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| I made a Lunch of Flax Seed Cracker, Blueberry Pie, Fruit, Dips, and Veggies |
Most of you know I have struggled with weight issues for years. Up and down, up and down....I eat because I am bored, stressed, being social, angry, frustrated.....I eat because food is there and because I can.
I have been mostly vegan and vegetarian through the years but that hasn't meant I always had a healthy diet or a controlled one. I can do pretty good damage on Cheese Nips and Doritos and trips to Taco Bell and pretty much any restaurant. Truly, I have terrible habits, binge eating along with excessive daily coffee and Diet Pepsi consumption.
So I made that backpacking trip to Guatemala to try to break those habits and change my state of mind. I hoped a month of hiking up mountains and through jungles and limiting my access to my usual foods would do me good. When it turned out I ended up only hiking one week out of four, I spent a good amount of time the other three weeks enjoying all kinds of food down there. I did lose four pounds but, I did not achieve a change of daily practice. Oh, I take that back...that month did help break my coffee and Diet Pepsi habits because both of those drinks are dreadful in Guatemala.
So when I got back, new plan. I decided to seriously try raw foods again (I have dabbled in it, but nothing serious). Is it working? Yes, it is! Here are the stats:
December 11, 2012 166 lbs Before backpacking trip to Guatemala
January 8, 2013 162
lbs - Start raw foods lifestyle
January 22, 2013 155 lbs - Two weeks of raw foods
I am very happy! And along with the weight loss, I have strangely suffered NO cravings at all and I am never starving. In fact, I have been following the concept of stopping eating by 2 pm (sometimes I stopped at 3 pm and I did have a salad after 8 pm one night while out for dinner after I did my DC lecture). I have NOT exercised, on purpose, in order to see the true effect of the diet on weight loss. I have stayed heavy on the veggies and fruit and lighter on the nuts and seeds, but I did include them and a small amount of dehydrated foods in my diet. Below is a list of my favorite recipes that I made and ate during the two weeks, so you can see I didn't only have carrots.
Best Recipes
RAWvolution Famous Onion Bread – RAWvolution – Matt Amsden –
p.100
Shitake Sandwich with Onion Bread – RAWvolution – p.139
Greek Pizza/Hawaiian Pizza with Pizza Sauces and Onion Bread
– RAWvolution – p. 135, 136
Lava Soup – RAW – Juliano - p. 32
Pasta Marinara with RAW Marinara Sauce – RAW – p. 153
Easiest Banana-Berry Shake – Instant Raw Sensations –
Frederic Patenaude – p. 17
My Cute Little Bell Pepper Salad - Instant Raw Sensations –
p. 53
Applesauce - Living on Raw Food – Alicia Cohen – p. 294
Flax Seed Crackers - Living on Raw Food – p. 344
Blueberry Pie – Living on Raw Food – p. 484
Mock Peanut Butter and Jelly - Living on Raw Food – p. 439
Tomato, Onion, and Avocado Sandwich – Living on Raw Food
– p. 439
Buckwheat Cereal - Living on Raw Food – p. 439
Fudge Balls – Living on Raw Food – p. 491
Curry Savory Vegetable Stew with Plantain and Pineapple –
Roger Haeske – p. 5, 6
Apple/Carrot Juice –
100 Days to 100% Raw – Tonya Zavasta – p. 17
Green Pudding – 100 Days to 100% Raw – p. 97
I am planning to continue with this raw foods plan because I really feel great! I don't obsess on food all the time, craving sweets and salts like a maniac, and I don't gorge for emotional reasons. Of course, it has only been two weeks, so we shall see how it goes. Some will ask, even if I stay on this plan, will I stay 100% raw or will I add in cooked food? I don't know yet; it depends how the cooked food affects me. I am thinking I may eventually go to what is called "high raw," simply because it is nice to allow some cooked food in one's diet so one can enjoy an occasional dinner over at someone's home or a special treat when one is dining out. However, I haven't had any desire for cooked food as of yet and don't much want to change what I am doing at this point. Since raw food is working so well for me, I am going to not rock the boat just yet; I will take one day at a time.
PS. Remember that each human being is different, so it is important to find what kind of diet/lifestyle works for your body and your circumstances.
PS. Remember that each human being is different, so it is important to find what kind of diet/lifestyle works for your body and your circumstances.
Criminal Profiler Pat Brown
January 22, 2013
Thank you! You made me curious enough to have spent hours investigating a Raw Food diet. I'm going to slowly wean myself off meat and cooked foods.
ReplyDeletejoan
Hi Pat
ReplyDeleteI am glad you seem to have hit the nail on the head with the raw veggies diet.
It looks quite a different type of diet to me but then I just eat the vegetables raw but I do add salt and vinegar to taste. I sometimes have cooked potatoes etc. and chicken to fit in with my partner but I am mainly a raw vegetable person and always have been. I always refer to myself to people as "growing up in a field". Which they sometimes think this means farm grown vegetables but it wasn't, it was wild docks and leaves and sweet potatoes from the roots of cow parsley. Together with tomatoes thrown in with white bread. I foraged like an animal for some reason. No milk unless I was absolutely forced to. I was a difficult child. I did it instinctively and still can't understand why, maybe I just preferred raw food.
Anyway, whatever works is good. I certainly can support the idea that fizzy drinks will make you fat, diet pepsi included.
Angelique.
The problem with a raw foods approach is that it often involves a lot of fat from nuts and virtually no starch. Starchy foods such as boiled or baked potatoes (with no butter or sour cream) have an extremely high satiety index, which means high satisfaction per calorie. Besides, potatoes and sweet potatoes can be easily zapped in the microwave.
ReplyDelete