Down with RAW

Jesse's lunch today

Blended in high speed Vita-Mix Blender

Yummy

Jesse's lunch:

Green juice- 1/2 cucumber,celery and 1/2 sunflower and pea sprouts

Haas Avocado- creamy and rich, most commonly cultivated avocado

Sunflower Sprouts- They provide essential vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, essential fatty acids, dietary fiber, amino acids and disease-fighting phytosterol.


Spinach- Believe it or not..Any dark leafy green vegetable provides lots of calcium. Sorry :( no need for milk..

Zucchini- Summer squashes are quiet bland and soak up any good seasoning or sauce and in our case other veggies...


Carrots-high in vitamin A for good vision, also good source of vitaminsB,potassium,calcium,iron and zinc.


I added Apple for sweetness- Granny Smith Apples are lower in sugar than most varieties..

Beach Buddies

Today at the Beach:
Jesse with his friend Gabriel. We met Gabriel and his family last year in October at the Naples Buddy Walk.The Buddy Walk was developed by the National Down syndrome Society in 1995 to bring together a wide range of concerned individuals to reach out to friends, family and co-workers to promote awareness and inclusion for people with Down Syndrome and to raise funds for local and national education, awareness and advocacy programs. 
Last year, Jesse was just a few months old and the Buddy Walk was new to us. Nir, myself and the boys went alone to check it out. THIS YEAR IS DIFFERENT!  We plan to do the Buddy Walk BIG...HUUUGE CAROLINE..(for those of you that listen to the commercials here in town for the Kia dealership lol..) 
I am inviting all those that can make it to join us this year for the Buddy Walk in October at the North Collier Regional Park  on Livingston Rd. I don't have a date yet but will keep you posted. (My friend on the committee just emailed me the date is October 20th..thx Lisa) My friend Michelle and I are working on t-shirt design's for Jesse's Posse...

Getting Healthy

growing sprouts in my greenhouse...aka bathroom...

making wheatgrass at hippocrates..

salad bar at hippocrates...

Joshua's Favorite

About 5 years ago I was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. What i have come to learn about IBS is that it is almost 100% contributed to the SAD diet. (Standard American Diet) I looked up IBS in a nutritional healing book and it recommended to avoid meat,dairy,chocolate, sugar,caffeine,fried foods,all processed foods and wheat products...what was i going to eat? I started with fruit and vegetable salads. After months of this i decided to take a class and learn more about raw/living foods. I went to the Living Food Institute in Atlanta GA. It was there that i learned about the importance of wheatgrass and growing sprouts. After a few months I was bored with the salads I was making and went to Living Light in Fort Bragg, CA and became a raw food chef. I've been eating this way off and on..(off when i was pregnant with Jonah(4) and Jesse, during pregnancy my body craved so many different kinds of food)  The reason I am telling you about all this is because I was torn between naming this blog Jesse's Posse or Down with RAW (and incorporate Down Syndrome with Raw Food lifestyle).. I believe all things happen for a reason and I think that maybe my learning so much about health and nutrition a few years ago had a purpose. Children with Down Syndrome have many health issues some of which include Celiac Disease in which the small bowel becomes damaged from gluten and constipation due to low muscle tone. Eating a diet high in nutrient dense foods will only make Jesse healthier with a strong immune system. My husband and I took Jonah and Jesse to Hippocrates Health Institute in West Palm Beach, FL for 3 weeks in June where we drank wheatgrass, green juice and ate only salads in preparation for Jesse's surgery. Jesse has had bouts of upper respiratory congestion but since we returned from Hippocrates he has had none. He is strong and healthy and ready..


I am having technical difficulty with positioning photo's.. blogging is new to me..I will work on it this week before we leave...

Getting Started..

I've thought about this blog for a long time and have wanted to start it but life with 4 kids is always a good reason to put things off or so i thought. But what i am now realizing is that it is not a busy life that has kept me from starting but FEAR. Fear of not knowing what to say or maybe no one would be interested in what i have to say? Maybe i wouldn't be able to express what i want to say? I have read so many amazing blogs over the past year. How could mine compare..What could i contribute?
I was reading a blog tonight and someone was talking about fear.."Do the thing you fear the most and the death of fear is certain." Mark Twain. I then read another blog that someone started when their child went in for open heart surgery to keep friends and family up to date. So it hit me that tonight is the night to start this blog: To conquer my fear and to keep everyone up to date on Jesse's Open Heart Surgery one week from today..

Urban Dictionary: posse

www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=posse

your crew, your hommies, a group of friends, people who may or may not have your back.