Author Archives: larissahalls

Raw food experiment results

Posted on by
Reply

Well, I made it to 8 weeks on a raw food diet. I must say my initial goal was at least 12 weeks but I succumbed to the helm of fun park tour guide duty for my little brother and his girlfriend. What would a fun park be without ice cream, donuts and well more ice cream and donuts. Ha! I must say I paid for this over indulgence later with a bloated stomach, zits and well, not to mention the few extra kilo’s I’d like to refer to as “My Winter Coat”.

The results of my 8 weeks on a raw food diet certainly surprised me.

  • I lost approx 5 kg’s which busted all the myths that you have to restrict both calories and carbohydrate to lose body fat. Remember I was consuming around 2500 calories per day. For all the gym junkies on a high poison, I mean high protein diet I wonder what the long term health implications to this fad of high intake of animal flesh will be. Hmmm, only time will tell!
  • I had absolutely no period pain for the first time since I started the good old monthly cycle when I was a teenager.
  • My skin cleared up and was looking better than it has for years.
  • My bloated guts trimmed down.
  • I had an amazing amount of energy which helped me work out like a crazy woman when I was instructing my fitness classes.
  • I spent a week learning and studying to become a trained Demartini Method facilitator. Spending up to 12 hours a day in a class room environment in the past has left me feeling drained and sluggish, especially when it hits tired O’clock (the afternoon slump). During these days I felt energetic, inspired and alert! I’m sure much of this was due to the amazing content I was learning but I’d also  say not bogging myself down at lunch times with a heavy meal with hard to digest proteins and processed carbs made an astonishing difference.

I’m off next week to go crew a Tony Robbins event for 10 days called Date with Destiny. My days will start from around 6am and can finish anywhere from 10pm to 2am the following morning. Yes, Tony Robbins is a machine when he gets on stage! My game plan is to eat raw natural foods continuously throughout the day (which reminds me I have to go up the shop today and stock up on dates, nuts, seeds, organic apples, banana’s, celery and carrots to make sticks I can munch and crunch on). I know this will keep me energized, on my game and rip raring to go. There is a lunch and dinner buffet on offer so I know will eat some cooked food as well but keep it to vegetables, vegie soup etc. Living foods equals a living, fully functioning body.

The Diet Plan from here on:

I certainly benefited by following a raw food diet. I do enjoy my cooked soups and vegies too though. My partner made a beautiful vegetable curry from scratch last night and at this stage in my life I don’t want to give this up to go 100% raw. Sorry all you 100% raw foodist out there. I did become a vegetarian 10 years ago and do not consume dairy (most of the time) so maybe one day I’ll do the 100% raw. Until then mostly raw will do it for me :) .

The simple fact of knowing I lost weight on a high calorie diet has totally changed my mind set about restricting calories and starving myself to reach that ever-elusive dream body!

My focus is and since I was 23 when I found out I had a tumor in my head that had to be removed is HEALTH! Not fads, not processed foods, not diet drinks, not protein shakes, not “diet” products, not starvation!

The guidelines I like to follow when it comes to my nutrition are:

  1. Eat natural, whole, living foods (not processed, chemical laden foods)
  2. Drink water plain and simple (avoid diet drinks, fizzy drinks, juice from the supermarket, flavored drinks etc)
  3. Avoid dead foods (this includes rotting animal flesh, processed foods and anything that does not resemble how it grew in nature).
  4. Avoid processed sugar
  5. Avoid white breads etc.
  6. Indulge in moderation and have fun. The old saying of it’s not what you do 5% of the time that determines your health it’s the other 95% of the time. (ice creams at fun parks is all good. Hahahahaha).

Many people preach many things when it comes to health and nutrition. Dr’s are backing diet drinks, celebrities think they know it all (usually they got paid to look like they know it all so you buy the product they’re endorsing), some personal trainers tell people not to eat fruit, peas or corn as there’s too much sugar in these things (like WTF!), the muscly lad on the T.V is promising you the body of your dreams if only you buy his diet products which include protein bars and shakes (to fill his pocket with money) and scientists are making new discoveries about special “genes” that make you fat (then people can blame something other than what they are putting in their mouths).

We are bombarded with terminology like, low fat, low sugar, no sugar, low carb, no carb, light, skinny, healthy, gluten free, fat free, lactose free, sugar free, salt free and I think this is allowing people to be brain free. Just because a product is marketed in a certain way don’t stop using they grey matter between your ears. Take a look at this product from boost Juice. On the packet it claims it’s made from “real fruit”, uses “all natural colours and flavours”, has “added calcium”, has an “all natural berry flavour”. Lets take a closer look!

The not so natural “Boost bites”

The ingredient list:

Fruit 32% (concentrated apple puree, dried apples, contains preservative 223), reconstituted mixed berry juices 1.5%,wheat semolina, maltodextrin, Yogurt confectionary (7%) (sugar, vegetable fat (hydrogenated palm kernel), milk solids, Yogurt powder, emulsifier (soy lecithin), citric acid), sugar, isomalt, wheat protein, coconut (preservative 220) seaweed extract, humectant (422), acidity regulators (330,296), vegetable oil. Natural Flavour, natural colours (120, fruit and vegeatble extracts), glazing agents 553b,904.

There’s also a note: conains sulphites in quantity greater than 10mg/kg, and should be noted by sensitive persons.

What it means:

Preservative 223 – this is used in non organic dried fruits and wines. This preservative can cause reactions in many people. Its prohibited in food for infants and is a suspected respiratory, kidney and immunotoxin. Can cause asthma,headaches, hay fever, headache, migraine, skin and gastrointestinal ailments.

Hydrogenated palm kernel-Hydrogenating oils creates oxidization. The dangers of oxidized palm oil include organtoxicity of the heart, liver kidney and lungs, as well as reproductive toxicity.

Isomalt – is prohibited in foods for infants and can cause flatulence and diarrhoea if consumes in large amounts. Can contribute to gastrointestinal and liver problems.

Humectant 422 – This may be genetically modified and concerns about safety have arisen because babies’ resistance to chemicals.

Colour 120  – This grosses me out – this colour is extracted from the dried bodies of the female Dactylopius coccus insect. Potential health effects include contact dermatitis, asthma and anaphylaxis.

Glazing agents 553 – Long term consumption may cause kidney stones and it is prohibited in foods for infants. 904 is also prohibited in foods for infants. It is derived from the resin made by the lac insect found India

In a nutshell this product should have a label on it stating infants should not consume. If an infant should not consume then a breast feeding mother should not consume this product. Many of the ingredients are suspected, or are toxins.

This is an example of why steering clear of processed foods is a great idea when it comes to your health. This includes many if not all “so called” processed health foods.

If you need a snack for you or your children the healthier option is definitely to grab an apple, banana or a handful of nuts. You may even find a siamese twin banana like the one I did below.

My double bunga banana

Put your health first and fill your day with fruits and vegetables.

  • If you eat meat use it more like a garnish than the staple of your meal.
  • Include many green leafy vegetables
  • Drink plenty of water.
  • Eat a well rounded natural food diet
  • Avoid processed foods.

Until next time remember to:

  • Live life on your terms
  • Respect yourself and others
  • Set realistic goals and most of all

HAVE FUN!!!

Cheerio

Larissa Halls

http://www.perceptioncoaching.com

 

 

RAW FOR FOUR – 4 weeks into my raw food experiment

Posted on by
4

Raw for four. The four week reveal.

Well, four weeks have flown by and I feel great (not so much today, but in general, I’ll tell you about that later). This week I’ve had 2 different people tell me that I’m looking great and my skin is clear and glowing. I told them what I’ve been doing and they agreed that something must be working. “It bloody better be” I was thinking to myself.

Everything that I’ve eaten so far has been raw and mostly organic. Except a few times I’ve had some brown rice and yesterday I had some quinoa as I wasn’t so prepared because I lost my dates and I was really hungry. Sounds a little suss doesn’t it, but I bought a whole bunch of dates and I don’t know where I’ve put them. They are probably hanging out with my ipod touch that I haven’t been able to find since Tuesday night. They’ll turn up (hopefully)!

After 4 weeks on a high calorie raw food diet the official stats are:

  • Feeling: Bloody beaut!
  • Fat loss: 4.4kgs
  • Fitness: Feeling like an energetic energizer bunny.
  • Looking: Apparently glowing

So it all sounds wonderful and positive :)    except  for today :(

So it’s Thursday the 7th June 2012. I’ve had a HHHHUUUUUUUUUGGGGEEEE week this week. I’ve worked from 8am to 10pm on Monday evening, Tuesday 8am – 8pm, Wednesday 5:45am – 5:30pm (went to bed at 7:30pm) and today I was up at 4am to board a plane at 5:30am. My meals haven’t been as well planned and prepared like I would’ve liked. Wednesday I felt bloated and gross and went to bed at 7:30pm feeling like a grumpy bitch and pissed off at myself for eating some cooked quinoa (yes, yes, I can hear you now, it’s not like i ate a block of Cadbury’s chocolate or anything). I also ate a heap of nuts which are high fat and contributed to the bloatarama, plus a piece of raw food cheesecake (it’s not actually cheese) and topped it off with some raw food choccie.

After feeling horrible last night I turned it all around this morning and I was actually quite proud of myself.  I ordered a great breakfast at the airport. I got the juice place to juice up some apple and pineapple juice and then blend it all together with 3 banana’s. Then before the meeting I had to go to we went and got some morning tea. Everyone else got coffee and I ordered a freshly squeezed juice and then downed some banana’s. So the plan was going great guns until I got back to the airport at 2:15pm and my plane was due to board at 2:40. Yay!!! Time for lunch.

I scanned the food court at the airport. HHMMMMMM!! What to eat? To my left we have Mcdonalds, Krispy creams donuts, Chinese, Pizza, I think you get the idea. Then alas, I see Sumo Salad, my payers answered. I bound up to the counter “I’ll have a large salad thanks luv” I ask the server. “No worries, which ones would you like” she replies. I stand there for what seemed like eternity, as I feel the stares of the people in the line behind me cutting into my back.

I was taking a little long to decide. I’ll tell ya why!! So, they either have cooked style salads, salads smothered with sauces and the uncooked salads had either cheese, chicken, falafel or beans strewn through it. I was in a tizz as I couldn’t decided and the line behind me had almost had time to sign a petition to get me out of there. OK, so I asked for the bean salad and the chicken and avocado minus the chicken. The girl looks at me with a quizzical face. “Yeah, I don’t eat chicken so if you could just pile in the salad items and avoid the chicken that’d be amazing”. Lucky for me she did what i asked. didn’t really want the bean salad.

So, with a hectic week behind me, a bit of boyfriend gone on a 6 week holiday with his mates blues, plus too many nuts and quinoa bloatarama happening I feel like a fat  frump tonight! Not to mention a total negative biiiaaarrrrch. Those pesky thoughts keep creeping into my head like “why are you even doing this Larissa, who cares.” “Go and eat some pizza” “Just give up and follow the crowd”.

So this is what I am going to do..

Kill evil Homer! I mean evil Larissa! Haha!!  Remember the episode of the Simpsons where evil Homer sits on his shoulder coaxing him to do bad things. Well the evil Larissa version has shown up today. Then….. I remembered this Cherokee Legend:

Read on:

An old Grandfather said to his grandson, who came to him with anger at a friend who had done him an injustice, “Let me tell you a story.

I too, at times, have felt a great hate for those that have taken so much, with no sorrow for what they do.

But hate wears you down, and does not hurt your enemy. It is like taking poison and wishing your enemy would die. I have struggled with these feelings many times.” He continued, “It is as if there are two wolves inside me. One is good and does no harm. He lives in harmony with all around him, and does not take offense when no offense was intended. He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way.

But the other wolf, ah! He is full of anger. The littlest thing will set him into a fit of temper. He fights everyone, all the time, for no reason. He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great. It is helpless anger,for his anger will change nothing.

Sometimes, it is hard to live with these two wolves inside me, for both of them try to dominate my spirit.”

The boy looked intently into his Grandfather’s eyes and asked, “Which one wins, Grandfather?”

The Grandfather smiled and quietly said, “The one I feed.”

THE END

So here I go, from this second on I feed the good wolf inside me. I stop being angry at myself, I stop degrading myself, I stop belittling myself and I start encouraging myself, focusing on all the great results I have had and most of all focusing on all the people who have come up to me and said, “Larissa…..

  • You’ve inspired me to give this a go too
  • I went and bought a juicer after reading your blog and am making vegetable juices
  • Look at the massive salad i made myself
  • I realize I am eating way too much meat and processed foods so I am going to add more fruit and vegies

So here goes..

Until next time, make sure you take down the reign of evil in you.

Cheers

Lazza

P.s Check out my website at http://www.perceptioncoaching.com and sign up for my newsletter. Tootles!

Rough and ready raw rice recipe

Posted on by
Reply

Rough and ready raw rice recipe

Here I am on day 25 of my rootin raw 12 week journey. 5 days to go and I’ve reached day 30. Day 30 is like a bit of a milestone for me (just like when I turned 30, had a meltdown and decided to travel around Australia on my own in my trusty Corolla, ended up in Hobart and then stayed for 2 years) . A third of the way through and no chance of falling off the proverbial wagon. No way!

This week has been senbloodysational due to the amount of people who have been sharing their fantastic stories with me, after reading my blog. People have been juicing, greening it up, ditching the protein (pootein) powder, eating banana’s again and generally transitioning to a healthier happier life. I’m loving it!!!! Honestly, the best thing you can do for your health is include more nutrient rich living foods into your diet.

I’ve had a few requests for recipes so to get a taste of what some of the dishes I make myself are I will post at least 1 new dish per week. Today’s post is a rough and ready raw rice recipe (otherwise known as Raw fried Rice).

All you need is:

  • A head of cauliflower
  • 1 cob of corn
  • A couple of carrots
  • 1 small red capsicum
  • Mushrooms (however many you like say 1 cup)
  • Red onion or on this particular day I used chives instead (didn’t want my BF complaining about onion breath)
  • 1/4 cup of flat leaf parsley or coriander (or both, whatever tickles your fancy)
  • 3/4 cup of hulled sunflower seeds
  • Braggs Amino’s Liquid to taste or raw Tamari
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (optional – enriched with B12, B vitamins, niacin etc.)

Methodology:

Break the Cauliflower up and place it in the food processor. Pulse until it looks like pieces of rice. Chop the other ingredients up, grate the carrot and mix  everything together in a bowl. Eat how ever much you like and save the rest for later.

Note:

You can use this raw rice recipe and turn it into sushi rolls by wrapping Nori wraps around it. If you don’t want it raw you can lightly steam the cauliflower.

Yum yum pigs bum!! Tweak this recipe however you like. Add some celery, mix in some baby spinach or other spices.

So last weekend I worked at a Body Building contest. I seen a lot of fake bodies eg, people pumped up on the roids and god only knows what else they use these day to poison themselves, putting their health at risk to look hard and muscly.But they do have a natural division as well and I came across an amazing 58 year young woman entered in the Natural Physique Division. She was impressive! Smokin rock hard body at 58 (noo it’s not a typo)! Then the next day I found out she is a raw food vegetarian. Wow Wee cup of tea!!!! Check her out below. The next time someone tells you you can’t build muscle on a raw food vegetarian diet show them this strong, fit, fifty eight year old Glam Diva.

Rockin raw at the World Fitness Federation Southern titles

Actually many professionals refer to the raw food way  as the fountain of youth. Looking at Felicity over there  I can see why. She is rocking it!! In the gym where I work  I am constantly hearing women in their prime years (40′s and 50′s) whinging about the middle age spread and coming up with every excuse under the sun about why their guts look like Santa Clauses the day after Christmas day . All I have to say is one thing. You caused the middle age spread, stop blaming the state of your health and body on your age. Age is only a number. People, it doesn’t matter who you are, what age you are and what your current state of health is you have the power to change it all if you do so wish.

So there you have it, my rough and ready raw rice recipe, a fit fifty eight year old inspiration and my view on fat fifties guts.

Eat and enjoy! Don’t forget to smell the delicious mouth watering aroma’s of all the fresh food ingredients you are chopping up whilst concocting raw raw food rice. It’s a real treat.

Until next time, keep smiling and make sure you sign up to follow my Blog so you don’t miss out on all the sensational recipes I have to offer you.

Cheers

Lazza

Check out my website at: http://www.perceptioncoaching.com

 

 

 

Knocking the calorie counting myth out of the park

Image

6

So one of my reasons for embarking on this raw food journey was that I had read about people shedding the fat and consuming around 2500 calories per day. Like heck, 2500 calories a day is a fair whack of those suckers. So I was in like Flynne to see if these really did work. For example of what the norm is for losing fat, in the eyes of the fitness industry and weight loss centers if you are a woman and trying to shed the kilo’s you should be consuming around 1200 calories per day. That is less than half of what I’m currently aiming for.

To put it straight, over the span of my life I’ve been on every diet imaginable. One conclusion I have made from this experience is that I HATE 1200 calories!!! I feel hungry, tired, bitchy, lazy and downright irritable. Well of course I feel hungry, tired, bitchy, lazy and down right irritable because I am literally STARVING!! I’m starving my body on purpose though (stupid). Most people go on a low-calorie diet to starve the fat from their bodies. Is it any wonder that statistics say that 95% of the people who lose weight, gain it all back within a 1 year period. Some of them even gain back more that what they originally started with.

Lets think about it for a second, you purposely starve your body and then wonder why you then binge on every food imaginable when you finally give into the cravings. Your body is sending you a message “Eat you silly bitch -  I’M STARVING”. So what’s wrong with calorie counting then? I’ll list a few reasons below:

  • Health is not about the amount of calories going in, it’s about the quality of calories going in.
  • Go too low with your calories and your metabolism will slow down ensuring you store fat (I thought everyone knew this old chestnut but I put it in there anyway)
  • Many people get obsessed with counting calories
  • There is usually only a certain amount of time one can stay on a low-calorie diet before bingeing as your bodies natural mechanisms want to protect you from starvation.

I really wanted to knock the calorie counting myth out of the park so here are my stats to date. :

Day 21  of my raw food journey

Name: Larissa Halls

Undie size: 12 – 14 (Um, probably too much information)

Calories being consumed per day: Aiming for 2500 averaging approx 2200 (I feel like I never stop eating)

Fat loss to date: 3.7Kgs

Exercise per week: Average approx 5 hours (this includes my new pet hate Yoga, yeah yeah, I know it’s good for me)

What I love about this regime: I love that if I feel hungry at any time I can go eat. Unlike most programs where feeling hungry is a natural part of the process, no siree not for me. Plus I am on the hunt for food all the time, especially foods I’ve never tried before. I love food!! I also love the fact that natural raw food is tasting so wonderful. My taste buds seemed to have changed and I am enjoying the beautiful foods I am eating. I treated myself today and went to a great Raw Food Cafe in Burleigh Heads called From Earth and Water. Check out this.

This was my treat today. I think they call it raw food taco’s. Nothing cooked over 40 degrees here

I know I know I know. I am counting calories at the moment. The reason for this is to make sure I am eating ENOUGH calories. When you’ve been trying to restrict calories for so long it’s hard to figure out what 2500 calories looks like. Once I’ve got the hang of it. Out go the calorie counts and in come the focus on the more important things in life, like having an awesome time!!

One of my favorite shows is  Myth Busters. Good old Adam and Jamie crack me up. So as a tribute to Myth Busters here is Myth number one:

YOU NEED TO GO ON A LOW CALORIE DIET TO LOSE WEIGHT

MYTH BUSTED

Other Myths busted:

FRUIT MAKES YOU FAT

MYTH BUSTED

PROTEIN SHAKES ARE GOOD FOR YOU

MYTH BUSTED (THE MAJORITY OF THEM ARE BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH)

So I leave you with that food for thought. I’ll keep updating you on my progress. So far I’m loving this!! More calories equals a happy healthy Larissa.

My intentions of this post is to show others that you can eat healthy, be happy and finally get off the calorie counting bandwagon.

Cheers

Lazza

Don’t forget to check out my website: http://www.perceptioncoaching.com

The secret weapon to my success – tips on how to stay on track

Posted on by
3

The cow’s have nothing to do with this blog post but I thought they were cute.

Here I am on day 20! Heck, I have made it to 20 days of eating a 100% natural raw food diet (minus the little bit of brown rice I had last weekend, which I wouldn’t damn myself a total failure or to hell just yet, like it wasn’t  a frigan bowel of ice cream or anything, no sir eeee).

So today my main squeeze wanted me to come with him while he got his car fixed so we could grab a coffee together while he waited (shyeh like I was going to have a coffee). So we took a nice death-defying drive up Tambourine Mountain to a little coffee shop trying hard to be an art gallery. I call it death-defying due to the fact that it was raining cats and dogs and my Rav 4 is a bit of a slug chugging up the winding mountain side. None the less we made it!

We’d been to this little coffee shop once before so I knew their front cabinet was jam-packed full of delectable cakes and savory snacks. It is also rainy and cold today so as soon as I walked in the front door my eyes were drawn to the blackboard where it said “Special of the day warm creamy pumpkin soup”. This is where I’m really going to have to pull out the big gun’s, I thought to myself. Then Paul says  ” OK then, what cake do you want to share, they have that gluten free crap you sometimes get”.

At this stage every one of my senses is in a stage of foreplay and are being tantalized by the strong aroma’s off baking food wafting from the kitchen, mouth-watering cakes before my eyes and the gentle persuasion in my ear from my boyfriend “C’mon, just share a cake with me, you know you want to”.

For a split second I almost thought “OK, F**k it, I’ll have a slice of that orange cake with a soy hot chocolate don’t forget to double up on that marshmallow then follow it with a nice big bowl of that creamy pumpkin soup”. Then………… my contingency plan came into action. The secret weapons came out to play.

Secret weapon number one: Before you start any health or diet program write a list of all possible challenges that may arise. There can be anywhere from 5 to 55 possible challenges on that list. They could range from “I have a craving and need to eat that whole 2 litre tub of ice cream or else I’ll channel the spirit of Hitler and go on a kitchen rampage” to “my friends have invited me out to morning tea and I don’t think the cafe has any healthy food”  Then for every single challenge you write down pair it with 1 to 2 solutions on how to overcome this challenge. Then if that challenge arises you know in advance the solution you need to start putting into action. This will help keep your emotions in check.

This was my challenge and the solution:- I’d said that if someone invited me somewhere and said “oh come on, you know you want to eat that with me” I’d say “I’m here to enjoy the company more than the food”. So I tried that one on my boyfriend today. He replied “your gay”, but then actually took it as a valid reason not to buy the cake. I told him I’m not stopping him from having a piece. He decided not to. SCORE!!!!

Then secret weapon number two came out: Before you embark on any new goal ensure you write a comprehensive list on why it’s so important to you to achieve this goal. Like I mean 100 reasons plus. Include how achieving it will benefit you, your family, friends, etc.

In the coffee shop today I didn’t whip my list out or anything but instead of thinking of all the reasons why I should eat that cake( trust me there was more than 100 going through my head), order the creamy pumpkin soup or just go along with what my boyfriend says so he stops calling me gay, I started thinking back to why it was so important to me in the first place to fully embrace my raw food diet natural diet.

Last but not least secret weapon number three had to be used: That is BE PREPARED! By the way I didn’t get that from girl scouts because I thought girls scouts or brownies (it sounds like something Bart Simpson does at the back of the school bus) was a little lame so I never went. My little sister went for a few weeks and then one day she lost her $2 donation in the grass outside the guide room and the guide leader didn’t believe her. So she never went back. Talk about Biiiiaaarrrrch. My poor little sis.

So today I was prepared. I was armed with a juicy organic apple which I strategically placed in my hand bag earlier this morning. Many people fail their diets as they do not think ahead. When your stomach is growling like a pack of wolves and there is no healthy food in sight this is a sure-fire way to cave in. So think ahead, plan and BE PREPARED for anything. Keep a stash of healthy food in your car or handbag or man bag.

Today was the first day I really had to pull out the secret weapons. I have plenty more stashed in my back pocket but I’ll let you know what they are when I need to activate them.

So if you currently are in the progress or looking to change something about yourself or life I encourage you to not take another step until you get very clear on why this change is so important to you and how it will benefit you and others. C’mon,go get a piece of paper and write your list now. Keep it close at all times just in case you need to re motivate yourself.

It’s getting a little late so I am taking myself and my secret weapons to blanket bay now.

Good night

Cheers

Larissa

Breakfast blitz!

Posted on by
6

This will kick start your heart and maybe a few farts

I’ve had some requests for recipes and idea’s for healthy meals. So here’s what I had for breakfast this morning. It’s a basic 4 step process and is well worth it. The thing is eating cardboard flakes out of a box will pretty much help you to get into a box sooner than you’d like. Translation: breakfast cereals are dead, processed to the hilt, sugar laden, denatured food that I wouldn’t even bother feeding to my dog (if I had one).

This smoothie is alive and kicking ( I know it doesn’t have legs but maybe the living enzymes are kicking). It is going to nourish every cell of your body. I was surprised to hear the girls at work the other day say to me “Larissa, what the heck is Kale”? Wow! Kale is an amazing vegetable from the cruciferous family. According to Don Tolmans Encyclopedia of Wholefood Medicine kale is “endowed with cancer indoles that helps regulate estrogen and removes colon cancer”. Bet you can’t say your breakfast cereal does that.1 cup of kale provides us with 10% of the RDA of omega fatty acids. It is an anti – inflammatory that can help to combat a myriad of cancers including bladder, breast, prostate, ovarian and gastric cancer. It is jam packed full of vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin C, chlorophyll, calcium and iron. Kale is the bomb people.

Last year my mum was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. As soon as she found out she had cancer we got her crackin onto the vegetable juices. Kale has become one of the staple ingredients in her juices. It’s now growing like crazy in her backyard as she got tired of buying it all the time, so now she grows it. The doctors have been mystified with her progress and light speed rate of recovery. She even was fortunate enough to avoid a mastectomy which was on the cards. Her Dr’s called a special meeting together to discuss her options due to the fact that her body was healing so wonderfully and decided a lumpectomy is all that was required. Then they couldn’t even find the lump, so they had to give her an ultrasound before the op to locate the exact area. That’s kale power for you!! She has done many other wonderful health promoting things besides eat and juice kale, but we know this has helped tremendously.

Below is a breakdown of the food tracker app I have on my phone. The first column is my smoothie and the second column is a poached egg on toast with a little smear of butter. For the  protein skeptics “stick that in your juicer and juice it”!

Check out the calcium content and heck 10 grams of power protein

So my morning smoothie was:

  • 500mls filtered water
  • 1 cup of Kale chopped (maybe more, I go nuts with it)
  • 1 stalk of celery chopped
  • 4 medjool dates
  • 1/2 cup pineapple
  • 3 bananas

First I added the water, kale, celery and dates and whizzed in the blender. Then I added the bananas and pineapple and whizzed it up and then gulped it down. Most of the time I use mixed berries rather than pineapple but I had run out of berries today. To my surprise the pineapple gave it a tropical pina-colada style twist. Delish!!

Yum Yum!! Don’t knock this until you try it. Many years ago I would’ve gagged just looking at this. It turns out this drink is a sweet treat with way too many health benefits to list. It will leave you feeling full of life, vibrant and ready to take on whatever the day throws you. You can also ditch the coffee, as you won’t be tired in the mornings after drinking this beauty.

Until next time muster up some kale power.

Cheers

Lazza

Are you a protein pimp?

Posted on by
3

This is me, after I fuel my body on plant power

Ok, so the question on so many peoples lips, “Where do you get your protein from Larissa”?  This is a common question I hear and heck, certainly not just since I’ve been on my raw food journey. Remember, I have been a vegetarian for over 10 years now. The last time I looked at my body I see that I am certainly not protein deficient. I’m stronger than most people I know (the ones outside of my workplace that is). 6 years ago I actually leg pressed more than every budding woman personal trainer in my Cert III in fitness course and smashed all the men’s weight too, bar 3 of them. That calls for me not being protein deficient in any way, meesa think!

There are so many protein pimps out there, flogging protein like it’s as important to us as air. Almost like you need to eat it every second of the day for your survival or weight loss efforts. Yeah yeah, I know it is an important part of our diet, but the thing is the majority of the population are getting way tooooo much protein and do not understand that our bodies are nourished with protein nearly every time we eat whole foods. It’s not all about eating rotting animal flesh people. If you think you need to continually eat animals, pump in toxic protein shakes (I’ve only come across a few brands that I wouldn’t call toxic waste) and consume dairy to the hilt to get your protein needs fulfilled everyday then it will only be a matter of time before your health will begin to suffer. I’ll have to leave this to another post, as I may get into a rant about this one.

Just go to your local gym and I guarantee you’ll find that there are a majority of personal trainers that I would label Protein Pimps. They pimp it out and many of them also get a cash return (profits from their pimping protein powders). I have nothing wrong with personal trainers. I am one, and most of my friends are but they have been fed so much information regarding protein consumption that I feel simply isn’t true. Lets face it, most of the studies done regarding protein powders are done by the very companies trying to market their products to this industry in the first place. Lets not forget protein bars, protein ready to drink poppers, protein balls, protein everything! I’m surrounded by protein!

Holy heck, I was talking to one of my main gals yesterday and she stopped eating banana’s (even though she loooooovvves them) because her protein pimp personal trainer told her that they are bad. If banana’s aren’t good for you and make you put on weight I should be one big mama fatty boomba right now. I’ve eaten 6 banana’s so far today. So hearing this kinda sh*t makes me realize how super dooper majorly uninformed or should I say misinformed people are about protein, health and weight loss. Talking about banana’s, I met this awesome girl last week who runs a website called 30 bananas a day. She eats gazzilions of banana’s, lost 20 kg’s whilst doing it and is now leaner and fitter than she’s ever been. Something to think about…..

Ok then here we go, a bit about protein and where I get it from.

  • Spirulina is 60% protein
  • Spinach is 51% protein
  • Mushrooms are 35% protein
  • Beans 26% protein
  • Whole wheat pasta 15% protein (not that I eat this now)
  • Corn 12% protein

This is just a little example. According to The World Health Organization the average 69kg (150 pound) male requires 22.5 grams of protein daily based on a 2000 calorie per day diet. This means that approximately 4.5% – 5%of calories should becoming from protein. Funnily enough this is the same amount of protein that is present in human breast milk. A baby develops  more rapidly than any other time in a humans life and that is the amount of protein they need to thrive. Yep, 5% of total calories! You certainly don’t need anymore. Most people these days are growing outwards rather than growing into larger humans so why do they think they need more protein? Eating muscle from an animal doesn’t turn straight into muscle on a human, just like eating hair from an animal doesn’t mean your hair is going to grow or eating fingernails gives you better fingernails.

So if you are eating a plant strong diet (which I am) then from these basic stats above you cannot possibly become protein deficient, as the average plant contains at least 10% of it’s calories from protein and up to 60%. As long as I am not calorie deficient, and trust me I am smashing in about 2000 – 2500 calories a day (yes, all you calorie counters out there, I am eating a heck of a lot of calories and still shedding the fat), I will not become protein deficient.

I remember watching good old Dr. Oz one day as I was doing the washing up and he held up a small tin of tuna and said (maybe not these exact words but something along these lines) “This 1 small tin of tuna will fulfill the daily protein needs for woman”. Yes 1small tin of Tuna! Not a tin of tuna, a plus a glass of milk, plus a protein shake, plus chicken breast for dinner, plus a boiled egg plus blah blah whatever else you’ve been told to shove down your gullet . Tooooooooooooooo much protein people!!!

Ever heard the saying as strong as an ox? Well oxen are plant eaters and mate they’re strong. They even got a saying made up about them. Good work fella’s! Ever looked at your husband and thought, “gee he looks a little like an ape”. Haha! Maybe not, but if so that’s because we are most closely related to that of primates. You know Monkeys, Chimps, Gorillas etc. With an estimated 99.4% of our DNA sequence shared with chimpanzees, this means our genetic make up is most closely related to these hairy little buggers than any other species on this earth. These cheeky, hairy little guys are plant eaters, along with other mammals such as gorillas, giraffes, rhinoceros’, buffalo, wild horse. They all get their protein needs fulfilled from plant amino acids. Just like we will and do, if we gave our bodies half a chance.

Gorillas are vegetarians and 86% of it’s diet are comprised of greens,(not boogers people) green leaves, shoots and stems, with the other 14% made up of primarily of bark, roots, flowers and fruit. The gorilla gets all it’s protein, vitamins and mineral needs from its plant-based diet and is actually the strongest animal on earth kilo for kilo (pound for pound).

According to Dr. Gabriel Cousins Cooking destroys:

  • 50% of the protein in food
  • 70% – 90% of the vitamins ans Minerals
  • Nearly 100% of the phytonutrients

So my diet rich in raw plant foods, nuts and seeds is a diet rich in fulfilling my protein needs. I could not possibly carry on with my job if I was protein deficient. I teach 4 – 5 fitness classes per week, 2 of them primarily being made up of resistance training. I am actually feeling stronger and more athletic since I have been following my raw food regime. I told myself that if I felt weak or depleted then I would stop. To my surprise and delight I feel fantastic. Except today when I was at work and about to straighten my hair after showering after my class. I stuck my GHD in the power point and the bloomin power point exploded and I got electrocuted. Oops!! I’m spewing, about my hair straightener. It has blown up! Oh well, I’ll live.

Until next time, go eat some banana’s and chuck some Kale in your morning smoothie. Just like they are saying 40 is the new 30, they are saying Kale is the new red meat. Kale is rich in so many nutrients including Vitamin K, A, C and minerals including iron.

Signing off now to cultivate my new superpowers I’ve got after my electrocution. Taser hands girl!

This post was dedicated to informing individuals on how they can improve their health using plant power and dispelling the great protein  myth of our time.

Cheers

Lazza

P.s Check out the Engine 2 Diet’s section on the protein myth. They have a great FAQ section on protein and will explain more about complete proteins and amino acids.

http://engine2diet.com/about_e2/FAQ

Rootin for Raw

Posted on by
7

Yes, I refrained from eating this big orange monsterous cake.

Welcome to my first blog EVER!

I started this blog due to popular demand (kind of) as my groupies wanted to get the ins and outs of my 12 week raw food journey and find out why the heck I’m doing it.

So here we go. Ever since I embarked on my “Save the masses from getting crazy tumors and diseases Journey” I found a common thread in my research on health and healing. The peeps who enabled their bodies to heal from cancer, repair their hearts from heart disease (yes, it can be done, check out the book The China Study),reversed diabetes, lived long lives whilst staying youthful looking (minus the thousand kilo’s of botox most people get these days), and appeared happy and centered all had exactly the same thing in common. A coincidence? I think noooo!

That thing in common was that they all consumed mainly raw, natural foods, full of fruits vegetable, nuts, seeds and non processed grains. People seem to absolutely thrive off this diet. I’ve literally met people who have healed their bodies of cancer on this diet (dozens of them), fallen pregnant after years and years of trying, shredded fat from their bodies after trying every other diet imaginable, improved their vision, had their massive puss ridden zits heal up, got rid of Chron’s Disease, reversed Heart Disease (yes that’s right, there’s not one drug that can do this), reversed Diabetes in as little as 30 days, relieved symptoms of arthritis (say goodbye to good old Arthur), actually there is way too many things to list. I’m sure you get the picture. This is an impressive list of healing and health benefits. so why wouldn’t you want to eat this way? It’s the fountain of youth!!!

I made a commitment to myself over 10 years ago to stop eating meat. This was after i got an operation to pluck out the tumor growing in my head. It seamed that eating meat was contributing to the rapid ramping increase of cancer in our society today, and I didn’t want to participate in the Larissa gets cancer project. So I cut it out and I felt great!! Except when I had to listen to uniformed morons who say crap like “I’d rather die than not eat meat”. I feel like saying “yeah mate, well you’re already brain-dead, it’s just a matter of your body catching up”.Ha!! Just joking!

The thing is, I work in the fitness industry, and the Fitness industry is tainted with beliefs such as:

  • Fruit will make you fat (this one is a bloody ripper)
  • You have to eat meat nearly every meal to lose weight
  • Protein from animal sources is the only way to build muscle (have you checked out veganbodybuilding.com lately, you might change your mind)
  • “You gotta follow my weight loss program plus buy these 10 supplements otherwise it won’t work”. (I can hear the chaching of the cash influx now, right into the pockets of the companies who promote these beliefs)
  • Protein powder is the best invention. (Ever investigated the ingredient list on the back of most commercial protein powders. Whilst many personal trainers say fruit is bad for weight loss the protein powders they are trying to pedal are packed full of Sucrose and Fructose. Not to mention artificial sweeteners, artificial colours and flavours that have been proven to be carcinogenic. Yep, they are a mine field for bad health the old protein powders)

So anyhow, this is what I have to listen to on a daily basis. A few years ago one of my Personal training friends client was on a high protein diet. whilst she lost weight she also started losing her hair, she got bags under her eyes, her breath started to smell and nails became brittle. I said to my trainer friend “aren’t you worried that her hair has become brittle and falling out” He said “no why”?

Ok, so if your hair becomes brittle and starts falling out, after you start a diet you may need to start to worry that your body is not getting the nourishment it needs. So if you are eating 1 boiled egg for breakfast, animal protein and a little salad for lunch and then animal protein for dinner with a few vegetables you are certainly not doing your body any favours. This woman certainly wasn’t and her body was trying to show her this.

So to answer the question, why am I embarking on a raw food journey and ” Rootin for Raw”? It’s because:

  • I chose to nourish my body with nutrients to promote shiny thick hair
  • I want to live, longer and healthier
  • I want to get rid of the zits, period pain, chronic bloating and extra fat I have been experiencing for just about ever.
  • I want to show people that you can shed those unwanted kilo’s and still eat fresh life enhancing fruit.
  • Current research  points to this way of life being the most health promoting (more about that in the weeks)

So far I’m on day 17 (yes it took me a little while to work out this blog business) of my 90 days of eating raw.

Here I am on only day 17 this is what I have experienced so far:

  • I have lost nearly 4kgs already
  • For the first time in 20 years (basically the whole time I’ve had them), I experienced no period pain what so ever when I got my period. NONE!!! That makes it worth it already. I was so excited about this I told all the blokes at work.
  • My gut bloat has gone.
  • I am smashing all the classes I teach. Translation: My fitness seems to have increased. I have so much energy when I teach my Spin class and group Active class.
  • I wake up feeling refreshed and not like I could sleep another 8 hours.
  • I am eating so much food I am always full
  • I feel generally more positive, like my mind is a lot clearer.

So, that’s where I’m at. I will start to post more updates, recipes, and other various random articles I decide to write.

My goal is to enable people to start to learn how to nourish their bodies and enjoy a better quality of life.

Check in with you soonCheers

Lazza