Kristen's Raw is giving away a free set of E-Books!

http://kristensraw.blogspot.com/2010/09/kristens-raw-25th-awesome-giveaway-free.html

AND IMA WIN IT! B-)

Young Blood: My recent, confusing experience with varicose/spider veins.

I started working in an office recently. I worked in my Dad's office before this, but the work day there was always fragmented, peppered with dog-walking and food making and laundry doing... I rarely sat for more than an hour or two, at most. At this job, however, I am sitting for multiple hours a day, arising only to file things and take my lunch.

As a result, over the last month, I've been noticing a weird kind of pain in my calves and sometimes in my back lower thighs. As I'm pretty vigilant (aka a hypochondriac) about noticing any possible or arising health problems, within a few times of noticing this pain I checked out my legs, and lo and behold, exactly where I felt the pain, I noticed some veins. They were bulging but I could definitely see them through my skin and they looked pretty large. I've also noticed small clusters of what appear to be spider veins, also in exact proximity to where I feel the pain. They're not at all what I would classify as full on "varicose" or "spider" veins, but they're definitely visible in a way they were not before.

My first reaction was: "WHAT THE FUCK?!

Varicose veins? SERIOUSLY? I'm 22 years old, for Christ's sake! This cannot be happening!"

For those of you who do not know what varicose veins are, they occur when (from my very recent and limited understanding) the valves that pump the blood through your veins, stop working properly and causes blood to collect in the veins. The veins then expand and the blood in them begins flowing in reverse, causing them to protrude and be painful. Greeeaaaaat.

The most common causes of varicose and spider veins include:

• Going through a pregnancy
• Standing or sitting for long periods of time
• Being overweight
• Sedentary lifestyle
• Age - they appear more often as people grow older
• Sex - they are more common in women
• Heredity
• Diet rich in processed, salty, sugary and otherwise shit foods

And, more rarely, varicose veins can be symptoms of serious health problems, such as tumours in the pelvis.

So far as I know, the only things on that list that apply to me are the fact that I am female, and the fact that I have recently begun sitting for long periods of time. Actually, I should say, I have recently started sitting for long periods of time in one position :P I have always done a lot of sitting. A lot, of sitting. So I guess in a way the "sedentary lifestyle" one could apply to me, too. Some would undoubtedly argue that it does.

I also, up until recently when I realized this, sit with my legs crossed a lot, in various different positions, but crossed nonetheless. This, I have learned, is a very bad idea, so I stopped.

But anyway, like I said I'm 22 years old, so the age thing definitely doesn't apply (most women who develop this problem develop it after 35 years of age). I'm 5'10" and between 125 and 130 lbs, so it's pretty safe to say I'm not overweight. And while my diet isn't perfect and may never be (does that even exist? ask anyone and you'll get a different answer), I eat a pretty large amount of raw, unprocessed food and steer pretty clear of fast food and junk food, with the exception of subs, pitas and pizza, the latter of which I don't even eat often. I haven't had any kids, and to my knowledge neither my Mother nor my Grandmother suffer from it.

Soooo I'm in a pretty weird spot mentally right now. I'm in the process of finding a new doctor in my area (STILL, after over a year living here), and when I find one I'll definitely ask about it. But since I have a pretty good idea what they'll suggest (nothing/drugs/surgery), and I have no intention of going down any of those paths, I've decided to start naturally remedying (?) myself until I can get some professional insight on the matter.

Some natural remedies I've come across are:

-Collinsonia Root
-Horse Chestnut Extract
-Bilberry Extract
-Grapeseed Extract
-Gingko Biloba
-Pine Bark Extract
-Raw Garlic
-Butcher's Broom
-Apple Cider Vinegar
-Vitamin E
-Vitamin K (topically)
-Vitamin C with Bioflavanoids
-EXERCISE. Even if it means pumping and bopping your legs under your desk, it's better than nothing!

Foods that are good for preventing and maintaining are:
-Oranges
-Blueberries
-Cranberries
-Cherries
-Tangerines
-Plums
-Grapes
-Onions
-Garlic
-Rosemary
-Greens!
-Broccoli
-Cucumber
-And others that currently escape me.

Foods to avoid:
-Foods with added salt
-White flour products
-Limit starch intake

So I'm going to try a bunch of these things and see if I get any results. I've also taken to massaging my legs in an heartward motion and keeping them raised whenever I can. I'll keep you posted :) I sure hope I can improve or reverse this, because I love to be active and the prospect of living the rest of my life with pain in my legs is completely heartbreaking...

Hoping for the best :) If anyone has other suggestions, I would love to hear them!

Summer without ice cream.

I just did it. No joke. Well as of tomorrow I will have done it. And I must say I am rather proud of myself :)


It was one of my 5 new years resolutions this year, and since I broke the other four by February, as per usual, I decided that this resolve needed to stick. Reason number one being that I have never once in my life made good on a new years resolution. Not one. Reason number two being that I kind of really want to kick dairy anyway so I figured this would be a nice, gentle transition :) Never the less, come May 31st, I was terrified. Why? Because I *love* ice cream (obviously! hello!). I could eat a gallon right to my face. Or at least prior to June 1st I would have jumped at the chance :P Though I must admit my pension for dairy-based treats began waning long before then. Let's say a pint. Couple pints :P

I was sure I would fail, as was everyone I shared my plan with. Actually that's not fair. People were very supportive, albeit doubtful, in my resolve to abstain from my favourite frozen treat from June 1st to August 31st. No doubt, temptation would be EVERYWHERE, in the form of gas station freezers, ice cream trucks, the tiny, amazing ice cream shoppe which is a summer staple in my town, friends' houses, grocery stores and restaurants rife with giant posters of happy children licking away at sweet, creamy cones of delight.........*ahem*, etc, etc...

Yet I remained determined! And I'm so glad that I did :) With the exception of a secret "Dibs" bite from a friend's freezer while "slightly" intoxicated on my birthday (OOPS!) and a single serving of frozen yogurt, I stayed pure ALL SUMMER! YEAH! :D And honestly, it wasn't even hard. There were temptations, of course, as I mentioned, but it was something I really wanted to do.

So that's my "I'm proud of meeeeeee!!!" post for the summer :)

Winter is on the horizon now, as is a glowing, yellow (or marble, mmm) vision of my next masochistic bout of epicurian celibacy: CHEESE!!! hold me :(

Until then, enjoy this glorious christmas cheese cow. I won't be :(

Today, I love...

bizzy beez

open hearts

tree houses!

and this :)

Raw in: MISSISSAUGA

So Dan and I were in the Lakeshore area visiting an old friend, and decided we HAD to check out Raw Aura Organic Cuisine at 94 Lakeshore Rd E.

Here is what we had :)

my juice :) parsley, carrot, ginger, apple... hmmm i can't remember what else. it was so good!

i also got a shot of E3 Live in it :)

Dan's Strawberry Cacao Smoothie :)

Caesar Salad with Kale Chips on top (they ran out of eggplant bacon)!

"Pasta Bolognese" - Zucchini pasta tossed in some kind of deeeliicious (!) spicy sauce, and seemingly every vegetable from carrots to kale to sundried tomatoes. SO GOOD! <3

"Mac & Cheese" - Carrots mandolined into what was supposed to be elbow pasta shape (I applaud the effort, lol) and served covered in cashew cheese, nooch (nutritional yeast) and other veggies. Dan liked it but said there was way too much cashew cheese. Despite enjoying the overall flavour, he wasn't able to finish it.

OMFGlkhjjkshfkhsfhkfhomnomnomyumyummmmYES!!<3

Pecan Pie & Chocolate Avocado Pie

Holy Crap.

<3 *drool* <3

more desserts <3

US :)

The Wonderful World of MYCELIA! (Mushrooms! Fungiiiiiiiii)

I have recently - or I should say in the last several months - become fascinated by fungi. The majority of people have no idea how important and intelligent (seriously) mushrooms are. Beneath our feet lies an almost unimaginably intricate network of mycelia, trading nutrients with plants for energy, transporting nutrients from tree to tree, and helping to heal and detoxify whole ecosystems.


Here are a few short exerpts from an interview with expert on mycelia and author of such books as "Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World", Paul Stamets, about the secret world of the Mycelial network; Nature's internet.


Jensen: "Almost since life began on earth, mycelia have performed important ecological roles: nourishing ecosystems, repairing them, and sometimes even helping create them. The fungi’s exquisitely fine filaments absorb nutrients from the soil and then trade them with the roots of plants for some of the energy that the plants produce through photosynthesis. No plant community could exist without mycelia. I’ve long been a resident and defender of forests, but Stamets helped me understand that I’ve been misperceiving my home. I thought a forest was made up entirely of trees, but now I know that the foundation lies below ground, in the fungi."




Stamets: "There are an estimated one to two million species of fungi, of which about 150,000 form mushrooms. A mushroom is the fruit body — the reproductive structure — of the mycelium, which is the network of thin, cobweblike cells that infuses all soil."


"A mycelial “mat,” which scientists think of as one entity, can be thousands of acres in size. The largest organism in the world is a mycelial mat in eastern Oregon that covers 2,200 acres and is more than two thousand years old. Its survival strategy is somewhat mysterious. We have five or six layers of skin to protect us from infection; the mycelium has one cell wall. How is it that this vast mycelial network, which is surrounded by hundreds of millions of microbes all trying to eat it, is protected by one cell wall? I believe it’s because the mycelium is in constant biochemical communication with its ecosystem."


"I think these mycelial mats are neurological networks. They’re sentient, they’re aware, and they’re highly evolved. They have external stomachs, which produce enzymes and acids to digest nutrients outside the mycelium, and then bring in those compounds that it needs for nutrition. As you walk through a forest, you break twigs underneath your feet, and the mycelium surges upward to capture those newly available nutrients as quickly as possible. I say they have “lungs,” because they are inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide, just like we are. I say they are sentient, because they produce pharmacological compounds — which can activate receptor sites in our neurons — and also serotonin-like compounds, including psilocybin, the hallucinogen found in some mushrooms. This speaks to the fact that there is an evolutionary common denominator between fungi and humans. We evolved from fungi. We took an overground route. The fungi took the route of producing these underground networks that are highly resilient and extremely adaptive: if you disturb a mycelial network, it just regrows. It might even benefit from the disturbance.


I have long proposed that mycelia are the earth’s “natural Internet.” I’ve gotten some flak for this, but recently scientists in Great Britain have published papers about the “architecture” of a mycelium — how it’s organized. They focused on the nodes of crossing, which are the branchings that allow the mycelium, when there is a breakage or an infection, to choose an alternate route and regrow. There’s no one specific point on the network that can shut the whole operation down."



Now, these small chunks, should you choose to read them (in other words, should you have a burning interest in a seemingly irrelevent topic that doesn't interest most people in the slightest, as i happen to =P) may not reveal any mind-blowing truths to you. It was difficult to find specific chunks of text that conveyed the entire message of the interview.

The jist is, all fungi release spores (spores are like their seeds), which float around and eventually settle on the ground. When a male and a female mycelial spore touch, they begin to form a network, that can span many miles, across entire forests and beyond given enough time. There can also be multiple networks in the same area because each year/season, leaves and dirt obviously accumulate, and then more spores float down, creating another network overtop of it, and so on and so forth. Through these networks, the mycelia can do amazing things such as transport nutrients from a thriving tree to a dying tree many miles away. They also, as mentioned previously, trade nutrients with plants for their photosynthesized energy, creating a symbiotic relationship between the mycelia, the plants, and the trees. And that's how a forest really works.


Here's to seeing the forest for the fungi :) YAY FUNGI!! lol

Here's the rest of the interview, for anyone interested.
http://peakenergy.blogspot.com/2008/07/natures-internet-vast-intelligent.html

Joe Rogan: Unexpectedly Awesome.

Yeah, the guy from Fear Factor!


This guy

I started to love him a little when he produced "The Union: The Business Behind Getting High" which focused on the injustice of cannabis prohibition in North America and - in part - the British Columbia "union" of marijuana growers.


And NOW, he's going to be doing a documentary based on Dr. Rick Strassman's "DMT: The Spirit Molecule" !!! Whaaaaaat! And now that I'm actually reading up on him he seems to be a pretty outspoken advocate for the exploration of DMT. The film might already be out, actually. Whether the doc will focus on the more "illicit" method of smoking DMT or natural methods of stimulating your brain's DMT production through things like superfoods (eg Mucuna Pruriens), kundalini yoga and meditation, I'm not sure, as I have not [yet!] gotten around to reading the book, and I'm at work so I can't watch the trailer >_<




Either way it should be pretty mind-blowing. DMT is a very powerful and fascinating subject.




stoked. <3ujoe.