Category Archives: 30 Raw

On the Raw Side II: Day 2

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This was actually my second consecutive day RAW. I ate raw yesterday as well (and may post that information later). So, I guess that will make this challenge 54 days instead of 53 if I go all the way to the half-marathon.

The Food

  • Breakfast – Green Smoothie (15.5 oz Bananas, 6 oz Berries, 3/4 cup Apple Juice, 3/4 cup Coconut Water, 2 oz Kale, 2 oz Spinach)
  • Morning Snack – Didn’t have one.
  • Lunch – 2 oz Mango, 4.5 oz Strawberries, 2 Bananas, 2 Medjool Dates, about a cup of Sprouts.
  • Afternoon Snack – 1 Banana & 1 Navel Orange
  • Dinner -  1lb 4oz Watermelon, 2 Navel Oranges
  • Evening Snack – 1 serving dried pineapple, 16 oz apple juice
  • Water – 46 ounces
  • Calories – 1,989.8 (Carbs 92.2% / Protein 5.1% / Fat 2.7%)
  • Fiber – 49.2 grams!

The Exercise:

  • 4 miles run/walk on the trail with the kids, calorie burn of approximately 400 calories.

The Results:

  • I don’t have any “results” to report at the moment. I won’t weigh until Saturday and then it will still be a week from then before I have something to compare.

The Effects:

  • I woke up this morning bright-eyed. I slept very well.
  • My calories were too low. If I had eaten a morning snack I think they would have been on target. As you can see, I didn’t photograph everything we ate. I will do that from time to time but I’m not committing to doing it daily.
  • The eight year old seemed OK most of the day. She did cry a couple of times, which is unusual for her. She’s normally quite cheerful and lets things bounce off her. She cried during the run this afternoon and over something very minor in the van this morning. She wanted “dessert” after our dinner of watermelon, so I offered her a date. Apparently she doesn’t like dates as half of it is sitting on the counter as I type. She’s made it a day and a half, we’ll see how far she goes.
  • It seems we have a couple of people joining in the challenge. The Husband has committed to tracking everything he eats and weighing in with me on Saturdays. Tracking is a big deal for him. He has very little weight to lose (if any) but his tracking helps me too. Also, my friend, Mandy, is stepping up. She’s thinking about her challenge focus.

On the Raw Side II: Guidelines

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Here we go! Ok, so maybe I’m a tad crazy for doing this… again, but there is no denying that the results of my first mostly* Raw trip were pretty cool. My guidelines will stay almost exactly the same as my first challenge.

The Food

  • Raw Fruit – I’ll be eating “high fruit” and will eat whatever fruit is available at my local grocery store.
  • Raw Vegetables – Most of my veggies will be in the form of greens but I’m not going to avoid the other colors of course.
  • Raw Fats – These fats will primarily come from fruit and vegetables with limited overt fats like avocados and nuts (no oils).
  • Percentages – I’m hoping to keep my weekly averages to 80% or higher Carbs, 10% or lower each of protein and fat.
  • Fresh & bottled juices – I do own a juicer but I’m including bottled juice because I do live a very busy life.  I’m trying to be realistic and set myself up for success.  *This is why I called this “mostly” raw at the start.  Most bottled juice isn’t raw because it undergoes pasteurization. 
  • Water - I will try for 64 ounces a day – I really didn’t do well with this one last time.
  • 2000-2500 Calories per day – That seems like a lot of food for an average 30-something year old woman but I already know (from the last challenge) that my body can handle it.
  • Tracking – I plan to share my menu each day, complete with calorie count and dietary percentages such as carbohydrates, protein, fat and fiber.

The Exercise

  • I’m currently training for a half-marathon, so obviously I’ll be running.
  • I’m also doing an indoor cycling class for cross-training.
  • Other activities I expect to do include: TaeKwonDo, Figure Skating, and walking the dog (although he is running with me now).
  • Tracking – I plan to share my workouts each day as well as the estimated calorie burn.

The Results

  • Weight – I will not weigh any more often than once a week. The actual scale number isn’t important to me but I’ll record the changes for anyone wanting to see what is happening there.
  • Measurements – I will take measurements on Saturday but haven’t decided how frequently I’ll do them after that.

The Effects

  • I am planning to make notes about how I’m feeling and the effect these dietary changes have on my mood, energy…etc.

my little raw buddy

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About a month ago, my youngest asked if she could eat raw too. We were in the car with the other kids at the time who proceeded to rattle off a list of things she wouldn’t be able to eat if she was eating raw.

“Hmm, maybe I’ll wait till after my birthday,” she said.

Fast forward a few weeks, her eighth birthday passed and she forgot about eating raw. That is, until today. She saw me eating a big bowl of fruit and said, “Mom, can I eat raw too?” I asked if she was sure and when she wanted to begin. “Right now,” she said. The older three were in the kitchen and again began listing things that weren’t raw. She said she didn’t care, she wanted to eat raw anyway. She did ask if she could eat some of my dried pineapple if she was raw (they aren’t allowed to touch it). I guess I’ll have to share now.

I’m not looking forward to watching my eight year old go through detox. I warned her that she may feel bad at first… she was undaunted. Since I haven’t been 100% raw lately (despite wanting to be), I’m going to use this opportunity to have a “raw buddy”. I’ve mentioned before how difficult it is to be a lone raw vegan in a cooked vegan house (I can’t imagine how difficult it would be in a SAD house). Hopefully, knowing I’m not alone will help me make it through the first few days again.

This is also the child who has asked to run with me many times. I did take her out on a walk/run last week (and we’ll go again this week). She’s got to build up for a few weeks or so as she can’t run a mile without walking just yet.  She tends to go full speed, and then, of course, doesn’t have the energy to finish. I think the Husband plans to work with her as well on his lighter workout days. He did bribe all three girls to run 3/4 of a mile for seven bucks… which they did. Hmm, it’s amazing what a bit of cash will do for one’s motivation.

In light of my having a buddy, I think I will do another RAW challenge. I have 53 days till my next half-marathon. Could I eat raw for 53 days? My last challenge was 30 days (although I think I did 44 days before having cooked food)….. brief interruption…

… Ha ha! Well, the eight year old came in and noticed I was writing about her. She wants to do 53 days of raw too. Wow! This won’t be easy. I think I’ll help her make a chart for her room so she can mark her progress. I can’t help but wonder if there is someone out there who might want to join me in the challenge. Maybe you don’t want to go raw, but rather would like to try vegetarian or vegan first? Or maybe you have some other plan you would like to follow and participating in a challenge might give you some accountability. If that’s you, please leave a comment and then check in daily (or weekly if daily is too much) to let me know how you’re doing. If you’re planning to blog your progress, by all means, let me know where you live on the web. The 53 days doesn’t start till in the morning (although, so far, I’m 100% raw today), but you can jump in at whatever point works for you. You could begin on Saturday (that’s when I will log my starting weight because I try not to weigh myself during the week), which would give you a few days to work out your plan of attack for your challenge.

I’ll post tomorrow with more information about my personal challenge guidelines.

fighting off nausea

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I slept in later than usual this morning, not considering what this might mean for my indoor cycling class. I drank my “right out of bed” water and then downed about five cups of green smoothie. Normally, I have my smoothie several hours before the class. Five minutes into the workout I knew I had screwed up. We did intervals, climbing and climbing intervals. Hovering over those handle bars is the perfect position for puking. Only God knows why I didn’t throw up. Perhaps He was showing mercy on me as the embarrassment would probably mean the end of my attendance in that class. It was a difficult hour, but I finished the workout.

I made a terrible tasting smoothie tonight. I still have no idea why it was so bad but I was only able to drink about a third of it. The husband tasted it and couldn’t believe I’d made it through that much. It was date night so I resigned myself to a Naked Juice from the grocery store. Now that I look back on the day, I had quite a bit of juice.

Calories: 2,570
Carbs: 89.2%
Protein: 4.7%
Fat: 6.1%
Fiber: 44.9 grams
Exercise: burned 681 calories

cooked food coma

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I started out last week tracking my calories. Initially I thought I would be high raw but as the week wore on, and life’s stress piled up, I gave into emotional eating. I knew full well what I was doing too. It just seemed the fiery arrows were more numerous than usual. The more cooked food I ate, the more I craved it. The more I craved it, the worse I felt. It was like a cooked food coma hung onto me. Yes, I was still vegan. Yes, that’s better than eating SAD (Standard American Diet). And yes, I realize how crazy this must sound to anyone who has never been on a High Fruit Raw Vegan diet and even crazier to those on SAD. Obviously, when I eat vegan, I feel better than when I ate SAD, but once you’ve experienced what HFRV is like… everything else just feels like sub-par. Some people think this is all mental, but it’s not. Sure, your outlook plays a role, but I’m talking about physical well-being.

For example, I’ve slowly (like really slowly) been working toward a faster running pace. This has been difficult since the concussion last fall. Running was far more painstaking and I was even dreading it (would even skip runs because of the dread). Then I went HFRV for about seven weeks straight. I have never… did you read that?  I have never had that much energy in my life. Running became fun and my mile averages were getting better each time. I would actually have to reign in my ridiculous grinning during cycling class because I didn’t want people to think I was crazy. I would catch myself almost laughing because I couldn’t believe I was working so hard and not feeling wiped out. I would leave class with a spring in my step. Well, Monday was quite a different story despite my being optimistic about the run beforehand. Last week I noticed that my running pace was the same. It had been steadily increasing. Then on Monday, despite my positive mental state, it decreased. I had to fight so much for the time I got. After a few days with this on my mind, I decided I was going back to HFRV this morning.

Well, I woke up with a fever, chills, and nausea. There was no way this was a coincidence. It was another fiery arrow… except this one made me angry. I don’t like forced rest days one bit, so I used this one to my advantage.  I rested, read HFRV, drank more water, and ate raw. I felt terrible and wanted “comfort” food much of the day, but I continued to eat raw. My calories (2,150.2) turned out lower than I would like them to be, but I feel this was a good effort for a sick day.

Most people have no idea that they are walking around in a cooked food coma. It’s normal for them like it was normal for me.

Calories: 2,150.2
Carbs: 91.6%
Protein: 5.9%
Fat: 2.4%
Fiber: 61.7 grams
Exercise: None

Accountable Again (AA)

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I did not plan that title.  When I typed it in and saw the capital A’s, I just had to use it.

Hi, my name is J. and I’m a recovering anorexic/bulimic (without the puking).

People usually associate bulimia with purging, but not all bulimics induce vomiting. I would punish myself by not eating. Of course, eventually you become hungry enough to devour a biggie size of anything… plus every other plate at the table too. Enter guilt and bloating (which helps to convince you that you have gained ten pounds in one sitting), and you know what happens next.  Yep, repeat the cycle again starting with “I’m so fat” (even if you aren’t) and starvation. I don’t fall prey to this very often anymore (praise the Lord God Almighty!), but I do see glimpses from time to time when I lose the proper focus. Which is what brings me to the true point of this post.

I posted on Wednesday about the lack of trust I have with food when I don’t track what I eat. I despise tracking my food for several reasons. I think one of them is admitting that I need help. Because of this, I must rely on God for the discipline to write down what I put in my mouth. Don’t you just love that word, “discipline”? I don’t either. Today I resumed the discipline of tracking my food.  I have not smiled much as a result.  It’s a good thing the Husband volunteered to make me lunch when I got home from my indoor cycling class. Tired and hungry, I was poised to stay “to heck” with this tracking thing (which I would regret come morning).  He made me a delicious, raw Tortilla Soup*. Crisis averted! Making it through that moment has helped me finish out the day with a little better perspective.  I’ll talk about that tomorrow though.

I’m taking things a step further than tracking, I’m also going “Accountable Again”. No, I don’t plan to list out every bite with photos (like my RAW challenge). Let’s face it, I already have to type it once into my tracker and I’m not thrilled about doing that. What I will post are my daily calorie/percentage totals. This is purely to hold me accountable to tracking. I’m not out to prove anything and won’t step on the scale for now.

*We altered the Tortilla Soup recipe by eliminating the cheese and using a whole avocado instead of 1/4. We also use our own “taco seasoning” mix instead of the packaged stuff. Because the soup doesn’t get hot enough to kill the good stuff, it’s still raw… unless you throw in those tortilla chips :)

Today’s Numbers

Calories: 1948.6
Carbohydrates: 80.8%
Protein: 5.9%
Fat: 13.3% (can we say “avocado”?)
Fiber: 59.3 grams
Approximate Exercise Burn: -549 calories
RAW: 94.7%

I can’t be trusted

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I’m staring at that title searching for words to express my feelings.  I think I’m having difficulty because I wish there were new words.  I wish they were new feelings.  They aren’t.  So, I sit here searching and wishing.

Since I stopped writing down everything I eat, I have gradually slipped back into the “feast or famine” cycle.  I cried the other day because I was so hungry.  When I actually recounted what I had eaten, it was perfectly understandable that I was hungry.  That isn’t even taking into consideration how hard I’m working out too.  However, my mind kept telling me that I “shouldn’t eat because I’m fat”.  Ugh.  Do you ever wish your brain had a “delete” button?  Yeah, me too.

Right now, I’m not sure if the phrase, “I can’t be trusted”, is even true.  All I do know is that my mind is able to mess with me less when I have the facts.  When I write down what I eat, I can point to the proof and tell my brain to “shut up”.  Eventually the accusations quiet and that’s usually when I think I don’t need to track my food anymore.

I’ve come to the conclusion (yet again) that I need to track my food.  I think it is even more important right now because of my workout routine and the half-marathon training schedule.  I’m burning a lot, which seems to make me feel ravenous suddenly.  If I’m not eating consistently through the day this becomes a big problem.  So, beginning Friday I will load up the tracker and post daily again.  I probably won’t itemize my food in the post but I’ll likely list my calories and percentages.  As for the scale, I haven’t decided if I’ll step on it or not.

I really wish I could do this without tracking.  I’m not sure if I’m more upset about the task of tracking or that I need it to succeed.

 

 

Returning to Raw

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It’s been almost three weeks since wandering away from my RAW lifestyle.  I say “wandering” because it wasn’t a total abandonment.  I still averaged around 50% of my calories from raw food.  Even though I had cooked food, we remained vegan.  So, I definitely wasn’t eating the Standard American Diet (SAD).

Gradually, symptoms crept back.  Things like twitching in my left eye-lid (just noticed this today), mild chest pain, bloating, unfriendly digestion with all the yucky side effects, fingernail breakage, lower energy levels, cravings, aching joints, mild acne, sinus pressure, mood swings, and headaches.  These are some of the symptoms that drove me to try eating raw, plant-based foods in the first place.

I did learn something while eating cooked food.  I learned that most of the time, the cooked food didn’t taste nearly as wonderful as it smelled.  There were many times when I would take a bite of something simply because it smelled incredible, only to end up spitting it out in the trash because the taste wasn’t worth it.  Unfortunately, that didn’t last long and the last couple of days I noticed a shift.  My sense of smell gradually decreased, but my cravings for higher fat, salty food increased even more.  One afternoon I sat down and ate an entire container of grape tomatoes.  No, not bad for you, but that’s how much I wanted salt.  You may be thinking, “Really? Grape tomatoes are salty to you?”  When you eat primarily fruit, heck yes, they taste salty!

I should be ecstatic that my massive sugar cravings haven’t returned; However, I am aware that they would find me again eventually.  And so, as of today, I am back to high fruit, raw vegan.  I’ve had a couple of green smoothies and a few pieces of fruit so far today.  If I said I feel amazing already, I’d be lying through my smoothie straw.  Truthfully, all I can think about is taking a nap.  Perhaps I should.  My eyes aren’t going to stay open too much longer whether I want them to or not.

Bravo, Salsa Brava

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A few weeks ago, the Husband and I went out to dinner with my sister and brother-in-love (and my sweet newborn niece).  The Husband looked up vegan options at Salsa Brava.  The plan was that I would just get a plain salad.  Since we had to wait for about forty-five minutes to be seated, I took a look at the menu.  I wondered if they would let me “construct” my own salad from items on their menu.

To my pleasant surprise, they did!  So I ordered like this:  “I would like the Club Salad, except that I don’t want the chicken, bacon, cheese or dressing.  Then, if you could add the mango from the Seared Ahi Tuna Salad and a wedge of lime, that would be great.”

I squeezed the lime over the salad as a dressing; chopped up the avocado and mixed that in too.  YUM!  It was really good and best of all, I was able to eat out and stay RAW!

Thanks, Salsa Brava!

On the Raw Side: Week 8

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I knew it had to happen at some point and it did.  Week eight was just “one of those weeks”.  The cravings for salty food were horrible.  I gave in several times to natural tortilla chips and salsa.  Once I even had vegan spring rolls, rice with veggies, and a vegan chocolate chip cookie (had spring rolls again last night despite getting sick from them).  I’ve been praying about what could possibly be the cause of these cravings and I think I have a few possibilities:

  • It’s cold.  Like really cold and snowy.  Raw food isn’t exactly warm.  On Monday afternoon I was struggling to get and stay warm.  I wanted warmer food.
  • I’ve had a slight sore throat and felt really tired much of the week.  I haven’t officially gotten sick but it definitely feels like my body is fighting against something.  Well, what do you want when you’re sick?  Chicken noodle soup (which is typically salty) and ginger ale (also loaded with sodium).  I didn’t have either, but I wanted them.
  • Didn’t get in my workouts early in the week (snow, snow & more snow… and we had a wonderful time with family in town).  I’ve discovered that I absolutely do not like running on the treadmill in my basement, which was to be my back-up plan when it was too snowy outside.
  • Crazy schedule throughout the week.  Things have definitely picked up around here and I’m not sure I like it one bit.  I was also rather stressed over my current writing assignment.  I’m not really sure why except that it was of a personal nature and consumed a lot of my thought processes.
  • Low calorie counts.  I suspect that my calories have been dropping slowly over the last couple of weeks.  When this happens, I typically end up really hungry and that always makes cravings worse.  I’m considering tracking again for a bit to make sure I’m eating adequately.
  • Possibly PMS week.  I’ve made it past day 21 (barely).  So far, no lovely monthly but she could still show early again… I’m hoping to make it to day 28.
  • My sense of smell is soooo strong that the aroma of cooked food literally makes my mouth water.  When the kids were having chili for lunch one day, I just wanted to taste it.  It didn’t taste anywhere near as good as it smelled to me, so I spit it out.
  • My fat intake was higher this week.  I don’t like how I feel after eating overt fats.  I should learn something from this.

With all of this going on, I didn’t weigh or measure on Friday.  I know that I shouldn’t rely on my “feelings” but I was feeling really bloated, really swollen, and really heavy.  No way did I want to step on that scale and see something that might trigger past behaviors (read: “eating disorder”).  So, I’m placing that number in the Lord’s hands.  At one time in my life (for years actually), I was a “weigh every day” kind of gal.  The number would dictate my day.  If it was what I wanted to see, I was happy, if not… grrrr.  Today, I’m not nearly as affected by it;  However, when I begin to feel weak and vulnerable, I immediately stop looking at the number and ask the Lord to get me past this.  The enemy whispered all kinds of “you’re so fat” comments in my ear this week.  I told him to “shut up” because “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”  I do not want to fall right back into that pit.  Lord, please help me to walk in freedom!

Did I feel bad after eating cooked food?  Every time, with the exception of a cooked carrot I plucked from the vegetable stock I made.  I was even dry heaving into a trash can in my van the morning after eating that vegan cookie.  I have no desire for a cookie.  I didn’t even want that cookie.  I just wanted to see if it tasted as good as I remembered.  It was good, but not good enough for me to want another one.

I think I’m going to allow hot herbal tea in the coming week to see if this helps with my need for something warm during these winter months.  I’d rather not track every morsel of food that I eat so I’m going to be in prayer about that.  I would like for the Lord to teach me how to eat enough.  I want to rely on Him, not a “tracker”.

So that was week eight.  Not the best week but I’m ok with that.  I’m prayerful that week nine will go much better.