Grass Root Review

Who is that person that comes in the restaurant and when greeted with a smile, makes the conscious decision not to smile back, but rather grimace?  It is probably a woman.  So I ignore it and true to my form, I turn up my emotional tone and seat them with even more smiles to try to bring them up.  This can be hard since they have obviously made up their minds that they will not smile. No matter what.  What is wrong with you...I wish I could say this.  More like what the hell is your problem.  Then I begin to wonder what their problem could be.  Maybe someone they love had died.  Maybe they lost their dog.  It has to be something tragic to make them behave this way.  

My husband is great at killing people with kindness.  His emotional tone is so high, he turns many of these grumps around.  Me, especially being pregnant, don't have the energy all the time.  With a male customer, I am much more successful.  Men are easy to warm up.  I really feel sorry for the guys when they accompany there grumps and realize they are coming off to those around them as the grumpiest in the land.  They always try to over compensate by being extra nice to make up for their friend, wife etc.  It is so obvious and I feel so sorry for these guys.  Once a nice older man said to me, you have been dealing with her for 1 hour, i have been dealing with this for 20 years.  Poor guy.  I could see it on his face that she was wearing him down.  It takes so much energy to behave this way..grumpy!  It takes all of the beauty away from even a beautiful person.  Conversely, a pleasant attitude can make anyone shine and be beautiful.  I sometimes fantasize behaving like a friend of our that is born French and has a great French restaurant.  Just like the French, will tell you to get out.  He does not care who he offends, he is not spending any of his energy trying to warm anyone up and you better not ask him to change anything on his menu.  He does not alter any recipe for the likes of anyone.  He is a little grumpy too haha.  When grumpy meets grumpy the outcome is a clash.  When grumpy meets pleasant, the outcome will hopefully be pleasant wins you over.  But for all of the grumps out there, cheer up.  Nothing could be that bad.  At least you are still alive.  And if things are that bad, maybe you should consider staying home and preparing your own food.

Ultra Conservative Vegan

Putting your money where your mouth is, has never been so crucial.  It does not matter wether or not you believe in global warming or to what degree you care about Animal rights issues.  Something that most of us do care about is our hard earned money and the causes we support with it. 

 

For example, you probably would not knowingly donate your money to an organization that was poisoning ground water, contributing to large scale deforestation of the Amazon and whose criminal counts included animal cruelty, bribery, destroying records, fraud and distributing contaminated foods to your neighborhood grocery and schools.  Most people would be appaled and would see to it that this organization never receive any of thier valuable income ever again. 

 

Well, these organizations do exist and continue to grow because many of us support them financially.  This is not some wacky conspiracy theory or a bias opinion.  Factory Farming practices are not sustainable and they are a major stress on our planet.  I am not trying to promote "Saving the Planet," because the planet will evolve and survive almost anything!  On the flip side, we the humans should be very concerned about the future of our living space (Earth) and its countless gifts that enable us to thrive, reproduce and play!  

 

Your money makes the world go 'round!  Your purchases dictate our future.  Where ever the demands of the consumers lie, industry follows.  We can see it now, with all the big corporations jumping on the "Eco-Green" bandwagon.  They are following the spending trends of the everyday people. 

 

Every product has a history and a future. Every commodity is manufactured, packaged, shipped and stored. Familiarizing ourselves with the proccesses, the effects of these proccesses, weighing out the pros and cons will create nations of empowered consumers.  Empowered consumers have the strength to create a new world. 

 

I am not suggesting that everyone go vegan, join PETA and begin riding a bicycle to work tommorow.  What I am suggesting is that you take time to educate yourself, think before you $pend, reasess your values and decide what type of world you wish to see.          

 

Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.  ~Albert Einstein

Your Awareness

It is true that I am awakening more every day. (thanks Echart)  If you ask me what that means, I would tell you how it feels first and then try to explain that I am so much more aware of what is going on in my existence.  

Food is a part of my business and it is also a part of my life.  I must eat. (unless I am doing the master cleanse, then I must drink)  I am living the Grass Root Life.  Our menu is indicative of what I eat, it has always been.  But when I ask myself, why a certain food that I have always eaten, suddenly upset my stomach so much that I never want to eat it again.  The answer was not always as obvious to me as it is now.  My awareness has grown.  This deals directly deals with my struggle to give up the cooked food addiction, for good.  I have waves of strength that carry me through, but to do it always, has been "challenging."  

The stomach ache is because I have a heightened awareness of my stomach, my colon, my food intake and it is helping me weed out and sort through the things that I should not be eating.  What should I not be eating you may ask, well I listen to my body mostly.  I try to be present when I am eating and unhealthy slip up, trying to enjoy it and that usually helps me get it out of my system or better yet, off of my mind.  Because it is the awareness in my mind that started this whole thing anyway.  My mental awareness created the climate for the physical awareness to blossom.  Much like the city person that thinks the country is too quite and cant sleep without the city noises, but when the person is smack in the middle of the country setting he realizes that crickets, frogs, grasshoppers, nightingale birds and various other creatures that I cant think of now, they are all making "noise."  It isn't that quiet after all.  Once you pay attention mentally to a situation, it creates the climate for awareness to grow.  

So having said all that, let your awareness grow in your colon.  When you eat something that is not natural food.  That means it didn't grow in the ground, be aware of how you feel when you eat it, and hour after you eat it, and most importantly, how did you feel when if left your body?  The more you create this awareness within you body (especially your digestive system) there is a solid chance that you will eat less of what is not "good" for YOU!

Food awareness is where it's at.  Start there.  It is a very good place to start.

Master Cleanse...the Aftermath

Can I just say that I love this cleanse.  It is by far the best I have ever done.  I have only done three, but still.  It is about a week later and I  still feel empty or should I say that I still empty out everyday until I feel empty.  I really have to get on organizing the "Collective Master Cleanse."  the best way to really feel that sense of community...getting together and cleansing together and talking about how much we purged and how gross was it?  That is important to discuss, because it is an indicator.  If you look at what comes out, then you can gauge what is going on inside.  For a while I guess I have been eating no more than one cooked meal per day and alot of days 100% raw.  It is coming and I am just going with the flow.  Not pressuring myself in any way and I think that is the only way.  I have a little friend. She is a 13 year old raw food snob and I tell her to be easy and dont hate on anyone for eating meat or whatever.  Just shine because you are an example for them to look up to and an inspiration to us all.  Imagine being raw at 13.  At 13 I was eating garbage.  But what are we eating NOW?

Master Cleanse

I am not hungry!  I keep marveling at that fact because that is what I have always had issues with on previous fasts.  But since day one, I have not been hungry, so then there is no problem with this fast.  Everyone should do it right!  Good. It has been so important to me that i had the lemonade all the time.  If i stopped drinking it for even two hours, the hunger creeps up then bashes you in the stomach!  But I only did that twice.  I got desperate and crazy a few times.  thank goodness Spencer was there to help me hold it down.  

That's the pleasant part....stop now if you don't want the gory details.

Well, I thought since I had been eating some cooked food (along with alot more raw food) that I should be packed with crap.  So it would stand to reason that I should be having healthy shits on day one and two, but i didn't.  Every thing was smooth if you know what I mean.  Nothing eventful like a colonic or an enema (Which I am a BIG fan off both) So pretty much baby dodo the whole time.  

MY KIDNEY, Oh My Gosh... I never even felt my kidney before.  I had to ask my mother what is there.  I was pulsating and hurting like a dull labor pain, day two, three, four, five, six was a little better, seven it was almost gone and eight it was gone.  It felt swollen.  It itched and felt numb.  It felt like little microscopic bugs were crawling around on the inside and biting me.  I scrubbed it in the shower with sea salt and lavender and it felt better for a while, but it came back.  Well the kidney cleans out the blood and I had my issues with iron that needed to be dumped into my bloodstream and I guess it deposited itself in my kidneys.  Well, it was cleansed.  That is one of the major benefits of the Master Cleanse, to clean the organs, especially the kidneys.  I woke up on the seventh day feeling like 999,999 bucks.  Not quite a million.

I cheated.  Yes on the eighth day, I ate grapes.  I ate one and I could not stop.  It was the sweetest grape I had ever tasted in my entire life!! No lie.  On day 10, I broke my fast with watermelon and then later on I had vegetable broth and ground food.  It went through me so sweet.  

I will do better next time I fast, by drinking more water.  I will definately fast all the time now.  It was so easy to do.  I know people that fast for a few days every month.  I think I can do that for sure.  I feel awesome and realize now, like I realized when I live in a third world for a few years, food over consumption is over rated and Americans are guilty of consuming too much food.  Just look at us and you can tell that it is true.  I feel for the children whose parents are unaware or unconcerned.

Our Local Health Food Store on BLAST

We have met so many wonderful people since Grass Root first opened its doors and everyday I learn something about people and this world that we live in.  But what do you say about a large natural Health Food Store that refuses to support a little vegan girls diet, when they are told that she is in St Joseph's Hospital getting doses of Chemo and radiation treatment.  Also her protocol has her on schedule for 3 more years of Chemo and Radiation.  They have such a large kitchen and make so much food, and they are so close to St Joseph's Hospital, it would have been very convenient for a friend to pick up enough food for Sophia who is going on three years old.  They have everything and I am sure they waste more food than Sophia could have ever eaten.  

So I am putting this local tampa Health Food Store on BLAST!  Shame on you for not helping her, damn not even a muffin a day.  They have never shown too much love, but we still support because that is the way were are and we respect their store as a family business.  But they are clearly weak, weak weak.  They simply said they are not set up to do something like that.  Whole foods said the same thing. Wack shit!  Anyway we are supporting Sophia in any way we can and if you want to do the same, email us.  info@thegrassrootlife.com

Collective Fasting

We are organizing a Collective Master Cleanse.  The Grass Root Family always fasts collectively and we want to invite our extended family to join in "for the health of it".  Jenyce and I are fasting right now.  If you are interested, we will support you throughout the fast.  Details will be in our newsletter.  Please join our email list or click on the contact page on our website and let me know if you are interested in cleansing you body while doing the Master Cleanse.  Google it and read testimonials.  Seek Knowledge. (One of our favorite albums). Peace

Greasy Street

This is to those that are handed their restaurant and those of us that sacrificed and struggled to get where they are.  Hats off to anyone that is in the restaurant business.  This is hard work for sure.  Anyone that has worked in a restaurant knows what I mean.  But I read an article about a couple that opened a restaurant in California of course, and the interviewer is amazed!  How did they do it?  Tell us your secret etc.  Basically the story goes like this.  I grew up rich as hell, I married a woman that was rich as hell and we became even richer.  Then we got bored and decided to open a vegan restaurant.  We spent about 300K creating the whole shabang!  Hired the best raw food chef's that money could buy and now we hardly go there and things are going great!  Wow, what genius plan.  Give me a break.  Where is the genius plan in being so rich that you can design what you lie and hire who you like,  Try it the way so many small business owners did it, with savings and sacrifice and don't forget blood sweat and tears.  It is a little like Oprah complaining that she does not know what to eat.  Shut up....hire a chef!  I love Oprah by the way.

Hooked on Oxycoden

Early this morning when i spoke to her she was fine, Spence and i were having a good little conversation with her about a fruit named mamey. She went to a chiropractor yesterday and was forced to move her arthritic arm and hip more than she ever would on her own. I began to tell her how good that would be for her to move and i was happy that she would get therapy. She laughed as she said she was in pain as a result. The conversation immediately went to she had to eat something so she could take her pain meds. I grimaced and left the room. About one hour later, i crossed paths with her in the living room and she told me Brighthouse was coming to the house. We had a strange conversation and I stared in her blank eyes, I could see that she was not there. Her hand was nervously twitching on her house dress and she is confused because Brighthouse said someone over 18 had to be there when they arrive. Instantly I realized I was talking to a person I thought I would never encounter. My mother on narcotics. The same woman that wanted me to go to rehab when I got caught smoking pot at 16 years old. She cried, I might as well have been taking heroine. I spoke to her doctor regarding oxycoden, the strongest drug on the market and basically was told the difference between my mother and a person on the street that buys oxycoden on the street everyday is that "my mother is not on the street!"

Our Biodegradables

I was serving a table and the gentleman request his chioces and then asked me about our biodegradables and I proudly stated that they are made from corn fiber by a fair trade supporter and that restaurants can produce alot of garbage, but that we really minimize our drain on Planet Earth as much as we can and so on. Well, he was dining in with a young woman and he said that they liked the biodegradables and could I serve their water in them. I said I know they are nice, but the whole waste thing and that is the whole point of the bio's etc and I would be happy to serve the water in our new blue glasses that we buy espically for water. He went on to say that he basically is the customer, and the customer is always right and he demands his water in a bio to go cup even if he is dining in! What should I do at this point??

The Power of Now

So I just read Skinny Bitch and it was OK. I guess I liked some of it, it was comical a little and informative a little, and I could definitely see why many people loved it so much. It seemed to give a little lift. Better than that, I have read Echart Tolle's book for the second time and it just gets better and better. I am doing the course online with him and all I can say is amazing. It is in my top five right now. Ok my order of favorite books is: Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M Auel. The Witching Hour series by Ann Rice. Dianetics by L Ron Hubbard, don't talk crap if you never read it. Autobiography of a Yogi by Yogananda Paranahamsa. Freedom, the courage to be yourself by OSHO. That book list is POWERFUL. Read anyone of those books and you will know what i mean.

Something is happening to me on a cellular level I think, with respect to raw foods i mean. This is my day somedays anyway. I always have a raw breakfast to break my fast during the night. After sleeping, i really need to wake my digestive system slowly and I start with a huge glass of reverse osmosis water, room temp always. Then I have another with E3Live, probably 4 tablespoons, i don't even measure anymore. A bottle lasts about a week in our house. With that I have my E3 Enzymes and probiotics and I am good just drinking water until about 3pm or so. Then I have a huge salad and that will last till about 5pm. Sometime I have a cooked meal at this time and lately it is making me feel ill when I eat it. When I cook, I am fine. However, even tofu is a potential trouble source these days. I am just not thrilled with anything cooked. It is getting to the point that cooked food is making me feel sick. It is a trip and I have never tried to make anything happen that is not happening naturally when it comes to food. I don't always feel yucky, but when I do, it brings me closer to a simple salad. Cant go wrong with a salad.

When I first began this journey towards more raw food, smoothies and foods were really complicated in order to satisfy my wacky palate, but now I am happy with a simple salad and Spencer's smoothies at home (which taste nothing like the wonderful creations at Grass Root) home smoothies taste like greens, beets and dirt. really. If I am lucky then there may be a little bit of ginger in there to really jazz it up. I don't know why we don't have any gourmet raw foods at home, but that is just how it works out. I will call the best raw food chef in the world, Jenyce, and cry until she sends something wonderful for me. I really love her food the best.

Since I am limping around and cant play tennis that I love.(i just bought a new racquet when this accident happened) Since there is no tennis in sight, I have to get some exercise so I dont get chubby tubby, I am taking 10 sessions with the Palm Wellness Center in pilates. Natalie Maddox is going to give me some good acupuncture and fix my foot and then do some core training on those pilates machine that I will learn to use and get me in tip top shape. I will let you know how my progress goes!

I just took off a cast and oh my gosh what an unbelievable chore it is to deal with that. I was humbled in a way that I never experienced before. I had never hurt myself that badly before and it was not fun. When I go to the VA hospital, (I am a veteran) since the war, I see many soldiers with limbs missing and spinal cord injury etc. It breaks my heart and lets me now how lucky I am that i had a foot to hurt. Since reading Echart Tolle, I am in the NOW and am always making moves to better myself so that I can be the best me that I can be.

There is an awesome organic little farm that we so to in Plant City and last week we got the most delicious strawberries that we have ever tasted. Spencer picked them with the owner of the farm and a few hours later, they were in the smoothies at Grass Root. Same with the zucchini. From the vine, to the plate at Grass Root. It does not get any better than that!

Shower to Shower

This is certainly not a joke blog, but this had me dying laughing and I could not resist sharing! Please read and take a little time to laugh out loud, right now!

HOW TO SHOWER LIKE A WOMAN:
Take off clothing and place it in sectioned laundry hamper according to lights and darks.
Walk to bathroom wearing long dressing gown. If you see husband along the way, cover up any exposed areas.
Get in the shower.
Use face cloth, arm cloth, leg cloth, long loofah, wide loofah and pumice stone Wash your hair once with cucumber and sage shampoo with 43 added vitamins.
Wash your hair again to make sure it's clean.
Condition your hair with grapefruit mint conditioner.
Wash your face with crushed apricot facial scrub for 10 minutes until red.
Wash entire rest of body with ginger nut and jaffa cake body wash.
Rinse conditioner off hair.
Shave armpits and legs.
Turn off shower.
Squeegee off all wet surfaces in shower.
Spray mold spots with Tilex.
Get out of shower.
Dry with towel the size of a small country.
Wrap hair in super absorbent towel.
Return to bedroom wearing long dressing gown and towel on head.
If you see husband along the way, cover up any exposed areas.

HOW TO SHOWER LIKE A MAN:
Take off clothes while sitting on the edge of the bed and leave them in a pile.
Walk naked to the bathroom. If you see wife along the way, shake wiener at her while making the woo-woo sound.
Look at your manly physique in the mirror. Admire the size of your wiener and scratch your ass.
Get in the shower.
Wash your face.
Wash your armpits.
Blow your nose in your hands and let the water rinse the snot off.
Fart and laugh at how loud it sounds in the shower.
Spend majority of time washing privates and surrounding area.
Wash your butt, leaving those coarse butt hairs stuck on the soap.
Wash your hair. Make a shampoo Mohawk.
Pee.
Rinse off and get out of shower.
Partially dry off.
Fail to notice water on floor because curtain was hanging out of tub the whole time.
Admire wiener size in mirror again.
Leave shower curtain open, wet mat on floor, light and fan on.
Return to bedroom with towel around waist. If you pass wife, pull off towel, shake wiener at her and make the woo-woo sound again.
Throw wet towel on her pillow.


If there is anyone among you who did not laugh at the truth behind this, I dont know why? Have a great day!

Cloned Meat?

This is interesting, I just had to post it. Share this with a friend that loves meat!
Jan 17
FDA Says Cloned Meat is Safe to Eat
January 17, 2008 10 Comments
bovine products, cloning, department of agriculture, fda report, food chain, food safety risks, food supply, goat clones, voluntary moratorium
Here’s a recent article I wrote about the cloning of meat and milk from cows, pigs and goats.
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January 17, 2008 - Meat eaters in the US may be in for a shock.
In the most detailed “risk assessment” on the safety of cloned foods to date, The FDA has reported that meat and milk from bovine, swine and goat clones is safe for human consumption.
This conclusion was derived from a comprehensive “risk assessment” study conducted by the FDA and obtained by the Washington Post.
A statement taken from the 968 page FDA report in regard to bovine products states, “we conclude that there is no reason to expect that food from bovine clones would pose additional food safety risks compared with the same products derived from conventionally-bred cattle.”
On January 16th, A day after the report by the Post was released, the US Department of Agriculture called on farmers to voluntarily keep cloned animals out of the food chain until the idea of cloned meat in the marketplace gains wider acceptance and reach. This “voluntary moratorium” has been in effect since close to the beginning of the decade.
Bruce I. Knight, Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs at the USDA, in a MSN news report says “there are only about 600 animal clones in the United States and most of these are breeding animals. ‘So few clones will ever arrive at the marketplace.’”
Though the relatively small number of cloned animals in the US may seem comforting for religious groups, activists and cloning opponents, there is evidence that cloned meat is already in our supermarkets. The Washington Post reported, “Executives from the nation’s major cattle cloning companies conceded yesterday that they have not been able to keep track of how many offspring of clones have entered the food supply, despite a years-old request by the FDA to keep them off the market pending completion of the agency’s safety report.”
The issue of cloned meat in the food supply has been contested much longer than the “years-old” request. A 2003 New York Times article reports, “Donald Coover of Galesburg, Kan., who sells semen for breeding, has been freezing semen from some clones of an Oklahoma bull named Full Flush… He said that this year alone he sold $100,000 worth of semen from Full Flush, enough to inseminate 2,000 cows.”
In 2008, Coover, told the Washington Post that it “is a fairy tale that this technology is not being used and is not already in the food chain.”
This is not the first time the FDA has released a report on the safety of cloned meat for human consumption. In reaction to a report released in December 2006, A poll, reported by ABC news, stated 65 percent said the cloning is morally wrong.
Because of the findings of the report, The FDA is not requiring special labeling on food derived from cloned animals or their offspring.
In Europe, the European Food Safety Authority has released a public consultation on the issue of cloned meat and milk in the food supply. The EFSA states on their website, “the ESFA recognises that the issue of animal cloning raises ethical, moral and other societal issues beyond its remit… At this stage, EFSA has not finalised its scientific opinion on the implications of animal cloning on food safety, animal health and welfare and the environment.”
The draft opinion is a call to scientists to contribute their findings to support or refute the information before February 25th, 2008. The results of their findings will be available at earliest by May 2008.

Tip Your Cup Up

We do not drink tap water. Therefore, we do not serve tap water. For those of you that do not care about what you drink, we still do. When you eat at Grass Root, you will be served purified, reverse osmosis water. If you demand tap water, I will just give you purified water for free. It is the cleanest water you can drink. Your body is 75% water, lets remember how important it is to stay hydrated. If for only one reason, drink it so you will have regular movements and I don't mean dance movements.

We are supposed to drink 8-13 glasses of water daily. If you eat lots of salt, then drink more. If you drink alcohol, then drink even more. Don't think it does not matter, because it does. Do some research about water. I invite you to go to a water filtration company and ask them to test the tap water and tell you what is in it!

Make Friends

Well, I have pretty much had the same friends since high school. My best friend is the same friend I have had since I was 16 yrs old. She knows so much about me and I will always be able to tell her all of my grimy stories.

At Grass Root, and just in life, I meet all kinds of new and interesting people. Sometimes I meet someone that I think could become a good friend, but I don't really encourage the relationship. I limit the exchange is what I do. I am waiting for her to take that first step, i guess. I know that we are vibe-ing, but I remain friendly but not taking the time to become friends. I did socialize when I was a kid growing up in NYC, how could you not socialize in a place where there are way too many people in such a small space! Not anti social is what I am saying.

So having said all this, I recognize that I am being somewhat closed off and what a great connection could be made if I would just take that first step and say " Hey lets go to the museum or the movies, or Broadway (in Tampa?) Hey make friends, and stop thinking that I am too busy for everything, even though I really am.