May 2010: back on the wagon

Goodness. It's been a whole year. There's a story in there, but it'll take a while to tell and right now is not the time to tell it. It's complicated, it spins out in all directions and I've tried to tame it, but it's unwieldy. I'll have to spend time organising my thoughts before I post them here.

So for now, this stands as an introduction to the food diary I'll be posting for reference for when I'm somewhere along the path and need to remind myself.

The regime:

For the past few days I've added in extra fruit, swapped cooked dinner for raw and tried very hard (succeeded so far!) to avoid snacks.

For the next few weeks I'm on a high-raw regime, loose enough that it doesn't restrict me and make it feel too hard to stick to, but with some guidelines to keep me on the straight and narrow.

Daily intake:

fresh juice

green smoothie

whole fruit

raw lunch and raw dinner

Treats: coffee with non-dairy milk, dried fruit/nuts to snack on, glass of wine with dinner.

Restrictions: No wheat. Minimal dairy.

Allowances: comfort food and cooked food, such as baked sweet potato or homemade soup, couple of times a week at most.

Upgrade: replace meals with green smoothies.

I intend to "upgrade" after a week perhaps, then again a week or so later, until I've cut right back, got all wheat, dairy and coffee out of my system.

Why blog?

One of the reasons I've written this down and put it out there is to have some accountability. I've tried to take on this regime several times in the past few months and it's failed. I've had one too many treats and allowed the cooked food on my plate to take over the raw. I've looked at the juicer and the thought of cleaning it afterwards makes me turn away from making juice. I've got home to a fridge of uninspiring vegetables and preferred to cook them with some olive oil and garlic. Whatever my hidden reasons (and reams has already been written on why we fail to stick to a raw diet) it's just no good. I can't keep doing this. So, written down, in a dusty corner of the Internet, is my commitment. You can call me on it.

Why bother?

I'm at my best on a raw diet. Eating cooked food - and a generally healthier diet than most - I get ill frequently. Then I get fed up of being ill. Then I do this, go back to raw food. Seems like a never-ending cycle. My dream is to stick to a mostly raw diet for a year, because I think if I can make it through winter, family crises and holidays then I've got past most of the hurdles. And if I can do it for a whole year, I can do it for many years. And the thought of being slim, fit, healthy, glowing, full of energy - which is what I would achieve after a year on raw food - is such a huge shining light of a goal.

spring clean

It's funny how things come together.

I've felt pulled towards lightening up my diet, getting some juices in, generally feeling like it's time to shake off the winter stodge.  I am pulled towards heavier foods and eat lots of hot food in winter.  As winter progresses I seem to erode all my good intentions and end up eating 100% cooked food. Of late I've turned to coffee to keep me awake and when that turned into a daily habit, accompanied more often than not by a slice of cake, that's when I knew it was time to slam the brakes on!

It seems that the rest of the raw world is feeling the same way. I do think it's a Spring thing. Over winter you store fat to keep you alive through times of scarcity. Come Spring it's extra, weighing you down, slowing you down, and you need rid of it. So around the globe people are cleansing through juices, smoothies, whatever feels right for where they are on their journey and what their body needs right now.

I've decided on a week of green smoothies and juices followed by just juice for the rest of the month of March. I'm open to continuing the juicefeast after that, but I'll play it by ear.

YummyHubby is joining in at least some. He may still have solids for lunch, but will have juices and smoothies with me at home.

We're about to move house, so being able to pack up the kitchen already, bar the juicing and smoothie-making equipment, will definitely make things easier! Our usual glass of wine to "christen" a new home that we move to will be replaced by a tall glass of OJ :)

goals, facts and figures:

I got on the scales this morning for the first time in months and was horrified to see that I've gained 20 pounds since last summer. The way my clothes fit backs this up, though. Everything's feeling a little snug. The smaller size I'd moved into last year has been relegated and the year before's jeans are back at the front of the wardrobe. Damn shame.

I've had some kind of eczema on my hand for a few weeks. It got very sore a while back starting to crack and bleed It's the worst I've ever had it. The natural remedies I tried didn't work, and the prescription cream I got hasn't fixed it either, so I'm hoping this juicefeast will work.

I stopped taking my twice-daily asthma medication Autumn last year, and now I carry, but don't need to use, a reliever. Of late I've felt I might need to start using it from time to time, so there's another reason to heal myself.

And last but not least I've had a lot of phlegm and mucous build up over winter. I cough a lot and have blocked sinuses. I want to clear of that out.

So that's where I'm starting from. Four specific things to tackle and an overall goal of feeling better, having mental clarity, physical energy, clearer skin. Man I love the results of juicefeasting. It's tough. Anyone who's tried it knows that. But the benefits are glorious.

BRING IT ON!

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.