Day 17 -- Still a day behind!

Yesterday was day 17, but I was too exhausted to blog last night. And I didn't feel good. Wanna know why? Because I didn't listen to my body or my intuition.

So our local grocery store sells these shelled English Peas. And every time I see them, I'm like, "Wow! I bet those are crisp and sweet!" So I buy them. And then when I actually eat them, they are not crisp and sweet. They are hard and bitter. So I drown them in coconut vinegar (which you can get super cheap at your local Asian grocery store, btw), nutritional yeast, salt and pepper. And then, because I have a thing for vinegar, I eat a TON of them.

And so there I was...last night, bored, waiting for Nick to get home, hungry but not wanting to eat another banana because I knew Nick would want them when he got home and I was worried we'd run out before we could get more. So I went to the fridge and looked at the peas. Now, something inside me actually said, "Don't eat those. They are hard to digest. They don't actually taste very good. You're going to get a bellyache." And then what did I do? I rinsed the peas, put them in a mason jar, smothered them in the salt, vinegar, pepper, nutritional yeast, and then started eating them with a spoon right out of the jar. I gobbled down half the jar before I realized what I had done and immediately regretted it. I had heartburn from Hades and my stomach hurt.

No more English Peas for me.

Breakfast: Yesterday's breakfast was almost half of a golden, juicy, sweet pineapple and about two cups of purple grapes. It actually took Nick and I about an hour to get through all that delicious fruit, but I'll tell ya, it was AMAZING. I love pineapple. Ripe pineapple and mango are probably my two favorite fruits... after lychee, of course. We didn't get a photo because I was running a little late for school. I think I'm going to buy another pineapple today. Mmm! :)

Lunch: Strawberry Mango Salad. This was such a beautiful salad! And the jicama added amazing crisp flavor and some heartiness. The pumpkin seeds were a perfect touch. We didn't add the avocado because I wanted to save the only ripe one we had on hand for dinner. We will definitely make this salad again (maybe today because we still have half a jicama left!). Oh, I didn't use any agave in the dressing...Nick and I are finding agave to be too sweet for us lately.



Dinner: Mexi-Fiesta Soup. Sound familiar? That's because it was the first raw dinner we ever made! And it was so tasty that we decided to make it again. Only this time, we forgot the onions (which was fine because it was just as tasty without them) and used a bit more corn.



I am finding myself getting a little impatient with weight loss. I know I am steadily losing weight at a healthy rate (about 1.5 to 2 pounds per week), but I want to hurry and get to my body's healthy weight so I can stop worrying about weight loss and start getting my body to its optimal state of health. But see there? I'm making excuses. Why do I have to wait to lose more weight before I begin building strength in my body? I don't. If I want to build strength, I need to start now. It's so easy to say, "I'll start doing ______ when _______ happens." That is not the way to reach your goals. That is the way to drift further and further from them.

Anyway, I'm rambling. I'm going to go clean up the house, take a shower, go get the rest of the week's groceries, and then go walk my dog and get some exercise. I think I'll do some yoga and attempt push-ups today. That sounds like a good goal! :)

Day 9 and Feeling Better Every Day!

I want to start off by mentioning how much fun Nick and I are having with this raw food lifestyle. I have to admit that I was skeptical before we started because I thought it would be a monotonous and boring diet consisting of apples, oranges, bananas, and salads. I'm surprised those thoughts even went through my mind because I know there is a HUGE variety of fresh food out there, but still, stereotypes of raw food diets were somehow ingrained in my brain. As it turns out, there has been nothing monotonous or boring about this way of living and eating at all. Every day, I look forward to creating new meals and tasting new flavors. I am so excited to go into the kitchen and see what's for breakfast or lunch. I love opening the fridge and looking at all those fresh fruits and veggies. And the best part? I love not having to scrub dirty pots and pans!!

Breakfast: Super Green Chard Smoothie. I've wanted to see how chard blends up in a smoothie ever since I was interested in going raw. Chard is such a mild tasting green, slightly bland and a little salty, and it seemed like the perfect smoothie green. And so it was! I blended two bananas, two ripe pears, a handful of mint leaves fresh from our garden, about 7 or 8 large chard leaves, and half a cup of frozen strawberries. It blended smoothly into a lovely green color, and the taste was really, really fresh, crisp, and sweet (but not too sweet). The mint was a wonderful addition and added great flavor! This smoothie recipe is going to become a new staple. I think I'll add some hemp seeds next time, too. Yum. :)



Lunch: Raw Beet Love Salad. This was a really great lunch! Nick and I each had huge bowls of it. I grated the beets and jicama in my food processor, and it splattered all over the walls. Seriously, it looked like a crime scene in my kitchen! But I cleaned the splatters right away so the beet juice didn't stain. Anyway, the only modification I made to the recipe was adding fresh spinach, sprouts, and some finely sliced green onions (scallions). It made a LOT of salad, and we had a ton leftover (which we stored in the fridge and ate later in the evening). Will definitely make this again!



Dinner: Spinach Tomato Soup. Tonight's dinner had a lot of potential, but turned out to be a bit of a disappointment because it was far too onion-y. I may try the recipe again, but next time I will blend two garlic cloves, the onion powder, and no fresh onion in with the tomatoes, spinach, and avocado. Then I will top the soup with a little bit of fresh diced onion, as per the recipe. The blended onion was just too much. My eyes have been watering all night even though all the dinner dishes are washed. We didn't finish the soup, unfortunately, but we did snack on leftover salad from lunch. At least it was a pretty soup! :)



After dinner, Nick and I made cheez! Our lunch tomorrow is Brazil Nut Cheez with Grapes, and tonight we blended the ingredients for the cheez, covered it with cheesecloth, and put it in the fridge to thicken. Tomorrow morning, we will take it out, form it into circles, wrap it in cheesecloth, and press it. By lunch time, we will have delicious cheese! I tasted it out of the blender, and the flavor was indescribable. It was like the most amazing ricotta ever. I can't wait to eat it tomorrow!

We're also still eating those delicious Coconut Mint Brownies that I made yesterday. Those things are SO GOOD. :)