June 6th - Day Six

[Aleesha Sattva]

Welcome to Day Six!

[GlimR]

Good Morning everyone~:)
I slept good last night and am up early again. The onion bread is done and I am going to make some more raw/dehydrated foods to have on hand for the coming week.

I've been working on my raw lifestyle for over three years now and so I know how to prepare foods, how to work making things into my schedule. But I do remember when I first started and it was overwhelming. I tried a lot of recipes and didn't like most of them. That was in part because I was so used to the way SAD food tasted and my taste buds hadn't had time to adjust yet...and partly because I just didn't like them and never would.

But over time I collected a dozen or so that I really love and am glad to eat and so will you guys who are struggling now. It just takes time. And even now I make things...like the burgers yesterday which will probably wind up in the trash...but it's okay........chalk it up to the learning curve. Most of what I eat is pretty simple; salads of infinite variety, smoothies either w/oj base or almond milk, small amount of seeds and nuts, at least a handful a day and maybe several recipes a week to round things out, lots of fruit and greens every day and I average 4 avocados a week.

For you guys who are really struggling I can't emphasize enough how important it is to have an abundance of food available to you. If not you will either under eat and feel terrible or eat crap because you are too tired and can't be bothered at the last minute. You just have to make the preparation a part of your weekly routine and soon it will just be the "normal" way you do things.

Wishing you each exactly what you need to make this work for YOU!

[NellieBelle]

Dzień dobry!

We had a lovely thunder storm last night and the morning is clean and bright. My garden is happy and so am I.

So, yesterday I had my meal plan figured out in the morning and something weird happened - I had no appitite. I was full halfway through the morning smoothie and wasn't interested in a morning snack. I ate about a cup of the salad I had prepared and even less salad for supper. I had a handful of cashews and that was it. I am so used to my SAD brain telling me that I'm hungry all of the time, so this is very odd and COOL. Is this normal?

I'll check in at the end of the day. Happy Sunday, everyone!

[amarryth]

I am no expert... but I've been hammering away at this for around 5 years now.. and I would have to say it's pretty normal. All of a sudden every single thing you're putting in your body is full of absorbable nutrition.. and your body is like "Hey! I guess I don't need any more just yet.. WICKED!" And since you're not constantly piling food into your stomach, your body is able to get to work with all of that available energy.

I don't believe in calories, I believe in nutrients (and fibre).. otherwise, a bag of chips would be harder to eat than 5 apples.

I ate something I shouldn't have last night. Only a little bit, but I felt something similar to a mild drunk. It messed up my perception and made me feel a little disconnected. Has anyone else felt this?

Kind of makes me wonder if I was living a blur without realizing it the whole time I was just eating cooked. After all, when I cut out gluten, I realized I always had a headache and it was finally gone.

How GOOD can this get? How GREAT can we feel? How CLEAR can our minds be? How CLEAN can our bodies get?

For me, I think that cheat was a revelation.

:D

Happy day 6, friends!

Have a fabulous day 6!

[Rawdina007]

Not too hungry today:

Nuts, seeds, raisins
water

Green Smoothie (collards, aloes, juice grapefruit n apple, nutmeg)

Planning on making Zucchetti w raw marinara sauce (alissa recipe)

[firefly]

Good morning, everyone...

Day two here and I've had a lingering headache since I awoke at two this morning to prepare for work. Although I wanted to take an excedrin, I'm just bucking it up and taking it. I know that my body can't detox if I'm still putting trash in.... With that said, I participated in a 5k race this morning and stopped for groceries on the way home. I soaked sunflower seeds yesterday and bought some raw tahini this morning, so I'm looking forward to making a pate. Also picked up ingredients for salsa & guacamole with carrot "chips". I'm looking forward to something a little different.

Not very hungry right now, so I'm gonna get a snooze in before I head out to volunteer at the People's Fair to help sign folks up for the AIDS walk in August.

Have a great day! :)

[Bagalamukhi]

HMMM... I has again some days with not completely raw. Yesterday was really bad... I even ate ice-cream, and shortly after I just felled SO tired. The rest of the day I had a huge headache, already detoxing again. Actually I became grateful for the experience, because it made me aware of how I DON'T want live... I felt like I had ate poison, and it was "only" ice cream.
When I woke up, I felt good again.

B: few bananas, pear juice
L: Broccoli soup, but didn't like it to much... it ws to fat for me.. next time I will put less avo, or maybe just more water.
D: mango, banana icecream with some blueberries on top.

[donnyandcathy]

Must be really detoxing or something??
Last night or really this morning I woke up drenched in sweat, I could have rung my shirt out. My sheets were wet, and I felt really shaky. I got up and my heart was pounding, but I think I was dehydrated because when I drank a bunch of water (about 32 oz) I felt better. But today I feel really weak and shaky, but I will make sure I get a lot more calories in today. So far I've had almost a whole cantaloup, and I plan on making a couple of big green smoothies with a lot of greens ;) and cilantro.

Tomorow I have to do a prep for my colonoscopy, so I have to do a clear liquid diet tomorrow, and my procedure is not till 1:00 pm on Tuesday, so today's the last day I can have solid food till Tuesday night :( So I better enjoy my food today. The reason I'm having the colonoscopy is because I have severe gastroparesis, and my endoscopy showed up with some things, and my other gastro symptoms have led them to do the colonoscopy. So I pray everything will look o.k. and I can continue on this month, (which I plan to anyways).
We have colon cancer that runs in the family, so they are wanting to also clear me on having to worry about that.
I guess tomorrow, I will juice apples and celery, and some pineapple. And make sure I drink plenty of water.

I also weighed this morning and I have released 11 lbs since Monday, so that shows me that I have not been eating enough, and that could be the reason I haven't been feeling good, and my energy has been so low, that's a lot of weight to release in one week. So more fruit and greens for me today ;)

Cathy

[Gossy]

Greetings to all on Day 6!

I had wicked insomnia (despite being exhausted) last night and didn't get to sleep to well after 3AM. My alarm went off, as usual for Sunday, at 7:30AM. I should have gotten up to work out, but my eyes were having halos (like an oncoming migraine) and I was ridiculous exhausted still. So I read for a while and just let myself pass back out. Till 1PM! I never sleep in that late and I feel like I've wasted part of my day. But maybe my body just needs the sleep.

On top of feeling a bit better from the sleep I also feel better having decided I need a meal plan. I need to write down exactly what I'm going to eat for every meal this week. Maybe not for next weekend, but to relieve the stress of "What am I taking for lunch?!?!" I need it for the work week at least. This way I can also make sure I'm getting enough calories/nutrients to get me through the day. I can also pack things the night before to save myself time. And when I go to the store I won't forget anything. I also plan to keep the plan simple. A few of the recipes I already know I like (like Alissa's almost tuna, so yum) and the same mix of, or close to, fruits and greens for smoothies each morning. I may rotate some of the fruits, and will rotate the greens, but otherwise I'm going to keep it the same so I can be sure I like it. And hell, I used to drink the exact same coffee drink each morning when eating SAD, so, its not like I'll get bored! I made a smoothie my first week of raw eating that I loved. And most of the fruits were frozen so it was super smoothie texture. I need to dig up the "recipe" for that one and use that as my base.

I also will make sure I plan snacks. This way I will get through my fresh fruits/veg before they spoil and feel like I'm wasting less money. And I won't buy things I don't have plans to make something with it within 1-2 days. Unless of course its something I buy in advance as it needs to ripen.

I'm also excited today because my avocados I bought days ago are finally ripe, so I can try out a chocolate mousse recipe I found. I don't want to spend too much of today cooking/cleaning up, to continue to give my body a rest, and because I have plenty of whole fresh things I want to eat, but that mousse has been calling to me for a week!

I'm also, as part of this plan, going to go through every single recipe in Alissa's book, decide what sounds yum that I want to try, and have one to two days a week where I experiment with a new recipe and see what I like. Probably making the weekend "cooking" days.

I know it seems simple to some to just "eat fruit and make a salad", but I have to acknowledge the truth - this, for me, is a drastic and massive change. I tried the "just eat fruit and make a salad" and it is not working for me. I need the lists, the planning, the schedule, and hopefully at the end of this 30 days I'll have several new recipes I like and can use as staple foods, I won't have such a hard time figure out lunches at work, and I'll be consuming enough to keep my energy up and not have crashes and crippling exhaustion.

I'm also going to look into making a yoga routine for extra energy/relaxation. And hopefully this week at work won't be as bad as the past few, which will aid greatly in my mental health!

So, today is starting with a cut up apple and almond butter. I'm planning to eat some fresh berries, freeze some for smoothies for this week, try out my mousse recipe, and eat up some veggies today before they go bad. I might also make a largish portion of almost tuna to have on hand since I love it so much and have a good amount of sprouts to make it with.

Happy Day 6 all! And a big thanks to GlimR for the support replies and advice and help :)

[appifanie]

I ate something I shouldn't have last night. Only a little bit, but I felt something similar to a mild drunk. It messed up my perception and made me feel a little disconnected. Has anyone else felt this?


YES. I can feel my head get foggy and it's sort of a sinking/lifting feeling at the same time. Odd.

[Coriander74]

Everyone is doing so well! I'm so happy for, and proud of, all of you! YAY!!!

Detoxing is hard. I've found that I have needed more sleep on some days, more water on others, etc. I've also found that my appetite varies. Yesterday, for example, I was full all day long but then figured out that my calories were so extremely low that I had an apple before bed just to get them above 500! :eek: I know that calories in themselves aren't as "important" on raw, but I also know that my body will not lose weight unless I have a substantial calorie intake (1000 - 1200). I don't have the energy to exercise if my calories are low, either.

I had my beloved green smoothie this morning and am feeling the comforting rumblings as it moves through my digestive system. I can feel it cleaning and nourishing me as it travels through. :)

Have a beautiful Raw day!

[Katie P]

Fruit for breakfast
Guac salad for lunch
just had guac w/ crackers & frozen bananas w/ honey, fudge & sprinkle of chocolate granola for DESSERT yuuumummmmy!

[GlimR]

Hi everyone~:)

I am tired out from being in the kitchen half the day but so glad I got some things made. I haven't been very hungry this week but know that could change at any time so I want to be prepared.
In the dehydrator I have mango/peachy flat bread, cranberry/orange granola & cinnamon/caramel macaroons. I just made the most amazing raw dressing from Living Cuisine by Renee Loux Underkoffler...wow!! Talk about a punch of flavor.

Sun-Fired Italian Vinaigrette\

1/4 c. sun dried tomatoes
6 T. olive oil
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1T. balsamic vinegar (optional) I added it.
2T. nama shoyu (I didn't have any and used Bragg's)
1 T. raw honey, agave or maple syrup (I used maple)
1 clove garlic
2 T. dried italian seasoning
Pinch of sea salt (I used 1/2 tsp.)
Pinch chili pepper, or to taste (optional) I left this out.

Blend thoroughly in VM

It was way too thick for me...I added 1/2 c. water and it is still pretty thick...add water as needed to desired consistency.

I haven't eaten much today because I've been so busy

water w/lemon & msm
nibbles of granola batter (maybe 1 T)
a great organic gala apple

Will have an awesome huge salad for dinner with the dressing, avocado, veggies...lots of tomatoes, etc...

It smells so incredible in here...my dd & dh keep commenting on it.

[tloftus]

Whenever I feel that headache coming on or even body aches and nausea, I find excersize helps. Even if it's just stretching - knowing that headach or nausea might not like alot of jiggling around kind of excersize. I am a hooper, and I just hooped away a headache a few minutes ago.

[Shels]

Started today slowly, to relax and give my body a rest, especially my wrists/hands which are really really strained and hurting from work. :(

Pilates with plenty of stretching and then just water for a few hours. Then I decided I'd better nourish myself before I got too hungry and overdid it, so I made what turned out to be one of my favorite smoothies so far: 2 bananas, handful of parsley, pinch of spinach, a leaf of kale, and then cacao powder and cinnamon. SO delicious, but I feel sort of bad for skimping on the percentage of greens. Oh, and about a teaspoon of tahini - gotta use it for something!

Since then a couple walnuts, brazil nuts and almond butter. Running a bit low on produce, so these keep calling my name..

[rawmoose]

Hooray for everyone doing so well! Hooray for detoxing!!

I'm feeling better than I was yesterday too. Although I've continued to be pretty hungry, it hasn't been the insane EATRIGHTNOW panicky feeling that I had yesterday. Best of all, my no-fat candida kicking plan continues to work! So excited.

I exercised today as well, so this evening I'm feeling so so good. ahhhh...

B: green smoothie with spinach and kale, banana, pineapple, pear and a handful of frozen mango/pineapple/strawberry/peach
L: ack, I cannot remember what I ate for lunch!! some kind of fruit most likely ETA: I remember now, I made a fruit salad with pineapple, strawberries, cherries, and a mango
S: orange, dried papaya and banana
D: pineapple, strawberries, half a grapefruit with sucanat, cherries, and a drink of raw ACV with sucanat in water.



I had my beloved green smoothie this morning and am feeling the comforting rumblings as it moves through my digestive system. I can feel it cleaning and nourishing me as it travels through. :)
Have a beautiful Raw day!

Aha, this is what i've been feeling. I've noticed the rumbling feelings and have been mildly concerned. I'm used to those rumblings meaning I've eaten dairy or gluten and my body is rebelling. Of course since being raw, those rumblings generally are not accompanied by the horrific gas and other effects that dairy/gluten give me. Now I understand :D:o

[Gossy]

Well all my plans for organizing and scheduling things for myself this week got shot to hell. I'm now no better off going into this work week than I was last. And that likely is going to spell exhaustion disaster continuing.

I don't know what to d. I feel like I'm spending my entire life dealing with food now and I'm sick of it. And even when I try to simplify and just eat things whole, no prep time or thought or planning, I'm not even doing that right because I'm still exhausted and consuming way less each day than I need to.

I really just want to quit.

[Coriander74]

Well all my plans for organizing and scheduling things for myself this week got shot to hell. I'm now no better off going into this work week than I was last. And that likely is going to spell exhaustion disaster continuing.

I don't know what to d. I feel like I'm spending my entire life dealing with food now and I'm sick of it. And even when I try to simplify and just eat things whole, no prep time or thought or planning, I'm not even doing that right because I'm still exhausted and consuming way less each day than I need to.

I really just want to quit.

Gossy, how can we help you? What do you feel your body needs right now? How is your water intake? I've noticed that if I don't drink a lot of water then I feel run down and really very tired. We're going through a lot as our bodies get used to this.

Big hugs to you. You're doing a great job.

[rawmoose]

Awww, Gossy! Sorry you're feeling so discouraged, and that you didn't get to do all the food prep you had hoped to today. Very disappointing :( I can understand your frustration.

What do you think you could change so you have enough to eat throughout the day? Is there anything you could do differently that wouldn't require a lot of prep? It seems kind of obvious to suggest bringing more food with you, but... do you need to bring more food?

One thing I've found really helpful is to have a container in my fridge of mixed nuts and dried fruit. It's good for a quick snack at home, and whenever I'm going out for a long time, I'll fill a smaller container with the nuts and fruit and keep it in my purse. I also keep bananas, oranges and apples with me when I'm out.

[Gossy]

Thanks Coriander and Rawmoose - I appreciate the help/support.

I really feel stuck/don't know what to do, which isn't helping. Part of the low blood sugar or whatever it is I'm going through right now is total brain fog. I want to figure out how to fix this but it seems impossible. The past two days at work I didn't do morning smoothies, I just brought all whole fruits/veg instead, and it was nearly impossible to find the time to eat it all. I get so dumped on at work, to stop and eat an apple, or peach, or whole banana (because I want to take the time to really chew it, not just inhale it) is too much.

I'm going to try to get back on smoothies for the morning. The thing is I was getting so sick of them. The banana flavor every day. I don't mind whole banana, but banana flavor for things, ugh! Even with that though I have to be diligent about drinking it because I get distracted at work and it winds up all warm and gross and I don't eat it all.

Lunches are the worst. I need something easy to eat still but that is always my downfall too. I need the calories and carbs the most then. Something like a salad is just too much of a hassle and not "easy" enough to eat while I continue working (lunch break? Me? No! That would require my boss not giving me tons of work to do right before lunch time!) - something like Alissa's "almost tuna" is perfect . . . I was going to prep some tonight but I freakin' don't have enough sprouts and lost the will power after trying to make something else and found out my veggie was spoiled. The tuna is perfect because I can throw it in a container, eat it with a spoon/fork, and keep working. I mean, I guess a salad would work too for that reason, but somehow a salad is like, too much chewing. I can't devote my attention to chewing it like I should at lunch time. Dinner? Sure. Not lunch.

I'm going to try very hard tomorrow but I dunno. Right now all I think I have to take is my smoothie, strawberries, and carrots. I may have some celery I can slather peanut butter on too. I'm going to go grocery shopping after work (hopefully). I managed to make a list. Once again it seems ridiculously long and full of stuff and I'm afraid I'll wind up on energy crisis again and not able to cook things. I wish I could just make salad and eat it for every meal or whatnot, but I know I'll get so sick of that. And it probably still won't be enough calories!!

I'm planning to get a few things tomorrow to make some dehydrated chips. I'm hoping to use that as an easily snackable at work thing and hopefully add a few more calories in there. I just don't know what else to do. I feel like this should be so easy and somehow I'm messing it up, and then it plunges me into this spiral of beating myself up and feeling guilty that I can't even manage to eat properly on the easiest diet known to man. Just eat fruits and veggies. How hard can it be?

:(

[rawmoose]

Can you make some raw bars in your dehydrator? Those would be portable and easy to eat. I don't have a recipe, but I am sure there are tons out there.

I have a recipe for live gardenburgers that I love. It sounds like it would be similar to the almost tuna as far as easy to eat. Maybe you have the ingredients onhand? It's quick to make too.

1/2 lb favorite nuts (I love it with cashews sunflower seeds and almonds)
1/2 lb carrots, chopped
1/2 med onion, chopped
1 tsp sweetener (I've used raisins honey and sucanat, all were good)
2 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp poultry seasoning (or other seasoning that sounds good)
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
salt to taste

Grind nuts in food processor, then add remaining ingredients and process to a nice consistency that is not too chunky but not too pastey. If the mixture is too moist, add more nutritional yeast.

Eat straight or with lettuce leaf "buns". i like to top with tomato and sprouts. Sometimes I'll add it to a salad instead of a dressing.

Recipe came from the Complete Book of Raw Food edited by Lori Baird.

Hang in there, you can do this!!

[donnyandcathy]

I saw the light at the end of the tunnel today, and it wasn't a train :D

I feel AWESOME!!! I don't know what happened, maybe it was all that sweating in my sleep last night that got rid of whatever was making me feel ao bad?

I will post what happened on day 7, because I don't think many people will see this since it's after midnight, and really day 7 anyways. But I wanted to finish out my daily journal for day 6.....

1 Whole Cantaloupe

BIG green smoothie (Romaine Lettuce, Cilantro, 1 Mango, Pineapple, Cherries)

A BIG cup of fresh yummy cherries

Few bananas

BIG green smoothie (Chia seeds, LOTS of Spinach, Cilantro, 1 Pear, and about 5 bananas) this made a 44 oz smoothie and it was so delish!!

I'm one happy girlie ;)

[Coriander74]

That gardenburger sounds amazing. I may have to try that :)

Gossy, I understand about the banana flavor. Perhaps add more of another fruit so that it kills the banananess some? I find that strawberries and pineapple do a great job with that. :) YOU CAN DO IT. Remember we're all in this together... *cheer*

B: green smoothie
L: salad (added avocado, apple cider vinegar and agave)
D: salad again, the second half of the above.

S: I don't know if you could call this a "snack"... DBF went to Jamba Juice and brought me home a smoothie with a wheatgrass shot. He assured me it was all fruit. I checked, and the fruit juice they used may or may not be raw. It was the thought that counts. LOL It was mainly fruit. :)

[Ms_Catherine]

Gossy, my dearest raw sister, I'll tell you a couple of things that I put together in *minutes* and it makes life much easier.

I love Alissa's Mock Salmon Pate. Red bell pepper, walnuts, celery, scallions and salt, in the food processor. Takes 5 minutes, tops. Put it on sprouts and stir, dip carrots or celery, or on onion bread for a sandwich.

Taco meat ~ put a chunked zucchini in the food processor with a cup of walnuts and a Tbls. of taco seasoning mix. Pulse until it resembles "meat". You can use it as a dip with carrots or whatever, or fill a collard or romaine leaf. Add onion, tomato, avacado, sprouts.

Gazpacho ~ cukes, tomato, onion, peppers, cilantro, pulse in the food processor, add some cumin and salt and heat (red pepper flakes) if you like.

Mushroom Pate ~ throw some mushrooms in the food processor, with a handful of nuts, a splash of Bragg's or sea salt, some onion. Process. Yummy in a collard leaf.

I have not had a green salad in well over a month, but I've managed to be almost all raw. Take a deep breath. This is not a test. You won't/can't fail. No one is judging you. We all try; and we try again.

[Basenjimamma]

that recipe sounds so good, adding it to my must try list...

We traveled to Corpus Christi over the day, so three + hours down and 3+ hours home..long day, All I ate was a fruit and salads, I even stopped and got a lettuce bag from the store and ate straight out of it. I did have a huge green smoothie beofre our trip and brought a Lärabar as well.

[Gossy]

Thank you all for the recipes, suggestions, and support! I'm going to post over in Day 7, but I wanted to let you all know I appreciate it and am feeling much better this morning, and going to have a cooking frenzy when I get home and see if having the fridge stocked with stuff helps!

Thank you thank you thank you again!

[revdrcyn]

Green Smoothie
Green Juice
Bananas x 8
Green Salad with Walnuts
Zucchini Noodles with Marinara
Lemon Mango Sorbet
Raspberries
Mango x 2
Blueberries
Strawberries
Flax Crackers