Day One.. In the VAULT!

Even though the 11 Week Detox Vault at RawFoodRehab is now officially closed you can still purchase the digital books and participate in your own style.  Penni (the Author) has allowed the books to be downloaded outside of the Vault!

IMO the books are fantastic for the Fall rather you want to be totally Raw or not!  Here is a pix of the three you can download:

You can purchase the set by Penni Shelton here:

DownLoad Falling Into Raw HERE

In addition to the three books (one "book" is actually pix only, which I love because you can print the recipes in black and white from the other book w/o pix!) you will also get two text files with this download.  One a good journal page to update each week for your progress and one a grocery list that I already have printed out! 

Trust me, there are some GREAT Raw food recipes in this collection and we all need a little help thru the Holidays now don't we?

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Notes on yesterday:

Food:

Breakfast:
1/3 cantaloupe
2 banana
1 peach

Snack:
green juice

Lunch
cooked vegan (2 veggie burgers plain)
2 T tahini to dip burgers in
Then....
2 freaking Lara bars! Sort of a Binge!
I think let myself get too hungry and I was doing LOTS of work on the house and I am also hormonal.. 4 days before I should start my cycle.. I know excuses don't Rawk it do they?

BUT...
Amazing salad for dinner! My fav. salad I have had so far and I just threw it together with lusciousness I had in the fridge. 

I have lots of veggies but only had greens I thought were appropriate for green juices.. they seemed too strong to me for salad greens EXCEPT when I tried the Red chard!  I really loved it by itself and so did DH.

I added an organic yellow tomato from WholeFoods (amazing.. best tomato I have had since we left AR!), sweet onion, orange slices, semi sprouted mung beans, red bell pepper, a little avocado, dressing was a T of raw tahini, juice from one orange, a couple dashes of nama shoy a little garlic powder and salt and pepper).. great dressing BTW!

So I feel like I sort of almost saved the day with this amazing salad!! 
Small victories...

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Today I am psyched.  I really am glad to be a part of this Vault.  I need accountability thru the Holidays.  I need the support.

The Lockdown Starts Tomorrow!

I am signed up for the 11 week initiative in the Vault!   The private room at Raw Food Rehab for those who will actively be participating in the higher level of level of commitment & accountability during the 11 Weeks of Falling Into Raw - October 2nd - December 17th, 2010

It's going to be interesting.  I need all the help I can get thru the holidays.  I always fail during the holidays.  I won't this year!

http://rawfoodrehab.ning.com/group/ivault4

I love Raw Food Rehab and think everyone can benefit from this site, rather they are Raw or not!

Magnificent!

My friends all think I am a freak because I love Mornings!
It's something about renewal I think.

I am doing good, well today anyway!  Yesterday.. uh.. not so much. 
I had veggie pizza (no dairy) for lunch and a very fatty (but still RAW) dinner that was fab but a little too high cal for me for a regular basis but I have to write about my Thai Green Curry Soup I made!

This is sort of a recipe in progress:

Green Curry Thai Raw Soup:

For two nice size MEAL servings of soup:

Soup BASE:

Coconut water from two young coconuts
Coconut meat from two young coconuts
Ginger (just a little fresh)
Lime juice (juice of one lime for two servings)
Green curry paste (half the can is nice and HOT - see link below to the kind I think is the BEST)
Dash nama shoyu
Small teaspoon of raw honey
1 T shredded basil
1/3 avocado added to base to sort of emulsify it

I add a little of the coconut water, the coconut meat and the avo to the Vitamix first than blend.. then throw the rest in.  Blend well.  It's nice and thick! 

I pour the base in the bowl and then add the rest:

Add to the soup base before serving:

avocado (rest of the whole one.. divided between the two bowls)
Small cubes of red bell pepper, cucumber, eggplant and zucchini (all opt. - I make small 1/4" cubes)
bean sprouts
shredded basil (just a touch)
Lime round to float on top (opt)

My DH who LOVES Thai with all his heart thought this was some of the best soup EVER!
I found this green curry paste that I think it the best quality, although I am pretty sure it's not truly Raw, it has very limited ingredients and no preservatives:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EUJKR0/ref=oss_product

I made a nice light salad to go on the side:

Japanese Ribbon Salad

1 large cucumber, cut into ribbons with a veggie peeler (peel cuc first)
1 large carrot cut into ribbons with a veggie peeler (peel carrot first)
small handful cilantro chopped fine (more or less to taste - also good with mint)
2 T chopped pickled ginger (not Raw but an amazing ingredient.. could use a small amt. of fresh ginger instead)
Dressing:
1 teaspoon raw honey mixed into juice from 1 large lime.

Toss and serve in small bowls.

ʚ(ˆ◡ˆ)ɞ

Rawkin' On..

I love that...
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I wanted to come in and post since it's been a couple of days.  I am doing fine.  I have been still high Raw just been very busy lately.  I really, truly need to post every day so I am going to work on that!

Yesterday I ate 70% Raw.  Had a cooked vegan meal for lunch but my other meals for the day were Raw.

I made a great salad the night before last that has been my very fav. salad for YEARS.. it's fresh baby spinach, grape tomatoes, sweet onion (needs to be like Walla Walla or Vidalia) sliced very thin into rings, half an avocado, AND an entire pink grapefruit cut into sections and a half an orange cut into sections.  I used to use a fat free French dressing on it but have made my own Raw French dressing that is SO good it beats that old chemical soup FF dressing big time:

Raw "French" Dressing
1/3 cup sundried tomato, soaked (save soaking water you will need it!)
1 medium fresh tomato
half a Dried Ancho chili – soaked (too much and dressing gets bitter) 
I get mine at penzeys: http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/p-penzeysancho.html
cayenne to taste
2 dates
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
half a lime worth of juice or more to taste
1/2 cup tomato water (saved soaking water)
garlic powder (raw is too strong in this IMO)
1 tablespoon Italian seasonings
1/2 teaspoon sea salt or more to taste

Place ingredients in a blender. Process until smooth and creamy - add more water if needed...

I was so excited to come up with this recipe.  IMO it's very important to eat lots of salads on Raw.  It is fun to have Gourmet Raw and I love to make those recipes but a good salad is better to have on a regular basis so I am always looking for fantastic Raw dressings. 


More to come soon.  I've got some new products in I want to write about!

Food Yesterday:
smoothie (cherry and Raw cacao and hemp) breakfast
fruit salad snack
Vegan Indian veggie korma with papadam (bread type) late lunch
raw coconut and jungle peanuts (also raw) snack
green smoothie dinner


Anyway I am good.. I am holding in the weight loss but I am actually down 44 pounds total over the last year and a few months and I think by body is just seeking an equilibrium.  I am not concerned, besides now I am more worried about getting HEALTHY.. Weight loss, of course I want it but I won't push myself into unhealthy actions to lose it.  I have had issues in the past and know that slow and steady is what I need.

Time to Re-Commit~

"Nature's Mandala" Photo from The Sunny Raw Kitchen.  I am SO in love with her blog!!  http://thesunnyrawkitchen.blogspot.com/


There are so many wonderful blogs out there but there is something special about her blog.  It's so inspirational and she's one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen... she's walking the talk!

Well I have not done that bad the last few days - still pretty high raw (around 65-70% I would say).. but I have had a vegan cooked meal EVERY night the last three days and need to break that so I am calling today my day to re-commit.

I feel I could do very close to totally Raw much more often if I could just get myself better organized and of course get my dehydrator finally here!  It should be here within the next 10 days.  I want to make (and keep in stock in the fridge) wraps and sandwich "bread" to make veggie sandwiches.  I used to LOVE a good veggie sandwich and always used Ezekiel sprouted grain bread... I still do right now from time to time but want to make some nice onion bread in the dehydrator.. oh and play with other bread and wrap and cracker ideas.. I have LOTS of recipes stashed and also want to make some corn chip type crackers for my homemade salsa and gauc!...

I have an idea for a carrot raisin cinnamon bread for in the morning also. 

It is harder to be Raw.  It's not so hard to do high Raw but I really want to do this as high as I can and that takes planning and prepping a few days in advance.

Blarg.. again today. Come On!

Good Morning.

I wish I could say I feel great today but so far pretty blah. 

On my Detox:
Well today I am having sinus again.. no energy, just feel like staying in bed all day.


Mindset:
Very motivated.. VERY even though I feel not so grand I won't truly let it get me down.. well at least not for long.
I have been reading juice feasting blogs.  I do want to do a juice feast in Oct. .. I am going to start with 5 days. Maybe even 7? Will see.  I don't always do well with the fasting mentality.

I signed up for the next upcoming lockdown detox in the Vault on RawFood Rehab and am really looking forward to it. 

Food Yesterday:
Banana
HUGE megga mango YUM (noonish)
Apple
Cherry pie lara bar
Walnuts
2 small veggie burgers (cooked) for late lunch (3:45pm)
walnuts 4:30 about maybe 7 halves
carrot, broccoli, sunflower, raisin, lemon juice and honey salad
lara bar
honey, raisin, cacao, walnut "pudding" (a bit)

I think I would have not eaten a cooked meal at lunch yesterday (or at night the day before) if I had something planned that could have been somehow warmed. I need to order that instant read thermometer and plan to have some soup ingredients.. even if it’s just tomatoes and frozen corn and sprouted garbanzo or something to throw in a bain marie and warm. I need to figure out some things I can make that are not cold. I think while I have this sinus yuck I am really craving warm and SPICY.

I need to re-commit and go to the grocery store but I am not feeling great and normally would ask DH to pick up a couple of things on the way home but he is on call and having a hard time of it right now.

I have to get it back in gear.

I am eating fruit today until late lunch and then making a green juice.

I don’t have allot of stuff in the house to eat.. hard to believe after spending $175 last week at WF but there it is.

I should have planned some meals this weekend and stocked up at the store but we sort of just vegged out .. and Patrick really needed it.

I can’t wait for my dehydrator.. I have to figure out a good veggie burger to make a large batch of and keep in the freezer for emergencies.

I have to get some ideas started.. I will build up some recipes.. I found a chili recipe idea… and LOTS of other ideas.. I am mostly worried about dinners..

So I have eaten cooked the last two days in a row.. I will break that today.  Don't want to start a habit.  I know I am shooting for High Raw but truthfully it's only because of poor planning that I would have to have cooked vegan more than a time or two a week.

I found a great video (three actually) on making the Krazy Kracker Lady’s bbq crackers and onion rings here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/krazykrackerlady#p/u/8/j06iDUgkKm0
　

Detox.. I think?

Feel like hell today.
Headache, sinus yuck (need to use my neti pot!).  Feel like even a very slight fever maybe.  I find it interesting that I am detoxing thru my sinus. 

I have zero energy.  I just want to lay in bed all day.

I have had diarrhea since day 1! I keep thinking it has to get better that makes it 31 days of diarrhea.  I stay hydrated, lots of water, herbal teas and fruit/veggies and juices.

Another VERY interesting thing Detox wise:
I have had in the last few days (it’s a little better today) this strange ache that was even sore to the touch in my upper arms almost up to where my shoulder meets my arm, toward the back of my upper arms but not actually all the way under my arms.

I looked on line and this area appears to be a place with lymph nodes! I can actually feel little knot areas. DH gave me a good massage in that area two nights in a row and it seems to have helped. It’s interesting.. I am sure it was toxins! It’s till slightly sore so I am going to ask for another little rub tonight.

I have more to write soon but I've got to crawl in bed.. I sure wish I had a laptop!

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Ok I am back.. wanted to write MORE..
  
I ate a cooked vegan dinner tonight.. still 75% Raw for the day.. I did a percentage calc. of my percetage raw since August 21 (I have each day percentage of raw in a spreadsheet since day one) and even with my two days that I pretty much took off over a weekend when my sister was here I am 85% raw over the last 30 days!! That is fantastic.. I am working for High raw so a cooked vegan meal a couple of times a week (I don’t do it every day) is fine for now.. I am working up to as close as 100% as I can and have had many days in the last 30 that were 99%.

I am having lots of hot herb tea today.  I am feeling a little better.. my love of hot tea is one of the reasons I can only get up to 99% on days when I am eating as raw as I can.. I truly believe in herbs (and green and white tea) and am not sure I will ever give them up.

I also want to order some licorice root and make my own tea. I love licorice tea.