April 2011 - 30 Day Challenge Thread - Join anytime in April

[Aleesha Sattva]

Welcome welcome welcome!!! :excited:

Welcome to the 30 day challenge. :eat and welcome to our new monthly format.

This is our monthly challenge thread. We are choosing to do one (or perhaps split into two) continual threads so we can create a community of support within this challenge. You can join this thread at any time during the month. Don't be shy... we love new posters!!! So if you want to join us... please do!

I welcome people who are already 100% raw to join in the conversation - supporting our challengers in their quest! :cheer:

This thread is specifically for those of you who are eager to commit to 30 consecutive days of eating 100% raw foods and seeing miraculous results!

I will start a new challenge thread on the first of every month. If I forget... send me a quick email and remind me... I'll get the challenge thread online for you quickly.

The focus of the monthly challenge is on staying raw and accountability. Therefore, if you have eaten all raw and then slip up and have something cooked, don't beat yourself up over it or dwell on it - but this is not space to discuss it. You are more than welcome to document it in your journal/blog or ask for help in the discussion area, but it is not necessary (and not allowed) to discuss your slip-up here in the challenge threads, just get right back on track and keep going! This thread is about celebrating what you are eating that IS raw!

I welcome you all to share pics of your dishes, ask questions, share what you are consuming (as long as it's raw). We are here to listen to your emotional and physical challenges. So share share share!!! :hug

OH and the best part of this (not only the support but...) you can subscribe to this thread and get notified every time someone posts to it. This way you will be connected!

So let's get this party started!!!

[Aleesha Sattva]

Please wait until April 1st to write in this thread... until then please continue to contribute to the March 2011 thread.

Thanks,
Admin

[monkapotapus]

Morning everyone!!

I'm starting my day off with a nice cup of tea~:tea:

I will be making my morning smoothie soon....adding bananas, strawberries, blueberries + my Raw protein powder & all my other powdered supplements......I call it my "kitchen sink" smoothie!! lol :talljuice:

Happy Friday Everyone!! :throwhearts:
:fruitline:

[seRAWnity]

Good Morning, getting snowed in here in the Northeast!!!

Started today with a huge fruit salad: black grapes, pink lady apple, and mucho strawberries!! Topped off with shredded coconut, YUM :throwhearts:

Lunch I already have salad made up, and dinner is a mystery so far!!

TGIF!

[jhodi]

Good Morning and Happy April 1st!!!

It is rainy and cool here in the Ozarks but we are expecting sunny and in the 70's this weekend. yey!!! Our Farmer's Market, which is FABULOUS, opens tomorrow. There will be wonderful vendors, crafts, street musicians of the most amazing quality, all around our historic square in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

I am starting my morning with a smoothie and DID NOT think about my Hemp protein/fiber powder possibly not being raw!!!! So I have some research to do.

Love to all of you for a successful month.


edit! YEY!! it IS RAW

[Lady Green Jeans]

Good morning all.

Sunny and beautiful here in Southern California today. We have had a spell of cold and rainy so very glad to get to be outdoors working on putting together my square foot garden area.

Started my day with carob chia pudding with raspberries on top. Lunch will be a big salad with lots of colorful veggies. Dinner I hope will be pizza if they are done enough from the dehydrator. Have an event tonight at church and all the men will be serving the ladies dessert before the speakers present. Will be taking my own dessert so I don't feel left out or tempted.

Sooo glad to be here for the April challenge!!:woohoo::woohoo:

[macrae.bridget]

Heeeey! So this morning I had a smoothie with chard, raspberries, strawberries, kiwi ice and it was _alright_ but I need to work on my recipes hahaha. For lunch I am about to have the bomb salad with mixed green, mango, orange, grapefruit, white onion, cherry tomatoes and avocado with some mustard, thyme and olive oil dressing. I also made some tabouli with sprouted quinoa in case I'm still hungry. But I have _no_ clue what I'm going to have for dinner. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

[meowimacat]

happy first day of april!!! i hope you are all kicking raw butt today!
here is my grub for today with photos below - i hope people dont mind me posting photos so often, but i find it keeps me motivated and excited about my food!

breakfast - apple porridge with banana and strawberry.
lunch - the most delicious green smoothie that has ever passed my lips (mango, nana & spinach - was much tastier than usual)
snack - ...see below.
dinner - tomato, basil and spinach soup. looks gross but tasted beautiful!!

i also attempted to make brownies (2nd pic). carob brownies. i have been waiting for my carob powder to arrive for ages, and boy was i disappointed. all i could taste was petfood. it smelt just like a petshop i go in. i was soooo disappointed and it put a real downer on my day! it just made me want a real life chocolate brownie. so after i wallowed for a while i realised that actually, i dont need to make food that mimics SAD food, i am fine without it, and don't crave it unless i try and substitute it. so for me, the simpler the better!! when i do have a chocolate urge i nibble on a choc orange nakd bar. if you are in the uk try these!! they are tasty!

[changeisgood]

Hi everyone - it will be in the mid-80s today. Finally!

I had orange, grapefruit, lemon and ginger juiced with some pulp this AM after my lemon water.

lunch will be left over grapefruit and orange segments. I'll have some flax crackers mid-morning to munch on with plenty of water.

Perhaps an apple for a snack

Dinner, I'm thinking the blueberry pancakes. While I'm waiting for them to dehydrate (although delich the way it is made) I'll have a small salad.

Kiwi or an apple after dinner
I'm dehydrating sweet potato chips.

Kiwi ice sounds really good - I love kiwis - can you tell me what the recipie is?


Hi Monk - good to see you here - I was hoping some of the old crowd would be here.

Have a agreat day everyone !

[appifanie]

I'll copy my post from the other April thread :)


Hi everyone!

A 2 part breakfast because we're going to be out and about for awhile today.

Buckwheat flake cereal, raisins, raw almond milk.
Smoothie - raw almond milk, peaches, banana, nutmeg, vanilla.

eta: I didn't take a pic today, but the cereal was like this one, but no apples today - I was hungry and just wanted to throw stuff in a bowl and eat

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y132/ltlghiagrl/Blog/IMG_3638.jpg

Okay, for lunch I was out of the house for longer than expected. When I got in I had one of those date/coconut roll things while I made lunch.

For lunch I wanted to make teh carrot soup recipe from Cafe Gratitude's book but it involves juicing carrots, and I've wanted to see if I can get into making juice with teh vitamix. Anyway, that probably messed up the seasonings a bit and I know it changed the texture and it was too creamy for me. Next time I make carrot soup I'm just going to try raw-ing the carrot soup recipe i know and love that is vegan but not raw.

So after my unfinished soup (I'll try to fix it) I ate a raw crunch bar.

[amarryth]

So far I'm at lemon water, a head of romaine, half a cucumber, some sundried tomatoes, small handful of almonds, with olive oil and salt and pepper, and then about 6 brazil nuts.

Yesterday I fell below my weight number that I have been stuck at for years. It's only been 5 lbs. I've been trying to lose.. but those last few have been the hardest!

Maybe I will make it through this challenge after all!

[LVN Wells]

Hi everyone,
I am so happy that I found this site today. I have been raw since 3/28/2011, and enjoy challenges. I have been researching and believe that by the end of this challenge I will be a healthy raw eater. I will post my meals starting tomorrow.
Thanks for letting me join.

My goals is to dissolve fibroadnoma breast tumors. Lose weight. My weight this morning was 155.5. This evening it's 157.5.

My long term goal is to run a marthon in October 2011.

[jhodi]

So the ordered-in gourmet raw meals did not work out for me....don't want to complain here but just wanna say it didnt work out and ....

Now....I gotta quick learn how to prepare my own raw meals. Green smoothie for breakfast, veggie salad for lunch....WHAT can I make for dinners?

I am a busy busy workin girl as most of you.

Here is my equipment: greenstar elite juicer, excaliber 9 tray, good blender, etc...

But I stocked my kitchen with all of that thinking I could take my time learning how to do it all....now I need some recipes!!! Ordering Alissa's cookbooks STAT.

[appifanie]

bad food combining day bourne of panic from a day off schedule.

those gone raw cookies
green smoothie

I forget what else! raw though. too many nuts and seeds probably - i'm going to clean that up for tomorrow.

[appifanie]

The plan for tomorrow is:

Breakfast - Buckwheat cereal or smoothie
Snack - Banana(s)
Lunch - Sushi with jicama for the rice
Snack - Apple
Dinner - Mushroom and tomato fettucini from Raw Food Real World

[Steven]

Here is what Ive eaten so far today:
1 large pineapple blended w/ water and 1 tbsp chia seed added
Mango
2 oranges
3 dates and 1/2 cup walnuts
2 pear
Water w/ 1 tsp spirulina
2 small apples
Spanish rice - from LOLF, mine is SOOO spicy, used chipotle chili powder. My mouth is on fire but its sooo good!

Im so happy and excited for another month of 100% raw ahead!

[skinnyme]

Hello all!

This is my first challenge though I've been raw since 2/23/11. I got in a 50 minute walk today and "hooped" for about 20 minutes. Food today got a bit outta hand, seed wise....all raw, albeit!

Breakfast, green smoothie--spinach, 1/2 cuke, 2 small mangos, green grapes and a banana. Actually drank only half...will have the other half tomorrow a.m.

Lunch was kinda grazing on some yummy warmed in the dehydrator portabella mushrooms stuffed with a mexican flavored sunflower seed pate. AMAZING!! Ate those big, bad boys on and off all day. Had a few bites left of a "moon pie" from a raw cafe in town.

Dinner...kinda, was cauliflower "popcorn" Sounds minimalistic but I ate darned near the whole head. So good!

Was a hungry day!!

Since I may be out all day tomorrow, I packed up a tiny pkg. of the leftover cauliflower popcorn and more sunflower seed pate rolled up in collards with spinach and carrot shreds inside...to go! This is so easy for me IF I prep well. The pate will cover me for several days and is so versatile.

Enough blabbering...sorry. g'night.

[Leiloshka]

Thank you all for still being here! I first read about raw in 2005 and went cold turkey on SAD. I was 100% most days for three years, then got married. Slowly but surely my raw intake decreased. Now, after months of the worst cramps and periods ever I realize I MUST return to raw. It will be so much harder this time because being single with children I could monitor everything in the house. Now I must cook for the family. We eat very healthy compared to the SAD standards, organic, "clean", no meat for me, etc., but not enough raw for my body.

What I hated the most about the raw years was feeling like the odd man out on everything and the hassle I took from family. Please, any hints on how to do this? My husband, fiance then, was very supportive, but being around mom and dad was hard as was eating out at restaurants. We finally settled on mostly Thai for our dates because it was so fresh and easy to eat raw.

I need encouragement badly because although I have personally seen all the great benefits, I've felt a lot of stress at times from the raw lifestyle as far as preparation hassles and not being "raw enough"....that perfection "all or nothing" side kicking in (as well as a restrictive eating disorder bent....Found a great book though, "Thin Within", and feel I've experienced a lot of healing over the past year in this area") so I need perspective and balance...or something.

After last month's painful period, I searched for my old posts here to see how long I was raw before I felt cramp relief and saw a decrease of flow. IT WAS ONLY ONE MONTH 100% RAW!!! Isn't that incredible?! I greatly increased raw this last month, but yesterday started and my cramps were killer. Just like the "old days" dating back to high school.

The ONLY natural relief I've EVER felt has been when I was raw those three years. So, I know for me this is the best path.

Any hints from anyone who is raw that also has to cook for family? I remember reading posts from people having to do that and thought, oh, gosh, how hard. I could never do that. But, I'll have to do it. It's 4:49 a.m. and I've been up since 2 a.m. with more cramps, then finally breaking down and taking Excederin. Now I've got some relief, but I'm awake due to the caffeine I guess. UGH!! And I have to get up early for a benefit walk.

Sorry to ramble. I'm going to need so much more help this go 'round.

Thankful for the April thread and thankful it's only the second day of the month. :dance:

Also thankful for Eva's site at http://uncooking101.com/site/. She has a great cheerful layout and an e-mail comes every day, except the weekend.

Thanks all!

[appifanie]

getting ready to leave so no time to read posts right now.

breakfast was vitamix juice! grapes, strawberries, 1/2 an apple, ice. super yummy!!

going to the local botanical gardens (it's the only place in my town i like) - bringing some fruit and tons of water.

psyched for sushi later! i don't like some of the other rices i've made, but the jicama should be yummy

[Yada Yada Yada]

Hi!

I had fun reading through all of the entries and the yummy rawness you are all eating.

I am new to 100% raw. I started with the Green Smoothie Queen and fell in love with green smoothies. So, now that I have a pretty good grasp on the green smoothies, I decided to go for a 30 Day challenge. I bought Alissa's DVD a couple of years ago and never watched the whole thing, lent it to a friend and just got it back a few days ago. After watching a good portion of it, I decided to do the 30 Day challenge. I turn 40 on May 1, and I decided that I wanted to feel GREAT on my 40th bday.

I will typically have green smoothies for breakfast and lunch and then I will do a large salad for dinner. Today will be bananas before lunch, a smoothie for lunch and salad for dinner.

I am married with 3 kids, and they aren't interested in being 100% raw, so I will be doing some cooking for them at dinner time. For breakfast and lunch, I will make green smoothies for anyone interested but if they want anything else, they are on their own. :)

And, oh....I LOVE seeing pictures of what you all are eating! So much fun!!

[changeisgood]

Welcome Leilaska and Yada. Hang out here and you'll be fine.

I had a GS for B - collard greens, pineapple,mango,strawberries,coconut butter, shredded coconut, hemp seeds, spirulina, and probiotics,etc Boy, was that good ! Had 18 oz.

Lunch will be fruit salad of grapefruit and orange, maybe add a kiwi for drama
I made blueberry pancakes, will have that too (next time need to use fresh instead of frozen, all I had after starting recipe- not as good)

Dinner will be a salad and carob hemp shake.

Probably a spoonful of coconut butter and apple.

Have a great day, everyone. The flowers are blooming and color is being added to the scenery.

[jhodi]

Lunch today was a Tuscany pizza by PureCafe out of Tulsa Oklahoma. ABSOLUTELY delicious!!!!!

However, it had to have a TON of calories.....will balance with some juice for dinner.

[queenkel]

Morning everyone!

Starting the day off with a green smoothie. For lunch I will probably have some apple juice, because I have a bag of apples that need to be eaten. Dinner will be soup and salad maybe....

I hope you all have a good weekend!:dance:

[appifanie]

okay, sushi fail - no cukes or avocados! i made more juice and then had one of the raw truffles from uli mana. i also had a banana and a banana lara bar when we were out earlier.

[seRAWnity]

Hey Everyone!! Happy day 2 :)

Never ended up having dinner last night, after breakfast and a big salad for lunch just wasn't hungry...

Started off this morning with a delicious plate of cinnamon fruit with a drizzle of agave, having a busy busy day unpacking so I have since just been grazing, little bit of salsa, little bit of fruit, tonight I'm thinking a big bowl of veggies with dressing!!!

I keep rewatching the raw videos I have and reading Alissa's book to stay motivated!!

[lizbar]

Did great so far today.
green juice
1/2 cantaloupe, grapes
coconut, banana, cinnamon smoothie . yum yum
some olives and almonds too.

have portabellas marinating in the D for collard rolls tonight
and also Alissa's chocolate turtles for tomorrow snack.
I know it's alot of food, but keeping myself full to keep myself on track!!
Liz

[appifanie]

sushi success! for rice i just food processed some jicama and added a touch of white wine vinegar and agave. no pictures cause it was UGLY :D

[amarryth]

I'm so proud of myself for actually surviving two days. I keep coming to these challenges with good intentions and then caving.

I have been fighting a cold/allergic reaction for over a month now. And then my period started the other day.. so today was just awful aches and pains all over the place. I wanted to say it all now so that in a month from now I can say how I can smell again and that my next cycle is pain-free! *come on law of attraction*!

Today so far:

giant tablespoon of bee pollen
2 blood oranges
head of romaine, small handful of baby spinach, 4 sundried tomatoes, small handful almonds, 1/2 cucumber, olive oil and pepper
3 ribs celery
1 forelle pear

Going to the BF's tonight... gonna look through my Ani Phyo dessert book to find something that I have the ingredients for so I will have something to munch on with a movie.

Love to all!

[jhodi]

Need clarification:


Is this challenge raw VEGAN or just RAW?

thank you.

[appifanie]

Need clarification:


Is this challenge raw VEGAN or just RAW?

thank you.

raw vegan.

[Yada Yada Yada]

Oh my goodness! I just made the yummiest smoothie:

peaches
blueberries
leftover water that I used for soaking dates
2 handfuls of spinach

YUMMM!

I have a questions about raw nuts. I saw somewhere that California nuts have to be flash pastuerized. But, they are still labeled raw. Do they have live enzymes or not?

Also a question about cashews. I read that they have to be steamed to get the shells off and this cooks the nut. So, even though cashews are labeled raw, they are really just not roasted.

Help?

[effortlessvegan]

Busy completing artwork for an antique show in New York State next week.
Tomorrow I'll be doing raw food prep for the trip.
Today I had:
B: GS with Kale,bananas,pineapple, avocado,rejuvelac,dates,strawberries,broccoli
L: Spinach salad,watermelon with homemade orange/ginger/miso dressing
D: spinach salad with homemade dressing

[BeingK8]

Oh my goodness! I just made the yummiest smoothie:

peaches
blueberries
leftover water that I used for soaking dates
2 handfuls of spinach

YUMMM!

I have a questions about raw nuts. I saw somewhere that California nuts have to be flash pastuerized. But, they are still labeled raw. Do they have live enzymes or not?

Also a question about cashews. I read that they have to be steamed to get the shells off and this cooks the nut. So, even though cashews are labeled raw, they are really just not roasted.

Help?

Glad you posted this stuff. I would like to know, as well, so I'm hoping someone has some info!

[seachangeau]

hi, i'll be joining you guys from australia. big commitment for me as my family often bag my health initiatives so very very grateful to meet a supportive community. ( although the results so far must be saying something as youngest son is joining in the transition to alkaline diet if not 100% raw )

quick reply on the nuts issue. I was horrified to learn that even walnuts in the shell here are roasted first before sale! It is indeed apparently really hard to get raw nuts.
almonds were mandated to be pasteurised in the us in 2007.

There is one purveyor of proper raw almonds in teh US - who uses a loophole in that growers are allowed to sell raw unpasteurised nuts in small quantities. they also sell raw cashews - link is in this informative article http://www.living-foods.com/articles/rawcashew.html

edit: for aussies you can buy the raw cashews online here http://www.lovingearth.net/growers/7/desa-rowa-farmer-group woot!
Sadly I'm allergic ( like anaphylactic allergic! to raw hazlenuts which are the easiest to source here )

[appifanie]

Today's plan involves Alissa's potato salad (I made 1/4 recipe with the leftover jicama that I used for my sushi rice) - probably for lunch. For dinner, if the avocados are ripe enough, I'll try the port mush with the guacamole on top. Or I might have this fettucini recipe I have. I also want more juice and maybe some cereal. I don't know what breakfast is but it will be soon cause I am hungry!

[appifanie]

I started with more fiber-full vitamix juice - apple, strawberry, pineapple, grapes, lime. Yummy! Potato salad soon :)

[appifanie]

Jicama for lunch. Err potato salad. Also 2 of those raw cacao cookies.

[Christy]

I'm pretty new to this...since March 1st so still keeping it pretty simple. Smothies and salads until I can learn to prepare raw meals. I'm still confused over this whole fruit and fat debate. 801010, 911...opps or is that 811? Mono diets..etc... that I've seen on forums and youtube whild doing research. Raw is raw...isn't it? Does it really matter that I have fruit in my smoothie and then snack on soaked nuts while I'm at work. Or use an avacado to make a dip for munching on veggies? Hoping to evolve to a point with raw eating to know what works best for me.
Had a smoothie for breakfast with coconut water, banana, orange, mango and blueberries.

Will have cut up veggies for lunch dipped in a sauce I made from avacado, almond milk,tomato and spices.

Probably won't eat supper...i'm not always hungry at suppertime. If anything maybe a banana.

[changeisgood]

Morning everyone -
B apple pea juice
L - blueberries with agave and cocout
sweet poato chips
D - grapfruit,orange, kiwi
coconut butter - couple of teaspoons

Enjoy your day !

[Leiloshka]

Ate raw yesterday and today so far. Green smoothie this a.m. with banana, strawberry, blueberries, kale and chard.

Had salad for lunch. Trying for a green smoothie a day.

[appifanie]

dates stuffed w/ almond butter :D

[Lady Green Jeans]

Did not post yesterday but have been staying the raw course.

Yesterday:
B-banana
L-pizza with marinara, nacho cheese and avo
D-may sound boring but had the same thing as lunch. Think I've had my fill for awhile but I sure did enjoy it.

Today:
B-mango and 1/2 avocado
L-romaine leaves wtih sunny pate, small amt. of avo, cucumbers and salsa
D-will probably be a nice salad.

I will be completing the raised bed gardens today and planting my starts. So very excited about growing my own organic garden. It is such a joy to be outdoors and enjoying the beautiful weather. All four of my citrus trees are blooming and it smells wonderful. I think I could stand by the trees all day just inhaling the sweet perfume.

Hope you all have a wonderfully raw day!

[amarryth]

Hoping to evolve to a point with raw eating to know what works best for me.

Same here! How amazing would it be to intuitively just KNOW what your body needs at any given time and cut all the science and drama and formulas out of it?

I'm hoping to juice fast/feast this summer when produce is cheap and the sun is shining.. maybe taking a break from solids will break my many addictions to textures, tastes, and emotional eating.

For now, I can't believe I'm doing it! My body feels so much better than yesterday. I hope this cold is almost gone.. I miss having a sense of smell!

I'll recap my menu for today when I'm done eating tonight ;)

[jhodi]

Need one more clarification: Red Wine? Yay or Nay?

[amarryth]

I would leave that up to your own discretion...

Personally, I wouldn't turn down a glass. On the flip, I would not go drink a bottle.

[Steven]

I have a questions about raw nuts. I saw somewhere that California nuts have to be flash pastuerized. But, they are still labeled raw. Do they have live enzymes or not?


All I can answer is that the raw almonds I get from my local health food store are processed with a low heat steam to kill bacteria, but they are still sprout-able and alive(they are from CA). If it sprouts, it is raw in my book and I see no problem! The best way to know(if you dont feel like asking the store manager/owner) if the nuts are raw, is to see if they sprout.

[Clara Verde]

Hi everyone! Busy working weekend but all raw. Made a delicious sauce with a base of Brazil nuts & waters, then added tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, miso, a little fruit juice, fresh parsley & garlic. So good with sprouted quinoa!

@Jhodi - hope you've found some recipes by now. Alissa's book is great. Are you looking for dinnertype recipes specifically?

[Steven]

Yesterday:
2 pear
GT's Cranberry Kombucha
2 banana
Handful of cashews
Raw Revolution Spirulina bar
2 date
2 kiwi
Apple

Today:
Handful cashews
4 bananas
GS- chia seed, avocado, spinach, lemon, date, pear
Handful almonds
4 small green apples
2 tsp spirulina w/ water

Ive REALLY been craving cashews the past few days, so Ive been making sure to eat them. Its sort of weird, its the first time Ive ever actually craved a raw food and I can tell its a different sort of craving then those for cooked foods.

[seachangeau]

Need one more clarification: Red Wine? Yay or Nay?

Its yay! I was told wines are raw. I'm soaking some Pricots in Shiraz for dinner garnish.

Perfect Autumn day here - had a nice snack of wild blackberries on my morning beach walk and collected pink violets to trim a pretty afternoon tea of rockmelon and cashew cream. The 'sand' was golden flax meal. Is anyone else into foraging?

[seRAWnity]

Good Morning! Didn't get a chance to post yesterday so I'll start there and post todays later when I figure it out!!

Yesterday: I got an invite out to breakfast, I was hesitant, the only places to eat out here are far from fresh, chain places or greasy spoons, but figured some place must have fruit. ... not so much, I looked the menu over and over and found nothing that had ANY fruit in it or on it, then I spied an item called "fresh fruit smoothies" yah ok, since they were made with mucho dairy, but it did say fresh fruit, so I asked the waitress if I could have a fruit cup/bowl of fruit, she said they didn't have those, so I asked if they had fruit at all... they had oranges and apples, so I said "can I get a bowl of those then" and when I asked about these fresh fruit smoothies and why they didn't have the strawberries, peaches, and bananas advertised I got no answer.. but I did get an apple cut up and a small bowl of canned mandarine oranges... not ideal, but still better than the alternatives on the menu I guess.

I didn't have any lunch, just munched on some nuts and olives.

Dinner was an amazing strawberry salad in baby greens and pea shoots with raspberry balsamic and corn on the cob :)

[jhodi]

Thank you for the info on the wine; SO now I love you people.


:juicy:

[MysticMal]

I'd like to join! I started the 21st of March and just figured I'd wait until April to join a challenge. I'm excited :excited:

So Breakfast-Banana, apple
Lunch- Squash
Dinner- Kale, banana, and grapefruit smoothy :drool: Yum!

[bayoubreeze]

You know I am doing so so on this and need to step it up a notch. One thing I have found is that there are some things that a recipe says to dehydrate that I would much rather eat without dehydrating. Like Alissa's Slider recipe I would much rather have on a leaf or stuffed in mushroom caps. I really like sweet potato slices raw rather than dried. I cut them thick and they are crunchy good. :throwhearts:Hope you all are having a great day.

[BlackKat]

I am joining now on this 4th day of April!! So far so good today. I've been able to get in a great workout, breakfast and lunch before work today.

-kale/spinach smoothie w/ maca and goji berries (I have more energy than I know what to do with!):throwhearts:

-big salad of romaine, kale, spinach and some beautiful swiss chard, a drizzle of sesame oil and lemon juice. Sprinkle of hemp seeds. A table spoon of almond butter.

-dinner will be something like another salad, and maybe a raw bar if I'm super busy at work.

And I have a gorgeous mango sitting on my counter just waiting to be dessert tonight when I get off work.

Pretty light day, but I'm not in the mood of eating a lot today.

[Cookie Monster Gone Raw]

Hello Everyone from Brazil! I am new to this just as many of you are as well.

So I just completed my first week of raw! Yay! :throwhearts:

I started the 30 day challenge on Sunday March 27th. My starting weight was 153 lbs and my weigh-in today was 149. So I lost 4 pounds, not too bad for my first week of raw. I am crossing my fingers that this trend will continue…:excited:

Also I have already started to notice some changes within my body. My digestion is sooo much better and I am much less bloated these days…even my boyfriend noticed that I am slimming down :dance: Also, I am tickled to announce that my skin seems to be much softer too!

I have a rather amazing story to share…and it is all thanks to THIS website…so through the introduction thread I found out that I am not the only person in Brazil doing raw…that is right I found a companion, actually more then that I found 3 companions! Within a day of my introduction post I had a lunch date with these ladies. Is that amazing or what!? I had an instant support group! I am so grateful to the universe and this website.:heart:

So onto my diet…I have been enjoying some splendid simple foods and no I have not been going hungry. Here are just a few things that I have been eating:

• Fresh Nut Milks: Brazil nut makes a wonderful and tasty milk!
• Fresh Mellon Juices: Just stick the melon of your choice in the blender with a little water and voila you have a tasty juice. This juice worked wonders on my sore throat.
• Sugar Cane Juice: Yup fresh from the sugar cane, a delicious drink you really should try this sometime
• Acai Berry Smoothies: very tasty and healthy, though full of carbs so be careful
• Raw Spirulina Smoothies: Spirulina is one of the most digestible forms of protein and an excellent source of vitamins and minerals
• Shredded Coconut and Fresh Coconut Water: The possibilities are endless
• Sprouts: A nice way to add a little crunch to the salad
• Salads Galore: Yes I have been creating some wonderful salads!
• An Assortment of Fresh Fruit: Bananas, Papayas, Persimmons, Avocado, Apples, just to name a few.

Unfortunately I do not have a dehydrator, so I can not do any dehydrating but there are so many varieties of fresh fruits and veggies here that I am using this as an excuse to try them all.

Well…Now I am onto my second week, wish me luck! It is a pleasure to be part of this Raw Food Journey with all of you!

-Namaste

[seRAWnity]

Started my day off with an hour of kundalini yoga & a classic strawberry kale smoothie from the Boutenko's iphone green smoothie app, I was hesitant at first since the last time I tried kale in a smoothie is was not a good thing but this one was FANTASTIC!!! and what a great app!

Lunch was my favorite olive and tomato salad sprinkled with cracked pepper, dulse, and pink sea salt, dizzle with olive oil... yum!

Dinner was mexican marinated veggies (carrots, tomato, red onion, olives, celery, cukes, summer squash, zucchini, broc, onions, and garlic) on top of romaine with salsa for "dressing"

[Leiloshka]

Had green smoothie for breakfast with banana, chard, a couple strawberries and blueberries and a tsp. of raw almond butter.

Lunch had an almond butter and strawberry "jelly" on a sprouted tortilla.

Dinner...broccoli soup from Alyssa's book. And an orange.

[Lady Green Jeans]

Hi all.

A busy day and super glad to be home.

B-2 bananas
S-carrots with raw hummus
L-nice salad with 1/2 avo, tomato, red cabbage, radishes and carrots
D-cucumber with the last of the hummus and 1/2 of an avo

Some housework and off to bed early to put this difficult day behind me.

[speltrong]

Hi all! My husband and I are new to this forum.. have been vegan for a long time, and just decided to go raw at the beginning of this month. We'd love to participate in this month's challenge. Starting tomorrow, I'll post what we're eating and maybe put up a pic or two. Looking forward to seeing everyone else's posts too!

[changeisgood]

SeRAWnity - that strawberry salad looks great ! Is there anything else that needs to be added - this is a keeper ! And congrats on weight loss - stick with it and you'll see amazing results !

Welcome Cookie Monster !

B-juiced grapefruits, oranges, lemons and ginger - 32 oz thru the morning
L - fruit salad - kiwi, oranges, grapefruit and 2 blueberry flax pancakes with a little agave drizzled on it.
D-blueberries with shredded coconut, 2 tangerines

"see' you tomorrow ! :throwhearts:

[Steven]

What all I managed to consume today:
Chocolate breakfast smoothie - banana, date, cacao powder, hemp protein powder
3 tsp spirulina w/ water
GS - parsley, banana, date, lemon, fuji apple
3 small green apples
Handful almonds
3 large carrots
2 Livin' sprout Pizza Crackers
Handful cashews
Raisans & raw coconut flakes
Salad - variety of different lettuces

I want to start adding in more salads and green smoothies the next few days, as I havent been eating them as much. :dance:

[Clara Verde]

Rushed off to work on Monday after gulping down a morning mix of micronutrition, only to discover later that my nosetip had become brightly chlorella-green...no wonder the busdriver smiled so warmly...!

@seRAWnity - that's great perseverance in the quest for fresh food at café
@cookiemonster - your avatar is such a harmonious picture
@Blackcat - workout before work = inspiring
@Speltrong - sounds great to do this with your partner

Monday was fruits in the morning & zucchinisoup w. sprouts for lunch & dinner, and snacking on trailmix. Am making raw brownies today as a housewarming-gift for a vegan friend, and will most likely make some extra for my sweet tooth...

A question regarding the Tribest personal blender, if anyone here has experience with it (effortless vegan, I remember you mentioning it in the March thread?): how does it work for blending sturdier greens like kale, fresh nettles, etc? Thanks!

[seRAWnity]

SeRAWnity - that strawberry salad looks great ! Is there anything else that needs to be added - this is a keeper !


The strawberry salad is really simple, any type of greens you like, sliced up some strawberries, I toss in some sesame seeds, thin sliced red onion, and to make the raspberry balsamic I mix : a 1/4 cup of olive oil, a tbsp of raspberry balsamic vinegar, and a bit of agave to sweeten it up, then I toss the salad :eat

[meowimacat]

seRAWnity - i know what i'm going to have for my dinner tonight thank you!! sounds delicious, although i don't think i will be able to get hold of any raspberry balsamic.

this weekend was difficult, i can't believe how hard it is to eat out!! in the town i live in it seems like nowhere caters for vegans! was back on track yesterday though with full force! not gonna beat myself up about it. just thinking about what i ate that was raw.
yesterday:
breakfast - banana & apple rings
lunch - apple slices and almond butter
dinner - nori rolls made with the alfalfa sprouts i have been sprouting! then as a snack i had some more apple rings in the evening.
we went for a 5 mile walk last night, and i felt sooo engergised, especially considering i hadn't eaten much in the day. this time a few months ago that walk would've killed me!

today i had a banana for breakfast and walked for 2 miles, for lunch i'm going to have a green smoothie and maybe a fruit salad. and for my dinner i'm going to try that lovely strawberry salad!!

everyone is doing sooo well and eating yummy food! :throwhearts:

[jhodi]

just checking in. Still 100%

[appifanie]

last night was a pasta recipe from raw food real world and a banana w/ almond butter

breakfast is about to be a smoothie - frozen banana, almond milk, lucuma.

[Cookie Monster Gone Raw]

CLARA VERDA-thank you, I thought my avatar looked harmonious too.

CHANGE IS GOOD- thank you for the warm welcome!

Wow, everyone’s posts is really inspiring, everything sounds so delicious!

Good luck everyone and have a wonderful day!

[lilahrose8]

Hi to all,

I am a little late joining the April challenge , but I didn't want that to deter me in not joining you all............:excited:........I was raw for part of March about 20 days, then blew it on a bunch of cooked food.....I haven't been able to kick it again til now..........so excited to have other people with an understanding of how important it is to eat raw, but sometimes the will power fails me............I have been eating some love force bars and having a smoothie for breakfast, it helps to get my day off to a great start..............I have 9 kids, and homeschool....this life is not at all about me, so I have to force mysef to chose to be raw every day.....thanks for all the ideas and the encouragement !!blessings, sue

[appifanie]

sleepy and migrainey! ho hum.

[BirdSong]

Been raw since 4/1...

Things have been really good up until today. Having a really difficult time, and experiencing some serious cravings. I almost broke down at lunch! There are a variety of random things I'm craving...is this happening to anybody else? I feel like it's too soon for me to be going through this...

I need support, and advice on how to fight the temptation!!! :drool:

Thanks!

[speltrong]

Here's what I had today:

Breakfast was a Fuji apple
Lunch was a big green salad (a mix of romaine and spinach), with shredded carrot on top, and a couple of raw olives, with some raw vegan parm sprinkled on and a little bit of balsamic vinegar. Oh, and a Lydia's Organics Fiesta cracker on the side.
For a snack I had a Pixie Tangerine.
Dinner is going to be fabulous... I'm currently dehydrating mushroom "meat"balls, and I'm going to blend up a nice raw marinara sauce and then put all of that over "noodles" that I have fashioned out of raw zucchini and carrots. I will post a pic later if dinner comes out pic-worthy!

[appifanie]

Been raw since 4/1...

Things have been really good up until today. Having a really difficult time, and experiencing some serious cravings. I almost broke down at lunch! There are a variety of random things I'm craving...is this happening to anybody else? I feel like it's too soon for me to be going through this...

I need support, and advice on how to fight the temptation!!! :drool:

Thanks!

i'm fairly convinced you can get a good raw substitute to whatever it is you want :) when in doubt, eat raw chocolate :D

that being said.

uhmmm...
banana
apple with raw almond butter
salad w/ caesar dressing from cafe gratitude's book (topped with my raw vegan "parm" which is 1 part walnuts to 1 part nutritional yeast ground in the food processor)
chocolate truffle
strawberry apple juice

[speltrong]

Here's a pic of the raw pasta marinara with meatballs that I had for dinner (pasta was zucchini), (meatballs were a mix of nuts, mushrooms, seeds, spices).
6975

[changeisgood]

I'm eating a delicious fruit salad - grapefruit, orange, kiwi with shredded coconut. Finally realized it was apples bloating me up. Since giving them up, I'm back to feeling light as a feather !

Working backwards, for lunch I had sprouted bread, goji berries (wow! yummy and took away the feeling of hypoglycemia-amazing), and flax crackers and a spoon of coconut butter.

Breakfast I made a blueberry smoothie with coconut milk, collard greens, shredded coconut (can you tell I love coconut !),spirulina, hemp seeds and all the fixin's. And a tangerine a couple of hours afterward.

Birdsong - go to the other forum - there is plenty of info on how to free yourself of cravings with other foods, etc. or start a post and tell them what you are specifically craving and someone will know what to eat in it's place.

Well, fruit salad is finished, gotta go and figure out how to get my face to fit in the bowl so I can lick it clean!

Have a good night, everyone.

[Steven]

Today:
3 banana
GS- date, banana, pear, chia seed, collard
Raw Revolution Tropical Mango bar
3 small green apple
Pear w/ raw macadamia nut butter (this is SO good, I highly recommended Artisana raw nut butters!)
GS- banana, hemp protein powder, ground flax seed, bee pollen, baby bok choy, apple
2 tsp spirulina w/ water
Handful cashews

speltrong, that pasta looks really good! :drool:

[seRAWnity]

Morning all :)

Yesterday I surprised myself, I was on the road for a rather long trip and I usually have a bag of crunchy unmentionables next to me but I didn't this time, I had a huge green smoothie before I left and ate some nuts, and when I got hungry on the road I ate an apple!! Yay me! :cheer:

Dinner was a big caesar salad and a bunch of water

Today I have stuff with me for salad, smoothies, and a chinese dish I'll be making later for dinner.

Have a great day everyone!!

[changeisgood]

Good morning all,

I started with a quart of water with 2t of celtic salt and licks of lemon. Perfect as a morning cleanse a few times a week ! Worked like a charm.

I'm having kale, beet greens, carrots, beets, lemon,celery juice thru the morning.

lunch is blueberries with goji berries and shredded coconut. Oranges a while later.

dinner will probably be mushroom soup and a nice salad
if my wheatberry sprouts are ready, I'll have that in the salad. I'm thinkin' that strawberry salad sounds perfect !

kiwi

[meowimacat]

breakfast - apple & almond butter
snack - grapes & mango
lunch - strawberry salad!! enjoyed this so much last night i had to have it again today. it was HUGE!
snack - ICE CREEEEAM!!!!!!! my first go at raw ice cream, was sooo shocked, it really was like ice cream!! i added come cacao too. slurp slurp!

not sure about dinner i might just nibble on some fruit or make some sweet potato chips.

[Cookie Monster Gone Raw]

Welcome LILAHROSE!

SPELTRONG your pasta and meatballs looks delicious…*sigh* I wish I had a dehydrator.

CHANGE IS GOOD what is this mushroom soup you will make for dinner? I love mushrooms! Would you please post the recipe?


Hello All!

Today is a beautiful sunny day here in Brazil. After nearly 5 days of rain I am happy to see the sunshine!:cheer:

So I have been adding alfalfa sprouts to my salad and last night I decided to do a bit of reading on the sprout and discovered that it actually contains vitamin B12! Yes that’s right B-12, apparently it is one of the few plant sources that contain this vitamin. I thought I would share this with you just incase if you did not know this already. :woohoo:

I just had a delicious green sprirulina shake with fresh squeezed orange juice for lunch. I am not too sure what I will do for dinner but the strawberry salad sounds good! My family has been making strawberry salads for year, and yes I can vouch they are YUMMY!:drool:

Well have a wonderful day!
:heart

[appifanie]

here's the pasta i had the other day:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y132/ltlghiagrl/Blog/IMG_3716.jpg

and alissa's potato salad:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y132/ltlghiagrl/Blog/IMG_3712.jpg

today i have had so far:

breakfast - smoothie - raw protein, almond milk, bananas, blueberries
lunch - same salad as last night, extra "parm" :D
snack - truffle, of COURSE!

[appifanie]

i've clearly never tried attaching pics before :D

green smoothie for snack. BIG one. i also had some herbal tea.

dinner was alissa's portobello mushroom w/ the avocado on top.

[speltrong]

Beautiful day here in northern california... making me crave fruit!

For breakfast I had a banana..
For lunch a kale, banana and peach smoothie...
And I'm not sure yet what we're going to have for dinner, maybe a kiwi with a raw cracker or two. :-)

[Lady Green Jeans]

Sorry to be on an every other day posting role. So glad to be here and staying the raw course.

Yesterday:
B-apple
L-salad with 1/2 avo, cucumber, tomato, carrots and red cabbage
D-baby carrots wtih tumeric curry hummus

Today
B-1/2 avo
S-radishes (two bunches)
L-salad with 1/2 avo, cucumber, tomato, red cabbage, red bell
D-last of tumeric curry hummus with baby carrots

Have honestly been feeling so awsome and so much more energetic. I have not had any alcoholic beverages since the first part of Feb and have surprisingly not missed my glass of wine at all. Removing that has seemed to make a difference in the false body falling away like it has been over this 2 months. I am 22 pounds lighter with the goal of eliminating another 10-15. I am not denying myself or limiting any of my food. Just amazed this time.
Sorry to go on about this but am really pleased with my "stick to it" this time.

Hope you are all having a great raw day!

[changeisgood]

My day turned out differently - had the salt water and the juice for breakfast.
2 oranges for lunch and goji berries
dinner was the blueberries with shredded coconut. forgot to eat my flax crackers.
2 kiwis
never got to the salad and soup - too busy at work.
my sprouts look beautiful - so fresh and delicate looking. Will take some to work to pop into my mouth !

I made my soup differently since I don't eat nuts or seeds. If you scroll thru March, it should be in someone elses post or check the recipe forum.
My way - I dehydrated mushrooms and added them (save a handful) to 2 cups of coconut milk, miso, and salt and blended it - I think I used puree. Then after I put it in a bowl, I added the other mushrooms. I enjoyed it. But if you can eat nuts, I'm sure the other recipe is a hundred times better - richer, I would think.

[Vaclare79]

I'm going to TRY to join this forum again for April. Hopefully I'll be able to stick to high raw. :)

[Clara Verde]

Yummy pictures, everyone!

@ Birdsong - good luck moving through the cravings! Personally I'm helped both by things like deep breathing, movement, journaling, etc. and by things like having lots of food at home, trying out new recipes, being organized around sprouting, etc.

All raw here. Brownies yesterday. Need more prepared food - tonight I'll make sushi w. parsnip rice, carrot cake & beet soup.

6979
(cucumber/apple/onion with miso/lemon dressing)

[Cookie Monster Gone Raw]

ChangeIsGood: Thank you for the recipe, your mushroom soup sounds delicious! Though you made a good suggestion, I will check out the other threads for more recipes.

Vaclare79: Welcome to the Challenge :throwhearts:

Appifanie: Your pasta looks sooo good. Did you use kelp noodles?

Hello Everyone. How’s it going?

Tonight I decided to stray away from my routine dinner salad and step it up a notch. I just got done making a sundried tomato dip with fresh basil and ground almonds. Hmmm, it smelled yummy! I think that broccoli and carrots will make a good substitution for crackers. Can hardly wait for dinner!

Enjoy the Evening!

[speltrong]

Today, i had a green smoothie for breakfast (kale, bananas, mango), a nice big green salad for lunch (spinach, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, raw pesto parm), and for dinner, i think i'll have another big green salad because the one at lunch was soooo good!

[Lady Green Jeans]

Hi all. Good day today but quite blustery with a storm blowing in.

B-strawberries
S-1/2 avo
L-nice green salad with 1/2 avo, cucumber, tomato, red cabbage and carrots.
D-not sure yet. Want to whip together the pineapple gazpacho but may not be chiled enough to enjoy tonight. May just graze a little as I am not really hungry--probably with the avo I had today.

Hope you all had a fantastic raw day.

[appifanie]

still in, but busy! i just keep eating the same stuff though so nothing new :D

[holistica]

I'm in, since March 23rd. 100% raw and going strong! Might fast a day this weekend. I'm so happy to be back on 100% raw. I feel amazing!

:heart:

[seRAWnity]

Hey Everyone! Been super busy and my raw menu hasn't changed much, I made a great chinese dish the other night but sticking to smoothies and salads, the weather is warm here today so it makes me want to eat fresh and not eat as much!!!

Got outside and played with the kiddos, it was nice to soak up some sun and we all bought hula hoops, I forgot how fun that was!!

I've attached some pics of my favorite raw dishes of late :throwhearts:

~Have a great day!

[meowimacat]

Your food looks so yummy seRAW!! What is in the Chinese one?? I want to eat the picture it looks so good!

Today I had a banana and raisins for breakfast. Lunch was spinach and mango juice, then for dinner I made aubergine bacon which was deeeeelicious, I had this with a little salad and red onion. Yum yum!
Tomorrow we are going on a road trip to London! I've packed a lunchbox full of goodies, going to make up some nori for my lunch. I don't think my boyfriend will want to go to any raw friendly restaurants so I have packed plenty of snacks to keep me going!
Have a fab weekend everyone :excited:

[speltrong]

Nice pics!

Today, I had a green smoothie for breakfast (two types of kale, banana, pineapple), and for lunch I had a banana with a touch of pecan butter and a raw cracker. For dinner.. I'm thinking it's either going to be cauliflower couscous (not real couscous, obviously)... or maybe bok choy paneer (not real paneer obviously). Oh, I also have some tomato/jalapeno/onion/flax/sunflower seed crackers in the dehydrator. Will post a pic or two a bit later if I have time. Hope everyone else is doing well today!

[seRAWnity]

Your food looks so yummy seRAW!! What is in the Chinese one?? I want to eat the picture it looks so good!
:

Hey Meow! The chinese dish is zucchini and squash run through a spiralizer to turn it into noodles, the rest are marinated veggies in a chinese sauce (soy, ginger, agave, and garlic), for veggies I had broccoli, carrots, bean sprouts, water chestnuts, sweet onion, and pea pods. I warmed the sauce, not hot but just slightly warm to the touch and had the veggies at room temp. I also started marinating the onions earlier to help soften them up some and they weren't as strong.

[speltrong]

I made cauliflower couscous tonight for dinner.. it's bizarre how much it looked like couscous, but it tasted much better. :-) Here's a pic for your viewing pleasure:
6985

[Lady Green Jeans]

Wow, the food pics all look soooo good.

Wanted to break out of the salad habit for a little while to keep things appealing. Made pineapple cucumber gazpacho last night and had it for lunch today. Enjoyed every spoonful. Could have been spicier but still wonderful.

Breakfast was an avo and dinner was the gazpacho and some nacho with cucumber for dipping.

Hope everyone had a great raw day. Been feeling amazing.

[changeisgood]

Hi all,
All the food dishes in the pics look great ! I love cauliflower couscous, there's a cauliflower in my fridge waiting to happen!
Blueberry smoothies this AM. I sed water and added spirulina in addition to collard greens. simple but not in the mood for something heavy. Oh, before that I had my quart of salt (celtic) water. Did the trick !
lunch was a couple of oranges and crackers.
dinner was a few medjool dates, sweet potato chips with cinnamin and apple slices with raw tahini. oh how I love apples, they just don't like me (bloating, uch!). but I couldn't resist and wanted something sweet.
I have two kiwis I'll have before bedtime (stabilizes my blood sugar)
Pretty simple. With Janie (our kitty) being ill, and very busy at work I've been burnt out - so not feeling like being elaborate.
I have mushrooms and onions in the dehydrator and will make more sweet potato chips
enjoy your weekend.

[Clara Verde]

Just checking in, all going well. Still planning to make time for multimeal foodprep. Have enjoyed green smoothies & salads & brownies. Also hade sea spaghetti w. sprouts, leafy greens & miso dressing.

A stressrelated emotional wave in the afternoon was met by leaving all the to-do's for a while & going for a lovely nature walk. I brought a bag for picking up litter & felt the resonance of inner & outer detox. Sometimes detox reminds me to take time for the things I need.

:heart

[bayoubreeze]

I am still struggling when I go out to eat, but I am happy that I get back in the game quickly the next day. I see that I can loose a few pounds a week but when my hubby comes home I gain it back. I need a way to mentally separate my thoughts from what he eats. I will be glad when fresh kale and greens besides Romain are available in my area. Rural living IL. Had a great bike ride this morning with hubby. My little gps said 9.26 miles. First one of the year. Wonderful temp and low wind. Looking forward to this year being a record year for me. For breakfast I had a smoothy. Romain,Celery,Cucumber,Carrot,Cantaloupe. It was thick and I ate it with a spoon. So good. Looking forward to a hearty lunch. But undecided. I know I haven't lost a lot of weight but I feel better and can see the benefits of eating raw.

HW 213
SW 205
CW 204
GW 140

[speltrong]

Today has been great! Started the day with a smoothie that had mixed braising greens (kale, chard, etc), kiwi, banana and dates.

For lunch, we hiked 700 feet up a local hill and had lunch at the top: kiwi, another kiwi, and a few cashews.

I also pulled our crackers out of the dehydrator today, they are made of sunflower seeds, flax seeds, sundried tomatoes, onion, jalapeno, ciilantro and a little sea salt. Here is a pic:

6988

[Lady Green Jeans]

Clara Verde--job well done on handling the stress. Love nature walks. Where do you get your sea spaghetti?
speltrong--nice looking crackers. I have to finish up my pizza crusts before I venture again to crackerland.

Was not real hungry today:

B-handful of macs and about a cup of mini carrots
L-jalapeno cilantro hummus with a bunch of baby carrots to use as dippers
S-sm avo
D-not sure yet. Have dance tonight so want something a little filling. Have been wanting to make the celeraic soup with green apples so that might be dinner.

Went to the bigger farmers' market today. It is a half hour drive but hit Costco and the bigger HFS while I was down that way. $20 at the market got me collards, kale, meyer lemons, chard, six fuerte avocados, a cherimoya, fava beans, radishes, sundried Greek olives and some shallots.
Costco had nice organic spinach and red raspberries--ony bought one container of berries but could eat them all at one meal. HFS finally got in the mango kombucha so bought several and a strawberry one to try along with some more nutritional yeast and the raw hummus. I am set for food for awhile so now I just need to get creative.

Hope you all had a great raw day!

[changeisgood]

Hi everyone,
this is a quick post - grapefruit for breakfast and some sweet potato chips.
lunch half an avocado with a salad and the dehydrated mushrooms and onion, sweet but strong.
dinner will be zucchini speghetti with cherry tomatoes into a sauce
and my special treat I made a tahini coconut cake with carob frosting. I'll try and take a picture. Already started test tasting. Cross between halva and macaroon.
More chips in the dehydrator
hubby home - gotta go

[Steven]

Ive forgotten to post the past few days. But here goes, today:
1 tsp spirulina w/ water
Smoothie - whole large pineapple, 1 tbsp chia seed
Collard wrap - from LOLF
Pear
2 apple w/ raw macadamia nut butter
2 banana
Almond, raisin, and coconut flake mixture
GS - pear, avocado, lemon, strawberry, collard, bok choy, bee pollen

[earthyeater]

What an awesome thread!

I hadn't really been keeping track of my daily food. I know generally what I've been doing (smoothies and salads).

My plan to to post my food daily beginning tomorrow.

I'm excited. :excited: It feels like if I take my time and don't get too caught up in "going raw," I'll be fine. Meaning, just eat simple meals and try not to obsess. I have a tendency to obsess.

[changeisgood]

Hi everyone,

Welcome Earthyeater. Certain days I write out a menu plan, sometimes even for the week, this way it takes my mind off obsessing. There is life to deal with besides food.
I started my day with a beautiful delicious juice of orange, grapefruit (they were very juicy and sweet !) and strawberries. Yum!
I have snacked on some goji berries. They take the edge off my hypoglycemia and something to chew.

Lunch I'm having my strawberry pancakes made with flax both ground and whole. Also, delicious !

Dinner will be 'couscous ! Cauliflower, parsley, grape tomatoes, a little olive oil and lemon.

I have my sweet potato chips fresh out of the dehydrator to munch on perhaps during afternoon movie time.

Looking forward to having Thursday and Friday off after a hectic 8 days of long hours. I'll be able to be creative and make something more involved.

See yas ! :throwhearts:

[HappyTexasChristy]

I woke up yesterday and decided to do one raw day. I figured one raw day a week would be a good way for me to get my feet wet.
Well, it went so well and I felt so good, I woke up this morning and decided to do it again today.
Now, I've decided to do it the whole month.

I'm VERY new to this and I need to go buy some books to learn from. SO far, I'm sticking with obvious fresh fruits and veggies. I did purchase some raw almond butter on a whim at the commissary today. It's not cheap to eat raw.
I will be taking a trip out to tomorrow to buy some books and Tuesday I'll hit up my local Earth Fare market.

I suspect I shall be learning a lot over the coming weeks!

[earthyeater]

@changeisgood: Thank you the meal plan idea. I'm going to try it.

@happytexas: We're both newbies! Good luck on this journey. I'll look in on how you're doing.

[Steven]

I was really busy today, so didnt really eat that much:

2 tbsp macadamia nut butter
4 veggie flax crackers
Handful almonds
Strawberry chia pudding
3 bananas
6 oranges

My goals for this next week is to eat as simple as possible, I think my body is telling me not to eat as many nuts and more greens and fruits.

[earthyeater]

Good morning!

Today is my weigh-in day. I'm down another 2.5 pounds! That's 16 lbs total. I'm still amazed at how effortless this has been. I put together some raw recipes last night. Again, way easier than cooked food recipes. No watching to pot/over to prevent burning! :)

So far, so good. Here's my plan for the day.

Meal Plan
Breakfast: 32 oz water, green smoothie (spinach, peaches, apple, lemon, water)
Snack: Apples, oranges, 32 oz water
Lunch: Kale and Cranberry Salad, Broccoli and Corn Salad, and 32 oz water
Snack: Trail mix (almonds, raisins, cashews, 32 oz water
Dinner: 32 oz water, Sunflower Seed and Green Onion Pate, Onion Wheat Flax Crackers

Exercise Plan
Couch to 10K Week 2: Basically jogging and walking for 2 miles. I'm not a runner or jogger, but I am motivated to lose the weight! So off to the track I go.

Thanks for reading.

[Paleberry]

Hey everyone, I'm in the same boat as Christy from Texas: I woke up this morning and thought, I think I'd like to try a raw challenge. I think my body is trying to tell me something. Being vegan already you can imagine that I am familiar with raw a little bit, but not a lot. So I joined RFT and here I am. I'm so glad to see you guys are doing monthly challenges. I'd like to hop right in and also do lots of research!

Nice to meet you all!

[Cookie Monster Gone Raw]

WELCOME PALEBERRY! Good luck with your challenge and enjoy the journey!



I just completed my second week raw. However, over the weekend there were a few days where I strayed a bit. Immediately after eating cooked food I noticed that the ph in my mouth changed, I could physically taste that my ph was different. I have to admit, this creeped me out a bit.

When I did my weigh in I weighed 147.5, this is only a weight loss of 1.5 pounds from last week. However, my total weight loss over the past two weeks I has been 5.5 pounds. This seems like a healthy loss to me, I hope it continues!

Well today is Monday and I am back into my routine. I went to a local farmers market yesterday and stocked up. I found some beautiful Dragon fruit (it is actually native to South America not Asia), and bought fresh coconut that was shredded right in front of me! I also got some other goodies like fresh herbs for my salads, and some snow peas to step it up a notch.

Well now it is time for me to do some food prep, here are the basics that I have in my kitchen to make combinations with:

• Brazil Nut Coconut Milk
• Fresh Mellon Juice
• Fresh Orange Juice
• Spirulina
• Dragon Fruit
• Bananas
• Pineapple
• Mango
• Papaya
• Apples
• Salads with a lattice base (variety is Brazilian don’t know English name)
• Alfalfa Sprouts
• Cherry Tomatoes & Sun-dried Tomatoes
• Japanese Cucumbers
• Snow Peas
• Avocado
• White Radishes
• Carrots
• Fresh Chives, Basil, and Rosemary
• Kelp Noodles
• Raw Almonds, Brazil Nuts, and Pecans
• Raw Miso
• Cold Pressed Olive Oil
• Agave Nectar

My routine seems to be comprised of a green smoothie in the morning and a nice salad at night and lots of fruits and veggies in-between.

Have a lovely week everyone!

[meowimacat]

breakfast - banana and almond butter
snack - nak'd bar
lunch - green smoothie - banana, raspberry & spinach
snack - raw chocolate, nom nom.
dinner - sweet potato salad with baby greens, cherry toms, red pepper, onion, avocado, sprouts, beets & hummus.

lost 1lb since last weigh in, last week was period week though so didn't expect to lose anything.
i used a cronometer last week to measure my calorie intake, and i only ever manage to consume about 900 cals a day at most. is this really bad?? the thing is, i eat when i'm hungry. i'm not depriving myself of food. some days i don't eat much at all, others i eat more. i try to eat a small avocado and a spoon of nut butter a day. surely if i feel fine, i'm fine right?

[seRAWnity]

Hey all, just checkin' in, having one of those days and haven't felt like eating much so I kept simple

Breakfast was a tropical smoothie, pineapple, coconut, papaya, mango, banana, spinach and kale

lunch was a huge salad right out of the mixing bowl, didn't bother to plate it.. lol.. and a piece of corn on the cob

I munched on some nuts earlier

by dinner time I had had enough for one day and wasn't hungry but made up a salad wrap and decided I wanted fruit, so I put the wrap in the fridge and made a strawberry salad, I picked at it but just really didn't want that either so now I'm gonna head for bed and wake up to a better day :)

[changeisgood]

Mondays are a busy day so I kept it simple.
B- strawberry smoothie with collard greens coconut,spirulina, and all my extras (probiotics, etc)
L - I finished off the strawberry flax pancakes and had an apple
D - I munched on some quinoa and veggies, and I'm ready for a tangerine.
I also went shopping and feel much better when I see my fresh fruit in front of me.
Bought some eggplants to make 'bacon'. And will make some more strawberry flax pancakes for tomorrow. I got tired of the flax with some celtic salt, so I'm on a kick with strawberries. Next will be a flax cookie, if I can find a recipe.
Have a pleasant evening, welcome newbies. It's good to see our menu written, even if I'm talking into 'air'.
:throwhearts:

[holistica]

No cheating since 3/23/11.

184lbs to 169lbs.

Feeling wonderful.

We can do it!

:heart:

[Steven]

Today:
Orange juice - 5 oranges
Large salad w/ raw sunflower seeds
Walnut Fig Rawma bar
2 banana
2 orange
2 Livin' Sprout "Sunny Herb Garden" crackers w/ cherry tomatoes on top
4 brazil nuts
Banana pudding - banana, date, chia seed w/ blueberries on top'

Not sure if Ill eat anything else tonight, if I do it will be in the dark leafy green category.

[earthyeater]

Hi everyone,

Happy Tuesday! It sounds like we're all keep on track.

@holistica: CONGRATS! So awesome that you're seeing such great results. I went to your youtube page yesterday and checked out your what I eat video. Cool stuff and very helpful for me -- new to raw.

Tuesday Meal Plan
Breakfast: 32 oz water, green smoothie (spinach, peaches, lemon, banana, water)
Snack: banana, apple
Lunch: Raw crackers w/ Sunflower Seed and Green Onion Pate, tomatoes & lettuce.
Snack: Raw Muesli
Dinner: leftovers — Kale and Cranberry Salad, Broccoli and Corn Salad

Exercise:
Back to the track to continue Couch to 10K.

[Clara Verde]

Lots of sprouts the last few days, with guacamole. Green smoothies, fruitsalads w.trail mix. Hemp-milk. Banana pudding w. coconut oil. Feeling very grateful. Still need to make time for food prep!

[holistica]

Hi everyone,

Happy Tuesday! It sounds like we're all keep on track.

@holistica: CONGRATS! So awesome that you're seeing such great results. I went to your youtube page yesterday and checked out your what I eat video. Cool stuff and very helpful for me -- new to raw.

Tuesday Meal Plan
Breakfast: 32 oz water, green smoothie (spinach, peaches, lemon, banana, water)
Snack: banana, apple
Lunch: Raw crackers w/ Sunflower Seed and Green Onion Pate, tomatoes & lettuce.
Snack: Raw Muesli
Dinner: leftovers — Kale and Cranberry Salad, Broccoli and Corn Salad

Exercise:
Back to the track to continue Couch to 10K.

Glad to hear they're helpful! I think I'm going to do the next one on avocados...

[earthyeater]

@holistica, sounds good. I'll be watching.

Meal Plan
B: Not raw, 48oz water
S: Green Smoothie, 32 oz water
L: Sprouted lentil salad with avocados, 32 oz
S: Apple, Bananas, 32 oz water
D: Kale and Cranberry Salad, Broccoli and Corn Salad, 32 oz water

[Lady Green Jeans]

Haven't been posting but staying the 100% course and feeling great.
Made a couple recipes that I have grazed on a bit. The celeraic soup with truffles and the vegan bay crab cakes that I adjusted to my taste.

Today's eating:
B-carrots and radishes (kind of different)
L-salad with avo, cucumber, tomato, carrots, red cabbage, some green onions
S-red bell pepper
D-some avo left from lunch and the last of the crab cakes. Yum!

Love that I am feeling energetic and more centered. The excess weight is still dropping from my frame so that is a nice plus.

[Steven]

Todays eating:
GS- banana, pear, blueberry, bok choy, chia seed, date
Apples
Oranges
Bananas, clementines, & dates
Livin' Sprout "Sunny Garden Herb" crackers topped with cherry tomatoes and quinoa sprouts
Huge salad - baby romaine, quinoa sprouts, cucumber, carrot, red cabbage, radish

[meowimacat]

yesterday i had:
breakfast - chopped banana, dates and almond butter (this is my new favourite breakfast)
lunch - spicy guacamole and sprout salad. yum yum.
dinner - sunburger and salad
dessert - ice cream and raspberry sauce, ohhhh boy was this good! i am sure i could fool people into thinking this was real ice cream.

today:
breakfast - same as above
lunch will probably be a sprout salad and for dinner i am having fajitas, been craving these for days!!:eat

[seRAWnity]

Hey Everyone, solid food is giving me stomach pains the past couple days, no other symptoms, so today I'm sticking with smoothies, letting my insides work themselves out :)

Yesterday was a tropical green smoothie for breakfast: pineapple, banana, kale, mango, papaya, and coconut. Lunch was a salad and dinner I had a handful of cauliflower popcorn but with the stomach issue I didn't want to eat anymore!

So today is a smoothie day!

[Clara Verde]

Feeling great. One highlight since last post has been kelp noodles w. sprouts & avocado & homegrown thyme/basil. Otherwise lots of grapefruits, smoothies, sprouts, raisins, and my daily staple of banana pudding w. hemp & coconut. Did some foraging today.
Regarding the sea spaghetti, I found it in a health food store, but I'm sure it's also available online. Sometimes I need to remind myself to try new things, and sea spaghetti has now been added to my list of favorite sea vegetables.
I appreciate & am inspired reading everyone's posts, sharing the journey. :heart

[joyfulyogi]

Hi, everyone!

I'm new to the challenge, but not new to raw. The most committed I've been until this is about 90/10. I remember what my body feels like and how it performs while raw, and I am kicking myself for ever straying! It's hard to get back on that horse!

I'm on Day 2 and feeling really good. :)

[speltrong]

Hi all, I have been in Las Vegas and haven't checked in for a few days. I was worried I'd fall off the wagon when we were there, but we stuck to our guns and did really well. The first day we were there, we ordered room service and asked for a raw salad with no bread, meat, or cheese on it.. just raw veggies. They said it was absolutely no problem, but then delivered a salad that was loaded with chicken, tons of cheese, croutons, etc (and charged us $40 for it!!).. needless to say, we sent that back. But then we ended up finding several great places along the strip to find good salads, and also ate at a fantastic mex restaurant and had a chopped salad with pico de gallo and tableside prepared guacamole (so we knew there was nothing un-raw in it). Then our last day there, we hopped in a taxi and went to the raw cafe out by The Lakes. Had some really great food there, and even brought home a pack of raw tortillas to try doing some mex food at home. :-)

Since being home, we haven't faltered at all.. we're back to having our green smoothies in the morning, and then I usually prepare a recipe or two for dinner & lunch. This morning we had a smoothie with kale, pear, strawberry and banana. For lunch, we had notstickers (a recipe from alyssa's book) and they were AMAZING! And for dinner we're going to make a dish using kelp noodles.

So, we're feeling good, and I feel way victorious for not blowing it when we traveled. It gives me hope that I'll be able to stay on the wagon when we go to london next month. :-) Hope everyone else is doing well too!

[Moringa]

Hi all. I am a newbie, started raw on the 10th of April. I have been 100 Vegan for 8 months, with very few cravings....it's really been effortless, for the most part. I love to cook and have lots of vegan cookbooks, but I've only lost 20# since I've been eating too much fatty vegan grub from those books.

So then I decided to kick things up a notch, since I still have well over 100 pounds to lose. I figured raw was a good way to limit fats and lose this weight before I'm 100 years old.

And I'm having to tie myself down, practically, to keep from blowing it all. I have had no issues at all with vegan diet, but this raw thing is rough!

I am having plenty of green smoothies (already had a Vitamix), and lots of fresh fruit and salads. Yesterday I had an ounce of sprouted pumpkin seeds, but I want to minimize fats so I can get this weight off.

I am tracking my food in Fitday, and am getting 1200 calories average.....

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'd really like to make it through at least 30 days to see what I can do with this.

[speltrong]

Hi Moringa, welcome! I am in the same boat as you with the weight loss... I also have over 100 lbs to lose, and was struggling with doing that on a vegan diet. I've been raw since the beginning of this month and the weight is melting away.. and here's the interesting thing... I have been eating nuts and seeds and avocado! I also log everything I eat, and I try to limit fats, but in order to keep the raw diet interesting I realized that I really needed to include things like nuts and seeds and avo. So I started carefully adding them... always weighing them and being careful. I've even made some things in the dehydrator using nuts and seeds, and they're delicious! I definitely don't use oils.. but I do use whatever the oil would come from (olives, coconut, etc). The interesting thing is that the weight is still falling off. In fact, one day last week I did not eat any nuts or seeds, and I oddly didn't lose any weight that next day. So, I dunno what to say.. that certainly goes against everything I have been led to believe is true, but I am starting to really believe that there is a big difference in how the body processes raw vs cooked fats. So you might want to give that a try too and see how the scale reacts. It's baffling, but it is totally working for me! Plus, if eating nuts & seeds keeps you raw longer, it's totally worth it. :-) Good luck!

[meowimacat]

speltstrong - i lose more weight when i eat foods high in fat. one week i ate an avocado a day and thought eeeek, but i lost more weight that week than any other!! there is a good thread on the discussion area about good fats eliminating bad fats, read up about it - very interesting!

[holistica]

Look at that! We're halfway there, everybody!

Not eating today. About halfway through the day yesterday I decided to water fast today. Juices tomorrow and Sunday, then back on water Monday. I'd love to do water the whole 4 days, but I have to work the weekend.

[Moringa]

Thanks for the feedback and welcome, Speltrong! Cool about the avos. Glad the change to raw is working for you. I'm hoping to find success here as well.

I'll have to find that thread on good fats and read it, meowimacat. This is a huge site-so much information to take in. I look forward to learning more and experimenting with all my options.

[speltrong]

today I had a green smoothie for bfast (kale, banana, mango, strawberry), and then for lunch we fashioned these amazing tostadas using Alyssa's nacho cheese recipe and some raw tortillas that we found when we were in las vegas.. I am attaching a pic for your viewing pleasure. For dinner, it was pizza, with Alyssa's crust and her quick cheese blended with basil to give it an herby flavor. Pic also attached. I wouldn't normally eat this much food with this much concentrated nuts & seeds in a day, but I had to file our taxes today and this helped ease the depression of sending a $10K+ check to the govt. :-)
7006 7007

[Lady Green Jeans]

speltrong, pics look fantastic. Ouch on the tax bill!

Staying strong here and still kind of grazing on simple things like carrots with raw hummus or half an avo. Had some mango kombucha today--served it to myself in one of my wine glasses to feel fancy. Was nice since I don't use them for wine right now.

Today was weigh in and down a few more pounds. I am now 10 lbs. to my goal weight. My goal has been to feel better, be thinner and fully living each day as much as possible. I am getting better each day.

Hope you have all had a fantastic raw day.

[changeisgood]

Congratulations, Lady GJ - it always feels great to step on the scale and see some action !

Speltrong - I second the ouch !

Breakfast was some fruit - tangerine and then an apple.
Lunch was tangerine and goji berries.
Juiced carrots, beets, apple, parsley, romaine, kale,ginger.

I posted my delicious dinner in the food section. All dehydrated veggies - string sweet potato 'fries' that was tossed in oil, mushrooms that were marinated in oil and garlic. And some eggplant 'bacon'.

Had a brownie cookie for dessert. And strawberries that had marinated in raw honey.

[seRAWnity]

Speltrong those tostados look amazing, I'm adding those to this weeks menu, I LOVE the tortilla chips from RFFE!!!

Meow, your banana almond butter dish sounds good too, I plan to try that!

Not much new here, mostly smoothies and salads until last night when I made raw ice "cream" OMG :throwhearts: I'm now having some for breakfast!! LOL

Enjoy your raw weekend everyone!!!

[dearfruitty]

Count me in!!! I'm already thinking of my next raw meal. I think I'll keep it simple and have an apple or two with some raisins.

[Moringa]

Today was a much easier day, in spite of eating out for lunch.

B-collard green smoothie with a tangelo and a scoop of raw hemp protein
L-raw squash, broccoli and tomatoes at a restaurant
S- raw jicama with lime, cup of grapes, and half a mexican papaya

We have a business meeting tomorrow that will involve eating out again, this time at a mexican restaurant. Think I'll stick some fruit in my purse just in case.....

[Lady Green Jeans]

Kind of a non-stop day. Went to the farmers' market and then did a bunch of errands since I was out and picked up a load at the storage. Planted 2 out of 3 my square foot gardens. I will more than likely have tomatoes coming out of my ears but adore them so no worries.

Went dancing and got home to complete the fridge defrost--some kind of pipe froze in the back and it was like a tropical rainforest inside. Hopefully this will do the job or it is new fridge time.

seRAWnity, the ice cream looks amazing.

changeisgood, thanks for the kudos. I am so glad to be here and the support and accounability really helps a lot.

Moringa, Welcome to the challenge and to raw. I hope you find the balance that works for you. Maybe look for recipes for things you really enjoy and focus on creating some of them to help ease your transition. I go in spurts of what I am craving and just go with it. Right now I seem to be on a raw hummus kick with cucumber or carrot dippers.

[Magdalena Green]

Hi guys, mind if I join in the challenge? My aim is to gain a beautiful, clear skin (fighting cystic acne). Have been raw for a month continuously last year, and had some amazing results! I'd like to start off with this challenge and aim at raw for life! ;)

I'm starting my day with a mouthwatering grapefruit and some grapes.

Have a nice day!:banana

[Moringa]

Thanks for the welcome, Lady Green Jeans, and congrats on being so close to goal! I think for now I will stick to lowish fat raw. No oil, just avos and a few nuts.
This is my 8th day. Just weighed in for the week, and 10.6 pounds are gone! :woohoo:
Though previously eating a healthy vegan diet, I was carrying a lot of bloat in addition to all this fat. I feel so much better without soy. This has been a revelation. I can hardly wait to see what the next 3 weeks of this challenge bring.
Hey Magdelena Green. I am new here myself. There is so much wonderful info on this site to help us noobs. Skin changes are already happening for me, and you're probably going to see rapid changes as well. Enjoy!

[Magdalena Green]

Hey Moringa, thank you very much for encouragement! And well done on the progress so far, it's awesome :)

[speltrong]

Lady Green, congrats on the weight loss! You should feel great about that!

Moringa, congrats to you as well! I had a similar experience my first week raw, and I've actually been continuing the weight loss really consistently for this second week. Raw rocks!

Today was a good day.. went to our farmers market (where there are two raw prepared food stands) and the hubby and I split a decadent strawberry/almond cream/buckwheat parfait for breakfast. Lunch was at the beach where we had leftover nacho cheese with Lydia's raw crackers and an orange. Dinner were the cabbage wraps from Alissa's book.

In other news, hubby and I converted our oven to storage space today (we moved all our pots & pans inside of it), so we now have tons of cabinet space for all of our raw tools! Oh, and I also used some of our United Airlines points to order a brand new 12 cup kitchenaid processor, for FREE! Yay!

Hope you are all doing well. :-)

[speltrong]

Here's a picture of our cabbage wrap from alissa's book.. except we did not have any cabbage so i wrapped it in rainbow chard. :-)
7010

[speltrong]

Today was good.. for breakfast, a smoothie made of banana, rainbow chard, and honeydew melon.

For lunch, we were out running errands, so we stopped at whole foods and had a salad from the salad bar and shared a raw pesto pizza from Lydia's Organics.

For dinner, I made Alyssa's "Free Range Chicken Salad", but left out the apples because I felt the grapes made it plenty sweet.. and then served it on a bed of farmers greens that we bought from the farmer's market yesterday. Pic attached:
7011

[Lady Green Jeans]

speltrong, your food pics look so delicious. Thaks for the kudos. It has been too long with too much on my frame so am really glad to be eliminating it.

Not a great variety day but all raw:
B-apple and tangerine
L-raw hummus and cucumber slices; green salad with tomato, cabbage, carrot and hemp seed (no ripe avocado today)
D-tired so I whipped up pineapple cucumber gazpacho and had a bowl.

Trying to think of a pate to make that I can take for lunch tomorrow and have wraps at lunch. Nothing is hitting my tired brain in the creativity arena.

Hope you all had a great raw day.

[Stina]

Hi Raw Friends,

I had a great Raw day and it started with a nice, big green smoothie of baby kale, berries, bananas, celery and dates. All of those wonderful calories made working out at the gym fun.

For lunch I wrapped up clover sprouts, cucumber and salad dressing in one of those awesome dehydrator wraps that I made. Later I snacked on three apples and almonds butter. Then dinner was a big salad with cashews and pine nuts on it. The chia seed pudding for dessert was a bit too much food, but hey!
I was nicely energetic and cheerful all day.

[Steven]

Im still going 100%, and finding it easier with each passing day! Ive been noticing cooked foods that tempt me smell horrible and give me headaches, so any cravings I get are purely mental and easy to avoid.

Today:
Chocolate smoothie - banana, date, hemp protein powder, cacao powder
Walnut fig Rawma bar
4 apples
4 oranges
GS- banana, spinach, date, avocado, apple
Bananas w/ raw chocolate and strawberry sauce on top
Head of romaine lettuce

[Success]

hey everybody .. i came across this blog while looking for some new raw food ideas and then saw all these amazing threads over the past few months and was truly inspired by beautiful pix and recipes ... right now im cleansing with water and "lemonade" and i feel beautiful ... but i most def look forward to experimenting with some of the foods ive seen on here as well as creating some of my own dishes :) right now, my kitchen instruments are a small food processor, a blender, and thats it! lol ... however, i do look forward to treating myself to a dehydrator and good juicer really soon! :)

I have two children and we go raw as a family, twice a week ... we call it Raw Tuesday and Raw Thursday - :) .. the thing is im a veg chef and i love to cook, so my children are use to a huge variety of foods and flavors .. so my challenge is converting all of that goodness into a raw diet and I am really excited! my daughter wants to start her own raw uncooking show on youtube, so as soon as we get her going with that, I will post a link. u all will love her - shes such a trip!

well, just wanted to say hey and i will be following this thread so i look forward to conversing w/all of u ~ also, i just learned that herbal teas are not considered raw bc of the boiling water.. which makes sense now that i think of it, but thought id share ..

hope u all have a beautiful day ~ Lila (Lela) :heart:

[Clara Verde]

Welcome to all the new rawbies! :cheer:
Enjoyed fresh strawberries with chocolate pudding today! Lots of beets in the fridge that might become juice shortly together with some lemon...yum.

[speltrong]

Breakfast today was a smoothie with rainbow chard, banana, and some honeydew melon that we froze a couple of days ago. This is the first time I've put something frozen in my morning smoothie, and I was surprised at how much better it tastes when it's icy cold! Yum!

Lunch today was a-m-a-z-i-n-g! I used our leftover "Free Range Chickenless Salad" from yesterday, and made a sandwich with Alissa's italian flatbread, topping it with tomatoes, red onion, and lettuce. Ohmigosh, tasty! And here's a pic:
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[Lady Green Jeans]

speltrong, I want to eat at your house! Your food looks fantastic.

Todays dining:

B-mango; green smoothie with bananas, black cherries, strawberries and collards
L-small bowl of pineapple cucumber gazpacho; sm. salad; cucumber with cayenne hummus. Sounds like a lot buy each was smallish but very enjoyable.
D-hummus with cauliflower. Worked late and grabbed something easy and fast.

Hope you all had a great raw day! Welcome to all the newbies--so glad you are here for the challenge.

[Success]

hey .. thanx for the warm welcome :throwhearts:

i cant get over how all of these pics look like they are professionally taken ..
im still cleansing, but yesterday was raw day for my fam and for breakfast, they had pink grapefruit ... morning snack was sliced mango ... lunch was tossed salad .. afternoon snack was sliced carrots and cucumbers with pistachios .. and dinner last night was fruit/veggie sushi :)

Have a beautiful day ~

[sistahonamission]

Hello RFT, I am in need of some words of experience/encouragement. I am in the process of completing 30 days of Raw Food and I am/have experience some severe detox symptoms. One night last week I was extremely cold and shivering until I had to cover up with two heavy blankets and I constantly went to the bathroom all night. In the morning I woke up to terrible head and body aches. Body aches due to the uncontrollable shivering. In all honesty it was very scary. Today I am very tired. Is this normal? Has anyone else experienced severe detox symptoms? Thanks for your help.

[speltrong]

Thanks LadyGreenJeans & Success! We really enjoy taking pics of the food I make, and it's always so nice to hear that others enjoy them too. :-)

Today has been good.. another green smoothie with banana and honeydew melon for breakfast. For lunch today, I made Alissa's Pressed Lasagne, and lemme tell you.. heaven! Even though the pic makes it look like it's all "cheese", it's actually mostly shitake mushrooms. It's a layer of zucchini topped with a tomato-macadamia ricotta cheese that has a whole pound of shitake mushrooms mixed in, and then a layer of fresh spinach, followed by a layer of sliced tomatoes.. repeat three times, press, and voila! Lasagne! So cool! Here's the pic:
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[Success]

wow .. that lasagna looks soooo good! What measurements did u use for the ingredients?

Its Raw Thursday in our house and breakfast will be a strawberry milkshake with bananas, strawberries, almond milk, dates, and flax seed ... morning snack will be sliced oranges and trail mix ... lunch will be a salad with romaine, spinach, sliced pears, cucumbers, sunflower seeds, and dried cranberries ... afternoon snack will be sliced apples and carrots ... and for dinner I would love to try that lasagna dish! :eat:

I am still cleansing and plan to start my raw challenge in May ... I am so excited!

Also, I have never experienced any rough detox symptoms, even with the cleanse I am currently doing, however I do know that it is to be expected and my best recommendation is to drink lots of water to help your body flush out the toxins.. you may even notice a significant and immediate improvement as a result .. hope that helps! good luck! :heart:

[speltrong]

Hi Success.. the measurements for the recipe are all in Alissa's Raw Food for Everyone book. I found a copy at my local bookstore, so if you want to make it tonight, you could check there? Since this is a website to promote Alissa's book, I'm actually not sure if I'd be allowed to post her recipe verbatim, since that might discourage people from buying the book. I can say this though, we've tried a bunch of recipes from that book, and there has only been one that we were on the fence about liking.. all the rest have been fabulous!

[earthyeater]

Hi Lila/Success. Welcome! It's true there is a ton of information here. I'm looking forward to seeing you kiddo.

Speltrong -- I think MY food looks good, but yours looks amazing. You're making me go work on a recipe!

As for raw, I'm still hanging in and going strong.

[Success]

Hello Earthyeater! :)

For dinner I ended up making the veggie fajita recipe I saw on here in one of the other threads (I think it was one of alyssas recipes as well) .. my kids liked it, but requested different ingredients as fillers, so once Im finished with my cleanse I will be able to play with it a bit ... cant wait! I am definitely picking up her book! thanx for the recommendation speltrong... I guess I didnt realize this was only a website to promote her book; I thought it was a place to share recipes and raw food ideas :) (now looking up at the print "a raw food community based on Alissa Cohens Book" lol) .. I have lots of my own raw food recipes as well as stuff ive come across online that I was hoping to share during my raw food experience... so perhaps Im in the wrong place?

well, off to play catch w/the kids .. hope u all have a great evening ~ :throwhearts:

[speltrong]

awww, thanks earthyeater! Can't wait to see more of your pics as well!

Success, I'm pretty new on this board, so I could actually be wrong about the recipe sharing.. but I didn't want to chance it and upset one of the moderators, ha! But maybe someone else on this thread knows if it's okay to post Alissa's recipes here? I think it's totally fine to post your own recipes though, and I think we'd all love to see them!

I didn't do anything creative with food today.. I started out with a green smoothie as always, and then we thought we'd do "breakfast for lunch" with Alissa's pancake recipe. But ohhhh my.. the pancakes were SO sweet that they made me totally sick to my stomach... and I'm certain I measured the ingredients correctly, so maybe I just need to steer away from Alissa's sweeter recipes, ugh! But hey, one recipe I don't like out of ALL the other ones I've tried ain't bad, right?

So anyway, that's all I plan on eating today, because my tummy still hurts from lunch! Tomorrow will be better, I'm sure. :-)

[Lady Green Jeans]

Success, I have been on and off here for years but there have been many who share recipes. Check the recipe section. The site is basically for sharing Alissa's recipes and philosophy. A really good place to be for some awsome ideas and support.

Today's raw:
B--1/2 avo
L--big green salad with cabbage, tomato, cucumber, carrot, hemp seed and other 1/2 avo.
D--bowl of raw cauliflower dipped in raw sun roasted tomato hummus.

Hope you all had a great raw day. Glad to be here with you all.

[Clara Verde]

Planning a day of juices today. It feels like my body is ready to go into some kind of cleanse...yay!
Hope everyone is enjoying the journey with delicious food, vibrancy & growth!:cheer:

[Lady Green Jeans]

The weather is starting to warm up a little here so I hope to get out a lot this weekend--especiallly in the new garden.

Today's eating:
B-two mangos
S-banana
L-green salad with avo, cucumber, tomato, cabbage and carrots
D-cucumber with sun dried tomato hummus

Bought some nice eggplant on sale so I am planning on making the eggplant bacon recipe everyone is talking about.

Hope you all had a great raw day.

[Lady Green Jeans]

Saturday at last. Off to the farmers' market this morning to restock on avos and a few other items. Want to make several raw recipes over the weekend including alfredo, some dessert crusts for fruit pizzas (to go with my chocolate coconut hummus), the much talked about eggplant bacon, an apple crisp for Easter and some kind of fancy ravioli or raw pasta dish--something special for my Easter dinner tomorrow.

Will catch up with posting my food later today. Hope you all have a great raw day.

[speltrong]

Still going strong... I really think I can stay raw forever! It's funny to me that I assumed it would be so difficult when we started at the beginning of this month. I feel great & have not had any problems with cravings. Yay! :-)

Lady Green Jeans, I have eggplant bacon in the dehydrator right now.. I'm so curious to see what it looks like in the morning. I haven't posted any pics lately because I've run into several recipes that the hubby and I just didn't like very much. But we have stayed 100% raw, and I'm hoping the eggplant bacon will turn the bad recipe trend around!

Hope everyone is doing well!

[speltrong]

Went to the farmer's market again today and finished stocking up on fresh veggies for the week, yum! And then we came home and made an AEBLT (avocado, eggplant-bacon, lettuce, tomato) sandwich for lunch, with a side of kale chips. So good! Here's the pic:
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[speltrong]

This board has been quiet lately.. hope you are all sticking with it! Today I made Alissa's falafel and tsatziki sauce, and then piled it on top of a bed of chopped butter lettuce and tomato, and then wrapped all of it in a ginormous rainbow collard leaf. Here's a pic:
7017

[speltrong]

and for dinner: sushi! except I didn't like the taste of parsnips in the "rice", so I used carrot instead which gave it an orangey color. Next time I will use white carrot. Here's the pic:
7018

[Lady Green Jeans]

It sure has been quiet. Not much going on but garden is looking very promising. Lots of little sprouts all over the place.

Today's dining:
B--banana carob smoothie
S--large mango
L-large salad with 1/2 avo, cucumber, tomato, cabbage, carrots and hemp seed
D--small avo with salsa and some cauliflower with curry hummus.

Feels like a winding down with the end of the month just around the corner.
Has been a very good month thus far and feeling awsome.

[holistica]

I joined the April Challenge thread, but I've been 100% raw since March 23rd. The emotional detox is killing me, but my body feels good, and I've released 17 pounds.

How's that for inspiration?

[joyfulyogi]

I'm on Day 14. Had a few bumps over the weekend, but still moving forward!

Speltrong - which bread is that on your AEBLT? I can't find a recipe that I like! I've been wrapping things in cabbage or collard leaves, but I love the thought of a sandwich on 'bread'!

Going to try eggplant bacon.

I realized over the past couple of days that I don't enjoy food that pretends to taste like other food... I'd rather eat a handful of cashews than make a cream of them. I'd rather eat a marinated portabella (in olive oil and salt) rather than eat a 'burger' that has them as an ingredient.

This realization is very helpful to me! Saves me alot of time and $$$!!! ;)

[holistica]

I'm on Day 14. Had a few bumps over the weekend, but still moving forward!

Speltrong - which bread is that on your AEBLT? I can't find a recipe that I like! I've been wrapping things in cabbage or collard leaves, but I love the thought of a sandwich on 'bread'!

Going to try eggplant bacon.

I realized over the past couple of days that I don't enjoy food that pretends to taste like other food... I'd rather eat a handful of cashews than make a cream of them. I'd rather eat a marinated portabella (in olive oil and salt) rather than eat a 'burger' that has them as an ingredient.

This realization is very helpful to me! Saves me alot of time and $$$!!! ;)

I made that realization a long time ago. I only make one or two raw recipes a week, and otherwise, just graze the produce department. :)

[appifanie]

Appifanie: Your pasta looks sooo good. Did you use kelp noodles?


d'oh! sorry! and thanks :) yellow squash + new spiralizer.

[speltrong]

Speltrong - which bread is that on your AEBLT? I can't find a recipe that I like! I've been wrapping things in cabbage or collard leaves, but I love the thought of a sandwich on 'bread'!


Joyfulyogi, the bread is Alissa's italian wrap bread, except for the AEBLT I totally forgot to put in the sundried tomatoes, and I didn't have any flax meal so I sort of ground some up in my food processor (though it didn't work very well). But the end product was delicious, and I actually thought the whole flax seeds added something to it. Seems like it's sort of hard to screw up her bread, and believe me, I'm trying! Ha!

[Lady Green Jeans]

Had a special lunch today--a very nice raw salad with my first edible flowers--orchids. They were different. Kind of tasted like they smell, sweet. I ate two and put the third one in my hair. It was a lovely purple and white.

B--banana smoothie
S--large mango
L--the fancy raw salad
S--pink lady apple
D--a small butter lettuce salad with almonds

Hope you all had a great raw day.

[appifanie]

hey spelt:

1. love the nick! :D

2. you need a blog. do you have a blog?

[speltrong]

I don't have a blog.. in fact, now that you mentioned it,I just noticed the blog link in the green bar. I will have to check it out! Thanks!

[speltrong]

today we made pizza, yummy! this was soooo good.. used Alissa's pizza crust, except we were out of carrots so I substituted sweet peppers & cauliflower in their place and it worked well. For toppings, I used Alissa's quick cheese topped with shitakes, dehydrated onions, fresh chopped tomatoes and basil. Here's the pic:
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[speltrong]

Didn't do anything fancy for dinner tonight.. just a huge green salad with all the leftover veggies we had from the farmer's market, topped with sugar snap peas, cherry tomatoes, dill, green onions, and some alfalfa sprouts that I grew. I also whipped up a quick salad dressing out of soaked almonds, fresh ground mustard seed, pepper, salt, a touch of apple cider vinegar, and some onion powder. Totally yummy! No pic tonight, because it didn't look nearly as wonderful as it tasted. :-)

Hope everyone else is doing well.

[Clara Verde]

Struggling a bit but intent on continuing. Great pics, everyone!

[Moringa]

Spelltrong, your pics look so yummy!

I started raw on April 9, and am finding it difficult. I finally got Alissa's book in the mail yesterday. The recipes should help. I also got a raw book by Dr Cousens that has lots of recipes in it, though it is low-fruit for the first 3 months. Not sure how I feel about that added restriction. For now, I'm just doing basic lowfat raw, since I have the metabolism of a gnat.

Is there somewhere that I could read people's stories about their raw transitions?

Down 15.8 so far.

[Lady Green Jeans]

Apologies for not posting. Get home and eat and just want to relax and retire early. Very early commute so it gets tiring.

B--last of the cocoa coconut hummus with banana. sooo good.
S--avo with salsa.
L--made a batch of pineapple cucumber gazpacho so that will be lunch.
S--will be working in the garden so will prob need snack of fruil later
D--craving pizza so will make a simple cheese and the marinara and top with mushrooms, olives, red bell and whatever else strikes me.

Been craving cucumbers and avos for about 2 weeks now. Can't seem to get enough of either. Switched off the grapefruit in the morning during the week and have been making banana carob smoothies.

Cannot believe the end of Apil is alredy tomorrow. It has been such a great adventure so far. Hope everyone is having an awsome raw day!

[Moringa]

Sorry I haven't been good about posting my food. Still finding my way. I've got everything recorded on fitday and in a journal.

Today was
2 oz wheat grass shot
16 oz green juice
couple of handfuls of sprouted pumpkin seeds
Energy soup made from mesclun, raddicio, a small avocado, and lime juice
20 spirulina tablets

This is getting easier!

[Lady Green Jeans]

Cannot believe this month went to very fast and here it is the last day of the challenge.

B-banana carob smoothie
S-nice large ripe mango
L-lettuce wraps with raw hummus, tomato, carrots, and avo
D-more of the wonderful pineapple cucumber gazpacho

Hope you all had a great raw day. Not sure if I am going to do the May challenge.

[speltrong]

I know! This month flew by! Today we kept things simple.. a green smoothie for breakfast, for lunch we did a hike and picnicked with navel oranges, raw crackers, and some coconut almond hummus.. and for dinner, I played lazy and did a mexican flavored salad.. I threw some farmers greens in a bowl, put some green onions and chopped cilantro on top of that, blended together half a container of fresh pico de gallo with an avocado and used it as dressing (wish I had thought to add lime juice too), and then topped the salad with the rest of the pico. It was actually really good and SO easy! Hope everyone else is having a good last day of the month!

[seachangeau]

Yeah I found it a bit hard going. but glad I tried it ( tried beingvthe operative word) summary:
problems - finding out Buckwheat greens are TOXIC the hard way. Then finding out tomatoes and eggplants are too! Potatoes I didn't miss surprisingly. Was formerly so addicted to chips! By week two they tasted like straw ( had to just try mcfries out of sheer curiousity as I was so surprised I wasn't having cravings) 2. Being occasionally bagged by not overly supportive spouse. 3. eating too much fruit/seeds compared to greens. 4. The lemon cake i made
yesterday what a waste of macadamia nuts :(

high points - spouse trying raw food while on holiday and loving it ( yay Byron bay!) 2. new friendships - those who eat raw and those who are curious. 3. Discovering new tastes - eating flowers and weeds from my garden, chocolate avocado pie, coconut oil, dragon fruit "cheesecake"

I miss that dragonfruit cake from byron And their lemon cake. Anyone got a good lemoncake récipé to share?



Hope everyone got a lot outvof their month too!
Spelltrong, your pics look so yummy!

I started raw on April 9, and am finding it difficult. I finally got Alissa's book in the mail yesterday. The recipes should help. I also got a raw book by Dr Cousens that has lots of recipes in it, though it is low-fruit for the first 3 months. Not sure how I feel about that added restriction. For now, I'm just doing basic lowfat raw, since I have the metabolism of a gnat.

Is there somewhere that I could read people's stories about their raw transitions?

Down 15.8 so far.

[seachangeau]

Hello RFT, I am in need of some words of experience/encouragement. I am in the process of completing 30 days of Raw Food and I am/have experience some severe detox symptoms. One night last week I was extremely cold and shivering until I had to cover up with two heavy blankets and I constantly went to the bathroom all night. In the morning I woke up to terrible head and body aches. Body aches due to the uncontrollable shivering. In all honesty it was very scary. Today I am very tired. Is this normal? Has anyone else experienced severe detox symptoms? Thanks for your help.
@sistaonamission

been reading back through last pages and so sorry to see no one has replied to your post!! Come on guys - encouragement? Edit - I see you got a reply on same question posted on another thread. Mine advice is different - also I'd advise take a b12 supplement wen switching to vegan. Otherwise your system will eventually suffer.

I haven't had any detox symptoms but I got a mild reaction to the toxins in sprouted buckwheat. I did lose a lot of toxins without really noticing it - bye bye cellulite :)

Sounds more like you got a stomach virus or ate something toxic - raw food requires some extra care in preparation and storage. Remember how we are cautioned about fresh food when travelling overseas? Well even organic good is sprayed with organic fertiliser which maybe quite full of bugs that don't belong in our gut. There was a case of recent salmonella poisoning I think from
orange juice which had been sprayed with fishbased fertiliser and used incorrectly - the witholding period after spray was ignored I think. http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf262927.tip.html here's a Fruit and vegie wash. you might need a good probiotic. I eat fermented foods For this - especially kefir but if you want non dairy look for kimchi and sauerkraut which are yummy additions to a raw diet. The library should have some good books on raw food diet. I don't believe putting every bad reaction to changes in diet, new anything , under this umbrella. If something is good for you then I think you should feel better unless you are basically overdosing on a good thing.

[LYNN29]

Okay, down 4.5 lbs since Monday and feeling great. I went to yoga twice yesterday 3 hrs in a 105 degree room I feel like all that extra sweating is helping me detox faster so I don't feel as bad this time. I am still fighting my cravings, mine are emotional food cravings. When ever I get stressed or upset instead of working out (like I used to before I got sick) I eat bad--very bad. Like Outback cheese fries bad-- For me food is an emotional issue so I am ordering yummy meals from a local raw cafe - Bliss Raw Cafe in Dallas each day (it's right down the road) so I am still able to eat rawsagna and things that taste like real food (emotional feel good food) vs plain veggies. Hopefully someday I will start to look at food as nutrition/medicine vs. emotional and it will be easier to eat the simpler raw foods like plain veggies and salads, but for now I know I need to "feel" like I am eating real meals so even if the hamburger is seeds, it looks and actually tastes like one so I feel like I am still getting that emotional fulfillment--messed up I know. It's scary how I will smell a food smell and it will trigger a childhood memory of orange muffins at a bed and breakfast while on vacation with my grandmother when I was 8-- food has been my comfort and I am hoping to learn how to make it become fuel for my body instead. Headed to yoga at noon and will try to go back again tonight.

Everyone have a great day!