145 Days Raw!

I went to the Go Raw Cafe again, this time to their other location, which has a salad bar. I was very proud of myself for skipping the more caloric menu items and going for the simple salad instead. I didn't need anything other than a salad, really, because I had just had a slice of that pie Felicia made yesterday. (I liked the pie even better the second time around, maybe because the flavors had "married," as my dad, another natural chef, would say). Anyway, the salad bar presented me with a way to try new foods without having to pay for an entire container at the store. I therefore made it a point to try kimchee, a new kind of slaw, sprouted adzuki beans, seasoned grated beets, and two kinds of salad dressing, along with the normal lettuces, carrot and tomatoes.

First of all, kimchee? Wow! powerful stuff. There's a blast of flavor in a tiny bit of it. For those of you who don't know, kimchee (or kimchi) is made up of fermented chile peppers and cabbage (and/or other vegetables). It's a source of probiotics, which I'm trying to learn more about.

The sprouted beans, which include lentils and adzuki, were soft but crisp, a real surprise. They were not bitter as I had expected from past experience. I guess sprouting really does take some of the bitterness away.

The beets were- well, beety. I don't like beets and I always remember why after I taste them! But they are good for you and so I ate the little that I got. The seasoned beets were a bit better to my palate, but they were still beets.

The green salad dressings were interesting. I poured a little of each along the side of the plate instead of over the salad, just in case. Turns out I liked only one of them, to be honest. But I find I really don't need dressings on my salads anymore. Since going raw, a little cold pressed olive oil and some fresh squeezed lime make the perfect dressing- and sometimes I don't even bother with the olive oil.

The cabbage slaw was all right- maybe something Chef Felicia could try making at home and tweaking until it suits us. It would definitely be a welcome addition to our menu. I know that some veteran raw foodists say that over time your desire for raw restaurant fare diminishes, but for the newbie, raw restaurants offer a plethora of ideas for meals, and allows taste-testing so that you can decide what you want without wasting a lot of money. A new raw foodist lucky enough to have access to local raw restaurants and raw potlucks is a lucky raw foodist indeed.

PROBIOTICS
This is a topic of interest to me, so I've put in a forum about it at the Raw Odyssey Cafe. If you haven't registered at the Cafe or even poked around there yet, please drop on by. If you also happen to know about probiotics, you are invited to share what you know and have experienced from them, good, bad or neutral. The exact link to the Probiotics section is Raw Odyssey Cafe --> Health & Nutrition --> Probiotics
If you are interested in registering, you will see the registration link below the probiotics topic.

Changes are in store....

Laguiole raw milk cheese
Originally uploaded by rawallison.

Today I had a little treat at the Go Raw Cafe in Las Vegas and learned a bit more about a raw diet from one of the staff there. In her opinion, I shouldn't be eating cheese at all, raw or not, I should be drinking a heck of a lot more water, and drinking more green smoothies. She says that she eats nuts only about once a week (I was eating them daily), and stays away from tofu because it's processed. She eats her largest meal during the hottest part of the day, and has a relatively small breakfast and dinner. She advocates eating an 80/20 raw/cooked food plan.

It was great to get some perspective talking to her. It's easy for me to get myopic when I don't hear from other people about what they are doing. I know that what other people do won't always be suitable for me, but I like the opportunity to compare what I do to what other successful "veterans" of raw foodism are doing to see if something they are doing might be worth trying. Talking with her helped me to solidify my plan to quit eating cheese for a while. I think I will also adopt her habit of eating my largest meal duirng the hottest part of the day (when, she says, the body's metabolism is the highest). I like her 80/20 plan as well, although I don't plan to consciously add more cooked food to my diet- I like where I am now and want to stick with "high raw" until I get to my weight goal.

The bottom line for me is that there are a variety of ways to eat raw, and no one way is right for everyone. I'm quite sure that on my raw odyssey, I'll try different ways of eating raw and will find some to be preferable to others.

Sunday, April 2, 2006

(Photos from Go Raw "uncooking" class: soup, croquette, salad)

I took pictures of myself for the beginning of month #4. I can tell I've lost some weight, but there's not a whole lot of change as far as I'm concerned. A friend who hasn't seen me since before the holidays noticed a little bit of a difference, but nothing dramatic. :-( I hope the next time she sees me I'll look dramatically different.

Today I attended a raw food class at the Go Raw Café It was a lot of fun. There were about 15 "students" present, a nice mixture of ages and genders. Upon arrival, we all got a young Thai coconut and a shot of wheatgrasss, a combo termed a "blood transfusion." Supposedly the nutritional makeup of wheatgrass and coconut together are comparable to the makeup of our blood. I haven't done any reading on that but found it an interesting idea. This was the first time I'd had a decent coconut. The first one I tried was kinda nasty, but back then I had no idea how to choose a coconut. This one was filled to the brim with clear "water" that had a light, pleasant, faintly sweet taste. I drank all of the water straight from the coconut using a straw, and tasted some of the meat, which was had a "gel"-like texture. Luckily I'd read about this texture before, so I knew I had a good coconut. The flesh was faintly sweet. I never realized how refreshing a young coconut really is.

We learned to make a carrot and avocado soup, carrot croquettes, and a salad dressing that used soaked cashews as a base. Everything was very tasty and made both easily and quickly with a food processor, blender and juicer. If I had a juicer, I'd be making that soup tomorrow. I took home three croquettes and made sushi with them this evening- very enjoyable! At home I also made a smoothie using coconut water, since I couldn't help but buy a young coconut before leaving the class. It was great! It gave the smoothie a slight "vanilla" background (I can't think of a better comparison at the moment). Too bad coconuts are so expensive; I would prefer coconut water over orange juice or water in my smoothies.

So today I had two smoothies, some coconut water, and the meal you see pictured above and below from the Go Raw class. Go Raw may have these classes monthly. I don't know if I can afford them all, but if I could go, I would! There's something to be said about being around flesh-and-blood people who are eating raw food just like you. Internet support is awesome, but to meet and talk to people in your own physical community provides emotional support in a different way. Some of the people in the class were so vibrant and healthy looking! I can't wait to have that glow and energy myself. It's so hard to have 150 lbs to lose. Being around people who have what I am striving for is very motiving, though. I look forward to going back to the café. We need a support group!

(Photo: dessert at Go Raw "uncooking" class: mango with raw cacao nibs)

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Photo: Beet burger at Go Raw Cafe (that sucker is HUGE)

Today my girlfriend made all my meals again. I'm feeling soooo spoiled. I find that when she packs my meals, I eat enough. When I rely on myself, I eat very little. I can't even eat all the stuff she packs! Today she made me a salad for breakfast with hemp seeds on top, and gave me hummus and taboule with living bread for lunch, 2 oz of pumpkin seeds, grapes and a banana. I ate everything except the living bread because it was too filling. I checked out my protein content and it tallies to 49 today. Wow! The pumpkin seeds and hemp again saved the day: 24 grams of protein for those alone.

I have to say that eating pumpkin and sunflower seeds is not fun. They don't taste good to me and they're a pain to eat without dropping some down my shirt or on the floor. But I think of them as my medicine right now, and I've eaten worse things in my life.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Today was my first visit to a "regular" restaurant since I went raw: Mimi's Café. The place was styled as a French bistro but serves mostly American food. The first thing I did was peruse the menu for the least-cooked foods I could find. I liked their "Bleu Cheese and Walnut Salad" - it seemed to be the easiest to adapt to my needs. It comes with a mix of spring lettuce, walnuts, blue cheese, dried cranberries, strawberries, bacon, and a vinaigrette dressing. My conversation with the server went something like this:

ME: "I'd like the Bleu Cheese and Walnut Salad" but with a few changes
SERVER: Sure, what would you like?
ME: I'd like to substitute avocado for the bacon
SERVER: all right
ME: And one more thing- could I have olive oil and vinegar instead of the vinaigrette?
SERVER: OK. Would you like a muffin?
ME: No, thank you.
SERVER: Do you want the bread and butter?
ME: Oh, no- I'm fine.
SERVER (with a knowing smirk): On a diet, huh?
ME (short pause): Yep.

I really wanted to tell her I just eat raw, but it's easier to just go along with the diet comment sometimes. I wonder if servers will ask me if I'm on a diet after I've lost all my excess weight and am still eating this way.

Anyway, the salad was great, but it had a lot less cheese than I would normally use at home. Probably a good thing, since it wasn't raw. In fact, nothing that was non-raw was present in an amount large enough to make me feel any concern. There were only a few dried cranberries and maybe 1/2 oz of walnuts. There was more lettuce than anything and I ended up not finishing that- I just made sure I ate up all the flavor! So my first non-raw restaurant experience wasn't a bad one, and I didn't make myself crazy over not being 100% raw. I think that for me, this is the best way to go. If I get dogmatic over being raw over everything else, I won't have any leeway for social situations and I'll be feeling either deprived or guilty.

By the way, the restaurant's menu is online, so you can take a look at what they offer if you're curious. If you are somewhere in the southwest, maybe you can pay them a visit, too!

TODAY'S MEALS

BREAKFAST smoothie
banana
papaya
mango
oj
4 strawberries
6 points


LUNCH (restaurant salad)
15 points (I'm estimated that I might have overdone the olive oil a bit)

DINNER (homemade salad)
Spinach leaves
Raw blue cheese
garlic
avocados
tomato
Centrum vitamin
7 points

SNACKS
none - yet!

TOTAL POINTS: 28

March 2nd, 2006

Photo: Coriander Seed

I felt much better today than yesterday. I took 2 Aleve in the morning and was surprised at how well they worked. It's been so long since I've taken pain medication. I used to live on Aleve and would have to take quite a few in one day to get relief for my back pain. I might have become somewhat immune to them. With a two-month break from them, they seem much more effective. I took two more in the mid-afternoon so that I could make it through my exam without suffering, and things were fine. I think the "attack" is over for now, anyway.

Today was a boring food day. I'm getting tired of my mainstays. I haven't taken the time to put recipes together because I spend so much time studying. That means I grab the easiest foods to eat- quick salads, fruit, dates and nuts. I need to make salsas, guacamole, pesto, and other items that are full of flavor, but I never get around to it because it seems messy and time-consuming. I still haven't gotten around to making any bread in the dehydrator since that one I tried (and still have stored in the fridge all dried out). Does any one have any good recipes for raw bread? I want it to be thick so I can top it with things. It would be a good change of pace.

TODAY'S MEALS

BREAKFAST
Remainder of Mexicali Pizza from Go Raw Café

LUNCH
Small salad

DINNER
Sushi

SNACKS
Taboule
4 dates

TOTAL POINTS: 27

February 27- Another Day Raw

(Photo: flax seeds)

Those of you who are VERY overweight might relate to the fact that when I was younger, I used to pray for God to take away my appetite. Please God, make me hate food! But alas, I only grew to love it more. The thought came to me today that perhaps my prayers have been answered, in a way. I don't hate food, but that out-of-control appetite is most definitely gone. I truly do not think of food all the time- only when I'm hungry or when I've got a break in my busy schedule and know I should eat something.

When I was little (under age 10) my parents took me to the doctor because I was so skinny. I was a very active child without much of an appetite, and I was a picky eater. The doctor said nothing was wrong with me. I don't actually remember that doctor visit, nor did I know of their concerns-thank goodness(my mom told me years later). Now I'm wondering if that low appetite is just part of how I function, something I would never have been aware of due to all of my food addictions, which I always blamed on an abnormally huge appetite. My appetite has been low since I stopped eating processed junk foods - that's one of the reasons I don't eat much more than 1200 calories on a daily basis, even though I really try to sometimes. Usually when I try to (like tonight) I end up eating too much (volume-wise) and feeling unwell.

TODAY'S FOODS

BREAKFAST
Dates
Grapes
Banana
10 points

LUNCH
salad
6 points

DINNER (Go Raw Cafe)
Mexicali Pizza
Carob pie
20 points (a guess, but that food is full of fat! I could be underestimating.)

SNACKS
none

TOTAL POINTS: 36

What I ate on my Raw Birthday

(Photo #1: raw Lasagna from the Go Raw Café)

This is not really a review of the Go Raw Café- it were, I'd have the real names of the meals and a much more descriptive vocabulary, but I'm no food reviewer. However, I can say that I heartlily endorse the Go Raw Café and recommend it to anyone interested in tasty, healthy meals done up in an imaginative way. I've put a link to it in the sidebar to the right, in the "My Favorite Places" section, so you can go right to their webpage. (If you are able to visit them, please tell me what you had and how you liked it!) My girlfriend and I went there for an early birthday lunch. She ordered the lasagna. We both liked it, ( but we agreed that there wasn't very much lasagna on the plate!). It came with garlic bread but we weren't sure at first that she'd gotten any- until we saw two tiny triangles of something on the plate that must have been it. These pieces of living bread didn't taste especially garlicky, but they were good.



(Photo #2: "Veggie Cotta" from the Go Raw Café)
I chose the "Veggi-Cotta", which were like enchiladas, only with what seemed to be more of an Italian flavoring. The "ricotta cheese" was made from almond paté. My girlfriend couldn't really detect the almond flavoring, but I could detect the subtle nuttiness- I liked it. There was a side dish of zucchini strips with a very well-herbed combination of other chopped-up vegetables.

Photo #3: Ginger Brew at the Go Raw Café

I drank 'John's Ginger Brew" (I think that's what it was called). I liked the strong ginger aroma and flavor, although my girlfriend didn't think it tasted stongly of ginger at all. Overall, we enjoyed our meals and wish we could have gotten more for our money. However, we have to admit that you do get full quickly on these entrées. Neither of us could finish- especially because we knew we wanted dessert!




(Photo #4: blueberry pie from the Go Raw Café)



My girlfriend chose a blueberry pie that was reminiscent of cheesecake. It was really good- the texture, everything about it. Both of us agreed that we never would have guessed it was a raw recipe. However, I think my choice was even tastier: a mousse-like carob pie.

Photo #5: carob pie from the Go Raw Café

The carob pie had a rich texture and flavor, and the crust was chewy with a mild flavor (the same crust appeared to be used for both pies). Neither the crust nor the chocolate part were overly sweet. I could tell it wasn't chocolate, which was fine with me- I like carob quite a bit. I tried hard to eat the whole thing but had to leave some behind, it was so rich. And that was despite the fact that I only ate half of my entrée.

One of the owners explained that the "mousse" portion of the pie contained only carob, avocados and dates- nothing more! Mmmmm.....

_____________________
Thanks, everyone, for all of the nice birthday wishes and recipe ideas and medicinal advice! Because this blog is mirrored at two sites, I'll combine all of the input into a post for all to see at either location - but I can't do it tonight because I've gotta study!
_____________________

TODAY'S MEALS

There is no tally of points for today- I don't have time to try to figure it out. I suspect, however, that I didn't eat more than a couple more points than I have been eating this week (so I would guess 31 or so points). And that's only because of the fat content from the pie and the almond paté.


BREAKFAST/LUNCH
Veggie-Cotta
Ginger Brew
Carob Pie

DINNER
Remainder of veggie-cotta. OK, and the other half of the lasagna, too!
(Hey- she had gastric bypass surgery! Someone had to eat the other half!)

SNACKS
None

February 11th- 42 days Raw!

I had a very busy day today, so I decided to have only "easy" foods today. A salad and a smoothie for breakfast, a salad at Whole Foods while I was out, and then another smoothie when I got back in late in the evening. And since I was still not full and had plenty of calories to spare, I had extra orange juice as my late night snack.

I remembered to upload the camera shots of my meal from the Go Raw Cafe yesterday. They are a tiny bit blurry, but they show the sushi, enchiladas and smoothie we had at the Go Raw Cafe in Las Vegas. They were scrumptious!!

TODAY'S MEALS

BREAKFAST (Smoothie and salad)

Banana, Mango, blackberries
Vitamins
Spinach, fresh, 3 cup
Red Ripe Tomatoes, 1 plum tomato
Sweet Corn, Fresh, 1
Lime Juice, 1 fl oz
Taboule Salad, 4 tbsp
Garlic, 1 clove
Blue Cheese, 2 oz

LUNCH

None

DINNER (Salad)

Taboule Salad, 4 tbsp
Scallions, raw, 1 medium (4-1/8" long)
Basil, 3 leaves
Blue Cheese, 1 oz
Spinach, fresh, 3 cup
Lime Juice, 1 fl oz
Taboule Salad, 8 tbsp
Chickpeas (garbanzo beans), 0.25 cup

SNACKS
Orange Juice, 2 cup
Banana, fresh, 1 medium (7" to 7-7/8" long)
Blueberries, fresh, 1 cup

Calories 1310 Carbs 205 Fat 38 Protein 46

I Made Raw "Bread" Today!

I was so excited about the great food I had at the Go Raw Cafe in Las Vegas that I asked one of the owners how they make their awesome raw tortillas. She told me that they use vegetables and ground flax seeds, and told me to grind the seeds in a coffee grinder because a food processor doesn't do as good of a job. They mix the ground seeds with vegetables, herbs and spices and then dry it for 4 to 5 hours at 95 degrees. She said to use whatever vegetables I wanted, so when I got home I gave it a try.

Well, first I went to Target and bought a coffee grinder, then went to Bed, Bath and Beyond and got some spice jars. And then I tried my hand at making raw "bread". For the vegetables, I decided to use the "hummus" recipe that Sarinya sent me the other day. I ground almost 2 cups of flax seeds altogether for the recipe, and added grated carrot for the heck of it, along with a bit of salt. Oh, I added almost a tablespoon of olive oil to make the mixture less sticky. When I spread it on the teflex, I sprinkled water on top to keep it from sticking to the back of the spoon.

I dehydrated the mixture for about 4 hours (the house smelled great!), then peeled it from the teflex tray and put it on a mesh one to dry out the rest of the way- about 6 hours total of drying at 100 degrees. The picture above is of the bread right after I was done drying it. As you can see from the closeup, the flax seeds and carrot bits are visible.



When I lifted it off the mesh, I saw that the edges had curled up a little, but it was pliable and shiny on the bottom (from the first tray it was on). However, I noticed that it was easy to crack the edges. I don't know if it'll do that in only the thin or thick places, but I guess I'll find out tomorrow after it's been sitting for a few hours.



Since the edges were thinner, they were more cracker-like. I broke a piece off and tasted it. It was very interesting - certainly not as bad as I feared it would be. My girlfriend arrived later and tasted it and thought it was great! (I'm seeing a pattern here- she's very excited about my raw stuff and I'm more cautiously enthusiastic). We're both looking forward to trying some of it tomorrow as a wrap - that is, if it doesn't crack into tiny piece. I've placed it in the refrigerator, which may or may not have been a good idea.

So, there's the story of my first dehydrated bread!