Nice to see my little brother

My little brother, Ed, is in town on business this week and this evening the kids and I got to spend a little bit of time with him. It was so nice to see him! I think he was surprised to actually see "in person" how much weight I have lost (about 35 pounds now) and how much healthier I look. He came back to the house with me and we went through my pantry so I could show him all of the foods I have on hand every day compared to what I had when I was eating a SAD diet.

One common misperception is that eating raw is hard. It is not. Granted, some things can be complicated to prepare, but only because they are different than what we are accustomed to preparing. However, I would never have made mom's home made lasagna on a school night when I ate a SAD diet; likewise, I don't make a difficult raw dish on a busy school night either. The biggest and hardest change that one has to make on a raw food diet is to change their mind about what they are putting in their body. The rest is easy! What could be easier than fruits and veggies? I find that green smoothies are one of the easiest things in the world to make -- throw it all in the Vita Mix and presto, 15 seconds later I have dinner. Last night I spent 15 minutes I would have spent waiting for water to boil julienning zucchini and dicing tomatoes. I literally had dinner on the table in 15 minutes -- that was almost unheard of on a SAD diet!

Anyway, my brother looked really good and it was nice to be around someone in my family. Sometimes I feel so far away from them all and I truly miss them. It was fun to sit around the kitchen table and have the kids want to tell him everything they are learning in school, show him all of their pets (we have 2 birds, 3 hermit crabs, 2 frogs, and 2 dogs so that takes a while), and want him to play with all of their toys. The kitchen table can truly be a magical place!

They were eager to tell Uncle Ed everything about their lives while we were at the table. Since I home school and I am a "type A" personality I sometimes wonder how much the kids are really digesting what they learn. I worry about whether or not I am getting through to them, or if they really get what we are studying. It was wonderful to hear them so excited about the things they have been working on in school. They were reciting latin words and derivatives, commenting on the geography of the Middle East, and asking him if he wanted to try one of their Raw Revolution Bars. It made me feel really good about teaching them and about being home with them. I am so glad we were able to spend some time together. It was good for my soul!