Fruit Feast Preparation

The past few nights have been rich with delicious foods. Jo makes a mean vegetable lasagna, sans the pasta, she uses only thin slices of roasted vegetables, bringing out the sweet creaminess of aubergine, courgette, and pumpkin. Along with her dairy-free Béchamel (made with unsweetened soy milk and rice flour) and homemade red sauce, amazing! Last night was another noteworthy food night. It was this group's farewell meal and also my first time preparing dinner alone in the kitchen, though most of the prep is completed in the early afternoon, presentation and final preparation was solely mine.

Friday evening's menu board

 A spectacular dinner indeed!

Green salad with marinated olives, avocado, and sprouted sunflower seeds

Tomato salad with fresh Fuerteventura goat's cheese (I'm told you can feed the goat), olive oil, and oregano

 As well as Spanish tortilla, homemade whole grain bread, and mojo verde, a traditional Canarian dip made with olive oil, fresh herbs, ground spices, garlic, and toasted bread. This dip is commonly served with wrinkled potatoes and seafood, a very Canarian combo. The star dish of the night however, was Manuel's vegan paella.

Vegan paella

 A stunning blend of whole grain rice, pumpkin, broccoli, bell pepper, courgette, olives, toasted almonds, sprouted sunflower, mung beans, and fenugreek (power combo), turmeric and paprika, garnished with lemon. I had to exercise some serious will power these two nights to stop myself from getting seconds thirds of dinner. Beyond delicious.

So now we have all of this beautiful food, leftover in our fridge at home, begging me to eat it every time I open the door. Which has been fabulous, because I can definitely eat, but tomorrow morning I start my three day Fruit Feast. This is part of Baron Baptiste's Digital 40 Days to Personal Revolution that I started participating in. 40 days to empower you to form healthy practices of yoga, meditation, self inquiry, and connection to others. The philosophy is that it takes 40 days to form a new habit. In the revolution, the online community and resources help you to build these regular practices of yoga and meditation, by providing podcasts that you can listen to anytime, a healthy diet, and journaling exercises.

The program is into week three, but it's not too late to get on the bandwagon, check out the link above to read a little more. I have only truly committed to the program this week. I've been practicing yoga every day for some time now, but to start a practice of meditation, and to explore the journaling a bit more has been a great for me. It's providing discipline. Even though I don't want to sit in a single spot for 15 minutes trying to settle my mind, I do it anyway, and I watch that resistance start to disolve. Then I see that in other areas of my life as well, when things come up that I don't want to do, instead of procrastinating or making excuses (the usual reaction) I just do it, and I take it moment by moment, one breath at a time, and I'm amazed at how much better I feel through this simple shift. The journaling and organized food logging have been helpful as well. I've been keeping food jounals on and off for four years, since my weight loss, and I find it to be a great tool for accountability and personal knowledge. I've started to see specific patterns of eating; foods that I choose when I'm feeling discontent, cold, stressed or tired, etc. Once we see a pattern like that, we are in a place to make a conscious change in our habits. It's an empowering feeling.

While there is not a specific "diet" associated with the 40 Day Revolution, there is a fruit cleanse in the fourth week, which takes advantage of the science behind certified Baptiste Instructor Kristy Summers' book The Fruit Feast. Manuel made the massive weekly shopping trip today for fruits and vegetables in Corralejo and he picked up a little mini feast for me. Bless him. Our kitchen is stocked as I'm getting ready for three days of

• Apples
• Avocado
• Bananas
• Coconut water (keeping up on electrolytes during this fast)
• Cucumber
• Kiwi
• Lemon
• Melon
• Papaya
• Peppers
• Tomato 
• Zucchini

Anything that has seeds is fair game. I'm excited to get creative in the kitchen. Kristy Summer's book has a few great recipes for raw zucchini marinara, guacamole, smoothie and fruit salad combinations. And I have my own plans for a raw gazpacho, and date truffles. Gettin' crazy.

If you're interested in the Fruit Feast or have questions about the Revolution, leave a comment, I would be more than happy to share what I can. In the meantime, be happy, be healthy!

Ciao!