Daily Fruit + Play

Yesterday I ate:

9:00 . . . juice of 10 tangelos
12:00 . . 1 pineapple
2:00 . . . 4 bananas + 4 medjool dates
4:00 . . . nibbling off of fruit platter as I made it
6:00 . . . pineapple, tomatoes, dates, pickling cukes, peppers
9:00 . . juice of 6 tangelos + a few dates

Play: walking/running ~ 3 miles, stretching

I made another fruit platter yesterday to take to a get-together for dance people. It looked the same as the other except it also had some blueberries and raspberries on it. People especially love the dates because they are so unusual to them. Some peeps really go crazy over the dates, and deservedly so. These are moist and very sweet and taste like caramels.

I love being around dancers. They are at least lean, fit, beautiful, graceful and mostly healthy, and most are vegetarians. So there was tons of food, but most was healthy by SAD standards. There was lots of salsa and guacamole and veggie trays. Someone brought a plate of cut-up apples and pears. But I mostly grazed off of my own platter. I probably ate half of it myself! Ha!

As much as I enjoyed being social with everyone, I was reminded once again that I really prefer to eat alone. It is the only way to really focus on the food, to be totally relaxed and aware and have perfect digestion. This thing we have of being social and gabbing while eating is really a problem that most folks are not aware of. I know I ate too much and I felt less than perfect in the stomach for a short while. I like being quiet while eating. I just plain like being quiet. ♥

Merry Xmas + Peaceful Solstice

Yesterday I ate:

9:00 . . . juice of 8 tangelos
11:00 . . .juice of 8 tangelos
2:00 . . . 4 bananas + 6 organic medjool dates
4:00 . . . a little sampling from the fruit platter
7:00 . . . pineapple, kiwi, dates, tomatoes (lots!)
11:00 . . .more pineapple + dates

Play: walking/running ~4 miles, yoga, secret obsessions (now I have 2)

This is the fruit platter I took to the family holiday gathering. There was LOTS of amazing food there, and actually there was a good amount of vegatarian/vegan fare for my husband like rice, nuts, carrots, broccoli, green beans, and a spinach/artichoke dish. And of course, my fruit platter!

Honestly, this was the first year I was not tempted in the least, in spite of the UNBELIEVABLE food. There was one brief moment that I looked at the beautiful table my MIL prepared with all the delicacies (she is a gourmet cook) and I remembered how it used to be with me, several years ago. I'd say Oh, just one little taste of the green beans, which would lead to more tastes and then just saying Oh, what the heck! And some of you know just what I mean. . . then there is the feeling of being physically sick right away, of disappointment in yourself, of terrible remorse and regret. Then a night of restless sleep, more sickness, and waking the next day with an awful food hangover. Which then leads to even MORE dissipation for perhaps days or weeks at a time until you feel so bad you HAVE to stop, or die. For some folks, that would be exaggeration, and for some of us sensitive sorts it is the truth.

So I ate as much as I wanted of the fruit, several plates full, and felt GREAT the whole time: before, during AND after. No regrets, no guilt. I feel happy and peaceful and content. VERY much so.

You know, it is perfectly true that there is more to life and health than food, and eating. But I keep the focus here on eating because of all the ways we have been taught incorrectly and because eating a bunch of junk can make a person seriously sick and seriously crazy. It can ruin your life. No kidding. It is SO not worth it.

Wishing you a peaceful, fruity day filled with loving kindness. ♥

Daily Fruit + Play

Yesterday I ate:

9:00 . . . juice of 8 tangelos
11:00 . . juice of 6 tangelos
2:00 . . . 1 cantaloupe
4:00 . . . 8 pickling cucumbers + 12 cherry tomatoes + 4 medjool dates
6:00 . . . handful of organic medjool dates
7:00 . . . 4bananas + a few dates

Play: dance, stretching, secret obsession

There are so many challenges to this lifestyle, even for those of us who REALLY want to do it, including:

Lifelong beliefs and understanding

Habits and traditions around food that are comforting

Physical/mental/emotional addictions

Lack of support from family, friends, and the entire world

But for me, the #1 challenge is a practical one. It is simply the issue of having access to LOTS of sweet, ripe fruit that I LOVE. Our natural habitat is surely the tropics, where fruit is literally falling off the trees all year 'round.

I find December is one of the more challenging months, since really good oranges are not in abundance yet. Although I went out today and was grateful to find good strawberries, kiwi, and pineapple to use on a giant fruit platter for the family get-together.

And I just got a new supply of organic medjool dates which are a godsend. Even though the delivery person put them in a hidden spot in the garage and I actually ran over the box with my car because I didn't see it and squished the dates into one giant mass. Ha, ha. But I was able to salvage them all, because where there's a will, there's a way. So they look squished, but taste delicious!

Daily Fruit + Play

Yesterday I ate:

9:00 . . . juice of 8 oranges
11:00 . . juice of 6 oranges
2:00 . . . 1 lb. kiwi
3:00 . . . 4 bananas
5:00 . . . juice of 4 oranges
8:00 . . . 4 bananas + a few medjool dates

Play: stretching and yoga

Wishing everyone in the northern hemisphere a nice, peaceful winter solstice week. In Nature, this is a time of quiet, of going inward, of hibernation. But leave it to humans to be WAY out of sync with Nature. We are pushing ourselves to do all this "celebrating." I don't mind being different, since I see craziness all around me that I don't want to be part of. But it is a challenge to be completely immune from it all.

So Happy Winter Solstice, everyone! Take good care of yourselves. Be kind and nurturing to your own self. ♥

Daily Fruit + Play

Yesterday I ate:

9:00 . . . juice of 8 oranges
12:00 . . juice of 10 oranges
3:00 . . . 1 lb. of kiwi
4:00 . . . several large organic tomatoes
8:00 . . . juice of 12 oranges

Play: dance training, yoga, secret obsession

So yeah, these are the oranges I am going with for now. They're not the best I've ever had, but I'm grateful for them. And I prefer no packaging, but if you're going to have packaging, this is some cute stuff.

I've mentioned this before, but I find that if the oranges are of a really good quality, I prefer to juice them in my mouth. (Eat them.) So that explains why I am juicing these oranges.

And hey, I am psychic! I spoke about snow last post, and now they are predicting snow for the weekend. So it is in my mind today to stock up for the weekend, more than usual in case we do get snowed in. They say we might have a winter storm. And nothing says "winter storm" more than . . . ORANGES!

Daily Fruit + Play

Yesterday I ate:

9:00 . . . juice of 8 organic valencias
2:00 . . . 1 lb. kiwi
3:00 . . . juice of 12 organic valencias + a bunch of cherry tomatoes
4:00 . . . more cherry tomatoes + several pickling cukes
5:00 . . . juice of 6 oranges
8:00 . . . 5 bananas, made into pudding

Play: yoga, secret obsession

In the bowl is one banana, mashed into a liquid with my hand, no added water. So a banana is deceptive. It looks like a solid, but it's really a liquid! Magical. Yes, even bananas contain lots of liquid.

But lately I am tiring of everything except oranges. The quality of the oranges will be improving in the next month or so, and I will be leaning on them more and more as my winter staple food. If they say a snow storm is coming, I stock up on oranges like other people stock up on bread and milk. We haven't really been snowed in badly since I started on this fruit thing. I am usually careful to have plenty of stuff on hand. But if I ever ran out, I guess I would try to live on snow for a while. I have lived on snow for a day here and there. Something about it is very sustaining.

That reminds me of the story of Dr. Barbara Moore who walked and hiked many miles in the Alps having only snow water, no food for months at a time. Believe it or not. I believe it, for sure. Her fascinating story is here. This is on my friend Mango's site. Thank you, Mango! ♥

Daily Fruit + Play

Yesterday I ate:

9:00 . . . juice of 6 organic valencia oranges
11:00 . . a quart of orange juice
3:00 . . . another quart of orange juice
4:00 . . . fresh-pressed tomato juice from 4 organic tomatoes
6:00 . . . large glass of fresh-pressed red grape juice

Play: stretching, relaxing

Yowsers, fruity peeps! Sorry to have been gone so long. We just got our internet restored. It was a faulty phone line inside the house. I missed my own self here.

Yesterday I felt a little tired, a bit in the mood to rest. It is hibernating weather anyway. In the old days, I would have gotten really sick from being run down, but now I know to just rest a bit and I'll be fine. So I spent a lot of the day in bed and drank only juices. My husband made me that grape juice and really, it was the best stuff EVER. I had such a good night of sleep because of it.

So I'm glad to be back and grateful for modern technology that allows us all to help each other this way. ♥

Daily Fruit + Play

Yesterday I ate:

9:00 . . . juice of 8 tangelos
11:00 . . juice of 6 tangelos
2:00 . . . 1 lb. of kiwi
4:00 . . . 3 comice pears
5:00 . . . 3 organic tomatoes
7:00 . . . 5 organic bananas

Play: walking/running~ 4 miles, yoga, secret obsession

So OK, peeps. . . sorry to have been absent. We are having an internet problem at our house that NO ONE can figure out. . . yet. The joys of modern living! I was itchy for the internet for the first day or two, and then I started enjoying the peace and simplicity. Ha, ha.

But now I'm at the public library catching up everywhere.

I hope all is well with you as you are moving through this somewhat challenging time of year. I'll be back tomorrow with more thoughts in this direction.

Love you all. ♥

Daily Fruit + Play

Yesterday I ate:

9:00 . . . juice of 8 Fall-Glo tangerines
10:00 . . juice of 6 Fall-Glo tangerines
1:00 . . . 1 lb. kiwi
3:00 . . . 1 large cantaloupe
4:00 . . . 3 large tomatoes + 6 pickling cukes + a few dates
7:00 . . . 4 bananas + 3 organic medjool dates

Play: dance, stretching, secret obsession

Again, I count ~ 40 pieces of fruit eaten. The cantaloupe counts as 4 pieces in my mind. I certainly do not count my food or really pay any attention to that, but for folks trying to figure out what works for them, it might be helpful. Occasionally I wonder how much all of this weighs, how many pounds of food I am eating, but I am not anal enough to go buy a food scale and weigh my food. Ha! But I can approximate that I probably eat between 10 and 20 pounds of food a day. This gives me something to say when someone suggests that I am not eating very much. I can say, "Hey, I eat all the time! Some days I eat 20 pounds of food!" Of course, since it's fruit it's mostly water.

Last night I got a strong desire for some apple juice. So today I will seek out some good Fuji apples. I rarely eat apples. They are very cleansing and light, but I just usually prefer the sweeter tropical fruits. I think I might try hand pressing some juice using my Orange X.

Daily Fruit + Play

Yesterday I ate:

9:00 . . . juice of 8 Fall-Glo tangerines
12:00 . . juice of 6 Fall-Glo tangerines
4:00 . . . bunch of red grapes
5:00 . . . 4 bananas
7:00 . . . 1 cantaloupe + 3 organic tomatoes

Play: walking, yoga, stretching, secret obsession

I love obtaining "natural" fruit. By this I mean no plastic bags or artificial containers. I can just put a lot of fruit in my cloth bag and have that weighed at the store. Even better than this would be standing under a fruit tree and having the tree release the fruit into my hands. I have experienced this in my life and it is the ULTIMATE in receiving fruit, a magical, mystical experience. A true communion with Nature. It is part of REALLY living. I intend for this to become a part of my daily life. Somehow.

Yesterday I spent some time at Whole Foods watching people, like a sociology experiment. I sat at a table and watched the folks checking out. I saw the sweetness in their eyes, but also lots of pain and worry and fatigue. I could tell that many people were having serious health problems, trembling, walking stiffly and wincing, breathing heavily, excess fat. Many folks have acne or rosacea or swollen and lumpy faces and bodies, which I know are painful. I watched them all, the younger peeps and the older peeps. It reminded me of my friend Kveta's very wise statement: Younger = less toxic; older = more toxic.

Every day in this modern world, I see and know things which are sad and frustrating. All the ways that we are harming ourselves and other beings is MADDENING. Sending love. ♥

Daily Fruit + Play

Yesterday I ate:

9:00 . . . juice of 8 tangerines
2:00 . . . juice of 12 tangerines
3:00 . . . 3 bananas
4:00 . . . 6 organic fuyu persimmons (pictured)
8:00 . . . 4 bananas + 6 dates

Play: dance, yoga

Alert readers can count that yesterday I ate almost 40 pieces of fruit. When people first hear of this crazy fruitarian diet thing I guess they imagine that one lives on an orange or two, or a banana here and there. I'm a small person, and look how much I get to eat!

Of course, some days I eat less, but some days I am really eating all day long. There is no deprivation here. This is why I dream of living in a fruit orchard, where it is just hanging off the trees for the taking. Massive abundance.

I love what Dr. Doug Graham says about living on fruit: "Eat, eat, eat all you want, no problem." Ha, ha. Indeed.