mish-mash

The touch of coolness in the morning air recently vanished and was replaced with very warm, humid weather. We got to a point where we put our air conditioner on in the house (we don't have it in the car) for just the second time this summer. That would bring our a/c total running time to under an hour. When we have put it on, it's just to cool the place down and take the edge off. We have had the ceiling fans on low or medium quite often, just to keep air moving when there is no breeze. But I think our next electricity bill will be fairly reasonable.

We have had fires to the south of us, with around 200 people dead and 7000 homeless. Friends of ours in those areas were all lucky to escape. So sad. I can't imagine. Floods to the north of us causing an increase in the cost of bananas (a main staple in my diet). Many large and small businesses and community groups around us are having fundraisers to help these people. It always warms the heart to see community pull together, it's a shame it takes a tragedy to make it so.

Today the humidity has broken and it's been raining steadily all day. I'm in jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt which is nice for a change. The kitchen is calling me to bake cookies! It's been too warm to heat up the house any more by baking but today is a good day to stock up on some home baked treats.

A while back I was doing a lot of reading, trying to figure out what the natural diet of we humans should be. For 30 years I've been playing around with different diets, experimenting on myself. In that time, I have never found more passion in a group as what I have amongst those following a raw-food diet. So many people find such energy and enthusiasm for life and that style of eating that they want to tell everyone. Fantastic! It often comes with much inspiration and encouragement as well. However, amongst the groups of raw fooders there seems to be a lot of disagreement on the 'right' way to do raw. High fat vs low fat, high fruit vs low fruit, superfoods vs natural foods etc. It's exhausting! After trying to get back into all raw foods here, and getting side-tracked by all of the conflicting advice, I went back out on my own to figure things out.

Yes, the human ancestors started out as raw vegans, but in order to evolve and thrive and move to different areas, changes needed to be made which included eating animals and using fire to cook. (I wonder if this is when more aggressive behaviour began.)

There can be points made to justify any point of view as to why a person chooses a certain way of eating. So I had to reach a place where I was totally comfortable with how my family and I eat. Certainly lots of fruit and veges of the highest quality possible. We shop at local farmers markets from local growers who are organic or on their way there. Grains - I buy good quality flour and use different grains for variety. I make most of our own cookies, cakes, waffles and pies which we don't do a lot of when it's warmer outside. Except the waffles which are a standard Sunday morning thing. I'm going to start making our own pasta again soon. If I buy any packaged pasta or bread, it's from a quality wholegrain source. Fats - unsalted butter, olive oil, canola oil or coconut oil, the best quality I can. Milk - usually rice or soy though Cary likes full cream dairy. Protein - organic dry beans, homecooked, organic tofu and tempeh. And I made peace with the fact that Cary and the kids enjoy meat. So if they want it, they buy hormone free and organic if possible. Same with their eggs. For me, a low-fat, vegan diet with grains only several times a week seems to work the best. I love a hearty vege soup when it's cool out and I also enjoy lots of fresh foods. I'm more in touch with my body and it's needs and eat more instinctively rather than what I think I should eat due to the time of day or combination of food.

I'm working towards making most of our own basic foods like hummus, tomato sauce and nut butter etc and getting away from most processed foods.

Basically, my research led me to a greater understanding of why eating a diet of more whole-foods is important. And why I no longer get sucked in when shopping with the kids and they ask for a packet of cookies or something of minimal nutritional value. And I no longer feel any judgement towards anyone choosing to eat a particular way. Because that might work for them, and why did I feel that my way was the 'right' way anyway? That kind of attitude doesn't create harmony in my life or the world.

Speaking of harmony, some times it's hard to stay rooted in that. Subtle things take me away from that but I am getting much better at sourcing the cause of it. The biggest breakthrough though has been in realising that often it's my own connection to myself that is disrupted. For some reason, in that moment I am not living my Truth and once I get back on track with that, harmony is restored.