Day 15, 2008- Noticing New Things

So this is basically day 15 of my 2008 Raw Odyssey. It's easier to just say that then to try to subtract New Year's day and the couple of days I was sick and not eating much of anything at all. I am not feeling the need to be all scientific about this these days!

Since day one I've been doing the salads, the hummus/taboule/ezekiel pita, and the nonfat yogurt with fruit thing, and coconut water in the morning. I'm not totally sick of these foods yet, but I do need variety and I just don't want to relieve boredom by spending a lot of time making complex raw meals. Nor do I want to go to the other extreme and buy easy prepackaged raw stuff like I tried the first time around, like raw "bars" and nori-wrapped treats. Those seem more like snacks to me, and I'm trying to get away from snacks that feel like the candy bars and chips from my SAD days. When I get the VitaMix perhaps the green smoothies and other recipes I'll be trying will give me enough variety. I'm also thinking of making flaxseed crackers using my oven.

I've had more good results from eating high-raw: this week I noticed that the edema (swelling) I had in my lower legs has disappeared, so my ankles are back! I was alerted to that when I was watching the twins edition of the National Body Challenge. They had an episode with these twins who own an Italian restaurant. Their advisor showed one of the twins how his legs were swelling up, and she pressed the skin on his calf to show how the indentation remained. So there the twins were, making me laugh by poking at their legs in wonder (they looked so cute, though!), but that reminded me of how my own doctor had told me I had edema. I started poking at my legs, too! I was so happy to see that my legs aren't swollen anymore and my ankle bones are once again visible. Yay! The area of my arms right where they meet the wrist also have been swollen in the past, but the swelling has disappeared there as well. Even my pants feel a tad looser- I must've lost a lot of water weight these past couple of weeks (I still haven't weighed myself).

One problem I have noticed is that I am feeling hungry between breakfast and lunch, and after dinner. In fact, one day I was in a meeting and I felt a flash of faintness and knew I'd better eat something immediately (which I did). I haven't been counting calories, although I estimate in my head that I'm getting around 1200 a day. Today I drank more water to combat my hunger, and I haven't felt ill or faint since that one incident. I'm not sure if I'm just getting used to eating less food again, or if I really need to eat more. I'll probably start counting calories soon, just to make sure. I'm lucky that my job has started buying us fruit and cutting down on the junky treats. Today I grabbed a pear, a banana and an orange! (So much for that low carb thing I'm supposed to be doing!)

Swollen Feet

My sweet tooth is well taken care of with all of the fruit I'm eating and smoothies I drink. I even indulge in an occasional diet pop. But I find that I crave salt sometimes. I made salmon last night and maybe put too much salt on it because I noticed my feet were swollen today. Oops. My sandals were pretty tight this afternoon. I don't usually have concerns about swelling, so that was a little odd.

Today I signed up again on SparkPeople, the website that has you track your food, exercise, and other things. The Weight Watchers site doesn't allow you to track nutrients or even calories, so I figured if I'm gonna comply with my trainer's nutritional request (or at least try), I'd better find an easy way to analyze my meals. It is 5:30 pm as I type this and I have had:

breakfast:
Mangos, 1 cup, sliced	107	28	0	1
Strawberries, fresh, 1 cup, halves	46	11	1	1
Banana, fresh, 1 large	125	32	1	1
Cherry Juice, 4 oz	90	22	0	1
Whey Protein Powder	110	2	1	23
Sweet Cherries, 2 cups	147	37	0	2
lunch:
Campbell's Savory Lentil, 2 cup	260	48	1	16
Amy's Kitchen, Breakfast Burrito	230	38	6	9
dinner:
Atlantic Salmon (fish), 3 oz	155	0	7	22
Spinach, fresh, 1 cup	7	1	0	1
Salsa, 0.5 cup	36	8	0	2
Feta Cheese, 0.5 oz	37	1	3	2
Newman's Own Italian, 1 tbsp	60	1	7	1
snack:
Sweet Cherries, 1 cup, with pits	74	19	0	1
	CALORIES	CARBS	FAT	PROTEIN
	1,484	247	27	83

In case the above cut-and-paste doesn't come out on some browsers, the end result is 1,484 calories, 247 carbs, 27 grams of fat, and 83 grams of protein. I should state, in all honesty, I didn't do the visual portion control thing at all- I made a smoothie for breakfast and had two packaged foods for lunch. In retrospect, I trust that half a salmon fillet is the size of my palm and that the 1 1/2 cups of cherries I had were not too far off from the size of my fist.

So, it's not looking good for 2400 calories, and I am not hungry enough to eat another 900 + calories tonight. I'll be working out this evening and won't want to eat afterwards. According to WW I've consumed 33.5 points. I guess this would be the time to eat a protein bar, wouldn't it? But I don't want to, regardless of what my personal trainer recommends. I don't like those things. They are expensive and don't taste good and aren't real food, as far as I'm concerned. The fact that they resemble candy bars make them a trigger food for me, as well. Best to stay away.

Today she texted me to ask how I was and if I had any questions. I told her I couldn't figure out how to get 2400 calories in. She told me "you're an athlete! Cardio tonight!" Hmmm- that didn't help. I then told her I didn't think I could eat 2400 calories today. She said to "be honest and put it in my journal." Sigh... I need more guidance than that. I called a nutritionist today just to see what it would cost me. I could use the personal trainer just for the physical training and use the nutritionist for my nutritional concerns. The nutritionist charges $95 for a two-hour consultation, and an additional $100 to see her for a month. That's a lot. I hate it that preventative treatment costs so much! I'm trying to keep myself from getting diabetes, high blood pressure, a stroke, etc. but medical insurance kicks in after you've already been diagnosed. We need to be treating people who are in danger of getting those illnesses.

And on that note, I'm taking a nap!

(P.S. If any of you are on MySpace, feel free to visit and to give me your MySpace URL too. I'd be happy to visit your site as well. http://www.myspace.com/rawodyssey)