...This time covered in snow. I thought I woudn't see snow for a long time seeing as I was going to be south, but here I am again, in the snow. That's okay. I like being snowed in, it's fun, reminds me of the old days, going out and sledding or playing in the snow, coming in and drinking hot chocolate. Minus the hot chocolate part this time around.
Well I've made it another 10 straight days fully raw. Let's see if I can make it two weeks this time without having another binge. I think it's possible. I was having cravings last night when my mom and brother brought home take out from the pizza place. But I hadn't had enough to eat at that point in the day. The smell of the eggplant parmesan was so powerful. And an entire loaf of Italian bread, salads with ranch or creamy italian dressing... phew.. Enough to make me fall right off the wagon. Considering eggplant parm was once my favorite meal... Sigh.
After 14 dates and 10 bananas, the cravings started to slowly go away. I started to remember the feelings I would have after consuming a meal like that... undoubtedly I'd eat the whole thing at once, which is something I'm famous for, never having an leftovers - and then I'd feel like complete and utter shit. It's amazing how you just immediately forget that when you are craving a food though. Food really is so addicting!!! It's like crack!
I went up to my mom's egg plant parm and was smelling it, and I smelled the bread - and my brain was just like, GIVE IT TO ME.... but this little inner voice, so so quiet it was, but it was still there, told me not to. That was pretty challenging I must say. I'm not sure how successful I'll be next time, I'm still at a very vulnerable point and I can break at any moment, but for now I will be glad that I resisted in that moment. How resistant I will be next time, it's hard to know.
This diet, with enough creativity, can be as exciting as a regular standard diet. There are lots of ways you can make it more like your former diet, with lots of low fat raw vegan options for just about anything. However, if you're just mono-mealing, which is primarily what I'm doing, sometimes it can be hard to stay on task and want to keep doing it. How I feel should be motivation enough... however on a cold winter day sometimes there's nothing more that I want than a piping hot bowl of soup...
I'd better eat breakfast soon or I WILL be eating that bowl of soup... haha.
But really. I've had just so much energy in these last few weeks than I've had over several months. Cutting out cooked food really does make a huge difference. Cutting out salt and oil and lowering your fat intake feels really great. But at this point for me they are still just choices in the moment, and I could stray at anytime. Anyway. We'll see what happens. I have never felt better running-wise. It's getting really cold out now but I am still going out at least 3-4 times a week, either walking briskly up steep hills, or running 3-5 miles at a time. Though it depends of course on a lot of factors, lately I have been running 3 miles pretty easily. I made it to 5 miles on Christmas Eve, which is the most I've run in a really really long time. I think the most I've ever run at once (though I probably stopped to walk frequently) was the 8k race I did 3 years ago in Rock Hill. And I stopped to walk a TON then so I technically didn't even run it all at once. Anyway. It definitely feels great. Running on the food that I used to eat -- albeit I ate a lot of shit, there are people who still eat very healthy on cooked food, so that's another story, but I was eating garbage most of the time -- I never had the kind of energy I have now. Not to mention, (maybe I'm sounding like a broken record here? but whatever, i need these reminders so I don't slip up haha), the mental clarity!!! I also haven't felt one depressing thought - at least not on the level I'm used to feeling - in a while either... I can breathe deeply, all the time. I don't get headaches, which was something I frequently got eating the way I used to. My general aches and pains seem to not be there, though my knee was bothering me yesterday. I don't know. On not even one month of doing this, I've already experienced so many benefits.
Also my morning weight today was 155 pounds which is down from at one point 167 pounds - but that could be over the course of a few months of weight loss and weird eating patterns throughout the move, (I was not weighing myself consistently) it's hard to tell when the weight started coming off or if it's a result of just this diet. Either way, it's certainly been a few months since I've been back in the 150's which is pretty good. Though I'm trying not to focus too much on weight right now, I just want to focus on feeling good.
Anyway, I'd better get some water and some kind of breakfast in me this morning before all of this goes to hell and I make toast and eggs or something. hahaha.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Home again....
It feels nice to be home again. Maybe living far away from home just isn't for me? I am just feeling grateful to have a supportive and caring family. Nothing is perfect and nothing ever will be perfect, and that is okay with me. I finally get it I think. Finally figuring out that I am grateful for everything that's right in front of me, and I shouldn't need to look any further. It's nice to have that feeling... It is what it is, and that's just fine. I think I've come a long way since one year ago emotionally-speaking, when I was constantly angry, upset and stressed out the entire visit. I feel very content now.
Anyway. I've been back and fully raw for the last few days now. No more hummus, no more chips. (for now, heh). I'm enjoying berry-banana "soup" with banana chunks. Or just plain berry-banana smoothie haha. And then I'll enjoy a nice hot bath, after having run 4 miles earlier.
I definitely don't crave sweets or cooked food at this moment in time. I had a really amazing zucchini pasta with marinara sauce that my uncle made last night, and it was just fantastic. Tonight I think I will make a large salad with more zucchini pasta perhaps. We shall see. Usually this time of year I'm craving all kinds of comfort foods. Right now all I'm really craving is more zucchini pasta.. but that could change. But for today, I'm feeling good.
I'm looking forward to hopefully getting together with Kate tomorrow, and wishing anyone out there who may be reading this some peace and love.
Anyway. I've been back and fully raw for the last few days now. No more hummus, no more chips. (for now, heh). I'm enjoying berry-banana "soup" with banana chunks. Or just plain berry-banana smoothie haha. And then I'll enjoy a nice hot bath, after having run 4 miles earlier.
I definitely don't crave sweets or cooked food at this moment in time. I had a really amazing zucchini pasta with marinara sauce that my uncle made last night, and it was just fantastic. Tonight I think I will make a large salad with more zucchini pasta perhaps. We shall see. Usually this time of year I'm craving all kinds of comfort foods. Right now all I'm really craving is more zucchini pasta.. but that could change. But for today, I'm feeling good.
I'm looking forward to hopefully getting together with Kate tomorrow, and wishing anyone out there who may be reading this some peace and love.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Monday
Haven't written in awhile - my computer power cord is broken and I got a new one sent to Barryville so I have to wait to use it. For some reason I can't make updates on my phone, the browser won't support it? I dunno. Good thing I have a crappy outdated laptop, the power cords are like 99 cents on amazon lol. Anyhoooo. Well I've had a few slip ups - last night and the night before I had vegan pizza, rice, cooked veggies, toast with earth balance, PB&J sandwich... sigh. I've been having some struggles to say the least. I'm not trying to beat myself up or really dwell on it too much, but it's hard not to. I'm having a lot of trouble just eating fruit all day. The solution to that, is "you're not eating enough calories, you're not 'carbed up' enough"... Well I'm saying if I have to drink one more 15 banana smoothie, I might lose it. I'm not sure what's really going on. I really do believe in this diet and lifestyle, but at the same time, sometimes I don't.
Maybe I should re-read some of my original posts as to why I'm doing it, and why I believe in this, because I've kind of forgotten why at this point. I did feel generally pretty good, for the most part. My digestion is SHIT, but I'm not blaming the fruits and veggies necessarily - especially considering what I ate in the last 48 hours. But I've had constant gas, bloating and limited bowel movements since I began this journey. Again, I'm not blaming the fruit. I think it's been symptoms of detox, after reading others' experiences - many people have written about digestion issues and constipation. But honestly it's really frustrating. I know I haven't even made it two weeks so I should just be patient - but I'm a pretty impatient person in general, so that's been challenging.
Not to mention - wondering how the hell I'll manage this diet in NYC where everything costs an arm and a leg.. I have to keep that saying into my mind - where there's a will there's a way.. Even if I'm just eating normal cooked food it would still be pretty expensive probably - and I would probably save a ton of money that I'd spend at restaurants or getting takeout, etc.. I have to consider that side of things. Anyway, I definitely have some challenges ahead of me - and I may have cooked food here and there. If I do, I will try to keep it as simple as I can - steamed rice, potatoes, veggies.
Today's another day and I will keep that in mind - as I drink my OJ.
I may blend the rest of my OJ with some romaine lettuce to get my greens in.
Maybe I should re-read some of my original posts as to why I'm doing it, and why I believe in this, because I've kind of forgotten why at this point. I did feel generally pretty good, for the most part. My digestion is SHIT, but I'm not blaming the fruits and veggies necessarily - especially considering what I ate in the last 48 hours. But I've had constant gas, bloating and limited bowel movements since I began this journey. Again, I'm not blaming the fruit. I think it's been symptoms of detox, after reading others' experiences - many people have written about digestion issues and constipation. But honestly it's really frustrating. I know I haven't even made it two weeks so I should just be patient - but I'm a pretty impatient person in general, so that's been challenging.
Not to mention - wondering how the hell I'll manage this diet in NYC where everything costs an arm and a leg.. I have to keep that saying into my mind - where there's a will there's a way.. Even if I'm just eating normal cooked food it would still be pretty expensive probably - and I would probably save a ton of money that I'd spend at restaurants or getting takeout, etc.. I have to consider that side of things. Anyway, I definitely have some challenges ahead of me - and I may have cooked food here and there. If I do, I will try to keep it as simple as I can - steamed rice, potatoes, veggies.
Today's another day and I will keep that in mind - as I drink my OJ.
I may blend the rest of my OJ with some romaine lettuce to get my greens in.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
One week :-)
Alright!! I made it a week!! Smooth sailing from now! haha yeah right.. But I feel pretty good all in all. I feel like I can breathe deeply, and my mind is clear, things feel pretty good right now I have to say. I did 3.5 miles today to celebrate a week of raw, living foods. Albeit they were 3.5 slow 11:30-pace miles, so what! Still felt great! I'm proud of Chris for running 3 miles at a way faster pace than me - around 9:30 pace, and I couldn't even keep up with him, I could have tried but I knew that I wanted to pace myself so I could last longer.. Maybe in the coming weeks I will start training and doing faster miles, but for now I'm happy slowly getting back into the game..
I have a lot of great recipes that I'm really excited to try when I get back up north and order myself a spiralizer. Maybe I will go ahead and order the spiralizer so it will be there when I get up there. hehe. So far I've been keeping it pretty simple and doing orange juice, banana smoothies, and salads.. Tonight I skipped the salad because I'm so damn full from the 12-banana smoothie I made, I clocked in at 2180 calories today, which is probably a little on the lower side. But I really feel like I couldn't eat more.. I had a 5 mango smoothie earlier in the day and water. and that's all i had today. Tomorrow I will focus on the fruit but also the greens and have a great salad and I will probably make that carrot soup again, which was just delicious, yumyum!.
Anyway, a week from Friday we leave Asheville, and I am feeling pretty good about it. I am looking forward to what's next and finding a place to finally settle down - hopefully not Brooklyn for too long - I feel like Brooklyn, or at least Marine Park, is a bad place to be a fruitarian. Yes I know there are a plethora of fresh markets and produce to choose from in the metropolitan nyc area, but getting around and transporting everything is a pain in the ass.. I was told to look into wholesale produce terminal markets - they have a lot of discounted produce and you can buy stuff in bulk, and they are in most major cities. There is one in NYC but it's in the Bronx, about 30 miles away from the ave. R house, which in nyc means probably an hour, with tolls, etc. Seems like a hassle. Maybe I will check it out once though, what have I got to lose? I guess other options will include, checking into other small grocery stores and buying things by the case, ordering things online, etc... I'm hoping I can still try to do this, everything is so expensive in nyc.. ahh, try not to stress... I will look for folks on 30bananasaday who are in the NYC area and see what they do to save money... there's gotta be some folks out there who have some suggestions. Other than that minor setback, I'm still looking forward to leaving..... We shall see what I come up with..... Night!
I have a lot of great recipes that I'm really excited to try when I get back up north and order myself a spiralizer. Maybe I will go ahead and order the spiralizer so it will be there when I get up there. hehe. So far I've been keeping it pretty simple and doing orange juice, banana smoothies, and salads.. Tonight I skipped the salad because I'm so damn full from the 12-banana smoothie I made, I clocked in at 2180 calories today, which is probably a little on the lower side. But I really feel like I couldn't eat more.. I had a 5 mango smoothie earlier in the day and water. and that's all i had today. Tomorrow I will focus on the fruit but also the greens and have a great salad and I will probably make that carrot soup again, which was just delicious, yumyum!.
Anyway, a week from Friday we leave Asheville, and I am feeling pretty good about it. I am looking forward to what's next and finding a place to finally settle down - hopefully not Brooklyn for too long - I feel like Brooklyn, or at least Marine Park, is a bad place to be a fruitarian. Yes I know there are a plethora of fresh markets and produce to choose from in the metropolitan nyc area, but getting around and transporting everything is a pain in the ass.. I was told to look into wholesale produce terminal markets - they have a lot of discounted produce and you can buy stuff in bulk, and they are in most major cities. There is one in NYC but it's in the Bronx, about 30 miles away from the ave. R house, which in nyc means probably an hour, with tolls, etc. Seems like a hassle. Maybe I will check it out once though, what have I got to lose? I guess other options will include, checking into other small grocery stores and buying things by the case, ordering things online, etc... I'm hoping I can still try to do this, everything is so expensive in nyc.. ahh, try not to stress... I will look for folks on 30bananasaday who are in the NYC area and see what they do to save money... there's gotta be some folks out there who have some suggestions. Other than that minor setback, I'm still looking forward to leaving..... We shall see what I come up with..... Night!
Monday, December 10, 2012
Delicious carrot soup
I think it's the best raw concoction I've tasted so far. I might make this my staple lol. I have to write it down before I forget.
Mmmmm so tangy and sweet and no added salt or oil.
It came to --
4-5 large carrots juiced - (I think you can just blend them cut up if you want - if you have a vitamix but I kind of didn't think it would work with my blender.)
Juice of two lemons
1 Parsnip juiced, (i'm not really sure if it made much of a difference or not, might need one or two more.)
Then toss that concoction into the blender with:
generous handful of spinach
3/4 avocado (what makes it creamy) - Blend...
if you want it thicker i would say you could add nutritional yeast, another avocado, some nuts, etc. I thought about nutritional yeast and whether it's "allowed" I'm not sure if it is or not but I might try it anyway next time, I have some that I need to use up...
Then the garnishes: Serve with whatever garnishes you like but I went with chopped red bell pepper, chopped cukes, and the other 1/4 of the avocado. Omg it was sooo delicious!! Sweet, tangy, and I didn't add any salt at all, it didn't even need it!!!!
I think if you don't have a juicer it can certainly go into the food processor chopped up with plenty of water. yummmmmyyyyyyyy :-)
Earlier in the day:
2L Blended fresh squeezed OJ and 1/2 mini watermelon - delicious!!!
The rest of my banana berry smoothie from yesterday blended with 9 more bananas and plenty of water - it's a bit overwhelming but it's really delicious, just bananas and water is one of my new favorite things. It tastes like a milky concoction. With the dates it's a little too much for me I think. If i need to get the extra calories in maybe I'll add some dates. I've actually been laying off dates for awhile. I've acquired a taste for them, but I hear mixed reviews of whether they are a good fruit to have as a staple.. since they are partially dried fruit they stick to your teeth more easily, and there might be more risk for dental problems.. I don't know, I know that there are a lot of people on this life style worried about dental issues, for me it's just made me that much more strict with flossing. I am flossing after every meal now and brushing twice a day. I used to be so lax about flossing. I think it's super important to take care of my teeth - I read posts about peoples' teeth rotting out of their mouths.. but they admitted themselves that they were only brushing with water and not flossing.
But anyway - for calories I came in at 2185, and I feel fine right now. Still gassy - ??? not sure what to think about that ??
I had about 35 minutes of tae bo and some hip hop dancing today - didn't really feel like going outside as it was raining. I went through old flynn class videos and was dancing to some of the songs, man i really miss that so much.... sigh... some day I'll get back into dance, yes I will!
Mmmmm so tangy and sweet and no added salt or oil.
It came to --
4-5 large carrots juiced - (I think you can just blend them cut up if you want - if you have a vitamix but I kind of didn't think it would work with my blender.)
Juice of two lemons
1 Parsnip juiced, (i'm not really sure if it made much of a difference or not, might need one or two more.)
Then toss that concoction into the blender with:
generous handful of spinach
3/4 avocado (what makes it creamy) - Blend...
if you want it thicker i would say you could add nutritional yeast, another avocado, some nuts, etc. I thought about nutritional yeast and whether it's "allowed" I'm not sure if it is or not but I might try it anyway next time, I have some that I need to use up...
Then the garnishes: Serve with whatever garnishes you like but I went with chopped red bell pepper, chopped cukes, and the other 1/4 of the avocado. Omg it was sooo delicious!! Sweet, tangy, and I didn't add any salt at all, it didn't even need it!!!!
I think if you don't have a juicer it can certainly go into the food processor chopped up with plenty of water. yummmmmyyyyyyyy :-)
Earlier in the day:
2L Blended fresh squeezed OJ and 1/2 mini watermelon - delicious!!!
The rest of my banana berry smoothie from yesterday blended with 9 more bananas and plenty of water - it's a bit overwhelming but it's really delicious, just bananas and water is one of my new favorite things. It tastes like a milky concoction. With the dates it's a little too much for me I think. If i need to get the extra calories in maybe I'll add some dates. I've actually been laying off dates for awhile. I've acquired a taste for them, but I hear mixed reviews of whether they are a good fruit to have as a staple.. since they are partially dried fruit they stick to your teeth more easily, and there might be more risk for dental problems.. I don't know, I know that there are a lot of people on this life style worried about dental issues, for me it's just made me that much more strict with flossing. I am flossing after every meal now and brushing twice a day. I used to be so lax about flossing. I think it's super important to take care of my teeth - I read posts about peoples' teeth rotting out of their mouths.. but they admitted themselves that they were only brushing with water and not flossing.
But anyway - for calories I came in at 2185, and I feel fine right now. Still gassy - ??? not sure what to think about that ??
I had about 35 minutes of tae bo and some hip hop dancing today - didn't really feel like going outside as it was raining. I went through old flynn class videos and was dancing to some of the songs, man i really miss that so much.... sigh... some day I'll get back into dance, yes I will!
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Today's meals
Before I nod off to sleep I want to remember that a big reason I am doing this is to journal all my meals - even though I'm using cronometer.
So, very briefly -
today consisted of:
Breakfast: 1.5 liters of citrus
Lunch: 9 bananas
Mid afternoon feast: 6 banana smoothie with 1 cup frozen blackberries and water * i was not able to finish this, i'd say i had a little more than half of it - i will probably finish it in the am or post work-out*
Dinner: Gigantic salad with lots of fixings, and avocado/zucchini/cilantro/dill/citrus dressing.
Gassy? YES :-/
Calories: 2478
Exercise: 30 minutes of aerobics - Gilad's body's in motion on youtube (LOVE youtube!!!), lol.. I originally wanted to do yoga but i felt too wired and felt like i needed to move more...
Water: 2.5 L
Feeling good except i can't stop farting. Sorry!! had to say it... lol
So, very briefly -
today consisted of:
Breakfast: 1.5 liters of citrus
Lunch: 9 bananas
Mid afternoon feast: 6 banana smoothie with 1 cup frozen blackberries and water * i was not able to finish this, i'd say i had a little more than half of it - i will probably finish it in the am or post work-out*
Dinner: Gigantic salad with lots of fixings, and avocado/zucchini/cilantro/dill/citrus dressing.
Gassy? YES :-/
Calories: 2478
Exercise: 30 minutes of aerobics - Gilad's body's in motion on youtube (LOVE youtube!!!), lol.. I originally wanted to do yoga but i felt too wired and felt like i needed to move more...
Water: 2.5 L
Feeling good except i can't stop farting. Sorry!! had to say it... lol
Sunday morning
Another beautiful Sunday morning in Asheville. While it doesn't feel like home, I think I'll still miss it. I'll miss the sunny days - I think it's only rained a handful of times since I got here in October. The weather I'll miss too - it's no tropical paradise, but it never seems to get colder than 55 here. Then again winter hasn't even begun yet.
Just doing some reflecting... I think even though I haven't been working since September - wow, the months are starting to add up now, pretty crazy - I still feel like I've been productive. Maybe the average person wouldn't think so, but the average person isn't me, so whatever. I think I've tried to focus on health while I've been here - I mean that first month or so well, not so much, but I feel like the end of November/beginning of December- it's been a big change for me, I've really started to see the light on a lot of things. It seems really important for me to try to really give this life style a shot. I've already noticed really positive small changes. Number 1 change - attitude. I've had a really hard time the first month in Asheville (and beyond) with depression, being hard on myself, blaming myself for everything, constant guilt, stress, anger, despair, you name it. It's been really rough on my body and my mind. I'm sure if I go back in my gmail inbox and read all the emails I wrote to my dearest friend, the majority of them were depressing, self-deprecating, horrible emails (sorry Kate). And I can't even imagine how I've been as a partner - but I think we've both been through rough times so I don't think he will hold it against me.. Either way - maybe it has to do with the coming move and change of scenery too, but I have a good attitude. I feel really calm this morning as I have most mornings since Wednesday - I've been trying to see the good in everything, I feel like I'm a little more patient (maybe, haha, maybe not), I just feel at ease for the first time in awhile. Though last night I stressed myself out about going to that restaurant...ah well...
And even though I don't have a job or a career path or much of anything in that department, I still think it will be okay.
I was beginning to talk to my mom about my decision to try out this diet, and though she wasn't very attentive, it didn't bother me too much. I think her response was something along the lines " well as long as you don't turn your house into a dump like someone we know" ... Ouch? Referring to my uncle who is 811 and kind of uses his house as a compost bin - whatever, I mean it's his property right? I wouldn't personally be that way - I am pretty clean myself, but to each his/her own is what I say. It's probably better for the environment than the way most people dispose of their garbage. But either way, my mom quickly changed the subject and well, that's okay. I don't expect her to be all that interested I guess... I thought I would be more bothered by it but I am not really. I can only worry about myself and the decisions I make now. And how that affects my well-being. Either way, maybe in the past I would be more prone to starting an argument with her or being upset by her lack of interest, but I don't feel that way now. I still feel pretty at peace. I think while it's important to spread the message to some people, it is to me sure, but right now it's more important for me to figure out where I stand and how I can make changes to myself. So yeah, I feel pretty at ease. And maybe if I had a full time job that would be completely different- hah. But anyway..
I am not trying to worry too much about the coming move either, and how we're going to bring everything. I know it will all work out and that we'll figure it out. All will be okay.. :-)
Just doing some reflecting... I think even though I haven't been working since September - wow, the months are starting to add up now, pretty crazy - I still feel like I've been productive. Maybe the average person wouldn't think so, but the average person isn't me, so whatever. I think I've tried to focus on health while I've been here - I mean that first month or so well, not so much, but I feel like the end of November/beginning of December- it's been a big change for me, I've really started to see the light on a lot of things. It seems really important for me to try to really give this life style a shot. I've already noticed really positive small changes. Number 1 change - attitude. I've had a really hard time the first month in Asheville (and beyond) with depression, being hard on myself, blaming myself for everything, constant guilt, stress, anger, despair, you name it. It's been really rough on my body and my mind. I'm sure if I go back in my gmail inbox and read all the emails I wrote to my dearest friend, the majority of them were depressing, self-deprecating, horrible emails (sorry Kate). And I can't even imagine how I've been as a partner - but I think we've both been through rough times so I don't think he will hold it against me.. Either way - maybe it has to do with the coming move and change of scenery too, but I have a good attitude. I feel really calm this morning as I have most mornings since Wednesday - I've been trying to see the good in everything, I feel like I'm a little more patient (maybe, haha, maybe not), I just feel at ease for the first time in awhile. Though last night I stressed myself out about going to that restaurant...ah well...
And even though I don't have a job or a career path or much of anything in that department, I still think it will be okay.
I was beginning to talk to my mom about my decision to try out this diet, and though she wasn't very attentive, it didn't bother me too much. I think her response was something along the lines " well as long as you don't turn your house into a dump like someone we know" ... Ouch? Referring to my uncle who is 811 and kind of uses his house as a compost bin - whatever, I mean it's his property right? I wouldn't personally be that way - I am pretty clean myself, but to each his/her own is what I say. It's probably better for the environment than the way most people dispose of their garbage. But either way, my mom quickly changed the subject and well, that's okay. I don't expect her to be all that interested I guess... I thought I would be more bothered by it but I am not really. I can only worry about myself and the decisions I make now. And how that affects my well-being. Either way, maybe in the past I would be more prone to starting an argument with her or being upset by her lack of interest, but I don't feel that way now. I still feel pretty at peace. I think while it's important to spread the message to some people, it is to me sure, but right now it's more important for me to figure out where I stand and how I can make changes to myself. So yeah, I feel pretty at ease. And maybe if I had a full time job that would be completely different- hah. But anyway..
I am not trying to worry too much about the coming move either, and how we're going to bring everything. I know it will all work out and that we'll figure it out. All will be okay.. :-)
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Well it was bound to happen...
I had a slight slip-up tonight. While I remained completely raw all day, I foolishly decided that it would be fun to go out to the local vegan/vegetarian restaurant (they have raw meal options) and have a meal.. Well I should know better. I know that most restaurants that offer raw meals are going to be either a) very high in fat or b) very high in salt or c)all of the above. I knew that and yet I went anyway. Now I know it's not like I had cooked or something (and it wouldn't be the end of the world if I did, and it's not the end of the world now), but I had the dragon bowl which was all raw veggies with some seeds and an avocado. The issue is the salt content. There were also a few different things in the dish that I overlooked - the housemade kimchi - while delicious, was SO SALTY, the beet pate also very delicious but salty, and red kraut/cabbage that was extremely salty. Also the dressing they served it with was a miso/tahini dressing which was again, delicious, but chock full of salt and fat. I used the dressing very sparingly, even though I would have liked to drink it. Now I know I only started this diet on Wednesday, but, aside from the bloated feelings and some gas, I've generally felt pretty good so far. I know that seems weird. I say I'm bloated and gassy yet I feel good? I dont' know, I mean it's not pleasant, I'll admit, but all in all, I feel like my mind has been clearer, I've had more energy, I definitely feel different, that's for sure. And maybe the gassiness is due to some kind of detoxification? I'm not really sure honestly...
But anyway, After nearly 4 days without any added salt at all, it was pretty shocking to taste a really salty dish tonight. I am typically a salt fanatic and am still struggling with addiction, but in general, it was pretty unpleasant. I ate most of the dish because I tend to do that, and I was really hungry (probably under-carbed). I ate about half the kimchi because it was still really enjoyable despite the shock factor of the salt. Anyway, my point is, I am a little disappointed in myself. Now I know it's not like I went out and got pizza hut or something, in fact, I really haven't been craving any dairy these past few days which is good, but it really is amazing to me the difference it makes with no salt in your diet. It's hard to believe that salt is basically a staple for everyone, including myself! The shock factor of not having it for one day is surprisingly high! We don't really think twice about it because it's literally in everything we eat... at least for me anyway. And fat, don't even get me started on fat... but I think my meal was lower in fat content than salt content. I was between that and this "raw manicotti".. I chose the dragon bowl because I just knew the manicotti would probably be both fatty and salty. Even though it sounded delicious at the time...
ANYWAY..... I feel pretty crappy right now, but tomorrow is another day. and lesson completely learned.. what's the point in going out to eat when there's nothing to eat, and it just burns a hole in your pocket anyway? That's 50 bucks (yes 50 BUCKS for dinner tonight) that I could have spent on groceries. Anyway, live and learn, no use whining about it. Right?
Before my salt binge, I had a pretty okay day. I had a good run this morning after a meal of cantaloupe and watermelon, ran another 2.5 miles, and power-walked a half a mile. Power walking is surprisingly pretty hard! And then had a giant smoothie of 8 bananas frozen strawberries, blackberries, and fresh OJ.
I don't evne know how to log my dinner on cronometer, but I'm going to assume I went way over my recommended fat intake and I'll probably be chugging lots of water tonight from all the salt. Either way, lesson learned!!
But anyway, After nearly 4 days without any added salt at all, it was pretty shocking to taste a really salty dish tonight. I am typically a salt fanatic and am still struggling with addiction, but in general, it was pretty unpleasant. I ate most of the dish because I tend to do that, and I was really hungry (probably under-carbed). I ate about half the kimchi because it was still really enjoyable despite the shock factor of the salt. Anyway, my point is, I am a little disappointed in myself. Now I know it's not like I went out and got pizza hut or something, in fact, I really haven't been craving any dairy these past few days which is good, but it really is amazing to me the difference it makes with no salt in your diet. It's hard to believe that salt is basically a staple for everyone, including myself! The shock factor of not having it for one day is surprisingly high! We don't really think twice about it because it's literally in everything we eat... at least for me anyway. And fat, don't even get me started on fat... but I think my meal was lower in fat content than salt content. I was between that and this "raw manicotti".. I chose the dragon bowl because I just knew the manicotti would probably be both fatty and salty. Even though it sounded delicious at the time...
ANYWAY..... I feel pretty crappy right now, but tomorrow is another day. and lesson completely learned.. what's the point in going out to eat when there's nothing to eat, and it just burns a hole in your pocket anyway? That's 50 bucks (yes 50 BUCKS for dinner tonight) that I could have spent on groceries. Anyway, live and learn, no use whining about it. Right?
Before my salt binge, I had a pretty okay day. I had a good run this morning after a meal of cantaloupe and watermelon, ran another 2.5 miles, and power-walked a half a mile. Power walking is surprisingly pretty hard! And then had a giant smoothie of 8 bananas frozen strawberries, blackberries, and fresh OJ.
I don't evne know how to log my dinner on cronometer, but I'm going to assume I went way over my recommended fat intake and I'll probably be chugging lots of water tonight from all the salt. Either way, lesson learned!!
Friday, December 7, 2012
Less calories today, I feel better.
Well it's day 3 on 80-10-10 low fat raw vegan. I have mixed feelings from today and the past few days.. I think it's normal for someone interested in this life style and trying to take the jump to want to latch on to support groups and certain viewpoints. I've gotten a lot of my inspiration and information from 30bananasaday.com and definitely a lot from my uncle as well, who has been on and off raw the past 5 years. 30 bananas a day offers a lot of support to new people but has a very strict regimen for how they think you can succeed on this lifestyle. I have been reading and watching their videos for a long time now, and the general theme is - do not calorie restrict, eat as much as you want from fruit, aim for 3000 calories a day. I agree with the fact that we should not calorie restrict, because that just causes problems for a lot of people - and relapses. It depends on what you're eating I guess. If you're eating a meat and dairy based diet then yes, you probably don't want to go above 2000/day because of the density of the calories. On this diet it takes a lot more calories to feel satisfied.
However.. I was watching a video from another raw vegan person, Megan Elizabeth, and she kind of went the other way as far as calories go, saying eat when your body tells you to stop.. don't eat to meet a caloric quota... I feel like I was doing that yesterday and the day before because i was so afraid I would get too hungry and want a pizza if I didn't have 3000 calories worth of fruit in me.
Now I had a good run yesterday and in general I am feeling okay, but last night I was in pretty rough shape. I had this intense smoothie of bananas and dates of 2000 calories - I felt bloated, gassy, and a little off. Not to mention before bed I had a really bad headache. I had some lavender tea (I don't know if that's allowed, but I am allowing myself to drink tea, please..) and it helped a lot. I had to think last night.. do I really need this many calories? Is it really necessary? And then today I came upon a video Megan made recently about weight-gain on fruit diets and how there is no one specific prescription for everyone. She's absolutely right, we are all different, we absorb things differently, we metabolize differently, and most importantly, we are not all on the same activity level. I mean it should have been obvious to me from the get go, but like.. Why would I want to eat the same amount of calories as say, an ultra-marathon runner? I'm nowhere near that and I doubt I ever will be. If I find myself running a long distance one day, then yes, perhaps I should have a 2000 calorie smoothie. But if I am just going to run 30 minutes a day give or take... I should really re-think my eating and caloric intake.
So anyway... I did not have a date and banana smoothie like last night. I did consume around 10 bananas and 5 dates throughout the day and after my run. And that felt okay. Tonight I made raw collard wraps and this cold corn/avocado/zucchini/dill soup. They came out pretty nice actually. I did my best to log the food and I am just under 2000 calories. And I do not feel starved or under-carbed. I also came to the realization that perhaps fully raw is not for me and I may allow myself to have a healthy cooked vegan meal at dinner if I want. I still agree that low salt and low fat and low oil is very key. Anyway, I am learning a lot these past few days and even though it's only been a couple days, I think I know that I probably won't end up being 100% raw. Perhaps some days may be different than others. But anyway..
I really really like Megan's approach to helping people and spreading her knowledge. She is not in your face, she is almost never in a bikini (lol), and she is very laid back in her videos. I think I would benefit from having her as a mentor vs. Freelee. Nothing against Freelee, but I just don't think I respond well to that kind of in your face educating.
Today's run wasn't as good as yesterday's. I actually ended up running on nearly an empty stomach - I had one banana prior, and plenty of water. Yesterday I had 2 liters of citrus juice in me. I think it would have been okay if I had started way earlier in the day. But I didn't start running until around 1:30. So yeah... lesson learned, if I'm going to run later in the day definitely have a meal first, otherwise go for a run in the morning. I did 2.8 miles in 34 minutes and that was slower than yesterday but that's okay. Also, I meant to mention that Chris has been running with me these past few days, and it's been nice. It's always helpful to have someone with you when you run to kind of keep you going.
I'm pretty happy with tonight's dinner actually - I got the raw collard wraps from the youtube channel Fit on Raw. They were basically collard greens with shredded carrot, bell pepper, cukes, and this creamy dressing. The dressing was: 1/2 avocado (I added that), 2 ounces walnuts (so my fat intake was a little over than I wanted it to be at 15%), one orange bell pepper, cumin to taste, and it also called for celery powder to taste - dehydrated celery essentially, but I didn't have that. Even without the celery powder it tasted pretty good. It's still hard to get used to not having any added salt or oil - like the wraps obviously would have been even more delicious with creamy hummus, but it was still pretty good.
And then I got this soup recipe from one of the message boards: I basically blended 3 cups of raw corn (from the cob), 1/2 a zucchini, 1/2 avocado (yeah my fat intake was a bit high today, oops), generous handful of dill (I think I may have used too much actually), and it called for 2 spring onions but I used 2 scallions instead, oh and I also added the juice of 1 lemon and 2 oranges. It came out pretty good! It makes a difference with the orange juice.
Over all today was an okay day, I learned that I am going to listen to my body and what it tells me. And what feels right. As far as caloric intake goes. Here's a picture of tonight's dinner. :-) I didn't eat the whole thing, Chris shared some with me, even though I'm not sure how much he liked it, but I'm glad he gave it a try. He added some hummus to his and I think it made it better for him.
However.. I was watching a video from another raw vegan person, Megan Elizabeth, and she kind of went the other way as far as calories go, saying eat when your body tells you to stop.. don't eat to meet a caloric quota... I feel like I was doing that yesterday and the day before because i was so afraid I would get too hungry and want a pizza if I didn't have 3000 calories worth of fruit in me.
Now I had a good run yesterday and in general I am feeling okay, but last night I was in pretty rough shape. I had this intense smoothie of bananas and dates of 2000 calories - I felt bloated, gassy, and a little off. Not to mention before bed I had a really bad headache. I had some lavender tea (I don't know if that's allowed, but I am allowing myself to drink tea, please..) and it helped a lot. I had to think last night.. do I really need this many calories? Is it really necessary? And then today I came upon a video Megan made recently about weight-gain on fruit diets and how there is no one specific prescription for everyone. She's absolutely right, we are all different, we absorb things differently, we metabolize differently, and most importantly, we are not all on the same activity level. I mean it should have been obvious to me from the get go, but like.. Why would I want to eat the same amount of calories as say, an ultra-marathon runner? I'm nowhere near that and I doubt I ever will be. If I find myself running a long distance one day, then yes, perhaps I should have a 2000 calorie smoothie. But if I am just going to run 30 minutes a day give or take... I should really re-think my eating and caloric intake.
So anyway... I did not have a date and banana smoothie like last night. I did consume around 10 bananas and 5 dates throughout the day and after my run. And that felt okay. Tonight I made raw collard wraps and this cold corn/avocado/zucchini/dill soup. They came out pretty nice actually. I did my best to log the food and I am just under 2000 calories. And I do not feel starved or under-carbed. I also came to the realization that perhaps fully raw is not for me and I may allow myself to have a healthy cooked vegan meal at dinner if I want. I still agree that low salt and low fat and low oil is very key. Anyway, I am learning a lot these past few days and even though it's only been a couple days, I think I know that I probably won't end up being 100% raw. Perhaps some days may be different than others. But anyway..
I really really like Megan's approach to helping people and spreading her knowledge. She is not in your face, she is almost never in a bikini (lol), and she is very laid back in her videos. I think I would benefit from having her as a mentor vs. Freelee. Nothing against Freelee, but I just don't think I respond well to that kind of in your face educating.
Today's run wasn't as good as yesterday's. I actually ended up running on nearly an empty stomach - I had one banana prior, and plenty of water. Yesterday I had 2 liters of citrus juice in me. I think it would have been okay if I had started way earlier in the day. But I didn't start running until around 1:30. So yeah... lesson learned, if I'm going to run later in the day definitely have a meal first, otherwise go for a run in the morning. I did 2.8 miles in 34 minutes and that was slower than yesterday but that's okay. Also, I meant to mention that Chris has been running with me these past few days, and it's been nice. It's always helpful to have someone with you when you run to kind of keep you going.
I'm pretty happy with tonight's dinner actually - I got the raw collard wraps from the youtube channel Fit on Raw. They were basically collard greens with shredded carrot, bell pepper, cukes, and this creamy dressing. The dressing was: 1/2 avocado (I added that), 2 ounces walnuts (so my fat intake was a little over than I wanted it to be at 15%), one orange bell pepper, cumin to taste, and it also called for celery powder to taste - dehydrated celery essentially, but I didn't have that. Even without the celery powder it tasted pretty good. It's still hard to get used to not having any added salt or oil - like the wraps obviously would have been even more delicious with creamy hummus, but it was still pretty good.
And then I got this soup recipe from one of the message boards: I basically blended 3 cups of raw corn (from the cob), 1/2 a zucchini, 1/2 avocado (yeah my fat intake was a bit high today, oops), generous handful of dill (I think I may have used too much actually), and it called for 2 spring onions but I used 2 scallions instead, oh and I also added the juice of 1 lemon and 2 oranges. It came out pretty good! It makes a difference with the orange juice.
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Dates and bananas. wow...
I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by the date and banana smoothie I just consumed - I had 16 dates total - ate 8 of them alone, and then consumed 8 of them and 8 bananas with water blended. It's overwhelmingly sweet and overwhelmingly high in calories. About 2000 calories all by itself right there. I might skip a salad tonight, because I'm feeling so full from this beverage. And I didn't even finish it, I still have half a liter left..
I might put it away and finish it up tomorrow, and finish up the left over salad from last night, maybe.. Or I might just call it quits for eating for the day. I'm told on this diet I can eat however much calories from fruit that I care for.. that I don't need to limit my calories. But then I read about other women on the diet only consuming 1800-2000 calories per day. I feel like I wouldn't be able to fill up on that many calories from just fruits and veggies. But I don't know. I guess I just have to experiment a bit and see what works for me. I can say right now my cravings have definitely decreased to a minimum. I am still thinking about pizza but it's pretty far out there now.
I ran 3 miles in 33 minutes earlier today without too much difficulty. I'm wondering if it's a placebo effect or if I really do feel a difference already.. I do know this, whether it's due to the fruit or not, I've had so much energy today and yesterday. Honestly I could have kept running. I was getting pretty winded when I hit 3 miles but I definitely felt like I could have run maybe another 1/2 lap or so. I downloaded a running app thing and now I can log how many miles I've gone, which is good. I still had no idea how many miles one lap was at Carrier Park, and now I know, it's a little over 1.3 miles. Good to know.. I am excited to see what tomorrow brings with my run. Maybe I can try for 4 miles. It's been so long since I've run that far.
I watched a ton of videos today and continue to feel inspired. For the moment I am not going to worry about the scales and weighing myself, I am worrying about my energy levels and how it effects my exercising. This afternoon felt great.
My stomach feels fine at the moment but (again sorry for TMI) I am still pretty gassy. Also noticed a lot of mucus coming up today. I tend to notice that the more fruit I eat the more mucus that emerges. I feel like the fruits are trying to cleanse out the gunk in my system, I can't imagine the fruit being the cause of that. That just doesn't really make sense to me. But I don't know for sure.
So to sum it up:
Today's Diet:
Breakfast - 2 liters of citrus (I think I will keep it to 1-1.5 liters from now on, 2 liters felt overwhelming to me this morning, though I did have so much energy when I ran in the afternoon...)
Lunch/Dinner: 8 dates by themselves;
8 date/8 banana smoothie
Exercise: 33 min run/3 miles
Water : 2.5 liters
That's all I've really eaten today honestly.. I may or may not add the rest of the salad from last night, it would probably make me feel better to have some amount of greens in there. But I am so full right now that I can't really think about it..
Now time for a hot shower. :-)
I might put it away and finish it up tomorrow, and finish up the left over salad from last night, maybe.. Or I might just call it quits for eating for the day. I'm told on this diet I can eat however much calories from fruit that I care for.. that I don't need to limit my calories. But then I read about other women on the diet only consuming 1800-2000 calories per day. I feel like I wouldn't be able to fill up on that many calories from just fruits and veggies. But I don't know. I guess I just have to experiment a bit and see what works for me. I can say right now my cravings have definitely decreased to a minimum. I am still thinking about pizza but it's pretty far out there now.
I ran 3 miles in 33 minutes earlier today without too much difficulty. I'm wondering if it's a placebo effect or if I really do feel a difference already.. I do know this, whether it's due to the fruit or not, I've had so much energy today and yesterday. Honestly I could have kept running. I was getting pretty winded when I hit 3 miles but I definitely felt like I could have run maybe another 1/2 lap or so. I downloaded a running app thing and now I can log how many miles I've gone, which is good. I still had no idea how many miles one lap was at Carrier Park, and now I know, it's a little over 1.3 miles. Good to know.. I am excited to see what tomorrow brings with my run. Maybe I can try for 4 miles. It's been so long since I've run that far.
I watched a ton of videos today and continue to feel inspired. For the moment I am not going to worry about the scales and weighing myself, I am worrying about my energy levels and how it effects my exercising. This afternoon felt great.
My stomach feels fine at the moment but (again sorry for TMI) I am still pretty gassy. Also noticed a lot of mucus coming up today. I tend to notice that the more fruit I eat the more mucus that emerges. I feel like the fruits are trying to cleanse out the gunk in my system, I can't imagine the fruit being the cause of that. That just doesn't really make sense to me. But I don't know for sure.
So to sum it up:
Today's Diet:
Breakfast - 2 liters of citrus (I think I will keep it to 1-1.5 liters from now on, 2 liters felt overwhelming to me this morning, though I did have so much energy when I ran in the afternoon...)
Lunch/Dinner: 8 dates by themselves;
8 date/8 banana smoothie
Exercise: 33 min run/3 miles
Water : 2.5 liters
That's all I've really eaten today honestly.. I may or may not add the rest of the salad from last night, it would probably make me feel better to have some amount of greens in there. But I am so full right now that I can't really think about it..
Now time for a hot shower. :-)
Thurs. am
So far I've had 1 liter of water and am finishing 2 liters of citrus (tangelos, grapefruit, and lemon). I feel okay I guess. The juice is almost 900 calories and should be sufficient for the morning into the afternoon. Yet I can't help but still feel a craving for other things, like a hot piping cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich. I am feeling satisfied but yet I'm not satisfied.. this is really tough!
I want to try and have another full day at being raw. I know it's possible, I just have a bad feeling I'm going to mess up today.
I think my body just needs to get used to these kinds of meals, and not the binge-eating of crap foods it's so used to. My stomach is still confused and wants the tempeh lettuce and tomato sandwiches and the sweet potato fries... It wants the oily, salty stir fries like I had just two days ago, I had a ginger miso stir fry at this place and it was the saltiest dish I'd tasted in a long time... Was it really worth the 5-10 min of satisfaction? No. The question is, is it ever worth it? Have I ever actually felt GOOD after eating an entire pizza? NO... I NEVER have... The sheer ecstasy that only lasts about 10 minutes then turns into this horrible guilt-ridden pain, and exhaustion and depression.. I just have to remember that. Why is it so hard to remember?
Also maybe the juice is tangier than normal - the OJ usually goes down a lot easier, but the tangelos are pretty tangy. I didn't even mean to buy them, I thought I was buying navels and then I got home and I had three 4lb bags of tangelos - oops.. They're still delicious. Just super tangy, and a little harder to go down today I think.
I really have to think about cost effective shopping on this diet. A lot of people do wholesale type situations. I'm finding myself at the store if not every day then every other day buying more and more fruit. And man it's pretty expensive. I am leaving in a few weeks, so I probably don't need to bother trying to set up a whole sale situation with any of the stores here, but I have to really think about that for the next place I go. And not to mention moving again.. UGH.. I'm starting to feel a little stressed and overwhelmed. I definitely have more things than I had when I first got to Asheville, and I don't want to get rid of anything. I have to get rid of the furniture I got, which everything was luckily all bought second-hand cheap.. Oh how I'll miss that green chair, that perfect chair.. sigh. I'm just going to look at it as.. someone else can hopefully get as much joy out of it as I have. I can share that with someone else. It makes me feel a little better.
Between the two of us, we have so much crap, plus the sweet cats. I just don't know how it's all going to fit. I may have to ship a couple boxes of things. Things... do I really need these things?
Anyway. Feeling like there is potential for a great day today, but feeling stressed still. I think a run later on will help. My stomach does feel a little acidic from all this citrus though, and wondering if I should lay off on the citrus juice for a couple days... something to ponder.
I want to try and have another full day at being raw. I know it's possible, I just have a bad feeling I'm going to mess up today.
I think my body just needs to get used to these kinds of meals, and not the binge-eating of crap foods it's so used to. My stomach is still confused and wants the tempeh lettuce and tomato sandwiches and the sweet potato fries... It wants the oily, salty stir fries like I had just two days ago, I had a ginger miso stir fry at this place and it was the saltiest dish I'd tasted in a long time... Was it really worth the 5-10 min of satisfaction? No. The question is, is it ever worth it? Have I ever actually felt GOOD after eating an entire pizza? NO... I NEVER have... The sheer ecstasy that only lasts about 10 minutes then turns into this horrible guilt-ridden pain, and exhaustion and depression.. I just have to remember that. Why is it so hard to remember?
Also maybe the juice is tangier than normal - the OJ usually goes down a lot easier, but the tangelos are pretty tangy. I didn't even mean to buy them, I thought I was buying navels and then I got home and I had three 4lb bags of tangelos - oops.. They're still delicious. Just super tangy, and a little harder to go down today I think.
I really have to think about cost effective shopping on this diet. A lot of people do wholesale type situations. I'm finding myself at the store if not every day then every other day buying more and more fruit. And man it's pretty expensive. I am leaving in a few weeks, so I probably don't need to bother trying to set up a whole sale situation with any of the stores here, but I have to really think about that for the next place I go. And not to mention moving again.. UGH.. I'm starting to feel a little stressed and overwhelmed. I definitely have more things than I had when I first got to Asheville, and I don't want to get rid of anything. I have to get rid of the furniture I got, which everything was luckily all bought second-hand cheap.. Oh how I'll miss that green chair, that perfect chair.. sigh. I'm just going to look at it as.. someone else can hopefully get as much joy out of it as I have. I can share that with someone else. It makes me feel a little better.
Between the two of us, we have so much crap, plus the sweet cats. I just don't know how it's all going to fit. I may have to ship a couple boxes of things. Things... do I really need these things?
Anyway. Feeling like there is potential for a great day today, but feeling stressed still. I think a run later on will help. My stomach does feel a little acidic from all this citrus though, and wondering if I should lay off on the citrus juice for a couple days... something to ponder.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Today's meals
Well today, 12/5/12, marks my first official day as raw, and I've been mostly successful I think! I had a cup of coffee this morning though, and that technically means I failed, but, well, baby steps....
Today I started out my morning with nearly 1 liter of water, preferably filtered. I've become a water snob in the last couple of years, first I had a brita filter, and after I realized that I need to have lots of fresh filtered water on-hand, I started filling large containers and jugs at local stores that have filtered or reverse-osmosis water. I think it makes a huge difference personally. I don't even want to KNOW what's in city water. All I taste is chlorine honestly... Anyway, I digress..
For the past month or so, I've been starting out most mornings with at least 1 liter of fresh squeezed citrus, mostly oranges, grapefruit, some lemon. When I left Vermont, in hopes of making a life in sunny FL (well so much for that), I was like. It's perfect! I'll get a citrus press, I'll have access to soooo much citrus being in FL and all, and hey, maybe I'll even find an orange farm and get a CSA going or something.. (I don't even know if there are orange farms down there that even do that, but you never know). Well FL didn't work out and here I am in Asheville, in limbo, still not sure where I'll be next, almost 90% sure NYC area, but hey.. it's okay, once again I digress. I ended up getting the citrus press after all, a manual one, I want to work for my OJ baby... and it's treated me well so far. There's just nothing like fresh-squeezed OJ. I will never go back to store bought OJ. Not to mention I think most store-bought OJ has sooooo many preservatives and weird chemicals in them. Vs. fresh squeezed.. ahh nothing like it...
ANYWAY, get to the point!
The water and OJ kept me going for quite some time actually. (oh and the coffee :-/)... My original goal today was to mono-meal with bananas, but unfortunately I have about 30 pounds of bananas sitting in a couple paper bags and they just still aren't quite ripe enough. Many raw foodies recommend your bananas to have spots on them and be soft. Not only are they sweeter and easier to eat, they are much more easier to digest, because there is less starch. I always used to hate soft brown spotty bananas, and always preferred pretty yellow ones. But it's so true if you are eating them in excess.. It's super unpleasant to stomach them when they are starchy and unripe. In fact in general it's not recommended. But anyway.. Last week I was at Fresh Market and bought a package of medjool dates. They were delicious! And dates are another great recommended fruit for mono-mealing, because of the caloric content similar to bananas. So I feasted on about 18 dates over the course of 3-4 hours. And that actually felt pretty good, I have to say. I had a good energy buzz going this afternoon, and unfortunately did not get a chance to run today, but hopefully tomorrow. I knew I wanted to do a giant salad for dinner, but I felt like I was going to need some more calories in there, so I picked out 11 of the ripest bananas I could find and feasted on those before my giant salad. Honestly they were spotty but STILL not quite ripe enough.. I felt that they were not going down as easy as I thought they would. So lesson learned there.. make sure they're spotty as hell!!
For dinner tonight which ended up around 8-9, I had a gigantic salad. In the future I'm trying to not have food after 7:30. But I took forever to make my salad and didn't end up finishing till around 9. So I'll work on that.
Tonight's salad had:
5 oz package of baby spinach
2 heads of romaine lettuce
1/2 cucumber
1/2 avocado
1/2 shredded zucchini
1 shredded carrot
1/2 red bell pepper
Aaand. The dressing... it was yummy I have to say... for being low salt, low fat.
1 cup baby spinach
4-5 small stalks celery - for the salt content - celery has natural salt.
1/2 red bell pepper
1 pint cherry tomatoes
Generous handful of fresh cilantro
1-2 sprigs fresh oregano
Juice of: 2 tangelos (I accidentally bought those at the store instead of oranges - still delicious!) and 2 meyer lemons
Blend that baby up! or food process, or whatever you have. High-powered blenders are always recommended - I have the Ninja blender, it's the poor man's Vitamix, which some day I will have. Yes, some day.
And honestly, it was a hit! It had this sweet tangy taste and I could definitely taste the naturally occurring sodium from the celery, which is great because I am struggling with salt addiction - like who isn't, right?
Anyway, at the end of the day, I'd say I feel pretty good. I'm not saying I don't have cravings. They're still there. I've been known to be a pretty food aggressive person when I put my mind to it... and there were many nights where I ate well into 10-11pm. And mostly junk!
My stomach feels a little flippy right now and I'm not sure what's going on. I'm a bit gassy too, sorry if TMI. I'm sure it's processing all the food I've had in the past few days in addition to today's meals. It's probably a little confused, wondering where the cheese is, or the bagel with earth balance. Some people go through a period of detox when they first start out, and I may or may not experience that. I feel like I have a lot of energy right now and my mind feels pretty clear. I'm pretty sure my mind hasn't felt this clear in awhile, it might sound like I'm just saying that, but I swear!! One thing I can take away from today is that my energy was very high and my mind was clear...
I recorded everything I ate today on Cronometer.com, and I clocked in at a little over 3000 calories today. Now the goal would have been for me to run a few miles somewhere in there too. But tomorrow is another day...
Attached is tonight's salad.
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:-)
Today I started out my morning with nearly 1 liter of water, preferably filtered. I've become a water snob in the last couple of years, first I had a brita filter, and after I realized that I need to have lots of fresh filtered water on-hand, I started filling large containers and jugs at local stores that have filtered or reverse-osmosis water. I think it makes a huge difference personally. I don't even want to KNOW what's in city water. All I taste is chlorine honestly... Anyway, I digress..
For the past month or so, I've been starting out most mornings with at least 1 liter of fresh squeezed citrus, mostly oranges, grapefruit, some lemon. When I left Vermont, in hopes of making a life in sunny FL (well so much for that), I was like. It's perfect! I'll get a citrus press, I'll have access to soooo much citrus being in FL and all, and hey, maybe I'll even find an orange farm and get a CSA going or something.. (I don't even know if there are orange farms down there that even do that, but you never know). Well FL didn't work out and here I am in Asheville, in limbo, still not sure where I'll be next, almost 90% sure NYC area, but hey.. it's okay, once again I digress. I ended up getting the citrus press after all, a manual one, I want to work for my OJ baby... and it's treated me well so far. There's just nothing like fresh-squeezed OJ. I will never go back to store bought OJ. Not to mention I think most store-bought OJ has sooooo many preservatives and weird chemicals in them. Vs. fresh squeezed.. ahh nothing like it...
ANYWAY, get to the point!
The water and OJ kept me going for quite some time actually. (oh and the coffee :-/)... My original goal today was to mono-meal with bananas, but unfortunately I have about 30 pounds of bananas sitting in a couple paper bags and they just still aren't quite ripe enough. Many raw foodies recommend your bananas to have spots on them and be soft. Not only are they sweeter and easier to eat, they are much more easier to digest, because there is less starch. I always used to hate soft brown spotty bananas, and always preferred pretty yellow ones. But it's so true if you are eating them in excess.. It's super unpleasant to stomach them when they are starchy and unripe. In fact in general it's not recommended. But anyway.. Last week I was at Fresh Market and bought a package of medjool dates. They were delicious! And dates are another great recommended fruit for mono-mealing, because of the caloric content similar to bananas. So I feasted on about 18 dates over the course of 3-4 hours. And that actually felt pretty good, I have to say. I had a good energy buzz going this afternoon, and unfortunately did not get a chance to run today, but hopefully tomorrow. I knew I wanted to do a giant salad for dinner, but I felt like I was going to need some more calories in there, so I picked out 11 of the ripest bananas I could find and feasted on those before my giant salad. Honestly they were spotty but STILL not quite ripe enough.. I felt that they were not going down as easy as I thought they would. So lesson learned there.. make sure they're spotty as hell!!
For dinner tonight which ended up around 8-9, I had a gigantic salad. In the future I'm trying to not have food after 7:30. But I took forever to make my salad and didn't end up finishing till around 9. So I'll work on that.
Tonight's salad had:
5 oz package of baby spinach
2 heads of romaine lettuce
1/2 cucumber
1/2 avocado
1/2 shredded zucchini
1 shredded carrot
1/2 red bell pepper
Aaand. The dressing... it was yummy I have to say... for being low salt, low fat.
1 cup baby spinach
4-5 small stalks celery - for the salt content - celery has natural salt.
1/2 red bell pepper
1 pint cherry tomatoes
Generous handful of fresh cilantro
1-2 sprigs fresh oregano
Juice of: 2 tangelos (I accidentally bought those at the store instead of oranges - still delicious!) and 2 meyer lemons
Blend that baby up! or food process, or whatever you have. High-powered blenders are always recommended - I have the Ninja blender, it's the poor man's Vitamix, which some day I will have. Yes, some day.
And honestly, it was a hit! It had this sweet tangy taste and I could definitely taste the naturally occurring sodium from the celery, which is great because I am struggling with salt addiction - like who isn't, right?
Anyway, at the end of the day, I'd say I feel pretty good. I'm not saying I don't have cravings. They're still there. I've been known to be a pretty food aggressive person when I put my mind to it... and there were many nights where I ate well into 10-11pm. And mostly junk!
My stomach feels a little flippy right now and I'm not sure what's going on. I'm a bit gassy too, sorry if TMI. I'm sure it's processing all the food I've had in the past few days in addition to today's meals. It's probably a little confused, wondering where the cheese is, or the bagel with earth balance. Some people go through a period of detox when they first start out, and I may or may not experience that. I feel like I have a lot of energy right now and my mind feels pretty clear. I'm pretty sure my mind hasn't felt this clear in awhile, it might sound like I'm just saying that, but I swear!! One thing I can take away from today is that my energy was very high and my mind was clear...
I recorded everything I ate today on Cronometer.com, and I clocked in at a little over 3000 calories today. Now the goal would have been for me to run a few miles somewhere in there too. But tomorrow is another day...
Attached is tonight's salad.
Well, here it goes....
I'm going to attempt the 80-10-10 diet and see what happens. I've been semi attempting this diet for what seems like months now, maybe even years. I love fruit, and have been eating large amounts of it every day for a few years now. My main issue has been being able to stay raw throughout the day and not give into temptations. For some reason today of all days, I've become especially inspired to really try to give it a go...
For anyone who is not familiar with this diet, it was pioneered by Dr. Douglas Graham, who is the author of "The 80-10-10 Diet." It is a low-fat raw vegan high carbohydrate diet essentially. The numbers illustrate 80% of your calories coming from carbohydrates (simple carbohydrates found in fruits and veggies), 10% coming from fat (avocados, etc) and 10% coming from protein. Your main focus in this diet is fruit, though there are variations of how you can get your carbs in. I know i know, you're thinking.. but carbs are the devil!!! Well not so... not simple ones! Not carbs that you get from fruit and veggies, they are your friends! They are the energy you need to keep you going, they are GOOD for you, not bad. You know what's bad for you? The complex carbs - the refined flours and sugars, the white devils... and..... of course.... The fat... The fat is what causes lots of problems... with basically everything! I can elaborate more on that another time though. Because there are the good fats of course and the bad ones. But even the good ones should be kept to under 10%.
Now I'm still in the process of getting acquainted with how this diet works and reading this book. Mind you, I've owned this book for well over a year and still have yet to complete it - that's just the kind of reader I am, slow and lazy.. But I have followed pioneers and their blogs and what have you for quite some time now and I feel that I have most of the tools that I need to give this a go.. All the while I WILL finish reading the book very soon and will hopefully be more well-versed in 80-10-10 lingo.
Why am I interested in this diet? Well, I have to say for quite some time now, my main goal in life has become focused around health and wellness. Sure, I should work towards a career and maybe some day I will have one that is meaningful and also fruitful (no pun intended). But for now, until I figure out what that may be, I want to focus fully on my body and healing any ailments that may come along, and feeling clean and hydrated and fresh all the time. Most importantly, I NEVER want to become a slave to the big pharma!!!! I don't want to be on lipitor, I DON'T want to be on atenolol. I DON'T want type 2 diabetes. ("But all the fruit sugar - won't that give you diabetes?" - Oh man you're in for it, i'll make a post about that some other time..) After spending several years in the health care industry, I know what I DON'T want to become. And it's sad to me that people seem to think that this is what their lives are going to be in another 30 years... like you can't avoid it or something.. it just does NOT have to be that way!!! The big pharma and the medical professionals want to make you feel like that, because otherwise they wouldn't make any money... So they feed you these lies... that you "need" this medication, or that procedure.. or "you'd better eat more meat otherwise you'll have a protein deficiency".. Do you understand? They WANT you to be sick. If we all became raw vegans, they would go out of business. That is the LAST thing that they want, is for the world to be healthy...
A raw vegan diet makes so much SENSE to me... whole plant foods vs. rotting carcasses and lactating gooey mucus (milk and cheese).. Now don't get me wrong, i fucking LOVE cheese and I will tell you right now, I am ADDICTED to it still. I have just been so inspired today that I feel ready to completely give it up. Though to be technical, I have not had any dairy at all for almost two weeks. I had a pizza almost two weeks ago. And I used to have half and half with my coffee most days. That is all going to change. I'm not saying I'm not still craving a pizza here and there, oh man is it going to be HARD!! And honestly I might fail.. if I fail, it's okay, I'm just going to pick myself back up.. I'm starting this blog for myself mostly, even though I'm addressing some fake audience ( I don't even know who's out there reading or listening, but hey, if I can help you out too, great!).. Okay a little more ranting, then I'm done...
What I like about this diet is, although it may seem a bit complicated and odd to someone who's not familiar, it actually can be as simple as you want. There are many raw food chefs out there who have complicated raw vegan recipes with dehydrated fruits and veggies and all kinds of weird ingredients and cashew cheese cakes and all that high fat raw gourmet crap.. Well I am pretty simple-minded myself and I like structure too. Many 80-10-10 folks (or 811 as they say) consume in mono-meals... meaning one specific fruit all day long, with perhaps a large salad at night and plenty of water (2-3 liters). I am mostly interested in trying that approach out. Many others do variations, or make gourmet raw vegan recipes like raw vegan lasagna, or fettucine alfredo.. As of right now, that approach is not for me. I want to KISS (Keep it simple stupid).
I have to say this is the first day in a couple of years that I have successfully eaten raw all day. And I'm pretty proud of myself. It's certainly an adjustment, and I could fail tomorrow. This diet certainly does not include coffee and I had one cup today, so.. I already strayed.. But the important thing is that I ate all raw food today! Yay!!. My next post will talk about today's food intake.... and.... onward!! :-) :-)
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