Really Raw Day 10 - Sweet temptations

Really Raw 2009 Day 8 & 9 - so tired today!

I have to be honest, I was losing steam yesterday and today...just slowing down a bit and wanting to nap more. Today, I attribute that to having a bit of a higher fat start to my day, having put a little too much avocado in my smoothie, coupled with the fact that I have my period. So, I took a nap when I got home today and it's all good. I made a big salad with fennel, celery, green onions and a dressing of orange, goji berries, dates and sunflower seeds. I thought it was okay, but my boyfriend really really enjoyed it:)

I have three persimmons left, I'm waiting for them to ripen a bit more. Other than that, I'm fantasizing about rolling up my sleeves and attempting to make some uber yummy raw food desserts soon!

To all my raw lovelies out there doing this 100 day challenge with me: Lots of love with a cherry on top! Knowing that you guys are out there doing this too makes it so much easier to stick to it.

Day 10 is upon us! Woo Hoo!!!

Really Raw 2009 Day 6 & 7

Feeling pretty darn good. Went to the grocery store yesterday, and got some Persimmons, a.k.a. Sharonfruit for the first time.

They look a lot like a pale tomato, but they are sweet and pretty yummy. My boyfriend doesn't like them yet, but he'll come around. I'm fantasizing about having a couple of persimmon trees on our farm (when we get a farm:)

I had seen them before in grocery stores, but never knew what to do with them. Well, you eat them, duh! I slice mine in have and eat them, skin and all. I think that they are beneficial to the respiratory system, because I could feel 'action' in my sinus (particularly upper sinus & nose). You can get a species that is native to North America and stores well...

As for my raw adventure, I'm on day 7 and I feel better. Actually, I feel taller, more enthusiastic and motivated. The back pain that accompanied my sciatica is gone, though I can still 'feel' my sciatic nerve, even though it doesn't really hurt. I can tell it is getting better. Well, back to work!

"If you keep doing what you are doing, you'll keep getting what you are getting."

I have had some questions (naturally) so I thought I would share with those who are interested.

A lot of the time, we use food, food-like substances (like Doritos), cigarettes, or alcohol to cope with emotions or stressful situations.
If you are 'addicted' to something like bread, salad dressing, or whatever, you can still reap benefits just by seeing what you can ADD to your diet to make it healthier. Water is always a good one! So is bumping up your intake of leafy greens. Even if they are smothered in dressing (just not toooo much) you will notice a difference.

So pick something and get started.

Like:

"this week, I'm going to eat an apple everyday."

"I am going to take the stairs once a day."

"I am going to snack on raw nuts instead of a candy bar."

I didn't just jump into this, I've been practicing for awhile :P

Meat and grains are fine, if kept to a minimum. You can use meat as a garnish and still reap all of the benefits while reducing some of the bad.
You will not die without meat. I've been mainly vegetarian for about 5 years or so. I eat meat MAYBE once a year, and I'm in the best health of my life.

Increasing fruits and vegetables increases your overall nutrition, and will help to drive toxins from your cells...which equates to weight loss in most cases.

It works like this: If you keep doing what you are doing, you\'ll keep getting what you are getting. If you switch from Diet A to Diet B to lose weight, and then switch back to Diet A, you will gain back the weight. If, on the other hand you practices forging new, healthy eating habits, you will reap many more benefits than weight loss, and you will have greater success keeping it off indefinitely!

The thing that is killing us is refined and processed foods, like sugars, flours and additives. If aboriginal cultures are introduced to a western diet, they gain weight, get heart disease and develop diabetes in a lot of cases. If you take that same group of people back to their traditional lifestyles, all of those problems get better, and eventually disappear. So many of our modern diseases are a result of being overfed and undernourished.

*Did you know that in order to get the same amount of iron from modern conventional apples that you would from an apple in 1940, you would have to eat 3?? Thanks to western agricultural practices for that!

*A deficiency in vitamin E, C, B12, or B6 causes DNA mutation similar to that caused by radiation??

Anything you do to lose weight, you're gonna have to keep on doing. That includes any pills, teas, or exercise programs. I could see myself walking everyday, but could I drink those nasty tasting teas or afford TrimSpa for the rest of my life? Not likely. Do I want to use a pill that, though it does help me to lose weight, also makes me afraid to fart in public lest I shit myself? LOL...I think you know that answer to that one!

Making lifestyle changes can be difficult, but so rewarding. A healthy diet can reduce inflammation, reduce anxiety, depression and stress, 'cure' any number of diseases and extend your life while increasing the quality of life!

Doesn't that sound good? If we can't live forever, we can at least live fully.

Cheers!

7 lbs in 3 days:)

This was the result of MY 3 days...results may vary;)

No pills; no exotic teas; NO exercise; and the best part is that it didn't cost me a ton of money!!!

Basically, I stripped everything out of my diet, and built from square one with water, and as much fresh fruit and vegetables as I wanted. ANYTHING from pineapples to peaches, broccoli to bok choy, apples to avocadoes. (Did you know that for every gram of refined carbohydrate you eat, your body stores 2.7 grams of water?!)

I ate whenever and whatever (within above parameters) I wanted, and included small amounts of nuts and seeds (read: a healthy spoonful of nut butter-which is awesome in a smoothie!)

I'm not gonna lie: I had some withdrawal symptoms, particularly from coffee and sugar! But I dealt with headaches with water, not pills (which may hinder weight loss).

By the third day, I was feeling loads slimmer and thinking so much more clearly. My moods stabilized, and I couldn't help but feel optimistic. The holiday bloat was over, and I'm starting 2009 with a 'fresh' perspective.
The great thing is, this can be adapted to a long term successful weight loss program.

I've lost over 80 lbs and kept it off simply by reducing or eliminating junk food and focusing my diet on REAL FOOD...not to be confused with all that other crap they call food, LOL!

I'm not selling anything. That's probably not what people expect, but I have been hella miserable at points in my life, so unhappy with the way I looked and felt...if I can steer someone else towards a healthy change, I will be that much happier:)

I'm proud to say that if being overweight and miserable has taught me anything, it's compassion! (and an understanding of confidentiality).

Cheers!!

Really Raw 2009 Day 5

I went on a greens expedition today. I went to an organic grocery store that I used to work in, and went through all of the greens, pruning them back and filling a laundry basket for which I paid $10. Sweeeet!!! I took home beautiful spinach, loads of kale, some bok choy, and both red and green leaf lettuce. I also got a small red cabbage, 2 fennel bulbs and an orange...and I bought 6 granny smiths, which cost $2.75.
So, my total for today was $12.75. That's pretty much lunch at a restaurant...doing good so far!

I've gotta go tomorrow and pick up some more fruit. I'm going to stick to organic more now. I've been reading Michael Pollan's book "In Defense of Food" and it is so amazing. He exemplifies the difference in the nutritional quality of today's food versus the food my grandparents would've eaten. He states that, in order to get the same amount of iron that you would get from an apple in 1940, you would have to eat 3 apples today! It's ridiculous! Modern agriculture's focus has been on increasing the size and calorie content of food using chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Therefore, plants that we eat only get macronutrients (for plants, that is) like nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous. The soil is so depleted that they just aren't producing a lot of vital nutrients like selenium anymore! And the use of pesticides has significantly reduced the amount of antioxidants, carotenoids, and many other chemicals they would normally use to protect themselves that happen to also be incredibly beneficial to those of us who eat them!

When I read that, I realized that I may spend less money on conventional produce, but I have to eat 2-3 times as much in order to get the important nutritional factors that my body needs to function optimally.

I was making a green smoothie today with mango, and the taste of the mango wasn't quite right to me. It was conventional...and ya, edible, but not nearly as delicious and pure tasting as some of the organic ones I've had in the past:)

I can't wait for spring...I'm looking forward to all of the wild greens to burst forth in all of their yummy and medicinal glory!!

Namaste

Really Raw 2009 Day 4 - About meh.

Wuh. I'm so tired right now. I've had a mild headache all day, which is to be expected. I don't feel like posting very much right now, cuz I don't have that much to say...what am I talking about, I can ramble on with the best of them! There are a lot of things that I want to change this year. After my Dad passed away in September 2007, I kinda dropped the ball on a lot of things, and became this unmotivated person who accomplishes relatively little in her daily life (thanks to you, internet!)

I've always been overweight, ever since the day I was born weighing in at 10 lbs, 1 oz! By grade 4 I was 120 lbs, and in high school I crept from 180 to 220, topping at 250 by my first (and only) year of university. I was studying archaeology then. We had an osteology lab where we examined a human skeleton, and I realized I wanted to work with the living:) Forensics has always been an interest of mine, but when I thought about this young Indian woman whose spirit once inhabited dem bones, I became curious about traditional medicines. I thought I would study ethnobotany, but actually found this amazing herbal school in Toronto, where I was trained as a traditional herbalist.

Herbalism really opened my eyes, and changed my life. I realized that the way I was eating/living was going to send me to an early grave along a very painful road. Pretty quickly, I became a vegetarian and lost over 75 lbs! It just dropped off, I couldn't believe how easy it was. Naturally, I had tried SO many diets since grade 4 and never managed to lose the chunk. Now, I've maintained that weight loss for over 5 years:)

I now weigh the same as I did when I was 12. Must be something to do with hormones, or set point theory or something. I don't believe that I am stuck here, I just need to make the necessary lifestyle changes to release the remaining junk.

Raw food seemed like the natural next step to me. I am excited and encouraged by all of the info available, and all of the support that I am finding, at least in my cyber life!

Here's to the next chapter of my life...Cheers!