Born To Run, a Mushroom Burger, and a Fruit-Nut Salad for a Calm Mind

Here's the title of the book: BORN TO RUN: A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes, and the Greatest Race the World has never seen. I really appreciate that title, as my books have really long titles/subtitles. It's like: You want to get it all in.

The book is so interesting that when Baby, one of the dogs, woke me at 3 a.m., I got up to read some more. There's a See inside this book function with quite a lot of text (at amazon). (This is totally unsolicited. I found the book yesterday because I was overwhelmed with the desire to go out running again in the afternoon, and it was drenching rain, so I decided to look for something on running, to redirect all the energy to my mind, and I found this book.)

This wonderful group of people - the Raramuri [there's an accent aigu over the second a] use a lot of cactus juice, albeit in the form of tequila; although they have another drink that doesn't appear to be alcohol, with one of the two ingredients being cactus. ~*~

Extra blessings to Duke today.

Okay. On to food:

Carrot-Mushroom Burger

Carrots*
Mushrooms, Baby Bello
Garlic*
Bok Choy
Red Onions
Celery
Flaxseed Oil

Blend the carrots and garlic together, and then throw in the mushrooms. This could be dehydrated in the sun, only it was pouring rain yesterday. So just press into burger shape and top the greens with it, then top with onion sliced really thin. The onion may be marinated first in the refrigerator in the Flaxseed Oil.


Calming Fruit Salad

Rhubarb Chard*
Strawberries
Prickly Pear*
Papaya*
Walnuts*

I'm using the term 'calming' instead of anti-inflammatory as I think it gives a more healing feeling. Our bodies need calming just as our minds do; and a calm mind calms the body.

The book is: BORN TO RUN, Super Athletes, and the Greatest Race the World has never Seen (His title is as long as mine are. You just want to get all the germane facts right up there on the cover. The rest of the title of A RADIANT LIFE is Raw Food and the Presence of Love; and YOU ARE LOVED AND SAFE which is almost out has a title even longer than BORN TO RUN, a book that is so fascinating to me that when one of the dogs woke me at 3 a.m., I got up to read some more for about an hour.) One thing about this tribe of super athletes is that they drink a lot of cactus juice (albeit transmuted into tequila). However, they have another drink of it that doesn't seem to be alcohol.

Okay, now on to food:

Carrot Mushroom Burger and Calming Fruit Salad

I think calming is a more healing term than anti-inflammatory. Kind of like: "Peace, be still." -- to pain, and all suffering. I've not had that thought before, that

Running with the Deer

Wow! I feel so good. This is not unusual when fasting, however this Good is even better than the usual good. I've started running again. Haven't really run in a few years. Have even been running in the heavy rain we've had. And today, reading this book on amazon, (I'll put the name in later), I'm having this overwhelming desire to marathon run, to run with the deer (a story my stepson told me about 38 years ago, about a man who saw a herd of deer running, and began to run with them. He ran with the deer all day!

That's what made me originally want to run long distances and marathons. I'm not a good runner, hating track in elementary school. And I was a heavy smoker for 13 years. And suddenly, I just know I can be. Don't know if it's the cactus juice, the fasting, the constant connecting with God ... I just feel so good.

Trusting that the unseen Good is there/here. And, at what level are foods, colors, fragrances, healing our minds, while the body follows mind's lead?

The breakthrough hasn't evidenced again, and yet it has left me in an entirely different mindset, having seen again (and it's been a long time) that Sarah is right there where the imposter with autism appears. Not only right there, but able to be entirely differently. Not only did she do something she'd never done; she also woke the next morning, still in that space, telling me about a dream that was about something she's never dreamed before. I'm not really into dreams; it's just that this was so ordinary and so startling, and such a happy thing.

Life with autism is like walking a tightrope, and pretty extraordinary. ... And it has taught me incredible balance.

This imposter idea came up with Charis, (my God-granddaughter) when she was little and spent lots of time with us, as I took care of her. She'd get into a mood if she didn't get her way about something and would get mean. It came to me one day to say: "Little girl, do You know where Charis is?" She looked at me big-eyed, like I'd lost my marbles. I continued: "She looks a lot like You, but with a sweet expression on her face. She's even wearing clothes like yours! Can You help me find her?"

Without a word, she'd get up and go into another room, only to come bouncing back all smiles, saying happily: "Charis is back!"

She was about two years old the first time, and we did this scene many times over her early years. What a marvel it was, and so much fun, and she never failed to get off it. I had to take the est training to learn how to do that!

Charis' presence was very healing for Sarah, as her second regression (pesticide-caused) into autism came shortly after Charis was born. Sarah was quite wild, frequently. Charis and I would pray when this occurred. One day, during an episode, Charis, who spoke very little at the time, sweetly said: "Don't cwy Wawa, I wuv You." Sarah immediately got quiet and went back to exercising. I can still hear that little healing voice.

Love is certainly the healer.

Here are the ingredients:

Red Beets*
Golden Beets*
Red Onions*
Boy Choy
Spinach*
Lentil Sprouts*
Dandelion Flowers and Stalks
Curry Powder*
Kale Rabe [This name is my invention, as far as I know, for the seed stalks that come on kale and collard plants]
Light Sprouts [Sarah's name for the sprouts that look like alfalfa or clover, etc., as opposed to 'heavier' sprouts like mung beans, lentils, black beans, etc.]
Flaxseed Oil (and could be Hempseed Oil or Extra Virgin Olive Oil).


Avocado
Prickly Pear* (Citrus: orange, lemon, lime, tangerine, etc. can be used if prickly pear is unavailable.)
Rhubarb Chard*
Tomatoes
Dandelion Flowers


Rhubarb Chard*
Baby Lambsquarters* (wild green)
Red Onions
Lentil Sprouts*
Kale Rabe
Flaxseed or Hempseed Oil

A variation would be to add raw walnuts or pecans in place of the lentil sprouts. And some butternut squash would go well, and be visually pleasing too.


Romaine Lettuce
Red Onion
Baby Bello Mushrooms
Grape Tomatoes
Light Sprouts
Flaxseed Oil

Several years ago, I got this strong craving for the Baby Bella Mushrooms (has become Bello to distinguish from Portabella I guess). When we'd go to Whole Foods, I'd buy two boxes and have one and a half eaten before I got home. Sarah would sit in the car commenting that I was eating them like candy, and I was. I couldn't get enough of them. This went on for about eight months! I ate a small fortune in mushrooms, and then I'd had enough.

So maybe they are like the shitake, also anti-in.flammatory? And sometimes I wonder if there is more to certain foods being helpful for us. I'm not sure I have the words for this, and it feels like there's more to it than consumption and use. Suppose things that have taste and fragrance and beauty also have a song of healing music for us? Suppose these plant foods felt to be healing for our ailments, are actually healing on another level, not the body, but the mind?

Suppose the colors awaken something dormant in us, and their song soothes what we call our soul. Perhaps the lovely tastes encourage us? Is fresh food that is satisfying, satisfying needs we didn't even know we had, reminders of wonderful things long lost and forgotten?

Interesting ideas and inspiration abound when fasting.

Here's my current juice:

Tangerine Juice
Papaya, garlic and hot pepper juice added to the tangerine. And as a treat, some strawberry juice too.

The color is as pleasing as the taste.

Three Beautiful Meals and a big Breakthrough

Prickly Pear*
Papaya* [Note: I like using the papayas when the outside is mostly green, with a little yellow. If You're shopping at an Indian Store where they sell green papayas, they don't usually ripen, at least for me, and aren't sweet; they are, however, very high in enzymes, which is good. In A Radiant Life (our book)there's a 'pizza' crust recipe using the pulp from making green papaya juice. We kneaded it with tahini (before finding out that commercial tahini isn't really raw), and it actually looked like a white dough pizza. It was pretty funny. We topped it with sun-dried tomato sauce and I think sliced summer squash.]
Bok Choy
Dandelion greens
Dandelion flowers
Avocado or walnuts

Although I didn't notice Sarah reading what I wrote above, as she is doing cross-pattern exercise right now, she just asked me if it could be made with macadamia nuts ground to a butter, instead of tahini. I'm wondering how she read this from the angle she's at? She's right though.


Golden beets*
Lentil sprouts* homegrown always, easy and inexpensive
Avocado (nuts or sunflower seeds would work well too)
Curry powder*
Spring mix
Rejuvelac

Dandelion Flowers
Papaya*
Prickly pear*
Avocado
Cherry tomatoes
Rhubarb chard*
Spring mix (I think I mentioned this was on the sale table at Stop and Shop: Organic Spring Mix, 1 lb. boxes, for $1.99 I'm so grateful for bargains.

I find the more I check in with God, the more harmonious things become. (That isn't always obvious when dealing with an autism meltdowns! ... Wow. ... Something is working here. Sarah, who has been over the top difficult, suddenly stopped her exercise to hug and kiss me and repeat over and over "I love You"; that's a first. Sitting here stunned. The occasional hug and I love You, but kisses?? Wow.
,
Is it my fasting, the a-i food and juice, the supplements that the cactus juice biochemist suggested yesterday? (methyl B12 [in the past the shots made no difference], methyfolate, P5P pyridoxal 5 phosphate or active B6, and methionine.

We've had a giant breakthrough before while I was fasting and praying ... and we just took the supplements last night for the first time. Wow ... (I tend to say that over and over when I'm stunned by something really good.

One of Sarah's junior high teachers said years ago: "There are no false highs." So any glimpse of good can become a permanent fact.

Wow.

Beautiful Promises of Healing

Before more meal pictures and recipes, I want to share these two verses with anyone who might be having a hard day (as yesterday was here) and extra-specially for parents of people with autism. We are not alone, ever. Our help is ever-present. As parents most of us have certainly felt we needed help, where humanly there seemed to be none. And yet, look below. The Love of God is always present. If we're here, so is Love.

Just look at the rose above, resting gently on the hydrangea. You are more beautiful to Love than even that rose, and so cherished.

Isaiah 41:17 "The afflicted and needy are seeking water, but there is none, And their tongue is parched with thirst; I, the LORD, will answer them Myself, As the God of Israel I will not forsake them.

Isaiah 44:3 For I will pour out water on the thirsty land And streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring And My blessing on your descendants;

p.s. I inadvertently added myself as a follower, and can't seem to get it off, so if anyone has any suggestions, please email me or post here. I will get the hang of this!

Hempseed Curry and Dandelions and Aloe and Lambsquarters

HEMPSEED CURRY

First comment: hemp does not get You high! And it is just delicious. We make the seed into hemp butter, and it's this interesting green color.

Rhubarb chard*
Golden chard*
Cauliflower*
Rejuvelac*
Sprouts, light ones, alfalfa etc.
Hemp butter, homemade
Curry powder*, Frontier

DANDELIONS



This morning, bringing out the yard trimmings, I inspected the dandelions up close, and look at those magenta stems. Think they've got betalains? I do! Computer research time.

ALOE

And thank You to Stephanie, who is a fountain of useful information, on Jean Genet's autism list for pointing out that aloe is anti-inflammatory. Interestingly Sarah's been asking for it, so today I'm adding a shot of cactus juice and some aloe to her water.

LAMBSQUARTERS


Our favorite wild green any way. Look at all those beautiful baby plants!