The Missing Piece: Spirituality

By Lauren Nastasi

I have come to the realization that healing has to do with many things; not just my diet. I am sure many of you already knew this, but the problem is realizing how to fix it. For me, the issue was digging down and finding what needed to be healed.

I have Crohn’s Disease and have been working toward healing it with a high raw, vegan diet consisting of green juices, green smoothies, and high quality, wholesome food. I previously composed a post about my journey on Crazy Sexy Life, but I have always felt a piece of the puzzle was missing. The problem was finding it!

What was the missing piece? Spirituality, silly! I pray, do yoga and receive acupuncture treatments, but my mind was never clear. I needed to become in touch with my spiritual side, the one hidden and trying to come out!

A few days before the new year, I had my Tarot cards read. I was in a New Age/Spiritual store and had struck up a conversation with the woman that worked there. We had talked a few times, so I felt fairly comfortable with her. When she offered me a reading, I felt I should do it. Having been raised Catholic, I was pretty relieved when I didn’t burst into flames after the reading was completed. I just hope my Naunee (grandmother) doesn’t read this! Anyway, the reading was very surprising because of how accurate the cards were. Before I left, the reader told me that I need to pay attention to signs from the universe and my angels (to be more spiritual). I thought I was already being as spiritual as I could be because I practice yoga, pray and meditate during acupuncture. What more could I do?

It took me a few weeks to really get the message. I did yoga, but I was always thinking about what I had to do next and not really staying present. During acupuncture, I would meditate for 15 minutes and snap out of it thinking the hour was almost over with 45 minutes left. During those 45 minutes, my mind would think about anything and everything except the present moment.

Then, it happened! I heard the angels loud and clear! Well, not really, but I finally got it. Something clicked! A good friend was talking about reading spiritual books, and I thought to myself, “I need to read a good self-help/spiritual book.” I went out and found a book that looked interesting, titled You Can Heal Your Life, by Louise L. Hay. I like this author, and in fact, I have her other text, Meditations to Heal Your Life. Instead of listening to my instincts, I put the book down and walked away. Not long after, I read a comment on MyCSL mentioning Hay’s book! Kicking myself for not buying it, I went out the next day and purchased it. This began my listenening to the universe.

A few days later, I picked out an “Angel Card” from Oracle Cards, and I drew the “Sensitivity” card. It stated that being sensitive is not a bad thing, and this was actually a new idea to me. I am a sensitive person and always felt it wasn’t a good trait. That same day, I was watching a show and someone mentioned crying isn’t weakness, but rather, not being able to show emotion is. Could these signs be any clearer?

I’ve since decided that I am not going to hide my feelings or feel embarrassed if something bothers me. Instead, I am going to let it out. I started journaling more, going to meditation class and becoming more in touch with my “spiritual self.” After all, look what being present and listening to my instincts has given me: more clarity than I have had in years. Now, it’s time to use it, and hopefully, it will help me on this crazy sexy healing journey!

Lauren Nastasi is a Research Assistant for Crazy Sexy Life. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and pug, Ginger. Her blog can be found at Gingeristhenewpink.blogspot.com.

Raw Vegan Tips for Your Family

Win a copy of Kristen Suzanne’s Easy Raw Desserts recipe book by tweeting @CrazySexyLife with a link to this blog! The fifth, tenth, and fifteenth tweets will win!

Are you trying to get your family (and kids!) to eat more Raw Vegan foods? Here are 10 fantastic and easy tips to help you accomplish that!

1. Show your family great Raw recipes from books and the internet. Then, let them take turns picking out which recipes you make for them to try. This will really get their taste buds overflowing with anticipation.

2. Make one Raw dish at every dinner (or every other dinner), and don’t even mention it. They probably won’t even realize they are eating so much Raw food. It could be starting the meal with a salad or raw soup that is blended until slightly warm or it could be a side dish of pureed veggies flavored with herbs to go alongside the rest of the meal. And… have a Raw dessert (more on that below)…

3. Introduce your family to Raw with Raw desserts. When kids get to eat dessert after every meal, that is exciting, especially when they can have second helpings of it. Heck… I still get excited about that! Plus, Raw desserts can even be eaten for breakfast! Who wouldn’t get excited to have dessert for breakfast?!

4. Make certain meals all Raw. The easiest way to do this is to make breakfast 100% Raw. You can start by drinking fresh organic smoothies for breakfast or having creamy cinnamon nut milk with crunchy Raw granola. It’ll greatly help if you let your family take part in choosing what flavors to make. So, the night before you make a smoothie, ask your kids which flavors they would like. Make it fun by talking about the different colors, too. I love getting my nephews excited about drinking Green Smoothies. I give it a much cooler name, however: “Dragon Smoothies,” or, make a strawberry and banana smoothie and call it “Pretty-In-Pink Smoothie.” Trust me…these things help! Or… maybe lunch a Raw meal by having big fresh salads loaded with plenty of satisfying fixins (dried fruit, nuts, sprouts, veggies, and a yummy Raw vegan dressing). If the salad isn’t enough… add a Raw soup or some flax crackers with Raw hummus spread on top. Follow the meal with a nice little Raw dessert. Yum!

5. Give your kids choices so they don’t feel forced to eat just one thing. You can do this by offering them something really tasty compared to something that might not be as tasty, thereby making the tasty option seem that much better. For example, offer your kids a choice between blueberries and celery. They will probably pick the blueberries and be happy about it because they had a say in the matter and blueberries taste good (and better than celery). Or, make it a choice between carrots and zucchini. They’ll probably pick the carrots and be happy about it because of the alternative.

6. Another super tip is to cut your children’s fruit and veggies into fun shapes and sizes using inexpensive kitchen tools. They’ll be sure to show these off in school! And… turn veggies into a fun playground (broccoli as trees, tomato slice as the merry go round, etc. Or, make a face on a plate using spiralized zucchini for hair, blueberries for eyes, red bell peppers for lips, etc). Make it fun and let them play with their food!

7. Include your children in the experience of shopping and preparing the food. This helps them feel more connected to the food and it makes them feel proud to have helped. Have fun while you’re doing it and be sure to thank them for their help.

8. Here is another great way to get children excited about eating fruits and vegetables. Tell them that they get to eat a “rainbow of colors” each day. Get a piece of construction paper for every color of the rainbow – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Then, have your children cut out a big, fun shape for each color. On one side of each shape, write the word “DONE” and draw a smiley face. Stick them on the front of your refrigerator door with the word “DONE” side down. Each day, as your children eat a fresh fruit or vegetable that is a color of the rainbow, flip over that color’s shape so the word “DONE” is face up and you can see it. It’s a great way to motivate your kids and get them excited about eating all the colors of the rainbow because they get a challenge and a sense of accomplishment.

9. Always have Raw snacks on hand when you’re out running errands. For example, having a bag of yummy Raw trail mix in your purse can work wonders on growling tummies when waiting in line at the DMV (or where ever else you are). Other ideas are raisins, granola, or taking a cooler with you when you’re out and having fresh fruit in it or yummy fruit smoothies or green smoothies.

10. Keep Raw snacks on your kitchen counter all the time, especially before dinner. Many times family members are hungry for dinner and impatient while waiting for you to prepare the meal. By having a platter of carrots, red bell pepper strips, and other veggies, along with some creamy Raw dip… they’ll start munching on the Raw foods, which will help fill them up (perhaps they won’t even want all the cooked food when it comes to meal time). Keep snacks like dried fruit and nuts in little bowls or cute jars around the house (kitchen counter, your desk, the coffee table) to encourage filling tummies with Raw goodness instead of reaching for something unhealthy.