Week 2 - Day 1.....

 Here I sit at my computer, winding down with a bowl of dried fruit and tea steeping in the cup my dad bought for me so many months ago. (How I do miss him.....)

It was a good day. It is getting really easy for me to throw a couple of snacks in my purse as I head out the door for whatever reason.  I find it is really important to always have something on hand, even if just a honey stick, because 'hungry' hits hard and fast.  There is no, "hmm maybe I might possibly be hungry soon".  I am sure that will change over time.

I have to admit that dinner smelled really good tonight when I served my family their casserole and I set my big salad in front of me.  But I am glad I held out.  The longing didn't last long and I know I would have felt so unsatisfied had I given into the moment.  Once I bit into one of my fresh bell peppers I was very happy.

I am realizing that much of my food habits and tastes stem from emotions and association rather than true hunger and desire. It is the craving of emotional satisfaction rather than a body craving.

I was reading a How To Start Raw Foods manual today and it said to never ever expect yourself to go cold turkey. Instead, give yourself plenty of leeway in transitioning a step at a time.
I had to laugh at myself. It takes me absolutely forever to make a decision to do something. But once I start for real, I charge into the wind with my head down.  I know that the slow approach is smart and healthy; easy on the body with less shock. But I know me. If I did it the slow way I would get bored. I would look for subtle ways to cheat or stretch out the time in between steps.....eventually losing momentum all together and then giving up; consequently feeling the full brunt of a failure.

My dear friend that first got my head to slowly brewing all those years ago with the idea of switching to raw foods sent me an email today that encouraged me.  She said she was proud of me and then agreed with my thoughts on that whole shaking tremor things being a huge with drawl wave because she remembered doing the same thing.  It is good to know that the shakes weren't an odd thing; not that I was worried but it is comforting all the same.

I had a thought today when it hit about 4pm that made me laugh.  I felt that wave of hunger and I figured I had better eat a bowl of grain cereal to g4t my fiber in.  Then I realized that with all the produce I have around here there is no reason at all for me to be concerned that my fiber comes only from grain cereal.  It was another mental shift. I actually have so much produce in the house that there are too many choice things to eat in one day.

Okay, I must get ready for bed.
You have a blessed and wonderful destiny filled day.
Thank You God for enabling me to have another successful day!

Day 7.....

When I was writing last night's post I was feeling a little bit puny but only half paid attention to it. Late into the evening I started feeling really bad. I have had minor headaches here and there this past week but last night was a whole new ball game so to speak. My digestive system was in painful disarray. Every joint in my body ached and I had violent shaking tremors from not being able to get warm.

What was all that about?
Was it because I sampled that cooked chili (all of 2 TBSP maybe) at Costco yesterday after having only raw foods for a week?
I had picked up and snacked on some dehydrated mango. Did I eat too much?
Did I pick up a flu bug somewhere?
Or was that a huge wave of detoxing going through my system?

Today I am better, slow but better. My muscles are sore, probably from all that shaking.
I am going to pack up some foods and head up to my mom's for Sunday dinner. I will write more tonight about the rest of my day and the verdict on what my plans are now that I am at the end of my week long trial.

By the way, I have been glancing over some different web sites on raw foods helps. Some that I have found most interesting and helpful I have linked over on the right side of my blog page as a help to others.

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Here I am again and it is 11pm. Dinner at my mom's was wonderful as always. There were lasagna and garlic bread on the table (both some of my favorite yummies) but interestingly I wasn't really attracted to either one. Mom, ever supportive of my decisions, made a huge salad for everyone to dig into and I felt very content with that and the fruit that I brought with me.

So here I am at the pinnacle of decisions. It has been a week since I started this change in eating and I made a big production out of telling myself that it wouldn't be a forever thing but only a week. It was attainable and not overwhelming. So what do I do now?  My head is throbbing pretty bad right now and I am convinced that I am going through a big bout of detox.

The interesting thing is that I don't want to throw it all out the window. I don't know how long my body will feel this way but if I keep drinking water it will help me flush out all this junk. I have lost 5lbs. this week, which wasn't my primary drive. But it sure is a super benefit since I do have a good 60lbs. to lose. Right now, all of the healthy foods really taste good to me and the junk tastes like junk.

So my decision is made. I have my refrigerator stocked with another round of produce and I am ready to press forward.  (I do wonder though if it would be okay for me to take something for my headache. I think a little bit is alright.)

Thank you God for this new adventure!

Day 6.....

 Getting ready for bed but wanted to make note of today's successes.
I did a bit of shopping at Ikea and combated the wonderful smell of those tempting cinnamon rolls by keeping some string cheese in my pocket to snack on. Then afterwards I had to make a run to Costco and I was a bit nervous about all of the wonderful samples they have out for trying in each isle. I ate a travel peach cup in the car before going in and kept telling myself to not even look at the samples. God is so kind though. While they usually sample things like pizza and gooey chocolate cookies; today I was able to pick up samples of Activia yogurt and seaweed salad. I must admit that I did eat a spoon of organic bean chili and 3 rice chips. I think I still did really good though. It is all about choosing and thinking beyond the moment right?

6 days down and one more to go.
 I can't believe I am still happy with this!

Day 5.....

Here I am sitting in the living room at 10pm at night watching a movie with my family and chewing on a honey stick.  It has been a good day today. It is quite a novel experience to learn to throw a few healthy snacks in my purse as I head out the door for errands. Until this past week it was my pattern to buy a candy bar....or two while out and about.

 For the record, my main meals today were as follows...
Breakfast: cheese
Lunch: pineapple, prunes, yogurt
Dinner: huge salad with cucumber, tomatoes, bell pepper, broccoli, sunflower seed and cheese
Snacks throughout my day was a banana, a tea from Starbucks and a couple of honey sticks

 It is all so different from a few short days ago when crackers and cookies were my constant fill. But I am having fun and feeling good.

Thank You God!

5 days down and 2 more to go.

Day 4....

Here I sit at 11pm with a content belly and a full day behind me.
I didn't plan out the day quite so well but chose not to give up on myself.
I had the day off today from daycare and that made me want to be lazy. It wasn't until the afternoon when I was running errands on my way to pick up Puddin' from school that I realized I hadn't eaten more than a banana all day (along with coffee and water).  I decided to pull into a local smoothie shop for nourishment to make my tummy settle. Wow so many selections to choose from! I picked a concoction that promised to be only mixed fruits with ice and made it a large. Yum!

I didn't think through dinner very well for my family either. Thankfully our freezer is stocked right now. I toasted up a box of frozen popcorn shrimp and made smaller side salads for Hubby and Puddin'. I myself had a huge dinner salad with butter lettuce (my favorite), carrots, cucumbers and tomatoes.

I have to confess that I did allow myself to eat not 1, not 2 but 3 of the small popcorn shrimp while I was fixing plates.  It was quite a temptation to have made something like shrimp which is a favorite of mine. I know that it's not the end of the world to eat it and only three at that.  I just don't want to allow myself to start throwing things in my mouth with excuses all the time.  A little bite here and a little sample there is what got me to this point to begin with.

 But the positives.....no candy, no bread, I refused the chocolate chips cookies as well as the soda and popcorn offered to me at the furniture store.
And I chose well with my "fast food".
And I don't feel the need to beat myself up and give up for not having a perfect record. Now THAT is progress.  Thank You God!

Day 4 is complete and 3 more to go.

Day 3...

 It has been a busy and intense day but I can proudly say I was successful in eating only the things on my list today. I have to admit that I had waves of temptation while visiting my mom today. Food for me is associated so much with memories and habits and emotional crutches. I wasn't even hungry while visiting but had to really mentally talk myself through the idea that wanting to go to her candy jar for chocolate or crunch on something was only a habit thing and not because I needed it.

 Tonight I am feeling a bit hungry. I am not sure if it is because my body is starting to wake from the shock of not being filled with junk all the time or if it is because I was so on the go that I didn't eat quite as much as I have the last 2 days. I feel really tired but I think that is because I took care of my niece for almost 2 days and she slept in her travel crib by my bed last night. (wow I had forgotten how much energy I had and needed as a young mom with my own little babies).

What was on my eating list today? I know I did a couple of servings of Kashi cereal and a couple of servings of yogurt with a peach. I shared a couple of bananas with Angel-girl and snacked on things like carrots, cucumbers, prunes and cherries.  I guess I didn't do good on my veggie supply today.  But I never shoved  into my mouth the chocolate chip cookies or cheesy ritz crackers that were on display at tonight's meeting so I will happily pat myself on the back as I get ready for bed.

Thank you God for your encouragement and confidence in me as I walk this journey.

Day 3 is complete and 4 days left to go.

 

Day 2.....

 Here I am at 10:08pm and I feel that despite the crazy events of the day, I succeeded in doing well.
Okay, actually I did put a 1/4 of a saltine cracker in my mouth before I realized what I was doing while feeding my niece lunch....but I think we will not break out the whip of correction just yet.

So what exactly does my day look like when my tummy says "fill 'er up"?
This morning I started my day with a glass of water and then chased it down with a banana. Coffee was my next fly by and gave me an emotional "good girl you can do this" feeling.  With caring for my 16 month old niece throughout the day I have to admit that my food choices are not in a mental order of remembering. But I can say for sure that I did things like peaches and yogurt, carrots and tomatoes, prunes and cherries. Then tonight for dinner I had an apple and a big green salad with carrots, tomatoes and cucumbers.  That along with a couple measured bowls of Kashi cereal and soy milk made my day basically.

I can feel changes happening in my body. I had a little bit of a headache today but once I drank more water it went away. I think the biggest difference so far is my digestive tract. Nothing I want to go into any detail about here but definitely different, slightly uncomfortable and yes embarrassing.

Day 2 is complete and 5 days to go.

Day 1......

My dear friend at the beach is always such a blessing and source of encouragement for me. When we first met, we were home schooling our high school girls and we became fast friends as dispositions and personalities meshed together with ease. We shared events from marriage and parenting to God and blessings. She taught me to have a greater appreciation for timeless and passionate character cinema such as Inherit the Wind and Mr Smith Goes To Washington and even how to love the sweet innocence of Shall We Dance in Japanese and hold my sides in laughter at the perfection of The Reduced Shakespeare Company performing the Complete Works Of Shakespeare in under 2 hours.

Now she is once again influencing me. She just doesn't know it yet.
I have watched her over the last couple of years go through something of an amazing transformation. It began with her saying to herself, "I think I should eat a salad every day to help me be more healthy." After a bit of time it became 2 salads a day. Then other choices came along like using a juicer, growing sprouts and.........cutting back on coffee. (yikes!) None of these choices we made because of a diet or fad but simply a conviction to take better care of herself. The result has been amazing. She feels better and is in tune with how her body talks to her. Her blood pressure and cholesterol are down and she can now share clothes with her daughters now that she doesn't have starches storing up in her body.

I have always been intrigued. I have taken home the books she has offered and found them a good and inspiring read. But to walk out those changes has always seemed quite a daunting task. My excuse bag fills over flowing with lack of time to prepare, my family would never eat that way, the torture of preparing two meals (and theirs would be so tempting), what about nutritional deficiencies, the cost, time...time..........and more time.

I had something of a revelation yesterday and decided it doesn't have to be this daunting huge life time forever change that I embark on. I don't have to make it a here to eternity thing and wait for the first slip up to punish myself with scolding failure.
I chose to make things attainable for myself and try for one week to eat raw foods. I know I won't magically lose the 60 pounds that is following me around but I just might feel a bit different. Seven days should give me a taste for feeling a bit better and a little more detoxified.

Today is Day 1. My plan is simple with no complications and can be re-evaluated at any time in the future. For now, I can eat what I want, whenever I want and as much of it as I want as long as it is a raw food, dairy product or whole grain cereal. Actually the cereal and dairy I am sparing with but the raw foods ......well my refrigerator is full of every whim I can imagine. I have made it through 17 waking hours of making smart choices. I put a list in the kitchen of all my food choices so that in a flash of weakness I won't construe something like scalloped potatoes as a good food choice.

Oh and I have to confess just so it is all out here in the open....coffee is not on my okay list but I don't plan to abstain from it at this point. I think if I drank it as my only form of liquid then it would have to go but one cup a day isn't horrible.

Seven days.........one down and six to go.
I can do this.