Let it SnOw!

The weather here in Walla Walla is crazy! Gorgeous, but crazy. My parents said they haven't seen snow like this since 1985. We are so excited to enjoy a white Christmas :) Thankfully we made it here last Saturday night... b/c I-84 from Portland closed 2 hours after we made it through, and has apparently been closed ever since! WHEW. Thought I'd attach a few pictures to share.... Merry Christmas everyone!

The front walk at my parents house.... check out that snow on the bushes!!

The snowy backyard... with little Charly (my parents poodle) enjoying the chilly weather.
The front yard.... You can barely tell where the street is!
Looking up my parents street.... Although they did finally plow the roads this morning.

We are auntie Katie and uncle Curt!

Some incredibly exciting news... On Saturday, Curt's sister Kelli had the twins!! Lucy and Madaline. The girls were born more than a month early, but are doing really well and will hopefully be coming home with mom and dad soon. We are sooooooooooooo excited to see them in a couple weeks and get to know our precious new nieces! Love you Kelli and Ethan! We are praying for you guys and the new additions each and every day :) (p.s. I stole these pictures from your blog, hope that was okay!)

The Great Outdoors!

As you all know, living in the desert does not really allow for much outdoor adventure (at least our favorite kinds: hiking, camping, and fishing), especially in the summer when it's 110 degrees out... so you can imagine our excitement when we discovered Mammoth! Just a few short hours away in the eastern Sierra Nevada's, we have found a haven for camping, hiking, fishing, skiing (now, if we just hadn't garage-saled all our ski stuff.... ), eating yummy food, bike riding, walking, exploring, basically, you name it... Soooo, I thought I would share some of our pictures of one of our most favorite places in Cali!

Here we are with some of our good friends at Minaret Lake, 7.5 miles one-way (we had yet to go down at this point and are all still looking quite cheery. I honestly thought my feet were going to fall off on our return trip -- or my legs. It was brutal. BUT, absolutely gorgeous).

Here we are over 4th of July with our good friends Brian and Andrea getting ready for fireworks over one of the lakes .... Here are some more of us hiking (don't we look like a pair with his hat and my bandanna around my neck, haha):

Curt finally gets to go fishing... he is PUMPED!

There's always swimming as well, but this is quite chilly:

Last but not least, enjoying the warmth of the campfire on a cool mountain air night...

AHHhhhhh, Mammoth. :)

Thoughts on the RAW food diet...

Well, I can't believe the 3 month raw food experiment is over already! And while the first few weeks were the hardest... asking myself over and over again, "Now why again am I doing this?" when I just wasted a bunch of expensive products making an inedible dish (pine-nut cheese anyone?? or perhaps sunflower seed taco meat?) Yeeeaaaah. Those were the rough days, but by the end, I was indulging in delicious pumpkin pie pudding, Italian salad with delicious dressing, rich guacamole with raw flax crackers, and yummy green smoothies! It was generally a wonderful experience, and while Thanksgiving saw me crash and burn a bit (did I accidentally have my mom's rolls and homemade apple pie? oooopps.) I made it through the 3 months predominately raw. My results?
Better sleep! More energy for sure. Not as many stomach aches; and I didn't have to take enzymes with my food anymore! Joint and muscle aching? Better off and on. Gorgeous clear skin? not so much. It almost got worse! That said, this is why I believed that happened: Eating raw massively detoxes your body -- especially when you jump into it with both feet one random day like I did. Your body with push those toxins out of your body in any way they can -- your skin being one of the main paths for this. Thus said, I'm sure the flare ups where due much in part to eating sooo healthy. Crazy huh? But it makes sense. Anyway, I am still eating about 80% raw these days, so we will see if my skin will get better if I keep this up.
My thoughts on all of this are: I loved this experiment, I believe that eating raw IS the healthiest way to live. I have read sooo much and seen sooo many wonderful testimonials and pictures to believe any differently. Is 100% raw for everyone? I guess it could be, but no, we all have to listen to our own bodies.... But, all of us can work to incorporate more raw foods into our diets each day. :) Like, while I plan on giving myself the option to eat steamed or cooked veggies and lean proteins at dinner time, I also plan on staying wheat, dairy, and refined sugar free. I still have a green smoothie in the morning, a big salad or fresh salsa or guacamole for lunch, raw LARA bars, fruits, and veggies for snacks, and eat yummy raw desserts (raw brownies, dates, and ice-creams are my favorite!) at any time in the day.
This raw food experiment was encouraging, fun, and helped to give me a lot more info and insights into what our bodies need to function well and keep us healthy! :) Who knows, maybe someday I will go 100% raw and never look back, but for now, I plan on taking it day by day and continue listening to my body. I also plan on continuing to post fun recipes and pictures for those that would like to add more raw foods into their diets in really delicious ways... So stay tuned! And in the mean time, check out the raw pumpkin pie pudding, salsa, and green smoothie recipes below:
Cheers! :)

Raw Pumpkin Pudding:
1/2 c. cashews (soaked overnight)
meat of 1 young coconut
1 c. carrot juice
1/3 c. raw agave nectar
1/3 c. coconut butter
3 dates, pitted
1/2 tb. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tb. cinnamon
1/2-1 ts. ground ginger (I usually go 1/2 ts. first and see how it's tasting)
1/4 ts. nutmeg
1/8 ts. ground cloves
1/4 ts. sea salt
*blend everthing until smooth and creamy. Pour into containers and refrigerate or freeze. Freezing it will make it last longer... just set out for 15-20 min. to thaw and it's almost like pumpkin ice-cream!

Fresh Salsa:
4 Roma tomatoes
1/4 bunch of cilantro finely chopped
1/4 c. red onion finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
juice of 1/2 a lime
sea salt to taste
1 red pepper finely chopped
1/2 red Chile pepper very finely chopped (more or less to taste, depending on how spicy you want it)
*mix together in a bowl and enjoy! :) Great alone or with slices of avocado or guacamole and baby carrots or crackers for dipping.

Chocolate Banana Spinach Smoothie:
2 ripe bananas (optional: freeze one or both of your bananas to make the smoothie thicker)
1 heaping tb. cocoa powder
a large handful of spinach
6 ice cubes
1 tb. of raw honey or raw agave nectar (optional or to taste)
2 tb. raw almond butter
1/4 c. water
*blend until smooth, ignore the green color, and enjoy! :)

some raw pics!

Thought I would finally upload some pictures! I wish I had even more, but our camera sucks, and our computer has been giving us trouble lately... At any rate, after uploading the pictures to Curt's computer and transferring them to my USB stick, here are a few! I hope to be better about photographing my food in the future, to give you all a better idea about what I'm eating these days... although I am also thinking my food would look even MORE appetizing if our camera wasn't circa 2000 (note: we are asking Santa for a new camera this year). Enjoy all! :)

Here I am outside of Living Cuisine... the yummy raw food restaurant we ate at in Santa Monica for our anniversary! Not exactly a great picture of it....the inside was much cooler, but thought I would include it anyway :)

Here's a picture of the fabulously delicious raw apple pie I made awhile back... the piece of pie shows some raw caramel sauce drizzled over the top!

Last but not least.... a little salad I made Friday night. It's topped with dried cherries, thinly sliced pear, candied pumpkin seeds, and a tangy lemon vinaigrette!

Week TEN :)

Hi all! Well, I will have been on the raw food diet for 10 weeks this Saturday! Crazy to think that it has been this long already...and thankfully it has gotten easier as the weeks have past by, otherwise I would've never made it. This week I made a quick and easy cabbage salad with poppy seeds, green onion, celery, sugar-snap peas, and almond slices with an olive oil, apple cider vinegar, honey, & sesame oil dressing. It was delicious! I also experimented with a raw pumpkin pie recipe, which ended up being more of a pumpkin cheesecake pudding, and it was unbelievably rich and delicious! Eating it, you really wouldn't believe there's no dairy in it (more like coconut, cashews, carrot juice, coconut butter, agave nectar, and yummy spices). And a little at a time goes along way... trust me. lol. I ate too much one night and the richness got to me a little, :) although a few drops of pure oil of oregano fixed my tummy up real quick! [Even Curt swears by oil of oregano -- and has taken it many times when his stomach has felt queasy. Something to check out if you are looking for something natural to sooth digestion, plus it has a lot of natural antibacterial properties too.]
So, the end of my 3 month challenge ends the weekend after Thanksgiving...and while some may gasp at the prospect of eating raw veggies on turkey-day, and not being able to indulge in delicious sweet treats, there is no such thing to fear! First of all, as I have said in the past, the raw diet includes no limit to delicious, rich, creamy, aMAzing raw desserts, and I will probably have a little roasted turkey and a few cooked veggies -- and not feel too guilty about it :) Like I said, I usually have fish a couple times a week as is, and even more rarely might have a piece or two of cooked veggies (like my favorite, acorn squash). According to some raw foodist, as long as you are ingesting 80% raw in a day, your body usually doesn't have too much trouble processing the 20% of food you eat that is cooked. Soooo... yeah! Most days I'm 100% raw, and if a few days I have some organic fish, chicken, or squash, I'm just not going to fret about it. The most important thing I have found is just to carefully listen to your body -- when I do this, I rarely get myself into digestive trouble! haha :) Honestly though, I don't miss meat that much, certainly not beef. I do love fish though. Sometimes I miss breads... especially last night when Curt sits down with two toasted cinnamon bread slices covered in butter. (salivating here...) BUT, once it's out of sight, (or out of range of smelling) it's out of mind, and I remember that I never felt that great when I ate that stuff anyway.
The good news with my tummy is that it is hardly ever upset that much anymore -- only if I indulge in something that's really rich and I eat too much of it :) OR, if I eat something cooked with no enzymes, or badly combine some foods. For the most part, however, I never have to take my digestive enzymes anymore, which is unbelievably cool for me! I lived off of a million of those things for 3 years! I still swear by them though, and believe anyone would benefit from taking them, especially before you eat something you know usually upsets your stomach.
I need to use up some fresh basil I have, so I might make some pistachio pesto tonight over zucchini noodles or on some raw crackers :) I am finally, FINALLY feeling like making raw food is not much of a hassle anymore. More and more I am getting the feeling for what things go together, how to make good dressings, that simplicity is better, and to not make things my gut tells me I am NOT going to like! lol. Like those icky cheeses I tried making out of sunflower seeds. Ugh. More power to a person if they can make them well and enjoy them, but those did not go over well for me.
I would encourage anyone who is interested, to buy a great raw food "un"cook book, one with lots of salads and raw, sweet treats, and try making a few and get more raw foods into your diet, especially those dark leaf greens! Super-foods my friends! :)
Well, all for now! Cheers!

orange julius

If you want something super creamy and delicious, that tastes just like an orange julius (which I enjoyed as a kid...my brother made a great homemade, dairy-based one)... Then try this fantastic raw version that's packed with nutrients and dairy free!

"RAw OrAnge JuLiUs"
1 1/2 frozen bananas (organic preferred) broken into pieces
4-5 ice-cubes
1/2 C. fresh coconut water (or just filtered water is fine too)
1/2 a peeled and seeded orange (organic is best, especially since you'll be using the peel for the zest!)
1 1/2 ts. grated orange peel/zest
1 ts. pure vanilla extract
2 tb. raw tahini
2 rounded tb. raw honey

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth and creamy...enjoy!

Middle of my 7th week!

My gosh, I hadn't realized that it had been about 3 weeks since I last updated my blog! Not that any of you are checking in on my blog several times a day (although you are THE BEST if you are, lol), impatient for an update, haha, but never-the-less, I return to writing! So... "how's it going?" you ask. The word I commonly use to describe my experience has probably become much overused in the last 7 weeks, but I'll use it again anyway: interesting. But interesting in a good way! I really love eating this way for the most part, and as of now, I'm thinking I'll just continue eating 80-100% raw depending on how I feel or what's going on :) This food is just sooo much better for you!

So, like I said, 7 weeks in, and here are my results thus far:
1) Things are getting easier...as in, I have some recipes I like and can make much more quickly... and I've started making bigger batches of things (such as a huge yummy salad that'll last for 3 days)
2) I am beginning to enjoy cutting up/blending/making raw food cuisine and don't get as frustrated anymore.
3) My skin is clearer, and I am starting to cut down on the number of days I use my prescription acne face meds (which I HATE using but can't seem to completely part with... vain, I know) :)
4) Still sleeping like a baby every night. This has been AMAZING. Plus, it helps my moods! (Curt has got to be loving this, lol)
5) I really had not seen an improvement in my joint aching until about 4 days ago... when all of a sudden I got into bed and realized I had hardly felt an ache that day! Weird huh?? Tonight as I type, I am realizing the same thing... my biceps, arms, wrists, ankles, and fingers don't hurt as much. They are still a little restless before bed, but as of right now... I think I am beginning to see an improvement. (I hope, I hope!!)
6) My tummy. Huumm... OK. This one, haha. Yes, much better when I watch my food combinations. There really is something to this! The other good part, I hardly ever have to take enzymes anymore, and before I was taking 5-8 of them a day! (I still take them if I have a piece of fish or a cooked veggie)
7) Oh, and for any of you that were curious as to whether I've lost weight doing this (which was not a goal personally for me embarking on this adventure), the answer is yep - 7 pounds. And I eat A LOT. Seriously. Also, I don't count calories or think about what or how much I'm eating. I just listen to my body and go from there. It's been really fun, and freeing in that regard :)

Besides the occasional waff of fast food or the sight of homemade pasta that make my mouth water for a split second, I really don't miss the way I was eating just a few short weeks ago. I don't crave refined sugar or dairy, and I definitely do not miss meat (not including fish, which still sounds good on occasion). Speaking of my scaley, swimming friends, I've had fish probably 3 times since starting this, and 100% vegetable soup (cooked) 3-4 times. Yes, yes. I know. I haven't been 100% completely and totally raw this whole time.... BUT, most days I am.

Well, that's it for now... off to bed! Oh, but one last thing. Look up the movie "Raw for 30 Days" on YouTube and watch the trailer for it... (it's not in theaters or anything like that) but I really want to see it sometime! It's about 5 people who have type 2 diabetes (some have had it for 20+ years) and by the end of eating raw food for 30 days, none of them have diabetes anymore!Crazy huh?! Not only that, but in 4 days of eating raw, I think all of them are off their insulin! Anyway, it looks like it would be really encouraging and interesting to watch.

Cheers all! :)

apple pie

Yikes! I guess it’s been awhile since I last updated my blog…unfortunately it’s the last thing to get done when my days and weeks are busy. Well, I’m 3 ½ weeks into this grand experiment, and there are some noticeable differences: 1) I am sleeping MUCH better – as in, I have only had 1 restless nights sleep since I started this, whereas before I probably tossed and turned 3-4 nights per week (I kid you not). 2) My energy is finally starting to improve and stay more constant – I’m sure my raw vitamins are helping…I love them! 3) I am generally feeling better consistently; i.e. no “bricks-in-the-stomach” feeling. Some results I’m still waiting (hoping) for: 1) my aching to improve (which has been really bad in my wrists and fingers the last 3-4 days), and 2) my skin to clear up (break outs have been worse in the last 2 weeks). I think the third eye on my forehead could be due to all the toxins pushing their way out of my body by any means possible, and that eventually it’ll get better…Let’s hope!
In other news I think I am finally starting to get the hang of making food that I like, and besides spending 2 hours making 2 salad dressings last week I ended up throwing out (don’t ask…a very sad story), I finally stumbled upon a raw food chef who’s recipes are tasty AND quick. Thank goodness! One of these recipes being a raw apple pie – which I have to say, is as good as the “real” kind made with refined sugar, white flour, and dairy. Let me share this tasty recipe here, and perhaps give it a try the next time you are in the mood for some pie… being it is a very healthy alternative and fall is upon us :)

RAW APPLE PIE:
For the crust you will need:
1 C. raw almonds
1 C. pitted dates
1 ts. Sea salt
For the Syrup:
½ C. pitted dates
1 organic orange peeled and seeded and sliced or broken into sections
¼ C. water
2 tb. Cinnamon
For the filling:
5 organic apples (whatever is sweet and in season) peeled and thinly sliced
½ C. raisins (or dried cranberries…or both)

Blend the crust ingredients in a food processor until thoroughly mixed, soft, and chewy like. If you want, sprinkle a little almond flour or ground almonds on the bottom of the pie plate to help the crust not to stick. If you don’t have any, forget it, it works fine without it. Using your hands and fingers, spread the crust out in your pie plate covering the bottom and sides if you can – the crust will be pretty thin. (If you want a thicker crust, double the amounts above). When this is done, make your syrup by placing all the items in your food processor and blending until smooth – like the consistency of cake batter almost. Next, mix your peeled and sliced apples and your raisins together in a big bowl and then dump in the syrup, mixing again until everything is completely coated. I found that using my hands worked the best to evenly coat everything. Finally, dump your filling into your crust…and enjoy! You can let it sit out for several hours (up to 24) to soften the apples and cement the flavors, or stick it in the fridge straight away. I left mine out for about 3 hours and then refrigerated it…. Soooo tasty. Will last up to 3-4 days. Also, if you want to get really decadent, make some raw caramel sauce to drizzle over it: mix 2 parts raw, Amber agave with 1 part raw coconut butter (my favorite thing in the world) and enjoy the creamy goodness – which really looks and tastes like real caramel.

I’m going to make strawberry parfaits later this week…so I will let you all know how that goes! Oh, and if you want a dreamy chocolate “milk” shake, blend the meat of one young coconut, 1 banana, ¼ C. agave or pure maple syrup, 1 tb. Vanilla, 1 tb. Cocoa powder (or 2 to make it super chocolately), 1/3 C. coconut water (from your young coconut), and 4 ice cubes. Unbelievably smooth and decadent. I’m thinking everyone is probably getting the idea that I only sweet treats all day long! Haha. Let me assure you I usually only have 1 a day… and that I eat lots of big salads, guacamole (with homemade, dehydrated corn chips, flax crackers, or baby carrots), had Cashew Crème sushi the other night (very good), lots of “green juice” (spinach, celery, kiwis, wheat-grass, and apples), fresh heirloom tomatoes (currently out-of-this-world good) sprinkled with sea-salt, and will be making pesto over mung-bean noodles later this week (I’m a little nervous about this one). Oh, and I also have a rice dish I’m going to try – which begins by soaking wild rice until soft and adding some other components… also a little scared. Anyway, bon-appetite my friends! :) The raw food experiment continues....

Eating out RAW :)

Well, some of you might be wondering how the ol’ anniversary weekend went celebrating with a salad…well, well my friends! Not quite so! Curty, being the sweetheart that he is, found a raw restaurant in Santa Monica that we decided to try, and the experience was fantastic, not to mention tasty! :) This last Saturday began with us heading down to the Getty Museum to check out the medieval art displays and the gorgeous outdoor gardens. It was a beautiful, if not incredibly, smog-free day down in LA with temperatures in the high seventies. After spending several hours of wandering over the grounds and through the expansive halls filled with art and sculptures, we headed down into Santa Monica – which was just a few miles away – to find the raw food restaurant Living Cuisine (check out the Juliano’s Raw link to see the restaurant and food pictures!) I have to say, I was really nervous about trying the restaurant! Maybe more so that the people there would all be raw-food snooties able to sniff out my recent conversion and pizza-roll eating husband as soon as we walked through the door—and assume we’d know the in’s and out’s of dining raw. I was way off. We were pleasantly surprised by how super nice everyone was, and how our waitress took time to explain the menu and how things were done. The dwindling daylight, candles, relaxing music, and the fragrant smell of orchids soon lulled us into the raw-food eating atmosphere, and when our first item arrived, we were excited to begin! I was most delighted to find out, they recommended starting with dessert, for food combining purposes and to get the digestive acids going in your stomach [suuurre, whatever you say!]. Umm… I believe the magnet on our fridge says it all: “Life’s short, eat dessert first.” Needless to say, I was happy to comply with their suggestion. I ordered a chocolate shake, and Curt got a berry iced-tea concoction. The shake was out of this world! Curt fully drank half and said he couldn’t tell the difference between that and an ice-cream based chocolate shake. Not bad to start the night off…. Creamy, cold, and delicious – three of my favorite “food words.” After enjoying our drinks, our appetizers arrived: pumpkin tortellini and spring rolls with Thai dipping sauce. YUM! The pumpkin tortellini’s were unbelievable….seriously. They were made by slicing raw pumpkin really thin to mimic raviolis, and filled with nut-cheese, and then dehydrated to get them warm, chewy, with a slight crispness to the “pasta” shell. Curt loved them too (whew!). The spring rolls were decidedly yummy as well, and save for the mint (which I enjoyed but not so much Curt) we were thrilled with the tastes, textures, and flavors. Oh, in case you were curious, those were made with cabbage, different veggies, avocado, and rolled up in minutely thin coconut wraps. Our second to last item was the Garlic Ranch Salad with mixed greens, beets, radishes, tomatoes, cucumber, and “croutons.” You absolutely could not tell that the dressing was all raw and made with nuts instead of dairy…it was crazy good! Even Curt had to admit he would have no idea it was a raw dressing if he was served it somewhere else. To top off the night (even though we were stuffed by this point), we decided to go for the raw caramel-apple pie. Oh my goodness. I swear it was just like a warm apple-caramel crumble from Costco – only better. The apples were a mix of fresh and dried, with raw whipped cream, candied pecans/walnuts, and caramel, chocolate, and strawberry sauces drizzled all over it! I honestly couldn’t believe that it was all raw…but it’s amazing what a person can come up with if making raw cuisine is your business and passion. :)
Well, I’m sure you get the idea that eating raw can be quite the dinning experience and a pleasure for your taste buds :) I really wanted to try everything on the menu just to see what all the textures and flavors were like…So come visit and we’ll sample some more!

Cheers!

TaSty tid-BitS

Well today I thought it might be fun to update the ol’ blog and maybe give you all an idea of what I’ve been munching on the last week and a half. I have to say, at least at this point in the experiment, it hasn’t been too hard eating in the raw…at least from much of the taste standpoints. The real challenge is usually finding enough to eat – or eating a varying amount of foods – i.e. not just fruit smoothies or salads. I’ve been wanting to make my own crackers and granola with my dear friend Andrea’s dehydrator, which she graciously let me borrow (“Thanks Andy!”), but have not yet made the effort. I am planning to change that, however, by firing it up tomorrow! As I'm finding with most things on this eating plan, it’s time consuming when you must first soak all your nuts and seeds and then dehydrate them for several hours—only to find that I may have put the ingredients together wrong and the whole batch and my $$$ is worthless. On the other hand, my pocket book says I can learn to love cardboard granola! haha. At any rate, I am excited to try! And I think as time goes on I’ll get into the swing of things and become more proficient and quick at preparing meals and snacks.
Currently, a typical day consists of things like this: When I first wake up, it’s 30 oz. of fresh fruit and veggie juice (something like: celery, spinach, carrot, pear, apple juice). This usually staves of my hunger for about 5 min., so following this might be a peach or a banana and almond butter. Lunch might consist of a big batch of fresh guacamole, which, I have to say, I have become pretty stellar at making. Avocado + red onion + red chili pepper + coarse sea salt + lime + cilantro = yummy! :) I usually dip baby carrots into it and these raw flax seed crackers I bought. A couple hours later it’s a LARA bar (raw dried fruit and nut bar—my favorite is Apple Pie) and then probably another piece of fruit later. For dinner, a huge salad filled with veggies, fruit, and maybe a few nuts or seeds with a lemon/lime/mustard seed/olive oil/sea salt/raw honey dressing. Before bed, a smoothie or raw ice-cream – my favorite part of the day! My two favorite smoothies at present are chocolate/banana and bunny-spice. Bunny spice, if you perchance are curious, consists of two frozen bananas, 4-5 ice cubes, ½ C. fresh carrot juice with a splash of fresh ginger juice, 1 tb. of almond butter, 1/2 C. of purified water, and a dash of cinnamon. Blend and enjoy cold and creamy pumpkin-pie in a cup! Some of you I know personally might be a tad sickened by this concoction, but it is soooooooooooo good if you like cold pumpkin pie (which of course I LOVE). My chocolate/banana smoothie is made up of 2 frozen bananas, 6 ice-cubes, ½ C. purified water, 1 tb. Coconut butter, 1 tb. Almond butter, 2 tb. Raw agave nectar and 1 tb. Raw cocoa powder. Creamy, cold, and delicious people!!
The fun part is, this way of eating does not limit sweet treats! So, for those of you that know I have an insane sweet-tooth, I haven’t felt deprived in this way at all – it’s just that I am using raw, natural sweeteners. Yipppeeee! (Okay, yes, you are still probably suppose to limit these yummy goodies, but I am just not at the point yet where I look forward to and/or crave a spinach smoothie! Yuck)
The part that gets tricky is when I’m teaching, because then I start my day with a smoothie (for more calories and substance to stick with me until lunch), and have a salad for lunch (so now what the heck do I have for dinner??). This is why I want to make crackers and granola, b/c then I could do these for dinner if needed! Anyway, we’ll see. I’m taking things ONE day at a time, and just going with how I feel.
Also, for anyone concerned about my getting enough calcium, certain vitamins, etc. (mom) :) after doing much research I have begun taking these brand new RAW vitamins from the Garden of Life (my favorite supplement brand – their products are amazing! I take their HSO Probiotics, digestive enzymes –less occasionally now however, and starting yesterday, their vitamins, which are called the Vitamin Code – I take the one for women) – and they are 100% natural/raw/non-synthetic designed to be completely absorbed by your body. I am definitely excited about them, and would encourage anyone interested to check them out. I’m hoping this helps with my energy levels, because after doing a little more research, I found that I haven’t been getting certain B vitamins (like B12) in my diet for the last two weeks, and that’s not a good thing. So yeah...the raw experiment continues! (Ask me how I’m feeling after this weekend, eating out with friends and celebrating our 4 year anniversary with a salad, haha).
Oh, and one night I did have a small piece of cooked chicken and some cooked squash – but then had the most horrible stomach ache until the next morning! My poor stomach, like it hasn't been through enough in the last few years! After that I decided right now I can do 100% raw, and if a day comes when I feel like a piece of fish, than fish it is! I just don’t want this to control my life or become some terrible chore. Right now it’s fun, and I’m excited to see what lies ahead! (Come on skin, clear up!!!!) :) Until next time………
Cheers!

What in the heck have I gotten myself into??

Back by popular demand….It’s an update to my blog! I actually wrote a spectacular bit two nights back, but in typical computer fashion, something went hay-wire and I lost the whole darn thing. I could have cried…oh wait, I did. Well, it’s useless to cry over spilled milk, or almond milk in my case, so I’m over it, and moving on! :) In short, it basically recapped my experience thus far, and exemplified my thoughts on some of the interesting view points that accompany the raw food movement. Let’s just say that I am not on a quest for spiritual enlightenment… and can safely attest to the fact that I was not feeling the “life-force” of the veggies dripping in tamarind almond sauce wrapped in collard greens I ate the other night. (Ugh)
Here are some things I’ve learned in the past 6 days:
1) This is hard. And…
2) This is hard. And…
3) This is hard.
I think I had visions of craving bowls filled with dark leafy greens and biting into sumptuous tropical fruits and vowing never again to return to the evils of cooked food! It has not been so simply my friends. Reality hits when you are starving (all the time) and making dinner takes 2 hours, you waste half or all of some precious and expensive ingredient on a recipe you’ve never tried and it ends up tasting like raw veggies with a side of raw veggies with a sauce of raw veggies complimented by a mystery spice. I have definitely asked myself on occasion this week: What the heck have I gotten myself into here?!? Hitting upon a more serious note, I promised myself that I wouldn’t do anything to compromise my health, so hopefully going to bed so hungry I feel sick doesn’t indicate this…Wait a minute….Yeeeaaah. That can’t be good. I hate to give someone the opportunity to say “I told you so,” but Amanda, “you told me so!”
Being the type A personality I am, I jumped in with two feet and thought, the heck with this! Go big or go home! All or nothing people! (I may have been slightly mistaken). Now, many people have turned raw one day and never looked back, but I don’t know if I can be that person. So, long story short, I may incorporate a few steamed veggies at dinner for the first part of this experiment and perhaps a sliver of baked fish or chicken. Mind you, I am still eating nothing else for the rest of the day that isn’t completely raw! I promise! Nada.
So on that note, feeling like a failure already, I vow to keep going….I will not relent! The experiment may take on a new twist as I ease myself into a new way of eating, but I hope that by the end of my 3 months raw (give or take a few steamed dinners if you will pardon them), :) I have much good news to share about how I am feeling and can produce a list of benefits that eating raw has bestowed upon my science experiment (i.e. body).
On that note, one might be wondering; “How is she feeling?” Besides being perpetually hungry (which is getting better by the day), I have to say that I feel great! I definitely think my body is still in cleansing mode, as I have headaches off and on and still lack in the energy department at times, but after I eat, I feel good. Not heavy, not sick, not remorseful (haha)… mostly just refreshed! It really does feel good to put good-for-you-food into one’s fuel tank all day long. Imagine that! :) Anyway, the beat goes on. Day 7 tomorrow… Oh, and I got my herbal cleanse in the mail today! OH MAN. I did this one last December… and it was not pretty, in more ways than one. I will spare everyone the details...at least for now.
Cheers! :)

RAW....day one :)

Today I woke up after a night of pizza, Cesar salad, ice-cream, and two bites of a dark Milky-Way, to the grim reality that my body really, truly, seriously... cannot handle these types of foods. I mean, ice-cream is my favorite -- and I hardly ever indulge, but lately, dairy, wheat, refined sugars, and convenience foods have slowly crept back up into my life and generally taken over. oops. How did this happen?!? Not three years ago I was barely functioning, terribly sick with a stomach disorder and a mass of food intolerances, and changing my eating habits was a big part of what helped get me well.

Sooooo.... I'm now realizing that as I started to feel better and better, my wonderful healthy habits of yester-year faded ever so gradually, until it was looking more and more like my college days of chocolate milk, doughnuts, carrot cake, diet soda, and ice-cream at lunch and dinner. EEEewwwwww. Did I just admit to that?!?

No way! I'm not going there! I'm tired of feeling.... well, tired. And achy -- and moody, and having a perpetually upset stomach (and I'll spare you the details). So as I pondered the gravity of my situation, I began revisiting the natural healing info I began collecting last summer on RAW foods and the awesome outcomes people have had. But would it work for me? Or, more importantly, how the heck can a person do this?? Eat this way?? I'll be an outcast! A crazy! :) Nooooo... no. Still the same me, just a much healthier version, full of living enzymes I can't live without. I figure, I spend enough money every month buying enzymes so I can digest my food, so why not try eating foods that are packed with their own?! A novel idea indeed.

So let's start with the facts.... It's day one, and this is where I'm at: I'm 26 and 3/4 years old. I still break out (darn it all). I ache constantly in the joints of my wrists, hands, ankles, feet, hips and in the muscles of my arms. (I'm definitely risking sounding like an old person here, complaining about all my maladies, so bare with me). My stomach sucks -- upset at some point every day with a variety of symptoms (use your imagination). I also have trouble concentrating, I've found 4 gray hairs, I do NOT deal with stress well, and I do not sleep well at night. I could go on, but you get the point. Now, I'm not expecting RAW food to cure every ill, and make my life a fairy tale of sorts, but I am interested in giving it a try -- to see if I can tell a difference in how I feel and how my body responds....

Will I feel better? Will my stomach settle down? Will my skin clear up? Will I be able to focus more clearly and handle stress better? Might I finally start sleeping through the night without Benadryl?? These questions and more will be the focus of this experiment! Join me if you will......... day two begins tomorrow, and things can only get more interesting!