I can't be the only one who wants to challenge themselves to be RAW in November?
Join me, and post here: your goals, your trials and tribulations, your meal plans, your thoughts, your feelings...
I had 12 days of raw at the end of October and then fell back into old habits for two days, but I am back, with a new appreciation for how it feels to be raw.
My goals is to be 100% raw with no more than 15-20% fat.
(And I meant to post this yesterday, but I just didn't get around to it!)
Anyone else?
DAY 1
breakfast: leftover smoothie (yuck) - 1/2 banana, 1/2 cup blueberries, 5 oz. spinach
lunch: 2 cups strawberries, 1 cup grapes
dinner: salad - 4 cups arugula, 1 yellow bell pepper, 1 heirloom tomato, 1/2 avocado
(Need to figure out a no-oil salad dressing. Will try blending my avocado ration up to a dressing instead)
EDIT: The smoothie was "yuck" b/c of it being leftover. Not that the combination is bad! I find that I really need to drink the smoothies within an hour or two, otherwise the taste goes off. That's why I've been having smoothie for breakfast after I get to work instead of waiting to have smoothie for lunch.
I have been on 100% raw for a little while, but I am having a tough time with creativity since I do not even have a blender. I am in college, so when I go home next weekend, I plan to take my blender back here with me. It can only get easier from there!
great idea! I dont think im ready to be 100% but will certainly try.
day 1
3 apples
broccoli slaw salad with tomatoes and cucumbers, balsamic vinegar
vegan veggie tostada for dinner w/ guacamole and salsa
So far on day 2 i have not had a whole lot. I feel like I am definetly detoxing and don't feel very well..naushea, headache and no appetite. So I have had herbal tea, a few goji berries, 2 apples and a couple bites worth of manna bread. And a lot of water!
Hey I am in college to and have been raw for a while. Do you have a hard time dealing with social events where there isn't raw food? It comes and goes for me, a lot of my friends dont really understand it or even attempt to understand my lifestyle choices. I just do not come across many college students like me who are raw vegan... or anyone really for that matter. I live in west tx and everyone here eats beef :(
ian, I agree, it's nice to have a blender to make green smoothie for one meal so you don't even have to think about what to make. Just keep some frozen bananas in the freezer and then add one other piece of fruit and make sure you have a stock of greens and you are good to go for that meal!
I recently got a blendtec, and I LOVE it. Now that I've made that investment, I have to keep it up! I think my husband was skeptical since I've tried many different dietary approaches over the years, but I'm hoping this is the one that works for me long-term, and that my blendtec will be getting lots of love.
I don't think I'm going to get other equipment for a while and don't think I'm ever going to get a dehydrator -- I really want to stay focused on eating fresh fruits and greens.
@@@@ DAY 2 @@@@
breakfast: green smoothie - 1 frz. banana, 3/4 cup of frz. blueberries, 1/2 pound spinach
lunch: 1 medium bunch grapes, 1 persimmon, 2 cups strawberries
dinner: salad - 4 cups arugula, 1 heirloom tomato, 1 bell pepper, green onion w/ dressing made of 1/2 avocado, 1/3 bell pepper, 1/3 tomato and basil (blended)
snack: 1 cup grapes, 1 Asian pear
19% fat. (man, so much fat from a measly 1/2 avocado)
breakfast- smoothie of 1/2 a pineapple, 3 oranges, and 4 bananas
lunch- 3 apples and a huge salad of spinach, 1/2 head of iceberg, 2 cups baked spaghetti squash, tomato, onion, sundried tomato, and sesame seed oil
dinner- 3 bananas, 2 cups grapes, and 1/2 an apple with some ground cinnamon
it's been a good past couple of food days!! granted, i have been eating spaghetti squash for the past 4 days. it's so delicious and i forgot how much i loved it since last year.
Yay, just found a site with a bunch of low fat raw vegan recipes... Maybe I'll be mixing up my meals just a little bit soon
http://bananaislandrecipes.blogspot.com/
geesh, I had SUCH a headache yesterday, I could hardly wait for my baby to get tired so we could go to bed. This morning I still have a lingering headache.
My "dressing" I tried yesterday (blended avocado, bell pepper and tomato) was so bland that I *HAD* to add some salt to make it palatable. I think tonight I'll try the trick with blending celery with something sweet and sour and see how that works. I have to say, my evening salad has lost some of its appeal now that i'm cutting out oil and trying to cut out the salt. If I can't figure out a satisfactory dressing, I may just go to drinking smoothies in the evening to get my quota of greens. (Aiming for 1 pound of greens per day, spread out over morning smoothie and dinner with fruit in between for lunch.)
thanks crispypear that blog is full of information and great new recipes to try! maybe tonights dressing will be better for you!!
Day 3 of (high) raw :
breakfast: 2 lg. apples with cacao sauce
lunch: huge veg salad topped with slivered almonds and raisins, banana
snack: raw chocolate/pb oat "no bakes" (maybe 4-5?)
dinner: another huge salad
snack: apple w/ cinnamon :)
c'est tout!
#### DAY 3 ####
BREAKFAST: green smoothie - 1 frozen banana, 1 pear, as much baby spinach as would go in the blendtec - YUM! (I also made another container with apple instead of pear for my mother in law and my baby, also a good combo and a good way to use up some of the apples that I've let sit too long in the fridge and are not as crisp as I would like anymore.)
LUNCH: 2 persimmons, 1 Asian Pear, handful of strawberries (strawberries go so fast... It kind of turns me off to buying them. Need to find a good source for organic frozen strawberries. No strawberries are as good as the variety my mom grows in her back yard. They are tiny and sweet and exploding in strawberry flavor.)
DINNER: big salad - arugula, tomato, bell pepper, carrots, with dressing from blended grapes and celery (fingers crossed this works well... can't say I'm not skeptical)
DESSERT: handful of grapes (I know people say that it's better not to eat frozen, and that it's better to eat fruit before dinner than after, but I just do crave something sweet after a salad.
6% fat
breakfast- smoothie of 4 bananas, 3 oranges, and half a pineapple
exercise- 1 hour on elliptical, 40 minutes butt/leg exercises, and 40 minutes powerlifting
lunch- 2 bananas, 1/3 cup of grapes, and 2 apples
dinner- huge spinach salad of 1 tomato, 2 sundried tomatoes, onion, sesame oil and sea salt, and a big baked potato
i'm still hungry so i'm going to make a smoothie. i think i'll do spinach, a few cups of grapes, and 2 or 3 bananas
... another splitting headache ...
kind of don't even want to eat dinner. maybe i should listen to my body and let it detox?
... okay, I realize I'm monopolizing this thread, BUT grape and celery dressing: not really doing it for me. I think I prefer naked salads to this. I think I'll try the savory vegetable stews tomorrow. Anyody else do these? Only thing I'm skeptical about is that it uses agave, which I don't really want to use on a regular basis.
Here are a couple no-oil dressings I use on a regular basis crispypear =)
Rhonda's No-Oil Dressing
1 cup raw almonds
1 cup distilled water
Pour water over almonds, cover and leave on counter to soak for 24 hours. At the end of the 24 hours, drain almonds and discard water. Place almonds in vita-mix or blender with the 1 cup distilled water and blend about 2 minutes until creamy. Stop the blender and add the following ingredients:
2 tsp nutritional yeast flakes (I dont think these are considered raw, so entirely up to you if you want to add them or not...I have left them out before when I didn't have any on hand, and it still came out okay)
1 tsp kelp
2 Tbsp live lemon juice
1/4 tsp Celtic Sea Salt
1 Tbsp minced parsley
2 tsp garlic powder ( I use one clove, minced fine)
2 Tbsp dried onion flakes (I used dehydrated onions that I've done myself)
1 tsp dill
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp raw unfiltered honey OR 1 and 1/2 chopped dates
Blend to mix, then add the following thickener: In a separate glass or bowl combine 2 cups room temperature distilled water with 2 Tbsp arrow root powder. Mix until smooth, add to blender, blend well. Pour into glass jar and store in the refrigerator.
This is a lot of steps but you get a fair amount, some of the ingredients are not considered truly raw so it all depends on your purity level.
A couple more I have used:
Cucumber Dressing
1 large cuke
1 Tbsp live lemon juice
1/8 tsp Celtic Sea Salt (optional)
1 green onion including the top
2 Tbsp dehydrated onion flakes
1/2 cup raw sesame seeds
If the cuke is organic, some of the peel can be left on (to taste). Blend until smooth and creamy. If a thinner dressing is desired, add distilled water.
Avocado Dressing
1 ripe avo
1 lemon, juiced
Mash the avo til smooth, add lemon juice til it reaches a creamy consistency...add herbs to taste
Green Dressing
Use 1 cup of Rhonda's No-Oil dressing
and add the following:
1/2 cup fresh parsley ( more or less to taste)
1 tsp tarragon
4 scallions (green part only)
dash of cayenne
1/2 tsp dill
Blend well.
I have quite a few more that uses the No-Oil Dressing as a base, but there's a few to give you a couple ideas. Hope this gives you a little bit more variety =)
juicefastfan, yummy dressings! thank you.
crispypear, if you are looking to keep fat down, one of my favorite and easiest things is just a splash of balsamic vinegar and lemon juice on my salads, and salt and pepper. I was struggling with eating bland salads too..i like to add jalapeno peppers for spice too..not sure if you like spicy things tho.
DAY 3
goji berries
2 cups pineapple
raw power bar and 1/4 cup walnuts
2 apples
1 banana
orange
18 oz butternut squash..not raw..but delicious. cold and rainy fall here..it was my comfort food for the week. yum.
made a huge thing of raw choc banana ice cream last night. I got the recipe from greenandcrunchy.org. It turned out pretty good!
I also used up about 6 apples that were going bad and made raw applesauce. Love that stuff..and I'm pretty sure its the only Raw thing I can get my husband to eat!
so far today...
breakfast- smoothie of 4 bananas and 4 oranges
workout of 55 minutes elliptical and 5 minutes rowing (i died on this machine so 5 minutes was the most i could do! haha) 30 minutes of ab exercises. i tried a new circuit today so i hope i feel sore tomorrow.
lunch- 3 apples
can't wait to get home and have a salad. 3 apples definitely wont even hold me on my 1 hour commute back home!
Kind of struggling today... Have to focus on looking forward to lunch.
@crispy pear- you could stop eating salads until you want them so much you don't want to use dressing! salads are good as is, now that my tastebuds have adjusted
*DAY 4*
1 banana
applesauce
4 apples
1 cup pineapple
2 medjool dates
for dinner - eggplant & potato bake
for dessert - raw ice cream ...actually i just want to ice cream for dinner too!
kitty, did you make your own raw ice cream or get it from a store that offers it? if you made it yourself may i please have the recipe? I am always trying to find good ones for ice creams. thanks!!
### DAY 4 ###
BREAKFAST
smoothie - 1 frozen banana, 1 apple, 1/2 pound spinach
LUNCH
2 persimmons, 1 Asian pear, 1 cup grapes
SNACK
watermelon, honeydew and grapes from the big and very tempting surprise ENORMOUS spread that arrived at my work. (following the advice that when tempted to eat non-raw foods, eat more fruits and vegetables instead).
DINNER
.... that's the dilemma. Maybe just another smoothie. Not that I'd mind. I miss my salty vinaigrette... :'( Oh well, I'll get used to things that are better for me. :)
I'm done with the struggle, I think. I was telling myself that I just want to try this out for the rest of 2009 and see how I feel. I can always eat other stuff afterwards.
day 4
2 apples w/ cacao sauce
big veg salad topped with some raisins, 2 plums, 2 c. grapes
4ish "raw" no bakes; 2 apples
green smoothie: 2 bananas, 3/4 c. soymilk, sh#t ton of spinach (SO DELICIOUS)
nom nom nom
::: sigh ::: I am really struggling today, and I'm not sure why. Well, this thread is really helping me to keep on track. That and listening to podcasts and audiobooks about raw food. And just eating more raw food when I crave cooked food. :)
BrunetteKet, I love raw ice cream! This is my usual recipe:
Blend frozen banana chunks in the food processor until they start to break down into small bits. I then add a splash of maple syrup (or you could use argave or /date paste), cinnamon, raisins and buckwheaties then process again until the consistency is smooth and all ingredients are nicely mixed. It's so good!
You can of course add in whatever combinations you like. Chopped nuts are good, as are cacao nibs or carob powder, etc. You could also add in vanilla/mint/cherry essence for other flavourings too. So many options to try!
Thanks so much sv3.. that seems much much easier than having to use an ice cream mixer (which I don't even have) I will def try it tonight once my ripe banana is frozen.
Have a great day! & thanks again!
Brunetteket, I got my recipe from greenandcrunchy.org...i like it, its very nutty tho lol.
I processed 2 cups walnuts until they were a fine meal and transferred to my blender with about a cup or 2 of water and blended. Then I added 3 bananas, 2 or 3 tablespoons cocoa powder, some agave, a spoonful of flax. I think thats about it. Blend it all until its smooth and a milkshake consistency. I dont have an ice cream maker so I froze it in the freezer and tried to remember to stir it ever hour or so. Its pretty good, definetly hits the spot but I may have to try sv3's!!
okay thanks so much I just froze a ton of bananas so I will try it this weekend. I think that the walnuts make it suuuuper healthy! have a great day!
I ate a bit too much peanut butter today (not raw.) After 3ish days of limited fat, I'm beginning to understand the draw of the 80/10/10 principle! Also had some kashi cereal... meh. Tomorrow is a new and better day! :)