Day 38....

I have been having fun with my daughter's camera today. While I am completely jealous that I don't have such a good camera, I am so thrilled that she lets me use hers at will. It does so much better than my little cell phone app.

These Trio bars I found at Costco a few weeks ago. My husband and I both love them. They are gluten, dairy, preservative and additive free. Each bar promises to hold a variety of 3 types of nuts, 3 types of seeds and 3 fruits. They are also low in sodium which is now a plus for my husband.

The nuts offer a super nice crunch to satisfy those munchy cravings while all of the ingredients work together to be a nutritious snack that holds you without a sugar crash.

I keep a couple in my purse and have used them as an offering to my hungry teenagers when we are out and about. They gobble them up with no complaints.

Don't I sound like a commercial?
I just really like them. And I realized today that we are almost out of our supply so I had better get some more.


This is my lunch for today. I was starting to feel a little bored with my food choices and looked around online for solutions in varying up the show and combination without sacrificing ease. 

Here is what I did:

- I peeled a cucumber, sliced it down the middle & scooped out the inner seed core.

- In my food processor I tossed in a handful of almonds, 1/4 avocado, 1/4 yellow squash and 5 cherry tomatoes.

- I pulsed it to a consistency I liked and added garlic powder, onion powder and a small amount of shredded cheese. 

- The last step was to fill the carved out portion of the cucumber with the mixture and then enjoy.

This particular recipe was called a cucumber sandwich because you could put the two cucumber halves together and wrap them in saran wrap to throw in your lunch bag and eat later. I chose to leave it as a boat just because I thought it was too pretty to cover.  I had one boat last night for dinner and was surprisingly full so I saved the rest of it for today and am enjoying it as I type.

I added a couple of websites to the side bar that you might find of helpful interest in the area of raw foods information and recipe ideas.

God bless you!

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 5.....

I was planning out my day today and thinking about me being on day 12 of this new eating lifestyle. It dawned on me that while it was good for me to write out a food list on a recent post, that maybe I should write out a step by step of what goes in my mouth for 24hrs.  Maybe it can help someone else as well as help me when I look back on things. So here is today. I know it is boring but.....

-Started the day at 5:30am (not my preferred choice. It is part of being Mom.)  Sipped away a 16 oz. glass of water while getting everyone ready for their different things.

-7:30am Now that my glass of water is empty I can have a cup of coffee. I don't allow myself to put anything else into my body until I have kick started it with water.

-8:30am was time to try my new blender. I did a whole apple (minus the core) with 3 oz. Activia yogurt and 2 oz. orange juice. Then worked on a second 16oz. of water.

-12:30pm found me very hungry. I tried to eat my left over salad from dinner last night but I can say without doubt that wilted salad with day old dressing is too gross to make myself eat. So I cut up some broccoli, 3 baby bell peppers and 1/2 a cucumber. For dessert I munched a handful of raw almonds. Also had another 16 oz. of water.
*note to self...I have never ever liked nuts in my life but WOW! Raw almonds are really good. I wonder if my taste buds are changing that much already. I set some in water to sprout and I am anxious to see how they are later.

-4:30pm-ish I had a string cheese while making dinner. We had company over so I made a couple of chicken pot pies and a huge salad with all kinds of fixings. I used butter lettuce and dressed it up with carrots and cucumbers. Then I put out serving bowls of avocado, tomato, bell pepper, edemame and cranberries. 

-6:30pm We officially had dinner. I wasn't attracted to the pot pies. Well okay, they did look appealing but I didn't feel the least bit like filling my belly with them. The veggies and my glass of water called to me and I filled up happily.
*note: Our guests did not scoff at the idea of me only eating veggies. I remember when I used to diet and it was torture to have company over and not be able to eat the same foods. All of the emotional pressure....and I put it on all by myself. Tonight was so different though; so very easy.

-11:45pm Earlier in the evening while everyone else over filled on Tillamook ice cream, I chewed a couple of honey sticks. Now I am getting ready for bed with a handful of almonds and no regrets.

I am looking over my day and thinking I really didn't eat a ton of food and I feel quite happy. I wonder if there is a guideline of how much I am supposed to consume. I don't mean like a list of things to check off but more like things I should make sure to eat first in the day. For now I still think that might be over thinking it for me. Ultimately, I think I should just listen to my stomach and it says "full" so I am not going to worry about it.

It has been a good day.
Tomorrow is my Nana's 85th birthday and we are surprising her with a party here. I should get to bed so that I can enjoy getting ready for the fun.

Week 2 - Day 2.....

My mom was asking me the other day what exactly I am eating and how I get through a day. So I thought I would share my current list of foods that is posted on my refrigerator.  This list is subject to change as I do my eating and shopping but it is the basics and will help you get an idea of what I am doing.

Dairy & Travel Foods
string cheese, activia yogurt, honey sticks, fruit cups

Fruits
pineapple, apples, pears, mango, avocado, tomatoes, bananas, dried prunes, dried mango mixed with berries, dried cherries and cranberries

Veggies
carrots, cucumber, bell pepper, edemame, broccoli, lettuce, chard

I also usually have a bowl of Kashi cereal each day that is very high in fiber and protein. I started out using soy milk but found that my usual skim milk has more and less of the things I am looking for in a milk product without the larger price.

There really is too much to eat in one day and my biggest decisions now are "What do I want to enjoy next?"

I know there are tons of cookbooks out on raw foods recipes but right now a basic plate is all I have interest in. When I want to get wild and special I mix a cup of fruit in wit my yogurt and I am quite satisfied. 
Then of course we can't forget the coffee that I let myself have every day. I have read so many different things that either say it is good for you or bad for you. I have decided for now that it is what you make of it just like anything else. As long as I only have a cup or two a day and I feel good then I am not going to worry about it.

The biggest deal is to drink WATER.  Always our bodies need water but especially with this detox thing right now for me. I am working at giving my body all the help it can get. If I am putting foods in to clean my system but not giving it water to flush it out then it will just make these headaches last longer.

 ~~~~~

Hubby took me out to dinner tonight and wanted me to explain why I am eating the way I am. Poor guy. I never told him what I was going to do. I just did it. I figured if I explained myself before hand then I would mentally set myself up for too much self judgement and fail before ge4tting started. I know I am twisted that I feel better keeping an online truth journal but am too scared to tell my home family.

He was very supportive and even ordered a salad right along with me. He is starting to see changes in me as well even though it has only been such a short time. He says I haven't been snoring the last few nights. I find that interesting because I was just thinking my sinuses feel more clear than they have in quite a long time.

I have to confess that I was pretty emotional tonight. I had received something in the mail that made me a swirl of mixed feelings I consequently willingly chose to eat 3 of the dinner rolls with my salad.I know it is not the end of the world and I am only human. It is okay to be extravagant at times. I just don't want to flip some imaginary switch in my head that clouds my thinking and getting me to feel like eating raw foods is some sort of twisted jail term.  It is healthier and tastes better. I did notice that those rolls didn't taste as ravenously amazing as they did the last time.

This was a longer post. It helped me to air things out so thank you. I hope in some way it helps you too.

Have a blessed and amazing day!

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!