Jan. 6, day 6

I slept soundly- about 7 hours. My back hurt terribly upon waking up, though, making it difficult to enjoy lying in bed. I deal with this excruciating pain daily and am so used to it that I don’t even take pills. Alleve is the only thing that helps, but I don’t want to rely on it or continually cover up the pain. I’ll reach over and grab some only if the pain is so bad I cannot sleep or cannot get out of bed.

I had breakfast around 11:30: taboule blah blah blah. I was quite hungry. I added some sprouted fenugreek to it. Yikes- that stuff is bitter!! I only used a little. Since I’ve consumed all my pomegranate, I decided to have half of the papaya as my fruit for the morning. I’ve had 16 oz of water and I feel satisfied. Today my girlfriend is taking me to the Whole Foods Market so I can see it myself. I’m looking forward to asking questions and getting new raw food ideas.

WHOLE FOODS

Whole Foods Market was a lot like Wild Oats, Nature’s Bin and other whole food/health food stores. I liked it a lot. They have a wide variety of raw foods. Some of them were ridiculously expensive for my budget but there are a few items I might splurge for in the future. I wanted to find raw peanuts and cashews but the only raw nuts I saw were almonds, spanish nuts and pine nuts. I also hoped to get raw peanut butter but again, almond made up the only raw butter I could find. Here’s what I did buy:

Goji Berries ……………………..2.99 small package

Kombucha Gingerade……………….3.49 bottle

Veganaise (original)………………….3.99 jar

Black sesame tahini………………….8.99

Raw sharp cheddar (Fiscalini)……..3.23

I’m really excited about the cheese. I’m not sure that I’ll incorporate much cheese into my diet because I don’t want cravings for the kinds of stuff I used to eat. If I can handle it, maybe I’ll get it once in a while. The cheese we got was terribly expensive- over $10.00 a pound. The worker there was very kind about slicing off a very small piece for us, and also gave us a taste. YUMMY!! The initial taste is that of salt. My friend didn’t think it had a strong flavor beyond the salt, but I think there is a strong sharp flavor in there, which I loved.

I really didn’t want to get the tahini but it touted some health benefits and my girlfriend thought she might want to try it, too. She also convinced me to get the gingerade- whew, that stuff is lethal! Actually, it isn’t too bad, but it’s a bit tart (and fermented, so it is bubbly as well). I’ll post a taste-test on these items as we experience them. I bought the goji berries because I’ve read about them. I think it’s fun to try new things, whether or not they actually become a permanent part of my diet.

Well, it’s almost 4pm Pacific time- time for me to eat…something!

LUNCH: The usual hummus/taboule salad but I added an ounce of grated raw cheddar. I really loved that cheddar! The salad didn’t need it, but I needed an excuse to try out the cheese.

I noticed that I haven’t been putting my calorie intake down. Most days I’m between 1740 and 2000. I’ve never reached 2000 but I did eat only 1350 or so one day. That was too low, but over a week’s time things tend to average themselves out. My goal is to lose 2 lbs a week.

DINNER: Around 8pm I had dinner- guacamole and flaxseed crackers. Not exciting, but tasty. I drank the Kombucha and really couldn’t stand it. I diluted it by half with water and would you believe it didn’t change the taste AT ALL? My friend said it made her feel a little queasy after two gulps. I thought I felt a little ill as well. I tasted the black sesame tahini I bought at Whole Foods today so I could provide a better description, but I don’t know how to describe it…let’s see… it has an intense flavor and a slighly nutty background. It was bitter. I’m not sure how I will incorporate it into my meals, but I’m gonna give it a try. I also tasted the dried goji berries. Dry, they are sweet and bitter at the same time, with a fruit flavor. I soaked some in cool water for 30 minutes and tried those. My friend felt they had a very strong taste when soaked that she didn’t detect when they were dry (”funky strong” were her exact words). I thought they were sweeter when soaked, but that’s probably because they had plumped up so there was more surface to taste on my tongue. She wouldn’t eat them raw - probably not even with trail mix. but would bake them into something. I, on the other hand, could see them in cereal, either dry or soaked. Maybe I’ll add them to salads or to the raw nut trail mix we got yesterday.