The Return of High Raw

It's been three or four days since we returned to our High Raw way of eating. (It's an ugly term, "High Raw," but I haven't found a more poetic one. ) We've mostly had very simple meals, as I'm trying to keep down our grocery bill. Next week the CSA baskets start again, which will provide us with more fresh and organic variety.

After only a few days, I've seen some positive changes: clearer skin, deeper sleep, that physical/mental/emotional lightness I only get from Raw, heightened senses. None of this surprises me, since I've experienced it all before and really looked forward to experiencing it this time.

Why then did I move do far away from High Raw, and thus so far away from all those benefits, even for a short period of time? Didn't I know that potato salad and red velvet cake would do nothing to make me feel lighter? Am I so short-sighted that all I cared about was the immediate gratification?

I'm not beating myself up, but I do think I need to take this experience with me into the future. I ate decadent cooked foods because they were part of my traditional holiday celebrations, because I didn't want to offend my hosts, and because I'm very much against wasting food. Even though I continued to include more Raw fruits and vegetables than most Americans would consider, I felt bloated and heavy and sick by the end of it all.

Can someone email this back to me next Christmas?

A Happily Quiet Thanksgiving

Most years we return home to Virginia to celebrate Thanksgiving. My extended family has a very traditional meal in a house filled to overflowing with aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents. There's always too much food, most of which isn't great for you. We love it!

This year the girls and I stayed home. Since LB's traveling, it was just the three of us. The house seemed exceptionally quiet. We watched a video of Fly Away Home, a film about a girl and her dad rescuing a group of baby Canadian geese, as well as a mini-marathon of Run's House, which I love, because it's a silly reality show, but totally appropriate for all ages. We even played Wonder Girl's current favorite board game, CashFlow for Kids. The girls spent as much time in the kitchen as I did, and we prepared many of the foods we love, a few Raw, most not. This year, we only made enough for one round of leftovers, and in some cases, made healthier versions of favorite dishes.

It was a quite, modest Thanksgiving celebration. I loved it!