A Cleansing Story: Pressed Juicery 3-Day Cleanse Experience

February 15, 2015February 15, 2015Catt Leave a comment

I’ve done a couple of juice cleanses in the past, and I blogged about the last one I did pretty much exactly a year ago! (Wow even I didn’t notice that until now!) Anyways that wasn’t the last cleanse I did, I did another 5 day plan by Jason Vale in the Spring of 2014. So I’m a pretty experienced cleanser. But this was the first time I ever bought a cleanse. And I did it as a gift to myself, really. Knowing how much work it takes to make the juices and clean up every day (actually, it’s pretty much the same as when you prepare regular food), I wanted to give myself a break and a gift of a hassle-free, done-for-me cleanse. Besides, I was curious to see what it was really like for myself.

I’ve been a frequent at Pressed Juicery, but I don’t go often first because while their juices are truly at what I consider a good price, it can really add up, and second because I’d always have to drive out to get to a store. So having a cleanse from them shipped to me sounded like a fantastic option! I know their product line well, I trust their juicing, so I didn’t really look further, I just picked Pressed to be my cleanse supplier.

I chose Cleanse #2, purely because Roots 3 was in it and I absolutely adore that juice. In hindsight, Cleanse #3, the more intense one with mostly green juice would have probably suited me better given that I’m an experienced juicer, but I probably would have been moping that there was no Roots 3 in it. Actually, I probably should have just created my own cleanse; I’ve never done a cleanse in this way before, so next time I will definitely be choosing my own juices!

My juices were scheduled to arrive in the morning of my first day of the cleanse. Here was my overall experience with the cleanse:

Day 1 – Starting Out Day

Starting day! Excited and armed with book-inspiration!

8am – I am beyond excited for this cleanse to start, and I start off the day with a lot of positivity and picking up the book Juice, written by the founders of Pressed Juicery and gifted to me by my wonderful fiance last week when we visited Pressed Juicery at Larchmont! I also pick up Miranda Kerr’s Empower Yourself for some positive affirmations. I love the way Jason put it – don’t just cleanse your body, cleanse your mind too.

9am – I am checking my shipment tracking constantly at work. They said they would deliver at 10:30am. I was nervous because last minute I decided to ship to work because most of the juices would be consumed at work.

10:30am – No juices, and no more tracking info! What? I email Pressed but no one responded. I am starting to develop a faint-y feeling as I fill my mug up with hot water for herbal tea again. I haven’t had anything but hot herbal tea all day.

A lot of herbal tea! I love pukka tea!

11am – Tracking info says juices were delivered at 10:34 to the front door. I look out the front and back door at work, nothing was there. I call home and my darling friend/roommate says “We were just trying to pull it in it’s so heavy what is it?” Yes!! I drive back home to settle the juices!

11:11am – I find a large cardboard box at the doorstep, lug it in, and open it up, finding an insulated bag with 18 bottles of pure goodness inside. I quickly put some away in the fridge and consume my first juice, Greens 2. Finally something in my system! It tastes beautifully sweet and delicious. Greens 2 is one of my favorites, I get it very often. It’s the same as Greens 3 but with no ginger. It’s a classic green juice – kale, spinach, romaine, parsley, cucumber, lemon, celery, apple. It’s so refreshing and delicious

1pm – I start at my second juice, Citrus 2. Pineapple, apple, lemon, mint. I’m personally not a fan of pineapple, but this juice is delicious. However, since I’m a pretty experienced cleanser, it is slightly too sweet for me, and I had nothing but hot tea until 11am, so this was a bit heavy for me. It’s very delicious though, especially with that hint of mint at the end. What a beautiful juice.

3pm – I feel fine and I actually have no desire to eat anything, even when others around me are eating in the office. I gave all my Albertsons cookies to my colleague in the morning too. I start to worry though because there are 4 more bottles to consume in the next 6 hours. So I have my third bottle, Greens 3. It’s the same as Greens 2 but with ginger, and I love ginger. But I have to say Greens 2 has the cleaner/smoother taste! I love Greens 3 a lot though.

4:30pm – I pull out Roots 3 so that I’m making progress on these. I’m not hungry at all and I drink it over a period of time. Roots 3 was the reason why I chose this cleanse over the other one. The ginger taste in Roots 3 is very strong – you can almost feel the heat! But it’s also a really sweet juice, as it has beet and apple in it. It’s pretty much a spicy (in the ginger way!) lemonade. Roots 3 is a truly delightful juice. I’m feeling pretty full at this point, and it’s time to go home.

6pm – I have my lemon cayenne water, which is much lighter than the other juices. It’s spicer than I’ve made my lemon cayenne water! I’m not a big fan of cayenne, but this “juice” feels so hydrating and was much welcomed.

Snuggling in my pjs and my delicious lovely almond milk!

7:30pm – I finish the day with my favorite “juice” of all (although it’s not the one I buy most often) – vanilla almond milk. Oh what a creamy dreamy. I love this juice so much. I love making vanilla almond milk myself – I actually make pretty much the same thing (almond, dates, vanilla bean) – and it tastes pretty darn delicious. But it takes time to make, and again there’s something sooo luxurious about doing this whole thing handed to me.

10pm – I mix two tablespoons of George’s Aloe Vera liquid (I got it at the Vitamin Shoppe, decided to skip on the chlorophyll) with a cup of water, and consume it slowly. I am a happy camper going to bed.

Day 2 – Detox Symptoms Day

7am – I woke up and focused myself to a good feeling place like I usually do. I made some hot water with basil, apple cider vinegar, lemon, and honey. I go for a run outside and realize its really warm – the Santa Ana Winds! I feel good taking a run, but nothing spectacular or out of the ordinary really. Nor does it feel bad for me to take a run while cleansing. I take my first juice on the go to work.

Consuming my juices at work

Mid-day – I don’t feel hungry at all, and it’s really around every 2 hours or so you get your next juice, so you’re never really far from your next juice which is really cool. However I do have the feeling of “how much longer is this going to be?” I feel annoyed because I know I love doing this and I know I love juice! What’s more is I know I love love LOVE the feeling I have after I do a cleanse. But I definitely have some of these thoughts. To top it off, my boss’ wife is microwaving this delicious smelling yummy curry in the microwave. Food cravings – noo!!

Late afternoon – I can’t deny that I’m craving food and thinking of food! I tell myself it’s a 3 day cleanse – I’ve done 5 day no problem! But I’ve done another 3 day cleanse and I actually think they’re kind of more difficult because you think it’s only 3 days! When it’s a 5 day cleanse, it feels like a full week and you have to prepare yourself for that much more. When it’s a 3 day cleanse, you’re like oh it’s just 3 days come on, and then it feels like more work! Isn’t that strange?

9pm – Just finished my last delicious vanilla almond juice, but I cannot say I am not experiencing some detox symptoms. Mild headache, but I’m thinking because I’m staring at the computer screen way too long (I really have to find a way to stop doing that). And I am tired. Like. Pooped tired. And I keep feeling a need to burp. A lot of it, and I’m scared of burping some almond milk out. Going to bed early for sure. I consume two tablespoons of Aloe vera liquid with a cup of water.

Day 3 – Juice High Day!

My final juice day! I loved it so much!

Morning – I went to bed at around 9:30pm, but got up a few times at midnight with a pounding headache and went to the bathroom. When I opened my eyes, oh my gosh! I felt like I was born again with a new baby body or something! Everything feels fresh and clean and exciting! Wow what an en-lightening feeling! I also notice my skin looks so great! I definitely see a noticeable improvement – it looks smoother and brighter, and I am so stoked for this. I really thought all these raves about delivered juice cleanses were just for raving, but boy do I really notice a difference! My headache is miles away, and I truly feel fantastic. I think the fact that I didn’t need to make any of these juices myself really took a piece of stress away for me and it was so free-ing and joyful!

Evening – I still feel wonderful and I’m finishing up my last juice now. I can’t believe it’s done! Although I am excited to have solid foods again. One thing I noticed on Jason’s cleanses was that I really started craving really healthy foods, whereas right now I could kind of do with any food. It might have been the 5-day difference though where I had to put my mind to it more than just a 3-day cleanse. I really feel light and wonderful and it feels like I’m a baby again! What a fantastic feeling!

Day 4 – Post-cleanse

Wow do I ever feel regenerated! The “on” switch is still there, and I feel fantastic. I’m probably going to get a juice or a salad for lunch, but we’ll see. I truly feel rejuvanted and like my body is fresh and new again! I’m not craving ANY junkie druggie foods at all, although perhaps something savory like a salad. What Jason calls the “junkie food terrorist” has been once again, staved off! I feel so powerful and alive that I know this is the start of a truly wonderful “new year”! (a bit late but hey 🙂 )

And an added bonus, I’m 3 pounds lighter in 3 days!

This cleanse has truly been a wonderful experience. Being able to have this experience has been such a beautiful thing, and I really want to harness it as a launching pad for eating clean again, which I kind of let go of for a while (I wasn’t eating junky really, but I started eating a lot). I want to be blogging about that too, maybe sharing some recipes here and there. And also sharing some lovely things for teens and pre-teens, now that I’m coaching them! (See connect with me to see more details for that!) I think it may be time for me to revamp this blog and launch it off anew the way I did with my body through this cleanse!

Thank you, Pressed Juicery! I will definitely be doing this again someday, and sharing it with people I love! ❤

Gratitude

October 25, 2014Catt Leave a comment

“The beautiful thing about the mind is that we can always change it.” – Lisa Guyman

It has been a pretty long time since I’ve posted, and really because I didn’t really feel there was anything to post for a while. I found myself wondering about what I would post if I were to post, and I come back to gratitude. I feel like it’s really all you ever really need to figure it out, as most anything I write about is related to gratitude in some way.

I used to do gratitude in an extremely egotistical way. Not because I was a nasty person or anything, I was just insecure about myself and felt that this was how to gain confidence. I would write things that I was grateful for that were very judgmental and hinged on the fact that others did not have the same privileges and advantages as I did. Which, I suppose, is a step up from complaining about everything. I also didn’t really do it so consistently. Sometimes whenever I sat down to ‘do gratitude’ it was kind of like a gratitude purge – just get it all out because everything is points. (I started doing gratitude after hearing it being touted by so many personal development programs as the way to bring more in your life and manifest your desires, and ooo boy did I want to bring more STUFF in my life, so I better get going on this gratitude stuff!)

Of course that never lasts. For me it lasted a little less than two months before the blowing event hit the fan, then I had to reconstitute the shattered little parts of me together again. But during that time, it was a constant stress and struggle of how to get the best be the best do the best best best best best best..all just based on how far I could see. I thought that I would have to get the best in the environment I’m in now, then jump to the next group and get the best in that, then jump to the next group until I got to the top. Well I’m genuinely grateful things don’t work out that way!

I started doing a gratitude journal seriously for the first time when I arrived in Milan two years ago. I had been trying to do it for a while, but something magical about being in Milan helped me that time. It wasn’t just because I was in Milan. A large part of it was that, but in actuality, it was how much I had yearned, really yearned, from a young age to be in Europe and see Europe that it instantly shifted me into a more genuine grateful attitude. The other thing was I had no distractions. I didn’t feel pressure in any of the ways I used to – no friends/social pressure, no family pressure. I was in a different place and living with a different family, making it a lot easier for me to focus on gratitude and appreciation. Of course, I could have chosen the route to attempt to keep up with the new social group obsessively and complain about the family I was living with, but thanks to the blowing event that hit the fan, I didn’t take that path.

The gratitude journal entries I did during that time still inspire me when I read them. I got a little wacky and out there, but all for fun. I was also using it as an affirmation and I gave thanks for a lot of things that had not yet come to pass, notably a romantic relationship based on my own self-love and feminine energy.

Here is an example of an entry I had:

As you can see, even though that day I wasn’t having the best day and apparently had a lot of feelings of neediness, I was practicing an art – an art of self-love, an art of appreciating who and where I am no matter where that may be. Because we’re never going to get it done, so at any given point there can be a comparison where in some way it may seem like something negative. But that doesn’t mean it is, and it definitely doesn’t mean the mind needs to get caught onto it. I love the quote from Kamal Ravikant’s book Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It, where he says something along the lines of “It’s your mind. You can do whatever you want with it.”

In my experience, gratitude is the first step in improving your life, getting into spirituality, upgrading your attitude, or whatever positive change it is you seek to create. Think about it – can anything be positive if you’re not grateful for it? The thing about gratitude is it’s really like magic – better things start happening to you. And that’s not because the same crap happens to you and you learn to see it in a different way. That’s part of it, but it’s more of the ripple effect of where you choose to put your attention. There are crappy things you can put your attention on and there are wonderful things you can put your attention on. When you put your attention on the wonderful things, yes you start seeing the crappy things in a better light, but more wonderful things start moving towards you. It’s magic!

It may take a while, but if you’re in the ready space to do it, you get the feeling, you invite it in daily…I guarantee you that it will change you and your life forever.

Why not start a gratitude journal yourself today?

Grateful for you,

Catt

The Grass is Always Greener..Where You Water It!

June 23, 2014September 13, 2014Catt 5 Comments

I’ve talked to a lot of people in the past few years I’ve been traveling a lot. No matter where I go, someone is jealous about somewhere I’ve been. It’s true – travel has been a big part of my life. And not just travel, I’ve lived in some of these amazing places for periods of time. It’s actually kind of funny for me because it’s not a big deal for me to travel and “see the world,” but I always find myself in amazing places people dream of traveling to.

Tuscan vineyard

Taipei city at night

I grew up in Taiwan, but always identified myself as more of an American when I was growing up, and wished I lived in the US instead. The worst part was that I read Seventeen magazine, and all those products and outfits that made the girls so pretty were…only available in North America. I’d try to find a replacement products, but smoothing serum and 3-way colour smear was just not a thing in Taiwan at the time. I was a typical sucker for marketing and what’s worse (or probably good when I look back) was that everything was 10,000 kilometres away from me.

street food, the best food 🙂

Southern California

Jiu Fen in Taiwan

Even though I’ve weaned off those needs, I still find myself wishing I had certain things that aren’t available where I am, no matter where I am. When I am in Taiwan, like I said, shopping for products and outfits isn’t so easy, nor are accessories that are popular in the US, like bose headsets or whatever. When I am in the US, I wish I had the food and the public transportation in Taiwan and Italy, and little products in Taiwan that make things so wonderful, like authentic teas and can openers that make sense. And I can’t forget how cheap and available everything at the computer market in Taiwan is, and how much easier that makes my life. Cooking also isn’t as exciting in the US as it is in Italy; I’m not sure why but pasta I cook always tastes better in Italy, even when I bring it from Italy to the US. When I’m in Italy, I find that the fresh produce selection for my juicing and blending is not as wide and varied as in the US or in Taiwan, and there’s no Trader Joe’s, the saddest part about anywhere that doesn’t have Trader Joe’s.

I love Italian balconies

delicious street foods from Taiwan

Aosta valley in Italy

The grass seems always greener on the other side because when we’re on this side, it’s our vantage point and our perspective. But as I’ve experienced, the grass is really never greener on the other side. Maybe in some ways it can be, and it’s definitely a personal preference thing, but it’s never actually greener. What’s greener is what you water.

When I was in Italy the first time, I didn’t notice that I didn’t have kale and hearts of romaine lettuce. I was noticing that the buildings were the most gigantic gorgeous structures I’ve seen in my entire life! And the food – the food! I’d always been spoiled with amazingly good food in Taiwan, but this was the best food from a totally different cuisine that was just to live for. I loved hearing Italian. It was music to my ears, and the best part was I couldn’t understand it so I couldn’t understand whether someone was complaining and stomping on beautiful Italian grass or not – it all sounded great to me!

The only time I really changed and really felt true pure joy in my life wasn’t from moving to another perfect place and then bam everything fell in place for me. It was the first time I was in Italy, where I was constantly watering and my grass was growing so green, so lush, so abundantly wonderful. I finally “got” the Law of Attraction and experienced it positively firsthand. Everything I was thinking and desiring was coming into my reality in a matter of minutes, and I remember the exhilaration of being so in tune with what the world was offering me because I had (semi-)consciously and deliberately tuned myself to that which I love and appreciate. The grass is always greener where you water it, I know it to be true from my personal experience. And what is the water? I think it’s best described as appreciation, which I achieved through the conscious practice of gratitude. It’s definitely a concept that is worth thinking about and that changed my life, because it’s never greener on the other side – only where you decide to water it. My wish is for me and everyone else to experience the appreciation we innately have of the world and experience what magic that can do for our lives, and that everyone may see how much there really is out there to explore and experience.

Happy Watering,

Catt xxx

It’s Summer! Time for Fresh Books and Reading Lists!

May 14, 2014June 11, 2014Catt Leave a comment

It’s that time of the year again – summer. Which means people are out enjoying time on the beach and warmer weather to be outside..which means more reading? 🙂 I’d like to think so. I always had to force myself to read no matter what genre, until I discovered personal development (I know). The other kinds of books I loved were those “child/young adult psychology” books that have a fictional story but from the perspective of a very real and relatable person (which would pertain specifically to me I suppose, but I loved reading from all different characters’ perspectives). I wanted to share some of my summer reading books that I completely have not started yet (I have at least 30 I’m in the middle of), and then recommend a few of my top picks if anyone was interested in some books that I loved!

Catt’s Summer Reading List

The Astonishing Power of Emotions (Esther and Jerry Hicks)
I just love the books of Abraham, Esther, and Jerry. They’re always great reminders and I’ve been reading loads of their books. While they’re all a little similar, the repetition is really helpful for me. I’m really looking forward to solidifying my knowing by reading this book and getting in tune with my emotions!
Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus (John Gray)
It’s pretty old but it’s a classic isn’t it? I’m also going to be reading David Deida which I have also personally enjoyed immensely, but I’m in the middle of a bunch of those. Relationships take maintenance, but it should be enjoyable maintenance. I’m putting this one in my list of books because I really want to be better at what I know I can do.
Sara Book 2: Solomon’s Fine Featherless Friends (Esther and Jerry Hicks)
I’ve been wanting to read this book for a while since I enjoyed the first book so much! I loved the first book, so I’m curious to see what the second book is going to be talking about!
Juice Yourself Slim (Jason Vale)
Since I’ve been juicing for almost two years now, I want to get into this book as well which includes some soups! No time to try making soups like when I have a kitchen in Italy 🙂 I also want to have a fresh perspective on juicing again, which I’m hoping this book will do. It’s also so pretty so I’m excited to read it!
Thoughts Without Cigarettes (Oscar Hijuelos)
A graduation gift from one of my fondest friends during my college career. I think I’m going to enjoy this one I’m really excited!

Catt’s Top Picks

Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It (Kamal Ravikant)
Can’t do anything without this. I feel disappointed when I see so many of those 1-star comments on amazon because it meant they didn’t get the amazing message of this fantastic book. It was everything I had been asking for. I was in therapy for months asking and checking in on how I could love myself. I would say three to four months later I came across this book and finally made it happen for the first time in this life consciously. I have to be honest it’s been hard to repeat for me recently but I know I’ll be ready when I’m ready. When you’re ready to love yourself and you’ve truly been asking for the sake of your true heart’s desire, this book will break all the barriers. I’ve read this book at least six times (it’s very short).
Sara Book 1: Sara Learns the Secret About the Law of Attraction (Esther and Jerry Hicks)
I laughed and cried and felt sooo connected when I read this fantastic book. It was written in the kind of child-psychology fiction books I discussed before but it actually teaches you the principles of the Law of Attraction. I love this book so much and hold it very dear to me. It is a beautifully written book and it answered my questions about clarifying the Law of Attraction. I read this book twice already and don’t mind to read it again!
Slim4Life: Freedom From the Food Trap (Jason Vale)
This book is also on my summer reading list since I only read it once! It is an amazing book, you’ll never look at food the same way again, and it’s not weird or hokey or try this new diet weird crap. It’s really logical, though not all of the arguments are sound (Jason sometimes comes up with some weird arguments and I can’t remember the ones from this book, but Jason, the vegan large land animal argument is not good enough take it out of 5lbs in 5days!), they make you realize that the justification we’ve been having in our heads about food and exercise are certainly not sound either. It’s a whole new approach to looking at food and it changed me forever. It got me serious about juicing! I have to read it again though since I’ve been eating a lot of things I don’t want recently but have been craving. I read this book once only, but I remember how much I enjoyed it.
Conversations with God, Book 1 (Neale Donald Walsch)
This book really changed everything for me. I always “believed” in the principles it shared before I discovered them. I would argue for the exact arguments God would present to Neale in life in general before I read this book. I was always missing the last bits and pieces though, they never seemed to be expressed properly by me. Until I found this book and read it. It changed me, as I have very little religious/spiritual background aside from self-improvement. I didn’t know what spirituality meant, and I had no concept of God. This book was a major turning point in my life, and it is beautiful. Paradoxes that make complete sense and clarity to the questions I had been asking. Classic. I’ve read this book 5 times already and plan to read it again. I literally could not put the book down in each reread I’ve done. Thank you Neale, thank you!
Just Ask the Universe (Michael Samuels)
I bought this book for my fiance’ as a present because I enjoyed it so much! It’s a pretty short book and I feel like Michael had a similar experience to many people who write off personal development as airy-fairy woo-woo stuff. I had a lot of similar thoughts as Michael too – just general doubts and skepticism until I experienced something for the first time in my life. Michael writes beautifully and honestly about his experience with the Law of Attraction and how he achieved his dream life with a personal development program by Tony Robbins when he was at his lowest. It’s a truly inspiring read and gets you to start asking! I’ve read this twice so I’d like to read it again also.
A Simple Act of Gratitude (John Kralik)
Jumping off the last one, I just remembered this beautiful book. I was trying to order it off amazon and I could not find a suitable seller for me. Then I went to the Barnes and Noble and would you guess it was in the only section I look in – the discount book section. Sitting right there, pretty and hardcover. Wow, what an amazing book. Truly, truly inspirational. I started writing my own thank you letters after that although I felt his were always more magical than mine. I personally didn’t get the same experience from writing Thank you notes – I have some weird energy around them even though I did give them a go! 🙂 – but I did go back to my gratitude practices and it allowed me improve my life a lot. If you ever wondered why gratitude even matters and think its just for hippies and ignorant optimists, READ THIS BOOK it will change you. I’ve read this book just once, but once was enough for me..I still feel the goosebumps as I type now when I think of how magical and beautiful the story is.

Some other books I’m definitely re-reading or finishing up and highly recommend!

Success with a Positive Mental Attitude (Napoleon Hill&W. Clement Stone) – been halfway through this since the beginning of the school year!
Creating my Dream Body (Tris Satori) – Just finished reading this fantastic book! It’s the foundations for creating a body you love forever and I am going through it a second time to get all the exercises down!
Have the Relationship You Want (Rori Raye) – read this twice already but slip up often on its powerful principles.
You Can Heal Your Life (Louise Hay) – I’ve actually been in the middle of this one for a while as well, but I really like it too!
CWG Book 2, CWG Book 3, Friendship with God, and Communion with God (Neale Donald Walsch) – beautiful books I’ve read each once and CWG2 twice, could definitely use re-reads!
The Power of Now (Eckhart Tolle) – another classic I’ve only read once!
Frequency (Penney Pierce) – I have been reading this book for SO long and haven’t yet finished it even though it’s so good!
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things (Carolyn Mackler) – one of the classics for me I absolutely loved and changed my life growing up. I also loved two of her other books, Vegan, Virgin, Valentine and Guyaholic. I’ve read her books so many times and it’s always an adventure.
One Square Inch (Claudia Mills) – an amazingly beautiful book..mine is in Taipei unfortunately but it was a gift I received as well and I loved it..heartbreaking but so touching. I am feeling goosebumps remembering it as well 🙂
Ask and it is Given and The Law of Attraction (Esther and Jerry Hicks) – classics. I’ve read Ask and It Is Given twice and loved it..I love how there are 22 processes in the book that you can use to help you no matter where you are! And I am enjoying The Law of Attraction right now these days.

There are actually so many more books on my list..I know this is why I don’t finish them often haha but I just love remembering the Truths about who we are! I know there’s something for everyone when we embrace these truths. Luckily I have so much fun and joy reading these things! What books are you reading for the summer?

Happy Reading!

-Catt xxx

The Comprehensive Ins and Outs of Enjoying Green Smoothies! Recipes Included!

May 8, 2014May 8, 2014Catt 1 Comment

When I set out to be more health-conscious in my eating, the first thing I incorporated into my life was green smoothies. I was never spooked out by the green. My mom used to make random fruit and veg smoothies that were never green but certainly had weird tastes, so perhaps I dissociated the relationship of colour and taste of a smoothie.

I started having green smoothies just looking into personal development, and it just seemed like a cool idea to add as a healthy new habit. Two and a half years later I still make green smoothies. While I’ve done a lot more juicing since then, green smoothies always make it into my life at least twice a week. They’re so easy to love, they are easy to make and less time consuming than juices, and they last for up to three days sealed in a mason jar or a glass jar so you don’t have to drink it all that day like it is with juice.

Green smoothies are important because they contain a lot of live chlorophyll. The thing about blending them is that it help make it easier for our bodies to assimilate the nutrients from the goodness, whether from fruit or greens. Especially with the greens, a lot of the nutrients are sealed within the strong cell walls of the plant cells, and thus by blending we can help our bodies and our digestive systems. Green smoothies are also like a good clean sweep for your digestive system. Yes it’s kind of weird that you can tell when your green smoothie made its way, but it also feels like a really good clean. I literally feel lighter after eliminating when it’s from clean eating! 🙂 Additionally, we haven’t been eating enough greens in our diet. Greens are not the same as vegetables – they have different nutritional properties! They are an integral food group that we’ve traditionally have not “counted” into our diet that are important for our thriving!

I’d like to share some of my green smoothie creation tips here – consider them my success formulae! As a former bartender (yes the alcohol variety!) and soon after mixologist, I pleasantly found the same thing happen to me with juices and green smoothies! I have stopped following recipes and have been able to mix things together and know what they will taste like, just like with the alcoholic drinks I used to do for work. Here are some of my principles I’d like to share, some recipes that are easy for beginners, and some easier-to-cite resources that I used along my green smoothie journey! Feel free to share these smoothies with your friends and credit me and my blog if you loved my recipe and would like to share them! Try them out, ask me if you have any questions!
Green smoothie watermarked

Green Smoothie Creation Success Formulae
1. Only Fruits and Greens
The best green smoothies are those that incorporate greens and fruit. When I first started creating green smoothies I added fruits and sprouts and nuts and seeds and vegetables and greens and aloe and coconut water and agave and chia seeds and flax seeds. Now I only do greens, fruit, and filtered water. The reason is that when you add too many different things into one smoothie, it can become a conglomerate mess and more difficult to digest than it need be! Fruits, greens, and filtered water is my formula, always, even though I’ve tried loads of other combinations.

2. Incorporate fruits that help bind the smoothie together
Greens blended with water not only smell really eugkk (its not bad it’s just…euuuoufff), they also are really watery and impossible to consume. Thus if you use only watery fruit such as apples, oranges (also, take the seeds out of the orange – in my experience they’ve been bitter!), watermelon, etc it’s going to keep that weird watery un-delicious texture and taste. Use enough of a “stickier” fruit – examples are mango, pear (pear is in between), banana (the best, although taste-wise is a hit or miss in individual preferences), berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries – they are also in-between), grapes (also in-between), peaches (lovely), plums (in between), pineapple (in between) – so that the smoothie will bind.

3. Use the Greens that Work
I once blended a wonderful smoothie…using mustard greens. I ended up wasting 3 quarts of smoothie..I know..I felt SO bad but I nearly vomited trying to swallow the wasabi-fruit tasting smoothie. GROSS! It pays off to know the greens to use!
Here are the greens I use in the US (I also live in Italy and Taiwan, where I use different greens) that I buy at any grocery stores:
– Spinach (the best – it has the most neutral taste..in fact you won’t even be able to tell the difference)
– Kale (can be bitter, especially lacinato/dinosaur kale and red kale, so a bit more advanced)
– Chard (fantastic)
– Collard greens (in between kale and chard kind of taste)
– Romaine (one of my favourites as well, romaine and kale together are fantastic)
– Parsley, Basil, Mint, Wheatgrass (use with other greens as an accent)
(PS – I always remove large stems! They tend to be bitter. Sometimes I keep them for juicing LOL)

4. Rotate Greens
Greens can build up some toxins if you constantly consume the same greens over and over again. I won’t take more than the bundle at the supermarket or the farmer’s market in one round, and if I have other greens I alternate them. This is important, don’t miss this! I heard you get weird side effects I haven’t experienced if you don’t rotate greens!

5. Build up the Green Colour
I used to use mostly kale and romaine to start with. Spinach I discovered later. The point is, take what you’re comfortable with. I mean, make sure it’s green you know gotta wear that pride since you’re going to do it anyways. Spinach is the one to start with if you’re a sceptic. Romaine is also very fresh and easy to handle. The thing is the more you have them, the more you will want them to be darker green 😀 I love it!!!

6. Drink them alone
Like with the fruit and greens only guideline, they’re easier to digest on their own. I usually give at least 20 minutes before and after to a consumption of a delicious green smoothie. Also, don’t think of them as a meal replacement – they ARE a meal, and way more nutrition than coffee and pastry! I drink them as breakfast, though I do have breakfast pretty late.

7. Bonus tip: freezing some fruit!
I don’t like using store-bought frozen fruit except mango, but I often freeze my berries and bananas (peel and put them into chunks and into a plastic baggie and freeze, don’t put the whole thing in – I never tried but come on just peel it and put it into a baggie!). They make the smoothie creamier and cooler!

Some Fun Beginner Recipes
All Recipes by Catt! Amounts may vary due to sizes, and sometimes you can use less water. Please reference me and my blog if you share!
1. The Tangy Tropical, Serves 2
– 1 in. slice pineapple, cut into chunks
– 2 cups frozen mango chunks (they’re spacey in a cup, so as much as you like really)
– 1 apple (your favourite kind!)
– 1/2 handful of blueberries
– 1/2 handful of raspberries
– 3-4 handfuls of spinach, depending on the size of your hands
– 2 cups filtered water

2. Fruity Greening, Serves 2
– 3 cups of frozen mango chunks
– 1/2 a medium sized banana
– 5 strawberries (can keep the stems, my fiance’ takes them off always)
– 1 small to medium apple (Fuji to be sweet, Pink Lady to be Catt)
– 1 handful of seedless red grapes (for the record seedless is technically not GMO, but Catt is not anti-GMO! 🙂 )
– 1/2 medium pear (I like Bosc, they’re refreshing!)
– 1 large leave of kale, or 1 large handful of kale
– 3 handfuls of spinach
– 2 cups filtered water

3. My Festive Summer, Serves 2
– 2 cups frozen mango chunks
– 3/4 cup blueberries
– 1 medium pitted peach or nectarine
– 1 large pitted plum or pluot (I don’t even know what a pluot is, but that’s what’s at the supermarket these days)
– 2-3 large leaves of chard, whichever colour you fancy..I stick to green to avoid making a mushy brown colour
– 2-3 handfuls of spinach
– 2 cups filtered water

Easily Citable References from my journey:
Boutenko, Victoria. Green for Life: The Updated Classic on Green Smoothie Nutrition. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic, 2010. Print.
Boutenko, Victoria. Green Smoothie Revolution: The Radical Leap towards Natural Health. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic, 2009. Print.
Carr, Kris. Crazy Sexy Diet: Eat Your Veggies, Ignite Your Spark, and Live like You Mean It! Guilford, Ct: Skirt!, 2011. Print.

Alright that’s all I’ve got! It’s a lot of topic and experience I have to cover in one ground. Message me or comment me with any questions you have!

Final point worth mentioning: I am not a vegan, fruitarian, raw foodist, or even vegetarian..I eat whatever I want! Which may happen to be leaving out certain foods that may classify me, but I eat what I want and I never restrict myself! Green smoothies are just a fun habit I have!

Happy Green Smoothie-ing!

Catt xx

Evidence of Appreciation and Positive Energy

April 26, 2014April 26, 2014Catt Leave a comment

I’ve been wanting to write this post since it happened, which now is around a month ago!

The first time I heard about words affecting our wellbeing and physiology was when I was 16 years old. I was an intern at the headquarters of Starbucks on the Operations/Customer Service department in Taiwan. It was the classic “Dr. Masaru Emoto” water crystals thing everyone keeps bringing up as “proof” of the Law of Attraction or whatever they’re trying to prove about energy affecting us.

If you don’t know what it is, briefly, Dr. Masaru Emoto took very pure water from clear springs or double distilled water, froze it, and took pictures of the crystals they formed. He then started exposing them to various things, including words, photographs, and music. The crystals that were formed were different based on what they were exposed to. Here are some of them (you can also go see them on Dr. Masaru Emoto’s Website):

I saw an interview of Dr. Masaru Emoto and the interviewer gave an example you could try at home, filling jars with cooked rice and water and taping “love” on one and “hate” on the other and visiting it everyday sending the jars the respective energies (so on the love jar, you tell it how much you love it, the hate one you judge and criticize). I never wanted to try this experiment not because I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t imagine the things growing in those jars and the thought of cleaning it up after made it not worth it for me lol (maybe get my fiance’ to do it? 😀 Honey!!!).

Well one morning I woke up a few days after my monthiversary with my fiance and he sends me gorgeous flowers every month. 🙂 These were the lovely March flowers:

I had been practicing myself into a feeling good place especially every morning, as I mentioned in the last blogpost on setting the vibrational tone for your day, and this morning I woke up and started flowing appreciation to one of the daisies. I remember it very clearly, remember exactly which daisy it was, and I definitely “knew” that this “experiment” was going to work because I trust the power of energy and words and etc. I must have sat there in straight appreciation without entertaining anything else for three minutes straight. It was a powerful meditation for me because I was feeling so good after that, and I felt so much love for the beauty of this daisy!

I didn’t do anything special to these flowers, they all got the same amount of water (all the stems were in the water), they sat on my windowsill and had the same amount of sun..besides they’re kind of cut already so they’re just decaying anyways. This is what happened a few weeks later.

15 days later:

The daisy I flowed appreciation to is thriving while the other roses, carnations, fern, and other daisies are wilting.

18 days later, at noon:

This is where I was starting to be like “whoa!!” This is so clear!! The other daisies are like so sad and it’s still going well!

Same day (18 days later), in the evening:

This is a photo of the entire bouquet, the whole vase. The other flowers are clearly not doing as well as the appreciated flower.

And here I took a photo upclose of the other daisies versus the daisy I flowed appreciation to.

I love this stuff! I love how words and emotions affect us and we can even play these energy games like this!

So much fun.

The takeaway? Think, Talk, Act only on what you desire and what feels good! Feel good! That is always the bottom line. I loved this “energy experiment” because I didn’t babble about what is right and whether Dr. Masaru Emoto did the “correct” scientific procedures etc, it’s just something I did myself and I know how well it works! It gives me a lot of trust and peace in the Universe and knowing that this is where I want to be.

Happy Appreciating!

-Catt xxx

Why Can I Not Set a Goal For Others To Like Me?

April 10, 2014April 10, 2014Catt 1 Comment

“Pay no attention to the peanut gallery. Their compliments will draw you in. And then, their criticism will later kill you.” -Abraham Hicks, August 2012 Alaskan Cruise Workshop

I absolutely love when Abraham uses the term “the peanut gallery.” It just cracks me up every single time. The image I get in my mind is walking through a beautiful white modern museum like the Getty and seeing a piece of work that is like a huge canvas studded with styrofoam peanuts in uniformity and patterns of waves, and several other canvases similarly hung up with peanuts (real, styrofoam, any kind) on them..that’s the peanut gallery I came up with the first time I heard it. The “peanut gallery” for those who don’t listen to Abraham as much as I have, is actually referring to the crowd – or anyone outside of you. Abraham often uses it in ways such as “you kind of have to ignore the peanut gallery” to refer to “not giving a rip of what others think of you.”

I think it’s fair to say that if you’ve been sifting through life (probably mostly modern society, anyone who would read/have access to blogs), you’ve probably been experiencing that uncomfortable gut-punching feeling of the peanut gallery’s disapproval throughout life. I know I certainly have, much more than I would like to, but I’m smiling at that thought now – it’s ok! 🙂 When I first started on my journey learning about the Law of Attraction, it kind of seemed bogus obviously, but also, I wondered, “well if thoughts become things then I just have to think of the guy I am in love with (shallowly but in love with) to fall madly in love with me and then it will happen!” And I knew on a basic level that that was not true, but I always wanted an explanation why. I think I’ve kind of got it down now, and I wish someone had laid it out for me 6 years ago when I started hearing about the Law of Attraction.

Most of the time they say like “well it’s just a rule – you can’t make someone fall in love with you” or “the Universe doesn’t like it when you dictate how; focus only on the end result” (to that I used to think, yeah? I’m not dictating how he will fall in love with me (my looks? my mind? my personality? my good-in-bed-ness? Go for whichever you want!) – just the end result that he will!). The idea of making others approve of you is the same concept – I can just imagine everyone liking me (and in my case I would always want to specify who) and then everyone will!

The situation can seem kind of complicated, and I want to lay my thoughts out here with this – on why setting a goal for others to like you is not a goal and not even something desirable.

Using Abraham’s concepts, life gets you to experience contrast and the contrast gets you to ask what you want and form desire. I used to think “I feel bad when this person disapproves of me, I know what I don’t want – I don’t want to feel cornered and the disapproval of this person. So what I DO want is to feel free by being approved by this person!” This is where we start hiding ourselves and telling lies to forcefully manipulate people see us a certain way when we’re just allowing others to manipulate us (by allowing their opinions to dictate how we behave) – the manipulator and the manipulated are of the same feather.

Well that’s not actually the contrast (not wanting the disapproval thus wanting the approval – this will keep the “I asked and it was not given, LOA doesn’t work” perpetuating over and over again). The contrast is that this person is seeing you in a way that is not the Truth about you, and you are agreeing with them on a level (that’s why we feel the need to defend and justify why we were right) which is why you feel bad.

The contrast really goes like this: “I feel bad when this person disapproves of me – this is something I do not want. What I do want is to not feel insecure when someone disapproves of me because I know so clearly who I am that the approval or disapproval of the peanut gallery doesn’t mean anything.” That is the “goal” I work on moving towards now. It’s not forcing myself to not care what others think – that just means you actually care a lot, but to go inside, go within and get curious about who I really am because clearly the disapproval I feel that is really the disapproval I have of myself is not in the direction of where I’m going and realize that it’s not the Truth, otherwise I wouldn’t feel bad. It takes a while to get there so it’s not like oh okay not the truth ha, I beat it! The willingness to be open to knowing the Truth is what takes me there faster. And I’m a pretty resilient person so I’m sure for some other people it would be even faster than it was for me.

The Truth is you are an amazing, perfect human being. The Truth is you have unique gifts to give to this world because only you have been through your particular perspective, so only you can give that gift you’re here to give. We usually can accept the latter through logic, but the first one is the one where we get hung up on and try to affirm things we don’t really believe in. I would say it takes a bit of a leap of faith to trust that we are truly creators and that nothing is wrong about us (and it was just some plain ol’ conditioning that made us endorse in that idea), but from my own experience, whenever I set the intention to remember this Truth about myself, I am carried to the point where I know of my perfect and things I desire are created seamlessly in my life.

xx,
Catt

The First “Thing” I Consciously But “Undeliberately” Manifested

March 24, 2014March 26, 2014Catt Leave a comment

I’m hoping at this point most people are familiar with The Law of Attraction, but on a day to day basis I actually still run into tons of people who don’t know it never heard of it “the what?”..most people, when I explain it to them, accept it. For me I was like whaaat? But even people who accept it don’t really accept it if they’re not living it. So crash course, Law of Attraction is like attracts like; that which is like itself is drawn unto itself, birds of a feather flock together, the better it gets the better it gets…”Thoughts that are vibrationally similar to one another are drawn magnetically to one another through the powerful Law of Attraction” (Hicks Loc 1793). This law was recently popularized (well…6-8 years ago recent) by the movie “The Secret” produced by Rhonda Byrne and it was sold to look like this was some magic wand we use to manipulate the universe to give us the material objects we want, which is what many people tried and “failed” and thus concluded that there is no such thing. Well, there is, it’s a matter of awareness..but that’s for another day. I wanted to share the first thing I personally manifested – it was not deliberate but it was the first thing I was very aware of and the first conscious “proof” I had of the Law of Attraction from manifesting a material object.

I had just arrived in Italy and I was roaming around Milan on the first day near Naviglio and I saw this store that was closed with mugs that had carp on them, and then a quote in Italian. I understood zero Italian so I didn’t know what the quote said. It looked very zen and pretty, and from that day I decided I wanted to have a mug that had an Italian quote on it, and I wanted to be able to understand it when I got it without using google translate.

Every day after classes I would roam around Milan nearby for at least half an hour. And during this time I would be reminded that I was looking for a mug with a special quote in Italian on it, but I was never attached to finding it right away – there were mugs I could use and I knew that I had three months to find the mug so it was never a pressing issue. But I did spend time thinking about it every day, and I had no resistance on not finding it, nor did I think any limiting thoughts about it.

Literally two weeks after my first thought about the mug when I was roaming around Naviglio that first day, my manifestation showed up as a gift from my host mother. She had done a huge grocery shopping trip and picked me up a buongiorno mug with a quote from Bob Marley on it in Italian, and she said when she saw it she immediately thought of me and bought it for me. I didn’t make the
connection until the next day where I was roaming around after lessons and realized I had received what I was looking for! I was so grateful and happy. It was just a mug but I had never consciously created something in this way before..it was also quite specific so it wasn’t something like “I want to manifest a leaf on the sidewalk,” so I knew for sure as proof that it was something I consciously created.
Catts buongiorno mug

Fantastically, things started happening and manifesting more and more after that..my gratitude and appreciation for Life soared and things were manifesting on demand. That was when I had a very “clean” mind..but really it all starts somewhere.

I encourage people who have never done this kind of stuff before to set an intention to manifest something small like I did that you won’t be attached to (don’t be attached to PROVING the Law of Attraction either). Some people are amazing with it and get it right away. Some people will take a while longer or find inspiration in another post they read or a book…but it’s great to start!

Some guidelines, though they are not necessary, that made this manifestation happen with ease:

I had a very specific “thing” I wanted to manifest and intended it (let the desire out into the ethers!)
I had no resistance to receiving it – I knew I would get it I did not think it would be impossible or anything like that
Every day some of the air time my thoughts had were spent on it because I walked around a lot
I had zero attachment to how it would show up or when it would show up
I had a solid knowing it would show up – certainty of the outcome

Happy Manifesting!
– Catt xxx

References
Abraham, Esther Hicks, and Jerry Hicks. The Law of Attraction: The Basics of the Teachings of Abraham. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, 2006. Print.

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