Daily Fruit + Play

Yesterday I ate:

9:00 . . . several glasses honey tangerine juice
12:00 . . more tangerine juice
2:00 . . . 4 bananas + a few medjool dates
5:00 . . . 1 pineapple
6:00 . . . 14 honey tangerines + 1 lb. campari tomatoes
8:00 . . . some tangerine juice

Play: walking/running 6 miles, stretching, relaxing

I am still living in honey tangerine land. And I am grateful every day when I see these beauties waiting for me at the store. I seem to be the only one buying them. Today I bought about 60-70. When people ask me about it, I say they're the best food in the whole store!

The funny thing is that if I really suspected they would make a run for them, I'd keep quiet. Ha! You know, life being survival of the fittest and all. ; )

And my husband has discovered that he LOVES them, too, so there is a bit of competition going on there. But it is tough to outeat Fruity Jules on the fruit! Not many want to try. Plus, I am younger and faster! (Line from Fried Green Tomatoes. Fruit tip: Do not fry your tomatoes!)

Honestly, I say a prayer every day for tangerine season to keep on going. I will seriously mourn its' passing. Thank you, Mother Nature and fruit growers, for these amazing orange sugar bombs! They are better than any candy or any soda EVER. And as a lifetime sugaraholic, I would know.

About having juice: I think that eating the whole fruit is optimal. But I also have no big issue with sometimes having some juice. It is a super treat if the fruit is of good quality. This tangerine juice tastes better than any glass of rotten grape juice I mean wine. ; ) It gives you a REAL high with no hangover and no brain poisoning. Lots of giggling and euphoria. Wow. ♥

Daily Fruit + Play

Yesterday I ate:

9:00 . . . 10 honey tangerines
1:00 . . . 16 honey tangerines
5:00 . . . 8 honey tangerines
8:00 . . . 16 honey tangerines

Play: lots of yoga

At the present time, my 3 favorite fruits are watermelon, honey tangerines, and muscadine grapes. If I only had access to these 3 fruits for the rest of my life, I could live on them and be very happy.

If I lived in the tropics, I would surely have a different list of favorite fruits. And in fact, it is almost a silly exercise to try to choose favorites. We are so blessed as humans that fruit is our food. Because there are so many types and varieties of each type that it would be impossible to try them all. Most animals live on only one type of food: horses and cows on grass, koalas on eucalyptus leaves, squirrels on nuts and seeds. So we really lucked out in the scheme of things! What tastes better than ripe sweet fruit?! Nothing!

But I digress.

Since honey tangerines are one of my favorite foods, it is easy to take advantage of their season and live mostly on them for a month or so. Yesterday that is all I ate! I had a mono day of honey tangerines. 50 of them! Or maybe more. I wasn't really counting.

This is not something I plan out ahead of time, although that is just about all I have in the kitchen right now. Pineapples are looking good, too, and I've had a few in the last few days.

I prefer to go day by day, moment by moment, not planning with my mind what will happen next. But when it does happen that I have a mono day, I really enjoy the simplicity and ease and my body really likes it, as well.

Soon it will be time to go pick some strawberries. ♥

Daily Fruit + Play

Yesterday I ate:

9:00 . . . 10 honey tangerines
1:00 . . . 1 pineapple + a few medjool dates
3:00 . . . 14 honey tangerines
4:00 . . . 1 lb. campari tomatoes (love them!)
6:00 . . . 2 cantaloupes
8:00 . . . few more honey tangerines

Play: ballet, stretching, hiking in woods

This book caught my eye at the public library so I brought it home. Wow. It is a work of art. It has beautiful pics on every page of the most gorgeous varieties of heirlooms, over 200 of them. And some interesting info about the history of tomatoes in general and about each variety. Fascinating! I am really enjoying it. My mouth is literally watering. It makes me want to try them all!

I love the names of the varieties: Banana Legs, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Hungarian Heart, African Queen, Black Cherry. And they all look so mineral-rich and delicious. Oh, I am not kidding. . . I want to try every one of them!

One lingering unresolved question I have regarding fruit has to do with the tomato. There is a lot of conflicting info out there about tomatoes. There is plenty of info all over the internet if you are interested in doing your own research. Some peeps think tomatoes are somewhat poisonous since they are members of the "deadly" nightshade family. Plenty of people claim that they have allergic reactions to tomatoes or that they cause arthritis. I suspect that some of the problems may come from pesticides or from cooking them and/or having them in a sauce with MSG and salt. But I can't deny that there is SOMETHING about them that I'm not exactly sure about.

I know that if I eat a LOT of tomatoes, I sometimes get a slight reaction like feeling a bit flushed or waking up with itchy, swollen eyes. My conclusion at the present is that tomatoes are a bit suspicious, at the least.

BUT, I have to admit that I love the taste of tomatoes. Some in particular are just out of this world to me. So I will continue to eat them and enjoy them until my intuition tells me otherwise. I just won't be eating tons of them at a time like I do other fruit.

Looking through this book also reminds me of the infinite varieties of ALL fruits. There is such an abundance out there. . . it would take many lifetimes to get to try everything. What we are exposed to in the local grocery stores is SO little compared to what is out there in Nature all over the world.

This book is wonderful and I wish I could show you all the photography. Maybe your library has a copy for you to enjoy. Nature is just so amazing. . . how could we not appreciate all the beauty and splendor, even if just pictures in a book?!

And if you have a strong feeling or clear understanding about tomatoes one way or the other, I would love to hear about it! ♥

Daily Fruit + Play

Yesterday I ate:

9:00 . . . 10 honey tangerines
11:00 . . . 6 honey tangerines
4:00 . . . 16 honey tangerines
6:00 . . . 1 large cantaloupe + 1 lb. cherry tomatoes
8:00 . . . handful of medjool dates (7-8?)

Play: walking/running 4 miles, dance, acrobatics, stretching

Man, I am so grateful for these honey tangerines. They are getting me through this transition to summer. And I am SO not tired of them. Actually, I will be sad to see them go. They taste like CANDY to me, so unbelievably sweet! I just bought up the whole supply at the store for the weekend. I hope it is not the last of them.

Right now I am learning a new acrobatic stunt which is taking me longer to "get" than I would like. So I am reminded of the old adage: Often, before things are easy, they are hard.

This applies to everything, including eating fruity. Eventually, it does become so easy that you wonder how or why it ever seemed difficult or challenging. So please don't give up. Keep going, a little at a time, until it becomes second nature. You are gradually living your way into a new life.

And to inspire you even more to action, I will share one of my favorite sayings that I often use with my yoga buddies. This was seen written on a wall in India:

The human body is a gift which does not often come around.
This is no time for sleep, you fool.

♥

Daily Fruit + Play

Yesterday I ate:

9:00 . . . 14 honey tangerines
1:00 . . . a few medjool dates
2:00 . . . 14 honey tangerines
4:00 . . . 2 cantaloupes
6:00 . . . 12 honey tangerines + a few dates

Play: walking/running 6 miles, dance, yoga

This pic is a branch of the Black Mission fig tree I planted a few years ago. I bought it for $12. at a local nursery. It was all alone, looking pitiful and almost dead. I brought it home, calling it my Charlie Brown tree, and nursed it along. Now it is firmly established, beautiful and happy, and grows more every year. This year it has already started putting out figs. You can see 2 on this branch. There are dozens all over the tree. This tree has its' own wisdom and personality. I never know what it is going to do. Last year it didn't have any figs at all. I think it was resting. And now, it is putting out figs early. A wonderful gift!

Who needs TV or computer when one can just watch what is going on in Nature. There is so much to see and learn about. It never ends.

And one of the greatest marvels is watching fruit form and grow. An entire tree grows up out of the earth from just one little seed. And will produce thousands of fruits, all with little seeds. How is this possible?! It's a miracle, really.

And as the world of Nature is coming more alive (for those of us in the northern hemisphere) I feel myself coming more alive. Lately I have really been feeling "in the zone." Thank goodness for the sun and its' light and warmth.

May all beings everywhere be happy and free. ♥

Daily Fruit + Play

Yesterday I ate:

9:00 . . . 10 honey tangerines

11:00 . . . 6 honey tangerines

2:00 . . . a few big strawberries + a few medjool dates

5:00 . . . 2 cantaloupes

7:00 . . . 12 honey tangerines + a few dates

Play: walking/running ~4 miles, acrobatics, stretching

I went to the Farmer's Market for the first time this year. It is such a good feeling place with beautiful sights, full of freshness and life. Although right now they don't have much, really. They have mostly greens and sweet potatoes and such. But I did get some early tomatoes and strawberries. Happy Spring!

I am living mostly on honey tangerines and cantaloupes these days, and very happily so. I had 1/4 of a watermelon the other day, and it was heavenly, even though it wasn't the best quality. It was a tease of what is to come. The Easter Bunny brought it for me, along with a SLEW of honey tangerines. ♥

Daily Fruit + Play

Yesterday I ate:

9:00 . . . 12 small honey tangerines
11:00 . . a few medjool dates
2:00 . . . 14 small honey tangerines
3:00 . . . a few medjool dates
5:00 . . . 2 cantaloupes
11:00 . . . a few honey tangerines

Play: barefoot walking/running ~ 5 miles, acrobatics, stretching

Here is how I sometimes eat tangerines. . . cut into pieces with the middle section containing seeds cut out. It is like avoiding the core of an apple, and in citrus, the middle section is the most sour section of the fruit. 2 plates like this one make a nice little snack for me. These honey tangerines are SO good and I am not tiring of them at all. I'll be sad to see them go.

But there is such a rhythm and pattern to Nature, to the seasons of the fruits. Every time a "new" fruit comes into season, it is like welcoming back an old familiar friend. I think this would be true no matter where one lives.

I live in the woods, and I get to observe lots of animals in their habitat. They definitely have a rhythm and pattern to their daily cycle. For the most part, it seems to me that they have a period of activity, followed by eating, and then a time of resting/sleeping. Then the pattern is repeated, on and on.

And when I have total control over my life and my schedule, that is exactly what I like to do, too: be active, then eat, then rest/sleep for a while. It is simple and simple pleasures are the best. It is fun to experiment with being a true animal of Nature, which we often forget that we are! ♥

Daily Fruit + Play

Yesterday I ate:

9:00 . . . 12 small honey tangerines
12:00 . . .1 large cantaloupe
2:00 . . . a few medjool dates
4:00 . . . 4 bananas + 4 dates
6:00 . . . 10 small honey tangerines + a few campari tomatoes
7:00 . . . 8 small honey tangerines + a few dates

Play: walking/running ~ 4 miles, dance, stretching

Some people think that living on fruit is too expensive. Not true! I am sure that I am spending way less money on food and associated items than I used to. No money for bottled water, supplements, Starbucks, restaurants, spices, pots and pans, silly kitchen gadgets and appliances, medications, doctor visits, etc. The other day a woman in front of me had a basket of supplements that cost over $300. Little plastic capsules inside little plastic bottles. And I had lots of REAL FOOD for <$25. I could hardly carry it all! Some people spend thousands a month on medications. I know people who think nothing of spending $100. to eat out one meal, and man, that is some expensive poison! And how many thousands for an emergency gall bladder surgery? It's crazy how much peeps are spending on their unhealthy lifestyle. And all for the ultimate result of feeling TERRIBLE.

This bag of so-called overripe bananas was super cheap . . . I got 9 bananas for $1.25. Actually, they were perfectly ripe and I ate 3 of them right away outside the store. Bananas are not my favorite fruit, but there are times when they really hit the spot with their sweet creaminess! For me, 9 bananas is more than one meal and probably about 2-3 snacks. Some people say that bananas are the rice and potatoes of a fruit diet and I can agree with that. Except that bananas taste a LOT better and don't require cooking or condiments to be tolerated. They're perfect just as they are.

I love what it says on the handle: The Original Fast Food. That's the truth! : )

And in the summer, I can find gigantic watermelons for $3 or $4 at the Farmer's Market. A 30-lb. watermelon is a lot of food, folks! Angel food.

And lately, I have found large cantaloupes at 2 for $5.

Of course, when it comes to talking about how much fruit costs, I cannot help but ponder how all other creatures in Nature eat for free. I dream of a paradise world where all beings are vegan, and all food is abundant in Nature, freely given, plenty for all to share. ♥