Well, there's not a whole lot to say so far. We've cheated a bit for our sanity, but overall we feel great and have both lost some Lbs.
I'm convinced this diet is for single, unemployed rich people with lots of time on their hands.
Most of these recipes require soaking and growing and days of planning and have obscure ingredients that you may or may not have and probably can't pick up at your local Kroger.
I plan on going back on it once this movie wraps and I have a little time to do THINGS at home and can properly plan our meals and diets. Right now we're just making lots of things we can dehydrate or prep and carry with us to snack on all day.
Rhu has traveled several times this month so maybe she'll blog and let you know what that was like....
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
I'm not sure if i Love or Hate this DIET.
So we're on day 9 of the raw diet, and Rhu and I have had entire email threads about cheese and how much we miss it. At least twice a day I say how all I want is greasy grilled cheese sandwich and a big steaming bowl of creamy mushroom soup to dip it in! I have a feeling that we're worried too much about trying to be completely raw and we're making ourselves a little miserable with it! We both have had to step back and say "you know what- that's ok to eat." I think we're probably underestimating exactly how much is 90% of our diet. Even if we were to cheat for one meal and be super strict for a day or two, I think it would even out.
We managed to find a cafe/ market way out in Marietta that is centered around the raw lifestyle. It was very interesting, and we had some GREAT food in the cafe, and their nut cheese was off the chain! Rhu bought a ton of their pre packaged meals to take with her on her trip to Arkansas, which seemed to have held up well and helped her survive eating on the run/ in a hotel!
Also: they sold raw brownies and raw cheesecake. Yumsville! That definitely makes this month go by a little easier!
I've finally managed to come up with a recipe for flax crackers that's not totally bland, it's just really oniony this time! Ha! I think next round I'll add some almond meal to fill it out a little.
Also, one of the prepared meals is curried kale salad and it just hits the spot for me! I love love love curry in all forms, and was sad that I would not be able to eat it for a month! I found a recipe for it online and it's apparently very easy to make- this will definitely become a winter time staple!
I think that the frustrating part of this challenge for me is that there is a lot of trial and error and in order to get the hang of things and filter out the good recipes the we like and just learn the ins and outs of the culture, and not just eating fruit & Salads all day. I feel like I need more than four weeks to find the recipes and settle into a good routine.
We both are interested in continuing the raw diet beyond this month (only after some cheat meals!) and maintain at a 50- 60% raw diet. A lot of people are raw until dinner, and that seems like a reasonable idea to help maintain a low fat/ high energy diet.
I do like the increased amount of energy, and how good I feel in the morning instead of dreading the alarm. I've lost weight without working out, and well that's always a plus in my book! I love the prepping and learning and there's just something magical about watching a jar of sprouts grow on my counter top!
But I still want a veggie burger smothered in grilled onions and chipotle mayo with a side of fries and honey mustard.
We managed to find a cafe/ market way out in Marietta that is centered around the raw lifestyle. It was very interesting, and we had some GREAT food in the cafe, and their nut cheese was off the chain! Rhu bought a ton of their pre packaged meals to take with her on her trip to Arkansas, which seemed to have held up well and helped her survive eating on the run/ in a hotel!
Also: they sold raw brownies and raw cheesecake. Yumsville! That definitely makes this month go by a little easier!
I've finally managed to come up with a recipe for flax crackers that's not totally bland, it's just really oniony this time! Ha! I think next round I'll add some almond meal to fill it out a little.
Also, one of the prepared meals is curried kale salad and it just hits the spot for me! I love love love curry in all forms, and was sad that I would not be able to eat it for a month! I found a recipe for it online and it's apparently very easy to make- this will definitely become a winter time staple!
I think that the frustrating part of this challenge for me is that there is a lot of trial and error and in order to get the hang of things and filter out the good recipes the we like and just learn the ins and outs of the culture, and not just eating fruit & Salads all day. I feel like I need more than four weeks to find the recipes and settle into a good routine.
We both are interested in continuing the raw diet beyond this month (only after some cheat meals!) and maintain at a 50- 60% raw diet. A lot of people are raw until dinner, and that seems like a reasonable idea to help maintain a low fat/ high energy diet.
I do like the increased amount of energy, and how good I feel in the morning instead of dreading the alarm. I've lost weight without working out, and well that's always a plus in my book! I love the prepping and learning and there's just something magical about watching a jar of sprouts grow on my counter top!
But I still want a veggie burger smothered in grilled onions and chipotle mayo with a side of fries and honey mustard.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Raw Vegan February: Day 87. . . er, I mean, 4
This resolution sucks!
Ok, it doesn't completely suck. I mean, it's fun learning new things and not putting shit into my body and dropping 7 pounds in one week (that's right, bitches), but DAMN I miss cheese! I thought that I would be dying for a beer or a bowl of flan, but really all I want is cheese (wrapped nicely around a COOKED veggie burger on a toasted, slathered-in-butter bun with a side of fries). Hahaha!
In all honesty, I'm surprised at how FEW cravings I've had. I'm a food craver. I crave textures and flavors and the way certain foods feel when they're swallowed. All the time. And never once, not one day in my entire existence, has that craving included broccoli or any of its raw green friends. But since I've been on this raw diet (for the record, I started eating almost completely raw during the last week of January to ease my way into this) they've been relatively minimal. Every now and then something hits me, but generally I don't think about it. That's surprising but very helpful.
Also, I don't think I've ever spent this much time in the kitchen. Cumulatively. In my whole life. Ever. This stupid diet takes SOOOO much work and prep and planning and foresight (who the hell has enough foresight to plan TOMORROW'S dinner and let it start sprouting before you go to work in the morning today?). And every meal requires chopping and blending and sprouting and dehydrating and juicing, and frankly, I'm over it. Mostly because I'm not that good at it. Ok, ok, I'm basing that off of last night's disastrous dinner. I tried to make "sunshine burgers" (soak sunflower seeds for 8 hours, food process them in the world's tiniest food processor along with a pepper, celery, carrot or two, and parsley, make patties, then dehydrate them for 12-24 hours). Yeah. Except I put WAY too much parsley in it and then dehydrated them for too long so that when I got home from work the whole house smelled like the underside of a bedridden obese man's fat fold. And the taste was quite similar. Bleck! I'm still nauseous today because I can't get the taste out of my system. Gag!
But we have had some successes too. We have a pretty groovy trail mix with Onion's homemade rawnola and our homemade dried fruit. I made some bitchin' kale chips today. Our avocado "mayonnaise" is pretty tasty. The smoothie-making process is getting better everyday. And for the win, banana ice cream (dude, you just freeze a banana solid, then blend it up and you'd swear to Moses you're actually eating ice cream!). So, we're learning. Unfortunately, a lot of food is getting thrown away in the process. Hopefully, we'll be able to figure things out and get into a nice routine to keep things coming and not be wasteful.
Either way, expect to find a much slimmer me on March 1, pitcher of beer and veggie burger in hand, ready to re-pollute my system. :D
Ok, it doesn't completely suck. I mean, it's fun learning new things and not putting shit into my body and dropping 7 pounds in one week (that's right, bitches), but DAMN I miss cheese! I thought that I would be dying for a beer or a bowl of flan, but really all I want is cheese (wrapped nicely around a COOKED veggie burger on a toasted, slathered-in-butter bun with a side of fries). Hahaha!
In all honesty, I'm surprised at how FEW cravings I've had. I'm a food craver. I crave textures and flavors and the way certain foods feel when they're swallowed. All the time. And never once, not one day in my entire existence, has that craving included broccoli or any of its raw green friends. But since I've been on this raw diet (for the record, I started eating almost completely raw during the last week of January to ease my way into this) they've been relatively minimal. Every now and then something hits me, but generally I don't think about it. That's surprising but very helpful.
Also, I don't think I've ever spent this much time in the kitchen. Cumulatively. In my whole life. Ever. This stupid diet takes SOOOO much work and prep and planning and foresight (who the hell has enough foresight to plan TOMORROW'S dinner and let it start sprouting before you go to work in the morning today?). And every meal requires chopping and blending and sprouting and dehydrating and juicing, and frankly, I'm over it. Mostly because I'm not that good at it. Ok, ok, I'm basing that off of last night's disastrous dinner. I tried to make "sunshine burgers" (soak sunflower seeds for 8 hours, food process them in the world's tiniest food processor along with a pepper, celery, carrot or two, and parsley, make patties, then dehydrate them for 12-24 hours). Yeah. Except I put WAY too much parsley in it and then dehydrated them for too long so that when I got home from work the whole house smelled like the underside of a bedridden obese man's fat fold. And the taste was quite similar. Bleck! I'm still nauseous today because I can't get the taste out of my system. Gag!
But we have had some successes too. We have a pretty groovy trail mix with Onion's homemade rawnola and our homemade dried fruit. I made some bitchin' kale chips today. Our avocado "mayonnaise" is pretty tasty. The smoothie-making process is getting better everyday. And for the win, banana ice cream (dude, you just freeze a banana solid, then blend it up and you'd swear to Moses you're actually eating ice cream!). So, we're learning. Unfortunately, a lot of food is getting thrown away in the process. Hopefully, we'll be able to figure things out and get into a nice routine to keep things coming and not be wasteful.
Either way, expect to find a much slimmer me on March 1, pitcher of beer and veggie burger in hand, ready to re-pollute my system. :D
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Month 2
Hippies be still your hearts, this month we're going raw vegan!
What does this mean? Well, if you'll allow me to quote Wikipedia: Raw veganism is a diet which combines veganism and raw foodism. It excludes all food of animal origin, and all food cooked above 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit).
So, that's pretty much it. We're going to spend this month eating a 90% raw vegan diet. (We're going with 90% because it's just ludicrous to jump into such a strict diet and not expect some wiggle room-- especially given both of our jobs.)
We did purposely put this one in the short month of February, because we do think that it will be the most difficult of our 12 resolutions. But who knows, maybe it will be so awesome that we'll continue to some extent for the rest of the year.
What does this mean? Well, if you'll allow me to quote Wikipedia: Raw veganism is a diet which combines veganism and raw foodism. It excludes all food of animal origin, and all food cooked above 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit).
So, that's pretty much it. We're going to spend this month eating a 90% raw vegan diet. (We're going with 90% because it's just ludicrous to jump into such a strict diet and not expect some wiggle room-- especially given both of our jobs.)
We did purposely put this one in the short month of February, because we do think that it will be the most difficult of our 12 resolutions. But who knows, maybe it will be so awesome that we'll continue to some extent for the rest of the year.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Day -1
So even though the raw diet doesn't start until tomorrow, I tried to get a jump start on it this morning by making a variation on this Rawnola and making myself a smoothie.
I discovered, however that the wonderfully cheap oat groats I bought at Sevenanda weren't totally raw and wouldn't sprout. Either way, I continued to soak them and just followed the recipe from there. If it ends up crispy and gooey like I think it will, this is going to be a staple in our diets over the next month (if I can find true raw oats (and if not I'll just make a lot of this next month!)
The green smoothie was a half fail, as I got overzealous with the kale and only used one apple and too much ginger. I managed to get half of it down before I tapped out. It was thick and fibery and I couldn't drink it; I had to spoon it on my way to Dunwoody on a run this morning.
I discovered, however that the wonderfully cheap oat groats I bought at Sevenanda weren't totally raw and wouldn't sprout. Either way, I continued to soak them and just followed the recipe from there. If it ends up crispy and gooey like I think it will, this is going to be a staple in our diets over the next month (if I can find true raw oats (and if not I'll just make a lot of this next month!)
The green smoothie was a half fail, as I got overzealous with the kale and only used one apple and too much ginger. I managed to get half of it down before I tapped out. It was thick and fibery and I couldn't drink it; I had to spoon it on my way to Dunwoody on a run this morning.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
WOW. That was an epic fail.
So, I've done horribly at Fresh January. Basically, it's been an epic fail on my part, but I sure had the best intentions....
It was super hard for me to get into only thirty minutes of cleaning. I seem to be more of a four or five hours of focused cleaning kind of girl. I would come home exhausted and just want to relax on the couch with Caryn and drink a glass of wine to slow things down...
Seeing as how I worked through a lot of the holidays and the entire week everyone had off for the snow (yeah, I drove the 3.5 miles to work that first day AND the second day after everything iced over, and only slid maybe 2 times all week. I blame it on having driven the same car for 10 years and knowing it well...) AND I was in pre production all month for this infamous Dolly Parton film in which I'm involved (which, btw pre production can be normal or it can be insane, depending on the crew I'm working for, and despite Cedar's and my best effort, it has been insane, frustrating and at times debilitating.) Regardless, I've been consistently getting at least seven hours of sleep most nights and I wake up exhausted and not ready for the day- so something has to change...
So I've sucked BUT---- Rhu has knocked it out of the park!!! In self defense of the impending cabin fever during the snowpocalypse, she straight up scrubbed the floors on her hands and knees!! She's done so much that needed to be done around the house, I can't start to list it! I'm normally a control freak when it comes to spaces and organization, but I'm trying really hard to just let go and trust Rhu's system, because it needs to be done, and if I don't have time and she can take it on, it's better to just have ANY system than try and force something I don't have time to set up properly... This alone has been a growing moment for me, however little it is...
NEXT MONTH, however has been super intriguing and exciting for us- especially for me! I love, love, love cooking/ preparing/ 'uncooking'/ making anything really at all!! I've found it easier to take snippits of the day to read up on the ins and outs of raw food theory and the raw lifestyle and it's many techniques.
I'm so excited about it, I could easily see it being my next career. Probably because I see cooking (or uncooking as the raw community calls it) as a fun, quick art project that has the best reward- Rhu loves to eat as much as I love to cook! We've pleasantly turned into a happy pair of vegetarian foodies! I love combining flavors and textures and the chopping and mixing and feeling it out instead of following a recipe closely..... it's the easiest way to relax into my intuition without committing hours and hours of a weekend....
I must say right off however, that I don't think that a lot of what I'm reading is either healthy or accurate. There are a LOT of people out there who are extremist and become obsessed with consuming only raw, pure, never heated food. I'm just not sure that I think that becoming obsessed or too serious about anything in life is healthy. I personally feel that ideas and theories should always be fluid and evolving, especially if they're as restrictive as the raw food diet can be! There's nothing wrong with enjoying a veggie burger & fries and a few beers occasionally with good friends to flex other parts of your soul that simply eating healthily can't fulfill.
While we are committed to being as raw as possible for the next thirty days (I'm shooting for 90-95%, allowing for some financial and flavor practicality), neither one of us seem to think that a fully raw diet is possible or practical, and obsessing over the food we eat is prohibitive to enjoying life and the few hours every day that we have free! However, my goal after this month of strict raw food is to eat a 50- 75% raw diet and continue to dehydrate and sprout so that I'm eating more healthy and filling the cravings we both have with healthier options. I'm interested in the heightened energy levels, and am actually counting on it to be able to get up extra early in the morning to prep food for the day!
I'm still at a loss for what to bring everyday for lunch, but I'll have to figure that out soon, as Tuesday is the first all raw day!
It's been SO FUN going to the farmer's market and dehydrating stuff (dehydrator provided by the lovely Sheila Nash, set designer extraordinaire!) and exploring the great blender we have and Mom brought me her juicer, so I've got to figure that out (apparently you can't juice in advance? like the night before? I'm sorta still in the dark about that one)
Either way, I'm looking forward to next months' challenge and hopefully will be able to stick to it- as I'm more often than not in charge of my time or my meal choices....
Here are some pics of the bounty our kitchen holds:
It was super hard for me to get into only thirty minutes of cleaning. I seem to be more of a four or five hours of focused cleaning kind of girl. I would come home exhausted and just want to relax on the couch with Caryn and drink a glass of wine to slow things down...
Seeing as how I worked through a lot of the holidays and the entire week everyone had off for the snow (yeah, I drove the 3.5 miles to work that first day AND the second day after everything iced over, and only slid maybe 2 times all week. I blame it on having driven the same car for 10 years and knowing it well...) AND I was in pre production all month for this infamous Dolly Parton film in which I'm involved (which, btw pre production can be normal or it can be insane, depending on the crew I'm working for, and despite Cedar's and my best effort, it has been insane, frustrating and at times debilitating.) Regardless, I've been consistently getting at least seven hours of sleep most nights and I wake up exhausted and not ready for the day- so something has to change...
So I've sucked BUT---- Rhu has knocked it out of the park!!! In self defense of the impending cabin fever during the snowpocalypse, she straight up scrubbed the floors on her hands and knees!! She's done so much that needed to be done around the house, I can't start to list it! I'm normally a control freak when it comes to spaces and organization, but I'm trying really hard to just let go and trust Rhu's system, because it needs to be done, and if I don't have time and she can take it on, it's better to just have ANY system than try and force something I don't have time to set up properly... This alone has been a growing moment for me, however little it is...
NEXT MONTH, however has been super intriguing and exciting for us- especially for me! I love, love, love cooking/ preparing/ 'uncooking'/ making anything really at all!! I've found it easier to take snippits of the day to read up on the ins and outs of raw food theory and the raw lifestyle and it's many techniques.
I'm so excited about it, I could easily see it being my next career. Probably because I see cooking (or uncooking as the raw community calls it) as a fun, quick art project that has the best reward- Rhu loves to eat as much as I love to cook! We've pleasantly turned into a happy pair of vegetarian foodies! I love combining flavors and textures and the chopping and mixing and feeling it out instead of following a recipe closely..... it's the easiest way to relax into my intuition without committing hours and hours of a weekend....
I must say right off however, that I don't think that a lot of what I'm reading is either healthy or accurate. There are a LOT of people out there who are extremist and become obsessed with consuming only raw, pure, never heated food. I'm just not sure that I think that becoming obsessed or too serious about anything in life is healthy. I personally feel that ideas and theories should always be fluid and evolving, especially if they're as restrictive as the raw food diet can be! There's nothing wrong with enjoying a veggie burger & fries and a few beers occasionally with good friends to flex other parts of your soul that simply eating healthily can't fulfill.
While we are committed to being as raw as possible for the next thirty days (I'm shooting for 90-95%, allowing for some financial and flavor practicality), neither one of us seem to think that a fully raw diet is possible or practical, and obsessing over the food we eat is prohibitive to enjoying life and the few hours every day that we have free! However, my goal after this month of strict raw food is to eat a 50- 75% raw diet and continue to dehydrate and sprout so that I'm eating more healthy and filling the cravings we both have with healthier options. I'm interested in the heightened energy levels, and am actually counting on it to be able to get up extra early in the morning to prep food for the day!
I'm still at a loss for what to bring everyday for lunch, but I'll have to figure that out soon, as Tuesday is the first all raw day!
It's been SO FUN going to the farmer's market and dehydrating stuff (dehydrator provided by the lovely Sheila Nash, set designer extraordinaire!) and exploring the great blender we have and Mom brought me her juicer, so I've got to figure that out (apparently you can't juice in advance? like the night before? I'm sorta still in the dark about that one)
Either way, I'm looking forward to next months' challenge and hopefully will be able to stick to it- as I'm more often than not in charge of my time or my meal choices....
Here are some pics of the bounty our kitchen holds:
This is our raw nut stash- I'm planning on using these for our protein and iron and fat intake- they're also filling, so they will help us with food craving and hunger in the first four or five days until our taste buds shift to more raw tenancies...
this is the greens basket for the smoothies in the morning,
as well as a few dehydrator trays that have been prepped with unbleached parchment.
The white fabric is what I'm using to stretch over jars for sprouting.
This is raw food central for us!
The dehydrator is full of grapes and cranberries and strawberries,
our favorite sprout mix, super sprout sandwich mix from Sevenanda
and some red Quinoa are sprouting in front,
some dates are soaking and some oat groats are sprouting
for some raw granola that will be made in the morning....
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