Cooked Vegan in a High Raw Lifestyle and Dizziness is Detox

I'm eating lots of raw.. mostly eating raw till after 4.  I have lots of fruit and salad and I've been juicing carrot, turmeric ginger juice.  I also have been drinking an anti-inflammatory shake that's high raw. 

It's frozen organic fruit (I like the mixed berry), a banana, ground flax seed, hemp seed protein powder, flax oil, borage oil, raw cacao and stevia.  I've been making it for my hubs too occasionally. He loves anything chocolate so it's a winner.

I've been eating cooked vegan occasionally for dinner.  If I don't eat the occasional cooked vegan meal my detox is too hard core.  My favorite cooked meal lately is to make a really great guacamole, salute some kale and garlic and roast a couple of fat Yukon gold potatoes and mix the gauc and kale and stuff the potatoes with it.  AWESOME!!!!

I also found a great recipe for vegan Paella.    I'll post the recipe next time I make it. 

I am having a bit of headache and yesterday I was dizzy when I woke.  I know it's detox.  I would be really worried and freaked out with dizziness because I had never read it IS a detox symptom.  It' very unsettling to me.  I would almost have a headache over dizziness. 

Broccoli, Carrot and Raisin Slaw YUM!

I needed to get this in my blog because this is my go-to when I need a quick dinner salad.  I find myself making it more often than just about any other meal for dinner.

Right now here in Orlando I feel like we are living on the face of the sun and all I want to do is run around the house naked and eat high water fruits and veggies.

This morning we are having watermelon and cherries.  I'm making raw corn, avocado, videlia onion, tomato, jalapeño, cumin and pink salt salad for lunch and dinner is my fav. Broccoli carrot raisin salad!

When I know I want to have this for dinner I always make it as early in the day as possible so the raisins can plump up with the honey lime juice dressing.

It's EASY to make with a food processor..  just wash veggies.. peel carrots and throw the broccoli and carrot in food processor using the grater/ shredder attachment..  throw in raisins.  Add the dressing and chill a few hours.  So delish!!

YOU NEED:
Huge head of broccoli or 2 small ones.
8 large carrots peeled
4 Celery stalks (optional)
1 C raisins (you can find raisins that are not pastured online.  I buy mine from Natural Zing. also Living Tree Community Foods has truly raw raisins)
Juice from 3-5 limes (you want at least 3/4 C- I like more like a Cup because I love lots of juice )
Half C raw honey (or make date syrup if you are totally Vegan)
Pinch pink salt or whatever your favorite salt is.
Raw Sunflower Seeds

Mix honey and lime juice in blender.. add pinch salt.

Process veggies in food processor.

Throw in bowl.. add raisins.. cover with dressing and stir well.
OPTIONAL :  I like to add a little celery sometimes and I have begun throwing raw sunflower seeds on top when I serve it.

Cover and chill as long as you can!  This is exceptionally  good the next day.

I'm On a Roll!

OMG isn't this hilarious!!?  I want all these fruits.

I have so much to write about! 

I noticed this morning on my walk, (that's right I started walking! It has been weeks and weeks since I have done any exercise. Today is day 2 of walking), anyway I noticed on my walk this morning that things seem to have started to coming together a little for me..  

Like for instance DH and I are going to Miami in a couple of weeks and I want to do a lot of walking on South Beach one day.  There is also a beautiful Botanical Garden we are going to go to and spend allot of time walking.  There is also The Coconut Grove Organic Farmer's Market!!!

I have been wanting to go here for a couple of years!  It's a Raw Foodist Extravaganza with lots of different types of tropical fruits and a couple of pretty famous Miami Raw food companies have tents here.  I love JakFruit (above).  It's the fruit that "Juicy Fruit" gum was based on I can't wait!!!

So I decided I need to start walking now so I have at least built up a little stamina in a couple of weeks.  It is the excitement about Miami that has really spurred me to start walking. 

It is amazing how incredibly out of shape I am. I walked about a mile yesterday and I had to pretty much sit on my ass the rest of the day. My feet hurt, my back hurt and  my sciatic nerve pain down the front of my thighs started acting up. In the past that would have really saddened me because it's very scary to me when that happens. Normally I would have been so depressed and said to myself "Oh great all I've done is hurt myself" but I am so excited about Miami and getting out and about and walking and enjoying ourselves that's my mind didn't even go there. 

I think Raw food is really also helping my mental depression which needs to be an entire other post!... but I will say that I have to desire to move.. and to be outside occasionally and the last couple of days I actually went outside the last few days and laid in the sun and was surprised how glorious it felt.  The heat on my body felt so indulgent to me.

REWARDS:

Having something to look forward to really helps me and DH and I were this morning talking about last time we went to Sanibel Island how we saw absolutely everybody out riding around on a bike. The entire Island was full of hundreds of people riding bikes. We commented to each other then that we really have got to get our bikes out, air up the tires and get back on them and get some exercise. 

He said this morning we will do that soon and plan another trip to Sanibel! So there there is another thing worth looking forward to and I am so excited.

WEIGHT; I am out of the 230#'s forever!!  

RE: MY WALKING, I have been loading podcasts on my little iPod Shuffle and listening to them the last two days on my walk.  I found a couple of raw foodists that I really like and I've been listening to them.  I am excited to have found them.

FOOD lately:

I have been doing mostly fruit till dinner.. a couple of raw dinners and a couple of cooked Vegan meals.  I have been eating beans a couple of times a week at lunch time when I need something a little more satiating.

Last night I made pumpkin seed and sunflower seed pate and made collard wraps with lots of raw veggies.. it was so yum!  a few nights ago I made Nori rolls with avocado and lots of veggies and I bought some pickled ginger from "The Ginger People" at Whole Foods and had some good Wasabi paste that DH's brother sent us from Japan.  I think that was my favorite meal in just about forever!  I am absolutely making that more often.. and also Summer rolls.. even though the celephane noodles are cooked it's such a great way to get tons of raw veg!

So I am feeling very well.. happy even!

Yuck! Broccoli Sprouts , a NSV and Raw Nori Rolls

I had struggled for a couple of days but yesterday was one PERFECT day. 

Bunches of perfectly ripe honeydew melon (my very favorite fruit when perfectly ripe in season) and luscious papaya.. and a couple of banana until dinner.

Dinner was SO GOOD!!! 

I made raw nori rolls and shredded a jicima for my rice (be sure to press out excess water from shredded jicima, I used a tea towel)  I made 4 rolls and used an entire very large jicima for my rice.  I added avocado, red and orange bell pepper, green onion, seeded zuchinni slices, shredded carrot and baby mixed greens.  I served Raw kimchee on the side.

I had ordered some real, premium wasabi and it's such a treat!  I want to learn to make my own pickled ginger but in the mean time I am using pickled ginger from "The Ginger People" from Whole Foods and it's good quality, not loaded which any chemicals.

I think one way I can be more successful  eating high Raw is by making things that lend themselves to more Raw veggies that I used to love to make.. like Summer Rolls and Nori and Pad Thai.  I just make substitutions where I can (like Raw jicima rice) and don't worry if it's not 100% Raw..  like for instance the rice noodles in Summer rolls.  I find myself stuffing them with tons of veggies and fresh herbs and using much less rice noodles anyway but not being militant about it is KEY for me.

WEIGHTLOSS MOJO!
I had really let my momentum start to slide but I am working on getting my weight loss MOJO back up and running..  it's always hardest the first few days.  I have got to quit with the self sabotage.

A couple of days ago I went to the grocery store for my normal shopping and bought a few Vegan micro meals.  One a new brown rice and nut "meat" taco meal I had never seen (amazing by the way).. I was so excited to try it I over ate it at lunch and that set me off..  I ended up eating cooked Vegan the rest of the day.

Also wanted to report that sprouted broccoli seeds are yuck!  I started them 3 days ago and loved watching them sprout... I had high hopes and they were fine at first tastr, sort of taste like broccoli but have a bitter..sour after taste and I was careful to rince often so they had definitely not turned bad.

NSV!!!
Well I have a non scale VICTORY!

Yesterday i pulled an old, hardly ever worn (was really seriously too tight when i bought it but so cute and WAY on sale)

It's a sheer little flouncy over shirt that I bought in st. Augustine several years ago. It has never fit. It is gorgeous with shaes of greens amd blues on a white see thru background.  I wore a black tight cami underneath it. 

Today I actually got it on and it fit absolutely perfect! If I was two pounds  heavier it would be too tight. I was so happy it made me smile.

It's really cute and very flattering on.

Yeah!!!!

Fruit, Yummy Raw Slaw and Cooked Vegan

Yesterday was a pretty good day.  I do really well until about 2 or 3PM on just fruit but then my body starts craving heavier foods.  I hope as time goes on I will change.  I have read that the longer you stay Raw the more your body wants light, water rich and less heavy, dehydrated, fatty gourmet style Raw.

In the mean time I am looking into a few more substantial Raw meals for late day and dinner.  Here are a few things I am working on creating:

Stuffed mushrooms.

Raw Vegan burgers in the dehydrator

Nut and Seed Pate

more Crackers.. I have several I have made including some corn zucchini crackers I love with guacamole.

I am sure I am eating too many nuts and that it will slow down my weight loss but I am doing the best I can to eat as Raw as I can.  I am also intuitively aware that this need for heavy food in the afternoons is my addicted mind seeking that tranquilized, numbed feeling..

DINNER LAST NIGHT:
Raw slaw with shredded carrot, brocoli, celery and raw organic pumpkin seeds and raw organic raisins (I ordered both of these from NaturalZing).  Dressing was juice of two fresh limes and 3 T Raw honey.  This stuff is so good and I will have it for lunch today to... it's even better the next day.

Last year I made an amazing Vegan Paella with artichoke hearts and green English peas.  I want to make it again soon.  I am still eating cooked for the occasional dinner and working toward more 100% Raw days.

Learning to simplify RAW sometimes

I am doing better today.

Yesterday I was Raw till dinner and I had a cooked Amy's organics Vegan, Gluten free meal.. just about as good as I can do without eating Raw.

I ate lots of fruit yesterday.  For me fruit makes it so easy.  I love a good salad but when I am struggling and need EASY peasey it's fruit.

One thing that occurred to me a little too late to help the last week but I know now, is that when I start struggling and really am too stressed to do all the prep work and menu planning and stuff I think I need to do to keep it interesting that for a few days eating fruit only is OK! 

That is sort of what I am doing right now.. till dinner for a few days. 

Tonight we are closing on our refinance for our mortgage and I won't go into it allot but we are saving enough to be able to afford even more RAW!

I will be so glad when this is finalized and also when TAXES are done holy damn. 

We are planning a mini vaca in Miami at the end of the month to unwind and I am so exited and READY.

Doing a post on that soon.. 

Having a microwave cooked Vegan dinner again tonight to make it easy on me since our notary will be arriving at the house around dinner time and I don't want a messy kitchen.  

Tomorrow I am making one of my all time favorite Raw meals for dinner.  Carrot, Broccoli Raisin slaw.  It's EASY to make and easy to clean up after. 

It's just lots of peeled, organic carrots, celery and broccoli shredded in a food processor.. A dressing made of Raw honey and fresh lime juice and raisins and sprouted sunflower seeds mixed in...

It's best made a few hours ahead of time.  The raisins get all plump and juice and I usually make a double batch and eat on it or two days.

More Later~

Hubs Favorite Smoothie Right Now

This morning the hubs said "babe can you make me that Raw chocolate cherry smoothie for my drive to work?"  Well yes! Yes I can. I am so thankful he enjoys allot of the Raw meals I make.. he watches the documentaries and Youtube vidoes with me.. he is so encouraging and I don't bitch when he eats whatever he wants when he's away from hoome... because he always eats and enjoys what I prepare at home.

This one has Raw cacao powder, frozen organic cherries (can't wait till fresh cherries are back in season!) a few fresh raspberries, Raw honey and 3 T Raw hemp seeds.. SO yummy!

Pretty Much Said Screw It The Last Few Days

The last few days have been freaking ridiculous.   I've eaten pizza and pasta and junk food and these apple fried pies TWICE from Pizza Hut... one of my old favorite comfort food desserts.  Gross.

So much going on right now, tax season (I have a home based jewelry design business and do my taxes myself), we are refinancing our home and have had appraisers and notaries come to the house so I have sent HOURS each day working on cleaning the house so it looks apsolutely as good as possible.

Lastly my jewelry sales really picked up the last couple of weeks.. I am not sure what the increase was.. maybe women on Spring break shopping for cool Summer jewelry which I specialize in.  I know several sales were anklets.  I make all the jewelry by hand and I just lost my shit.  Something had to give.   Unfortunatly it was my raw diet.

I told myself raw is too hard when I'm stressed out and can't stay organized and I got pulled back into cheap and easy.

I have caught myself and managed to only gain a couple of pounds back and am back on High Raw today.

I have made a decision to put my jewelry biz on the back burner for a while.  There is so much work that is involved.. with social media, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, my Jewelry blog.. etc. that has to be kept up in order to be somewhat successful and I have been doing jewelry for 25 years so I have a good following but I am stepping back and just letting my jewelry sell that might sell in my store and not making new pieces.. which involves shooting, picking best photos.. photoshop work, new listings.. etc.  It's like 10 hour days and I can't do that and stay Raw the way I need to right now... I just lose my focus.

When I have Raw underway and am well organized again and am in the groove and if I have time I will get back to my biz but Raw is FOR OUR HEALTH and just HAS TO BE priority.

My focus HAS GOT TO BE HEALTH AND RAW FOOD. I was feeling so grounded and starting to lose weight..  sure it's not easy but I know anything WORTH ANYTHING is not easy.  I ONLY HAVE SO MUCH time in a day and I have to have my priorities STRAIGHT. ..so it's been hard and I lost my way... temporarily.

I am back to High Raw.

Strange DETOX Symptoms on Raw Food

They say you detox in waves, feeling great for several days and then like hell for a couple of days then great.. then hellish.. etc and I have found it's true for me.

In the past I have had strange detox symptoms but this beats them all.. I SWEAR I am detoxing thru my EYES!

I woke up last night with tons of tears rolling out of my eyes.. no bad dreams or such just water all over my face.  It kept on until this AM and now has cleared up.

Last night I had a really bad headache that was close to a migraine.  I had to finally just close my eyes and go to bed.. light and sound was just too much. 

This AM the headache had waned but not totally.


Most people that are interested in Raw food and Juice Fasts are fascinated with detox symptoms so here are a few I have dealt with;
DETOX SYMPTOMS of the past:
-One time I was awakened in the middle of the night with a very scary, sharp stabbing pain under my right breast that took my breath away.. it lasted maybe 2 minutes but it was the longest 2 minutes of my life.. I am sure it was my body working on ball stones or cleansing my gall bladder.

-I detox mostly thru my sinus.  It comes and goes but for YEARS I had no idea I was actually hardly getting any air thru my nose.  Now that I have days my sinus is totally clear it's amazing.

-Last Summer I had really deep aches in the backs of my upper arms that lasted for a couple of days.. it was really bad and I almost went to the Dr. but I was so sure my body was working on something I just put up with it and it did go away and has never returned.

-I wrote above about the latest, I swear I detoxed thru my eyes!!

-I have had flu symptoms so bad that I would have been totally SURE I had freaking the worst flu I have ever had if I didn't know it was one of the most common signs of detox.  I almost gave up on my second juice fast because it was so horrid.

-Emotional detox has been strange too.  I have had days were I felt darkness bubbling thru me and thought I might be surrounded with evil or something if I didn't know this was another sign of detox and cellular memory.   Trust me even if you think you have let it all go.. there will still be crap come up.  My advise it to feel it, let it roll thru you and release it and it's bad energy.

DINNER LAST NIGHT:
I made a great salad last night with lots of yummy heirloom tomato, cucumber, fresh basil and these truly raw olives I had ordered online and then ruined it with a Raw dressing that I made!!!  I used oranges, jalapeno and zucchini in it and it sucked.  I keep trying to find good Raw dressing recipes because I get tired of them quickly and REALLY think they are important to keeping salads constantly on the menu.  It had zucchini in it as the thickener and... just no.  At least I have not found one I like yet with zucchini... its easy to make a thick creamy dressing with nuts or seeds but i want to save my fat for actually an ingredient in my salad.  I do have a recipe for a Raw low fat Caesar dressing that has zucchini... I will try it next... maybe.

Tonight I am making a salad with strawberry, blueberry, butter leaf, almond, coconut and mandolin thin sliced yellow squash.  I will use EVOO and balsamic as a simple dressing... YUM balsamic and berries!!

Got a Little Groove Going On...

Well in the last week I have seen great days.. good days and a couple of not very healthy cooked meals...  one being a Pizza Hut pizza (no cheese) and apple pastries they sell for desserts (probably not Vegan). 

I do see myself doing progressively  better with much less desire for junk and more desire for the awesome salads I have been making but the desire for junk is still there.. it's just getting slowly crowded out a little at a time.  I have been being more kind to myself when I don't make great choices which is such a wonderful change.  One of the reasons I am still so overweight is undeniably because of my militant thinking.   For the last few years it was if I didn't do fabulous why bother.. and the entire day was seen as an excuse to just say fuck it and pig out.  I've not been doing that. 

I find myself actually fine with fruit till like 2pm..

 My kitchen table... lots of fruit for me every day till 2-3PM.

Then when I am hungry again a salad or veggie wrap with maybe some homemade Raw vegan nut/seed cheese or nuts in general.  I have been honoring my hunger and letting myself eat the higher fat Raw if I need.

Romaine wrap with carrot, raw portobello, red bell, onion and Raw vegan "sharp cheddar" cheese.

Apple, Romaine, Walnut, Celery and Grape

I have had several 100% Raw days but I have stopped writing stuff down.. I did that for YEARS and it has never helped me... if anything it helped contribute to my all or nothing thinking.


STAYING IMMERSED IN THE LIFESTYLE IS KEY FOR ME!
I'm flooding my consciousness with many videos a day on raw food healing and those by people who just have made it their lifestyle.  I am not taking anyone as a "Guru" and not falling for any dogma either.  I have been in and out of the Raw food lifestyle long enough to know many people think their way is the only way and to me.. any way I can eat much more Raw is a step in the right direction, PERIOD.
 
I am planning another juice fast, just not concrete on when but I will know when the time is right.  The hubs has even shown an interest in doing 3 or 4 days with me.  I have completed three juice fasts..  3 days.. 7 days and 10 days.  I am aiming for 14 days for my next.

GOALS MOVING FORWARD:
Planning my menus and making other Raw besides a good salad needs some work and that will be a goal for the next few weeks.  Right now I am keeping it fairly simple with fruit till 2 or 3 pm or so and then salads or romaine wraps with nuts and Raw cheese or heavier dehydrated foods like crackers and raw bars.  

I recently made chocolate, orange, macadamia nut bars that were pretty good but not great so I won't post the recipe yet.  I have been buying Lara Bars but like most Raw foodies I know I can make them much more affordably.  Here is a pix though:

THE SCALE:
OMG I have not had the desire to weigh!!  I don't know what has come over me!!!  I spent the LAST 10 YEARS WEIGHING EVERY DAMN DAY!  It's strange.  I obviously want to lose weight but that's moved to 3rd place in priority under MY health and MY husband's health. 

I do plan on weighing the morning I start my juice fast though.


VEGAN:
All of my meals have been Vegan except maybe the apple pastry dessert things I had... That's ok.  a ridiculously HUGE improvement over just a couple of months ago!

FAVE RAW MEAL THIS WEEK:


Pecan, Raw Brussels Sprouts salad with Maple Vinaigrette.!  BEST salad EVER!  I say that every time I come up with a new salad LOL!  

Three Dinner Size Portions:
One head of Romaine shredded, about 25 brussel sprouts cleaned and shredded in food processor, 1/2 cup soaked, dehydrated pecans, 1/2 cup onions of your choice it's really good with Vidalia onions if you can find them. And right before serving (so they don't turn brown) I chop 2 green apples. 

DRESSING: 1/3 C good quality maple syrup, 1/3 C Braggs apple cider vinegar and a couple tablespoons of olive oil.  I have been craving salt for some reason lately. I added a little pink Himalayan salt to the dressing also.. #RawFoodForTheWin !!


So that's it for now!  I'm feelin' fine.  Hope you are too.