Jamie Abrams*Raw Food*Yoga*Teacher

Chia, Nettles & Banana??

What do chia, nettles and banana mash all have in common? Well darling read on for some scrumptious recipes and a surprisingly goopey ending!

Lately I have had a couple obsessions. In the way of gastronomy there are two things that can get my heart racing with anticipation. Firstly, is my chia seed pudding and secondly is my nettle infusion drink. Okay, so you might not be dancing in your pants at the thought of drinking a nettle infusion, but I KNOW this Chia seed dish will do the trick. 

Chummy Chia Pudding

Rightly named so! If anyone dare to try a morsel from your bowl you will have a best mate for life!

Ingredients:

½ C chia seeds

2 C coconut milk (although not ideal you can use tinned if you can’t make it fresh)

1 tsp vanilla

agave or maple syrup to taste

1 tsp cinnamon or pumpkin spice

Mix the above ingredients together, cover and place in the fridge for 10+ minutes. Then decorate with anything that gets you kicking in your knickers! My favorite combination is 2 fresh figs, a handful of fresh raspberries and a handful of small chunked raw fudge.

Not Chocolate Chocolate Fudge

¾ C coconut butter, melted

¾ C cacao butter, melted

¾ C pumpkin seeds, ground to powder

1 C lucuma powder

1 C mesquite powder

3 tbsp agave or maple syrup

Preparation:

Blend melted butters together. Re-blend with remaining ingredients. Spread into a glass dish or mold. Place in fridge for two hours or until set.

This fudge will treat any sweet tooth kindly and your body will love all the healing ingredients. By the way, pumpkin seeds are great for keeping your man’s swimmers strong and healthy!

(Please note my fudge is a spin-off of Kate Magic’s Camu Believe It.) 

Needing Nettle Infusion

1 C (1 oz by weight) dried nettle leaves

1 quart water

Bring the water to a boil. Pour over the leaves and let infuse for 8 hours or overnight. Strain into a quart sized container and store in the refrigerator. The infusion will keep for a few days. 

This is super easy to make. If it tastes too green add a splash of lemon and a drizzle of agave, honey or maple syrup. I can’t think of a better way to throw absorbable calcium and iron into the body. Drink, gulp, slurp and if you have any left-over I’ll pop round for a cuppa! 

And before I go I just had to share this with you. Last week my doorbell rang. I opened the door to see two ladies on my step (and no they weren’t selling anything or trying to convert me). Now believe it or not the first thing they said to me was “Is your mom home.” As you can imagine I was a bit shell shocked and I stood there for what felt like an eternity before answering that I indeed was the mommy. 

The ladies where incredibly apologetic for the misunderstanding, but quite frankly I just wanted to hug them both! I am still totally smitten, especially as I received the compliment on the eve of my 30th birthday month!

Now what I haven’t told you is that two hours before they arrived at my door I had smooshed banana and rhassoul clay all over my face. I definitely looked like some kind of ghoul, but it must have done the trick! So the moral of the story is before you knock on my front door for Chummy Chia Pudding and a cuppa nettle infusion make sure it isn’t my squashed banana facial day.

Image Credits:

Chia Photo, Fudge Shot, Nettle Pic and Banana Snap

Pointing South Anyone?

Last week I put together an article for RawMom.com, but I just had to post it here as well. It just has too much great info and needed to be shared with my bendy bunch here on RawYogaTeacher.com!

Raise your hand if you feel like your breasts have headed south since:
A) Giving birth 
B) Breastfeeding
C) Losing weight from eating a raw food diet
D) Your age
E) All of the above or a combination of the above

I would like to say I still have the teenage girl perk to my bosoms, but growing a baby and boobs, then shrinking down in weight to an even smaller pre-pregnancy size has definitely created a little hooters havoc.

For years I loved my breasts. They were just the right size, shape and really delicious. It has only been in the last few months, since Zenchai weaned himself, that I have had the space to notice and reclaim my breasts. Wow, what a difference pre- and post-pregnancy!

I know 100% that breastfeeding is not what causes saggy knockers, but rather the growth and hormones involved with pregnancy that change a woman’s bust line. Unfortunately breastfeeding has been wrongly accused of creating pendulous breasts – the real culprit is pregnancy. Uber-mother and author Veronika Robinson bluntly states that if you want to keep perky boobs don’t have babies and adopt instead.

However, chances are if you are reading articles on this website you have given birth, may have breastfed or are breastfeeding, are eating or trying to eat raw foods and could possibly be dealing with droopy dingleboppers. But there is a perky light at the end of the tunnel.

Since I am on a myth-busting campaign, let’s first understand that the breasts are comprised of connective tissue, ligaments and fat cells. They contain no muscle! Many mamas that rapidly loose weight from breastfeeding and/or eating a raw food diet can create flaccid breasts (as was my case). Losing weight too quickly (however glamorous that may sound) actually doesn’t give our skin and ligaments enough time to adjust, which results in the deflated boobie look.

The best way to prevent your melons from tickling your waist is to loose weight slowly - that might mean not eating 100% raw straight away. Hopefully you can learn from my mistake. Even though I wasn’t overweight pre-raw or pre/post-pregnancy, I still had a luscious chest curve, but when I combined full-on breastfeeding with near 100% raw food it literally sucked all the fat from my chest.

Some important factors to consider in lifting your bust naturally are proper exercise (remember to wear a very supportive bra for any exercises that jiggle your babas – ie running), yoga (we’ll come back to this in a moment), positive affirmations (I approve of myself and love myself. I am beautiful.) and high-quality nutrition that maintains your skin elasticity from the inside out (you can’t get any better than raw foods!!).

The ultra-sexy Tonya Zavasta reckons that you need at least 2-3 years to see the miracle transformations of a raw food diet on the bust line. She also mentions that if you are older this will likely take longer, but patience and persistence are of utmost importance – that goes for all of us. Tonya also has a “Hollywood Secret” breast-firming masque: Mash a ripe banana with just enough raw honey to make a soft pulp, and smear over your entire breast area, even inside of an old bra if you choose, and leave it on for about a half hour. Rinse and then apply a light natural moisturizer.

Okay, so since our breasts aren’t made of muscle we’ll need to strengthen the muscles around the breasts. Doing these yoga poses alongside raw foods is a surefire way to create dynamic breasts. But you have to be realistic, too. I don’t think any amount of yoga or proper nutrition will give us a Pamela Anderson look!

Here are my recommended yoga poses to get your jugs looking buoyant. All yoga postures are fantastic for sculpting our bodies, improving our posture and our health in general. But the following poses are specific to building chest muscle, which will help give our racks a lift without surgery:

• Cobra – Bhujangasana

• Shoulder Socket Rotation – Skandha Chakra

• Cow’s Face Pose – Gomukhasana

• Camel – Ushtrasana

• Bow Pose – Dhanurasana

• Full Locust – Poorna Salabhasana

• Fish – Matsyasana

• Standing Head to Knee – Uttanasana

• Standing Half Moon – Arda Chandrasana

• King Dancer – Natarajasana

• Wheel - Chakrasana

• Any inverted poses such as head or hand stands*

• Swinging Pose – Lolasana*

• Sleeping Thunderbolt – Supta Vajrasana*

• Locked Lotus – Baddha Padmasana*

*As with any yoga postures, proceed with care, listen to your body and if you are a complete newbie seek the advice of a qualified yoga instructor. The poses marked with an asterisk* are advanced poses.

Be sure to let me know how you get on with your ta-ta erecting crusade. I am off to do some yoga now!

Psst…Go to www.yogajournal.com if want to see visuals of the above yoga asanas.

Raw Food and Hot Yoga

One of my favorite raw foodists has just released her pioneering new book. I am sure you have seen me make reference to the incredibly delicious Tonya Zavasta before (in my last blog post I mentioned two of her skin care products for supreme gorgeousness). Tonya has to be the hottest 51-year-old I have ever met. She oozes charisma, glowing beauty and is the ultimate picture of health.

Her latest book is titled Raw Food and Hot Yoga: From Severe Disability to Superior Health. Tonya does warn that her latest baby is not the usual yoga book on how to master poses or the spiritual practices of yoga.  But, she maintains the premise of the book is to wildly inspire you to take your health into your own hands.

“My rock-bound belief: The raw food lifestyle can solve most health problems for all people. The same goes for hot yoga. It can resolve most health issues for all people. But both practices combined can eliminate all health problems for most people. An additional bonus: raw food and hot yoga provide the most stunning and swiftly reaped anti-aging benefits.”  ~ Tonya Zavasta

You can click here to view the table of contents or better yet click here to read the first chapter for free.

I haven’t read the complete book – yet. It is on my wish list. However, if it is anything like her other books you’ll be reveling in her wisdom, sense of humor, honesty and fall in love with this divine Queen of Raw Food! I know I can’t wait to get my paws on a copy Tonya’s latest masterpiece.

Top 10 Gorgeousness Products

Being an eco-yoga-RAWarrioress raises many interesting queries for people. Aside from the usual ‘Where do you get your protein from?’ and the ‘What do you eat?’ questions, I also often get asked what sort of beauty care items I use. I have to admit I keep my beauty regime fairly simple. I like to think my yoga practicing, raw vegan food eating and Earth mama lifestyle lends itself to looking after those details. But in the spirit of favorite top 10’s, I’ll share with you some of my much loved potions, lotions, creams and masks!

Top 10 Gorgeousness Products

1. Trilogy Rosehip Oil – I splash a couple drops of this on my face every morning instead of a traditional face cream
2. Beautiful on Raw Face Cream – But when I am in the mood for something creamy and vanilla like I lather this on my face
3. Beautiful on Raw Face Mask – Gentle enough to use everyday. I love this mask!
4. Soignee Shampoo – Divine softness for your hair
5. Tropical Traditions Coconut Cream – Great for any dry bits of skin
6. Inika – An Australian range of vegan make-up. I have only tried the mascara
7. Lush’s Angels on Bare Skin – I don’t normally use facial cleansers, but I do like this one on occasion
8. Green Juice – Okay so not something you put on your skin, but I have to say a daily green juice is worth its weight in gold
9. Yoga – Again I had to sneak this one in there – headstands and backbends will give you a luminescent glow. Seriously! Try it for yourself.
10. Smiling – Will always bring out your inner-bright

PS. I know the above photo isn't terribly flattering nor the image of yumminess, but if it got you laughing then I am all too happy to share it. Oh, and yes the blue mask did wash away and it didn't leave me looking like blueberry! The mask pictured above is one by Astara. I only tried it once and it was exquisite.