RAW Day 6

The bloating is gone, thank god. My fingers and legs are back to normal. I'll give it a few days and then eat some dried fruit and see what happens. I have to admit, it is kind of cool seeing my body respond to foods like this. I'm feeling way more in touch.

The girls woke us up early this morning so we didn't get much sleep. That was the third night in a row and more than I can take. I made it through most of the day just fine. I had a wonderful green smoothie for breakfast:

dandelion greens

kale

chard

3 bananas

3 cups of water

Felix and I shared this. I had a large glass and was full for about 5 hours! I carried another glass of it around in a travel mug and never got to it.

We took the girls to Cafe Gratitude for lunch today. We loved it, A. loved it, H. not so much. We spent a ton of money, too. The girls ordered the chocolate milk and noodles with sauce and cheese. A. was super happy, like i said, but H. was not fooled by the spiral cut veggies. She thought the milk tasted like coffee (ie bitter). The spring roll had avocado and she freaked. She had an allergic reaction to it when she was a baby and has never liked it. Poor thing, I couldn't exist without avocados!

I had the raw coconut soup and nachos, which were amazing. For dessert, I had a raw, healthy version of an almond joy. YUM! The girls had a macadamia nut butter vanilla something or other, which they loved (but H. thought the chocolate was too bitter). 

H. asked me a fantastic question this morning. "Mama, what foods don't you like? Not what foods don't you eat, but what don't you like?" I thought about it for a while, because while there are long lists of food I won't eat (white flour, sugar, chicken, red meat, pork, lamb...) there aren't a lot of foods I don't LIKE. But I had a few for her: gefilte fish, cranberry jelly, and brussel sprouts. YUCK.

After lunch we ran some errands (H. got 100% on Friday's spelling test so she was rewarded with a toy)  and came home. At this point, I was so wiped out that I could barely behave. I was impatient with the girls and super cranky. Interesting because I've really been rolling with the punches quite well this week and laughing at life instead of yelling at it. At 2:15, I went to bed and slept for four hours!

I woke up hungry but not starving. I ate all the leftovers from lunch (mostly H's food with a little of mine) and now, an hour later, I'm hungry again. I'm thinking raw granola with almond milk. Gotta learn to trust those cravings, right? I do want to be careful to avoid that "full" rather than "light" feeling I blogged about yesterday. I am doing this for health but I also want to lose weight. I have a hard time losing weight, so too many nuts and seeds will do me in. I think tomorrow I will pull out the scale and start weighing myself each Sunday. I'm hoping for 2 pounds per week, which seems about average for this type of diet.

I'm a bit confused about coconuts. I'm completely on board with it's health benefits, and I have a gallon of coconut oil in my kitchen. I'm just not sure how to incorporate it into this diet. In the past, I've used it to fry my eggs and in my smoothies and on my rice cakes. Perhaps on my flaxseed crackers? I haven't heard of anyone putting it in green smoothies, but that might be another idea.

Have I mentioned my periodontal surgery in two weeks? I've emailed a friend who is a natural medicine doctor for her recommendations. When I needed penicillin during A's otherwise natural home birth, she recommended probiotics and arnica, which helped a lot. Oh, forgot to mention I swallowed a probiotic this morning with my green smoothie. I'm considering digestive enzymes but F recommends allowing my body to adjust for a few more days and seeing how it goes.

Off to follow my cravings!

RAW Day Five

It's late and I'm tired so I will make this brief.

I'm so bloated! I woke up this morning and couldn't even get my rings off. My pants went on like my legs were two balloons. After dinner this evening I did a Google search on raw and bloated and found tons of sites. It turns out to be related to dried fruits. I have been eating a lot of dried fruits, which is common to those new to the raw diet. Listen to this:

From www.rawfoodinfo.com:

If you cut out the dried fruits and the bloat abated - that might be the answer to your problem right there. Many dried fruits are not really raw because they have been dried at high temperatures, and it's hard to get a straight answer from the suppliers as to what temperature their fruit was dried. The exception would be sun-dried fruits. But I would just cut out the dried fruits altogether and go with fresh fruit instead. Dried fruit is difficult to digest unless it has been soaked for a while in filtered water. Remember it is dehydrated, which means it has no water content in it. The body has to supply the missing water if you do not rehydrate the fruit and supplying the missing water is hard on the body.

In the beginning of changing to a raw diet a person may unconsciously look for the foods which are heavier and more filling. This is only natural since the previous processed and cooked diet was very heavy and stuck with the body longer. Raw foods are very light and so, many times you don't feel like you've eaten because you don't feel the heaviness or satiety in your stomach that you may be used to. Eventually you will become accustomed to the new feeling of lightness after eating. You may be using dried fruit and nuts to compensate for not feeling the usual feeling of fullness.

No more dried figs for me! This morning I had a green smoothie with bananas and chard. I had some raw granola and an apple late morning and a small bowl of the leftover gazpacho with flax crackers mid afternoon and another apple. About an hour before dinner I ate a raw cookie. Dinner was incredible: guacamole (avocado, tomato, garlic, onion, red bell pepper and lime, which I ate with cherry tomatoes, carrots, celery and jicama, Simply Yum Salad and an amazing coconut-goji (soaked) berry-strawberry smoothie. I ate a banana around 11pm and now at midnight I am going to bed.

Tomorrow, no dried fruit!

RAW Day Four

Today, day 4 of my raw diet, was a little more difficult. Overall, not too bad though. We went to sleep really late last night so I was tired and even a little head achy this morning. It all went away once I ate the delicious spinach, mango, banana smoothie F made for me though. Yum! I dropped the kids at school, went to the gym, ate some fruit and worked for a few hours. 

For lunch I had the most amazing nori rolls with avocado, fresh tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, onion and dandelion greens. I had two rolls and was full for hours, which really surprised me.

Late afternoon I had an apple and a banana.

While making dinner, I snacked on (I was hungry!) carrots, raw cashews and dried figs.

Dinner was gazpacho soup. I got the recipe from 12 Steps to Eating Raw. We ate that with flaxseed crackers I had picked up from Whole Foods.

Late evening I had a small handful of goji berries with raw cacao and shredded coconut.

I got on the scale today for the first time in five months and I really didn't like the results. I'm trying not to put too much energy towards that and remember that I only did it so I would have something to compare to in a month.

I've been super gassy today and (not sure if you want to read this but here it is!) my poop is very sticky and green, and it feels very urgent when I have to go. I'm so glad to get that out of my body! 

On the other hand, F mentioned that my skin look amazing. I have oily, acne prone skin so that's a huge change for me. Yay!

Our CSA box arrives tomorrow, I'm looking forward to it. In addition, I need to go back to the store to pick up a few things like strawberries, garlic, tomatoes, parsley and celery. It's so nice to buy vegetables and actually eat them!

RAW Day Three

Another great day eating raw!

Again, I woke up at 5:30 am, this time after not going to bed until 11 pm. I'm doing the same tonight, amazingly I feel great after being up all day, and a busy one at that.

I made a raw muesli this morning which was delicious and the envy of everyone around me at my meeting this morning. I had a kale/peach/banana smoothie for lunch, and some trail mix a couple of hours later. More trail mix (goji berries, raw cacao, shredded coconut, raw cashews and dates) at the movie so I wouldn't eat the popcorn. I wasn't even tempted. Dinner at Cafe Gratitude YUM!

Interestingly, I solved the word scramble at the gym, a weekly event, in record time. Normally I really struggle but today it was a breeze. Coincidence?

My neighbor's husband has lost 30 lbs in 3 weeks and may be diagnosed with esophogus cancer. I lent her the raw book and she was amazingly grateful. Felix read the book last night and is seriously considering trying it out. At least he's not giving me hairy eyeballs about this whole thing anymore.

I'm going to get myself weighed and measured at the gym tomorrow. I haven't done that since August, and I want to see what happens in the next month. I promise I won't get bent out of shape when I see the numbers on the scale.

RAW Day Two

I woke up this morning feeling amazing!

An hour earlier than usual, I snuck out of my quiet home and went for a 45 minute hike through my neighborhood hills. I ran the flat part of the run, something I often think about doing but rarely do.

I had the last glass of yesterdays smoothie (chard, pears and mint) for breakfast at 7:30 and a banana at 9:30. A bit later I had a bowl of the green soup I made yesterday and an apple.

By mid afternoon I was developing a head ache and felt like I was on overdrive but unable to concentrate (lights are on, no one home!) so I drank a bunch of water and ate some dried mango and figs. That really helped.

For dinner I made Nori wraps with a Vita-mix blend of walnuts and sprouted and soaked sunflower seeds, 5-spice seasoning, olive oil, lemon juice and Himalayan sea salt. I spread the pate and thinly sliced avocado, bell pepper and green onion. My family thought I was crazy but it was yummy and very filling.

I have a 7:30 breakfast meeting and have already set up my raw muesli to take with me. I'm very dissapointed to learn that almonds are flash pastuerized and not raw, but my almond butter is made with raw nuts, so I used a tablespoon of it in two cups of water and it made a great milk! Breakfast should be yummy.

It's 9:30 and I am totally wiped out and going to bed. Interesting that before this, I never felt tired and never went to bed and suffered insomnia. Hopefully I will fall asleep quickly tonight.

Going Raw, Day One

I've decided to go raw for two weeks, evaluate how I feel, and decide on whether or not to continue. I'm using 12 Steps to Raw Foods by Victoria Boutenko as my guide. My family is not joining me, but as the sole pescatarian in the family, I'm used to eating differently. In fact, we all eat differently from one another and I've always embraced that. Dinner time can be a bit hectic but I like honoring our different needs and cravings. F is a big meat eater, and he loves pizza. He's got health issues and I would love to inspire him with eating raw, but he is who he is. H is 6 and loves miso soup and shrimp tempura. A is 3 and loves rice, beans, chicken, avocados. Both my kids love carrots, broccoli cauliflower and edamame.

I started my day with a bowl of buckwheat groats. I soaked them in water overnight and this morning, I drained and rinsed them and blended them with water in the vita-mix. I reblended them with a few dates, a tsp of raw coconut oil and a dash of Himalayan sea salt. I then ran around and took the girls to school, went to the gym, the grocery store, and got some work done at my desk and wasn't even the slightest bit hungry. For lunch I had a cup of green smoothie, which included chard, mint, pears and water along with a banana and a few flax crackers. I'm feeling fantastic!