1 Week 100% Raw and Loving It!

[NuttyRawMom]

Hello everyone! I am glad to finally 'meet' you all, although I have been lurking around here since January! I feel like I know many of you and after having enjoyed so many recipes, ideas, information, photos, etc.., I thought I would finally join in.

I have been on/off high raw, vegan, SAD, you name it for 3 years now. My first intro into even vegetarianism was from a friend who was interested in Hallelujah Acres. (For those who do not know, this Christian organization promotes 85% raw diet.) I thought I would never be able to do it and didn't even agree with it at first, but tried it and liked it. After much research, I was mostly into the vegan lifestyle, but have never been there consistently. I want to, but something has always pulled me back...

After a lifetime of being overweight and dieting, I know that the vegan life is for me. Any efforts of losing weight in the last 3 years through vegan diets (the healthy kind) have been lost due to stumbling back into SAD. I have been reading about so many eating raw 100% and have decided it is time to do it, and so far it is great!

In 8 days I have lost 9 pounds!! :D (Is this actually too much?) I have been eating as much as I want of green smoothies, lots and lots of salads (our fave), fresh fruit, nuts, seeds, etc... thanks to some great info found here. My husband has been doing this with me and our kids (6yr, 3 1/2 yr, 15 mo.) are somewhere in between, but still vegan. Our baby drinks more smoothy than my 6 yr old, she loves it sooo much! I have no more severe dry, cracked, and bleeding skin on my fingertips!! That is my best change seen, aside from weight loss. Noticeable increase in energy, less hunger, dry eyes better....are among the others.

By the way, I am an American, but we are living in Austria. Anyone else in the forum here, too?

Now after having written a novel, I am going to end with thanks to Raw Priestess for a delicious brownie recipe!! This is my birthday cake (as today is my 29th birthday!) and it truly is amazing...not just in taste, but in how simple it is to make! Thank you!

[Dimond]

Welcome and Happy Birthday!

[Lay-Lay]

Congrats on making the journey to raw. So glad you have joined the forum. Look forward to hearing your voice here!

[elian]

Congrats NuttyRawMom,
Hang in there you are doing great. I'm jealous that your family is more on the band wagon as they are. My 6 year old is hard to convince. (Bite by bite...)

Blessings from the States.

[Mookie]

Welcome and Happy Birthday!

[NuttyRawMom]

Thanks Lay-Lay! I noticed your new picture! Was that you? Didn't look like you have so much to lose as you have written in your post! We are right about in the same place as current weight and goals. Scary thing for me is that I have never been that low and have no idea what it will feel like! I guess we will find out soon!

[NuttyRawMom]

Elian, I am very spoiled to have such a supportive husband! He has trusted me with all the new information on nutrition, including for our children. It hasn't been as easy as just 8 days of change. It has been 3 years of trying to get here, and I hope that this positive attitude will continue as we keep seeing the amazing results. Our 6 yr old boy is resistant to almost anything at the moment, except for some old favorites, and sometimes not even those! He loves green smoothies, though! I was pregnant with my 3 yr old daughter when we first made any diet changes, and it seems she was born for raw, literally! Her favorite food is salad....and to think that I used to force her to eat her cooked food and stop with the salad! Yes, our baby (15 mo girl) loves almost anything at this point, except plain avocado. But, little does she know that she gets it mixed in with all her other stuff that she loves!:) Good luck to you in your journey!

[NuttyRawMom]

Thanks to you, too, GilmoreGirl and Mookie!

[exurb]

Where in Austria, I love Austria, we have travelled there and will travel there again. Hope you're not surrounded by too much Schnitte there (though now you have the best of raw schnitte with RP's brownies).

[Lay-Lay]

Thanks Lay-Lay! I noticed your new picture! Was that you? Didn't look like you have so much to lose as you have written in your post! We are right about in the same place as current weight and goals. Scary thing for me is that I have never been that low and have no idea what it will feel like! I guess we will find out soon!

The one I was wearing a red sweater was me. This one with the wheatgrass is just one I liked because I love wheatgrass and how it makes such an awesome feeling in me when I even touch it or look at it.

Yeah I guess we will! I know what it feels like, I have been there and let me tell you it is soooo worth it. This time around I want to do it much much healthier as I am doing. My top weight was 209 pounds and my bottow weight (5 years ago) was 120 pounds. I am 5' 3" medium boned.

My regain of weight happened when I went off a high protein diet of a year and a half and had started suffering severe health problems that the diet caused and I almost died. Despite not being on a diet my weight stayed around 125 to 135. Then I got engaged and went on birth control, within 4 months (wedding day) I had gained 40 pounds. Weighing about 175 pounds on my special day and very ill. A few months later I discovered that raw lifestyle and I lost and amazing 20 pounds and felt wonderful, but quit doing it 100% because I felt well.

Health issues and weight started creeping back up on me so back to 100% I went and here I am. Happy and raw me.

[spicyfull]

Welcome, you are doing a great thing introducing you children to raw. And to have the support of your husband, you are one blessed lady. I wish you much success and you did not stumble this was by chance. This site was your destination. Keep up the good works, support is only a click away............

[rawpriestess]

WELCOME WELCOME WELCOMEand congratulation on the 8 days raw, and 9 pounds lost, how cool is that?

[gina]

Hi Im going to start raw again. I would love the brownie recipe for it will help me with my chocolate addiction :D

[Rawsome Ginger]

I too have heard of this famous brownie recipe!
I am struggling with giving up the bread and chips! I love potato chips and need an alternative! Help??!!?? Anyone!!??

[tinystrawberry]

I'm so happy for you, being raw is so great (and so is losing weight! if you need to) congrats! :D

[denisedeland]

Hi it's really nice to meet you.. Keep up the good work...

Denise

[Coriander74]

Congratulations on your weight loss :) I'm sure you feel absolutely wonderful!

[NuttyRawMom]

Hello and thanks to all who have written! I haven't checked this thread in a while...sorry, not ignoring you!

As for the brownie recipe, let me see if I can get this link in here correctly:

http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15051&highlight=brownies

The following is the text if the link doesn't work (haven't tried adding links yet, just guessing on how I should do it!)

***Quote from Raw Priestess:

okay, here is a new recipe of mine, super fast, super easy and super delicious.


I call it,

Brownies

1 cup walnut (unsoaked)
1 cup dates (pitted unsoaked)
1/4 cup cocoa powder (you may use carob if you like)

place in food processor, and blend until well blended, should still be dry and chunky, maybe blend about 30 seconds,

press into a small spring form pan

refridgerate until you can insert a knife and it isn't too sticky

cut into little pieces, then pop into a zip lock baggie and freeze

they can be eaten fresh, from the fridge or from the freezer, they won't last long though, these are my newest addiction. mmmmmmmmmmmmm

End Quote***

Yes, they certainly do end the chocolate cravings!!!

Rawsome Ginger: As for the bread and chips recipes, try searching the recipe archives. I assume the only way to do these items is by dehydrating and I don't have one, so haven't tried. I don't have Alissa's book, but the more I get into my raw life, the more I want it!