Day 6

I can't believe it's only been 6 days.  Raw seems a lot easier this year.  I don't know why.  It almost seems like last year was my practice run at it and now I'm doing it for real. 

How does raw feel?  I'm sure for each person it is different, so I'll tell you how I feel on a raw diet. 

Hungry?  Sometimes... especially at the beginning.  I was really hungry day the first few days.  My body was most likely cleansing out the carbs and alcohol I had been giving it.  Now, I'm not as hungry.  Today I made a huge bowl of sprouts, avocado, tomatoes and topped it with my not tuna pate and red pepper hummus.  I feel full.  I also have made myself drink more water!

Energy?  Heck yes!  I have a lot more energy and a sort of mental clarity.  I almost feel more creative on this diet.  Or maybe more able to accomplish tasks.

Sleep?  I wondered if I'd sleep better on this diet.  I don't know yet.  This is yet to be determined due to some late nights at the bakery and friends visiting....  I'll try to remember to get back to you on this.

Overall?  I think raw is going well.  I thank the Goddess that I have a dishwasher to get me through.  I wouldn't be juicing every morning otherwise.  The food processor and blendtec are a godsend.  I'm hoping to fuel up the dehydrator soon! 

So far -3lb/this will be day 5 at the gym! 

I'm in it = Day 3

OK, so day one was the hardest.  I mean, think about it.  waking up New Years morning and saying to yourself "I'm going to be raw" is not a easy pill to swallow.  Mainly because I wanted to be snacking and munching and hanging with my friends more.  Alas, it was an apple and a banana for breakfast.  Salad to lunch while I watched others eat fantastic food at the restaurant, and more rawness in the afternoon/evening.  I survived it... and stayed 100% raw.

Yesterday I made lots of good stuff - I'll need to get you the pics -  i need to keep my camera handy.
So for breakfast i did carrot juice so I could use the pulp in raw carrot cake cupcakes.  Then I did the red pepper hummus which I was addicted to last year, a "tuna" pate, "ranch" dressing, and almond butter cookie balls!  I would say I'm set for a couple of days.

Today so far it's been juice.

What else am I doing that's different than last year's cleanse - I'm working out.

So right before new years I was at 139 and today weighed in at 137 (135 has been my lowest since joining the gym)  I'm hoping for 130...  we'll see. 

Raw Chili

the Raw Chili was a hit! So freaking good!

In bowl I added:

2 c shredded carrots

1/2 large red onion

1c chopped almonds

in a food processor I chopped

2 red bell peppers

2 Portabella mushrooms

4 stalks celery

In the Blendtech:

3 large tomatoes

5t chili powder

4t cumin

4 cloves garlic

1T Oregano

2T Onion powder

2T apple cider Vinegar

nutritional yeast to taste

NOTE: this is very liquidy... but it will be ok!

I let this sit overnight in the fridge. I then added the nut meat posted yesterday and onions on top! YUM!

Favorite Creation...

That's right... I finally figured something out! I was addicted to my Blend Tech. I have been blending the heck out of everything. I wasn't always getting the result I wanted but I was forging ahead anyway. Then I thought, "I should grab my food processor" And then I made magic happen.

My phone camera does not do this justice

-two tomatoes

-package of mushrooms

-two cloves of garlic

I spread this on some Love Force raw crackers and in some celery! Holla!

I also had more dehydrated fun. I juiced yesterday morning and thought I shouldn't waste what I'm not drinking. So I added some raw agave, mixed it up and dehydrated. So now I have carrot, broccoli, apple, agave chip things... ha!

one week

I thought magically when I put my jeans on this morning they would be too big for me. I'm not doing the raw diet to lose weight, but I thought it would be a great benefit. I'm reporting, my jeans fit just as they always have. I don't have a scale meaning I have no clue if I've lost pounds.

I had a great weekend, during my prenatal yoga teacher training a special raw dish was made for me by the amazing Mark Stroud both days. It was so good that all I did this weekend was smoothies in the morning, great lunch that I didn't have to prepare, and then some butternut squash chips at dinner time.

I lucked out last night at the grocery store finding reduced fresh cut fruit and some almost out of date mushrooms that I'm going to get creative with today! I think my favorite two things are my blender and dehydrator!

Rawk On!

Here we go, day 1

While browsing facebook, as I often do, I saw that a friend of mine was planning on going raw for 90 days. She wanted to know if anyone wanted to join her. I have dabbled in raw here and there but my sugar addiction always has brought me back. The truth is I'm vegan for the animals and not my health, this means coffee, diet coke, twizzlers, sour patch kids, any baked good that my bakery makes, etc.

Knowing that today was my first day raw I ate everything in sight this weekend, tons of vegan pizza, eggless salad sandwiches galore, brownies... and so on.

Last night I took a fellow yogi with me to Trader Joes as he is very knowledgeable about raw foods. $130 later and my trunk full of more veggies and healthy foods than I think I've ever purchased in my life I was ready to start the challenge.

I woke up this morning planning out my day. I did not eat the chocolate I melted for some baked goods, that was my first challenge. So here we are:

Breakfast was 1 Grape Fruit and a strawberry, banana, flax seed and cashew milk smoothie (I had never made cashew milk before!)

Lunch is some nuts, fruit, and a raw bar.

I don't know what will come of this diet, I'm hoping for a nice cleanse! I'm looking forward to learning the way of raw foods.