Days 3-7

Looks like I missed a few days. I've been so busy prepping food in the kitchen and enjoying it, I haven't taken time to post. I also dragged out the old canner and made short work of some lovely fresh produce I was given by a friend of mine. Too bad I can't sample it for another 3 weeks - it'll be better that way, I'm sure.

I've been feeling amazing. Day 4, I had a slight headache and felt a little crappy, but for the most part, it's been a wonderful experience.

Anyway, I won't give everything I ate for the past 4 days, since most of it was rather boring, but I'll highlight some of the tasty things:

Alissa Cohen's French Onion Dip (with some kicked up modifications)
Everything Flax Crackers (these were amazing - I'll be posting this soon!)
Kristen's Raw Sun-dried Tomato Tapenade
Frozen bananas, blended with raw coconut milk and cocoa powder (DEEEE-licious!)

I've got some more fun entrees lined up for the week, so stay tuned!

Day 2

Yesterday was a great day, although I'll admit, I did have a pretty intense craving for some tortilla chips. I held firm though, probably due to the AMAZING Mexican flax crackers I made. (That recipe will be posted soon)

Anyway, here's what I ate:

Breakfast:
Overnight Raw Oatmeal (super easy, super mega delicious)

Snack:
Spicy Indian Kale Chips

Lunch:
Leftovers of Unstirfry with Ginger Sauce
Zucchini Hummus and carrot sticks

Snack:
Some fresh canteloupe and cherries

Dinner:
Guacamole with the Mexican Flack Crackers
2 tomatoes and red onion with balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper

Dessert:
A banana, drizzled with a touch of agave

Felt pretty good yesterday too, and ready for Day #3!

30 Days of Raw - Day 1

What a perfect time to start up a raw diet. Summer is in full swing and everywhere you turn, there is a bounty of fresh produce.
I've decided to do a 30-day stretch of raw eating, in order to detox and to focus on eating better food. Most people have no idea what that looks like, and assume it means that most meals are a handful of lettuce and a banana.
I thought I'd keep track of my menu on here, especially so I can look back and remember some of the tasty things I want to make again.
So without further ado, here was Day One's menu:

Breakfast
An Apple
Lara Bar

Morning Snack:
Skipped unfortunately

Lunch:
Un-Stirfy with Ginger Sauce
Raw Strawberry Crisp

Afternoon Snack:
Fresh cherries

Dinner:
2 large tomatoes with sea salt and pepper
Zucchini hummus and carrot chips

All in all, a very good day. What I love best about raw eating is that there is no heavy, bloated feeling from eating too much or eating bad food.

See ya manana!

21?

So here it is - the beginning of 2010. Usually around this time, like almost everyone else and their mother, I start thinking about ways to make changes in my life over the next year. I hate calling them resolutions, because for some reason, that phrase seems so trite and doomed to fail.

This is also the time of year that I love to do a good detox. Sure, it's winter, and not really the time to not be eating warm comfort foods, but the social calendar gets pretty slim after the holidays, so it's perfect in that respect.

My idea this year was to do a juice feast. Feast, not fast. There's no way I could do it for the full 92 days (although apparently you feel like a champ when you're done) I did want to try it for a shorter period. My initial idea was that I'd do it for 7 days, possibly 10 if I could hold out that long.

Coincidentally, my friend Eva was also thinking of doing the same thing, and somehow, the 7 turned into 21. It does sort of make sense in doing it longer than a week and giving my body a chance to really get into it. Secondly, no one is really doing anything fun or exciting in January (unless you count being cold in that category) so it seemed perfect. One thing led to another and here I am, on Day 1.

Unfortunately, my plans were changed last minute this morning, so I didn't get a chance to make a good vegetable juice before heading out. I did fill up the water bottle and took some tea along, and amazingly enough, it's held fast. I did just make a pretty good Carrot/Apple/Beet/Celery juice that was pretty palatable.

I just have to remember that the first 3-4 days are always the hardest.

Sushi

You're probably wondering why I'm titling this "Sushi," aren't you?? Allow me to explain:

So earlier this week was my mother's birthday. After work, my father and I decided to take her out to dinner to one of her favorite restaurants, Wasabi, which is a great little Japanese restaurant. They have sushi that is fantastic. And not only is is fantastic, but it's super fresh. So fresh, as a matter of fact, that it leapt straight off the table into my mouth.

Yes. My name is Christiane and I ate sushi.

I enjoyed myself thoroughly and had a few sushi rolls and some steamed edamame, which is one of my favorite things of all times. And although I did feel a slight twing of guilt, the pleasure of eating again was much greater.

But then it all took a turn downhill and I just couldn't bear to go back to the regimen again. So I didn't. I made it through 10 instead of the original 14 days. And I'm okay with that.

This year was a much different experience than last year. Last year, it was extremely tough to do it, but I noticed benefits almost immediately and that helped spur me on. This year, I didn't so much. I felt great as I was doing it, but there wasn't much weight loss to speak of, which made it tough to continue doing it.

So the Great Detox of 2008 is at a close, albeit a few days short of its intended completion date. Maybe next year....

Flying Through

So I made it through the weekend with flying colors. To be honest, I can remember that last year absolutely dragged but this year has completely flown by.

This weekend, I went to a very large street craft fair with some friends. I must admit, I was rather tempted by the french fries they always have at these sorts of events, and they are seriously some of the best french fries I've ever had - salty, hot, greasy, and tasty! But I resisted and made it through the day with flying colors.

My only problem this year is that I haven't lost quite as much weight as I intended to throughout the detox process. Last year, the weight practically fell away and it made it very easy to maintain the whole regimen. But this year, it's sluggishly falling off. Not sure what the difference is. I'm hoping it's not because i've entered in the "30" age bracket. I've heard rumors that once you hit that magical age your metabolism puts on some serious brakes.

Either way, I'm almost done. I am finished on Sunday, so I only have 5 more days left. Judging by how quickly the first days went, I'm sure it will be over before I know it.

Days 3 & 4

I'm almost amazed at how quickly this has passed this year. Last year, I can remember the week absolutely dragging by, and I felt like I may never eat real solid food again. But for some reason, this week has just gone by so quickly. I can't believe I'm almost at the end of my first week. And to be honest, it's much easier than I thought.

I did have a few moments where I almost wept, staring at a bag of Chex Mix, and then again after gazing longingly at a container of smoked almonds, but I survived.

I have been experimenting with my fresh juices and have been trying to throw different combinations of vegetables in my juicer. My favorite so far has been the carrot-apple-beet-cucumber, which was rather tasty. My coworkers have dutifully tried every single juice I've put in my body (and to be honest, are more obsessed making sure I stick to the rules about the entire thing than I am) but they declared this one to be the best, by far.

So now, on to the weekend, where I hope I win the battle against the evil world of Salty Snacks once again!