September Fun!

Here is my update:



My birthday was on September 4th which was wonderful. I turned 22 and came into work with a decorated office; I had to duck under the streamers to get in!




For dinner my family and I went to the Blossoming Lotus. It was the first Thursday of the month which is very busy because the art galleries around have their wine nights and the place gets packed! After waiting a little over an hour I decided it looked like it was still going to be awhile so I got some food to go and the rest of my family ordered pizza to eat at my parent’s house. The food was WONDERFUL! I love all of the raw options at the Blossoming Lotus. Maybe someday they will have even more, that would be fantastic.

Will and I had a week of vacation and with weekends our days off were September 13th-September 21st. It was so nice to have some time off together. We spent time wandering around down, went to the Saturday Market where there are vendors off all types. If nothing else the people watching is great. There are entertainers everywhere! I got two new toe rings because the one that I have had on for years finally gave out and broke.

Durning our vacation Will and I spent two days camping at Camp Indian Henry. It was a lot of fun and it was just the two of us and one other couple in the whole campground. The other couple was a guy that Will works with and his Fiancé so it was nice to meet new people and make new friends. Stacy is Vegetarian so she didn’t think I was completely crazy in the way I eat, although I did splurge and have some chips while we were there. The chips had only 4 ingredients if that counts for anything. = )

On Saturday September 20th I went wedding dress hunting with my two sisters Kristi (24) and Samantha (11) and my mom. The first place we went I found a dress I liked for $250. The next place we went I found a dress that I liked even more for $1,500. The last place we went and the place where I got my dress which I LOVE I got for $449. I was happy to find a dress for such a decent price, I didn’t want to spend a ton of money on a dress I would only wear once although I did want to love it, which I do. Don’t get me wrong, almost $500 is a lot of money, but wedding dresses are not cheap!

I have been doing great on eating raw. I still love the way it makes me feel. I do know that I need to be eating more dark green leafy veggies and I have not been and do not feel any want to so…I have added in fish once a week. I will be eating fish that is low in mercury and is only wild and not farm raised. I want to make sure that I am giving my body everything it needs. Fish once a week will guarantee all the protein I need so I can continue on eating raw. I have been told that there has never been a deficiency in protein in history but I just want to make sure I am doing what it right for me. I will not be eating any other meat or dairy, only the fish, once a week. We’ll see how this goes. If I find that it isn’t working for me or I don’t like it, I will stop.

That’s about all that is going on with me. How are you doing?

I'm Getting Married!

Last night around 10:45pm Will asked me to marry him! I'm so happy and can't wait to start planning the big day. Tomorrow is my birthday and our 4 1/2 year anniversary so it was the best present I could ask for, spending the rest of my life with the person I love the most!

This is me right out of bed before my shower.

You can even see the shower in the background!

Will proposed with his moms ring. Her name was Linda and she passed away when he was just a little boy so this ring means a lot to both of us.

Needless to say, I'm restless and just want the day to come. We're thinking that we will be getting married May 23rd, 2009. Only 8 months!

Healing Like a Champ!

While preparing for my sisters birthday dinner on Monday 9/1 (Labor Day), I was using one of my moms new Cutco knifes. I don’t know if you have used one of these knifes before but they are VERY sharp. We were having tacos for dinner, so I was cutting up avocado for the family and cutting avocado to go on my salad. My salad was great by the way, I want some right now! Anyhow, in the process of cutting I had the avocado in my hand and I was going to cut it into strips while being in the skin still. Apparently I didn’t understand how sharp they really were because I went straight through the avocado right into my hand! It hurt so bad, not right when it happened, the knife was to sharp to feel it completely but right after I cut my hand it started to bleed and sting pretty bad.

This is a picture of my hand the day after I cut it 9/2

This is a picture of if today 9/3 just two days after cutting my hand. I’m thinking that another observation while eating raw is that I’m healing a lot faster than I would have when eating SAD.

I’m still doing really well, I did have a piece of cake on my sisters birthday, wasn’t worth it. It didn’t even taste all that great like it used to. I won’t be doing that again. I haven’t weighed for awhile; I feel like I may have lost more but if not then my body is defiantly shifting. I love how eating raw makes me feel.

Alcohol and Raw DO NOT Mix!

*Disclaimer*

I'm aware that alcohol is not raw. = )

Saturday night was going to be so much fun. I had two bachelorette parties to go to from 6pm through the rest of the night and I was ready to party! That's what I thought anyway. The night started out with dinner and bowling at a really neat place that had a full restaurant and in the bowling area there were leather couches to sit on instead of the lousy chairs bowling alleys usually have. After 9pm there are no minors allowed which means there are servers who come to your lane and serve you like you're in a restaurant the whole night. That was fun. I had a couple drinks, bowled horrible as always, but it's fun so it doesn't matter. We were then off to a bar where we would mingle with friends for awhile and wait for the next bachelorette to arrive. I had one more drink which was fine. I was now at a point where normally I could maybe drink two more in the past and been drunk but still functional. A couple of minutes later I felt extremely drunk and didn't have much control over myself. I knew it was a big problem when I suddenly found myself hugging the toilet at the bar. EWWW! My mom was there as well and found me in the bathroom and was nice enough to take me home although I'm sure she would have loved to had stayed. By the time I got home the alcohol had kicked in so much that when I opened the car door I fell out! I'm sure you can imagine where this all went from there but I'll tell you, it wasn't fun! I spent Sunday feeling horrible and not sure if I was sore from bowling, throwing up or what. Moral of the story is, although I don't drink much as it is, I used to be able to keep up with those around me and that isn't the case any longer. I'm going to have to remember that if I drink at all I should have maybe two and leave it at that because it is going to catch up with me faster than I know it. Another learning experience I guess.

Will and I at a Wedding 8/16

21lbs...GONE!

I feel so great! I have now lost 21lbs. I had lost 16lbs and when I got sick I lost 5lbs more for a total of 21lbs. I knew that I was going to gain weight back, that's what always happens when I loose weight while being sick. I decided not to weigh my self for a week to see what would happen and to not discourage myself. About 3 days ago I weighed myself and I had lost 20lbs all together. So between losing and gaining after being sick I was happy about the 20lbs lost. Today I weight again, and I'm down the 21lbs officially. Although this is a lifestyle change and I do not have to try to loose the weight other than keeping myself from eating foods that are not raw, it is a huge positive for me right now. I did have weight to loose and to have done this so quickly shows my body really did have some unwanted weight.

I have not been using any shampoo. I did shampoo my scalp on Friday 8/15 because on Saturday I was going my cousin’s graduation, graduation party and a wedding that night. My scalp was getting very waxy and I didn't want to go to these big events looking like I don't take showers haha! I have continued other than that day not to use shampoo but I have been washing with conditioner, maybe I will try to cut that own to a couple times a week and slowly stop that even. Slow steps.

My face is clearing up a lot, I love it! The thought of cooked food is not even intriguing to me anymore, my stomach always hurts afterward and it isn't worth it. I have been known to have a bite of a friend’s french fry on occasion, not often though. I think I'm doing pretty darn good!

I had been drinking a lot of water, I'm still trying to drink a lot but with all the fruit I'm eating I know that I'm getting all the water my body really needs. I know I can always use more so I'm trying to continue working on that. My new goal has been not to eat after 7pm. I've done this the last two days and it is working fine so far. It is kind of hard not to grab some fruit while watching TV. I didn't realize how much of a little snacker I am. It's not like I'm hungry that late if I've eaten earlier.

I love eating this way and I feel so grateful to know the people I do and have them in my life. I hear so often that people don't want to talk about the way that they eat because they are told that they need to eat "normal" and that they aren't getting enough nutrients. I don't make a point to talk about it but everyone it has come up to has been very supportive and are nice about trying to find places that I can eat too when we go out. I think more than anything it has opened others eyes to this healthy lifestyle and especially at work there are more people trying to eat more fruits and veggies. I love the support; it makes it so much easier to keep going.

Feeling Much Better

I am feeling much better after Monday and Tuesday feeling horrible! I threw up 13 times Tuesday night losing 5lbs, not fun. I must have caught some kind of a bug after all. As of today, Thursday I have not gained any of the weight that I lost back, although I've not been eating as much because my stomach just wasn't quite ready. I'm wondering if I will keep it off because a lot of “stuff” was coming from my intestines (a nice way of putting it) and maybe I needed to be cleared out there anyway. I don't expect to keep it off although I think I deserve some kind of reward from being that sick. We'll see. I'll update next week on that.

Today is day 4 of "No Poo". My hair was getting pretty greasy and waxy feeling so I did cave in and wash with conditioner which worked quite well. I used some of the techniques from the book, "Curly Girl" by Lorraine Massey, which I bought last night. Of course I wanted to see more of my hairs potential so I used a little bit of gel to help the natural wave learn to do its thing. I guess this is cheating from the whole idea of not using any product but we'll see how it goes. Maybe I'll find a gel that has more natural ingredients in it and wash with lemon next time. It's all an experiment so I guess I have to try different things right? So far I do like my hair better without shampoo.

Has your hair turned more wavy/curly since not using shampoo? Do you use anything on your hair?

I'm Back!

I've continued to eat high raw since my last post. I have been 100% raw other than a couple of slips ups when I may have had a bite of something and this has been seldom.

For 3 days at the end of March I had cooked food. I was in a wedding party for a close friend and between the rehearsal dinner, wedding and reception I had cooked food. This did not settle so well. It is amazing how much my body doesn't like cooked food anymore. My body doesn't like the cooked food so much that I had not felt well after having cooked food then on August 1st I was feeling okay. I was up on the stage during the wedding and right when the minister says "I now pronounce you..." I passed out. Thank goodness I've passed out in the past so I knew the symptoms and what was happening so I had the chance to sit down as gracefully as I could while seeing completely black. Surprisingly, not many people noticed. Although passing out wasn't really what I had planned for the wedding it actually was a good thing it happened. It answered some questions for me.

I used to pass out if I hadn't eaten, and sometimes even if I had. I've had many blood tests done and I've always been told there's nothing wrong with me. Kind of funny how when I've been eating raw I haven't felt the urge to pass out once, I have had nothing but energy and felt great. For me, the passing out must have something to do with the cooked food. All this time my body has been trying to tell me something and I had no idea. Hopefully now that I'm back to raw after the 3 days I won’t have that problem again.

Today I haven't been feeling well, I've had wonderful things coming out both ends (TMI, I know). I made some cashew cheese which tasted great but while I was eating it I wasn't feeling quite right so I through it out. I was starting to feel better until in the middle of the night I threw up and at 4:30pm today I still have something coming out the other end. Not much substance though, haven't eaten much today, haven't felt like it. Do you think it really could have been the cashews? I guess I've only had them probably 3 times before in other recipes but in smaller amounts. I don't know what the deal is. I don't feel like I have the flu.

Here are some things I've noticed since eating raw:

- I have more energy.

- My face clears up a lot until I eat a bite of something cooked.

- My sinuses have felt clearer than EVER.

- I prefer to eat fruit over veggies although I'm much more open and curious about other foods that there is no way I would have cared about before.

- I LOVE to hear about peoples gardens. (I also have my own)

- I find myself wanting to find other ways to improve myself.

- If I ever get full I never feel the nasty I want to crawl in a ditch and not come out kind of stomach ache, it is more just the feeling of being full and that I should stop eating. I LOVE not feeling horribly full all of the sudden.

- I've lost 16lbs and I haven't had to try other than sticking with the raw food.



I've read a lot about "No Poo" and today I've tried it for the first time. So far:

- Not greasy.

- Lots of wave and not much frizz. (My hair was very wavy/curly as a baby and over the years have turned to a large frizzy afro style hair that HAS to be straightened to go in public.)

I've read quite I bit and I'm sure that I will experience some nasty greasy days; I can make it through it. My hair tends to be greasy naturally and today I seemed to get away with it feeling washed, we'll see.

My new goal is to post at least once a week. Even if nobody else reads this I need a way to track my progress and so far I haven't done so well with the tracking. I really do need something to look back on and remind me of why I am doing this and what my progress has been over time.

99.9% Raw

Yesterday was my first day eating completely raw, minus the 1 peanut M & M that I somehow just had to have. I don't even care for M & M's much and of course I just had to have it. I think I did pretty well though. This is what I ate yesterday:

3 Bananas
5 Apricots
2 Nectarines
1 Avocado

I was in a mood for fruit and when it became dinner time all I wanted was an avocado. I LOVE avocados. It was heavier than the rest of the food I had eaten, although bananas are heavier than other fruit the avocado just satisfied a need I had. After the avocado I thought I was going to need to have a salad or something more to eat by my body isn't asking for as much food as it used to. I look at the food I had yesterday and although the numbers when I look at it looks like I ate a lot just because I wouldn't normally just have fruit, it is a lot less than I would have had in the past. I normally would have had maybe a breakfast burrito or donuts for breakfast, some type of fast food or microwave meal for lunch, and fast food for dinner. I would have also had any kind of food that was around throughout the day to snack on even if it was candy I don't care for very much and after my boyfriend Will came home I may snack on his french fries he hadn't eaten. Wow, great diet huh. It is sad to even say that I would eat that much when I'm noticing that with eating healthy foods I don't even need half of that and the quality was CRAP!

After 9 days of changing the way I have been eating, 1 of those days being 99.9% raw here are my findings:

1- I have more energy.
2- I have the urge to clean; the mess around the house is driving me crazy!
3- Getting up in the morning hasn't been as much of a struggle.
4- My face has been clearing up from the random outbreak that has come in the last few months. My friend’s mom asked me what I was doing because she said my face was looking very clear and nice. That was nice having someone else notice that I'm changing.

I have had knee aches my whole life and have taken over the counter medication for it. For example I may take IB Profien and Tylenol to ease the pain. On Wednesday night my knee was hurting so bad it kept me awake until around 3am, tossing turning, aching and the pain started to shoot up my leg. I didn't take anything for it because I didn't want to put anything that didn't need to be in my system in it. What are ways to ease pain when it comes up without taking over the counter medication? Is there a way?

Open Eyes to a New Life

About two weeks ago I was searching the net looking for ways to get protein without eating meat or drinking milk. I've never been much into meat, mostly eating turkey and chicken only, occasionally fish when the mood strikes. Because I'm not a big fan of meat I decided to stop eating it, which I knew was healthier. One day at the chiropractor my doctor told me that milk really isn't great for you either. Wow, that was a shock to me, my whole life I've grown up "knowing" that milk is the way to go. While on my search on the net I came across www.goneraw.com. How I came across this I do not know exactly but I decided to click on it. My eyes are now open to a whole new world. I've never been so interested in learning about health and what is actually going into my body. I wouldn't say that I'm an overweight person but I need to watch myself because if I keep on eating the way I have been I will be overweight in no time. I do weigh more than I have in my whole life, although I'm only 21 this is when I need to be careful, things are only going to go down hill if I don't take care of myself, I'm not getting any younger.

After hours of researching the raw lifestyle (from what I learned it is more than a diet) I did learn that we can get protein from amino acids. I haven't ever questioned this in the past so my first thought was, where do I get amino acids? The answer was so obvious, green leafy vegetables are a great way. I know there are others but I know that from what I have learned so far this is the best way to get amino acids which in turn give you protein. I've also learned the darker leafs are better for you. I would have never known this.

I have decided that I am going to transition to eating only raw. When I say transition to eating only raw my goal is 100%. This is not because of the benefits in weight that it will give me, which is a great positive, but for the simple fact that reading the results from those who eat only raw foods the health benefits are AMAZING! I know it is going to be hard at first to change my lifestyle but I am willing to do it. When eating my one meal a day right now that isn't raw I look at it and think of all the horrible things that have to be happening to my body. Going from eating all carbs/fats/sugars etc. everyday to eating only one meal a day that isn't fruits or veggies I've already felt a difference. The only reason that I have continued this one meal is to slowly transition. I may be doing this all wrong but making the actual change feels so right.

As of yesterday which was exactly one week of my new eating habits, I have lost 7lbs. Not only has my body already started physically changing I have felt less tired at night and when waking up it hasn't been so difficult. I have developed a headache that comes and goes for the last two days. I don't know if that is because I have stopped drinking all caffeine or if my body has started to detox a bit. I don't know if my body will detox still eating one small meal that is not raw but it feels like it may be a contributor, detoxing from caffeine maybe? I'm new to all of this so really I have no clue but that's okay with me, I'm learning everyday. I have only been drinking water and the fresh juice that I have been juicing/drinking daily, which I LOVE.

I feel like I have just moved to a different planet. I don't know about different fruits and vegetables. I don't know about the different seeds/nuts that are available. I feel like a little kid learning the ABC's. I have always known the basics because that's all that I have eaten over time. I feel like there is so much that I am missing out on.

All of the posts that I have read have inspired me in a different way. Everyone has their own story and why they began to eat raw, and how they do it day to day. Some talk about juicing, favorite foods, others giving tips on eating raw while on vacation and others learning as they go. The biggest part that doesn't have anything to do with the actual eating the food itself is the life lessons I have already learned from those who eat raw. While deciding that I would like to eat only raw food I have also learned more about myself, who I want to be and who I would like to be in the future. I have learned about being a positive influence on the world and that if I want to see a change I have to be the change. "The best way to make others happy is to be happy yourself" "The best way to make others healthy is to become incredibly healthy yourself!" "If you want the world to change, you have to change" David Wolfe. I've also learned what self affirmations are. At first I thought it was a little funny and cheesy to be honest. When reading more and opening my eyes to the idea it totally makes since. Now even just over a week into my transition process I look at something that I may want to eat although nothing looks as good at this point but the urge to grab and eat is constantly there. I tell my self over and over, "I owe this change to myself, turn and walk away!" There are so many other things that I have been learning and really each and every person I have read about has been an inspiration, thank you for taking the time to document your raw life and what it is that keeps you going and makes you happy. It really does make a difference. Knowing and learning what I have just in the short time makes me even more excited to move forward with this new lifestyle. I already love myself but I feel that this will give me a different view on myself, those around me and even more appreciation for the earth.

I have a LONG way to go. I will be learning daily. I'm hoping that if anyone reads this you will be able to give me great tips for a beginner who knows nothing but feels like I've never been called to something more, so I'm going with it. I will be trying to track my progress on here. I think it will keep me more in line having to write it down and being able to look back and see how far I've come. This is my first blog so...new life, new blog, new friends, HERE I COME!