ten little scraps of wisdom

1. Drink a big smoothie every morning! This way, you can make sure you get a lot of necessary nutrients you need each day by tossing in protein powder, essential fats, carbohydrates, into a blender to deliver an easy-to-drink, delicious, cup of energy to start your morning out with! So fill up that blender with foods like spinach, chia seeds, flax seeds, hemp protein powder, spirulina, maca powder, nut butters, plenty of fruit, and start out your day right!
2. Eat a big salad each day! You want to eat lots of greens every single day! Anything green- kale, spinach, lettuce, fibrous vegetables, chard; mix it all with nuts, seeds, sometimes fruit, legumes, rice, quinoa, and have yourself a feast!
3. Make your plate colorful! I take pictures of my meals because it gives me a sense of pride. Also, thinking about what you're going to make to eat doesn't only make you a hopeless foodie like myself, but thinking about what you are eating and planning it out gives you sort of a "food moral". If you are making your own food, you have control over what you are eating and since you are making it pretty and colorful, it's so easy to do that with all of the beautiful plants and veggies our world has to offer us!
4. Wake up early! Even if you don't have to go anywhere or do anything, get your day going. My favorite time of the day is early morning time, lounging around drinking tea and reading a book or blogging... it's like meditating for me, and gives you longer days to spend doing and learning fun, exciting things!
5. Eat local! Not only does this reduce our carbon footprint through the transportation of your fruits and veggies, but buying locally gives you fresher food. Overtime, fresh produce starts to lose it's nutrients. The best way to go is to grow all of your own produce in your yard, but because of factors like lack of time, yards, or resources, local is the next best bet if you want to get more out of an apple or head of lettuce or bunch of tomatoes.
6. Write goal lists! Writing down what you hope to someday achieve gives you a sense of motivation. I myself have many, many, many goals lists, many containing goals I still have yet to achieve... but that's okay, because one list isn't set in stone. As we grow, our life experiences increase, our minds expand, and our hopes and dreams often change with us. Knowing what you want to do gives you a new hope towards doing something that will make you happy!
7. Steer clear of sugar! There are so many other ways to eat sweets rather than stooping to sugar. Sugar is very short lived, it gives us a quick sense of satisfaction, which leaves us crying because we want more and more and more, but feel guilty about it. It is linked to type-2 diabetes, hair loss, insomnia, tooth decay, and many other health issues, and is in almost all processed foods. Personally, I LOVE agave. It's low glycemic, and doesn't have any added chemicals like many other sweetners do! There is, however, a debate going on around agave, so another even safer bet are dates. Dates are raw, super-sweet, packed with lots of vitamins, and give you a ton of energy- great to eat before a long run! 
8. Indulge! Just because you want to be a healthy eater, does NOT mean you are eating carrot sticks and lettuce leaves all day long. Make a raw chocolate coconut icecream torte,
   raw almond-butter cups, and raw rhubarb and strawberry crumble. Make up your own recipes, search for them online, share with your friends, take a fieldtrip to the natural foods store, get ideas and store them and create masterpieces!
9. Make over 50% of your diet raw! Cooked foods cause more work for your body, thus more stress, which is the number one causer of pretty much every health issue I've ever heard of or read about. Raw food is generally easier to digest, contains more nutrients, and gives you a non-guilty satisfaction that will last not an hour or a day, but a lifetime!
10. Be happy!  Make your life and each day you live it happy, why would we settle for anything less? We live in a beautiful world, with beautiful people and food and places; add to it by making yourself and people around you happy and healthy!