Adorable Fruit Halloween Costumes

In this video I'll give you a little sneak-preview of my Halloween costume for 2012! You all know I LOVE Halloween and fruit, so when my costume arrived in the mail, I got really excited and decided to make a quick video. I'd love to see you in cute fruity costumes as well, so please send me your pictures! Home made costumes are amazing, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you all come up with! I've posted a few fruit costumes that I've found on the internet to give you all some ideas. There costumes are from Yandy.com.

Pineapple Halloween Costume

 
You can view my video at: http://youtu.be/S2fR9WoyYi4

Banana Halloween Costume

Fruit Cup Halloween Costume

Pineapple Halloween Costume

Strawberry Halloween Costume

Watermelon Halloween Costume

Addictive Low Fat Raw Vegan Dressing Recipe!

In this video I’ll show you how to make an absolutely addictive low fat raw vegan dressing. Its perfect balance of fruitness and spice will please even the most picky palates. It even made my boyfriend, who typically hates all greens, say he was excited to eat this salad! It is a crowd pleaser for raw vegans and non-raw vegans alike. This is the perfect healthy dressing - it's not too sweet, extremely flavorful, well-balanced, and spicy!   

Low Fat Raw Vegan Dressing Recipe 

Movie available at http://youtu.be/h2BfWES0HP8

   
     *Dressing Ingredients:

           - 2 large, ripe mangoes

           - 1 red bell pepper

           - 1/2 lime 

           - scallions

           - 1/2 small jalapeno pepper 

                  *Use more or less depending on how spicy you like your food   

                  *Scallions and jalapeno peppers are ingredients I don't typically eat, but they work fantastically well in this recipe. Be careful with them and listen to your body. If you have any difficulty digesting them, this recipe is still delicious if you omit them! 

    *Salad Ingredients:

          - 2-3 extra large hearts of romaine lettuce

           - 1 large cucumber

           - 2 bags of baby spinach 

           - 1 box of cherry tomatoes

 

Addictive Low Fat Raw Vegan Dressing and Accompanying Salad Ingredients

     *Tools:

            - Cuisinart Pro Classic Food Processor or a similar food processor that can both blend and shred ingredients  

      *Dressing Preparation:

           - Peel and slice your mangoes into chunks you can toss in your food processor. 

           - Slice your lime in half and remove the skin and seeds. You will use the whole lime in this recipe, not just the juice. 

            - Remove the seeds from your bell pepper and jalapeno pepper and slice them into chunks you can toss in your food processor. Be careful when adding your jalapeno pepper as to not make your dressing too spicy!

            - Dice your scallions, add according to your taste.  

            - Using the metal chopping blade in your food processor, blend your mangoes, scallions, bell pepper, lime, and jalapeno into a thick, creamy, rich, beautiful dressing!

        

          *Salad Preparation:

                - Wash your romaine and break it into bite-sized pieces.

                - Cut off the ends of your zucchini and cucumber so they are flat. This will make shredding them easier. Slice them into chunks that will fit in your food processor's feed tube.

               - Using the shredding disc in your food processor, shred your zucchini and cucumber into pretty strips!

               - Put your romaine in the bottom of a large salad bowl. Cover with your shredded zucchini and cucumber. Put your cherry tomatoes on top.

              - Pour your addictive salad dressing over your salad, and enjoy!

With my Zucchini and Cucumber which I shredded in my

Cuisinart Pro Classic Food Processor

        *Tip:

            - When you shred zucchini, the different texture completely enhances the flavor, and it ends up tasting almost buttery! 

            - Shredding, spiralizing, mincing and using other methods to change the texture of vegetables completely transforms them and enhances the flavor of your salads!

Cuisinart Pro Classic Food Processor

My dad introduced me to this recipe. He made it as a dipping sauce for our veggie wraps that we had during a beautiful low fat raw vegan picnic on the Potomac River. My whole family loved it! We adapted it from a recipe he found online at The Food Republic to make it low fat raw vegan friendly. It is amazing!

Benefits of an 100% Low Fat Raw Vegan Diet for 2+ Years

Please check out my latest video on the benefits I've experienced from following a 100% low fat raw vegan diet since April 1st, 2010.

YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVvzLJTL-oM&feature=plcp

To learn more about the low fat raw vegan lifestyle, tune in to the Brilliant Body Health Summit: https://www.secureinfossl.com/affProgram/The-Brilliant-Body-Health-Summit/62391, beginning on July 24th, 2012. This is a free event, and I'm honored to be speaking in it! Other speakers include Dr. Douglas Graham, Freelee, Durianrider, and many other inspirational and wonderful people.

Here are just a few of the benefits I've experienced after going 100% low fat raw vegan:

• My allergies completely disappeared, and I no longer had to take Zyrtec daily.
• I cleared my skin and healed my dermatitis (which my doctor had warned me was incurable).
• I quickly lost weight (40lbs), even though I was eating more calories than ever. I am happy to be able to eat as much as I desire for the first time in my whole life.
• My physical performance increased dramatically.
• My mental clarity improved, and so did my grades. My GPA improved an entire grade point.
• My vision improved to the point where I now have 20/20 vision and was able to throw away my contacts.
• I experienced numerous other wonderful benefits! Check out my new video to learn more :)

You can also read the complete story of My Journey to Raw Veganism and the Many Benefits I Experienced in the About Me section :)

Overt Fat Free Raw Vegan Pesto Pasta!

In this video I’ll show you how to make one of my favorite low fat raw vegan “pastas” and a delicious overt fat free pesto sauce!

Movie available at http://youtu.be/oy220eHHL7I

Although this pasta doesn’t have any overt-fat in it, it is actually extremely high in Omega 3s, which are an extremely healthy essential fatty acid. Spinach and other leafy greens are a great source of Omega 3s.

Note: this is not enough calories for a full meal! Make sure you also have some delicious bananas or mangoes along with this meal, or eat more at another meal to compensate. My meals typically consist of one, two, or three of my favorite fruits. For example, last night I had 12 bananas, an entire pineapple, and a mango for dinner. It’s really important to eat enough fruits and vegetables if you want to be able to stick with a healthy diet! Otherwise you will get too hungry and be tempted by foods you do not want to have in your diet.

I know all of you love fruit and can eat your fruit, but people sometimes have a harder time finding vegetable recipes that they love, and so that’s why I’m sharing this recipe with you. It’s a great way to get your greens in!

   *Ingredients:

           - 6 leaves of fresh basil

           - 2 lemons (use just the juice)

           - 4 large cucumbers

           - 2 bags of baby spinach 

     *Tools:  

            - A Spiralizer

Spiralizer

            - A high-power blender that can handle greens (I recommend a Blendtec or a Vitamix)

Blendtec Total Blender

     *Preparation:

           - Wash your cucumbers. Slice them in half and cut off the ends so they are flat. This will make spiralizing them easier.

           - Blend together your spinach, lemon, and basil. Start with a little spinach, then once that is blended nicely, add more to thicken the sauce. If you need to add water to get your spinach to blend, add as little as possible to keep the sauce thick.

           - Pour your pesto over your cucumber noodles, and enjoy!

      *Optional Variations:

          - Zucchinis and yellow squash also work great as noodles for this dish. If you would like to add even more color to the dish, you can spiralize some carrots or beets as well!  

Low Fat Raw Vegan Pesto

Healthy Eating Pictures: What's in My Fridge?

People often ask me what my diet consists of. To give you an idea, I have posted pictures of my fridge from different dates over the past few years.

To succeed as a low fat raw vegan it is essential that you eat enough fruits and vegetables. The trick to eating enough fruits and vegetables is definitely buying enough, and never going hungry. Keep your fridge extremely well stocked with your favorite high-quality produce.

5/26/12

1/22/11

7/31/11

7/31/11

9/11/11

10/29/11

11/23/11

12/19/11

3/31/12

My New Juicer Review and Recipe! (Jay Kordich Power Grind Pro Juicer)

Please check out my video, "My New Juicer Review and Recipe! (Jay Kordich Power Grind Pro Juicer)". You can find it here: http://youtu.be/VZ7IIWiOcio.

My Jay Kordich Power Grind Pro Juicer just arrived, and I've been really enjoying it! I'll give you my review of the juicer.

I'll also show you a delicious juice using apples, pears, cucumbers and mangoes. I love simple, healthy recipes!

Apples are extremely healthy; sometimes the simplest, easiest to find fruits and veggies are the healthiest too! Check out this article for more information on the health benefits of apples.

A few of my favorite things about the juicer:

1. It is SO quiet! My boyfriend is an engineer and he was really impressed. He does a lot of juicing in the early mornings, so it's perfect!

2. The juice was so smooth and delicious. There was absolutely no fiber in it. It handles greens amazingly well.

3. It extracted about FIVE TIMES more juice than my old juicer which is going to save us so much money! There was so much less waste. We were able to put more than half of the cucumbers we had planned on using back into the fridge because it made so much more juice than we were expecting!

4. It's machine washable! Yey!! It took me forever to clean up my old juicer.

Please let me know if you try out this juicer and all of the tasty juice recipes you make with it!

If you are interested, you can find the Jay Kordich Power Grind Pro Juicer on Amazon here. 

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Sunset Tropical Fruit Parfait Recipe and Why Some People Gain Weight on 80-10-10

Please check out my new video, where I'll make you a tasty Sunset Tropical Fruit Parfait!

• I’ll show you a delicious summer recipe using tropical fruit.

• I talk about why some people gain weight on 80-10-10.

• I show you how to cut a mango, and pick a nice mango at the store.
  

    *Ingredients:

           - 6 bananas

           - 4lbs pineapple

           - 5 mangos

     *Preparation:

           - Peel your mangos and peel and core your pineapples.

           - Dice your mangos and pineapples into bite-sized pieces.

           - Blend your bananas into a pudding.

     *Presentation

           - Layer your mangos into the bottom of a glass. Cover with banana pudding. Place a layer of pineapple on top of your banana pudding, and then cover that layer with more banana pudding, then more mangos. Repeat until you have filled your glasses.   

      *Optional Variations:

          - Fill your glasses with other fruit mixtures – pick your favorite fruits! Blueberries, strawberries, or raspberries would be fabulous with this as well.

Video Link: http://youtu.be/cJXTZIdC-7U

Perfect Pear Picnic! A Low Fat Raw Vegan Recipe

Please check out my latest video where I show you how to make the cutest raw vegan dish to take with you to a picnic! My mom and I came up with this recipe together, and the flavors truly complement each other and the presentation is just too sweet. This is a fantastic crowd pleaser!  

Thanks for all of your help and your wonderful idea for the presentation, mom!

      *Ingredients:

           - Pears

           - Apples

           - Mangoes

     *Preparation:

           - Dice your mangoes and apples into bite-sized pieces.

           - Peel your mangoes, but leave the skin on your apples for color.

           - Slice your pears in half, from top to bottom.

           - Take a spoon and scoop out the pear’s core to make a little cup for your mango/apple mixture.

           - Save your left over pear for a juice or smoothie you will make later in the day!

           - Fill your pears with the mango/apple mixture.

      *Optional Variations:

          - Fill your pears with other fruit mixtures – pick your favorite fruits! Pineapple, strawberries, or berries would be fabulous with this as well.

          - Experiment with pretty presentations for your dish! I arranged my pears to make a “flower”. You could put a bowl of blueberries in the center to make it look even more like a flower!

YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzltIsd_Pw0

How To Lose Weight on a Raw Food Diet: EAT MORE FRUIT!

Please check out my latest video: “How To Lose Weight on a Raw Food Diet: EAT MORE FRUIT!”

 In this video I:

• Let you know the Ultimate Solution to “overeating”
• Explain why it’s virtually impossible to overeat on fruit
• Talk about common reasons people gain weight or are finding it hard to lose weight on a raw food diet
• Answer your most common questions about my weight loss (how long it took me, if I worked out, etc.)
• Answer the question of if lifting weights will make you bulky or fat
• Explain how meat and processed foods are addictive and lead to toxic hunger
• And more!

YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fe_CWOUNNY

Savory Raw Vegan Cucumber Pasta and Sauce!

Please check out my latest video where I show you how to make a delicious, savory raw vegan cucumber pasta and sauce! 

*Ingredients:
           - 3 large (or 6 small) cucumbers

           - 5 on the vine tomatoes

           - 2 large carrot sticks

           - 1 yellow bell pepper

      *Preparation:
           - Spiralize your cucumbers using a spiralizer.
           - Pulse your carrots, tomatoes, and bell pepper into a thick sauce.

      *Optional Variations:

          - Add fresh oregano or basil to your sauce.

          - Add two navel oranges or two mangoes to your sauce. 
          - Add persimmons to your sauce in the winter when they are in season.

Spiralizer

To make this delicious, savory, weigh loss enhancing "pasta" I used a spiralizer. To purchase, click here.

Note: This is not enough calories for a full meal. Please be sure to use a tool like cron-o-meter to ensure you are eating enough calories! Eating enough is essential. 

Raw Vegan Banana "Ice Cream"!

Please check out my latest video where I show you how to make low-fat, healthy, raw vegan banana "ice cream"!

   *Ingredients:
           - 7-15 very ripe frozen bananas

                       Note: Ripe bananas have lots of brown spots! Peel your bananas before you freeze them. Bananas can stick together when frozen, so you may want to space them out before putting them in the freezer.

      *Preparation:
           - Peel your bananas, and freeze them overnight, or for up to two weeks.
           - Use your Yonanas machine, masticating juicer, or high powered blender to whip your bananas into delicious ice cream!

      *Optional Variations:

          - Freeze other fruits like fresh berries, sapodillas, oranges, plums, pears, or mangoes, and mix them in with your bananas!

          - Add a sprinkle of cinnamon!

          - Add fresh vanilla bean!

Yonanas Ice Cream Maker

To make this delicious, cruelty free, weigh loss enhancing "ice cream" I used the Yonanans ice cream maker. To purchase, click here.

Eat Lots of Fruit to be Healthy and Thin!

I eat more than 3,000 calories a day, and stay slim. See how in this video! I'll show you my fridge too :). Fruit does not make you fat!
How do I know? When I made this video it was my 2 year anniversary of being 100% raw vegan and my 25th birthday!

I talk about how I lost 40 pounds, improved my vision, and cured my skin condition.
I also improved my fitness.
I eat more than ever, and you need to too if you are going to be healthy. You need to eat so much it frightens your friends! Always keep your fridge FULL of healthy fruits and veggies. If your fridge is full of healthy food, you will have plenty of tempting, amazing, health promoting food available to eat. The best way to combat cravings is to be completely full, satisfied, and happy on delicious, raw fruits and vegetables!

Low Fat Raw Vegan Valentine's Day Ideas: "Chocolate" Covered Strawberries using Chocolate Sapote

I just recently ordered chocolate sapote from Jourdan's Beautiful Foods, and they are amazing! They taste just like chocolate pudding, and have a smooth, creamy texture. Keep them at room temperature to ripen until they are very soft, and you will have a sweet, chocolatey, delicious treat! 

My Kitten with Chocolate Sapote

I thought using the chocolate sapote in a classic Valentine's Day recipe, "chocolate" covered strawberries, would be just perfect! They turned out absolutely delicious and beautiful. My boyfriend loved them too!

   *Ingredients:
           - 5 very ripe chocolate sapote

                       Note: ripe chocolate sapote are extremely soft to the touch and a deep brown/olive green color.
           - 20 extra-large, long-stemmed strawberries
           - Optional: cinnamon

      *Preparation:
           - Wash and paper towel dry your strawberries
           - Slice your chocolate sapotes in 1/2, and remove the large brown seeds
           - Coat your strawberries in the creamy chocolate sapote! I got messy and used my fingers for this step :)

      *Optional Variation:

          - I sprinkled my strawberries with a little cinnamon at the end. My boyfriend thought this looked like extra chocolate powder!

NOTE: No chocolate is used in this recipe, just chocolate sapote, which is a fruit, and strawberries.

Low Fat Raw Vegan Valentine's Day
"Chocolate" Covered Strawberries
Using Chocolate Sapote

Low Fat Raw Vegan Valentine's Day
"Chocolate" Covered Strawberries
Using Chocolate Sapote

Low Fat Raw Vegan Valentine's Day
"Chocolate" Covered Strawberries
Using Chocolate Sapote

 

Fitness, Exercise and Your Sex Life

As many of you know I absolutely love working out. I look at it as time I get to spend taking care of myself everyday. There are many amazing reasons to add a fitness routine into your life or possibly step up your current routine, but one I find particularly fun is that exercise can dramatically improve your sex life. Many sex experts consider exercise to be a wonderful aphrodisiac. So, just how does exercise work to give us this fun benefit?

     * Increases Body Image and Confidence:

The desire to look good is part of human nature. Outer beauty often only comes from health and peace within, so it makes sense that fit people are more attractive to members of the opposite sex. Exercise builds self-confidence by making you more fit, healthy, and attractive. Confidence can increase your desire and also make for a better time in the bedroom since you will be able to spend less time worried about your appearance and more time enjoying the moment. Self-confident people are also better able to find partners they are attracted to. It's inevitable: if you have a great body image and feel self-confident, you are going to have better, more frequent sex. 

     * Reduces Stress:

Numerous studies indicate that exercise is extremely effective in reducing stress. Many of us, in our passion to do well in life and improve ourselves, get so caught up and stressed that we forget about passion in the bedroom! Excess stress can dampen our libido, and distract us from taking time for ourselves and our partners. Exercise can help us calm our minds, increasing our desire, and minimizing worries and distractions when we are with our partners. One way, biologically, that exercise reduces stress is that when we exercise endorphins are released in the brain which help to minimize stress and increase our sexual desire. I find many exercises, such as long runs in nature, to be very meditative and soothing, and beneficial in reducing my day-to-day stress.

     * Increases Your Energy:

More than 90% of medical studies show that regular exercise can lead to feelings of increased energy throughout the day. The results are very consistent: regular exercise increases energy and reduces fatigue. If you are often finding yourself too tired after a long day to have fun in the bedroom, regular exercise can help you feel less fatigued and more energetic, leading to better, more frequent sex.

     * Gets You In Touch With Your Body:

Ask anyone who works out regularly - working out more frequently allows you to feel your body more, and understand what it needs. Being in touch with your body can definitely improve your sex life.

     * Increases Stamina and Endurance:

Cardiovascular exercises can help increase your endurance for longer sexual encounters. Increasing your cardio endurance helps keep your heart strong and will allow you to keep your body going for great sex. Biking, swimming, running, and walking are wonderful ways to strengthen your cardiovascular fitness.

     * Increases Your Strength:

Improved muscle tone can increase sexual gratification since orgasms depend on multiple muscle activity. Being strong, fit, and toned can enhance your sex life by making it easier to hold challenging, exciting positions. It can also increase your confidence in the bedroom.

    * Improves Your Flexibility:

As long as you are incorporating stretching as part of your regular exercises, you can expect a healthy boost in between the sheets! Improved flexibility can definitely enhance any sexual encounter.  Stretching, dance, yoga, and pilates are wonderful for increasing your flexibility.

    * Increases Your Blood Flow:

Regular exercise leads to increased blood flow as your body learns how to distribute blood more evenly and efficiently. Increased blood flow leads to heightened levels of arousal for both men and women. It also makes orgasms more intense and pleasurable. Research has shown that increased blood flow also leads to more consistent orgasms for women. Increased blood flow is one reason why numerous studies have proven that people who exercise regularly experience more frequent orgasms and greater sexual satisfaction.