Pizza Bagel!

So after I made the bagels and the raviolis in the previous posts, the logical thing seemed to be to make a pizza bagel! It was very pizza like, and didn't really feel like raw food, and while it was definitely fun, and seemed like a great treat, I don't think I'll be making them often. Eating bread just feels... wrong. Who knows, maybe I've been gluten intolerant all this time and I didn't even know.

Many people have great benefits from cutting gluten and casien from their diets (that basically means wheat and dairy.) I think this is much of the reason why Asian cultures live so much longer than Western cultures. Autism can be virtually reversed by following this simple protocol.

But I really do like the bagels. Next time I make them, I may try to make them gluten free. Kamut is lower in gluten than wheat, and sprouting reduces the gluten content. However, it did also have ground raw oats, so that adds more gluten. I think more the time being, a low consumption of sprouted grains will be fine. I have grawnola, bagels and sweet bread, and these three items should be enough to last us almost a month I would think, so I won't need to be sprouting again any time soon.

We had some really nice green juice this morning, with kale, apple, celery, carrot and mint. Mint makes any juice better!

I'm getting hungry, so I guess I'll wrap it up. I can't believe how quickly and easily this month has gone by! I'm definitely not going straight back to my old lifestyle (although I'll be in Santa Cruz next week, and I may need to eat some of my dad's soup.) This has been very fun so far, and I plan to keep it up!

Making Bread

I made bagels! They're very good, and weirdly authentic, yet somehow, they're not really what I want. When I first started this trial of rawness, all I wanted was bread, pasta, rice, etc. Now all I want is sweet fruits, macadamia nuts and green juice. Maybe I'm getting over my bread addiction? That would be something.
I sprouted 2 cups of kamut, which made 5 cups of sprouts, so I used half in the bagel recipe (which I changed by taking out the yeast and sunflower seed butter, swapping kamut for the millet, and dehydrating much longer at a lower temp) and the other half in Juliano's mango essene bread. Basically a sweet raw bread with mango. I'm not that into any of it right now, but Jesse probably will be. He needs filling foods, and these breads fit the bill.

I'm quite sleepy now, and I have no excuse for it... I got a haircut, did a bit of food prep & dishes (the good husband also did some dishes... it seems the terrible dish strike of 08 has ended) but I spent most of the day reading David Wolfe's Eating for Beauty and other stuff online. Oh, also, it seems I have lost 10 pounds. Can it be?

Ridiculously Early...

I seem to be waking up around 5:30, not interested in going back to sleep. The raw foodists are always talking about needing less sleep... and I'm not sure if I like it. I think I could still use more sleep, but for whatever reason, my body is refusing to do it. I think they call that insomnia. I should just accept it as a gift and move on.

So let's talk about something much more fun, like this beautiful ravioli from last night! This was my favorite thing from my original attempt at going raw (that one only lasted 2 or 3 days.) The "pasta" is thinly sliced turnips, marinated in oil and salt to soften and remove bitter juices. I know this may sound unappetizing to non-raw readers, but trust me, it's amazing! The husband was floored. The filling is a spinach and macadamia "ricotta" and the sauce is a simple sundried and cherry tomato marinara. Magnifique! The salad radishes and fennel, again marinated in oil and salt to soften and remove bitter juices, over a bed of spicy greens, including watercress. This was also very delicious, and felt Italian, although I have no idea if it actually is or not. Again, I will post the recipes on gone raw soon The sesame balls recipe is up, and I'm still perfecting the sushi rice.

Speaking of the sushi rice, I'm making a picnic for an afternoon bike ride today, and I decided to bring the sushi. We're also going to pick up some Three Thieves wine in Tetra Packs (the most economical/eco-friendly packaging available!) and have sesame balls for dessert. I imagine I'll also throw in some fruit (we have lots of apples, oranges and grapefruits right now.)

One thing I had forgotten about getting up this early... the sunrise from my porch is amazing! I mean, you can't actually see the sun, but the pink morning clouds, singing birds and cool, calm morning air are truly lovely. I am a deeply blessed individual.

Open Sesame

On Wednesday I bought black and brown sesame seeds at Rainbow Grocery. The first thing I created was the above sesame truffles, which were intended as a raw version of sesame balls, the deep fried things filled with red bean paste and frequently served around Chinese New Year. Naturally, they tasted slightly different, but were completely awesome nonetheless. Jess thought they would be ideal to give to non raw people who are freaked out by the whole raw concept. By the way, the reason there are only two in the photo is because we ate most of them before I could take one!

I'm not going to post the recipe in recipe form tonight (I'll probably do it next week on Gone Raw, but the basic recipe included: shredded coconut, processed to a paste, tahini, honey and salt. That stuff blended up, then rolled in sesame seeds.

Next I decided to tackle Nori Rolls. Once again, I used Renee Loux's Living Cuisine for inspiration, although (once again) i made a few changes. The first spread (the one with black and white sesame seeds) is a tahini/miso/honey mixture with sesame seeds and ginger. This was tasty, although I used a bit too much honey, these rolls were a bit candy like (kind of like that wrapped Chinese sesame candy.) The second spread, pictured with only white sesame seeds, was made with cashew and hemp seeds, and was very rice-like. I am beginning to fall in love with hemp seeds. They have practically perfect nutritional ratios, both of protein to carbs and fat, as well as the type of fat they contain. But the main reason was because oh my goodness was that ever rice like! However, this spread is much more filling than rice, so if you make it, don't expect to eat as much as you might at a sushi bar!

I am finally beginning to really love what I am doing. I look forward to loosening the rules just slightly, but I definitely believe there is long term potential here, which I didn't really at the start of the trial. It helps to figure out the appropriate level of complexity to expect from a meal (like maybe only using one piece of equipment, or maybe it takes no more than 10 minutes to make, but not just a piece of fruit or a few nuts every single time I feel hungry.) Plus, I started losing weight again, so that always helps. Here's to our health!

Restaurants, Donuts and Random Pictures...

Yesterday I went out with a friend all day, and was confronted with the reality of being a raw foodist at a non-raw restaurant. We went to Golden City, a vegetarian Chinese place in the tenderloin. Since it's a vegetarian restaurant, I didn't think it would be too difficult to get a simple salad or some fruit. The menu had some lovely options, including a Thai cucumber salad and a selection of smoothies. I chose mango. I also saw they had fresh juices, so I didn't think it would be a problem to just have the smoothie with juice instead of milk or soy milk.

The problem with this is that it is entirely dependent on the server's attitude. I asked her what else went in the smoothie. She seemed baffled by this question. So i didn't much both asking about the Thai cucumber salad, and just asked for it without peanuts or soy jerky, and finally managed to get her to agree to a smoothie with juice instead of milk or soy milk.

So I'm fairly sure the meal was at least 90% raw. I believe and hope that the smoothie was only frozen mango and fresh squeezed OJ, and the salad dressing clearly had some sugar (it was very sweet) and the sesame seeds were toasted. Not a big deal, and I certainly don't consider it a setback. I managed to eat at a relatively normal restaurant and stay virtually raw. It was also a lovely meal. However an hour or so later, my face got all blotchy and red, the way it does when I drink too much or eat MSG. But this place doesn't have MSG. Weird.


I just finished making Rawdorable Shannon-Marie's infamous donuts, but I probably made way too many. I'll really only want one or two, and jess will maybe eat five or six, and there will still be like ten left. I made the chocolate ones, but I used much more oat groats, soaked them as well as the nuts, and added a banana (although it was a much bigger batch than she lists, so more like half a banana by those portions.) I'll frost them with the cacao-coconut oil-honey mixture I used on the cookies, and possibly a cashew/vanilla type thing as well. Yum.

I have a few extraneous pics of raw food that haven't made it into the blog that i'm sort of inclined to post now. Here's a green smoothie, before blending:

The tasty but not very satisfying zucchini pasta:

And yesterday's lunch of Raw Makery bread with almond butter, honey and raspberries:

Hope you enjoy them!

Green Smoothie

So I've been kind of grossed out by the idea of green smoothies, but I love green juice. So I decided to bite the bullet today and make a green smoothie this morning. I've been known to add a bit of spirulina to a smoothie before, thereby making a fruity smoothie slightly green, so I figured adding a little broccoli rabe wouldn't be all that different. And it wasn't. Actually, I think it was a little better. This smoothie had one banana, broccoli rabe, a blood orange and almond milk. It was a little bland compared to my usual smoothie, but overall not bad at all. Totally edible.

Could NOT get to sleep last night. I have no idea why, maybe I haven't been getting enough exercise, maybe... I don't know. So I look a little tired today. No matter. I put on cure clothes, a little eye makeup and a hat, and I'm good to go. I'm going to see my friend's puppies and have lunch at Cafe Gratitude. I am grateful to have friends who are willing to go to a restaurant where you have to be grateful in order to get your meal. I have to get going, but I may get a chance to add more later today.

dinner party

I would say the dinner party was a huge success! I made mushroom/walnut patties, wrapped them in collard leaves with avocado and cherry tomatoes, and topped them with a little tangy mayo. I made Jicama "fries" and a grapefruit pecan salad. People seemed to like it!



Then, I served those cookies! Pretty much all the recipes came from Living Cuisine by Renee Loux, with some minor changes. I forgot to break out the camera till midmeal, so unfortunately there's no photo of the spread on the table. Here's the recipe for the patties (the way I made them.)

4 cups chopped portobellas
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon bragg's amino acids
1 cup soaked walnuts
1 cup soaked sunflower seeds
1 chopped onion
2 cups chopped zucchini
i cup chopped celery
1 cup fresh basil
1 cup fresh parsley
2 cloves garlic
sea salt, to taste

Marinate portobellas in oil, lemon and braggs for at least 30 minutes. Combine other ingredients in food processor (it didn't all fit in mine, I had to do it in batches!) Blend well. Add mushrooms and pulse, leaving some chunks. Mold mixture into 8-10 patties. Dehydrate at 110 for 8-12 hours, flipping an hour or so before you will eat them. Then eat them!

I drank too much wine last night (like two glasses! goodness gracious!) so I feel a little off today. We went to the farmer's market and bought lots of oranges, greens and olives. I made a tapenade/pesto and put it on some zucchini for dinner. Jess had some steamed artichokes, and I tried to make a mayo for them, but it didn't thicken, and he doesn't like it, and I can't eat it and it will go bad before I can. Oh dear. Now I have a blender full of caesar dressing like mixture that I can't even taste for seasoning to see why it doesn't taste good. One of the frustrations of being raw with a non raw partner, I guess. The mayo is actually raw, but it includes a raw egg, which I said I wouldn't be eating, so I don't want to eat it.

Oh, the chocolate I put on the cookies came out amazing! I'll post that recipe tomorrow. Like a thick ganache/frosting. The husband devoured the leftovers for breakfast.

Better Still

So I'm thoroughly convinced that the funk I was feeling was die to the muscle relaxants and not the diet. I mean, duh, but still. I feel much better today again, and although I still have some minor shoulder pain, I'm definitely finished with that flexeril. It's not worth it, unless I'm completely laid up anyway.

I'm excited because I have guests coming for dinner, and the dehydrator is abuzz with portobella burgers, almond cookies, and sweet potato fries! I'll make a fairly basic salad and toppings for the burgers, wrap them in cabbage/collard leaves, and we should be set! I really hope my guests will enjoy, it's definitely different than their usual fare, but hopefully they are feeling adventurous, and if not, they can always stop by the in and out burger on their way home.

I made a nice smoothie this morning with a banana, a mango (or most of a mango, some of it I had to eat before it made it to the blender!) almond milk, hemp seeds and chia seeds. Tasty, and quite filling.

I shouldn't worry so much about what I will eat when the trial is over. That's two weeks away! Even food fanatics who plan every morsel of food that enters their mouths don't plan that far ahead!

So, overall, I don't think I feel all that different yet. I'm very much still me. Maybe my diet hasn't changed all that radically, even without cooking any of my food, the basic ingredients are mostly the same, except more nuts and less (ok, no) dairy. But maybe it takes longer than a month. Maybe I need to eat less nuts and fruit and more greens to notice a difference. I have no idea. But it's not so hard to keep up. It's just food, after all!

The Light of Day

Of course, I feel better today. I'm sure the flexeril is screwing with me, but my disposition just won't allow me to be mopey for more than a day or two at a time. I'm still looking forward to the end of the trial, and I still imagine I will be shooting for a 50% raw diet after this. I'm ready for food to have a less than starring role in my life. I still want to enjoy it, but I have to prioritize my career, my relationships, and my other pursuits first.

So, I don't really know how to stop obsessing about food. I'm trying to recall when I would obsess over something in the past, like a boy, I don't think I stopped obsessing until I picked a new boy. I realize this may sound unhealthy, or desperate, or whatever, but it's honest. Now, typically, the new boy would prove mostly useless, but once the new boy was out of the picture, I would be significantly less obsessed with the old boy.

Of course, now I'm married, so there's really no more need to obsess about boys at all. The boy is here, the boy is staying, there's no need to worry about it. We have fun together, we go our separate ways, we come back together. It's not complicated.

I see no reason why the food shouldn't be the same way. After all, it's not going anywhere, is it? But it doesn't work like that. Food obsession is not a rational thing. Neither, frankly, is boy obsession. I've certainly done things to get a boy's attention that I would not have done under normal circumstances.

These are musings, rants, who knows what. Frankly, I think the way I'm feeling is much more the meds than the food, and the food ought not be blamed. Raw food is good. It's beautiful. It's nutrient packed. But is it enough?

ugh

So I'm sick of raw today. Even though I made "lasagna" that the husband gladly ate, and even though there are "oatmeal cookies" in the dehydrator that are awesome... I just want to be normal again. I don't even want to wait for March. But I will, because I've set out to do this, and it's only food. Really, how big of a deal is two more weeks?

See, that's the whole problem. It's only food. I'm food obsessed. I've known this, and admitted it, for years. I'm always thinking about food in some context, whether it's how to make healthy food tastier or tasty food healthier, or making THE BEST version of you-name-it cuisine. I'm obsessed. But I've always felt like it was a pretty healthy obsession, because I enjoy working with food, and others enjoy eating it, and I'm pretty healthy, (holiday pounds not withstanding) so I don't generally worry about it. The obsession, that is.

So recently, in a few places, I've come across the term "Orthorexia." Have you heard it? It's the obsession with healthy eating. At first, I wasn't worried, because I figured it couldn't apply to me, since I eat ramen noodles and eat ice cream if I am so inclined. But certain aspects of the disorder struck a chord with me, and made me think that sometimes, it's not all about the food. Sometimes it's about having a normal social life, or eating a moderate amount of cheese, or bread, or whatever it is that we feel like we're just dying for at this moment.

So while I see some benefits from a raw food lifestyle, I don't think 100% raw is going to work out. When the trial is over, I'm going to give myself a week or so to eat what feels right to me, without limitations. At that point, I may reconsider going 50% raw, or trying to have a raw component at each meal.

Today I've eaten several raw (like not dehydrated) oatmeal cookies, two apples and some wine. Oh, and some olives. I know, I should have eaten other stuff. I think the muscle relaxants are screwing with me too.

Husband just got home. Goodnight to you.

oops... missed a couple days

I assure you the last two days have been as raw as the rest of February, I just neglected to post. Sunday was pf course, my birthday, which consisted of some fruit for breakfast, a lovely raw pizza at La Vie in Santa Cruz for lunch, and another raw meal at Alive in San Francisco for dinner. I'm a lucky gal.

At some point I seem to have tweaked my shoulder, and so I took it easy yesterday. It's actually difficult to post on the computer at home, since it's a laptop/couch situation, which isn't ideal for my neck.

So part of this illustrious holiday filled week includes tonight, which is Jesse and my 6 month wedding anniversary. I've obtained a lovely bottle of sulfite free wine, and am making lasagna. The components are more or less prepared, it just needs assembly.

However, I'm trying to take it easy, since I'm still in some pain, and it doesn't take much at this point to make things a whole lot worse. So forgive me thte short post, and I'll be back soon, better than ever.

P.S. Aside from the injury, I feel great!

Carrot Birthday Cake!

You deserve more pictures than you get here. I'm much better at writing than I am at photography.

I'm at my parents house today, and the onion bread is in their dehydrator. The bread and the dehydrator will be coming home with me! This is very exciting, that I might be eating some warm vegetable lasagna as soon as next week!

So far today, I've eaten:

1 smoothie with banana, tahini and almond milk
A few pieces of fruit~ orange slices, tangerine, a pear
1/2 piece of raw makery bread with avocado
a few bites of carrot cake!

Dinner I suspect will be a salad, perhaps with more raw makery bread.

I seem to have moved past the deep starch cravings, and am back to being happy with my food options. I'm also stoked on my new Living Foods cookbook! I'm very fortunate to be surrounded by such wonderful, supportive people. I'm definitely interested in continuing with some version of a living foods diet, probably including some steamed vegetables, bans, and sprouted grains, and also possibly some raw seafood and dairy. It's not at all unheard of for a person to eat a smoothie for breakfast and a salad for lunch, anyway.

Tomorrow I will have a lovely raw dinner for my birthday! Next week I will have more time for longer posts.

it must be day 8

You know, since it's February the 8th. I realize it may not be necessary to name the blogs after the day of the trial I'm on anymore. It makes the whole thing feel like a prison sentence, or like I'm on lost. It's really not so bad as all that. Actually, it's kind of awesome. I feel great, I'm eating great food, I've lost several pounds, and my skin has already improved. It's hard to argue with that.

I imagine after the trial I'll go back to some cooked foods, like steaming my sprouted grains, but I really don't want to fall off the wagon. I like this wagon. And though I imagine there's a place in my life for the occasional "normal" meal, I don't want to be on overweight, acne ridden, frequently ill person.

I also have joined the gym, which is excellent, because I can go over during my lunch hour, since when I bring my lunch I have more than enough time to eat it during working hours. It can be tricky to make it out of bed in time to make and eat breakfast, pack a lunch, shower, and still be on a train by 7:15, but so far I seem to be pulling it off.

Yesterday, I ate:

3 apples
leftover barley salad with microgreens and sunflower seeds
4 date almond truffles
1/2 piece raw makery sweet bread with avocado
more leftover barley salad with avocado, sunflower seeds and microgreens

I think I must have eaten something else, because that doesn't look like much. Probably some other pieces of fruit, maybe some almonds. I made almond milk last night, I had a bit of that.

This morning I made a smoothie with two bananas, frozen blueberries, almond milk, honey, raw power and spirulina. It actually did fairly well on the husband test, or at least, he didn't make any comments like "this is weird, what the hell did you put in this thing!" I call that a success.

I'm not sure what is going on for my birthday, but I think I'll probably be making my own cake! But that's fine, as long as other people will eat it.

Day 7-- One Week Raw!

One week raw! Yesterday was lovely, as I had the day off, so I had time to do some nice un-cooking. My barley had sprouted, so I made a beautiful barley salad with bell pepper, zucchini, tomato and avocado with herbs, spices, olive oil and lemon. I'm having some today for lunch with microgreens and sunflower seeds. I also made chocolate ice cream! It was very good, but it was too rich for me. I seem to desire lighter foods now. I also made some lemon truffle/cookie type things with leftover almond pulp, dates, coconut and lemon. These are delicious, and easier to deal with than a big bowl of ice cream.

I haven't eaten anything yet today, just wasn't hungry this morning, but I have four apples, the barley salad, a few of the truffles and two larabars in my bag, just in case.

I'm listening to Mitt Romney's concession speech. He's beyond infuriating, and I look forward to him being out of the headlines. They're cheering because he wants to lower corporate taxes. Grr...

I'm mostly past the deep cravings for cooked food now, and I feel quite well. I think I've lost a pound or two, although I know I will lose more if I cut back on the dried fruits and nuts, and increase the vegetables and seeds.

All for now, stay tuned and keep reading!

Day 6

I feel mentally far better today. Physically, my shoulder injury is acting up, and I seem to have a sore throat. The rest of yesterday got better as I went for a glass of wine and a fantastic raw meal at Cafe Gratitude with a dear friend. It was very satisfying, both in terms of the delicious meal, and the ability to get out and socialize in a fairly normal way. I'm also off work today, which is a much needed break, especially since I'm not feeling so well. Here's what I ate yesterday, to the best of my memory:

Breakfast: 1/2 this smoothie

1 banana
1 1/2 peaches
6 or 7 frozen strawberries
1-ish tablespoon tahini
1 cup almond milk
1 tablespoon bee pollen
2 scoops Raw Power (brazil nut/hemp raw protein)
ice cubes

The bee pollen and protein definitely made it taste a little funny, but it was so much more filling this way. i wasn't even really hungry when lunch rolled around, so i ate:

1 cashew cookie Larabar
2 oranges

and was happy until 4 or so, when I ate
1/2 piece raw bread, spread with brazil nut cheese
handful mixed greens with lemon

Then in the evening:

1 glass biodynamic wine

Cafe Gratitude "I am abundant" sampler platter, which included:
almond bread with pesto
buckwheat live bread
carrot flax crackers with chipotle cashew mayo
almond hummus
olive tapenade
1 raw spring roll, wrapped in some marinated green leaf (collard?)
a tiny bowl of a very spicy carrot/avocado soup (I couldn't eat it, it was too spicy)
some of my companion's pad thai

a few bites of the amazing mudslide pie (I was quite full, but it was too good not to eat a little. Coconut and chocolate airy mousseon an amazing chewy crust... could this actually be on my diet? Truly amazing, or as it referred to itself, "I am heavenly.")

I just made some sandwiches for Jess and oh my goddess did that loaf of sandwich bread smell amazing. At least Jesse agreed with me, and I'm not just going crazy.

I have noticed that I'm far more sensitive to outside influences, like the one glass of wine I had last night was more than I needed, while my friend was happy to have another drink with dinner. Ordinarily, I'd have joined her. When I walk past a person smoking a cigarette, it nearly chokes me. Ordinarily, although I wouldn't join them, I'd kind of want to, and might even occasionally intentionally stand near them. I quit smoking a little over a year ago, but didn't find cigarettes completely revolting until recently.

I think my shoulder just hurts today because I carried a heavy press box yesterday. Otherwise, I feel good. So far today I've eaten an orange, half an avocado and a bit of lettuce, but I plan on eating some more meal-like meals a bit later.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, it appears as though I've lost two pounds! It's hard to say this early if it's water weight or if it will stick, even though the month, but it's good news. I'll leave you with that.

Day 5

After being harrassed and followed by a homeless man claiming to be making a confession to me about 9-11 last night, and being unable to vote this morning because I'm apparently registered Green (I was certain I had re-registed Democrat ages ago, for this very reason)I am mentally and physically exhausted today. I find myself without words, on the verge of tears, ready to snap at anyone who irritates me (and there are people here who have been known to irritate me.) I am not prepared to face this day, and I am beginning to feel unprepared to face this month. I'm dying to get out of town.

These feelings will pass, and I will soon be my usual perky, singing and dancing, fun-loving self. For now I need to stare into space and breathe and at lunch I will run on a treadmill.

Oh, and I drank a smoothie and packed a salad. This is the most detailed blog entry ever.

Day 4

So it turns out that those non menstrual cramps in fact were menstrual cramps. This is good, that I'm not having random abdominal cramps, but it sucks because last night was rough. i stayed in the bath for about two hours. My amazing husband cared for me by bringing me boiling water, and then even making me green juice. The juice lifted the terrible headache I was having in a way that the aleve I took seemed to refuse to do. He is handling this whole process beautifully so far, perhaps partly because I'm still willing to cook some food for him now and again (I made him a vat of cheese sauce for dipping corn chips. Thankfully, it wasn't all that appealing to me, although he thought it was great.)

I'm back at work today, and I brought an arsenal of raw food to sustain me. I made juice this morning, and put a quart in a mason jar, which is currently in the fridge, along with my raw burritos (i was out of tomatoes, so I made a quick onionless salsa with pineapple, cilantro and jalapeno) 2 oranges, 2 apples, a grapefruit, a small container of almonds and a larabar. So today I should not have to face anything ugly like Friday, when I got very hungry and had to scramble home and make juice. I'm planning to go to a yoga class after work, assuming I'm not having cramps.

So far I'm not really experiencing any cravings for cooked food, although last night I definitely could have eaten some miso soup. I did have some strong chamomile tea after my bath and juice, and that also helped. The raw bread and nut cheese kept me going yesterday.

Dinner last night was very interesting. I made zucchini "pasta" which means you shave the zucchini into strips with a peeler. I then marinated the chopped centers of the zucchini, some mushrooms, and onions in various combinations of olive oil, lemon juice and braggs. I then made a tomato sauce with sundried tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, pineapple (yes, why not!) herbs and olive oil. This is a delicious sauce. I topped with veggie mix with the sauce and topped that with some ground up nuts to vaguely resemble parmesean. I took pictures of it, but they are in the camera at home, and I am at work, so I'll have to add them in later.

The dish looked good, smelled good, and tasted good, but in a salad/appetizer kind of way. I'm definitely not in a place yet where that can be my meal and I'll be satisfied. Jesse, who felt the same about it as I did, ate his leftover steamed artichoke. I think I cut up some oranges, and that's about when I started to feel sick and got in the tub.

But as I said, I'm feeling well today, so far all I've had was this morning's juice, but I'm about to peel a grapefruit and munch a few almonds, which should tide me over till lunch. I have not planned dinner tonight, but that seems far away now. I may venture into the raw soup genre.

All for now.

Day 3-- That Inevitable Detox

*Note* This post may be considered TMI for some readers.

So for the last few days I have woken up with a need to move my bowels. This is not my usual pattern, so I have found it somewhat strange. This morning I have needed to move them several times, and they have been looser than I would prefer. This is something I am fairly comfortable talking about, although I realize many are not quite so in tune with their rhythms of elimination, so I'll stop short of detail here.

I also had abdominal cramps, similar to menstrual cramps, although of course, NOT menstrual cramps. I took a shower and lay down for a bit and they passed. I have also been experiencing some other muscle weakness and aches. None of this is too severe, and I'm happy to continue on with the trial.

I've come to realize that I'm actually usually pretty successful with strict diets. It's the not so strict ones where I fail. I was vegetarian, never taking a bite of meat, for 13 years. I followed the candida diet, without a bite of sugar, fruit, starch or yeast for 2 months. These things I can do. But if I'm allowed to have a little bit of something, I typically see no reason not to have a lot of it. Wine, cheese, bread, pasta and chocolate seem to be my weaknesses here. Oh, and my dad's chicken. That man sure can cook a chicken. But I digress.

I know I have been promising photos, and so far have not come through. There will be photos! I actually too a photo of last night's salad and marinated mushrooms, as well as the "onion bread" that I made, but need to dehydrate (our oven has suddenly and mysteriously broken, leaving me in a bit of a pickle about how to gently dehydrate my bread.) I will take some photos of me, for the "before" even though we are a few days in. I'm posting this one of me from NYE. Yes, I have gained some weight since my profile photo, thanks.



So, yesterday went well, the burritos at lunch were fantastic! I'll definitely be making those again soon. I was quite hungry yesterday, and snacked quite a bit. Today I find I'm not very hungry. I'm not feeling very well, so I don't seem to have it in my to pull together a full meal plan, but here's what I've eaten so far:

A few orange slices that Jesse cut up (probably about one orange worth)

A piece of raw bread that I bought at Rainbow a while ago (raw bread keep much longer than regular bread) with some raw brazil nut cheese I made last night)

A raw chocolate smoothie (2 bananas, one avocado, 4 tablespoons raw cacao, almond milk, ice cubes, split with husband)

That's all so far. I'm pretty happy with how the sushi, burritos and salad have come out, but I'm going to need more than that to make this a real lifestyle that works for me. I haven't particularly lost any weight yet (although maybe a pound or so after the several trips to the bathroom this morning!) but it's only day 3, so that's probably a good thing. I also did eat quite a bit yesterday (I seemed to be very hungry!)

I have to figure out what I will be taking to work on a daily basis next week. I'm hoping to figure out some way to make my onion bread so that I can have sandwiches some days (although I do still have that buckwheat stuff from rainbow...)

I'll probably make some zucchini/tomato sauce combination for dinner. We don't have very much zucchini (it was like $4 or $5 at Rainbow! Yikes!) but I could add some greens and nuts and I should be able to make a meal of it.

That seems to be all I have in me to post today. I have been sleeping all I want, and I'm still quite tired. Jesse seems to think a walk will help me. This could be true, but it's windy as hell out there.

Day 2

So yesterday was successful. I more or less followed my food plan, and I stayed raw (for one whole day!) The morning was difficult. Clearly, my breakfast was not enough food, because I was quite hungry again by 9 am (I ate around 6:30.) I ate the tangelo, then the apple, then the almonds, all before lunch.

I found that my lettuce had gotten soggy and had way too much Bragg's on it, so lunch was kind of lame. Next time, pack the dressing separate! Rookie mistake! I managed to snag several bottles of water, which made me feel much better until I got home and immediately made a tall glass of celery/spinach/apple/lemon juice. This is such a restorative drink for me, it really brought me out of the funk I was feeling.


I made up some nori rolls, one with avocado, carrots, cucumber and spinach; one with avocado, mango, macadamia nuts and mint leaves, and one with leftover almond pulp made into a rice substitute, carrot and cucumber. They were good. Jesse found them a little weird, particularly the almond pulp one, but he ate them and seemed to even enjoy them.

I didn't take any pictures of food yesterday, but today I will try to get some in. I'm having a hard time making as solid a meal plan today as yesterday, partly because we are going to the farmers market and I don't know what we will have, and partly because it is hard to come up with new dishes... already. This isn't a great sign, but I just have to keep up my confidence that I can do this and it should be fine.

Day 2 meal plan:

Breakfast
Smoothie: Banana, coconut water, tahini, pineapple, orange juice chia... peaches on side?

I know better than to buy peaches in early February. They just smelled so good! They were not good. I had a few macadamia nuts after my smoothie.

Snack 1: Probably samples from the Farmer's Market... maybe a whole piece of fruit.

Lunch: Raw Burritos (walnuts ground with Mexican spices, with salsa and guacamole, in lettuce or cabbage or maybe collard green wraps)


Snack 2: Caramel apples
I'm sooo excited about these. I used this recipe. I made up the caramel last night, will dip with apples later.


Dinner: Big salad... not exactly sure what will go in it yet, except that it will be big, and will contain some protein.

Snack 3: JUICE! Maybe pineapple mint tonight. It's one of my favorites, and I haven't had it in ages, and now I have pineapple!

It's not as specific as yesterday, and there may be more pieces of fruit in there... actually, now that I think about it, we'll get a giant bag of oranges and Jess will probably cut up six or seven of them, so ORANGES will probably be my first snack.

That's all for now, please feel free to ask questions in the comment section.

~Mandy

Day 1- Start Your Engines

Good Morning!

So I ventured out for supplies last night, and I think I'm off to a good start. In addition to getting loads of beautiful fresh organic produce (apples, tangelos, bananas, coconut, avocadoes, collard greens, kale, celery, spinach, carrots, lemons... etc...) I got some lovely sundried olives and tomatoes, raw macadamia nuts, raw honey, bee pollen, some lovely raw chocolate from empowered foods, nori sheets... um... a sushi roller, a nut mylk bag, a dry skin brush, a tongue scraper, natural toothpaste, natural floss... fresh turmeric...

Like I said, off to a good start. Here's my basic meal plan for today:

Breakfast
Raw Muesli: 1 apple, 1/2 banana, 5 or 6 walnuts, 2 tablespoons almond pulp (leftover from almond milk) 2 dried apricots and a tablepoon of chia seeds, chopped into fine dice and topped with almond milk, cinnamon and a drizzle of raw honey.

This was quite tasty, although I think tomorrow more banana and walnut, and less apple and almond. It wasn't filling enough, and I ate a few bites of Jesse's that he was eating while he drove me to the train station.

Snack 1
1 Tangelo

Lunch
Marinated Broccoli salad: Chopped Broccoli with shredded carrots & yellow beets, marinated in Bragg's amino acids, sesame oil, macadamia nut oil, ginger and jalapeno. Served over red leaf lettuce with pumpkin seeds and 1/4 a large avocado.

I'm looking forward to this lunch. I left it at room temperature overnight, and the edges of some of the grated beets turned just a teeny bit brown. I'm guessing it's oxidation, and next time, I'll leave it in the fridge. Other than that it looks good though, like a raw stir fry.

Snack 2
Apple, 12 raw almonds

Dinner
Nori Rolls: avocado, carrot, celery, cucumber, spinach, parsley & mint in a sushi wrapper. I haven't decided if I should have a tahini dipping sauce or just braggs. Maybe mix the braggs and tahini together? that sounds pretty good. I'll probably do that.

Snack 3
Green Juice! I drink this all the time already. Celery, apple, spinach, lemon juice. Tastes like lemonade, looks like toxic waste. I'll have to take a photo for you.

Snack 4
Yes, there are 4 planned snacks. You got a problem? 1 wild peanut butter cup from empowered foods. To celebrate the first day.

I feel well, it's Friday, I'm off the whole weekend and it's not raining. This is going to be a good day.