Blending worked well yesterday, blended all day and had salad for dinner.  So we’ll try the same for today.

Today’s menu includes the usual e3Live, Wheatgrass & coffee when I get up.  Today’s smoothy will be mostly green with 1 apple, 2 lemons, bunch kale, spinach, flax & chia seed.   There’s still some salad from last night so I’ll have that for dinner, enjoyed a huge serving of salad :-O –  includes 3 different sprouts (alfalfa, lentil/bean mix, sunflower) zucchini, tomato, broccoli, romaine – love it!  Also enjoyed a few raw seed crackers with a whole avocado with pepper, I lovvvvee avocado & pepper, it was yummy!!!

Overall I’m feeling very good, week 4 of the cleanse so this is the last week of Natasha’s Cleanse program and all went well for the last few days.  I really do feel a lot better!!  I think it would be great to do this once or twice a year!!

Down 10lbs since the start, woohooo!!  On my way back to the ol’ Trine   First day back to work after a 4-day weekend, which means it’s a 4-day week.

Today I will continue to try and do the blending all during the day, has worked well the last two days but being home vs. work can be quite different.  So we’ll see how it goes.

Today’s menu includes the usual e3Live, Wheatgrass & coffee when I get up.  I made a smoothly similar to Mango Plush with a bunch of Kale, lemon, 2 mangos, sunflower sprouts and dinner we will have a sprout salad (alfalfa, lentil mix, sunflower, broccoli, tomato, olive oil, lemon) and a wee sweet to top it off I had the Carob Pudding from the batch I made on Sunday.

Well I’m down 9 lbs since I started the cleanse 22 days ago.  And even though loosing weight is not my main motivation it would be nice to return to my “normal for me” weight. In the past year, I’ve been on-again/off-again raw and when I don’t eat raw consistently my weight goes up quite dramatically, usually an easy 10-15 lbs.  So I’ve found that once I eat up to 90% raw on a consistent basis I tend to return to a certain weight.  But more than that,  when I include a high percentage of raw I feel more energy and what I call “clarity of mind”, and that’s really what I’m looking for.  Those feelings are definitely returning and I figure another week or two will bring be back 100%.  We’ll see how it goes.

Well, today is the last day of the long weekend and looks like it will be a rainy one. Best to get some stuff done around the house, all those wonderful chores that I’ve been putting off, HA!!

Rising:   e3Live, Wheatgrass, 1 cup black coffee

Breakfast/Lunch:  Green Refresher Smoothy   This smoothy was great, very substantial and lasted me until 2pm in the afternoon.

Dinner:  Holy Sprout Salad   I wasn’t hungry again until 6pm-ish and enjoyed some of the leftover salad – I love leftovers when I don’t feel like making anything

Oh and I was great with water today, ended up having about 2.5 litres and oh my goodness, I feel soooo much better when I have 2 litres or more during a day.  But for some reason I just have trouble drinking it, not because I don’t like it, but because I forget!!   …. and it may sound like a lot but it’s only 4 x 500ml bottles.  I found a trick that works for me – well, sometimes it works – have one bottle before I leave the house, 2 during the day and then 1-2 in the evening, et voila I’ve met my water quota

Hmmm… feeling a little mellow today… don’t actually feel like doing much of anything !! Started the day with a yummy smoothy, I sooo love mangoes!!   Also made a 6 serving batch of Carob Pudding from Natasha Kyssa’s book The Simply Raw Living Foods Detox Manual. I had a small taste while making it …. yummy for sweat tooth days.

Rising:   e3Live, Wheatgrass, 1/2 cup black coffee

Breakfast/Lunch:   Mango Plush Smoothy

Sweet:   Carob Pudding (ok, I had two servings  Yum!!  Check out Natasha Kyssa’s book for recipe)

I actually felt a little “off” all day, not sure where that was coming from.  With a cleanse you may feel some emotional ups/downs, not only is it a physical cleanse but also an emotional cleanse, so perhaps that’s why I was feeling a little off.  I also wasn’t hungry at all, although having 2 servings of pudding may have contributed to that  it was nice and creamy and oh so healthy with the avocado, banana & carob.  All in all a good day though, enjoyed the day outside (before the rain) and relaxed the rest of the day and enjoyed a good movie.

Ok, not Raw Vegan.... but a traditional Danish dish Frikadellar (danish meat balls)... I opted for salad instead

Saturday May 21st:
Long weekend is upon us and so far the weather is fantastic.  Took an early morning run for groceries so the fridge is now fully stocked with all those wonderful veggies & greens…. oh and Frikedellar (danish meat balls) ingredients as I’m making a batch for my parents and we are bringing “meals on wheels” to them for a late lunch on Saturday.  And of course making a bit extra so they have leftovers for a few days.  I love to  cook, so works for me… but no, I don’t eat it.  I’ll stick with my greens for now…

Saturday started with another new smoothy creation (again before I went for groceries so it was a true creation).  More of a vegetable juice which I hadn’t really tried before…. so let’s call it Veggie Smoothy (I know, not really an original catchy name is it?).

Rising:   e3Live, Wheatgrass, 1 small cup black coffee

Breakfast:    Veggie Smoothy

Late Lunch/early Dinner:   I enjoyed some Holy Sprout Salad while the rest of the family enjoyed my home cooked Frikadellar with mashed potato and beets!!

Sweets:    Enjoyed a few medjool dates.

After being raw for 3 weeks, my body doesn’t even get enticed by Frikadellar … salad is much more appealing … funny how your body adjusts and starts to crave the very type of food you feed it most  ;-)

Well, today is the first of 4 where I will be blending for the majority of the day.  It should be noted that I’m not actually following The Simply Raw Detox 100%.   Natasha’s program actually calls for blending in the middle of week 4 (next week) for 3 days.   But since I have a 4-day weekend I thought it would be a perfect time to follow the blending portion of the program while I’m off work and planning for nothing but R&R this weekend.  However, I have modified the blending somewhat.  I will have blending all during the day and then in the evening I may have blended or I may have some type of sprout salad.  I’ll play it by ear.

So, we’ll see how this progresses.  I must admit, I’m not feeling very organized for the blending – I’m not sure what I will blend, didn’t shop to prepare (tsk, tsk) so I will have to wing it today until I can get organized and to the grocery store later today.

Today’s Food Log:

Waking:   Wheatgrass, e3Live, Water

Breakfast/Lunch:   Power Blueberry Smoothy

Dinner:   Left over salad from last night – Oh So Simple Salad

Sounds light, but the smoothy was very substantial and I had the last sip around 1pm and I felt very satisfied.   I didn’t get hungry again until dinner time and the salad hit the spot so it was perfect.

Have a Grrrrrrreat day xox

I’m very excited… today is the start of an extra long weekend, woohooo!!!!   Today I enjoyed yet another day of 100% raw vegan….

On today’s menu:

Waking: E3Live, Wheatgrass, 1/2 cup coffee (ok, still not off the coffee, but it’s black!!)

Breakfast:  Creamy Raspberry Cashew

Lunch:  Yummy salad leftovers from dinner last night

Dinner:  Oh so Simple Salad   love it!!

Snack:  Nothing tonight….

Well, here we are at 7:30pm on Day 17.  I tell you, where does the day go – you come home, make dinner and before you know it it’s 7:30… I know, I know, I shouldn’t complain.  For all those who have kids and extra activities and home workload associated with that, I take my hat off to you, I have no idea how you do it…. and I commend you all!!!   For an early bird like me 7:30 is pretty close to bed time.  Well, 1-1/2 hr away but still …..

Today was a 100% raw day… let’s see what was on the menu today?

Waking:  e3Live, wheatgrass, ok I’m still having a 1/2 cup black coffee as I haven’t managed to ween myself off more than that, but I do still plan to before the end of the week

Breaky:  Green Refresher Smoothy lasted all morning.  In fact, I don’t think I finished it as there was an inch or two left in my smoothy jar by lunch time.

Lunch:  Yummy Salad, left overs from dinner last night…. Hubby made the salad so don’t recall the ingredients but it was 100% raw and yummy as always!!

Dinner: Yet another salad with tomatoes, avocado, celery, garlic, cucumber, romaine and olive oil.  Very yummy indeed and lots left for lunch tomorrow

Sweet: I just had a few dates…(no not that kind of date!!!  I’m married now ….. but these medula (sp?) dates are really good to take the sweet edge off.

Ok, so I still have challenges with my water intake and seem to always fall short.  Seems to be a systemic problem for me, I really do need to figure out a trick to increase my water.  Oh well, I’m sure I will figure it out.

Also need more sprouts.. speaking of which I have a few on the go.  Started a few sprouts earlier this week.  In the works we have some alfalfa, lentils and mung beans.   Looks like the alfalfa is close to ready (middle jar) the mug (far left – first time I’m trying these sprouts, they may need another day/two) and the lentils (far right) I just started yesterday so they need a few more days.  I’m actually enjoying the sprouting, they are very “substantial” in salads and there are days where I just need something more substantial and adding these sprouts really makes a difference.   Oh and making sprouts is soooo easy.  In the past I had a block that sprouting was very time consuming and difficult, but it’s actually very easy.

All in all, things continue to go well on this raw vegan cleanse…. oh and now that I’m taking a 4-day weekend I will be entering the “blending” phase of the cleanse a little earlier than planned (based on The Simply Raw Living Food Cleanse the blending would start the middle of next week – I figured it would be in everyone’s best interest if I did the blending portion over the weekend.  You see this weekend is all about downtime.  I plan to enjoy some R&R at home, no plans (well, ok perhaps a few) and enjoy lots of down time )  so a blending weekend it will be…. more to follow on that, definitely a first for me, so we’ll see how this shapes up!!

That’s it for now… until the next post.

Ok so it’s been 10 days since I last wrote.. tsk, tsk….

Well the raw food cleanse is going well and has continued nicely over the last 10 days and since the start 16 days ago.  I can’t believe it’s the 3rd week already…

Although I must say, I’m a little surprised the weight loss has not been more.  Overall I’m still down 7 lbs, which of course is great, so definitely still on the down swing so that’s great!!   It’s just not as quick as it has been in the past, where when I eat raw I have (in the past anyway) returned to my “normal” weight a lot quicker.  Not that that’s a bad thing, my body will do what it does.  I just find it a bit of a surprise that’s all. Oh well, the way I see it – at the end of the 28 day cleanse my body weight will land where it lands, and that’s that  All is good.

The most important for me is that I stay true to raw.  I feel really good actually, very good!!  Sure, there could be other factors at play, but I do feel that my feeling better is mostly food related.  Especially knowing I have several food intolerances.  I find I have a calmness about me (although not sure anyone else can see the difference, but I feel it so that’s what works for me). I’m still emotional and always will be as that’s my nature, I’m just one of those people who feels things right down to my bones (at time a curse at times an absolute blessing – gotta love it ), but I definitely feel better and I really like that.

So time will tell if it really is the raw food that is contributing to my more serene feelings.  Can’t wait to see.

That’s it for today will try to write more often.

I’ll catch up since I haven’t posted for a few days ……

Thursday Day 5 – Down total 4.5 lbs- 100% RAW don’t really remember what I had, but I know I was emotional in the evening and was a bit upset, was hungry but didn’t feel like making anything.  Didn’t follow my recipes, but made salad with avocado, lime, tomato, soaked cashews…. was very yummy… but very heavy in my stomach…

Friday Day 6 – 60% RAW was up again at 2:30am hardly slept, work on my mind, competition, just a really bad night (perhaps the salad with soaked cashews the night before?  Hmmmm!!  That sounds more like it for sure!!).  A bit of almond butter in the morning and smoothy with rasp, vanilla, almond, bee pollen, no greens but 100% raw and yummy.   Lunch with sprouts, 3-4 types of sprouts, included chick peas and it’s actually nice and substantial to have legume sprouts so that was good.   We went to dinner at the little Greek appetizer place in Westboro. Anyway, not 100% raw but I had veggies and a bit of cheese on a few of the dishes…. but felt ok, so that was ok.

Saturday Today – Down a total of 5.5 lbs – had a really nice smoothy with 2 mango and a bunch of greens (spinach, sprouts, chard), bee pollen, (no soaked chia or flax – note to self, need to soak more for the week), lunch kale salad with avocado, tomato, lemon, oil.  And dinner was cabbage wraps with avocado, tomato, sprouts, sesame oil, olive (very very yummy, and also messy to eat, but yummy!!)

Nut Intolerance?  I felt it in my ears a bit when I had a few almonds today, also after the cashew salad very heavy and just not feeling well, and of course many other times I’ve had them I feel it slows things down and I feel, well just sluggish and Yuk!!  So let’s try this, removed nuts, keep seeds, and sprouts and greens… we’ll see how that goes.  I think week 2 is still all RAW.. the week after I will significantly reduce all nuts, seeds and just go living I think, is that it?

Its Wednesday May 4th, Day 3.

Down 3.5 lbw – that’s all good!!  And even though weight is not my motivation, I know when I eat raw my weight ends up settling “home” where ever that may be, so that’s all good.

Today’s Menu:

Rising: - E3Live, Wheatgrass, Water

Smoothy:  2 Mango, couple handfuls spinach, 2 T each soaked flax, soaked Chia and bee pollen (VERY yummy indeed)

Lunch:  Sprout salad first batch of homemake sprouts, pea, alfalfa and sunflower, plus red pepper and lemon (yummy for me although WD thought it was too dry (no olive oil!!)).

Snack:  2 sseed crackers with almond butter and cucumber slide.

Dinner:  Romaine wrap with avocado, cucumber, red pepper, sunflower sprouts, soaked sesame seeds, apricots, lime juice and some left over chili with 4 crackers (yum!!)

All in all, I’m doing ok along this cleanse, I’m focused on keeping strong for the full month/28 days and that feels good.  I have to be careful that I don’t get side swiped, so far so good so all is good.  I do need to drink more water, as I’m not really getting my water limit of 2L, infact today I think I only had 1 or 2 bottles, probably closer to 1 so that could be better.

That’s it for today… oh other than last night sleep was not on my side.  Had some dreams that woke me up and I couldn’t fall back to sleep, felt awake, but tired.   Got up for a bit but that didn’t help…. finally fell asleep but still rough for the rest of the night.  Not sure if it’s a detox/raw thing, wondering because they often say, with cleaner living you won’t need as much sleep, but not sure it was that.  Oh well, food for thought, I hope tonight will be better…

Nite Nite
xoxox