GreenGoodness Day 3

Well, it seems that the proof is in the pudding.  (what an odd saying!) I put on my skinny legged jeans today that are always kinda odd in the waist, mostly because I have no waist.  And they are a bit looser, so I can wear them in public.  Yesterday was definitely killer, but I'm getting the picture-I need to put more food in my smoothies if I'm living off of them.  Yesterday may have been a calorically challenged day, in terms of quantity, but today was much better.  

I had a banana mint/choco/spinach smoothie for breakies, a savory basil/avocado/carrot/romaine smoothie for lunch, and a grapefruit/orange/banana spinach smoothie for dinner.  I can't wait to start chewing more of my food though...

Other cool changes: my skin is clearer, I'm having less cravings, and I'm less sleepy.  I'm still having serious greens cravings- I came home from yoga and ate 4 stalks of celery and a carrot.  I'm a little relieved that this was only a 3 day smoothie fest- I really don't know how people could do this for months!  Maybe it's because I'm out of practice in raw-food land, but I certainly missed my grains.  If I do a similar feast in the future, I'll definitely eat a salad for dinner instead of a smoothie- sometimes eating 8-10 pieces of fruit a day is a little much for me.  Too sweet.  I also like to chew my lettuce, as evidenced by my romaine lettuce cravings last night.  However, I will continue to consume green smoothies every day for breakies, and possible more, depending on my mood.  It certainly is good to fortify your body with lots of minerals and raw plant matter, and I'd like to do so more regularly, although maybe not for 3 days.  1 might be enough.  

In other news, I had my interview to go teach in the Philippines this summer, which would be *awesome* and I hope that pans out.  That would be way cooler than going to Sarasota, for sure.  

Currently listening to: Renaissance music.  Dufay & Ockeghem's greatest Missa hits.

Craving Fulfilled...oddly.

I had a fierce craving for salty things post-elliptical, and sadly, there's not much to be found.  So I just ate 1.5 hearts of Romaine Lettuce raw.  Weird.

Day 2 of Greengoodness

Started off the morning with:

2 oranges

1 frozen banana

water

some frozen cranberries

1 tbsp of coconut oil

romaine hearts

1 tbsp of green powder.

It was a decent, but not amazing smoothie.  Not too sweet though, which is always excellent.  I'm feeling pretty good today, although my body wants something weightier like carbs or something like that.  Hopefully, the million pots of tea and smoothies will fill me up enough.

For lunch, had pretty much the same savory smoothie as yesterday:

carrots

water

basil

collards

tomatoes

1/2 avocado

and some random sprigs of thyme that I don't remember ever buying.

I have had a more difficult time today than yesterday in maintaining the green-ness.  Perhaps because I didn't eat dinner until 7:45, I was starving, had a headache, and am still cranky.  I know the headache may be the detox component of all this, but combined with cravings for chocolate and carbs, it really sucks.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Dinner:

Lots of frozen mango

2 Organic oranges

Water

Oodles of Spinach

2 TBSP of flax seeds.

I will eventually get myself downstairs on the elliptical, even if it kills  me!  But seriously, afterwards, I am rewarding myself with some raw banana-chocolate ice cream.  

In other news, I played the cadenzas I wrote for the Hoffmeister concerto for the venerable Steven Laitz, and he approved of them!  We touched up a few things, and he said they had lots of great thematic elements, and that I have 'good ears.'  I was floating in bliss for a few hours after that.  I have had such a difficult time trying to get myself to write those cadenzas, and I'm so glad he approved.  It certainly was a highlight of today.

Listening to: a little of everything today.

25 Things About Me.

People have been posting this on facebook, but I wanted to also keep it here.

 Here's my 25 things.

1. I don't like driving in the far left lane of the freeway- too close to the wall.

2. I'm a Buddhist in training, a yogi, a former raw foodist, a save-the-world-ist, and general hippie-dippie weirdo that I never thought I'd become.

3. I have to read every night before I go to bed.  No matter what.  (Novels are best.)

4. Glasses look sexy on everyone else but me.  Plastic framed ones are best.

5. I like to look at old people on the subway and imagine what they looked like as kids, teenagers, and young adults.

6. Primary colored accessories and shoes can really brighten one's day.

7. I like making things.  Cooking, crafting, writing...I'm not necessarily good at it, but I love it.

8. I obsessively have to put on chapstick from a tub, not a tube, every 15-20 minutes.

9. I compulsively buy magazines, even though I know I shouldn't.

10. I still wear my retainer every other night to bed.

11. I sometimes feel too privileged and I fear that some great amount of suffering will soon befall me.

12. I love putting things in the dishwasher or doing laundry, but I'm terrible at putting clean things away.

13. If I had to pick between having an herb and vegetable garden, dogs, and a job, and having husband, I wouldn't necessarily pick the latter.  (especially if lavender was involved)

14. Libraries are my favorite places on earth.  Seriously.

15. I start every day with a hot beverage.  If I don't, I never really wake up.

16. I have a passion for popular music that exceeds my enthusiasm for classical music.  This is mildly distressing.

17. I have a perpetual desire to learn.

18. Snow pisses me off. It's pretty if you're inside watching it, but annoying if you're outside.  Rain, on the other hand, is glorious.

19. I secretly procrastinate about stupid things.

20. The last time a guy had a crush on me was when I was 8.  At least, that's the last time I knew about it.

21. I have had at least one pair of converse all-stars every year since I was 6.

22. I am fascinated by Indian culture.  Hinduism, Buddhism, Bollywood, Classical Dance...

23. I think that writing letters to people is the best way to show that I care.  Sending mail is a wonderful opportunity for love.

24. I have eaten a salad almost every day for the last 7 or 8 years.  I like my greens.

25.  I have a tendency to be too sentimental- I often am overwhelmed by the beauty of situations.  I just keep it on the D.L.

*26.*  I apparently have my own special vocabulary of unique words that most other people don't use.  This is what I've been informed of by others.

GreenGoodness: End of Day 1

Wow.  I forgot how *unfilling* raw food is.  I was doing pretty well for 4-5 hours, and then I got super hungry and ate some raisins and carrots.  So I didn't eat entirely liquified for the day, but somehow I feel like 3 organic carrots, a handful of raisins, a piece of dried mango, and 3 sundried tomatoes are NOT going to be the make or break of the day.  I ended up have 2 pots of tea today, as well as two mugs of other tea.  Since I didn't leave the house after noon, post yoga, I just stayed in and practiced all afternoon.  In order to keep from thinking about the raw food crisis, I drank tea.  End of story.  

here's lunch:  Carrot Basil Soupy Smoothie

2 carrots

2 collard green leafy things

handful of basil

half avocado

water

smidge of salt

This was actually quite tasty, despite what it sounds like.  I never used to be into raw soups, but this was quite edible.  I just didn't stay full for too long.  I should probably make more next time.

Dinner was a minty chocolate smoothie:

3 somewhat frozen bananas

Fresh Mint

Water

Spinach 

Raw Chocolate Powder

2 TBSP flax seed

This was quite tasty and has left me quite full for the evening, which is a good sign.  I don't expect incredible miracles from my green binge, but I am just trying to clean things up and feel good.  I did battle some fierce cravings today, especially with packs of rick and vegetables floating around my apartment, but I did a good change resisting, so we're on to tomorrow!

Day 1 of GreenGoodness Smoothies...

After a few weeks of adding green smoothies to my diet (breakfast everyday) I've decided it's time to make a big leap and do what is called a "green smoothie feast."  It's not really a fast, since you're consuming enough calories for a human being (unlike juice fasting...) and your eating lots of yummy things like fruits and vegetables.  The premise of this feasting is to do a detox of processed and cooked foods (which I know I need, even though I've been pretty good so far) and a resetting of one's tastebuds for delicious and healthy foods.  (like plants).   The task is to eat green smoothies for all of one's meals for whatever period of time is appropriate for you.  I am just planning a brief 3 day-er, although some people do this for 45 days!  Since I live in a cold climate and I'm just getting set up, I don't want to be overly ambitious and stretch my time or patience.  (Thus the 3 days).  Anyway, if it goes well, perhaps it's something I'll do for a longer period of time every few weeks or even every week!  

Why green smoothies?  If you go to rawfamily.com, you'll get bombarded by lots of "green" information, but most importantly is Victoria's book 'green for life.'  Basically, she explains how humans do not eat enough greens, how they are a whole other class of vegetables with complete nutritional support, and how our concept of 'vegetable' doesn't really explain the whole wealth of veggies.  (root veggies vs. flowers vs. greens).  A green smoothie basically consists of some fruit, some water (if you're into the vegan thing), and some leafy greens.  The fruit usually covers up the green taste enough that it's just like a normal smoothie, but less sweet.  One can also make savory smoothies or raw soups with tomatoes, greens, celery, etc.  

So here's how today's unfolding so far:

Woke up a 9...overslept, but still made it to yoga in time.

Got back at 11:20, and made 1st green smoothie of the day.

Frozen mangos, 1 banana, 1 tbsp coconut oil, 1 tbsp green powder, some kale leaves.

Some people don't do frozen fruit, but I like my smoothies to have that cold frozen texture-not the watery room temperature thing.  

Anyway, I'm going to make a pot of tea and practice and whatnot, but I'll do an end-of-day post to sum up day 1.

the "Functions of Music"

In my thoroughly fascinating music therapy class, (cough, cough) we're reading about the functions of music as relevant to music therapy.  Strangely enough, there are some really useful nuggets of information in there and I have found it quite interesting.  

"Ethnomusicologist Alan Merriam developed a useful classification of broad categories of music's use in society...He set up categories of 10 functions of music that existed in most cultures.

1) Music as an influence on physical response

2) Music as communication

3) Music as emotional expression

4) Music as symbolic representation

5) Music to enforce conformity to social norms

6) Music to validate social institutions and religious rituals

7) Music to contribute to the continuity and stability of culture

8) Music to contribute to the integration of society

9) Music for aesthetic enjoyment

10) Music for entertainment.  "    -from An Introduction to Music Therapy, pg 53.

Following this list was a more in-depth exploration of what these terms mean, but I think that most people can surmise what was intended by the list.

Some of the other elements of the chapter are about how music uses many different parts of the brain, while requiring many different mental steps.  (attention, memory, retrieval, programming, etc)  It also discusses the emotional, extramusical associations, and other brainy consequences of music, which was equally interesting.  Rather than try to go deep into cognitive musical brain stuff, which I am ill-qualified to discuss, I'll just say that music does some spiffy things.  The concluding bits of the chapter are:  "One advantage in using music is that some type of musical enjoyment or involvement is possible for people of any age...Another aspect is that it is comprised of diverse styles and combinations of sounds from simple to very complex...Another is the many uses of music in society...Music is a pervasive art form that influences our daily lives in many domains (physical, cognition, communication, emotional, and sociocultural)."  

While this chapter doesn't say "music is important because...", it definitely gives some more objective perspectives to the function of music in society, which is exceedingly relevant.

Currently listening to: the New Animal Collective album.  (and I think my neighbors are currently having sex, so I guess I'm listening to that too, but not by choice)