Some Rawsome Food for a Healthy Bod

I'm just about 2 weeks in (and halfway done with) my Raw foods challenge, yay! I'm feeling great and seeing some results already from being about 6lbs down! I've also recently joined a gym, so my exercise efforts have been even more consistent. Exercise is as important in attaining a healthy happy body as diet is, and I am addicted to ZUMBA! It's a latin dance class that is very high energy and makes the hour fly by. If I can find a way to exercise that doesn't feel like exercise, I'm a happy girl. Check it out and find a class near you! The DVDs are great too! www.zumba.com.

My first week of eating raw I wasn't quite so sure what to eat, there were mainly just lots and lots of salads. This week though, I am starting to experiment around more with different recipes, and have added a ton of variety to my diet. No boredom here! For my spiralized zucchini, I've made fabulous cashew cream sauce out of soaked cashews, a little bit of water, and some seasonings. I threw in mushrooms as well, and it really felt like I was having a rich alfredo type sauce! I also made a raw marinara sauce from a couple of tomatoes, 1/2 a red bell pepper, smidge of oil, and seasonings, yum!

Pictured is a fabulous kale salad I made the other day. If you massage rough greens like kale with a little bit of oil for a couple of minutes, they soften and are much more pleasant to eat. I added walnuts, red pepper, sprouts, and broccoli, but you could really add in anything you like. Also, did you know that if you marinade mushrooms for even a couple of minutes they soften and have the same texture they do when cooked? A product I LOVE and want to share is called Bragg Liquid Aminos. It tastes like soy sauce, but is not fermented or heated, and contains 16 essential and non-essential amino acids. It is certified Non-GMO, is gluten free, and has no chemicals, no artificial coloring, no preservatives, and much less sodium. You can find it now in most grocery stores. For more info visit www.bragg.com.

Day 5 of My RAWvolutionary New Diet!

So today is my 5th day of my 100% raw foods diet. I've been experimenting around with all kinds of new yummy recipes to keep things interesting, and have not at all felt deprived. I've posted some pictures of the yummy stuff I've made! Did you realize that if you put raw zucchini in a spiral slicer, it comes out like angel hair pasta? Pasta is one of my favorite foods, but really, it's mainly that yummy al dente texture that is so appealing, along with a sauce... pasta itself doesn't have much taste on it's own. So I made my own vegan pesto from fresh basil, garlic, lemon juice, salt and raw walnuts in my food processor and added it to the zucchini. The salt and lemon draws a little of the water out of the zucchini and softens it to be pasta like. *Note: Leftover "pasta" will end up with a lot of excess water if you put it away with any kind of sauce on it, it is best to have them saved separately.


SO excited! Today at a check-up, my BLOOD PRESSURE was 102/68! Usually, my blood pressure stays around the 120/80 mark, so this is awesome! Proof that this diet is doing good things for me :D I am also down a couple of lbs, which is always nice! I know that with eating this way, I will surely get to a point of having tons of extra energy, but I don't think I'm feeling it quite yet. Any time you switch from the Standard American Diet (SAD diet), or even a vegetarian or vegan one, over to a raw diet, there is bound to be a little bit of detoxing going on. Because I am eating in a way that doesn't take much from my body to process and metabolize, it can spend more time "cleaning house" and repairing some of the damage that our environment, and foods we've eaten, have caused. Drinking lots of water is important to help flush all that nasty stuff out, and the first days of having that going on can make you feel a little run down. I haven't felt like I've been too lacking on energy, so I'm happy with that! All is well so far! Woo!