I Did It! 30 Days of 100% RAW Foods!

Sorry guys, I've left you all hanging for a little bit there! My 30 days of all raw foods is complete, and it was a wonderful experience! By week 4 I was trying out all sorts of new recipes and trying tons of new stuff. I am also addicted to seaweed salad found in Asian restaurants! So by the end of my challenge, I had lost a whopping ELEVEN pounds! WOO! My energy levels were up, and I was feeling great, although a little excited to have my first dish of pasta in a month (my weakness food). Eating this way for a month gives you good insight into what your body actually needs to fuel itself every day. You eat when you're hungry, stop when you're full, and don't tend to snack as much inbetween. I know a lot of people keep saying that I must never really be full eating produce all day long, but I really felt satisfied!

After my 30 days were up, I went on a little carb-fest, which although it was a bad decision, was a great way to show me just how much of a difference eating pasta, bread, and rice again is to my body! Instantly, my cravings for EVERYTHING bad came back, I wanted pasta all day, crappy Chinese food, ice cream, popcorn, chocolate, and wasn't really satisfied having fruit still for dessert anymore. Energy slumped back down and my weight started to creep back up. One week of eating lots of carb heavy cooked meals, and I've already shot back up 4lbs :( So I've decided to make a new commitment for the way I want to eat, but not quite as strict as being 100% raw all of the time.

From this point forward, I am going to keep to being mainly raw, with an allowance of just 2 cooked carb meals per week (like a pasta or rice dish as a part of my meal). I will allow occasional cooked produce as a part to my meal, but that will pretty much just be light steaming of asparagus, broccoli, or artichokes because I'm not a fan of either of those raw. Also, 1 coffee max/week from Starbucks. I think if I limit the bad carbs this way, I'll get my weight loss back, and keep right on going! I hope the cravings will be knocked down, but if not I may re-evaluate and bring it down to 1 carb-y meal per week. I figure by allowing it sometimes, I won't go on a binge like I did after my 30 days!

I've stocked up my raw foods pantry now, and am ready to start getting really creative! I also just bought a 4-tray excalibur dehydrator, which I'm super excited about! I've already done tomatoes (amazing!), bananas, kale chips, and marinaded eggplant in it, goji berry cookies are next! I also made an incredible raw shiitake soup that was soooo good from the RawVolution cookbook I love by Matt Amsden. I was a little wary of a raw soup, but I didn't know what I was missing! YUM!