The Kindness Fast

(Originally written March 1, 2013)

I'm embarking on a new kind of fast.

A Kindness Fast...

But let me back up a bit first.

I've been on juice fasts, which I highly recommend. I suppose it's more accurately called a liquid fast. 20 days is my max so far, and mine was a blend of the following: 85% fresh, home-made vegetable juices, 15% raw milk with whey protein to prevent muscle wasting, with as much herbal tea (mostly I drank Dr. Schulze's detox tea to help with the cleanse) and water as I wanted. All organic, of course.

I've done the master cleanse, which is ten days of maple-syrup sweetened, fresh squeezed lemonade, topped off with cayenne pepper! I liked the lemonade recipe and taste, but don't recommend it now that I'm with Marcus and he's explained it can be harmful because it lacks key nutrients our bodies need.

I've given up all carbs for an extended amount of time, which I also highly recommend, especially for women and people with mild to severe hypoglycemia. 

I think I blogged about my carb-free diet. It lasted 60-90 days and I was hornier than a hell cat in heat. I went on it to re-balance my hormones because there were signs that things were off. Inconsistent menstrual cycles, bloating and emotional volatility told me (and Marcus who coached me through this whole thing) that my body could be more well balanced hormonally.

And when I say gave up all carbs, I mean ALL carbs. No bread, pasta, rice, sugar, honey, potatoes. It was difficult, but between the carb fast and juicing a few months later for 20 days, my cycles re-regulated and are now healthy and consistent lengths.

I've gone vegetarian, vegan and raw for periods of time ranging from weeks to years.

I've done yoga for over 200 days straight - rain or shine, in sickness and health, whether ten minutes or an hour. I guess it was a yoga fast.

But I have never, ever done an emotional fast.

It's an idea I came up with recently.

My first idea was to do a stress fast, but unlike a juice or liquid fast (where juice and liquid are all that are consumed), I was thinking of how I could do a stress-free period of time. Like giving up meat for lent, but I'd be giving up stress.

But as my self-imposed start date of March 1st approached, I wasn't convinced that focusing on stress was the best way to go about doing this.

I awoke in the middle of the night feeling some anxiety about a recent big purchase Marcus and I made, and I realized stress or stress-free is not the ideal focus for me to have on this particular cleanse.

Kindness is the focus. 

After all, one of the most insidious ways I am un-kind to myself is in the past when I have filled myself with self-doubt, regret, anxiety, and the mental self-abuse of questioning and berating myself and my choices! And guess what all of that mishegoss creates in the body? STRESS!

So, starting today, March 1st, I'm going on a kindness fast.

Inspired by yesterday's quotes from Joseph Campbell and Baba Amte (KSW blog: The Inspiration Hunter) and by the paraphrase of a Gandhi quote: Be the change you want to see in the world, I'm going on a kindness fast.

Pop culture has paraphrased it to be more succinct, but Gandhi's actual quote is: “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. ... We need not wait to see what others do." 

If a Juice Fast is defined as: (noun) a type of fasting and detox diet in which a person consumes only fruit and vegetable juices. These liquid foods are digested rapidly as the juice digestion process expends only a small amount of energy for the purpose of detoxifying and rebalancing the body's digestion, hormones, and vascular system to encourage optimum function. 

A Kindness Fast, for me, is defined as: (noun, verb) A fast where kindness is the primarily consumed emotional and mental action for the purpose of detoxifying the body and mind from the effects of self-criticism, doubt, stress, regret, and unreasonable expectations... to rebalance mental and emotional well being.

In practical terms, this will involve and evolve (with updates on this blog):

60 days of being kind to myself every day, in every moment possible. Yoga, meditation, healthy, tasty foods that help me to feel good (in emotion and digestion), exercise, enjoying nature, loving myself and my loved ones around me. When I notice a lapse or hiccup in consuming only kindness, I will bring my focus to my breath and recommit to my kindness fast.

I will be checking in here to let you know how things are going. Stay tuned!

We need not wait to see what others do...

Katie's Coconut Cream Vegetable Soup

Since I've been more aware lately of my food intake (more on that in a future blog), I've been preparing food more mindfully than ever before. For any of you who know me personally, this may sound strange. I've always been pretty aware of what goes in my body, but I've recently been counting calories, and this has helped me create a really tasty, low-calorie soup. Here's the recipe. Let me know what you think.

All ingredients should be ORGANIC.

Ingredients:
4-6 Tbsp Nutiva coconut oil (or other unheated, white coconut oil)
2 medium onions (white or yellow), chopped
2 carrots, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 cups Crimini & Shitake mushrooms, sliced
(optional: 1-2 small serrano chili peppers, chopped)
1 Tbsp raw heavy cream or 2 Tbsp organic coconut milk

Heat good, filtered water in another pot while making the following vegetable saute. Heat 3 cups of water per person.

Saute in a big, glass (or stainless) soup pot the following: Coconut oil (start w 3 Tbsp, add more coconut oil when you add more ingredients), onions, carrots, celery, ginger and garlic. Saute for 8-10  minutes, add mushrooms. Saute until everything is softened and cooked together. (If you choose to add serrano peppers, push the vegetables to the side of the pan, add 1-2 Tbsp coconut oil with the chopped or minced peppers to infuse the oil with pepper for 3-5 minutes before mixing.)

Once everything is well-cooked together, remove from heat. This will yield 6-8 servings of soup (2-3 cup servings). If you're making for a group, use the whole recipe, if for one, take 2-3 cups of vegetable mixture. Add 1-2 cups heated water per serving. Allow the soup to cool so that you can put your finger in and not pull it out because it's too hot. In other words, allow it to cool to about 95-100 degrees. Once cooled, add 1 Tbsp cream per serving. Option: Use 1-2 Tbsp coconut milk in lieu of cream. Salt lightly to taste. Optional: Add curry powder or other seasonings.

Here's the nutrition information: (The total fat is good fat since it's raw cream. Make sure the soup is cooled before adding cream!)

Calories: 231
Carbs: 11
Fat: 18
Protein: 3

Please feel free to improvise on this recipe, but please let me know how it goes and how you've made it great for you.

Enjoy!

My Favorite Things...Arrabiata Recipe - Fresh, Organic, Vegan or Primal

ARRABIATA (SPICY TOMATO SAUCE)

This is one of My Favorite Things! I order Arrabiata's when I eat at Italian restaurants as it's a vegan option with a bit more spice (literally) than a standard red sauce. For interested parties, my diet these days is mostly primal (See book We Want To Live by Aajonus Vonderplanitz) - i.e. vegan cooked food over 100°, sushi, raw dairy, raw or just barely seared meats - always from Amish or similar farmers who treat their animals very nicely (grass-fed bison & beef, no antibiotics or pesticides in food) and practice very clean and humane (old school) butchering and about 90% organic (a gal's gotta eat out sometimes).

Anyway, I created this Arrabiata recipe with my boyfriend, Marcus. We took the model of an Arrabiata from different chefs and restaurants and modified it for our tastes and primal diet. It’s very easy to make it vegan, just omit the raw cream & parmesan. Also, all the ingredients are fresh, unless you used dried pasta, and it only takes about an hour to cook, 30 if you peel tomatoes beforehand (1.5-2 hours with prep).

ALL INGREDIENTS SHOULD BE ORGANIC! (the only exception is hot peppers, which you can't always find organic, but are small crops and usually not GMOs or pesticide heavy)

Feeds 3-4 people, depending on appetites and portion-size

• coconut oil (white, approx 2-3 Tbls)*
• 1 onion - medium-sized white or yellow, chopped
• 4-5 cloves garlic, chopped fine
  
• 1 hot pepper- seeds & all, chopped fine (we like red chilli peppers, but jalapeno, habanero or others will work too - if you like it spicy, use 2-3 hot peppers)
• 2-3 lbs tomatoes - roma or similar, diced; optional: 20 grape tomatoes (adds sweetness)
  
• 1 red bell pepper
• fresh basil, chopped
• fresh oregano, chopped
• pasta, spaghetti squash, or potatoes
• optional: raw heavy cream; raw Parmesan cheese

We rarely use recipes, so all amounts are estimates. Use your best judgment and modify to suit your tastes. Also, we like to use either a stainless steel (e.g. stainless steel wok), cast-iron, ceramic (Le creuset or similar) or glass pots to make this. The non-stick are reported to be toxic, so we avoid using them. You may need to use more coconut oil, but that’s ok. Better to have more healthful oil than potentially toxic pans.

Saute onion and garlic in coconut oil for a few minutes on medium-high heat. Add hot pepper. Once onions are just beginning to caramelize, add tomatoes and red-bell pepper. Stir every few minutes. May take about 30mins to an hour to cook down water from tomatoes so it looks more sauce-like. About half-way through cooking the sauce, put a large pot of water on the stove to make pasta (quinoa pasta has good protein & is gluten-free, rice pasta is also gluten free, but we like to mix wheat & unbleached white pasta because we like the taste/consistency). If making spaghetti squash, or a baked potato, bake based on size and preference. Do not put oil or salt in the pasta water. Oil prevents the sauce from absorbing into the pasta. Just mix the pasta consistently when it’s in the simmering water.

Once the sauce has cooked down, add the fresh oregano and basil and cook for another 5-10 minutes. But leave some fresh basil to present on the finished dish. Serve over potatoes, squash, or organic pasta of your choice.

After the sauce and pasta are done, mix amount of pasta & sauce that you're going to serve, and separate it into serving bowls. If you want the primal version with raw cream, you must let the pasta/sauce mixture COOL to about 95-100 degrees. You can tell it’s the right temperature because when you stick your finger in it, it will be slightly hotter than your body temperature and it will be no problem for you to leave your finger in the pasta for more than 30 seconds.

Once the pasta/sauce is cooled, add 1-2 tablespoons of raw cream per person being served. (If you are using squash or potatoes, make sure the sauce, squash or potatoes are cooled the same way - with the 30-second finger test, and mix the cream with the sauce before putting over squash or potatoes.) Salt only to taste. (If you are concerned about salt in your diet, please substitute with some sort of hot sauce or use organic onion powder).

Optional: raw shredded parmesan cheese and/or basil to present the dish.

This is our favorite pasta dish. It's delicious. Just so you know, if you are a raw, primal food person and you’re craving carbs, this is a good dish to satisfy that because it regulates your free radical hormones. But only if you use the cream. Otherwise, the vegan version is just healthy. We hope you enjoy.

*coconut oil - we recommend using coconut oil for cooking because it handles heat well. Coconut, palm, and macadamia oil are the only oils that don’t go rancid at high temperatures, so we use coconut oil as it’s stable at high temperatures. Also, your organic, raw coconut oil should be pure white (racist, I know, but it's true). If the oil is cream or beige-colored, it's no good.

Let us know how it goes. Please leave comments!!

More Interesting Katie Strand World Posts

• My Favorite Things...Arrabiata Recipe - Fresh, Organic, Vegan or Primal
  
• My Favorite Shows on Television...or how David Duchovney & Jesus are likely Good in Bed
  
• The Hawaiian Islands and Washington D.C.’s sand-paper circle-jerk about Health Care
  
• My Buddha has Termites...A Lesson in Infinite Joy
• The One-Date-Wonders!
• I had to learn SIGN LANGUAGE when I moved to Los Angeles
• Guys can make a game out of anything
• Hello? The power of CONNECTING and how technology has changed
• Popping the question is better than porn!
• Bravo, Stephen Colbert & Co! and your Olympic Vancouverage
• Songwriting is like SEX
• Born To Run by Christopher McDougall - Inspiring a inspiring all of us to be more in the FLOW
• A moment of silence for all the plastic surgery ca...
• Ricky Gervais should be the new Simon on American Idol
• Muscle SURPRISE! The key to physical, mental & emotional fitness
• I think my boyfriend's a snake...
• Release... Sweat & Power
• MY FAVORITE THINGS! - Vibram's Five Fingers
• Dick Morris... How do you sleep at night?
• Rusty DePass, Gorillas, and Obama, oh my!
• Michael Jackson - Troubled Genius

New Music
&
Posts
at
Katie Strand Music

• Going To California
  
• Come Back
• Home