Picture, the wide view, the totality of it all that overwhelms as it humbles.

I am Pausing today and remembering to be grateful for all the souls in my life, as well as yours.