Day 29

Here's my weight this morning. I've dropped (drum roll please) 2.4 lbs since January 2. I was hoping for something more dramatic, but I guess it's better than a poke in the eye with a crooked stick.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I did not suffer from menstrual migraine this time around. Therefore, I'm going to continue the Raw experiment for another month, to see if it was a fluke.

Brought my tabbouleh salad to work with me one day last week to share. My coworkers were impressed.

Day 25

25th Day

Here is a picture of the tabbouleh I made with sprouted quinoa. It's tasty.

I weighed in this morning. So far my weight loss has been underwhelming. An old college classmate has also gone raw, as I just found out, and she is bragging on Facebook about how slim she's getting. I wonder what I'm doing wrong? It might be better if I were exercising. Once Hubby is recovered and back to work, I'll start exercising again.

Will I continue the Raw diet after my 30-day trial? I just may. Especially if I find it to be an effective treatment for my menstrual migraines. I may invest in a dehydrator; that would avail me of some variety to my menu.

Twenty-Tooth Day

It's Day 22 Raw. I'm at the beginning of my 4th week. Feeling good. Aunt Flo is here, and so far, no menstrual migraine. However, this is Flo's first visit during my raw diet. It's not unusual for Flo to come without a headache one month and then return the next month with a vengeance. I hesitate to attribute the absence of a headache to the raw diet. I think I would have to continue the raw diet for several months to come to a conclusion. We'll see.

Hubby and I went out to Applebee's last Friday evening. I broke my Raw diet for dinner. Had one of their so-called 550-calorie-or less dishes: Sizzling Asian Shrimp and Broccoli. It was served steaming hot. This was the first hot food I've eaten since going raw. Everything on the raw diet is served cold or at room temperature.

The shrimp dish was good. When I went to bed, my stomach gurgled. You know the sound your stomach makes when it's processing a heavy meal? It was the first time my stomach has done that since going raw. I wonder if that means that the raw diet is gentler on one's stomach?

Even though there's no cooking in the Raw diet, there is still a great deal of planning ahead. For example, I have a recipe for a tabbouleh salad made from sprouted quinoa. It takes 24 hours for quinoa to sprout. I have another recipe that uses cashews soaked for three hours. If I don't stay on top of my menu & prepare things in advance, I end up having to improvise.

Forgot to weigh in this morning. Will try to remember to do it tomorrow morning.

Seventeenth Day

Seventeen days raw and I'm feeling good!

This is a picture of raw Japanese rolls that I made. Aren't they cute? So far they are my favorite raw confection. They're time-consuming to put together, but they are so yummy! I gave one to a co-worker yesterday and she was amazed that it did not have any meat in it. "You sure there's no crab? It tastes like you put crab in it." Nope. No crab.

To follow up on a couple recipes I've tried recently: My raw raspberry-cocoa pudding turned out dreamy! I think I could eat it every day. The raw corn salad was okay; I loaded it with too much onion, but I discovered that it is perfect on top of some mixed greens.

Made raw tabbouleh yesterday for today's lunch. Instead of cracked wheat, I used sprouted quinoa. I learned that quinoa does not have to be cooked to be eaten. I soak it in water for 3 hours, then drain and put it back in the bowl covered with a damp towel, and let it sit overnight. The little quinoa grains sprout little tails! It's pretty cool.

Today for dinner I made tacos. The "meat" was walnuts seasoned with sun-dried tomatoes (soaked overnight & drained), chili powder, sea salt & a sprinkle of cayenne, combined in the food processor. Stuffed it into quarters of a fresh green bell pepper & topped with chopped avocado. It was decent. Not spicy enough for my taste. Next time I'm going to add onion powder, garlic powder & cumin to the mix.

Hubby's leg is getting stronger nowadays, so he has the stamina to clean the kitchen for me. Yea!

Halfway There

I had raw pancakes for breakfast this morning. As I was putting them together I said, "This is a weird food." Hubby chimed in, "That's all you've been eating is weird food." True that.

Sorry the picture didn't turn out so good. They're on a clear plate so they're kind of camouflaged on the brown table top. They were good, but really nothing like pancakes. More like a crumbly pie crust. It consisted of 3 cups of flaxseed meal, a half cup of agave nectar and/or maple syrup (I used half of each) and 2 tablespoons of coconut butter. (BTW coconut butter is amazing, and I can't wait to find more recipes that use it.) Mixed it all up and then formed it between my palms into pancake shapes. It felt like I was forming falafel patties. Of course I topped them with blueberries, my all-time favorite fruit.
Yesterday I made a batch of raw vegan ranch dressing. It was amazing. Even Mr Meat & Potatoes sampled it and said it was good.

So I'm officially halfway into my Thirty Days Raw, and I thought I'd share what my bathroom scale said this morning. Seems I've lost a whole pound. Woo hoo!

Tenth Day Raw

It's my tenth day raw.

I probably should have put this Raw project off until February or March. It's been especially challenging with Hubby home and recuperating from surgery. Usually he's only home about 6 days out of the month due to his job, so I cook for one most of the time. Easy! However, since Dec 31 when he came home from the hospital with a brand new prosthetic knee in his right leg, I've had to cook 2 meals every night after working a full 8-hour day at the travel agency. Additionally, Hubby, who usually does dishes, is unable to stand long enough to do dishes. So evening mealtimes have been very time-consuming.

I made a delicious raw breakfast cereal for myself this morning. It consisted of one chopped apple, a handful of raisins, a handful of pumpkin seeds, a sprinkle of whole flaxseeds, a sprinkle of cinnamon, a sprinkle of shredded unsweetened coconut, a drizzle of honey, and a few fresh blueberries, topped with cashew milk. I'm going to make that more often.

Snacked on a banana with peanut butter. Yeah, that's cheating a little... it wasn't raw peanut butter. But that's pretty good... a peanut butter and banana sandwich without the bread.

Made my chicken tacos for dinner for Hubby. It was tempting to just make a couple for myself. I love me some chicken tacos, with some cheese & sour cream & salsa & avocado! Mmmm mmmm. But instead I made a fresh corn salad. I added too much onion. Not too crazy about raw onion. The recipe kind of reminds me of calabacitas, except without the zucchini & cheese. Maybe I'll add zucchini to it next time I make it.

Dessert is in the fridge right now. I'm going to sample it in a few minutes. Raw raspberry & chocolate pudding. That sounds good!

I'm noticing that the less healthy and more processed a food item is, the more advertising it gets. Toaster Strudels, Doritos, Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup… When was the last time you saw a commercial for parsnips? If you took your child to the grocery store, what is the likelihood that he or she would recognize a box of Toaster Strudels versus, say, a parsnip? Would you recognize a parsnip? I was well into my adult years before I ever knew what a parsnip was.

Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup. Mmmm. I loved it when I was a kid. But really. Tell me that Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup is anything more than oily, golden-colored, chicken-flavored salt water. How many pieces of chicken are in a can of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup?

One of my co-workers brought in a big pan of homemade eggplant parmesan to share. Eggplant parmesan!! That happens to be my favorite food of all time! I so wanted to have a piece. But instead I ate a green salad and a bowl of raw vegan macaroni & cheese. Which was pretty good. But not as good as eggplant parmesan!