autumn juicefeast - days 17 to 23

Sorry, about this. Messing up the usual every-other-day posts.

This week has been slightly unusual in a number of ways and almost every day I've been busy from the moment I got up right up till past a reasonable bedtime. I had some tough emotional stuff to deal with at the start of the week, and it threw me off kilter. So, in summary, I've continued to have, usually, 4 pints of juice a day plus a ton of herbal teas, but I acknowledge that I'm really not getting enough juice. The days I managed to write something are below.

day 19

starvation diet

One day I'm not hungry, not interested in juicing or drinking, and the next day I'm ravenous. Perhaps it takes a while for my body to recognise the hunger for what it is. Hmmm.

I had a big meeting today, followed by the busiest afternoon ever. There's a project with a wildly unrealistic deadline and we're all frantically trying to pull it all together so as not to disappoint those who pushed for the idealistic launch date. Anyway, it meant I didn't have time to make lunch juice despite being hungry and wanting more juice. 

You know, this has been a busy week so far, with lots to do, including appointments after work and I really am starting to feel the strain. I need a long, hot bath and a day of downtime. It's also messing up my ability to tell how well I'm feeling on the juice. Ho hum.

today I had:

carrot-apple-orange-strawberry juice x2

tomato-celery-pepper-basil-coriander-garlic juice with flax oil, salt and fresh ground pepper (tasty!)

day 23

the tipping point

melon juice (I love that frothy, creaminess...)

carrot-celery-romaine-parsley-apple-orange

white miso soup

Got home very tired from a physically and emotionally draining week. We relented and had a cup of miso for dinner. We talked a little about plans for transitioning. YummyHubby is having a 'double smoothie' (one litre of green smoothie which he takes to work) every day, so he's a few days ahead of me. I'll add in one smoothie a day for a couple of days, then move from that onto one smoothie, one juice, one raw meal. I'd like to think I could stick to that as 'the way I eat' - at least if I could do that for a month it would help with a) weight loss and b) to keep me raw when I return to solids. It's time to hatch a plan for post-transition.

autumn juicefeast - days 15 & 16

Hurray for us! We're half way through. It's really been easy so far. I wonder if it's a case of being an old hand, or it's just the right time to do this, or, well, no idea. YummyHubby isn't doing bad either, with barely any detox symptoms, so it feels very comfortable.

day 15

We went for a colonic today. YummyHubby's first time, and we were both a bit anxious, but it was fine. The lovely bottom lady recommended he take probiotics for a while - same happened to me first time. But otherwise he got a good report card. She was very impressed that I seemed to be detoxing a lot. There was a shock in there, too, though: I passed what looked like a parasitic worm. Ewwww!!!! How did that happen? I've been vegetarian for 25 years! The bottom lady said it was dead, probably been stuck in my colon or small intestine for a while but the detox had shifted it. So that bit's good. Better out than in. She also said I could have ingested it via veggie food from somewhere with poor hygiene standards. It's unlikely it's been there since the last time I ate meat. I'm still reeling from the shock!

Today I had:

orange-carrot-apple-ginger juice (soooo good!)

savoury broth

savoy cabbage-carrots-apple-celery

I made the savoury broth by adding chopped ginger, chilli pepper, garlic, onion to hot water on the stove and kept it warm while I added a bay leaf, cinnamon, cumin, turmeric, nutmeg and a splash of tamari. I let it sit for 15 minutes or so and added a spoonful of coconut oil at the end. It was quite tasty and satisfied my savoury cravings. I think it might be salt I'm missing, so I'll remember to put a tiny bit in my savoury juices from time to time.

I also did a weigh-in today. I've lost another 4 pounds, so that's a total of nine so far. Hurray!

day 16

So I might have spoken too soon about dry skin and not much detox... my face is feeling a little taught, so I've bought a richer face cream and will try to up my oils intake. I also spent most of the afternoon-evening with a headache, which felt like a detox headache. Bleh.

We went shopping for a few bits and pieces today then were going to spend the afternoon on the allotment, weeding and planting the spring bulbs. Didn't happen. YummyHubby went up and harvested a mammoth marrow for a colleague and that's about it. I've done a few chores between lying on the sofa not doing much. I entertained myself by watching a video of David Wolfe being crazy and inspirational, and read a few blogs here and there. 

Today I had:

"Pre-Christmas Spirit" juice: orange-apple-lemon-lime-pear juice with nutmeg and cinnamon

coriander-carrots-celery-pepper-ginger with cardamom (another failed experiment!)

mango-pineapple-golden kiwi-passion fruit

We bought a litre size Sigg bottle for YummyHubby today so we can both take smoothies/juice with me. We also had a chat about how he's going to approach his diet post-juicefeast. Avoiding dairy and gluten in general in order to have the good stuff now and again - so no cheese sandwiches for lunch, but perhaps some extra-special cheese at home with great crackers and homemade chutney. So it's a 'treat' rather than the norm. He's going ethical vegetarian, with a handful of 'get out of jail free' cards for special occasions. We talked about choosing the best option when the range is limited. Despite him working in one of the most affluent areas of London the range is not fabulous when it comes to veggie food. In fact, it's extremely limited; so he needs a bit of leeway there. But it's positive stuff. I'm looking forward to seeing how we both step up the healthy eating habits post juicefeast.

autumn juicefeast - days 13 & 14

day 13

Had a bit of a day and didn't manage lunchtime juice. I'm not hungry any more. I mostly want hot tea, and I do get the urge to have savoury broth type teas. I'm avoiding miso as YummyHubby reckons that's what was giving him hunger pangs. 

Today I had:

pineapple, mango, papaya, passion fruit (new soft fruit peeler worked a treat!)

outrageous juice, courtesy of YummyHubby: savoy cabbage-carrot-chili-basil-beetroot-leek-pepper

This needs some explaining. YummyHubby generally takes my lead in the kitchen and asks me what to put in the juice, but this time he was feeling adventurous and decided he would make something up. The result was dinner, and it deserved its "outrageous" name. Oh boy. Super spicy and strong flavoured. We had to sip it, it took forever to drink because of the taste explosion in our mouths. I don't think we'll be making it again!

day 14

melon juice

beet-romaine-cucumber-parsley-apple-pear

pineapple 

We were tired this evening and just couldn't get green juice sorted out, but my 'blood' at lunchtime was substantial and packed with parsley so I figured it would be ok. Last time I juicefeasted I got a bit of candida, so I am aware that I need to keep my greens up and my fruits down.

Wow, and also, we're half way tomorrow. Yeehaa!

autumn juicefeast - days 11 &12

It's going well. We're only getting light detox symptoms - which concerns me, to an extent, as we should surely be getting rid of junk at this stage. YummyHubby has decided to have a green smoothie for breakfast as he's getting too hungry. He had a moment of wavering, wondering if he really was going to last much longer. He's set a target of next weekend and then he'll have another think - whilst also believing that if he makes it half way then he'll want to keep going. So that's positive.

We're still adding crystal manna and flax oil to our savoury dinner juice and having our honey-filled coconut hearts to keep the oil coming in. It seems to be working. My skin is fine - it hasn't started to dry out, though it did threaten to briefly.

day 11

We're both aware that we need to drink more juice in general, and more greens too. It's really quite a challenge some days, but today I think we did quite well, whilst also having yummy treat juice. I had a green smoothie today for breakfast but it was too heavy. It kept me going until dinner time and even then if the juices hadn't been so darn' tasty I might have had to force them down.

green smoothie (banana, peach, spinach with maca and coconut butter)

greens-celery-cucumber-mint

strawberry-mango-orange (gorgeous)

day 12 

I made lots of juice in the morning and packed us off with Siggs and bottles. Then I made more at work with the leftover produce from Monday - only to realise that I'd be having pretty much the same juice all day long. Doh!

carrot-apple-spinach-ginger-celery (x2)

melon juice straight up

Feeling good...

autumn juicefeast - days 9 & 10

day 9

Did a fair few chores today and busied about a lot. Quite tired and washed out by bedtime, that's for sure.

Today I had:

watermelon juice

orange-carrot-romaine-apple-ginger

broccoli-mint-lemon-pear-grape

day 10

Feeling pretty good today. Maybe because I've upped the greens and veg. I'm also nearly over this cold that's been dragging me down for the past week, so my energy is coming back. YummyHubby still seems to be escaping the ravages of detox.

Today I had:

pineapple juice

romaine-parsley-celery-carrot-orange-apple

beetroot-carrot-celery-greens-pepper-garlic with pinch chili powder and curry!

It turns out the oil we've been using is actually flax oil, not hemp oil. I thought it didn't feel so oily or taste so overpowering! I much prefer flax oil.

YummyHubby is going to start including green smoothies for breakfast as he gets too hungry in the mornings. I'm still undecided whether to join him. I'm not really getting hunger pangs, so that's not an issue, but I'm not sure we'll have time to make smoothie and juice in the morning and clean up afterwards. We'll see.

autumn juicefeast - days 7 & 8

quarter of the way there

day 7

We're running out of fruit and veg already! I bought a couple of baby watermelons from the greengrocer on my way in to work and made over 2 litres of juice out of them. It was probably too much straight up fruit juice, really, but boy was it good. There is a downside though. It's a potent diuretic so I had to get up three times during the night to pee - my bladder was bursting to the point of discomfort each time, too. Must remember a) not to have quite so much in one go in future and b) to have watermelon juice next time I get PMT.

Today I had:

pineapple juice

watermelon juice

spinach-celery-cucumber-pear juice

day 8

Weigh-in day! YummyHubby(tm) lost 2 pounds and I lost 5 pounds, so we're very happy with progress on that front. My skin is looking good, though I'm concerned about it drying out so I'm keeping up my oil intake. I keep checking in with YummyHubby to make sure he's doing ok and not starving or feeling faint. I'm so pleased with his progress!

Today I had:

melon juice

mango-papaya-passion fruit-kiwi-pineapple

greens-celery-cucumber-apple-carrot

autumn juicefeast - days 5 & 6

Wow. YummyHubby is doing fantastically well. He's not suffering any detox symptoms so far (!) and the only side effect is the odd moment of lightheadedness which I think all juicefeasters get at some point.

We aren't remembering to take all of our superfoods and supplements so I'm going to have to sort that out. We get a huge delivery tomorrow of more green and less fruit, which I feel I'm gravitating towards. 

The big thing I'm excited about is that I seem to have almost picked up from where I left off in terms of needs, desires and focus. I don't feel hunger pangs or food cravings. The not-so-great habits I had in the big juicefeast earlier this year have evaporated. I'm having a lot of fruit juices because that's what is in the fridge/fruit bowl, but I'm looking for more greens. Last time I forced the greens down. Even celery doesn't taste that bad. So this is all good news!

I wrote those first paragraphs early on day 5 and then succumbed to the temptations of dates and miso soup, so perhaps I was jumping the gun a little. Though I still truly believe I'm in a much stronger position than I was at this point last time round. It's fine. I'm not worried.

day 5

Today I had:

pineapple juice (yum!)

miso soup (ok, so I caved in... but I lasted four whole days without it.)

gazpacho in a glass

2 medjool dates 

carrot-beetroot-spinach

crystal manna, hemp oil, coconut oil, bee pollen

day 6

Today I had:

watermelon

orange-carrot-apple-ginger

romaine-celery-pear-alfalfa

crystal manna, coconut oil

I feel and look better than I did a week ago, despite the last vestiges of this cold clinging on for dear life. I had my first hunger pangs today, but I still think I'm way ahead compared to last time, so it's all good.

I'm hoping for my package from the weight-loss fairy (credit to Bunny Berry for that expression!) when I get weighed on Saturday. YummyHubby's love handles and pot belly are disappearing. Bit of a shame, really, I've become quite attached to that little belly. I'll just have to put up with a six-pack instead ;)

autumn juicefeast - days 3 & 4

It's been a challenge. I'm still battling a cold accompanied by an evil headache. YummyHubby is mostly just hungry.

day 3 

I stayed off work, dozed, listened to some podcasts and dozed again, to see if the coughing and spluttering would clear up. I don't like spreading germs around and am lucky to be able to decide to stay home and take care of myself.

We made a ton of juice first thing, before I was totally washed out, so YummyHubby had his first taste of taking juice to work with him and I could just get up and go to the fridge to get my juice when I needed it. YummyHubby will be getting juice from the juice bar near where he works on weekdays, so our daily consumption will differ and the juice lists from now on relate to what I drank. 

Today I had:

orange-apple-carrot-ginger juice (extra ginger to help clear out my respiratory tract)

orange-apple-carrot-ginger-greens-mint juice

spinach-romaine-mint-pear-cucumber juice

lots of water, herbal teas, crystal manna, hemp oil and coconut oil treats.

Turns out the juice bar near work for YummyHubby does have decent juices, boosters, superfood shots and so on, so he's quite happy. Hurray! The nearest juice bar for me is ok, but a little tame. They don't have what we'd call hardcore juice - mostly fruit, and no greens, though they do one juice with celery. It'll do in a pinch but not ideal. Whereas YummyHubby is totally set up with ubergreen juices to go. Hurrah!

day 4

Today was much the same as yesterday. I stayed off work, slept and dozed my way through the day, trying to get rid of this cold and headache. I hate that I tend to be slow recovering from anything that involves headaches or my respiratory system. But I'm on the honey and pollen and with the juicefeast cleansing properties I should build up my immune system soon.

I am delighted to see that I've lost the bloat I acquired just prior to and during my holiday. I've lost a couple of pounds since starting the juicefeast but I think I must have lost a good few during last week's green smoothie and salad regime, too. Though I didn't get weighed before I started on the clean 'n' green regime last week, I look a lot slimmer than I did. Hurray for green smoothies!

Talking of which, the lovely Penni over at Real Food Tulsa is also juicefeasting right now, but with a twist - she's adding some green smoothies and blended soups into the mix. I suggested to YummyHubby that we could do that if things got tricky. I could certainly go for some miso soup right now...

Today I had:

orange-peach-passion fruit juice (mmm, thick and creamy. Delicious!)

orange

'gazpacho' tomato-cuke-basil-leek-apple-peppers-lime

herbal teas with honey, hemp oil, coconut butter treats

autumn juicefeast - days 1 & 2

day 1

We started off with our two pints of water. No MSM as I was not convinced by it during the Global Juicefeast. I just didn't experience the benefits everyone else talked about.

We made a big green juice, with spinach, chard, celery, apples and pears, which was actually very good, despite the celery. Or maybe my tastebuds adjusted after 65 days of it last time around and that's stayed with me.

Then I showed YummyHubby how to skinbrush and after we both showered we snuggled on the sofa and watched a movie and sipped herbal teas. We're both fighting off colds at present, plus I'm plagued by nasty headaches, so it was a write-off day anyway.

Early afternoon, we had a mint-melon combo which was lovely and fresh, followed by "gazpacho in a glass" for dinner.

More herbal teas with honey and an early night.

day 2

Made a big tropical juice for brekkie, while listening to The Archers. Papaya, pineapple, mango, lime, passion fruit and oranges. Delicious! We had our uber-green-celery  juice for 'lunch'with some hemp oil and a bit of an experiment with spinach-parsley-beet-apple-carrot for dinner, which turned out to be quite nice, with just a touch of earthiness.

YummyHubby is doing surprisingly well. I can't tell if it's detox or the headaches I've had intermittently for the past week, but I'm feeling rough, and rubbing lavender oil into my temples to keep the pain at bay.

We've made some coconut oil treats. The oil's needed to stop your skin drying out, if nothing else. But it also provides some basic calories and nutrients. I melted the coconut butter in the dehydrator, we blended in some maca and a pinch of cacao (which is a bit naughty, I know) and then for others we made honey centres. We left half of the coconut butter to almost set in the chocolate moulds, scooped a small hole out, poured in the honey then poured more liquified coconut oil over the top and stuck the tray in the fridge to set. Yum! 

Tomorrow I'll be calling the natural health centre to book us both in with the lovely Annette.

Before I go, I just want to shout our a huge congratulations to YummyHubby for making it through 2 days of juicefeasting. Hurray!

autumn juicefeast - intro

Wow. I'm back again already.

When I did the big juicefeast earlier this year YummyHubby was evidently inspired and said he'd like to do it at some point. So we set aside the month of October as a practical choice; post-summer hols and before it gets too cold, avoiding any major family celebrations like birthdays and anniversaries etc. It seemed like the right month. And boy did we choose well. Over this summer I slipped down that slide towards cooked foods. It started with the odd cooked thing here and there, mostly because we now have an allotment producing lots of veg, some of which is not edible raw, or so prolific the only way to eat it all was to have it cooked. So, I started cooking healthy, homemade food several nights a week. I stuck to raw breakfast and lunch but eventually more cooked snacks snuck in and then we went on holiday and I ate all sorts of things I haven't had for ages. Thinking back, even now, I'm shocked at how easy it was to slip back into old habits I thought were entirely killed off. So this juicefeast is well-timed. I need to drag myself back from the very edge of the abyss!

We spent the past week transitioning. We've had green smoothies for breakfast, raw salads for lunch, raw/dehydrated snacks and raw dinners of soups and crackers, pates and so on. Then, on Saturday we started the juicefeast regime. We're taking lots of what I learned from the Global Juicefeast and incorporating it into our regime, though we're not doing all of it. 

So this is our intention for our daily regime:

2 pints of water first thing

minimum 4 pints of juice (I found 8 pints a real challenge)

at least one green & celery juice 

herbal teas with honey

coconut butter, maca, hemp oil and misc other supplements

Plus as often as we can, the following:

skinbrushing

enemas/colonics

exercise and relaxation

We're juicing until the end of the month, for 30 days, and transitioning starts Monday, November 3rd.

Our goals are slightly different. I want to regain control of my food choices and lose the weight I've put on since the last juicefeast ended (I haven't gained it all back, but I have gained a chunk of it. I expect all of the regained weight to drop off during the juicefeast, and a few more pounds, hopefully.) YummyHubby is mostly doing this as an experiment. He's become more conscious of his health since he started running two years ago, and he's hoping to come out the other side with improved health which will improve his running performance. He copes very well on a mixed omnivore, mostly healthy and balanced non-raw diet, so if he cleans up and has optimal nutrition he expects his physical fitness to peak as a response. Though if you ask him what his aim is he'll say "to survive it" since he's only ever managed to stick to juice for 24 hours each time he's tried in the past.

So, welcome to our journey. Enjoy the ride.

cool as a cucumber soup

We made this last week for dinner and it was really very good. Destined for stardom, I'm sure.

Based on a recipe out of Jennifer Cornbleet's Raw Food made Easy, it's fast, delicious, good for you - everything you want from a raw food recipe.

ingredients

1 medium cucumber, peeled

1 avocado, peeled and pitted

4 mild lettuce leaves 

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon fresh herbs (I used mint and dill)

1 clove garlic, crushed

splash olive oil

pinch salt and pepper

method

Blend everything together. Serve. Hurray!

No really, that's it. The dill is just fabulous in this dish, it really does work. It's creamy, refeshing and filling. Perfect.

Serve with awesome "crazy bread" or flax crackers. 

RawFu: day twelve (incorporating newbie notes!)

newbie notes: define your boundaries

Today's newbie notes are based on one of the most fabulous tools I've ever been given. This is a Karen Knowler special. Karen taught me this technique just before I was due to go on a week-long business trip, where I was unsure how much control I would have over when, where and with whom I'd be eating. So, as preparation for the unknown, she taught me this 'boundaries' trick.

I've since adapted it to suit me, so I'm presenting my adaptation here.

Define what you eat in three broad groups. Group one is what you want to eat, stuff you know is good for you, you like and want to eat abundantly. Group two are things which you are happy to eat in moderation. Perhaps you're trying not to eat too much fat, so you could put nuts, olives, avocado, salad dressings in this category. And the third group are things which you will try to avoid unless circumstances are difficult. Put in here your lesser trigger foods, comfort foods and so on - anything you'd rather not eat, but will allow yourself a little of if push comes to shove. Everything else belongs outside the three groups and is absolutely off limits. So all those things that leave you craving more (like if munching on one biscuit will lead to you demolishing the entire packet) and will undermine your hard work are firmly stuck in this no-go area. Obviously, for me, this was more about when I don't have an option to eat from my first/second group, which food should I choose to eat and which to steer clear of from my third group. It still requires a level of willpower, but if you allow some foods into the third group then you don't have to put yourself through a guilt trip when faced with a difficult choice. Just don't trick yourself into thinking you don't have a choice when you do. If your choice comes down to anything off a fast food menu, then remember that a banana, an apple and a glass of water will keep you going for a couple of hours until you get chance to make something more satsifying. A salad with a creamy dressing is still closer to your goals than an all-out pasta alfredo extravaganza.

Draw big concentric circles on a piece of paper, each one representing one of your groups, fill it out and stick it somewhere you can see it. Then thank Karen Knowler!

RawFu: day ten

First 10-day mini-challenge challenged and defeated. Take that!

It's been fairly easy so far. I've been 100% raw most days, but I have had some of our lovely homegrown potatoes alongside my salad, and a bit of cooked here and there over the weekend, But that's ok. It feels very much under control.

Detox has subsided a little so I'm looking forward to enjoying the "high raw high" next week.

I've given up on posting what I eat everyday, mostly because I'm just not inspired to write every day and I know a food diary is definitely useful but I'm just not up for it right now.

However, I do have a list of 'newbie notes' up my sleeve that I will share as I think these are useful. Some of them are posted over at RawFu already but since the network is closed to non-members I think it's only fair to post them here for the whole wide world to access.

newbie note: supplement, substitute, subtract

While you're still starting out on your journey I think this is some of the best advice you can get. It still helps me when I fall off the wagon.

So, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. Three simple steps. SUPPLEMENT first, then SUBSTITUTE, finally SUBTRACT.

So, first, while you're finding your way, just eat more raw foods along with your regular diet. You supplement with extra raw fruits and veggies. That's it. In practical terms that means adding a salad to your usual dinner.

Next, substitute. As you notice you get more attracted to the raw food, or you make a conscious decision to increase your raw food, then you can start to substitute cooked food with raw. Choose a raw soup instead of your regular dinner. Swap that "I'm tired and don't want to cook" pizza with a quick and easy green smoothie. Or, make your side salad into a main meal salad and don't have the chicken/quiche/pasta or whatever you would normally have.

Later on in your journey you can start to cut out specific foods. I cut out wheat and dairy first, as I'm gluten intolerant and it's a big trigger food for me. I am not 100% vegan, I've been veggie for years and the only dairy I have is cheese and live yogurt, but as I get on my raw wagon I try to avoid all dairy products because I know that's better for me. Then cut out your other cooked dishes and unhealthy habits one by one. No more coffee this week. Next week kick the tortilla chips habit. The week after face down your Ben & Jerry's addiction. And so on.

Then slowly build up to 100% (or whatever your chosen % is) raw vegan from there. Take it easy. You'll get there.

RawFu: day six

Apart from being tired and headachey, oh and a bit of backache and... oh ok, so I think I've hit detox. But I'm mostly upbeat and feeling good in between the crappy bits. I'm definitely having deja vu here! How many times have I done this now? Maybe this time I really will stick to it. Lord knows I've learnt enough theory to be able to stick to it.

Over the past few days I've settled into 100% raw. I find that anything less than 100% raw doesn't work for me. It's very much all or nothing for me to stick at it. There are some things I can eat without cravings coming back to tempt me, and others I need to avoid. So today's homemade lemon poppyseed muffins in the kitchen at work I knew would be my downfall. I could cut a tiny piece of... but I know I'd be pulled back throughout the day and end up clearing the plate. So, I repeated the mantra "Cravings are only temporary" and distracted myself as best I could.

And that brings me to:

newbie note: what's your poison?

Toxins are interesting things. As you detoxify you'll find that you crave certain things. You'll feel a pull towards the food toxin that is currently leaving your system. For me it's wheat, the big trigger. And like all addictions, the 3 day rule works here. If you go cold turkey you will get over the addiction and you won't be pulled back to your trigger food as if you really needed it, often accompanied by a slew of emotional connotations. But if I was tempted by and gave in to, ooh, say a tiny slice of pizza, I'd crave it again for another 3 days while the wheat stuck around in my system, and trying to get me to have more as the effects start to wear off, like the drug it is.

So, my advice? Find out what your trigger foods are and then, if you must treat yourself from time to time, make sure you leave at least 3 days between each treat. That way the addiction won't settle back in and you can stay in control. Hurray!

RawFu: day three

I had planned on spending the day at the allotment but as I was on my way home from grocery shopping after breakfast the heavens opened, so I took that as a sign, and have spent the rest of today pretty much locked in the kitchen. But we've got yummy dinner ready and waiting plus I have a ton of stuff prepped for during the week. Things like grated carrot, sliced red cabbage and other bits that are easy to throw together for a fast lunch salad and a few treats for breakfast or evening dessert too.

I am feeling a bit tired and achey, but I don't know if that's just from last week's sleep deprivation or if I'm heading for a bit of detox. I doubt it's detox as I haven't been eating considerably cleaner than usual. In fact, with all this weekend's kitchen goings on, I've eaten lots more rich, nut-based food than I usually do.

So today, I have mostly eaten...

am:

fruit salad with cookies (made these up on the fly: used almond pulp leftover from making milk, added honey, vanilla, cacao nibs, dried mixed berries and dehydrated overnight)

apple

pm:

lunch was same as last night's dinner. Using up leftovers when they're that tasty is no hardship.

snack: cookies, juice of an orange

coleslaw with sweetcorn, ginger-orange-sesame dressing; courgette hummus and cashew crackers; warm peach pie with coconut-mango ice cream (pie adapted from a recipe in this summer's Get Fresh! magazine, ice cream was totally made up)

Found a lovely tea in the supermarket today. It's green honeybush, which is a herb from Cape Province in South Africa. It's mixed with a blend of flowers and is light and refreshing, and tastes of flowers and honey. Yummy.

newbie notes

I still struggle to stay raw, I'm not claiming I know everything, but there are a few things I've learned and can pass on to those who have just discovered raw. So when I think of something, I'll post it here.

today's top tip: drink more water. 

Drink a pint, at least, when you first get up, and at least another 3 throughout the day. Don't drink large quantities just before or after you eat, do it between meals. This helps keep you hydrated and flush out toxins which will be leaving their homes in your fat cells and making their way into your bloodstream. You want them out as fast as possible, so keep things moving with plenty of liquids.

There are raw foodists who say because of the quantity of water you consume via fruits and vegetables on a plant-based diet that you shouldn't need to drink much water. I recognise that the quality of water locked in a cucumber, say, is far superior to that in your filter jug or transported half way around the world in a plastic bottle, but when you have toxins to rid yourself of, you need to supplement food-sourced water with drinking water. If you eat a lot of nuts or dehydrated foods, again, you'll need more water. Unless you're living off watermelon, you'll need water.

And, regardless, I still think you should drink more water, however water-rich your diet is. But that's just my opinion. Make your own mind up once you've done your research.

RawFu: day two

Neighbours. Who'd have them? Our upstairs neighbours came in late and, it seemed, drunk, and woke me up. I was extremely unimpressed. Between that and waking up early, probably from the birdsong, I feel a bit groggy this morning.

am:

fruit salad - mango, nectarine, banana, blackcurrants and ground cardamom

handful almonds - soaked, marinaded, dehydrated yummy things

pm:

big salad with homegrown lettuce and tomatoes, olives, seeds, spring onions

blonde macaroon, chocolate truffle

burritos - Ani Phyo's taco filling with corn salsa in romaine wraps

I spent the morning catching up on all the online activity I don't seem to have time to keep up with during the week these days. Then I hit the kitchen and got my uncook on. YummyHubby had to go into work so I was on my own, with my cooking music blasting out. I made coconut-mango ice cream, crusts for peach tart for tomorrow. Cashew crackers/Crazy Bread and Kale chips. Berry choc chip cookies. Plus the "taco meat" and fixings for dinner. Phew!

Staying raw is easy if you regularly ring the changes and up the ante. Having yummy gourmet food a couple of times a week means it's ok to live off salad, coleslaw, green smoothies and more salad for the rest of the time. That's what I've found, so I'm keeping it in mind.

RawFu: day one

Wow, that took me by surprise.

Yes, I knew it was on its way, I signed up, didn't I? But here already? I'm a bit disorganised.

Bunny left a lovely video message on the RawFu site last night. She's so excited, it's wonderful. There are over 1000 people registered to join in which is amazing considering this happened pretty much all by word of mouth and in less than a month.

It's going to be fun!

Here's day one's intake. Spot the not-so-deliberate mistake...

am:
juice - apple, carrot, beetroot and ginger
green smoothie - spinach, fat hen (lambsquarters), nectarines, banana, cacao, maca
1 piece raw chocolate

pm:
salad - red cabbage, mixed greens, sweetcorn, peppers, tomatoes, onion, seed mix, honey & mustard dressing

2 apples

3 pieces raw chocolate
sir fry - tofu, sprouted mixed pulses, shredded veggies, egg noodles, sesame oil, tamari, garlic, ginger, spices

raw and non-raw ice cream

Due to a software malfunction we had cooked food for dinner tonight. It was intended as the last supper, and a peace offering for YummyHubby who's going to be getting bored of salad for the next 100 days. But my shopping and food planning software (ie: my head) crashed. No biggie. Tomorrow's another day.

It looks like the RawFu site has been closed again (so it's like Facebook, if you're not a member you can't see anything) so I'll cross post here from my blogs on there. Today I set up my overall goals and my first mini-goal. We have ten-day challenges, which I think is a great idea. It's much more "one day at a time" when you chop it up like that.

Overall goals:
lose 25 pounds (12 of which have snuck on since I finished my juicefeast)
stick to as near to 100% raw vegan as I can, with cooked food, dairy and alcohol permitted on special occasions
more juices, preferably green

First 10 day goals:
have a juice every other day

make interesting dinner salads so YummyHubby doesn't get too bored

 One day at a time, you can achieve anything. True story.

speedy (gonzalez) burritos

Yet another entirely 'off the top of my head' recipe that wowed both of us at dinnertime.

It was YummyHubby's turn to not-cook and I suggested something Mexican(ish). He made a pile of chopped fillings, I helped make the sauce and then we piled everything onto the 'tortilla' rather than mixing each thing with its own sauce/spice combo. Hence the speedy nature. It's easy peasy and lends itself to adaptation. Check the fridge and then decide what to use! We did this:

ingredients for 2 people

6 baby greens (collard) leaves

1 avocado, finely sliced

3 spring onions, sliced

3 carrots, grated

2 tomatoes, diced

half mango, diced

1 head of corn, hulled

for the sauce

1/2 avocado

juice of 1 lime

pinch each of cumin, chili, cinnamon

garlic salt or one crushed garlic clove

salt & pepper

Put the piles of ingredients on a plate or big cutting board as you chop. Blend all ingredients for the sauce and pour in a bowl. Lay the washed leaves on a plate and invite everyone to make their own. Lead by example and spread some sauce over the leaf, then pile all the ingredients onto the leaf and roll up. That's it!

I think some finely sliced red peppers and fresh herbs (cilantro would be the right herb, but I"m not a big fan, so I'd use parsley and chives, perhaps) would round this off, but the occasional burst of mango flavour is such a treat, that really works!

So, ¡ándale! Go make it!

moroccan stuffed peppers

Here's a yummy dinner I made tonight. I stole ideas from various places and put this together. You'll need a dehydrator and a food processor or a sharp knife and some quality time. Quantities serve two.

ingredients:

2 orange bell peppers 

1 parsnip

1/4 red onion

1/4 cup mushrooms

3 dried apricots

3 sundried tomatoes (in oil or rehydrated)

a few olives

tablespoon pine nuts

tablespoon fresh mixed herbs (I used chives, lemon thyme)

Moroccan spices/Harissa paste

Halve and deseed the peppers and dehydrate for up to 6 hours, until they start to soften but don't lose their shape.

Process the parsnip with the s-blade until it's evenly sized, you're looking to make a rice substitute. Put in a mixing bowl. Finely chop or process onion, mushrooms, apricots, tomatoes and olives and add to bowl. Add all other ingredients and mix well.

For the spices, I used a tablespoon of harissa paste and salt and pepper, but you could easily add cumin, cardamom, curry spices and so on.

Stuff peppers with the rice mixture and dehydrate for an hour or so until warmed through.

Serve with minted "yogurt" drizzled over the top (try a macadamia or cashew-based sour cream with plenty of chopped mint.)

Bon appetit!

tools

Despite cooked dinner on Thursday, as we were out straight from work (YummyHubby was in a race) I managed to get back onto my smoothie and raw salad lunch the next day with no problems. Hurray!

Though I had a fair bit of cooked or not-so-ideal food over the weekend, once again, today it's back to green smoothie and juice before noon and big salad for lunch. I find by about Thursday things destabilise. The foods I'd prepared, or started dehydrating, during the previous weekend have run out and I don't have that 'off the top of my head' idea. Suddenly eating out/take away sounds like a good idea. So I've taken to leaving a couple of raw recipe books around the place so I can find inspiration easily.

I'm also following the sage advice of many raw food coaches and Deb's comment a few posts back: choose raw for the next meal. If that fails then let it go and try again next time. This is such a simple but effective tool. It pushes guilt out of the equation and brings a practical approach in.

I also did Karen Knowler's questionnaire at the weekend, also featured in the latest edition of Get Fresh! magazine. It's so helpful. Go try it out: What do you need to believe?

So that's 3 things added to my toolbox:
1: keep inspiration at hand
2: make the best choice you can *this* time
3: understand your motivation

it's all good

xxx

PS: yes, I've made an effort to capitalise. Whatever next, no smileys? ;)

raw ninja madness

i've been watching the trials and tribulations of bunny berry for a couple of months now. she committed to 100 days of raw food, in search of better health and weight loss, and has been doing daily videos and blog posts. she's entertaining and it's a breath of fresh air to see a raw food newbie rather than hear the stories of now-established figures recounting the struggles of their past, so definitely worth watching out for her. she's decided once she finishes this challenge in about ten days from now she'll have a break and start again in august, and she's invited us - her viewers - to join in. so i have. she's set up a social network on ning, and as i'm already registered there for give it to me raw, the global juice feast and so on, i thought ah, go on then. it's currently a closed network, but hopefully bunny's going to open it up, so that when you click on the badge you will actually get to see my profile :)

View my page on Raw Fu

back on the wagon: day 3

wednesday 9 july

here are the recipes i promised you. 

cashew crackers aka crazy bread (requires dehydrator)

1 red pepper

1/3 cup cashews

2 teaspoons minced onion, chives and garlic

pinch salt

pinch paprika

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

blend everything together in the food processor until smooth. spread onto a teflex sheet to about 6" square. score with your spatula to make the shapes you want. dehydrate overnight then remove teflex sheet and flip over. they should be light and crispy in time for dinner!

this is a small quantity recipe, we ate the lot for dinner, they were so yummy fresh out of the dehydrator.  next time i'll make double the quantity. i made 6 crackers and piled pate on top for dinner, but you could score them into triangles to use as snacking 'tortilla chips' too.

find the original recipe over at carmella's raw freedom community.

karen knowler's carrot almond pate

2 large carrots

2 cups almonds

1/2 cup coarsely chopped red onion

1/4 cup lemon juice

pinch sea salt

water

my tweaks: i swapped a few almonds for some sunflower seeds and i added a few drops of bragg's liquid aminos. next time i'll soak the almonds first and possibly add a little oil to improve the texture.

as there was too much for just us two to use up without getting bored of pate, i rolled some spoonfuls into little balls and stuck them in the dehydrator overnight and took them to work to have as a side to my lunch. that worked very well!

today i was hungry again by the time i was leaving work. need to take something to snack on in the late afternoon, so that i don't get home and eat too much before dinner. but i'm doing well. i signed up for bunny berry's 100 day raw food challenge, too. that should be fun. what a crazy lady!

today i had:

water, tea

green smoothie

salad with sprouts, chopped veggies, lemon, honey, mustard dressing & carrot-almond balls

more tea

larabar

fresh pressed orange juice

coconut macaroon

edamame - not raw, steamed, salted beans

kale salad

carrot-almond pate balls (as in recipe above)

it's all good.

back on the wagon: day 2

tuesday 8 july - what a difference a day makes

feeling better already. wheat-belly subsiding, head clearer. 

today i had:

morning water and tea as usual

green smoothie

3 strawberries

salad with sprouts, grated carrot, tomatoes, seeds, homegrown lettuce, peppers, lemon dressing

2 chunks conscious chocolate with superfoods

more tea

handful candied almonds and teriyaki almonds fresh from the dehydrator

small kale-avo salad, carrot-almond pate and 'crazy bread'

glass red wine from same bottle as yesterday

i was very  hungry when i got home, hence the act of eating nuts straight from the dehydrator. but that's better than reaching for the cookie jar, right? 

the 'crazy bread' might have to be rechristened as the name is prompting lots of questions! i'll write up my version of the recipe, and the carrot-almond pate tomorrow. both were very nice and the 'crazy bread' once i've adjusted the recipe a little, will be a fabulous quick and easy standby.

two days in a row of 100% raw success. yeah, baby!

back on the wagon: day 1

monday 7 july

to make life easy in terms of prep time and yumminess factor, to help me stay focussed on the goal of getting to the weekend with only raw food inside me, i'm going for the smoothie and salad combo. fast, easy to clean up and i don't know about you, but green smoothies fill me up so i don't need treats or snacks. also to help me out, i'm fessing up to my daily intake right here. so, quick and tasty food is the carrot. publishing what i ate to the world is the stick.

today i had:

2 pints water

green tea

1 pint of green smoothie with banana, spinach, nectarines, plums and apricots, maca and cacao

1 salad of lentil sprouts, lettuce, pepper, spring onion, tomatoes, lemon-oil-mustard dressing

green tea

bliss bombs

handful nuts off the dehydrator tray

mixed salad with carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, spring onion, seeds, lemon-sesame-honey dressing

kale-avocado salad

glass red wine

the smoothie kept me going until lunchtime, so no picking or temptation to go and buy non-food. i also didn't have time to go via any shops on the way to work, so temptation was kept at bay. i find if i'm picking up bits for lunch i'm tempted by other things. i might intend to buy raw ingredients for a salad but i can leave the shop with a couscous or pasta salad instead. or as well.

i was hungry when i got home, hence the nut snacking. i'll write up the recipes tomorrow for my yummy concoctions. i try to use seeds more than nuts, for the good stuff they contain and to avoid too much fat. almonds are my top nut for nutritional reasons. and them and cashews are the only ones i can get which are guaranteed raw. as much as i adore pecans, they're most likely heated when they're shelled, so i recognise that they count as a healthy snack compared to, say, non-raw, non-vegan chocolate cake, but they contain cooked fat, and are therefore not optimal nutritionally. the wine, well, it's red, vegan, fairtrade and organic, so you're not going to get me giult-tripping on that one. i know some people don't think alcohol should be part of a raw diet, and i can see their reasoning for it and respect their decision. but i'm happy with a glass of red wine now and again, and if i fancy one, i have it. i do find i'm not attracted to it when i stick to a high-raw diet for long periods of time, so one day i might stop. but through a natural desire, not because i forced myself.

after dinner i made some 'crazy bread' as part of tomorrow's dinner. i'm not entirely sure where i got the energy from, but i think determination to succeed in my mini-challenge might have played a part. i'll let you know how the bread turns out. it was super quick and easy to make, so if it's tasty then it will be a winner!

the 'bliss bombs' are from the health food shop and you can find out about them here: pulsin.co.uk

day one has gone by without hiccups, hurray!

that darn wagon and me

i hadn't intended to come back here to post, as this blog was purely for the juicefeast experience, but what i have to say is relevant. so here goes.

there are days when i feel like a fraud. i don't feel i can call myself a raw foodie when i just ate cooked food for the third time this week. so i feel the need to publicly state that i'm struggling to stay raw. again.

the battle with cooked food

i worked out part way through the juicefeast that drinking juice for 92 days wasn't going to stop my cooked food cravings. the juicefeast would give me time to explore my relationship with food and work out some of the pyschological hangups, but it wasn't going to be a miracle cure. but, you know, i was dealing with it. so far so good.

then i completed my juicefeast, calling it quits after just over two months, when i saw that my heart just wasn't in it and i was starting to pick at food. i eased myself back into eating, with lots of fresh fruit, salads, smoothies and a firm commitment to eating raw for health reasons. and let's not forget that amazing energy you have on a high raw diet.

falling off the wagon

but then we had house guests. and then there was a family get together. and then whatever other social occasion. and each time i thought "i'll just have a little cooked food today, to keep thing's easy" and fully, genuinely, intended to keep going that way. then somehow, it all fell apart. and now, two months later, i'm eating way too much cooked food. i eat mostly raw most days, but i also binge out on rubbish. in the past two months i've eaten ice-cream and crisps, of all things, and lots of not-that-great cooked food. it's crazy! but i'm not going to get myself in a mess over this. 

the all or nothing option

i read steve pavlina's update on eating raw and felt consoled. a slight aside here, i didn't know he'd continued to eat raw. i thought he'd done an experiment and then gone back to his usual diet. so i was quite impressed to wander back over to his blog and discover he's now pushing himself to stay 100% raw. anyway, the point is, that it's often easier to stick at 100% raw than to dither at 80% or do the"'i'll just eat this cooked food tonight because i'm eating out with friends but i'll be back to 100% raw tomorrow" thing. i guess that differs from person to person. i compare it to the casual smoker, or the innapropriately named 'social smoker'. some people can smoke like a chimney for the duration of a party night out then not touch a cigarette for months. yet the majority of people would be buying a packet of ciggies the next day because the nicotine had already got a stranglehold. cooked food is just as insidious. once the wheat starts to leave your body you get that sickness which you either ride out as detox or you cave in and have some more to appease the beast.

yo-yo side effects

i still eat plenty of fruit. i have green smoothies a couple of times a week and eat a big raw salad for lunch and dinner most days. but because of the inconsistency i don't feel as well as i should. i get lots of detox headaches after a cooked food 'binge' - especially wheat, i've found - and i'm putting on weight again. so it's time to rein in. i get so frustrated with the yo-yo-ing. i've read a few things recently which talk about falling off the wagon and they all come to the same conclusion. and it's something i know, inside, to be true. recognise you've fallen off. dust yourself down. get back on again. no guilt. no recriminations and no "if only"s. just get yourself a juice or a green smoothie and start planning a few days' worth of raw food.

so that's what's happening in the loulou household. we've got a week of juices, smoothies and salads coming up. i'm making some teriyaki almonds and we have a cupboard full of conscious chocolate, so i have treats available for those tricky moments.

wish me luck.

garden salad

thank you all sooooo much for your wonderful supportive comments since my last post. what an amazing bunch of people you are. i have and will continue to praise you all to everyone who stands still long enough to listen. i'm so very grateful to have found such a lovely, warm, non-discrimating community. but enough with the schmaltz ;)

we've spent lots of time in the allotment, weeding, planting, sowing, watering, tidying and having lovely picnics, with homemade salads and a few shop bought bits to go with them. it's been fabulous. we have three potato plants now peeking out of the sandy, dry soil, the onions are sprouting and i'm now waiting for the carrots to show themselves. we've got five tomato plants in the soil and about a dozen still growing at home. the peppers are nearly ready to plant out. there are peas, beans, corn, lettuce and wild flowers sown straight into the earth, then cucumbers, cauliflowers, dozens of herbs and a few flowers all in little pots, waiting to germinate. over the next two weeks we have another huge bunch of stuff to grow/sow/plant. it's been scorching hot and working outside for 6 hours a day means, despite copious high-factor suncream, we're both suffering a little from over-exposure. YummyHubby just goes from his lovely milky coffee colour straight to a fetching shade of guinness while i'm sporting a golden glow, and some bright pink bits on my shoulders. tomorrow we're only having a half day in the allotment as we need to get on with some other chores, so that should give our skin time to recover.

so, food. cos that's what it's all about.

i really don't want juice. well, i'd love a pint of orange juice, and made some for breakfast this past weekend, but i think i'm a bit juiced out. i know i should have some, but i just can't face it right now. i have got green smoothies on the dinner list, though, so at least if i have a couple of those a week i know i'm getting some nutrient-dense food into me. if i leave it a while i'm sure the urge to juice will return.

i've made a few things in the dehydrator - some worked, others didn't - and i'm trying to keep it varied, with different styles of food, and remembering to occasionally make light dinners to leave room for dessert. some of the things we've eaten this week: 'sushi' and vietnamese rice paper rolls; pizza with salad one day/ different topping and jicama 'fries' another day; banana ice-cream with raspberry-cacao sauce; creamy curried coleslaw; almond-cacao milk; sugarloaf pineapple and indian mango salad; 'falafel'... on the upcoming list are kale-avo salad (yes!); zucchini hummus; grawnola; apple cookies; soups; green smoothies. see, that should keep us going for a while.

things i've noticed. i'm starting to see how if i don't get enough greens i get hungry quickly and if i eat anything cooked no matter how much salad i have with it, it just doesn't satisfy my hunger.  how odd. i don't have much of a sweet tooth at the moment. fruit for breakfast is fine, but even then sometimes i'm wanting savoury for breakfast. it's kind of tricky to work out what i could do about that. i'm trying to keep my oil intake down but i do know i'm having a bit too much right now; it's so easy to slosh the oil on the salad... flax crackers rock. i'd forgotten how tasty they are, easy to make and they keep so well. 

i've got lots of energy. on cooked food, after dinner i don't usually move much - if at all - but now i'm back up and in the kitchen, tidying, preparing stuff for the next day. or pottering around the house tidying, sorting, doing light chores. this is great news :) i can reclaim an hour or so of my day back this way :)

YummyHubby is mostly joining in with my food at the moment and having the odd meaty thing, usually as a snack or appetiser (tonight he had some smoked venison - of all things. he picked it up at whole foods) so that makes it easier in some ways, but it does also mean i have to think about what i'm preparing in advance. i'd quite happily just eat salad five nights a week :) but perhaps this is one way to keep things varied, knowing that i'm prepping food for him, too. except he's not keen on cauliflower and i love it. so he can buy fish and chips for his dinner the night i do cauliflower cous cous ;)

belated stats

i said i'd post my pre and post juicefeast stats, so here you have them.

weight: BEFORE 169 pounds AFTER 141 pounds
height: 5' 6"
fasting blood glucose: BEFORE average 4.9 AFTER 4.3
cholesterol: 3.9

urine ph: 7-7.25 AFTER 7 (? still not terribly convincing result)

i also measured myself at strategic points. here's how much i've lost from each measuring point.

bust: 3.5"

spare tyre: 3"

waist: 3.5"

belly: 3.5"

hips: 3"

thigh: 2"

arm: 1"

(spare tyre = the bit between your bust and waist; belly = between waist and hips)

i'm really happy with those results. just to prove it, i ordered some clothes last week. they arrived today and are too big. i'm sure it's just the retailer chooses a generous cut... but if i go by their sizing, i've gone down 2-and-a-bit dress sizes. yeehaa! 

now to get back into my exercise routine and firm up all this soft, squishy flab that needs shifting.

i'm moving back to my other blog. like many before me, i'll keep this online as a testimony to juicefeasting. and you never know, i might do it again next year. (never say never, right?) but i miss my lovely theme over at princessloulou.net and i'm going to blog more about my lifestyle, food choices and the learning process that YummyHubby and i are going through as we strive to be as sustainable as is feasible without packing up our current jobs and buying a farm... 

thanks for being with me so far. come and join me over at princessloulou.net soon.

love to you all xxx

photo credit: thanks to 'wrestlingentropy' for this pic, see the original here.

the week that was

hello all. so, some of you know, cos we're twitter buddies, and some of you don't know... i broke my juicefeast last weekend.

i'd had enough. i tried to explain myself to YummyHubby and the thing that i kept coming back to was that 'my heart's not in it' then went to look at the feastbreaking protocol on juicefeasting.com and what was the first reason to quit on their list? your heart's not in it (and you know you're going to eat something) so i'm sure it was the right thing to do. so i kind of feel rubbish because i didn't stay the course, but you know what, i juiced for an amazing 65 days, and the last 15 days were really tough, so i say 'go me!'

i broke the feast with the prunes - which i didn't enjoy so much. the first 5 or 6 were fine but i struggled to eat the whole 8oz. YummyHubby helped out by picking at a few and i left three in the bowl.

on my first fruit day i had a charentais melon for breakfast, which was divine, and the second day i made papaya whip (i love this: blend coconut meat, papaya, mango and passionfruit. eat. worship at the altar of tropical fruit) which is soooo decadent for breakfast. i love that.

my first salad meal was a soft green lettuce with a few bits of tiny chopped up pepper, tomatoes, spring onion. my alfalfa sprouts are still sprouting. not ready yet. i added half an avocado, thinking i'd need the fat for my crinkly skin but i ended up picking it out and leaving it as i really didn't want avocado. i've been all over the place all week. one minute craving salty things then the next thing tastes too salty. wanting fat then feeling sick, because i don't want fat. hmmm. i'm a bit out of whack and need sorting out. 

it's kind of disappointing that i'm tempted by some cooked stuff, too. ben's comment on my previous post is inspiring and yet doesn't seem to be working 100% for me. no, i don't want beer or curry(!) but cheese and, bizarrely, chargrilled artichokes are still tempting. i could say that perhaps if i'd stuck it for the remaining 27 days i might have dealt with the rest of the cravings but i think that's unhelpful conjecture and i'll spin it around and say that i know i will still have stuff to work through and deal with during my raw life. hell, even uber-raw karen knowler continues to up the ante with her raw lifestyle at regular intervals, so why should get a different paradigm? it's a spiral. onwards and upwards. cyclical and metamorphic. it's a journey i'm looking forward to.

when i knew i was going to quit the juicefeast i saved some juice pulp and i made some flax crackers. i split the 'dough' into two batches and added piles of fresh herbs to one half and to the other i added curry spices (a generous present from a house guest - i have an awesome collection of yummy fresh herb and spice blends.) i made the herb ones into thick rounds for pizza bases and the spicy ones for crackers. then i took a couple of crackers and some hummus to work for elevenses, which worked really well. i made a bruschetta topping for the pizzas and had them for dinner. yesterday i added a pile of rocket on top and then tonight i had a big green salad separately. it was tasty both times :)

i've got a few plans for food and i'm looking forward to making stuff. the optimism is there, which helps. i don't feel defeated at the thought of organisation and preparation. after a juicefeast, this is just a walk in the park.

i've been happy about not having to spend so long in the kitchen each morning. i've had a couple of lie-ins compared to the ridiculously early hour i got up at during the juicefeast. i've taken shopping bags to work and prepped a big lunch salad there, which only takes a few minutes, not like prepping and cleaning up after juice. this is all good :)

i'm trying to be more aware of the food as it goes into my mouth. the temptation to shove it down quickly is still there, so i need to get a handle on that. don't think i'll go quite as far as fletcherism, but i do need to concentrate, taste everything, and chew thoroughly before i swallow. i'm still learning.

oh, right, before i forget. those vital statistics. i wrote down my various measurements at the start but haven't measured myself since, so i'll do that tomorrow and let you all have the final weight loss and size loss figures. in non-specific terms we're talking substantial :)

top photo: pizza bases about to go in the dehyradator. they're slightly pink from beetroot. YummyHubby thought they looked like meat patties. gross. bottom photo: tonight's pizza. both taken by YummyHubby.

day 63: smells

the week after i started the juicefeast i also started a new job. my previous job was just under two miles away, so unless the weather was horrid i would walk to and from work (yes! great exercise!) with my iPod belting out, marching along, in my own little world.

then i started working in an office a train ride away and my life changed. i don't like commuting. i don't like people when they're squashed together on a train or a platform. pushing each other, standing in front of the doors so they can't get on and those who want to get off struggle to do so. it's so counterintuitive, the whole thing. horrendous. anyway. i'm here to talk smells.

so i'd walk up to the station with the smell of damp pavements, the odd waft of cigarette smoke from someone walking ahead of me and then i'd head into the station and be assaulted by the overpowering smell of bacon sandwiches from the on-platform cafe. i swear they just leave a bit of rind burning all the time, hoping to entice people to buy a sarnie because i have yet to see anyone actually eating one. so on the train we get and then off at the other end... where it gets much worse. there's the roasting coffee and the sweet, caramel aroma of danish pastries. and onwards i go, hauling 2 litres of juice in my bag, shoulders groaning.

on the way home i pass two indian restaurants (my favourite comfort food) and then back at the station the smell of various south african meats hits me first, and the coffee and pastries have been displaced by the strong smell of cornish pasties, hot dogs and pizza. off the train and i'm hit by the divine fragant calling of the fish and chip shop (so hard to resist!) and i turn the corner into the enticing wafts from the noodle bar. approaching home and one last struggle as i pass the italian cafe on the corner. phew. made it through all that temptation.

fast forward to today. this morning the train was very full. i was squished into a corner next to a woman having her breakfast of coffee and croissant and the smell of the croissant was positively nauseating. i don't know why, but i was so unbelievably turned off, the thought of ever eating a croissant/danish pastry again is so alien to me. amazing. then, on the way home as i passed the two indian restaurants i conjured up what it would really be like to eat some of my favourite dishes. all i could think of is how oily they'd be. the magic had gone. just like that. no longer appeals. wow. that's HUGE for me.

good job i found some amazing curry recipes on gone raw ;)

image credit: Indian thali at Jaipur, Milton Keynes by Scorpions and Centaurs on Flickr. attribution-non-commerical-sharealike.

day 62: modifying

so, it's time to admit it, to myself as much as to you, dear readers, but a one-off has turned into a mini-habit. i started off having half an avocado one evening as my skin is terribly taut and dry. not flaking, but papery and unhappy. then a couple of days later i did it again. this time i chopped a tomato into it. then a few days later i had a whole avocado with chopped tomato and, go on, why not, a spring onion. all the while knowing i had to stop before it became a habit. then yesterday i came home staaaarving. i ate three olives (wow. since when were olives so salty!)  then chopped up a carrot into sticks and dunked them in houmous. oh dear. that's almost real dinner.

i'm torn.  i want food. i just don't fancy juice any more. yet here i am, over two-thirds of the way through. i'm so very nearly there and yet my heart's not really in it. what to do... do i get some prunes and call it a day (or two months, in fact) or do i try to get back on the wagon?

doesn't help that my juicer blew up last week. YummyHubby wonderfully went and bought a supercheap juicer while i get the real one repaired (it has a six-year warranty, so i get it repaired/replaced for free. hurray!)

i definitely need to lose more weight - though i'm immensely grateful for the huge weight loss i've enjoyed so far on this juicefeast. but honestly think i could do that better by getting some exercise. since the second week of the juicefeast i've given up on running. it was too hard while i was going through intense detox at the start and since then i frankly haven't had time and energy during the week to prep my juice and exercise. 

so, my juicy friends, i'm considering, for the zillionth time during this journey, packing up and heading back out to solid foods land. watch this space...

day 58: backbreaking

backbreaking in that i've broken the back of this juicefeast. 7 weeks down, 5 to go. slightly disappointed that i don't seem to have the same verve and commitment that i can see in my juicebuddies. i'm looking forward to the end - i want to eat already. and not just prunes! so many people get past the first month and are on such a wonderful  trip that they just don't want to get off. not me. i'm still aching for yummy kale salad, drooling over lemon cookies and oh boy do i want lunch from rainforest cuisine asap pls thx.

also backbreaking is the work on 'the lotty' - our wonderful allotment. it's hard work clearing the weeds, building the shed, hauling mammoth bags of compost around. but we are both loving it! it's so exciting. 

yesterday we planted early potatoes - they'll be ready to eat in two months, and, yes, i will be cooking them and eating them! there are a few things we'll be growing which need cooking, but the vast majority will be raw-edible. the point is to feed ourselves, so we've chosen carefully. some stuff i'll make into chutney as christmas stocking-fillers for friends and family and i will give surplus away as it grows. i like sharing. we've got some small red onions to go in next week, and we're germinating tomatoes, herbs, and flowers around the house ready to plant out in a few weeks. we get the main bulk of the veg seeds arriving next week, so we'll be busy sowing, germinating and planting for the whole of may! we're going to have such a wonderful garden of eden. it's got to be the best hobby in the world ever. despite being covered in dirt, sweating, breaking my nails, getting scratched and bruised... it's still my favourite way to spend the weekend.

recovery mode

back to the juicefeast situation. so, i've somewhat recovered from my horrid midweek crisis. i've decided not to be so hard on myself, not to give up when i'm past halfway and since i've recovered - it seems - from the candida, thanks to all those lovely probiotics i'm taking, i'm choosing the easy option when i can and having my favourite fruit juice for breakfast and moving on to green for late morning-afternoon juices. much more palatable that way.

stats and stuff

i got weighed on saturday morning. i've lost a total of 25 pounds, which i'm happy about. i was a bit disheartened when the weight loss stagnated but it seems to have picked up again. i would like to lose another 15 pounds and i think it's possible to shift some, if not all, of that over the next five weeks. a fairly low fat raw diet and plenty of exercise will deal with the remaining few pounds.

i do find that my weight moves first and my body settles into the new shape in the following weeks. so even when i don't lose any/much weight on the scales, my clothes say i've lost mass somehow. i've dropped two dress sizes and my 'spare tyre' has gone. i'm liking what i see in the mirror :) i'm no longer fat. i'm still on the curvaceous side of slim, but this time last year even that seemed out of reach, so i've made great progress!

i had a colonic yesterday. the therapist congratulated me on my progress and encouraged me. she also said i'm getting a very clean colon - she was impressed with how it clean it was. hurray!

photo credit: before & after pics by YummyHubby

day 55: fallout

today was a vast improvement on yesterday. i received a timely subscription email which reminded me to transform the negative to positive, to stop fighting things i can't control and to let go of thoughts and feelings which don't serve me and to move on. that really helped me loosen up a bit when the woman's oversized bag was bashing into me as she practically pole-danced on the tube and when the old woman pushed her way onto the train without letting people get off first etc. ok, so i haven't nailed it yet, but i've started on the road to resolution for the daily commute stress bundle.

i didn't mention in amongst everything else yesterday, but i've got permanent neck and shoulder strain from lugging bottles of juice to work and fruit and veg from the supermarket. i did go shopping on the way home tonight but deliberately bought less than i thought i could cope with so i didn't add to the shoulder ache. plus i got a real bargain in the health food store which cheered me up :)

at work i forced myself to delegate. i spent about half an hour pulling a bunch of info together and passed it on to my admin assistant who dealt with two fairly mammoth tasks successfully, so that saved me about 5 hours work. i know i should be doing this anyway, but i often feel like it would be quicker if i did it, rather than go through the process of explaining, tidying up my notes to pass on, then having to check his work later and make the final tweaks etc. but hey, i'm learning to let go...

i had a mashed avocado for dinner tonight, with lemon juice, flax seed oil, salt and pepper and some sunflower sprouts. i just crave fats. what's a girl to do? my skin's still dry. on my face my wrinkles are really showing round my eyes, despite the two sets of moisturiser i'm using morning and night, and on the rest of my body my skin is kind of, um, not sure how to describe it. 'old' springs to mind! i'm skin brushing and taking msm and i did find my skin was much softer after a few weeks, but now it seems thin and papery and screaming out for internal moisture.

YummyHubby and I made some plans to get me some rest and he seems to have taken on the task of getting me to get ready for bed earlier. every bit helps.

i've got a sore throat. that started yesterday and definitely contributed to my meltdown when i thought i was going to get ill. but it hasn't got any worse today, so i might yet overcome it without it turning into anything major.

and i'm still tired. but then i've got a lot of catching up to do after the extreme sleep deficit of the past month. but i do feel a lot better today and i'm no longer on the verge of a breakdown. hopefully each day that passes will help me walk a step away from the precipice.

day 54: meltdown

note: written on day 55, the day after, with - i hope - a clearer perspective on things.

ok, so yesterday afternoon i hit rock bottom. well, i hope that was rock bottom. don't want to find out if there's further down to go...

it felt my world came tumbling down around me, i just Could Not Cope any longer.

for the past few days i've noticed i'm bright and breezy in the morning but by early afternoon i'm tired and by the time i get home i'm frankly exhausted and getting crabby. i hate being crabby (can you see the start of a vicious circle there?) then, because i'm tired, i sit down and don't move. by the time i haul my backside off the sofa to prep for the next day it's late. i know, totally counterproductive. if i prepped my veg and got clothes out, planned my moves etc, i'd have an easier morning. but i haven't been doing that. i've been going to bed late, getting up shockingly early and still managing to miss my train to work.

then there's the commute to and from work. it's not bad, as far as london commutes go, but there are a lot of mean, pushy people and i get bad tempered. then the trains have an odd schedule, where there are 3 i can catch all packed into the space of 15 minutes, then there's a half hour gap. so if i juuuust miss the last of the three then i have to stand on a cold, windy platform, surrounded by the smell of food, and watch a dozen trains that don't serve my route go past me. oh, and get pushed around by mean commuters.

then there's work. i'll start by saying i love my new job. i'm working with a bunch of people who i get on really well with, there's true affinity there. there's one guy who can be really unhelpful, but he doesn't mean to be, it's just a flaw in his approach to the chain of command, and i try to be forgiving and coax him along. but he rubbed me up the wrong way yesterday. but it's a mammoth task that i've been hired to do, with a zillion itty bitty things to pull together into a cohesive plan. now that's a loulou kind of challenge. but over the past couple of days i've felt like i've dropped a couple of balls and despite my project planning the whole thing is such a house of cards that it felt it was about to collapse into chaos yesterday... i forgot my old-time mantra of 'no one is going to die' and just felt panic, discomfort, disappointment etc welling up inside me.

then... i had to go via the supermarket to pick up more greens on the way home and by then i was past myself. i was ready to give up. call it a day. give up the juicefeast, that is. claw back some time to myself. regain my sanity. i got home and - i don't think i even said hello when i walked through the door -  just crumpled in a heap and poured it all out in one huge splurge to YummyHubby. he was fantastically helpful and thoughtful and we worked through lots of it. it's not over, but he said he's not letting me give in so easily.

i know this crisis is not over yet, but i feel like if i can get to the weekend and then give myself some space, some thinking time, do some yoga, refocus... then that might get me through a little while longer. 

and we're promised some "unseasonably warm" weather. sunshine is my number one mood-lifter, so, c'mon mini-heatwave. bring it on!

day 51: remiss

oh boy, i've been terribly remiss. life's kind of been busy lately and i've chosen to read all your blogs rather than write my own. just haven't had the wherewithal to keep up recently.

so, quick catch up before i head for a soothing bath before bedtime.

day 50 came and went. how amazing is that. way over the half way mark, now. i got weighed last week and had gained 3 pounds (monthly water retention, i'm guessing) but yesterday that had all gone along with another pound. so in total i've lost 22 pounds. i'm disappointed that my weight loss has plateaued as i had my mind set on losing 40 pounds. it's not like that's not doable - so many people have achieved that and more, so why shouldn't i. however, i haven't been doing any exercise, due to lack of time, so i guess that's why. this weekend's marathon digging session may have made up for missing my thrice-weekly run.

ben talked about cheating during his feastbreaking, and i guess i have 'cheated' too, though i prefer not to think in terms of cheating. so here's the thing. i felt i needed to eat something, i've also got dry skin, despite taking hemp oil/coconut oil (i know i'm not taking them often enough, but i find them hard to ingest, i have to say, they make me feel quite sick) i've also been picking at things i've been preparing. a nibble of cheese (i know!) while prepping YummyHubby's dinner, or a strawberry/slice of mango etc. so i decided to do it and get over it, to see if i could stop the incessant nagging in my head to have some 'real ' food. so, i mashed half an avocado with some garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper. oh boy! it was divine. i ate very slowly, mindfully, relishing each tiny forkful.  it didn't upset my stomach or have any adverse effects at all, so i think i 'got away with it' as it were. i don't feel guilty about it. sort of disappointed that i know it is doable to not pick at food throughout the feast, but i also understand that what i'm doing is tough, and though i know it would be better for me to avoid eating anything at all, it's not such a big deal to eat two cherry tomatoes or a strawberry here and there. i mean, it's not like i'm going out for a curry. though tonight, after a day's gardening, i could see curry and beer as being the perfect end to the day. didn't happen, of course. i have parsley-romaine-apple-carrot-lemon juice instead. should have added some garam masala. heh.

this past week i went out with some ex-colleagues who haven't seen me for 7 weeks - i finished working there the day before i started the juicefeast. it was wonderful to see them all. plus they all, without fail, said i looked fabulous. three people said i was 'radiant' and 'glowing' - so, if you were ever in any doubt as to the amazing benefits of juicing, i am living, breathing proof :D oh that and my jeans so do not fit. luckily i have found two pairs of jeans i bought a year ago. they were too tight at the time. it was a kind of incentive to keep the weight down. and now they're comfy, a little on the loose side, but don't make me look like a total scruffbag which my usual jeans do. hurray!

i'll be posting about our allotment adventures on my other blog, so once i've put something together i shall let you all know.

keep it juicy!

day 43: achieving the impossible - being present

if you read this blog regularly you'll already know this, but just in case...

when a person embraces a raw lifestyle or embarks upon a 3-month juicefeast, there are bound to be changes. yes, they'll lose weight. yes, they'll get healthier. yes, they'll cure some old ailments and improve the general state of their physical wellbeing. but they'll also see non-physical changes.

now, i've been where you are - at least in relation to raw foods/juicefeasting - in that i've been a standard, albeit vegetarian, eater for most of my life, so i know this causes eyebrows to raise. it's raised mine on multiple occasions. and even eating raw consistently for months at a time wasn't enough to shake off the disbelief when i read blogs or listened to podcasts of long-term raw foodists who claim an interconnectedness with the world, a spiritual awakening, a fundamental shift in their relationships with their environment and community. sounds far-fetched. but i'm starting to catch a glimpse of that on the juicefeast. i am also trying various other approaches to being more grounded, 'in the present' and i am open to feeling the glow others talk of. so, it's not just the food. or lack of it, right now.

so what's my current status? i have managed to get and stay, briefly, in a great place. but it needs more work to make it permanent. i felt kind of untethered. sort of like i could just float through everything - not like a ghost, but i didn't feel anchored to my past or pinning all my hopes on the future. i was just there, with what was going on around me. how crazy's that? it's very calming, i can tell you that. stress doesn't get to take over once you get rid of everything other than what's right in front of you. it was very cool. i enjoyed it. and chuffed i got there, even if briefly :)

day 40: gobsmacked

i made it to day 40. can you say momentous?

so many times on this epic journey have i thought i wouldn't make it, i'd give in before day 92. i have tried, very hard, to remove the temptation wherever possible - like not having prunes in the house, allowing myself the tiniest nibble of something as a 'treat' so i got the taste but didn't feel compelled to stuff the lot down my throat in one go. so i'm claiming a victory here. my methods have worked. for me, that is. you may need different motivators.

i'm looking forward to getting over the hill. midway on the fast is less than a week away, and a week from now i'll officially be on the home straight. i read ben's post with interest. he's got to the stage now where he's nervous about finishing the feast and starting to eat solid food again. bizarre how these things affect you.

today i've had lots of greens. i've gone off cabbagey greens, especially in juice that i'm not drinking right away. but i do have a soft spot for chard. yum. so i'm doing lots and lots of spinach and lettuces of various types. i've also gone off pears, they oxidise too quickly. i find i return again and again to cucumber, mint, apple and oranges to pad out my greens, with the odd pure pineapple juice as a real treat.

i can feel how much weight i've lost. it's not actually a vast amount in pounds (20 of them have been given their marching orders) but i can see my waist clearly, my tummy's flatter, my bras are a tad too big, my face is slimmer, cheekbones more prominent and firm. all great stuff.

i'm still on a relative high, with positive energy and optimism, and right now i feel like i'll make it to day 92. i'm not saying i won't have some more tough days in the next 50 days, i'm sure i will, but right now it feels achievable, so i'm hanging onto that state of mind.

to all my raw/ juice buddies out there: you are all amazing. thank you so much for your loving support.

juice on!

photo credit: YummyHubby