Raw Food Musings

July 6th, 2009 | Posted by Alison in Motivation

Me and my new best friend.

new_cam

Canon PowerShot SD 960 IS.

Lunch went unphotographed because we got home starving and waiting the hour and a half for my battery to charge would have been a huge joke.

My eyes tend to glaze over when I read about what people are eating without pics. What can I say, I’m a picture person. Without pics I would otherwise skip this but for food combining purposes I’m going write about it today. I’ll keep it brief.

I made a new kind of green smoothie today; spinach, cucumber, half an avocado and unsweetened vanilla almond milk. Today I left out fruit (that I would usually put in) because I now know fruit is supposed to be eaten alone. This would be considered properly combined because nut milk is “neutral”. It was totally yummy even without the fruit. Not sweet but that was fine. It was like salad in liquid form.

I also had two slices of Ezekiel sesame bread (sprouted grains, not raw but a good transistion food) with the other half of the avocado that I mixed with some salsa to make fast guacamole. (Thanks Pat for that idea!) Totally yum and still properly combined as I understand it.

I was totally held over and didn’t even start thinking about food again until 5 or so. This is pretty remarkable for me. Usually I’m thinking about what I’m going to eat at my next meal or snack within an hour or two of a meal.

Since it had been well over 3 hours since my last meal it was “safe” to have some fruit.

watermelon

I had as much as I wanted and didn’t worry about portions. I had a bunch too. This bowl plus two more like this I’d say. It was so juicy and sweet!

Then we had some fun with the camera.

Household randomness.

random_stuff

Ponies on parade.

pony_parade

Cat Bird Feeder

birdfeeder

Some silly girls.

silly_ava

crazy_max

Look! Ava is back in the womb!

weird

I had a salad planned for dinner. Easy peasy, nothing new under the sun, but wanted to spice it up. Literally.

dressing

Carrot Ginger Dressing from The Raw Food Detox Diet.

This would be raw carrots, curry, fresh ginger, garlic, sunflower oil and apple cider vinegar all thrown into the blender. VOILA! Salad dressing.

salad_for_dinner

Organic red leaf, green leaf, spinach, green peppers, cucumbers, mushrooms and raw corn (thanks for raw corn on salad the idea Heather!)

I usually make Good Seasons Italian dressing for salads… I use store bought seasonings mixed with my own water, vinegar and oil. I feel like this is better than store bought bottled dressing, but when I think more about it, it’s still “processed”. I really like the idea of making my own from scratch. And this was great! Carrots? Ginger? Curry? Garlic? What’s not to like?! Zak got up after dinner and said he was looking for more things to put this dressing on, and then asked if it would be wrong to drink it straight from the container. It really was THAT good.

I was a little skeptical on the raw corn, but it was so sweet and juicy, I loved it. I shaved it straight off the cob and split it up between my salad and Zak’s salad.

I spent more time today thinking about eating raw foods and worrying about properly combining foods. WHY am I doing this? What is it that I hope to get out of this?

Of course my first goal is to be healthy. The benefits of a raw food diet and proper food combining really appeal to me. I want abundant energy to play with my children, run, take care of my family and my household, to do all the things I enjoy. I want to maintain my weight, maybe even lose a few more pounds, WITHOUT feeling deprived.

I want to stop craving certain foods to the point where it’s all I think about. It’s a little embarrassing to admit this but thanks to food and healthy living blogs I’ve come to know I’m not alone out here. I’ve come a long way with food cravings… from totally avoiding treats of any kind, to eating moderate amounts of processed foods that eventually that leads cravings impossible to ignore, to overeating when I finally do let myself have whatever it was that I was avoiding. I’ve gone through periods where cravings are not an issue and have times food and sweets are all I think about.

I think the answer for me really lies with processed foods. I was so comforted to read this over the weekend:

Vegans, vegetarians and organic consumers alike: if you are eating any refined foods, you have addictions running through your blood stream.

Yes, yes, YES!

I’ve come to find that if I can avoid eating refined foods, even things that I think are “good”, like Kashi crackers, Heart to Heart, organic cookies and snack foods, it just makes me want MORE of it. If I let myself eat these things without restraint, I would stop thinking about it, but I would also gain weight. No dice.

So what’s the answer? How do I NOT think about food AND maintain my weight?

Today and for the last few days I’ve had almost nothing that was processed. I did have Ezekiel bread at lunch, but since it’s a sprouted grain it’s pretty innocent. It didn’t leave me wanting more and I felt perfectly satisfied after every meal and snack today. And even right now, hours after dinner, I’m not thinking about what I’m not letting myself eat or what I wish I could have. THIS is how I want to live. Do I need to properly combine foods at every meal? Do I need to eat mainly raw foods? I’m not sure, but it’s certainly worth experimenting with if it means that I can live my life without feeling like I’m waiting for my next meal or snack AND maintaining a healthy weight.

And Gena’s post today couldn’t have been more perfectly timed. If you are interested in learning more about food combining, check out the clif notes on food combining for a great recap.

This got a little lengthy, so I guess I’ll wrap it up now with a happy ending.

Will wonders never cease… chocolate is “neutral”. Green and Blacks 70% Dark Chocolate was my post dinner treat.

choc_ever_after

Chocolate Ever After.


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13 Responses

  • Sharon says:

    WOW, that camera takes awesome pictures. I’m sure you did your research on it and that’s why you got a good one. It’s about time for a new camera.

  • congrats on the camera! and that chocolate is “neutral!”

  • Great pictures! I’m glad you had some fun with your new camera! :)

    The salad dressing sounds great. I usually make my own dressing but have never used ginger in a salad dressing. I really enjoy reading about your experiences with this way of eating…

  • Sarah says:

    I’ve really found all that you are saying about not obsessively thinking about/craving food is really happening to me. I haven’t had coffee in two weeks. I didn’t think I could go a day without hummus. I had some tonight and was like….hmmm, I like guac better. I’m not living for my next meal or planning it out in my head. I’m getting the combos down and I’m happy and energetic. I’m lovin it.

    I have to try that dressing!!! Yum.

  • Jane/you-know-who says:

    12.1 megapix? Niiize!

  • LOVE the new camera – totes swanky and takes fabulous pics (love those two punkins!).

    interested to hear more about the raw foods – i think all those dressings are really unique though. i could def top my greens with that!

  • A says:

    I’m doing Vegmom’s 30 day raw food challenge. I’ve been looking for new raw foods to incorporate into my breakfast and lunch. I LOVE the idea of a RAW salad dressing!!! What a great idea!! I also took your fruit advice. I got into work at 6:15 today and had my fruit. I’ll wait a couple hours and then have the rest of my breakfast. We’ll see if it makes a difference. I love hearing about all this! EXCITING! Oh yeah, and as always your girls are adorable!!!
    -A

  • Swayze says:

    You’re definitely not alone when it comes to emotional eating. I was not able to rid myself of it until I a) allowed myself to eat as much healthy raw foods as I wanted (no salt or spices, as those were big trouble makers for me) and b) addressed my emotional ties to food, which was mainly boredom.

    Voila…no more cravings or binges!

    I actually just posted an article on binge eating on my blog…perfect timing with 4th of July weekend just ending. 😉

    Love the My Little Pony parade, btw. Gosh, how I miss being a little girl sometimes. 😀

    Swayze
    http://fitonraw.com/blog

  • Oh lady, I am all about this post. I keep shaking my head going “oh yeah, uh huh, me too!” to almost everything.

    Luckily I quit my coffee addiction some time ago, but I do still crave soda. It’s been about 7 months since I stopped drinking it regularly – I’ve had a few slip ups here and there, but I think for me caffeine was all about the act of drinking it versus the jolt itself. I still have green tea occasionally, but I don’t miss coffee — just the smell.

    I cannot eat just fruit for breakfast. I am STARVING if I do, and my blood sugar generally doesn’t like me. I’m good with something like a green smoothie and maybe some type of carb, like sprouted grain toast + avocado (my new favorite breakfast!) and the food combining, while still overwhelming, makes me realize that I really need to start paying attention to it due to digestive issues.

    Salad dressing looks yum! New camera is awesome! My thoughts are scattered, so apologies for that.

  • Alison says:

    I’m finding the same thing, that I have to eat more than fruit for breakfast. Breaking breakfast into parts seems to help, like having fruit and then when I feel hungry again, having something more solid, or more fruit.

    I use to be a total soda addict too, and then went to only drinking it occasionally, and now I can’t even remember the last time I had soda. It was definitely a journey though and took me a while to get to this place.