This morning's green smoothie

I've been very inconsistent with my smoothies, so I made a point to have one this morning. Whilst trying to decide what to put in it, I remembered that we had some fresh cut pineapple that needed to be used up. So, this morning's smoothie consisted of orange juice (unfortunately, pasteurized), baby spinach, two ripe bananas, a few chunks of frozen banana and some pineapple pieces. Yum!

It's been a while!

I have to admit to having regressed a lot. I've let different things get in the way, although I do have to say that sometimes, it's just felt impossible to make any progress. When the produce available isn't yet ripe or is already overripe, or you simply can't make it to a store for days and your fresh produce is gone, what's to be done?

That said, I won't make excuses for myself. There has been plenty of produce that hasn't been eaten. My goal right now is to make a point of having fresh fruits and veggies daily, without worrying too much about how much. That habit needs to get back in--for me and my kids--and from there, we can look at adding more in. I need to do this step-by-step.

Raw Revolution Chocolate and Coconut Bar - Review

Okay, I know it's been a while since I last posted! I can't say I've made much progress in incorporating more raw into my diet, but I have been reading more and finding some recipes I'd like to try out.

One thing I purchased to eat was a Raw Revolution Organic Live Food Bar, in the Chocolate and Coconut. Now, maybe it's one of those things that has to be eaten more than once because the first time, you don't know what to make of it, but I have to say that I was disappointed. It's been weeks since I ate it, so I can't remember the taste exactly, I just remember thinking, "It could taste better than this."

Then, I read the label. And I was very disappointed.

Here is a food bar called "Raw Revolution" with the sub-title "Organic Live Food Bar." Under that, there are some words to further describe the bar, one of them being "uncooked." I looked on the back of the wrapper:

"82.2% Raw."

Say what? All this stuff on the front of the wrapper, touting it as being raw and "live food", and not only is it not raw, the "live food" (sprouted flax seed, I'm guessing) is the last ingredient in the bar. Yes, the amount of raw in it is better than most bars can tout, but the front of the wrapper seems very misleading. I suspect it's the agave syrup and also maybe the cocoa that are the non-raw ingredients, because it's almost impossible to get them raw, but still...

Now, if I liked it well enough to get again, I could overlook these little false advertisements, although I would still be a little annoyed. I can't see myself trying any others, because, let's face it, if Chocolate and Coconut aren't anything great, then what are the chances another flavour will be? ;) And knowing that it's not entirely raw despite its name just turns me away even more. That said, if I ever come across their Chocolate Chip & Cookie Dough bar, I think I'll have to buy it. ;D

New site to explore

http://www.lilyfresh.net/index.html

What are experienced raw fooders doing wrong?

It's hard not to notice that Victoria Boutenko's photos of the past, hm, 5 years or so show her to have a significant amount of extra weight on her. She doesn't even look happy. Alissa Cohen looks happy, but she, too, looks like she has put on weight in the picture on the cover of her new book.

Where are they going wrong? Are they working too much and not taking care of themselves?

Also, where did Igor Boutenko go? He's glaringly missing from The Raw Family site.

New site to check out

I discovered http://www.ifood.tv/rawradianthealth today. Lots of great stuff!

Doing better

That nasty smoothie affected me ALL day!!! I don't know if I put bad fruit in it, a bad combination of things or what, but my stomach got very acidic and painful, also caused a lot of burping... I tried just drinking water to flush it out, but my stomach would be even worse. I decided to listen to what my body wanted: carbs. I couldn't believe it. So I kept eating carbs as the desire arose through the day, mostly junk-type stuff (birthday cake, but not cookies; bread, but not crackers; the cravings were very specific!), which annoyed me, but if I thought of any other foods, the thought didn't sit well with me. I've learned to listen to my body when it's in distress like that because it always helps! I had KFC once, had too much of the gravy or something, and felt flu-like afterwards, having no clue it was the KFC until the next time we had KFC (months later) and the same thing happened. I found I was craving food, even after having eaten, so I went into the kitchen and saltines and graham crackers seemed to be the thing. So, I returned to bed, feeling achey and feverish and the whole bit (like I said, it was like a flu!), and I ate saltines until I wanted the graham crackers, then graham crackers until I wanted the saltines. This continued for a while until it was done, no more cravings. And I felt better.

I still have no desire for fruits and veggies today. My stomach still isn't quite settled. I'm floored that a smoothie could do that to me. I'll have to ask in some forums if there are some foods that are bad to combine, or if it's more likely that I had bad fruit in there.

Dirty Dishcloth Green Smoothie

Note to self: Stick with tried-and-true recipes for a while before experimenting on your own.

I didn't have the fruits in the house to make even a variation of what I have been having the past week, so I looked some things up online and a couple of places just said to mix some fruits, then add your greens. So, I decided to do just that with what little I had: some grapes (getting old), an orange (from a bag of oranges that have turned out to not be so great) and a banana. I was running out of my mixed greens and bought radish sprouts yesterday, so added some of that to what was left of the greens.

It was vile. At first, it was okay, almost melon tasting. But it was a little off, so I added another (too-ripe) half of a banana, that didn't really make a difference, so I added the last piece of banana in the house. (Well, no, the other bananas are all still green.) It was worse. And as seconds passed, it got worse and worse to the point I could not drink it anymore, it was causing bizarre--and bizarre-tasting--burps. I decided I couldn't drink it, dumped it in the sink and caught a whiff of what smelled like a dirty dishcloth. I replaced the dishcloth and added water and soap to the remaining small amount of smoothie in the blender. Let it soak, came back, and a STRONG smell of dirty dishcloth. Dang. It was the smoothie.

So, no smoothie for me this morning. Not even raw this morning. I don't have enough raw, ripe fruit that I can eat, and I have no desire to eat cucumber or celery or anything like that first thing. I've had a bagel with peanut butter, instead, hoping to drown out the stuff in my stomach. That and water. I'd really like to swallow some mints. Blech.

Day 9--I think? lol

So, I'm not good at updating this, am I?

Other than this past weekend, I've been good at having smoothies in the morning. Yesterday was a morning I think I only had green smoothie; I don't think I ate anything else. Although this is only about a week-and-a-half into starting my days with smoothies, I found myself yesterday at lunch wondering what to eat. I really didn't want any of the usual things I eat: eggs and toast, a sandwich, (white) pasta... I ended up eating Tasty Taters. lol. I think I need to find myself some raw lunch recipes. That's really what my body seems to want.  Can't remember what I ate later on, but we had my in-laws over for supper and we ate a lasagna I had previously made and frozen. Yes, a normal lasagna with cheese, meat, white pasta, etc. This morning, I had to blow my nose profusely. I don't think it's a coincidence! I noticed this Saturday morning, too, after having had pizza the night before. Dairy and I don't get along. At least not unraw dairy.

Today's addition to my pages on the right: http://www.greensmoothiequeen.com/ The blog also has many recipes.

Day 6?

It's hard to keep track of the days when I don't blog each day!

Yesterday was a write-off in terms of raw. I had some raisins first thing in the morning, while waiting to have people up so I could run the blender for a smoothie. (Sound travels horribly in our house.) I got too hungry and had a small bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios with some Rice Dream. After that, I wasn't really hungry. Then dd and I went out and I ate a Tim Horton's blueberry muffin. For lunch, had an Amy's Roasted Vegetable Pizza (dairy-free and sooooooo good); this helped satisfy my fruit/veggie craving a bit. I don't think I ate again until supper, which dh made and consisted of Shake N Bake chicken breasts with mozza on top, with spaghetti and a tomato sauce he made using Italian sauce and adding various herbs.

Today, I really wanted my smoothie. I can't remember what I ate first thing--or maybe I didn't eat--but I did get to make my smoothie! Yay! Unfortunately, the bananas really should have been used yesterday. I ended up adding in some (pasteurized) orange juice just to help take the edge off the too-ripe taste. (Yes, I'm picky!) I'm not sure about the specifics of other food, but let's just say I did go to the movies this afternoon. ; /

I guess this is Day 4!

I'm not sure my goal of only raw in the morning matters to me much. : / I haven't managed to do it any of the days this week! However, I am happy with the fact that I have been having the green smoothies and fruit. It wasn't that long ago that I could honestly have gone days without eating any fruit.

Do I feel any different? No, but it's only been 4 days and only part of the morning. I do have to say this, though: It is affecting what I want to eat. Although this evening I'm tired and have been making it worse by eating various junk items, when we were out earlier, the kids were allowed to pick a treat and I was going to pick myself a chocolate bar of some sort. But I picked up something I normally like, thought about what it would taste like, and put it back. The sweetness and whatnot just aren't as fulfilling as some wonderful fruit, veggies or seeds! Or some nice cashews. Mmm.

I'm reading Sarma Melngailis's Living Raw Food at the moment. I had gone through the previous one, Raw Food, Real World, but had to give it back to the library before trying any of the recipes, and now I'm on the waiting list again. In any case, I'm reading all of the nutritional and food info parts more than the recipes at the moment. Now that I've finally tried the green smoothie, I'm reading about different greens I ought to try. Like cilantro.

Speaking of green smoothies, I had a horrible failure today. I made a small one with blueberries, banana and baby spinach (yes, always baby spinach at the moment because I have a container of organic baby spinach I need to use up!), but I put too many blueberries in it, I think. If I'd had some agave syrup to add in, I might have been able to make it pretty good. I ended up eating toast after that, then decided to try to re-create yesterday's amazing smoothie. FAIL. The bananas weren't ripe enough and it totally affected the taste. Dang. I'll have to make a point to buy some bananas for the sheer purpose of allowing them to get to the right ripeness, then freezing them.

I guess we'll see about tomorrow's fruit or smoothies tomorrow morning! Not sure the bananas will be ready. Other than the bananas, I have some grapes, oranges and mangoes, but I don't like the smell of mangoes while cutting them, nor do I like the taste. I wonder if I could handle a small amount in a smoothie. Regardless, unless I find a recipe that has one or more of those ingredients and no bananas, I may just eat some grapes and an orange for breakfast. It's surprising that it's such a habit after a couple of weeks that I can't even imagine starting my day with something that's not fruit!

I have to write down my recipes!

I made up a green smoothie yesterday that was so good, it was like having a lightly banana-flavoured milkshake. I don't know how much of everything I put in! It was soooo good though! Bananas, strawberries, ice and baby spinach.

Today's smoothie was a flop. Banana, water, blueberries and baby spinach. I couldn't get the right ratio of bananas and blueberries. Maybe blueberries are just difficult to deal with?

Days 1 and 2

Since I kind of officially started on this venture yesterday, it will be Day 1 and today Day 2. And I have to admit: for neither one of the days did I stay completely raw in the morning. However, what I ate that wasn't raw was an Organic Food Bar, yesterday's being 90% raw and today's being 75% raw. I suppose that's cheating, but these things are so full of organic, and mostly raw, goodness, it didn't feel like cheating.

I think smoothies most days are going to be the way to go for raw first thing in the morning, although sometimes I do like to have a fruit salad. I need to figure out what else I can eat in the morning as a smoothie just doesn't really cut it for me as being enough, and I don't want to make a massive amount of smoothie, as variety is kind of nice!

Other than that, my weight is higher than it was a couple of weeks ago. *sigh* I don't know if it's just water retention (was bad with the dairy and salt last week) or what. I did do 15 minutes of treadmill this morning (I messed up my knees badly some years back by doing too much too soon, and for the time being, 15-20 minutes at a time is about all my knees can handle without the ligaments complaining a lot) and a very small amount of crunches and push-ups. And some stretching. I'm trying to keep my mind focused on my target weight rather than on my current weight--it's hard to move forward if you are clinging to the past!

My First Green Smoothie

I was kind of scared--the idea of putting greens in a smoothie just looked and sounded so unappetizing! But it's not bad. I will have to play with the fruit a bit as just bananas and spinach was kind of dull.

Goal for Today

I've decided to take it one step at a time! I had thought of having a week-long goal, but I really need to just focus on it slowly.

At Raw Food Talk, in the forums, there is a 30-day all raw challenge. I know that's not realistic for me. If I were single and living alone, probably. But I've got 3 other people in the house who aren't going raw along with me, plus just many demands for the next month! I don't think I'm prepared to even do a day. So, my goal for this morning is only raw foods, which will probably translate into only fruit. So far, I've had orange juice and a banana.

Not so raw today

I had been pretty good lately about having raw fruit in the morning, but this Saturday isn't starting off so great. Had a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios with rice milk, and some homemade chocolate chip cookies.

Funny How Things Go

While looking through raw food titles in my local library's catalogue, I came across Carol Alt's books. Her style of raw includes animal products, which, other than the honey, I just can't do. No way I'm eating raw meat, especially since the idea of eating meat at all bothers me (even though I do still do it *sigh*). I'm also allergic/intolerant to dairy, although having done all the reading I've done, I now wonder if I wouldn't react to raw dairy products. But then there's the whole philosophical/ethical issue of whether or not we ought to be consuming food intended for another mammal's babies. When we're fully grown adults.

In any case, I was looking through her cookbook a couple of nights ago and while getting myself ready for bed, the thought came to me: what about raw skin products? I love my Lush products and have read of some other things recently about using natural ingredients, even from your kitchen, for skin care, but they're not necessarily raw and I wondered about if it would potentially be better to have raw. Today, I ended up on a site where they are promoting Carol Alt's raw skin care line! lol. The one serious drawback to her products is the amount of packaging they come in.

A New Blog!

I've been exploring vegetarianism, veganism and most recently, raw food living for sometime. The idea of eating only raw foods is something that has popped up in my life many times in the past 12 years. I have ignored it over and over.

But here I find myself, 12 years later, heavier than before (although my BMI says I'm still in the healthy range, I know my truly ideal weight is about 15-20 lbs lower than I am right now), bigger than before, and not as healthy, energetic and lively as I once was. I want that to change. I want to feel healthy! I want to be healthy.

Raw foods popped up again recently in my search for healthier eating. I think I'm starting to get the hint that this is the direction I need to go in. I don't know if raw is right for everyone, but I seem to be getting the message that it is what is right for me. I'm done ignoring it! :)

However, I know myself and know that I won't be able to make the change overnight. I have a 12yo daughter and a 9yo son, work at home with other kids in the house, homeschool, have a meat-eating, cooked-food loving husband and more. It'll be a grand exploration, an interesting journey, one in which I will need to be as patient with myself as with everyone else.

So, I will blog here on things I find, recipes I try, books I read, progress I make and setbacks I have. Of course, exercise is also part of being healthier. I will probably share my progress with that here, too, even though the blog title is is about raw foods.

If you are joining me on this journey, welcome! Maybe we can even support each other on this trek!