Day 6; Best Run EVER

Merry Christmas! So Dave and I made this pact that on certain holidays, namely Thanksgiving and Christmas, it's ok to cheat. For me, eating 100% raw year-round isn't possible. I know that some raw foodies would call me a fake but we have very large families. Our families tend to make large (and delicious) meals that take all week to prepare. I won't be one of those people who refuses to eat a deliciously cooked meal because I'm a 100% raw food vegan. I'm sorry but I'm not that smug and I'm sorry if this offends you but it's just me. Plus, eliminating meat and dairy from your diet in everyday life is great, but from the research I've seen eating it a few times a year won't adversely effect our health. When I did it everyday it sure did, or even every week. A few times a year is okay in my book.

So today was a little bit of a cheat day. I felt pretty good today, not very tired or nauseous anymore, but a little fatigued. Had another Kombucha tea throughout the day; that stuff is just so good. I need to learn how to make it myself. I've looked it up online but it seems pretty involved. I'm sure I could figure it out eventually but for now I'll just buy it. It's so carbonated it really craves my junk food/pop craving. 

I still juiced my breakfast and had a bowl of fruit salad that I'd prepared Friday night (pineapple, apples and grapes). We live with wonderful neighbors in a duplex and the old couple upstairs invited us to have some of their Christmas dinner. I didn't grab a plate but Dave sure did! In fact, he grabbed two! I had a little bit from his plate but not much. Some green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and stuffing. Very small amounts, I promise, like bites. I had a wonderful kale pulp salad for lunch with chopped cashews, pumpkin seeds, sunflower sprouts, cucumber, carrot, green pepper and onion. I mixed it all up together and it was the best salad yet! I also had a big green juice (just kale this time as I needed the pulp for my salad). I made a fantastic lacinato kale wrap for dinner. This time I put a little fruit in it along with more vegetables, cashews and raisins. It was the best wrap that I've made yet! 

The reason I added a little fruit to my dinner today was because before dinner we decided to go for a run! It's good to eat a little sugar (especially if it's natural) after a workout to help recover. Yep, we actually went for a run even though I was still a touch sore from Friday's run. This time it was 100% different. We ran the ENTIRE distance around Lake Calhoun. Friday I only made it about 1/3 of the way around. The total distance around is over 3 miles and we kept a consistent pace and never once stopped. IT WAS INCREDIBLE! I've never ran that far or long in my life. I just couldn't believe it. I can't wait to go again tomorrow (as long as I'm not sore since it takes a day or two for it to kick in). I can't believe that only two short days ago I could barely make it a mile and today I ran three. It just doesn't seem real. While running Dave said, "Dang baby, did you take steroids this morning?" and I said, "Nope, I'm powered on 100% raw food son!" I wholeheartedly attribute that run to my 100% raw food diet and the energy/stamina it gave me to follow through. Also, FYI, the small bites of Christmas dinner were eaten after the run which is the best time to eat it so my body will use it up and spit it out quicker. Today was huge. That run was a huge moment for me.

Day 5; Worst Yet

Today was the roughest day yet. Period. We woke up at 11am, made a juice breakfast but this time I added pomegranates to the mix. I literally laid down to watch Dave play NCAA '12 football on the PS3. That's how exhausted and sick I felt. I was just so fatigues, incredibly nauseous and just plain spent! We planned to run today and do Ab Ripper X but we just couldn't do it. I ended up falling back asleep around 12:30 PM and woke back up around 4:00 PM. I felt REALLY nauseous to the point where I could almost throw up but I didn't. I've read online that this could be a symptom of detox and I know that I have a lot of that to do. I was also REALLY sore from the run yesterday, especially my hip flexors and glutes. This could have contributed to my fatigue. When your body repairs itself it uses a lot of energy thus making me very sleepy! Plus, I've filled my body with nothing but junk my entire adult life so I was prepared for the worst. This was pretty legit. I felt sick. 

I got up and Dave and I were really irritable because we were so hungry. I slammed a good amount of cashew/raisin/pumpkin seed mix and felt better so I could make dinner and a green juice (1 bunch of spinach, half a bunch of kale, a cucumber and some celery). Dave decided for today that juice feasting isn't for him, he just couldn't do it and he didn't want it bad enough. He did decide, however, to remain vegan and eat cooked and organic foods. It's still a step in the right direction! Juice feasting is rough, eating 100% raw is rough but easier for me as I like to chew and have something I've chewed in my stomach. 

I had an ok BM today, nothing like that beast on Thursday but still good progess! lol!

Day 4; First Run

No work today for Christmas so Dave and I slept in. It was niiiice. Since it was Friday we had breakfast together and juiced the usual grapefruit, apples and grapes. So delicious and easily my favorite meal. I weighed myself and was 141 lbs (that's a 6 lb drop since day one)! A guy at work told me about the Wedge Co-op right near my beloved Ecopolitan and I was stoked! I wasn't impressed with the neighborhood grocery store, and before we moved to MN from MI we shopped at a co-op. Co-ops usually have much better selection and much more helpful/knowledgeable staff. 

My acne on my face and back seems to be clearing up as well. I have much less pain on my back when my clothes move on my skin. I'm having a few blemishes pop up from detoxing but not in the usual places (mid cheeks and jaw).  Mainly on my forehead and a few on the apples of my cheeks. They're not deep, painful or raised, just red spots which is a welcome change! Hopefully it'll all clear up in a month or two.

Dave and I went to the co-op as we were running low on produce and it was a madhouse! Since we've never been there I'm not sure if it was because of Christmas or if that's just how it always is. We got a TON of stuff and everything was 100% organic. Dave's not as picky as me and will eat non-organic but I refuse. No risking the chance of getting GMO's for this girl. We got it all home, and I felt pretty good most of the day making my fresh raw meals. There were a few cravings for my old diet here and there but not bad. We went to a new place called Hard Times Cafe that's a vegan joint. Not much for raw food but Dave got a bowl of lentil soup. I hung tough and got a bottle of organic & raw Kombucha. I LOVE THAT STUFF! It is SO good and so good for you. I highly recommend looking into it. 

Before we went to the cafe we also went for our first run in months. It was horrible. I hate running. Once I do it for a few weeks, I get better and it's ok, but getting to that point is just the worst. I could only last 1.17 miles according to the MapMyRun app but it was just too cold. I didn't wear a hat and I felt like I had a serious brain freeze. My temples were pounding and I felt absolutely beat. The total run was around 14 minutes. I also wear Vibrams (I'm a HUGE advocate for barefoot running, it's the way nature intended) and it was the first time I've worn them in the winter. Surprisingly, my feet weren't cold at all. Overall a very nice day, ate 100% raw and layed around after the run. I was exhausted.

Day 3

Thursday was MUCH rougher than the two previous days. I absolutely craved junk, processed foods but refused to give in. I had attempted to quit smoking with Dave and didn't have one cigarette all day. I was on the phone with QuickBooks tech support ALL day (along with the previous two days) trying to install it on the server and our three workstations at work. To make a LONG story short, I finally succeeded and it was up and running! I was seriously craving a cigarette and on the way home I had to gas up at the station and decided to buy a pack. Argh. It's never as good as you think it'll be.

I juiced in the morning, the usual grapefruit, apple and grapes, and brought a lettuce wrap filled with veggie goodness. I'm not sure what I had for dinner (I'm writing this a few days in the future) but I'm sure it was some form of vegetable (lol!). I know I ate an avocado, those things are good. 

Oh man, but today was something big. This is going to be WAY too much information but I think it's really relevant. I had the largest bowel movement I've EVER had in my ENTIRE LIFE. It was ridiculous. I'm not kidding, this thing was over 12" long and seriously large around. It was a completely different texture then usual. It had some power behind it too, it felt like the release when you get a colonic. I knew that THAT was progress.

Day 2

Wednesday marks day two and I felt, eh. I remember at work I would get waves of nausea here and there. I juiced one grapefruit, one apple and about 25 grapes for breakfast. I also ate a banana once I got to work. I brought one flaxseed cracker covered with kale, onion, green pepper and the lentil taco meat for lunch along with my cashew mix (raw cashews, pumpkin seeds and raisins). Getting used to the vegetables and flavor is still tough. I've never ate this much vegetable matter in my life and so everything mixing together was a lot to digest. My stomach would turn and gurgle trying to get used to the new diet while missing the Taco Bell goodness! This day was definitely rougher than day one but I felt pretty good. Definitely better but still a little off. I never got the urge to eat anything un-raw or bad which was good! A pretty uneventful day in my journey. Not great, not terrible, just trying to make this work.

Day 1; The Start

On December 20th, 2011 I went 100% raw. Not 50%, not 90%, but 100 freakin' percent. I tend to bite off more then I can chew a lot, and I do everything to the extreme. There is nothing at all wrong with 50% raw, ANY raw is GOOD! I just choose 100% because it's what I feel I need. 

Since I was living off a steady diet of fast food and eating out (literally, I RARELY made anything at home...it was a nice blend of McDonald's and Taco Bell for a while) I had nothing in the fridge that I could use to start off this new lifestyle. Before work I stopped by the grocery store to pick up a container of cut-up assorted fruit, an organic banana and a gallon of spring water. I ate it up at my desk and went about my day. 

The night before, while I was crying and searching for raw food places on my phone, I found this amazing restaurant called Ecopolitan and the only thing they serve is 100% raw food! It will soon become known as 'the mothership'. I was SO incredibly stoked and excited because it was my beacon of hope. I could order a few things here and there and try to recreate the dishes at home. I called them to place my take-out order requesting the flaxseed tostadas which were $13!! I know eating healthy isn't cheap but damn! That's probably what I paid in a day, if not more, on crap so it's a more than fair trade. I told them I'd never eaten there before and asked if the dish was recommended and she said it was one of their most popular entrees! Hooray!  It was literally a few minutes from work according to Google Maps making it even more perfect.

I picked it up along with some raw ingredients they sold there in their To-Go section. I grabbed some raw cashews, raw pumpkin seeds and this lentil "taco meat" that they used in my tostadas. When I ate the tostadas I'll never forget how fragrant/aromatic it was. There was just so much "stuff" on there. Some stuff I still have no idea what it's called. There were two flaxseed crackers on the bottom with the lentil "taco meat" (which REALLY tastes like a yummy taco seasoned meat!), tomatoes, cilantro, kale, guacamole and just a ton of other stuff. It was SO GOOD!! After I was finished my stomach was gurgling and making all sorts of noises. It wasn't sure what to do with all this new stuff. Vegetables? What kind of crap is this? Where's the Taco Bell? Where's the GOOD stuff?! It took some getting used to. I remember reading online that when you start on raw food you should begin with limited ingredients to help get your taste buds (and your stomach) used to the new flavors. Boy, they weren't kidding. If you already eat lots of veggies, you're probably fine but I NEVER ate vegetables EVER unless they were deep fried or coated with olive oil and sauteed. My stomach was a little uneasy the rest of the day but I powered through it knowing I was doing something good for once.

When I got home that night, Dave and I went shopping. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that when I had my mini nervous breakdown on the 19th, Dave said he would do this with me. I told him he didn't have to but he wanted to so I didn't have to do it alone...awww. He's not 100% raw but he did go vegan cutting out all animal protein. The neighborhood grocery store didn't have a lot of selection produce...about half organic and half "regular". I tried to buy as much organic as I could grabbing leaf lettuce, kale, grapefruit, apples, grapes, carrots, an avocado, celery, one green pepper (they were $5.99 EACH!!) and an onion. It came out to $40 something which seemed like a lot for the little amount we bought. It ended up only lasting about 2 days. I was happy about this day though and made a lettuce wrap for dinner with the leaf lettuce, put some shredded kale on top along with a bit of green pepper, onion and carrot. I weighed myself at the end of the night (which is NOT the time to weigh yourself, I know), but I was 144! The day before I was 147 at the same time of night. Maybe it's a fluke...

Day 0; The Breaking Point

Hey there, I'm Rachel. This Blog was designed not only to help me through my journey eating 100% raw foods, but to maybe help someone else who is starting a similar path. December 19th, 2011 was the breaking point of being at my wits end with the funk I was feeling all the time. 

My Background:

I'm only 25 years old, but I've experienced some health issues throughout my life that are both annoying and worrisome. I developed really horrible cystic acne on my cheeks and upper back that can be really painful. I've tried everything from creams and cleansers to emu oil and naturopathic remedies to help to no avail. It has to be directly related to my diet as acne on the mid cheek (where you would apply bronzer/blush) and the sides of jaw is digestive. Not to get into too much detail but I've also suffered from chronic UTI's my entire life (I'm talking every other week to a couple per month), anxiety with panic attacks a few times per week and most recently an issue with completely emptying my bladder. It just never felt empty and sometimes (although rarely) I would try to go and nothing would happen. I went to a few different urologists and they both did a cystoscopy which is where they insert a small spaghetti-like camera up your urethra to see inside your bladder. Ouch, right? Yeah. They said my bladder was "bearing down" on itself and in the shape of a triangle. They also mentioned that there was a lot of debris, but no cysts or scarring which is great since I've had a lot of infections. They prescribed Rapaflow along with a 7 MONTH SUPPLY of antibiotics. I've been on antibiotics my whole life for my recurrent UTIs and I was convinced that was why I kept getting them. My immune system was weak! I took the Rapaflow for about a week but stopped because it made me feel weird and it wasn't working. Plus, I'm extremely against prescription medication as it was probably the reason I was in this mess in the first place. I eventually ended up going to a naturopathic practitioner and she gave me the tools, along with some herbs and advice, to beat the infections on my own without medication. It worked. I still got them but not nearly as much and could usually clear them up quicker then antibiotics did.

I was raised pretty "normal" eating relatively healthy. I never got fast food as a child or even junk food from the grocery store. It was mainly meals with a few small snacks here and there. Never had a health problem and rarely got sick. I'm 5' 7" and I've always been a healthy weight (120 lbs in high school to my heaviest which I'm at now of 147 lbs). I'm not trying to get stick skinny or lose a bunch of weight, I just want to be healthy. Now, I'm not going to lie, I would LIKE to lose some weight, perhaps get down to 130lbs, but that's not the driving force behind why I chose to go 100% raw.

On with how I chose the raw food diet:

So Dave (my husband) and I were laying in bed on Monday, December 19th when I burst out into tears for apparently no reason. This has happened maybe once before but mainly because I was hormonal before that "time of the month". I was SO sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. I'm still not sure why I was so emotional but I was. Dave is so supportive and reassured me that I wasn't a crazy person, but I felt like it. We recently moved to a new house and I recently obtained a great new job. I don't really have a lot of reason to be super stressed but maybe it was all the emotion and release coming out at that moment. I rambled on about how I wanted to change my life, namely eating better and working out. I've always been a firm believer in what you eat ultimately determines your health and overall well-being. I'm not sure why but I said, "That's it, I'm starting a 100% raw food diet". I've read about it in the past, I have a few books about it and I've even attempted it once before only to quit after one whole day. I'll never know why it popped into my head at that moment so clearly but I was determined to make it work. So, December 19th, 2011 was the 'Ah-ha' moment that set the chain of events in motion.