Raw in Tucson

2007-03-06T07:42:00.000-08:00

Day 6 JF

It's morning and the world is right again. Sleeping 10 hours helped kill the grumpy beast as I knew it would. And thankfully, I didn't get sick from the coconut water!

And... down 13 pounds in 14 days (6 pounds on JF).

Today I had:

2.5 pints apple, spinach, lime, cucumber
2.5 pints cantaloupe (conventional, boo!), celery, apple
And something is rumbling inside me, let me tell ya! But why does this happen before bed??? Argh! Not sure if it's food induced or cleansing

Went shopping again. Taking time to peruse many outlets of organic produce. The Safeway sort of close to me had organic pineapples for the same price (and same size) as conventional! And they had the elusive cucumbers! AND... organic watermelon (but they're personal sized and $8 each, so I'm passing until the craving for one hits.) They're slack on the greens, but I'm creating a little network around me for my complete produce needs.

That's about it.

2007-03-05T09:28:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's Rant

(This is from another board I posted to last night...forgot to post here)
I am grumpy, frustrated, enraged, disgusted, fed up, and really bummed out. This really, really sucks. It wasn't a bad day at all, but I'm in a totally sucky mood all evening and now I think I just made myself sick the point that I'm going to be up for hours.

Couple days ago I had coconut water with green powder and MSM. Got really sick afterwards -- rumbly tummy, you figure out the rest. Thought it was maybe the greens or MSM or combo. So, just now I had more coconut water plain (and I've had it plenty of times before) and almost immediately my stomach is rumbly again. I just want to go to sleep, I don't want to be up for hours, afraid to go to sleep in this condition. Add this to my sucky, sucky evening and I'm a real charmer right now, LOL.

I want to chew something, I want to eat _______ and _________ and _________ yet at the same time, I just want to go to bed and have the day be over and the "I wants" to be over. I want to power through this foul mood and be done with day 5 and be on day 6, which is almost a week, which is a minor milestone.

I want to go buy sugarcane and chew it to shreds. I also want to weigh myself and know I'm making progress, but that has to wait till morning.

I don't know about anyone else on the juice feast, but all these greens is tough. I'm not even eating 2 pounds a day and I just realized I missed my celery today. Is it wise to force myself to drink juice when my body says 'whoa, got enough, thanks'?

And I just spend $400 on two juicers because I couldn't decide between the Omega 8005 masticator for leafy greens and hard veggies or the Breville Juice Fountain for everything but leafy greens and it's incredible speed. So I figured I'll do leafy greens and maybe try wheatgrass in the Omega (and nutbutters and ice cream when I'm eating again!!) then use the Breville to knock out the other stuff quickly, because I plan on juicing after this feast is over.

I'm also frustrated that I can't get organic peaches, plums, nectarines, cherries, grapes, watermelon and hardly cucumbers. AND, I heard that celery is going up to something like $4 per bunch next week or next month. Maybe she meant all organics or some, but at least celery. Great. I want peach juice, dang it! And I want to destroy things. At least I'm off tomorrow incase I do have to stay up most of the night. And why is coconut water making me immediately sick? Why? I want my juicers to get here Tuesday, I want to not be thirsty, I want my bottled water to not taste like crap. (Cases of Penta are buy one get one free -- or were two days ago anyhow -- but I don't have extra $$ for water. Not even sure how I'll get juicing stuff after Tuesday.

Just call me Kelly Ball-O-Sunshine

So tired... going to try to go to bed...tomorrow it will not be today any longer

2007-03-03T17:41:00.000-08:00

Day 4 Juice Feast

Whew... finally a chance to sit down. Today has been a busy day off--drive way east to a disappointing farmer's market, drive way west to another farmer's market, walk a mall looking for a juicer, stop at 5 more stores looking for a juicer, go shopping for groceries, clean the poopy bird carpets, change the bedding, flip and rotate the king size mattress, wash 4 loads of laundry, clean out the cupboards of sad food, clean out the fridge of sad stuff and raw that won't last, clean the fridge and the freezer shelves, reorganize the fridge, take out 4 bags of trash, clean the dehydrator trays and mesh sheets, store the dehydrator and food processor, sweep and mop the floors, and...make 3 pints of juice that took entirely too much squeezing. It was like I couldn't stop...

Today I had:
4 pints carrot, spinach, apple
1 pint coconut water with green powder and MSM
3 pints pear, celery, spinach
(and that, once I drink these last two pints I just made, is more than a gallon, finally!!!!)

Decided I really need another juicer at home. Took the cheapo to work and am doing juice in the blender and nut milk bag here.... I can't do that for 3 months. It just takes too long and I have a full time job and all the household stuff to do. Still having a hard time deciding on a juicer because the low RPM masticating juicers seem to take a long time and a lot of effort according to reviews...although they do leafy greens well.

The Breville juice fountain has good reviews and is super quick, but I'm unsure about leafy greens. Plus, the Champion and most any juicer have teeny juice cups, while the Breville has a 50 ounce juice container.

Felt good all day, but now my feet are tired (understandably) and my stomach is gurgling -- first time that's happened so far on the feast.

Not really craving any foods, but I do get a hankering for them if I consciously think about it. Like if I drive by McDonald's and think "hmmm, what would a cheeseburger taste like?" then I kinda want one, but as far as true cravings without my mind entertaining the thoughts to begin with, I've had none.

Oh, this morning I woke up and realized I hadn't dreamed in quite a while, like weeks or a month even. I may have dreamed, but I have absolutely zero recollection of it, which is odd for me. So I drift off back to sleep for an hour...and have a dream!!

Also, driving around, I had a very clear thought that no animal should have to give up its life just for me to eat it when there is so much other food available. In an emergency situation, I'd do what I had to do, but that's survival, not pleasure. Why should I kill a cow or chicken or pig just so I can indulge my taste buds? It's just not right to me.

And with that... I'm off

Lord, I pray that my addictions to the wrong foods will be completely broken during this process. Heal me, please...

2007-03-02T19:04:00.000-08:00

Day 3, Juice Feast

Day three is rolling to a close. Quite the easy day, aside from having to drink so much. I didn't get my 2 pounds of greens and didn't even get one pound. Got the celery though.

Went to Costco to check out their organics. They have 1 pound tubs of baby spinach and 1 pound tubs of field greens for 3.59 each. Do you know how MUCH spinach is in a pound? This tub is like 10 x 6 x 5 inches! And I'm supposed to juice TWO a day? Aaiiee. I don't think it would all fit in my blender even. There's not enough room in the fridge to buy more than a couple days' worth and I'm not looking forward to going to Costco that often, but... whatever needs to be done...

Tomorrow morning I'm heading out to the farmer's market. Yay! First time in like 10 years and the first time in Tucson. I'm really hoping produce is abundant, succulent, and inexpensive.

Really contemplating a good juicer. I have a low-end model that won't do leafy greens. Thinking about a two-speed Breville or a SoloStar (or whichever of that GreenStar variety that does decent greens.) Too bad no juicer is good at everything, but my thinking for when I'm done with this is to eat my fruit and drink my veggies, so I still plan to juice greens and veggies, so I guess I ought to get the juicer that does those best. Soft fruits I can toss in a blender and squeeze in a nut milk bag easy enough if I want to juice them. Huh, that was an easy conclusion to come to once I wrote it out :)

Today I had:
2.25 pints apple, lime, spinach, kiwi
2 pints watermelon, ginger
2.5 pints pineapple, celery, cucumber
herbal tea
(total 6.75 pints -- .75 pints shy of a gallon)

My face looks a bit thinner to me, even though the scale isn't moving much (I know, this is only day 3...calm down.) My tongue is not quite so coated today, but still had to brush in the middle of the day. My face is still trying to break out -- got a couple spots starting, but not growing much.

Oh, checked my blood sugar leve. It's been in the 115-130 range, but today, after an entire pineapple and nearly a whole watermelon, it was 95! Had some more pineapple juice stuff and checked a few minutes after drinking that and it was up to 131. If I remember, I'll check in the morning. Spikes after eating are normal, so the 131 doesn't freak me out. I'm not diabetic, but have been running a bit high the past 6 months to a year. "Possibly pre-diabetic" is what it's been called. I say "possibly NOT pre-diabetic" then :)

Lord, thank you for the ability to come this far, so far, on the foods You intended for us to eat. If it's Your will, let this be the beginning of a 'health revival' among the Body and beyond. We can't be good soldiers for the Kingdom if we're sick, diseased, over-medicated, fat, and stuck on the couch. Your will be done...

2007-03-01T19:21:00.000-08:00

Let the Juice Feast Begin!

Well, this is day 2 of a hopefully 92-day juice feast. And that is feast not fast because on a juice feast, you drink at least a gallon of fresh juice each day -- hardly a fast there, eh?

I came across the juice feast a couple days ago, mentioned it to my friend, Jen, in Kansas, and we talked each other into doing it. We were supposed to start today, but she started yesterday because juice is easier to do than raw food. I started with the juice I was craving, then had more juice for lunch, then realized I was mostly done with the day, so why not keep on with juice rather than starting fresh today.

What is a juice feast, you might ask? The short of it is, it's a way to give your digestive system a break and let the energy that would be used for digestion be used for detoxifying and healing your body. But because you're drinking so much nutrient dense juice, your body is getting more nourishment in one day than most people probably get in a month or even longer.

The big main 'rule' is to use 1 bunch of celery per day and 2 pounds of greens per day. The celery I've been doing, but 2 pounds of greens is a LOT, so I'm working up to that, getting used to the flavor, but I am using at least one big bunch of greens a day, which is about one pound.

The other 'rule' is to use organic produce. Juicing all those pesticides and herbicides and fungicides in conventional produce would just not be good for ya. Not to mention the genetic modification and other stupid stuff done in the name of money.

Yesterday I had:
1 pint carrot, beet, apple
1 pint orange, grapefruit
2 pints celery, spinach, apple, carrot
herbal tea
1 pint water
(this was only about half a gallon...oops)

Today I had:
2 pints kale, apple, pear (I like kale, I discovered)
2 pints carrot, celery, apple, ginger
1 pint tomato, garlic, red bell pepper, cilantro (eh...not my fave)
1/2 pint water (really need to up this!)
herbal tea
(total just over 1/2 gallon juice...aaiieee! Step it up, girl!)

This morning my face felt tingly good for the longest time, like I had just really scrubbed it, except I hadn't--it's just clearing up and getting nourished.

This afternoon, my tongue started to feel icky/tingly like when I eat too much citrus. Detox is beginning, I believe. Plus I'm breaking out this evening. I don't want to be zit ridden, but since skin is the largest organ, gotta expect some detoxing this way.

My tongue has been icky coated for days now... I keep scraping it off. More detox.

Looking forward to hitting the farmer's market Saturday!!!

Thank you, Lord, for giving us such abundance in flavors, colors, and textures in fruits and veggies. I'm sorry for the years of food abuse I've put my body through. With Your help, may this be the end of abuse and the beginning of a renewed temple.

2007-01-27T19:07:00.000-08:00

I'm here again...

I'm back...I really need to decide what I'm going to do with food. Either be raw or don't be raw, but I don't want to be on this see-saw for life. And I really don't want to find out I have cancer one day, or MS or diabetes or high blood pressure, and realize "perhaps I could have prevented this."

I need to approach this not through my own discipline--because I have none--but through God's ability. I listened to a tape by Chuck Smith a few days ago when he happened to mention an anger problem he used to have. He could sometimes "control" it on his own, but not all the time and when he lost control, it was worse than usual because a lot was pent up. Finally, he gave it to the Lord and eventually one day realized he no longer had anger.

I have an eating problem which I can sometimes control, yet it has not gone away. I can't make it go away, but He can.

So many people are suffering from food. Either they don't realize it or don't know how to change. When everything in our society tells you to cook food, eat meat for protein, drink diet sodas, how can they learn what's right if nobody shows them?

I'm curious to figure out how much money we (United States) spend on treating illnesses and how much money we spend on weight loss products. Then, compare that to how much we spend preventing illnesses--betcha that number is mighty small.

There has to be a way to tell the world. I feel like the answer is inside of me, but not quite reachable yet.

2006-12-05T20:04:00.000-08:00

See? Not by accident....

Just stumbled across this on the RawFoodTalk.com website. It's in VibinOnLife's signature...

There is no grey area when it comes to nutrition. Every single thing that you put into your mouth leads to either wellness or disease. If you choose not to change, today is the best that your health is ever going to be again. Time does not improve you, action does.

Not by accident folks... health is a choice, it is not an accident.

2006-12-05T19:46:00.000-08:00

Owwwwww....

Well, just got done working out. Have a feeling I'm going to be a hurtin' pup tomorrow because actually it's about an hour after I worked out and my muscles are still kinda shaking. But they weren't while I was working out, so I didn't realize I might have been overdoing it.

Though I'd like to be 100% raw, I'm not above taking an ibuprofen when I do stupid stuff like that. I'll tough it out if possible, but if I'm immobile, all bets are off and pills are going to get in mah belly!

So I had some smoothie for breakfast, coffee (I know, I know) a salad at TGIFriday's for lunch, dates for a snack, then orange juice after working out. Probably all I'll have, though I am a bit hungry now.

2006-12-04T16:47:00.000-08:00

Not By Accident...

Health has to be a priority. It won't accidentally happen. I won't accidentally start eating properly. I won't accidentally break all my bad eating habits and addictions. I won't accidentally gain muscle and lose fat. It has to be a conscious decision. Daily. Momently.

For dinner tonight I had a chocolate banana almond mylk shake. I wanted to rummage the cupboards for something SAD, but made the shake instead. On purpose.

Health is not accidental. Reach for it!

2006-12-03T20:35:00.000-08:00

I tell ya....

... I guess I'm just not one of those super-motivated people because I'm eating junk again. But, we bought a used Bowflex today and have it set up in the living room, right in plain sight. One, its the best fit for it right now and two, I want to see it so I use it. Worked out a little tonight trying out the different exercises. Actually broke one of the rods, too. Dang!

Anyhow, raw is going to be in my life again. Seriously thinking about a year-long commitment this time. Why? Well, I know I can do 30 days or 90 days because I did 90 days before. But after that, I slipped and haven't gotten back on for more than a couple weeks. Too easy to talk myself out of it when my buddies at work want to go to lunch.

So, if I just tell everyone (if it comes up) that I'm eating this way for a year, perhaps they'll take it more seriously. Perhaps I'LL take it more seriously because it all comes down to me anyhow.

When I first went raw, I gave up diet soda at the same time. I was drinking at least a 6-pack a day and haven't had it since (well, a couple sips a couple times, but it was nasty!!!) That habit is dead and buried. Don't crave it at all! If I can break that habit and sustain it for 2 years now, I can break the sad food habit, too.

I'm still debating a couple issues -- if I go to lunch with friends, do I only order out if I can get a salad? It'll kinda have sad stuff on it unless I get all picky. But I don't mind taking fruit with me to eat with them and they put up with my quirkyness, so that's probably the safer (and cheaper) route to go. And, no, I don't "have" to go with them to lunch, but they're my buds!! Doing things together is what we do.

Or, I'll just work on them to start bringing lunches instead of eating out, which is what they want to do anyhow -- but they just don't do it either. One of us has to be strong and lead us to health, so it might as well be me, eh?

And with that, good-night! :)

2006-11-11T19:03:00.000-08:00

What's this Raw thing anyhow?

Sorry if I left you hanging about what in the world "raw" is incase you're just stumbling across this.

Eating "raw" is just that -- eating foods in their raw state. When it comes to raw, I eat a vegan diet (can't say I do that when I eat SAD junk, but I won't eat raw meat or eggs!)

So, my raw diet consists of raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. You may think it sounds boring and restrictive, but you can make hundreds and hundreds of recipes and desserts that are wholly satisfying and richly indulgent.

The first time I was 100% raw for 3 months, I made a lot of recipes. But now I gravitate towards more fruitarian (yes, just fruit). Okay, really I gravitate towards SAD, but when it comes to raw, I prefer just fresh fruit or my favorite standby recipe... raw ice cream!

Curious? Check out RawFoodTalk for a friendly, informative forum.

They'll even answer the question ringing in your mind right now... "Where do you get your protein?"

2006-11-11T18:47:00.000-08:00

What's my problem???

So, you'd think that because I know the truth, I'd live it. Why are humans so against doing what we know to be true and right and good?

I'm still eating SAD (Standard American Diet) crap. Just today for lunch I had Taco Bell nachos.

Taco. Bell. Nachos. Ick.

But at least for dinner I had fresh squeeze orange juice and some (cooked) oatmeal with raisins.

(pause while I go make a bowl of oatmeal for hubby)

So, hubby loves artificial sweetner... he like about 14 packets of "the blue stuff" in his oatmeal. I mixed it in and ate a bite. ICK, what a nasty aftertaste! I quit nutrasweet and sodas almost two years ago now and have not had near the mood swings I used to have. This is a good reminder to keep keeping away from the junk.

But still... what's my problem???

2006-11-05T17:27:00.000-08:00

Why I Must Go Raw

I'm fat
I have allergies
I have aches and pains in my feet in the morning
I have a hard time breathing when I run
I have mitral valve prolapse
I want mental clarity back
I want the awesome dreams raw eating gave me before
Mood stability
Joy!
I'm possibly pre-diabetic
Prevention of arthritis, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, you name it
God knows better than man. God made fruits and veggies. Man thinks boiling, packaging, and nuking them is healthy.
I have Restless Leg Syndrome occasionally
I get vertigo from time to time
My voice is raspy (and I don't even smoke)
I sometimes have insomnia
My eyesight is getting worse
I refuse to take medications unless a matter of immediate life or death
I refuse to have surgery unless a matter of immediate life or death
I want my fingernails to grow quick and strong again
I want my complexion to be smooth
I want to feel rested and jump out of bed after only 6 hours of sleep
I want a boost in my creativity
My resting pulse is 85 right now
I had a colonoscopy several years ago and they found a polyp -- the kind that turns to cancer in about 5 years. I don't want colon cancer (or any cancer) and I know raw food is the best prevention and the best cure.
I want to inspire others to go raw and get healthy
We need a RAWvolution in this country!
It's cheaper than SAD
I want to wear single-digit clothing
I want to respect this temple I've been entrusted with...

I know from being raw before that much of this will be fixed in only a short time.

2006-11-05T16:49:00.000-08:00

This Litte Bloggy of Mine

Okay, here's the deal. I've been toying with raw food for almost 2 years. I was all raw for 3 months, then fell off, then eventually back on, then off, then on, then off...you get the picture. This here bloggy of mine is primarily (at this moment) for me to gather my thoughts and to remind myself why I'm doing this raw thing again. If it helps some of you get healthy, so much the better.

Now, down the road, my hope is that this little bloggy of mine will largely inspiring and convincing others to go raw and get healthy. I am so disgusted with all the nasty food we eat (SAD food, that is... not raw) and all the meds prescribed and all the surgeries and the labels placed on people... I have so many rants in this department, I'll save them for a later date, one at a time in more detail. And they're not just rants to hear myself type... I want you to think about what our government is doing to YOUR health.

I have so much to say up front, I don't know where to start...

So here's me before my raw reformation.... not so good for a close up shot, but it'll have to do for now