Why would you choose to eat raw?

Monday, August 30, 2010

22 days to my goal!



My bread looks very different from this but that's Carrot lemonade just makes me more thirsty!

So I've been doing pretty good. I've cheated a little bit, nothing major, just a few pieces of chocolate today and yesterday. of course my popcorn as well, but been eating full meals, with lots of salads. I even went to the Elmwood Arts Festival and didn't eat anything bad there but the aforementioned chocolate.

I've been pretty busy cooking too. Firstly, I made a great salad the past two days and they were fantastic. To top them off I made dressing to go on it. Although I did make a few changes from the recipe.

Fantastic Flax Dressing

1/2 cup flax oil
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons miso paste (see glossary)
2 teaspoons stone ground mustard
2 teaspoons agave nectar or sweetener of choice
2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar

Preparation:
1. Whisk all ingredients in a small mixing bowl and drizzle over your favorite salad.

Variation:
You can vary the flavor by adding any of your favorite fresh herbs or by adding 1/2 teaspoon of minced garlic or ginger.

I used sunflower oil because I didn't have Flax Oil. So I guess I can't really call it the Flax Oil Dressing, but I do!


I also made another batch of Sunburgers. I now I said I was gonna make the Ani Phyo ones this time, but I wound up making the regular batch. But I didn't cook them as long and they are much moister. (I think I would like an in-between, I want them a little dryer.)

I've also been cooking a bit more from the Juliano Book Raw.

Essence Bread #1
Juliano
1/4 cup almonds
1/4 cup walnuts
3 pitted dates
Water for soaking the nuts and dates
2 Cups sprouted wheat
1/4 cup shredded apple
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon fresh parsley, minced
1 tablespoon Olive oil

Directions
Soak almonds and walnuts in water for at least 2 hours. In a separate container, soak dates in water for 1 hour. Drain nuts and dates and toss them into a food processor along with the rest of the ingredients and puree into a dough.

On a solid dehydrating sheet form dough into a loaf about 1 1/2 inches tall, 3 1/2 inches wide and 6 inches long. Dehydrate at 90°F for 13 to 17 hours. When done, the loaf should be crisp on the outside and moist on the inside.

Number of Servings: 6

I'll let you know how this turns out.

Essence Bread #2 is basically the same, but remove the minced garlic, and the fresh parsley. Also increase the Olive oil to 1/4 cup.
I made an additional change, I threw in about 3/4 cup of dehydrated banana chips that I had made previously. Again I'll let you know how this turns out.

Lastly I made
Oatmeal Cookies
Juliano "RAW - the uncook book"

2 cups oat groats
3/4 cup dates
1/2 cup dried raisins
1/2 cup raw almonds coarsely chopped
2 or 3 apples grated
1/2 cup raw cashews

Place oat groats in a food processor and grind until fine. If you don't have a food processor, use a blender and add a little maple syrup to help the dough turn over (I tried it, the blender will do it dry just fine). Transfer the groats to a mixing bowl and add the dates, raisins, almonds and apples and mix the batter well. Set aside. In a coffee grinder grind the cashews until they resemble a silky flour. On a mesh dehydrator sheet shape the batter. Keep in mind that the thicker you shape the cookies the longer they take to dehydrate. Dehydrate the cookies at 90 degrees until they reach your preferred texture, around 12 hours. They don't need to be crunchy all the way though.

They are still dehydrating but the batter tasted fantastic. i am gonna try to make some more but alter it a little bit. I'm gonna try it with rolled oats and grind them till they are fine and I want to replace some of the maple syrup with apple juice. We'll see how that goes...

My blood sugar has been a Little high, between 140 and 190, better then what it is when I'm not on the raw diet, but not as low as it's been before.

All in all, I don't feel as hungry and am definitely eating less. We'll see how that continues and the impact it will have on my weight. So I'm finishing up day six (At this point my longest stretch) and loving it!

Care to join me?

Oops I almost forgot to add this juice. I tried it and loved it! I just didn't have any ginger at the time and used a whole lemon instead of half. Try it.

Carrot Lemonade
by Carrie W.

4-5 medium carrots
1/2 medium lemon
1 mildly tart apple (Fuji's or galas are nice)
1 small 1.5 - 2 " wedge red cabbage
1 round of ginger, about the size of a quarter

Juice all, preferably organic, ingredients and enjoy! Yummy carrots without the overwhelming sweetness and what a
beautiful color! Makes one large or 2 small servings.
(I drank the whole thing all by my self!)

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!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Fudge you say?



Yep! Raw, Vegan fudge. It's nice and easy.

1 cup nut butter (I used peanut)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 coconut butter
1/2 cup chopped nuts (Optional)
1/4 cup agave nectar (My addition)

hand mix it all together spread it in a shallow pan and refrigerate or freeze till solid. Remove and cut into pieces. Store in fridge. I've already tried it. It's fantastic.

I also made the following:

Portobello Mushroom Steaks with Balsamic Asparagus from Idiots Guide to Eating Raw

Ingredients

•4 portobello mushroom caps
•2 cups filtered water
•1/4 cup plus 3 teaspoons nama shoyu (raw soy sauce)
•1/2 cup fresh basil, thinly sliced
•2 teaspoons garlic, minced
•1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
•pinch salt
•pinch freshly ground black pepper
•2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
•1 teaspoon stone ground mustard
•1 bunch asparagus (or enough for 4 servings
•1/2 medium red bell pepper, seeded and diced
•1/2 medium yellow or orange bell pepper, seeded and diced
•undisclosed amount of maple syrup (try 1/4 cup) – book left this out of the ingredients!
Directions

Must caps in quarters and place in a baking pan with gills facing down. Add the water and 1/4 cup nama shoyu and put into 145 F dehydrator for 30 minutes. Remove from dehydrator and pour off the marinade (save 1/2 cup).

In a separate bowl mix basil, garlic, 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 teaspoons nama shoyu, salt, black pepper. Push mushrooms into this marinade, coat evenly.

In a bowl, mix 2 tablespoons olive oil, balsamic vinegar, stone ground mustard, maple syrup, 1 teaspoon nama shoyu.

Clean and trim asparagus, put into pan, add this balsamic marinade.

Put asparagus in pan into 145 F dehydrator for 1 hour, stir every 15 minutes.

After this hour, add remaining 1/2 cup balsamic marinade to bottom of mushroom pan and put it into the 145 F dehydrator with the asparagus for 45 to 60 minutes.

****

The Recipe did not include how much maple syrup to use so I just threw in about 2 tsp. Try different amounts yourself. I also made a mistake and added mustard to both but I think it will be ok. It smells delicious!
Well I'm eating it before I head off for my walk. It's a nice, delicious meal. Really good and really flavorful. I'll have leftovers tomorrow!

On a side note, but certainly related one, I've been walking Delaware Park for three consecutive days. Two days I walked alone. I'm really trying to do this whether anyone joins me or not. I really want to keep doing this!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Raw's More Wonderful, The Second Time Around


Well I'm working on my second, non-consecutive week. I took Saturday and Sunday off and I must be honest, I ate too many things that I hadn't had in the previous five days. It wasn't a complete 360 but I didn't love my eating response. Part of what I'm disappointed in is that I said that I would eat half raw and half cooked, well i only ate cooked. I think I threw in a juice on Sunday to assuage my guilt, but for all intensive purposes, I ate cooked. This weekend will be the last weekend for a month, when I plan to eat cooked and that will only be one day, Saturday. I'm going to the Fair and I don't imagine that there will be much to sustain me on a raw diet. In all truth, It's hard enough to eat vegetarian there let alone raw!

Today and yesterday have gone well. I've been packing uncooked oats for breakfast and a hearty salad for lunch. Those usually tide me over till I get home and have a snack.

I've made another batch of Sunburgers and I'm really enjoying them. I def though need to find other dinner meals. Breakfast and lunch have been easy. Dinner has been a little tougher. I ordered a few more raw food books. One that was suggested by my friend Nancy; Raw: The Uncookbook by Juliano Brotman and two others; Raw foods for Busy People by Jordan Maerin, and Ani's Raw Food Kitchen by Ani Phyo. I'll let you know what I think of them when I get them and try some recipes out!

My Weight still says I've officially lost about 12 lbs. I'm hoping to drop a few more this week. Really good news on the Blood Sugar front, today my blood sugar was 106. That's as close to normal as I've ever been since I started testing myself. If this continues I can start to investigate decreasing my insulin!

Well tomorrow will already be hump day and it doesn't even feel like it is! It's definitely getting easier. Wanna join me?

Sunday, August 15, 2010

I (mostly) made it through a full five days!


Well Thinks got a bit screwed up on Friday. To make a long story short, I couldn't sleep Thursday night and went to work with only 2 hrs of sleep. So as soon as I got home I fell right a sleep. I was supposed to go out with a friend at 9:00 PM and woke up too late to prepare something raw to eat. So we hung for a few and I stopped off to pick up some food. Well I wound up eating a couple of spring rolls with the sheet chili sauce. Ok there. Mostly raw! Well i also picked up some chocolate covered almonds and came home and ate a few more things., Nothing major, but nothing raw! So I made it for 4 and 3/4's days. I'm pretty proud of that!

I'll go back to it on Monday. I bought some more sunflower seeds and plan to make some more sunburgers! I'll as be sprouting some garbanzo beans to make raw Hummus. I'll let ya know how that goes.

It was cool weird, I stopped in a cooking supply store and asked for a spiraler for veggies. They asked why, assuming it was for decorative cooking, an I informed them that i was working towards a raw diet. It turns out that two of them had just been talking about raw diets, one had done it a few years ago and the other was investigating starting. I'm not sure how far she has gotten. So I told them about my blog, I hope they check it out! (Hello if you have!) The one woman asked why I was doing this and I told her about my blood sugar and she suggested Cinnamon pills so I've bought some and started tonight. (I'd heard about it before but had never checked it out.) Here to hoping that it helps!

Along with my raw morning shake, I had a bagel this AM (Thanks Tom Horton's!) The reason i mention it is because right after eating it my acid reflux started to kick in. Someone had suggested that it might be a wheat gluten issue. I'll have to watch closer as I switch on and off between the two! Well I'm off. I probably won't right again till Monday. Till Then!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Chocolate Pudding on a raw diet?


Yes sir! You can have chocolate pudding on a raw diet! I just made it and had it. Even let my sister and niece try it, both of who gave it a polite if not enthusiastic thumbs up. I think in part because, even before they knew what was in it, they knew it wasn't dairy so there was some reluctance to like it.

A big plus to this desert was that it was so easy!

Raw Chocolate Pudding
2 cups avocados
1/4 cup cocoa
1/4 agave nectar
4 dates (soaked at least 45 minutes)
1/4 cup date water
3 tbs fresh squeezed orange Juice
2 tsp orange zest

Throw in a blender till creamy. Keeps for two or three days in the fridge.

This is really good but there are a few things to note. I made two batches, one with Haas Avocados and a second one with Florida Avocados. The Haas seemed to work much better. There really was no comparing. Also I found no hint of Orange in the recipe so I don't think it is necessary. There are a number of different recipes on line, check other ones out. tell me what you think.

Today went pretty well. I had the previously stated Breakfast and lunch. For dinner i was pretty lazy and finished off the Sunburgers. I wasn't sure That I could make it through four days and was even starting to wonder if I could do a full three to four weeks. I'm now thinking I could. So I will finish up tomorrow and take the weekend off. But I will be careful not to eat wild. Thanks for the support out there! Nancy, I know you are keeping up with my blog while on vacation, right? lol Talk to ya when ya get back! Enjoy!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Hump day


I'm gonna run out of titles for these soon.

Today was a really good day. Breakfast was the left over muesli which spiked my blood sugar to 230. So that will need to be off of my menu.
Lunch was a nice salad with balsamic vinegar. Dinner I had a few more of the Sunburgers. I really like them and urge people to try them I would just not dehydrate them for the full 24 hrs. They were a little dry then. But really good. I eat them just like a burger, well kinda, I used lettuce leaves for the bread part. I added sliced tomatoes, onions and ketchup. Really good. They'll be good to eat for the next few days.

i finished up with a v4 (not 8 vegetables) tomato, celery, carrots and beets. Yum. Ok it would be better cold but it would be yum then! lol Then I had another popcorn. I'm gonna shy away from them for the next two days.

Tomorrow I'm eating rolled outs, raisins, stevia, Cinnamon, pumpkin seeds, maple syrup and filtered water. I'll get back to you on that one. For lunch another salad with olives, onions, cherry tomatoes, avocado slices and balsamic vinegar again. Dinner will probably be lettuce rolls!

BTW. I'm not sure how much weight I've lost. (I was up to ten pounds lost but it's been another week and I've been behaving.... I do find that my pants and shirts are looser and my face is looking thinner! Here's to weight loss and good health!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Control! (Thank you Janet)


1:00 PM
Well I'm feeling a bit more in control today. I woke up and had a bowl of the Muesli that I prepared last night. I really enjoyed it. I threw a banana on it as was suggested and it was Delicious. I'll save the rest for breakfast tomorrow. It will be quick and easy and won't require me to do any extra work being that I will be back at school.
I just threw in my Sunburgers into the dehydrator.

Sunburgers
2 C sunflower seeds, soaked 6-8 hours
1/2 C carrots
1/2 C celery
3 green onions, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1/4 C fresh basil
1/4 C fresh parsley
Braggs to taste
Process all ingredients with S blade in a food processor. Make patties and dehydrate at 105 degrees for 12-24 hours until dry. Turn patties over when dehydrating on a teflex sheets after 6 hours.

I've decided to follow the advice of several of the books that I've been reading. They now recommend that you dehydrate for 2 hours at 155 degrees because it reduces the potential for bacteria growth. I'm guessing some purists will frown upon this but I'm doing it.

I tasted the batter, it wasn't too bad so It should be interesting. I'm also going to cheat when it comes to certain condiments. There are recipes for Live Ketchup but i will use a smattering of store bought. Being that I'm only one person, it is a lot of work to prepare a food that will not last more than a few days.
Additionally, I'm think I will stop making full recipes as they are too much for a single person. My Sunburger recipe made 9 burgers, certainly more then would want to eat in a three day period.

7 PM
Well I've been busy all day preparing foods. I made corn chips.

South of the border Corn Chips
Bobbi Clinger

4 c. sweet corn, fresh or frozen
1/2 t. garlic powder(opt)
1 t. chili powder(opt)
1 t. tomato powder(opt)

Chop corn in food processor w/ "s" blade until fine.
Add choice of seasonings "to taste" and process til combined.
On dehydrator tray, spread about 1/8" thick.
Score diagonally left to right, then across right to left into triangles, or preferred shape.
Dehydrate about 5 hours, or to desired texture. These are super, and helpful for those with a previous "chip" tooth!

I added kalamata olives for a little more flavor. they went from being yellow and looking like eggs to being dark brown. I'll be tasting them soon.
I also made stuffed mushrooms and we'll see how they taste.

Stuffed Mushrooms
1/3 C pine nuts
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 C fresh cilantro, packed leaves, chopped
1/3 C fresh basil, packed leaves, chopped
1 T lemon juice
1 C tomato, chopped
2 T Braggs or to taste
Put all ingredients into a food processor, except the tomatoes, and pulse chop several times. Stop to scrape down the sides and repeat. Add the tomatoes and continue to pulse chop until just blended. Keep a texture to a pesto, it should not be a puree. Remove stems from mushrooms and stuff the filling into the cap of the mushroom. Place on a dehydrator sheet and dehydrate at 105 degrees for 2-4 hours.

Both were pretty easy so...

I tested 118 for my blood sugar. It's supposed to be around 100 or lower and I've been as high as 290 and my lowest before today was 131. So there is some success. I know it's more a matter what I've eaten and not where my blood sugar would be if I ate "normal" but it's still good, and as I drop weight, it will be easier to keep it down.

Well dinner was pretty good. I had two Sunburgers on lettuce leaves with tomatoes, onions and ketchup. It tasted pretty good. The mushrooms were fine, but not anything to jump up and down about. I tasted the corn chips and if my first bite is any indication, I'm not gonna like them. I'll try them again, but....

I'm gonna have a little cheat tonight. I'm gonna make a bag of microwave popcorn. Thoughts on that?

Monday, August 9, 2010

It's a piece of cake!


So all in all the first day has been fine. Breakfast and lunch was real easy. Now dinner I goofed up a bit with. I had done a little running and didn't have time to prepare a dinner. So I came home at 9 PM and just threw together a pineapple, banana, coconut milk shake and some store bought bruschetta with the flax seed crackers. It was ok. I topped it off with a glass of apple/carrot juice.
Tomorrow I'll hope to have sunburgers. I'll let you know how that goes then. I also prepared a bowl of muesli for my morning breakfast.

Muesli
6 juiced apples
1/2 cup of the pulp
1 cup of whole oats
1/4 cup of raisins
dash of Cinnamon
Then you mix it all together and leave it in the fridge over night.
Top it with fresh fruit and serve. Bananas and Berry's are suggested. It makes about three servings so I might eat two tomorrow and save the last for work on Wednesday.
I'm excited to be doing this for a whole week.

Right now it is feeling like a difficult task. Talk to me on Wednesday and see if I still feel that way.

I have reviewed the 21 day plan and am actually considering doing it for 28 days. The one book I'm reading suggest four full Weeks not three. So I'm gonna try that. Once I'm done I will eat two raw meals a day and 1 cooked (Boccee Pizza!)

The one thing I read is that you have to be careful reintroducing cooked foods into your diet so I will tread carefully. Well thats all I have for you tonight. Hope to sit and break raw crackers with ya soon! Till then!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Whew! I made it!

Well I made it through a second day. I had left over soup from yesterday but upon my second taste of it, really decided that it wasn't anything I enjoyed. For the most part I didn't find today to be too difficult. I was happy to see that my blood sugar continued to stay down. we'll see how it responds when I go off for the next two days. Come Monday though I plan to make it five consecutive days. Not really much more to say today so I guess I'm signing off! Later!

Friday, August 6, 2010

Putting my foot down


I really feel like I've been lolly gagging (SP?)with committing to the raw food diet, so today I've stepped in and am doing my two consecutive days. I started with it yesterday but chickened out. So today I'm back and I've made. One down, a second day to go. The worse parts have been in the evening when I've been really craving foods I can't eat. A big craving is popcorn. I want to just sneak into the kitchen and pop myself a bag. (Then I realize that i don't need to sneak because I live alone.)

Breakfast was my shake that I usually make. (Tomorrow I will do something with a mango) lunch was a salad at The Towne restaurant. There was only one little bump in the road and that was that The Towne didn't have plain balsamic Vinegar, all they had was a dressing which I decided to use. I also was craving coffee this morning (Decaf actually) and am not sure if I could cheat with that. I guess I need to figure out what I'm gonna let myself get away with and what will be unacceptable.

I went shopping and purchased some canning jars which will allow me to do two things, first I was able to take the different spices and powders I've bought and secure them in jars, secondly, I can start sprouting, as I've also bought cheese cloth!

I also woke up to two trays of flax seed crackers. They turned out pretty good. I'm wondering if I can tweak them and make them a sweet cracker. I might try that soon.

My Dr is having me check my blood sugar more frequently each day. Today the highest was 209 (Which is very good for me) all the way down to 136 which is the lowest it's been since I've started testing. we'll see how that goes.

BTW, today and Friday are raw, I'm off it totally Saturday (Family reunion and wedding so.....) gonna do like 1/2 a day Sunday and then try 5 consecutive days starting Monday.

I just realized that I can edit a post instead of commenting, so ere is a link to the video that first inspired me.
http://www.sprword.com/videos/simplyraw/

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

ahh Sometimes life gets in the way!


Yes folks sometimes life gets in the way. It's been a few days since I've posted and I need to cover a couple of things. Did I mention that I bought a used Jack Lalanne blender? Well I did. This will and is helping me with my juicing needs. And I found a mention for using the pulp of carrots in crackers and cookies so....yeah! (Thanks Julie)

I've also purchased an Excalibur food Dehydrator, what I've been told and reading is that it's the top of the line dehydrators. I've already used it. It's so much quicker and there is no funny taste with the dehydrated foods! (Thanks Patrick from Craig's List!)

The dehydrator is most important in that it allows me to make more crunchy, doughy foods (without using wheat.) which I was really missing. It's problem has been the most difficult part of the diet. Which leads me to my next point...

I tried three different days to do a full day of the raw foods diet, but each was over by dinner time. breakfast and lunch are really easy. Dinner not so much! But I have a few days off of work and I will be making flax seed crackers today and I'll let you know how that goes. My plan is to be raw for today and tomorrow, take Friday off, do a raw breakfast Saturday (I've a family reunion and wedding that day so.....)and do a whole week starting Sunday Once I've completed that 'll do half days for a few and then try going into my three week stint and we'll see how that goes.

Good news on the health front. I've lost three more pounds, making it ten total, my blood pressure went down some more (With medication of course.) My blood sugar has been the same. The Doctor is actually sending me to an endocrinologist for further support, I've also changed insulin which I will start tomorrow. So we'll see how that goes!

Also side note. The breakfast shake I've been making, spinach, frozen strawberries and a banana, works better with baby spinach. The larger spinach seems to be a little more biter so I've added a few drops of stevia concentrate in it. I should talk to you tonight or tomorrow he latest Wish me luck and chug-a-lug on those breakfast smoothies!