Know Any Literary Animal Lovers?

Hi there PureJeevan readers! We wanted to let you know that Jim's new novel CHROO is available on Amazon. It's a crazy adventure involving a billionaire heiress, her Chihuahua BFF ("Chroo") and a host of human and animal characters. Find out more on Amazon! Here are some links:




On this page, we'd like to share some information about vegetable juicers. There are a number of different kinds, and we'll try to offer some background on many of the leading ones. We're affiliates for some, so if you're in the market for one of the ones we discuss, please follow the links we provide (or click the juicer pics) and you'll help support Pure Jeevan. But, either way, we certainly encourage you to consume fresh, delicious, nourishing veggie juices regularly!

The Jay Kordich Juicer -- The PowerGrind

The PowerGrind Pro is a juicer put out by Jay Kordich, commonly known as the "father of juicing" by many in the raw food / living food world. In fact, our very first juicer was a "JuiceMan" model, purchased back in the early 1990s! But this is an entirely new machine, retooled from the ground up recently. At $289, it's a fairly high-end juicer (as compared with, say, department store models). However, it's certainly got the power and features to back up that level of investment. ?Head on over to the Jay Kordich web site for full details on the latest models.

The Hurom Slow Juicer

A year or two ago, when we still lived in Pittsburgh, we hosted the Monarch's (Matt & Angela) during one of their speaking tours. I remember Angela firing up their juicer in the morning and I thought (or possibly even said), "Wow, your juicer is broken!" I swore that something was wrong because it didn't sound like anything I'd heard before. But they then told us about what was then the newest juicer on the market -- the Hurom Slow juicer. It's garnered a lot of positive testimonials over the past few years, from quite a lot of juicing enthusiasts. While many of the features are nice, we imagine the the most important potential benefit would be the slower speed, which theoretically means less oxidation, less processing, and thus healthier juice. If we were in the market today, I've no doubt we'd try one of these, too (even at $359)! These juicers are available through our good friends at Natural Zing!

Just a few brief thoughts for you this Weird Wednesday...

Of all the species on this Earth, it's weird that no other animals besides people cook their food. Similarly, of all the species on this Earth, it's weird that no other animals besides people drink the milk of other animals.

Today, we thought we'd share another non-diet-oriented explanation of obesity. It's from Rhonda Byrne, author of the international multi-media phenomenon known as "The Secret," which provides readers with in-depth philosophical explanation and instruction with respect to the Law of Attraction.

Wendi and I have The Secret on CD, and often enjoy listening to it. I think, in fairness, we both have a few legitimate criticisms about certain aspects of it (and I'll share one or two, below). However, on the whole, many of the ideas within resonate deeply for us and we find much of the underlying message profoundly uplifting and empowering -- especially (for me) much of the discussion regarding maintaining a healthy, positive, optimistic attitude and practicing gratitude.

Mmmmmmmmm! ?I'm sitting here at my computer eating the Best Organic Fuji Apple Ever. Don't believe me? ?Here's a picture of the apple I'm eating right now:

Looks dee-lish, right? ?(Okay, so maybe it's not the most appetizing pic in the world...) ?Anyway, one interesting thing about this apple is that I bought it (a whole big bag of them, actually) because it was so cheap. (I'm on a relatively tight budget these days.) ?But, if it was so cheap, how could it be so tasty? ?(And organic, too!) Well, that's where the basic law of supply and demand come in. Whenever a crop is at the peak of its season, the supply rises considerably. Instead of the store receiving X number of bushels of apples, they receive 5X or more. So, they slash prices to move that kind of volume.

Jim here... Wow, did you read yesterday's post ? Wendi is away for a month starting today. That's like a year in Internet time, right?

So, I guess I have the blog to myself for a while. So strange... I mean, I helped her set it up back in late '07, contributed numerous articles and a lot of behind-the-scenes time along the way, and then got really involved here (regularly -- daily, even) about a year ago. But, I never "had the keys" all to myself for a long spell. I feel as though I've been entrusted with something important, you know ? I must control that strange compulsion within me to, you know, run a silly cat video or something. But, I'll resist and keep things on-point. (LOL)

Jim here... Happy Sunday morning, everyone!? We don't normally post on weekends, but we're sharing this video as a special gift for my mom on Mother's Day.As Wendi likes to say, "Every day is mother's day!"? But, I do like to do something a little special for my own wonderful mom. So, check out this video of a recipe Wendi (mostly) and I created for her. If you remember my reaction to the soup we made recently, it may not surprise you to hear me say that this sauce is the "best #$%^&*^%! sauce I've ever tasted!"

We're typing up and formatting this recipe for Pure Jeevan family members (you know, those who subscribe to our mail list). So, once it's ready, we'll be adding it to the queue of mailings we sent out to keep everyone inspired. This recipe is a keeper!

April 13, 2008

I noticed that since I ve been eating only mono meals, I seem to be consistently sleeping eight hours a night, as opposed to nine, or more. It s a dreary day today, yet I don t feel like I m tired or down, which is how I normally feel when there s not enough sunshine.

It's day three and all is going okay. I seem to have a bit more energy since it's not all being sapped trying to digest complex meals. The last time I did mono mealing, I received countless emails from Pure Jeevan members who were concerned I was doing something unhealthy. Eating simply for nine days, however, is not unhealthy.

Did you know the body doesn't need a full range of vitamins and minerals at each and every meal? Somehow many of us were taught that each meal needs to be a complete balance of vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats, carbohydrates and that just isn't the case. What the body needs is a well-rounded diet, overall, to be in a balanced state. If, over the span of a month or two, you've consumed a variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and sprouts you will find that you've met just about all of your nutritional needs.

April 15, 2008

Every year my dear friend, Mamta, lets me know when Navratri is going to begin. ?It s the nine-day fast, but you don t have to change anything since you are already eating so healthy. Traditionally, Hindus used to abstain from eating during Navratri. In modern times, with everyone working and life being less relaxed, fasting isn t always something that can easily be accomplished. So, over the years Navratri has been modified by many to represent a time of eating more simply and abstaining from meat if you eat it.

This year, I had an email question from one of our readers who was asking about ways to eat simpler during the nine-days of fasting. After responding to him, it sparked in me a desire to do something this year for Navratri. I had read about eating mono meals and always thought it sounded like such a gentle way of cleansing the body, so I figured I d try it for the nine days of Navratri. To make it even easier on me, I decided to consume a different food every 24 yours, rather than eating the same thing for the full nine days. Maybe in the future I ll try that, but this time I wanted this to be as easily doable as possible.

Look at the dinner we had this evening!!!

A bean and rice burrito, taco with all the toppings, tomato and pepper salad, and sweet orange salsa! Yum, yum, yum!!! I'll be posting the pic again and sharing a recipe on Monday.

I had to write an update after my grocery shopping today! Remember I said just yesterday that sometimes people comment about the amount of produce we are buying? Well, a sweet older woman saw all of the bananas going into our cart and she asked, "What are you going to do with all of those bananas " You already know the response I gave: "Eat them!"

One of the really nice workers at the food co op commented that he can eat about eleven bananas sometimes. I told him, and another friend we saw shopping at the same time, that I can do that now, too. I explained how I used to get full on just one banana when I ate cooked foods. But, now that my system is so much cleaner and healthier, I can consume 10-11 bananas in a day (bananas should be covered with brown specks to truly be ripe and digestable). I don't remember the maximum I ever ate in a day--it's somewhere in my Going Raw journal, I'm sure. It might have even been more than 10 or 11 when I was going through my major banana-eating phase. Now I eat about 4-6 bananas a day, which doesn't seem like a lot to me (but in the past I would have wondered about all of those bananas in someone's cart, too!).