Sunday, January 27, 2013

So what exactly does a high carb raw vegan eat?

I've received a few requests to document what we eat in a typical day. Now, for those of you who have been considering experimenting with a low fat high carb raw vegan diet, I don't want you to be turned off by the slight monotony of what we eat. I absolutely love the way we eat. I love not worrying about what we're going to make. I love not taking an hour to decide on dinner, an hour to cook it, a brief moment to devour it, and an hour cleaning up. This is actually the fourth time we've gone raw, and so I believe we've finally discovered a way of eating that is satisfying to our tastebuds, our schedule, and our wallet. This is what works for us, but it is NOT the only way to live this lifestyle.  

BREAKFAST:
For breakfast, both Nick and I drink two quarts of a fruit smoothie (usually around 6 large bananas, 5 medjool dates, and 2 cups of frozen mango, pineapple, & cherries, about 1200 calories)...each.  Yes, you heard that right...2 quarts of smoothie EACH.  Ariana drinks about 14 oz of the same smoothie (usually about 1 large banana, 1-2 medjool dates, and 1/2 cup frozen fruit) for breakfast in addition to breastfeeding every 1-2 hours during the day and through the night.  As you can see from the photo below, one of us usually drinks our smoothie right out of the blender so we don't have extra quart jars to wash.  Simplicity at its finest!


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Our chunky munchkin after finishing her breakfast smoothie.

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LUNCH:
For lunch, Nick, Ariana, and I have...the exact same thing as breakfast!  Remember, there are many ways to live the high carb raw vegan lifestyle, but after experimenting with raw recipes and complicated fruit dishes, two smoothies per day is simply the easiest way for us to get our carbohydrate calories in. 


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DINNER:
For dinner, we each eat our own giant salad.  A typical salad for me would consist of 1 head of romaine lettuce (a large head, not just the romaine heart that come three in a bag), 3 large zucchinis spiralized into noodles, a couple tomatoes, some celery, a few diced green onions, and whatever other veggies look tasty at the moment.  We top our salads with a blended dressing.  Mine is usually fresh herbs, the juice of one lemon, the juice of one orange, and 1/2 cup hemp seeds.  Nick's is usually 2 tablespoons of tahini mixed with the juice of one lemon.  No salt.  No oil.  We finish dinner feeling satisfied and light...not so stuffed and full that we need to lay down and sleep it off.


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Ariana enjoys a whole avocado, a medium tomato, zucchini noodles, and the juice of an orange for dinner.  She loves it!


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...So is this all we ever eat?  Just two smoothies and a big salad?  No, not always.  We snack on fruits like apples, oranges, kiwis, fresh berries, exotic bananas (mmm...ladyfingers...), and whatever other fruits appeal to us.  But our staple food, at the moment, is bananas.  Lots, and lots, and lots of bananas.  Why bananas?  Bananas are calorie-dense, high carbohydrate, rich in vitamins and minerals, delicious (when ripe!), and cheap.  We buy our bananas in bulk for around $23 for a 40 pound case.  We buy at least two cases per week on different days so we always have some bananas ripening.  Running out of ripe bananas is something we can't afford to let happen.  If we do happen to plan poorly and run out of ripe bananas (we do not eat bananas unless they are covered in brown spots), our fallback is medjool dates.


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What we use as a staple fruit changes seasonally.  In the spring, we feast on delicious mangoes.  In summer, much of our day is spent diving face-first into ginormous watermelons.  In fall, we're back to bananas and dates, and in winter, if we can find good citrus, we spend hours juicing oranges.  Sometimes we get adventurous and buy the weirdest tropical fruits we can find...like the jackfruit we bought at our local Indian market the other day.  So amazingly delicious!


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And sometimes we do spice things up a little bit by creating an extravagant low fat high carb raw vegan gourmet dish.  It's rare because it takes a lot of work and time, and as busy parents, we'd rather spend that time with our daughter.  But every once in a while it's nice to have something a little different.  Last night, for example, we had raw vegan burritos, courtesy of Kristina Carillo-Bucaram over at Fully Raw/Rawfully Organic!  They were delicious and different...and very time consuming...just what we needed to remind ourselves that simple is usually better but change can be nice, too. :-)


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I hope you enjoyed a peek into our daily menu!  After reading this post, you are probably wondering...but why so much?  Why so much food?  Why so many calories?  Why so many carbohydrates?  WHY SO MUCH FRUIT?!  This lifestyle is definitely one of ABUNDANCE not restriction, and those are very valid questions, my friends!  Stay tuned for the answers in a future post.  For now, I'm off to dream about sapodillas and ataulfo mangoes.  Mmm...good-night.

21 comments:

  1. Wonderful well written blog. You all look wonderful and are inspiring to read about. :)

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  2. You two are so inspirational!! :) I'm fairly new to this way of living(5 months in), so reading this blog post today was very motivational for me. Just getting the encouragement and knowledge that it WILL get easier, and this is the happiest and healthiest way to live. :) and it gave me hope that one day I really could realistically raise a family with this diet. so thank you so much for this (:


    And btw, Ariana is absolutely beautiful, I admire you both so much for raising her on a raw food diet. She's really blessed to have you guys for parents. :)


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  3. not to be too nosy, but can you describe your typical exercise. Besides watching over your daughter, I know that can be time consuming and exhausting.

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  4. Not being nosy at all, no worries. My husband and I do gentle beginner's yoga for about 45 minutes every other day and walk our dog and push our daughter in the stroller a few times per week. We eventually want to be more active (I'd love to start running)...we are working up to that. :-)

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  5. You are all glowing! Beautiful and inspirational <3 And making me hungry ;)

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  6. Do you mind stating your height and weight?

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    Replies
    1. Sure! I am currently 114 lbs and 5'1.5"

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    2. I am currently a high raw vegan, and was curious what you use to get your omega 3, 6 (and do we need omega 9) and vitimin d, B12, calcium, folate, selenium, and iron. I eat chia seeds in my smoothies (I love bananas to poo!) For omega 3, and fat, and a little ptotein(is there a way to get protein from nuts/seeds without getting to much fat) I take b12 & vitimin D vitimins daily. I eat 1 head of romaine, & some spinich w/lemon juice, carrots, tomatoes & onion every day but I feel like that isnt enough to supply my iron, calcium, minerals and protein. Please send your thoughts. Thanks, and great blog! :-)

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    3. Omega 3= Algae. Vitamin D=Sun. B12=everyone needs a supplement for that. Calcium= Chia seeds, Sisymbrium seeds, Chives, radishes, agar seaweed, collard greens etc.. Folate= oranges, agar seaweed, bell peppers, spinach, sunflower seeds etc. Selenium= brazil nuts, shiitake mushrooms, sesame seeds. Iron=parsley, agar seaweed. bell peppers, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds.....

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  7. Awesome! Thank you so much for the info. My hubby and I have started doing this, but it is hard to get our 2 teenage boys to start. They like the typical, standard, teenage food, not a big lover of fruits. It's awesome that your sweet little one is already enjoying the benefits. I wish I would have started my boys young.

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  8. Wow, thank you so much.
    This is really beautiful and so full of great information.. And for a visual person, the pictures are really lovely!! I appreciate that... And your organized ideas!
    Your family is beautiful, best wishes!

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  9. is all the natural sugars in fruit not bad though?

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    Replies
    1. I would rather be indulging in these kinds of sugars then processed carbs and sugar drinks. I would like to see one study where someone has become ill or died from eating too much fruit.

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  10. Mid- blog I had to eat a banana ahaha.

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  11. This was just amazing. I'm 12 days in and learning so much. I pretty much just jumped right in it. Smoothies for breakfast and lunch and a cooked meal for dinner as of now. I feel so invigorated and energized. Thank you for sharing this.

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  12. Don't know if you've already mentioned this anywhere else in your blog, but when did you and Nick start your vegan lifestyle and how did you find out about it? If you've got an entire post on this topic just send me the link. I wouldn't want you to rewrite and entire story haha. Also your family is so inspirational! I love that you're ALL vegan!

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  13. I found that eating high carbs and so much sugar (fructose) always made me crave sugar / fruit, destabilized my mood, and was terrible for my health. I am doing much better on a high fat, moderate protien, low carb Primal Blueprint diet.

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  14. Is this an expensive lifestyle? How much do you typically spend on groceries?

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    1. A lot! I would guess.... now I know you cannot put a price on good health, but I live in Russia and to eat a diet like this would cost my family a fortune. We already have a moderate shopping budget, but to source the amount of food needed to do this diet justice would be unreasonable for my family. I guess I'll have to find a different diet.

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    2. But I should have said.....great blog and good info! You guys seem happy and healthy and your LO looks radiant! Well done, our little one loves his fruit and veg too! Thanks :-)

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  15. have you considered your triglycerides on this high carb diet? Mine were high eating the 80/10/10 way..I am converting to a higher fat RAW food diet...

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