Today I was full of cravings as well. Hot dogs, pizza, sandwich, oh my! After the partially-raw debacle, I started to rethink the diet. Perhaps I should eat as raw as I can, but also incorporate some cooked food, excluding all artificial sweeteners and coloring, sugar, gluten, preservatives, and dairy. That way I can have turkey on Thanksgiving!
I've already gone back to some non-raw ways. This afternoon I happened to open the cupboard to see some Herr's Natural Blue Corn chips. The only ingredients were certified organic blue corn, safflower and/or sunflower oil, and sea salt. No preservatives. Sounded very whole foods to me. So I made some guacamole and ate them together. Not awful. Doing this now and then helps put off the preoccupation with food that many dieters face. It gets very boring sometimes with such a limited food palette, and no bread-like substances.
I just made a delicious mango, banana and spinach smoothie. I love making smoothies. This one included one mango, one banana, up to a cup of water, and a handful of spinach. Don't worry about the spinach part, it adds loads of nutrition, but isn't noticeable in the taste at all.
Another asset to any raw food diet is a good juicer. One day I'd love the hefty Greenstar juicer ($499). For now, though, I love my Breville Compact Juice Fountain ($99.95). Also, the other day I ordered a Excalibur dehydrator ($209.95) -- an early Hanukkah gift from my mom (hi, mom!) Once it comes, I will be able to make raw fruit leathers and dried fruits, as well as my own, completely raw fruit bars! Yay! So that's a "taste" of my new life as a now "high-raw" foodist. More to come.
OOh, how exciting! I ate raw for a whole 2 weeks. When I started eating "normal" again it was rare that I wouldn't need to rush to the bathroom 30 minutes later. (that lasted another 2 weeks.) I think I'd like to eventually take on a "raw until dinner" type of diet- not so hard core, but I'd at least be getting more healthy enzymes and all that than I would normally. I love spinach and avocado smoothies, I put whatever else I have on hand in em too. Yum. Good luck! oooh, and have you been to Pure Food and Wine? Soooo good!
ReplyDeletelooking forward to hearing more!
ReplyDeletekudos on the raw food stuff-
ReplyDeleteon a side note, the raw food movement comes from a wholesome health, spiritual, back-to-the-roots place, which means, stressing about things being 100% raw (according the the raw food movement standards) 100% of the time can be some what detrimental to the benefits you will get from the "diet"
Just something to mention as you seemed overly concerned about how raw (what percentage) things were-- if you are eating a varied, well-balanced mostly living-foods diet, you will reap far more benefits than stressing out about whether the nuts you are eating were made in a "raw" way or whether a raw food bar is 100% raw or not
just thought it was worth a mention, as i have many raw foodist friends, and they cite the importance of listening to your body, connecting with the food you are putting in your body and not putting too much pressure on yourself to get it exactly raw 100% of the time- because then it becomes like a restrictive diet instead of a positive new relationship with food :)
xoxo