Day 4: Organized thoughts

As the past few posts have been done at the end of the night while sitting in bed while Husband is attempting to sleep, they haven't been really well thought out and were quite rushed. I'm slowing things down.

For starters. Here are the books I purchased yesterday:

Becoming Raw: The Essential Guide to Raw Vegan Diets

This book is amazing. It handles everything from the history of the Raw Diet to all the nutrients you need and where to get them all, and discusses the problems that a lot of people have while on the raw diets, especially those who are deficient in nutrients (which can take years to show up). This is considered the bible of eating raw, and I'm very very glad to have purchased it.

Raw Food Made Easy For 1 or 2 People

I bought this book because I saw a lot of comments on the other books I had picked out that stated the recipes made too many servings. I also have this problem when I cook at home, because I really only know how to cook large family-sized meals, which then gives you about 10 days of leftovers, which gets really really tiring after a while. I've tried making a few family sized meals so that we have some variety, but Husband and I just don't have enough room in our fridge for all that food. I felt this was a good option, especially if Husband decides to continue eating meat and not-raw, then I can just cook for myself and whip him up something small.

Total Juicing: Over 125 Healthful and Delicious Ways to Use Fresh Fruits and Vegetable Juices and Pulp

I bought this book because juicing vegetables is common/important in the daily life of a raw vegan, so I thought it would be good to have a book on how to juice vegetables, since I'm totally clueless.

And finally, I bought:

12 Steps to Raw Foods: How to End Your Dependency on Cooked Food

I thought this book sounded good, and it got good reviews on Amazon so I went ahead and got that too.

I discovered a neat trick while in Barnes and Noble. I have an iPhone and for some reason that I cannot remember I thought it would be a good idea to download the Amazon.com app. I use Amazon for my reviews of books that I want to buy, and other products, because generally that are lots of informative comments that you don't find on other sites. Well, the Amazon app lets you search for things either by name, scanning the barcode of the item or by taking a picture. I went with scanning the barcode- and it worked great! I had originally pulled about 15-20 books off the shelves and wanted to know what other people thought just do I didn't buy a dud, so I'd scan the barcode in the Amazon app, and it would take me to the item and I'd read the reviews! Pretty nifty.

I haven't really started reading anything other than Becoming Raw, and it's such a good read that I have a really hard time putting it down. There was one more book that I wanted to buy, but that wasn't at Barnes and Noble, so I'll probably just download it for my Kindle- Raw Food Controversies: How to Avoid Common Mistakes That May Sabotage Your Health.

So that's that. Now, on the 31st I posted about a bunch of dinners I made that were absolutely amazing, and boy were they, but I'd just left it at that and didn't go into any detail about what they were. As I did not include the recipes, because I felt rushed to get the post done I didn't go into details, so here they are:

1) Sherried Tomato Soup (delectable- I've never had tomato soup this good before)

2) Prosciutto and Caramelized Onion Pizza (I don't think I've ever eaten so fast in my entire life, I just wanted more and more and more)

3) Mozzarella, Chicken and Pesto Pizza (delicious, I used too much mozzarella so that didn't go over well as it leaked onto my pizza stone).

4) Greek Salad (way easier than I'd expected)
5) Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing (this had a lot of bacon grease in it, but it was so worth it!)
6) Autumn Chopped Salad (so easy to make, and so delicious!)
7) The Best Enchiladas You Will Ever Eat (I messed up in the middle, but it was 100% worth it. Husband cheered these as easily the best enchiladas he's ever had, and I have to agree).
8) Mandi's White Chicken Crockpot Chili (My mother got this recipe off pinterest and sent it to me in a word file, but I managed to find it online. It's amazingly delicious. Some notes my mom added: 1) Chili can also be cooked on stove top on med-high heat until cheese is well-incorporated. 2) 5 cups of chicken is equal to 1 1/2 rotisserie chickens. 3) This chili does not need embellishments, as for chili pie 4) If you can't find pepper jack cheese, you can use jalapeno salsa and plain monterey jack cheese.

Now- when it comes to making pizza crust, no matter what the recipe tells me to do, I use my own pizza crust recipe (which I got from Williams-Sonoma) that is absolutely perfect. Link to the post with the recipe is here. I would also recommend that you buy a pizza stone. Those things have saved my pizza's life.

So there we are. All organized! What a productive day it's been for me indeed.

Day 3: Books purchased!

So, I was ready to concede that eating raw was not the right idea. I started reading things this morning that were depressing and altogether confusing.

However, I did not give up. I went to Barnes and Noble and searched their cookbook section and came home with 4 books on eating raw (make that 3 books on eating raw, 1 book on juicing). One of which I'm currently reading through, and it's almost like an encyclopedia of knowledge about the raw diet. I'm completely reinvigorated. I can do this!

I di eat two veggie burger patties today with some romaine lettuce. I realized at 5pm that the only thing I'd eaten all day was a blueberry, mango, almond milk shake (2 glasses) and my vitamins. So... not good. I'm highly doubtful that had any significant number of calories in it. So then I ate some goji berries, my dehydrated kale snack, cacao nibs, cashews, 2 veggie patties w/ lettuce, guacamole with raw chips (which get stuck in my teeth and are rather hard to chew) and a bell pepper with hummus (which isn't raw, but oh well).

So, not 100% raw, but considering I'm only on day 3, not so bad. I'm still a little hungry, but considering that it's 10:15, I need to cut my losses for today and start again tomorrow trying to get more calories. I just simply wasn't hungry between 8am and 5pm. Although ultimately that means I didn't consume enough calories (or I'm assuming I didn't) so I definitely need to work on that (hence the books).

I feel pretty good though. My energy level is up, I'm not groggy during the day and I don't have any food comas. Husband has commented that I'm less grumpy and moody (so that's a plus. I go through bouts of depression that just randomly come and go, so perhaps this diet will help rid me of those as well).

So, I have learned a few things so far from reading: namely that I need a juicer and a dehydrator. I've got the dehydrator picked out, I just have to buy it, and I did some research on juicers about 6 months ago, so I need to go back and figure out which one I liked the best. I've got a blender right now- a Cuisinart. It's not terrible. The smoothie button is crap if you're using vegetables though because you end up chewing your smoothie which is really just like eating mush. I need to try pureeing the vegetables first, then adding the fruit. Either way, I have a blender that works (although it smells like it's going to catch on fire when you use it) and that I'll use until it breaks and then hopefully I'll be far enough into this lifestyle to warrant the purchase of a Vitamix. The gold standard of blenders, and at $500 I'm just not ready for that kind of kitchen appliance investment yet.

I'm still not drinking enough water. I'm getting more than I did before I started going raw, but I'm still behind. I just keep forgetting to do things like drink water and eat. That's what I get for being away from work for an extended period of time.

Day 3: Research

I got up early this morning to make Husband lunch and I started doing some research on guides to the raw diet (cookbooks, if you will - although that's an oxymoron). What I found was rather surprising. It doesn't seem like eating raw 100% of the time long-term is necessarily good for everyone and many people experience health problems after a honeymoon-period of feeling amazing. I obviously don't want to completely destroy my health by not knowing what I'm getting in to, so I think until I do adequate research (I've found a few good books I want to read through), that I may need to back off the raw diet for a few days and eat some cooked food, or an egg.

I do think that at this point I could easily be a pescatarian for life (that's a vegetarian who eats fish). Fish are quite healthy and I could easily abstain from eating all other meats.

I also read some rather scary reviews of going raw while pregnant, and as Husband and I do intend on having kids in the near future, I don't want to mess up my child during pregnancy by not getting everything I need.

Suffice to say, I need to actually do more research before I convert 100% and maybe at this point I should stay at vegan, and then move to raw-vegan. Or perhaps start out as a pescatarian, stay that way for a few months, then move to vegan and then raw vegan, with enough time in each state to ensure I'm getting the required nutrients to remain healthy long-term. More research to come!

Day 2: What am I doing?

So day 2 of going raw has concluded. I consumed no dairy, meat, or cooked food of any kind and I was ultimately forced to concede that I honestly have no clue what I'm doing.

For breakfast I had a banana, strawberry and almond milk smoothie with some flax seed. That was delicious. I had 2 glasses of that with my 2 daily Shaklee vitamins.

And then for lunch I made guacamole and ate it with some raw chips I found at Whole Foods.

I then snacked on cashews, goji berries and this amazing dehydrated kale snack stuff I found at Whole Foods and for dinner I made a smoothie of a banana, apple, water, cucumber and kale. Either my blender doesn't puree well or that's as good as it gets, but I was definitely chewing most of the time. I had 2 glasses of that.

Am I getting adequate nutrition? I have no idea. I had no idea before either I suppose, because it's not like I was counting how much iron and calcium and zinc I got in my diet, but for some reason only eating raw fruits and vegetables (with nuts and seeds) makes me wonder constantly "am I doing this right?" I'm fairly certain I'm missing some things on this raw diet, some essential nutrients and whatnot, since today I've had: 3 bananas, apple, some kale, half a cucumber, a whole avocado, half a tomato, handful of cashews, handful of dehydrated kale and some goji berries (which are delicious). So, not a whole lot of range in the food world, and not a whole lot of food in general.

So tomorrow I'm going to be on a quest for a guide book on doing this properly. I've also decided to get a food dehydrator for snacks (and jerky for Husband) and a juicer so I don't have to chew my smoothies- because honestly, that was weird.

I did not do yoga today. Husband and I spent today as consumers and are currently infatuated with Apple TV.

Day 1: Conclusion

So this morning the hubs and I woke up at 9:15 and headed into the city to stop off at the market. We picked up apples (1/2 a bushel), tomatoes, collard greens (I have no idea what to do with those), kale, a turnip, pears, radishes, home made pasta and winter squash. I then made a stop at whole foods and additionally picked up: oranges, clementines, grapefruits, bananas, mangoes, avocados, limes, goji berries, cashews, cacao nibs, some raw snacks I saw (chips and crackers), broccoli, and bell peppers. So I should be stocked for a while. 

Daily log:

12pm Breakfast - large glass of water, 2 multi-vitamins (from Shaklee), a banana, apple, slice of turnip sprinkled with a pinch of salt and a handful of cacao nibs. 

The rest of the day was mostly snacks of bananas, apples and clementines with some cashews in there as we hiked about 5 miles in Mason Neck State Park.

I made a smoothie with 2 bananas, 1 cup of water and 2 cups of green salad stuff (spinach and mixed greens). I don't know if my blender is just weird or I didn't have enough liquid but the smoothie was very frothy which was definitely a turn-off, but it tasted good.

We finished up the day with stuff that's not raw (mostly because I don't know how to eat an acorn squash that isn't cooked), so we had half an acorn squash and some quinoa. 

I made an attempt at yoga today after picking up a mat and dvd at Target. The instructional dvd lady goes way too fast for beginners (even though the DVD is for beginners).

Some thoughts on today: 

1) I didn't consume any dairy or meat today, and the only two cooked things I ate were half an acorn squash and 1/4 cup of quinoa. Pretty pleased with that. I need to look for a host of raw recipes because eating salad every day will get mighty boring. I definitely should have had more water today though.

2) Felt a little weird/off today, not sure why. My stomach was all weird and I found it hard to even finish my apples throughout the day, and I don't know why that is. I'm definitely full at the conclusion of today.

3) I'm sick and it's not fun. I got sick after we came back from Kansas so the hiking today was rough. I'm hoping this diet will assist me in getting better. I felt pretty cleared up after the walk, but sitting here now I can feel the congestion coming back on. In the interest of getting a full night's rest, I'll be downing some nyquil.

4) I'm starting to think I'm going to have to make occasional cooked food exceptions in my life. I'm going to two weddings, one in February and one in March where I'll be forced to eat cooked food. It's unreasonable to expect anyone to conform to what my dietary choices are, so I'll eat food without complaint and then get back on my diet without looking back.

5) Definitely spent a lot of time in the bathroom today. Wasn't expecting that. Not sure if that's part of the detox or if I just had to go a lot. I guess we'll see in the coming days and weeks.

Day 1: Beginning Stats

I'm going to chart my status weekly and if I ever figure out how to format a blog I'll keep a running tally on the side. These are my Day 1 stats.

Per my scale:
Weight: 183.2 (too high)
Body fat 35.1% (far too high)
Body water 47.3% (too low)
Muscle percentage 33.7% (too low)
Bone mass 19lbs (not exactly relevant as this won't change, but my scale gives it to me nonetheless)

Clothing size: 12

Measurements taken with my dressmaker's tape
Waist 35in
Hips 44.4in
Thighs 26.5in
Arms 13.5in
Bust 33in
Chest 39.5 inch
Calves 15.75in

I still need to find my numbers for cholesterol and my blood work. Those are around here somewhere. I'll post those when I find them.

Goal: 22% body fat, size 8. I'm not so concerned with my weight because muscle weighs more than fat. I'm concerned with eliminating all the extra fat I'm carrying around. Personally I'd love to be a size 6, but  based just on the width of my hip bones, I doubt that's possible and I'm not about to starve myself so that I fit into a particular size. If I look great when I look in the mirror, that's good enough for me, so I'll keep my goal at a reasonable 8.

So that's my starting point. Wish me luck!

Happy New Year! Thus begins my journey in raw food.

So, I haven't posted in ages. Reasons being: Busy season at work. That ended mid-November. Then I began sabbatical from work in early December, got sick 3 times since Thanksgiving (my immune system is shot), then Christmas with my husband's family in Kansas and that pretty much brings us to today.

Lots been going on. Namely, I've been cooking some really fantastic dishes, haven't posted about any of them, and I will eventually get around to writing about them, but at this post does not concern those fantastic dishes (although one of which he called "the best he's ever had")

Nevertheless, I have embarked on a new journey- a journey that will hopefully end my chronic winter sicknesses, help me be healthier, fitter, flexible, happier and everything else good you want out of life. My new journey? Raw food + yoga + exercise

Anyone who knows me knows that I cannot stand the thought of yoga. To me it's not exercise, and it sucks because it's all "inner peace" and far too hippieish for me (and for being a pretty ridiculous hippie as it is, that's saying a lot). Yoga is not exercise, swimming/biking/running/rowing/basketball, etc are. However, I'm choosing to do yoga for completely different reasons. It's time I go from mostly healthy (as that's not doing me any favors at this point) to being as fit as I possibly can, and yoga can help me get the meditation and flexibility that I need. Besides, it has proven benefits of helping people in stressful jobs, which I most certainly have, so I really don't see any downsides at this point, except that I hate it. Hopefully that'll change.

Now, I'd like to say that I'm a pretty healthy person- I eat a lot of vegetables, cook almost every dish I eat and abstain from a lot of meat (mostly because I can't stomach touching it to actually bother cooking any of it) and don't consume milk (although I love cheese, eggs and butter). However, I'm clearly not doing enough to get my body in top form, as I've been packing on pounds since my husband and I moved out of the city and no longer walk a zillion miles a day and the farmer's markets are farther away than they used to be.

So this morning I got up and I watched 2 documentaries that have been on my list of things to see: Food Matters and Forks over Knives (both of which are on Netflix streaming). I've also seen Food, Inc., read The Omnivore's Dilemma, Everything I Want to do is Illegal, In Defense of Food, Holy Cows and Hog Heaven: The Food Buyer's Guide to Farm Friendly Food, and others. I know more about food than most people my age and all of it has made me a more conscious consumer of the products I do choose to eat. However, I'm not doing enough.

I can be healthier, I can be better. So starting tomorrow: No eggs, milk, cheese, yogurt, animal products, processed foods of any kind. I will eat only raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and whole grains. Occasional cooking on my part may be required as I acclimate to this new lifestyle. I will also be abstaining from alcohol. This is no 30-day diet plan, this is not a detox, this is a change in my lifestyle (and my husband is about 65% on board with this).

Thankfully tomorrow is Sunday, which means my Farmer's Market is open where I will stock up on loads of greens and vegetables and fruits and I can supplement everything else from Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. When I get up tomorrow I'll take down my weight, body fat, and measurements. I've got some blood work from earlier in the year that I'll use as a basis for comparison for when I next have my annual physical and we'll see how this progresses!

2012 promises to be a very good year indeed.