Not 100% Raw

I don't think this has gone as we all expected. In some ways its been better than I could have predicted. But in other ways, it's been not as great.

The good:

My taste buds have totally changed. I actually crave salads and fruit. Processed foods (yes, I've eaten some) taste fake and are not nearly as appealing as they once were.

I've seen a lot of food addictions curbed. The raw desserts made from nuts and cocoa powder take care of my sweet tooth. And I haven't really wanted pasta or cheeseburgers.

There is a peace of mind knowing that I'm putting good stuff into my body and my baby's, too.

The bad:

Because we haven't been 100% and b/c I'm 8 months pregnant, its been hard to see the benefits I expected, such as, lots of energy, great health, etc. My allergies are still going crazy, and I still need a nap every day.

It takes a long time to prepare meals. I'm sure that would change with time, but in search of different and appealing stuff, we've spent a lot of time on meals that don't always taste that good. That's really frustrating.

Breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dessert work well. But dinners are really tough. The recipes we've tried (in hopes of having something other than a salad) have often been disappointing.

Those are my main thoughts at the moment. Hopefully Lisa, Klif and Jer will give you their perspective soon.

Amanda

Only 1152 hours left!

That's right and considering I'm about to go to bed, we can just knock off another eight hours just like that to take it down to 1144 hours. Piece of cake.

Time for complete honesty. I had no idea what I was in for. For some reason I didn't put the connection together that going raw was actually worse than being a vegan. "What? I can't actually cook anything, Sure that sounds great, sign me up. "

I would say the first week of going raw was like the roller coaster ride built on those old school tracks: Lots of highs, lots of lows, and that feeling at any moment that the entire ride could collapse. I honestly don't know if there was any moment in the first 5 days that I wasn't slightly miserable. Mainly I'm attributing that to the fact that every day from about 1:30-5:30pm I got the worse headache b/c I went from oh lets say 4-5 cups of coffee a day to 0. Not the best way to ween yourself off of caffeine I've found out. But hey anytime I got real depressed I just cheered myself up with either a carrot or a piece of celery.

Did I cheat? Well technically no b/c the committee awarded me a handful of exceptions. One being whenever I travel I have the ability to eat with my business associates on an as needed basis or whenever raw food can't be found. So when the opportunity came I selected jerk chicken pasta as my meal of choice. It tasted like heaven. Oh and although I did mention to the committee that I had ate at Chili's one night (veggie burger) I probably left out the chips and salsa I scarfed down waiting for my meal. with a beer.

On to highs. I estimate that out of my 21 meals I ate raw 16 times. Of the 5 non-raw meals, 4 were at least vegetarian and I simply added a little heat to the veggies to make them taste like they weren't raw. So 1 bad meal of 21 ain't bad. And I lost 6 pounds during week 1 to keep me motivated for week 2.

Onward we go.

My First Three Days

So... this has been a rougher start than I expected. Here's an email I sent Lis on day 1:

I have to say that this has not been pleasant so far. My green smoothie gave me indigestion and heart burn this morning. Then I had a banana on my way home from Mary Jo's. I almost threw up all over myself in the car. I had to throw up so bad. But somehow it passed without me throwing up. (I was praying hard.)

I wasn't feeling great this afternoon, so I took a nap. When I woke up, I had a banana, nut smoothie, piece of "fudge", and part of an apple. I feel sick to my stomach again. I just want bread or crackers to calm things down. Ugh!

Now I'm on my way to piano. I hope this gets better. Looking forward to seeing you tonight.

Sorry for all of the complaining.

Day 2 was a little better. At moments I have energy, my mind feels clearer, and I'm ready to do this for the rest of my life. At other moments I feel weak, cranky, and ready to fight somebody. I wanted a bagel with cream cheese so bad! But I didn't. I had a salad instead. And it was pretty tasty.

Day 3 is even better than the first two days. I dehydrated some "corn chips" last night- pretty excited about that. Felt great after my breakfast of banana and almond butter. But then got really weak halfway through teaching my class this afternoon. I did not pack a big enough snack. Lesson learned. Looking forward to dinner tonight, especially dessert. We made a "strawberry pie." BTW- raw foodies love calling their crazy concoctions by names we're familiar with. For example, Fettucini Alfredo, Fudge, Salmon Pate, etc. all from fruits, veggies, and nuts. Kind of crazy if you ask me b/c they never taste like the original. (See the pic of Fettucini Alfredo above.)

Trip to the Doctor

Well, I went to the doctor today. I was a little nervous about what he had to say about going raw with 12 weeks left in my pregnancy. But it wasn't as bad as I thought. He said that I need to add more protein. The nuts, veggies, and fruit are not going to provide as much protein as he would like for me to have. (This could be debated by raw foodies who believe that we can get all the protein we need from leafy vegetables. Look at the muscles on gorillas. =) But I'm just sticking to what the doc says.) So on top of the raw food I'm eating each week, I will add servings of eggs, beans, chicken, and fish.

I was really hoping for him to tell me that I needed more pasta, bread, or cookies. I mean, protein is not what my body is craving. But no such luck. Its crazy to me how anxious I've been the last few days just thinking about giving up carbs and sweets that I'm used to. There's just something so soothing about grabbing a hand full of animal crackers in the middle of the day or a little frozen yogurt after dinner. Its amazing to me how those little habits feel more like food addictions the more I think about giving them up. I'm anxious, grumpy, and just all around feeling out of control at the thought of Monday fast approaching. But I can't turn back now, I've started this blog. =) Wish me luck!

Red Cabbage Wraps

Amanda made this great vegan meal tonight.  All of the veggies came from our local Farmer's Market, Kings Street Market.

Amanda chopped up carrots, cukes, red pepper, pecans, and avocado.  She then tossed in some cooked couscous (which will not be legal next week), and wrapped it all up in some lovely red cabbage leaves and topped it off with a good dousing of Braggs, just like a burrito.

Really, really, yummy.  I had six.  For dessert, there was a watermelon & kiwi salad.  I loved this meal, so many flavors.  And it was a nice alternative to all of the salads I'd been consuming over the last week.

Plus, it was filling.  I'd grown particularly hungry over the day, since I failed to take a substantial lunch to work.  So coming home to this was great.  And it also was fairly quick to make and easy clean up.  Thanks Amanda!

Getting ready!

I had my last Arby's roast barf sandwich today. A friend from work picked it up for me, it was pretty tasty! Don't worry, I also had loads of strawberries with it. I've started to add a lot of fruits and veggies this week so it doesn't come as a total shock when we start. I'm a little worried though, we haven't even started this thing yet and I am already tired of strawberries. :/ Gonna have to buy some crazy fruits to keep me interested!

We went to the farmers market and bought lots of greens and fruits! Spent only $16!! Yowza! We then went and grabbed some essentials from Whole Foods. Braggs Liquid Aminos, Cold pressed EVOO, Raw Celtic Sea Salt and Raw Apple Cider Vinegar. These are all things we can season with. There are more but we are starting with these.

I'm going to make a gigantic salad tonight with Jubb's Dill Dijon dressing. It came out of a cookbook of Amanda's. Its called Carol Alt, Eating in the Raw. I'll post the recipe (I'm allowed to do that right?!) it sounds pretty yummy!

3-4 T. of Dijon Mustard
3 T. Braggs Liquid Aminos or Shoyu
1/4 cup raw apple cider vinegar
1 T. raw tahini
1/4 cup cold-pressed EVOO
1/2 lemon, juiced
3 bushy sprigs fresh dill
1 T. honey or raisins
1/4 cup water

Mix all in blender!

Here's the Deal...

What are we doing exactly?

The four of us are "Going Raw" for two months beginning Monday, April 19, 2010.

• We're eating raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and sprouted grains.
• We're not eating anything cooked, pasteurized, or processed.

Of course, there are always exceptions. =)

• Klif is having 16 ounces of decaf coffee every day.
• Jeremy is going to drink Green Tea.
• Amanda may have exceptions after talking to her Doctor on Wednesday, 4/14/10.

Each of us has our own reasons, including: to have better health, to lower cholesterol, to lose weight, to have more energy, to have improved mental health, and to curb allergies. We are testing the notion that putting only live food in our bodies will improve our quality of life.

Of course, we're not sure if these good meaning intentions will outweigh the pull of Starbucks, pizza, burgers, Dairy Queen, etc. It will definitely be a struggle, and you'll get to read all about it.