I'm a Mum!

Image courtesy Strong Moms

I forgot I even had a blog!!

I was looking through links and checking them and found it again. The reason I have been so preoccupied... I'm 18 weeks pregnant!

The pic above shows how developed my baby is right now. Fully formed, just plenty of growing to do.

I've stayed high raw for the whole time and I've not suffered ANY of the usual pregnancy symptoms like morning sickness, excessive tiredness, nausea, stretch marks (yet!), insomnia etc etc... I know it's got everything to do with my nutrition.

Breakfast is usually a fruit smoothie, raw muesli, fresh fruit or an egg with rye toast, lunch is big salad with a whole avo and dinner would be a salad too, lightly steamed veg or legumes. Snacks: nuts, seeds, fruit, dried fruit, water, herbal teas, juices and occasionally the odd piece of carrot cake!

We've decided to go all natural with no ultrasounds, and a drug free home birth. Baby is kicking already every day which reassures me everything is OK. I'm learning how to tune in to my body and trust my instincts, very primal!

Feeling great, loving my new tummy and happy heart.

My Way

It seems like forever since I've posted here... I've been read read reading everything I can get my hands on about raw food!

So far I've come to the conclusion there is no 'right' way to do raw. Everyone says that their way is the ultimate raw diet... so which is the one??

Low sugar high greens raw
Transition raw - with lots of lookalike recipes
Low fat high fruit
Cooked greens high raw
High fat raw
Macrobiotic style raw

The only way to know for sure is to try out all of them and see what feels good for me! So far, my eating style has been pretty loose. Not a lot of dehydrated foods (except for the occasional flax cracker) and mostly LOTS of salads, fruit and smoothies. I don't keep a track of my fats and usually have an avocado and some nuts every day, as well as cold pressed oils in my salads. I don't worry too much about using vinegars and spices, I eat the occasional piece of dark chocolate and have a glass of red wine on the weekend. I'm not strictly vegan, and sometimes I'll have a little bit of goat's cheese or raw milk, but my diet is nearly vegan now. I'm not going to worry about a label and how true I am to it... I'm just trying hard to stay away from processed foods, breads, sugar, icecream and the like. My diet is 1000% better than it has ever been now! As I progress on this journey I may become stricter, but this is MY RAW style - not dictated by books or forums.

Before I take anything on board I look at the people advocating that particular eating style... are they healthy? Do they have lots of energy? Are they happy? If not, then I'll keep looking for answers of my own.

Meanwhile I got a tray of 20 mangoes for $5 today so I'm off to devour a couple now... YUM!

Raw Progress

Still feeling RAWSOME!!

Here's one of my recent creations... cauliflower/bok choy/alfalfa dressed in lemon and olive oil, warm dehydrated veggie patties, fresh warm tomato salsa - red onion/garlic/sun dried toms/fresh toms, avocado. Delish!

So far about 7 weeks of raw - I've been high raw, not 100%. Released 4.5kgs, and a dress size. Eat lots of gorgeous food, mountains of it! I'm loving it!

ESP my frozen banana 'icecream'. I should buy shares in a plantation... or plant some down the back soon.... hmmmm.... : )

New presents to myself!!!

Photo courtesy Fresh & Healthy

Today I bought myself my very own masticating juicer! No. Get your mind out of the gutter! It means 'chewing' and cold presses my juices with the least amount of heat and oxidisation. Which means my juice has more nutrients and a longer life. It does EVERYTHING! I'm so excited! I made some yummy vegetable patties with it and I'm planning on making lots of frozen 'ice-creams' and nut butters too.... I'm dreaming of natural nutella!

I've been detoxing a little today with lower energy than normal and a constant headache all day... it's a bit rough, but nothing I can't handle with some more water and a little lie down. I'm hoping it will sort itself out by tomorrow when I have to work, we'll see.

I have heaps more news, but sorry it will have to wait, can't chat... I've got to go and make more stuff with my new toy!

Metamorphisis

Three weeks raw and I feel a bit like I am being made over. My ideas about myself, they way I walk on the earth and nutrition are all changing. Some days I feel somewhat overwhelmed about it all. Big picture, I want to try to live as consciously as possible, but I find I’m falling short of my ideals. Slowly slowly I’m going to try to change.

The changes I’ve made recently:
• Buy from the markets and bulk foods and REMEMBER to bring my own containers and bags
• Make big batches of food for the week – prepare in advance as much as I can
• Try to encourage others to eat more fresh fruit and veg and explain my reasons for going raw
• Buy as many ethical products as possible, if in doubt, even if it’s a supplement, I won’t buy it
• Try new foods and ways of preparing raw foods – completely different to conventional recipes
• Eat consciously, not out of boredom, social situations or peer pressure
• Say no to stress by not taking too much on board at work and in my relationships
• Keep a journal of moods and foods to discover patterns of what my body does and doesn’t like
• Start supplementing with whole foods: bee pollen, maca, MSM, slippery elm, silica and include a wide variety of fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds and fats.
• Eliminate processed foods including refined sugar, bread, pasta and packet foods and eat whole, fresh ingredients only

The most difficult thing has not been switching to raw surprisingly! The diet part is easy. It’s the mental shift I wasn’t prepared for. Trying to reconcile myself with what my husband eats has been hard! We sat down and had a talk and he agreed to try to be more aware of his nutrition, which is a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, I don’t think he really cares about his health as much as I do. When he’s hungry, he eats whatever is fast, which is a problem. The worst part is, he’s a personal trainer, you think he’d understand! He’s got a genetically very lean body, so he’s never had to worry about gaining weight, but then complains when he gets the flu and I don’t or he’s dead tired and I’m still full of beans. I’m hoping my example will eventually make a difference. We’ll see. Very frustrating in the meantime!!

I love the energy I have now! I can have all my lovely fruits and nut butters, fresh salads, creamy avocado and yes.... Chocolate! Yesterday someone at the office commented ‘Have you lost weight? You look good!’. I was surprised as I haven’t been weighing myself, but I’ve lost 3kgs and my skin is clearer and softer than it was before. Wheeee! How cool when people notice! Then I can get on my little soap box and share! hehe

Experimenting on non-raw friends...

These are my mini fennel and tomato tarts with macadamia cheese. Don't they look yummy? So sorry, but they were wolfed down by my non-raw friends which I am VERY pleased about! The recipe is here. (I added green peppercorns to the base and I dehydrated the crust and tomatoes a little longer than recommended because I was using my oven to do it.)










This is my pecan tart inspired by Earthmother! (Here's her recipe.) I tweaked it a little bit (am fond of tweaking!) and added a pinch of salt to the crust and vanilla extract to the filling. I also dehydrated the crust by itself and the finished pie for a couple of hours. I'm still transitioning to raw foods, so the texture was a lot more like the cooked version. My friends gave it a biiiiggggg thumbs up (hugs EM!). For them, I served it with organic vanilla icecream.

So here's my dinner party menu:
Starters: Veggie crudites, flax 'crackers' (recipe and also fun website here) and avocado and cucumber dip, vodka and fresh orange juice.
Main: Raw dishes: Orange and onion salad, Moroccan cucumber salad, caprese salad, mini tomato tarts, big green salad with olive, mango and avocado. Cooked dishes: Thai chicken green curry with rice noodles, baked potatoes with lemon and garlic, red wine.
Dessert: Pecan tart (licks lips) and icecream.
Supper: Soaked honey pecans and almonds, various herbal teas.

It all went without a hitch! I ate the raw food and a small baked potato only and washed it down with a nice glass of cabernet. I really enjoyed my meal, despite it being raw (who says raw food is boring!), especially because I didn't get the groggy feeling one usually experiences after a big meal. The curry was a compromise: the chicken part was cooked, but the veggies and fresh herbs were just thrown in there briefly. My friends and husband aren't vegetarian, so I like to make something they'll recognise!

It took me a fair while to do all of the prep work, you also have to allow time for dehydrating, so the steps take longer than cooked food. I think as I get used to 'cooking' this way, it will become easier. Maybe the answer is to make things in big batches and freeze them?

The night before the party my hubby and I COULD NOT SLEEP. We were both tossing and turning, dreaming, getting woken by mozzies, by storms, by being too hot... ah the Queensland summer! We both must have only got about three hours that night. YET, the next day I was cooking and cleaning all day as per usual. Strange... hubby was wiped out and had to have a kip for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Me? Kept right on cookin'! Weird. Usually if I don't get a solid 8 hours, I'm useless!! RAWSOME! He made a comment about it today. Jealous? We'll get him eating his salads yet! (grins)

WOW - did someone put something in my drink?

Image courtesy Jayne Anderson

Well today I AM BUZZING! This morning I really noticed it at about 10:30am. It felt like I was full of electricity, with a clear head, lots of energy and totally focussed in a very happy mood! Not just a little bit. A LOT. It was amazing!! As I've been about 95% raw for the last two weeks, which is not a particularly long time, it's strange to me why I'm feeling so good? I thought it would take longer!

Maybe it was my breakfast???
Breakfast: 3 macadamias, 1 carrot, 1 small piece of fresh coconut, 1 tab of chlorophyll in water... that's it!

Hmmm.... time will reveal if this is a consistent life change, or a freak wonderful day!!

It's funny I used to be (of the past year) a low-carb-high-protein-whole-foods advocate, but now... I feel completely different. I want to wait and see how this makes me feel in the long run before I give my final verdict, but I must have tried every diet out there (one of the joys of battling an ED). I've been a low-carber, endured aitkens, ate only whole foods, a soup and juice faster, work-out queen, low-fat, low-sugar, I've starved myself, drank litres and litres of protein shakes, counted calories, a weight watcher, a mono-food dieter, experimented with intermittent fasting.... the list goes on! It all seems to fly in the face of what my body has been telling me all along (I've been a vegetarian for most of my life and find it hard not to be)!!!!

FRESH WHOLE NATURAL FOODS are best.
As little interference and processing as possible! THIS has been my fall back when a particular 'diet' stopped working. Yet, sucked into the false promises, I continued to abuse myself again and again. I believe in God, and I cannot believe he would make SO MANY foods that we CAN'T eat! Or three types of fats just to confuse us! Use your noggin and eat them the way He packaged them... A lovely ripe mango that smells divine, simply discard the packet (biodegradable!) and enjoy! Beautiful creamy avocados, fresh macadamia nuts from the shell, delicious cacao and a spicy shiraz... diet, what diet?!

Sorry about the evangelical tone, I'm just so happy and high today! I wish everyone could feel this way too!

For dinner I'm making some Vietnamese summer rolls with lots of fresh mint and coriander with a lime and chilli dipping sauce... so I'm off to the chopping board! Chop chop!

In the raw

My Dinner

Chop it up:
Bok Choy, capsicum, cucumber, avocado, red apple, macadamias, fresh coriander

Dress it up:
Sea salt, macadamia oil, flax oil, splash apple cider vinegar, touch of garlic, squeeze of lime

Yes, haven't you heard? Salads are de rigueur at my place! Raw food is easy, you can have a salad (let me count the ways... swoon), fresh fruit and veg, juices, smoothies, fresh coconut juices, wine and nuts, dehydrated vege chips and raw dips and pestos.... BUT I am always open to new ideas! Got any recipes? Send 'em 'ere!

Another silly snippet about me... it's been said I'm quite the nudist! Hence the tit-le (hehe) of this post! The reason? Last weekend I went away with my hubby of seven years to North Stradbroke Island (just off Brisbane's coast, Australia) and decided to do a topless sunbake on the beach. Hmmm... Not exactly risque you may say. WELL. I threw caution to the wind and decided to have a nice frolick in the waves... wait for it... also topless! It was absolutely lovely. The water was warm and aqua, the sun was hot, the waves were gentle. Perfect.

That being said, there were only a handful of other people on the beach at the opposite end! But I thought it was rather daring, nonetheless! My tan is coming along nicely too. Hel-lo vitamin D.

I must admit, being raw is throwing up a few challenges. My husband for one. He's a bacon and eggs, spaghetti bolognese type of guy. It's making things hard, especially when he expects me to cook them for him! If I make my food for him he eats it but grumbles, or pretends to like it and then gets more food at the drive-thru later! There's quite a bit of prep and cleaning up from my meals, let alone doing double all the time. I'd make him get his own, but he can't be bothered cooking after a hard day at work and if I don't make it, he'll just have toast for dinner! It's frustrating that he won't look after his health better.

Got any suggestions? Foolproof recipes to knock the socks off him?

It was the dog.

Photo courtesy Quaker Parrots

Hmm. This isn't so good. My raw diet has been having an unwanted and socially embarrassing effect on me. Yes, I'm a bit whiffy. All of this ruffage is giving me wind! I'm hoping it's a temporary phase or I'm going to have to invest in a charcoal cushion to sit on at work!! I'm pretty sure it's my body getting rid of all the gunk and adjusting to it's new fuel.... fingers crossed! After all I've only been 3 days raw.

My regular kefir smoothie, fruit, veg and brazil nuts through the day today. Tonight I had a scrummy dinner of a lovely salad! I reek of garlic now, but it was so worth it! (Maybe that will overpower my stinky pop-offs! hehe)

Red and Green Salad

Salad
1/2 a large avocado
1/2 a red capsicum
1/2 a punnet of juicy red tom thumb tomatoes
1/2 a lebanese crunchy cucumber
big handful of basil
big handful of mint

Dressing
1 clove of garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons of flax seed oil
1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp sea salt

Chop everything up, mix and eat! Mmmm, mmm. It was divine!

For supper I had a couple of slices of watermelon followed by 4 squares of raw dark chocolate. So good.

Actually something strange happened today! At work we all were shouted lunch from Noodle Box. I didn't really want any (trying to have as much raw as I can) but felt very pressured to have some too. I ordered a vegetarian teriyaki salad (it still had noodles in it) but when it came there was beef in it, so I couldn't eat it! Maybe the universe was helping me out! haha I was really relieved, I didn't fancy eating all of that sugary dressing or the soggy noodles and got to make my own. Nipped down the shops and got a few fruit and veg and ended up having: chopped cucumber and tomato with sea salt as a salad, a handful of brazil nuts and a small pot of organic biodynamic yoghurt. Perfect! Well, the yoghurt was probably pasturised, but it was a fairly good compromise. : )

More Raw

Photo courtesy Ecuadorian Organics

Day 2 of rawsomeness! It's a lot easier than I thought. By the way my eggplant 'crackers' came out FANTASTIC! I'm going to buy a whole heap and make them for parties instead of the real thing, I'm sure everyone is going to love them too! Maybe I'll do a garlic version...
garlic + eggplant = delicious.

Brekky 8am - Kefir, banana and blueberry smoothie, teechino tea

Snack 11:30am - Vine ripened tomatoes with a little sea salt, teechino tea (smug look, all my co-workers were noshing on lemon meringue pie at the time!)

Lunch 1pm- Celery sticks filled with a mixture of cashew butter, tahini and macadamia oil, cappucino over a work meeting (d'oh!)

Snack 4pm - Apple, dandelion tea

Dinner 7pm (at a friends) - 4 Nori rolls (as per yesterday, I bought from home), mini cupcake (d'oh! It looked so cute and was screaming "EAT ME EAT ME I'M CUUUUUTE") But, I DID say NO to the champagne! : )

Snack 10pm - nibbled on a few cacao nibs (see pic above), 3 macadamia nuts and 3 cherry tomatoes (I love going... pop!)

LOVE the cacao nibs! Nutty yumminess. I must be careful with those and not have too many, jussssst a couple when I feel a craving coming on. I'm surprised I've been feeling so good actually, I've got my period (thank you moon) and I've not had anything major yet... no ups, downs or cravings really at all. Luckily! I can't believe I was confronted with cake TWICE today. Almost escaped unscathed. Next time Gadget, next time....

The raw food adventure begins!

Photo courtesy Green Chefs

Today was my first raw food day. I didn't realise raw foods could be so delicious!

Here's my menu:

Breakfast 8am - Kefir (made with raw milk), frozen banana and blueberry smoothie with cinnamon, nutmeg and a teaspoon of raw honey... purple heaven... (drools)

Snack 11:30am - Pink lady apple and a handful of soaked walnuts (crispy nuts recipe from Nourishing Traditions)

Lunch 1:30pm - Dandelion tea, 3 macadamia nuts, 2 carrots, 2 prunes

Snack 4:00pm - Sundowner apple and a hazelnut teechino (look ma, no caffeine!)

Dinner 7:00pm - Vegan nori rolls filled with avocado, carrot, cucumber, sprouts, capsicum, fresh mint and thai sauce (1 tsp each of raw peanut butter, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, raw honey, chilli) They were so good I had 4! Very filling too (looked kinda like the pic above, but not as neat hehe). Then I had 4 squares of Rawganic's orange dark chocolate. Bit of a different texture to chocolate I'm used to, but very nice.

Well. How easy was that? I'm surprised at how filling it all was too! No walking today, it was raining cats and sausage dogs. Tomorrow I'm planning something along the same lines, but a salad for lunch instead of just carrots! I WANTED a salad, but ran out of time after doing the shopping at lunch. I got some yummy date spread, and raw cacao nibs to try... taste a bit like munching on a coffee bean, nutty and very chocolatey... I like!

There is a whole WORLD of raw food sites out there to help me. Yay! I bookmarked this one to review when I get time... it has demo vids to watch. What a good idea. I'm going to ask around to see if anyone I know has a vita mix or a dehydrator.... could come in handy for later... I saw a 'pizza' recipe that looked good I'd like to test out, but I don't really want to fork out for a dehydrator straight away. In lieu of my OWN one, I'm making some eggplant 'crisps' to have with dips in the oven right now... it's barely warm about 30ºC, I wonder how long they'll take?

Raw food

Photo courtesy Utopian Kitchen

Wow, I've been away so long this is almost a mupdate! (monthly update) This is partly because I stupidly started another blog... (which I am rethinking...), partly because work has been HECTIC and partly because my nutrition has been a little off. I hate to admit it but it's been less than stellar, in between social commitments and on and off bouts of fasting! Ugh. I think I need some consistency back and chuck the fasting out for now. My social life makes it too difficult to maintain and I keep cheating and restarting over and over. Wagon? Well there was one around here somewhere... I think it drove off about two hours ago!

Fasting is great for cleaning you out after a naughty weekend, but it is much to easy to use that as an excuse to eat badly. "I'll just have one glass of champagne and I'll detox on Monday with a juice fast." NOT a good pattern. I want to break the habit of reward and punishment and stop treating food as an emotional crutch. Easier said than done, right?

1. My first step is to start eating regular meals again. (No more fasting to fall back on!) I'm aiming to consistently eat nutritionally dense foods.
   
   
2. Restart my walking program. Nothing complicated, just 45 minutes every morning.
   
   
3. Cut out coffee again. Yes it has snuck up on me again, these days I'm having a cup a day!
   
   
4. Try eating a higher percentage of raw foods. Fresh fruits, vegetables, soaked nuts, raw milk and cheeses.
   
   
5. Save alcohol for once a week only - weekend or special occasion. I'll work up to stopping this habit, it's lovely to have a drink, but all my willpower goes out the window and I mysteriously find a chippie or pastry in my hands with NO IDEA how it got there!
   

I've stumbled upon a few interesting raw food sites (check here for a goodie) and am thinking of giving it a go! I'm against a totally vegan diet (I spoke about this here) but I'd be having my raw milk and cheeses and sometimes some raw eggs. There's another raw food diet called the Primal diet, but I'm not sure I could EVER eat raw meat (I'm a vegetarian). I like the idea of natural hygiene, preventing the causes of disease through nutrition and regular exercise. There is something very appealing about feeling and looking great even as you age.

So if anyone has any interesting raw food recipes they'd like to share, please do! I found an awesome (rawsome hehe) chocolate pie recipe....

Chocolate Avocado Pie by Anand

Serves 12, takes 15 min

Crust
1 cup pitted dates – soaked for 20 min
2 cups desiccated coconut

Filling
2-3 avocados
3 Tbsp of Agave syrup optional
½ cup of coconut butter
10 Tbsp of raw cacao powder
2 cups dates (pitted)
1 Tbsp zest of an orange (optional)
2 Tbsp raw cacao butter (optional)
1 Tbsp desiccated coconut (optional)

Directions
Process the crust ingredients until a sticky dough is achieved. Press the dough firmly into a 9 inch pie dish. Put in the fridge to set. For the filling, melt, dehydrate at 45°C, or double boil the cacao butter. Process thoroughly the remaining ingredients into a smooth creamy, unctuous mousse. Add the cacao butter. Spread onto pie crust and eat right then or place in the fridge for later. Decorate with desiccated coconut and orange zest.

I'm going to get some avocados from the markets to try it out this week!