Raw Food Forums

I have joined Jen in doing Raw for 60 days.  If anyone else would like to join us, jump aboard - the more the merrier!

I thought we could document our joys and challenges here, and give each other support. 

I'm very excited, and have just dragged home my body weight in fruit and veggies, after eating other than the most optimal food for a few days.

So far today I have had half a glass of orange juice and a couple of imperial mandarines.  I might have a big green juice or similar after Earth Hour festivities have concluded.  Speaking of which, I've got to run and get ready to go down to the Pavillion to watch the fire twirlers and capoeira boys & girls.

Only 59 more sleeps!  :laugh:

Haven't been participating much in the forums but lurking and reading when i can. So MissGiggles i would also like to join yourself and Jen for the raw for 60 days. Have been mostly raw for a few months now and only giving in to my chocolate cravings which i am happy to say are now down from a big block of chocolate a day to a snickers bar a day. I am keen to kick this unhealthy habit right out of my life.

Some things to note are that i am breastfeeding my nearly 15month old (90% bf small amount of raw solid foods through out the day and evening) & she has alleregies to avo's, bananas, cucumbers, zucs, melons, celery (most of the latex fruits) so sadly for me i have quite a restricted raw diet.

Also i was not overweight when i started to transition to raw but since mostly eating this way i have lost a lot of weight and get to that "too skinny" stage which is where i think i crave the fats and sugars of the chocolate to try to fatten myself up. So need to find the balance of what foods to try to keep me at healthy weight range.

Saturday is shopping day for us (we have no car) so dh myself and two daughters take off to our local fruit and veg shop (sadly cannot afford organic, yet!). We have to walk two trips as we cannot carry all we need in one so we get in out exercise as well. Today was all raw except a snickers bar when we got home late this arvo.

Missgiggles hope you had a lovely evening out, sounds fun!

Hi RS and MG

I missed posting on the sleep thread recently, but having experimented with this recently I thought I'd throw in my two cents worth of 'Top Tips' if I may? :-)

My Top Tips:

1) Get to bed early - lights out by 10pm latest, much earlier if you are tired. This one single one thing could make all the difference between it being easy or it beign hard. I know. I've been there.
2) Take it one day and one moment at a time.
3) Stock up on a real variety of yummy raw things you love, sweet and savoury, dried and fresh, different textures etc in case you get cravings.
4) Decide, like Nora Lenz did when she went raw, that you can eat whatever you want and as much as you want as long as it's RAW.

If you are really committed to this then be comitted and then set it up for yourself so it's easy to succeed!

Bon voyage!! :-)

Love Spirit 

Unhindered - fantastic!  Welcome aboard the S.S. Raw for 60 Days ship! (Definitely not the S.S. Minnow) :laugh:

I hear you on the chocolate!  I suppose that is why raw cacao is such a blessing in my life, because I just  :heart: chocolate.  I'm going to be making a batch of peppermint chocolate today so that I have a little wee stash for when a girl's just got to have a little piece of chocolate!

Yesterday, I finished off the day with a few more mandarines.  I was so excited to see Imperials instore - I just love them.  I also ate a few baby romas, snow peas and a little celery as I was washing it and getting it into the fridge.

I am taking things one day at a time, and am going to focus on being prepared.  Work is where it is very easy for me to go off the rails, so I am going to be diligent in preparing my lunch to take each day.  The other challenge for me is my mind, so steely determination is required.

Today, for preparation, I'm going to:

• prepare some almond milk, so that I can have chocolate milkshakes on a whim.  *giddy*
• make some chocolate for when I need a little sweet treat.
• prepare some gado gado, so that I can enjoy that inside my baby cos lettuce leaves for lunch tomorrow.
• make Storm's sunny pate too - I haven't made that in so long, and it was a favourite when I encountered raw.

Other than that, I'll have my usual fave green juice each day - celery, green apple, ginger & a whole lemon.  I've got a big glass of chia that has been soaking overnight in orange juice, and so later I think a chia jaffa smoothie will be on the cards, but who knows, it might end up being a chia jaffa superfood pudding or anything else that I might fancy when the time comes.....

Who would have thought that already, there are only 58 more sleeps.  Not that I'm counting. ;)

Ooh - Love Spirit your post has come in while I am typing away. 

Yes, thank you it is very sound advice on the sleep.  10:00pm will be hard, but I will do my best.  The thing is, that the more raw one is, the less sleep one needs (so it is for me).  If I go to bed at 10:00pm, I'd be up at 3:00am or 4:00am!  I'll have to work on that, but this is what always happens with me. 

I don't find 4:00am a very productive time - not when you live in an apartment and can't really make noise (do washing, domestics etc.).  Of course, there is always a beach walk or similar, I suppose.  And exercise is something I really need to focus on too.  I might have to drag my rebounder out to the back yard, and just bounce away quietly in the morning air.  :laugh:

Thank you for the well wishes.  Please stop by regularly - I suspect I'll need support.  And thanks for the bon voyage - you can throw your streamers now, as we push off gently from the pier.  -_-

Unhindered - I'm sorry I missed your post - I wish you all the luck and success and joy in the world. :-)

Missgiggles - re bed time - it's 10pm for me but it may be different for you. But be disciplined regardless to get to bed early and work 'with' and not 'against 'nature. :-) If you only need 5 or 6 hours sleep nightly you are truly blessed!!! 

If you're then awake at 3 or 4am - maybe your soul wants to do things that you are not allowing time for during the day due to your busy-ness??? I understand about the unit living part but there is so much you can do quietly for those few hours. Obviously you have a PC at home. There's so much wonderful infomation on the net, you could use that time to read or learn more about things you love - raw food, spirituality etc etc?

I read Shazzie's www.shazzie.com whole 7 year journal recently and loved every second of it!!! Maybe it's because I'm English and she's like a raw spiritual verision of Bridget Jones;-)

And maybe you have a creative side you're not unleashing as much as you could??? Just some thoughts for you :-)

Day two! Miss G you are awesome for starting this thread.

Ok, my downfall times are...

When cooking for the family
When at restaurants
When I am away from home

That's pretty much it these days.

So what to do about it?

Make my dinner before the kids and nibble on it while I make theirs. This has always worked well for me in the past and I've fallen out of the habit.

At restaurants. I'm just going to have to use will. Yes I have it. I know I do.... I'll find it. I'll plan ahead what I am going to eat and call the restaurant in advance if need be.

Away from home. I'm off to Melbourne for a few days which will be awesome. I'll go to the fruit shop and stock up on the way to our accommodation. Last time I was in Melbourne it was pretty easy.

Awesome. This is going to be so great.

xoxoxox

So far so good.  Day 2, and I seem to have a passion back for raw, and I'm having lots of fun with it.

The word of the day seems to be improvisation. 

I went to make Storms sunflower pate, and didn't have basil, so I concocted my own pate with sunflower seeds (soaked), lemon juice, onion, orange juice, ginger and semi dried tomatoes (soaked).  It tastes quite nice at the moment, and I think will be even better when the flavours all mingle & settle overnight.  I've got my lunch sorted - pate, wee bag of lettuce leaves, wee bag of celery and wee bag of snow peas.

Eating today:

Chia jaffa smoothie at about 11:00am (so filling, that I didn't feel like anything until about 4:00pm)

Something I like to call "Lazy bugger's gazpacho" at 4:00pm.  I had a lovely recipe sent by a friend, but was missing some of the ingredients, so I just whizzed some cherry tomatoes, half an onion, juice of half a lemon, a dash of olive oil & vinegar, a clove of garlic and a pinch of cayenne, salt & black pepper.  It was scrumptious, and I had some flax crackers on the side for dipping.

Malted milk for dinner - almond milk, 1 banana, tiny amount of cacao, dash of yacon syrup and heaps of mesquite blended.  As a child I loved milk, and I liked it super cold.  I like my nut milks the same, so my malted milk is in the freezer chilling.  It's so good it should be outlawed.

I used the nut milk pulp to make something which is.... I don't know what exactly.  I just added small amounts of cacao, mesquite, agave, lucuma, dried coconut, a pinch of cayenne and some cacao butter.......pressed it into a cling film lined dish and threw it in the freezer to set.  Something will come out the other side that can be cut into squares and taken in my lunch box for a mid afternoon sweet treat.

All in all a gloriously gentle day of kitchen alchemy, and some raw dvds.

Tip of the day:  If anybody tells you that you get 5 times the amount of lypocene from cooked tomatoes, tell them that you also get 5 times more lypocene from blended tomatoes.  Thanks DW!

Day 3, and all is still on track.  I found my eyes seeking out food upon food on the way home from work.

There's something about Day 3's.  Day 1's are a breeze, and Day 2's are solid, and Day 3's get a bit shaky.  So it is with me.

But, I enjoyed my litre of green juice, sunflower pate wraps, celery and snow peas immensely.  I might stick with salad for work, because it's a little too weird doing odd looking concoctions that you graze on over a prolonged period of time. 

Strangely, I didn't have any herbal tea at work today.  It wasn't planned, it just happened.  I treat herbal tea as medicinal, not food, and personally ignore any reference to it being "cooked".  It will always form part of my diet.

I think I might have some raw French onion soup for dinner - an idea I found in other realms.  (thanks Ginger!)

I massaged Spanish onion rings with a little olive oil and some Tamari, and then dehydrated for 24 hours until crunchy.  These are great by themselves as a snack or as a crunchy addition to salads.

I'm going to use a few tablespoons of the crunchy onions, add some warm water, let it sit for a bit, et viola!

And I really need to make peppermint chocolate.

I'm a bit twitchy, so I'm logging off.  I hope everyone has a lovely night.

Doing well MissG, have fun with your chocolate. There is something so delectable about Chocolate and Mint together isn't there. Awesome combination.

Today was another awesome day. I was not hungry after exercise this morning so I did not eat! Good plan. I had two rockmelons (medium size) blended for lunch today and dinner was chopped ceylon spinach, dandelion, coriander, parsely, tomatoes and chopped raw olives with a dressing of

Juice of half an orange
salt
pepper
cashews (about a tablespoon tonight... in the dressing and some more for my snack as I went along  :laugh: )
Blend the above and pour.



Here is what my young coconut looks like when I've opened it Jubb style. So easy, non violent and non major muscle control needed. I wish I could explain it but I can't. I'll try and find a youtube vid. I normally get my young cocos from Luke (http://sunrisecoconuts.com) but I didn't have any and I needed one like now! So I caved. I enjoyed it although it felt weird.

I'm going to have one of these blended tomorrow, on it's own or with something else.

I didn't eat much today but that's ok. I wasn't very hungry! I only eat when I am hungry so I expect it to balance out in the next couple of days.

xoxoxo

I'm really enjoying this thread and am cheering you on from the sidelines with my big bowl of seaweed.

Miss g - I love that dehydrated onion idea and the French onion soup. I'm going to give that a go. I make dehydrated onion rings in a batter of orange juice and sesame seeds with a pinch of salt. They're very tasty. I only enjoy raw onion if it's dehydrated. My plans to make a batch of chocolate have been scuppered because a big food order I placed has gone astray. Apparently been delivered to one of my neighbours, but no-one's owning up to it! Looking out for smoeone blissed out on cacao and other lovely superfoods.

Jen -you are so clever to do that to a young coconut. Last time I had one (some time ago as they're hard to get hold of in these parts) I had to resort to drilling it open. Made the biggest mess. Had to drill loads of holes in it till they all joined up.

ggxx

gg - so nice to "see" you!  Thanks for shaking the pom poms - it is so appreciated.  I was rattling around the decks of this ship, wondering if there was anyone else on board.  But here you and Jen are.  -_-

On the dehydrated onion idea - they are totally awesome, and I love your idea! 

A word on the French Onion soup.  I discovered last night that just adding water is a little bland.  A dash of olive oil in the onions soaked in warm water, plus another generous splash of Tamari and a dash of black pepper, and now THAT is a rocking raw soup!  I also blended it a bit to break up the onions, and that was good.

However, because it was so nice after a few sips, and because it was an icky "Day 3", I immediately put more onions on to soak to have more. 

With the second batch, I took most of the onions and a little of the soak water and blended in my little rocket blender, then added back to the main liquid.  That was my preferred method in the end.  The soup has a lovely intense flavour, and after two batches of it, my tummy had the cranks a bit later on in the night.  Lesson learned.  Balance.   One bowl was plenty for my body, it was just my head trying to steer the ship.

OMG on the missing cacao.  I really hope it turns up.  An angel might be keeping it safe for you, and may connect with you soon.  At least, that is my hope.

Day 4 has dawned and the word of the day seems to be "soft".  Everything feels soft today.  My skin and body feels so hydrated from the hydrating foods of the last few days vs the food that preceded it which was devoid of life force. 

The thing I noticed about those few days was the heaviness.  Not heavy in weight (although that too is a result) but heavy in energy.  A really heavy body energetically, and heavy dark thoughts.  I found that my mind would sit and rest on the most distressing or disturbing scenes from movies that I'd seen years ago, and that the images would then be hard to shift. 

3 days on and that has shifted totally.

This to me, in every respect, is what David Wolfe means when he says that YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT.  I know that, for me, what I eat does affect my thoughts.  I can not be the thinker that I want to be without a diet full of life force.  But, that's just my world view.

Jen - I might pinch your dressing idea for lunch today.  I'm thinking baby spinach, baby romas, olives, red capsicum and celery.  Scrummo.  Valencias are just primo at the moment.

And I might whip a peppermint heart into the lunch box.  Yes, the world is indeed good.  :laugh:

Goji Girl I had to larf at an image of you with your drill doing that to a poor coconut!

How do you prepare your seaweed? Do you have a salad with just seaweed in it and nothing else? Brave.

I wasn't really hungry again today. I seem very switched off from my body. I hadn't been to worried about my lack of appetite until my run this morning when I couldn't even run 2kms. I'm really sore this afternoon too. I think I've just not been putting in the right fuel.

No greens and high stress equal a highly acidic Jen. So I've had loads of greens in the last 24 hours. Loads.

I started eating today at around 1. I blended a rockie with 1/2 a bunch of ceylon spinach and some mint. I still can't work out if I liked it or not. I think I put a little too much spinach in for the taste. But the body needed it...

I've just had dinner. Pretty much the same as last night. I had soaked Kombu (Kelp?) instead of olives though. I thought it was a little bland. I love the power of the olive flavour. Yummmmm!

Have felt really tired today. I'm not sure why. Low concentration and like I needed to cry but I felt happy. A day of mixed emotions.

I know that in the past my cooked eating has always been triggered by emotional need. Whether it is to fit in with the crowd I'm with (who am I kidding? I don't fit in! Who does?) or because I've been so good I deserve a treat, or just one mouthful won't hurt, or I've had a really hard day, I just want something easy. Pfft. Easy! What could be easier than blending some fruit and greens?

So I've never really done the emotional detox. I'm prepared. *Squares shoulders* I can face my emotions head on, with the help of my homeopath... she has been warned, and my chiro guy. All is going to be well.

I'm as exited about this as I was about the new year. 2008 is awesome and the next few days will be even better!

Goji, I tried to find a youtube vid of how to open a coco that way. Couldn't find one sorry. I saw David Jubb do it on a DVD the title of which is eluding me right now.... ho hum. I'll have to write and ask if he can post that on youtube. Good man that he is I'm sure he won't mind...

**************exited************* I went back to youtube and did the search without David Jubb and found another vid....   Roe Gallo (http://youtube.com/watch?v=ibU_G2l7biM), who looks fab by the way, I must read her books,  has this great lesson. I've put it in favourites.

Sacha, I'm going to put this in your journal as well just in case you are not reading here.

I hope you like it Goji. Best way to open a coconut ever. Those knives are cheap too!

xoxoxo

Great coconut vid Jen - I tried it the other day, but forgot the shaving part, and was tapping away, and then thought "blow it", and once again brandished my cleaver from a great height.

But, I am planning a cacao berry coco superfood smoothie for dinner, so I shall try it again properly.

Great day today - breezy, just like day 1.  What a relief.

Breakfast of my fave green juice.

Lunch was my own salad - I really don't know why I buy salads when the ones we make ourselves are just so much better, in every way.  It probably had everything but the kitchen sink in it, but that's the way I like my salads.

Baby spinach, baby cos, red capsicum, raw gherkin, baby romas, celery, crispy onion rings.  As always it was large enough to easily hide a family entering witness protection.

I started off making your dressing Jen, but then got inspired. 

So, I grabbed my handful of RP Greek Olives (pitted), threw them in my rocket blended with a tiny amount of raw cashews (no time for soaking), an inch of ginger sliced finely, juice of an orange and a splash or two of apple cider vinegar and whizz whizz.

The dressing was the colour of chocolate!!!!  And after sitting for 3-4 hours in the fridge at work, I have to say was one of the BEST salad dressings ever.  I loved it so much, I'm doing it all again tomorrow.

Later for a sweet treat, I had peppermint chocolate - a batch that by some freak of nature has turned out as smooth as silk.

Time for some kitchen alchemy....

Olive dressing and smooth chocolate...  See you in about 2 hours Miss G!

*Jennie runs for a plane...*

xoxoxox

*miss g hides the chocolate and denies all knowledge*  :P

 :ohyeah: You're both doing so well (shakes pom poms).

Thank you for the vid Jen. That's a far more sensible method than the one I resorted to. As for the seaweed, I'm just rinsing and soaking it and eating it with kale and tomatoes at the moment. Devouring huge quantities of it. I can see why you would find it lacking in flavour, though. I just love the texture and my body must need the minerals. I'm also doing lots of green juices and I feel better than I ever have before, in every way.


miss g this really sums up what this is all about for me.

ggxx

Me too.  I feel so 'gluggy' in my mind lately, and I attribute that to the 'heavier' cooked foods I have been consuming.  Interestingly I did it on purpose, as I had a bit of a shock at the level of energy and clarity I was getting to and needed to retreat from that for a little while, just to come to terms with it.  I am ready again now :)

So as of today, 100% raw... for... some amount of time that has not become clear to me yet.  I'm a few days late to start with you girls!  But hey, that's okay too :)

Breakfast & snack:  two green smoothies chock full of spinach, with mango and banana. Yummy and frothy and luscious.

Late Lunch: was avocado-chocolate ice cream made with my new ice-cream maker I was given as a gift.  A little 'dense' with the avocado base, I need practice at ice cream making. And somewhat gritty with making my own cocoa powder from beans, but it sure tasted good anyway.

Dinner: sun-dried tomato cashew based dip, with some nutritional yeast for cheesiness.  I added salt & fresh thyme to the dip too, for flavour. Ate it up with crunchy red capsicum and celery.

Hi lovely women  :laugh:

I'm loving reading your success so far and thought I'd best join in on the festivities. It seems that when I crawled back to this wonderful forum after a few days of neglecting my health with cooked food it seemed there were a few others in the same boat and y'all inspired me to jump onboard the raw canoe where all the fun is at!

So count me in gals cos I'm done with straying from my raw path of truth.

Today is Day 2 for me.
Day 1 was a relief...after being lazy for at least 2 weeks (I was unable to walk because of injured foot for the first week!) I ventured out into a wild chilly, overcast weather and trusted we would be looked after as I just needed to walk to the fruit shop (a 2km round trip). I bought everything I wanted - ripe bananas, local passionfruit, local nashis, local organic white nectarines, a red pear to try and avocados. I had a great time at the shop being passionate about produce. It rained when we were shopping but cleared for us. I was blessed with a pretty cruisy detox but my eyes were rather sore and red. I ate about 7 bananas, a nashi/passionfruit bowl, a nectarine, a GS ( actually purple!) of 2 apples, blackberries and dandelion & beet leaves, I snacked on tomatoes and a handful of freshly cracked local hazlenuts (done with a hammer! us chicks get creative with tools huh...I use a hacksaw to get into young coconuts LOL goji girl  :laugh:) and dinner a raw soup of at least 1kg of blended garden tomatoes, a garden carrot grated, garden celery chopped, a couple of fronds garden parsley chopped and some spinachbeet leaves shredded. YUM!!!!! My new fave thing.

Day 2, Today, took bubba for a walk again and basically had a day of activity and feeling alive. Lots of garden work, spent most of the day outside which bub loves. Ate grapes right off the vine, a Purple GS of bananas, blackberries and spinachbeet and beet leaves, cherry tomatoes off the plant, a big garden apple, 2 huge bananas, 2 nashis, 2 nectarines, a few little garden cucumbers, another garden soup like last night but with nettle blended into the tomatoes. The nettle plants popped up in the pot that we planted an olive tree in, on top of the placenta on Boxing Day, a few days after Jarrah was born...they are all such healthy plants, glowing in fact. I also snacked on about 10 hazlenuts as I was cracking them for others.

Well I'm feeling wonderful and looking forward to another sleep, and then a brand new day!


 :heart: :heart: :heart:

Glorious!!! Our dragon boat is filling up!   -_-

Waterberry - it's a delicate dance, isn't it, balancing the energy/clarity with enough grounding.

Jungle - I'm seeing a youtube video by the gals of Raw Pleasure.  "Power Tools in the Raw Food Kitchen". 

GG could use a jigsaw to open young coconuts, after using a sander to shave it and you could wield a hammer for in-shell nuts.  Safety goggles on, please.  :laugh:

For all those kelp eaters - I was watching Jameth Sheridan recently and learned that kelp is 42% minerals, and has an amazing ability to pull poisons from the body.  It was used in Chernobyl to counter affects of radiation.  Powerful stuff!

Alas, I can't eat things that taste like the sea, and the only sea vegies I intake are those that are in my greens powder.

Dinner last night was a "pond scum" smoothie.  What started as a cacao/berry/coco smoothie idea turned into a greens focus, and I really packed in the greens powder and some blue manna.  It tasted awesome.

Today is looking much like yesterday - greens juice for breakfast - my juice man sees me approach and immediately starts loading up his little bowl with celery, and gathering the bits.  He's so onto it now!

Lunch will be a salad much the same as yesterday, but I'll remember to add some glorious snow peas.  I'm out of crunchy onions, so that is a must to do this weekend.  I'm loving them in salads.

I hope everyone has an awesome day.

Oops, I nearly forgot - I actually managed to find the "circular membrane" at the top of my coconut last night, and open it via tapping.  I had to whack the d*ckens out of it to extract the meat, but it's a start.  :laugh:

I had some major cravings last night. I won't go into what they were because I don't want to create a craving in anyone else but I can say that it was the usual carb/salt thing going on. I have to say that it was this thread and something that Harley said in his 'binging on sugar' thread that kept me going. I wasn't hungry so I just had a pinch of salt under my tongue and watched TV for awhile.

It's been so long since I watched TV. I watched a terrible show called NCIS and then went straight to sleep. Didn't even read.

I have pimples all over my neck and some on my face and am starting to have some startling bm's. Really sore muscles and a sore throat. Interesting.

Today is day.... 5? I'll have to go and check and put day 60 in my diary.

Miss G! Well done. I managed to get the meat out pretty easily using a spoon. But the ones I opened had very soft meat. Not thick.

xoxoxo

Yep, today is day 5. 

A really quick post from me, as my head hurts after an unbelievably busy day at work that made me use too much of my brain for too many hours non-stop.  :laugh:

On the way home I had a wee mental skirmish - what was I going to have for dinner?  I dispensed with it really quickly, and knew that I needed to have a favourite meal.  I needed "comfort raw".

So, I am going to make gado gado sauce.  The recipe is (from elsewhere on the forum):

Gado-Gado
by Nomi Shannon
© 1998 Nomi Shannon.

Gado-Gado is a highly flavorful sauce that tastes wonderful slightly warmed (use the warm to your finger test- if you can’t leave your finger in there indefinitely, it’s too hot and you are losing enzymes) and drizzled over almost any vegetable that you can think of. Try placing some of the following on a bed of sunflower and buckwheat sprouts and pour some Gado-Gado over: shredded cabbage, sliced carrots, celery, broccoli, asparagus, spinach, grated beets, cauliflower florets, mushrooms, any kind of squash, greens, grated sweet potato, etc.

1 Cup almond butter
2 - 4 Tablespoons chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 Tablespoon honey
Juice from 1 lemon
1 Tablespoon grated ginger root
1 Tablespoon Tamari
1 Tablespoon Sesame oil
1/2-1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 Cup water

Place all ingredients in blender, add enough water to allow blender to run. Blend until thoroughly pureed. It should the consistency of a smooth, thick soup. Taste and adjust seasonings. Yields 2 1/2 cups.


I love it!  And I've never made it with almond butter, I just grind a cup of almonds (that have been soaked and dehydrated until crunchy) in the blender first, and then add all the other bits.

I'm sure that you're supposed to serve it on some lovely chopped vegies or similar, but I make it, pour it into a bowl and dip lettuce leaves into it.  Tonight, it's baby cos leaves, because I have a crush on them at the moment.  Otherwise, I use iceberg lettuce.  I might make a double batch and take some for lunch tomorrow.

Well, that's all for tonight - I need to go and switch my brain off with some trashy tv.

Have a lovely night.

LOL @ MissG - you makin me laugh! I hope you used an angle grinder to get those almonds to a pulp!  :snicker:

Today was strange...I was tired but extremely energetic at the same time but I got through it without any real dramas! I have been having cravings for less desirable (for me) raw foods but realise that like cooked foods I just want to shove these foods in...get them down to hopefully fulfill some need. Then I remind myself that food is simply fuel and the physical act of putting nutritious food into the physical body is very simple really! And what's best for my body tends to be the yummiest. I'm seeing less point in making it all so emotional...I want to eat in tune with what is the best for the world. Joy comes from natural health for me!

Today, Day 3 I downed, for breaky a fruit salad of passionfruit, nashi, apple and nectarine yummy!
A couple more apples
beetroot, red capsicum, cucumber dipped in parsely and mashed avocado...first avo for ages and I emjoyed it. The beetroot was delish too. I thought I was off most veggies but have been loving the carrot and beetroot from my mum's garden.
nashis
nectarines
for another early dinner a big salad of cos, rocket, other random lettuce leaves, mint, vietmanese mint, tomatoes, cucumber and walnuts. No dressing cos it's yum as is!
I really wanted bananas today, I'm back in love with those creamy delights.

I love this ride! :yahh:

Think I've just about had my fill of seaweed  :laugh: Still craving the kale though. Had a spicy cayenne pepper kale salad for tea followed by a big bowl of hemp seeds. Love listening to my body - never know what it's going to ask for next. At least hemp is legal here - eating it at any rate  :rolleyes:

Had a snack of celery and dates this morning while working at computer and bit into a date stone. Has broken the porcelain veneer on my front tooth. Looks absolutely dreadful. Will get it fixed but have got two big lectures to give before then. I've been practising talking in front of the mirror without opening my mouth very wide.

I've been writing a lecture on the 'Sociology of Food' today which I shall deliver on Tuesday. Talk about diet as a social construction and factors such as class, religion, culture, politics that influence our food choices. I've also managed to incorporate the politics of breastfeeding, the impact of our diet on children's health and behaviour, calcium and protein myths and the environmental impact of a standard Western diet. Will be the first time I've spoken on these subjects and I'll be interested in the reaction - it's a lively group of students.

We should get on with our 'power tools' video whilst my front tooth is still missing for maximum impact.

ggxx

GG - I totally agree that we should waste no time on the video - chipped front tooth, safety goggles & a pair of overalls.... yes, the vision is forming.

Eeek to the tooth.  At least it was a date pip.  I lost part of a molar eating custard about 20 years ago.  It's still missing.  Dentists have always wanted to do something to the tooth, but after one said that "if I ever wanted to chew meat again, that I should really give it some attention", I realised that I didn't need to even bother.  Besides, one day I have hopes of regrowing it.

Jungle - an angle grinder? Of course! The whipper snipper was such a messy business!  :rolleyes:

Last night's dinner was indeed gado gado sauce with a whole baby cos lettuce used for dipping.  Then 4 small squares (through the course of the evening) of lovely raw peppermint chocolate.

Day 6 has dawned and softness is again what I notice.  I have no idea on weight loss, as I usually use other indicators - my feet feeling smaller in my blundstones, my clothes fitting more comfortably or loosening etc.  All in all, I just feel "soft".

I've got a couple of work functions that I have to negotiate very soon - a leaving lunch tomorrow, and then a lunch next week.  I might need to employ a couple of different strategies, based on the audience.  One I think I shall just decline (lots of others attending, and I won't be missed), and the other I might plead some kind of "nil by mouth based on medical advice" defence, delivered with the necessary sobriety of voice.   An active imagination never goes astray. ;)

GG - keep us posted on how your lecture goes.  I'd love to read it, if you feel comfortable sharing it.  There's nothing like "lively students" to keep a gal on her toes.  :laugh:

Wishes for a self empowered day to all.

Waterberry - I hope all is well with you, and that you weren't affected by the wild and woolly weather that whipped around Melbourne yesterday??

Hi Guys,

I have been 100% raw for the last couple of days now, day 3 today.
Can I still join you...

pllllleassseee 

Of course! The more the merrier. Maybe we could start counting down the days until the challenge is completed so that anyone joining doesn't have to do the math? I think that means that today is 54days to go? It's day six right? Miss G will know.

I had for dinner last night a dip with carrots.

Two handfuls of cashews spun in the food processor until they were both dizzy and like breadcrumbs.
3/4 of a small red capsicum
1/2 clove of garlic
Celtic Sea Salt and fresh ground pepper
2 handfuls of soaked dehydrated tomatoes.

The tomatoes were originally sliced and then tossed in oregano (fresh from the garden) and sea salt.

Whiz in processor until the ingredients are at your desired consistency. I think I whizzed and then added the tomatoes last. I chopped them up a bit too as they hadn't been soaked long.

I wasn't really hungry again yesterday and had no blender as there was no power for most of the day. So no green smoothie yesterday.

I was going to treat myself to the movies while the power outage was on but there was nothing that really grabbed me and so I spent my money on young cocos instead. I drank three of them while lying in my hammock reading! I ate heaps of lady finger bananas yesterday too.

Have woken today with very strong flu symptoms. Perspiration streaming off my body, headache, runny nose, look like hell feel like blerk... but the acne has cleared up! Yee har.

Everything is perfect!

xoxoxox

remember to drink at least a few litres of water in the morn before eating jen. for extra cleaning effect, extra water must be consumed.

Thanks Harley, Since you advised me to drink more before running, I almost instantly doubled my distance! I'm working on being able to drink more quickly upon rising. And during the night too if I waken.

Your hair looks amazing! Did you get some grass seeds caught in it while you were out riding lately?  :laugh:

xoxoxox

i fell asleep near a mates sprouter tray after a big night on banana smoothies.
if its warmer weather and i need to drink more before a long run i will wait 10-30 mins after drinking a litre or so for it to settle. or i can just jog before i run and let the water settle that way.

over time we work out a routine that provides most efficiency...and a routine that incorporates the importance that the quickest way to overtrain is to become dehydrated.

Woohoo I can get back on the computer today! 

Yesterday I did indeed get swept up in the wild windstorms that went through Melbourne.  I was out on the roads, seeking out ingredients for my dinner... driving slowly, dodging bits of tree and bark that were falling down everywhere.  Seeing a lot of broken trees, including an entire snow-gum placed upside-down in someones front yard.

The store I was heading to was closed as a tree had fallen on its power connection, so I went to the next one - driving slowly through intersections as all traffic lights were out too.  And at this next store, I found a delightful little 'dry goods' store, selling an amazing amount of things which you measured and packaged yourself into brown paper bags, for weighing and purchase.  Dried fruits including goji berries, nuts including raw nuts, seeds, flours, grains - including raw oat groats and organic raw buckwheat.  Heaps of variety and fair prices, I'll be going back here - especially to support the low packaging philosophy.

So I got my dinner ingredients - I'd been reading recipe books and had got all inspired you see - and drove home.  Then the power went out at my place too.  So, no blender kinda got in the way of things, was considering options of  massively pounding things in the mortar & pestle.  But then parents cracked it with not being able to cook their dinner and were going to throw out a bunch of pre-chopped veggies... and well... you know how good veggies taste when someone else has chopped them for you! ... my dinner was made :)

I'm still drooling over the ideas of marinated portobello mushrooms with mushroom gravy and mashed brazil-nut brocolli stuff that I would have made last night, but, I'll get to it soon enough.

Tonight I'm headed out for dinner, could be a challenge.  There better be salad or something.  I like the idea of knowing where we're headed so I could phone ahead and query the place - but it never happens like that in Melbourne... dinner venue decisions are always spur of the moment.

Now... off to make that carrot cake with the pulp from my morning juice!

Well, DR, the colour suits you. A big green spiky fro! Awesome. I need about half an hour for the water to settle before I can run. But it's getting better!  :yahh:

Wow, there was windstorms in Melbourne? I had no idea. I think you need to come back to the Gold Coast to recover.  :laugh:

That store sounds awesome. I have met a few people using raw oat groats. I asked at my local place and they had been microsteamed as part of the process but still sprouted when I tested them. Give it a whirl. I think that oat groats are going to be huge. I believe that Peter Ragnar is a big fan.

Those mushrooms sound divine.

I forgot to mention that I called my brother and requested a salad for his wedding. He is having buffet and has a couple of salads (real ones, no rice or pasta) on the menu with my in mind. How awesome is he? I am happy with myself. It was a big thing for me to ask for that as I don't like putting people out. Done it once now, the next time will be easier!

xoxoxox

Thank you for letting me being part of your group  :rose:

And you are all doing really well. I like your idea of counting down Jen so we all keep on track. (I will just have to keep going a little longer hopefully months longer!!)

Well my first couple of days back on raw have been interesting, I have been tired a lot, couple of headaches but they were quickly gone with lots of water. I am also feeling much more at ease, calmer, peaceful Oh well I don't have to tell you, you know what I mean.
 
Probably the most interesting things have been that I am very very thirsty  and my skin feels very dry since I started raw. I am hoping my body is cleaning up and this is just one of those things. The last time I was completely (over 95% raw) raw for a couple of months I can't remember any of these small things so I thought it would be interesting to write them down.

So what did I have today:
GS with spinach leaves
2 bananas
cup berries
tsp camu camu powder (for some extra vitamin C)
tbsp of raw choc powder
agave syrup

Lunch: big bag of green grapes, maybe another apple in an hour.

Dinner plans:
guacamole made with
1 avacado
2 tomatoes
1 green onion
garlic
heap of basil leaves (fresh obviously)
Himalyan salt
pepper
Lemonjuice
served on cos lettuce leaves mmmm

I would have loved to have some dehydrated crackers with this but still haven't bought myself a machine, one day....

I was wondering if you guys have any goals for the 60 day raw challenge, I mean staying 60 days raw is pretty amazing by itself but do you want to lose weight, become more aware of what you exactly eat etc??

Anyway my goal is to lose some weight, so I need to keep an eye on the fat (ok tonight is not good with a whole avo but that is a ones a week thing), get back on track but also see how eating raw influences my yoga practice...
I practice 4-5 x a week and really think this makes a difference.

So keen to hear everybody's thought!!

Love eve

you're skin can be lipid dry or dehydrated dry - lipid dry is not enough EFAs (essential fatty acids), which virtually mean Omega 3 (people get concerned about the Omega 3-6 balance, but the body can convert Omega 3s to Omega 6s if needed, it can't convert Omega 6s to Omega 3)  Flax seeds and chia seeds are the best Omega 3 options if you're avoiding avocados.
Lipid dry skin, usually the skin will thicken up and be dry and feel rough, sometimes even red, doesn't matter how much water you drink.  Dehydrated skin feels dry like paper, but it usually doesn't thicken up as much as the lipid dry skin.

I tried to post to this thread earlier - but don't know what happed to it?
I would love to participate in this challenge too please - if you have room
on the boat?

Thanks,
S.

Mmm interesting melb thanks for explaining this to me.

I don't think it is lipid dry, actually it feels really dehydrated. Like I have been drinking all night (btw I have not  :laugh: I don't drink at all actually...)

I am not really avoiding avo's just watching intake, same with nuts and coconut oil etc cause they are high in fat and I really want to lose some weight over the next 60 days as well.

I guess I just have to keep drinking plenty of water, so bottoms up!

edited to say hi to ~~ sharon~~ of course you are welcome!!
please join in! eve

Of course! the more the merrier. Just join in. It's so great that we can all support each other this way. The boat is HUGE and cannot sink.

Melb it's interesting you say that. My face in particular had been red on and off for a little while now. And I've been craving some crackers so it looks like you have provided my answer. I've also developed wrinkles! Really quickly. Hopefully they will plump back out again.

Sharon that happened to me as well the other day. I did this whole long post and previewed it and then went to another thread. It wasn't until I was going back to reread the thread that I found it missing!

xoxoxo

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome onto this beautiful boat.

Someone asked a while back in the thread (sorry I didn't go back to see who it was),
what we wanted to get out of doing 60 days raw.  For me I would love to release excess
weight, clear my mind (instead of it feeling foggy a lot), clear my skin (I am mid 30s and
still full of pimples), and elimate or reduce my cravings for my favorite cooked food (tofu
and rice).

I would like to say goodluck to everyone else on this boat - please be strong.
I will be so much more determined and strong to know that you are on this
ride with me.

Group Hug,
S.

Group hugs on a boat! I love it! Thank you Sharon for wanting to join the challenge! We are lucky to have you...

I'd forgotten about that question too...

I just want to be raw for 60 days. Also to enjoy it as much as possible and get past the emotions that I block with cooked food. Anything else is a bonus.

Even though I woke up full of flu type symptoms this AM they are nearly gone now and I am feeling amazing.

xoxoxo

Back in here with my lipid dry hijack - the heels are another area where lack of EFAs usually shows up very quickly - skin thickens up, gets rough, deep cracks, heels don't go red like the face, but luckily the face doesn't crack like the heels! I see it a lot in 3rd trimester/breast feeding, baby is consuming all the EFAs (mainly used in brain formation and the protective layer around major organs), leaving mum to turn into a lipid dry crinkly thing.
So the next question is, how are your heels??? 
(and heel hijack, any spare eye creams you have lying around that you don't use on your eyes are usually great on dry heels, non-greasy, quickly absorbed, everything you want in a heel cream rather than lanolin that is in so many heel creams)

Hehe, I love group hugs tooo!!!!!  :yahh:

Carrot cake turned out good - more of a carrot slice because I didn't realise the recipe called for a whole 5 CUPS of carrot pulp, wow that would be a lot of juice for just me :)   But hey.... cake.... slice... it's all just a means of getting the cashew-lemon frosting to your mouth, right?  rofl

Had a sultana-grape spinach banana green smoothie too.   It was too sweet.  I don't think I'll do that one again, sweet little grapes are mighty powerful on the sugar levels!

Why am I doing this goal of 60 days?  Good question.  Science experiment in many ways... I'd like to see what happens to me.

Physically I have some hopes of better skin & hopefully some weight loss since I need a bit more of that to happen.  Skin is currently pretty good (smooth, 3 blemishes only), so it would be interesting to see if it gets even better... I know the soles of my feet are still dry and flakey which is gross.  Will also see if dietary change helps my stamina/endurance with the walking/jogging I am doing too.

I am most interested in seeing what happens with my energy levels, thought processes and patterns.  I'd love to have that feeling of being able to tackle absolutely anything, with happiness and confidence.  I have been finding this year I'm much more settled when I have thought things through and come to awarenesses of problems, or understanding what stage everyone is at.  Continuing that would be nice.

The boat has been hijacked? Oh that is too  rofl !!!

My heels are not too bad.... a little dry. I've heard that a sulfur deficiency can caused cracks in the heels as well. I used to have to wear shoes all the time or I would leave little bloody heel prints around....  I larfed at something this morning that Caitlyn said and my lower lip cracked and bled... I smiled and my face cracked!

Just had a packet of flax seed crackers with the most delectable tomato I've ever eaten... ymmm!

Hey Waterberry, we were dual posting! Yers that frosting sounds delish. The smoothie... I can't get mine sweet enough. I have an alarmingly sweet tooth. Am going to have a green smoothie for dinner. Yummm!

Must make some onion bread for tomorrow nights dinner. If it turns out ok I'll post the recipe!!!

xoxoxo

Oh waterberry - please post the recipe for the carrot slice with the cashew-lemon frosting.
I am drooling just thinking about it - yum double yum!!!

The boat has ben hijakked? Oh well we'll get out our power tools and whip up a banana boat!

So good to see so many on board!

I'm doing well...
Thinking about my goals and what I come up with is to live from my higher self. I know that I glow with health on 100% raw. I know I have more energy and I know my bub is happier with my breastmilk. I can see everything with much more positivity and clarity. I am more in tune with nature because I don't feel guilty about not doing the best for her. I feel the same as with becoming vegan - there's no reason to NOT be a raw vegan!

oh oh yes that's me... bugger...

I found some ground flax seed from a company called Ceres Organic that has been sitting in my cupboard for a little while but.... how do you eat it? Do you put it in your GS??

Good to see so many people enthausiastic for the challenge I hope we can keep it up over the next mmm 54 days.
Ohhh and I have a confession I forgot I've still been having 1 latte every morning, funny aye how you are soo busy with food I forgot about that.
Anyway I will downsize to green tea from now on, even though that is also not raw I like having 1 hot drink at work in the morning maybe at the half way mark I will cut it out completely.

Good luck everybody, I am off to bed soooo tired  :yawn:

This boat is rockin'......  :laugh:

AWESOME day today in every way.  Mostly because I had to contend with my all time favourite dessert since childhood that was THERE in the work kitchen from about 10:30am this morning.

I played hostess, I passed it around, I helped tidy up, and I didn't so much as inhale near it.  Thankfully, I had my raw comfort food for lunch.  Gado gado sauce that I ate with a whole baby cos.  And through some divine stroke, I had 3/4 of a raw peppermint chocolate bar with me, and so when everyone was again interested in the sweeties that were still in the kitchen, I happily ate small squares of my chocolate.

I spent a good part of the day laughing so hard that I had tears streaming down my face, and a sore tummy.  So, yep it was indeed a grand day.

I have chia back in the house, and soaked some this morning, so dinner is going to be a chia jaffa smoothie, which I have been looking forward to all day.  And I'll whip up a salad for tomorrow with my current fave olive dressing.

If nobody minds, I shall continue to count up, rather than down - it's just easier for me.  So it will be a week tomorrow (for me).  And right now, I'm feeling steely of mind.

As for why I am doing the challenge - it came at the perfect time, and my reasons have mostly to do with conquering the mind, and applying mental discipline.

I just finished off the day with stuffed red capsicums (the filling was cracked pepper cheez by Ani Phyo) with Mole sauce (also by Ani) on a bed of greens. I wasn't crash hot on the Mole sauce which is a pity and I threw most of it in the compost. But once I had it with the rest of the meal it tied in really well together so I acted in haste! Never mind. I made a very small batch anyhoo...

Miss G, fabulous results on the fave dessert of all time. Especially with the not inhaling. That's fab. I'm glad you didn't faint or fall overboard!

Eve, I used to blend them up in smoothies or sprinkle them on salads. You can grind them to a powder too and sprinkle on salads. Yummmmm!

xoxoxo

I've decided to join you lovely people in this challenge.

I've not done 60 days straight yet so here's my chance! I'm also giving myself a big fat incentive (as long as I achieve some other goals as well) which is to go to Raw Spirit at Sedona this year.

Woo hoo!  :yahh:

So there is noooo way I'm having anything except 100% raw food now. I'm counting tomorrow as my first day to be legit in the challenge and will go until the end of June - that's 88 days. And I'm sooo excited!!!   

those stuffed capsicums sound delish jen. anyway just thought i'd pop in this thread and wish everyone all the best in this challenge miss g, jen and love spirit, hope i'm not missing anyone. i hopefully will be joining it by the end of the week after i finishing moving and do a big shop and make sure i'm prepared.

Stoooooked! Welcome aboard our ship. Awesome to have you here.

I think we need to name our ship. Does anyone have any ideas?

The Rawship Enterprise?
The Jolly Rawraw
Rawtanic... no we don't want to sink
The Raw Magic II

And a tune.... raw raw raws your boat, row toward your health, if you see a craving food, shoot it down in stealth! Yee har. Oh how corny! LOL....

Or... if you're raw and you know it
       don't forget to show it
       just you get a salad when out! ..... an Abba tune. Can't remember the name of the song

Or.... I wanna rawk,
         I want to rawk yeah!... Twisted Sister

I'm going now... before I come up with anything worse than this! LOL. I've been making myself laugh so it's not a total waste of time!

We were posting at the same time Tora Chan... we'll pick you up from the end of the pier at the end of the week then! thanks for the good wishes.

xoxoxo

Thanks tc :-)

So, here's who is in it so far:

raw sensation
missgiggles
unhindered
waterberry
Jungle
eve
~sharon~
Love Spirit
tora chan (soon)

Is there anyone else lurking with intent and wanting to come out of the raw closet??? ;-)

Also, I'd love to know if anyone's planning on going to Raw Spirit this year???

LS xx   


 

Jen, you are hilarious!!!!

Who needs drugs when you can have raw food and go a little bit crazy (like Jen)??!!! ;-)

Sam - I'm going.  I sent you a pm.  I'm so glad that you're going too.

I know you mean good crazy like this -> :yahh: and not like this ->  :crazy: Love Spirit!

Cor, I wish I was going to Raw Spirit. I'd love to. I might have to start manifesting....

xooxox

Weird!  I was thinking about ship names earlier, but didn't get past "Raw Studs Afloat".  :laugh:

And speaking of songs.... a guy did a parody for Raw Spirit to the James Taylor song "You've got a friend" with the lyric "you've gotta cleanse".  It makes me laugh.

I love this sort of word play... there's a Red Hot Chilli Peppers song called 'Zephyr' with a line that goes:

Fly away on my Zephyr

Bill fell all about the place when he heard me confidently singing:

Fly away on my cell phone...

Hey it was the Chilli Peppers. Anyone could have made that mistake!

Goodnight all!

xoxoox

I'm sort of on board this ship - at least I'm paddling alongside in a dinghy filled with pom poms and power tools.

I am 100% raw at the mo cos I've gone off the steamed veg and miso (which is more or less the only cooked food I eat anyway) and life gets more magical by the day. My big goal is to join in the global juice feast in a few weeks' time so it's good practice for me to think a bit more about what I'm consuming.

After making a wonderful wild green juice this morning, I have come up with a sequel to the power tools vid. It's a guide to picking and juicing wild nettles in the vein of David Wolfe's best work but with additional yelps and squawks and the judicious use of eyebrow tweezers to get the bl**dy things into the juicer.

ggxx

Oh Jen...you are hilarious as ever!

Welcome aboard Love Spirit! I hadn't even considered getting to the Raw Spirit festivities but will now dream about it and see what I come up with! Thanks for the inspiration.

goji girl, it seems some folks are more sensitive than others to nettle stings...they don't bother me much at all. When I was afraid that they would sting bad I used to cut them off with scissors then handle them with tongs...that seemed to work without touching them. Also if you need to handle the leaves go from underneath. Good luck!

I was personally thinking of a sequel video too! It features the raw pleasure men modelling durian rider's collection of raw fashion headgear - melon berets, sprout wigs etc ...I would love to see that!

What powerful domino effects our inspirations are having! Thanks everyone  -_-

I dreamt last night...in great detail but the basic gist I will tell...
With an old friend and my baby boy I was on a bridge. Somehow crossing the bridge caused a flash flood. It was like the Titanic sinking! Chaos abounded as people were all trying to save themselves and their loved ones. We wanted to take a small boat but they had no motors or oars. The water subsided and I realised all I had to do was shut a door. To cause the flood to return all I had to do was open a flyscreen door. So I closed the heavy wooden door and locked it. Wow, it was powerful, and reminded me of No Frontier's recent poem...I don't think he'll mind if I repost it here:

Raw might close some doors but...
« on: Thursday 06 March, 2008 »   

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
will open better ones in you Life... 

have you ever been going trough a 'raw test' in your yourney when all the ''possibilities-doors'' seem to shut in front of you for a longer while, and often longer than longer while for a good reason??

it happen and happened to me on the journey repetengly... being without a 'job' for nearly 8 months last year after juice Feasting i quite enjoyed the 'abundance' given by the Universe and never felt 'poor', but it was a test i admit, didnt know where things were leading me as never before...

choosing to be 'raw on 100' sends indirectly out (i.m.experience) certain intentions-vibrations trough the Universe saying 'i want to do something different than this and i want it truly'... the Universe, intelligent being, answers you and leads you on a path you have to walk with many up and downs yes, but never letting you alone and keeping the promise as you are testing yourself...

and the doors of your Life can open for ones and never be shot again if you are lucky!

we can become something NEW if we only truly believe in our Path...

we can concentrate all our energies-focus on the things that surround us and find our Way...

and open the Doors of Our Life, for once and forever!  ...  


Love to all on this dream boat  :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart:

Hi to all you lovely people on the Raw Boat....
Jen - your songs cracked me up, I can't stop thinking of raw songs now!!
I'm hoping I can join you on this 60 day challenge. I've been attempting to be a rawbie for about 6 weeks now, with varying degrees of success. I started off really well, then had an event where I ate cooked junk food and it's all gone downhill from there. I've been having my GS every morning and most days start out well but then as the day goes on, I find myself eating cooked or snacking on food I'm making for my son or husband. I feel so fantastic when I'm 100% raw, so I guess my junk food binges are a bit of an emotional thing for me (still working on this!)
So my main reason for being 60 days raw is to lose weight once and for all and to have the courage to face up to any emotional challenges/awakenings that being raw exposes.
You are all so interesting and inspiring and I'm very much looking forward to sharing in this challenge with you all.
I'll be starting tomorrow, so essentially that will be day 1 for me.
Bring on tomorrow!
take care everyone.
J

A warm welcome to you glow (I think I said the same thing to you when you joined this forum - your name is so warming!)

The dawn of day 7 (for me).

I don't know if I have done a full 7 days of raw before, even in the early days - I can't remember.  Feeling good.

I had a very disturbing dream last night that revolved directly around travel.   This, coupled with some other signs from the universe is making me wonder if I should be going again to Raw Spirit.  I am loathe to be pig headed about this, as I have ignored blatant signs from the universe in the past, and have only seen in hindsight, that it was unwise.  I have a sneaking suspicion that my energy and funds should be directed at another venture, but I'm unsure.

I'm going to sit with it all for a while, and try to get a clear indication of how to proceed.  Ask and ye shall receive!

An awesome chia jaffa smoothie to finish yesterday - it was thick and luscious and oh so good.

I'll be making a kick-bot salad for lunch today, and taking the last peppermint heart to work.  It will probably be a superfood smoothie for dinner.

I've got lots of onions ready to be marinated in a splash of olive oil & tamari, and dried to a crisp in the dehydrator.  I'll do those tonight, as well as some new raw chocolate experimentation.

Here's a snippet from Nick Good that I like a lot:


A lovely day to all on ship and shore.

Yes, welcome glow......, it is a gorgeous name.

Jungle - what a stunning post, including your transcript from No Frontier. I feel deeply moved by it...and it's exactly what I needed to hear on day 1 of my journey. :-)

It seems like others are jumping on board the manifesting boat as well to get to Raw Spirit this year!!! Wouldn't it be just so exciting and amazing if everyone that committed to it actually completed their raw journey and/or made it to Raw Spirit this year???

So I'm putting it 'out there' as a possibility for anyone that wants to consider the raw commitment or the manifesting commitment. :-)

I'm currently re-reading One Minute Millionaire which is a lovely book written in both right brain and left brain styles. The heroine, coincindentally called Michelle, has 90 days to make $1m or she loses custody of her children forever. It's not as deep as something like Anastasia but it's valuable on the money mindset front as well as being a great story.

So, today is day 1 of my 88 day raw manifesting journey.  And these are my personal rules :

1)   I’m 100% raw
2)   I get better and better at manifesting my desires
3)   I manifest $x
4)   88 successful days (4/4 to 30/6) and Sam’s going to Sedona!!!

I will excuse myself if I didn't know there was a non-raw ingredient eg at a potluck or at a raw friend's house... but I will be very careful about checking known culprits like cashews before I buy or eat them.

So, wish me luck!!! My objective today is just to have a very happy wonderful day. Being productive will be part of that! I am running a Communication workshop for a group of young Gen Y PR consultants, which I think will be good fun.

Love to all!!!!!

Love Spirit xxx

 

 


 :yahh: :yahh: :yahh: :yahh: :yahh: :yahh: :yahh:
 

missgigles - that sounds like a very wise approach. I hope you get clarity...and obviously I hope that the 'signs' reverse and point back to you going and having a wonderful time.  Still, it's not for me to interfere wtih the Universe's Grand Plans for you.

I think you are a wonderful and balanced human to be able to walk your talk with this one. :-)   

Good morning Gals...

Everybody still full steam ahead on the "Loving-raw-60-days-to-unlimited-power boat"?? LOL all the names crack me up nothing beats a good larf right!  rofl

I started refuelling my body on omega-3 this morning with 2 tbs of ground flax seed in my GS. I was afraid it would thinken it up too much but it was fine. So tomorrow we'll go for an extra tbs. I went to my yoga class last night and was so so tired I had to come out of postures early.

I guess it is detox time!! so I am upping water intake hopefully that will help a little. I want to keep going to my hot yoga classes cause the heat helps to speed up the detox so even if I do not get all the postures it will help with that.

Had a terrible sleep last night, very restless, strange because I feel very tired but it might have something to do with stress levels during the day at work. Hopefully we can sell our business over the next 18 months and I can try to get work doing something I love more, for now I just have to accept the situation as it is.
By the way after much deliberation we have decided to move to the Gold Coast (after selling the business obviously) I am trying to focus on that to keep me going.

Anyway so far today I had GS with
2 bananas
1 cup frozen berries
lots of silverbeet leaves
cup of water
agave syrup
tsp camu camu powder
2 tbs ground flax seed

(ooohh no husband brought me my last latte, cause it is our 9 year anniversary today :heart: he said... last one  for this challenge....ok?)

Love eve

Morning All,

I have decided to count today as Day 1 (don't ask why).  This morning on waking
I scoffed 2 dates.  I got to work this morning and ate a large bunch of green seedless
grapes.  I am now consuming a green smoothy (baby english spinach and 3 small
bananas).

I seem to be influencing some people here at work.  My manager came in this morning
with a large bag of raw cacao butter.  She has given me half it (bonus!) and is borrowing
my raw recipe books.  This is a good thing. 

Love your songs Jen - I find you so inspiring. 

Eve - I will have to copy you and start adding some ground flaxseed to my green smoothies.  I really want to get more Omega-3 in my diet.

Goodluck to everyone,
Thinking of you all,
S.

Just wanna say goodluck to everyone doing the challenge  :thumbup:

Am watching this thread with interest, im not brave enough to make the plunge from 95% to 100% (still love my tea and tamari sauce, and the room to move if i cave on something).

HI Everybody,

I have some bad news...

my battery of my notebook has just given up and I have exactly 15 min left to use.
(no I am still on the wagon had you thinking though...)

My new battery is not coming untill next Monday or Tuesday so I will be offline until then.

I hope everybody has a great weekend, Be good now!!

Love eve

Hi All, how awesome is this thread? A big thank you to Miss G for starting it. I can tell you that if it were not here I would have not even made it this far. So thank you to everyone for your support.

Glow... it's great to see you! I am excited about this challenge and getting to the 60 day point. I feel totally ready for it. It's taken me since Dec 06 to feel ready for this. It's great.

Miss G, I hope you get a better nights sleep tonight! Congrats on 7 days good woman!

Love Spirit, I love your goals. I'm going to set aside some time over the weekend to do some goal setting and then I'm going to start manifesting them with my whole being. I know what one of them is... learn to 'just be' as was suggested to me by a wonderful and caring forum member a couple of nights ago. Relaxation is key.

Eve, you and Miss G had bad dreams last night and mine were unsettling as well. Perhaps there is a disturbance in the force? Where is Luke Skywalker when we need him? hmmmm? You are doing really really well. I'll be thinking of you until your battery appears!  :laugh: You'll have a lot to catch up on when you return.

Well done Sharon. I hope your boss likes the books. It looks like you are an inspiration to others as well! Congrats on day one.

Kebbster! Thanks for the good wishes. If you are not ready for 100% you might be interested in doing a slightly lower % for this many days. Set your own challenge. Be the change you want to be!

Today has been interesting. This morning I awoke to find that my tongue was completely covered in a yellowish stuff. I brushed it off and rinsed my mouth well before I did anything! I didn't want to swallow that down thank you very much!

Then I went for a walk. Not  a long one, just long enough to get the dog out of the house for awhile and to appreciate the freedom that we have here in Australia. I have recently read a book about a woman from the middle east and while I was walking I tried to imagine what it would be like to be covered from head to toe when out. I thanked the universe that I am Australian. There are so many friendly people on my walk and I am still remembered as 'snake woman' from when I picked up the snake that had been hit by a slasher and took it home in a dog poo bag. It took me a moment though when the lady said 'hello snake woman'. My immediate thought was... 'what the hell did I do to her?'. Tee hee.

Anyhoo... I met a friend out and about today for a chat and got hungry. Normally at the cafe we are at I get a certain salad without the cheese and bread. Today I had no cheese, bread or roasted vegies! I just asked for a raw salad. The chef was so intrigued that he came out the back looking very depressed by my order. He put pinenuts on it that turned out to be roasted and I pushed as many of them to the side as I could and covered them with a piece of lettuce but I did eat a few... but it was not intentional so I am at peace.

A raw salad? Whoever heard of that? I felt like that was a major achievement as I really dislike putting people out and asking them to do something different from the norm. My friend who I was with was a little surprised at how difficult it was for me. I wondered how she could tell and apparently my shoulders got very tense.

Blood sugar dropped out a few times today but it's not happening as often. I started reading Gabriel Cousen's Rainbow Cuisine today. Interesting. I'm going to read a raw book for an hour each day and something not raw before bed at night.

Green smoothie time. I'm very surprised at how little I want to eat at night. If I had already had a GS today I wouldn't bother but I have learned that I need greens. I'll just do a very stong green one that is small. Yummm!

Also I went and picked a heap of grass and clover today and tied to juice them. I got nothing! Just crushed grass and clover.... next time I will blend. I'm definitely going to get my wheatgrass going this weekend. Must get to the beach and get some water to mineralise them with! Yee har.

Good night all.

oxoxoxox

"On the goooooood ship, raw not cooked"

xoxoxo

Hey everyone :)  Loving reading up on all the journies - and the raw songs had me peeing myself laughing.  Well, not really, but close!  A weekend without computer hey Eve.... that actually sounds very nice :)

I think I might have to count this as Day 1 again for me.  Going out for dinner with friends didn't work so well... I think I had my brain switched off and forgot my self challenge (the brain switch-off was half of the point of last night, haha!) 

My dinner itself was 90% raw, it's just that 10% that knocked me!  Still... we went to a great place with a nice salad buffet so I chose from that... but of course, not everything was completely raw ;)  Live and learn.

So today, delved into Ani Phyo's recipe book again.  This recipe book is where the carrot cake recipe is from, that I used for the slice, so sorry I can't post it!  I PM'd you tho Sharon!. 

I'm loving this book!  It's all doable with the very few appliances I own.  Although I do need to get a proper food processor... I'm using a small base attachment to a stick blender, so most recipes I need to break down into small batches to FIT in the thing!  Where there's a will there's a way....

So tonight I'm munching down on the first raw-gourmet meal that I have had since Jen's house, hehe.  What can I say - I'm usually too lazy for this gourmet thing!

I made the marinated mushrooms with brazil-nut broccoli mash & mushroom gravy.  I'm enjoying it... except that I would try to cut the salt WAY back next time.  I'm not used to this amount of salt!  But still... yum!  I wonder what next I will make from this book, it has me hooked now.

The rest of the day involved breakfast of a honeydew melon green smoothie, then just grazing. I polished off the carrot-cake-slice (after sharing a few pieces with 'normal people' too - it got votes of confidence), small handful of almonds, some bananas... had a mashed avocado in there too.  Really was craving the fats today.

Have had heavy legs all day.  Was planning to walk/jog today or tomorrow.  I guess it's tomorrow then!

I'm loving reading the journeys here too, and it's interesting the similarities and synchronicities that are occurring.

Thanks Jen - yes, I would be pleased for no disturbing dreams.  I don't mind fascinating weird dreams, but I don't like the ones that are disturbing and oh so real.

I'll keep "putting it out there" on Raw Spirit, because at the moment I am not getting positive signs.  Unlike last year, where it was all 'GO GO GO'.  All will happen exactly as it is meant to, and will be perfect.

I had the tongue coating too.  I think it was yesterday (could have been today?).  I use my tongue scraper most days anyway, but I do remember it being extra feisty.

It was a strange day today.  Almost tired, but not quite; almost feeling edgy, but not quite; almost clogged left ear, but not quite; almost a dull ache at the back of my head, but not quite.  Odd.

By the time I got home I was so tired.  I honestly thought I could just crawl into bed at 6:30pm and go to sleep.  But, I had a shower and cut up my onions, and got them into the dehydrator, and now I am feeling a little perkier.

I've had 2 imperial mandarines for dinner, and I don't think I want much more.  Possibly the other two mandarines whilst I watch Into the Wild, but that's probably it.  I suspect I won't be awake much longer than the time it will take to watch the film.

I learned today how to gross out your work mates.  You make your favourite olive salad dressing, and decide to throw in a heaped teaspoon of greens powder.  The dressing was like pond scum, which meant the salad looked like it had been gathered from the bottom of a dam.  It tasted great.  I declined going to the lunch for a person leaving, saying that I had dietary restrictions that just couldn't be overcome.  There was no drama, and I happily munched on my salad.

All of the "not quite" symptoms of the day have passed, and any moments of angst that I had earlier.  For that, I am grateful.  One week down, 7 to go.

A lovely night to all.

Just got into work to see how you are all doing...

Soo good to see all the new posts, what a warm little family we have on the boat... GROUP HUG!!

Anyway I got a bit carried away this morning with the GS and added 4tbs of ground flax seed, the whole thing went very solid but I got it down. Not hungry at all now so that's good.
I am just wondering if flax seed oil would be easier....?

Going to make another guacamole served on cos lettuce leaves for tonight, I am just craving avacado and tomato at the moment. But it is all good and raw!

Detox has definately hit me, feeling a little spaced out, tired and cold but keeping up the water intake.
I think I might settle on the couch with a nice inspirational movie this afternoon.

Any suggestions...?? (still here for 1 1/2 hours)

Back on Monday!

Eve - are you hiring a dvd?

I can highly recommend Freedom Writers as totally uplifting.  Conversations with God is another that is a greatly inspiring film.

Yes Miss G, thanks for that will have a look if they have them..

Well done girls, have been following your achievements all week.  WELL DONE   :ohyeah:

Jen.....I've been singing Shirly Temple all morning as I dance around getting ready to go out, deliberately not singing the words, just the tune.  It's driving me batty.

Hope you have smooth sailing weather this weekend.

Acutally Shirly Temple's just gone and Count Dracula is now in place.      :huh:

(Oops, meant to say The Count from Sesame Street....oh never mind  LOL)

Goodness! How can you go from Shirley to Dracula! LOL  rofl

I have been craving ginger. I am having an awesome smoothie right now of rockmelon and ginger. I used one whole rockie and about an inch of ginger. The heat with the cool is really nice and is settling well in my belly. I have little fibres from the ginger in it which are a bit annoying but apart from that it's just what I need.

What are we up to now? I'm hopeless with counting. If someone could just let me know when we are nearing the end that would be  :laugh:

Have an amazing weekend all!

xoxoxo

LOL Jen.

How about this, I'll post the following for you and I and anyone else who shares the same start date (ie last Saturday):

+8 : -52

Which means we are on Day 8 and there are 52 days left.  So yes, we are nearly there.  :laugh:

I ended up falling asleep during the film last night, I probably only lasted 15 minutes.  I snuck in an extra mandarine before I nodded off.

The main thing that I have learned from my week, looking back, is that it was relatively easy to manage with a little preparation and forethought. 

I am a scoundrel for buying bunches of celery, and having part bunches go limp in the fridge.  I bought two huge bunches last week, soaked and then cut them into manageable pieces and filled a huge tupperware container.  They lasted beautifully over the course of the week for my salads.  What is left I'll use in a green juice for breakfast shortly.

Utilising a couple of fave raw food recipes, including those that are "comfort" dishes for the angst-ridden days, was also very beneficial for me personally.

I made a couple of trips to the fruit & veg shop mid-week to grab young coconuts or more lettuce/greens, and that was it.

I've got crispy onions in the dehydrator for my week's salads, and I need to soak some almonds and get them in there today, so that I always have a stash of pre-soaked and dehydrated almonds in the fridge, ready to go for nutmilk or gado gado sauce.

Having my raw chocolate on hand (or a similar raw sweet treat) was also awesome.

I feel very calm today, just the right amount of energy, and a nice clear head.  My body feels unbelievably hydrated.

I love the weekends because I have all the time in the world to create kitchen alchemy.  I'm hankering to do a chocolate variation that has been kicking around my head for a while, and today is the day.

Have an awesome day everybody!

Everyone is doing so well here and it is so interesting as missgiggles said the synchronisities that are happening for us in our journies. I too am detoxing through dreams. Last night I dreamt of basically failure, going back to the other side which was basically drinking alcohol and waking up with strange perception and feeling so depressed. I also dreamt of being chased, and of a public swimming pool where I felt like didn't fit in (in real life I don't care but in the dream it bothered me!).

On the Omega 3 issue, fresh fruit and veg are actually rich in Omega 3. This is usually not noted because they are not usually consumed in large enough ammounts to be significant! a while back I tried sprouting linseeds I bought and about 5% of them sprouted so that may be something to watch for. I personally think better sources are greens (yes lettuce contains good fat!), and for extra, walnuts or chia seeds. Fresh walnuts are aplenty at the moment. For a breastfeeding mum I have calculated that about 7 whole walnuts daily is plenty and that's going on a standard diet that doesn't include all the Omega 3 rich fresh fruit/veg that rawbies eat.
Read http://www.organicathlete.org/content/view/119/167/ (http://www.organicathlete.org/content/view/119/167/)

I am doing really well and feeling great and energetic. I've been getting out and about walking and gardening. Yesterday I had a day of really not focusing on my health as much as usual although I had a very healthy day! It was good to focus on other things but not be distracted from my goals at the same time. I caught up with a lovely vegetarian woman I met recently at a vegan potluck who has young kids and lives nearby which was lovely. We had two batches of friends from Sydney over. That involved lots of cooking and drinking and I was shocked to see how much effort, money, drama, waste, time, materials, electricity etc went into these activities... I felt okay admist it though and escaped a couple of times to go outside or read the forum! I feel strong amongst people at the moment.

I have been having some great ideas including raw business inspiration which is fab. I am on a raw vegan outreach mission too. So I am making the deal with myself that everytime I choose to make food or drink for others it will be at least mainly raw. I want to be good at creating rawgasmic delights and I am well aware that I can! I do cook vegan food for my partner still as it saves us a lot of money - I am still trying to feel my way through this issue. It's very unresolved for me.

I have been loving raw cacoa the past 2 days. I prefer just the beans because the butter is an oil to me and I haven't been using oils. I am still using agave nectar though and hopefully will find some aussie dates to sweeten things instead where the combo is right. I do love the flavour of dark agave nectar! I would be interested in hearing others' opinions about it. I am just wary of it because it's refined.

Better go, grumpy bub! xx

I too love the flavour of dark agave.  It is definitely my preferred sweetener for my raw chocolate.  I trust the products that I buy from Raw Pleasure implicitly, and so, as long as I am happy with the source, then I am happy to consume.  I may not have the same confidence in a similar product bought off the shelf from a health food store.  But, if this were my only option, I would certainly have no qualms about doing so.

We must each use our own discernment with regard to what is "permitted" on a raw food diet. 

I am not fond of soy products, and yet I find Tamari indispensable in my kitchen, and use it in recipes.  I prefer to use that small amount of soy (vs Nama Shoyu that includes wheat) than worry.  It makes up such a tiny percentage, to me, in the overall scheme of things.

I also use pesticide-free almonds, that many would consider "rancid" and deemed unsuitable to their own raw diet leanings.

I think we must each just follow our own hearts (or heads) and strike the balance that works for us personally.

Oh my goodness - so many posts to read.  So glad to see that everyone is still here
and going strong.

I am now coming to the end of day 2.  Today I felt really good.  Really bouncy and happy.
I haven't eaten much today at all but I am not hungry.  For dinner tonight I have made a
something - ummm - pecans and dates processed and then pressed into a round cheesecake
dish.  Then blended bananas and frozen blueberries.  Pour that on top of the base.  Freeze
the whole thing until firm.  Not sure what this is - but it tastes fantastic.

I am not being hard on myself at all - just eating whatever I feel like as long as it is raw.  To
that end today has been almost all grapes, dates, and bananas. 

Waterberry - thanks for the PM.  I have started looking into a few raw recipe books and I am
thinking that Ani Phyo's book will help to be on my list.  I just have to wait for my next pay day
before I can order it.  :(

As well as the 60 days raw challenge, I have decided to do the no shampoo and the lemon
juice as deodorant challenge.  I must confess that I read the thread on no shampoo a while
ago now and have been shampoo free for around 3wks.  It is - interesting so far.  The lemon
juice one just a few days - with mixed results.  I guess what I am saying here is that I seem
to be embrassing my inner hippy.  That is how I am feeling anyway.  And to be honest - it
really feels good.  :)

Group Hugs To All,
S.

I had no idea that celery could be stored that way. When Free came to visit with Mango Goddess and I fed them up with gourmet slice Free asked for some celery to help alkalise and I was so embarrassed at this poor limp little thing that I dragged from my refrigerator! I threw away 3 bunches yesterday when I cleaned out my fridge.

I love agave. Agave was instrumental in helping me break my sugar addiction. I don't know that I'll always use it but I'll use it as long as I need to. I love that I can now walk around shops and not have a bar of some sort on the way back to the car and not crave bread and pasta or potatoes. Awesome! I'm so grateful to agave I could kiss it! Indeed I have kissed the bottle once or twice but that's our little secret ok? *wink*
I had a great day today. This last couple of weeks I seem to have managed to shift a few things and am really enjoying my children nearly all the time! (I really don't like it when I'm on the loo and they sit outside of it and chat to me or fight... I feel trapped!)

I had a busy day today. There was a few things I wanted to get done this morning but it was not to be. So many people dropped in which is really odd for us and I took Caitlyn on a surprise outing which was fun and another cafe test. I really need to start eating before I go out!

I had a greek salad minus the fetta and plus avocado. Perfecto! I won't mention what Caitlyn had but she got a double sized green smoothie tonight to make up for it!

I had apple cobbler for dinner tonight. I didn't want sweet but after a busy day and making GS and it being late and we wanted to watch a movie I decided not to push myself. I chose to get in front of the tv with my family and watch a movie instead and I'm glad I did.

I'm in full detox (or flu) mode. Hi temp, ear aches, achy bones, sore eyes even! Skins broken out again... Great! I relish this. The stuff I am spitting, squeezing, and sweating out is sure to be better out than in and it's forcing me to rest. I think I will do the shopping in the am and then go to bed all day! Or, if it's not raining... in the back yard.

Emotionally I've had a couple of rocky moments. I would have killed for some kind of salt and sugar fix tonight when  something came up. I'd like to say that I dealt with it but in reality I got out Old Comfy ( a jumper I've had since I was a teenager) and curled up under the covers and watched ET instead! It'll happen.

Great raw day!

xoxoxo

+9 : -51

First an update on yesterday's eats - 1 litre of green juice about noon.  Then I went fruit & veg shopping.  By the time I got home, I was feeling a little light headed and so I had a square of choc, and felt much better.

I noticed my favourite organic sauerkraut instore, and hadn't had any for ages, so I grabbed a jar.  I had a small amount as an appetiser before dinner, which was curried coconut soup....and because I know you love photos Jen, I took a couple of photos before I demolished it.  Oh so good.  Later I had one small square of choc whilst watching Into the Wild.

Into the Wild is a movie that I can't even begin to describe my feelings for.  So, I shall just recommend it to all and sundry.  It is phenomenal, and has profoundly affected me on quite a number of different levels.

I too am having flu symptoms.  I felt it coming on a little yesterday, after feeling a bit achey and light headed whilst trying to carry my body weight of fruit & veg home, and then some sneezes that you just know are not your average sneeze.  They turn up on your doorstep with their luggage.

My eyes feel a little "gluggy" and my head is a little heavy.  Aside from some domestics that must be attended to, I think it will be predominantly a day of rest.  Arthur is dehydrating my almonds, so all is well in the world.

Here's the photos of the curried coconut soup - I popped some crispy onions on top, as I thought they would go well with the soup, and they certainly did.  Scrumptious!

A glorious day to all.

(http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff232/missgiggles_bucket/P4050147.jpg)

(http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff232/missgiggles_bucket/P4050149.jpg)

2 successful days accomplished, 86 more to go

Missgiggles - that dish looks so scrumptious I almsot can't bear it!!!! Luckily I have a scrummy alive juice in my hand or it would trigger something in me!!! Also, thanks for the heads up on Freedom Writers. I was feeling very off yesterday physically and emotionally as I started this 88 day commitment already in a big detox mode.....so I really needed a good movie to distract me. It was awesome so I shall look forward to Into The Wild as well. Is it on DVD yet?

I had a sudden urge to juice today. I haven't juiced for ages.....but I did a bit of speed reading on juice feasting and it makes such perfect sense that I am treating my body to a mega juuice this morning. I think I will continue to juice on days I am not pressured for time as it takes much longer to juice and clean the juicer afterwards!

So, I used:

Whole head celery
1 kg carrots
8 apples
4 pears
Large bunch mint
chunk ginger

I've made 2 litres of this yummy super-nutritious stuff and will see whether that is too much or not...bit I was on a bit of a roll and enjoying myself while making it ;-)

This will probably constitute much of today's food....with just some plain fruit during the day and a huge green salad with plenty of oil for dinner.

Love to all

Love Spirit xxx       
   

 

My goodness me, that was a good juice!!!! I have downed the 2 litres in one and a half hours and I'm feeling quite giggly!!! ;-) It's not a sugar high, it's a nutirent high where it feels like all your cells are bouncing up and down on mini-trampolines in ecstatic delight .

As you can see I am quite giddy with my raw chioce this morning. I think I have have to do this again:-)

 :yahh: rofl 

Mmm... that juice sounds just the thing, Love Spirit.

I've woken up today with the feeling to avoid solid foods and go for juices.  Carrot juice especially, there's something earthy and yummy about it.  Maybe sweet potato juice also.  Mixed with a bit of apple or pear (thanks for the reminder on pear juice!) or grape juice for sweetness.  Then add a third note.... mint or celery or ginger or beetroot?

Yesterday was gross for me... I had squirty-bum all day!  Hehe I hope that phrase doesn't 'ick' anyone, I heard the term coined by an Irish comedian years back, and it's said in his Irish accent in my head and always makes me giggle.

Still, yucky thing to go through.  Not sure if it's because I've stopped eating bread, which was one of only two things holding me back from 100% rawness, the other being store-bought chocolate.  Or if it was because of the big dose of salt in the mushroom-gourmet meal I had.  I remember this being the reaction I had last time I had a shock-to-the-system amount of salt in food; even though that occurred way back in 'cooked' diet world. The amount of salt I had on Friday would have been tiny in comparison - yet compared to the minimal amounts of salt I have been accustoming myself to, quite a lot.

So yes, one of those caused it methinks.  And today I drink juice :)

Good afternoon everyone... I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend! Thanks for all the lovely warm welcomes.
Been feeling quite yukko in the tummy the last few days. I'm not sure if this is the result of my junk food cooked binge that I had while my hubby and son were away for the night, or if I've just got a bug of some sort. Thankfully I'm back on track today and feeling more inspired than ever to continue on this raw journey.
So far today I've eaten:
GS for breakfast
2 bananas
4 roma tomatoes, chopped up with basil, red onion and a dash of olive oil.

Feeling good so far, and I'm so glad that the emotional cloud (won't bore you with details) I've had hanging over me the last few days is gone. :yahh:

missgigles - I know what you mean about Into the Wild. It is by far my favourite movie and it had such a massive effect on me... couldn't stop thinking about it for days.
Your cocunut curry soup looks amazing, my mouth is watering.. yummo!

Waterberry - Squirty bum, that's so funny! I hope the juice does the trick for you, good luck with that!

Ok, better go... after reading about all this juice it's making me feel like some. Cheers!
J

Why Miss G!!! Thank you for thinking of me... For both the count up/down and for the photos.  :laugh: Bill has asked for curried vegies this week which I do with coconut.

Love Spirit that juice sounds divine. I love the ginger twist to it. I've gone through 1/2 of ginger this week. I can't get enough of it right now. I'm glad you are having such a great reaction.

Waterberry, ya poor thing. Releasing some fluid? Good stuff. My dad and I call it the Squirts. Over time it's been modified to Squits. So we can be out and Dad might have to run to the loo. He can just look at me and say 'Squits!' and run and I know what is going on.... love it. Squirty Bum sounds so cute. Caitlyn used to call it Botty Vomit but in her three year old voice it sounded like Botty Bomb-it which is what it can feel like. Brock calls them Exploder Poos. LOL.

I too just want liquid today. I'm not keen for anything solid. Am having some wheat withdrawals but am keeping on top of things ok. I had to go to the shops earlier and I would have just about chopped up one particular item and snorted it through a rolled $20 note but I was STRONG!!! Yee harr.

I'm off for the rest of the day. I'm going to experiment with making some wraps. I am going to make onion bread, tomato wrap, spinach/rocket wrap and young coconut wraps. I'll let you know how I go!

Todays food is a GS of greens, bananas, dates and young coconut water and flesh. Awesome and simple.

Have an amazing Sunday afternoon all.

xoxoxo

+10 : -50 today I guess.

I hope everyone's weekend has been great, it certainly looks like it wow so many posts to read, so inspiring!!!

I went to the DVD rental place with my list (thanks again Miss G for those) but came home with "Into the Wild", it seems to be the flavour of the week. Excellent movie it has just been released here in NZ.

Food wise I had a great weekend but without my computer, my plans for making some great gourmet recipes fell through so we did some gardening I went to a couple of yoga classes and enjoyed the sun. Just taking it easy.

I did make some yummy nutmilk with banana, vanilla essence and raw chocolate YUM!!

Can't wait to see some more recipes as I am really hanging out for something different.

My goal for this week is to plan ahead and be more prepared. Especially with soaking nuts and stocking up the fridge. I forgot about the amount of fruit and vege you go through every week!

~eve~

+10 / -50


Eve - you snuck in while I was typing.  Woohoo to the countdown.  Snap!

Preparation is definitely key - it makes things so much easier.  Having soaked/dehydrated nuts on hand; a fave pate in the fridge etc.

I have to say again that I am so thankful to read everybody's journeys here.  It is the thing that is keeping me strong and focused moment by moment.  Thank you!

I rested as much as was possible yesterday due to the flu-like symptoms that reared their head.  I'm still feeling a little fatigued today, but my plan is to keep my fluids up and concentrate on high mineral foods - ie greens.

I grazed a lot yesterday, and my eating pattern was very different then it usually is on the weekend, in that I started eating much earlier in the day.  I started with a chia jaffa smoothie.  A large salad for lunch - large for your average person, but not as large as I would normally eat.  The salad was wearing my fave olive dressing.  -_-

I snacked here and there on sauerkraut, crispy onions, and raw chocolate.  After seeing an advertisement for junk food on tv last night, I had to rush for the crispy onions and have a little snack to keep the mental cravings and thoughts of deprivation (?) at bay.  Pesky junk food advertisers!  Grrrr.  :laugh:

I made some phenomenal chocolate, and feel as if, after being around cacao for about 2 years, that we now have an affinity with each other.  Cacao has discovered the alchemist in me.  I expect the proposal to come any day now.  :laugh:

Other than that, not much to report..... except to note an act of kindness that was bestowed upon me yesterday by my neighbour & his house guest.  He has been sharing some unbelievably phenomenal music with me lately, and once again I heard the skid of a cd under my door over the weekend.  When we met at the washing line yesterday, we chatted about the latest offering, and his house guest, who just returned from a music scouting trip has gifted the cd to me.

Sometimes we glimpse the media or overhear conversations of the world, and our attention is drawn by the "screaming" of bad news.  At the same time, small acts of kindness are being whispered daily....quietly in suburban backyards.

That's just beautifully said Miss G!

I think you will HAVE to share that chocolate recipe though I have been trying to make it many many times but it never really comes out that nice. Same with the crispy onions do you just slice them and put them in the dehydrator???

thanks  :heart: eve

+3/-85 for me

I'm going for another mega-juice this morning. My body was just sooo appreciative of it yesterday. Oh, I forgot to add to yesterday's list that I also had a lime and cucumber in it.

Here's today's concoction:

Huge bunch English spinach
Cucumber
3 large beetroots
Large bunch parsley
1 kg carrots
Pear
Orange
Mandarin
2 Limes
Big chunk ginger
4 apples

Another 2 litres of mega vitamin and mineral heaven. :-) My detox symptoms definitely cleared up a lot yestreday after this juice. I also felt very calm and clear and balanced all day.

My skin is very dry though so I must get more oils into me later on today. 

I'm now starting to wake up at around 4am which I love! I cannot keep my eyes open much past 9pm but I feel so much more productive on this new schedule. I hope it continues until I'm only sleeping around 4 hours a night.

I am beginning to realize just how much damage I have done to my body over the years. I am rather sad about that as I was blessed with a naturally very strong and fit body....but all the years of alcohol and nicotine and some very stressful episodes of my life have really taken its toll. I feel like my body is a little child that I want to love to pieces and nurse back to optimum health and vibrancy and joy. Better late than never though hey? I'm 41 now and l reckon I look 45.....but when I'm 45 I expect to look 32 so at least I'm heading in the right direction ;-)

Love to all xxx

 
 

   

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