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Nov
24

A Little Intuition

lightbulbSometimes it amazes me that we can be told things hundreds of times over, but we will only truly *get* things in our own time.

For instance, I have been hearing ‘don’t treat your body as your enemy’ for a long time now, but only now am I really feeling like my body is something I need to love and cherish. Partly that is due to me considering my own mind to be the enemy in getting healthy, but it’s also partly because I needed that time to come to it of my own inner knowledge.

If there is only one other thing I feel I have truly learned at this point, it is that, in the end, we need to do what is right for us.

We cannot forever listen to the diet gurus, the meal plans, the dietitians and the naturopaths. At some time, it comes down to what works for our individual bodies, all of which differ in many amazing ways.

Like nearly everyone who has ever tried to lose weight, I have tried plenty of different things. Many silly things, many dangerous things and many completely safe things that just plain didn’t work. I’ve tried cleanses, pills, plans, replacements, etc. Some… well, some I regret ever putting my body through. While others had their time and place, and I am thankful for giving them a go.

With mostly raw eating, I feel like I have found what is right for me.

You may have recalled me saying the same thing with meal replacements. I don’t despite that. Earlier this year, meal replacements were exactly what I needed to start losing weight, to start taking control of my binging and to start taking control of my life in general. I occasionally have a meal replacement for breakfast still because I have a hard time eating breakfast.

And now I have moved on to what I need now, which is something that gives me peace and happiness.

If you’re struggling right now, feeling like nothing works for you, I encourage you to please keep going. You may not feel like it now, but you really are worth it. You are an amazing, unique individual and you will find what you need to maintain not only a health body but a healthy mind and soul as well.

Category: Body, Food, General, Meal Replacement, Mental Health, Raw, Stress  2 Comments
Nov
18

Adventures in Raw ‘Cooking’ – Luscious Lemon Cookies

Lately I have been really getting into raw eating, raw recipes and living a more… raw/vegan life in general. I have no moral objections to eating meat, so I still do on occasion, but I prefer not to. I feel ‘lighter’ when I stick to most fruit and vege with some seafood.

Anywho, I downloaded the raw cookbook from Raw Pleasure so I could give a go at making some real raw recipes. Anyone can make a smoothie, but how do you make a meal or dessert with no flour, sugar, artificial sweeteners, etc?

When I saw a recipe for ‘Luscious Lemon Cookies’ I knew I had to try it because The Bloke loves lemon. (Poor guy will probably never get a lemon meringue pie now that I’ve taken a turn for raw…) I finally managed to get all the ingredients yesterday…

Getting Started

…I mainly needed cashews and a couple extra lemons. (Yeah, I have a very small countertop.)

I learned a few things about my various cooking tools…

Nut Grinder

When you’re grinding two cups of cashews, you will find out all the ways your nut grinder sucks. Ack. I got what I paid for (the cheapie) and it works, but when the top is constantly trying to twist off the bottom while you’re grinding?

Well, that was just the beginning.

Lemon Zest

Something to add to my Christmas list? A proper lemon zesting thingy. I gave up with my traditional grater after only getting this much. Bad chef! Bad chef!

Blenderfull

I piled all the ingredients in the blender…

Needs OJ

…and got reminded of how much my blender sucks.

I do love my blender, but it doesn’t always cooperate. It blended the cashes up pretty well (the bottom layer) and then decided to give me the finger. I decided the ingredient just must be too dry, so I added some orange juice.

That didn’t help.

I couldn’t add a heap of orange juice because they needed to be cookies, not a bowl of porridge. Not to mention they are meant to be lemon cookies, not orange ones. (Though that’s a thought…) I tried mixing things around, poking it with a chopstick, doing whatever I could, and it simply wouldn’t work.

My breaking point came when…

Broken Spatula

…*sniff* My spatula broke. Another cheapie, but I loved it.

After that, I said ‘screw this’ and unloaded everything into a mixing bowl. I decided on more agave nectar anyway, so it worked out. Plus, I almost always prefer mixing things by hand. This felt a little funky, but it was fun.

The next part of the recipe was to put the mix into cookie shapes and then dehydrate.

I don’t have a dehydrator.

I could have figured out how to use my oven as such, but it’s been too hot to do those sorts of things, so I had another ‘screw this’ moment and chucked the whole thing into a cakepan. My favvie cakepan because you can ‘unlock’ the ring and leave only the bottom.

Lemon Crust

Ta da! Luscious lemon pie crust. I put it in the freezer for about… four or five hours. During that time, I figured out what to do with it.

After dinner, I took it out of the freezer and found that it was firm but still pliable. I cut out a piece of pie shaped chunk, put it on a plate and topped it with raw fruit.

End Result

Delicious cool fruity treat for a warm night.

Of course, it was less than 100% raw when I topped it with a bit of cream for The Bloke, but it’s still the healthiest dessert we have had… ever.

Looking back…

Thinking back on it, I would have changed a few things:

1. Lime juice instead of orange juice. (I love lemon n’ lime.)
2. Mix it all by hand.
3. Top with more mild fruit like strawberries, bananas, kiwi… It was good, but the citrus of the ‘crust’ needed to be balanced more than it was. (I used mixed fruit that included raspberries and cherries.)

All in all, I think it’s a success.

Next up? Raw chocolate. I’ve already made a couple batches, but I keep forgetting to take pictures. Ack!

***

This post is in memory of my spatula. It served me well.

RIP Spatula

Category: Food, Raw  6 Comments
Nov
11

Toxic Ingredients in Everyday Care Products

It’s no secret that we live in a world filled with sugar and chemicals. If you’re not eating them, you’re rubbing them on your body, putting them in your hair, putting them on your face and whatever else. Even though a lot of us know this, we just don’t seem to care.

Well, I care.

Probably about half a year ago or so, I had allergy testing done by a naturopath. I reacted to a few things, I reacted highly to sulphur. Go figure, right? As it turns out, sulphur isn’t just in beans – it’s in nearly every bathroom thing you use. Shampoo, conditioner, lotion, makeup, face wash and more.

After finding out that I was reacting to it, I had to get rid of every single toiletry I had except two: a super sensitive facial wash and a bottle of lotion. Both made by St. Ives. I even had to get rid of my soap.

It can be kind of intimidating to start looking into all this stuff, so I found this video that touches on sulphur – sodium laurel sulphate – as well as other things to get you started.

If you’re at all interested – and you should be for the sake of your health and your family’s health – start doing some research.

Category: Food, Videos  2 Comments
Nov
03

Raw Reflections

I know I’ve already talked about it a bit, but I feel the need to reflect on my raw eating experience a bit more. Just to ‘flesh it out’ in my mind, if nothing else.

The first thing I noticed about switching to all raw was how easy it was. I was more excited about eating cashews again than I was worried about getting bored or sick of the food. It wasn’t until dinner time on day three that I got a little bit antsy about wanting something cooked, but that lasted all of five minutes.

I also felt… I felt good about what I was doing in a way that I haven’t felt when doing other plans, fasts, etc. I have been lurking at a raw eating Australia forum for a while, and even after reading a thread about all these people who gained weight going raw, I still felt good.

Just knowing I was giving my body a lot of good nutrition in its purest forms made me feel good. Sure, I was a bit disappointed at the prospect of not being able to lose weight eating this way, but it paled a little in the light of knowing I was eating naturally. And that, my friends, is a great motivator.

An unexpected benefit (unexpected because it hasn’t helped in the past), are the good things I am still experiencing in regards to my digestion. I’m hardly regular, but things have been going well compared to the usual. I’m very happy about that.

My detox effects weren’t bad. Pretty much just a headache that got really nasty on day three. My husband had worse, but he thinks it has more to do with wanting to go on a purely veggie fast instead of fruit and vege.

Perhaps sharing my banana smoothies wasn’t the greatest idea. :)

All in all, I still found it to be an amazing experience, even for four days. I highly recommend everyone try it, just to see how it influences all areas of health – including mental.

Category: Body, Food, General, Mental Health  Comments off
Nov
01

Raw Eating Week – Day Three

Raw VeggiesWe’ve made it to day three of raw eating!

With plenty of fruit, vegetables, raw nuts, seeds and a visit for sashimi (raw fish), we have made it to day three.

My husband has had a harder time with me, dealing with hunger, his body adjusting to no meat except a bit of salmon sashimi and the other fun detox things like headaches. At my insistence (to help him stay motivate), I’ve reminded him to get on the scale every morning. As of this morning, he already lost four pounds. I am incredibly happy for him, as his weight tends to bother him (even though he’s six inches taller but (was) only about ten pounds heavier than me).

My journey into 100% raw hasn’t been that much of a shock. Giving up the cooking has been easier than I thought it would be and giving up the meat when I was only eating it occasionally has been even easier.

I’m a bit disappointed at things at the moment, though. Where the husband has lost four pounds, I have gained four. It’s been a long time since Time of Month has made my weight change, so I can’t blame it on that. I don’t feel bloated or big or anything. I just happen to be four pounds heavier. Sigh.

Actual TOM hasn’t even started yet, though it should in a day or two. Always nice to have when you’re already in a bad mood.

I know I shouldn’t put so much riding on the scale, but I have a goal of getting to 200 pounds (if not further down) before the husband and I start trying to conceive. A lot of other things have to fall in place as well before we start, but I would at least like to have my body ready to go so we can start whenever we feel like it.

Don’t worry; I’m not getting into self-pity. I’ll be bright and cheery tomorrow. I just feel like I haven’t been getting as much out of my sleep lately, so I’ve been a bit more tired than usual lately.

The vacation can’t come soon enough…

Category: Diets, Food, General  One Comment
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