Thanksgiving Day

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

I hope you had a nice day with your loved and loving ones!

I’ve been getting mentally ready for this day for a long time. In fact, I was considering starting my healthy diet in January of 2010 after all the holidays. I am glad I didn't wait until then. It turned out easier then I expected.   First of all, a human body gets used to changes way too quickly. Eating veggies now is much more appealing to me than it used to be. Their taste seems meatier and better.  No, I wasn’t perfect, I still had some white wine, a little bit of turkey, and some dessert (I hate myself for eating ice scream since it’s a pure sugar which is addictive). I am not perfect and I will never be able to become 100% raw foodist.  However, I ate much less than the usual turkey day and that is exciting!

One of the tricks is to plan your snacks ahead and come up with the veggie ideas. For instance, in addition to veggie platter we had an avocado/salsa mix, raw green pea sprouts veggie spread and much less cheese variety compare to previous years.  Make sure to get creative with your dinner salad – the tastier it is the more you’ll focus on it instead of processed starches or meat or full of sugar cranberry souse.  It’s always nice to add some fresh or dry fruits and nuts in there.

One of the highlights was baked potato in the oven. I didn’t even put any oil or butter in there. There was a tiny layer of onions, a layer of potato slices, and green beans layer on top. Put some almond or soy milk so it doesn't stick to the pot and add some rosemary and dill or parsley half way thru. You may add some cheese too but it won’t be vegan anymore. this is how it looked before the oven:

 The other highlight were figs stuffed with raw almond butter and covered in coconut flakes. Really good! The picture is on the left.









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My Weight Loss turned into a weight gain, unfortunately! I lost 5 lbs in 1.5 months and gained 2 lbs in 1.5 days.  Feeling disgusting from all the eating and drinking! Back to my Healthy Living starting now!

Antioxidants

Antioxidants and Why They are Good 

Antioxidants neutralize free radicals as the natural by-product of normavel cell processes. Free radicals are molecules with incomplete electron shells which make them more chemically reactive than those with complete electron shells. Exposure to various environmental factors, including tobacco smoke and radiation, can also lead to free radical formation. In humans, the most common form of free radicals is oxygen. When an oxygen molecule (O2) becomes electrically charged or “radicalized” it tries to steal electrons from other molecules, causing damage to the DNA and other molecules. Over time, such damage may become irreversible and lead to disease including cancer. Antioxidants are often described as “mopping up” free radicals, meaning they neutralize the electrical charge and prevent the free radical from taking electrons from other molecules.

Needless to say, if you eat a wide wariety of fruits and veggies on daily basis, you surely get more then enough of antioxidants.  Otherwise, I would look into food supplements full of enzymes, antioxidants and made from raw foods. As a reminder, RAW means unprocessed or minimally processed and under $118 degrees.

Sugarless Cookies

It’s very easy to fall out of this raw/vegan routine, you don’t even notice it sometime. Then suddenly you have either bloated belly or just feeling full and heavy and the # on the scale starts growing.

So what went wrong?   I went through my pantry and all the shelves and looked for items I was munching on in the last few days.   First of all, I forgot that 70% of my diet should be liquidy as we humans consist of 70% of liquids.  It’s nice to have a veggie juice every morning, but there should be at least a salad every day and every night and more water to drink or better fruits or some nutritional drinks/juices (of course they may only contain natural sugar!).  So I haven’t done enough of all of the above. In addition I noticed a pack of sugarless almond cookies that I got in the Whole Foods. That was the real reason that blocked my renewed food processing inside my body. I was eating one cookie a day lying to myself that it’s OK to eat one a day.  Result was constipation and heaviness. So, please don’t be blind by the sugarless cookies. They are processed, nutrition-free, and high in calories and do no good to you!  Now, someone please come over to my house and eat the rest of them so I don’t have to look at them anymore.   Additionally, several drinks over the weekend didn’t help.   Now raw or vegan person would respect me for having a drink here and there, but trust me, I am having much less of what I am used to. So it’s already a big improvement on my part. 

John Kohler

Last night I went to hear John's speach on how he became a 100% raw foodist. Such lectures always give me a great inthusiasm to keep going in my raw experience so I couldn't miss it even though I found hout about it 2 hrs beforeahead.  Below are his websites and a few main points that I've learned.

http://www.rawfoods.com/
http://www.discountjuicers.com/
http://www.rawhealthexpo.com/
http://www.growingyourgreens.com/
http://www.youngcoconuts.com/

• 2/3 (almost 70%) of the human body consists of liquid so it's just natural fact that we have to consume 70% of liquid on daily basis (veggies, fruits, purified water, etc)
• garlic and onion are not as healthy as I used to think (coming from my Ukranian upbringing - we think it's really healthy). In fact, there are many nutrionists and dietitians with very different opinions but only one thing they all believe is that garlic is not nessesary for your diet as it irritates your stomach.  
• RAW is anything that wasn't cooked above 118 degrees, but not everything under 118 degrees is healthy.

Mainstream Rules

Mainstream Rules!

Or a Downside of This Raw Experiment

Mainstream is tough and powerful machine. Going out is hard when you are trying to become raw/vegan. Mainstream society rules of what we ware, how we behave and what we eat are tough, especially if you want to break the rules but still be acceptable and likable in the society. It doesn’t help that most cultures’ socializing revolves around food and this is where it’s especially hard to be raw or vegan. My Ukrainian culture, for instance, is totally hooked on a cult of food.

I met for breakfast with 2 friends today in a French café. They love French cuisine with beautiful white breads, chocolate croissants, and other delicious goodies. The problem is I love it too! And, I am trying to stay away from it as far as possible (having a not so strong will power and in the beginning of my "vegan career"). Needless to say, it was an awkward behavior on my part and my friend thought that I was becoming a psycho. She even decided that I had a sad appearance and I need to stop loosing weight. The café didn’t have any lactose-free options for my coffee (I am not supposed to drink coffee either) so I just had a hot water with lemon. Weird me! Then I didn’t want to share dessert with Nutella. So I basically came across as a high maintenance weirdo. I still cheated on my new diet and had half of egg Benedict with salmon. I didn’t even enjoy it, (still remember those dry pieces of food going into my thought) just had to eat it not to look totally weird with an empty plate. This is not cafe’s fault. Their meals are fantastic for the mainstream society.  This is something I chose not for the sake of a diet! – I am not even losing any weight anymore, as I said earlier I could never stay on a diet – I chose it after hours and hours of research and random people’s testimonials. I chose it because I feel it’s the right thing to do for my overall health. I’m not trying to convert anyone, I just need my space and right to make my own decisions on what I eat and not to be judged upon it. and if I want to have an empty plate or just hot water- then accept it please people!

The hardest thing could be at home though. My loving hubby wants me to do whatever makes me happy, but, even though he’s happy to try on some vegan dishes, he wants meat! And he works long and hard hours so it’s just logical for me to cook for him at home instead of him having to pick something up on the way from work. Besides, meal cooked at home is of a better quality most of the times. I already spend a lot of time chopping and chopping those veggies or cleaning them for the juice. Then, I have to cook a regular meal?! On top of that, my toddler doesn’t want to eat anything except for golden fish and fruity bunnies. At least she helps me to make the juice, maybe eventually, she’ll want it.

Most of the raw websites suggest when you are starting: “through away all your pots and buy a huge cutting board, place it on your stove, and don’t forget to through away your microwave, too!” It’s not going to work in my home so I’ll have to continue my lonely vegan ride the tough way for now. Oh.. and when my parents, move in in a month, that’s going to be totally interesting. Will I quit this blog or will I become stronger?

Food Breakdown

Food Breakdown from Matt Monarch

and his tips on how to start a Raw Food Diet

1. Processed Starches (Bread, pastries, cereal, pasta)
2. Refined Sugar (cake, soda, candy, ice cream)
3. Dairy
4. Animal Protein
5. Raw Foods
6. Stimulants (Coffee, Cigarettes, drugs, alcohol)

Which of these food groups should be eliminated completely from yur diet first? If you were talking from a moral standpoint, animal protein would be the first choice, because all life is sacred. From a scientific standpoint, however, animal protein would be the last group I would eliminate.

 

 

Take for example the diet of a vegetarian. A vegetarian who eats freely of “meatless junk food,” processed sugars and starches, yet eliminates meat, is nowhere near the caliber of a Raw Food Eater or a mindful moderate meat eater. The order of total elimination from the diet is first: stimulants, second: processed starches, and third: refined sugar. That is a huge secret. If you can leave out these three groups you are on your way. You can get a book by Dr. Norman Walker, called Become Younger, which discusses in detail the harmful effects that these foods cause to the body. Since reading that book, I haven’t ingested anything but live raw foods. He also discusses the harmful effects of cow’s milk, pasteurized dairy products, red meat, etc.

 

What are some quick tips or hints for Raw newbies?

 

Let’s say that you are one of the rare cases that actually eliminates everything except for Raw Foods from your diet. Inevitably, the famous “detox” starts to happen. Your body on a cellular level begins to dump endogenous material and toxins into your blood stream. What your diet was like in the past, your age, etc., will determine the outcome of how harsh the detox will be. Not only do we have to deal with all the age-old waste matter being released from our system, we also have to deal with our day-to-day burden of environmental toxicity, cell metabolism, digestion, and maybe even what our parents did. Those that don’t realize what is happening usually blame the diet and either quit or cheat with some cooked foods. Feeling the effects of detox can sometimes last years. I have found the best way to keep up with all this waste matter is colonics. I jumped from the Standard American Diet into a Raw Diet overnight. If it wasn’t for colonics, I don’t think I would have been able to stay Raw. Colonics are especially beneficial for someone committed to improving his or her diet indefinitely. Imagine that you are on the Standard American Diet and you decide to improve your diet for a week. No more greasy foods and junk foods. After that junk free week, you eat a couple slices of pizza. Because you have been eating so well, you’ll probably feel ill and get a stomachache. A colonic would most likely clear that right up. If you were to eat the pizza again after doing that colonic, you may even get more sick then before, because you are even cleaner now then the first time you ate the pizza. This yo-yoing between really good and poor diet can prove to be harmful. Raw Spirit gives more explanation about why it is better to move gradually and consistently, or not at all.

 

Colonics are powerful healing aids and can catapult your body to the next level. Your body will be free of waste buildup, allowing it to work on deeper levels of healing like your internal chemistry. If you returned to the Standard American Diet, you would eventually end up right back where you started.

 

Waste removal is crucial for ultimate health. Most people look at me and estimate my age as early 20s, when in fact I am almost 31 years old. I owe my youth and glow to colonics, leaving things out of my diet completely, and drinking green vegetable juices. Drinking vegetable juice is very important. Not only does it provide us the best nourishment by giving us vitamins and minerals in the most soluble, easily absorbed form, it also acts as a powerful alkalizer. It helps alkalize the acidic endogenous material being released into our blood. If you combine a Raw Food Diet, colonics, and vegetable juices, your body will immediately respond with astonishing results.

Sad Pumpkin – Happy Pumpkin

A lot of pumpkins are going to trash after the Halloween; at least this is what we’ve done to our pumpkins in the past. I personally can’t stand a pumpkin pie and had a misconception that all the pumpkin meals taste the same. However, I risked it and tried a pumpkin soup in Simon’s Coffee House and OMG it was good. I'd compare it to Lobster Bisque, just without a lobster. It was amazing and I am so glad to discover another vegetable for myself. Today, after some research and shopping I want to share this delicious recipe that I found on http://www.vegan-food.net/ and everyone loved it for dinner including me:


Gnocchi with pumpkin

INGREDIENTS
• 650 g / 1 lb 7 oz pumpkin, diced
• 300 ml / 1/2 pint soy milk
• 1 T freshly chopped sage or oregano
• 125 ml / 4 oz soya cream
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 x 400 g / 14 oz packets of fresh gnocchi (vacuum packed), cooked according to packet instructions
• 50 g / 20 oz toasted hazelnuts or pine nuts

METHOD:
In a large saucepan, simmer the pumpkin in the soy milk with the herbs until tender, about 10 minutes. Add the soy cream and cook for 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper.


Toss the sauce with the cooked gnocchi, sprinkle with toasted nuts and serve.

We still have another pumpkin though, and tomorrow, I’ll be trying to cook a pumpkin soup and pumkin bread with dates. I am already hungry thinking about it..

Fever

I caught a cold that started with nasty fever at night and I was debating whether to take a medicine or not since I am on a healthy path for almost a month. I did take it to safe my hubby some sleep in between crazy work days but only once that night, when I was shaking in a cold. Now since I’ve developed so much awareness of what I am taking in, how do I heal myself? I read somewhere that even if you are cleansing your body system regularly and staying on 100% raw food for years you still have large leftovers of chemicals in your body from medicine you took in the past. Should we care about it? I don’t know yet. All I know is the less you know, the more you sleep! it’s been always the case with or without medicine. You get a fever and high temperature; then, in 1-2 days you get a “dry” cough; then, on a 3rd day it turns into “wet” cough, and then all goes away by day 5.

* * * *

It’s been almost a month!

My experiment is taking different turns. Someone told me that I’ve got sickness because of my change in diet, b/c I don’t get enough vitamins and my immune systems is weak now. Well, there is no prove to it yet. I am taking raw multivitamins when I don’t forget, besides what about all the stuff I get from the veggie juice every morning? We will see in time. Besides the cold, I would recommend to all to try this lifestyle. Everyone BUY A GREAT JUICER and use it every day. Start your day from a freshly squeezed veggie juice. You can do fruits too. Fruits too sweet for my taste in the morning. I had a watermelon juice today and it was too sweet but many people love it..

Strangely enough, I am not loosing any weight anymore, even though cheating much less. For instance, I don’t even want meet anymore. I may have a bite of fish or chicken if it’s extremely tasty just to try. An I haven’t had a cookie for so long! Os so proud of myself :) only granola bars if in real need..

What is Raw?

From the website below:
What is Raw Food? We call food raw if it is:
• Uncooked - never heated above 42 C/118 F degrees.
• Unprocessed - as fresh (and wild) as possible.
• Organic - no irradiation, preservatives, pesticides.

I've just discovered amazing website where Esme Stevens, the lady who went 100% raw at some point in her life, put together a website with all the needed info about raw food and healthy living. It would take you a hundred of hours to research all the information you may need about raw diet. Instead, you can go in here and see it all summarized and easy to read: http://www.thebestofrawfood.com  It the best site for those who want to learn about raw lifestyle in a short period of time.

Night Club on a Raw Stomach

OK, I admit, there was nothing raw about this event. But you know what, the Halloween Pumpkin Ball happens only once a year and I’ve got to live my life. So with that, I had a full cup of veggie juice at home. My regular veggie combination was especially tasty with the addition of tomato and dill, very aromatic. I just LOVE dill, you can’t have too much of it! Then I marched into the night life of Sarasota. My poor husband agreed to share a spinach quesadilla with me in a bar instead of his regular routine. I, with the suggestion of Tori, our friend and babysitter, had a light screwdriver. It contains juice so it was good. I used to be very bored of this beverage but since I don’t seem to be addicted to the red wine anymore, it was a perfect choice. We stayed out for almost 4 hours and I had 3 light screwdrivers in 4 hrs! If you know me, it’s not much at all  Result – no stomach pain, no hangover next morning.

Btw, I almost don’t eat meat and no processed starches or sugar for me. Once I cheated a few days ago and had 1 chocolate chip cookie. It’s literally a drug and I don’t want to try it anymore. It makes you insanely happy during eating it, and then half an hour later you must have another injection of the same kind of sugar. No, I am not playing this game again! It’s just easier to have some sweet granola with natural sweet ingredients and have a nice balanced feeling inside your brain and body before and after.

Weight. It’s strange but I am not losing any weight anymore. I wonder if everybody has its own limits? Or should I stop my granola/nut indulging?
Night night for now….