Day 35 - Namaste.

Namaste: a greeting which reminds us that our highest potential lies in the realm of no ego. Let us meet in that place.

- Namaste TV

I have been having so much fun doing yoga today. I don't know why I stopped doing it for so many years. I especially love doing it to Namaste TV show. It's very challenging and calming. The show is also so well done; the sceneries are breathtaking! My forward folds are improving day by day! :)

I basically slept most of the day away today; working overnights on weekends has a way of catching up with me. Total zombie day. I've been spending a lot of time reading raw blogs. I can't wait to get started on my raw cooking adventure! I'm so psyched! I also know that I have a newfound patience and love for myself; one that will be more forgiving if I have a piece of cooked food here and there. I'm going to look at it as an opportunity to slowly evolve into being 100% raw. My mistake in the past was to think about it as an "all or nothing" thing. I caved and had cooked butternut squash (not the most unhealthful cooked food one can have, really!) and then gave up on raw altogether. Not this time :)

I've also been thinking about "feast breaking". I can't think of a very 'zen' place in Ottawa to do this... (any suggestions?). I was thinking the Montreal biodome would be a great spot. The zen garden at the Montreal botanical garden will probably still be closed given mid April will still be really cold. :( I also think spending a week in NYC would be AWESOME... I'd love to go to Sarma's restaurant.... but it would suck to go and only be able to eat prunes LOL! Maybe this is best saved for post-feast breaking. If anyone has good ideas about nice spots to break my juice feast (on day 92), please let me know. :) Ottawa or Montreal options preferred! :)

Today I had:

250ml water+slippery elm
1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/kale/watercress+E3live+kelp
750ml blood orange juice
750ml 'summery juice' (see previous post)
250ml American saffron tea
1tbsp bee pollen
1tbsp coconut oil

Today I also did:

Skin brushing
Mini-enema (bulb)
1 hour of yoga
msm lotion

That's all for me! Colonic tomorrow! Can't wait! :) I leave you with this intro to the Namaste episode that I've been doing for the last few days.



Isn't it so beautiful and calming? It's only missing cute yoga boys! :)

- Ben

Day 20 - Ben's msm lotion

Neeta asked me to share my secret msm lotion with her. It's not actually patented (see day 19) ;) ... I was just being cute! So here it is:

*Quick reminder to read the disclaimer at the bottom of the page*

Place 1/4 cup of coconut oil/butter in a small cup and leave it out for 30 minutes to soften a wee bit. Add 1tsp of almond oil. Place a metal spoon under running hot water and start to 'mash' the almond oil into the coconut oil. It's okay if a bit of hot water goes into the mixture; it'll help everything blend in. At this point you can start to sprinkle 1tsp of msm. You want to to sprinkle a bit, mix everything, sprinkle a bit more, mix some more and so on and so forth until all the msm has been combined. Try to mold the mixture into a ball (with the use of the spoon and the cup) and place it back into the refrigerator so it can harden. When it's time to go to bed, crack off a small piece and rub it into the affected areas... the coconut oil will melt into it and help the msm penetrate the psoriasis lesions.

The first time you do this, it may burn a wee bit...but this won't happen the second time around. Also, the day after using the msm lotion, the psoriasis lesions will look worse than they were the day before. The next day, however, they will look much better. I use this every 2-3 days. I would highly suggest waiting until a week or two into the juice feast before using this; wait for the juice feast to heal the cracked skin... I wouldn't apply this on any open wounds (often caused by psoriasis). Coconut oil on its own is fine to apply to these regions, however and will help tremendously.

**Don't forget; you have to heal from the inside out. Psoriasis is an outside manifestation of problems with the colon and the liver. Focus on nourishing and detoxing your body before relying on topical treatments.**

Today was mega grocery shopping day. One week of juice feasting cost me 180$ this week. Ouch! My mom was sweet though, she paid for my 10 young coconuts (20$) that I bought in Chinatown. I also bought a new 'state of the art' skin brush! haha! It has a long handle that is also detachable. The brush itself comes with a strap; when you detach the handle, you can hold the brush in your palm, with the help of the strap, and brush, brush, brush! The one I had was kind of tiny and had no handle...it was time to upgrade! :)

Today I had:

750ml water
750ml water+lemon+msm
1L celery/black kale+kelp
1L cantaloupe
1.1L Orange/Carrot
500ml water
1L Apple/Kale+spirulina+bee pollen+hemp seed oil
500ml water

Tons of water today! I had this dream today where my fish was ecstatic that I had changed the water in its tank. I wonder if that's my subconscious trying to tell me I should drink more water? :)

I can't believe it's day 20! I feel soooo happy about reaching a juice feasting milestone. It's encouraging because I'm telling myself that I'm so close to day 30 which is 1/3 of the way there. I can do this! I'm more and more certain that I'll be converting to raw veganism after this juice feast. Definitely 80% raw. And I know that I'll continue to drink green juices in the morning. Definitely will continue to drink a celery per day. :)

That's all for now :)

- Ben

PS: Random craving of the day...cashews! I almost turned into the incredible hulk when I saw a bag of them at Shopper's DM. I used to loooove Cashews but they always gave me a reaction similar to lactose intolerance; cramping, bloating, diarrhea. I loved them nonetheless........ maybe juice feasting will cure this bizarre intolerance! I hope! :)