Raw Food Today

Today was incredibly busy, in a really good way. Even though I dread it, sorting and organizing my seemingly ever-growing stacks of files and papers is always productive. Obviously I haven't done it often enough, since it took about 4 hours of the day. Didn't leave much time to focus on food.

The salad is one Ray made for her dinner after karate class. She had lamb's lettuce (mache), chopped eggplant bacon, cucumbers, avocado, onion and lime. Her dressing was olive oil, tamari, and a bit of agave. Poor denounced agave! We used to use it a lot more, but it's gotten a bad reputation lately.

Breakfast: Blender soup

I won't even tell you what was in it. Suffice to say it was green, but not in a yummy way.

Lunch: 1 piece onion bread, topped with sauerkraut and a bit of mustard

3 cups white tea

Over the next month, I'm choosing some herbal teas and transitioning to those. White tea has a lot of benefits, and much less caffeine than other choices, but I'd like to get away from regular caffeine consumption.

Snack: 1 banana, 2 small oranges

Later Snack: 1 piece onion bread topped with honey butter (coconut oil mixed with Raw honey and a dash of sea salt)

Pre-workout: 2 tsp Vitamineral Green

Dinner: Huge goblet of green juice (rainbow chard, apple, cucumber, ginger)

I was so excited about this, cuz I didn't have to make it! The Lovely Boyfriend was kind enough to do it while I grabbed a quick shower.

Hoping everyone is well!

Raw Food Today

Breakfast: Marinated Collard Greens topped with avocado, onion, pecans (non-raw), and dried cranberries

Waaaaaay too much white tea

I have a habit of sipping tea while I write or read, and this was a day for writing and reading.

Lunch: 2 pieces garlic-onion bread topped with sauerkraut and mustard

I didn't have raw mustard, so I used my organic, gluten-free version. This is soooo tasty! I haven't had a hot dog in so many years, but this combination is like getting all the flavors in a healthy package. Thanks to whoever recommended it on Raw Food Rehab!

Dinner: Beet/beet greens/apple/spinach/ginger/lemon juice

Super-delish! The lovely boyfriend did the farmer's market run without me for the very first time. I created a list, and we stayed in touch by phone, but he did a fabulous job of filling our fridge with organic greens, fruits, and veggies. Thank you, LB! We hadn't bought red beets for a while, so I was glad to see he got these. We both loved this juice, and it was cool to have this blood red concoction, since we're usually sipping something grassy-green. I'm thrilled Avery's falling in love with juices, much more so than he ever has with the blended soups.

Before bed: 1 cup chamomile tea (planned for later)

Usually I would have a few pieces of fruit as snacks on a day like this, but even though I worked out, I wasn't hungry for more food. Warm weather, lots of flavor, and plenty of nutrients can do that for a girl.

Loving life and giving thanks!

Raw Food Today

Breakfast: Blender Soup (mixed lettuces, avocado, tomato, onion, celery, green onion, cayenne, and sea salt)

Snack: 6 clementines

Lunch: salad (spinach, celery, onion, green onion, and cucumber), with pepper dressing

Snack: 2 clementines, 1 grapefruit,1 banana

2 heaping teaspoons Vitamineral Green

Dinner: Green juice! (spinach, celery, apples, lemon)

Yikes! Does this sound like a super boring food day? It really wasn't! Everything was really fresh and juicy, and I had my share of greens. Shooting for a pound a day, in one form of another.

A Busy Day

This morning I woke up at 5:30. I was so excited to get some work done in a still and quiet house, I grabbed my current project, headed downstairs, and settled in on the couch. After my early morning water, I headed to the kitchen to put on some tea. It was 4:45 am! Apparently my fancy schmancy satellite-updated alarm clock thought it was Daylights Savings Time today. Go figure. I stayed up for another hour or so and went back to bed.

The last week has been incredibly busy, and we're having about 10 people over for Easter dinner tomorrow, so the rush continues for a while. It's the good kind of rush, but I'll look forward to the normal calm of my life again. Melina brought her friend, Blaire, home from college for a few hours today. They wanted coconut-banana smoothies, but I was out of open coconuts and not up for cracking more, so they had wheatgrass shots instead. It was Blaire's first. Here's to the green!

Happy Easter, everyone!

Greens, Anyone?

Even if you're not following a High Raw diet, green smoothies offer the opportunity to add a wider range of nutrients to your diet in one easily blended drink. Wonder Girl arose from her nap today requesting a green smoothie for lunch. The lovely concoction consisted of kale, spinach, kohl rabi leaves, ground flax seed, hemp oil, and a mix of frozen strawberries, mango and papaya. We don't usually have quite so many ingredients, but we wanted to kick it up a notch.

When I'm feeling less than 100% greens usually help. I had the above smoothie, as well as a juice of apples, lemon, ginger and wheatgrass (that magical green). And I'm feeling super-duper!


Check out the green smoothie video added to the left side bar.

Lovely Boyfriend Wins Gold Medal

So we're not supposed to exchange gifts for Valentine's Day. I purchased a blank card for LB and wrote him a slightly humorous message about how much he means to me (more than I can ever say). In the morning, when I opened my laptop, there was a nice card from him. All was right with the world, until...

Just before we left for dinner, Lovely Boyfriend called me into his room to take a look at something. On his bed there was a large box. Inside that box was a juicer! I've really been into juice lately, but the local juice bar is expensive, and not conveniently located to our home. We shopped online for the juicers all the Raw folks recommend, but they were incredibly pricey.

We'll have to get something else if we want to do wheat grass, but in the meantime, I'm thrilled to have a mid-range juicer than can do fruits and veggies for me. I'm doing the 3-day Green Smoothie Challenge next week, and I'll think of juice as my treat during that phase.

Once again, LB wins the Gold Medal for the Best Boyfriend Ever!

Brand New Taste Buds

Back before I turned my attention to Raw Foods, I'd occasionally go down to the local Mother's Market and buy a fresh juice drink. Usually this would follow a night (or several nights, maybe even weeks) of overindulgence. I'd indulge in fatty foods--you don't want to know what some of these were--alcohol, coffee, infrequent soda, and other highly processed crap. I always ate my fruits and veggies, whatever I could fit in around the party food.

I'd stride into the market, study the menu board for a few minutes and order the same thing every time: The Detox Shock. You see, this was meant to purge my body of all the toxins I was well aware of taking in. Unless I was feeling particularly polluted, I'd order the smallest size (8 ounces). This I would drink over the course of a couple of hours, taking tiny sips . The taste sort of grew on me, but I never enjoyed it.

Cut to today. I'm ordering the same juice blend of wheat grass, lemon, ginger and apple. But I can't get enough of it. Eating clean, natural, living foods has, for whatever reason, helped me to develop a taste for this refreshing combination. I now order the 32 ounce cup of Detox Shock. Unfortunately, it's $8.50 for that big serving of yummy deliciousness. Looks like it's time to start shopping for a juicer--in the thrift stores!