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.
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