How important is it that my mate eats raw, or is vegan or vegetarian?

Recently I got an email from a woman concerned whether or not her relationship with her boyfriend can or will last as she adopts a more vegan and raw foods diet as she says that he (the boyfriend) eats a lot of meat especially red meat and fried foods and highly desires to continue to eat meat.

As I've journeyed through this experience of having a vibrant high energy diet full of live foods and juices, I've come to the realization that everything else in my life and reality must adhere to those same principles so I've noticed that personally everyone especially my mate must as well have a similar diet and thus a similar mindset. I say this for a number of reasons. One being as though most people who eat meat and who eat a lot of meat have what I call a meat mindset in which they cannot foresee eating a plate of food without some form of animal indigestible protein which is a problem because that means they are not open-minded and therefore blocked in some ways. They also probably struggle with other ares of their life such as self-worth as a diet full of a lot of flesh foods and especially fried foods is the #1 cause of most preventable diseases. So if you are eating to live and he is eating to die, these are two energies working against each other.

This could cause problems in your relationship as you continue to grow on this path as you will notice if you continue this journey that eating a mostly live foods diet naturally lends itself to opening up the mind, body, and spirit to higher levels of spiritual ascension. This opening up could lend itself to so many forms and possibilities that you may not be aware of or even prepared for. If you study any of the greatest teachers of humanity throughout history, you will understand that the way to ascension was through the physical vessel in which they knew the body had to operate at its most vibrant and radiant energetic level as possible meaning that a vibrant diet and fasting and cleansing was key to achieving this outcome.

As you grow and journey, you will notice that your entire life will change. Your friends will change, your priorities will change, your career may even change, your finances may change, the places you visit may change, the movies you choose to watch may change, your language may change, and especially your programming,and therefore your mate may even change.

On a personal note, I do know of many couples where one person is vegetarian or vegan and the other is not, but the one person who is not vegetarian or vegan is also very open-minded as to his or her food choices and they have a high level of respect and even admiration for the other person who chooses not to eat flesh foods. On another note, I know of some couples where one person eats meat and the other person doesn't and there is always conflict when going to social events or out to dinner as the other person who eats meat will either make comments about his or her diet or make fun of them. This is extremely disrespectful and a waste of one's time and energy as the person who is making fun of the other person is not taking into consideration that his or her mate really values his or her health.

If you want to keep your relationship and also keep true to yourself with learning how to eat better, the best thing to do is to focus on you and what your mind, body, and spirit needs. He is not the last man on earth and he may actually see how you may change and want to change his diet as well or he may not. Either way is not wrong or right. Change is inevitable and consistent and its always working on your side.

Quick and Easy Juicing Tips

Juicing is a great way to get more nutrients in your body without having to eat and digest a lot of fruits and vegetables. Could you imagine eating all of the vegetables and fruits that you actually juice? It could be overwhelming, so if you have the equipment to juice, take full advantage of it. Here are a few quick and easy juicing tips to enhance your experience.

Fresh juice is best drank as soon as you finish juicing.

Store pulp in freezer and use for soups, dips, sauces, at a later date.

Start with juicing softer fruits or vegetables first and then firmer ones.

Do not force any fruits or vegetable through the chute. Allow the pusher to push them through.

For easy cleaning, place a plastic bag inside the pulp collector container.

Let the unit run for a few minutes after you finished juicing to allow any excess juice to be extracted from the pulp.

Do not put any fruits or vegetables through the juicer until the unit is turned on.

Juice the vegetables that you like, not the ones that you don't like and not the ones that everyone tells you to juice.

You must have a base juice when juicing. Your base juice can be celery, carrot, cucumber, apple, pineapples, or beets. These fruits and vegetables have a lot of juice in them and can serve as your base juice.

Never juice bananas or avocados. They do not have any juice in them. Use them instead in a blender for a smoothie blend.

If you have to store your juices because of time restraints, drink them in at least 3 days.

Fresh watermelon juice is the best breakfast in the world. Its cool and refreshing and it cleanses out the kidneys especially during the early AM hours of the day. People who have high blood pressure should think about drinking fresh watermelon juice everyday while its in season.

Feast on as much juice as your body can take. The body loves fresh juice especially in the summertime.

Happy Juicing!

Top 7 Reasons to Detox and Cleanse Your Mind, Body, and Spirit

I did the Master Cleanse right after the New Year hit and now I'm starting a 7-day juice fast as soon as I get my new juicer in. Juicing, cleansing, and fasting are ancient spiritual practices that promote healing, wellness, and spiritual transcendence and ascension. All of the ancient teachers practiced fasting in order to heal their bodies and to ascent to higher levels of spirituality.

There are many different types of fasts for many different people, lifestyles, likes, tastes and desires so I encourage you to find one that fits your tastes and just do it. But in the meantime here are some top ten reasons to cleanse and detox your mind, body, and spirit

• Weight Loss - Weight is nothing but waste in your digestive organs such as the colon or liver. Anytime you do a cleanse or detox of any sort, you are going to shed some pounds. Some will shed more than others. Even though I'm not looking to lose weight, usually when I do a detox I expect to lose about 5-7 pounds, but usually I gain the weight back when I stop doing the detox. The body's intelligence will know how much weight you need to lose or not to lose. Trust me if you are looking to lose weight you will, if you are not looking to lose weight, you will not.
  

• More Energy - With all the weight loss, your body naturally will have more physical, mental, and emotional energy. I always notice that I rise earlier, fall asleep better, and sleep less when I detox. The mornings are great for prayer and meditation so this is a wonderful time to really connect with Source and get back to your body's natural energetic rhythms.
  

• Clearer Skin - When the body releases toxins within, it shows on the outside. What's going on inside is going on outside so for those who need to have clear, bright, skin that shines, the right herbal detox is a great fit for getting that photogenic skin in gear.
  

• More mental and emotional clarity - This is a big One! With all the physical benefits of a detox, there are enormous other benefits as well. When the body is aligned, the mind and spirit become aligned as well. So the mind can deal with more things when it is clear and grounded. I notice how much more emotionally balanced and available I am to myself as well as to others. What can also happen though and for those who are extremely toxic in the body is that you can experience extreme mood swings when detoxing, but whatever emotion you have to detox it has to come to the light to heal so embrace the mood swings, take a nap if need be, journal about it, and keep on your detox. Clarity is a huge gift as it helps us to make better decisions, critically analyze, and otherwise see things that we normally would not see when we are bogged down physically in our bodies.
  

• Improved Immune system - After a detox, you will notice how you won't get as sick as much if you also continue to stick to a mostly raw and/or vegan/vegetarian diet that is diverse, nutritional, and full of greens. Or when you do get sick, your body will immediately work to heal itself and it will heal itself quicker. Years ago when I used to detox frequently, I noticed when I did get colds, they might have only lasted for a day. And when I first went raw, I came down with the flu for the first time, but it only lasted for two days. The body's intelligence starts to work overtime as it responds to how you are taking care of it.
  

• Better stress management - I don't know if I have more or less stress in my life or if I'm just better at handling it now than I was before. Doing a detox and also maintaining a really healthy diet and exercise program will reduce your unhealthy reactions to stress. Stress is a killer, but if we can learn how to respond to it differently, we can manage our health differently.

• Spiritual Ascension - When the body is purified and empty, your spirit now has the ability to transform itself without the distraction of toxins. Do not be surprised if your intuitive and psychic muscles start to activate. Cleansing and fasting is practiced all over the world in our churches, our mosques, and our synagogues as ways of purifying our lives and connecting to God more deeply.
  

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:

Nwenna Kai is the author of The Goddess of Raw Foods available for purchase at www.amazon.com and the upcoming children's book, The MoreLove's coming September 2010. You can get the FREE e-book Nwenna Kai's Holiday Recipes at her website www.nwennakai.com by signing up for her weekly e-newsletter at her website. She is the previous owner of Taste of the Goddess Cafe, one of LA's pioneering organic raw food cafes. She is the 2007 winner of the Elizabeth Dole Young Entrepreneurial Scholarship sponsored by Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) for her work as a health and wellness entrepreneur. Visit her website at www.the-guide-to-raw-foods.com and her blog at www.theguidetorawfoods.com/blogspot.com.

Green Drink and Green Smoothie Variations

I'm experimenting this week with green drinks and green smoothies

Here's some combos for you to try.

2 cucumber
2 kiwis
1 bunch of green grapes

Juice in a juicer.

handful of celery stalks
1 granny smith apple
1 piece of ginger
1 cucumber

Juice in a juicer.

almond milk
handful of swiss chard
1 banana
1 pear

apple juice
handful of spinach
1 pear
1 banana
1 avocado
handful of berries

Blend in a blender to make a smoothie


apple juice
handful of kale
1 avocado
handful of blueberries
handful of mangoes
1 tablespoon of chia seeds

Blend in a blender to make a smoothie
1 tablespoon of E3 Live Total Body Blend

Enjoy and create some of your own. If you have some in mind, please do share.

How to Stay Eating Raw

Eating raw is a lifestyle and not just a diet and over the ten years that I have gone back and forth and back and forth with eating raw, the one lesson that I've learned is to not limit myself or put pressure on myself on staying 100% raw. As long as I eat healthy and consume a diet of mostly fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and grains which is what I believe to be a healthy and balanced diet, I consider this to be a way of life for me as life has its ups and downs and its challenges, blessings, and opportunities for growth, change, and renewal, as human beings sometimes we just change our minds about life and I've come to learn that that is ok.

With all of that said, some of you are wondering, well how can I eat more raw or stay focused on eating raw now and here are my tips and suggestions based on my own experiences.

- Surround yourself with a health conscious community. Enlist a friend, child, family member who also wants to eat more healthier. Having a buddy always make it easier.

- Embrace the diversity of a health conscious diet and define it for what it looks like for your life.

- Arm yourself with information, resources, books, online communities. Let it consume your life in a positive way.

- Carve out time for shopping and preparing food and make it a priority as your health should come before anything else.

-Get creative with recipes and diversify your kitchen staples so that your diet is one of surplus and abindance as opposed to lack.

- Have your favorite foods or staples on hand so that you can always grab it. I keep almond butter and raw tahini because I can make so many different recipes with these simple ingredients.

- Try eating raw one day out of the week.

- Don't beat yourself up when you slip up and have an Oreo cooking or something. When you've been eating one way for so many years, its hard to just stop and eat another way. Food has attachment to it.

- Limit eating out a lot and with friends who don't eat like you. This can be a great challenge as food is such a social activity in our culture but you have to keep in mind that you are changing your diet and ultimately your lifestyle so your friends and social activities are going to change as well. Welcome the transformation and the transition.

The revolution starts at the dinner table!