Eating Raw(ish)- Day 5 of 5

YEAH! I did it!!!

Five days, no cheats- pure raw vegan diet.

If you have been following along (catch up here, here, here and here),  I began a 5 day experiment with eating raw vegan in an effort to get back control over my eating habits (which were horrendous) and, even more, just to see if I could do it:)

Well, I did.

There were moments it wasn't easy. Not because I had big cravings (I didn't) but I didn't always have time to go into the kitchen and make a huge salad or chop up a honeydew melon. It sounds silly, but it's true.

So what did I learn?

1) I don't love meat and not eating it isn't a big deal;
2) I didn't miss starchy carbs;
3) I found time to make food when it really mattered. I am busy, yes, but I'm not so busy that I need to put everything else in my life above my health;
4) I miss working out (ya, that's out of left field but I do miss working out);
5) It wasn't that costly - in total I spent $60 in food over the five days…so $12 a day.

I'll be maintaining my raw vegan diet for another day (I have a lot of fruit and veg that has to be eaten before it goes bad) and then I'll be mindfully maintaining a vegan diet (not necessarily raw, however).

My eats…

Breakfast
One sliced pear
A handful of grapes

Snack
Handful of raw walnuts
Pineapple chunks

Lunch
Huge salad- half head of romaine lettuce, chopped carrots, one avocado, lemon juice, a sprinkle of sea
salt
A few more pineapple chunks

Snack
Handful of raw cashews
A few baby carrots

Dinner
Homemade Larabar (yes, not the BEST choice but it was tasty!)

Snack
Vegan peanut butter balls (raw peanuts & almonds buzzed together with dates)- THESE ARE GREAT!

AND HERE'S A VIDEO WRAP-UP:

Eating Raw(ish): Day 4 of 5

Woke up another pound down! Whoop:) I have been feeling really good on this diet today. Maybe I'm hitting a bit of a groove? I think it's important to note that meat and I have never been best friends. I was a vegetarian for a year. I generally eat fish or chicken if I do eat meat. The occasional steak or rack of ribs is a treat to me, but not a norm. So the idea of cutting meat is not a big deal. What I am missing is warmth. Maybe it's because I live in Canada and I began eating raw exactly as the cold weather hit my part of the country. I find myself just wanting something to warm me up. Obviously, raw food is not going to do that. Thus, herbal teas and coffee are still part of my diet- part habit but more out of the desire to feel warm from the inside out. My kids are having pasta tonight, with a side of salad. I, of course, am abstaining. And honestly I don't feel too bad about it this time. Here are my eats for Day 4.

 Breakfast
One banana, sliced
Two handfuls of red grapes
Sprinkle of cinnamon (this felt a bit like a treat, oddly)

Snack
One pear, sliced
1/4 pomegranate (seeds only, of course)

Lunch




Homemade Larabar (cashews and dates) with a few shavings of coconut - I didn't even try to make this into bar this time- I just piled it in a bowl and gobbled it up. I sprinkled a few leftover pomegranate seeds in there for good measure:)







Snack
Handful of walnuts

Dinner
Huge salad:) - one head green leaf lettuce, one whole avocado, a few chopped baby carrots, one baby cucumber, two stalks of celery, a sprinkle of pumpkin seeds and a sprinkle of pomegranate seeds.

I had originally planned to have HALF a pomegranate in my salad HOWEVER someone thought those juicy seeds were delicious and, well, ate them all.

Eating Raw(ish)- Day 3 of 5

I woke up feeling good again. A little more hungry this morning, but not starving and certainly not craving anything:)

Down another 2 pounds (that totals 3 pounds in 2 days).

Today was a busy day though. I was on TV to discuss a daycare in Canada that had fined a mother $10 and fed her child some Ritz crackers as she did not provide a "grain" her child's lunch. Ridiculous.

Of course, between working and mothering, food was not a priority.

BUT I didn't stray from my raw/vegan lifestyle one bit!

Check out Day 1 and Day 2 of my raw/vegan experiment!!!

Breakfast

One banana, sliced
Half package raspberries
Coffee (not raw, not organic, but necessary and yummy)

Snack
One pear, sliced
Handful raw almonds
One homemade Larabar (sadly, my family ate most of them so I'm going to have to whip up another batch)
Half a honeydew

Lunch
Apple
Handful of walnuts
* I should have done better here but I was on the go and this is what I ate*

Snack
One homemade Larabar
Coffee
Blueberries

Dinner

BIG salad full of avocado, cucumber, carrots, red pepper, raw pumpkin seeds and red leaf & romaine lettuce. Squirted some lemon juice on top.

Water to drink

Night Snack

I am hungry and grumpy:(  I know I under ate a bit today, due to some last minute running around. 

Half pomegranate

Peppermint tea

RECAP!

Eating Raw(ish)- Day 2 of 5

Morning!

I actually woke up feeling great:) I thought I would be starving but in fact it was quite the opposite. I wasn't too bloated and I felt light, not sluggish.

See my Day 1 update (including an end of day video recap!)

A few notes:

• down one pound! *I thought it would be more but again, this is for health/skin/sleep benefits and less for weight loss (although I'm hoping for that!)
• I will be keeping track of how much I spend specifically for raw/vegan food this week. It will consist mostly of veggies and fruit- so far I have spent $56.
• My kids/husband are not following my diet for these 5 days. They do eat a plethora of raw fruit and veggies however (which I obviously think is awesome!)
• This is not about deprevation. I'm supposed to eat as much fresh fruit/veg as I can. I can promise you I'm not starving myself at all! (and not counting calories either!)
• Daily recaps will be posted at night! 

Day 2

I spent the morning at the grocery store. Here's my raw/vegan haul (for a total of $56):

Then I came home and made homemade Larabars, using this recipe from Oh She Glows:

 

Dates and raw cashews, pulverized in my Magic Bullet. The recipe, of course, calls for some chocolate. I could not find anything that would be categorized as raw/vegan and I cannot stomach raw cacao nibs (I would rather forgo chocolate than add cacao). However, this recipe, even without the chocolate, is GREAT! Will be making again (FYI, I let it set for 30-45 minutes in the fridge or freezer so it's not sticky to the touch anymore. Once they are room temperature they are sticky again... not sure how to mitigate this but they taste good anyway!).

Breakfast:

-one banana, sliced

-half package raspberries

-one pink grapefruit

Snack:
- two homemade Larabars (YUM!)



Lunch:
-one sliced pear
-peppermint tea (2 cups, but only used one bag)
-one homemade Larabar (I need to stop but they're good. My sons are obsessed with them too)

Snack:

-half a honeydew melon

Dinner:

-large salad made of: romaine and red leaf lettuce, chopped peanuts (raw), chopped apple, and a cranberry dressing (cranberries and some olive oil in my magic bullet- a bit too tart for my liking so I just drizzled a smidgen for some taste).


*My salad was half eaten before I remembered to take a picture. It was MUCH larger than this!


*I'm going to a board meeting tonight, so I will likely have some more veggies after I get back. I will deserve it after resisting all the homemade treats the girls bring:(






Night Snack:

-whole mango- I actually eat the mango skin. I know, gross, but I think it tastes good and I read once that it improves problematic skin. Not sure if it's true but it's worth a shot, in my opinion!
-decaf coffee (at my meeting)

AND THE VIDEO RECAP!

Eating Raw(ish) - A 5 day experiment

I have been fascinated by the idea of eating "raw" for a long time. Once upon a time I had a plethora of starts and stops on the vegan/raw eating train- it was hard to follow, and it got my roommate in a pretty nasty situation.

To be fair, I think information regarding raw eating was lacking 13 years ago, when my then-roommate adopted a raw food lifestyle which I would classify (after educating myself) as "fruititarian". She ate fruit all day long and a big salad every day; however, she didn't consume protein of any sort and after a year of the "lifestyle" she ended up in the hospital with awful stomach pains and massive digestion problems.

That being said, for the first few months my roommate was on a raw/vegan 80:10:10 plan, she had beautiful skin, improved digestion, better sleep and a ton of energy. What I discovered through her experience is that a raw food lifestyle might not be a beneficial long-term lifestyle, but its short-term benefits were plentiful. 

Recently, I have let my diet slip (significantly) and consistently feel sluggish and heavy (gaining about 7 pounds!); my skin has also been breaking out and just looking tired. I'm kind of fed up with eating the scraps of whatever is leftover from the kids' meals and I'm incredibly sick of complaining about never having time to do anything. My stress has been crazy high, I feel like I am busy 24/7 and never have time to do the things I enjoy (which, shockingly, includes preparing food).

In an effort to gain back some control over my life, I have decided to adopt a modified version of a vegan/raw lifestyle for 5 days. If you're interested this video will give you an overview of a 80/10/10 raw/vegan day. 

Of course, you may be familiar with this diet based on the hubbub over a pregnant blogger's admission that she is following this lifestyle- the backlash has been crazy (and perhaps with good reason).

But I am not pregnant, nor will I subject my kids (or husband) to this style of eating- I am merely interested in how it makes me feel, how it improves (or not) my digestion and skin issues, and if I can actually follow through with it!

I have modified the 80/10/10 diet slightly to suit my purposes (remember I am doing this for the alleged health benefits, not based on my beliefs surrounding food, etc.- I have no issues with eating cooked food or meat, generally), following a variety of online plans, including Tone It Up's suggestions for "bouncing back". Each day, I'll update on what I have eaten (honestly! If I "cheat", you'll know!) and wrap up at the end of the day with how I'm feeling overall and what my plan for the next day is. I will not be working out any more than I have been - walking, playing with kids, etc.


Day 1- Sunday

Breakfast
-One banana (sliced) mixed with a huge handful of red grapes.

-Apple

-Coffee (this is not raw, but I'm modifying the diet to meet my needs and at this point coffee meets my needs!)







Snack


-One banana (sliced)

-Handful of raw walnuts (these are eaten throughout the day, when feeling like I need something that isn't fruit!)





Lunch

-Half a container of raspberries

-Sliced pear

-Peppermint tea

- Handful of raw walnuts







Dinner

Massive salad- variety of organic lettuce, half a head broccoli, whole carrot, three mini cucumbers and a scoop of homemade coleslaw on top (made of red and green cabbage and kale, shredded carrots, with a vinegar-based dressing)

RECAP: