HAPPY NEW YEAR :)))

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.
--Alfred, Lord Tennyson


Tonight is an ending; tonight is a beginning. Help me stay in the moment to bid farewell to the old and welcome in the new in my own way.

With love, blessings and all best wishes to you for a new year filled with abundance, joy and light...
One love,
Angela. xx

Bringing Juice Feasting to Costa Rica...

Hola :)
Here are some pictures from the trip I just took to the north with some friends here...

Well, it’s been another great day for me here in juice-feasting world…in total contrast to yesterday, I woke early today, at 7am, alert and ready to get going on the day…there was a bizarre amount of gurgling and rattling and shifting about going on in my colon however, that has persisted all day...it’s very unusual – a lot of gas moving through and mucus being expelled, yet no unpleasant smells involved at all…I get the impression that this is a result of the bacteria in my colon dealing with any sugars I send that way at the moment…I’m not sure, but that feels to me like the cause of all this odd gas production…it’s strange, but definitely an improvement on intense pancreas ache, for now… ;)

I made it out jogging this afternoon for the first time in about a week or more…it felt really good to be back out there, pacing the streets…I LOVE getting into that flow and rhythm, when it feels so fluid and relaxed…beautiful…I was very strategic with my juicing too in regards to jogging and made sure I juiced the last of the mamey I had just before jogging:

sugars in the context of exercise = no pancreas implosions – this I have learnt…

I am also interested in starting to do some weight training/toning soon, but feel resistance about it too – my fear of gym spaces rising up to greet me again ;) I know how it works for me though – I just need to go there and get into it – using machines and so on – get past the initial mind hurdle and I’ll settle into it soon enough – things often seem so big and daunting and new from the outside, but once I just start to do them, they flow so easily – like with jogging, or meditation, or being raw…or any of the big shifts in my life I’ve experienced in the last 5 years or so…

Today I really became aware of how much chewing my juices has become second nature to me…I noticed so succinctly because for a moment this morning, I didn’t chew a mouthful of juice before swallowing it – just took it straight down into my body and it felt SO strange…so fast and like I’d totally missed the point…lol…it was funny to experience and to realise how different drinking has now become for me…I also noticed when travelling this last week with the raw primal guys HOW much faster they drank coconuts than me…I would literally still be half-way through my first one and they would be on their second or third…this is definitely life in the slooooooooooow, alkaline, enzyme-active lane ;)

Today I are been mostly drinkin’:

1.25 litres (1 quart and 1 cup) water with lime juice
2 litres ( 2 quarts) pineapple/greens/celery juice
600ml (2.5 cups) mamey juice with pure vanilla powder shaken in
1.75 litres (1 quart and 3 cups) pear/lettuce/parsely/swiss chard/spinach juice
2 tbsp hemp oil
500ml (1 pint) coconut water with green powder
500ml (1 pint) water

which be…6.6 litres o’liquid or…about 1.74 gallons…so, I made it back over the gallon mark for juices again today…hurrah :)

I am absolutely amazed how many people seem to be interested now in Juice Feasting and taking on this transformative journey for themselves…my friend who I was feasting here with in Costa Rica stopped about a week ago, as she felt she had had enough and was going abroad for a while anyway. Today I heard from her that she wants to get back on juice feasting as soon as she’s back here – AND friends of her are all keyed up for the ride too – wow – we’re going to host some juice feasting demos and talks for all those interested here in San Jose – the first will be next Saturday, Jan the 6th at 6pm in a yoga studio here – contact me for details if you’re interested – there are already about 25 people apparently coming…I’m so delighted to see that people are catching on to the amazing healing benefits of this process…all power to you all who seek such amazing positive changes through your own structure :)

One love to all,
Angela. xxx

Productivity, pears and pancreas pains...

:) Today has been a great day for me – really productive…I put up a new ‘Before and Afters’ photo page on the RawReform website, among other things – which has been a loooooong time coming…check it out HERE…

Today I have had:

1 litre (1 quart) water with lime juice
1.7 litres (1 quart and 3 cups) greens/celery/apple/turmeric/ginger juice
1 tbsp hemp oil
1.5 litres(1 quart and 1 pint) pear/lettuce/parsley/spinach juice
1 tbsp pollen
1 tsp coconut oil
juice of 1 young coconut
500ml (1 pint) water

making…about 5 litres of liquids today or…about 1.3 gallons…wow…I think this is the first day of this feast so far that I have not had the recommended 1 gallon of juices in the space of a day…though I have had all my celery and greens quota...I just don’t feel to have more juice right now…I woke really late today after a really long sleep – over 10 hours I think…felt really groggy and lethargic, slow and unwilling to do anything…it was bizarre…I went from that to having a really enjoyable and productive day, but have felt bloated and easily full on very little all day…think I am pre-menstrual…
The pear juice was ABSOLUTELY DIVINE…wow…soooooooooooo delicious to have pears after all this time – they are my favourite kind too – the pale green, firm kind…and yet, the pulpiness of them after juicing, compared to the more ‘clean’ juice of straight greens for example felt very heavy to me today – I felt really full after drinking that…again I am left wondering how on earth my body is going to react to solids again at some point, if even thick juices seem filling…

I decided to try out having a little saturated fat again today, with a teaspoon of coconut oil…it too felt very heavy and dense to me…I’m really starting to feel like saturated fats just do not suit this body or slow metabolisms in general – they’re just too much for my body to handle…my body has processed and dealt with so much fat in my life and it just does not need any more dense fats to complicate things at the moment…this is smthg I talked a lot about with the guys I was just travelling with…they are both raw primal eaters (i.e. primarily raw meat/eggs/fish/dairy products/honey etc) and used to both be raw vegans. We were talking about different approaches to being raw and what seems to work for different bodies…we came to a semi-conclusion that for both of them, as guys with high metabolisms who are interested in bulking up more, the raw animal products, with their heavy, dense fats and proteins are serving them well. Whereas for someone like me - a woman with a slow metabolism and a history of obesity and a toxic lifestyle, being raw vegan is so much more appropriate – avoiding the heavy and dense foods and giving my body space to clear out…it was an interesting contrast to examine…

In a general 'health round-up'...
*I no longer get mouth ulcers (canker sores) from any juices and have not done for weeks,
*I feel no more pain in my pancreas for now and feel like my body helps me to choose balanced juice combos during the day to prevent pancreas pain arising,
*I rarely get 'fuzzy teeth-itis' any more,
*I feel very energised and productive right now, once I get going into the day and
*my bowel movements are STILL solid, even 40 DAYS into this... HOW ??? ;)

All love for now,
Angela. xxx

Back at basecamp...

...ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…back in the city now, back at the place I’m staying in San Jose…hmmmmmmmmmmm…feels really good actually to be back – to bring that yummy relaxed and refreshed feeling here with me, get home, do my laundry, unpack, back to juicing with a Vitamix and down to business answering all the unanswered emails of the last week or so…and back to blogging in sync again hopefully now too ;)

…on Dec 27th I had:

1 litre (1 quart) water
1.5 tbsp green powder
2 litres (2 quarts) greens/celery/pineapple juice
1 litre (1 quart) water
1 tbsp pollen
water of 1 old coconut
½ litre (1 pint) coconut water w/green juice and green powder
1 tbsp kelp with cayenne
1 tbsp hemp oil
water of 1 old coconut

making about 5.5 liters of liquids…or abt 1.45 gallons…

This was a really relaxing day for me – I woke well-rested at the hot springs resort, spent the day soaking in yet more healing waters, sweating my pores empty in the steam dungeon and juicing, then headed into the nearby town for some old coconut action…I am really appreciating taking some ‘real’ time out these last few days from work – what an unexpected and lovely Christmas gift that has been to myself…to just take time away from the computer, chill and get fresh perspectives on things…yummy :)

Then today – Dec 28th – I had:

1 litre (1 quart) water
1 tbsp kelp granules with cayenne (LOVING that product)
1.75 litres (1 quart and 3 cups) greens/celery/pineapple/blackberry juice
juice of 2 orange coconuts
250ml (1 cup) water
2 tbsp pollen
1 tbsp hemp oil
250ml (1 cup) orange juice
1.5 litres (1 quart and 1 pint) guanabana juice with greens.
500ml (1 pint) water

which be…abt 6.5 litres of liquids or…abt 1.7 gallons…marvellous…

We travelled back to San Jose today through many beautiful little towns and winding hillside clusters…we stopped in one little place and I felt such peace there…it was beautiful and realy inspired me …just a very little, sweet hillside community – the kind of place where it feels unlikely that anyone locks their doors, kids safely play out in the streets and people all say ‘hello’ as they pass each other…I loved the feeling of simplicity there and hope to find a nourishing little place like that to dwell for a while myself sometime soon…

So…day 39 I believe today…am kind of losing track…how am I feeling…? Well, primarily amazed and delighted to have made it through a 6-day road trip with no real hassles in terms of getting enough juice and feeling good…THAT is a very useful thing for me to know I can do and to be able to share with others…I’m also feeling good that this feels just so much a way of life for me now – before I was ‘in it’, it all seemed a bit ‘huge’ and intimidating from the outside…now I’m in here, in juicing world…it just seems so very natural and easy…the only thing that really makes me consider the desire to eat again at the moment is the thought of durian ;)
We stopped by the supermarket this evening on the way back in to the city and OMG – they have organic pears and apples now…I was soooo happy…for anyone not living here in Costa Rica and trying to ‘eat’ organic, this may not seem like a very big deal, but for me, this is HUGE – I have been really craving pears and they just aren’t available here – nearly all the fruit is HEAVILY sprayed here…so, I was completely delighted to find a whole new section of organic pears and apples from the US on display in the supermarket…they are extremely expensive by CR standards – about $2 per fruit, but sooooo worth it to me right now… :)
I am also DELIGHTED to say that many people have been contacting me in the last few weeks to express their interest in juice feasting themselves, starting January…I applaude and support you all. I am helping those who are interested in having contact with others to join together. One member of this group – Stephanie - has created a new blog space to support the journeying of those interested – you can check it out here:

http://barenecessitiescafe.blogspot.com/

So, check that out if you want to get connected and also, as before, anyone interested in having their email address added to a list of people for juice feasting, so that you can collectively support each other, you can write to me at rawreform@rawreform.com and I’ll add you on to the email list to be shared...

All love to you all for now :)
Angela. xxx

A Juicy Christmas...

Helloooooooooooooooooooooo again,
Hope you're having an enjoyable Holiday season...I'm having a great time still on the road here in Costa Rica and will give another quick update of the last few days here for now...

Here's what I had on Dec 24th - Christmas Eve -

5ooml (1 pint) water
1 litre (1 quart) coconut water with green powder
2 tbsp pollen
2 tbsp hemp oil
1.5 litres (1 quart and 1 pint) water
lots of powdered seaweeds
400ml (1.5 cups) mamey juice
juice of 1 green coconut
1.5 litres (1 quart and 1 pint) of greens/celery juice

Which would be 5.5 litres or 1.45 gallons of liquids...

This was a pretty amazing day for me, as we actually walked about 8 miles through rainforest today on our journeys between 2 hot springs...and until the evening, I had really taken so little into my body and yet was doing so well - my energy was great. With hindsight, I suspect this was because I took mamey on the hike with me to juice with the nut milk bag and so was powered mainly off that sugar fruit most of the day, which easily sustained me for all that exercise...the hot springs out in the national park today were really beautiful - very 'natural' and healing places...I really appreciated the first one we visited in particular - there I laid down in the healing waters and went into deep meditation in the sun, feeding love and joful blessings to all my friends and family for Christmas time...it was a beautiful experience for me...
By the time we made it to the nearest big town to find somewhere to sleep for the night, it was really late - I didn't end up making green juice until abt 11pm...then it was nearly Christmas Day, so I took the juice out on the street to the nearby huge church which dominated the town and was the central plaza for the residents...I sat and drank greens as midnight came and wished people 'feliz navidad' on the streets...then, to bed...

On Dec 25th, Christmas Day, I had the following...

250ml water
1 litre greens/celery/pineapple juice
1 litre greens/celery with honey (yum)
lots of powdered seaweeds
3 tbsps pollen
1 litre of mamey juice (uh-ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh)
water of 2 green coconuts
500ml water
750ml water with green powder

making about 5 litres of liquids or...approx. 1.3 gallons...

Hmmmmm...today my energy took a SERIOUS slump...I'm learning so much about how this body works on this feast...the day started out so well with plenty of greens, but then in the afternoon, while we were travelling, I juiced a whole big mamey and drank it and then got very messed up...what I am seeing is that I can only really handle sugars in the context of exercise - before or after exercise yes, sitting still in a car, no. BIG no...I really have to use that sugar energy or it drains me totally...I seriously SLUMPED...if I was looking to re-create that stereotyped Christmas after-lunch slump, I certainly did it with this juice...wow...I was wiped...could barely focus and later felt bloated, shaky and very weak. I took green powder into my body, did an enema and went to bed early... yep...the whole Christmas thing didn't really happen for me this year...hmmmm...that felt absolutely fine though - I don't think I've ever felt less like it was Christmas at this time of year in fact...

on Dec 26th I had...

500ml (1 pint) water
1.5 litres (1 quart and 1 pint ) greens/celery with carrot
2 tbsp pollen
juice of one old coconut
1 litre (1 quart) water
seaweed powders
1 tbsp hemp oil
1.5 litres (1 quart and 1 pint ) pineapple juice with greens
1.5 litres (1 quart and 1 pint ) water

making about 6.5 litres in total...or abt 1.7 gallons...

hmmmm...interesting experiment with pineapple today...we moved on to another hot spring resort during the day today and by the evening time my energy was low and I wanted to lift it up before going into the steam dungeon or hot springs, otherwise I might get very drained. I asked my body what it wanted and it said pineapple with greens. I was cautious after the total sugar slump of yesterday, but went with it and it was amazing - I felt no pain, no issues whatsoever, in fact I felt great. I went and sat in the healing waters and steam for hours and it felt great. My feeling is that this was a combination of the fact that I USED the sugar energy immediately in my sweating in the heat, plus pineapple seems to really suit my body. (I was once given a food chart by an amazing woman who used dowsing to determine which foods are suitable/unsuitable for me, on a scale from -10 for very bad for me to +10 for very good for me. Of all foods she listed, pineapple was the only one that came out for me at +10, as I recall...interesting...) So, I'm delighted to see that I can at least handle that without slumping...though I'm obviously not going to want to be having pineapple EVERY day, so if I can maybe find smthg else that doesn't mess me up - smthg not ultra-sugary, that will be great for me...berries feel like a good potential option...
I'm also interested to notice that my passion and thirst for hemp oil is starting to shift down gears now. When it first arrived, I felt like I could easily drink a bottle straight - I guess I was really needing some good EFAs...now I feel more satiated with it and like I don't really desire it every day...so interesting to see the shifts going on in my body...living like this makes it all so stark - seeing how this body reacts to different things and shows me what it wants/needs...fascinating...

Ok, that's enough mini-updating for now...will hopefully be back to regular updating again from tomorrow if I get back to the city...
All blessings and love to all for now,
Angela. xxx

Raw on the Road

Hey all,
apologies for being out of contact for a few days there...I am on a road trip in north Costa Rica with two raw primal eaters (lol) - it is VERY beautiful here and lots of fun - we have been hiking loads and going in hot springs and we are now at the beach...Christmas on the beach and in mud pools tomorrow, me thinks...
35 days into Juice Feasting now :) woooooooooooooooooooooo-hoooooooooooooooooooooo :) It has been going really well and I am amazed how much I am able to keep up a very healthy juice/calorie intake on the road here and be going out hiking 8 miles a day and so on...wow...
I will write more on my adventures when I am back in a more civilised environment ;)

For now,
here is what I had on Dec 22nd:

1 litre (1 quart) water
2.5 ( 2.5 quarts) litres greens/celery/pineapple juice
1 enormous orange king coconut with at least a litre of juice in it...
2 tbsp pollen
2 tbsp hemp oil
1 litre (1 quart) water
1 litre (1 quart) water

making about 6.5 litres or 1.7 gallons of liquids - a lot of water again...
_______________________

and on Dec 23rd I had:

1 litre (1 quart) water
3 litres ( 3 quarts) greens/celery/apple
1 litre (1 quart) water
juice of 1 green coconut
750ml (3 cups) orange juice
400ml ( 1.5 cups) mamey juice
500ml (2 cups) coconut water with green powder
2 tbsp pollen
2 tbsp hemp oil
500ml (2 cups) water

making around 7.75litres of liquids...or just over 2 gallons...

I am feeling great and healthy and full of gratitude to be OUT OF THE CITY :) and spending masses of time in nature - seeing iridescent blue butterflies, snakes and lizards, bathing in healing sulphur waters, hiking in rainforests at night amid incredible thunder storms, breathing CLEAN air, spreading mineral mud on my face and laying in the healing sun...yuuummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmy :)

sending you masses of love and joy and happiness for Christmas time...wherever and whomsoever you may be :)
May your Holiday celebrations be full of light and merriment...
All love,
Angela. xxx

Greeeeens on my mind and in my belly...

Helllloooooooooooooo

Today’s been a great day…I’m delighted…

Yoga? YES
Jogging? YES
Enema? YES
Skin Brushing? YES
Drinking huge quantities of greeeeeeeens? YES
Enjoying hemp oil and bee pollen? YEEEES
Work? YES
Being social? YES
Listening to smthg inspiring? YES
Facing some challenges? YES

I love days like this, which feel full of the things I feel good about and also balanced – hurray for full spectrum living… ;)

Today I got a package with fun things in like KELP granules with cayenne and other seaweed things, plus the best, strongest kelp supplement I’ve seen, plus my OWN nut milk bag :) yeeeeeeeeeeeeee-HAH…I am working towards probably getting out on the road for a few trips soon-ish (maybe even starting tomorrow in fact) and had a kind of ‘breakthrough’ moment today with my shiny new nut milk bag and acknowledging the fact that even if I don’t have access to a Vitamix all the time, another kind of blender or juicer could work too…that felt empowering…so, perhaps I’ll set out on the road tomorrow and experiment…

Today I have had:

1.5 litres (1 quart and 1 pint) water
1.75 litres (1 quart and 3 cups) greens/celery/pineapple juice
2 tbsp pollen
2 tbsp hemp oil
750ml (3 cups) coconut water
1 litre (1 quart) water
1 litre (1 quart) greens with apple
1.25 litres (1 quart and 1 cup) greens with carrot and red peppers
500ml (1 pint) water

making…7.75 litres of liquids today…or around 2 gallons…a lot of water…I seem to have more and more water as the days go by…

I listened to the interview with Steve Meyerowitz (‘The Sproutman’) on RawVeganRadio today and it was such a good reminder for me of the healing nature of sprouts…I tend to neglect sprouts in my food intake in general – living a travelling lifestyle just doesn’t seem conducive to sprouting to me and I also have had digestive issues a lot with them in the past…the interview with Steve really re-inspired me though – he was talking about how by growing and using our own sprouts, it’s possible to really live anywhere – even in isolation on a hillside with nothing growing on the land…it’s cheap and easy…inspiring…and it also reminded me how much I LOVE sunflower greens…wow…they’re really one of my favourite foods…mmmmmmmmmm…they feel so good…so, I feel it would be really beneficial to start growing my own things, even if I do travel a lot…it will work if I work it ;)

All love,
Angela. xxx

Bees, bugs and re-building...

I am happy to observe that in general my teeth are MUCH less fuzzier these days than a couple of weeks back, when they seemed almost constantly furry…I attribute this shift to primarily drinking greens now, which is still going great and I feel SO much better and balanced overall…hurrah…on the subject of teeth, I was also recently introduced to the seemingly counter-intuitive practice of brushing my teeth with honey… ;) it’s a little strange to imagine, but raw, unfilitered, cold-processed honey (like that made by Honey Pacifica) is actually a great anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal mouth cleanser, which doesn’t contribute to destroying tooth enamel, like most toothpastes…I was sceptical at first, but tried it and was amazed to find that my teeth did indeed feel clean and smooth afterwards...n.b. it is NOT recommended however, to try this with any denatured standard processed/heated honeys... and on the subject of bee products, I have been getting SO into different pollens here…they fascinate me – they all taste so different, have different textures and colours and granule sizes and so on…I currently have 3 different local varieties here on my desk – my current favourite one is very simple and basic in flavour, muted in colour tones and with a smooth and kind of creamy texture. Then there’s one that has tougher little granules, is more vibrantly coloured and tastes like lemon, then the last one is a bit bizarre – some of the granules are very large, they are predominantly orange in colour and the taste is like…the inside of a pet shop…LOL…it’s very curious…that exact smell – like a mixture of hamsters and bird food and dog collars…all captured in one bottle…I can only assume the bees who produced this batch keep pets themselves… ;)

OH MY GOD(DESS ;)…I looked at the following link for parasite pictures today, from the NutrientDenseNutrition site…wow…I’m scared…WHO IS INSIDE ME? Take a look at the link, but be warned – there are some pretty nasty sights in there:

http://curezone.com/image_gallery/parasites/all/default.asp?i=75&n=75

It’s day 31 for me today…around day 60 I’ll start a parasite cleanse…I can’t WAIT, after seeing those pictures…I don’t want anyone like that inside me…nasty…

Today I have had:

1 litre (1 quart) water
1.5 litres (1 quart and 1 pint) greens/celery/apple juice
1 litre (1 quart) greens/coconut water/green powder (INTENSE)
½ litre (1 pint) water
2 tbsps pollen (the nice one ;)
2 tbsps hemp oil
½ litre (1 pint) water
1.5 litres (1 quart and 1 pint) lettuce/parsley/watercress/cucumber/aloe/pineapple/blackberry juice (REALLY yummy)

making…6 litres or…about 1.6 gallons of fluids today…that last juice of the day was one of the NICEST ones I’ve had so far on this cleanse – really delicious…it went down very fast ;)

I was really happy to get out jogging again today – hadn’t been for a few days and was amazed to notice how easy and natural it seems to be to just flow straight into it now and enjoy it…my breath is so much more regular while running these days…I was also happy to read today on the NutrientDenseNutrition site that it’s recommended to not get into a great deal of exercise before the second third of this cleanse anyway, as until day 45 or so, we are mainly breaking down and moving out old stuff, rather than building up healthy new muscles etc – so, as I get further along, I will try to stay more regular with jogging and build in some weight training too, perhaps…

It was the new moon in Sagittarius today – bringing in resonance for faith, generosity and new quests for spiritual knowledge, deeper meanings and real truth…open your heart and mind to this beautiful energy and ENJOY :)

All love for now,
Angela. xxx

One month in...

DAY 30 :O …wow…a month in…about 1/3rd of the way through…WOW…and what a BLESSING to be back in the land of fully-functional blogging, after the last week of not being able to publish… Blogger.com had this blog locked up while they tested it for spam, but have now thankfully released it… did you think I’d fallen off the juicy joy wagon and plummeted head first into the nearest fast food joint…? LOL…nope…still going strong and happy here…as you can read if you take a look below through what I’ve been experiencing the last 8 days or so, offline…I wrote every day still, even though it was not possible to publish my meanderings – I love blogging now… :)

Today I have had:

1 litre (1 quart) water with lime juice
2 litres (2 quarts) celery/greens/pineapple/blackberry juice
3 tbsp pollen
250ml (1 cup) of the gloopy-linseed-water-like stuff (still don’t know the name in English)
water of one green coconut
500ml (1 pint) water
2tbsp hemp oil
1.5 litres (1 quart and 1 pint) greens with coconut water

making…about 5.75 litres or 1.5 gallons of fabulous fluids today…

I woke really low in energy today, on all levels – physically it felt hard to do my yoga, emotionally it felt hard to feel any joy and spiritually it felt hard to connect or feel love. Wow. It was pretty ‘blank’ overall and bleak…I felt frustration too, at almost all around me – like nothing satisfied me and all was difficult in some way…fortunately I found a way to bring myself round out of this lull…I went and made lashings of juice and while doing so, poked around on YouTube for entertainment, to lift my spirits and get me laughing – I found the perfect remedy, in the form of this clip from ‘Olde English Comedy’:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8NuFlwbkCU

I’d never heard of these guys before, but they got me laughing out loud and into a loving space again today, which then persisted for the rest of the day, so I’m definitely full of gratitude for their contributions…There’s lots of other clips from them on there too – I love it…check out the 'Peanut Butter’s Birthday' song for example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM33DIHAmH8

Today I felt ‘restrictions’ around being on this feast that I had not noticed so much until now – namely

1. I am feeling a strong desire to go and travel and see more of Costa Rica, but feel a bit inhibited by my daily juicing requirements…hmmmmm…how to travel with juicer/blender/produce in an unfamiliar country where organic produce is hard to find and enjoy 60 more days of juicing…
2. I saw THE most enormous, incredible-looking guanabana fruit I’ve ever seen today as we strolled around the produce markets…as I was marvelling at it, the vendor happily carved me off a chunk of guanabana from another fruit…which of course I didn’t eat, but would have soooooo enjoyed…hmmmm…

Bizarrely, I have also begun to notice that MOST food now smell interesting to me – including cooked food smells. I find this very curious. A few months back, as a raw food EATER, I did not find the smells of cooked food appealing – rather more, they mostly smelt dead and greasy and odd to me…now, in this feasting state, I am finding nearly ALL food smells appealing…odd…I suspect perhaps it has smthg to do with the fact that raw food simply doesn’t smell as much and actually, I don’t come into contact with very much of it at all here in comparison to the abundant cooked food smells on the streets here…hmmmm...let me be clear here though - there is no way I can imagine I would actually EAT even any raw foods right now, let alone anything cooked - that is not a question for me - it just interests me to notice myself finding such smells appealing again...

Feeling great overall tonight - happy to still be feasting, happy to be back online and happy to feel healthy :)
All love for now,
Angela. xxx

Monkey magic...

Day 29…

Alright then…the start of week number 5…amazing…it’s hard for me to imagine that a week from today is Christmas Day – I don’t think I’ve ever felt so disconnected from the energy of Christmas…

Today we finished soaking in the magical hot springs and sun rays and headed back to the city, stopping on the way at a really lovely re-hab centre for injured wild animals…we met many amazing beings there – monkeys, tapirs, snakes, emus, jaguars, crocodiles, toucans and even two LIONS…the picture here is of a seemingly wild monkey who was hanging about in the trees munching stuff…I got quite close to him and was fascinated to see how much he really looked like a tiny human – his face and expressions were so similar to ours’…the big cats were amazing to see too – SO huge and powerful looking, yet so soft too…

Today I have had:

1.5 litres (1 quart and 1 pint) water
2.25 litres (2 quarts and 1 cup) greens/celery/coconut water
1 litre (1 quart) coconut water
2 tbsp pollen
2 tbsp hemp oil
1 litre (1 quart) water
500ml (1 pint) water with lime juice
250ml (1 cup) strawberry/spinach juice
1.5 litres (1 quart and 1 pint) cucumber/greens/apple/aloe juice

that being…8 litres of liquids today…or 2.11 gallons…wow…I think that’s the most liquid I’ve had in the space of a day since starting this feast…it has been a HOT day here though – the weather is getting soooo beautiful here in Costa Rica now – summer is blooming and the days are sunny, bright and blustery…it is amazing to me to also walk around at 9pm at night in just a t-shirt and skirt and be perfectly warm…mid-December…this time last year I was in the snow-capped hills of Northern Italy and the year before that, the frozen winter of Reykjavik, Iceland…what JOY to be in this heat for me now…

I was really happy to find fresh aloe leaves to use in my juices…if it IS my colon that is not so happy right now in my abdomen, the fresh aloe will surely soothe and help…it will give me much healing anyway, regardless of the colon situation…it was interesting to notice when I cut it open tonight though that the aloe smelt like mashed potatoes…how peculiar…I’ve never smelt aloe like it…or any natural food that smells so precisely like a cooked food…bizarre…

Still feeling SO good to be on primarily greens now and off fruit…had a little strawberries and a little apple today, both in combination with greens and feel like that might be a good approach for me too – I just definitely seem to need to avoid the straight full-on fruit mixes now – they’ve become too unbalancing and sugary for me…

All love for now,
Angela. xxx

Day 28...

So…today the spiritual exploration DID begin…I guess yesterday I had a day of grace in between there… ;)
It has been a challenging day for me, examining patterns in my life that I feel less than satisfied about or would like to see differently…I felt very low a lot of the day as I explored issues such as where do I want to be in life and what do I want to be doing and so on…I was examining a lot of things around self-worth in particular and realising I have a tendency towards quietness that I’m not quite sure what to make of – whether it is a ‘genuine’ quality in me, or rather something I developed to hide behind during my obese years…I called a lot on Spirit to guide me through the issues today and was shown some very loving support…the card I drew from my card deck this morning stated ‘I am a unique being’, which supported me in honouring who I am and what I am going through today…friends here also shared space lovingly with me and a woman I met told me in Spanish: ‘You are beautiful. You have a big heart. You are a good person’. All these things meant a lot to me - I felt the support from the universe for my journey today and appreciated it. I talked things out and wrote and released a lot and as usual for me, by the time it got dark in the evening, things felt very different…the daytimes are always such a challenge for me compared to nighttime…it feels like things are literally being held up to the light of the day for examination and then at night it all relaxes…

I am so surprised by the bowel movements I am still experiencing, 4 weeks into this cleanse. It truly amazes me that I can still be passing solid stools, this far in…especially considering that the last few days my primary intake has been green juice with coconut water – i.e. no fruity-pulpyness whatsoever…it is wondrous indeed to imagine where this stuff is coming from inside me…

Today I have had:

1 litre (1 quart) water
2 litres (2 quarts) greens/celery/coconut water
500ml (1 pint) water
2.5 tbsps hemp oil
1 litre (1 quart) greens/celery/coconut water
2 tbsps pollen
1 litre (1 quart) water
1 litre (1 quart) green juice with coconut water

which would be…6 litres or about 1.6 gallons of liquids today. We started adding lemongrass to the green juices today and it is really yummy. I just love getting anything different in there too, to pack in some potentially different nutrients…

It’s been wonderful to enjoy the hot springs here today. I have been in warm, healing waters, laying in the sun or steaming myself most of the day. A really welcome and relaxing break from my usual full-on schedules. I bathed first in the river, where the hot and cold waters mix (see picture above) – that was a real adventure, involving getting swept head-first by the water down a little waterfall at one point, alternately encountering freezing then scalding water, chatting with some semi-inebriated locals swigging beer among the rocks and getting a full-on massage from mother nature at the base of another mini-waterfall…fun…my favourite toy here is the steam room though – I LOVE the heat – I can happily stay in for 20 minutes or more at a time…it feels SO cleansing to me to sit and sweat out all the toxins that still lurk in this structure…I scrubbed off layers and layers of dead skin in the process too, which was phenomenal to see – how dark it all was…I also met lots of animals here today – a lizard, eagles and vultures, the biggest butterfly I’ve EVER seen (blue), a big black beetle, a frog and a snake…nature was really performing…it’s beautiful…

With gratitude for all that has been shown to me today,
All love,
Angela. xxx

Out with the fruits...

Well, no spiritual explosions of note today…I guess my dramas of the last couple of days have settled down a little for now at least… ;)

Ok…so it’s Saturday and time again for the weekly calculation of our daily costs while on this feast…and once again, I’m really shocked…the numbers look like this:

Total amount spent this week per person: $38/ £19.50
= $5.47 / £2.80 per day

So it seems that the figures for last week WERE right then, if the same kind of numbers have come up again this week…wow…again, less than $40/ £20 for a WEEK of optimal nutrition…we are SO blessed…

Today I have had:
500ml (1 pint) water
1 litre (1 quart) greens/celery/coconut water
2 tbsp pollen
4tbsp hemp oil
1 litre (1 quart) water
500ml (1 pint) electrolyte drink
1 litre (1 quart) orange juice
1 litre (1 quart) coconut water with green powder
1.5 litres (1 quart and 1 pint) water

…making 6.5 litres or 1.7 gallons of liquids today…including a LOT of water. I think I am ovulating right now and it always seems to me that I feel bloated and full when I either ovulate or menstruate…I don’t feel the call for much besides water. I have however also been EXTREMELY enamoured with the bee pollen and hemp oil today – during the middle of the day they were almost constantly on my mind, in rotation…they feel SO good to me now and being off fruit for 48 hours feels SO great too – like my body is very quickly shifting into a space of little fruit, quite happily. I have no more pain in my abdomen at all and my skin is GLOWING from all the hemp oil :) I did drink a litre of orange juice in the evening, as we left the house in a hurry and that was what I grabbed for the journey. I was a bit concerned how my body would react, so started slowly on it – just a few mouthfuls and waited 20 minutes or so for any reaction, but there was none, so I drank the rest. Nice to know that I can drink some fruit at least with no pain reactions...

We are now at a hot springs resort for a couple of nights. It feels sooooo lush to be here…surrounded by trees and a gushing river, soaking in hot water and sweating my prayers in the steam dungeon ;) I feel very blessed…it’s a great experience to be having while juice feasting – to be cleansing in the steam and hot waters…YUM :)

All love,
Angela. xxx

Wild child...

“It is said that without intimacy with nature, humans become mad.”
Robert Greenway - The Wilderness Effect and Ecopsychology

That quote really rang true for me today…TOO much time in a cityscape environment for me…nature and the beach are definitely calling me…

It's been a really tumultuous day for me emotionally - I have been IRRITABLE most of the day -RAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
I woke early and very alert, surprisingly, after being almost immobile yesterday…I got annoyed though in the morning and it persisted most of the day...a comment from a guy at a dance class was enough to REALLY annoy me...this is very unusual for me and I feel it has a lot to do with having no fruit today and almost none yesterday - I think coming off the major sugars is throwing me into wobbly moods...happy to be coming off them though - feel more like an adult to be having so much greens instead... ;)
The whole situation was kind of funny though - I could see it all from the bigger picture and knew that I was harming myself more than anyone by holding the energy of that exchange with the guy - but I was low in energy at that point and easily irritable...the feelings of frustration persisted all day until they reached near-explosion point and I went out to walk in the neighbourhood here...it was soooooooooooooooo good for me - I cannot really believe HOW much energy I had for walking, considering I haven't eaten for about 3.5 weeks and yesterday could barely move...it’s so odd the way this body works...I was like a POWERHOUSE out walking - so fast and alert...I made it right out to where the hills start that surround the city and stopped there, as it all turned into 'private property'...hmmmm...fortunately I was stopped on a nice little bridge over a river though, no people, surrounded by greenery...I went into meditation and released all the stress of the day into the water and earth and trees...felt soooooooooooooo good and so needed...calmed me down totally...then also the sun was starting to go down and that always seems to chill me out too - it's odd - I'm so much more at ease once it's dark than in the daytime...

Today I have had:

1.25 litres (1 quart and 1 cup) water with clay
1 litre (1 quart) coconut water with green powder
1 tbsp bee pollen
2 litres (2 quarts) greens/celery/coconut water
2 tbsps hemp oil
1 tbsp bee pollen
1.25 (1 quart and 1 cup) litres greens/celery/coconut water
500ml (1 pint) ‘electrolyte’ drink – water, honey, lime, dissolved Himalayan salt

making…6 litres or about 1.6 gallons of liquids today…no fruit at all…wow…feels GOOD – I feel so much more balanced…the fats have definitely taken over though as my main source of calories and I’m not sure that’s going to be the greatest thing for my system in terms of cleansing…hmmmmmm…we’ll see how my body is reacting a few days down the line…the electrolyte drink my friend made me in the evening was SO delicious...mmmm...

So…after having my most challenging day so far physically yesterday, it seems I moved onto my most challenging emotional day today…what’s in store for tomorrow I wonder…??? Spiritual explosions abounding I presume… ;)

All love,
Angela. xxx

Happy hempy healing... :)

Day 25…this has been the most challenging day for me so far in terms of my physical health. I started the juices of the day with orange juice and immediately started to experience pain in the area on my left side below my ribs. This is something I have experienced on and off for a while in my life now. I am unsure what it is, but sense it is likely either the descending part of my colon/the point at which the colon turns to descend…or my pancreas… The pain seems to flair at times when I have a high amount of sugars. I went to make my usual greens and pineapple drink in the morning and my body just said ‘NO’ to me about the pineapple…hmmmmmm…so, I mixed the greens with coconut water instead and that felt ok and I have basically just been on that all day, plus bee pollen…the pain has been quite intense at times today and my energy very low. I kept myself wrapped up and still and did an enema in the middle of the day with probiotics in the water, which seemed to help ease the pain…I am not sure what the cause is, but am considering pancreatitis, or old candida issues in my colon…whatever it is, I am keeping away from much sugar for now – going to focus on primarily greens and keep my activity minimal…

I AM SOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED :))) Today a CASE of Nutiva Organic Hemp Oil arrived. This oil is absolutely INCREDIBLE – the BEST hemp oil in the world, in my opinion…it’s raw, unrefined and cold-pressed in small batches, using Canadian organic hemp seeds. It is sooooo delicious – slightly nutty in flavour, mild, fresh and just PACKED with nutrients…Hemp oil contains a huge amount of Vitamin E and THE most essential fatty acids (EFAs) of any nut or seed oil, with the omega-3 and omega-6 EFAs occurring in the optimal ratio of 1:3. WOW. Very impressive stuff. I drank about 4 tbsps of it straight out – it felt soooo good in my body – like this is what I’ve been really thirsty for – all those EFAs…after the pain and low energy of the day, I feel really revitalised from this oil…wow…I am SO grateful to have this as an addition to my intake right now…I will be using it every day now, for sure…SUCH a different body reaction to the coconut fat of yesterday – I think I really don’t do well with saturated fats…

Today I have had:

750ml (3 cups) water with lime juice
400ml (1 ¾ cups) orange juice
2 litres (2 quarts) greens/celery with coconut water
2 tbsp pollen
1.5 litres (1 quart and 1 pint) water
1 litre (1 quart) greens/celery with coconut water
4 tbsp hemp oil
1 litre (1 quart) greens with radish and coconut water

which makes…5.65 litres of liquids or…about 1.5 gallons…

So, here we are on day 25…about ¼ of the way through this whole process, as I see it – I like to try and think of it in terms of being about 100 days in total, as there is going to be a week or so at least of slowly transitioning back onto solids after the feasting…so, about ¼ of the journey down today…feels good – feels GREAT in fact – yes, today has been tough physically, but whatever it is that my body is working through, it’s clear to me that coming out on the other side is going to feel amazing…this is an incredible chance for me to reach deep cleansing and heal these issues that have addled me on and off for some time…so, I feel confident and blessed on this path…

all love and radiant healing to all,
Angela. xxx

Coconut conundrums...

Today we had a coconut experiment…uh-ohhhhhh…pretty sure we must have been bending some juice feasting guidelines, but it was fun and good exercise to make fresh coconut cream (see picture to right)…the after effects were not so much fun though – guess that was some juicy karma rebounding back on us…hmmmmm… ;)

We made coconut cream by cracking open old coconuts, scraping out the flesh and running it through the green star juicer… I had what seemed like just a little of it, but the effect was quite huge. It tasted amazing, but felt heavy and dense in my body. I went jogging soon after ingesting it too, which my body really didn’t seem to like – it likes jogging when there’s fruit sugars in me to burn up, not when I’ve just had dense fatty stuff…I actually started to feel nauseous while running, then afterwards found my energy really slumped and I had bubbling and gas in my colon, as well as a pain just below my left ribcage…wow – very BIG effects for a small amount of fresh coconut cream, but I guess my body is in such a sensitive state right now, that any effects are dramatic…I guess the net effect of having this stuff must be to slow down my cleansing…but I don’t really see why it’s so different to juicing the flesh of anything else – all the fibre was separated out in a bowl at the front of the juicer and all the liquid collected underneath…and if we’re having coconut OIL every few days…is this really much different…? well, my body seems to be telling me yes…

I feel like a kid with my juices at the moment - I only want to put stuff into my mouth if it's sweet...before juice feasting I loved my green juices - they felt ‘sacred’, like a high point of the day - now they've really lost their appeal...others feasting alongside me are experiencing the same thing...it's odd... I find the only way to really get myself to have them now is to have them first thing in the day, to set the pace for the day and to drink them quickly – which is aided by my drinking them with pineapple in the mornings as this mixture needs to be consumed quickly anyway, so that the bromelain in the pineapple doesn’t start to break down the proteins too much…

Today I’ve had:

750ml (3 cups) water
1.7 litres (1 quart and nearly 3 cups) greens/celery/pineapple juice
½ litre (2 cups) cantaloupe and peach juice
125ml (½ cup) fresh coconut cream
700ml (abt 3 cups) water
½ litre (1 pint) coconut water
1 litre (1 quart) greens/beetroot/carrot juice

which would be…about 5.25 litres or…about 1.4 gallons of liquids today…interesting mix today – very little fruit compared to normal…this happened I feel because of the coconut cream…as a source of dense energy my body can take either sugars or fat and that fat today seemed to be PLENTY for me to handle…

It feels like a bit of a balancing act right now – getting my body what it needs to function well over the course of the day in a way that’s pleasing to the palate too…amazing work though and I feel so blessed to be having these experiences and making these discoveries about myself. A guy wrote to me today who has completed a 92-day juice feast before. He said that it was such an incredible experience that he just wants to do it again now…he senses a kind of ‘depression’ creeping in after the euphoria of living without solids for months…wow…interesting…pretty intense stuff…

All love, always,
Angela. xxx

Calling in the healing...

Something that is very prominent on my mind at the moment and that I’m calling in to manifest is to concentrate some of my energy into healing my eyesight. I am very short-sighted and have worn glasses most of the time for the last 15 years or so now. I want to stop. I know, logically, that I do not need them and that I can heal my vision naturally. This entails giving up the ‘crutch’ of using the glasses though…which feels like a big step, but one I am ready for. I have already begun to look at some 3D images to train my eye muscles a little and am trying to remember to not wear my glasses at any point I don’t really need them, like walking along a familiar street, or doing yoga, etc… It is taking some time to get used to that, but I seem to remember a little more each day…I am too squeamish to consider contact lenses and the idea of laser surgery appalls me…so…re-training my eye muscles it is…and being on this feast seems like an ideal opportunity to maximize any healing effects… a couple of months back I actually spent a whole weekend fasting retreat without my glasses, an experience which was really powerful for me and that I wrote abt in one of my newsletters – which can be seen here. I will keep on pulling my attention to this matter of healing, especially during meditation and update on any progress… One tip a dear friend in Arizona passed on to me was to get new glasses made in a lower prescription - a third of the strength I currently have, to let the eyes re-train themselves that way, without facing the huge impact of suddenly NO glasses – it’s an in-between step – great idea…

Today I have had:

600ml (2.5 cups) water
1 tsp flax oil
1.4 litres (1 quart and 2 cups) celery/greens/pineapple juice
½ litre (1 pint) tangerine juice
1 tbsp bee pollen
½ litre (1 pint) coconut water
½ litre (1 pint) water
800ml (3.5 cups) zucchini (courgette) juice with ginger and lemon (WOW)
1 litre (1 quart) greens/beetroot/carrot juice

making…5.3 litres of liquids today (1.4 gallons)…the zucchini (courgette) juice this evening was *divine* - so softly sweet and gorgeously green and kind of creamy and perfectly balanced with the ginger and lemon – felt yummy…

Jogging a couple of miles this afternoon was again a really elevating experience – I get SO much out of it – feel energized for hours afterwards – happy to be getting into a daily rhythm again with it now…yeeeeeeee-HAH :)

It has been SUCH a joyous day for me here – floods of beautiful emails and floods of tears of joy – I feel so blessed. There are so many amazing people in my life and in contact through the web…thank you all…I heard news today that a whole group of people are planning to start juice feasting together next January – WOW – how exciting :) Others have been emailing to look for contacts to make connections and feast together – if you are interested in feasting too, drop an email to angela@rawreform.com and I will try to connect you all together…

All love to you all for now,
Angela. xxx

Exploring pathways...

Today has seen the start of week 4 of juice feasting for me and it also happens to be a month today since I arrived in Costa Rica…wow…it’s all gone so fast…

I woke early today, happy and alert and feeling totally capable of the whole of my usual morning yoga routine, unlike yesterday…nice to be back in a good space…

Today I have had:

½ litre (1 pint) water
1 litre (1 quart) pineapple/celery/greens juice
1 litre (1 quart) greens/celery/coconut water
1 litre (1 quart) cas juice (Costa Rican Guava)
700ml (3 cups) blackberry/strawberry/spinach/peach juice
1 tbsp coconut oil
½ litre (1 pint) water
850ml (3.5 cups) pumpkin/carrot/vanilla/cayenne/nutmeg/cinnamon juice (YUMMMMMY)

which would be…5.55 litres or…1.46 gallons of luscious liquids today…hurrah…

I went jogging this afternoon for about 25 minutes…it was GREAT – it so lifted me. I was feeling sugared-out again and like I was at that oh-so-familiar crossroads I seem to reach so often at the moment of having loads of sugar in me and the choice to either use it and have big power from it and enjoy it, or just sit with it and have it swamp me into a spacey state… :) which doesn’t sound like a very difficult choice at all when I put it like that – but it’s REMEMBERING to act on it that’s the key for me…jogging this afternoon was just great – I felt very strong and exhilarated by it and kept going and going – a lot of it uphill…I am often reminded while jogging of smthg Jimmy once said to me about jogging - smthg along the lines of: 'It's reassuring to know for yourself that you are able to get up and run a couple of miles, easily, with no fore-warning. It's a good skill to have.' Yep, I'm definitely feeling that more and more... Today my metabolism was raised from it and I felt re-inspired afterwards too to get on with the rest of the day…nice…

Another key I have identified for myself of making this juice feast more workable for myself is to start the day with a drink with fresh greens in. The greens, as I keep finding, are the things that do not appeal so much to me at the moment – the celery especially feels like a chore to get through for me, so if I make a drink like the pineapple combo I made this morning, first thing, I feel really happy ‘cos it’s sweet and tasty and alkalising and means I get ALL the celery and a lot of the greens out of the way from first thing in the morning – I have the rest of the day to explore :) yummmmmmmy :)

And now a response to Miin’s blog comments from yesterday. Thank you for your comments and questions Miin – they are very appreciated.
My feeling is that if I were undertaking a juice FAST rather than FEAST, it might indeed be the case, as you suggest, that any euphoric feelings I experience could possibly be attributable to ‘a lack of nutrients’, as often when people fast, they do not take in very much liquid or calories. In this case, however, I am on a juice feast, consuming massive quantities of nutrient-dense material, every day – I am very likely getting more nutrients right now than at any other point in my life so far. Those nutrients are in a highly assimilable form and as my body is not working to digest solids, it is instead doing amazing work to throw old rubbish out, cleaning up my insides and helping my system to run more and more efficiently. So my sense is that my feelings of joy are not linked to any kind of ‘deprivation’, rather just another subtle shift in my life towards more joy :)
Discussion on this point is welcomed, if others would like to post comments/share thoughts on this matter… :) I also started to think today how interesting it would be to get live blood analysis done at the moment...so if anybody has any recommendations for where to get that done in Costa Rica, please do drop me a line/leave a blog comment...

All love, always,
Angela. xxx

Metropo-bliss...

I have not eaten solid food now for 3 weeks…hahahaaaaa :) I feel AMAZING and the ‘subtle euphoria’ seems to have been definitely settling in here – it has been such a blissful day for me…

Despite eight solid hours of great sleep, I actually found it pretty hard to get up and going this morning. Last night I did an enema just prior to sleeping and it felt very hardcore – it totally wiped me out. This morning was then a bit of a struggle – I felt very low in energy - like there was nothing left in me to run off for energy. I didn't even get through all of my normal morning yoga routine... I also woke with a very definite feeling of frustration at coming back into this human form from the spirit/dream world and get on with the earthly details of life... Once I was out and up and moving about in the world though, I began to feel great – very content, loving and joyful - and that has stayed with me all day :)

I learnt today that raw food bloggers Heidi and Justin Ohlander had added in a piece on this blog to their site ‘Raw Food, Right Now’. Justin had some great thoughts to share on the future of blogging:

“No longer will raw food be a book-only, in-an-ideal-world, happens to others lifestyle; we will be seeing a surge of experiential experiences logged and blogged for the entire world to see from people in many different countries. Massive amounts of real world experiential data will swarm the blog world, inspiring others and laying aside doubt and leaving a trail for skeptics to follow and reassess their positions on diet and health.

It will be incredible.”

Thanks guys, nicely put :) I definitely agree with that…sharing the truth about each of our journeys is an amazing key for grounded, solid transformation and healing…we all have so much to share…

Today I drank:

½ litre (1 pint) water with lime
1 litre (1 quart) pineapple, celery, greens
1.6 litres (1quart and 2.5 cups) watermelon juice
250ml (1 cup) water
750ml (3 cups) coconut water with green powder
600ml (2.5 cups) blackberry/apple/spinach juice
1 litre (1 quart) greens, celery, basil and cantaloupe melon juice

which was…5.7 litres or 1.5 gallons of liquids today…yummmmmmmmmy :)

…we chose to flout all food combining guidelines with the last juice of the day, combining as we did melon with greens and celery (typically melon is always best consumed completely separately from all other foods, due to its extremely fast rate of digestion). eeeeeek...slap my wrist, Wigmore...;) The basil and cantaloupe combo was, however, a surprising hit…yet mentally I could see I was rejecting this juice before it even hit my lips…I’m truly such a sugar fiend at the moment and all those greens just felt like a turn off…the blackberry/apple/spinach juice just prior to that was FANTASTIC though – soooo yummy – my mum used to often make blackberry and apple crumble when I was growing up and this reminded me of that superb combo – tart and sweet and refreshing and tangy and very powerful-feeling…

I went to the biggest mall in Costa Rica for a couple of hours this afternoon and it was quite some experience. I was blissed out on juice and the amazing-ness of life and walked into this extraordinary Mecca of consumerism…and I loved it…and all the people there…I was just smiling at everybody and marvelling at all the lights and people and smells and noises and so on…Costa Rica at this time of year is quite something to experience…there were so many people at the mall it was hard to even walk between shops…this is what has been brought to my attention:

1. Nearly all Costa Ricans get the whole month of December off, to celebrate the holiday season.
2. They all receive a whole month’s extra pay to go Christmas shopping with…
3. All the shops have sales BEFORE Christmas, as they’re competing for that paycheck…(this is the opposite of how sales work in the UK, where they start AFTER Christmas.)
4. Every shop has what seems to me an EXTRAORDINARY number of staff. I’ve never seen anything like it, in any other country. As you enter shops, you are met usually by a guard or two at the door, then by a legion of workers who are all eager to help…it’s amazing – even the smallest shop spaces – little one-room, walk-in, one counter set-ups will easily have 3 people employed, all coming forth to ask if you’re ‘looking for something special’…it can get quite overwhelming after a while…I am baffled at how most of the shops afford to pay so many staff and why they would want so many people hanging around anyway – they often seem so bored, as there are only so many times most people can enthusiastically straighten a row of baby clothes in a day or move around a shoe display…
5. There are masses of children in this country. Absolute stacks of them. It’s a Catholic country predominantly and people tend to marry and start producing children young. I love to see that most people carry their babies here – even tinytiny people are carried around in the arms of doting parents in bustling crowds. I love to see that, rather than the child separated out and isolated in a push-chair or buggy at arm’s length…there were kids everywhere I turned in the mall today – in arms, in ball pits, painting pictures on the floor, choosing gifts in shops, posing with Santa on a stage – and the vast majority of them seemed so content – I think I saw one child crying the whole time there…it really does seem to be a very kid-and-family-friendly place…most women seem to be either walking with or carrying kids or pregnant…or all three…lol…

I didn’t even buy anything at the mall in the end, but really enjoyed the entertainment it provided me and the chance to observe so much…I think a lot of people there found watching me wander around in bliss, sipping on my green drink from a mason jar equally amusing too… :) life is fun :)

All love,
Angela. xxx

Today's menu: abundant euphoria...

Ok, so today is DAY 20 of my juice feast – the next big landmark – wooo-hoo :) So happy…according to David Rain, ‘somewhere between days 19-21 is generally where real subtle but significant euphoria sets in. That is wonderful! One interesting note on extended Juice Feasts: significant life-changes occur during Feasts.’…NICE :) well, here we are right in the middle of that day 19-21 time frame and it’s definitely been a great day :) started early after only abt 6 hours sleep, but felt bright and happy and alert and have contunued to feel good all day...

The extraordinary news is that as another week has passed since I last did the calculations for the cost of this juice feast per day, I did some sums again today and am shocked at the results:

Total amount spent this week per person: $37/ £19
= $5.29 / £2.71 per day

WHAT??? I am really shocked at how cheap this is here, if I have truly not missed anything out – I am searching my brain, trying to remember anything not noted down, but it seems like this is the right total…wow…that’s incredible…less than $40/ £20 for a WEEK of optimal nutrition…

Today I have had:

½ litre (1 pint) water with lime juice
200ml (2/3 cup) sugar cane juice
200ml (2/3 cup) gelatinous gloopy stuff…
1 litre (1 quart) orange/celery/cucumber/garlic juice
250ml (1 cup) water with lime juice
1.5 litres (1 quart + 1 pint) greens with little coconut water
600ml (2.5 cups) coconut water with green powder
1.75 litres (1 quart + 3 cups) pineapple/celery/greens juice

which means this body has received…6 litres or 1.59 gallons of liquids today…hurray…

Today I tried eating coconut butter for the first time on this feast. It was an interesting experience. It was refrigerated, so completely solid and cold and melted in the mouth. It felt fun to have something different, but overall felt a bit heavy and I felt a bit spaced afterwards too. I had quite a few unusual things for me today actually – a good day of variety – we went to the organic farmers’ market and I got one glass of the still un-identified gloopy linseed-soak-water-like stuff and one glass of sugar cane juice which was INTENSELY sweet and amazing…then I had a whole litre of green juice with cucumber and garlic in it. I have not had garlic yet on this feast and could feel it getting to work in my body. We also got an organic delivery today – so we are surrounded by amazing produce right now :) sooooooooooo happy to have cucumbers again after a three week shortage and we also now have: strawberries, blackberries, APPLES (YAAAAY), canteloupe melon, basil, pumpkin, watercress and peaches…wow…we are going to having FUN the next few days :)

I had my first ever pedicure today :O…wow… that’s really not a very ‘me’ thing to do…but it was fun…the pedicurist was quite entertained by both the green drink I was sipping and my screeching and wriggling as she coaxed my feet into a smoother state…and I came out of it with shiny, happy feet…they felt incredibly soft afterwards. I was happy for them – I don’t have a great track record of taking care of my feet – they were too far away for me to easily reach when I was obese, so I neglected them quite a lot…I always needed someone else to cut my toenails for me as I simply could not reach – even tying shoelaces was a struggle back then – so they have a lot of healing to do and today was a great occasion for them :)

With thanks and appreciation to every part of my body that has worked so hard all these years and experienced so much – this cleanse is my gift to you all – may you now happily expel the toxins and rejuvenate in joy :)

All love,
Angela. xxx

Spaced out and things coming out...

Wow…what a day…I’ve just returned from seeing a film at the cinema for the first time in months. I feel space-caked…it is so rare that I watch anything these days – almost never TV and films rarely…I love films though…the experience for me is just so intense and all-absorbing…I feel so dis-embodied afterwards…this was a film called ‘The Masai Princess’, based on a true story of a Swiss woman who falls in love with a Masai warrior and goes to live with his tribe…I resonated with so much of the story…it was quite a challenge for me to re-integrate back into my own current reality after watching it – it feels like such an amazing adventure to me, to watch a film these days – it’s incredible to absorb someone’s whole life-story in a couple of hours, then come out and suddenly I’m in a completely different reality…I’m…where…? Costa Rica? Really…? Wow…it’s truly such a stimulant for me to watch smthg like that…blows me away…

Hmmmmmmmm…anyway…back to the current reality of juice feasting…LOL…so…today has been a pretty full-on day for me with detox…I had a big cleansing reaction this morning…I started the day with green juice and not long after began to experience intense pain in my descending colon as things moved through me. I began to feel nauseous, then after eliminating the waste, was very pale and felt weak. It felt once again like something significant had made its exit…there seemed to be a lot of mucus involved, which puzzled me…where is it coming from? Is it very old stuff that my body is now getting a chance to eliminate? Or is it being produced at the moment inside me? My conclusion is that’s it’s actually a bit of both…I asked Matt Monarch his opinion on it and he suggested it’s my body’s way of coping while old toxic, acidic things are being pushed out of me on this cleanse – my body is producing mucus to protect my organs as this stuff is released and exits my system…wow…interesting…

Today I have had:

1.25 litres (1 quart and 1 cup) water with lime juice
1 litre (1 quart) greens with coconut water
300ml (1.5 cups) orange juice
1.5 litres (1 quart and 1 pint) guanabana juice
2.5 litres (2 quarts and 1 pint) pineapple, celery and greens juice

making…6.55 litres of liquids (1.7 gallons). I am sooooo happy to have this pineapple combo in my life now to help me deal with the celery – it makes things so much easier for me…and tomorrow it’s the farmer’s market again, so we get to choose lots more yummy unusual things to play with ☺ yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-HAH :)

All love,
Angela. xxx

An attitude of gratitude...

I just want to say how much I’m enjoying this process of blogging. I never quite understood the ‘point’ of blogs before writing this one myself, but now I really appreciate it. It gives me a space to express and record what I’m experiencing, plus makes the whole process more ‘accountable’ and visible, so others can benefit from it too…so, thanks for being part of this journey :)

Today I have consumed:

1 litre (1 quart) water with lime juice
200ml (1 cup) tangerine juice
300ml (1.5 cups) water with lime
1.5 litres (1 quart and 1 pint) ‘garden juice’ (lettuce, spinach, parsley, radish, beetroot, green beans, broccoli)
200ml (1 cup) orange juice
1.25 (1 quart and 1 cup) litres pineapple, celery, spinach and mint juice
300ml (1.5 cups) ‘garden juice’
1 litre (1 quart) mango, cilantro and lime water

which would be…hmmmmmm…5.75 litres of liquids today (abt 1.5 gallons). WOW…so many yummy things today…we are so blessed. The tangerine juice in the morning was EXCEPTIONAL – so sweet and creamy. The pineapple and greens concoction in the afternoon was such a welcome way for me to disguise the daily celery (I’ve never liked it) and the mango water in the evening was a yummmmy treat too, based on the suggestion from David Rain yesterday…though bizarrely it was reminiscent of…chicken…to me…LOL…

In response to yesterday’s blog comment question about how to produce juice with a Vitamix, here’s the way we do it…
We chop down all the veg or fruit into chunks, then fill the Vitamix with those chunks, to near the top. We then add in enough water (or coconut water, or beet juice, etc) so that the blades will be covered as it starts to chop the produce down. From the outside of the jug, this may look like a couple of inches of water or thereabouts… We blend the mixture on low, for the shortest amount of time possible, just enough that it is completely liquefied. Then we transfer it in batches to a nut milk bag hanging over a large, open-mouthed glass jar and squuuuuueeeeeeeeeeeze :) Very good arm exercise and the whole process is so quick and easy to clean up…we love it :)

Today I wrote an article all about juice feasting for a UK-based alternative lifestyle magazine – it’s so exciting that people seem to really be catching on to this idea of juice feasting as an amazing healing tool. I receive emails from people daily now who are feeling inspired to take this path themselves – wow – ALL power to you all…

I was kind of shocked today to realise I’ve been juice feasting now for 18 DAYS…that’s longer than I’ve ever fasted on anything…I’ve been so much focused on the overall structure of this programme and the fact that I’m in this for 92 days, that I hadn’t really even noticed how amazing it is that I’ve done 18 days of this now already…this is easily a ‘personal record’ for me for being off solids…I think the longest I’ve fasted before was 10 days, earlier this year, on green juices...and that was a very different experience – I was on small amounts of juice and in a very fast-paced, high-energy environment…I was quite exhausted most of the time during that…what a contrast to today – I’m 18 days into this and have today completed two whole writing projects, been jogging and shopping, done yoga and taken good time for myself and still have plenty of energy to write this now at nearly 11pm…

That’s enough for now though ;)
All blessings to you,
Angela. xxx

Noni and other new toys...

Today I had my first fresh noni juice. WOW. Intense stuff. Costa Rica is quite the noni-land, so after a couple of weeks of turning my nose up at the smell of it in friends' houses, it seemed inevitable that it was going to work its way into my juice schedule at some point…it was not an entirely unwelcome addition today, but definitely seems to fall into the ‘acquired taste’ category of foods…the taste to me is unfortunately rather reminiscent of…vomit…LOL…it is a very ‘nasal’ experience for me, getting right up into the top and back of my mouth and nasal cavities…it feels so powerful…it works primarily to boost the immune system, with a HUGE antioxidant rating and my friends here are absolute noni aficionados, fully extolling its healing virtues. Noni is claimed to help relieve all kinds of conditions, such as:

Addictions
Allergies
Arthritis
Asthma
Cancer
Colds
Constipation
Depression
Diabetes
Fevers
Gastric ulcers
Headaches
High blood pressure
Infections
Insomnia
Menstrual cramps
Migraines
Sleeping disorders
Sunburn
Weight loss

It definitely feels like strong stuff to me…not sure I’d be up for having it daily just yet, but it felt like a powerful tonic this morning…

I woke easily and happily this morning, refreshed after a good 8 hour sleep. I am noticing how much easier it seems to be getting to get up and going in the mornings now, compared to the first week of this feast…

Today I have had:

½ litre (1 pint) water with lime juice
750ml (3 cups) noni and blackberry juice with coconut water
1 litre (1 quart) orange/pineapple/green juice
juice of one green coconut
1 litre (1 quart) guava and blackberry juice
1 litre (1 quart) greens with carrot and green powder
1 tsp bee pollen
½ litre (1 pint) water
½ litre (1 pint) water with lime juice

which makes…about 5.5 litres of fluids today…or abt 1.45 gallons…nice…

I was out of the house most of the day today and had waaaay too much sugary stuff for my needs, along the way – wow – got totally sugared-out…my teeth also got totally fuzzed-up and annoyed...I thereby established my first rule of juice feasting:

1. Never travel without a toothbrush...

I started to notice how interesting it is with sugars that if I take them into my body in conjunction with exercise, all feels great and the net effect is I feel energized. If I have that much sugar however and don’t get much exercise in around the same time, the net effect is I feel spacey and sleepy…it’s interesting to me that the effect can be so different, almost opposite, after ingesting exactly the same stuff…I did a LOT of skipping this evening to try to help my body deal with the sugar impact and balance out…

Something I’m surprised to notice this week is that although we have a Green Star juicer sitting in the kitchen, we have not used it once and it does not even seem to come to consideration in my mind to use it when we go to make juice – the Vitamix-and-nut-milk-bag combo we’re been using so far just works so well for us and we’re SO quick at getting juices knocked out in it now, that it just doesn’t appeal to start using the actual juicer…I wouldn’t have anticipated that a few weeks back – the idea of starting this juice feast without a ‘real juicer’ felt a bit daunting in fact, but…we’ve been doing just fine this way…how blessed we are… :)

Today I received interesting new info from David Rain, such as: it’s within the guidelines of this cleanse to consume virgin coconut oil…woo-hoo :)…nice…abt a tablespoon every few days or so apparently is a good antimicrobial/antibacterial boost…I look forward to getting into that… fresh aloe vera gel is also on the menu and apparently mangoes can be good, as long as blended with plenty of water and strained, to make something more like ‘mango water’ in consistency than mango juice…very good to know…wow, more exciting things to try in the days to come...

All blessings,
Angela. x