Day 24!

I can not believe I have eaten raw for a full 24 days so far. I have wavered once. Friday night we went out to dinner and I didn't feel like preparing a salad dressing to take with me so I just ordered a Caesar Salad. I should have ordered it without cheese but I didn't realize it would have cheese on it! I only used a drizzle of the dressing (thank goodness it came on the side) but Russell ordered a Veggie burger with sweet potato fries and I just HAD to have a couple!! Oh, and on Saturday Caley got a sushi roll from HEB which I used to LOVE and I HAD to have a piece and you know what? I didn't really care for it!! So other than those little things, I have eaten nothing but raw fruits and veggies for 23 days!! Russell has also done very well. Last Wednesday he wasn't feeling well and reverted back to his "comfort foods" and insisted on me ordering a pizza. lol He ate 3 slices and really regretted it the next day. His digestive tract was NOT happy about him eating that pizza! The next day, he had a veggie burger and said it wasn't very tasty. And Friday night he had a veggie burger and sweet potato fries but otherwise, has stuck to it pretty good :) I'm so proud of him!

Day 18

Yesterday was day 18.

Breakfast:

fruit smoothie

Lunch:

Onions, spiraled zucchini and portabello mushrooms marinated in Braggs sauce then placed on a collard green leaf with 1/2 avocado sliced. This is so yummy and becoming one of my favorite "go to" foods.

Dinner:

1 piece of blueberry pie

1 fruit smoothie

I feel like I ate more than that but I certainly don't remember eating more than that! HA!

My weight this morning was 131lbs. YAY! 6 more pounds to my short term goal :)

Weight

I started on Feb 6 at 138lbs
Today, Feb 21 I'm at 133lbs
Not bad for 2 weeks!

Russ started at 188lbs
Today weights 178lbs and looks fantastic!

OH! And his blood pressure reading last night was lower than I've EVER seen it! 119/72YAY!!

Sick

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. My house got the sickies last week and although I usually escape it, I didn't this time :( I started feeling bad Thursday evening and by Friday I couldn't get out of bed. I'm wondering how much worse it would have been had I been eating a regular vegetarian diet but as my kids were all throwing up, all I had was man-sized burps and terrible stomach pains. I stayed in bed all day Friday and by Friday night all I wanted to do was resort back to my old sick comfortfoods. All I wanted was some toast, crackers and good ole chicken soup. I argued with myself and my husband until we both agreed it would be a good idea to eat some crackers then I thought better of it and ate an apple. lol It helped. By Saturday I was feeling better but still didn't eat much. Today is Sunday and I feel almost back to normal. The silver lining in the whole thing is I lost 2-3lbs. YAY! Oh, and I won the Biggest Loser of the week last week!! I lost 2.5 lbs last week :) I think I'm liking this raw diet more and more! Oh and I did the 30 day shred dvd 4 times last week. That probably helped. I think I'll start it again today :)

Day 13

I never in a hundred years thought that I'd look forward to eating COLLARD GREENS! HA! They are wonderful!! This afternoon for lunch I had avocado, squash, carrots, red onions, sprouts and Braggs sauce on collard green leaves! I wrapped them like a wrap and it was SOOO good!! I made 2 and decided they were so good I made 2 more :)

I'm not sure what is for dinner yet but I'm sure I'll come up with something new and exciting!

Dinner:
We had avocado, apple slices and honey in lettuce wraps! YUM!!

Day 10!

Did you think I fell off the face of the earth? lol Sorry I haven't kept up with the blog like I wanted to. It's been a busy few days.

Anyway! Russ is down 8lbs in 10 days; his blood pressure is lower than it's been in years (126/86); his energy level is consistent and he says he feels like he's in his 20's again! I think the scale is finally starting to move again, my shoulders feel good and I started a workout routine today. I wasn't going to do it for a few more pounds but figured with the hey. I'm down to 134lbs based on my scale. We'll see what Erika's scale says Thursday night (Biggest Loser weigh-in night).

We ate great all weekend. I've been busy writing a paper so my brain is mush but I'll recap today's food intake:

Breakfast:
The usual - fruit smoothie

Lunch:
This was "eat whatever is left in the fridge" day. We had yellow squash spaghetti, avocados, red onion, mung bean sprouts, spinach leaves and Braggs sauce all on a collard green leaf wrap! Sounds weird or disgusting but it was OUTSTANDING!!

Dinner:
Stuffed Portabello Mushrooms - these were good and I don't even LIKE Mushrooms!
I've only had Portabello Mushrooms twice in my lifetime - once last week and once today. THEY DON'T TASTE LIKE MUSHROOMS! These ones were great. We've become addicted to Braggs Liquid Aminos. It's kind of like Soy Sauce, but it's raw, unprocessed and uncooked. I fixed some guacamole (avocado, onion, tomato and a little salt), laid the mushroom on a plate stem up, poured a little Braggs on the mushroom and a little on the plate to help marinate the mushroom, then "stuffed" it with the guacamole! It was delicious!!

For desert Caley fixed us some uncooked brownies! They were DELICIOUS! I have no idea where she found the recipe but I'll definitely post it here once I find it!

Day 6

Breakfast:
Granola (YUM! YUM!)
Fruit Smoothie

Lunch:
Mock Salmon Pate on a Romaine lettuce leaf

Dinner:
Pad Thai

Snacks:
Still eating on that torte
some granola
couple bites of corn tortilla

Day 5!

Me and Mr Scale met this morning like we do every morning and he had good news for me! I'm down 3 pounds!! That's 3lbs in 4 days! WHOOT WHOOT!!

Breakfast:
Fruit smoothie

Lunch:
spinach salad with strawberries and dressing (homemade raw dressing, of course!)

Dinner:
Pizza (raw, homemade - not sure why I feel the need to clarify that. lol)

2nd Dinner:
We went to dinner with some friends of ours so I brought our own dressing and ordered a green salad. It was yummy! And I wasn't even tempted by the bread that was brought and placed in the center of the table :) YAY ME!

Snacks:
couple bites of cheesecake
couple bites of leftover torte
couple bites of granola I have in the dehydrator (have to keep testing it, right!?!)

I think that's it!

I can't wait to go to my Biggest Looser Challenge on Thursday night. If I don't win I'm going to be a little disappointed. I'd really like to blow everyone right out of the water. I wish I had time to exercise because i think that would help with the weight loss even more! 10 more pounds and I WILL start working out. My ankles just can't handle it yet. It was a good day!!

Day 4

Day 4 and all is well!! Russ said his energy level didn't bottom out around 2pm like it usually does and said he's feeling great!! "Pants on the ground, pants on the ground...." that's how I feel!! I haven't seen the scale move but maybe one notch to the left but my pants are falling down all over the place! We'll see what Mr. Scale says in the morning :)

Breakfast:
Fruit smoothie

Lunch:
a couple scoops of Fettuccine Alfredo on flax seed crackers.

Dinner:
Rest of the Fettuccine Alfredo (about 8 bites) and a slice of a torte I made (1 inch x 2 inches or so).

I keep thinking that I must have eaten something else but I just can't figure it out! The book says that your body will adjust to less food and I guess mine has!! It says that raw food is so high in nutrients that it needs less to survive on than dead, cooked food. Makes since to me! Can't wait to see what the scale says on Thursday night! I'm doing a Biggest Loser Challenge with a group of about 20 women. This Thursday will be week 6 of 10. I SOOOO want to win this challenge. IF I win, I will take the money (along with some tax refund money) and book a cruise with my hubby for our Anniversary. So far I've lost close to 7 lbs! I know I can, I know I can, I know I can....

Day 3!

Breakfast: Smoothie
Can't remember exactly....I make so many but it was a fruit smoothie.

Lunch: Smoothie
Green Smoothie.
3 cups green grapes
1 stock of celery
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup broccoli
1/2 peeled cucumber
1 cup water
BLEND!

This was very good! I was impressed :)

Snacks:
1/2 avocado
1 cup fruit smoothie (made one for the kids and I had 1 cup full)

Dinner:
Samon Pate in a romaine lettuce wrap with avocado slices. UNBELIEVABLE!! It looked and tasted so much like samon, it was hard to believe it was walnuts and a few vegetables!! HA! No picture....I inhaled it. lol

Desert:
1 slice of cheesecake

Just Like Cheesecake Recipe!

I've had many requests today for the cheesecake recipe. Keep in mind, it is TOTALLY raw. NOTHING is processed, was never heated, never cooked, TOTALLY RAW. I know, it's hard to believe. lol I've never seen RAW honey. It was pretty cool! And I've never even heard of Coconut Oil....it was pretty cool too!! Everything can be found at your local health food grocery store. I bought everything at Sprouts :)

Just Like Cheesecake
- by Emily Lee Angell

Makes: 24 slivers
Special Equipment: Food Processor

For the Crust:
2 cups raw macadamia nuts
1/2 cup dates, pitted
1/4 cup dried coconut

For the cheese:
3 cups chopped cashews, soaked for at least 1 hour
3/4 cup lemon juice (or lime juice)
3/4 cup honey
3/4 cup coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon celtic sea salt (optional)

For raspberry sauce:
1 bag frozen raspberries
1/2 cup dates

DIRECTIONS
To make the crust, process the macadamia nuts and dates in the food processor. Sprinkle dried coconut onto the bottom of an 8 or 9 inch springform pan. Press crust onto the coconut. This will prevent it from sticking.

To make the cheese, blend the cashews, lemon, honey, gently warmed coconut oil (do not use microwave), vanilla, sea salt (if using), and 1/2 cup water. Blend until smooth and adjust to taste.

Pour the mixture onto the crust. Remove air bubbles by tapping the pan on a table.

Place in the freezer until firm. Remove the whole cake from the pan while frozen and place on a serving platter. Defrost in the refrigerator. (I didn’t defrost it all the way)

To make the raspberry sauce, process raspberries and dates in a food processor until well blended. (Do not use a blender for this or the raspberry seeds will become like sand.)

Yummy!

Fettuccini Alfredo

This is a recipe from the book Living on Live Foods by Alissa Cohen.

Excerpt from the book: It tastes so much like genuine Fettuccini Alfredo that my cooked food friends adore it! You'll love the ease in creating it, along with its creamy Alfredo taste and texture. For added color and more variety you can add thin slices of red bell pepper, mushrooms or any other vegetables.

FETTUCCINI:
2 zucchini
2 summer squash

ALFREDO:
1 cup cashews
1 cup macadamia nuts
1 cup pine nuts
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 cloves garlic
2 teaspoons Bragg Liquid Aminos
2 tablespoons water

FOR FETTUCCINI NOODLES:
1. With a vegetable peeler, peel zucchini and summer squash into long thick strips, These will be your "fettuccini noodles." Set aside in a large bowl.

FOR ALFREDO SAUCE:
1. Place the Alfredo ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth and creamy.
2. Remove from food processor and place in bowl with "noodles".

TO ASSEMBLE:
1. With your hands, blend the Alfredo sauce through the noodles. This will take a few minutes as the sauce will be thick. The water from the vegetables will help thin it out while you kneed it together with your hands.

Result:
EXCELLENT!! I doubled the recipe thinking the kids would eat it but they didn't care for it. We had TONS of sauce left over. Next time I will make the sauce as is in the recipe and only double the noodles. But now we will use the sauce on chips and breads and so forth. All raw, of course :)

Day 2!

Day 2 is a wonderful day. Sun is shining, wind is blowing, temperature is PERFECT! And best of all? I fit into a pair of jeans I haven't been able to wear in a LONGGG time :)

Breakfast:
Smoothies!
1 orange
1 cup frozen peaches
handful of green grapes
1/4 lime, peeled
1 cup of ice and 1/2 cup water
BLEND! YUMMY!!

Lunch:
You guessed it, another SMOOTHIE!
This time I prepared a green smoothie (will add the name of it later):
3 cups green grapes
1/2 cup broccoli
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 avocado, pealed and pitted
1 cup ice and 1/2 cup water
YUMM!! This was SOOO much better than that tomato one from yesterday :)

I fixed Russ a salad to go with his juice and I had a few bites. The salad consisted of baby spinach, some green onion and sprouts. The dressing is as follows:
1 lime, pealed
juice from 1/2 a lemon
1/2 orange, pealed
1 1/2 avocado, peeled and pitted (I used the left over 1/2 from the juice above)
A little Dill and Cayenne seasoning
Blended it up in our Blendtec and BHAM! Awesome dressing! Next time I will use only 1/2 a lime. It was VERY powerful, but good! I had a few bites.

Later I am going to make a "Almost" Cheesecake, some corn tortillas, flax seed crackers and pizza bread!

Snacks:
handful of black grapes
handful of raw almonds

Dinner:
Fettuccini Alfredo!
WOW! Was this ever delicious! I will post the recipe, directions and a picture soon. Who knew eating raw could be this good!! lol

Cheesecake is chilling...can't wait to get to try it!! Seeds are soaking and I'll make the crackers tomorrow.

DAY 1!!

Well, by lunch time we hadn't eaten any cooked foods so we figured, let's call today DAY ONE!! Here's the run down:

Breakfast:
Fruit Smoothie (I made 3 different ones...here's just an example):
1 orange
1 apple (cored)
1 banana
1 cup strawberries
1/2 cup blueberries
1 cup water
1 cup ice
BLEND and DRINK! YUM!!

Lunch:
Vegetable Smoothie (I wasn't thrilled with this and will probably never make it again unless my taste buds do some serious changin'!)
3 tomatoes, quartered
1/4 onion
1 medium carrot
1 stalk of celery
1 cup ice
1/2 cup water
BLEND and DRINK! YUCK!
Note: I managed to drink 2 cups of this stuff. Russ drank 2-3 cups and it made about 5.5 cups!

Snack:
This kinda goes against the raw diet thing because the nuts are roasted but I JUST bought them the other night and it is WONDERFUL!!! There is this nut and goji berry mixture/trail mix stuff at Sprouts that is to DIE FOR! I ate maybe 3 handfuls and savored every minute of it. lol I also made some fruit leathers today and tried a piece of each. I think that's it as far as snacking goes! I guess I need to be keeping a food journal - that'd make this a whole lot easier!

Dinner:
We went to dinner at Beets! It's a raw restaurant in Austin. YUMM!!!
I ordered a ELT. This was an awesome sandwich on flat bread with avocado, sprouts, tomato lettuce, some special sauce and best of all, eggplant "bacon"! I have GOT to learn how to make that!!! We also got a salad sampler which was great and to top it all off, we got a chocolate "cheese" cake! I highly recommend this restaurant to ANYONE who would like to get a taste of what eating raw food is all about :)

Can't wait to get started tomorrow! I need to go to the grocery store in the morning for the week...making the grocery list now. Wish me luck!

P.S. Current weight as of Feb 4 is 138. Let the games begin!!

What do I need to get started?

Through my research, there are a few things that are necessary to be successful on a raw diet. I guess these things aren't mandatory, but it'll sure make your life a lot easier.

The Juicer: When we made the decision to become vegetarians, we invested in a really good juicer. We got this one: http://www.omegajuicersdirect.com/ It's the Omega 8006. It's a masticating juicer which is a low-speed unit that can juice the same items as a Centrifugal and Pulp Ejection while also having the ability to juice wheatgrass and leafy greens. It also has other functions: pasta extrusion, mincing, grinding and nut butters.

The Blender: I did a ton of research on which blender to get. They are NOT cheap so I wanted to be sure to get the "right" one. Most often you'll hear the brand Vita-Mix as the most common one out there. Well, there's a competitor called Blendtec that has recently come out with a blender that does everything the Vita-Mix does but it has a 4-inch blade! This puts the Blendtec far above the rest and made this an easy decision for me. Here it is: http://www.blendtec.com/productDetails.aspx?id=1350 Here's the video showing the difference that helped me to make my choice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO7bkHxiQEM

The Dehydrator: It seemed that the more recipes I read the more I came to the realization that I would need a dehydrator. And if you don't know me by now, I don't fool around when it comes to being prepared. I went for the BIG DADDY! Over and over I kept hearing about the brand Excalibur. So, I did my research and sure enough, that's the one I went with. Here it is: http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/9-Tray-Large-Excalibur-3900-68-37-regular-prod.htm

The Spiralizer: In order to make all the cool dishes (such as spaghetti), I had to have a spiralizer, right! lol It isn't in yet but I can't wait to use it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007Y9WHQ/ref=oss_product

The Book:Believe it or not, there are actually a lot of books on the subject! One that caught my attention was for beginners like me and included a 30-day plan which includes recipes, grocery lists and TONS of other information! So yep, this was definitely the book for me! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0974896306/ref=oss_product

So, as you can see, I don't fool around. Once I set my mind on something, I DO IT! I will be blogging my progression along the way and I believe our "day 1" will be on Sunday, February 7. Wish us luck!!

The Plan

February 4, 2010

I have decided to take on a 30-day raw food challenge. This is a challenge between me, myself and I. What is a raw challenge you might ask? Well, it's where everything you eat is a raw or living food; NO COOKED OR PROCESSED FOODS! Yes, this sounds like quite the challenge, doesn't it? Well, let me tell you a little bit about me and why I think I will succeed at such a challenge :)

About a year ago my husband and I made the decision to become vegetarians for our health! We felt that as a family we ate too many processed foods, foods high in sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Together as a family we watched a few documentaries such as The Beautiful Truth, Super Size Me and Corn something-or-another. Russell, my husband, had been on high blood pressure medicine for years and I was having trouble with my rotator cuff (due to an injury) and it was froze up on me! I thought cutting meat out of our diets would leave us with NOTHING to eat! Boy was I wrong! Within 2-weeks of cutting meat out of my diet, my shoulder was no longer in a locked position and I could actually reach the back of my head again! Imagine how much easier this made it to wash my hair! HA! We cut out all sodas and coffee at this time too. I started cooking healthy meals with more variety than ever! Even our kids, on their own accord, decided to travel down the path to better health and they too became vegetarians. Within 1 month Russell lost over 15-pounds, no longer takes medicine for his blood pressure and felt better than ever. I only lost a few pounds, but I didn't consume all the soda he did on a daily basis. We have had so much fun over the past 12 months exploring new foods, jucing and looking and feeling our best, we felt it was time to take it to the next level - going RAW!!

I have done a ton of research on this topic as I don't like to start anything new without a clear understanding of how to do it successfully. Last month Russ and I attended a raw, vegan pot-luck. What a wonderful experience!! This showed us that there is more to being raw than eating masses amounts of salads everyday. What a wonderful group of beautiful, healthy people! Our 10 year old son come with us to this event and he too loved everything! His favorite was dehydrated kale!! I never imagined in 100 years that MY KID would eat and even go as far to say he LOVES KALE!! HAHA! There were soups and salads, casseroles, and spaghetti, chocolate pudding and banana crepes! It truly was quite the experience. And guess what?? NO FAT PEOPLE! Everyone looked healthy and truly cared about their health. These are the type of people I need to surround myself with :)

Why do I want to go raw? What is MY motivation? My first thought on this is, WOW! I can loose weight and eat all the food I want!! IT'S TRUE!! From my studies, I feel that I'll immediately loose 15 MUCH NEEDED weight. Who needs more motivation than that!! LOL Okay, okay....in addition to the weight loss, eating a raw diet will put your body into an alkaline state and guess what? Disease and illness can not survive in an alkaline state! I know a young 27 year old woman with 2 young children who is battling cancer right now and fighting for her life. I have friends and family who are on all sorts of medication to help balance their bodies. My own mother died at the young age of 45! I DO NOT WANT TO FOLLOW IN THESE FOOTSTEPS! The answers are all right there, in plain English, in black and white. DIET IS THE KEY! If you eat ONLY live and living foods, YOU WILL BE HEALTHIER! It's not rocket science! So, there you have it - my motivation :) My husband has decided to embark on this journey with me so together we hope to be a healthier and happier couple.