Happy (Raw, Green) St. Patrick's Day!!!!

Since I will be spending the remainder of the day in classes, I will not have a chance to TRULY celebrate the day, the way that you're meant to... ;) SO, I decided to eat and drink only green (and RAW) things today! And I'm so proud of myself!

First, a Raw Green Smoothie, that I got from the wonderful Raw on $10 a day blog

I really enjoyed this smoothie! And it was SO easy to make! In case you didn't click on the link above, I will give you the recipe:
5oz Spinach
6 leaves of romaine lettuce
2 Bananas
1 Apple (cored)
1 cup of water

Puree in blender till smooth, then I added a few piece of ice to chill it up a bit but not TOO cold because in Chinese Medicine, your Spleen doesn't like cold foods, especially in the morning, and that helps aid in digestion.

For lunch, I made Raw on $10's green soup. Which, tasted a bit better than I thought it would but I wasn't able to eat most of it... :-\ Just wasn't for my tastebuds, but I'm eager to try a different raw soup recipe!

This required:
5oz spinach
1 avocado
1 cup water
1 garlic clove
1/4 of an onion
sea salt and pepper to taste
Puree in the blender. Simple enough! I sprinkled about half a tsp. of Spirulina in it as well and I warmed it up a bit on the stove, but didn't "cook" it. Cooking it begins to kill the natural digestive and living enzymes in the food.

And lastly, since I was still hungry from having only a few tablespoons of the green soup, I made a quick cucumber snack:
1 sliced cucumber
1 heaping tsp of olive oil
red wine vinegar, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste

I don't really like cucumbers, although I LOVE pickles, so the vinegar and salt taste really appeals to me! :-D

Dinner will probably be a salad with oil and vinegar and sea weed salad from my school's cafeteria...

And that's been my day so far! Let me tell you the REAL happiness of my day though: I feel GREAT already! I took some powdered Spirulina in a glass before bed, and although I overslept this morning, I woke up feeling great and made myself the green smoothie. Then I went to the local library to get some schoolwork done, stopped off at the grocery store for some red wine vinegar. Then I came back home, made the green soup and cucumber salad and then I'll be off to Yoga class at 2:30. Normally, once I realized I had already missed a good portion of my first class, I would have went right back to bed and watched tv and done minimal school work. If this is the start of my new lifestyle, I LIKE IT!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

Gorgeous weather and craving RAW!

It's a gorgeous day here in NY and it just makes me ACHE to be healthy! I wish I was fit and trim and could just go for a quick jog or a hike. Instead, I feel lethargic and fat and I'm so, SO sick of it.



I'm still determined to start on my path to going RAW. I found a great blog that tells you how to be raw for $10 a day or less. And she's giving away a great blender! I entered to win it, and that will be my sign that raw is the way to go for me. Although, I'm already pretty set on incorporating this lifestyle into my own. I've read numerous success stories and everyone just seems to healthy and vibrant AND they LOOK healthy! So many times you see people who are fit, vegan, in shape, whatever, but their skin is dull, they have bags under their eyes...just don't look like they're healthy on the inside. I think if i start to give my body NUTRIENTS instead of just CALORIES, it will start to respond better, crave less, and detoxify.

I know, I know...I'm all talk right now. I'm just on such a tight budget that I don't have room to experiment with recipes. SO, I need to find a few recipes that I think I would like, and just buy enough ingredients for that. That's do-able. Most involve spinach, apples, carrots, celergy, maybe some onion and garlic, and that's about it!

Plus, I turn 28 years old on Thursday and I'm sick of wasting my life. I've been going through the past few years hiding out from social situations because I'm embarrassed of how fat I am, or my clothes don't fit, or I just feel too lethargic. I want to start LIVING life! Don't get me wrong, I'm as fun-loving and good spirited as they come, but I can do better. I want to be adventerous and LIVE. And I was thinking, "Why is it so hard?" I want to be all these different girls I see: the skinny girl who's good at yoga, the healthy girl who eats well all the time, the fit girl who runs 5ks all the time. But why CAN'T I be? All's I have to do is just start DOING it! Today I'm the girl who ate pretzels and honey mustard for breakfast, but if I just make the switch in my mind of "Okay, you WERE the girl who ate junk but now you're the girl who eats healthy and nutritious foods" then I can be! And if I want to be good at yoga, well then I need to freaking start practicing yoga everyday! WHY DON'T I JUST DO THIS??? Well, I am. I'm picking up ingredients today and going to start by replacing ONE meal a day with raw foods. And I'll be happy with that for a few days, a week or maybe even 2. And I won't bash myself for not doing better. I'm going to love and appreciate myself for making THAT change. Then, when I'm ready, I will replace 2 meals with raw foods, or maybe one meal plus a raw snack, etc. The idea is that my body will start craving the nutrient-rich foods and not the empty calorie "diet" food and/or junk food.

I'm doing it, I'm doing it today for myself. I'm going to start off my next year of life on the right foot.

Are you living the best life you can lead?

RAW FOOD and my absence...

I've been struggling with wanting to try a raw food lifestyle for about a year now. My boyfriend had been a raw foodist for 2 years and still rants and raves about it. He did it while he lived in FL, and found it much harder to stick to here in NY because we don't have the abundance of fruit that FL has, all year round. Right now my reason/excuse is that I'm too broke to buy my own food, so I've been living off the foods my mom buys. I'll be 28 years old in 3 days, so I feel pathetic evening writing that. But that's what you get for going back to school full-time at this age! I know it'll be worth it once I graduate.

Soooooo, my boyfriend wants to go back to being at least 80% raw. Does everyone know what a raw food diet is? Basically, it's vegetable, fruit, nuts and seeds. Nothing is cooked above 110 degrees with the idea that once food is cooked, it loses it's natural digestive enzymes, and most of it's nutritional value, thus your body doesn't get the maximum amount of nutrition. Plus, it's the way we're designed to eat if you think back to almost the beginning of our existence. Stoves and microwaves didn't exist back then. We were natural grazers and ate from the fruits of the land, so to speak. Well, I'm due for a heft tax return in about a week or two, so him and I will shack up at his apartment for the weekend and jump start or raw food life. We'll buy an abundance of fruits and vegetables, and make all sorts of juices and smoothies. We'll go hiking, play tennis (weather permitting!) and hopefully that will help us both get into a healthier lifestyle. My boyfriend is naturally thin, and in shape, but suffers from digestive issues, some anxiety, etc. All of which, we believe, can be cured from eating a more natural diet. Has anyone tried the raw food diet? I did it for a week and felt absolutely amazing. I had sooo much energy! However, I was living off of watermelon, which I hate, so I eagerly jumped back into cooked foods. :( I don't think I could ever bee 100% raw, but I have to start getting closer to it. After our "weekend", I will start by replacing at least one meal with raw foods. And hopefully, your body will start craving the REAL food, over the processed cooked foods, and I'm hoping I'll slowly work my way up to about 80% raw, and about 2 raw meals a day plus 1 healthy "cooked" meal. The benefits of this diet and lifestyle are incredible. I mean, look at Demi Moore! She's a raw foodist and it's like she's not even aging! I do believe this is "the secret" to a truly healthy lifestyle.

I've been absent from this blog for a few weeks. I'd like to say it's because I didn't have my own computer (I just received a new netbook on Saturday as an early birthday gift, and I LVOE it!), but it's probably more because I've fallen off my diet, yet again, and am ashamed. I've stayed about the same weight, which is good, but I can do better. I'm soooo sick of trying and failing all the time. There's got to be an easier way. Why is eating right so difficult in this country? We really are a Fastfood Nation. It's sooo much easier to eat better in other countries. In England, for example, if you look at the ingredients of Gatorade it's: mineral water, beet juice for color, sugar, vitamin A, etc. etc. HERE, it's: water, high fructose corn syrup, red 5, yellow 3, etc. etc. It's SO HARD to stay away from chemicals and processed foods, but it IS do-able! And in my eastern nutrition class, he said Spring is the time for cleansing your body of all the heavy, fatty foods from the winter and to start to prepare your body for the light foods of summer. So I'm trying to take that, and run with it! Ugh, am I really going to spend yet another summer fat and ashamed?

I hope everyone has been doing better than I have. But I'm motivated, yet again! Also, my first soccer game is this Sunday and that is sure to kick my ass! :)