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!