Beet Root Powder

I finally ground the dehydrated beet pulp. Why buy beet root powder when you can make your own? All you need is the dried pulp and a grinder. I used my Nutribullet grinding attachment but a coffee or spice grinder will probably work just fine. I gave it a try this mornig. I put 1 tablespoon of the powder in my waffle mix. The batter was pink. I expected pink waffles. Didn’t happen. They were regular waffles . The beet flavor was barelty noticeable. The waffles tasted good. Results were nutrition boosted waffles.

I Just Don’t Understand

One year ago today a group of people attacked the US Capitol in the name of patriotism. Capitol police were assaulted and Congressional members were endangered. During that time messages came from those members that their lives were in jeopardy. We saw real time images of the attack. Had the assaulters been Islamic it would have been called a terrorist attack. If they had been black, well let’s just say there would have been more immediate arrests and deaths. It was an insurrection and was called such until some high level GOPers characterized it as a tour. I’ve been to the Capitol and the tour never included destruction of the windows, offices or attacking officers. 700 have been prosecuted and more are scheduled. Yet, 71% of the Republicans are reported to still resist the Presidency and don’t believe what they saw with their own eyes. I just don’t understand.

We have always had political disagreement. We have had riots and peaceful protests. But never this. At least not in my lifetime. I thought the atrocities of the Civil Rights movements or the mass shootings would be the worst I would see. An attempted coup on US soil I never thought would happen much less see.

Realize the HOPE

We are into the second day of 2022. Tell me, what has changed since December 31, 2021. I know some of you will say nothing and in some ways you are correct but there is an element that January 2022 has that December 2021 lost. There was an expectation leading up to midnight January 1, 2022. There were comments made among people everywhere that expressed “better is coming”. It sounded like, “I will be glad when this year is over.” “I can’t wait until January 1.” “I can’t wait until midnight.” There was an expectation. There was hope. Yes, HOPE.

We all HOPE things will be better. However, it just won’t happen. We have to make things better. We have to do what is best for humanity not an institution, not a political party, not a corporation, not a government entity. We have to do what is right and best for mankind. If we once again realize that the things I do to make your life better will actually make my life better, maybe, just maybe we will make things better. For you Christians reading this I would like to remind you that Yeshua (Jesus) instructed us to love our neighbor as ourselves. He used the story of the Good Samaritan to show that everyone is our neighbor and being a good neighbor requires a willingness to do more than take care of ourselves or people ethnically like us or people of the same faith. If you missed it or don’t know the story it is the despised Samaritan who was the compassionate one, the good neighbor. The political and religious leader stepped over the person in need. Which are you?

The Christian behavior in this country,especially in the last few years, is so far from Yeshua’s teachings and examples that a new name should be applied to it. There is no Christ-likeness. Where is the love for those with whom you disagree? Where is the love for those who may not believe as you do?Where is the love for those whose lifestyle does not conform to what you believe is God’s law? Let’s be honest. Our present Christian behavior doesn’t either. We need to get back to the Judaic basics of our beliefs. If nothing else we Christians need to get back to the 10 Commandments. That was what Yeshua taught. and lived. That’s what Paul taught the non-Jewish believers without requiring them to convert to Orthodx Judaism and lived before them. We need to obey them instead of requiring other people that never said they were believers in the first place to obey them. I am sure the other faith belief systems have a comparable tenet. So treat people right even if you disagree with them. or they are not like you. We were not commissioned to be judges but examples.

Only then can we realize the HOPE. Only then will 2022 be better than 2021. I remember when I was a child the admonishment to “do unto others what you would have them do unto you” was a powerful guiding force for decision-making. I’d ask myself before I said something or did something, would you want that done to you? If the answer was No then I likely didn’t do it. Now I did have moments of anger where I ignored myself but typically, I listened. We should start asking ourselves would we want to be treated the way we are treating others. Change our society by caring for each other. Realize the HOPE.

Loss Replaced With Better

I was so excited about getting the great results of beet and celery juicing. I began to plan for other juice meals and then……

Silence. My Caynel Masticating Juicer stopped. I thought it had over heated. I waited. Turned the switch. Silence. I tried again. Silence. My juicer died. Of course the warranty had expired. It was laid to rest last night in the dumpster.

Now I await the arrival of my new juicer. Didn’t plan to spend that much money on a juicer but it is my medication provider. It cost about 4x as much as the other. I will let you know if it provides 4x the quality.

It is my expectation that the loss will be replaced with better.

More Veggie Juice Bounty

This will be a short one. More of the pulp was refrigerated so I put the pulp in the dehydrator. I will grind it and make a powder that can be used in smoothies and soups. I might even sprinkle the powder on salds and tyr making salad dressings. So much to experiment with.

Beet, Celery, Carrot Pulp Galore

As you can imagine making fresh vegetable juice everyday yields a lot of pulp. I can’t imagine throwing it away. So what do I do with it all. My first thought was veggie patties. I looked around at different recipes and decided to use a variation of my veggie patty. I put the beet pulp, carrot pulp, celery pulp, shitake/portobello mushrooms in my food processor along with sunflower seeds, onion powder, garlic powder, organic liquid smoke, chilli flakes, flaxseed eggs and salt. I formed this mixture into patties and put them in the dehydrator for 12 hours. The reul

The results are reasonably firm and soft in the center. I need more of a binding agent so I will try chia seed egg or oatmeal the next time. This is my first try. They turned out well. Tasted okay but I need to add more seasonings. When I get the amount figured out I can share a recipe. But for now know I used 2 cups of the beet, carrot, celery pulp combinations and 2 cups of shitake/protabello mushroom blend, 1 1/2 cup of sunflower seeds. The rest was to taste or as they say in my family until it feels right. 🙂

Daya 6 & 7: The Battle is Won

Seven days ago I engaged in a battle with my Blood Pressure. I was determine to defeat this adversary with natural means. I had tried several different pharmaceuticals prescribed by my primary care provider and my cardiologist. My doctors’ felt the side affects to them were out weighed by the decrease in my pressure. However, I was the one feeling those side effects. All but one made me extremely ill. The one that was tolerable wasn’t as effective. I stopped taking them. I researched the vegetable and herb world to find answers to my situation. I found beets decreased the blood pressure quickly. I also found a herbal tea that reported decreasing blood pressure. On last Sunday I began. Three hours after drinking 8 oz of fresh non-pasteurized beet juice my pressure had dropped 20mmHg units. I was hopeful. You can read the details in the preceding posts.

My “beginning the day” blood pressure was always less than it had been the day before. The last two days I have had measurements in the 120/80 -ish range in the late afternoon. This morning, I drank 12oz of a combination juice of beet, celery, carrot and apple. At about 5pm I took my pressure and it was 122/71. This will be my daily prescription for my blood pressure along with potassium and magnesium tablets and a decrease in salt intake. I will continue to try to reduce my stress and increase my exercise. This is my self-care plan. I am making an appointment with the cardiologist. I expect that will be a positive visit, except for the stress test I have to take. 🙂 I am not a doctor or a medical expert. I can only share my experience. If this appeals to you, discuss it with your doctor and give it a try.

I am continuing the war of taking care of my body on all levels. I still have difficulty prioritizing myself but I am getting better. My next battle is returning to the weight and dietary practice pre-quarantine. I liked how I felt and I like how I looked. Seventy is my new 40. I am going to get there. It took 18 months to get here, so I know it will not happen over night. First order is to get back into the habit of making my raw food that needs to be dehydrated in a timely manner.

Next experiment is making veggie burger patties with the pulp from the beets and celery. Hope they taste as good as the juice.

Day 4: Self Care: Not So Easy

Self Care. That’s what I was told I needed to do. But just like a doctor telling a patient to eat right without an eating plan or what eating right looks like, telling me I needed to self care without offering a plan or what it should look like. I know the admonishments were for my good and they meant well but sometimes you just can’t get a handle on what you are suppose to do to correct your situation. My eldest gave me a massage treatment gift and it was wonderful. If my budget allows I may make it a monthly or bi-monthly thing. That alone is just a bandaid. To alleviate the source of my issues more must be done. I am returning to our raw eating plan, at least 90%. I made scheduling my day to get at least 6 hours of restful sleep. I am taking breaks after each major activity. I am EXERCISING. All of these are necessary for my self care. Yet, I haven’t figured out how to relieve the stress. It’s as if the release valve on my pressure cooker is stuck and releases the pressure too slow. The main source of my stress is not going away so I have to find a way to unstick the valve.

I am told self care means making yourself a priority. I get that but how do you accomplish that when something else has a higher priority , time wise, over the course of the day and you are exhausted at the end of the day. There is little energy left for self care. I am trying to create a plan that takes care of my responsibilities and place myself high on the list as well. It is not as easy as it sounds. I trust God to guide me.

After I finished the with the tags, the two thought came to me, that self care was doing what makes you feel good in addition to all the above stated healthy things. The other was self care stems from self love.What makes me feel good? What gives me the most joy? What could I do all day and enjoy even after I get tired? Thanks Lord. How do I weave it into my day? I have always struggled with loving myself. Or at least showing love to myself in a tangible way. This is the war I have to win. It is time. The struggle has gone on too long. Silence the negative voices in my head and replace them with the few positive thing said. Most of all replace them with the two most powerful voices in my life. Mine and the Lord’s. He said a lot of positive things about me. I am the negative one. I have to come to agreement with God. I embrace me. I have said this before but now is the time I need to stick with it until it manifest and the voices are silenced. This is the best care I can give to myself. Everything else will fall in line. Thanks Chef Babette for the inspiration.

Day 3: Caregivers Don’t Ignore The Signs

Thirty Percent of Caregivers Die Before The People They Care For Do. Rough statistics show that 30% of caregivers die before those they are caring for. Some studies show deaths higher. Illness that doesn’t lead to death is rampant, as well – depression and auto-immune diseases are high on the list.
Thirty Percent of Caregivers Die Before The People They Care …

I heard this in passing several years ago and I wondered how that could be or why. After all, the caregivers are not sick. Now I understand. After being my husband’s primary caregiver for the last six years I can clearly see it. You don’t see the toll it takes on your body or mind but others see. You know you don’t feel 100% but you just chalk it up to being tired and keep going. This person is depending on you. So you push on to get it done.

Recently I have had to come to terms with the behavior that might have killed me. I am in no hurry to be in that 30%. The blood pressure opened my eyes but if I have paid more attention to me sooner, I never would have gotten here. So what could I have done. Simply prioritize my needs. I ignored my pains. I ignored my lack of sleep. I ignored my moments of depression. I ignored body’s cry for rest, mental and physical. I had warnings of what this stress was doing to me but of course I ignored them. I wasn’t going for the strongest woman award or affirmation from others. I had just put myself so far on the back burner. My needs didn’t seem as important. I was wrong and if you are doing this, you are too.

Caregivers don’t ignore tyourself.

Don’t ignore he stress.

Don’t ignore the signs.

BP update: 159/95 7:30am 8oz Beet Juice 11:35am 154/100 5:30pm 143/86 after .5 ml CBD oil

Day 2 How I Got Here

Some of you know that my husband and I began a raw vegan/vegan lifestyle in 2017. It was prescribed by Dr. Baxter Montgomery to treat hubby’s cardiac problems. This is a very curative dietary lifestyle. So how did I end up battling high blood pressure. To explain that I have to go back to pre-Covid quarantine.

I made all our food from scratch. I bought veggies and fruit in their original, natural state and prepared our dishes with extremely minimal processing. Hubby got stronger. Arthritis pain decreased for both of us. We had more energy. Eventually, I was showing signs of fatigue from all the work and not enough rest. It takes time. Dr. Montgomery noticed I was tired and told me I didn’t have to prepare everything from scratch. There were some things I could buy already prepared. Looking back on it I think he meant something different than I understood. I began to purchase prepared vegan food. I read the labels and bought what was closest to what I would have prepared. That was the beginning of the slippery slope. A few non-related things added to my stress and fatigue level. That lead to the next step down.

Second, I was introduced to the Impossible Burger and the Beyond Burger. They’re plant-based right? They were tasty and convenient. They were also processed and high in sodium. Now in moderation they may not have been bad but when you are tired and hungry you go for the quick fixes. I purchased the patties and the sausages from the market. Then Burger King began selling Impossible Burgers. Oh, I forgot. Red Robin sold veggie burgers and they were near our home. On those days,they had become frequent, that cooking was harder than buying, I purchased from the restaurants. They are plant based right? A more than moderate diet of these with fries combined with steady doses of high stress leads to problems. This was not every meal but it was more than I should have done, The majority of this activity was during the quarantine. Our daily walks ended. So no excercise. Now I don’t have anything against those products but they are not my family’s friend. Now that I am in this battle, they are forever off my list of things to eat. In fact I am trying to get rid of all processed food. If you are having similar problems I recommend eliminating processed foods even if they are plant-based. Read the labels.

Today I awaken with a blood pressure of 155/102 and HR 61. This was 30mmHg lower than I began yesterday. Cardio for 16 minutes. 4oz of beet juice. Wanted to see if that had a similar effect as did 8oz. I had a stressful day. Husband seems to have Covid symptoms. At 3:59 blood pressure was 150/94 HR 74. At 7:30 148/97 HR 73. Drank 8 oz of freash celery juice. 10pm 167/101 HR 69. It seems celery juice is not as effective as the beet juice. At least not with me. Tomorrow return to 8os of beet juice but the celery juice will be included as well. I am determined to find the correct combination for me.

NOTE: Last night I took magnesium before I went to bed along with CBD infused tea. I felt so rested when I woke up. Hadn’t felt that in a long time. I am trying it tonight with the magnesium only. Hopefully it will also lower my blood pressure tonight.