Living Raw – Day 3

Posted on November 16, 2010 by Sister Notes

Day 3 and I’m feeling pumped! It’s 9:30 PM and I feel like I just had a cup of coffee – which I didn’t!

So, how’d it go? First let me say, my caffeine withdrawal headache broke half-way through Day 2! I actually didn’t really notice when it had gone away – call it 1 1/2 days to break the coffee dependency. Nevertheless, yesterday was still kind of rough. I was feeling really bad about resorting to the snacks and not sticking more tightly to my purpose. But then, I had to remember why I was doing this. It’s not so I have a new excuse to beat myself up for being less-than-perfect. Rather, it’s to learn how enjoyable a healthy lifestyle can be. So, I woke up this morning ready for a fresh start.

  • Breakfast – my daily water followed later by a green smoothie EASY.
  • Lunch – business luncheon at a restaurant, yikes! I had no mid-morning snack in anticipation of the lunch (but I also wasn’t hungry for any) EASY. One dinner roll of fresh bread-HARD (I didn’t avoid it), French onion soup (it was supposed to have been butternut squash bisque) not raw, huge green salad with shrimp, Brussels sprouts not raw but yummy! And dessert: flourless chocolate expresso cake! It was definitely easy to eat. Do I get points for it being flourless?
  • Mid-afternoon snack – NONE. After the lunch above, no need!
  • Dinner – Brown rice, pre-soaked (read here about GBR and benefits of pre-soaking) EASY and ground pork sausage from Polyface farm with mushrooms (obviously not raw, but if you are going to eat meat “beyond organic” is the way to go), followed by green salad EASY

Expenses: I decided to purchase a copy of the Simply Raw movie along with the Raw for Life CD set – $35 with shipping, a 50% discount until November 19th. If you’ve not checked to see what the movie is all about – and what inspired me to start this 30-day adventure, I recommend starting with the Simply Raw video series of interviews. The first one is with Mr. Morgan Spurlock – the guy from the Super Size Me movie.
That’s all for tonight, I still owe you what I learned about exercising. But that will have to wait for another day. Sleep tight!

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Living Foods – Day 2

Posted on November 16, 2010 by Sister Notes

Day 2 along my raw food endeavor seemed a bit rough. I managed to stretch my packed lunch until about 2 PM, but that wasn’t going to get me through the end of the work day. Here’s how it went…

  • Pre-breakfast – glass of water EASY, I forgot to mention this yesterday. I nearly always start my day with a glass of water. The days that I don’t, I usually regret. Next, I had a cup of tea (not decaff), but I didn’t finish it.
  • Breakfast – green smoothie, EASY because I made it the night before.
  • Lunch & snacks – My sprouted grain bread and honey sandwich EASY, leftover collard greens with some sprouts tossed in EASY, carrot sticks EASY (because I cut up several carrots the night before so all I had to do was pack a handful in my lunch). One square of 90% chocolate.
  • Late afternoon snacks – One cob of popping corn, popped in a brown lunch bag in the microwave. Easy, but not raw. Then there was the handful of Simply Naked® pita chips with salsa, reasonably healthy too, but not raw.
  • Dinner – I made a grated raw beet salad EASY to go with the pasta and sautéed leeks dinner.

Easy/Inexpensive summary: Breakfast and lunch were mostly raw and the foods are easy to make. The Internet is also a great way to find raw recipes for everyday vegetables. I’m trying to find a raw way to prepare at least one vegetable to go with dinner. Many of the recipes for the harder vegetables (such as beets and collards) call for some time to marinate. This requires some advanced planning on my part to make the dish up the night before. But, this makes getting dinner on the table the next day that much easier so I think the extra step balances out if it becomes a habit.

As for expenses, I’ve not purchased anything unusual or any special tools. But, I do need to think about some raw or nearly raw snacks to keep in my desk for that late afternoon crunch.

I forgot to mention exercise! Though I’ve been a fairly healthy eater before starting this 30 day adventure, I’ve been very slack on getting regular exercise HARD. But, I did a little surfing the net yesterday. I’ll let you know what I learned to turn getting in motion from hard to easier.

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Thirty day raw journey – Day 1

Posted on November 14, 2010 by Sister Notes

To embark on a journey is to leave from the place where I am to go to a destination. My destination is to spend the next thirty twenty-nine days incorporating raw foods into my lifestyle. In this case, I’m more interested in the journey itself than the destination. Why start this journey? Because I want to learn if such a lifestyle really is easy and inexpensive. The only way for me to really know is to really try!

So how did Day 1 go?

  • Breakfast: green smoothie (banana, apples, lettuce, some sprouts, ginger, rolled oats [not cooked, but not raw either], and water)-easy. Notice NO COFFEE!-hard
  • Snack/lunch: a raisin Ezekiel bread and honey sandwich and cup of tea (NOT decaf), carrot sticks-easy. One square of 90% cocoa chocolate (also not raw)
  • Dinner: marinated collards (raw)-easy, and a “typical” Sunday dinner (pot roast with the fixins’)

Summary – breakfast was mostly raw, lunch was partially raw, and dinner mostly cooked.

And the cost?

  • The only new expense (I’m not counting food that we usually buy anyway) was a replacement blade attachment for the blender – $20. The blender itself is an Oster that I bought last year on eBay for $35.  Expensive/inexpensive is relative, I’ll let you judge for yourself.

Conclusion: The hardest part of today is the caffeine withdrawal. I did have the cup of tea mid-day to help, but it didn’t help for long. Past experience tells me two more days and I’ll be fine again.

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World Diabetes Day

Posted on November 14, 2010 by Sister Notes

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. (Revelations 3:15-16, NASB)

Those are rather harsh words for 4:30 in the morning! And, yes, they got me thinking, and remembering, and thinking. Why the seemingly sudden chastisement? And what does it have to do with World Diabetes Day? It’s all tied to a video series I had recently watched regarding a new movie.

As you probably already know, I’m a big fan of green smoothies and I like things eco-friendly, organic and sustainable. I want to eat healthy and I know both my mind and body enjoy the benefits. But, despite all that, I seem to lack the inspiration (or discipline) to keep it up. Healthy living should be easy and inexpensive, yet it seems bizarre and burdensome! I came across a question and answer post on Yahoo! Answers that put to words my frustration. There was something about the tone of this sincere question that seeped into my consciousness during the wee hours and I formulated my own response.

I am living in a very modern world, my environment is filled with many conveniences, and I have all manner of wonders available for consumption – super, incredible “foods” neatly and individually wrapped to easily eat-on-the-go. I get up in the morning, fill my mug with hot coffee, hop in my car on my way to spend the next 9 hours at a desk, in front of a computer. Then return to my car and start the routine all over again. The old adage, “An apple a day…” seems at best quaint, or more likely terribly old-fashioned. I want something to help me survive the lifestyle that I’m living here and now. Sure, the hunters and gathers of long ago got by without microwaves, espresso machines, and drive-thrus. If I moved to the hills to live in tents, I could too. I have no ambitions to either hunt or gather, so what am I to do?

I am living in a time when diabetes has grown to such a concern that in 2007 the United Nations dedicated November 14th as an annual day for awareness. The cost to our world’s health care systems for treating diabetes and other noncommunicable diseases is anticipated to climb dramatically. The excerpt below from the World Health Organization’s statement issued for World Diabetes Day further directs my thoughts:

The drag on socioeconomic development in low- and middle-income countries from both the health impacts of diabetes and other noncommunicable diseases (NCDS), matched with often catastrophic expenditures the world’s poorest must spend to protect their health, are telling examples why the we all must do more to prevent and control such illnesses.

Prevention and control, education and action!

After reading the International Diabetes Federation: a consensus on Type 2
diabetes prevention (Jan 2007), I’m struck by the success of what they call “lifestyle intervention” in dramatically reducing the risk of diabetes as well as its roll in reducing the effects of diabetes. Lifestyle intervention is a general term for “diet and exercise”.

How many times have we heard and read about the benefits we’d gain from “diet and exercise”? Yet, how often do we abandon something so simple and inexpensive for more complex “cures”? Once again words from an earlier reading entered my mind during the early morning hour.

Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” (2 Kings 5:13, NIV)

As the sun’s rays entered my window, I opened my eyes and rose to a new day, with a new sense of purpose, and a new plan of action. Just how easy and inexpensive is lifestyle intervention for better diet and more exercise? We can’t expect everyone in need to spend 30 days in Arizona to experience relief from their diabetes as the six people did in the movie, Raw for Thirty. But, I intend to find out just what I can do over the next thirty days in my own lifestyle intervention effort – easy and inexpensively.

How will you spend your next 30 days?

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International Green Smoothie Day

Posted on August 14, 2010 by Sister Notes

It’s time I introduce the team behind International Green Smoothie Day. I’ve had a great time learning about the amazing Big Thinkers that the Raw Divas have brought together for the Live 10-day Green Smoothie Challenge.

Imagine:

Guys and gals around the world coming together for ten amazing days for the simple reason that we believe that together our little decisions can make a big difference!

  • We believe that “green” choices positively influence our health.
  • We believe that “green” choices positively influence our neighbors’ quality of life.
  • We believe that “green” choices positively influence our Planet’s health!
  • We believe that “green” choices are simple and achievable.
  • Simply put, We Believe in Green!

So, who are the Raw Divas?

Meet, Ms. Tera Warner – The Raw Divas creator. She created the Raw Divas website to build an international community of support for women seeking to improve their health through both nutritional and sustainable lifestyle choices. In addition to the Raw Divas, she and her Team are the power behind the Green Smoothie Queen and Raw Mom websites. But, Ms. Warner doesn’t stop there, with her vision for women’s health and wellbeing she has also created WISH: the Women’s International Summit for Health in celebration of International Women’s Day. The summit features two weeks of speakers touching on all aspects of women’s everyday lives.

This year’s International Green Smoothie Day Challenge will benefit the Lower Eastside Girls Club. These girls are passionate about spreading the news that healthy choices mean healthy lives. Do you Believe in Green? Can you offer your support? Will you join me in the Live Green Smoothie Day Challenge? Sign-up and then drop back by to let me know. I’m looking forward to sharing the next 10 days with you!

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