Fresh Start

This last Sunday was my last day on the raw food diet.  I ended my day with a lovely mixed greens salad with blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and pecans.  Through the whole experience I didn't get the energy I was hoping to, I don't think it was a high enough calorie content or something for running after all these kiddos hehe, BUT I did notice other things.  My hair and skin improved and so did my mood.  I do believe that it did a very safe and effective natural detox of my system.  Good stuff.  Not to mention I lost over 10lbs in two weeks.  Not too shabby, don't shake a stick at it.  I will definitely be doing it again every 3 months or so for the same purpose...detox.  Being on it for two weeks also helped me to curb my craving for sugar and breads.  I don't long after them like I did the first week.  Yay!

Now onto a fresh start!  I started Atkins with my husband on Monday.  He has a two week start on me, but that's ok...we're both in Phase 1 together.  Gonna camp out here until our appetites adjust and his carb cravings minimize.  I like not having to do it alone.  Not to mention I don't have to watch him eat a potato or something like that hehe.  I do miss potatoes....but mostly today, day 2, I miss fruit!  I was so used to my morning smoothie (the same one that I had to force myself to drink the last two days of that diet), and I actually miss them.  I so want to eat a strawberry.  Soon strawberry, don't go anywhere...I'll be back, but with will power!  Last night for dinner we had nachoes with low carb toritillas...was pretty good after not having anything that even resembled bread for over 2 weeks hehe.  Tonight...I have a brisket braising in my crock pot with other yummy good things and will serve that with coleslaw.  Not to shabby fare for a diet in my humble opinion.  Whelp, we'll see how this goes.  I'm determined to develop better eating habits and more portion control in this house!  I think I need lots of prayers!

3 Days to Go

Today begins my 12th day on this raw food craziness...I mean journey!  I've found it to be pretty easy to stick to until yesterday.  I didn't cheat, I stayed the coarse...but I found myself not able to make or eat a salad.  A salad is a pretty simple thing, but the thought of eating it made me feel a bit ill.  I just couldn't do it.  My night 

time snack was much easier to approach, a banana and a handful of almonds.  

I assumed it was just a passing thing, this new rejection of things that have become staples in my diet.  However, this morning I had to pretty much make myself make my morning smoothie.  It's taking me almost an hour to finish it, but I'm muscling my way through.  It's nothing yucky...blueberries, strawberries with banana, pure water and two teaspoons ground flax seed.  It's good.  I think I'm just on that last mile stretch and my legs are feeling wobbly.  Yes, this was a bit of complaining about the diet that "I" started.  The diet I'm now force feeding myself, lol!  It's all because of God's grace that I've been able to start it and stick to it.  There have been temptations that He's helped me overcome (such as the box of Valentines chocolates on top the fridge or the pizza from whole foods we brought the kids that was cooked in a wood burning oven that smelled like this side of heaven).  So, yes, while typing this out, I've managed to finish my lovely purple smoothie.  Lovely.

The Dinner Roll

The end of my first week was on this past Sunday.  We usually spend our Sunday afternoons over at my in laws.  We spend the afternoon having lunch and then talking through our weeks and mostly just enjoying some family time.  My Mother in law, as usual, made a wonderful dinner...but what's even worse than that...dinner rolls, dripping with honey butter.  Everything smelled wonderful!  I think that was my biggest temptation that I've had so far on this raw food journey.  Man oh man did I want one of those rolls, hot out of the oven.  Instead, I sat down to my mixed green salad with avocado, cilantro and natural salsa.

I'm gonna reveal a little here, something women hold tight.  The last time I weighed myself was down at my mother in laws the week before Winter Camp.  I was a whopping 168.  I think I know where all that lies.  So, this Sunday I weighed myself there, since the scale knows me so well.  In the first 7 days of my diet I've lost 9lbs.  The scale smiled up at me (this is after lunch, midday, mind you), 159lbs.  So, somewhere I've lost it.  I don't see where, but it's gone, so that made me smile.  I no longer wanted a roll...that day at least.

Day 4---Staying the coarse!

Today begins my day 4 of raw food.  I have finally found my combo for breakfast that I think will become my morning regular.  1 cup blueberries, 1 large banana and 10 strawberries with 1/2 cup of raw/unsweetened coconut milk, 1 teaspoon ground untoasted golden flax seed, blended until it's a beautiful shade of purple.  YUM!  Yep, it's my new favorite smoothie!  I think today is starting out good.

On day 2 I visited this wonderful fruit vegetable market on Warren in Canton.  I think it was called Randazzo's or something like that.  The selection was HUGE!  There were so many different things I had wanted to try but couldn't find in my regular grocery store.  Was very fun!  I struggled all day though.  I felt constantly hungry.  I think (and I could be wrong) I ate 6 bananas as snacks that day, and half as many apples.  For dinner I had a huge salad with mixed greens, tomatoes, carrots, broccoli and radishes, it was so bland!  So, I tried to invent some dressings.  I did one that was a blend of raw honey and ginger with red pepper flakes diluted with a little water to thin it out, it was good!  Yay, my salad was now edible.  Whew.  I was just gonna choke it down.  I'm a dressings girl, what can I say.

Yesterday was rough.  I felt queasy all day.  Then for lunch, I did not help myself out.  I had salsa (homemade, raw --thank you Chris!) with artichoke chips.  The artichoke wasn't entirely raw because we had to steam it a bit for it to be edible.  Yep, I can safely say that I do not care for artichoke chips (leaves).  It smelled weird and eventually I just had to stop eating it.  So, I switched to romaine lettuce and made salsa boats.  Those were yummy.  I don't think it helped that for breakfast I tried this recipe for "Oat Meal" that I found on a raw food site.  Yep, not eating that again.  I had to soak flax seed overnight, then next morning you rinse them and add those along with 2 apples and a banana to your blender with a 1/2 cup of water and 2 teaspoons of Cinnamon.  Izabella loved it, I let her have as much as she wanted and shared some with Will too.  It's one of those things that are good at first and then the texture starts to creep in on ya.

So here I am, day 4, sipping on my lovely smoothie.  I'm pondering the idea of having my first "green shake" for lunch.  That would consist of carrot, kale or swiss chard, and tomato.  Hmmm.

Mission: Two week detox

This weekend, I was able to chit chat a bit with a good friend of mine about a "diet" he had started.  His meals for the past 11 days consisted of only raw fruits, veggies and almonds.  I know, I know...where's the meat!?  Or more importantly...Where's the chocolate!!??  


When I first heard of this diet a couple weeks back, I was convinced that there was no way I could do it.  For one, I love meat.  Seriously.  Secondly, I'm not all that crazy about eating fruit unless it's a raspberry.  So, I logged it into the deep recesses of my mind and pretty much forgot about it.  My recesses must not be very deep because when I saw him it was the first thing that pop'd into my head.  I asked him how it was going (as I ate chips with this amazing buffalo dip that was super cheesy, rich and a tad spicy).  It's his answer that convinced me that I needed to give this a try.  He went on to tell me of how he had more energy, he felt better overall and how he could think more clearly.  More than all that he told me that his emotional responses to the ones he loved most was drastically improved.  Things didn't immediately cause irritation or anger, his blood pressure wouldn't spike up during things that before would be stressful.  He was able to calmly talk through things and handle them much better than he had before emotional and health wise.  To me, that was what made it worth it!  


I'll be the first to admit, sometimes I can become easily irritated with those closest to me.  I tend to raise my voice (drives me crazy when I do that!  It's like I've become some kind of beast.)  So, I'm gonna give it a try.  It's going to take lots of self-control on my part, mostly because I'll still be preparing meals for my family.  So all the yummy things will be right there.  I'm hoping to have time to blog about this as I go through these next two weeks, almost like being accountable to whoever reads this.  But mainly i'll be depending on God's grace being renewed every morning and the strength that only He can give me.  


The tangerine pear smoothie I had for lunch today was really yummy!  I'm looking forward to exploring all the smoothie possibilities.