Day 2...MEH

I was going to take my OWN pic today, but my camera is dead. So stock photography it is.

I'm trying not to get too down on myself about eating food, in fact cooked food, on this supposed fast I'm having. My friend wanted to get brunch, and I guess I'm just not at the point where I would be comfortable sitting there with some water while everyone else around me ate. I know I'll be there some day, but today was not the day. So I had my partially cooked vegan meal, enjoyed it, and moved on.

Afterward, I was soooo tired! I went home and took a nap for a few hours, which is very unlikely me lately as I have tons of energy. I'm pretty sure it was the pita bread I had at lunch.

So I napped it off, woke up and made a smoothie.

-meat + water of young coconut
-lime
-papaya
-spinach
-bee pollen
-hemp seeds

This smoothie started out somewhere awesome in my head, but the flavors are kinda strange together. Especially the addition of the hemp seeds, but I gotta get my protein in.

Bought a durian today too, can't wait til it's ready!

Day 1...sorta

I'm having a difficult time with the juice/smoothie fast. I'm still experiencing cooked food cravings, and have realized maybe I should be raw longer before trying something like this. But I'm going to try it anyway!

Today was not an optimal day for juicing/making smoothies. I was up late last night finishing an online final for one of my classes, and I had to work at 10 this morning. I had just enough time to make a big smoothie (I bring one to work that I share with one of my co-workers every Tuesday) which I combined half of with some leftover smoothie from the day before.

It basically consisted of:
-rainbow chard
-banana
-dates
-agave
-bee pollen
-hemp seeds
-brazil nuts
-raw chocolate
-coconut oil

Then I had a bowl :X of vegan split pea soup at work. It was super tasty, but is now wreaking havoc on my digestive system...and making me very unpleasant to be around, if you know what I mean :O

After work I went straight to my mom's and we all drove the 1 hour+ trip to Sierra Vista because my lil bro was graduating high school. I sipped on the remainder of my smoothie, and had some watermelon during the reception. And that's really all I've eaten today.

I'm off tomorrow and I'll be better about getting a few juices and smoothies in me. Today was just not a good day as far as time goes.

let the feasting begin

After reading April's blog and her experience with green smoothies, and Britanie's calling toward a more liquid-based diet, I've decided to try my own green smoothie/juice feast. I've also been feeling this innate physiological desire for liquids. When I first wake up in the morning, I crave fresh juice. I usually start of my day with that or a big green smoothie, but I haven't lately because I've been working so much and haven't had time to go shopping, and am running out of food!

I feel better when I drink mostly juice and smoothies throughout the day. And it cleans house, if you know what I mean... :O

So, off I go to the store! I can't wait. Just looking at that picture above makes me want to buy some kiwis.

the great outdoors

Went on another mini-hike in Sabino yesterday. And I sunbathed by the pool for 20 min or so.

I LOVE hiking. There's no other form of exercise I would rather do than to just go on a long hike.
I'm not a runner. I've never been good at it, nor enjoyed it. I do much better with exercise that requires energy and stamina over time as opposed to bursts of it. I really admire people who can just go out and run for miles without stopping, but it sure as hell isn't for me.

Hiking is one of those things I can do for hours. Before the flood damage up in Sabino, I used to walk the road up to the Phoneline Trail trailhead and hike that trail back to the visitor center. Round trip, it's about 8 miles and takes 4-4.5 hours. The first time I went raw, I would go hike that a couple times a week and that's all the exercise I needed. I wore a heart rate monitor once to track caloric expenditure...1500 calories burned! Not that I give a shit about numbers now, but it's nice to know you can get in two of those workouts and burn approximately the equivalent of a pound.

I like having a destination. I like the change of scenery. I had a gym membership a couple years ago and the only real reason I went is because I went with friends, and the gym offered free kickboxing and capoeira classes (which I miss a lot). I get soooo bored on cardio machines. I used to play "musical cardio" just to alleviate the boredom...I'd do 10 minutes on the elliptical, 10 on treadmill, and another 10 on the bike or stairs or whatever. I just hate standing in one place and going nowhere. I don't even like walking on the track at the park down the street. Just going around and around and around and getting nowhere. I can do that for like 30 minutes before calling it quits.

When I'm hiking though, it's like there's a built-in reward. I have a destination in mind. Hiking is a reward in itself to me. I don't think "Dammit, I need to exercise, I better go hiking". I don't even think of it as exercise...it's a treat!

I was thinking about all of this yesterday while hiking, and I'm just so glad I started doing it again. I would like to do Seven Falls sometime, but I'd rather have a hiking buddy for that.

Anyway, hope everyone has a great day :)

mmm chocolate

It's that time of the month. I'm really surprised at how mild it is though. I had very slight cravings...i.e. nuts and banana leather at midnight last night. I usually stop eating around 8 nowadays. Also, I broke out a little bit...but nothing in comparison to how bad it used to be. So far no cramps or mood swings either, wheeee!

Tomorrow is my darling boyfriend's birthday. My birthday was just 2 weeks ago, and Sunday is mother's day, so his mom is throwing a joint birthday/Mother's day party. And she is SO sweet and supportive that she is going to make me a raw dish! She's making seasoned jicama fries...I can't wait.

I'll be bringing an organic veggie tray, and I'll whip up some kind of dip. But the main event (for me anyway) will be chocolate almond butter torte omg. Thank you to Terilynn for adapting a recipe like this for rawbies. I have it all made up and setting in the freezer, waiting to be glazed. Of course I tasted it along the way, and uhhhhmm...wow. The chocolate layer came out with the same TASTE and CONSISTENCY as good ol' jello chocolate pudding. Unbelievable. The walnut/date/chocolate crust is like, one of the best things I've tasted EVER. I will take pics once it's ready :>

ONE MORE WEEK OF SCHOOL. Then I get like, 2 weeks off before summer school. And I am already registered for fall. It never ends.

There's a reason we have canines...

Listening to meat-eaters justify eating meat is funny to me, because they use all the same arguments I used to. I also know there is no sense in arguing with them or trying to enlighten them, because they just won't have it.


I grew up eating massive amounts of meat. My dad is from Texas, my mom is from Indiana. It was meat and potatoes all the way. My dad is the grill master...it was always steak, ribs, prime rib, and home-made beef jerky. Oh, and bratwurst. We lived in Germany for three years and I became addicted to bratwurst. To this day, if I had to say there were anything I even REMOTELY missed about eating meat, it would be home-made beef jerky and bratwurst. Luckily I found a replacement for one of those.


Back to the canines though. To that I say: what canines?? It only takes a little intuitive logic to realize that the canines of humans are grossly underdeveloped in comparison to that of carnivores. Hell, they're underdeveloped in comparison to those of our closest DNA relatives, chimpanzees.





Tell me those are not some SERIOUS canines. Yet the chimpanzee's diet is 99% plant-based.

Although omnivorous, its diet is mainly vegetarian, consisting of fruits, leaves, nuts, seeds, tubers, and other miscellaneous vegetation, supplemented by insects and small prey. There are also instances of organized hunting; in some cases, such as the killing of Leopard cubs, this primarily seems to be a protective effort, since the Leopard is the main natural predator of the Common Chimpanzee. (source)

And the "meat" they do eat consists of insects and probably lizards. I am not a proponent of a 100% vegan diet. When I met David Wolfe a couple years ago at a retreat, he really enforced this idea. It's unnatural. No animal in nature is vegan...they will inadvertently eat insects when they are eating wild plants. Does that mean I'm going to go around eating bugs like David Wolfe does? Hell no. He be crazy; brilliant, but kinda crazy. I do include bee products in my diet though, because the benefits of bee pollen are so enormous, and as David Wolfe says in Eating for Beauty, it is the most complete food on earth. Plus, I don't think the bees are mistreated when the pollen is collected...try to mistreat a bee. I think you'll be surprised at what happens.


This whole post stems from my experience with this girl I work with--who reminds me SO much of myself when I was eating meat--who teases me all the time about not eating meat. Could I tell her everything I have just written here, sources and all? Sure. Would she listen or care? Hell no. Like me, she just has to get to that point in her life when she realizes it's not doing her any favors, and that there is something better out there.


It's a gorgeous day outside, I'm going to go on a hike and for a swim :D But I'll leave you with my substitute for beef jerky. My carnivorous boyfriend asks me to make this all the time, and he always eats it all before I get to have any!


Mushroom Jerky

Portobella mushroom caps sliced appx. 1/4" thick

Marinade:

all measurements are to taste, except where noted
-Nama Shoyu

-Liquid Smoke (use very little, then taste, and add more if needed--VERY potent)

***obviously not raw, but if you don't mind cheating a little, this makes a world of difference

-Worcestershire sauce (optional, again not raw)

-Agave nectar

-Garlic powder -or- minced fresh garlic

-Onion powder -or- minced fresh onion

-Cumin

-Crushed red pepper

-Black pepper

-Chili powder -or- diced hot chiles


Mix all marinade ingredients in a bowl. Next, you can either put the sliced mushrooms right into the marinade bowl (if you made enough marinade to cover all of it), OR, if you're like me and are stingy and don't like to waste a lot, dip each mushroom slice individually into the marinade and layer in a separate bowl. Once all your mushroom slices are dipped and in the bowl, pour remaining marinade over them. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Dehydrate for about a day. I like mine to be almost crunchy, but you can take them out earlier if you like it more chewy.