May 2012 - 30 Day Challenge - Join at any time of the month!

[Aleesha Sattva]

Welcome welcome welcome!!!

Welcome to the 30 day challenge 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!

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!!!

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 do not post in this thread until the 1st of May

[simplydebra]

Well....today is May 1st. I plan on starting the challenge today.

[zippygonzallez]

I'm in!!
This is my first time going raw, I have been vegan for several months with great success so the idea of going raw is both daunting and extremely exciting!! Here goes nothing!!


CW: 230
GW1:170
GW2:140
FGW:110

[Kcoishmeh]

I second simplydebra! I've been making a slow effort to eat about 70% raw the past week and I'm excited to try going all in for a long period of time. Lets see what happens shall we?

[Mayaya]

I already got my supplies and tomorrow I'm starting the 30 raw challenge.
The only problem is that raw brings out my bad self: I'm going to steal your tried out recipe ideas and daily menus ;)
This will help me keep going without getting bored. See you tomorrowwww!

[simplydebra]

I went to a place in Houston called My Fit Foods and got some already prepared raw foods to help me start out on the right track. I'm waiting on my VitaMix to come in the mail to help me prep and prepare my own foods at home.

I've never been able to go more than a few days completely raw, so this will certainly be a challenge!

[TheRawPilgrim]

Simplydebra you will LOVE your vitamix! I've had mine for less than a week and already I don't know how I lived without it!!

Started the day off with a mango spinach pudding (with another bowl if it in the fridge for a snack later) and I think my pineapple is just about ripe so for lunch I'm going to have a pineapple/kiwi/pomegranate soup. I'll want more greens today so I'll either make a big green juice or two or I'll have a nice salad for supper.

My eggplant bacon turned out FABULOUS! I put it all in a jar in the fridge (how long can it keep for in there? Does it freeze ok?) and I have some buckwheat flax bread in the D right now, I can't wait to have me a eBLnoT (I don't like raw tomatoes, sacrilege I know ) sandwich! Om nom nom!

[Shel]

I don't like tomatoes at all esp. on a sandwhich (of course tomato sauce and all that proc'd stuff is fine) Raw Pilgrim, lol.

Hello everybody! It's day 2 for me and I'm feeling great. I got some good eats today....a nice salad (chopped up snow peas rock in a salad), dill dressing, I made Ani Phyo's pickled cucs recipe and I made a mock tuna to go with my buckwheat "bread." I had a small green smoothie that was leftover from yesterday, a qt of lemon water this morning and kale chips for a snack. I made sure I did a nut type recipe to help get me over the hump the first few days. It's helping tremendously.

Anyway, here's to May! Have a great day everybody! :)

[ncadotte]

I got all prepped last night. Soaked and dehydrated some almonds, made some peppercorn ranch dressing to go with my salad for lunch, and basically just stocked up with fruits and veggies. It's funny, I went to open the dehydrator to put my almonds in, and there was a whole sheet of dehydrated crackers from who knows when?! What a waste. They still smelled good, but didn't wanna chance it so they went in the trash. I will be making some new ones shortly.

[RawOlympia]

Hi all! I started my 30 day Raw Challenge at 195 on 4/24 so it's been 1 week. I lost 3.5 lbs last week which doesn't sound like a lot but I had PMS to contend with (period was early by a half week for some reason). Also, I had been dieting for over a month when I started the raw challenge. I was at 208 on 3/20 when I started on food combining (works well to get rid of psoriasis, but so does raw it seems), so I had already lost 13lbs before I rolled straight into the raw challenge.

Sweet corn was on sale today so I'm going to work with that raw corn chowder recipe that I wasn't happy with last week and see if I can't get something worthy of posting tonight. The huge portabello mushroom tops were calling my name so I'm going to work something out with those tomorrow for dinner.

Breakfast: 3 apples spread out over the morning
Lunch: The last of the Kale and Apple salad (recipe was posted in the last week of the April Challenge)
Snack: Chocolate Balls (Recipe was posted in the last week of the April Challenge) and more fruit
Dinner: Corn Chowder and salad

My goal this week is to get more food in. Specifically, cut down on the nuts and up the fruit and greens. I don't know if it was a mental thing with starting the challenge, or that I was sick and PMS'ing last week but I was eating waaaaay too many nuts and not enough fruits and greens so that's the goal for this week.

I also scaled back my weight goal from 130 (which I reached in HS by starving myself) to a much more realistic 145 which wasn't hard to maintain back in the day and allowed me to eat normally.

[tsorenson]

I'm going to start my 100% raw food challenge tomorrow, since I did not start off the day well :-)!! I already have some food prepared. Question, do most of you make your own salads or go ahead and buy the packaged spring mixes or other types of greens? When I attempted raw before, I found making salads was bothersome so I switched to already made up greens and just threw in some cut up veggies. I don't know if I'm being lazy or just prefer to have it already set up for me. do most of yo plan to eat mostly salads or do you take time to make raw meals? I have several raw food uncook books, so maybe I should venture to make something!

Also, one last question! Does anyone know about how much weight can be expected to be lost during this month if someone has a goal to lose 20 - 25 pounds total? Thanks!

[Ashiana]

Starting fresh tomorrow!!

[Kcoishmeh]

Day one is over for me! And wooooow, I'm amazing at how hungry I was. I pretty much snacked all through out the day.

Breakfast was Carrot apple juice, an orange, and a hand-full of raw hazel nuts.
Snacked on some fruit leather and goji berries.
Lunch, a Spinach-banana green smoothie, cauliflower, and some almonds.
Snack, cheezy flax crackers fresh from the dehydrator!
Dinner, a salad with mango dressing, Flax crackers, and more nuts!!

Hm, I'd like to cut back on the nuts ( And get more fruit in there!) in the future but for now I'm going to eat as much as I desire during the transition period. I'm not shooting to lose any weight but rather just feel better- I want that amazing energy rawbies always talk about! (: Ohh, and I'm hoping that the switch to Raw will help clear up some minor acne. I'm a bit afraid of the detox breakout but I'm sure I'll be able to handle it with patience....

Good job everybody, Can't wait for tomorrow!

[robh]

Kcoishmeh, can you give me a link to the cheezy flax cracker recipe?

RawOlympia, I am having issues with raw corn. I've been trying to make dehydrated tortilla chips. The first batch, I put lime juice and a little slat in with the raw corn mix. Then, I thought I added too much acid so I added baking powder until it tasted better. The first batch came out ok (not too bad) but I figured I messed it up so for the second batch I dehydrated just corn (nothing else)... I cannot explain how horrid the second batch was. I went in the trash. Traditionally tortilla dough is soaked with lime (limestone lime, not lemon lime, as I foolishly thought) and then it's cooked. Something in that process does the trick. Anyway, I'm about ready to give up on raw corn. At first it's sweet but it has a weird yuckiness to it. I'm am curious if you can make it work and how. :)

Anyway, back on track, I made it raw through the weekend! My drinking buddy is pretty pissed but I think he'll get over it. I did not cheat at all. Zero cooked food in over a week. This is a pretty big accomplishment for me. I have been "trying" to be raw for a few months now (this is my 3rd 30-day raw challenge thread). I've been hovering around 95%, but that 5% kept causing me to detox every week. Last week, I got tired of it and decided I was done with all the bad stuff.

More good news, I got my wife to try being raw for a week. She started Friday. I am hoping by this coming Friday she gets that euphoric, raw feeling that motivated me to adopt this lifestyle. We shall see. I think she'd just doing it to shut me up. It's worth a shot, though. Having all the cooked food and junk food in the house is hard. If I can get her on my side we can get rid of all that junk and work on getting the kids raw.

As far as my current eating habits, I'm doing a lot of fruit in the mornings. To work, I brought 3 bananas, 3 apples, 3 pears and 1 orange (about 1000 calories). I did the same yesterday and increased my water intake. Last night, I had a salad with Alissa's dressing (good stuff) and bell peppers stuffed with bean sprouts and leftover "cheese" that I spiced up with salsa and red pepper. I also had another banana or two. I only had like 1400 calories but I was full and I think only 10% or so was from fat (the nut cheese). I'm not sure if it was all the water or the high carb / low fat combination but the scale actually moved today. I've been stuck at 270 for weeks and it read 266 this morning (I had to weigh myself multiple times because I didn't believe it). It was probably a fluke, but I'm curious what the scale does tomorrow if I eat the same way today.

Anyway, congrats everyone and keep up the good work.