Why would you choose to eat raw?

Friday, August 27, 2010

I'm Seeing Changes!



Firstly, some really fun/good news to share. I'm not sure of my exact weight when I switched to all whole grains and no processed foods and now raw, but the doctors office said I was 280. In truth I think I was closer to 290 because I refused to weigh myself for two months at the Dr.'s office. Only when I knew that I had lost some weight did I get weighed again (and that's the time I came in at 280.) The last time I weighed myself i was 268 and I think I've gone down more. Here is why: I, for the most part, have been wearing size 3x shirts. I had begun to slip into 4x. Well today I stumbled on a few old 2x shirts and i found that they fit. Some of them even a bit loose! If ever I needed incentives, that was it. It felt so good putting clothing on, some of which I haven't worn for 4-5 years. Why, I can now wear my Buffalo Bills, Drew Bledsoe Jersey again. (Yes I know he didn't work out here and he doesn't play for us anymore, but the point is I can wear the Jersey!!!!!!!!)

So Cheers! To a shrinking body and better health! I'm feeling really proud of myself right now. I hope it doesn't seem too boastful, but I'm really pleased with my effort and the results!
Thanks so much to those of you who comment on my blog or on the link on FaceBook. Big Thanks to Nancy who inspires me everyday with her dedication to the raw diet and still taking care of her family and their dietary needs!

***

Well Last Friday I had a crummy day at work so I wound up breaking the raw diet that evening. I planned to be off of it for only Saturday. Well it turned out that I was off of the diet for five days. Each day I felt worse and worse. I noticed a few things while I went AWOL from my raw life.
1. Cooked food felt like lead in my stomach. To my surprise this was not just that first day, but every day i was off of it.
2. While I was on the diet I didn't do a whole lot of craving of different cooked foods.
3. When I was off it, I ate everything that I could, not because I had craved it, but because I knew that once I returned to the diet, it would be a minimum of 28 days before I could eat cooked foods again. Which proved to me, how much of eating and food culture is psychological.

Regarding my Blood Sugar, it sky rocketed to 297 the last day I was eating cooked food.(I ate really bad that day so I'm not surprised.) The next day it dropped to 197and today it was 167 so back closer to where it needs to be.

So Now I'm back on the raw diet and doing well. I've made a few things while I was off the diet, initially out of guilt, but I felt better after getting some raw food in my system!

For dinner at a friends house, I made the following dish,

Light Summer Cole Slaw
Raw Foods for Busy People, by Jordan Maerin
3 cups shredded cabbage
1 cup shredded carrots
2 celery stalks, thinly sliced
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked 15 minutes, chopped
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts
2T parsley, chopped
1t fennel or poppy seeds (Optional)
1/4 cup sesame oil
2T cider vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Toss all ingredients together!

I used the fennel seeds and I must be honest I found them too strong, although my friend Nancy liked it. i would most likely add some dates or other sweetener and not fennel. Although the poppy seeds could be interesting.
I also made them pudding which they all said they liked (I don't think that they were just being nice.) I made the chocolate pudding and a blueberry pudding, which is the same as the chocolate pudding (Included in the August 12, 2010 post) and replaced it with 1/2 a cup of blueberries.

I also made a Cashew Banana Mylk from Ani's Raw Food Kitchen by Ani Phyo. here it goes.

Cashew Banana Mylk
5 cups water (They always suggest filtered.)
2 ripe bananas
1/2 cup raw cashews
1/2 vanilla bean (I used about 1 tsp of vanilla)
1/2 cup dates
pinch of sea salt

Blend together. will keep in the fridge for 3 days!

I liked this alot fresh, It was great in my morning Muesli (From August 9, 2010 - minus the apple juice and not soaked over night) but day two I didn't like it as much. I know it was still good but I didn't like the flavor as it settled in. So I took a chance and poured it in the blender and added about a cup of frozen berries. (I'm sure any fruit will work.) I really liked it this way and it was def filling.

I also made:
Fruit Leather
Two cups any fruit (I used a mix of frozen strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries.)
1 cup water
place in a blender
Dehydrate 12-24 hrs

I found even 12 hrs was too much but it turned out tasty. I added coconut meat to half of the batter. It seemed to dry up quicker. (I'm guessing that the coconut absorbed some of the liquid. So if you add coconut or anything else, keep that in mind and adjust the dehydration time.)

Right now I'm working on bread and Ani's sunburgers (not the sunbuger recipe that I've used.). I'll post the recipes in the following blog.

Well thanks for reading and I'll be back soon. I promise not to take off five-6 days next time!

1 comment:

  1. Congrats!!!!! Love when I can fit into old clothes again!!!! Here's to those old clothes getting to be too big on you!

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