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!
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!
