Day something or other...

I had a bit of a cold still today, but it wasn't bad. Not sure if it was detox maybe? I still went to the gym, but felt better after. I read it's ok to work out when you are sick, but I didn't go last night because I didn't want to make anybody else at the gym sick! I felt good enough today though. I had leftover fresh corn gaspacho soup which held up surprisingly good! I hate how I'm not hungry when I eat raw foods-you would think that is a good thing, but for me, it's not. I gain weight when I don't eat enough calories. My body freaks out a bit, and stores the fat. I need to eat my minimum calories or it's scary. Anyways I made the dreamy sour cream (pg. 70) and Sexy Salsa (p. 71) from Alive in 5 book. It was surprisingly simple. I'm starting to wonder if there are enough raw food recipes for two a day for one year?! What to make tomorrow??Ahhhh, no idea!!!!!

Day 7!

It's been one whole week! It's definitely been tough doing the more fancy recipes, but most of them are pretty easy. I just hope I don't run out of recipes!! I may have to invest in some more cookbooks, or get some for my birthday. I had a ton of tomatoes adn a lemon so I made a Tomato Fennel Soup and some almond milk for the zinc-which was surprisingly easy. I am starting to get a little bit of a cold (or maybe it's detoxing?) but my body seems to be fighting it off. I hope it stays that way, and doesn't get worse. I have been around a lot of kids who sneezed and blew their nose on me, and who knows what germs I have been getting at the gym! Yuck. Gyms kind of gross me out in that area! lol I will hopefully get back to spark people after the weekend is over.

Day 6!

Ok, it's Friday and I am in a hotel...don't feel like writing a lot so I'll get right to the recipes!

I made a Thai Guacamole!

and a Cucumber Raita


Feeling pretty lazy as far as making stuff, and just less hungry in general. I think that's a good thing? I did really good at work today, had a lot more focus. So, I guess I'm not being totally lazy! :)

Day 5...

....and still alive! Barely! Ugh. Today was NOT fun. I have to admit that doing something like this would be a lot easier if I had a more stable life. However, that is why I'm doing this-if I can, than anybody can! I find that when I eat low fast raw food meals, I don't have time to catch up at the end of the day all of my needed calories and fat...so I have to eat processed food because it is quicker. It's not really that raw is tough to do, I just need to plan things a little better. I'm still having trouble making sure I don't go overboard with raw food recipes with lots of fat, and not going under with too many low-fat recipes. It gets easier, right? RIGHT? ugh. I did notice at the gym that I was going really fast on the treadmill AFTER working out. Before it was just on my pre-work out warm up stepper that I had more energy. Now I am noticing more energy afterwards. My skin looks good without any makeup now, my lips are actually fuller (I'm more hydrated now from all the fruits and veggies maybe?) and my skin has a rosey glow (must be all the tomatoes?!) I haven't lost much weight, but than again, I'm not 100% raw right now either. I had a pear and some leftover raw lasagna and after working out made a smoothie of tons of blueberries, strawberries, and a banana. Than I made Cucado Soup and a sunshine carrot salad. And then for dinner I had a regular meal. I picked easy recipes today because I had to stay in a hotel, and it was a crazy day. My house is pretty much not a place I can stay at right now. I don't really want to talk about it, but let's just say I'm really proud of myself for managing to stay mostly raw today since it was horrible! No pics, as the food wasn't really exciting to blog about! The good news I didn't have to get a lot at Krogers today, as I had most of the ingredients already.

Day 4!

Sorry this is a bit late, but I was out until after midnight and couldn't post. I went to the Farmer's Market in Taylor, MI and got all kinds of fruits and vegetables. I got a free pear and pepper too :) The two recipes we made turned out pretty good, even though I had to kind of work around what was available (had to use kiwi since we couldn't find passion fruit, and I had a hard time finding Mango but luckily we did at Westborn Market in Dearborn, MI) The first recipe was a Raw Lasagna. I didn't use nori rolls because, well, they smell like a fish tank! Surprisingly enough though it help up pretty good without that layer when we served it. I also didn't put peppers or parsley on top, but just put carrots and basil. I was surprised with how much the sauce tasted like lasagna! Who knew Mangos would make a good sauce?! Everybody loved it, including a seven year old who thanked me for, "Giving him something healthy to eat!" Lol, gotta love kids! :) I also made some banana wraps (with kiwi instead of passion fruit) and a banana basil smoothie, which surprisingly was really good! I was really curious about that one and had to try it out! I can't believe how much everybody liked it considering they are non-rawfoodists. I definitely achieved my lower fat goal, with about 4 grams total, including the pears and blueberries I had for breakfast! The only problem was we went to a hockey game later and I was there way later than I wanted to be so I only had 626 total calories and 4 grams of fat for the day. Not good! So I had some chips and a bag of m&m's out of the vending machine at the ice rink :( I didn't want to eat that, but I know if I go under my calories I gain weight too. Oh well, it's food and I'm thankful I'm not starving, right? It could be worse :) I wasn't hungry though, but I felt I should eat something anyways. What on earth am I going to make tomorrow? It's late and I don't feel like looking anything up! I have a ton of tomatoes, carrots, pears, and blueberries...hmmm....I'm sure there is a recipe somewhere where a creative raw foodie used those ingredients! lol Here are some pics from the day (I was proud of my creations today, they looked actually good and not like cat vomit!)

Day 4 Pictures (Raw Lasagna, Banana Wraps, and Banana Basil Smoothie)

Day 3!

Survived day 3! I still have not jumped out of bed full of energy, but maybe that was from all the fat I have had the last few days. It took me a good 45 minutes or so to find a low-fat raw food recipe I hadn't tried yet, but I finally did. Unfortunately that put me really behind schedule since I decided to work out before doing any work tonight. I made a quick smoothie and drank it on the way to the gym. That's the best kind of fast food :)I have to say this was the first time in a loooong time that I didn't feel like I had led in my feet when I was on the stepper and treadmill. I actually felt like I was flying! I went to Kroger after the gym again, and I'm pretty sure they are starting to wonder about me. I am always all sweaty and only buying vegetables! lol The cashier asked me very slooowwwly, "Are you sure you found everything ok?" Yes, huh, I really just wanted vegetables and nothing else yet again! :) I think they would probably guess I'm homeless if it wasn't for the fact that I always pay with an American Express card! So, instead, they are just confused! I somehow spent more than yesterday ($10) but I think I went a bit overboard on tomatoes as I had a lot of extra's left over today. My first recipe turned out really good! I loved the soup so much! I definitely recommend it. I got it online and it's called Fresh Corn Gazpacho. I would agree with a poster on there that it was a bit much on the Apple Cider Vinegar, but it wasn't bad. Just something to be aware of if you make it-you can always add more in later if you have to! I added some carrots to it, and I also would recommend some more corn. Otherwise though, it was very good. The second recipe I made was Raw Spaghetti. I have absolutely no idea where I found the recipe at, but I remembered it thankfully when I was shopping. It was basically just some zucchini with a tomato (and spices) sauce. It was ok, but nothing that great. My sparkpeople page finally showed my fat under control today. I ate other stuff than what I added on there so don't think I only had 929 calories today, but I just don't feel like including everything! You get the basic idea though. I really recommend you do the Spark People nutrition tracker if you are trying to lose weight-it has really helped me a lot. I only wish I would have done it sooner! I'll save you the pictures from today-unfortunately, a lot of the food I make tends to look like cat vomit! Sorry for the visual, but it's true! :) Like I said before though-I'm just glad it doesn't taste that way! Sooo...what to make tomorrow?!

Day 2!

Today went a lot better! :) I have to admit, I didn't follow the recipes exactly, and that was just fine by me! I just didn't feel like driving out of my way today. Maybe if I had more time, but I really wanted to just make recipes that are easy and don't require me to import anything from a far away tropical land! I also only spent $8 (and that included two Bora Bora bars!) I did have some trouble convincing myself to wake up early to go grocery shopping, and I didn't make it to my spin class at the gym. Alas, I guess one day of raw foods isn't enough to make me jump out of bed at 6am! I'll keep hoping for that day! I did work out on my rebounder though for 15 minutes, if that counts? When I woke up I was actually craving a green juice, which is weird since I hate anything green normally! So I made a smoothie of spinach, blueberries, and some coconut. Even though I can eat one normal meal, I have found myself not wanting to ruin it with a non-raw meal. Knowing that I have the freedom to eat whatever I want makes it a lot easier to not eat junk food! I thought that was just a fluke yesterday, but the feeling lasted today. I'm definitely not complaining! Ok, enough rambling...on to the good stuff! I actually have a recipe I can share since I got it online. It was Pad Thai, and it was really, really good! I'll admit I wasn't terribly excited about it, but made that one because it had a lot of ingredients I already bought yesterday and had left over. I was pleasantly surprised with how good it was! Where do people come up with this stuff? I would never have thought to put cashews with olive oil, lime, and peppers! lol I didn't use raw olive oil since we already had regular olive oil at the house. Maybe I'll splurge on some raw olive oil when the one we have runs out. I don't have a vegetable peeler so I just cut the zucchini up in some weird shapes, but hey, close enough, right? I'm also not sure if I got the right kind of zucchini, but it was all that was organic at Kroger, so I figured it was good enough. lol I didn't find bean sprouts, so I got broccoli sprouts. I also accidentally got a Green Pepper, after spending about 10 minutes trying to decide if it was a Bell Pepper or not...I forgot that I needed yellow or red! I also didn't exactly ground the cashews-I just put them in a bag and smashed them up a bit! Gourmet Chef I may not be, but I get the job done! lol Despite my, uh, issues, it turned out really good! I'm starting to get the hang out of this-just don't let any real chef's see me cook! ;) I also made the apple cinnamon porridge (p. 370 of Rainbow Green Live Cuisine) which turned out good even though I didn't soak the almonds (who has time for that? I need to start doing this the day before! whoops!) and that made it really tough to blend (finally figured out I needed to add more water...I was just afraid if I added too much water it would be too soupy). I am not sure why some people say they can't do raw foods in the winter time, as it seems the easiest recipes to do would be really good in the winter. I can definitely see myself eating this cinnamon apple porridge during the winter time. I have to admit I was really tempted to want to put some whip cream on it! lol (oh, and I forgot to mention that my friend put sour cream on the chili from yesterday, and heated it up! Oh well, it's still better than what he normally eats!)It kind of looked like cat vomit...but at least it tasted good! :) I looove cinnamon!The bora bora bar was good also-it was the closest I could find to a raw bar. Here's the book I got the apple porridge recipe from:



Pictures from today (mostly of the Pad Thai, the last is the porridge)


I may have snuck a brownie today also, but it was one of those bite size ones. ;) I will update my spark people page tonight when I'm done working! I'm curious to see what my nutritional intake was for today!