august 6: a day late and a few dollars short

i actually WROTE this post yesterday morning while i was doing my laundry, and only got around to posting it right. NOW.

august 6: no ‘poo rawks!!

so i’ve been going the “no ‘poo” route for the past few weeks – no, i’ve been POO-ing, i haven’t been ‘pooing! no shampoo, that is! lol! it’s been a rawfu topic of discussion, and sarah has been no’poo for a long time, and i’ve never been a big fan of washing my hair a lot. my hair, for 1, is super, super thick. crazy thick. so to wash it takes a long time, to dry it takes a long time, and in case i haven’t mentioned it enough here, i’m pretty lazy. i want to look hot, but i don’t want to have to work too hard for it! besides, i prefer my hair when it’s a little dirty/messy, because it’s got a lot of texture and wave and craziness when i let it. when it’s too clean, it always feels like it belongs on someone else’s head. so for the past 2 weeks or so, i’ve been rinsing it whenever i get the chance, and i’ve been getting so many compliments on my hair! my dirty hair. and i’ve really been enjoying it, but i decided that yesterday was time to get the grease out and give it a wash. but no ‘poo!

so i just used a little dr. bronner’s lavendar liquid soap, lots of water, a good scalp scrub, and then – the magic potion! 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar diluted in 6 oz of distilled water. poured that all over my wet hair and massaged it in good. wacky! the dr. bronner’s got the oil out, but my hair was tangley and hard to work through. the vinegar just whoosh, wiped out all the tangles. i rinsed out the vinegar solution, wrapped my hair up in a towel turban, and did a honey mask (raw honey, smear on your face, leave it until it starts to tingle. your skin will GLOW!). i went to bed with my hair still damp, all scrunched up, because my hair likes that, and then, when i woke up this morning...

i had perfect hot-n-sexy bed head! OMG. my hair is soft and shiny and full of wave and texture. it feels soft and clean, not stripped and squeaky clean. it looks like it’s been pumped full of pheromones. this is some sexy sexy hair. a little coconut oil to tame the frizzies, and i was out the door. yowza. i’m SOLD on the vinegar rinse. cheap, too. with hair like this, i’m going to be hard-pressed to put it up in a knot.

i realized last night that i’m not really talking about what i’m eating, and this is supposed to be a raw food blog. and i think that’s because my food, while delicious and yummy and totally satisfying to me, has kind of faded into the background, where i think it should be. i don’t feel obsessed about food. i eat lots and lots of sweet fruit, and i don’t have any temptations that don’t involve sweet fruit. i make most of my food into smoothies, and i am powerless to walk by the cherry display without buying a bag and eating it on the way home. i haven’t been getting quite enough greens lately, but i don’t feel the lack of them yet. i’ll get some kale tonight. i did have another small spoon of tahini last night, but i don’t think that’s a bad thing, it’s just not quite on the “no overt fats for 40 days” plan. this morning i’m drinking a mango and banana smoothie, and i love it, and the next time i make one, i will switch the ratio of mango to banana. i did 4 nanas to 2 mangos, and while it tastes like delicious sweet fruitiness, it doesn’t taste like either a mango or a banana. next time, more mango!

i had a really sweet run this morning. it felt nice. i wasn’t able to do quite as much as i wanted, but for right now, i’m not trying to push myself, but rather to do exactly as much as i feel like. what’s wonderful and amazing to me is that i’ve been trying to get myself into a running habit for years. years. ever since i ran my first marathon, after which i gave up running. i would try to incorporate it back into my yoga practice, but it never stuck. it always felt like work, and i didn’t really have the energy to do much exercise beyond my yoga and taking really long walks and the occasional strength training session. what i’m feeling now, though, is totally different. while i still struggle to wake up as early as i want to, when i do wake up, i BOUNCE out and throw on my running shoes. i WANT to get out there on the trail and move! it’s not a matter of “have to” now, it’s a matter of man, i totally WANT to!! i want to do my yoga practice, i want to do my runs, and i want to do my walks! i want to do it all! and i really want to amp up my yoga practice, which i know is coming very very soon. i think my yoga practice is about to undergo a radical transformation. in fact, i know it is. i’m looking forward to it.

other things i’m noticing. i’m still detoxing a little through my skin, just a few bumps here and there, but i’m kind of golden! i’m kind of tan! how fun is that??? my nails are hard as rocks, no cracking, no peeling, no flaking off. my 2 big toenails have had a growth pattern for a long time in which they were flaking and breaking, and now, i can’t even try to get them to do that! that’s cool. the backs of my arms are still really smooth and nice. i’ll be happy to see my cellulite diminishing, but i feel less self-conscious about it, and that’s good. and here’s a very cool thing: my whole life, i’ve had hangnails. i remember being very very little, like 4 or 5 years old, and learning that they were caused by a nutritional deficiency. don’t ask how, i don’t remember. but i do remember thinking, “wow, do i have a nutritional deficiency? how is that possible?” so i just checked all my cuticles, would you know – i don’t have a single hangnail! i don’t even have a little tag that i could pull off to create one! ok, one. i found one. and it’s tiny. this is really major for me, although i know it doesn’t sound like a big deal. it’s the little things that we take for granted on a SAD lifestyle that start to correct themselves when we eat proper food for our monkey.

99% of our woes – not just the big things, like cancer and diabetes and heart disease – but the little things as well, like hangnails and soft nails and dandruff and acne and dry skin and tooth problems and cellulite and allergies and those “last 10 pounds” and hangovers and depression and food cravings and lethargy and low sex drive and rough bumpy skin and eczema! all these things and more, directly related to nutritional deficiencies. and i think we know that, because we try to fortify ourselves with vitamins and minerals and supplements, and we use lotions and creams and potions and powders – we are constantly putting stuff in our bodies to attempt to make up for the nutritional deficiencies, and then our media and sciences tell us that food can’t do it for us, only chemicals can. what folly! what foolishness. if ingesting a pill can have an effect on you, then surely ingesting a food can have an effect on you. if a food is other than whole and raw, it’s degraded, and if it can’t be eaten whole and raw, it’s not a food.

i think i’m done with sprouting. i think i’m done, forever, with dehydrating. i’m feeling pretty done with commercial, pre-shelled nuts, though i am looking forward to cracking pecans once the weather cools down. i’m feeling very done with complex recipes. i think i’m done with superfoods. i think i’m done with cacao. i think i’m done with agave.

oh yeah! i want to talk about my teeth! my gums are getting so strong, my teeth are so much less sensitive, and you wanna know what? i’ve stopped using toothpaste! i’ve stopped using almost everything. and my teeth feel great and i don’t think my breath smells bad. i brush with water, and i chew my myo-munchie with a little food-grade H2O2 sprayed on it. it’s working!! it’s all WORKING. even teeth are more influenced by what you put in them than by what you put on them!