Day 1
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Day 1 |
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My Raw Journal ~ Month One
Saturday ~ June 26, 2004 ~ Day 31
Most of the day I hung around the house, paid some bills, did some laundry, worked on the puter and surfed other raw web sites.
Tonight we had a function at the VFW post. It's the 75th anniversary of the post so they had a big party with dinner, dancing and a whole lot of fun. It was really great, we had a blast. After dinner my father gave me a heads up that he was going to call me up to the mic to say a couple quick words to the guest since I'm President of the Ladies Auxiliary. Oh man, I wasn't expecting that. I get so nervouse talking in front of crowds. It was quick though and I made it through, I just said a quick thanks for coming, congratulations to the post and have a fun time.
Then the party began. Once the music started we were all up dancing all night long. The funny thing is that years ago I would always dance, I love dancing but over the last several years I would feel funny on the dance floor. I would always want to dance but would feel that I looked like a clumsy fat slob up there and would feel embarassed and sit down after one song.
But tonight was different, I felt almost liberated for some reason. I know I'm not skinny yet but I felt good on the dance floor. It's like the "old me" has come back. I didn't care what I looked like and sometimes I even felt that I looked good up there. I felt so outgoing and good about myself. I had all this energy and we would stay on the dance floor for 5 or 6 songs until they played a slow song. There was even one song when there was nobody on the dance floor except me and my sister and we just danced and danced like crazy and when the song was done the whole crowd applauded us. It was the best, I didn't feel self concious at all. This was the first time in the past month that I noticed a change in myself, and I know it's because of raw eating. I guess it's been slowly happening but tonight it smacked me in the face, I'm starting to feel better inside and out already.
At one point, my sister, father, mother and I were dancing and my mother looked at me said "what has got into you? where'd you get all this energy?" and I just yelled out "raw baby, it's all about the raw!" we all laughed and kept on dancing.
Hubby and I left about 10:30pm because he'd been up since 5:00am for work. As we were walking around saying our goodbyes, one lady said to me "oh your leaving now? I wanted to watch you dance more". I just chuckled and told her that I was pooped, wore myself out.
What a great night, for so many reasons. And a great way to move into month two of raw.
Food Intake:
coffee
zucc-guini with spaghetti sauce
fruit cup
salad
green beans (cooked)
potatoes (cooked)
Friday ~ June 25, 2004 ~ Day 30
Today started off ok, besides having coffee again. I ate raw all day until dinner. I went to see my nephew in the hospital after work so I didn't get home until 10:30pm. By the time I got home I was starving and hubby was too. We ended up having grilled cheese sandwiches. I don't know why I'm struggling so much with this. I definately want to be 100% raw so I don't know why I don't put in 100% effort. Sometimes I'm just too tired or hungry to care and then I regret it after.
In Alissa Cohen's book she recommends to always have something with you at all times so if you get hungry you will eat raw rather than grabbing something cooked. If I had at least had an apple or some nuts in the car, I would have eaten that to hold me over instead of not eating since 1:00pm and getting home after 10:00pm starving and giving in to temptation. Lesson well learned today.
Food Intake:
coffee
banana
red delicious apple
salad = loaded with tons of goodies from the salad bar at the nearby fruit center
grilled cheese sandwich - uggggggggggggh!
Thursday ~ June 24, 2004 ~ Day 29
I was dragging this morning when I woke up, as I have been all week. I just couldn't stand it anymore so I gave in and had a cup of coffee. Hey, shit happens. I'm planning on quitting smoking real soon for obvious reasons, why go raw yet continue to poison my body with cigarette toxins? It seems simple enough however I'm the type of person that has to plan everything I do and set my mind to it. I've always been that way, even when deciding to go raw. I first decide to do something, plan it out, pick a date and go with it. Anyway, back to the point I was originally talking about.....coffee. In the past when I've quit smoking, coffee usually starts to taste disgusting to me after a week or so. So I guess I have to quit smoking then I will automatically quit the coffee too. I know the reason why after almost one month raw and I still don't notice an increase in energy is because I smoke.
I have been noticing the other benefits though. Obviously I have the weight loss but I also notice my skin clearing up and it doesn't feel so oily anymore. I haven't worn any makeup in over a week now, which anyone who knows me knows that's a huge deal. I always have worn makeup. But if feels so good to have fresh clean skin not loaded up with makeup. My skin isn't perfect yet but enough to not worry about covering up blemishes.
Also, I forgot to mention yesterday that I bought a body brush with natural bristles and I also bought cocoa butter. In the morning before my shower I dry brush my body. Dry skin brushing stimulates the skin which activates natural healing pathways within your body. It also removes toxins and unwanted materials from your pores. Read here for a great explanation about dry skin brushing. Then after my shower I apply the cocoa butter to my belly, hips and thighs. I hear these two task will help with cellulite and stretch marks, I will let you know if this is true.
I'm coming up to a month raw this weekend, I hope I have the guts to finally post my before raw and 1 month raw pics to share with you all. Looking in the mirror I don't notice much of a difference but maybe when I put the two pics side by side I will notice and it will give me that extra push to help me to improve more and more each day with my struggles. Although, for some reason I think my teeth look a little whiter. This could be my imagination but I'll have to see the pics next to each other.
Food Intake:
banana
red delicious apple
salad = cukes, onion, mushrooms, shredded carrot, red pepper with light creamy italian dressing
slice of watermelon
fettuccini alfredo (yes it's raw)
Wednesday ~ June 23, 2004 ~ Day 28
I have been really tired all day today, as matter of fact I have been really tired all week. I assume this is because my body is detoxing from coffee, I dunno maybe not.
I had the best lunch hour today. It was so beautiful out so I decided to go to a park down the street from my work. Behind the playground there is a huge open field so I strolled over, sat down on the grass, flipped off my sandals and read some more of Alissa Cohen's book. I read for about 15 minutes then I rolled up my capri pants and my sleaves and just leaned back and soaked in the sun. Aaaaaaaaaah, it was awesome!!!!! The sun felt so good on my face, I could have stayed there all day. Then I did some stretching and deep breathing for a bit then had to head back to the office. I'm going to have to do that more often.
I stopped on the way home and picked up all sorts of produce so I can try some new recipes from the book. I need raw honey but I can't seem to find honey that says "raw". But I can use maple syrup until I find it because I read from Juliano that they are a substitute for each other anyway.
When I got home I was so hungry and I fumbled through the recipes in the book but couldn't decide what I wanted to make. So many options, I felt a little overwhelmed. I have to start trying new things though because I seem to be making the same ol' thing all the time. So I decided to make the fettuccini with alfredo sauce. What a nightmare the sauce turned out to be. It's supposed to become creamy but I was just getting lumpy, I think I need a better food processor. I mixed in in with the zuccini fettuccini anyway and had a couple bites but it just wasn't doing anything for me. I put it in the fridge and I'll bring it for lunch tomorrow I guesse. So I had a handful of raw almonds a red delicious apple, that'll do for the night.
Food Intake:
banana
1/2 c. raw cashews
red delicious apple
salad with gaucamole, salsa and black beans
a couple bites of raw fettuccini alfredo
red delicious apple
Tuesday ~ June 22, 2004 ~ Day 27
Not much to wright about today, work was kinda slow and boring. I was able to read some more of Alissa Cohen's book and found a bunch of great recipes I'd like to try, I definately need to get a dehydrator soon.
The other ladies at work said that they would be my guinea pigs, so I plan on trying some different recipes and bring them in for all to try. They seemed pretty excited with some of the recipes I was mentioning from the book. I thought that was pretty cool of them. There is a recipe for potato salad that looks yummy, and it looks like a big portion so I might try that one first.
One thing I'd like to mention is that yesterday my bottom eye lid was feeling a little soar, well I woke up this morning with a big ol' nasty stye in my eye. I have no idea if this is a detox symptom or not but I haven't had a stye in many years. And now my other eye is feeling soar, I hope I don't wake up tomorrow with a stye in that eye also.
Food Intake:
banana
3/4 c. raw cashews
1 sliced cuke, chopped red onion with olive oil and vinegar
granny smith apple
iced coffee
Monday ~ June 21, 2004 ~ Day 26
To start with, this morning I got on the scale for the first time since Friday morning. I stepped on slowly and was afraid to look down for a couple minutes. When I finally looked down, I found that I had actually lost a pound somehow. I have no idea how this happened since I had eaten so much cooked food over the weekend due to lack of raw resources. Woo hoo, I was afraid for nothing.
This morning was my first day without that morning cup of coffee, it was hard not to have it. And I was dragging all day, I even caught my head bobbing a couple of times during the day. I could have easily curled up under my desk and taken a nap, but somehow I made it through the day.
However, after work I was on my way in to visit my nephew who is sick in the hospital and I couldn't stand it anymore. I caved and stopped at Dunkin Donuts and grabbed a medium iced coffee. I was so tired, there was no way I was going to make the 45 minute drive in to the Boston hospital, visit with him and then drive over an hour home around 8:00pm without falling asleep. Grrrrrrrr, tomorrow I will try to make it through the entire day without coffee. Hey, these things take time to adjust too right? At least I'm trying.
Food Intake:
banana/strawberry smoothie
plum (it wasn't ripe enough so it was sour, but I ate it anyway)
3/4 c. raw cashews
cucumber and tomato salad
banana
medium iced coffee
a handful of raw cashews
Sunday ~ June 20, 2004 ~ Day 25
I didn't have breakfast because I had an early meeting again that didn't get out until noon. But we went to the hotel restaurant again and had a late breakfast. Grrrrrrr, that darn hotel buffet. This has been a horrible weekend as far as eating, way too much cooked food. I could have had a huge bowl of the fruit but I caved and had a little scrammled egg too. That's all I've had all day to eat except when I finally got home about 5:30pm, I had some raw cashews.
Wow what a busy weekend, and very unsuccesful on the raw factor. But I'm not going to get frustrated over it, back to the grindstone tomorrow. I'm afraid to step on the scale in the morning, I haven't since Friday morning before I left.
As you know I've been raw for almost a month now, but I haven't been 100%. I want to get as close as I can to gain all the benefits of being raw. I just feel that I don't feel as healthy and energetic as I should be going raw. I would say I'm 90% raw, but the next thing that I gotta cut out is that morning cup of coffee that I've been so dependent on. When I first went raw I went from 5 or 6 cups a day (I was a major coffee-holic) down to just one in the morning, but I think it's time to cut that out as well. So starting tomorrow morning, instead of coffee I'm going to make myself a fruit smoothie. This is going to be tough and I think my body will go through some detox but I feel I have to do this. This will put me at about 98% raw.
So wish me luck.
Food Intake:
coffee
buffet = cantaloupe, pineapple, green grapes and scrammbled eggs
a couple handfuls of cashews
Saturday ~ June 19, 2004 ~ Day 24
This morning I attended the "State Presidents Breakfast" which was also impossible to stay raw. The way it was set up was they had plates already prepared and served everyone. On the plate was: a small slice of cantaloupe, 2 slices of bacon, a biscut, scrammbled eggs, hash browns and 2 wedges of french toast. Huh? What the heck am I supposed to do with this? The small slice of cantaloupe just wouldn't it cut it since I had several meetings to attend after breakfast so I had to eat some of it. This is just aweful!
Later we went to the parade that was at 4:00pm and as we were walking down the street to find somewhere to sit and watch, we passed a farmers market store. I went right in and grabbed a spring water and an apple. This would satisfy me until dinner.
Ahhhhhh dinner, the best part of the weekend. I had made reservations for the Alissa Cohen gourmet dinner and my sister went with me. It was at a nice little tuscan restaurant in the center of town. Alissa had reserved a seperate room in the back for the event. It was a cozy atmosphere and there were about 40 people. I was nervous as we were walking in because I was afraid everyone else was going to be teeny weeny and vibrant and super healthy and I would stick out like a soar thumb. But there was a variety of people from heavy to thin, guys and girls, older and younger. I was pleasantly suprised. And Alissa, she is just radiant! Her hair looks so healthy, radiant skin and a super white smile. She was soooooooo nice too. All my aprehensions immediately disappeared. I bought her book and she signed it for me with a little paragraph wishing me luck on my raw journey. I was so excited I couldn't wait to try gourmet raw food.
The dinner was so delicious I was amazed. I can't wait to try some of the recipes in her book. By the end of dinner I was so stuffed but I didn't feel all weighed down and tired. The menue is posted below. It was a good stuffed feeling, satisfying.
The funny thing is the my sister isn't a raw fooder, she's not even a vegetarian. I was suprised and happy that she decided to go with me and she said she was excited to try something new. She doesn't like mushrooms but she did eat one just to try it but then only ate the pesto out of the rest of the mushrooms. She loved the salad and the "caesar dressing". But when the calzone came, she said it looked odd but took a bite anyway. The expression on her face was hysterical!!! She definately did not like it at all. I felt bad at that point because she didn't eat it. But she then tried the cannolis and thought they were too sweet. The were too sweet for me too but I wanted to try them anyway. So she had her first raw experience, she didn't like it all but I give her credit for trying. And she said she had a lot of fun too even though she didn't like it all.
Food Intake:
coffee
cantaloupe, scrammbled eggs, 1 wedge of french toast and orange juice
a red delicious apple
gourmet raw four course dinner
Friday ~ June 18, 2004 ~ Day 23
This morning didn't start off too good. My husband found that somebody had stolen from his car last night. They stole a lockout kit (he drives a tow truck) that was in the back seat of his car and an unopened pack of smokes from the console. There was other stuff in there that you would think would have been stolen too but nope, just the lockout kit and smokes. He used a rifle bag to hold the tools in so we think some punks in the neighborhood must have thought it was a rifle just sitting there in the back seat of the car. The glove box was left open too but nothing stolen, so they might have been looking for a hand gun also. I'm sure they were suprised to find nothing but tools in the bag. So I went out to check my car because I had a huge gift bag in the passenger seat with my nephews birthday present and the case for my digital camera (fortunately the camera itself was on my kitchen counter). But nothing seemed to be missing from my car except two unopened packs of smokes I left in the door pocket. But they were nice enough to not shut my door all the way so I hope my battery isn't dead when I go to leave in a bit. And my center console was left wide open where I keep my cd's, they all seem to be there I think. And lucky for them because if anyone had stolen any of my Led Zep cd's there would be hell to pay..........hehehhehe.
Man it really pisses me off that people think nothing of going onto other peoples property and just helping themselves in taking whatever they want of mine. And stealing from a neighbor, my word what the hell is that about? We have been here four years and the neighborhood is really quiet and everyone waves to everyone and very nice, but since spring there's been a bunch of new teenage faces hanging around, blocking the street while on their skateboards and then give you a dirty look when you try to drive down the street. All sorts of hootin and hollerin into the evening.
We live at the very end of our street which is a mile off of the main road and woods all around us. It's very quiet and dark, and no street light. But we have never had problems with anybody and there is barely any traffic down here so we never worried about locking our cars at night. Well apparently theres new trouble in town so time to start locking our cars. Hubby is going to install a sensor light on the end of our shed so if somebody even comes near the front of the house it will go on. We have a post light on our front lawn but we usually shut it off at night when we go to bed, and our yard is pitch black then. We'll show those little bastards the next time they think they can come on our property, they'll get a bright as hell spotlight on them next time.
Ok, I know that has nothing to do with raw but it's what happened today so I had to vent.
Well time for me to head up north for the convention. I'll try and post as much as I can about the weekend when I get home Sunday night. Oh and I'm going to a dinner that Alissa Cohen is having on Saturday night up in the town that the convention is in. I can't wait, it's a five course gourmet raw food dinner. I'll definately have to tell you how that goes.
I checked in the hotel around 1:00pm and immediately had some meetings to attend for the afternoon. Later we went to dinner at the restaurant in the hotel and I realized it was going to be a tough weekend for raw eating. The only thing that was raw was some cukes and cherry tomatoes. So I had a little bit of a couple other things they had at the buffet, I was able to stay vegetarian but not raw. A major dissapointment for me.
Food Intake:
coffee
cantaloupe
buffett dinner = coleslaw, carrotts/beans with a sweet sauce, wild rice and some cukes/tomatoes with light italian dressing
Thursday ~ June 17, 2004 ~ Day 22
Food doesn't appeal to me today for some reason, I'm hungry but nothing seems satisfying. My banana this morning seemed too ripe but I forced it down because I was hungry and it was all I had in the office. At lunch time I went to the supermarket salad bar but when I got back to the office I took a couple of bites and it wasn't doing anything for me either so I threw it away. I also got a cup of strawberries but they tasted sour so I put them back in the fridge. It seems odd because I'm hungry but food just tastes yucky to me today, go figure.
I'm leaving tomorrow for three days, I have the annual VFW convention to go to so I won't be posting until I get back. I'll try to take notes so I can add them here when I get back.
Food Intake:
coffee
banana
salad = cukes, cherry tomatoes, red onion with oil and vinegar (from salad bar at supermarket)
2 strawberries
Wednesday ~ June 16, 2004 ~ Day 21
I'm reading back on the last 20 days and realizing that I'm not doing nearly as good as I would like to be doing. I know I'm doing better than before when I was eating everything cooked and had all the carbs, but I just figured it would get easier at this point. I really need to look inside myself and figure out why I'm not at the point I wanted to be at by now. Things just seem real heavy to me lately. I don't know if it's a phase of going raw or what but I'm just thinking a lot and feeling like a failure at this. It seems so easy to so many other people.
I dunno, maybe I should go get some sleep and I will feel better tomorrow.
Food Intake:
coffee
banana
salad = iceburg lettuce, tomatoes, cooked black beans, gaucamole topped with a little bit of salsa and sour cream (PMS'ing still I guess...ugggggh)
a handful of raw cashews
Tuesday ~ June 15, 2004 ~ Day 20
It figures, I'm ten days late with my period so I spent my lunch at the doctors office for a blood test, pay a $15 co-pay and wonder all last night if I'm pregnant or not and don't I wake up this morning with my period. DAMN!!!! I'm wondering if this has anything to do with going raw, I can't imagine how but I've never been late and the timing seems suspect to me. I'll have to read around and see if this is a common reaction when going raw.
I didn't have anything to do after work so I went straight home. Oh and major PMS'ing, I stop at Mary Lou's Coffee on the way home and got a "girl scout cookie" which is a mocha ice coffee with mint. Major cheat!!!!! And ooooooooooh the tummy ache, my body was definately mad at me about that, lesson learned. I didn't eat anything when I got home.
Anyway, when I got home I chilled out for a bit on my computer then went to bed.
Food Intake:
coffee
banana
cucumber and tomato salad
Girl Scout Cookie (mocha mint iced coffee)
Monday ~ June 14, 2004 ~ Day 19
Today was a day from hell, work was so busy because someone is on vacation this week so we were short a person and Monday's are our busiest day of the week. We managed but it was a little crazy for a bit.
I went to my doctors at lunch to get a blood test to see if I'm pregnant, I'm ten days late for my period. I don't feel pregnant but I have been on a 30 day cycle since day one so ten days late is extremely unusual for me. The doctor doesn't seem to think I'm pregnant but took a blood test just to make sure, I have to call tomorrow to find out the results.
I went over to my friends house after work because she got a new Dell computer and doesn't know how to hook it up so I told her I would help her. It was fun, her daughter was so excited about it.
I got home pretty late and just went to bed.
I didn't really eat anything today, I don't know why but I just wasn't really hungry so I munched on raw walnuts all day. I paid for it later with a yummy ache.........uggggggggh.
Food Intake:
coffee
grazed on raw walnuts all day
banana
Sunday ~ June 13, 2004 ~ Day 18
I had a Pampered Chef show to do today so pretty much another day gone by. The show was at 2:00pm and I didn't get home until about 6ish. It went well and I got a booking for another show.
By the time I got home I was pretty bushed so I just did a little cleaning around the house, relaxed for a bit then went to bed kinda early.
Food Intake:
coffee
banana
cucumber and tomato salad
Saturday ~ June 12, 2004 ~ Day 17
Wow, what a long day today was. It was our annual golf tournament for the VFW. I don't golf but I do a lot of work to help out during the day. I was out of the house by 9:00am because I had some errands to run on my way and I had to be there at 11:00am. So once I got there my sister and I get all the teams checked in and on the course by their designated time. By 1:00pm I still hadn't had anything to eat and I was starving so I cheated by having two of those little orange peanut butter cracker sandwiches, we give them to the players in their goodie bags so we busted one open. I didn't care, I was so hungry I needed anything. We were done checking everyone in by about 1:30ish then off to our next task, sit at the 16th hole to witness the hole in one contest. Their was a car for the prize if somebody got a hole in one so we needed to watch each team go through so it would be legit, nobody did but several close calls. Ok, the last team passes now time to head back to the post to get ready for the dinner and party. Whew, see where I'm going here? A hell of a long day, but it is a lot of fun. At dinner everyone gets a big fat steak from the grill but of course I brought mine home for hubby. I ended up having some tossed salad and some cooked green beans, there wasn't much of an option. Finally about 9:00pm I decide to head home, it's been a long day and I'm pooped. I got home about 10:00pm and went straight to bed.
Food Intake:
coffee
2 little orange peanut butter cracker sandwiches (I don't know what they're called)
tossed salad with cooked green beans
Friday ~ June 11, 2004 ~ Day 16
Today was very busy so I don't have anything to write. I didn't eat much today either because my tummy was upset.
Food Intake:
coffee
salad = carrots, red peppers, red onion, green onion, cukes, cherry tomatoes, red cabbage with low fat greek dressing
handful of raw walnuts
Thursday ~ June 10, 2004 ~ Day 15
I weighed myself this morning and in the last week I only lost another 2.5 pounds, so now I weigh 213.5 pounds. Kind of dissapointing since last week I lost 6 pounds but I wasn't as good this week as I was last week, a few minor slips. Geez, minor slips? As I look back on my food intake for the week I realize I had some major slips. Time to crack down again.
I read an online article today about raw fooders and nuts, it said too many raw fooders (especially newbies) make the mistake of eating too many nuts and seeds. BINGO, that would be me. It said that when they cut out "filling" foods such as carbs etc., they try to compensate with nuts. BINGO again. So todays lesson is to cut way back on my nut consumption.
A cool thing happened today at work. At lunch time I stayed at my desk to eat lunch while surfing the web for more raw information. I'm addicted, I read every and any site that I can find. Anyway, when one of the ladies that I work with came back from lunch she said "ooooh Michele, your lunch smells delicious" and I told her it was the zucc-guini with spaghetti sauce and she just said "wow, it really smells good". Of course is was the sauce, I had altered it a little bit last night by adding a little extra virgin olive oil and some more spices. I told her sometime I would make a big batch and bring it in for anyone who's interested in trying it and she said "yes, definately". I just thought that was pretty cool because she's one of my best friends mother and she could easily judge my new eating habits or call me crazy but she doesn't do that. She is open minded and acts interested when I talk about it.
So I figured out this afternoon that it's the walnuts that make my tummy ache, because I don't get a tummy ache when I eat raw cashews or raw almonds. Definately has to be the walnuts..........no more walnuts.
What a nightmare. I made an attempt to make mashed potatoes out of cawlliflower but it was a catastrophy. They were coming out gross and I got aggrevated and I threw them out. So I ended up with the ol' stanby, cucumber and tomato salad.
Food Intake:
coffee
an onion bagel - I guess this was pitty revenge on myself for not doing as good my second week.....so stupid
zucc-guini with spaghetti sauce - left over from what I made for dinner last night.
handful of raw walnuts
cucumber and tomato salad
Wednesday~ June 9, 2004 ~ Day 14
Today was really slow at work, it dragged and I could have curled up and taken a nap by mid afternoon......I didn't think my boss would appreciate that though heheheheh.
When I came home hubby had the President Reagan coverage on the news. I had no intentions of watching it because I didn't want to get sad, but I sat down to relax for a minute and then couldn't walk away from the tv. It gave me goosebumps.
So finally I decided to make some dinner then headed down to do some work on the computer.
All in all, a pretty boring day to write about.
Food Intake:
coffee
banana
3/4 c. raw cashews
cucumber and tomato salad (I added some chopped red onion)
red delicious apple
zucc-guini with spaghetti sauce
1/4 c. raw cashews
Tuesday~ June 8, 2004 ~ Day 13
I realized this morning as I was stepping on the scale that I seem to be way too obsessed with it. I get on it every morning as if to find a miraculous weight loss since the day before. I need to stop this because I get bummed out if I don't notice much from day to day, however, it is good for the fact that I do see that I'm not gaining and that only makes me want to do better each day. I have to remember that on an average healthy diet you only lose around 2-3 pounds per week anyway.........slow and steady seems to be the key. I read somewhere on the internet where someone said that "you will NEVER find an obese raw fooder"......so I want to be skinny NOW!!!
So I'm not 100% raw yet, but I am pretty darn close. I'd say that I'm probably 90%?!?! That's only a guess. My goal is to be 100% but I'm not going to hold myself to that or I'll only disappoint myself if I don't go all the way.
Food Intake:
coffee
banana
walnuts
zucc-guini with spaghetti sauce
red delicious apple
a bowl of SpecialK cereal - this was out of pure laziness to make anything
Monday ~ June 7, 2004 ~ Day 12
Another crazy Monday at work. I ran out at lunch for my fruits and veggies for the office the rest of the week, it's easier to keep them at work rather then bring lunch in everyday.
On my way home I went food shopping and found raw cashews for the first time. I've been able to get the raw almonds but hadn't seen the cashews yet. So of course I had to try them when I got home and they were pretty good.
Food Intake:
coffee
banana
cucumber and tomato salad (I added some chopped red onion)
walnuts - ugg I had too many walnuts this afternoon, tummy ache
Zucc-guini with spaghetti sauce
a handful of raw cashews
Sunday ~ June 6, 2004 ~ Day 11
Uggggggg, I'm so soar from all the yard work I did yesterday. Hey, at least it's some sort of excersice right?
It's dreary and rainy out today so we can't go outside to do more yard work. But it's nice to have a day where we can just relax and hang about the house, so I'm working on some web design jobs that I need to get finished. I'll work on that for a bit then go get some housework done.
Another day where I didn't eat until 4:00pm. I was so busy working on the computer I didn't notice the time. Hey, these things happen.
Food Intake:
coffee
2 handfuls of walnuts
cabbage salad = chopped red cabbage, sliced plum tomato, sliced cuke, chopped red onion with balsamic and oil
6 strawberries
Saturday ~ June 5, 2004 ~ Day 10
Today was so busy that I didn't track everthing that I ate, so this will be a small post.
I was out in the yard from 8:30am until about 6:00pm. First I painted the trim on the playhouse wich took some time. Then I mowed the lawn because hubby was working and it needed it bad, he owes me big time for that....hehehehe. Then I did some edging around the flag pole we put in last year and I used those rock edgers that they use for retaining walls. It came out really nice but it took a lot of digging, removing the grass around the pole and leveling, then I added mulch. It looks so nice that I want to use the same stone to edge out some of our flower beds next.
After all that I took a shower and chilled out for a while. I watched some tv and then I fell asleep on the couch and didn't wake up until hubby came home from work around 1:00am. Not much else to write for today.
Food Intake:
coffee
a couple handfuls of walnuts throughout the day
a couple of strawberries
one slice of reheated leftover cheese pizza (uggh)
Friday ~ June 4, 2004 ~ Day 9
Today started off really well but I ended up cheating at 9:00pm.....I'm so disapointed in myself. It was really busy at work and after work I went straight home and hubby and I were out in the yard finishing the playhouse. We wanted to finish all the last little details so it can be delivered tomorrow, which means off of our front lawn........yeah haaaw! I hadn't had anything to eat since lunch which was about 12:30pm and we didn't finish on the house until about 9:00pm. We were too tired to cook so we ordered pizza, I should have made myself a salad but sadly enough I ended up having two slices of cheese pizza instead. I don't know why I did it, I wasn't craving it or anything I just ate it. The funny thing is that it wasn't as enjoyable as I remember.
I'm not going to beat myself up over it, I'll just remember how I regreted it and move on.
Food Intake:
coffee
banana
3/4 c. walnuts
salad = loaded with all sorts of raw veggies
2 slices of cheese pizza (why oh why did I do that?)
Thursday ~ June 3, 2004 ~ Day 8
Are you curious about how much weight I have lost in my first seven days as raw? Ok drumroll please..........I now weigh 216 lbs., that's a loss of 6 lbs.! I'll take it, I just hope that it's not just all water loss and I will still be able to lose continually at a steady pace.
A funny thing happened this morning when I was gathering some veggies to bring to work for lunch. I grabbed the plum tomatoes that I bought last night and noticed a little hole on one of them. I thought I was going crazy because I remember picking them out and they were nice and red and clear of any blemishes. So I looked closer and it had little puncture holes all over it, and yup the other two did too. It seems my cat decided he wanted to try and eat my tomatoes, they weren't chewed up just his teeth marks all over........damn cat! So in the trash they went. Hmmm need to keep them in the cabinet I guess, or get one of those mesh hanging baskets.
I used to keep my tomatoes in the fridge but then I read somewhere that you're not suppose to. I'm so clueless, I don't know what to keep in the fridge and what to keep on the counter. This is all a huge learning process for me and I assume that it will eventually become second nature..........I hope.
Mid morning I decided to try the Pepino Melon that I got last night. So I went into the kitchen at my office, sliced it in half, scooped out the seeds, peeled the skin off, and cut it up on a plate. Ok, so I go back to my desk all prepared to taste this new, juicy, sweet fruit.....I take a small piece to try first, put it in my mouth and blahhhh, very bland...then this aweful aftertaste sneaks up on me......yuck! So the verdict is that I did not like it at all. I was very impressed though that the other three people I work with all tried a piece of it. They didn't get the aweful aftertaste that I got, they just said that it was bland with no taste. But kudos to them for supporting me and trying it for themselves.
So I have to mention what I did at lunch. I went to the local fruit market to get a salad and when I got to the register there was someone with a big order in front of me. While I was waiting I looked on the endcap and there was some little bite size pieces of home made fudge, omigod they looked so good. But nope, I got out of line and actually went two lines over just to get away from the fudge so I wouldn't cave while I was waiting for my turn. You must understand this is a huge step for me because I usually have NO willpower so I really am amazed at how well I've done all week.
Food Intake:
coffee
salad = red cabbage, carrots, cherry tomatoes, red pepper, cukes, olives & green onion w/ olive oil a balsamic vinegarette
banana
handful of walnuts
zucc-guini with spaghetti sauce
Wednesday ~ June 2, 2004 ~ Day 7
Yeah!!!! After today I will have completed my first week as RAW!!!!! I had expected it to be a lot more difficult than it has been, and the week has flown by. I think tomorrow I will post my weight on here to show my progress in a short time. I will probably only update my weight monthly on here in the future but I'm excited with my first week so I want to post it.
It may be just my imagination but I feel different today, not thinner necessarilly but a sort of confidence. It's hard to explain but I feel great. And I think my face has changed slightly, nothing dramatic but it just doesn't look as puffy to me.
After work I went to three different stores looking for the spiral cutter and nobody had it. It looks like I'm going to have to buy it online. I hear it's an essential raw food tool and I want to try the zucchini spagetti that I found on another raw fooders website, it looks yummy. So I ordered it online at Linen's N Things but it's back ordered, so it may take several weeks before I get it. I could easily get it somewhere else sooner but it's not worth paying the extra $20 or more tht I've seen it for at other sites.
On my way home I stopped again to get fruit and veggies for tomorrow, I need to start getting a couple days worth of food at a time. Anyway, I was browsing around the produce section looking for something different and I grabbed a Pepino Melon and a Kiwi Horned Melon. I have never noticed them before but I figured what the heck, I'll try them. They look strange and I have no idea how to eat them but I guess I will figure it out.
One thing that I'm learning being raw is that in order to be successful at this I need to experiment and try things I never would have tried before. The more I try the broader my food selections will be and the more I will enjoy this whole experience.
Time to go nighty night, I can't wait to go to sleep so I can wake up and weigh myself. Holy smokes, I never thought I'd hear myself say THAT!
Food Intake:
coffee
8 medium strawberries
3/4 c. walnuts
cucumber and tomato salad (big surprise huh?)
1 raw corn on the cob
1 vine tomato
1 red delicious apple
Tuesday ~ June 1, 2004 ~ Day 6
Work was crazy busy today because Monday is usually our busiest day and with yesterday being a holiday we had twice as much work to do today. So at least the day flew by.
I noticed today that my lips were so dry all day, I had to keep using my lip balm more than usual. I don't know if this has something to do with going raw or just that my lips are dry today. Oh well, just something I noticed.
I had a meeting after work today but it wasn't until 7:00pm so I swung by the supermarket and grabbed a large tomato and found the Tahini soy sauce I've been hearing so much about. I figured I would try a splash of it on my tomato to see if I liked it, it wasn't bad. I'm sure it's better in some sort of recipe which I'll try sometime.
I have to say, I was so proud of myself tonight. At my monthly Pampered Chef (my home based business) cluster meeting tonight we had a pizza party. The meeting starts at 7:00 but my director had the pizza party at 6:30 before the meeting, I decided not to show up until the meeting started at 7:00 so I wouldn't be tempted. I just said I had to work late or something. At every meeting one or two people always make a dish (using our product tools) to have after the meeting while we mingle. Well tonight there was a lemon parfe' type thingy and a chocolate mousse thingy, it looked so good but I didn't have a single bite. Woo Hoo! I must be making progress here because I've never had will power like that before on standard diets. I left the meeting and ate a banana in my car on the drive home. I smiled with self pride the whole drive home knowing that I just broke ground, small ground maybe but ground just the same.
I might even have the nerve to post my before picture and 1 month raw picture, ya just never know. ;o)
Food Intake:
coffee
8 medium strawberries
3/4 c. almonds
cucumber and tomato salad
3/4 c. raisins
1 medium tomato with a splash of Tahini soy sauce
banana
Monday ~ May 31, 2004 ~ Day 5
It's Memorial Day, god bless our troops and their families.
I pretty much relaxed all morning, I did some stretching and breathing exercises. I got this Pilates book last week and figured I'd start to learn some stretching. I was looking through the pictures and YIKES! I don't think I can bend like that. Well, it's a point to look forward to I guess. I'll start small and work towards twisting myself into a pretzel.
Hubby had to work a half day today so when he got home around 1:00pm we headed out again to finish priming the playhouse I built. It's so close to being delivered to my friend.....woo hoo!
Needless to say I didn't eat until late again. I came in the house around 4:30pm and had a handful of almonds while I prepared hubby's dinner then made mine. I had the cucumber and tomato salad again, I'm hooked on it. I really need to learn some other great recipes so I'm not eating the same thing every day. But it was quick, easy and yummy.
Not too much to write about today so now I'll hang on my computer for a bit and work on that web page that I need to finish for a client.
Food Intake:
coffee
a handful of almonds
cucumber and tomato salad
That's all I've eaten today, maybe I'll have a piece of fruit later.
Sunday ~ May 30, 2004 ~ Day 4
I slept sooooooo late this morning, very unlike me. I woke up around 9:30am and chilled out for a bit then went crazy doing house work. I had all this energy, I was dusting and everything.
Then around 1:00pm hubby and I went out in the yard to try and finish up the playhouse I'm building for my girlfriends daughter, it's so close to being done. I can't wait to get it off my lawn, it's 8' by 8' by about 8' tall. It's just the cutest thing, I even built a little farmers porch on the front. So we were finishing the roof today and the trim, then we started priming it.
So it wasn't until 3:30pm that I ate, I was so hungry. I made a salad again, the same one I had yesterday just without the avacado. There are no leafy greens in it but it is so yummy, and again I felt full.
I didn't come inside until about 8:00pm, I took a shower and felt rejuvinated. So now I'm doing some work on my computer and just ate some fruit.
Another succesful day!
Food Intake:
coffee
cucumber and tomato salad
2-3 hanfuls of almonds throughout the day
1 sliced banana with 6 sliced strawberries
Saturday ~ May 29, 2004 ~ Day 3
Today was somewhat busy. I woke up around 7:30am and just lazed around for a bit and did some laundry. I had my morning cup of coffee again. I really have to stop this, however, I am proud that I have at least cut out the 3-4 other coffees that I usually have throughout the day. But that cup first thing in the morning is hard to stop. I'm hoping that staying raw will eventually make me feel healthier and I will just naturally cut it out of my diet all together without thinking of it.
Then I drove up to my sisters house which is about an hour drive. She had a Pampered Chef show for me and her delivery came yesterday so I had to bring her receipts up to her and help her bag the items. She made out pretty good for herself, I was glad to see her get a lot of great free items for having a show.
Then I headed up to Children's Hospital to visit with my nephew. He's doing so good, I had a great visit with him. We took a walk around the hospital and stepped out the front doors for a bit to get some sun and fresh air, it was so nice out. When I was leaving I asked him if he needed anything before I left and he asked for some saltine crackers and ketchup, he loves those saltines with ketchup. So I went to the unit kitchen and grabbed five of those little packets that have two crackers in them. They looked so good, for some reason I was now craving a saltine cracker. When I got back to his room I handed him four packets and he looked at me and asked for the other one, I said "can I have one?" and he giggled and said "no" and took it out of my hand. Too funny, the little bugger didn't even know it but he had just stopped me from cheating. I was so hungry, so I ended up getting a fresh fruit cup at the Au Bon Pain in the lobby of the hospital and ate it on the drive home........it was delicious it melted in my mouth.
I stopped on the way home and got some fruits and veggies and made myself a salad for dinner. The salad didn't have a whole lot of veggies in it but it looked so big. It hit the spot but I felt so full afterward, I was suprised at that because it didn't seem like a lot of food. I also had some raw corn on the cob which I was also suprised with. I expected it to be dry and crunchie but it was real juicy and crunchie, kinda odd I thought. It was ok, I didn't eat the whole piece but I really wanted to try it.
All in all I felt really great today. I never felt tired until about 6'ish as I was leaving the hosptal. This three day weekend will be so enjoyable, I really need some ME time since I'm always on the go.
Food Intake:
coffee
vanilla fruity smoothie (I just made it up and it was yummy)
1 c. walnuts
Fresh fruit cup
1/2 raw corn on the cob
cucumber and tomato salad (I added a half of an avocado to this today)
Friday ~ May 28, 2004 ~ Day 2
I felt good today, not as tired as yesterday. Work was kinda slow so I got slightly tired by mid afternoon but as usual I perked right up once I left the office.
I went to do the "buddy poppies" again and did pretty good. I got to Shaw's by 5:30 and got a big rush of people with donations. By the time my parents and sister got there about 6:30 it had died down a bit. So there was my mother and father at one door and me, my sister and her sone at the other. After about a 1/2 hour of that I decided that some of us could go somewhere else and raise more than five of us at one spot so my mother and I took off to Dunkin Donuts. There was nobody there so we decided to go check out the Stop and Shop, we did great there. My father and sister eventually came to where we were to pick up my mother and I headed home.
I had the oddest drive home, I felt like I was in the twighlight zone. It's about an hour drive for me but when I was about 20 minutes from home the traffice came to a dead stop on the highway. I found the traffic report on the radio and heard that there was an accident and the highway was shut down for the MedFlight, so of course it was a parking lot for a while. Well, I get to about 5 minutes from my exit and traffic backed up again. There was road construction and two of the three lanes were shut down.........grrrrr.........it took forever to get through that mess. Ok, so now I finally get to my exit, off the ramp and to the next set of lights. As I'm approaching the intersection I hear this god aweful crash. There were two cars mangled in the middle of the intersection, smoke blowing, screaming, people jumping out of cars running to the accident and hollering "is there anyone hurt in there?"....I figured that was a dumb question. So I eventually get through THAT mess and about a two miles up the street traffic stops again on the main drag. Wouldn't ya know it another accident had already happened up ahead and there were fire trucks, tow trucks and police cars. So of course I sat again waiting to get through.
Oh my word, I couldn't believe it!!!!! I swear, I couldn't make this stuff up people. I just wanted to get the hell home. It wasn't even a full moon so I don't know what was going on around here.
Food Intake:
coffee
banana
3/4 c. walnuts
small salad with oil & vinegar
2 slices of cantalope, 6 strawberries & a small wedge of watermelon
banana (I didn't eat dinner because I was full from the salad and fruit I had for lunch so I just had a banana when I got home at about 9pm)
Thursday ~ May 27, 2004 ~ Day 1
I weighed in this morning at 222 lbs. Oh my!
So this is my first day of being RAW!!! Yeah baby, I'm gonna do it!
The morning breezed by. I had an errand to run at lunch and I didn't end up having time to run to the supermarket. I wasn't worried because I thought I had more fruits and veggies at the office but all I ended up having was a bag of snow peas, so that's all I had for lunch. I'll have to wait until I leave work at 5pm to get something to eat. Now I wish I had brought more nuts/raisins to keep at my desk. My tummy was growling by 3pm. Lesson learned: keep an extra bag of nuts/raisins at desk for an emergency like this.
After work I went to do "buddy poppies" at the Shaw's Supermarket. I'm a member of the VFW Ladies Auxiliary and many of us stand outside of various supermarkets to raise money for the post during Memorial Day weekend. We have fun with it and everybody loves the poppies so we raise good money. I ran right in to get something to eat before standing outside. I got a large tomato and some more nuts, that tomato was the best tomato I have ever had. I did the "buddy poppies" until about 8pm and then headed home.
It was an uneventful day for the most part. I went right to bed as soon as I got home.
The first day of RAW behind me..........I'm looking forward to being very successful at this.
Food Intake
coffee (that is going to be the hardest habit to stop)
banana
3/4 c. walnuts
3/4 c. raisins
3-4 oz. snow peas
1 medium tomato (I just ate this like an apple and it was so yummy)
2 handfuls of walnuts
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