Last night, I went to "All The Way Live" http://www.alllivefood.com/ , the first and best raw and vegan foods restaurant in the city of Philadelphia.Cliff treated me to the 5-raw-choices platter to-go, plus a peice of raw squash pie. Mmm, mmm, good! On my platter, I had a scoop of corn salad, cabbage slaw, sea greens salad, squash tuna, and soaked wild rice salad.
If you haven't been to this amazing eatery yet, I HIGHLY recommend it. Their food is outstanding, delicated seasoned, not overly salty or sweet, not overly fatty or nutty. It is simply superior.
The restaurant's new location on Germantown Ave near Walnut Lane, is beautiful, spacious, homey and warm! Lots of space for big groups. They moved there last August. (I didn't know and went to their old location first!) There is no sign on the storefront. You must just go to the correct address, 6108 Germantown Ave.
Empress Nyesha, the genius behind the kitchen door, is as exotic and mysterious as her name. I've rarely seen her, but frequently chat with her gorgeous mother, Sister Barbara, the restaurant hostess. Sister Barbara is an astounding beauty with long dreds, a body to die for, toned and bra-less at over 50, with skin like a 16 year old.
She did pretty amazing by her kids in the food department. She raised them raw!
Empress Nyesha's story details her amazing journey with raw food. Raised a raw foodist by Mom Barbara, she strayed in her 20's. Nyesha experienced similar symptoms with cooked that i did. She gained weight rapidly, experienced debilitating depression, became diabetic, and had a terrible time breaking free from the stronghold cooked food had on her. Nyesha wholeheartedly agrees that the standard american cooked food diet (SAD) is an ADDICTION.
From the "ABOUT US" section of the restaurant website, here is a bit about the elusive cheffess:
During her twenties, Empress Nyeisha decided to stray away from her Raw-Food lifestyle and began eating everything that wasn’t meat. There was an immediate difference in her attitude, her mental clarity, as well as her physical health. After just four months on this standard American diet, Empress Nyeisha gained over thirty pounds, suffered from depression, and had been diagnosed with gestational diabetes.
After realizing the dietary choices she had made were killing her she went on a freshly juiced green tonic and fruit fast for one month. In just that short period of time she had lost almost all of the weight, and the depression and gestational diabetes had totally disappeared. She had regained the energy and strength she had enjoyed on her Raw-Food lifestyle.
Empress Nyeisha, now able to think clearly, wanted to know what made her flee away from her life-sistaining, cell rejuvenating, bowel cleansing, and toxin-blocking lifestyle. She kept asking herself, “Was the food really good?” And her answer was “No”. It wasn’t good for her soul or her body, and after finishing those toxic, chemically processed meals, she often remembered feeling stuffed along with an instant mucous build-up. She refers The Standardized American Diet to a highly addictive drug and said even though the food made her lethargic, ill, and on a road to obesity, the drug was so powerful she found it hard to eliminate it....- Empress Nyeisha, "All The Way Live, Vegan and Raw Foods Restaurant"
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PAYING ATTENTION TO HUNGER/FULLNESS
With that beautiful to-go platter of raw food lovingly prepared by the Empress for me, it took a prayer when i started to allow myself to be aware, and some self control while eating, to eat only half!
I was hungry when i began, and satisfied when i stopped, so i did well.
And now today, i have the leftovers to look forward to! Thank you, Empress!
P.S. Today is day 18 raw.
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SQUASH?
The raw squash toona the Empress made is the best thing i ever ate, i think!
Everyone always thinks my toona at Arnolds Way is so good, but THIS one actually has the consistency of tuna! How did she do that from SQUASH???
Spaghetti squash? Butternut, acorn? It's a mystery!
The Empress has intrigued me beyond belief.
Also, the squash pie was so light, so deliciously un-heavy. Outstanding stuff. I want to try one myself!
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HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY, HONEY?
Today i feel sad again.
I suppose i'm going through some kind of an emotional detox?
I cried a bit this morning for really no reason.
I think that everytime i deny myself food when i'm not hungry, I'm missing my best friend.
I think i'm in mourning. The part of me that used to rely on food for comfort is kinda left....empty and yearning. And weepy.
Today I recognize that there's a little girl inside of me who needs LOTS of love, lots of comfort.
The parent part of me never learned to be sensitive to her many and varied needs.
"Shut up, kid!" I'd say, as I'd shove food in her mouth.
It occurs to me that my emotional needs are probably as HUGE as my former binges were.
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THE BODY'S MANY CRIES FOR WATER
The past few days I've been thirsty. This morning and yesterday I experienced some headaches.
The All The Way Live blog: http://alllivefood.com/site/ notes that dehydration is the number one cause of headaches.
I drank 3 bottles of water so far today. And let me tell you, I do FEEL better.
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RAW FOOD MAKES ME FEEL BAD - Fact or Fiction?
Before we jump to conclusions that raw food makes us feel bad (it's EASY to make that assumption), it's good to consider every angle. Am i emotionally in pain? Am i thirsty? Does my body need to move? Does my body need to rest?
That said, my catering partner, Susan and her husband went to a special doctor, a functional neurologist, Dr. Chris Caffrey, http://functionalneuro.com/index.html who tests their blood monthly and adjusts their diet. They'd been feeling poorly on their 2nd year of raw.
Susan and Mark are now feeling "better than ever," on the STRICT gluten-free diet which includes cooked canned sardines and cooked quinoa daily for BREAKFAST! The rest of the day they eat raw salads. Their fruit consumption has gone way down, also.
Gone are the fogginess, exhaustion, confusion and memory loss the couple both experienced on raw.
It should be noted, they are also taking supplements daily, which they attribute much of their healing to, as well.
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PAIN - HANG IN THROUGH IT
Part of living is experiencing mourning, experiencing confusion as to why we might not feel well.
We just need to continually BE AWARE of how we feel, do the VERY BEST we can to CARE for ourselves THROUGH the confusion, ask questions, get answers, try new things, try old things that worked before.
We cannot afford to allow our stuck compulsive rut-loving selves to be in charge. We have to break free from that. We may not know what our PERFECT DIET is today, but we can start TRYING SOMETHING NEW today.
Rome was not built in a day. You will never get anywhere on your journey if you never begin somewhere.
Struggle is a part of being "all the way live!!"
xoxo michelle joy
1 comment:
Your blog is my favorite. I look forward to reading it everyday. We are on very similar journeys and reading your blog makes me feel not so alone. Thank you.
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