Day 34.....

Here is a preview of my breakfast this morning. I know it looks interesting to say the least, but it sure held me today and made my tummy and body energy happy for a handful of hours.  It is:

1 cup carrot juice

1 avocado

1 banana

1 pear

3 red swiss chard

I don't have a juicer but I found at my grocery store that they have a cold section in the produce area that has fresh bottled organic 100% juices.  I figure that if I am careful with allotting out my juice maybe I can do that for a while until I figure out what I really want in a juicer.

The last several days have been hard for me in the area of food cravings. Specifically I have been craving carbohydrates and junk food.  It has made me very edgy and irritable and I have hated it while trying to figure out what in the world is wrong with me. It finally dawned on me yesterday that I had not grabbed a handful of almonds in a few days. I know that sounds way too easy of an answer but it is the solution. I ate a few last night and felt completely better.

Almonds are so packed with energy, protein and tons of other nutrients. That handful I had every day must have really balanced out my snack cravings more than I realized. 

It is such a daily journey to learn to listen to my body. I feel so much better now that I am eating healthy. Now when I eat something that is not a "healthy" food, I really notice how it makes me feel. I can't believe I used to feel this way all the time and thought it was normal.  For example, I made a loaf of banana chocolate chip bread for my family tonight and I ate a slice. Now my stomach is cramped up and I am wishing I would have ignored the warm smell from the oven.  How I feel now sure doesn't match what my emotional memory told me it would be like. And it used to be so normal to have at least 3 slices before the evening was over with.

Cooking is turning out to be quite an adventure. With my husband needing to be on a low salt diet and me preferring raw, I have to think a little bit more in the kitchen now. It is fun to revamp all of our favorite recipes and I am excited at how he is so open to new flavors.

Here is a snack I created for him today that he went nuts over. My husband has always enjoyed a tasty bowl of popcorn with lots of flavor. But that flavor comes at a price right?  Here is what I did to fix that.
I melted 3 TBSP of coconut oil in a pot and added 1 TBSP of Agave Nectar. Then shook it all together with 1/3 cup of popping corn over the stove until it was all done. He loved it and there was no guilt or worry attached to it.

Sigh.....ok I need to go drink some water and filter out this banana bread.
Take care and be amazingly blessed. Have fun with food and experiment with the awesome things that God created for us.

Week 2 - Day 6......

 So sleepy this evening but it has been a very good day.
My Nana's party went very well. She was surprised and happy. Conversations, relationships and memory making were a constant during the 3 hours of party. And the food part of it went well too. I served mostly healthy items. There was a veggie tray and a fruit tray, a sandwich platter and crock pot of meatballs. I also did plates with cheese and crackers, and two bowls of azuki bean chips and brown rice chips.

I did really well at only eating the veggies and fruit. I did make a conscious decision to eat a small slice of the carrot cake. I didn't finish it though. It tasted okay and everyone raved about it but I was unsatisfied.

Later after everyone left, I put an apple, mango and chard leaf in my blender for an easy "dinner".
I am grateful the day went well and I feel proud of myself for not camping out and grazing at the table like I would have done in the past.

 Be blessed!

Week 2 - Day 3.....

I am feeling really off kilter today but not totally sure why. I put way too many errands into the day so I am genuinely tired. But I think it is more than that. I know for sure that I didn't think to drink near the amount of water that I should have. I know that makes a difference.

I stopped and had one of those all fruit smoothies today and decided to also give a try to a shot of wheat grass. I had assumed they would put it in my drink but that was not the case. I had to throw my head back and swig it like bad medicine and then chase it down with an orange juice. I really didn't think it tasted all that bad. Don;t know if I will ever CRAVE it but it wasn't bad. Afterwards though I felt nauseous for a couple of hours. I am not sure if it was the intensity of the wheat grass  or the acid of the orange juice mixing with my reflux stomach (one of the many things I pray will change as I get more healthy with this raw foods thing).

I made cheddar potato soup for my family with ham chunks and fresh hot biscuits. Nothing looked good to me at all and normally I go nuts over soups.

For now, I must get myself to bed and I vow to drink more water tomorrow.

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.

~~~~~

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 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.