A good Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving turned out so much better than I thought. I had so much fun spending time and sharing meals with family and friends. My husband did all the cooking and I did all the uncooking. Best of all nobody noticed that I didn't eat turkey or stuffing, it was great. The toughest thing was that I am a slow eater and I was always the last one at the table to get done, what can I say greens take a long time to chew.
My Dad enjoyed eating the raw meals I prepared him so much, that he stayed raw until dinner the whole time he was at my house. He said he felt so much more energetic and happy. He also ordered a champion juicer after he tasted the juices I made him with mine.
He also read my copy of Victoria Boutenko's 12 Steps to Raw Foods and is now convinced that the raw food diet is the best diet there is. He talked nonstop about how amazing the book was the whole week he was here. He also told all my siblings about it and suggested they try the raw food diet. Too funny! Maybe by next Thanksgiving my whole family will be raw.

I'm thankful for my family...but a little nervous for dinner tomorrow

My Dad is visiting for the Thanksgiving Holiday and we have been having a fantastic time. I have been preparing all the delicious salads and green juices I would normally eat and my Dad has been really enjoying them. I do add some cheese and a few other cooked foods on the side for him to enjoy along with the raw foods. He is the biggest supporter of my diet he will try anything that I prepare and always loves it. Today I made a huge salad, some basil pesto and a side of raw collard greens for lunch. I showed him how to add the pesto and the salad to make a yummy wrap. He enjoyed it very much and he told me that he was going to start buying collard greens and making wraps when he got home.

 Here is a shot of my collard wraps with salad and a little raw kimchi on the side

It is so special to me that he is enjoying the raw foods I prepare for him. I just love
making my salads, cutting up my fruits and sprouting seeds. I am so relaxed and happy eating this way.
My husband too will try any raw dish I prepare and always likes them, but he still loves his cooked food best. He is eating healthier since I've gone high raw, which makes me happy.
I am not sure what will happen tomorrow it is my first Thanksgiving on my diet. We have lots of family coming over tomorrow for dinner so I'm a little nervous. My husband is brining his turkey as I write this. I am planning on making a few raw dishes to add to the potatoes and stuffing my husband will prepare. I hope nobody notices that I am not eating the cooked ones. Thanksgiving food has never been my favorite type of food; even before going raw I didn't like it very much. I don't like foods that make me feel too stuffed and too sleepy. Hopefully we will all be able to focus on being thankful for being together rather than on the food.

Feeling foggy today

I feel like hell today! Yesterday I felt so great all day, I was so happy and I ate my usual raw meals all day. Then in the evening my son told me that he wanted pizza for dinner. We went to his favorite pizza place and got take out. It smelled and looked so great that I had two slices. I ate them with a large salad, while I was eating they tasted really good. Shortly after we finished dinner I felt like I had a huge rock in my stomach. I stayed up late to try to digest all the food I ate. I never felt like I fully digested it even though we ate so early.

With my usual raw meals I always feel light and good after I eat them, the opposite of how I was feeling after eating pizza. This morning when I woke up I still felt full, I drank my usual liter of water with lemon hoping that would help flush me out. I still feel like the pizza is sitting in my stomach I also feel very foggy. I stopped eating dairy so maybe my body is having a hard time dealing with such a heavy meal. I have always had problems digesting dairy and am lactose intolerant.

Before I went high raw I ate so much cheese and yogurt. I probably always felt really bad after I ate it but didn't realizes how bad until now. Going without it for a long time and then eating it again made me realize that I should not eat it again. I know I will feel better by tomorrow, I'm back to my delicious fruits and veggies today.

I think it was good for me to go through this it reconfirms that my diet is making me feel happy and good. The foods we eat have a profound effect on our moods and our well being. I will not look at pizza the same way again.

Reflecting on my juice feast.

Well I haven't posted in a while, I've been trying to process all that I went through with the juice feast. I had a lot of trouble drinking the recommended 16 cups of juice. I had my ups and downs some days I wanted to quit and others I enjoyed the process. It was difficult to get used to making so many juices all day. I was really getting sick of ALL juices. I stopped my fast after 8 days, my body just could not go to 10 days.

When I broke my fast I had a green smoothies and some Italian prune plums. After that my body just craved fats. I ate nuts and seeds, which I was not supposed to do until at least day 3. I even ate some chicken. I was craving foods that I had given up and stopped thinking about until after my fast. It was because my body wanted fats, it just wanted to feel full.

Perhaps if I drank enough juice on my fast I would not have felt this way. There is no way to tell, it was a new experience for me. I am so glad I did it.The group support was amazing! Enough time has past since the fast that I'm actually thinking of doing another one this spring. I never thought I would feel that way or ever want to juice again. For a few days after the fast I could not go near my juicer. But about 3 days later I did juice again and I have been ever since.

After the juice fast I let myself eat whatever I wanted and feel how ever I wanted without judgement. I knew I would be back on track in no time. Giving myself this permission made that period of feeling off balance last only a few days. I did stick to a mostly raw diet, but I was not eating as clean as I was before the fast.

I am so glad that I am back on track now and feeling good.

My fast continues

I am the type of person who forgets to eat, if I'm really happy or really sad I don't eat. This is OK on a diet with solid foods but it is dangerous on a juice fast. First thing in the morning I was drinking a liter of water,my stomach felt so full that I was fooled into thinking I wasn't hungry, great if you are on a diet and want to lose weight. Not great if you are on a juice fast and your calories are greatly reduced anyway. Because of this I had an extremely difficult day yesterday. I'm trying to process everything that is going on right now. It has not been easy.

Getting to know myself better

Today is day number 6 of my juice feast I woke up feeling good. Last night was difficult I was not feeling very well, but after a good nights rest things are better. I have to say it's actually been positive for me that I had such a hard time yesterday. This juice fast is a journey, I'm learning a lot about myself some good some bad.

In some areas of my life I give up too quickly when things start to get difficult. For example on the first day of fast I thought I broke my juicer while I was making my first juice of the day. In my mind I thought to myself that I could not do the juice fast. I was relieved then I realized I needed to forge ahead and not quit. I pushed the reset button and it worked again. But sometimes in my life I'll put things off for another time when I'm faced with difficulty. Instead of addressing the problem and finding a solution right away even if it takes a few days to implement.

This juice fast helped me to see that I have to stop doing this. It is very counterproductive. I feel so clear right now and I can finally analyze my life and stop some of my bad habits. I can't explain why I feel so clear. My diet before the fast was pretty clean I ate pretty much all fruits and vegetables. I didn't eat sugar, caffeine or any processed foods. I felt pretty great on my diet, but this fast takes it to another level. I am really glad I am doing this, it is much easier doing it with a group. It's nice to connect on our forum and discuss ideas and any difficulties we are having. The support helps a lot. My husband and son have also been so great during my fast without their love and support it would be much more difficult.

Day 5 of my juice feast,I'm half way there!

Well today I'm feeling some detox symptoms. I'm nauseous , my skin is breaking out and I have a rash. I'm feeling pretty cranky! Plus my new juicer is really taking a long time to get here. My old one is starting to overheat, it's driving me crazy. I really need my new one hopefully it will come tomorrow.

It's funny because last night I felt really great. We even had family over for our usual Sunday night dinner and smelling the food didn't bother me at all. I was content with my delicious carrot, kale, celery juice. It was a very nice evening. My family didn't think it was strange that I was doing a juice fast. I was really happy that they were just accepting of it and that they didn't make a big deal out of it.

I'm hoping I'll feel better tomorrow, I'm proud of myself for doing this fast and I will not give up no matter how tough things get. This has been a good experience for me even the tough parts, I've learned a lot about myself.

Day 4 of my juice feast

Things are going really well today, I've finally settled into a routine. Juicing is feeling more natural to me now. I have juiced in the past but never for every meal. I have lots of energy, despite the fact that I was up most of the night. We had a really loud thunderstorm and my son was too scared to sleep alone, he spent most of the night kicking me. The joys of motherhood!

My juices have been tasting better as well, so I'm feeling positive today. I have been trying out new vegetables to juice instead of sticking to my usual carrot based juices. They just taste too sweet to me right now. So I've been using cucumber, bok choy and red pepper as a base instead, and mixing that with my greens.

Saturday night was a little bit difficult we didn't go out , but I had to cook for the family. I was so hungry that I left the kitchen while my husband and son ate. I made myself a really nice savory tomato juice with garlic, red pepper and bok choy, but I was still feeling a bit off. When I woke up I felt much better.

It's funny how each day is so different from the next. I am feeling great clarity today, I wish I could go into work and get some things done! My son wouldn't like that too much so I'll wait until Monday. Hopefully I'll feel this good tomorrow as well.

I made a really awesome fruit juice this afternoon for a snack. Here is a picture of my watermelon, cucumber, celery and strawberry ready to be juiced.




It was so delicious. I squeezed some fresh lemon juice on top.



I just loved the beautiful deep pink color of it. Hopefully the rest of my day will be as good as it is now!

My juice feast progress

So far so good! Day 1 was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I had a dentist appointment that morning so I packed up my juice and my large jar of water and headed out. My son saw me carrying my water and wanted his own bottle as we were leaving for school. Here is a picture of my large mason jar filled with water and my big juice. I can't believe it all fit in my cup holder.



The rest of my day went pretty smoothly I did everything I normally do. It felt a little odd not to be eating anything. When I went to the grocery store I saw that organic cauliflower (my favorite) was on sale. I wanted to buy some so badly, but I didn't. I did go to bed early that night which really helped.

Day 2 started off really well, then by the afternoon I was struggling. I made a really nasty juice for lunch that I only drank half of. I was also feeling really emotional and a little cranky. But I made it through! Watching the daily videos Natasha at Raw Radiant Health created for the group really helped me out a lot. It helped me to realize all that what I was going through was just a normal part of the detox process. I lovin' the group support, it makes a huge difference.

Now I'm on day 3! I woke up this morning feeling better than I did last night, so that was progress. Today will be a challenge since it is Saturday, It will be tough to be around people and not eat. Also my son is home from school and my husband will be working all weekend so that will be tough. I am definitely not going to stay at home all day. I have to go out and do what I normally do. If I can get through today the rest should be a breeze,or so I hear!

It's time for a juice feast!

Photo taken by color line

I have decided to go on a juice feast! Starting tomorrow morning I will drink nothing but freshly juiced fruits or vegetables for 10 days. With a juice feast you can drink as much as you want to. As apposed to a juice fast where you are limited to the amount you drink. I should have enough energy to exercise, work and function like a normal person.
I'm a little nervous about it because I really like to eat and I don't like to get too hungry. Actually my stomach is growling already just thinking about it.

I am not doing this alone I am part of a group that Natasha at Raw Radiant Health started. She will help us along on our journey. She has created an online forum so we can interact with each other. This will make the feast much easier than if I were doing it alone.

The great part about feasting/fasting is that it gives the body a rest so it can heal itself. According to other people who have gone on these juice feasts, I should have some sort of breakthrough and mental clarity. Hopefully I'll make it through all 10 days, why does that sound like a really long time to me now.

Well I'm off to bed now, I am supposed to eat dinner early and go to bed early. More on my progress tomorrow.

Eating out is no longer a pleasure

I must say I love being on this high raw diet, I love all the foods that I eat. What I don't love anymore is eating at restaurants. You would think it would be easy to order a large salad! Last Saturday I went to lunch with my in-laws and every salad on the menu had cheese and meat as the star. I asked the waiter if they could just make me a really big salad with only vegetables. Sounds easy right? He got pretty confused by this and suggested I get the house salad, so I did with no dressing.
When I got my salad it was small, but I expected that because it was a house salad. Luckily I ate a small salad at home before I left just in case this would happen.

Perhaps I should have called ahead and asked them to prepare me a large salad, I will probably do that next time. I have had so many lunches that were so unsatisfying because the vegetables used to make the salad was not fresh and the salad was very small . Breakfast is often times much worse! I eat fruit in the morning and if I order that, usually out of season fruit with no taste is served.

I guess the thing I miss most about being on a cooked diet is to be able to go to a restaurant and order a meal and be full. I don't miss eating the cooked foods,I just want to be able to get large quantities of raw food when I want it.

Dear Dad I've gone raw...

Photo taken by bryan champ

The hardest thing about going raw was not giving up my favorite foods. It was telling my Dad! I grew up in a typical Egyptian household. Food was the center of everything. No one was a vegetarian and rice was always served with dinner. We did eat a lot of fruits and vegetables but most of the vegetables were cooked. It was a lot healthier than the standard American diet, but it was still a cooked diet

My son and I went to Florida this past August to visit my Dad and even though I was so excited to see him I was worried about his reaction to my diet. I decided that it would be best to tell him in person and not over the phone.

I didn't have to tell him to buy me any extra fruits and vegetables, because he LOVES buying in bulk. When I got there he had a case of mango and avocados. He also had tons of greens and melons. I knew it was going to be easy for me to make meals at his house.

My father is a great cook, he enjoys thinking of new recipes especially when family comes to visit. We got there at night and my dad had this huge meal on the table. I wasn't at all surprised even though it was 9:30 PM. My son and I ate a small amount and went to bed.

The next morning at breakfast I told him that I started only eating fruits and vegetables during the day and a cooked meal at night. He just said OK. I was so happy that he didn't say anything negative about it. I told him I had a lot more energy eating this way. It made me so happy that he just listened to what I had to say and was positive and supportive.

I had only been high raw for a few weeks at that point so it was scary to get out of my comfort zone and travel. It turned out to be such a great trip, my Dad is so awesome. But I always knew that. I made fresh guacamole everyday at lunch with fresh limes from my Dad's lime tree and herbs from his garden. He took me to an Asian market to buy young cocnuts. It was so easy to be raw at his house.

The airplane ride home turned out to be a success too. I got a huge salad and a few bananas and I was set. It was a great trip and it turned out I was worried for no reason. What else is new?

Eat your greens... and your children will too

Photo taken by wsilver

Lately I've been noticing that my son is eating more vegetables. I think it's because he sees me eat giant salads for lunch and dinner. He even tried raw cauliflower yesterday! He has always loved eating fruit but he only likes a few veggies. I made him a small salad today and he ate the whole thing. I was so happy and proud that my good choices were rubbing off on him.
I feel much more even tempered since I've gone high raw. If my 6 year old ate more raw foods I'm sure it will have the same effect on him. Which would be great since his a bundle of energy ALL the time.

So I think the best way to get children to eat more vegetables is for parents to eat more. Actions speak louder than words.

Getting organized

So far my week has been super busy, so I decided to get organized. When I went shopping yesterday I made sure I had enough fruits and vegetables for five days, to avoid going to the store too frequently. I also started washing my greens for the next day at night, that has really cut down on my lunch prep time.
I made two different types of dressings as well to put on my salads or for dipping veggies. Little things like that are a great help when you come home hungry and tired.

I have also started to keep a food log to make sure I'm eating enough and getting all the proper nutrients. This has helped me a lot with my meal planning. Sometimes small changes can make a big impact.

It finally broke and I don't want to fix it!

I was happily making a green smoothie for myself this morning until I noticed spinach juice running out from the bottom of my blender. I've been telling my husband that we need a vita-mix blender for quite some time now. But this is the moment I've been waiting for our blender is broken! Finally I can get the blender of my dreams.

I'm dreaming of all the smooth salad dressings I'll be making in the future. My green smoothies won't be chewy anymore. This is a happy day for me.
I couldn't justify getting one while our blender still worked, but now it is a necessity.

Get me out of the kitchen

Cooking dinner for my family on the weeknights is NOT my favorite activity. I never know what to make. I always feel like I recycle the same recipes week after week and nobody likes my food. How did this happen to me? There was a time when I loved making dinner. I was once a big foodie.

Then finally I had a very important breakthrough. I went away with my two awesome sisters for the weekend and I shared my lack of enthusiasm in the kitchen with them. Since they are both really good cooks they gave me so many great recipes and ideas. When I got back home I had a new energy and I was ready to try to love cooking dinner again. Somehow when I tried to implement their ideas I still dreaded cooking. What was I doing wrong?

My breakthrough occurred when I realized I had control over this situation. I was making it much more complicated than it had to be. I decided that I would find some delicious raw food recipes that my family and I would simply love and pair them with their meat dishes. I looked for recipes that were simple and full of flavor. I went old school and got some blank index cards and wrote the recipes on the card. If they were too long to write I skipped over them. It made making dinner a pure pleasure again. Somehow writing the recipes down caused me to get excited about food again.

I also realized my sisters loved cooking because they found a way to make simple and delicious recipes. They recited their recipes with so much enthusiasm,they loved food and they loved to cook and it showed. I needed to create that same feeling for myself, and I finally did.

Instead of trying to make two dinners I started to make one dinner that always included raw vegetables plus a cooked dish. Sometimes I ate the cooked dish and sometimes I only ate the raw one.

I also realized that I like to chop fruits and vegetables and make beautiful salads, but I don't like cooking on the stove. I have always been this way even when I was on a primarily cooked diet. I'm glad that making dinner is no longer the huge stress that it once was. It has made my nights so much more enjoyable.

My high raw life

Photo taken by sweetbeetandgreenbean

Transitioning to a raw diet was easy in some ways and more difficult in others. After being raw until dinner for just two days I no longer craved coffee. I also lost my appetite for dairy and sugar as well. Just by eating more fresh fruits and veggies I no longer craved some things that I wanted to cut out of my diet anyway. This was fantastic!

The funny thing is I always thought I had a pretty good diet. I didn't eat hydrogenated fats, I always got organic snacks, and I ate fruits and vegetables everyday. I never realized how much processed foods I was eating. Yes they were organic and made with good ingredients, but they were still processed.

It was however hard to break the news to my husband, he supported me but I could tell he was worried about it just a little. After all we both loved to go to restaurants and try new foods. We also liked to stay in once in a while and drink wine and cook together. How could we still do this if I was on a high raw diet?

Part of the reason I did not go 100% raw right away was because I still liked doing all that stuff. I wanted to have the option of eating what I wanted for dinner. I have only been high raw for 2 months and I must say I don't like cooked foods as much as I use to.

I think it was a good decision for me to take it slowly and be raw until dinner. Now I have a few days out of the week that I am 100% raw and some days where I will eat cooked food at dinner. The longer I eat raw the more I naturally don't crave some of the foods I once loved. Sometimes it's good to take things slowly.

I'm not a good vegetarian

I tried to go that route and it just did not work for me. I loved eating fruits and vegetables, but I did not like traditional vegetarian sources of protein.

I tried many different tofu recipes. Since they all contained soy sauce, they all started to taste the same after a while. I also tried to eat tempeh,I did not like the texture at all. I tried many different types of soy sausages. I just didn't like them. I was not into "impostor foods".

During my brief period on this vegetarian diet I gained weight. I was eating too much cheese, pasta and bread. And I'm not even a pasta lover. I needed a change, because this was not working. Plus I was making two dinners every night. One for my meat eating family and one for me. I started to detest cooking!

Then one day I was on Twitter and someone who I was following put up a link to a raw food blog. I watched the video she posted and I decided it was time to change my diet.

Going raw has been in the back of my mind for years, but I just didn't know how to do it. Could you really live on salads and be healthy? I decided to give it a try.

The next morning I had a raw breakfast and lunch, I decided to be "raw until dinner" until I felt comfortable with my new diet. I have been on this diet ever since.

Here is a link to the blog that got me started on my raw food journey. Her blog is one of my favorites.

Please don't pass the steak

Photo taken by EssjayNZ

There was a time in my life that I loved red meat, I craved it and really enjoyed eating it. My husband knew how to cook it really well, and we enjoyed it a few times a week. Then, when I heard that the FDA approved cloned meat in January of last year I lost my appetite for it.

Even though it was not going to be in our stores for years, I still couldn't bring myself to eat it. I knew I had to stop eating it now, before it hit the stores.

My husband thought it was silly of me to stop eating it, especially because I enjoyed it so much. I knew it didn't make much sense, but I knew I wanted to stop eating it anyway. Let's face it most of us have at least one food that we will not eat, unless of course you are Anthony Bourdain.

Amazingly, it was very easy for me to stop eating red meat. After a few weeks of not eating it I didn't like the smell of it anymore. It was very strange there was a time when I loved that smell, now it just doesn't appeal to me anymore.

I have not eaten it since and I don't miss it. But this was just the start of a series of many drastic changes in my diet. More on that in a future post.