August 2012 30 Day Raw Challenge

[LexieW]

Well, I finished out yesterday great, but couldn't resist the temptation to have a little something cooked this morning. It's hard to resist when my office keeps catering several times a week, but I got back on track with lunch - salad of dark leafy greens, heirloom tomatoes, red bell pepper and cucumber. Have been snacking on dates today, as well.

In sprout news, my little babies are doing great! The alfalfa are moving right along, will be ready to eat soon. And the peas had little tails this morning :) I love the process and seeing them grow - it's really fun and easy! Anyone looking to get into it, the site I bought mine from is sproutpeople.org. They have a huge variety, all organic, with many sample packs. And they teach you how to do it (though the sprouting thread on this forum is a great resource, too).

I also ordered a bunch of new clothes - motivation to stay good and raw and make sure they fit well ;)

[LexieW]

Pansy, good luck with your filter inquery. Super pure water is one part of raw food I just have not embraced 100%. For me personally, the taste of the water is all that matters to me.



Sorry to hear that you've been upset lately. Being able to resist temptation, however, is a truely amazing accomplishment. When my body tells me that it wants something, I have a hard time resisting the urge. You did great!

Didn't see this earlier - thanks, robh :) I'm feeling better - there are some things I can't change, but I can change how I react to them. At least, that's what I keep telling myself :) I gave in to a little temptation today, but not much - will finish the day out better than I started.

[robh]

MysticTree, you got it - lentils and chickpeas. I will try the sprouts you suggested. I also saw your comment on being able to resist temptation easier. I noticed that too. Overtime, the longer I am 100% raw, the less I want that stuff. I actually started craving fruits and vegetables. I'm not sure why but my mouth waters when I think of onions or oranges (not at the same time, though - yuk). Is your boyfriend back on 100% raw or still high raw?

ReneeH, sorry to hear that you are out of sorts. I am sure that better days are right around the corner. I hope you feel better soon.

Willpower, I hear ya on the birthdays. We have a birthday in the family every month from May to October. I have been passing up a lot of birthday food and meals out. Glad to hear you are getting back into the swing of things.

PintSizeParmour, welcome to the thread.

LexieW, new clothes - that is awesome. Keep up the great work. Sounds like you are enjoying the sprouting experience. I ordered my sprouts from sproutpeople.org too. Great place. My only complaint is that they are on the other side of the country and shipping take forever - obviously, not their fault.



I have done really well again today. Another 100% raw day so far. I think this is my 3rd consecutive day.

I was feeling what I thought was hunger around 7:30am. It turns out I was only thirsty. I think my body has mixed those signals my entire life. I am still sorting it out.

I drank water until around noon when I grabbed a banana on the way out the door to have "lunch" with my wife. We were both working from home today. We hit our normal lunch spot. This is where I experienced the most temptation today. I really wanted a bite of what she was eating. She never finishes it all and I end up with at least a piece (even recently). They also give bread with everything there. I always get dirty looks when I say I don't want bread so today I took it. So throughout lunch, I had a piece of bread and my wife's cooked leftover staring me down. On top of that I got this Greek Salad (no meat, no cheese and a light vinaigrette dressing). I enjoyed it, but it just was not enough food. I half-jokingly said I'll bring my own avocado next time. All the onions got me super hungry and got my appetite in full swing. Then it was gone. I left hungry. It sucked. BUT... BUT... I may have left hungry, but I also left RAW! Go me. Anyway, I went home and made what I called Lunch 2, the sequel.

Sorry for the bit of rambling there. After lunch, I got hungry again and made some chia seed pudding and I snacked on some nuts.

Also, my shipment from nuts.com came in woohoo. now I need to make cheesecake.

Also, my mom is trying raw. She isn't stocked up like I am so I doubled my nuts.com order. I am going to put together a "welcome to raw" care package for her and share some of my recipes and such. It sounds like she's stuck in a rut with smoothies and salads. I figured some supplies would help her situation.

I donno what I'm doing for dinner. I need to grind up some sesame seeds now that I have more. Maybe I'll make something with that. I need my calcium, zinc and iron after all.

Take care all.

[LexieW]

I left hungry. It sucked. BUT... BUT... I may have left hungry, but I also left RAW! Go me.

YEAH! Way to go! That's always the toughest situation, and you did !

This should be you, right now:

[PansyLo]

Robh: My boyfriend always give me a row for being like that in restaurants says as the paying customer their job is to please us (which is interesting as he's so shy he wont even place his own order). It's true though, you're the customer, you should be able to ask for what you want without their complaint or grumbling.

If you're not comfortable with just asking for what you want tell them you're gluten intolerant so can't eat bread. It's technically true, nobody should eat bread and it does do damage even if it is minor. Our bodies are intolerant to most SAD food.
People become oddly sympathetic when they think it's a medical problem.

If you're feeling really gutsy you could always tell them you're a raw vegan and ask for a more filling dish with any raw ingredients they have. They'll think you're weird but again if you explain that you're sticking to a diet people will be more supportive.

[RedCedar]

Hi to everyone, and welcome to the new folks here.

Chia pudding with shredded coconut and diced mango (man those are a pain to peel and cut),
Banana ice cream with raspberries and strawberries.

Anybody have any weight loss success lately? I could use the inspiration!

I too thought UK water was fluoride free. Hmm..will check out that site.

Reneeh, hope you're feeling better. I totally understand "the funk".

[PansyLo]

^ Really quite a lot of places are supplied with water with added fluoride. None of them appear to be in Scotland though contrary to what I've been told.

[robh]

Lexie, haha! Thanks though

Pansy, yeah I really should ask first for what I want. I have some social anxiety. I get flustered when I talk. I'm just not good at it. You are correct, though ; you won't get what you want until you ask for it. /

[GreenT]

Hello Hello!! Today was a bit rough, i have the worst sinus headache. I think it's from our weather changing so drastically these last few days. I was really busy at work today so didn't get to eat much. I had some watermelon, a banana a little bit of chia pudding and some cheese sauce as a dip with carrots for dinner when i got home (One of my favorites). The cheese sauce is also good in wraps with veggies.

The Best Nacho Cheese Sauce

1- Cup raw cashews
1/2- Lg Red bell pepper
1/4- Cup water
2- Tbs Lemon juice
2- Tbs Nutritional yeast
1- Tbs Tahini
1 1/2- tsp Sea salt
1- Clove garlic
2- tsp onion powder
(Blend all ingredients in a blender)
* I also add a little bit of cayenne pepper, i like it a little spicy

Renee, big hugs to you....hope you feel better soon!!

Rob, you are doing fantastic! Being in a restaurant with temptations like that are not easy whatsoever! When i was 100% raw for a while my mouth watered also to fruits and veggies, and i CRAVED them. I even got to a point where the smell of cooked food grossed me out REALLY bad, it would turn my stomach.

Have a great night everyone, im gonna lay down and relax i am whooped! Ohhhhh i forgot about my coconut cookie balls mmm... ok i'll eat a couple of those and then lay down haa haa!!

Coconut Cookie Dough Balls

2/3 - Cup pitted dates
1 1/2- TBS Coconut butter
-Tiny pinch of salt
-Shredded coconut
(Blend in all ingredients in a food processor, roll into balls, refrigerate and enjoy!)
* This makes a very small batch, i normally double or triple the recipe

[PansyLo]

Lexie, haha! Thanks though

Pansy, yeah I really should ask first for what I want. I have some social anxiety. I get flustered when I talk. I'm just not good at it. You are correct, though ; you won't get what you want until you ask for it. /

I understand completely, that's why I can't do it either! I'm working on it though. I'm dreadful at talking I get flustered and say things all jumbled up or my brain just freezes and no words come... which is probably why I'm so talkative on forums.
My boyfriend can hardly speak to strangers without mumbling or stuttering so he's no help. We're a right pair.

[MysticTree]

Rob:
We are both high raw at the moment.
We are both muttering about getting back to 100%
BF has really noticed that his skin (he has psoriasis) is much worse if he isn't 100% raw.

I need to change the structure of what I eat and when. Fruit isn't cutting it through the day anymore. I need to be bringing in a salad for lunch with avo like I used to last year. The fat should help with the hunger - even though it isn't real hunger. I also need to get a bottle or jug that I can keep in the fridge at work so I can have cold water all the time. If it isn't cold it doesn't fill me up!

There's lots of stress at the moment and that doesn't help at all with anything! I think you'll love alfalfa. It goes really well with avocado I think and you could make a really good sandwich with that bread you posted about with mashed or slice avo and lots of alfalfa in it. The radish seeds are quite mustardy so give a real zing to things.

[ReneeH]

Thanks Rob, RedCedar, and GreenT for your positive vibes! I've waken up to a wonderful morning and I feel much better!

I was tempted yesterday to go to a former favorite resteraunt in a way that I haven't been in a REALLY long time, but I'm happy to say that I didn't go!!!!! I just COULDN'T!

I knew that what I was feeling was temporary, so I did some deep breathing exercises and let the moment pass in quiet solitude. I warned my kids that Mommy was a CRAZY person today, so they left me alone in my craziness!

I did have one cooked chocolate brownie...oh well!!! But it wasn't NEARLY as good as my raw ones! NOT going there again! Maybe I just needed a quick reminder of how much BETTER raw snacks are!!!

Anyway, looking forward to working out later with my workout buddy! Gotta get back in the groove yau'll!!!!

No more gloom for me today! Sunshine all the way!

Oh, ROB....I'm SOOOO proud of you!!!! You GO Boy!!!!

GreenT, I LOVE that Cheese Sauce! Try it on Alissa's Pizza Crust from RFFE...you'll FLIP!!! It's also good with Rawritos Chips!!!! Wish I had seen that Coconut Cookie Balls recipe yesterday!!!!!

[ReneeH]

I feel like trying this today! It's from Pink Bites:

Marinated Antipasto Mushrooms Recipe:

1 pound of brown or white mushrooms, or a mix of both
4 tablespoons of good extra virgin olive oil, or more if needed
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 cloves of garlic, minced*
1/4 cup of red onions or shallots, finely chopped
2 tablespoons of fresh oregano, finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh thyme, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns

1/4 teaspoon coriander seeds (optional)

She cooks the mushrooms, but I'm just gonna put them in a baggie with the Marinade and warm it in the dehydrator!!! Can't wait for Lunch!!!!

[MysticTree]

Thanks Rob, RedCedar, and GreenT for your positive vibes! I've waken up to a wonderful morning and I feel much better!

I was tempted yesterday to go to a former favorite resteraunt in a way that I haven't been in a REALLY long time, but I'm happy to say that I didn't go!!!!! I just COULDN'T!

I knew that what I was feeling was temporary, so I did some deep breathing exercises and let the moment pass in quiet solitude. I warned my kids that Mommy was a CRAZY person today, so they left me alone in my craziness!

I did have one cooked chocolate brownie...oh well!!! But it wasn't NEARLY as good as my raw ones! NOT going there again! Maybe I just needed a quick reminder of how much BETTER raw snacks are!!!

Anyway, looking forward to working out later with my workout buddy! Gotta get back in the groove yau'll!!!!

No more gloom for me today! Sunshine all the way!

Oh, ROB....I'm SOOOO proud of you!!!! You GO Boy!!!!

GreenT, I LOVE that Cheese Sauce! Try it on Alissa's Pizza Crust from RFFE...you'll FLIP!!! It's also good with Rawritos Chips!!!! Wish I had seen that Coconut Cookie Balls recipe yesterday!!!!!

That is just the craziest thing isn't it? The cooked is never as good as the raw or even if it is almost as good it doesn't fill the what-ever-it-is that you were trying to fill and often times even if you stick with raw it still doesn't fill that emotional gap and then we can blame the raw food even though we know in our heart of hearts that cooked food couldn't fill it either.

Does that make sense? Hope so!

[PintSizeParmour]

Hey ya’ll! Hope everyone is doing well!
I so appreciate this space. It makes me accountable for what I am putting in my body.

Yesterday I had a raw vegan taco salad with raw sour cream. So good!! Even my boyfriend, who thinks what I’m doing is crazy, really liked it! Can’t wait to have the left overs for lunch!

This morning I sucked down pasilym husk and benoite clay (not sure of the spelling and too lazy to google). I’m trying to force myself to enjoy it. Ugh, but it’s so not enjoyable.

I juiced carrot, apple, ginger, beet, lemon, celery juice. Gonna feast on that after this cup of green tea. I like to keep my juice in the freezer for a little bit before I drink them. Does this affect the benefits of the juice?

I’m going to have to try that cheese sauce! The sour cream I made from cashews was fantastic!!

Also, is there a way to get the same results of dehydrating without a dehydrator? My bank account is really hurting this month, too poor to afford one right now. My cat was sick, and too many weddings this summer.

Going to a concert after work and it’s going to be tough not to drink! I’m gonna stay strong though!