Hi Loves!
It’s that time again… another week, another fun assignment for all you bloggers out there!
Only this time, we’re going to mix it up a bit — which means, no new recipe this week. I know, I know! You love the recipes! Me too, but not everyone has the time each week to spend getting food, prepping the recipe, posting all the pics about it, so it’s only fair we offer other kinds of assignments. I am also a big advocate of expressing yourself through writing and journaling, so I want to encourage writing blogs as well.
Besides, this lifestyle isn’t JUST about food. There’s so much more we can experience, learn and discuss… and I want to hear from you about more than just your work in the kitchen! Everything in your life is interconnected- all parts affect all the others. The way you take care of yourself, the foods you put in your body, your relationships (including the one with yourself) is all intertwined, so we discuss it all.
Before We Get Into the Assignment…
I still need to thank last week’s participants, including four very amazing standouts whose recipes and pictures truly caught our attention.
These all look fresh and delicious!
A. cleanfoodremedies.com – Michelle Hedt
B. evakristibakupper.com – Eva Kupper
C. smoothiesandsimplicity.wordpress.com – Julia Hong
D. thirdeyefood.com – Stephanie DiCesare
As you can see from the beautiful pictures above, everyone did such a fantastic job. I’m so happy you all were are able to take my original recipe and run in such creative, delicious new directions! Keep up the great work, and keep having fun with your Beauty Foods.
Now for this week’s assignment…
Blog About Your Experience Eating “Light to Heavy”
If you need a review of this important Beauty Detox principle, you can get more information about this principle in Chapter 3 in The Beauty Detox Solution, starting on page 51. It goes into depth about why we eat this way for digestion and for energy.
I was thinking about this topic because when I was in Ireland last week, I met someone who told me that they read The Beauty Detox Solution 15 months ago, and the biggest thing they incorporated into their life was eating Light to Heavy, and they lost 2 stones (around 28 pounds)!
They didn’t make hugely dramatic changes and it wasn’t too hard for them to implement- they just had a GGS for breakfast with some oatmeal afterwards, cut out animal products at lunch and had a salad-based lunch. They ended up eating dinner a bit earlier, and incorporated their heavier meal then, around 6 or 7 pm, and were in bed by 11 pm. Bravo!
I have personally experienced a shift in my overall schedule because of the time difference in London/Europe. I go to bed later because I have so many conference calls from LA/NY (1 pm in LA is 9 pm here!). But I’ve still maintained my overall Light to Heavy schedule. For instance, yesterday, I woke up later than I do in LA (around 8:30 am), had my hot water with lemon.
A little later, GGS plus a banana and a peach about half an hour later. Then for lunch a big arugula salad with baked sweet potatoes and Kim’s Classic Dressing (super simple, it’s been a staple lunch as I can bake the sweet potatoes while I work). Cooked veggies/soup/salad, some seeds, etc. digest great at lunch I find.
A few hours later I got hungry and made a Power Protein Smoothie variation with some chia seeds, acai, almond milk, banana and bee pollen. For dinner I had a big kale salad and a nut pate (on top and mixed in instead of a dressing) with my hub a few hours before bed. Then I had some tea and some organic dark chocolate (my moon cycle started today, so it seems I crave the chocolate more at this point). I eat more raw in the summer and hence a little more fat–I tend to eat more nuts and seeds now, versus in the winter when I want lots of big soups and stews and cooked foods.
Remember that a smoothie-especially something like the Power Protein Smoothie–can be a great afternoon friend. It quells afternoon hunger, digests easily because it’s blended, and is packed with nutrients for long-burning energy.
I remember when I used to eat a lot in the morning–an egg white omelet with a fruit cup and coffee… a few hours later my energy would be down and I’d be getting more and more coffee. I never felt right over the whole course of the day. Now that I’ve switched to hot lemon water/GGS in the morning, I have a grounded foundation to go into the day.
If I’m up earlier or I am really active in the morning, I’ll still start the same, but I might have a Power Protein with raw sprouted protein powder or just a lot of fruit by mid-morning. It’s safe to say I have at least 2 smoothies on an average day. I LOVE them!!! I think they are the ultimate beauty food–whole food + easy to digest.
A few months ago in South Korea with a local herbalist. Oh my gosh was this same trip?! So much has happened since I left the States in March!! I’ve already been on the road 5 months.
I also remember when I used to wonder what I would do about eating brunch or lunch out with friends, or what people would think of my new eating schedule. You know what? It just worked out! I schedule more tea than brunch these days, and I always encourage friends to go for a hike with me back in LA! Hub and I go to the farmer’s market Saturday mornings instead of brunch (though we’ll eat lunch out sometimes if we’re still out), and we do social things in the afternoon or evening.
We’ll have another discussion about being flexible, what to do when eating out, etc.–which I’ve had to deal with a lot of here in Europe as I travel. But for now what I’d like you to do is self-reflect on your overall eating schedule, and how it’s shifted (even in minor ways), from following Light to Heavy and how you’ve made it work for you.
Remember that Light to Heavy isn’t just for the whole day–it also applies to meals. Having some raw salad, which is full of water and enzymes and digests really easily and has fiber, is better to have first and will help whatever you have afterwards digest better, whether it be a nut pate or a piece of chicken or fish.
Now, the goal of this blogging assignment is just to write about your experience. It doesn’t have to be a long post – don’t feel intimidated. It’s more about the following:
1) Share your experience. Was it easy, or not so easy? How did you feel? What benefits did you notice? Did you have to work out scheduling and practicalities with friends and family to make this work in your life?
2) Tell us about any insights or “aha” moments you may have had. Did you realize something new or powerful? Or anything else you’d like to share with everyone? It’s a great way to support one another. If you have questions you can post them here and we will do our best to give some feedback.
3) Feel free to cite any specific quotes or passages you like or found interesting. Just be sure to put it in quotes and ideally cite the exact page, so others can reference it if they want.
4) Use the hashtag #beautydetoxblog on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram so that we can easily find you! And be sure to email Katelyn your post as always (beautydetoxgirl @ gmail dot com) — so she can review them with me.
Again, there is no length requirement (it can be super short or super long) and nobody will be critiquing your grammar or writing style. In fact, no one will be critiquing you at all! This is just pure self-expression about a topic that can have a very significant impact on your health.
We want to know more about your personal experience of eating light to heavy, what your initial thoughts were, how it may have affected your digestion or energy, and anything else you’d like to share. (Pictures are ALWAYS a welcome addition!)
I will be linking to some of our favorite posts next Wednesday, as I’ve been doing with the recipes, and maybe you’ll be one of them! But please don’t feel any pressure or sense that there’s criteria we are looking for. We just want to hear from you!
Oh… and if for some reason you don’t have access to The Beauty Detox Solution (you definitely should!) — you can read an older blog post about it here. Though that post is not nearly as thorough or as well-presented as in the book.
Either way, it’s the words and your personal experience that you share that matter most.
I hope you’re excited as I am about this — and I look forward to checking out your posts over the next week!
Have a great day! I also hope you are joined in our 10 Day Glowing Green Smoothie Challenge. (Which is just about having one Glowing Green Smoothie, along with regular food, each day for 10 days.)
It’s not to late to join in–just jump right in! The details are HERE.
With love and gratitude,
Kimberly
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