CSAs

My lunch banana smoothie is one I left in the work fridge form yesterday for time-saving. It seems to have separated into foam (which I've gotten through) and juicy banana liquid. Blech. Almost spat that out onto my keyboard but restrained myself. What is up with that, fair bananas?

There are these cashew cluster things at work that I believe the office manager gets at Costco. Man, are they good.

I hope they're not insanely bad for me, but I don't think so.














I am thinking about joining a CSA. The commitment scares me but I've gotten over that in life so why not with vegetables? :)

This one I have bought from at the farmer's market, as well as attended their pot luck/pig roast which was so awesome.

Johnson's Backyard Farm

This one is the oldest in the state, supposedly:

Tecolote Farms

And this one is just cute and in a "blighted" neighborhood which I love:

Green Gate Farms

I wonder if there are a lot more pros than just buying what I want at a farmer's market.

Hmm...

Lunch piccy

Thought I'd throw this in here. My second banana smoothie for lunch and my apple snack. :)

I've never been preachy

But I had to share this. I've been pescatarian (strict) for 20 years now and vegan for a bunch of those.

This really brings it home for me.
Gary Yurofsky's Talk on Veganism

Ups and Way Downs

But yes, the ups are prevailing!
So I've definitely fallen way off the wagon a couple times. What can I say? I have a rebellious nature.

Friday was the worst so of course I'll start with that. I was feeling hormonal and I decided to be "naughty" and eat snacks while I was off work early. Cut to cheese puffs, combos, and Quizno's. I loved the chippy stuff, I admit. But it was so grainy and it stained my hands ridiculously. The Quizno's, a tuna sub (which I haven't had from them in years), was of course good because it was DRENCHED in salt. I don't know if it's my new found taste buds or if it's just the store (or both?), but man, my mouth was tingly by the end of it. So of course I didn't feel good about my choices but I thought, meh, I'll do better tomorrow.
WRONG.
My fear of becoming a person who eats one bad thing and turns to a quivering bowl of jelly was realized. I AM THAT PERSON. Sure, I see skinny people scarfing fast food all the time. People older and worse looking than anyone in my family (comparatively speaking) who are walking around at the age of 80 (most of my family did not make it to that age). I try to follow the "don't judge a book by its cover" saying but it really does get hard. BUT these people could be in pain as soon as they get home. Or not. Maybe they have way better genes. Who knows.
All I know is...I am who I am. And I am obviously not supposed to eat "normally". By the time I went to bed I started having flu like symptoms. I was literally a quivering mass of jelly the whole night. I got up, heaved a bit but didn't throw up too much, and was unable to sleep. I finally dozed off mid-morning and woke up with a TERRIBLE headache. I took pills and it cleared but it came back two times that day.
I wish it weren't so, but it's true.
Then yesterday I went to an Asian fusion type buffet for Father's Day. I didn't eat as badly as I could have, but again, SALTY. I felt lethargic but nothing too bad. My husband passed out, but he's another food story. (Crohn's, etc.) This morning I COULD NOT PUT ON MY WEDDING RING.
*Sorry for the caps but it still amazes me that this stuff happens.
Today I've had a papaya smoothie (half a papaya and some coconut water for alkalizing - pleeeeassseee alkalize me lol), and a 5 banana smoothie with water. The latter really tasted like a milkshake. I don't know if it's how long I blended it for but it was awesome. (Go Ninja! Love that blender)
I feel good and am going full Low Fat Raw Vegan this week! xox

Red Red Wine

Yes, I am spontaneously dancing to this 90s song. :P I think the bananas are working!! Yayyy. I woke up feeling not so great, couldn't sleep in again, but once I was up and showered, I started to feel great. The fog is lifting a bit.

meals today:

4 bananas in the car ride to the store

strawberry pie

not sure what's for dinner yet

The strawberry pie, I believe, was first drooled after by moi on the Raw Food Sisters blog. But this recipe also inspired me.

I drizzled honey on top so I suppose it's not vegan, but besides that it is.

I didn't use almonds or any nuts and no hemp seeds or anything. I used about 2 tbsp of coconut oil, the coconut covered dates you can buy in bulk, and some alcohol-free vanilla extract drops. Also, at the end I drizzled some local honey on top. Yummm.

lunchtime 6/7 12pm

Here I am enjoying my 6 (or 5, whatever fit into the container) banana and half a carton of bluerries smoothie that I referred to in the last post.


I have an overall crappy feeling still. I feel quite tired as well. My sleep wasn't as great last night as it has been the past couple nights. Insomnia is a bitch and is not just sleeplessness, but rather the inability to fall back asleep once one has woken up. I definitely experienced that a couple times last night. Plus, my dog's wet nose graised the side of my body shortly after I woke around 5 am. Lol. Thankfully, my husband got up and walked her quickly because I knew that if I had, there'd be no way in hell I'd fall back asleep. I think I may have gotten light sleep until I awoke at 7am.

My lunch smoothie is too thick (not enough water) and I'm having visions of a Dickensian child gulping down porridge and wanting more. BUT, lemme tell you, I miss it when I don't have it because IT MAKES ME FEEL GOOD.
And that's what matters most, right?

Not so great feelin'

The title says it all. I woke up this morning feeling like I had a bug or a flu. My stuffed up nose and throat have gone away (it's 9am now) but I still have body aches.

I ended up eating mostly cooked yesterday and although I felt fine until nighttime, I guess it could be that. I ate:

6 banana smoothie

salmon, kale salad, rosemary potatoes (I had a surprise lunch date and the salad bar looked gross, what can I say?)

rice noodles, tomato sauce, carrots

air-popped popcorn (I know I need to do away with this habit)

All in all, it's hard to believe it was the cooked food, but who knows.

Anyway, I'm sipping my 6 banana smoothie for breakfast, and I brought a blueberry and banana smoothie for lunch.

I hope I feel better. Banana island for me this weekend.

Lunchtime

My bananas were in the fridge and turned brown but they are sweet and delicious. I added two nectarines and a clementine. ;) Oh, and a drizzle of honey.

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Things to know about me so you can understand this raw food journey :)

- I am not a morning person. I never have been. I love coffee (doing okay giving it up though!) and sleeping in. I am a creature of the night who now works 8:30-5ish. I have to get up very early and I TRY to be okay with it.

-I have been vegetarian since I was 13. I kind of switched to pescatarian somewhere along the line because I really love sushi. I know, slightly hypocritical, but I do like seafood in general.

- My cycles have been off. I hope this helps with that.

- I am not even close to an athlete. Grief, life, etc. has made me pretty sedentary. Sure, we try to fit in a 5 mile walk with our dog every now and then but that's about it. I used to do yoga years ago and I love it, but I can't find the motivation again. I also like Nia, but, again, cost and motivation.

Some raw food blogs that are giving me inspiration this morning:

The Raw Sisters
Raw 10 dollars a day


I have started tracking my food on cronometer.com mostly because I am curious but also because I know that getting enough calories on this diet is important.

Yesterday I had a swing in mood for sure. I had probably 4-5 cups of strawberries with a cut up orange thrown in and a drizzle of honey for lunch and it was surprisingly really outstanding. :) But then my dag dragged on (work's fault, I suppose) and I became pretty grouchy and hungry. I ate most of an apple but it didn't help too much. By the time I was home I begrudgingly made a salad and some rice noodles with a homemade carrot ginger sauce. I had to scarf my salad down without waiting for Ric to eat just to satiate myself. I know, rude.

In general last night, I didn't feel great, but I am sleeping slightly better each night.

My lady problems haven't improved yet but more on that in the future.

xox

Sunday to Sunday

Day one on my 7 day cleanse. We really started yesterday. After having a nectarine, we had some spinach pakoras in the freezer and since those were tempting us, we toasted 'em up and ate away. They didn't leave me feeling great, we had a big fight (not related), so I decided I would start my raw cleanse early. My s.o. agreed and we were on our way.

For lunch we decided to stop by Whole Foods so we grabbed a juice. I'm quite sad to report that they've upped their juice bar prices. :( They used to be relatively cheap compared to "juice places" but no longer. I had he chlorophyll up and Ric had the Sea Horse (his was yummy, mine not so much, but I gulped it down. I had some samples around the store, all raw except for two bites of a coconut curry soup. It had lentils and wasn't that great anyway so I ditched it. Later in the day, I got a pretty terrible headache that lasted pretty much until 5pm. And there's my day, folks. So terribly sad to suffer from ailments like this.

For dinner we had yummy "nacho cheesy" tomatoes and red basil. the dandelions on top were too bitter and we got so full that we didn't eben finish! Usually we eat giant bowls/plates of food, FYI. Oh, and that tomato dinner was inspired by Dan the LifeRegenerator here.

So I didn't sleep great by any means but I slept okay. We had a huge storm with hail that started tickling my windowsills and ended up shaking my world. I'm sure that didn't help.

Today I ate:
Half a cantaloupe 6 banana smoothie with water and a dab of alcohol-free vanilla extract Bites of tomatoes I didn't eat from last night Half a watermelon

This morning I woke up and actually walked the dog around our block. The walk ends uphill so it's kind of not just an easy stroll. And I am NOT a morning person lol. So that's a good sign, I think. And Lola appreciated it. (adding an old cute pic of her) Oh, and I plan on doing straight up fruits and greens for 7 days and try to be fat free for the purposes of this cleanse.

I'm also adding before photos. This is to document changes, but I hope to not get caught up on the whole weight thing. I HATE fat phobia, let's get that straight, and I think I look pretty good. I would like to feel a WHOLE lot better, that's for sure. Oh, and the face ones show how bad my skin has gotten. Can't wait for that to clear up! And be glowy, of course. Glowwwyyyy...

BEFORE, Me and my husband: