Monday, April 24, 2006

Today I thought I'd eat less fat than I have been. I've been at around 287 for awhile, and since I'm not tracking everything I eat, it could be that I'm consuming too many calories or too much fat. Since I was having a nut burger for lunch (high in fat), I had a fruit smoothie for breakfast and another for dinner. I ran out of greens to use for a green smoothie so I tried putting a cucumber in one of them. It wasn't bad because cucumbers are mild, but I definitely detected a "green" taste in the smoothie. My second smoothie had coconut water in it. I love coconut water so much I wish I could drink it everyday. The only reason I don't is because I don't know what to do with the meat! I hate to waste it. Does anyone have any coconut meat recipes? I don't just want to eat dehydrated slices all the time (although those are yummy).

On my blog's mirror site I got a couple of responses to the nut burger post. One person asked why we soaked the nuts and seeds. Well, Juliano says in his Uncook Book that he soaks nuts simply to achieve a creamy texture when blending. He doesn't mention nutrients or digestion. And about the black beans: we bought them already sprouted from Whole Foods, so they were soft enough to use without soaking them.

And hey- thanks for the kind comments! I'm happy to know my raw food adventures are motivating and helpful to other people.

Monday, April 17, 2006.

Monday consisted of a green smoothie before class (kiwi, banana, and 6 oz of romaine) and a morning snack of trail mix made of dried coconut, almonds, pecans and cashews with a little sea salt- a bit over an ounce. For lunch I packed one of the nut burgers and had that as a sandwich with guacamole, lettuce and tomato. The sandwich fills me up for hours, which is awesome since sometimes I study pretty late. All I have to do is remember to drink my water throughout the day. I don't do a good job of that, but I try.

The photo above is salsa. We've use it on salads, sandwiches, and have mixed into guacamole. It's a pretty all-purpose mixture that is good to make ahead of time and just dip into over the course of a week. We usually use coriander, garlic, cilantro, scallions, and tomatoes. I'll vary the recipe by mixing in yellow tomatoes to make it prettier sometimes. I pretty much use this the same way I use taboule.

On my way into class I listed to Raw Vegan Radio's podcast interview with David Wolfe. I found it to be interesting. I may have time to listen to part two today. There is a link in the sidebar to the right which will lead you to Raw Vegan Radio if you want to take a listen. Wolfe is a very enthusiastic promoter of the raw lifestyle- when I hear him I picture him as an animated man with a constant grin. I like some of his views about the quality of life one creates for oneself. I try to remain upbeat and positive even when day to day things seem difficult, tiring or bleak. Sticking with raw foods has been challenging, but as a pathway to overall holistic health, it is worth it for me to look at the challenges in a positive, character-building way. check out Raw Vegan Radio!

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

I made the macaroons today. They will be done dehydrating by tomorrow. The ingredients I used were:

• 1 cup almonds, soaked for 8 hours
• 4 medjool dates, soaked for 2 hours
• 1/2 cup the water from the dates
• 1/2 tablespoon almond extract (probably isn't a raw ingredient!)
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut

The coconut was difficult to shred using a hand grater, which is what I thought I could get away doing, so I had to switch to a food processor. An entire coconut provided a bit more than 1/2 cup of shredded meat.

I combined all of the ingredients at once to the blender. After attempting to blend it I wish I had put the almonds in first and blended those before adding the other ingredients, because the mixture just wouldn't blend after a few minutes. No amount of stirring could get it moving, so I switched everything to a food processor. I was hoping that would do a better job of pulverizing the almonds and actively mixing everything. It did a much better job, but Chef Felicia still found a big almond piece in one of the macaroons!

After blending all the ingredients I was supposed to be able to shape the macaroons and drop them onto the dehydrator tray. Unfortunately, the dough was too moist, like soft cream cheese. I couldn't thicken it up because there were no more soaked almonds. Oh, well. I dropped about 25 of them on the tray and had a little dough left, which I put in the fridge. Now, I must say that 1/2 of these cookies have 2 dates and the other half have 3. I wanted to make one side less sweet because our experience has been that dehydrating enhances the flavors- salty food is saltier, spicy food is spicier.
Below is the tray of macaroons. Felicia says they look good. They dehydrate at 105 degree F for 12 - 24 hours. I set the dehydrator to close to 110 at first, then turned it down to 105 since the outsides were getting hard by the time 3 hours had gone by.

Now, I must admit that I tasted one and didn't think it was sweet enough, but like I said, they might get sweeter when more moisture has left them. If I make them again, I think I will roll them in the coconut shreds rather than blending the coconut into them.

Hope that was informative! We'll let you know how they turn out. If anyone has variations on this recipe, feel free to share them!

How a layperson opens a young coconut

Today I thought I'd show you a humorous clip of how I open up a young coconut. Notice I said how I open a coconut! My way is the unskilled version of an actual, legitimate method. A skilled person wouldn't need a million hacks to get through the shell and then top off the experience by pouring half the water down the drain. Hey- I learn as I go!

Oh - here's another not-so-smooth experience I had today. I decided to try the nutritional yeast flakes we just bought, since I want to increase my protein intake. According to the container, the brand we bought has a "superior flavor" to that other brands and is great simply mixed with water. One scoop has 8 grams of protein. I was going to have two scoops until I saw how big a "scoop" actually is, so I settled for one, mixing it with the coconut water you saw above (gotta be better than plain water, right?). These were supposed to be flakes, but they seemed to be more powder than flake. The little granules dissolved very quickly into a thick, smooth shake-like consistency, and I took a swig.

UGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH!

UUUUUUUUUUUGGGGHH!!!!

People DRINK this stuff?? Oh. My. GAWD- it was the worst stuff I've ever tasted! I mean, it is worse than the worst stuff I tasted a few weeks ago, whatever THAT was. It even has the worst SMELL I've ever smelled! I spit out the first mouthful- and then was reminded of how expensive the can was. I therefore steeled myself for another mouthful, because I cannot afford to waste good money.This time I choked it down with a huge gulp of water. Hm -with enough water to almost drown you, it's harder to taste! I figured I could do another. I barely got that one down. There were about two mouthfuls left, but I couldn't do it. I spit it into the sink and tossed the remaining amount down the drain after it. The memory of it is as horrifying as drinking it. (Ugh, I think I can still SMELL it!)

I am going to have to find a way to peacefully coexist with the rest of that huge, expensive can of yeast, so it looks like it will have to go into my smoothies. I can hear the fruit in the refrigerator cringing and gasping. My apologies, dear fruit.

Friday, April 7, 2006

(photo: young Thai coconut before it is shaved and shaped into that odd appearance)

Ahhhhh... more Thai coconuts! Now that we're "experts," we weren't scared to buy three of them this time (a dollar apiece). These things are my new obsession- just cracking one open and smelling it is relaxing. I used the coconut water (minus what I spilled all over the table) for another smoothie this morning, replacing the usual orange juice. Here's what NutritionData says about today's concoction: coconut water, papaya, mango and banana:

The Good This food is low in Saturated Fat, and very low in Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin B6, Potassium and Manganese, and a very good source of Vitamin C.

The Bad A large portion of the calories in this food come from sugars.

This smoothie has 64 grams of sugar- I guess that's "bad." But if I had used 8 oz of orange juice instead of the 1 & 1/3 cups of coconut water, the smoothie would have had 9 points and 87 grams of sugar.

Hey- I added a new food to my menu: Ezekiel sprouted tortillas. Yaay- I'm all about trying new things. The tortilla gave me a little break from the bread. Time for some enchiladas!

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)

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Today I met a friend at the raw food restaurant for lunch. She ordered the beet burger (what an awesome looking thing that is!) with avocado "fries" and I had the mock sushi, which I really enjoy. While I was there I bought hemp seed- a raw and organic product (kosher as well!).

I'm so happy to have a variety of protein choices: raw milk cheese, hemp seed, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. These, in addition to the bread my girlfriend made (a success, people!) and the foods I normally eat, will boost my protein quite a bit. I can't wait to see if that makes a difference with my hair- and with other aspects of my health, for that matter.
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OK, it is evening as I write this section. Do you believe I still managed to get a low amount of protein today? That's because I didn't consciously add protein until this evening, using the hemp. This product is not a powder, so when I added it to my smoothie I ground it in the blender before adding the fruit. The result was a bit thick and textured, but the taste was not affected. I'll probably add water next time I use powdered hemp. Right now I'm eating a snack of hummus, which adds enough protein to get me to a measly 38 grams. Sparkpeople.com says I should eat between 34 to 149 grams of protein a day. I guess only trial and error will tell me what is enough for this body, but I'm going to aim for no less than 50 to begin with and see how that goes.

TODAY'S MEALS

BRUNCH
Raw food restaurant: mock salmon sushi and carob coconut pie

DINNER
smoothie with hemp powder

SNACKS
hummus

TOTAL POINTS: 33

February 6th- Fun with Appliances

I've been using my appliances to add new foods to my weekly menu. Using the blender, I've enjoyed making smoothies. My favorite recipe is 1 small mango or 1/2 a large one, a small or medium sized banana, 1 cup or so of berries, the juice of one tangerine, and water. This makes a deliciously healthy and beautiful smoothie that is just as much a pleasure to look at as to drink. Using the food processor I have chopped up cacao nibs into near powder and found that it was fine in flavoring smoothies. I processed an ounce of cacao nibs and only needed about two teaspoons of the resulting powder for the smoothie.

The dehydrator has been loads of fun. Remember the smoothie I made this past weekend with the young coconut (yuck), banana, dates, agave nectar and mango? Well, I didn't throw all of it away- I put some in the fridge in order to try making a fruit rollup out of it. The dehydrator is running right now and I'll be taste testing the results tomorrow. By the way, a thank you to those who schooled me a bit about the coconut. It was suggested that coconut water is great in soups. I'll bet it is! I have yet to try raw soups yet, so there's something for my future menu.

The only appliance I haven't made use of is the "saladacco", which makes those fun shapes out of vegetables (like the long apple strings I made during my first test). If anyone has suggestions for that appliance, please let me know. I plan to run some zucchini through it. I'm also thinking of doing the apple that way again and then dehydrating it for an interesting-looking snack. Another project will be making "bread".

Today's Foods

BREAKFAST (SALAD)
Lime Juice, 1 fl oz
Taboule Salad, 4 tbsp
Basil, 3 leaves
Blue Cheese, 2 oz
Spinach, fresh, 3 cup
Red Ripe Tomatoes, 1

LUNCH(SANDWICH at school)
Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Grain Bread, 2
Hummus, 1/4 cup
Avocados, California (Haas), 1 oz
Taboule Salad, 4 tbsp

DINNER (SUSHI)
Sushi Nori, Raw Untoasted, 1 sheet, 1 serving
Scallions, 1
Spinach, fresh, 7 leaf
Kikkoman Soy Sauce, 1 tbsp
Taboule Salad, 4 tbsp
Turnips, 1 slice
Ginger Root, 1 grams

SNACKS (SMOOTHIE)
Banana, fresh, 1 large (8" to 8-7/8" long)
Mangos, 0.5 fruit without refuse
Blackberries 3/4 cupt, frozen

Vitamins
Pecans, 1 oz (20 halves)

CALORIES 1,234 CARBS 146 FAT 56 PROTEIN 46

February 5th on Raw Foods

Today started out great, but by evening I couldn't think of what I wanted to eat. I tried to make a smoothie using coconut water, cacao, dates and a banana but it turned out yucky and I didn't finish it. Finally I decided to eat a hummus sandwich. I'll be sorry for the hummus, but I guess I'll survive!

BREAKFAST (SUSHI)
Sushi Nori, 3 sheets
Taboule, 1/4 cup
Avocados, California (Haas), 80 grams
Orange Juice, 1 cup
Vitamins

LUNCH (SALAD)
Spinach, fresh, 3 cup
Sweet Corn, Fresh, 0.5 ear, medium (6-3/4" to 7-1/2" long) yields
Cucumber (peeled), 0.33 large (8-1/4" long)
Lime Juice, 1 fl oz
Scallions, raw, 1 medium (4-1/8" long)
Blue Cheese, 1.35 oz

DINNER (SANDWICH)
Taboule Salad, 4 tbsp
Spinach, fresh, 0.1 package (10 oz)
Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Grain Bread, 2 serving
Hummus, 0.25 cup
Avocados, California (Haas), 112 grams

SNACKS
Apples, dried, 4 ring
Dates, 1
Banana, 1/2
coconut water, 1/4 cup
Ground Raw Cacao Nibs (Nature's First Law)1 tsp

CALORIES 1,300 CARBS 168 FAT 54 PROTEIN 51

January 30th- Almost a full month raw!!!

I took a Lärabar and a bag of mixed nuts and banana chips to school. The bar, which is raw, was tasty enough. It had the consistency of a chewey brownie. However, I felt like I was eating a treat rather than a meal. The nut mix was nice and my dehydrated bananas I added were a tasty touch! I will be dehydrating more apples and bananas tonight but I do have to take notice that dried fruit can be bad for my teeth as it can stick to your teeth for hours. I made sure to drink water to help get the fruit out of my mouth.


I see that I managed to have over 1300 calories due to the fact that I ate most of my meals before 4 pm. I was hungry by the time I got home this evening but my small dinner satisfied me fully.

More thank-yous to all who are sending me encouragement, advice and information! Amy mentioned the study that suggests that humans would live longer and healthier if they consumed fewer than the standard recommended calories per day. I remember those studies and hadn't thought about it until she said that. I'll have to go back and re-read them. (Not that I'm planning on counting calories again, but it's a very interesting topic and certainly apropos).

Tomorrow being the 31st, I'll be tallying my results for my first month raw. Already I have a pair of pants that fit me differently. (Note that I didn't say they actually fit - just that they fit me differently. Haha!!)

TODAY'S MEALS
BREAKFAST
Spinach, fresh, 41 grams
Red Ripe Tomatoes, 1 plum tomato
Sweet Corn, Fresh, 1 ear, medium (6-3/4" to 7-1/2" long) yields
Avocados, California (Haas), 28 grams
Lime Juice, 1 fl oz
Blue Cheese, 1 oz
Orange Juice, 1 cup
Banana, fresh, 1 medium

LUNCH
Whole Foods Raw Nuts/Seeds Mix, .2 cup
Goji Berries, dried 1/2 oz.
Banana Chips,1/2 oz

DINNER
Avocados, California (Haas), 78 grams
Flax Seed Crisps, RAW, Mauk Family Farms, 3 oz
Tomatoes 1
Taboule Salad, 4 tbsp

SNACKS
Lärabar Chocolate Coconut Chew

CALORIES 1,358 CARBS 168 FAT 82 PROTEIN 42

A Summary of My First Raw Week

NUTRIENTS

Calories…………………….ranged from 1500 to 1800

Water………………………..average= 6 glasses a day.

An average of 42% of my calories came from fat

An average of 46% came from carbs

An average of 12% came from protein

WEIGHT LOSS

STARTED WEEK AT: 341

ENDED WEEK AT: 325

TOTAL POUNDS LOST: 16

SUMMARY OF CHANGES NOTICED THIS WEEK

1) Tongue was coated with some sort of brownish/greenish layer I had to brush off. This lessened during the week but I’m left often with a strange feeling that something is on the back of my tongue- like when the skin from a bean lies flat on your tongue and you can’t get it off easily!

2) The diarrhea that started on day 3 still hasn’t abated totally, but I have had no more stomach pain, just an occasional stitch in my lower right abdomen.

3) I felt queasy one day and couldn’t pinpoint the reason, although I, probably unfairly, associate it with the raw cauliflower I had that day since it was so unpleasant to eat. The second time I felt ill was when I drank that Kombucha gingerade. I still haven’t finished the bottle (nor have I eaten raw cauliflower again).

4) My eyes usually water for a while every morning, as if I’m crying. This has lessened to either: no tearing, much-shortened tearing episodes, absolutely no tearing (a couple of mornings).

5) I’m in a better mood than I have been in a long time. Although not a huge change, it’s a glimmer of hope.

6) I’ve been free of compulsive eating all week- this removes a large amount of stress from my life.

7) My face developed two small patches with lighter pigmentation, one on each side of my mouth. This hasn’t changed in the 24 hours sinced I noticed it.

8) My skin is less alligatory - this is likely due to the huge increase in the amount of water I drink.

FOODS CONSUMED

Goji Berries

Kombucha Gingerade (Never again. Never, ever again).

Black sesame tahini - still don’t know how to use it. I just eat it as-is.

Raw sharp cheddar (Fiscalini)

Raw Trail Mix

Sea Salt

Flaxseed crackers - good for dip and to smear with the black tahini.

Sprouted fenugreek - very bitter. I might not buy this again.

taboule - has become a staple.

banana

cherries

papaya

Hummus - another staple in my diet, although I haven’t tried any raw kinds yet.

alfalfa sprouts

avocados - yet another staple, contributing to my high-fat raw diet!

cabbage- tried it once but didn’t really like it as a wrap because cabbage is bitter.

cilantro- I just love cilantro. I could just bury my face in it and inhale all day.

cucumbers - these went into my taboule, but I also sliced them and piled them with hummus and taboule.

limes - for dressing and also for the guacamole.

parsley - for the taboule

jicama- I didn’t like this. I tried to use it like a cracker. I may buy it again for salad.

extra virgin, first cold pressed olive oil

pine nuts- boring.

red onions

Bob’s Red Mill bulgar- I’ll probably try sprouted quinoa when this bag runs out.

garlic - Another favorite. I love everything about garlic except biting into a raw clove (ouch!!)

1 pomegranate- this is a new favorite of mine. Too bad they are so expensive.

apples - I’m not an apple fan, but they are convenient.

orange- I do not like citrus, but orange juice is bearable.

tomatoes- a staple.

cauliflower- Can you say B I T T E R? Ugh.

tahini - I don’t like it too much, but enough to keep experimenting with it.

FOODS I DIDN’T EAT

red bell pepper - it went bad

a small watermelon- it was in bad shape when I bought it (I’m not good at choosing melons)

a “young” coconut - it went bad and shot coconut water onto my kitchen counter!

sun-dried tomatoes- don’t know what to do with them yet

Mango- not ripe yet

Organic Wild Rice - don’t know what to do it yet

sprouted mixed beans-don’t know what to do them yet

Veganaise- shouldn’t have even listed this- I’m not gonna eat it! My friend will use it.

ROUNDUP

It’s funny; I began the week feeling some trepidation about raw food- can I live on taboule every daggone day? How come raw food has to be so bitter? But my tastes are already adjusting to the bitterness of such things as sprouted seeds and tahini, and I really like taboule. In fact, I think that as long as I make the taboule a bit different each time, I won’t get tired of it. I’ve had new textures and flavors, some good, some not so good. I haven’t gone through “detox”, unless you want to call the skin thing and the diarrhea detox. I don’t. I haven’t had any major cravings (except a short-lived one for salt early on) or desires to binge.

I will need to learn how to buy food when it’s ripe or almost ripe so that I can time when to eat them, rather than wasting money on veggies and fruits gone bad. Some of my uneaten items will need to be incorporated into meals or recipes of some kind and just haven’t found anything I like yet. I’m looking forward to eating that mango!

I think my fat intake is too high, but since I lost 16 lbs this week (a record for me!!) I’m not gonna complain right now. I do need to work on finding ways to bring up my calcium and B12. For now I’m taking Centrum. (That Kombucha tea has some b-12 in it, for those of you who are interested).

Conclusion: This week gets a thumbs up!