JUICE FEASTING

Vitamin B-12!

2011-05-25T18:08:00.000-07:00

Hi Friends and Juice Feasters!

If you are familiar with JuiceFeasting.com, my presentations, or the book I researched with Dr. Gabriel Cousens, M.D. called There is a Cure for Diabetes, then you KNOW I am an avid researcher.

Well, I am at it again. This time, it's Vitamin B-12, and the information is HUGE.

I am doing a free webinar on Vitamin B-12 next Tuesday, May 24th, where I will present to you my latest research on this important nutrient that most of us are lacking - and that is SO EASY to fix once and for all. The Vegan community does not need to be low in this essential nutrient. You can click the video below to check it out:

Did you know: Even If You Eat A Raw Vegan Diet, You Are 80% Likely To Be Low In Vitamin B-12?

Low B-12 Means: Low Energy, Foggy Thinking, and Poor Digestion...and the research I have uncovered shows that low B-12 will actually create health conditions that can largely eliminate the GAINS you achieve by eating a plant-based diet!
Join This Free Online Training, Bust Through All The B-12 'misinformation', And Easily Raise Your B-12 Levels, Once and For All... With David Rainoshek, M.A.

Here's what you'll learn at this live free online training:

+ The 3 ways to determine if you are B-12 deficient or not (most people have no idea)
+ The GOLD Standard for testing B-12 levels.
+ 3 Powerful Little-Known Methods to properly raise your B-12 levels and KEEP them there.
+ Which B-12 Supplements Are a COMPLETE Waste of Time (and money) and Might Actually Damage Your Health.
+ Why Your Doctor May Not Even Know Anything About B-12
+ The Most Common Signs Of B-12 Deficiency Including Ones You May Not Be Aware Of
+ Why most of the time Vitamin B-12 Deficiency Goes Completely Misdiagnosed.

Seats to this free online training are FREE, but they're on a first come first serve basis. Whether you are or ARE NOT concerned about your B-12, don't miss this, because low B-12 is so easy to miss (most people don't even know they're deficient)

...AND it's easy to fix... I'll show you how.
Click here to register!

See you soon!

Sincerely,

David Rainoshek, M.A.
http://www.JuiceFeasting.com

Are You On A Hero's Journey?

2011-05-07T19:14:00.000-07:00

Hi Juice Feasting Friends,

What does the film Never Cry Wolf have to do with Juice Feasting?

The Hero's Journey!

I (David) addressed the connection at the Raw Food World Conference here in Vilcabamba, Ecuador this week in my two-hour presentation on Juice Feasting: A Modern Hero's Journey.

The film is based on Canadian writer and legend Farley Mowat's book Never Cry Wolf. The hero is sent on a government study into the arctic to study wolves - alone. It is a story of one person's solitary hero's journey of the call to adventure, trials, self-discovery, and finding perennial truths that society has forgotten.

The Hero's Journey is a going out, and a return, and during the talk I spliced in excerpts from Never Cry Wolf - the movie - to illustrate this path. I highly recommend both the short book and the beautiful film in building a knowledge and a felt-sense of what the Hero's Journey is.

If you are working to transform your life, you are on The Hero's Journey!! I have dedicated a whole Day of JuiceFeasting.com to this important mental / emotional / spiritual aspect of Juice Feasting and life transformation. I have a 50-minute talk on The Hero's Journey on that day, complete with an interview with Angela Stokes about her 92-Day Juice Feast.

Members can find this excellent Day here: Day 9: The Hero's Journey

You will also find a talk by Joseph Cambell on The Hero's Journey on Day 9, as well, along with a whole file I have created for you to download and enjoy.

(If you are not a member of JuiceFeasting.com. you can sign up now and receive access to the entire 92-Day Program, with 92 Days of important files, videos, articles, information and inspiration to spur you on in your own Hero's Journey!!!)

WHAT IS THE GREAT STORY OF MY LIFE?

The great psychologist Carl Jung asked himself, "What is the myth I am living by?" Jung, when he realized he did not know, wrote, "I took it upon myself to get to know 'my' myth, and I regarded this as the task of tasks."

This question burns in many of us. What is the great story of my life?

If you want some help answering it, look to Joseph Campbell. The Hero with a Thousand Faces is an excellent book, and even more approachable is the series The Power of Myth with Bill Moyers and Joseph Campbell presented on PBS. You can find it here:

Enjoy Day 9 of the Juice Feasting Program, and the discovery of the deep mythology and meaning of your life. You are on a Hero's Journey!

With peaceful steps,

David Rainoshek

Hanging out with my daughter Sophia between busy moments!

www.JuiceFeasting.com

www.DavidRainoshek.com

http://twitter.com/DavidRainoshek

http://www.facebook.com/davidrainoshek

Raw Food World Conference!

2011-05-04T10:04:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends!

First of all, I am so glad that so many of you decided to include this FILM in your health and wellness libraries. David and I were living and working at the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center while the film "Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days" was being edited and we were even there for the very first viewing in Dr. Cousens' office! Very exciting to see it out there in the world doing its magic.

We are still loving the valley and so excited that our time here is lining up with The 2011 Raw Food World Conference, sponsored by Matt Monarch and Angela Stokes-Monarch along with Dave the Raw Food Trucker and his dear ally Teresa. I love, love, love that this is held as a free event, opening up so many opportunities for sharing, community building, playing, learning, and loving. And what a beautiful group of people! I am so excited to be spending the next two weeks with all of you and looking forward to getting to know you much better!

David gave a talk on Juice Feasting last night, and I was hoping to go but little Sophia had other plans...such as sleep! No matter though, there are plans to create a video of his presentation soon and I plan on seeing that! (I hope!) ~Motherhood brings all kinds of opportunities to go with the flow :)~

I've created an album for photos I've taken during the event here for those of you who, like me, are passionfilled for pictures! xo (If you happen to be in any of these photos and would like a copy, please leave a message and I'll send them along!)

And, last but not least, one of the less important but countless reasons I fell in love with David...his Brazil Nut Pate Nori Cracker!

Matt says "This is by far the best raw food recipe for Nut Pate and Crackers Angela and I have ever tasted." And I say, yeah, I know!

Hope you enjoy it too!

xxxx
Love and blessings,

Katrina

Diabetes: Owning the Truth‏

2011-04-28T18:38:00.000-07:00

Hi Friends and Juice Feasters,

Do you want proof? Most of us do. How about a FILM and a BOOK that prove we can heal diabetes?

You can find the goods in the powerful documentary film "Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days." If you haven't yet seen this film there's something really special going on this week only that you should check out.

You can see the trailer for the film right here:

Click Here to Watch the Trailer Now

When Dr. Cousens and I released the book There is a Cure for Diabetes, we were certain that the proof was in the Green Vegetable Juice: A live, plant-based diet is the most powerful way to bring down high blood sugar and heal the health challenges associated with diabetes.

One out of three children born in the U.S. today will develop diabetes, if we maintain our current course. Wow. As a researcher and health practitioner, I can tell you that this is a precursor for the decline of a civilization, if left unchecked. OR it is an opportunity to reassess, to reorient to the Hero's Journey of healing. That is what you will witness in the film: heroics in healing.

Whether you're in perfect health or suffering with diabetes or any other health issue I highly recommend you watch this film Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days. It's a powerful, emotional and educational film that is a must see for anyone who cares about their health.

P.S. - For 5 days only the producers of the film are giving away "Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days" and the companion "Raw for Life" 2 disc DVD set for 50% OFF the regular price in an effort to raise awareness on how to reverse diabetes and other illnesses with raw and living food

It's all part of the April 25th Reversing Diabetes Action Day celebration which is taking place this week.

Make sure to check out the trailer right away…

Click Here to Watch the Trailer Now

Finally, on JuiceFeasting.com, I have dedicated a whole Day 72 of the 92-Day Member Program to Diabetes, so that excellent information is available, as well!

With peaceful steps,

David Rainoshek, MA

www.JuiceFeasting.com

www.DavidRainoshek.com

http://twitter.com/DavidRainoshek

http://www.facebook.com/davidrainoshek

South of the Equator!

2011-04-12T10:48:00.000-07:00

Hello Dear Friends!

I am writing to you while listening to a beautiful cacophony of highland birds and looking out over big yellow hibiscus flowers to a lush green valley and hills beyond.

Yes, we are in Ecuador in the gorgeous valley of Vilcabamba!

Our decision to come was both a long time coming and very swift. Long time coming as in we've been wanting to come down for a visit ever since a friend of ours told us he was buying land down here in late 2007, and very swift as in deciding to come one week and flying down here the next!

We had everything in storage accept what we needed for daily living, we didn't have a lease or mortgage to maintain, we have very good friends who live here and who just happened to have a guest house where we could stay while we got situated, we were set! All that was left was to buy a ticket, and so we went for it.

Just half a week after arriving here, we moved into a beautiful little house tucked into a garden, right next door to our dear friends and are feeling very blessed to be here.

But, phew, what a ride the past year has been! We have been on a whirlwind tour of free-style daydreaming and the pursuit of so many different possibilities it makes my head spin! Little Sophia, who is not even two yet, has already lived in 5 different houses (if you count our tent-home of last summer as a house!) and David and I have toyed with the idea of at least 10 more. You would think we were out to break a record! Now we are off on yet another adventure.

We are here until mid-September at the earliest, gently exploring and staying open to where life will take us.

Each day it feels easier and easier to be here, the sharpness of so suddenly adjusting to a new place is slowly wearing off as we build community and explore the land surrounding us.

I'll leave you with a few pictures, and for more you can always check out our Flickr site!

Baby Rain Dancing in the Rain.

Oh, and I had the most crazy amazing juice yesterday morning. For the first time in my life I tried Passion Fruit Juice, squeezed by my love David (click on the link for health benefits of this juice!) If you really want to try a high voltage juice, this one is for you, bring on the passionate juice baby!

Sending love that you are all well and juicy,
Katrina Rainoshek
www.JuiceFeasting.com

Seaweed and Seaweed for Dinner.

2011-03-14T21:32:00.000-07:00

Today's menu at our house included lots of spirulina, chlorella, bee pollen, miso, kelp and dulse. In light of the recent meltdowns at Fukushima in Japan, I hope all of my friends and loved ones are filling their beautiful bodies with similar foods!

Anti-Radiation Foods:

Blue/Green Algaes
Spirulina (5-10 grams/day)
Chlorella
Klamath Lake Blue Green Algae (Aphanizomenon Flos-aquae
(AFA))

Bee Pollen (2-5 Tablespoons/day)

Sea Vegetables
Kelp
Dulse
Sodium Alginate (naturally present in kelp, arame, wakame,
kombu, and hijiki)

Chlorophyll-Rich Foods
Beets

Garlic

Yeast

Siberian Ginseng

Miso Soup

NOBLE MUSHROOMS
Reishi, Shitake, Maitake, Agaricus, Lion’s Mane
Mushroom Complexes

CLAYS
Hydrated Bentonite Clay shakes
Edible Clays

Liquid Zeolite

Potassium Iodide to protect thyroid (only in a nuclear event)

For more information please check out:

the book Conscious Eating by Dr. Gabriel Cousens: Chapter 29: “How Diet Can Protect You from the Dangers of Radioactive Radiation” (593-622)

and this article has some great info on kelp: Kelp: A Prophylactic Protocol for Radiation Emergencies.

That is all for now, going to bed to send dreams of love and healing to all of creation.

In love,

Katrina.

Spring 2011 Juice Feast!

2011-02-21T16:27:00.000-08:00

Its that time again! Spring cleaning!

Check it out here and join us for a rockin' good juicy time coming this March.

Love, juice, and inspiration,

Katrina Rainoshek
www.JuiceFeasting.com

Home From Houston!

2011-02-15T11:43:00.000-08:00

We're home from a busy few weeks in Houston!

While we were there we:

~Celebrated our Mom and Dad Rainoshek's 50th wedding anniversary.

~Enjoyed a few sunny days in the midst of an unusual winter storm that swept across Texas.

Sunshine for our little sunshine.

~Drank juice every day made with the original Sampson Juicer that David used to cure acid reflux when he Juice Feasted for the first time in 2003.

Sophia says: Thank you little Sampson for a healthy, happy Dada!

~Drove a lot (I am so glad to live in a pedestrian friendly city!)

~Played at the Houston Museum of Natural Science where I found the Hall of Minerals most fascinating. (Although the dinosaurs were pretty amazing too!)

Houston Museum of Natural Science

~Listened in on The Great Health Debate every night. (If you missed it, it is still up for purchase at the event price until this Friday!) While this event has made a lot of people hot under the collar, I really enjoyed listening to so many different views on health and diet. I haven't had a chance to listen to every talk yet, but one of my favorites thus far was the conversation that Kevin Gianni had with Donna Gates of The Body Ecology Diet. I can certainly vouch for her views on probiotics and fermented foods, as I've been eating some form of sauerkraut almost every day and am thrilled with the happy digestive tract that I have right now. Happy gut = happy brain = happy me! For a great little video to get you started with making sauerkraut, check out Sandor Katz.

~Explored giant abundant grocery stores where the word "local" is becoming easier and easier to find and the juice bar is fully stocked.

~Watched this show at the planetarium which put me in an altered state thinking about the fact that we are all made of stardust, literally.

~And more.......!

It was a wonderful trip, and watching Sophia and her grandparents playing together is dearly special when we live so far apart.

Back in B.C., spring is just starting to peek out from the gray of winter. Snowbells are filling our front yard and I saw the first daffodil buds today on our walk home from the library.

Hope you are well and keeping it juicy!

With love,

Katrina

Closing the Feast!

2011-01-26T17:29:00.001-08:00

Wow!

We've come to the close of the January Juice Feast! Today was the infamous "prune day," the day when solid foods begin to slowly come back in after an extended time of juicing. For more information on closing your Feast, be sure to check out Breaking The Juice Feast!

And, for a little inspiration, here is my favorite Feast Breaking video:

After her epic 92 Juice Feast in 2007, the beautiful Angela Stokes-Monarch shared her first prune and inspired many to embark on Juice Feasts of their own. Here she discusses her Juice Feast, just prior to breaking the feast with her first meal in three months... Recorded live on Feb 20th, 2007.

Read more about Angela's juicing and raw journey at http://rawreform.blogspot.com

Congratulations to all who joined in on the January Juice Feast, may your adventures continue with blessings!

All love,
Katrina Rainoshek

Wednesday Thoughts From Kyra and Baby Smoothies

2011-01-26T17:06:00.000-08:00

I enjoyed this beautiful passage today, borrowed from the pages of The Green Room (our membership forum) :

January Juice Feast. Day #6

"Yesterday I was very much enjoying and deeply appreciating the arrival of the longed-for sensation of peace and relaxation that Juice Feasting brings ... one of its greatest gifts. I've done many Juice Feasts, some long, many short, and this is the first time I am consistently incorporating an easy and effortless daily meditation and deep breathing, and what a difference this makes. It is a boost into the stratosphere of feeling wonderfully empowered about life, bringing a peaceful feeling that anything and everything one desires can be manifested via focused attention and allowing. I love how Juice Feasting facilitates new thoughts, sweeping away the limitations of yesterday, and building a momentum of positivity that grows day by day."

~Kyra

Beautifully in line with what we hope for all those Juice Feasting: an awakening into possibility and a loving boost in personal growth!

And, just for fun, some smoothie pictures with the little one!

Snowdrop and smoothie and little one dancing, waiting for her lunch.Serious smoothie drinking. She drank down all 8oz of this one, it is a keeper! (Apple, spinach, blueberry, and banana.)
The smile she gave me when I said "smile for the camera!"

Enjoy your moments!

All love and light,
Katrina Rainoshek

An Afternoon at Bliss.

2011-01-21T11:19:00.000-08:00

My days have been full....of family! I am thriving on living with the impromptu community that has assembled in this old family house. Currently under one roof: six adults, a 12 year old, and a 1 1/2 year old.

To add to that, 3 of the adults are men working from home, and 2 of the adults are moms with kids/babies at home. Very busy house!

We are all in transition, between phases, on the move, and we have all come to rest temporarily together. Believe it or not, it is working out beautifully.

AND, one of the adults living in this old house right now is my beautiful sister of Cafe Bliss! The cafe has been a popular destination for all of us, a good home away from home when a little more space is needed.

And hey, it doesn't hurt that we get served the best food ever! A few photos from a recent afternoon at Bliss:

Chai tea with almond mylk, banana coconut pie, and chocolate orange pie. All raw, all vegan, all YUM!

Sister time for me, auntie time for Sophia.

And one last one, for all of you Juice Feasters:
David with a Pure Green (celery, cucumber, and kale), me with a Green Gingerale (apple, celery, spinach, lemon, and ginger), Sophia with a Finnerty Island Smoothie (apple, banana, blueberry and lime.)

Enjoy your Juice!

With peaceful steps,

Katrina Rainoshek
www.JuiceFeasting.com

Body/Mind and the Gift of Connection.

2011-01-13T21:12:00.000-08:00

Jump for Joy!

The January Juice Feast is now well under way!

It is always an exciting time in our lives when David is engaged in coaching a group Juice Feast, and it goes with out saying that growth and transformation never get boring to be around! I'm a sucker for a good Juice Feasting story, and I get to hear lots of them when there is a Feast going on.

While David treats his client's privacy with great respect, I have the honor and joy of sharing in some of the most amazing stories of personal development with him at the end of each day. We both share so much reverence for people's never ending journeys towards self actualization. It seems at times that there is so much to overcome and yet people persevere and move above and beyond even the most debilitating illness, hurt, loss, and trauma.

You are all superstars, every single one of you!

Something that comes up again and again for people who Juice Feast is a much deeper awareness of the body/mind connection. When you take the junk (food) out of your body, the mind really does become strong and clear. Life is much easier to navigate and more readily enjoyed with a mind that is strong and clear! Once this is an awareness that you have cultivated, it becomes much easier as well to choose to put the foods in your body that help to build a mind worth living with!

To keep the body in good health is a duty... otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear. ~Buddha

I loved this email, which exemplifies the mind/body connection beautifully, from one of David's students. (Used here with permission):

"An observation: When I was out shopping for a few things for my family, I had a very different experience in the grocery store. I noticed faces more, or well, in a different way. I often notice faces...details of faces. I seemed more connected to the people who had those faces. More connected to their conversations. Last night when I was holding a bell pepper in my hands and was about to tear it apart for my juice prep, I was slightly saddened to be tearing it apart...like it was a being, and had its own being-ness. I thanked it, and was just struck by this never-before felt connection with a bell pepper. Yesterday I was looking at the dashboard of my car and noticing many details of how the designers made elements smoothly transition together, how the door lock-unlock tab looked smooth and well balanced (design-wise) when it was locked and unlocked.

Hey, if this cleansing feast allows me access to these things, and if I can learn how to access these states...awesome! It's worth my whole life just in the knowing how to connect.

And one more observation: While at the grocery store I noticed that I was able to easily slip into a quiet-mind place. Just naturally able to be there, taking in the colors of the labels of soups stacked on the shelves -- could focus in to view more specifics or adjust out to partake of the mosaic rainbow. I could have a quiet mind and walk and watch/listen ... and it was quite delightful!

Have a great night! Look forward to whatever shows up between now and our chat. I really do appreciate your guided mentoring of this process. Thank you!"

~Rees Maxwell

Founder and Lead Instructor: Whole Earth Nature School
http://WholeEarthNatureSchool.com

Founder and Lead Instructor: Dancing Sol - Early Childhood Nature Education Program

http://www.DancingSol.com

Love it! Thank you for sharing Rees, many blessings for your beautiful journey!

Have a Beautiful Day!

All love,

Katrina Rainoshek
www.JuiceFeasting.com

January Juice Feast.

2010-12-11T12:00:00.000-08:00

Hello Dear Webworld Friends!

We are all tucked in for winter, and David is gearing up to coach yet another exciting group of people on their own Hero's Journey.

His most recent client just finished months of one-on-one coaching, and I thought you might like to hear about her experience first-hand (and there is an upcoming coached Juice Feast in two weeks!) Here is her experience in her own words:

"August 2010, I signed up for a 30 day coached juice feast with David Rainoshek. To be honest, I had no idea what I was getting myself into but my original intent was to nourish my body, lose a few pounds, get my blood pressure and cholesterol in check and balance my life – everything in my life was out of balance, I needed help. I'm a wife, a Mom to 2 small boys, employed in the high tech industry - I was wiped out and checking out of my life.

The first 30 days, I felt like a sleeping child whose Mom gently woke them up every morning – David prodded me - get up, it's time to wake up. Wake up? Where are we going today? I’m tired, I’m really tired. Wake up! Where do you need to go? Somewhere else. I was overwhelmed and eager to learn and do and change all at the same time. I learned how to meditate, big mind practice, bring my vitamin D level to normal, balance my intake and include essentials like fish oil, integral life practice, being mindful, read a few books, and started feeling my life again. Strangely enough, for the first 30 days when David & I skyped during our daily sessions, it was never about my juice, it was waking up my mind. And, wake up I did. I’ll add that I did lose a few pounds and my blood pressure and cholesterol are in the normal range – a good juice feast does wonders for nourishing and normalizing the body. But, my mind, oh my mind was going bonkers – I was thinking and being and living and smiling. David the entire time listened – sometimes I babbled, sometimes there was nothing to say, sometimes I just listened to David the coach giving me things to try, to experience, to do. I loved the fact David met with me every weekday– it allowed me to work on the challenges of day to day life.

I have to say that being coached wasn’t easy for me. During the process, I once wrote in my journal – David isn’t my friend, he is my coach. I’m glad he is brutal and honest, however I don’t like being coached anymore because it makes me feel ugly. I’m talking about and changing the things in my life that I don’t like about myself and that’s really uncomfortable. Instead, I’d just prefer to keep hiding. But…

For some reason my mind tells me to keep plowing ahead and even better things are going to happen in my life. David kept listening, offering guidance and I kept changing. David stays on as my coach for another 3 months. I quit the juice feast after 60 some odd days, I quit counting. During some conversation with David, he decides to tell me about somebody that died of smoking related causes. I drop the phone. It all resonates with me and a dagger is put into my back and twists so hard I am lost for a moment – yes, I smoke. I have smoked for 30 years. Quitting smoking wasn’t part of the coaching plan, or was it? It wasn’t. I’m mad, I’m angry, I confess that yes I’m cleansed from juicing but not cleansed from the toxins of cigarettes. Where do I go. David let me decide. I decide to quit smoking and David coached me through my journey.

I have to stop here and smile because as you read this you must know that I truly believe David invested some serious time into my life as my coach. We had a few extra talks on the weekend, he researched smoking, my ailments and detox symptoms, some of our scheduled 30 minute conversations went overtime, it was obvious the journey was more important than just being "a day job", he did more research, we laughed as my meditation brought on Harry Potter daggers into my forehead, he listened to me cry from physical withdrawal, also cry because I was so overwhelmed with happiness I couldn’t mutter any words, he offered more advice, gave more mindfulness practice, pushed me hard and 2 months later - I emerged. As a non-smoker!

I don’t know how to end what I’d like to pass on to anyone about coaching with David – perhaps I’ll just simply say – if you allow yourself to be coached, David might take you on a journey of discovery and change too –

I love my life,
M..."

If you are ready for this level of coaching, we look forward to hearing from you!

The January 2011 Juice Feast begins in two weeks! As I write this post, there are just three more spaces available in this amazing 30 Day Program! Here is the info:

January 2011 Juice Feast with David Rainoshek, MA

Have a dynamic, meaningful final few weeks as we move into the New Year.

All Love,

David, Katrina, and Sophia

Summer 2010 Juice Feast!

2010-07-18T14:35:00.000-07:00

Hello Dear Friends!

Summer is here in full strength! Have you been cooling yourself with fresh juices? (I have a great Cooling Summer Juice Recipe at the bottom of this blog for you!)

Katrina and I have been on a very remote part of a remote island off the coast of British Columbia, climbing mountains to get internet access... and we are finally hooked up.

And there is a private Juice Feast coming up! Here is the info:

ONE-ON-ONE COACHED JUICE FEAST WITH DAVID RAINOSHEK, MA
**NOTE: David will be coaching no more than 8 people (to ensure a deep coaching and group experience), so early registration is important to hold your space, and to set up a Initial Consultation. This is not a Global Juice Feast, but an incredible opportunity to be coached personally by David Rainoshek in an extended 30-Day Juice Feast!

The 2010 Summer Juice Feast with David Rainoshek, MA as your personal, private coach, is a 30-Day Juice Feast beginning Friday, August 6th with the Feast-Closing Day on Sunday, September 5th. A guided Closing of the Juice Feast with David Rainoshek will be enjoyed September 5th and 6th, with a renewed entry into Raw/Living Plant-Based Foods and Superfoods on the 7th of September.

Once you have registered, you will receive a Juice Feasting Health Inventory and be scheduled for a one-on-one pre-Juice Feast Initial Consultation (2-3 hours) with David Rainoshek, MA, in which we will review your Health History, tailor your upcoming Juice Feast to your needs, and make sure you are ready, both materially and mentally for a significant, transformative Juice Feast.

Daily personal one-on-one coaching during the January Juice Feast will be held Monday through Friday, with Sunday Juice Group conversations. You will also be able to access group support in the online Summer 2010 Juice Feast site established just for January Juice Feasters, and be able to contact David Rainoshek, MA at any time during the Juice Feast for support.

Whether you are moving beyond Industrialized Nutrition, fine-tuning for the summer season (or fall/winter to come), orienting to plant-based foods, or wanting to better honor your life’s authenticity, David Rainoshek will personally orient you to a deeper understanding of nutrition and deep living during this 30-Day Juice Feast.

**NOTE: David will be coaching no more than 8 people (to ensure a deep coaching and group experience), so early registration is important to hold your space, and to set up a Initial Consultation.

BENEFITS

+ One-on-one personal daily coaching by David Rainoshek, MA Vegan Live Food Nutrition

+ Complimentary 1-Year Access to JuiceFeasting.com and Lifetime Access to The Green Room

+ Private networking site just for Summer 2010 Juice Feasters

+ Sunday Juice Group Call each Sunday at 12:00 noon PST for 5 Sundays during the Summer 2010 Juice Feast

+ Personal insight into David Rainoshek’s current work on The Spectrum of Diet and Integral Life Practices

+ Integrate Juice Feasting and Contemplative Work

+ Coached Juice Feast-Closing with Green Smoothies.

+ Coached insight on a sustainable cuisine, placing your Center of Gravity on Raw/Living Plant-Based foods and Superfoods.

SO GO CHECK IT OUT HERE!

Have a great week

With peaceful steps,

David Rainoshek, MA

www.JuiceFeasting.com

nutrientdense@gmail.com

David Rainoshek's Cooling Summer Juice (www.JuiceFeasting.com) Make 1 to 1.5 quarts of juice with:
Watermelon
Blueberries
Celery
Cucumber
Lemon
It sounds simple, but it is divine!

For our family Mid-Summer Update, go HERE!

House of Honey, or The "No Agave Here" House

2010-04-26T11:16:00.000-07:00

Ohhh Sweet Honey! (honey at Cafe Bliss)

Something that my intuition and my body has always told me is now being confirmed by some of the very people who worked so hard to bring agave to the mainstream: agave is the worst “bandito” of all sweeteners!

I bought one bottle of agave about 4 years ago after seeing pictures on David Wolfe's site of a beautiful young woman pouring it down her throat, straight out of the bottle! I thought, wow, a sweetener that is so good for you that you can drink it like water!?

I tried it, I didn't like it at all. It tasted like corn syrup to me, and made me feel awful. So I went back to what I have always used and loved, honey. Over the years since then, I have had many opportunities to enjoy raw treats made with agave. While I do enjoy them in my mouth, everything after that point is a mess. Or should I say, I am a mess! Katrina + agave = basket-case. I feel edgy, anxious, hungry, grumpy, and all those unpleasant things that go along with blood sugar imbalance. So I do my best to avoid the stuff.

If you are still using agave in your household, please read the following articles and then go and pour it down the drain!

The Agave Blues by David Wolfe

This "Tequila" Sweetener is Far Worse than High Fructose Corn Syrup by Dr. Mercola

Agave Nectar, the High Fructose Health Food Fraud on Natural News

So, that brings me back to honey! I felt inspired to write a little ode to honey..... Honey is magical. Bees are magical. Flowers are magical. Eating honey makes me feel magical.

In Organic Farming and Beekeeping, it becomes a partnership between bee and honey farmer. The symbiosis is beautiful, and as a honey eater I feel tapped into a beautiful, life affirming circle. And, honey is LOCAL! We get our honey from Babe's Honey Farm, and it is beautiful, and it gives me a pleasant, gentle buzz.

And did you know that bees will produce up to 3 times the amount that they need to survive? In ethical beekeeping practices, both the bees and the honey eaters benefit.

I love visiting honey farms and listening to the hum of the bees. See if you can find a honey farm near you and start to visit whenever you need a little sweetness.

Honey is expensive (at least compared to conventional sugar) but in my mind this is a good thing. It just means we use less of it and are more careful of our consumption. When it comes to sweetener, a little mindfulness is a very good idea! It also means we are paying the honey farmer a living wage rather than paying pennies for sugar grown by people living in abject poverty in countries miles and miles away.

Of course there are other alternatives to sweeten you treats, and honey may not be the one for you. If you are working with blood-sugar issues such as diabetes or candida, you will want to be even more aware of your sweetener choices. The above articles do a good job at listing out other sweeties to choose from.

In closing, if you needed another reason to start buying organic, this might be it. Saving the Honey Bee Through Organic Farming.

I'd love to hear your experiences with agave, and what your household's sweetener of choice is!

Nettles!

2010-02-24T13:15:00.000-08:00

It has been a mild winter here on the West Coast....wet, gray, fogged in day after day, but mild. And that means early nettles!

Here is some info on nettles from Susun S. Weed in her book The Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year (a book I HIGHLY recommend if you are planning on having babies) :

The common stinging Nettle, Urtica dioica, is one of the finest nourishing tonics known. It is reputed to have more chlorophyll than any other herb. The list of vitamins and minerals in this herb includes nearly every one known to be necessary for human health and growth. Vitamins A, C, D, and K, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, iron, and sulphur are particularly abundant in Nettles.

Benefits of drinking Nettle infusion before and throughout pregnancy include (Katrina's note: I feel that many of these benefits are sure to be true after the birth as well!)

~Aiding the kidneys.

~Increasing fertility in men and women.

~Nourishing mother and fetus.

~Easing leg cramps and other muscle spasms.

~Diminishing pain during and after birth. The high calcium content, which is readily assimilated, helps diminish muscle pains.

~ Increasing the richness and amount of breast milk.

~ Improves the elasticity of the veins. Good help for varicose veins.

Feeling inspired to get out to the nettle patch and do some picking!?

As with any wild food harvesting, make sure you know what you are picking before you eat it! I find a pair of garden gloves and a plastic bag works best for harvesting nettles, but a pair of rubber gloves or even a thicker plastic bag for your picking had will work too (they really do sting!) Picking the top 1-2 inches of the plants in early spring (or late winter on the West Coast this year) gives you the tenderest treat, but I found that picking and using even the tougher late summer leaves was fine.

I did loads of nettle smoothies (and nettle tea, and steamed nettles) while I was pregnant with Sophia last spring and on into the summer. My intuition is that nettles and other green smoothies were part of the reason that my iron levels stayed in good range throughout my pregnancy (I was not taking any iron supplements or eating any meat.)

My favorite nettle smoothie:

1-4 cups nettle tops (they are very strong tasting, so if you have never had raw nettles before, start small!)

2 bananas

3 cups blackberries

1 apple

2 cups water

BLEND! YUM!

I also really love steamed nettles (yes, I am using some cooked food this chilly winter!) with a little bit of coconut oil and tamari. Simply put a huge pile of nettles, stems and all, into a pot with some water on the bottom. Bring water to a boil, and then turn off, leaving the lid on the pot and letting the nettles steam for about 5-10 minutes. Remove steamed nettles from the water and add a little coconut oil and a dash of tamari. After you have eaten the nettles, you can drink the water that they were steamed in!

Nettle tea, or infusion as Susun Weed calls it, is another staple in my kitchen. Here is how Susun recommends making a water based infusion:

Use one ounce of dried leaves (two handfuls of cut-up leaves or three handfuls of whole leaves) in a quart jar. Fill the jar to the top with boiling water, put the lid on and let it steep for four hours at room temperature.

Leaves contain the potent healer chlorophyll. Long steeping extracts all the chlorophyll, as well as the vitamins, minerals, and other medicinal components of the leaves. Steeping in a closed jar keeps the water-soluble vitamins from escaping in the steam.

Having the time to harvest and dry your own nettle leaves for tea is wonderful, but if you don't, you can almost always find dried nettle in the bulk herb section of your local health food store! If not, try out our favorite bulk herb shop on-line, Mountain Rose Herbs.

There you have it, one of my favorite wild foods, the common stinging nettle.

I've never tried it in juice, but I bet some one will! Let me know what you discover with nettle juice, oh potent!

Make a Wish!

2010-02-01T22:36:00.000-08:00

Finding some sunshine on a winter day...orange juice!

Hello Juicy Friends!

I hope that winter is finding you enjoying plenty of cozy moments!

We certainly seem to be flying through winter with a baby in the house to light our days with her smile! Sophia is now seven months old and seems to be learning something new every day. I can't believe it is February already, and that March is right around the corner which means that SPRING is right around the corner!

I am writing to let you know about a very special event that is coming up....yet another gift from Tera Warner and Shannon Leone....My diva-licious friends, creators of the Raw Mom Summit, have gathered up yet another beautiful basket of wisdom, all there waiting for you to pick it up and sit down for a cup of tea with it….please be sure to listen in starting March 8th!

http://www.wishsummit.com

From the Divas themselves:

It sees women have always come together as part of a

community to support one another in their tasks and times of

need. Now, in our electronic world, we can facilitate the

coming together of much larger groups of women and a much

more diverse range of knowledge, wisdom and support.

That's why Tera Warner and Shannon Leone have created

W.I.S.H. Women's International Summit for Health. In

celebration of Women's Day this year, they're extending a

one-time-only invitation to attent an online summit where 40

of the world's leading experts on health and wellness for

women will be coming together at the same time.

http://www.wishsummit.com

For a series of 10 days, women will be given access to a

series of recorded interviews with some incredible people. You

can catch all of the interviews for FR@E!! by registering before March 8.

http://www.wishsummit.com

Whether it’s the kids, the cellulite, the hot flashes or

steamy romances, W.I.S.H. brings women together to find

solutions and recharge their batteries.

W.I.S.H. promises to be the world's biggest empowerment

party for women and I invite and encourage you to sign up

and be a part of this extraordinary event.

http://www.wishsummit.com

I hope you will join me in listening in and share a cup of virtual tea (or orange juice!) with me while we soak up some inspiration!

With peaceful steps,

Katrina Rainoshek

Green Beauty Soup

2010-01-26T21:14:00.000-08:00

Well, I've fallen madly in love with photography again and as part of my plan to take my skills to the next level, I have committed myself to Project 365. Yep, a photo a day for a whole year. So far I am 26 days in and have already learned so much, especially that I have more to learn than I ever imagined! I'm having a lot of fun with it.

Today's photo was the above, Green Beauty Soup, and I felt that it was worth writing about here. I can't seem to get enough of it, so simple to make, so satisfying, and so full of those leafy greens that make my world go round. Getting a pound of leafy greens (or more) per day into your body is one of our top priorities, we want you to THRIVE!! This is why David is always talking about the "Four Means to Get Your Greens," because getting in that many greens can seem daunting until you realize that you can:

1. JUICE your greens. We all know about green juice.

2. Eat your greens in a beautiful, colorful SALAD. We all know about salad.

3. Blend your greens into a green SMOOTHIE. We all know about green smoothies.

4. Blend your greens into a green SOUP. We all know about green soups.

(If you don't yet know all about these things, Google around and find some recipes to play with. There are so many people blogging about raw food and raw recipes now, and you will be in good company. Learn how to make versions of these things that knock off your socks so that you will be inspired to make more and prosper! You can also check out my favorite raw food books here.)

Yep, simple as that. If you do at least three out of those four, JUICE, SALAD, SMOOTHIE, or SOUP, you'll be getting in close to a pound and probably more of leafy green goodness.

The Four Means to Get Your Greens can be added to any diet, any time, for a wonderful boost to health and vitality. So, if you just finished a cheese burger from Burger King, try starting with a green smoothie every day, and work your way up to having a green smoothie, green juice, cheese burger, and then a green soup :).....I'll be honest, I don't usually do three, but almost every day I have at least two of the four and get in close to a pound of greens because I make my morning smoothies so heavy on the greens, and my soup, salad, or juice so loaded with leafies.

Here is today's version of Green Beauty Soup:

Start with guacamole. Mash two ripe avocados with the juice of one lemon, a generous dash of Celtic Sea Salt, a generous dash of dill, and 4-8 cloves of crushed garlic.

Then, blend in your high-speed blender the following: 1/2 pound spinach. 1/2 pound mixed baby greens. 1 handful of cashews. 1 TBS hemp oil. 1 small head of broccoli. 1-2 cups water. Blend on high until nice and creamy.

Next, pour your blended greens over your bright green guacamole and mix the two together. Add more salt and dill if needed. Garnish with big red pepper pieces to crunch on the side, and sprinkle with hemp hearts and cashews.

Serves two lucky darlings.

I made this as a good-bye lunch for my mom who headed off on the 3 o'clock ferry today, on her way down to California to be with her husband who is working there for the winter. I wasn't crazy about the broccoli, but it was still delicious. Sophia enjoyed sucking on a piece of red pepper while we enjoyed the soup.

YUM!!

In other news, the January Juice Feast sold out (!), and is currently flowing along beautifully with an amazing group of folks. The next group Juice Feast lead by David Rainoshek will be during the Third Annual Global Juice Feast...more information to come on that soon!

Love and leafy greens, Katrina.

Raw Food World TV Show

2010-01-15T18:32:00.000-08:00

We had a fun chat with the hosts of the Raw Food World TV Show the other day, Mat Monarch and Angela Stokes-Monarch....here it is!

Part One: Attuned Awareness after birth, episode #348 Today we had the pleasure in interviewing David Rainoshek. David discusses how they juicefeasted before conception and how more attuned awareness is experienced after birthing a new child.

Part Two: More on Juicefeasting w/David Rainoshek, Episode #349 Today we've got the second part of this Q & A discussion with the Rainoshek's. We go deeper into discussing Juice Feasting... Enjoy...

Membership!

2010-01-14T10:59:00.000-08:00

Well, in beautiful HARMONY, we have had SEVEN lovely people leave their favorite juice recipes on our doorstep, and in return, we have SEVEN 30 Day Memberships to send their way! If you were one of those seven people who left a favorite juice, please send me an email at: katrinarainoshek@gmail.com that includes your first and last name and email address and I will set you up with a membership!

Here are the seven favorite juices, yum yum!

1. Cucumber/ Celery/ Cilantro/ Burdock Root/ Parsley/ Dandelion Greens/ Ginger/Lemon or Lime/ Red Bell Pepper/ Apple or Pear
*add cayenne after all ingredients are juiced. ~NaturallyMariam

WOW, what an amazing, full juice! Full of powerful medicine, this one will really take you places!

2. My favorite juice is what I call my "soup juice". Satisfies dinner cravings while juice feasting every time: Carrot/ cilantro/ parsley/ celery/ green onions/ spinach
Tastes like a soup broth of carrots, celery and onions..
My 16 month old, Mara, loooves my juices, too!! ~Jamie

So glad to hear that lucky little Mara is getting beautiful green juice! I loved "soup juices" too while Juice Feasting, and made a similar one to this but with tomato and basil added too! So good!

3. My favorite juice is really quite simple but oh so satisfying:1 head of greens/ celery/ apples/ carrots/ lemon ~Michelle

This is one of my favorite combos too, clear, clean, light, hydrating, and nutritious! I also like adding cucumber to mine too.

4. carrot/ apple/ celery/ ginger/ lemon ~Melomel

I've been adding ginger to all my juices for the winter too, a great way to stay warm from the inside out.

5. celery/ cucumber/ lacinato kale/ lime/ fennel ~Christine

I love the freshness of fennel and lime!

6. My favorite juice is made of celery/ cucumber/ kale/ apple/ lemon. Sometimes I add some ginger. ~ Lisa

Pure goodness. My sister has a juice just like this at Cafe Bliss called Pure Green. I always get a quart of it when I am there!

7. An old, simple, favorite is one we call Sunshine Rising: 10 Carrots/ 4 Apples/ 1-2" Ginger ~Rees

That sounds delish! We need some Sunshine Rising in these winter days of North! I love it that these ingredients can be found locally at this time of year here, we've been drinking lots of carrot/apple/ginger juice in this house!

Thank you all for your beautiful juice masterpieces! I look forward to having you on www.JuiceFeasting.com and hearing more about your juicy adventures....

Sophia and I making an evening juice: baby bok choy/ cucumber/ celery/ apple/ lemon, and ginger.

With blessings and love, Katrina

Happy Juicey New Year!

2009-12-31T22:08:00.001-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR DEAR FRIENDS!!

Greetings from a wet, rainy, and winter-y west-coast island where post-Christmas finds us cozy, happy, well-fed, well-loved, and peaceful.

Our days were light on the gifts, but rich in time with family, good food, walks through the trees, and laughter.

We pulled a Christmas time favorite off the shelves after I experienced some last minute guilt and panic on December 24th about not having done any Christmas shopping! Bill McKibben's Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case for a More Joyful Christmas is much loved by my family, and this year allowed me to fully reconnect with what is most important after I got swept away by a moment of Christmas flap.

In addition to an invitation to re-think your Christmas traditions, Hundred Dollar Holiday contains a succinct history of how it is that we came to celebrate Christmas the way we do (with a fat man in red coming down the chimney, the feasting, the tree, the gifts, etc.) The history of Christmas may surprise you, and if you already feel that it is over-commercialized, your feelings will be validated when you learn that Christmas was in part "the thin edge of the wedge by which many Americans became enmeshed in the more self-indulgent aspects of consumer spending...a crucial means of legitimizing the penetration of consumerist behavior into American society."

What we really want and need in Christmas is quite simple:

Peace, stillness, and quiet. Time with LOVED ones. An invitation to be outdoors. Community. Relationship with the Divine. Non-consumer activities with children (and adults). An outlet for human creativity in LOVE!!

If this sounds about right to you, do check out this little gem of a book, you'll love it!

As I write, we are drawing to the close of 2009. It has been a quiet evening for me. David is away in California at an event, and Sophia, myself, my mom, and my Oma celebrated the end of 2009 with four generations of women. Delight was on all of our faces as we loved and appreciated the generations before and after us! Needless to say, I was the only one left awake at midnight!

I am so excited and up-lifted about the year to come, may it be a beautiful continuation for all of us! It is coming in on a flood of JUICE in our world, as it seems that everyone is inviting in the new with a clearing of the old, cleansing with that nectar of the gods, fresh fruit and vegetable juice! Here are just a few of the juicy happenings to bring in the New Year....

~Matt Monarch and Angela Stokes-Monarch are currently Juice Feasting at the Tree of Life on all GREEN JUICES!! What a fantastic place to get juicy (Patagonia, AZ is where David and I Juice Feasted in 2008!)

David and I are going to be joining Matt and Angela via Skype on January 7th for an installment of the Raw Food World TV Show all about Juice Feasting, and answering your Juice Feasting questions! If you have a question you would like to send Angela to be asked on the 7th, please email her by January 6th at angela@rawreform.com. We always have fun with these two so do be sure to tune in and send in your questions!

~Shazzie is inspiring as many people as she can to join her on a 10 Day Juice Cleanse We were very excited to see that she Juice Feasted beautifully for 28.5 Days this past summer. "Juice feasting gives you great clarity and single-mindedness. I asked and I received, very quickly indeed." ~Shazzie

~ Sproutman (Steve Meyerowitz) is leading a 7-10 day Juice Feast for the New Year. As Steve says, "You clean your car; you clean your yard; you clean your house. Now it’s time to clean your inner house! Give your liver a break and your immune system a boost."

~And of course, David Rainoshek is leading a January Juice Feast, beginning on January 15th! There is still time to sign up for this and I can promise it will be an amazing way to bring in 2010, so be sure to check out the details and see if it calls to you!

Testimonial from one of our Autumn Juice Feasters:

Dear David
Thank you for one of the best experiences I have had to date in juicing (and I have done a great deal!) One of the reasons I decided to invest in your 1 month coached cleanse was because I wasn't sure if I could actually do 30 whole days!!. I found the daily check in calls with you held me accountable and enthusiastic and as a side benefit to weight and toxicity loss I was able to look deeper into my emotional attachments to food with the tools you discussed during the weekly group call ins. It was an truly enjoyable and effortless experience thanks to your expertise and lightheartedness.
Wishing you all the best to you and your new cleansers!

September Death
Founder/Head Chef
www.redcarpetcleanses.com

Oh so juicy! I'm sure that I haven't included NEARLY everyone who plans on getting juicy this season, so if are and would like to be included in this blog post with a link to your blog/website, let me know and I will up-date!

AND!! If a 30 Day Juice Feast sounds a little more involved than you are ready for just yet, don't forget to check out the 2010 Winter Liver/Gallbladder Flush LIVE with David Rainoshek, Elaina Love, and Chris Whitcoe. This interactive cleanse will start on January 10 and run through till January 17!

AND!! Last but not least, in THANKS and GRATITUDE to our on-line community for sharing in such a beautiful year in 2009, we would love to offer 7 memberships to www.JuiceFeasting.com! If you feel it is your time to get juicy and would love a little help along the way, please let me know by posting a comment and sharing your favorite juice recipe. If you have never made a juice in your life, just let me know what your favorite drink is (even if it is beer!) I will be randomly choosing 7 people for 30 Day Memberships, and announcing the winners on January 12!

I look forward to sharing many beautiful adventures, growth, splendor, and much love with each and every one of you in the coming year, be it in person or via blog-land!

Many blessings and oh so much JUICE for a healthy, happy, and inspirational YEAR IN 2010!

xoxoxoxox

Katrina (with David sending his love from California, and Sophia sending hers from dream land, sleeping on her Mommy's tummy in the Ergo!)

Happy Holy Days!!

2009-12-23T19:46:00.000-08:00

Investigating her great-aunt and great-uncle's tree!

Hello Dear Friends!

We are happily back at home and keeping cozy with good company and warm almond/hemp/date/cacao milk (recipe below)!!

I wanted to tell you about a wonderful holiday gift that is ready for you to open today!!

David and I were recently invited to be part of yet another wonderful project by the lovely Ms. Stokes-Monarch, a FREE e-book, a gift of love for the holidays. "Profoundly Raw" is a compilation e-book, bringing together 12 different authors for you to cuddle up with next to the fire. Look at the amazing group of people that Angela has gathered together for our enjoyment!!

Alissa Cohen on Protein, Calcium and Fats

David and Katrina Rainoshek on “Deep Food”

Angela Stokes-Monarch on Emotional Eating

David Wolfe on The Sun

Jinjee Talifero on The Yoga of Nursing

Gabriel Cousens on Vitamin B12

Kate Magic on Raw Magic

Kevin Gianni on Overcoming Potential Stumbling Blocks

Shazzie on How to Start a Child on Raw Food

Matt Monarch on Sensitivity and Stabilizing Out

Tonya Zavasta on A Perfect Bowel Movement

Paul Nison on The Daylight Diet

To download your free copy of this beautiful gift, please go to Angela's site HERE! Thank you Angela for creating such a wonderful gift, we love you!

We decorated a tree today with Sophia watching from her tummy on the floor happily kicking away, until her Daddy strapped her into the Ergo (our favorite baby carrier) so that she could help him crown the tree with a beautiful star. Such special moments, our baby's first Christmas!
I made some amazing warm cacao milk to sip upon while tree decorating, and it was SO good!

Here is the recipe!

1 cup soaked almonds
1 cup soaked hemp seeds
5 cups water

Blend on high and strain through a nut milk bag. Add the following:

1 Tbs carob
2 HEAPING Tbs cacao
5 medjool dates
1 tsp coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla bean powder
1 pinch sea salt
1 dropper full reshi mushroom extract for good immunity and good measure!

Blend on high! Pour into a pot and warm on the stove until warm, but not too hot! (You should still be able to comfortably put your finger into the cacao milk.) Pour into mugs and dust with nutmeg and cinnamon. Enjoy with loved ones!

I've also been loving apple/cucumber/lemon/ginger juice for the season. Apples are abundant in this corner of the world at this time, and many of the varieties are just about gone over to the other side of ripe and so they are cheep and plentiful! Our fridge is full of beautiful juicy orbs, ready to be juiced!

That's all for now! So much love and many blessings to you and your family this season. May your days be healthy and your eyes bright, and your heart full of beauty!

With peaceful steps, Katrina, David, and Sophia!

Juicers and Blenders and Snow!

2009-12-13T10:13:00.000-08:00

Hello!

David, Sophia and I are still enjoying Texas, although it hasn't been sunny for all but about an hour! It even snowed, and Sophia has had her first snow here in Houston.

In other news, our dear friends Angela and Matt were recently in a bad car accident, and to aid themselves in speedy recovery, they both undertook a one week Juice Feast. This is from Angela Stokes-Monarch:

'Tis the season to get juicy, fa la la la la, la la la laaaaaaaa...let's jump in with:

Easy Juice Feasting with the Hurom Juicer

As many of you know, Mr. Monarch and I had a pretty intense car crash two weeks ago, in Pennsylvania. Immediately afterwards, we began a week-long Juice Feast to help expedite our healing process, which definitely seemed to help us enormously in terms of fast regeneration. At the same time as this week-long juicing session, we were travelling back from the east coast to the west coast to be back in time for my next immigration interview. Time was pressed, driving 8-12 hours a day with no real breaks, across the whole country. SO, we were EXTREMELY grateful during this juicy journey to have our new Hurom Juicer with us to handle the juicing duties. Neither of us had ever Juice Feasted with a Hurom before and it was a GREAT experience to try this out for ourselves. We had heard reports of people being able to make a GALLON of green juice in 15 minutes with this amazing new machine and now we got to try it out for ourselves ;)
If you're not familiar yet with the wondrous little Hurom, it is tagged as a 'slow juicer' and even has a picture of a snail on the packaging and YET, the name is kind of ironic, as it is the FASTEST slow-moving juicer we've ever used...Mr. M and I actually recently did a comparison video between the Green Star and the Hurom and the contrast was HUGE - see here below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_blKzX5NFdU

Juice Feasting with the Hurom was indeed FAST - we would wake up in hotel rooms, juice up a few gallons of juice each morning, store it into glass jars, pack them with ice blocks into a bag and get on the road again for the next 8-12 hours. The juicer is quiet, fast, efficient, easy to clean and the juice stays good even through to the next DAY (as we found out one day when we couldn't quite handle all the carrot/fennel/romaine juice we'd produced that day ;) If I was to do another lengthy Juice Feast again, I would definitely want to have a Hurom at my side - we LOVE it :)
We have Hurom juicers for sale HERE (we also have a 220v model that works in the UK now :)

enjoy :))))

SO much love to Angela and Matt both, we are so grateful that they are both OK and still continuing to shine their light!

We are currently using David's first little Samson juicer, the one that he used for his first ever Juice Feast in 2003. It lives here in Houston at his parent's house, and it has been making us some beautiful juices. It is quick to juice and super easy to clean as well!

We also brought our Vitamix with us, and I can tell you, you don't want to be stuck in Texas with out a Vitamix. You don't want to be stuck anywhere without a Vitamix for that matter! Still my absolute number one favorite appliance.

Sophia helping mama make the morning Green Smoothie.

Sophia has been dabbling in Green Smoothies for a few weeks now, and this morning we shared our spinach, strawberry, orange, and banana smoothie with her. She LOVES them and goes "mmmmmmMMMMMmmmmm" while she sucks away on finger-fulls of goodness.

That is all for today! May your days be merry and bright!

With much Love and Blessings,

Katrina, David, and Sophia

Raw Mom Summit is BACK!!

2009-12-03T10:23:00.000-08:00

Hello!

Wow! It is December already! The Autumn Juice Feast is complete, the Autumn Liver-Gallblader Flush has rolled out the stones, and we are now getting ready for some beautiful time with loved ones over the holidays. As I write this we are in Houston with the Rainoshek family, enjoying some beautiful sunshine and our first Texas visit with our beautiful five month old daughter!

I wanted to let you know that as a special holiday gift, RAW MOM SUMMIT IS BACK!

During the 8th month of my pregnancy with Sophia, I was honored to be included in the first ever Raw Mom Summit, created by Shannon Leone and Tera Warner. It was a fabulous experience, and the interviews collected are a priceless resource for anyone with children in their lives.

I am really excited that these interviews are being re-released because they were originally aired during the first few weeks of Sophia's life and getting on a computer was the last thing on my mind at that time so I missed the whole summit! I won't make that mistake again! I've signed up and actually purchased the unlimited access to the summit so that I can fit it in to the organic flow of a time schedule that having a new baby entails.

CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW TO GO TO THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE TO SIGN UP FOR THIS FREE EVENT!

From the official Raw Mom Summit website:

On December 9 The Raw Mom Summit will roll out the red carpet and invite health-seeking parents around the world to empower themselves and their families at the time of year when we need it the most.

Dear Healthy Holiday Seekers,

Mistletoe and gingerbread call to mind warm memories of the season. It's a time for family dinners and opportunities to reconnect with loved ones. When we put aside the commercial agendas, this is a time for reaching out in love and reflecting on a year of growth as we prepare for the coming of a new year.

We want to give you the best chance to inform and empower yourself before 2010 comes. Given that this season, more than any other, is focused on family and relationships and a celebration of birth, we've decided to make the Raw Mom Summit available once again.

Starting Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

What if you could gather together some of the most inspirational health leaders in the world and get them together in the same place for 9 days to discuss the subjects of nutrition, pregnancy, childbirth, parenting and other family health care issues?

What if you could get YOUR concerns addressed about how to succeed on a healthy diet or how to feed your children the best food? What if you could finally get answers to your questions about:

What to do about Fertility, Ovulation and Conscious Conception?

How to prepare for a Healthy Pregnancy, Labor and Childbirth?

What is Attachment Parenting?

Which natural remedies to use when your children are sick?

How to feed a meat-eating partner if you are vegetarian or vegan?

What should you feed yourself when you're overwhelmed with cravings?

How to get kids excited and involved in their own food-prep?

What to do when our kids rebel against our healthy diet?

What is going on with the Bees and why is it so important?

How to shrink our Carbon Footprint?

What is Sustainability and Permaculture?

What Super Foods are BEST for kids?

Exactly what IS the healthiest diet?

What are the best ways to Raise Children Naturally?

What are the lesser-known common pit-falls of a Raw Food Diet?

Which foods help or hinder our Hormones?

What are the issues around Veganism, B-12 and Protein?

What do Raw children eat?

How to get picky eaters to crave their veggies?

Which foods help kids transition and stick to a healthier diet?

What are the other Top Lifestyle Factors besides diet for longevity?

What if you could get the answers to all these questions and a WHOLE LOT MORE while washing dishes in your pajamas and bouncing a babe on your hip at the same time?

Sound too good to be true?

Well, not if we're talking about an exciting new event that has been put together by two self-employed mothers with the spunk and determination to get these questions answered by some of the most outstanding experts in the world!

Introducing...

THE RAW MOM SUMMIT

The Evolution of Motherhood Has Arrived

"Children are the Teachers. Mothers are the Seekers." Shannon 'Shakaya Breeze' Leone

For more information, and to sign up, go to www.RawMomSummit.com!

There you have it! I will most certainly one day be in my pajamas with Sophia on my hip doing dishes and listening in on the Summit.

Little Notes:

For those of you who are interested in birth stories, I've written up The Home Birth Of Sophia Katarina: A Beautiful Force of Nature. I LOVED reading birthing stories while I was pregnant, and writing up my own was a joy.

And, for those of you who are interested in how I ate during my pregnancy, I have written about it HERE.

Keep your ears open for more information on the upcoming January Juice Feast.

Enjoy your juice!

With many happy holiday blessings,

Katrina, David, and Sophia!

Love Your Liver!!

2009-10-24T15:14:00.001-07:00

Hello all!

Here is something fun: (and it comes with a 30 Day Membership to JuiceFeasting.com!)

The One Week 2009 Autumn Liver/Gallbladder Flush LIVE!

Facilitated by:

What happens when three professional Holistic Lifestyle Coaches, who happen to be friends, decide to do a liver/gallbladder flush? . . . They invite the world!

Chris’ Idea: “I was going to do a Flush anyway, and there are a lot of people out there who would love expert guidance during their own process,” says Chris Whitcoe, M.A. in Live Food Nutrition, and co-owner of Vivapura: Pure Superfoods for Life.

So he called up Elaina Love, professional Live Food Chef and Instructor, Lifestyle Counselor and owner of Pure Joy Planet, who has just completed her 11th flush as the organizer and facilitator of the Mt. Shasta 5-day Cleansing Retreat. “I knew that with Elaina’s experience, we would be able to answer just about any question or concern,” says Chris.

Elaina’s On Board: "When Chris called me with the idea, I thought it was fantastic! What a great way to reach those folks who weren't able to make the Mt. Shasta cleanse and to help the numerous others who have called me over the years for guidance on cleansing. Co-facilitating a Live Telephone Support Cleanse really excited me because both Chris and David are so knowledgeable and experienced, plus just super fun guys, and the three of us together would be able to deliver so much more than any of us could do alone. Being able to speak to someone every night of your cleanse and get invaluable tips and coaching is beyond amazing. Not only that, but you will get to laugh and enjoy being on the phone with the three of us."

Enter David: “I also realized that many people would desire to take it even further, and what better than a Juice Feast?” thought Chris. He then enrolled long time friend, David Rainoshek, also an M.A. in Live Food Nutrition, creator of the 92-Day Program on JuiceFeasting.com who also wrote/researched (with Gabriel Cousens, M.D.) the book There is a Cure for Diabetes. David adds, "I'm all about the accessibility of information and transformative life practices. Let's make this something everyone can do at home."

So a beautiful collaboration unfolded – the intention is to support You, part of this extended family dedicated to healing, purifying and energizing!

So join Chris, Elaina, and David for . . .

The One Week 2009 Autumn Liver/Gallbladder Flush LIVE!

The Introductory Conference Call is FREE -
this Sunday, Oct 25 at 6pm PST
with Elaina Love, David Rainoshek, MA, & Chris Whitcoe, MA

The cleansing begins: November 2, 2009

CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS!!

and to discover the importance of a healthy liver and gallbladder!

Sunday, October 25th 6pm PST
FREE Introductory Info Session Conference Call
Dial-in Number: (712) 432-0111
Access Code: 308152#

Checking In With Blog Land!

2009-10-17T11:09:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Wow, it has been over four months since I last wrote here! And what an amazing four months!

Here are some highlights:

~We gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby girl on June 22, 2009. She was born at home on Salt Spring Island in to her Daddy's hands, 7lbs 12oz, 20.5 inches, pure joy and radiance.

We named her Sophia Katarina and have been smothering her in kisses and hugs ever since. She is almost four months old now and thriving on 100% mama's milk. She loves to nurse and suck, and delights in putting everything she can get her hands on into her mouth! Her excitement when she realizes she is about to nurse and the look on her face when she is full of sweet milk are some of the most beautiful things I have ever known. She sleeps in the bed with her Mama and Papa and wakes up with radiant smiles for us every morning. Sophia's newest trick is rolling over, and she even wakes up in the middle of the night to grunt away and work at it, the bed has become a baby gym!

Here is Sophia's first week in pictures!

Here is our Summer in pictures!

(I have been working on a new blog that is all about my experiences with pregnancy, birth, and motherhood and I will let you know when that is up and running!)

~In Juicey News, the Autumn Juice Feast is in full swing and just past the half-way mark. David is coaching a fantastic group of 8 people and I am loving being on the periphery of such juicy excitement.

One of the Autumn Juice Feasters (and our friend from Patagonia, Koali) is keeping a gorgeous blog over at Simple Healthy Beauty that I have just spent all morning reading, and happily reminiscing about my own magical adventures in Juice Feasting. For more blog pleasure, check out this I Love Me Some Juice Feasting! post by Phil Bolsta. Phil has done a fantastic Q&A about his experience with Juice Feasting that you might enjoy.

For those of you who are interested in joining a group Juice Feast in the future, keep your eyes open for an announcement about the New Year's Juice Feast, set to start in January, 2010! You can also register with www.JuiceFeasting.com if you'd like to receive email announcements about our work.

~Cafe Bliss is a hit and keeps getting busier and busier! I am so proud of my sister, and so excited to see our community loving the raw food glow! I was there yesterday with Sophia, and watched as two young men toasted each other with shots of E-3Live as I had some of Heather's amazing lasagna, a moment of perfection. Cafe Bliss was featured in the most recent edition of our local weekly, Monday Magazine (will post link if I can find it!) and was also mentioned in the Globe and Mail! For more on Cafe Bliss, join us on Face Book.

Ayrie and the new Bliss boards

Bliss Blueberry Cheesecake

Heather, Sarina, and the giant Bliss zucchinni

~I just compiled an album of Raw Food pictures from our Flickr account. Although my center of gravity is still on raw-vegan, I have been eating more as a "Whole-Foodian" with my pregnancy and now as a breast-feeding mama. This has been a wonderful and important shift for me to make, but I still love the beauty and simplicity of raw food and so created this album as an inspiration to myself! I hope you enjoy it too!

I think that is it for now, I hear my sweet Sophia calling my name!

I hope you are all well and have had a beautiful summer,

with many blessings and peaceful steps,

Katrina, and with love from David and Sophia!

Raw Mom Summit!!

2009-06-13T16:40:00.000-07:00

The Growing Bliss Ball

2009-06-05T16:34:00.000-07:00

Hello All!

Just a quick note so say that growing a baby has continued to be a complete joy for both David and me. The baby is now considered "full term" which means it could come any day now! Or, it could be another 4 weeks...we are quite happy to welcome our little beloved one whenever he/she is ready to come. We are all tucked in to a cottage on a mountain for the birth and I have been feeling myself falling deeper and deeper into the magic of it all.

Baby is in a good position (head down), my blood pressure is good, my urine is good, my iron is good (I am really excited about this one...my iron has only dropped about 7 points and is still in a good range. Many women during pregnancy will see a 30-40 point drop in their iron causing anemia. Hooray for nettles and lots of leafy greens!), and I was just tested for GBS and tested clear of it (happy about this too as it means I won't even have to consider taking antibiotics during labor, which is what the medical world would have me do if I did have GBS. Hooray for lots of top quality probiotics and good bacteria!) We are all very happy and I am very excited about the nearing birth day!

We are very much looking forward now to meeting this beautiful being who rolls and dances away in my belly.

Here are a few growing bliss ball photos:

Enjoying Daily Juice in Austin, TX. March 18, 26 weeks.

YUMMY!!

David saying hello to baby. Houston, TX. March 23, 27 weeks.

Lilly kisses for my little blossom. April 26, 32 weeks.

A beautiful sunny spring day on the beach. April 27, 32 weeks. (Yes, I went swimming!)

Making nori stix at Cafe Bliss with Finn. May 17, 35 weeks.

Mama and Papa to be. May 30, 37 weeks.

Happy in the "Birthing Cottage", ready for baby! June 4, 37 1/2 weeks.

(I've created a pregnancy photo album on our Flickr account too, which you can see HERE.)

I hope everyone is having a BEAUTIFUL summer, and we look forward to introducing our beloved baby rain one day soon!

With peaceful steps and many blessings,

Katrina, David, and baby in the belly.

2009 Global Juice Feast!!!

2009-03-04T11:16:00.000-08:00

Hello All!

It is about that time again! Spring cleaning time!!

The Second Annual Global Juice Feast is set to begin on Saturday, March 7, 2009, so head on over to www.JuiceFeasting.com and www.GlobalJuiceFeast.com and see what all the fuss is about.

As always with an exciting journey, many just couldn't wait to start and I'm noticing Juice Feasting blogs sprouting up everywhere.

Of note are the resplendent Penni Shelton and Courtney Pool, who are both experienced Juice Feasters we are all lucky to share the journey with. If you are just about to begin your first Feast, you will be in excellent company with these two, so be sure to check in with them.

Courtney Pool

Penni Shelton

Both Penni and Courtney are setting out to do short (although 30ish days isn't really all that short is it?) Feasts this spring, which is a great idea for a second Juice Feast.

David and I like to recommend after doing an extended 30 or 60 or 92 Day Juice Feast that shorter cleanses of 10 to 30 days can be done twice a year (spring and fall) It is important to remember that as with anything, it is possible to over do it with Juice Feasting! Please make sure that you are balancing your cleansing periods with long periods of a nutrient-dense, maintenance diet of good, whole foods, exercise, sunshine and LOVE!!!

While David and I will not be Juice Feasting this year, we will be joining you with our daily quart of GVJ (Green Vegetable Juice!) and popping into both The Green Room (JuiceFeasting.com's membership forums) and Global Juice Feast to see how things are going.

I will not be Juice Feasting due to the beautiful baby growing in my belly, and David having done 10 days in January of Juice Feasting is feeling happy to continue eating after a cold, gray, Canadian winter.

If you have a Juice Feasting Blog you would like mentioned here, please let us know! One lovely lady is already off and running on Day 15 of her Juice Feast, head over and say hello to Blueberry.

You may also find it fun to peruse some of the blogs listed at the right. I had a lot of fun blogging during the 2008 Global Juice Feast, and that journey starts HERE.

Also be sure to check out our website at www.JuiceFeasting.com where you can learn all about HOW to Juice Feast under the Juice Feasting Intro!

Wondering about signing up for one of our memberships? David and I were honored by this recent comment left by someone in response to a question on GlobalJuiceFeast.com about the value of a JuiceFeasting.com membership:

"I started my JF membership as the shortest membership term because I wasn't sure about the amount and quality of the information that would be provided. Wow, was I pleasantly surprised. The content is great and is updated fairly regularly. I have recently splurged for the annual membership. Although the downloads can be saved for later viewing (as long as you also save the passwords), it is really nice to be able to follow along and refer back to the JF website as you go... at least for me. In the grand scheme of things, the annual membership is only about the cost of a few weeks of produce for your Juice Feast."
~Mary B.

and this one:

"$30 to begin with are well worth it. There is cool info out for everyday, videos etc. stuff to keep your mind on topic in case you feel urges, esp late at night (I have that prob!). You definitely get a lot of bang for your buck. I did the 92days without membership last year and now realize a lot of questions would have been answered in detail by the daily "wisdom" that the Rainosheks have compiled. The forum is busy with fellow global juice feasters but the member site is just some more extra value."
~Lemoned

Awwwwww! Thanks you guys! We can't tell you how much notes like this mean to us!

With that, I will leave you with this morning's Green Juice Recipe enjoyed by David, Baby in the belly and I!

1/2 cucumber
1 zucchini
1 head of broccoli
1 head of romaine lettuce
4 leaves of kale
2 beets
2 apples

YUM!! And lots of calcium for growing baby bones and iron for little cells needing it!

Enjoy your juice dear friends, we hope to hear from you in The Green Room or on Global Juice Feast soon!

LOVE!!!

Katrina

PS. If you haven't yet, check out the video in the post below for some folks discussing their health a year Post-Juice Feast!

Oh and PPS!! Angela Stokes' book A Juice Feaster's Handbook is an excellent addition to any Juice Feast! So is her blog!!

2008 Global Juice Feaster's Reunion!

2009-03-02T16:27:00.000-08:00

Hello All!

Well here we are in March of 2009, and thanks to some inspiration from Bronwyn, all of us now in Victoria who did the Global Juice Feast in 2008 got together for a little reunion.

As you will see in the video I was working behind the counter at Cafe Bliss and missed hearing everyone's Post-Juice Feast story...I just now watched the video and was so excited to hear everyone sharing how well they are doing! Continuing to spiral upwards in the never ending flow of growth!

If you are planning on joining the 2009 Global Juice Feast, starting this coming Saturday, March 7, be sure to watch these seasoned Juice Feasters (David, Bronwyn, Constanze, Ayrie, Robyn, and I) for some wonderful inspiration....oh the joys of fresh, raw juice!!

Enjoy!

LOVE!!!!

Katrina (who is still loving her Green Vegetable Juice!)

Feeling yummy!! 5 1/2 months!!!

Our Very Happy News!

2009-01-23T14:16:00.000-08:00

Hello Dear Friends!

Wow, it has been quite some time since I last wrote, and quite a time too!

We hope that the year of '09 has been treating you with as much love, joy, and happiness as you can handle!! (I mean LOTS of goodies and abundance!)

We had a wonderful Christmas in Victoria with family and it was truly a special Christmas for David and I as it will be our last one without a BABY!!! Yes, we are having a baby, a great happiness for us both! Off on the next big adventure of life.......

The little one is due to arrive and come out to play sometime in June. Due date is summer solstice, June 21 for our sweet little summer strawberry baby.

Happy 4 1/2 month old baby in the belly!
I am now well into the second trimester and feeling great and loving the magical process of creation that is evolving! As many of you who have been reading this blog for awhile know, one of my main reasons for Juice Feasting back in March 08 was in preparation for Baby Rainoshek. I am thrilled that this little soul has now joined us and is letting me know how happy and strong he/she is by bumping all about in my belly! David was able to feel the movement from the outside for the first time last night, what magic. (Click HERE for a jump back in time and to read my personal reasons for Juice Feasting on Day 2 of my 88 Day Juice Feast!)

I have to admit that being on the computer is not my favorite thing right now, along with all other left brain activity, as my delicious pregnant dreamy right brain seems to take over!! So, hence the lack of blogging....but I do hope you are all well and look forward to hearing from and sharing with you in the near future!

With lots of love and sweet wishes to you,

Katrina and David and growing Baby Rainoshek

Enjoying a snowy winter day....

Cafe Bliss Bliss Video

2008-10-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Our friend Bronson of Best Ever Productions just did a beautiful video about Cafe Bliss! Watching it made me feel all blissey and lovely, see for yourself!

This Movie is about a organic live food juice bar on 556 Pandora Ave Victoria BC, Canada called Cafe Bliss. www.cafebliss.ca

Produced, written and directed by us Best Ever Productions in October 2008.

May you have the pure pleasure of eating the nourishment and playing with the warm people of this establishment.

I love us

Bronson Dylan Kidd
Co Creator
Best Ever Productions

Doesn't it just make you want to eat some yummy raw food?!!

LOVE!!!

Katrina

Little Notes

2008-10-24T15:33:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Well, we have been thoroughly enjoying Rawkathon, and David’s interview is up tonight so be sure to check it out! Amazing that you can have people like Mike Adams and Gabriel Cousens right in your house chatting away, isn’t it? Thank you Kevin Gianni, it has been an amazing week of information and inspiration!
Amazing pools of knowledge.....

If you haven't yet done so, head over to sign up for Rawkathon HERE.

A while ago now, our guest room was very lucky to host yet another traveling goddess, and we were very happy to hang out with Suki for some splendid hours. In addition to many other precious tid-bits, jems, and jewels of information from the mind of Suki, I now have a whole new relationship with colonics, and I didn’t think I had anything else to realize about the importance of such things. Yet how can one ignore the advice of a woman with such amazingly clear skin, eyes, and energy? I still have to find out where one can get a colonic out here on a tiny island, but believe me I’m looking! See, I’m not even afraid to blog about looking for a colonic, nothing to worry about!

For more information on the importance and How-To of colon cleansing, please see Suki’s blog, (and check out all the lovely information found under the tabs) or read Matt Monarch’s book Raw Success, or read Dr. Bernard Jensen’s Guide to Better Bowel Care, or Norman Walker’s Colon Health. Keep on cleansing out that bowel baby!

Suki's first ever huckleberry....
In other news, David did a brief blurb for the upcoming book Raw Food Works while we were in Sedona. Check it out.

Enjoy your moments!

All love,

Katrina

Disease is Preventable

2008-10-16T15:30:00.000-07:00

Last night David and I jumped for joy when we heard Obama say on national television that heart disease and diabetes are preventable diseases, and therefore we must do what we can to educate people on how to prevent these illnesses. After years of everyone in the mainstream media, and doctors as well, claiming that diabetes has no cure, and that heart disease is hereditary, this is a bright and shining statement in a slew of untruth! Especially from someone running for President! Just imagine, we could have a President of the US who knows that heart disease and diabetes are preventable diseases! Perhaps he will even find out, if he doesn't know already, that both these diseases, and many others, can be reversed with a plant based diet! I am visioning it baby!

Obama also scored points with us when he said that parents must start to take responsibility for their children's educations, starting by turning off the TV and video games.

Ah yes, it is the simple things.

Enjoy your moments,

Katrina

Giving Thanks and Pumpkin Ale

2008-10-11T16:14:00.000-07:00

Hello dear friends!

It is Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada, and I was thinking this morning about what a lovely name for a holiday Thanksgiving is. A day of thanks-giving, giving thanks.

And indeed, thanks is one of the most wonderful things you can give! It is one of those gifts that keeps on giving, and the more you give, the more you have to be thankful for!

Thanks is a gift for everyone, everything, everywhere, and everywhen, making all involved feel one of the most beautiful emotions of all: GRATITUDE!

When our lives are filled with gratitude, we are sure to experience a deep joy, for when we celebrate with thanks the things and people we are graced with, we are open to the magic of life, and to receiving much more of that for which we are grateful.

And it is so simple to give thanks! It only takes a moment of mindfulness, a pause in your day, to really appreciate those things around you that bring beauty to your life. When you do this, a very peaceful feeling comes over you, as you realize just how abundant the world is.

I see that is it going to become even more important to be mindfully engaged in gratitude in the coming months, with the recent economic crash in the US and subsequently the world, with things seeming to fall apart left right and center. The more we can pause and be with purpose FULL OF GRATITUDE for our lives, the less the roller coaster of politics, economics, environment, weather, traffic, disaster, and loss will throw off our belief in the inherent beauty of life. We can find gratitude in every moment we look for it, every moment we choose to draw it out.

So lets do this together, to make a point of engaging in conscious gratitude, pause for a minute right now, and as often as you remember, to give thanks.

What are you grateful for in this moment?

Is it the computer you are reading this on?

Is it the warm house you are sitting in?

Is it the shirt on your back, the socks on your feet, the juice in your hand, the dandelion greens in your yard?

Your family?

Your friends?

Your breath, eyesight, liver, bowel, spleen, hair, heart, or thyroid?

Is it the illness that lead you to finding Juice Feasting and the bright and shining path to health that you are now on?

Is it your screaming children teaching you patience, your dying loved one teaching you compassion, or your lack of adequate finances showing you the joys of frugality (BTW, the more you practice gratitude, the easier and more joyful frugality becomes as a feeling of satisfaction through gratitude replaces feelings of want and desire.)

The toilet paper in your bathroom?

Get silly! Give thanks for the tiniest, seemingly simple of things, for it is all miraculous, it is all worthy, and it is all a gift! I have found that more I give thanks for the simple, most often taken for grated things, the more likely I am to filled with a sense of grace, peace, and deep happiness to be alive!

With gratitude and love,

Katrina

PS. I think my sister Heather's chalkboard sums it up perfectly:

PPS. Everyone knows you should have SOMETHING with pumpkin at this time of year, so here is a little good pumpkin recipe for you to try, created by Tyler.

Pumpkin Ale:

1/2 med. sized organic pumpkin, de-seeded and cut in to chunks(leave skin on)
2-3 apples
4-5 carrots
big thumb sized piece of ginger

Juice all ingredients and add a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg, yum yum!!
Enjoy!

Apples and the Alaskan Adeventurer

2008-10-10T12:50:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Earlier this week David and I were lucky enough to go for a Fall Day Sail with the family over to an island where there is an ancient old apple orchard. I am in heaven! I am a huge apple fan, and to have access to wild grown apples is a dream come true, a moment in Eden! Nothing compares to fruit fresh off of the tree, and we all filled as many bags as we could with the glorious juicy globes!
Picnic by the ocean. Wild plum fruit leather, flax crackers with sprouted chick pea hummus, fresh tomatoes from the garden, nori sticks, grapes, and APPLES!! Oh, and raw chocolate treats from Cafe Bliss.
Happy picnic people, even Heather had a day off from Cafe Bliss!
Apple Tree and an apple fairy, no, wait, it is Heather!
Apple Orchard nap for Constanze.

One of my favorite tidbits from Raw Spirit Festival was from a David Wolfe lecture in which he was discussing the amazing levitational elements of the universe, and that when Newton wondered to himself that day when an apple fell on his head "why did the apple fall down?" he should have in fact asked the question "how did the apple get up there in the first place?"

Love it! Apples are full of levitational elements, I can feel it! And when you really think about it, it is like magic that such thing as an apple, full of fresh organic water, minerals from the soil below, enzymes, sweetness, crunch, and sunlight, could arrive suspended up in the air, just calling to be picked and enjoyed!

So, there we were in an orchard full of apples, having a picnic with an Alaskan Adventurer, who was on his way via KAYAK from Alaska to Seattle! An amazing feat of physical and mental determination, and of course the subject of food, and raw food came up as we were all sitting there adventuring in the trip of eating raw food.

He mentioned that it had been difficult to include many fresh foods in his diet during his 3 months out kayaking, and he also commented how good it felt to be eating so much fresh food! He also told us that his goal with food while on this adventure was simply to eat as many calories as possible, and that as a result he was beginning to feel the effects and had symptoms of acid reflux.

When you are burning so many calories as the Alaskan Adventurer, eating as many calories as you possibly can does not show up as weight gain, but it still does take its toll on all of your organs if you are eating foods that your body was not built to use (processed starch and sugars and animal products in particular.)

Following is a entry written by David:

One of the things I talked with our Alaskan Adventurer about was his health, post-adventure. In 1999, I walked the 2,200 mile Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine, and in the process of doing that seven-month adventure (the equivalent of climbing Mt. Everest seventeen times), I pushed my acid reflux / toxicity issue to its max. I was eating 36 eggs in a day on some days, anything to get enough calories into me! After being sick for three years, I finally discovered plant-based raw food nutrition, and things cleared up in weeks.

I shared this story with the Alaskan Adventurer, and he said that he too was developing acid reflux during the trip. We talked about the difficulties in bringing enough fresh food to supply the 5,000-8,000 calories a day you burn on such a trip, and I passed along some of my post trip tips to him:

Make Green Smoothies
Use Spirulina-Chlorella-E3Live
Blend/Juice Celery for Organic Sodium (lines the stomach, alkalinizes)
Regain Weight using Greens, Nuts and Seeds, and if suitable, quinoa, buckwheat and rice - NOT Meat and Dairy, Soy and Processed Sugar
Move Your Center of Gravity up the Spectrum of Diet towards Raw/Live Foods
Get 1 Quart of Water with MSM (anti-inflammatory) in Each Morning, post-trip. Continue to drink enough water throughout the day.

He also knows about Juice Feasting, so if he needs a supportive cleanse post-adventure, he can do it. Needless to say, after suffering so much after my Appalachian Trail adventure, it was a pleasure to pass along the info that would have saved me three years of hell - but at least it did help me resolve my health challenges before more years passed. So, if you are on an adventure, and the foods you have access to are a little down on the Spectrum of Diet, remember these points above, or pass them along to other heroic adventurers out there! - David Rainoshek, MA

Eat your greens!

C'est tout, mon ami!

Until next time,

Katrina

A 1 Day and 114 Day Juice Feast

2008-10-02T13:35:00.000-07:00

Hello Dear Friends!

We are sitting here watching the rain through our window, enjoying the gentle arrival of fall on Canada's west coast. My tan is quickly fading and memories of Arizona sunshine and clear blue skies are going to go a long way this winter I can tell already!

I have not yet written about how amazing it was for David and I to meet so many people during Raw Spirit who had Juice Feasted! We were floored by how many stories of grace, healing, happiness, and strength that we heard. Even those people who shared stories of what they called "failures at Juice Feasting" said that over-all it had been an amazing learning experience and that Juice Feasting was something they wanted to try again at some point in the future.

For the record, a two week Juice Feast when one has set out to Juice Feast for 92 Days is not a failure! Two weeks is an impressive length of time to go on just juice! Even if you Juice Feast and decide you never want to do it again, bravo! Juice Feasting is just part of the gentle process of continuing to spiral upwards in health, and some of us need 1 Day at a time, some of us two weeks, some of us 114 Days!

114 Days??!!! A very special young woman is breaking out of her 114 Day Juice Feast today, and we have been very blessed to have her with us on our Juice Feasting Forums.

You can read Lilly's Blog in its entirety here, but here are some of my favorite bits:

From Day 83

"This summer and juice feast seems to have passed in a blur of good vibrations. As I shed the old and welcome the new, I realize what a miracle it truly is to have nature cure my illnesses.

Today, at my colon therapist's office they noticed me smelling the flowers, and asked about my pollen allergies. I realized at that moment that I haven't had any allergic symptoms since juice feasting. None, nada, zippo. In fact, I live near a park where I walk my dogs every morning, and haven't had any symptoms since juicing. Gosh, I'm happy to be runny rose free :)

Making my green juices has become a daily ritual. I can whip up thee greenness like Rosie The Robot from The Jetson's. As for my energy level, some days I sleep soundly, whereas other days I have boundless energy and read on until the middle of the night. Throughout the day, I tend to have good energy as long as there are 6 mason jars full of juice at my disposal :)

My eczema is clearing up well, about 3/4 of the psoriasis is cleared away allowing the new "me" to shine through. It has been 8 years with eczema... 8 years of wearing turtlenecks, of becoming more shy because of my "shell". When strangers used to stop me to say hi to my dogs, I would notice them glance at my neck eczema and then back at my eyes. It used to make me feel embarrassed, uncomfortable, and shy. But lately, the strangers I have encountered seem to pay less attention to my eczema. I'm happy people are starting to see me for me, not the eczema, or fear of getting eczema.

More than my skin has evolved... I feel more calm and content. I don't crave anything or feel like I need as much. I hope I can find the right words to convey this feeling. I want less... of everything, even the juices. I may feel thirsty, but I drink the juices for nutrition, there are no cravings anymore.

My thirst to learn new things has increased. I can sit for hours, often from 6pm-midnight lost in a great book. This was not the case before the juice feast. I used to have a hard time concentrating. For example, I would read for an hour, but then I would need to do something else- like clean, play the piano, check my e-mail, etc. During the juice feast though, my mind was stronger. I can't emphasis this huge change enough. My mind has become more clear, connecting words, and ideas more easily. This was not the case before my juice feast. Curious enough... my schedule now is more hectic then it was prior to the feast. So, I firmly believe the juice feast has cleared away old matter that has clogged my body and bloodstream; leaving a more lucid and clear flowing body and mind."

From Day 100:

"Today is Day 100 of my Juice Feast. It's hard to believe a hundred days have passed and gone by so quickly. So much has happened in the pass 3 months physically, mentally, and spiritually for me. This has had a big effect on the actions of my daily life. Physically, my eczema has 90% cleared and I lost a little weight.

Mentally, I have been able to concentrate for 6-8 hours and read books cover to cover for hours. I just fall into a zone every evening. I'm amazed. Spiritually, I find myself more calm, relaxed, and wanting less. I feel content and happy with less things. All in all, this has transformed my life for the better.

Gosh, I went into the juice feast looking to ease my eczema a bit... but I found so much more. Life is truly a blessing. I'm so happy to have been able to heal my health. It is very freeing to take control of your health. I'm continuing to juice feast one day at a time until my eczema is more clear. I'm almost there. And it has been great to have the loving support and supervision of some amazing colon therapists.

Thank you to the people that have done this before me, that have lead the way, that have provided answers for the future... you have helped me today and I am grateful.

Blessings and love to you, Lily flowa" Before and After Photos

Goodness! Sometimes (oftentimes) this whole business makes me rather teary eyed! Congratulations Lilly and many blessings to your journey onwards and upwards!

If you don't feel like 114 Days of juice is calling you just now, let me share a little story from ~n~, who just recently did a 1 Day Juice Feast:

"I'm very pleased to say that I made it through an entire day yesterday on juices (yes, it really CAN be done!). Officially, I guess I did a one-day juice feast! :) I made a lot of juice in the morning so that I would be able to just get something whenever hunger struck throughout the day. I made different mixes of kale, celery, beetroot, romaine lettuce, carrot, apple, and plum juices (nice rainbow, eh). I feel really good about the amount of greens that I got into me.

In Dr. Walker's book he says that kale juice, like cabbage, can cause gas to bubble up in the intestines as it allows the waste matter to release and be carried out. I don't know that I could actually drink a glass of it straight (but what he says is quite true)!

It was amazing to me, that even just one day of juicing could cause such massive change in my body - not only the effect of the kale juice, but also the mucous that came pouring out (sorry if that's tmi)... I couldn't decided whether it was the cold I thought I'd been fighting off or a detox symptom. I'm quite sure it was detox though because the odd thing is that there was a little sleep coming out of my eye corners (during the day) and my sinuses were quite plugged by the end of the day, but fine this morning (and if it was a true cold, I'd expect it to be the opposite).

Monday night I stayed up until 3:30 making travel plans. I simply wasn't tired and felt invigorated after having a pink bath (which aids in releasing anger and aggression, helps to build compassion and loving kindness) with rose essential oil and rose petals - sounds extravagant, doesn't it! And despite staying up half the night, I was up at 8 without too much struggle. Last night, however, I slept solidly from 10:30 until 8:30 this morning - a solid 10 hours. Usually I'll get 8-10 hrs of sleep, but it'll have been disturbed at least once, between the children & the dog. It felt wonderful to have an uninterrupted sleep of that length. I used to have issues with sleeping in (thoughts like "what a waste of your day! get up and get going!") but I have since learned to see it as very restorative and important for good health and well-being, and I must admit I live a rather pampered life that I rarely get up to the buzzing of an alarm clock.

I haven't yet "broke the feast"; this morning I'll be having some cantaloupe juice to start the day. Maybe I'll just keep going on this fast for the time being. Just taking it one moment at a time..."

~n~ you are absolutely right about sleep being a very important part of your day! Thank you so much for sharing and congratulations on your 1 Day Juice Feast! To read more of ~n~'s blog, follow this link.

What juice did YOU have today? David and I both had half a quart of cucumber, celery, kale, bok choy, beet, carrot, apple, pear, lemon and ginger juice for breakfast. WOW, talk about yummy nutrition! A little on the sweet and complex side of things, but a nice breakfast juice treat.

And, because we are not Juice Feasting right now we also had a bowl of chia pudding magic with blueberries, strawberries, maca, bilberries, and noble mushroom powder. Yum.

With much love and blessings for a beautiful day,

Katrina Rain

RAWWWWKATHON!!!

2008-09-30T11:48:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

While Katrina and I were at Cherie Soria's Living Light Expo in Ft. Bragg, California last month, I had the pleasure of sitting down to talk with Kevin Gianni about the latest work that I am doing on The Spectrum of Diet, which is my work on looking at nutrition as a line of human development. The long and short of it is, it takes time to move up the Spectrum of Diet from processed food to Raw/Live Foods, and Juice Feasting is a Life Practice that can help us move up the Spectrum more efficiently.

Kevin got the whole 1 hour talk on video, and is broadcasting it free, along with 1 hour interviews with other leaders in the plant-based/raw/live community

For those of you who don't know Kevin, he is the co-creator of the Raw Summit, and has been busy putting together something that's never been done before.

For those who aren't familiar with the Raw Summit, it was an online teleseminar event that brought thousands of people together to learn more about raw and living foods.

What Kevin is up to now is even bigger and better...

He's spent the last month putting together an event called "The Rawkathon."

This is a collection of candid, one-on-one interviews with 15 of the top raw and living food experts on the planet and it will be broadcast for you to watch or listen to in a few short weeks.

The interviews--from what he's said--are like no stage presentation or "how-to" DVD you've seen before.

Not only do these interviews cover how to stay raw, how to stay motivated, and the best ways to do so--Kevin has also said that they capture the true essense of each expert. Almost like you were there in the room with them as the interview was being conducted.

So when you're a part of the event, you get to hear 15 amazing interviews that really have never been created before or likely never again.

As with all of Kevin's events, to get involved, it's 100% fr@e, and this totally jives with our approach of making Raw/Live Food Nutrition and transformation not only available, but accessible to everyone.

It costs nothing for you to watch or listen to these interviews.

Kevin has made it easy to register now and you'll be sent information on how you can be a part of raw food history...

The Rawkathon (2008)

Right now the project is set to release on October 19th and only is broadcast for one week, so I have let you know about this event early so you are ready.

There is an opportunity to get all the interviews in a digital or hardcopy package at a special price with special bonuses, that won't be up after the event starts.

So please go ahead and register now...

The Rawkathon (2008)

With peaceful steps,

David and Katrina Rainoshek, JuiceFeasting.com

Full Time Festival Continues!

2008-09-29T16:13:00.000-07:00

Helloooo!!

Well, here we are, long been home from the fantastical, amazing love fest of raw spirits down in Arizona where we literally wandered around in fairy dust and bliss the whole time.

Such amazing things are happening on this beautiful blue planet right now, I can hardly catch my breath, my head spins, my heart races! Are you in?

I know it is quite easy at this time to be tuned into the opposite side of the spectrum, and while it is important to take all things into account, the more that we do choose to tune into the love the bigger indeed it swells, personally and globally.

Like Neo and Smith in the Matrix, as good becomes stronger, so does evil, (remember as Neo became more powerful, so too did Smith, in a force of seemingly endless Smiths!) we have to choose what we believe in and make a full time job of it! It may sound like a platitude, but look around and see just how REAL it is! The full time festival continues!

One of those magical, Neo-like forces, is beloved Angela Stokes, recently taking the world by storm with her charm via the networks at CNN. Remember, the worse it gets, the better it gets, and it seems that in response to 20/20's discouraging piece on "orthorexia" (a non-term if you ask me) the universe has provided us with CNN's piece on Angela.

I was very lucky to spend some time with this woman right after Raw Spirit Festival (in the continuing festival of never-ending moments) and I can tell you my faith in love and magic was taken to the next level.
Angela is a beautiful example of the magical transformation that we are all capable of if we believe in ourselves and in love enough. When we choose to embrace growth, love and beauty, we experience a re-birth in to a new and more meaningful life, where emotional, spiritual, and mental transformations are just as poignant as the physical ones. They in fact go hand in hand in the trinity of body/mind/spirit. Angela is a TRUE POTENTIALIST and she lovingly, by example, is teaching us what is possible with our own growth and transformation.

I know that I used to find myself fascinated with people's before and after photos, and would reference them frequently as inspiration! I realize now that the even more dramatic and meaningful changes are those that we can't photograph, those that we ourselves forget about as we begin to feel comfortable in our own skins, and to enjoy our lives. Did I really used to wake up every morning feeling agitated with the words "I hate my life" in the front of my brain? It feels like another life time now.

In a nut shell, what I am writing about today is PERSISTENCE!! KEEP GOING!! Even if you are already at a place where you wake up with a smile on your lips and words of grace in your mind, stay the course!! We are living in a time where the edges of good and evil are being expanded exponentially, so keep on pushing out on your limits of love baby!

Oh, and I'm sure most of you have seen this already, but if not, please check it out! Angela's CNN interview: (which was filmed in my Papi's garden! A garden built on "juicin' energy")

And here is the text version of the story!

How about a few of our RSF photos to end the post?

For a true photographic experience of Raw Spirit Festival, check out the Flickr account of the extraordinarily lovely Suki Zoe, and for a great run down via the written word check out the blog of the ever prolific and goodies Heidi and Justin.

Hope to see you soon at the festival!

With much love,

Katrina

LOVE.NOW

2008-09-27T19:37:00.000-07:00

Take a few happy minutes to watch this beautiful music and message.....enjoy love now!!

Our Summer in Pictures

2008-09-06T15:45:00.000-07:00

Hello Dear Friends!!

Summer has been so wonderful that each time I try to sit down to write here, something such as a walk in the sunshine, a date with a blackberry bush, a swim in the lake, or a picnic by the ocean seems much more inviting!! That is summer for you!

We are happily moved into our new house in the woods, and I am loving having a full kitchen of my own once again as you will see in some of the pictures below. My brothers like to make fun of me for taking so many pictures of the food that I make, and it got me wondering "yes, I do wonder why it is that raw foodists love taking and showing off pictures of their raw food?"

I know that I am not alone in this habit taking pictures of my raw food as though it was my first child, the web is full of raw food pictures! Is it because raw food is so sumptuous and beautiful? So vibrant and delectable? Well yes, it is those things and many more (raw food is colorful, juicy, pretty, glowing, mouth watering, natural, yummy, yummy, and YUMMY!), but I also realized that pictures of food, all kinds of food, are EVERYWHERE!!

It is no wonder that as raw foodists we feel the need to balance out the plethora of cooked food pictures that we see in magazines, on TV, pasted on giant billboards, popping up on the web, on our airplane trays, in the grocery isles, and restaurant windows, with some pictures of the truly nourishing foods that we make at home! Pictures of pizza, lasagna, chicken, burgers, fries, and candy stimulate our appetites for these foods, and likewise pictures of red apples, gorgeous salads, juicy peaches, and green avocados stimulate our appetites to eat raw foods!

So I say go ahead! Let's flood the airwaves with pictures of beautiful, appetizing raw foods! I know it makes me excited to eat this way when I can find inspiring pictures of yummy looking foods. Storm and Jinjee and family have a fantastic project on the go called Take A Fruit Break, and you can even download beautiful free posters that will be sure to get your mouth watering for some tasty raw foods!

So, with that, we hope you enjoy these pictures from our summer 2008!

Ayrie with fresh salad greens from his backyard forest garden. I can't tell who is glowing more, my dad or the greens! An orange breakfast in an orange room. (In a house we babysat while waiting for our own house.)Making fruit faces with my sisters.Blackboard at Cafe Bliss.Cake. My mom made this from blended frozen fruit, just like ice cream cake! Chia pudding with fresh figs and blueberries. Chia has become a staple, I LOVE it!! I made a delicious chia smoothie with spirulina and cinnamon, which I thought was a weird mix of flavors but it worked out yummily.
Sweet flax crackers with guacamole, sun dried tomato sauce and fresh tomatoes, and of course SALAD!!Rosemary/garlic/onion/carrot/flax/pumpkin seed/sesame seed crackers with basil pesto and fresh tomatoes and of course SALAD!!
I Am Honoring Nachos from I Am Grateful, made for a dinner with guests. Made with I Am Kind Refried Beans, I Am Generous Guacamole, I Am Fiery Salsa, and I Am Ravishing Cashew Sour Cream. Served with flax crackers made by mom, and freshly made lemonade. Strawberry Vice Cream. Made with almond mylk and frozen strawberries. Joe aptly noted that is was silly for us to be calling blended nuts and spices "beans" or "cheese" and why didn't we just call it what it was? Just call it a spiced nut pate he suggested. For our "ice cream" he has bestowed the title "Vice Cream." V for vegan, vice for healthy indulgence (we don't really think this treat is a vice in the strict meaning of the word, don't worry.)
Alright! Done with the food shots, here is us on the Sonja after a sail, me about to jump in, David climbing the rat lines for a better view.

David enjoying sunset on a Northern California beach on our way home from the Vibrant Living Expo in Ft. Bragg (a fantastic event!)Setting up the tent to sleep by the sea.

Me visiting the redwoods.
Me swimming in a river, still feeling bon dans ma peau 3 months post Juice Feast!! Strike a pose Katrina!
Enjoying the island abundance of Blackberries, we are going to need a second freezer!
Look at the size of these babies!!

We are off again in a few days to head down to Sedona, Arizona for that fabulish gathering called Raw Spirit Fest! We hope to see you there!!

All love and blissings,

Katrina

Cafe Bliss is Here!

2008-07-25T13:03:00.000-07:00

Cafe Bliss Grand Opening!

Proud owner, Cosmo serving up smiles with everything. Proud owner, Heather serving up smiles with everything too!
Heather and Shayou busy making juice.
Follow your bliss, and do not be afraid. Doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be. ~ Joseph Campbell
Robyn, juice making beauty!

Happy Bliss salad customers.
The chalk board menu (and my artistic contribution to Bliss.)

Sister hugs.

Being juicy and raw in Victoria, B.C. just got a whole lot easier with the opening of Cafe Bliss!

The grand opening was yesterday, and it was rockin' busy all day, with people flowing in to try Bliss salads, wheatgrass shots, freshly pressed juices, and amazing smoothies. Oh, and don't forget the chocolate truffles!

We went for lunch and had the "Baja" cracker plate (yam crackers with guacamole, fresh cut salsa, and cashew sour cream) with a Sombrio Salad (tenderized kale, B.C. kelp, arugula, cucumber, daikon radish, grated carrot, red onion, and pickled ginger tossed in orange/miso dressing and topped with marinated shitake mushrooms and cashews.) It was so good that David and I went back a second time yesterday, and had a five o'clock "Johnny" (orange, banana, lime, and wheatgrass) and a "Cacao Jedi" (almond mylk, banana, cacao, hemp hearts, maca, and dates)

Should we go again today? I think so!

It is so fantastically exciting to me to see just how switched on everyone is getting to the joy of fresh, raw foods and juices!

Thank you Heather and Cosmo and the whole Cafe Bliss team!!! We love you!! Your food is amazing!!

Disclaimer at the bottom of the Cafe Bliss' menu:
We cannot claim responsibility for the vibrant health you achieve by eating the organic, local, living foods served at Café Bliss. We are not responsible for anyone running naked, laughing with non-causal joy, barefoot in the rain.

Raw Ice Cream Support!!

2008-07-04T18:13:00.000-07:00

Heather and her amazing, supportive of raw foods cashew vanilla ice cream with fresh berries.

Hello!

I have been enjoying my family so much this past month. It is amazing to me to remember how difficult it was to go raw, two and half years ago, when I am now surrounded by family members who are also amazing raw food chefs!

My dad has become an amazing creator of delicious crackers, the whole family makes wonderful green smoothies, David makes my favorite Brazil nut pate, my dad's girlfriend Constanze just filled the fridge with sprouted almond hummus and cacao fudge that is to die for, and my sister Heather is about to open Victoria's first all raw cafe so you can imagine the treats she is trying out on us! Even my nine year old sister Finn tells me that her future husband is going to be "very nice, and he will eat raw food."

It can be very difficult to switch to raw foods. Two years ago Constanze remembers "you were living way out in the forest (well, I was living in a house in the forest) and you would come into town and tell that you were eating only raw food, and we thought Oh sure Katrina, whatever!!!" I can remember it was very difficult for me to eat all live foods for that first year...I was not able to, in fact. I realized how important it was to surround myself with support for the shift, and so after a year of trying to go raw in a cooked world, alone, I set off for The Tree Of Life. Once I was there it was a whole different world, it was so easy to eat raw food when all I was exposed to was raw food, and all the people I spent time with understood my choices and the conversation was not dominated by the need to explain why I was eating raw food! How refreshing!!

Even after two and half years, I still suffer amnesia in the face of some situations as to why it is that I am choosing to eat live foods. Take the recent move David and I have made for example...I have had to re-commit to myself all over again that I choose the best foods possible, especially while staying with my beautiful mother who really does make amazing food, both raw and cooked! I found that re-reading bits from the books and websites that inspired me to go raw in the first place was all it took for me to feel a sense of grace around eating raw foods rather than a struggle against cooked foods. I realized again that I CHOOSE to eat raw foods not because I "can't" eat bread but because raw foods create magic for me.

If you are new to raw foods, or even if you are not, do not underestimate the power of support. In addition to friends, potlucks, and family, I use on-line support as much as possible, and now there is even more with sites like Give It To Me Raw, and all the amazing blogs and personal websites of people who are walking the same path. Go out there and get some support for yourself! We support you! You are not alone!

And if it is inspiration you need, here are some pictures of Heather's amazing cashew vanilla ice cream with strawberries and raspberries fresh from the garden:

Constanze says "yum yum!"
Ayrie says "Delicious!"
Finnerty says "mmmmm!"
Heather says "I'm so glad you like it!"David says "Wow!"
Katrina says "Thanks for the support, Heather!"

Oh, and because I promised, here is the Post Juice Feast Smoothie-Luck that we had on Wednesday! Enjoy!

Find more videos like this on The Juice Feasting Green Room

63 Pounds of.....

2008-07-01T13:07:00.000-07:00

....STRAWBERRIES!!!!!

David and I went strawberry picking with ma Rineke yesterday morning and picked, yes, 63 pounds! What a treat! I ate so many berries while picking that they stopped tasting good to me for the rest of the day, (that is a lot of berries!) but luckily this morning I was ready and eager to add some of the red jewels to my morning green smoothie.

I also got a lovely link from Jinjee's Daily Raw Inspiration for finding a U-Pick near you, click here. (BTW if you haven't signed up for this amazing daily resource, do it! I love reading what Jinjee has to pass along every day, and often discover new and wonderful things from her lovely words and links.) Check it out! Nothing tastes better than food right from the source, still warm from the sun.

Katrina in berry heaven!
Ma Rineke in her berry picking hat.
David and Katrina with the load of berries from Stowel Lake Farm.
David and strawberries.
Ma Rineke and Katrina prepare the berries for freezing. Come December these berries are going to be very special, a taste of sunshine!

We are doing wonderfully, we hope you are too! More to come on life post-Juice Feast soon! Today we have come to stay with Ayrie, Constanze, and Finny-Foo and they are planning on doing a post-Feast video, and I'll be sure to post it here once it is up and live.

Love and blessings,

Katrina

Where Is The Raw/Living Foods Movement Headed?

2008-06-24T17:40:00.001-07:00

The internet is really pushing the widespread knowledge, fascination, and acceptance of plant-based raw and living foods in the past 5 years. It seems everyone has a blog, a book, and is a raw food chef. We are all writing volumes about our personal experiences validating much of what plant-based nutrition experts have been saying for years. The library of printed knowledge has grown immensely, and you may have noticed recently that books on raw foods and raw food preparation are disproportionately represented on the bookshelves at your local whole foods-style market. We are still a minority, but our books are dominating the shelves, a sign of our creativity, understanding, and dedication to teaching this valuable knowledge and making it accessible to a wider audience (literally :) ).

Dr. Brian Clement of Hippocrates Health Institute was recently asked where the Raw Foods Movement would be in 10 years, and he gave this answer:

I agree with Dr. Clement, and want to continue this line of thought with the social changes I think we are going to see with the Raw Foods Movement, which will begin from within the movement itself.

BIG MIND - BIG HEART OF THE RAW FOODS MOVEMENT
In the past 3-5 years, I think we have gone a long way in the Raw Foods Movement in surpassing the fundamentalist, hard-core political/eco activist energy of the Vegan Movement, having included the best nutritional and social/economic/political realities, but without the harsh judgement or anger included. This is not to say that the Vegan Movement does not still have this sharp edge, but it would appear that a move to Raw Vegan is more expansive and legitimately hopeful that this is a cuisine that everyone can access, and all are invited - even those that have knowingly created harm.

I would suggest that the honest move to a plant-based raw/living foods diet involves a forgiveness of oneself, and an understanding that each of us has lived more egocentrically, less worldcentrically, in our own ways. There is a recognition that we must wake up together if we are to heal the many forms of damage we have collectively created. Guilt and blame become elements with limited use, except to acknowledge, learn, and move ahead.

In the next 10 years, I see the Raw Foods Movement as being commonly acknowledged as having many of the qualities other aspects of society will want to adopt: a grounded living in joy, cooperation over competition, living as a worldcentric act of love, and local economy (which is the last aspect of the Raw Foods Movement I want to discuss). What ground have we covered?

- Those of us who consider ourselves part of the Raw Foods Movement have, as a group, moved up the Spectrum of Diet away from processed, animal, and cooked foods.

- We have honored the value of fresh, nutrient-dense, local foods for their healing and health-protective qualities, not to mention the environmental protection, animal protection, and social/economic/political realities.

- We have figured out how to prepare raw foods in a delectable way for ourselves who want to be healthy.

- Moreover, we have developed thousands of dishes that even non-raw/plant-based eaters devour in front of us, leaving us with little food for ourselves as parties. Even some of our skeptical parents and friends have adopted Green Smoothies, more salads, juicing, and visits to raw food restaurants.

- We have recently made raw foods acceptable to the mainstream.

- Finally, with the advent of high petrol prices and a gentle awareness of optimal food freshness, we are pushing (and are being pushed) towards local foods. So what is the next step?

MOVING TO THE LAND
I believe it is moving to the land, and I do say "moving to the land," not "moving back to the land," because most of us at this point never lived on the land. The Raw Foods Movement is going to see a significant emphasis on urban farming; Urban Food Forests - a term I learned from Victoria, BC visionary Ayrie Cunliffe; and moving to the land out of economic and nutritional necessity. Food prices are skyrocketing, and recent events such as the mandatory pasteurization of almonds, the persistent efforts by agribusiness to dumb down organic standards, and suggestions to irradiate all leafy greens, etc. are threatening our fresh food supply.

This move to the land will not be best based on romantic visions of a fairy-tale Laura Engels Wilder "Little House on the Prairie" existence, but a solid use of the best technologies we have created with the Urban Experiment - such as the internet, radio, telephone, permaculture and organic practices perfected and widely printed in books that we all have access to, extraordinary nutritional and health knowledge, and a new appreciation for the impact our local living has on the entire planet.

Moving to the land is a big step, however, just as making plant-based live foods nutrition non-scary, solid, and scientifically-based has been. Keep your eye out in the Raw Foods Movement for those who are already growing food in urban and rural environments, and harvesting wild foods.

In my upcoming book, Juice Feasting: An Integral Hero's Guide, I will discuss this change and others, including political, economic, ecological, religious, and spiritual shifts.

With peaceful steps,

David Rainoshek, MA in The Green Room
www.JuiceFeasting.com

Safe Landings, happy homecoming!

2008-06-16T12:38:00.000-07:00

Hello Dear Friends!

We have arrived! It is beautiful here and we are very happy to be here.

It turned out to be the best move either of us have ever had, smooth as silk, and we flowed along juicily through all the changes. We woke up on a Wednesday morning, and by the next Wednesday we were driving across the border to Canada! The whole trip, 2,100 miles, was done on veggie oil, and we even took a day to enjoy an engagement anniversary in Yosemite National Park (it was a year ago we got engaged there!) where we drank Green Smoothies in the meadow, had a picnic lunch by the river, swam in the river, rode our bikes, and kept saying to each other "this is the best move we have ever done!" Here are some pictures of our move:

David and Katrina all set to go, goodbye little Patagonia house!
Breakfast in Tuolumne Meadows, the best Green Smoothie ever!
Yum Yum!
Celebrating Yosemite Falls and the Merced River.
A picnic lunch by the Merced River.Riding bikes at the foot of Half Dome.

We arrived in time to celebrate Ayrie and Constanze's Feast Breaking with Green Smoothies in the garden! 100 Days of Juice for these two juicies!
Ayrie and Katrina drinking Green Smoothies.
Happily re-united sisters. Katrina and Heather in the under-construction Cafe Bliss .
David and Katrina in the garden.

It feels wonderful to be in the lush, green, temperate rainforest of west coast Canada. I was ready to leave the desert, as much as I loved living there, and my whole being celebrated as we drove north to land where I grew up. We have been snaking on wild rose petals, juicing dandelion greens, watching the salal berries ripen, and filling up on local greens that seem to come from heaven!

Thank you so much to all of you who wrote with beautiful words of support for our sudden move, we appreciate and love you all!

Just today we have finalized a home for ourselves, and it will be very nice to see all of our books again when we move in come August. We just found out too that the people who lived in the house before us were raw foodists too, and the woman who owns the house is a fan of Ann Wigmore and has grown wheatgrass in precisely the spot I planned on doing so when I saw the house! Until then we are enjoying the hospitality of my mom and her husband Brad. We feel it is a special treat to be living with them at this point in our lives, as we all get to have many moments together that otherwise would not be possible. Right now my mom and David are making lunch together, salad and a raw tomato soup from lovely local yum! Time for lunch!

We will be in touch soon!

We hope you are all well, and have you in our thoughts with love and blessings,

David and Katrina

Global Juice Feast Days 88-91!

2008-05-30T19:30:00.000-07:00

I Love New Beginnings!

Juice Feast Day 88-91

The Daily Juice Journal:

This morning I made 2 quarts of GVJ with cucumber, celery, spinach, romaine, kale, parsley, carrot, ginger and apple. I also made 2 quarts of orange and pineapple, and two quarts of …..GREEN SMOOTHIE!! Read on for details!

TOTAL JUICE: 4 QUARTS JUICE and 2 QUARTS green smoothie

Personal Journal:

Hello dear friends!

Wow, what a couple of days we have had!

On Day 88 we went into Tucson for chores and to meet with an attorney about my Green Card. After much debate, brainstorming, and checking in with gut feelings, we have decided (with the council of someone with 30 years experience in these things) that the best thing for us to do at this point is to move to Canada for a while.

Because of the time frame (I have to be out of this country very, very soon), we decided as well that it was time for me to break out of my Juice Feast! So the evening of Day 88 found me enjoying an amazing, yummy, green smoothie!

Early on Day 89 we started to pack up our darling little house, and today, Day 91, finds me sitting in an empty house, with just the bed and the computers left, and almost all the cleaning is done too! Tomorrow morning, Day 92, we will be pulling away from Patagonia with our truck loaded down with all of our books, headed North to B.C.!

It has really been a roller coaster these past few days, and a bit of a shock as we had planned on living here for at least a year longer. I wish I had more time to write, but we still have quite a bit to tie up before we leave tomorrow, so I will keep this quick….

GREEN SMOOTHIES??? Where are the prunes? After a long time coming, www.JuiceFeasting.com will soon be updating the Juice Feast Breaking protocol to green smoothies rather than prunes. Prunes have been used due to their BM prompting activities, and while they work wonderfully for this, often they work too well! This has left quite a few of our students with uncomfortable prune experiences, including bloating and gas, and poo-poria!!

So, keep your eyes open for the updated version of Feast Breaking! And for those of you about to break your Feasts tomorrow (!!!) here is a quick rundown:

Day 1 (Day 93): Drink all of your regular juices, and add in 1 quart of green smoothie. I made my first green smoothie with ½ quart orange/pineapple juice, ½ banana, ½ pound blueberries, 1 mango, and ½ pound spinach, and 8 soaked prunes. Blend really well, chew really well, soak in the bliss and gratitude of some solid food after an amazing Juice Feast! This is a celebration!!

Day 2: Drink all of your regular juices, and 1-2 quarts of green smoothie.

Day 3: Drink some juice, some smoothies, and add in some whole, fresh, juicy fruits and berries.

Day 4: Same as Day 3.

Day 5: Drink some juice, some smoothies, eat some fruit, and add in some non-fat salads.

Day 6: Same as day 5.

After Day 6 you can move into The Four Means To Get Your Greens! Enjoy!

Be sure to read the Feast Breaking Protocol, and simply replace prunes with Green Smoothies!

Because we have been madly packing, tying up all loose ends, preparing to move countries, all with very little time to do so, I did not get a chance to do a Feast Breaking video BUT we are still planning on creating one to be uploaded sometime after we arrive and get settled in Canada. So I apologize to those of you Juice Feasting with us on the Global Juice Feast that we will not be so involved with Feast Breaking as we would like to be. We are there with you in spirit! And we are so grateful to all of you who have joined us in juice, and so proud of all of us!

I can report that I feel AMAZING and WONDERFUL to be eating again! It took me about a day to accept the fact that going 92 Days would not be such a good idea for me, as it would have meant Feast Breaking on the road with a truck FULL of stuff. I wanted my stomach to be ready to eat normally again before heading off with our home packed in a tow-trailer, rather than trying to make juice while rushing up to get me across the border. But, once I started to eat again I felt so heavenly that the number of days really didn’t matter any more. I have had a truly transformative, exciting, joyful and powerful Juice Feast, and for that I am deeply grateful.

I am still fully enjoying making juice and drinking juice, and I look forward to having a very juicy diet from here on out! Today so far I have had 1 quart of GVJ, 1 quart of orange/pineapple, and a green smoothie with OJ, strawberries, mango, celery, and spinach. I am going to have a salad for lunch, and still have 2 quarts of juice for the rest of the day. I know it is not my salad day yet, but I have to get this stomach ready!

We are looking forward to hearing how everyone is doing post-Juice Feast once we arrive in B.C. and wish you all the best of smoothies and joyful moments! We will be leaving early tomorrow morning, and will check in again from Canada!

All of our love and blessings,

Katrina and David

Global Juice Feast Day 87!

2008-05-26T19:43:00.000-07:00

I Love Tumbleweed! (in my juices when it is young and green, before it dwarfs a bench!)

Juice Feast Day 87

The Daily Juice Journal:

This morning I made 3 quarts of GVJ with cucumber, celery, spinach, romaine, dandelion greens, kale, parsley, cilantro, baby tumbleweed, carrot, ginger and apple. I also made 2 quarts of orange and pineapple, and one quart of watermelon, apple, lime, and ginger, and one quart of watermelon, apple, raspberry, and ginger (OUTSTANDINGLY GOOD AGAIN!)

TOTAL JUICE: 7 QUARTS JUICE

Added to juices: Vitamineral Green, kelp, bee pollen, MSM and maca.

Also taken: Vitalzym, Max Stress B, coconut oil, DHA/Flax/Evening Primrose Oil, Internal Parasite Formula and water.

Personal Journal:

We just got in from a sunset walk through the fields, where we picked a huge bag of tumbleweed to be put in the dehydrator to later blend into green superfood powder!! I was asked recently what the nutritional benefits of adding young tumbleweed to juices is.

I found limited young tumbleweed nutritional information on line, but I also found this about eating the little green plants, also known as Salsola (I like that name!)

Salsola as food:

The leaves and shoots of many species are edible, especially when young and tender, and some are grown as vegetables, often used for salads, sushi, or as a garnish. The most commonly eaten European species is Salsola Soda known in Italy as Barba di Frate or Agretti. In Japan, S. komarovii is a crop of moderate importance, known locally as okahijiki (literally "land hijiki").

The seeds are also edible, although difficult to collect in quantity, and are sometimes ground into flour.

(From Wikipedia.com)

I like it that it is known as "land hijiki" in Japan, a kind of desert seaweed!

One thing I did find out is that tumbleweed is about 12% protein, which makes higher in protein, gram for gram, than meat!

As far as I am concerned, any plant that can survive and flourish in this arid land is full of life force and vitality, and I am thankful to the little salsolas for their tender greens shoots. When I was working at the Tree of Life, at this time of year there was always a bowl of salsola shoots on the lunch buffet table, to be added to salads. I also discovered several recipes for tumbleweed soups on line, and one person claimed that it makes a soup very similar to split pea soup. Might be worth a try to create a raw salsola soup!

Till tomorrow, may your juices and dreams be sweet!

Katrina and David

Global Juice Feast Day 86!

2008-05-25T20:38:00.000-07:00

I Love Re-Bounding!

Juice Feast Day 86

The Daily Juice Journal:

This morning I made 3 quarts of GVJ with cucumber, celery, spinach, romaine, dandelion greens, kale, parsley, cilantro, baby tumble weed, carrot, ginger and apple. I also made 2 quarts of orange and pineapple, and one quart of watermelon, apple, lime, and ginger (OUTSTANDINGLY GOOD!)

TOTAL JUICE: 6 QUARTS JUICE

Added to juices: Vitamineral Green, kelp, bee pollen, MSM and maca.

Also taken: Vitalzym, ginger/lemon/honey tea, antioxidant extreme, Max Stress B, Internal Parasite Formula and water.

Personal Journal:

Well, I think we are finally 100% over the ill effects of that wild dust storm! When we were in town yesterday we spoke to several people who also got terrible allergies/flu from the dust, and Annie at the health food store even said that the store had been very quiet due to the windstorm! Finally after stiff legged days of post Grand Canyon hiking and then the dust flu I really got a good bounce on the re-bounder today. My cells love dancing!

I really can’t believe there are just six more days of Juice Feasting for me! WOOOOOOOOOWWWWZERS! What a trip it has been! I am in the twilight of my Juice Feast, the sunrise of the rest of my life! What a fabulous feeling, to feel so clean, healthy, and strong, I am so grateful! Enough exclamations???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ah! Ah! Ah! But I am so exclaimingly happy!!!!!!!!!!!!! (and so is David who is munching mangos beside me, working on a chapter)

LOVE!

Katrina and David

Global Juice Feast Day 85!

2008-05-24T19:50:00.000-07:00

I Love Roses!
Juice Feast Day 85

The Daily Juice Journal:

This morning I made 3 quarts of GVJ with cucumber, celery, spinach, romaine, dandelion greens, kale, baby garden greens, parsley, baby tumble weed, carrot and apple. I also made 2 quarts of orange and pineapple, and one quart of watermelon, apple, lemon, lime and orange.

TOTAL JUICE: 6 QUARTS JUICE

Added to juices: Vitamineral Green, kelp, bee pollen, and maca.

Also taken: Vitalzym, MSM, ginger/lemon/honey tea, coconut oil, DHA/flax oil, antioxidant extreme, Max Stress B, Internal Parasite Formula and water.

Personal Journal:

Today we went for a wander in the Patagonia Community Garden and smelled the roses. Then we went for an afternoon stroll through the bird sanctuary, and loved the lushness...Arizona is full of surprises!

With LOVE!!

Katrina and David

Global Juice Feast Day 84!

2008-05-23T19:03:00.000-07:00

View pictoscribe's map

Taken in a place with no name (See more photos or videos here)

I Love Fresh Garden Greens!

Juice Feast Day 84

The Daily Juice Journal:

This morning I made 3 quarts of GVJ with cucumber, celery, spinach, romaine, dandelion greens, kale, baby garden greens, parsley, baby tumble weed, carrot and apple. I also made 2 quarts of orange and pineapple.

TOTAL JUICE: 5 QUARTS JUICE

Added to juices: Vitamineral Green, kelp, bee pollen, spirulina and maca.

Also taken: Vitalzym, MSM, astragalus tea, coconut oil, DHA/flax oil, antioxidant extreme, Max Stress B, Internal Parasite Formula and water.

Personal Journal:

It rained last night and for much of today! Hooray! I felt better almost immediately with the rain last night, as soon as the dust settled. We talked to our neighbor today too, and she said that a lot of people in town got flu/cold like symptoms from the dust storm. I've never been in a dust storm, and I can say that I am very glad it is over!

Here is a little video my mom and I did on her last day here in AZ with us, me on Day 80, mom on Day 22! Enjoy!

With love,

Katrina and David

Global Juice Feast Day 83!

2008-05-22T16:28:00.001-07:00

I love rain (hoping for rain!)
Juice Feast Day 83

The Daily Juice Journal:

This morning I made 3 quarts of GVJ with cucumber, celery, spinach, romaine, dandelion greens, kale, parsley, baby tumble weed, carrot and apple. I also made 2 quarts of orange and pineapple.

TOTAL JUICE: 5 QUARTS JUICE

Added to juices: Vitamineral Green, kelp, bee pollen, MSM and maca.

Also taken: Vitalzym, ginger/lemon/honey tea, antioxidant extreme, Max Stress B, Internal Parasite Formula and water.

Personal Journal:

Well, here I am on Day 83 feeling wrecked, with a nice long list of physical yucks including stinging, red eyes, runny nose, body ache, ear ache, sore throat, and headache. I don’t know if what I have is a full blown cold, flu, allergies, or all three. We are in the middle of a fierce wind storm here in southern AZ, and the sky is an odd grey-brown, filled with dust. You can see the dust blowing around the trees in little twisters, and I feel like my head is stuffed with dust. YUCK!! David is feeling it too, and we are both wishing for rain to wash it all away.

We are also quite suddenly finding ourselves dealing again with US immigration, who have denied my application for the visitor visa that I filed back in January, and in no nice terms have let me know that I am to leave the US by a certain, very soon date or I will be deported. As some of you may know, I was denied entry to the US after visiting Canada for Christmas, and then ten days later with the right paperwork was granted a 3 DAY VISA!!!, which I applied for an extension on, and have just been denied. At this point we are going to go ahead and apply for a Green Card, which we were avoiding doing because we are not yet sure where we want to settle down and we were hoping to avoid all the hassle and hoopala of doing so. The US border has just become a more and more unfriendly place since 9/11 though, and unless I want to risk being denied access to my husband’s country it looks like I need a Green Card. So, once I do apply for a Green Card, rather than needing to leave, I will not be allowed to leave the US until the process is finished, thank goodness…as long as I get to stay with David I will be happy!

Here’s to a deep, dustless sleep tonight, and a rainy day tomorrow!

With love to you all,

Katrina and David

Global Juice Feast Day 82!

2008-05-21T17:32:00.000-07:00

Juice Feast Day 82

The Daily Juice Journal:

This morning I made 3.5 quarts of GVJ with cucumber, celery, spinach, romaine, dandelion greens, kale, parsley, baby tumble weed, carrot and apple. I also made 1 quart of orange and pineapple and 1 quart of grapefruit garlic.

TOTAL JUICE: 5.5 QUARTS JUICE

Added to juices: Vitamineral Green, kelp, bee pollen and maca.

Also taken: Vitalzym, nettle tea, antioxidant extreme, Max Stress B, Internal Parasite Formula and water.

Personal Journal:

Hello Dear Friends!

WOW!! 82 Days on juice!!! I actually lost count while I have been away from blogging, and had to check in with Penni to see what day we are on! It has become such second nature at this point, making juice, drinking juice, juice, juice, juice!!

I am feeling fantastic (and so is David with lots of green smoothies) and strong, so excited about the next 10 days of juice and beyond….yes, I am looking forward to eating at this point. Very, very excited about it in fact.

David and I have had a magical week with my mom. She flew home yesterday, leaving us all in tears, and looking forward to when we will all live within driving/walking/biking distance from each other.

OK, here is a LOOOOONG entry on the past week of traveling juicyness.

We started out on Wednesday morning with two giant coolers full of produce, one little cooler full of juice, and a Rubbermaid full of juicing gear. My mom and I became the official juicers for the week, and we made a great team while David enjoyed a week of not making juice (and with all the juice making he has done over the years, including making juice for 4 people for 90 Days every morning by himself, I think he was happy to allow us to do so)

First we drove to the red rock oasis of Sedona, where we went on a stunning late afternoon hike on a trail that winds off of Schnebelley Hill road into the embrace of the iron rich red walls under the superman blue skies. Spring flowers were everywhere, and even the spiny, alien shapes of the desert cactus where pushing forth lush blossoms.

David and Katrina in Sedona
Katrina and Rineke in Sedona

We spent the night in an earth brown adobe style building that looks just all the other earthy building in that beautiful town, and woke up to MAKE JUICE!!

Rineke and Katrina making juice in Sedona
Hotel room juice making!

On the way out of Sedona, we stopped at Slide Rock State Park for a stroll up Oak Creek. I even went for a Day 76 chilly dip in the crystal clear water, leaving me feeling like a brand new being, refreshed, invigorated, so CLEAN and ALIVE!

David by Oak Creek, Sedona, AZ

Katrina and Rineke pause by the creek
Rineke and Katrina in the creek

David and Katrina and Humphry's Peak, the tallest point in Arizona

From Oak Creek it was a beautiful, meandering drive towards one of the most well visited places in the world (and rightly so) My mom began to cry upon her first glimpse of the Grand Canyon, and my breath was taken away yet again. Every time I see it, it is the same thrill that words cannot describe. Nature really is the grandest artist, her masterpieces taking us beyond time into the deep and beautiful experience of creation. We spent he rest of the afternoon wandering the rim, standing and drinking it in, gasping, and full of wonder.

Us at our first view point of the Grand Canyon

The next day my mom and I went on a mother/daughter hike, and we packed our packs with two quarts of water and two quarts of juice each and headed down the steep decent of the South Kaibab Trail. This was our practice Juice Feasting hike, and we hiked an hour down, first to Ohh-ah point, and then on to Cedar Point. Cedar point is a big red platform that juts out into the canyon like a giant arrow head, and when you are sitting on the tip you are looking directly across at another giant butte of red Supai Sandstone, looking like so many other formations in the canyon to be sacred temple ruins from a civilization long ago. I guess they are in a way, a vast canyon filled with temples to the majesty of time. We drank a juice while sitting on the point, watching time flow by, trying to imagine what time was like for the rocks on which we sat.
Katrina on Cedar Point

Rineke on Cedar Point

Me drinking my GVJ in the Grand Canyon

It took mom and I the same amount of time to zig-zag up the steep switch back riddled trail to the rim as it took us to get down to Cedar Point. We were happily surprised, and drank our second juice sitting on the rim before we headed back to the truck for more juice.

The next morning, Saturday, was warm and sunny, the warmest day yet, and we made our juice and headed off to hike down the Bright Angle Trail to Indian Gardens...perhaps as the canyons first ever Juice Feasting hikers. The 4.5 miles down were of course the easy part, and we fully enjoyed reaching the oasis of Indian Gardens where we drank our juice in the shade of the giant cottonwoods where the Havasupai Indians once grew their crops.

Cactus flower at Indian Gardens
Feeling that 100 degrees on the way back up!

David and I did the Bright Angel Trail in November, and we went all the way down to the river and back, despite warnings the whole way down “Do Not Attempt to Hike from the Rim to the River and Back in One Day!” The memory of the last 3 miles was making me a little wary of doing this hike on juice, as it is very step and hot, yet we found ourselves flying past people the whole way up! In fact, I found that hiking and juice is an amazing combination for me. There is no food to digest, and your energy source is hydrating and full of goodness. For the seven hour, 9 mile, 100 degree hike we each drank 3 quarts of juice. We also brought some sea salt because excessive sweating leads to sodium loss, and I munched on bee pollen. We arrived back at the rim feeling very happy, AND WE DID IT ON JUICE!!

We had more juice stashed in the truck which we gladly drank down, and then went to find ourselves a perch on the rim and sat to watch the unfolding of sunset for several hours until the sun finally melted down into the horizon after a dreamy display of shifting light, colors, and shapes in the canyon.The streaming sun light before sunset
After sunset

By the time we got back to our hotel and made some coconut water with spirulina, I had had 8 quarts of juice! A hiking girl does need her juice.

We spent Sunday morning viewing the canyon from the East rim, where views of the snaking river are much more frequent, and then said our goodbyes to the canyon.
A glimpse of the river

We arrived home that night, mom and I limping from the post-hike calf stiffness, happy as can be.

I am now a true believer in the power of juice not to just be used as a tool to transform illness, but also as an amazing source of nourishment for an already healthy body. I HIKED on juice, after close to 80 days on juice, and even after water fasting for 3 days, in 100 degree heat and up and down a 3,060 foot elevation (STEEP) I am impressed!!! And my mom did it too, at the age of 57, on juice, and kept up with her 30 year old daughter!! So in case you haven’t figured it out yet, juice rocks. We are thinking from now on we will always bring a quart or two of fresh juice along with us on hikes.

Enjoy your juice!!

With love,
Katrina and David

Global Juice Feast Day 74!

2008-05-13T18:55:00.000-07:00

Me and my mom making juice.

Day 74 for me, Day 16 for Mom!

Another short one today. I have great respect for those of you who have been doing such beautiful blogs every day, and those of you who have done a Juice Feast and blogged EVERY DAY!!

I am going to be a lazy blogger while my mom is here though, so that I can spend the time with her instead of on the internet. Please bear with me! She arrived yesterday with a big smile after a 9 hour trip on airplanes. She began Juice Feasting on April 28th, so she water fasted while flying to keep things simple, and had a good experience doing that. We met her at the airport with fresh juice, and then went to stock up on enough produce for three juicy people!! And we thought juicing for two was a lot of produce....

Today we went on the tour of the Tree of Life, where David and I met, and showed mom the cafe, the temple, the labarinth, the garden, the dorm, and went on a beautiful walk on the windy, grassy mesa. Tomorrow we are going to drive up to Sedona, and then after a day there off we go to the Grand Canyon! I am so excited, I love it there! We will be home on Saturday or Sunday so I will be sure to report then how our juicy trip unfolds.

LOVE!!! to you all!!!

Katrina, David, and ma Rineke.

ps. Mom and I have each had 4.5 quarts of juice today, David had 3 quarts and a bowl of strawberries and 2 papayas.

Global Juice Feast Day 72!

2008-05-11T15:12:00.001-07:00

Ma Rineke, Joe, Hezi, baby David, and Katrina

Ma Jean and David

We Love Moms!!

Juice Feast Day 72

The Daily Juice Journal:

We made 5 quarts of GVJ with cucumber, celery, dandelion greens, romaine, bok choy, green lettuce, cilantro, basil, carrot, apple, baby tumble weed, and garlic. We also made 2 quarts of orange and pineapple.

DAVID: Modified Juice Feast

As you know from the Day 71 video (see post below if you missed it!), David has moved into a modified Juice Feast at this point. I don’t know how long I will continue to record what he is eating, but I will for a bit so you can get the picture!

2 QUARTS GVJ, 1 QUART FRUIT.

TOTAL JUICE: 3 QUARTS JUICE
Also: 1 lb blueberries blended into orange juice, some soaked prunes, 2 mangoes, 1 papaya.

KATRINA:

3 QUARTS GVJ, 1 QUART FRUIT

TOTAL JUICE: 4 QUARTS JUICE

Added to juices: Vitamineral Green, maca, kelp, and bee pollen

Also taken: Vitalzym, Max Stress B, Internal Parasite Formula, and water.

Personal Journal:

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!

I had a beautiful dream last night, still so fresh in my mind when I woke up, where I was sitting around with a group of friends and we were all discussing our mothers. I was sharing with everyone how much I loved my mother, how wonderful she is, how she baked bread for us, and made us fresh soymilk (of course there is much more I could say about my mother, but this is what I was saying in the dream) Then I went on to say how I felt my mother and I are kindred spirits, and how although the mother/daughter connection is strong, I really feel as I grow older that the kindred spirit relationship with her is the strongest. I woke up feeling so light and happy, so full of love for this amazing woman who has given and taught me so much, for my kindred spirit mother.

After meditation, morning walking (and tumbleweed picking), and juice making, David and I spent some time on Skype and telephone letting our mothers know how much we love them. AND my mom is going to arrive TOMORROW, so we can personally give her a Mother’s Day hug, which is much better than Skype. I can’t wait!

I wanted to share with you some of my favorite words of wisdom on motherhood from Marianne Williamson’s A Woman’s Worth, which is now BTW one of my all time favorites. I have been buying every second hand copy I come across, so if you cross paths with me, watch out, you just might get one slipped in your back pocket!

Lovely bits from Marianne:

I have founded charitable organizations, run them, and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to support them. I have lectured around the world to many thousands of people, and I have written a number-one bestselling book. Raising a child is harder.

It takes more energy, more focus, more sensitivity, and if done well, at least as much intelligence. And if we raised happy children, we wouldn’t need so many charities, lectures, and books on how to have a happier, more balanced life. The idea that a woman is somehow doing more with her life if she has a job out in the working world is insane….there is no job in the world that, when done well, requires more work and intelligence than raising our sons and daughters. There is no single effort more radical in its potential for saving the world than a transformation of the way we raise our children. They must grow up to be adults with only a fraction of our neuroses, or the world is in serious trouble.

What could be more important for the future of our world than that we raise happy and well-adjusted, empowered and empowering children? They are the caretakers of tomorrow’s world. As the parental generation, every child is our child.

To ignore the state of our children is to ignore the state of the world.

I love the power that these words give to mothers! I truly think that a big part of the problems we are facing in the world today is that the role of motherhood is not given enough respect, and the sooner we all, mothers, fathers, women, and men alike respect and treat with dignity those who are raising the world’s children, the better they will respect themselves and be able to enjoy their dignified position: Motherhood. So to all the mother’s out there, I hope you had a beautiful day, and here are some flowers for you from David and I!!!! Well, really they were the flowers that David brought to me as a congratulations on 3 days of water fasting, but we will share their beauty with you today!
I am loving being back on juice as much as I was loving water fasting. I really feel like I have a whole new relationship with Juice Feasting. I am taking a nice long time with my juices, being sure to chew them, and also not ODing on fruit juice like I was. Still feeling really serene, peaceful, and grounded. I just needed a Re-Set to my Re-Setting the re-set button!!

And, before I get even more ridiculously behind the times, I wanted to extend a very well deserved congratulations to….Philip! Congratulations on an epic 100 Day Juice Feast! We loved watching your progress, and your blog write-ups and videos were always inspirational and informative. You are going to bring light to so many lives in addition to the ones you have done so for already, and we say keep on rocking! Xoxoxoxoxo!! Lots of love from both of us☺

We will be in Tucson all day tomorrow getting the ma Rineke so I will talk with you on Tuesday!

We love you all, mommies, daddies, babies, and that covers everyone!!

Katrina and David

Global Juice Feast Day 71!

2008-05-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

Global Juice Feast Day 70!

2008-05-09T20:39:00.000-07:00

I Love Books!

WOWIE!!!! YIPPIEEREEEEE! Day SEVENTEEEEEEE!

I can scarcely believe it...Day 70 on liquids and Day 3 of water fasting for me, during which time I am limiting my time on the computer (so this is another short post)...but not with books! Oh how I love books! I took lots of time to read today, because you are allowed to do that sort of thing while water fasting:)

David my darling brought me a bouquet of roses today to congratulate me on 3 beautiful days of water fasting. I have posted before about my un-success with a one day water fast in the past, so to have it feel so peaceful and transformative is really special to me. It means I am cleaner baby!

I really feel like I could keep going but my beautiful MOTHER is arriving on Monday (the day after mother's day, how nice) for a visit and I want to be just a little more active while she is here than water fasting allows.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for such an amazing experience of 3 days on nothing but water. I feel truly blessed. I will write more tomorrow about my experience and personal musings on water fasting...

I am going to enjoy a nice big quart of green juice tomorrow morning though!

With love and sparkles,

Katrina and David (who had 4 quarts of juice)

Global Juice Feast Day 69!

2008-05-08T17:12:00.000-07:00

I Love Spring Green!

Day 69, ain't that fine!!??

Another peaceful day of water fasting for me, David drank four quarts of juice...

See you tomorrow!

LOVE!!

Katrina and David

Global Juice Feast Day 68!

2008-05-07T17:53:00.000-07:00

I Love Peaceful Waters
Juice Feast Day 68

The Daily Juice Journal:

Today David made 2 quarts of GVJ with cucumber, celery, romaine, dinosaur kale, red lettuce, green lettuce, parsley, lemon, carrots, and yam. He also made 4 quarts of orange and pineapple.

DAVID:

2 QUARTS GVJ, 2 QUARTS FRUIT.

TOTAL JUICE: 4 QUARTS JUICE

KATRINA:

TOTAL JUICE: 0 QUARTS JUICE

Added to juices: Vitamineral Green, maca, kelp, hemp oil, and bee pollen

Also taken: Vitalzym, NCD, Max Stress B, Internal Parasite Formula, and water.

Personal Journal:

I decided a few days ago that it was time for me to experience a day of water fasting. Today is the day.

I feel in such deep peace……a truly altered state right now at the sunset of the day. Is this real? I feel very much like a liquid, flowing and free, a part of everything. As though I might just levitate or flow right out of my body and leave my mind and all of its contradictions behind. Such peace.

I will talk to you tomorrow!

LOVE watery love,

Katrina and David

Global Juice Feast Day 67!

2008-05-06T19:55:00.000-07:00

I Love The Gift of Clean Drinking Water!

Juice Feast Day 67

The Daily Juice Journal:

This morning we made 4 quarts of GVJ with cucumber, celery, romaine, dinosaur kale, red lettuce, green lettuce, parsley, cilantro, lemon, carrots, yam, and apple. We also made 4 quarts of orange and pineapple.

DAVID:

2 QUARTS GVJ, 2 QUARTS FRUIT.

TOTAL JUICE: 4 QUARTS JUICE

KATRINA:

2 QUARTS GVJ, 2 QUARTS FRUIT

TOTAL JUICE: 4 QUARTS JUICE

Added to juices: Vitamineral Green, maca, kelp, hemp oil, and bee pollen

Also taken: Vitalzym, NCD, Max Stress B, Internal Parasite Formula, herbal tea with honey, and water.

Your Questions:

Thanks so much for diligently answering everyones queries :-)
I have a couple more for you!
1. I'm on Day 60 today, and I'm now a month overdue for my period. Is this normal?
2. My I'm loosing more hair than I'm used to! Noticeable when showering etc. Why is this? A particular deficiency?
Any insight/help will be MUCH appreciated.
Best wishes
Lisa

We Say:

Hello Lisa!

Congratulations on Day 60! (though it is probably Day 67 by now☺)

1. We recently answered this question, so here it is again!
This is a common experience for women on a Juice Feast, and it can be quite disconcerting. For those of us who do not experience a complete disappearance of our period, we will often experience a shift in our cycle. Sometimes women will have heavier bleeding than usual due to the body using this time of month to detox as much a possible. Some women will have very short, light periods, for me this has been the case. Some women, like yourself, will miss their period all together.

In our experience this is all a part of cleansing, healing, re-building, and re-structuring your body. Every single one of us will respond differently to this process.

The biggest reason that women miss their cycle (besides being pregnant) is due to being underweight. The women's body says "if I don't have enough body mass to make a baby, I'm going to make sure that I'm not going to get pregnant" Any animal in the wild will not get pregnant unless there is enough food around to nourish a new, growing baby.

Other reasons for missing your moon can be vigorous exercise or athletic training, emotional stress, hormonal imbalances, malnourishment, if you are breast feeding, chronic illness, and/or thyroid imbalance.

We know of several women who have missed their period for times up to as long as five months, and then had it return once things balanced out again for them.

Other signs to watch for WHILE also missing your period that can signal a potential problem are hair loss, changes in vision, headaches, and breast secretions and/or milk production.

If you are experiencing any of these symptoms along with the loss of your period, please consult your health professional.

Because we are not doctors, and we are also not working with you personally, we can’t answer your questions with certainty. Please do work with your health professional on these health challenges.

2. We recently answered the hair loss question too, so here it is again!:
Here is what we know about hair loss and Juice Feasting/transitioning to a live food diet. We know that people may loose hair when they move to a plant based diet at first due to the change in protein source. If your body has been used to getting its protein from animal products, until it re-leans to use the protein in plants you may experience hair loss. Your body is adapting to a new source of protein. This is very common among people moving towards a plant based diet. David lost loads of hair in the first two months of eating raw foods, and he now has a beautiful, full head of hair.

If you are overly concerned about it, please consult your health care professional to omit any chance that your hair loss if for another reason that needs to be addressed.

I hope some of this is useful and sheds some light!

With peaceful steps,

Katrina

Personal Journal:

Hello Dear Friends!

Back on the blogging bandwagon, I am! Spent Day 65 in Tucson, and Day 66 re-hydrating….”Re-hydrating!!??” you say, “after 66 Days of Juice Feasting!!??”

As some of you may know, David has been feeling very on again off again since around Day 30, and we just couldn’t figure out why. Then things just kept getting worse and worse until on the morning of Day 65 he had his morning water, and then up it all came again. Ah Ha! We had been told last time we went to get our water, from a “filtered” source that we trusted, that the TDS levels were really high, which means that the filtration system just wasn’t working. He said it had been that way for about a month as far as they could tell. We had considered the water as the cause of David’s not feeling well, but because I felt ok we passed it off. Until his body gave us a very clear message that it REALLY wasn’t happy with the water! So, we made an emergency trip into Tucson for water.

The shift has been immense, for both of us, and the water now tastes like nectar from the gods! We both found ourselves feeling crazy thirst and a desire to do nothing but drink water all day yesterday. All of David’s symptoms can be traced to dehydration, and are slowly disappearing as he re-hydrates with GOOD water! I could see him shifting as he drank, and it was like the lights came back on! Thank goodness! He wasn’t even wanting green juice, which is very rare for him, and we figure now it was because our green juice had bad water in it. So the message to us is, good water is very important, and if you have a hunch that something might be the cause of your malaise, it is worth changing that thing just to check and be sure. It reminds me of taking the pill, and turning into a different (very depressed) person, but thinking “surely it can’t be from that tiny little pill!’ Sure enough though, as soon as I stopped taking it, my real, happy self came back. Tiny things can make huge differences.

Well, water isn’t a tiny thing, it just seemed too simple at the time! But no, clean, clear, drinking water is vital, and I am ever grateful to have access to it. One day, may all beings again have clean, clear, beautiful water to drink every day!

See you to-more-oh!!

LOVE!!

Katrina and David

Global Juice Feast Day 64!

2008-05-03T17:49:00.000-07:00

I Love Yoga!
Juice Feast Day 64!

The Daily Juice Journal:

This morning I made 3 quarts of GVJ with cucumber, celery, romaine, dinosaur kale, green lettuce, parsley, cilantro, green onion, lime, garlic, carrots, yam, young tumbleweed, and apple. I also made 4 quarts of orange and pineapple.

DAVID:

1 QUARTS FRUIT.

TOTAL JUICE: 1 QUARTS JUICE and water from two young coconuts

KATRINA:

3 QUARTS GVJ, 3 QUARTS FRUIT

TOTAL JUICE: 6 QUARTS JUICE

Added to juices: Vitamineral Green, maca, kelp, hemp oil, spirulina and bee pollen

Also taken: Vitalzym, NCD, Internal Parasite Formula, and water.

Personal Journal:

A day off today!! Hooray!! David is essentially water fasting again, with about a quart of juice. He just doesn't feel like having juice!! I certainly do, and I LOVED my green juice today. I picked a handful of baby tumbleweed while I was out on my morning walk and added them to my juice for some super weed power! Baby tumbleweed is nothing like big, dried out rolling the desert tumbleweed, it is soft and green and succulent. I am going to go and watch a movie with my love now....see you tomorrow!!

LOVE!!

Katrina and David

Global Juice Feast Day 63!

2008-05-02T17:46:00.000-07:00

I Love Eating Sunshine!
Juice Feast Day 63

The Daily Juice Journal:

This morning we made 5 quarts of GVJ with cucumber, celery, romaine, dinosaur kale, dandelion greens, red lettuce, green lettuce, parsley, lemon, carrots, yam, ginger and apple. We also made 4 quarts of orange.

DAVID:

0.5 QUARTS FRUIT.

TOTAL JUICE: 0.5 QUARTS JUICE and water from one young coconut blended with SPIRULINA!!

KATRINA:

3 QUARTS GVJ, 2 QUARTS FRUIT

TOTAL JUICE: 5 QUARTS JUICE and water from one young coconut blended with SPIRULINA!!

Added to juices: Vitamineral Green, maca, kelp, hemp oil, spirulina and bee pollen

Also taken: Vitalzym, NCD, Internal Parasite Formula, and water.

Personal Journal:

Just another beautiful sunny day in Patagonia, AZ!! Here is the Day 60 Video for those of you who haven’t seen it yet:

Till tomorrow!

LOVE!

Katrina and David