Category: Uncategorized

Last week, I made my daughter sushi.

This sushi was mainly vegetables; however, I added a small amount of cooked salmon. Results? She loved it, and I’ll be making more. I’ve never been a fan of raw sushi, so when I have prepared sushi, I’ve always sauteed or steamed the meat added to the sushi.

This past week, I picked up two boxes of apples from my local farm for $20 per box. The photo is a box I purchased two weeks ago; the most recent boxes purchased are green apples, which I prefer; however, they weren’t available a few weeks ago. I’ll be using the apples for juicing, and I’ll be making apple butter, apple jelly, and applesauce.

Yesterday, I met with my colonic hydrotherapist. It was my first visit, and I’ll write about that in another post. During our consultation, I decided to take her advice and add smoothies to my daily routine. Why? Although my diet is extremely healthy, I still have problems with sluggish bowels. I’ve talked about gut bacteria with those close to me and rebuilding, so it was nice that she was focused on that, too.

Fermented Foods

During our discussion, she asked me what I knew about fermented foods. I was familiar with fermented foods and told her I was currently fermenting foods in my kitchen: cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, and yellow onions. They’ve been on my kitchen island for a few weeks! I told her I’d be willing to introduce that into my daily intake slowly. Slow since some fermented foods can cause a flare-up with auto-immune disease. Flares are typically triggered by sugar and fried foods, so I will check to see how these fermented foods do since they contain neither.  I had two slices of fermented cucumbers this morning, poured some of the fermented juice into a small jar, and drank that.

Triphala Digestion & Colon Cleanse

The hydrotherapist also suggested that I take a digestive supplement three times daily. I used to use Triphala many years ago and had great experiences with it, so I’m willing to try it again.

Smoothies

Instead of focusing on juicing, she suggested that I include smoothies, which will add more fiber and assist my sluggish bowels. I enjoy smoothies and prefer savory smoothies over sweet smoothies, so I have no issue creating mainly smoothies and supplementing them with juices.

Colonics

I decided to do a series of colonics; with the challenges I’ve been facing, this is most helpful, and the great thing is I don’t have a set time to use them. I purchased five. I decided to schedule my next colonics this Friday.

The past few days have been a bit challenging. My symptoms have been slowly improving; however, I still have itching, but it’s much more easily managed.

This morning, my daughter and I went to our local farm, and I purchased two more watermelons. I also bought kale and cilantro for juicing.

It’s 11:48 p.m., and it’s thundering/lightning outside. I’d planned on starting my fall garden tomorrow, and hopefully, the rain will have stopped by then so I can get my fall crop in the garden.

What am I planting?

• collards
• mustard
• broccoli
• cauliflower
• Spinach
• cilantro
• turnips

This year was the first year that I incorporated raised garden beds in our garden, and I must say that I like how they turned out and plan to continue using them each year.

Tomorrow, I plan to start a juice fast. It’s been a while since I’ve conducted one, and based on everything that has been happening, I think it’s perfect timing. I’ll be able to use some of the produce from my garden, and I’ve plenty of organic produce purchased from the store, so I’m all set. I’ll be sure to keep updating my journal, and I’m thinking about posting some highlights here, too. It will be great to track the progress and see if there are additional improvements to my autoimmune disease. I’m sure that I will see some positive changes since I already have seen since I’ve actively started adding juicing back into my daily routine.

Some of my earliest memories are of being with my mother outdoors as she would wild harvest herbs growing around my parent’s property. I learned to identify numerous plants very young and was educated on their healing properties and how they can enhance our health. Because of her, I didn’t view these plants as weeds and enjoyed seeing them on their property.

As I became older, my interest in native plants continued to grow, and I learned as much as possible about the numerous plants that can heal us of various ailments. I was excited to see the wild plants around my property that benefitted the landscape and myself if I ever needed them. I also introduced native plants that would further enhance my living apothecary.