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First Day of Veganhood 17 y
Vegan diet: challenging. Raw Vegan diet: daunting!
My first day of veganhood was not meant to be raw, but I can see that eating a raw vegan diet will be very difficult in the beginning as I figure out how to handle grains and legumes. I’m not sure I’ll achieve 100% raw veganhood, but that’s ok with me as long as most of my diet consists of fresh, whole, unprocessed foods. I still look forward to a VitaMix and dehydrator to make a raw vegan diet more interesting and easier to achieve. Yesterday morning I made my hempseed and fruit smoothie. I used the immersion blender (the only blender I own right now) to blend hemp with some ... read more No More Dairy! 17 y
Quinoa, millet and lentils, oh my...
This is the weekend that I try eating an all vegan, mostly-raw diet-
no animal products at all! No protein powder, since the ones I’ve
found come from animals or soy (I rarely eat soy). No
more yogurt or cottage cheese. No beloved sushi. I bought my foods using
McDougall’s list as my guide. He is not a raw foodist; he advocates a
plant & carbohydrate-based diet. Some of the foods on his list
I’ll have no problem eating raw, but others I will very gladly cook. My
experience last year with soaked grains left much to be desired.
At Whole Fo ... read more Communing with Nature 17 y
As long as I am doing what is right for me, I am happy!
I had a wonderful weekend exploring the natural wonders of the Southwest. The unspoiled desert is truly beautiful. I’ve known since I was a child that I would end up somewhere down here. These are my colors, my weather, and my creatures! I took many photographs as I wandered through Red Rock Canyon in Las Vegas. I don’t ask for much out of life; being around nature reminds me that I really don’t need much. Yes, I must work in order to have a roof over my head, and getting an education gives me more choices in the kinds of jobs I can have, so I must study ... read more Transitioning to All Raw 17 y
A change here, a change there...
Boy, was I sick today! I couldn’t even make it through a whole day at
the office. I’m hoping the problem is just the added fiber in my diet;
I started adding fiber over the past few days. I was not well
yesterday either, but today I had stabbing cramps in my side, which
felt so much like my ovarian cyst attack from a couple of years ago
that I was worried. If fiber is the problem, I will feel better soon
enough. Adding fiber to my diet is part of my transition to an all-raw
life as I look at all the areas in which my diet is lacking and take
care of those before g ... read more Ever Heard of the McDougall Program? 17 y
Maybe this could be a way for me to transition to my all-raw diet.
I continue to look for ways to transition to a raw diet, slowly
eliminating the dairy foods I’m eating and adding more plant-based
foods. Today I was reading about the McDougall
Program. It is not meant as a raw diet, but it does tout whole,
unprocessed foods, for the most part (and you can eat many of the foods
raw, of course). The differences between what he promotes and what I
eat now is that he doesn’t allow dairy or any type of vegetable oil (I
love my olive oil). He also promotes the use of tofu as a replacement
for some common Standard American ... read more Being Active Naturally 17 y
When I was smaller, being active was not second nature, but FIRST nature.
Today I went swimming for the first time in years. Hating the way I
look, I’m not the type of person to willingly don a bathing suit and be
seen in public. But a friend who has no such image consciousness has
been a good role model for me this week and so today I found myself in
the pool, wearing the bathing suit that I got many weeks ago but had
never worn. I love water and felt great in the pool- it’s
outdoors, so in the 100+ degrees heat it was comfortably warm- a bit
cooler than body temperature. I didn’t swim too long, just enough to
remember what it feels like, and to try sw ... read more Nutritionist Day Again 17 y
Two more pounds down!
I figured out a way to explain my way of eating to the nutritionist. I told her that at the end of the day, I want to have met my nutritional goals - particularly calories, fiber, saturated fat, carbs, protein, vitamins and water intake. The easiest way for me to meet most of these goals is to eat a largely raw, unprocessed diet. Because most of my food is raw, the less-healthy items don’t destroy my day nutritionally. I told her that I don’t want to deal with the Raw Police! She gets it, and can see that my daily intake is nutritionally sound- except on those days that I am lo ... read more I Get Tired of Explaining 17 y
I know I eat weird right now, but that's the way it is for now!
I saw a different nutritionist today because my regular one was out due to an emergency. Had I known, I wouldn’t have even gone, because it’s such a pain trying to explain to people my strange food list. I’m on my way to raw so 1) not all my foods are raw 2) some of my nonraw foods are highly processed (but I haven’t chosen them haphazardly) and 3) there are still foods I eat that really don’t ”belong” - these are the junk I eat when I give in to cravings or temptation. I’m still dealing with food issues, so combine that with the first two things and people don’t know what to make of my ... read more Back to Trader Joe's 17 y
A great day for healthy eating!
Today I took my protein-enhanced grocery list to Trader Joe’s to see what they carry. The only spirulina I found came in pill form. When I saw that the bottle gives the protein content for a 9-pill serving I said FORGET IT! I’m just not into pills. Vitamins are hard enough for me to remember, and I like vitamins right now! I thought I’d find some other form of spirulina there but I didn’t.
I picked up some Greek style yogurt, whey powder, raw almonds, snow peas, berries, several packaged salads (yes, I’m lazy), spinach and mangoes. My processed/non-raw protein sources for the week will ... read more To Go 100% Raw or Not? 17 y
That is the question.
I am trying to construct a raw vegan diet of practical foods that will give me upwards
of 80 gms of protein per day without requiring me to eat uncomfortable
volumes of food. By practical I mean affordable, tasty, and easy to incorporate
into a meal/smoothie or to eat as a snack. Today I went through some raw vegan websites to get a
list of foods that are a complete protein (or close to
it). The best I’ve found so far
are:
Spirulina , raw
edamame
hemp seeds
flax seeds
yeast extract spread
pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
cowpeas
whey powder
raw spinach
almo ... read more I Made it Through the Workshop... 17 y
...with minimal dietary damage.
Yesterday I blogged about the problems I experience with trying to maintain my raw diet when faced with marathon workshops, seminars, and catered events. This morning I ate a handful of almonds and half a banana before the event, drank water before lunch, and when the catered food arrived, chose the bean salad (edamame, kidney, and garbanzos), and half a turkey sandwich with lettuce and tomato on whole wheat (no cheese or condiments). The ”worst” thing I did, though, was eat a delicious looking brownie! Ha ha! There was a woman who said she was a vegetarian. What did she eat? The fatte ... read more Desperately in Need of Raw Snack Ideas 17 y
I find myself in more and more workshops and all-day meetings where non-raw food is catered - and it's frustrating!
The busier I get at my job and with my classes, the more often I will
have to deal with eating outside of the house. It’s such a challenge!
My desire to stick to raw foods is so strong that at times I will risk
severe stomach pain, headaches and lightheadedness
because I stubbornly refuse to eat the non-raw foods available- I just
drink water and go hungry. I have to figure out how to deal with this.
Sometimes I am lucky and there is salad or a fruit tray available at
the venue, but often there are just fattening entrees and foods I don’t
eat anymore. Catered events often h ... read more What a Day! 17 y
(And I don't mean that in a nice way)
I’ve come to That Point in my raw diet. There appear to be several
benchmarks (for want of a better word) that I reach in the early stages
of my raw odyssey. One is a point where I’ve eaten the same thing over
and over and start to get bored. There’s also a point where I have
little time or energy to put ingredients together and find myself
eating some nasty combination of veggies in a makeshift salad. Today I
was running late and threw together the most tasteless group of veggies
you can think of (I won’t recount them for you or you may feel as sick
as I did).&nb ... read more Food as Medicine 17 y
The more deeply I delve into a mindset of raw eating, the less junk and unhealthy foods I'll be eating over time.
I’ve had a few more self-discoveries these past couple of weeks
regarding my raw diet and my lifestyle which have led me to make some
adjustments. 1) I have seen that it is important for me to get as much protein during
the early part of the day as possible so that I am not playing catch-up
at the end of the day. 2)
I need to greatly increase the amount of fiber I get each day. I
thought all the fruit I was eating was doing the trick, but just
because something is full of carbs doesn’t mean it is high in fiber (yes, figs, I’m talking about you!). 3)
I don’t always rea ... read more Back to the Gym I Go 17 y
Being spontaneous has its rewards.
I was inspired to return to the gym when I saw at the end of the day that I’d eaten too few calories, not nearly enough protein, too many carbs, and hardly any fats. I thought, what do I have in the house that I can eat to make up this deficit? I ate a salmon patty with feta cheese and broccoli, and even added olive oil but was still low in the same areas. I thought about making an eggbeater’s omelette but it was getting late and I didn’t want to go to bed after eating. At first I thought I should work out and then eat- like somehow that would make up for eating so ... read more And the Beat Goes On... 17 y
Things just keep getting better on raw
I saw the nutritionist today and found I am down another couple of
pounds. That is 16 lbs since July 10 th. I asked her if she thought I
might be losing too quickly- visions of hair loss still dance in my
head, you know. She said that as long as what I lose is adipose tissue
(fat) and not lean tissue (muscle), I can safely lose up to 3 lbs a
week. I asked her specifically about my hair and she said that I
should make sure to get no fewer than 60 grams of protein daily, and
should consider a range of 60 to 80 grams per day. Naturally I will be
going for the 80!
N ... read more Good Health News! 17 y
News on my bloodwork and blood pressure were a nice surprise last week
The past week has gone pretty well. I’ve been seeing the nutritionist and recording my foods. I did have a Krispy Kreme
doughnut for the first time - right from the factory. WOW- but they’ve
got lots of saturated fat and sugar, and are obviously not something
I’ll be eating much of in the future. I am not ordering myself to stay
away completely from all foods, but I think that over time I will
naturally refuse these types of things. I won’t feel a craving or
desire for these foods and won’t feel that I am depriving myself.
Currently there are days when I have to force myself ... read more |