This has been such a rough month! Good news, I'll have my M.A. by the end of next month. Bad news, I have been driving myself insane in the process. I am not one for dairy or candy bars and such, but oh man! Lately I have been eating snickers, cookies and butterfingers like they're going out of style. I think i'm going to attempt to be 100% raw this week and then go from there.

The Miracle Tree

I am not sure if my body has been going through a detox, or if its the remnants of PMS but today (technically yesterday) I was in such a funk all I wanted to do was sleep. I haven't really been making too much raw food lately, Mother Nature blew in to my life and threw me off track a little bit. The past few days I've had a terrible sleep cycle, and I haven't been eating much raw, but then again I haven't really been eating much of anything. I haven't really had an appetite in a couple days. On the plus side, I'm now at 177! :).

On Saturday I went to the Vegetarian Expo. While there, I discovered what may possibly be my new favorite supplement, moringa. I'm going to start putting it in to my smoothies on a regular basis and see if I notice any major differences. The moringa is a tree that is indigenous to Africa, South America, and a few other locations that I cannot recall offhand. The nutrient value in the leaves are quite impressive and in Ghana they are using it to fight against malnutrition. Some are calling it the "Miracle Tree" as it is claimed that it has the ability to cure over 300 diseases. It is one of the most powerful antioxidants, and it has:

15x the potassium of bananas

25x the iron of spinach

17x the calcium of milk

25-30% protein ( which is 9x the amount of protein of yogurt)

10x the vitamin A of carrots

4x the chlorophyll of wheatgrass

Also, the company i was talking to makes delicious vegan brownies using moringa as well. I was a little leery at first, but I really enjoyed the taste. I'm going to have to order some more when I get the chance.

.. day..???

Ever since I fell off of the raw bandwagon I haven't really been back on again. I've had a couple days in which I've been raw, but I haven't consciously been persistent with it the way that I need to be. I find that it has almost been an out of sight out of mind ordeal, so perhaps daily blogging will keep me more focused and on track. I do plan on incorporating a few cooked veggies (I'm not a huge fan of raw broccoli) into my diet, but aside from that being about 90-100% raw.

day 10

So, yesterday was a slight set backward. However, I'm not going to beat myself up over it. I'm just going to dust myself off and move on-to be honest, there are many worse things to have eaten than avocado rolls and cereal. Today is a new raw day!!

This lady loves her some raw tacos!

Still going strong!

I cant believe I'm eight days raw! I am beyond excited for myself and I'm thrilled that I have hung in there this long. Of course I have a ways to go and depending on how the month goes, I may just extend it to 100 days. The only thing that I'm beginning realize is that I need to cut back on the nuts and grains because they're somewhat not exactly helping with my goals. Thus I think this week my new challenge for myself while being raw is to have two smoothies, drink 90oz of water daily, and to stop eating after 9pm. Also, I want to try out three new low fat raw-veg. recipes. Anyone have any favorites???

Here is the cake I made last week inspired by Rod Rotundi's recipe for Raspberry Cocoa Cheezecake. I didn't have raspberries so I used strawberries instead.. YUM!

day 3!

I'm thrilled that I've even made it to day three so easily to be honest. I can't tell you how many mornings I wake up and tell myself I'm going to be raw and I wind up forgetting and with a giant burrito the size of my head shoved in my mouth. Yesterday I was extremely hungry and I couldn't figure out why for the life of me! The oddest thing about it was that I was eating MORE than I normally do, even when I am raw. I'm thinking perhaps it had something to do with my colonic yesterday?? I am unsure. One would think that after having 45oz of green smoothie, watermelon, 2 raw tacos, a large fuji apple, and some quinoa and tomatoes I would be full.

I woke up this morning and I am down 2.6 lbs ( a total of 5.6 lbs since 9/1)! I'm so excited to see myself releasing waste and its really encouraging me to keep going. Yesterday, in the midst of me being hungry the girls (who were also hungry) went out to eat. Normally, this would have been the end of my raw journey and I would have succumbed to the forces of social eating, but instead I didn't eat a thing and went straight home! I know it may not seem like much, but its a big step in the right direction.

Asian Market Goodness

I think the Asian Supermarket is officially my new favorite grocery store! I just bought easily 2 weeks of fresh produce... it was a pain lugging it back on the bus but its so worth it! I made a prettydelicious smoothie.. here it is!

Justice & the Giant Peach Smoothie

2 White Peaches

a fist full of spinach

a fist full of chinese broccoli leaves

1tsp spirulina

2oz aloe vera blend

1tsp bee pollen

4oz coconut water

1/2 cup frozen pineapple

1 dash of vanilla extract

3 dates

1/8c cashew butter & banana ice cream (raw&vegan)

1/2 tbs agave (optional)

1c water (optional)

I also made some Chy Sandwich Tacos for dinner which were super delicious! I had previously made some free-hand raw taco shells using corn, spinach, hss (himalayan sea salt) , and lord knows what else.

Filling ingredients:

raw hummus

purple onion

corn (optional)

lettuce

Annies Naturals Honey Mustard

Tomato

20 in 30???

Its about that time again for me to pull out the automatic sprouter, dust off the spiralizer, and the food processor because I've decided to give myself a 30 day raw challenge seeing that my birthday is just around the corner... I figured that this would be a great way for me to turn 23.. goodness I'm getting old! The aim is to really maintain a relatively low fat raw vegan diet... I think my only exception may be salad dressing ( which would still be vegan). I'm hoping that by the end of this I'll be down about 20 lbs. I'm tired of feeling big and I'm tired of being obese.. even if it is only by about 10lbs. I still don't like it. I know this won't be the easiest of processes, however I'm determined to take control of my body... as I've seen my other options, neither of which make me happy. So, here we go with day 1!! Now off to the market for some fresh produce!!

Off to the Asian Market!

While in the midst of a frustrated rampage last night, I decided to delete alll of the random, yet addicting games that I play on facebook. What does this have to do with anything you might ask? Nothing but now I feel so free with my time I almost don't know what to do on the internet anymore. Perhaps blogging shall become my newest infatuation. I need to start going to bed at a decent hour. I hate either being exhausted all day or waking up with the day almost finished. I am super excited to go to the Asian Supermarket out here I just found out about it and it is supposed to be incredible and have a lot of cheap produce that I can stock up on!

Loving me

Goodness it has been quite a time since I've posted on here. Since then, I've been to Atlanta, Spain, South Africa and Namibia.. met some amazing people and well.. not been raw, at all. Now that I'm back home I'm committing myself to being as healthy as humanly possible. I know its not an easy road to travel down, the road of optimum health, but I'm beginning to realize that I am indeed worth it. That, and quite frankly I'm tired of bingeing and purging and hating my body. Sorry to disappoint if the focus of this blog is shifting a little bit.. Its really turning into a journey of self love and exploration in order to become a better and more authentic being. I'll still be discussing raw food and making recipes, but I'll also be working towards becoming a healthier, lighter, vegan me as well. My goal for this month is to release 10lbs. I hope to reach a total of 15 by my birthday. Its almost scary to write down because I don't know how many times I've written such things down and never followed through with them, or completely forget about it, but I know that this time around I shall be successful... or at least more present. lol. SW:185 (9/1), CW:182.

So, in other raw news I made the most amazing cashew butter and banana ice cream! I am such a happy camper!

Happy Day off of School and Work!

Back Again

I'm back! I promise! Updates are on the way!