Lunch!

Yesterday I was in a little bookshop in Searsport, ME doing some research for a client I'm advising. I got to talking with the owner about raw food.

"You know, Matthew Kenney's a Searsport boy." She said. She had signed copies of Everyday Raw and Raw Food, Real World (my 2 favorite raw cookbooks). I guess he comes into the bookstore from time to time. In such a small community as the raw foodies world, it's nice to have little run-ins like that.

Anyhow, I stocked up on produce and nuts again today. Oranges, coconut, avocado, fennel, peppers, grapes, strawberries, clementines, and a bunch of potted herbs for my kitchen windowsill.

Breakfast today was a few of the cacao/sunflower seed cookies I made the other day. They're all gone now. I'll definitely need to make a new batch tonight. My husband likes them as much as I do.

Lunch was Matthew Kenney's Avocado, orange and fennel salad (see picture). It's in Raw Food, Real World. Very simple, very goooooood!

Great raw day so far.

I'm also making progress in my yoga practice. I can hold my headstand for quite a few breaths now, and I'm working on a new challenge pose that has beefed up my biceps a LOT in the last 2 days alone. I'm far from achieving the balance and strength I need for the asana, but I am getting there.

Why me? Why raw? Why now?

The Short Answer? I have no alternative.

The fact is, I don't know what else to do. After years of suffering with fatigue and IBS (fancy technical term for, "We don't know WHY you have debilitating pain after almost every meal."), I decided to use my extremist personality to my benefit, for once. Salad and fruits were the only things that DIDN'T force me into the fetal position after eating, so it couldn't hurt, right?

I'd give it a week.

In that week, my energy level and mood went through the roof! I had no pain after meals anymore. My meat-loving husband's response was, "Please, stay raw!" Admittedly, some of that energy and joy was just the newness and the creativity of it. Some was because I crave beauty in everything, and raw fruits and vegetables are so vibrantly colorful, they make me smile. Some was the food itself.

It's now been 18 months. I was 100% raw for nearly 8 months, and then I slowly incorporated more cooked vegan and vegetarian food back into my life. Why? Convenience. As a mother, a wife, and a graduate student with two assistantship positions to juggle, I found myself buying frozen foods in bulk to cut down my time in the kitchen! Now, I'm paying the price. Since doing that, I've regained 10 of the 25 pounds I lost, and yes, I am tired again. So. Very. Tired.

And so, I am resolved to resume my raw food lifestyle, continue my yoga practice, and keep a public journal of my journey. My immediate challenge: Eat 100% raw vegan until my 33rd birthday on April 6th. 53 days, Including today. I've done it before. I can do it again!

This time, my life is more complicated, so I need to:

• Find simple, quick recipes that I can make in large amounts and take to class and my office for lunch on weekdays.

• Spend less $!!! We took a huge pay cut by both enrolling in graduate school at the same time. Good foods on a smaller budget!

• Meld my diet with my family's diet - I no longer have time to prepare 2 separate meals every night.

NOTE TO READERS - The raw food world is full of gurus, factions, and eating disorders, as well as some great people who want to be healthy, happy, and lower their impact on the planet.

I am NOT interested in: PRODUCTS, fad diets, mono eating, juice diets, raw-food retreats and 'teachers', arguing about philosophy, religion or anything of the kind. Posts of a dogmatic or contentious nature WILL BE DENIED. This is a place for me to share my thoughts, recipes, struggles and victories as I try to cultivate a strong, healthy body. PLEASE, share your thoughts and your encouragement, but let's keep preaching out of it.