Clean your gut!

OK so alot of you have been asking about the colonic situation. Oh yeah it is so necessary. If you eat meat, for sure there is undigested residue blocking your path. If you are raw then you need a colonic to remove the toxins that you are ridding your body of. If you are somewhere in between, it is still needed because what happens is food stays in your large intestine and the longer it hangs out, the more the water evaporates and it gets HARDER. Not only does a colonic put water in those dry crevasses, it hydrates the area and flushes the crap out. literally...smile. My colonic therapist is Margaret Shepard. 813 254 8882 Please tell her Grass Root sent you. she has been doing colonics for over 20 years. She is a sweetie.

If your tummy is big and you think that you don't even eat that much ( i hear this all the time) then you probably could benefit from a colonic. Everyone needs it period. That is my take on the situation.
Peace, Sabrina

constipated blogger

I have had blogger constipation. As with the "real" constipation, blogger constipation has ties with the emotions. I dont feel emotional, but I guess that I am. When someone has constipation, they should purge and the "crap" that is in the gut, which is also the emotional core, should feel relief. Well I know how to take care of "real" constipation, but blogger constipation is new to me. I have to figure out how to purge blogger style. When I do, I am sure that I will have alot flowing out! :) Talk to ya soon, Sabrina

The Oncology Clinic

With a strange twist of events, I am right now in the oncology clinic in the hospital. In the distance I can hear, what I know is an old man, talking to a very upbeat hospital employee. The employee is talking very loudly and clearly. I cant control myself, I just have to see what these people look like. Really I want to see what the old man looks like. He is very frail, tall and his emotional tone is high. It seems odd that he is this upbeat because he is talking about starting his chemotherapy today. The hospital employee keeps pace with him and is equally upbeat. I realize how important it is for him to be up tone because of the nature of this clinic alone.

I imagine that I would be terrified if I were in his position. I try to put myself there, kind of. The first thing I think about is naturally raw food. I reflect on the many people that I have met in Grass Root that have rid there bodies of cancer through raw food and alternative health methods. At least 15 people, I am sure. True heroes that I know. I make a mental note that they all have great attitudes. When they come in Grass Root they are cool and calm and they talk about their past experiences and I question them a lot. I do feel that they have a certain inner strength that I guess comes from kicking cancers ass and staying raw to keep it away.

Recently, I have been spending some time in the hospital and my appointment is never in the oncology clinic. It is in the womens clinic, but today the doctor is working out of the oncology clinic. So I am inclined to think about my friend and the 17 year old son that really has to be here.

When I was looking for the registration desk, I walked passed a room that had several chairs. Each chair had it’s own machine next to it. Some of the chairs were occupied. The chemicals were being pumped into their veins. In that moment I promised myself that if I were ever in that situation, I would choose alternative methods to treat myself. But it is such mind twist because one never knows when confronted with their immortality what drives their decisions. My vote is a quote from the late great Dr. Ann Wigmore, “Living foods create living bodies!”

Sabrina

Raw Food and Cancer

I learn new things everyday. Sometimes good and sometimes bad. Recently it was bad. A friend of mine has a son that was diagnosed with cancer. It is a type of sarcoma and the boy is 17 years old. My friend is aware of what food can do and I spent time telling her what I know to be true. To make a long story short, she was told that if she did not consent to the chemotherapy, she would loose custody of the child and they would get a court order against her and administer the chemo anyway. It would be easy to be outraged about something like this, but more on the human side, it is just sad. Because if you believe that chemo is the wrong choice for you and you want to heal with alternative meathods, and you are being forced to do what you believe to be counter-productive, then you feel helpless. Hands tied, and what a terrible position to be in as a parent. How afraid I would be, seemingly unable to think the process through for fear of what the outcome might be. A sure burden on top of the burden of knowing that the situation is out of your control. Anyway, I support.

Sabrina

The Blues About Going Green

I am so excited about going green. There is an association that governs those going green, but they want $700 a year...great organization...cost is way too high for me! So we want to conserve more than we already do. Waste is not something that we do. But our old Styrofoam began to make me feel sick when I just looked at it. It has been a little difficult sourcing biodegradable products, but I have found some pretty good deals. Of course it is more expensive, but so worth it, the price is could not dissuade me. I really wanted to just throw away the Styrofoam and buy new stuff, but throwing away Styrofoam is a large part of what makes me sick. Giving it to someone is the same thing, because eventually it will end up in the landfills anyway. So it gave me a feeling like I just cant get rid of this crap, it is like a nightmare. It will be here long after I am gone. That makes me sad. Especially when I think about how many millions of Styrofoam products are discarded daily. Also the number of new products produced daily that are made of Styrofoam.
It is soooo cheap to buy, but does so much damage it is disheartening to say the least. Well, we gave it to Metropolitan Ministries and bought all new biodegradable to go containers. We have not been able to find a container for hot soup yet. Cleaning products, no problem. Napkins easy. So, let me touch on the City of Tampa for a minute. OK, we own a house in the neighborhood. Just a few blocks from the restaurant. We do not live there anymore, but anyway to recycle glass, aluminum and plastics at our house costs NOTHING! Great! To recycle at Grass Root (same truck) costs $168.00 per month. How unfair. Some may think that is the price of doing business...to them I say, who cares what you think. I think that it is a rip off and is discouraging to a business owner that wants to recycle. Are they trying to encourage recycling or discourage recycling? Where is the justification for charging businesses. With no regard for the amount of recycles or anything, just a flat rate per month.

This has become my little side project. I want to effect a change in this policy and I will let you know how i progress, because I intend to progress.

Sabrina's thoughts today

Creative Loafing on BLAST

This is an official NYC style BLAST on Creative Loafing and their bogus contest. Yes, the best vegetarian restaurant in Tampa is not even a vegetarian restaurant. They do have a salad which is a part of the vegetarian diet. But they also serve lots and lots of meat. Either the voters of Creative Loafing Magazine do not know what a vegetarian restaurant is, or the folks at Creative Loafing are boobs. I don't know which one is true, so I am not really sure who to put on blast, but I know that someone deserves it. FYI, there are a few vegetarian restaurants to choose from, not just us and this contest is a dis to all. I should get Reax magazine in here instead!

P.S. we have vegan Parmesan on our menu and next year for the contest I am considering entering to win best Italian restaurant. At least I know I have a shot.

Speaking of a shot, This week, while supplies last, we are giving FREE SHOTS OF PREMIUM OCEAN GROWN WHEATGRASS TO EVERYONE THATS COMES IN AND SAYS." I FEEL SUPER ABOUT SUPERFOODS!
ongoinggreenplanetsuperfoodnews

Condensed from the mind of Sabrina

Best of the Bay

Ok, the annual Best of the Bay poll was last month for Creative Loafing Magazine. I do "big up" Creative Loafing. Without the circulation of their publication, Tampa would be less informed for sure. But and this is a BIG BUT! Best of the Bay for Vegetarian Restaurant is a crock! Last year we were into it. Our customers filled out forms at Grass Root and we mailed in a lot of them. They also logged on the web and filled in their ballots for us that way as well. Come to find out when the winner was announced, it was Evo's??? What? How is that possible, they serve meat!! Ok, they have a veggie burger or something like that on their menu, but does that make them eligible to win in the vegetarian restaurant category? Apparently, yes it does!

So this year when the poll came up again, I didn't even bother. However, They printed the three finalists in this weeks' paper and guess who they were? Well, Evo's, Grass Root and Sweet Tomato's. Unbelievable again as far as I am concerned. Politics? I don't know. No we don't have the budget to advertise in Creative Loafing like some others may. Anyway, on Sept.24th we will find out who won. I am not holding my breath, but I am thinking that maybe next year we can be in a category with other vegetarian restaurants as the category loosely implies.

This is condensed from the mind of Sabrina

A Local Critic

Today a food critic came to Grass Root. I knew he was a critic, the minute he walked in. He had taken over managing his publication one year ago and brought it into the light. He is very proud of his accomplishments. His name is Mr. Lee. He is a writer for Blake High School. He very politely ordered chili non-carne, a Marrakesh, a Mango Ra and one of our rawsome Cacao desserts. He enjoyed it. His mother enjoyed it as well. She was a retired Art teacher and it was obvious how much she liked children. She was a fine critic as well. I look forward to reading Mr. Lee's review. I will let everyone know what he thinks of his afternoon together at Grass Root!

Coincidentally, someone called us from the St. Petersburg Times today.

Condensed from the mind of Sabrina

Struggling with struggling

Well, I have met alot of raw foodist in the last 2-3 years. Even before Grass Root opened 1 1/2 years ago. It has been an interesting journey to say the least. I am always happy to meet those that are 100% raw, but I think I get more of a thrill meeting the people that are struggling with being raw. I just want to hug them and tell them to love themselves and take one progressive step at a time. Yes, I relate to them because raw food has been a bit of a struggle for me as well.
What is the problem? Since I am surrounded by great raw food daily at Grass Root? Well, I am also surrounded by great tasting cooked food as well. I have a customer that shared her story with me today...she is raw and her family, three teens and a hubby, are not raw. So she cooks food as do I. Temptation, temptation.
When Spence and I thought about opening Grass Root, we seriously wanted to open a 100% raw restaurant. We had just come back from a great stay at the Ann Wigmore Institute in Puerto Rico and we were hyped on raw food. We wanted to "cure" his mother and mine. Shouting from the rooftops abut how great we felt and how much we learned. But ultimately we decided that the people that eat from the Golden Arches and the cornel should have a place to eat more healthy options. The carnivore needs a transition food too! Don't they? I tell these carnivores the same thing I tell those new to the raw food lifestyle, just make the effort to eat more healthy food. If you eat rare steak, try our vegan stayke. If you eat chicken, try our vegan chick-un and if you are vegan already, try this rawsome spaghetti and treatballs. Progressive steps right! That is the take away for today. So please take it.
We are not superstars. Grass Root is not in Hollywood or South Beach. We don't try to impress anyone except each other. I am so impressed by my husbands discipline with raw food. He is humble and sweet about it also. His mom has since gone 100% raw too! I don't know what my percentage is, but today I have eaten raw mostly, except for a bowl of brown rice. Today was a good day.

Condensed from the mind of Sabrina

Rawsome Fun!

Greetings All,
We had a very successful raw food class on August 19th. Everyone learned how to make a green smoothie, basic and fancy. Almond mylk. A Beta Beta smoothie, with the almond mylk of course. They were awesome. The beta beta is my favorite because it is soooo smooth and creamy. Carrot juice is an awesome internal cleanser for me. Combined with the almond mylk, it is my favorite shake on our menu.

Then we all made an iron fortified salad. As a woman, I am concerned with my iron intake. Women require a higher amount of iron than men do. Almost 10mg more daily. So this salad was focus on high iron and iron absorption. It included a wonderful raw citrus dressing and citrus within the salad. Lots of spinach. The citrus plentiful to help the iron be absorbed into our systems. Yummy!

Next we made Raw spaghetti and marinara with raw basil pesto. It was really rawsome. the pesto was out of this world. It was served with a raw onion bread, which left everyone wanting more.

We finished off with a raw strawberry cheesecake with raw whipped cream and cacao nibs atop. The plates were cleaned! I really enjoyed this class. Everyone was so interested in each aspect of preparation and asked so many wonderful questions. Our 3 hour class turned into a 5 hour class. We just ate and socialized and enjoyed ourselves. Finally with happy hearts and content tummies, we all parted; a little more wise and a little more motivated. Great job everyone!

Condensed from the mind of Sabrina

Surrounded by cooked food!

What to do when you are surrounded with great vegan cooked food and you want to eat raw? How challenging is it not to eat the food that I cook everyday at Grass Root? Well I have to taste it to see if it is up to my standard, don't I? What about smelling it? Oh, it does smell good, that is for sure. My strategy, the juice bar. I love juicing and adore my husbands' special shakes that he makes just for me. Green of course. Insoluble fiber to drag the cooked food crap out of my colon. So armed with his awesome green concoction, i brave the kitchen and proceed with my cooking tasks. Better because I am satisfied. So I guess the bottom line is prepare my tummy with something yummy before I start cooking and the craving for cooked food is way less. And even if I do eat something cooked, just a little please, then at least I have the green in me.

Condensed from the mind of Sabrina