Raw challenge!

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  • CatherineRCatherineR Raw Superstar

    Day 29 (and doing fine)

    Breakfast: I had some raw granola with coconut milk. I actually ate it last because it was super dense and needed to soften. Buckwheat groats are no joke, those are crazy hard. I also had some sapota and papaya, both which were sweet and fantastic. The sapota is grown at my house, and the papaya is organic. It's been a great sign having all of this organic produce taste so delicious given my initial trepidation. Like a sign saying, "yes, this is a rewarding decision." Oh, and cacao smoothie. Not gonna lie, it's highly likely coffee is getting reinstated after the 30 days. Cacao is a pretty good substitute but I like coffee more.

    Lunch: red cabbage salad with ranch. 

    Post-lunch: I made the usual cacao smoothie, and then also attempted a tropical one. I had ice, mango, banana, coconut milk, pineapple juice and juuuust a few dates. It turned out so much like a custard in its consistency that I actually made some nut crust on the quick and turned it into mini pies. I made sure to add a dash of coconut oil and another banana since I know that will help with the frozen consistency as it thaws. But I'm looking forward to tucking into those maybe tomorrow. They're reasonably low fat, too. I've actually halved the cashew and substituted bananas for a lot of cheesecake recipes and have noticed no adverse effects. I should probably do that more often. 

    Dinner: I've had a few flax crackers I picked up in Bali. I'm going to go simple and do a red pepper tomato soup. I'm also taking stock of my fridge which was crazy full and kinda messy, since it'll have things like leftover pizza sauce that I simply can't bear to throw out. So, I'm trying to meal plan based on whatever clears out the fastest. I might do some mac n cheese with zoodles as a side... but I really don't want soggy noodles. I should salt them and squeeze them: might help. 

    My kid's finally feeling better, woohoo. This is a good thing because sleep has been terrible and she's wanted to nurse all the time. On the plus side, I really think the fact our household has done extended breastfeeding for as ridiculously long as we have is one reason why she's almost never sick. Even now, her temperature never got higher than 101. So, win for the house. 

     

    ClaireT
  • CatherineRCatherineR Raw Superstar

    Edit: yep, made the mac and cheese (left a 5* review on the Rawtarian's recipe page!) with zucchini noodles. Oh, and salting and squeezing the zoodles worked REALLY well. Made me wish I did that for my pesto dish the other day. I also made the red pepper soup. I probably wouldn't pair these two dishes together again since it was going from one creamy thing to the next but both were really solid dishes. 

    ClaireT
  • CatherineRCatherineR Raw Superstar

    Day 30: the laaaaast day!

    Wow, 30 day challenge finished. I'll do a meal wrap up and then go into the random stream of consciousness.

    Breakfast: because last night's dinner was so heavy (and I feel like I ate so much in general) I wasn't hungry most of today let alone at breakfast. I had a small bowl of cut mango and sapota, along with the cacao smoothie. Pretty light.

    Lunch: A bowl of carrot ginger soup. It was lovely, and simply carrots, ginger, salt, cashew, and pepper. It was for sure pulpier but I didn't mind the texture and thought it was quite rich.

    Post-lunch: finished my last of the strawberry cheesecake cups which have lasted what, a week now?

    Dinner: tomato soup and I made the "easy cheesy cracker bread" in the Rawtarian book. I contemplated what to do instead of buckwheat groats and found my long-lost sprouted black rice which I nearly gave up on! In fact, while they had sprouted they were also quite dry since I kept them out of water. Given the ingredients (sunflower seeds, black rice/buckwheat, chia, red pepper, coconut oil, salt), I was wondering how anyone could think this would yield a cheesy taste. I even had to stop myself from adding nutritional yeast. With that said, it invited me to use some spices and so I opted for fresh rosemary since it's one of favorite flavors, but I have a hard time finding opportunities to use it. When I made the batter and even when I put it in the dehydrator, I immediately thought I should've subbed olive oil for coconut oil since the coconut aroma was so strong. And the batter was also weird. But, just like the cauliflower crust, it really came together to make a fantastic (and cheesy. For real, it's cheesy wtf) flavor. Mine, however, didn't turn out anything close to crispy. It's more like a soft buttery cracker that bends a bit. I dehydrated for the prescribed amount of time, so maybe it's the rice that prevented the crispiness? Not sure. They're in the freezer now but maaaybe I'll throw them back in tomorrow since I do love a more crispy cracker. They're fine as is, though, and I'm still scratching my head as to what voodoo this is that it came out as flippin cheesy. Honestly.

     

    That wraps up the experiment. I'll do a lame FAQ. With myself. I should be like those bloggers who get to (likely make them up) and say, "I get asked these questions SO many times so here's a video." 

    Did I lose weight? 

    My total weight loss was about... 4 lbs. It's not much but I definitely feel the weight loss. I feel less bloated in general and my face is not puffy, so that's a neat effect. I reiterate that this wasn't a main goal of mine but it's surprising it happened considering this was a fat-filled delicious 30 days with no exercising, no calorie counting, and on a frame that didn't have very much to lose.

    What was the best and worst meals?

    The kale salad with ranch, as crazy as it is to say. Sometimes I eat food where I take a bite and it's so beautiful that I feel overwhelming gratitude for life. The cheesecake recipe was great, too. I'd say raw vegan desserts are seriously better than anything I remember as a non-vegan.

    Worst was probably some of the earlier botched meals like the beet salad. Oh, and the pineapple mint smoothie in Bali.

    Hardest part?

    The hardest part was probably at the two week mark since I was hungry with no decent way of procuring raw food, fruits, veggies, etc. When I first started the challenge it was a feeling of, "how can I do this without feeling like I'm being deprived, given my love of good food?" When I have a kitchen I can at least be semi-assured I'm in control of ensuring fullness and enjoyment of what's in front of me. When I was on vacation there wasn't that food security which sounds ridiculous and illogical--which they are--but new diets have a way of making one highly food obsessed while learning the ropes. The one thing I didn't want was for this diet to make me neurotic and I frequently did gut checks as to what attitude was reasonable and what was not. 

    Best part?

    There were a few best parts. First is the deliciousness of the food. I truly think a good raw vegan meal surpasses many cooked meal counterparts in terms of flavor and especially the way it makes one feel afterwards. Despite me (again, irrationally) wondering if I was going to feel deprived of food, these 30 days were filled with some of the best food I've probably had in my life, on par with the novelty to my first month in India being exposed to its incredible cuisine. The amazingness of the food was probably why I wouldn't categorize these 30 days as particularly challenging except for a few off days.

    Another "best part" was making the switch to organic, even though it came a bit late in the challenge. I'd been meaning to do this switch for a very long time, and now that I have, I can only wonder why I didn't do it sooner. My main intention was to "be the change I wish to see in the world" and I feel really grateful to play a role in helping organic farmers and shops purveying their food. It's not entirely altruistic because I noticed a huge difference in quality of produce as well.

    Third is probably the mental change. Maybe it's the food, maybe it's psychosomatic but it's easy to feel a lot more spiritual when eating raw. There is consistent questioning about how to improve the state of the world, how to improve myself, the connection between me and all living things, etc.

    Suggestions for those looking to do a 30-day challenge:

    --Use good recipes: Life is too short to spend hours on a crap recipe where you end up disliking the meal. There are many raw vegan recipes online but I would not trust many of them. In fact, at this point I am only going to trust either published recipes from books or the Rawtarian's online stuff.

    --Good tools go a long way. I personally have a Vitamix, a good knife, and a dehydrator. They made the 30 days so much easier. While these are costly, I'd still suggest them for anyone who may want to add more raw meals into their lifestyle without the whole "100% raw" label/dogma. Think of any activity or hobby one pursues, and then think of the difference it makes between using crappy tools vs high end ones. This goes for musical instruments, crafts, home repair, anything. 

    --Good produce goes a long way, too. Especially on raw.

    --Eat fat with no guilt. For the love, do not do an 80/10/10 as one's first foray into raw veganism. I mean, if one is looking for the equivalent of a P90X challenge then sure, go low fat and do mono meals. But if one wants to avoid the usual emotional frustrations surrounding the adoption of a new diet, then higher fats is the way to go. 

    --Expect a lot of time in the kitchen. Food prep takes a while, and one has to be okay with that. I finally came to terms with it when I acknowledged we spend less time in the kitchen thanks to processed convenience food, but it's fine to go back, spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and make wholesome meals from scratch. 

    --Eat enough calories. The only time this was hard was when I wasn't eating enough and I was hungry. When full, I had no inclination to eat anything cooked. Zero. 

     

  • CatherineRCatherineR Raw Superstar

    Will I continue eating raw?

    I give a tentative "yes" to this question. I know for a fact coffee is coming back, but I think I can sustain eating raw otherwise. The only reason it's tentative is because going raw took up a lot of headspace. More than I'd like to allocate on food, since with veganism I'm on autopilot. I'm willing to give it more time to try and strengthen those raw reflexes where maybe it too can become on autopilot... but I think I'll have to do maybe weekly meal plans. Think about it and plan it out for an evening, figure out when I need to dehydrate stuff, and go from there. 

    Oh, I may also have a once-a-month "cheat" day, because the thought of never having a bean burrito or Ethiopian food or a dosa or thai curry "ever again"... can't imagine it. It's strange because I don't miss it right now, but I just might soon! I think it'll help. I remember watching a documentary of this overweight woman who trained for a bikini competition who had once a week cheat days and I thought that was the worst idea ever. But, she actually ended up looking amazing in spite of eating pure junk food once a week. I also need to refine my motivation for why going raw is a good idea, too.

    Going forward...

    One thing I regret was not taking pictures of the food! I'll actually be doing that on an Imgur album or something. I also didn't take "before" pictures of me or my body and I'm okay with this, but I definitely wish I did it for the meals. When it comes to dieting/lifestyling, pictures are worth a thousand words.

    I also want to integrate a bit more exercise. I generally like classes of some kind, because doing videos at home or going to the gym kinda sucks. I'm not sure what exercise--maybe stupidly easy kinds since my baseline right now is zero--but something. Even a little will go a long way! I laugh when people say how they exercise so they can eat whatever they want, when for me personally I'd rather be tasked with eating nothing but fruit for the day than spend even 30 minutes at the gym. 

    I'm also going more and more offline, starting with an hour less each week. I think I'm plugged into devices far too much during the day and being in the kitchen has helped with this, come to think of it. 

    Alright, not sure if I'll keep updating here, but I don't see why not. It's as good a place as any. And thanks to ClaireT for the ever-vigilant thumbs up throughout the 30 days. :)

  • Harmony1Harmony1 Raw Superstar

    I truly enjoyed reading your journey and appreciated the honest account of the process. Your descriptions of the meals made my mouth water! And now I want to try that cucumber soup you mentioned in the beginning. Well done!

    CatherineR
  • CatherineRCatherineR Raw Superstar

    Day 31: I uh... guess I didn't stop! 

    First, I'm taking pictures of my meals and uploading them here:

    https://ibb.co/album/d1Kryv

    I am clearly not a food photographer nor do I aspire to be one, but I think it'll be super helpful in meal planning to see what I eat and what's worthy of repeats. 

    Today I spent a lot of time uploading recipes to Paprika, which is like a recipe managing software. It's so handy. I also downloaded the Rawtarian app on my phone. I also planned out the weekly meals and made a grocery list in accordance. It always feels like Christmas when the delivery guy shows up with the order. I got a few random stuff like wheatgrass powder since I want to make a concerted effort to have more greens in my juices and smoothies. 

    Breakfast: I got way too much fruit--bowl of sapota, bowl of mango, then a separate bowl of pomegranate, watermelon, and papaya. I still have the sapota in the fridge waiting for me tomorrow. But the fruit was so sweet, which is always a pleasure. Also had a coffee smoothie, hooray! 

    Lunch: Decided to make the Rawtarian's simple raw garlic dressing atop cucumber, tomato, pomegranate seeds and almond meal. Only problem was, I downsized the batch to 1/8, which I think made for some weird blending issues. I ended up adding more garlic and a little more lemon juice, and I could taste the potential but it wasn't totally there for me. I think making a full size batch and letting it sit for a day would've gone a long way. Oh, the fresh thyme in it was nice. :)

    Post-lunch: had the mango parfait. The taste is good but I probably need to let it thaw for longer since it's a little ice crystal-y... which I know is not a problem if there was more banana, cashew or coconut (ie, fat). Still was good, though!

    Dinner: Awesome mac and cheese with the cheesy crackers. I blended the sauce for a long time and it tasted even better. It actually spooned out like Velveeta. The crackers were waaaay too soft out of the freezer so I ended up just mashing small squares of them in the mac and cheese which tasted really good. That said, it was obvious that if I'm to enjoy the rest I'll need to dehydrate them again. 

    Thumbs up food day! I'm trying to eat earlier in the evenings and drink more water, too. So far so good, though I don't want to take on too many rules all at once. 

    ClaireT
  • CatherineRCatherineR Raw Superstar

    Day 32-33: I'm away from my abode both of these days, but I did stay raw yesterday (32). 

    Breakfast: Had mango and sapota, and coffee smoothie

    Lunch: Raw granola with coconut milk

    Dinner: Big kale salad with ranch dressing. Toppings were red pepper and avocado. It was a fat-filled salad for sure but really good, especially because I didn't have much to eat during the earlier parts of the day. Part of it was lowered appetite but also just being out and about.

    I also exercised for about 25 mins. I stole Lissa's workout (from Raw Food Romance), because it's pretty basic but juuust challenging enough for someone as exercise-a-phobic as myself. Plus, she too hates repetitive workouts and isn't like a lot of raw foodists who for some reason immediately jump into cycling for 10 miles or running for 5. That said, I think I'll do it in the evenings rather than morning since it left me feeling tired. My food intake was lower for most of the day but I also just wasn't very hungry and I don't believe in forcing myself to eat (nor restricting myself). Energy is a mysterious thing. On raw, one tends to have more of it but it's still possible to have 100% raw days and just feel *tired* either because of hormones, busy workday, whatever. 

    All is good, though. :) Not sticking with the weekly meal plan on account of change in location but I'll do a lot more fun recipes come tomorrow. 

    Matt_Raw
  • ClaireTClaireT Raw Master

    I love the pictures...and that you didn't stop after the 30 days!

  • CatherineRCatherineR Raw Superstar

    Thanks Claire, glad to still be going rawrrrr. smile

    Day 33: Despite being out and about so much, I managed a-ok. I didn't take photos of every meal but I did for the main ones. Album is updated.

    Breakfast: More raw granola, but I added some more of the trail mix to lighten it (those buckwheat clusters are so dense). I also ate a larger bowl of it because I knew I'd be out of the house for a while. I was a little nervous to be going to this event of which I was a cohost because I didn't want to appear rude for not eating. Turns out, no one noticed or cared that I never grabbed a plate. Oh, also had coffee.

    Lunch: I had zucchini pasta topped with tomatoes. I didn't have lemon so I ended up having a cashew sauce that was more like the ranch dressing, but I ate every bite. I didn't take a picture because it was a quick meal and didn't have my phone handy (nor did I want to whip it out at the lunch table). 

    Snack: Orange juice, plus more trail mix. 

    Dinner: Red pepper soup and the last of the flax crackers I brought from Bali. 

    I exercised again yesterday in the evening-ish and it worked out (heh) a lot better than in the morning. Mood was fine all around. I've been loading recipes into Paprika, but it seriously makes me hungry. Unsurprising that staring at delicious food can do that to a person. 

    Matt_RawClaireT
  • CatherineRCatherineR Raw Superstar

    Day 34:

    Breakfast was a bowl of papaya and coffee smoothie. I also later had more granola with coconut milk and trail mix. My meals are a bit repetitive since I didn't have much on hand there like I do here.

    Lunch: Big bowl of red pepper soup with half an avocado. Definitely on the denser side for yesterday but it was really hearty and sat well. 

    Dinner (which I had around 5): Mango and sapota. 

    It doesn't sound like a lot of food but I remember feeling like I was eating big portions. 

    ------

    Day 35

    Still a bit early to report in, but I have a good sense of what I'll be eating for dinner.

    Morning: Mango parfait, pomegranate seeds and papaya. Coffee as usual.

    Lunch: Had a ton of celery on hand so I made some celery soup! Mine didn't turn out like the Rawtarian's appeared, despite using the same recipe. I think it's because the celery here is super dense and not as water-rich as the kind in N America. 

    Post-lunch I prepped the tuna sandwich wrap. I used the onion flax wrap recipe from the book but without a food processor I didn't quite know how the texture of the onions should be. I minced maybe a third of the onions super-fine, but then tried to process the rest of the onions in the blender and those turned out downright mushy. But hey, I threw some flax seed meal on the mix, added salt, and threw it in the dehydrator. I won't blame the recipe if it doesn't come out as wrap-like, but it'll still be a good complement to the tuna so I'm fine with it. 

    Dinner, we'll see how that wrap turns out.

    I might also go for a green smoothie since I froze some mango, have good pineapple juice, and wheatgrass powder on hand. I remember being horrified by the premise of green smoothies two years ago thinking they'd taste awful, but have since built a high tolerance for the greens taste. That said, the thought of using wheatgrass powder might require some ramping up. I got the powder because greens are somewhat hard to procure here. There is spinach, but it's not the delicate salad type. Most are cooked here because the taste is just too overwhelming. I might go back to the spinach, but perhaps I'll see how the powder goes.

    I'm trying to not eat late in the nights, too. Something about eating like a king for breakfast and pauper for dinner. 

    Oh, still exercising, too. It's not so bad when I get to watch/listen to music videos for over half of it. 

    ClaireT
  • ClaireTClaireT Raw Master

    I know what you mean about the green smoothies. It took me an age to adjust to kale. It's still not my favorite green leafy veg, but I have come to appreciate it in small to medium portions in my smoothies. 

    CatherineR
  • CatherineRCatherineR Raw Superstar

    Day 36:

    Breakfast: had a giant green smoothie of pineapple juice, coconut milk, mango, a few dates, and wheatgrass. I'm going to try to get in the habit of green smoothies since I realize it turned out well with wheatgrass and I can stomach it easily enough. That said, the smoothie looks puke green so it's not quite the looker as when one adds, say, spinach or kale. My kid liked it too, so that's a win. 

    Lunch: Purple cabbage salad with carrot, tomato, pomegranate seeds and ranch.

    Dinner: Zucchini mac and cheese with cheesy crackers. 

    As for day 37, I had a realization that made me suuuuper happy. The south Indian breakfast crepe known as a dosa is a delicious dish. One I miss. But when I looked at the batter, nothing is cooked. It's soaked rice and dal ground into a paste, and then fermented. That becomes the batter, which is then fried like a pancake or crepe. When I realized this I thought, "woah, I could totally dehydrate this!" So, the plan is on to do this with black rice and dal. I don't know how it'll turn out, but to have dosas back in my rotation would be pretty fantastic. I could also probably replicate the coconut chutney, but the tempered mustard seeds (ie, oil-fried little seeds that pop and release the flavor) would be sorely missed. I will figure this out, though! 

    Oh, and I officially picked up buckwheat flour and something called jowar (sorghum) flour, too. That'll be fun!

    Still exercising. That's not fun. I also weighed myself and despite feeling lighter and even stronger I'm still at exactly the same weight as about two weeks ago. I like to think it's all that hard core muscle I'm building... hah, probably not. 

  • CatherineRCatherineR Raw Superstar

    Day 37: 

    Morning I had another large green smoothie made of just mangos, coconut milk, ice, and the wheatgrass. And usual coffee. 

    Lunch: salad with a creamy mustard dressing and purple cabbage, carrot, tomato, celery, and raisins--it was really delicious.

    Dinner: easily my favorite meal today since I made a fantastic pizza. I made the cauliflower crust, and I also marinated some veggies beforehand: just some Bragg's, olive oil, date syrup, and Italian seasoning. The veggies were zucchini, red pepper, tomato, and onions. I let those sit for an hour before throwing them in the dehydrator. I also made a great marinara by blending fresh tomato, sundried tomato, a date, walnut, garlic, a bit of olive oil, and more pizza seasoning. It came out suuuuuper delicious. I also liked that it made my whole kitchen smell lovely.

    Tomorrow I'm out and about. I'll throw the dosas in the dehydrator tomorrow morning in prep for when I'm back for dinner. I'm not sure how long to set them, is the thing. Maybe I'll do 5 hours at 115? I'll be home in time to let them dehydrate for a few more hours if they're still too runny. It's too bad I won't be around to check up on the progress and go from there, though. Ah well, it'll be an experiment for sure! 

    Matt_Raw
  • ClaireTClaireT Raw Master

    My money is on the weight being muscle smile It doesn't take much of it to replace a good amount of fat when it comes to the actual weight. 

    The dosas sound awesome! You'll have to tell us how they turn out. 

  • CatherineRCatherineR Raw Superstar

    Thanks for the unwavering optimism, Claire. :) At least I'm finally being able to do a sit up again. 

    Day 38: I was on the go yesterday. I got dropped off at Starbucks and had a fruit cup and tea. Then I walked across the street to a small minimart where they amazingly had raw (cold pressed) juices and even this flax snack granola thingie. So, I picked up some green juice, beet juice, and a liter of mango-pineapple juice. Drank the former two, saved the mango juice.

    Lunch was red pepper soup.

    Post-lunch I had the flax snacks.

    When I got home, I checked on the "dosas" which were brittle crackers--not a hint of leavening. I tried with more batter and monitored them, but they turned out terrrrrribly. Glue-like mess that even when slightly soft and somewhat moist, didn't taste very good. I know it's possible to make raw vegan crepes, so I'm not sure if it was just me giving up prematurely but this experiment was a fail. Ah well. Proud of myself for trying. I also made a green smoothie with the mango juice, coconut, lime, ice, and wheatgrass. 

    Dinner was a giant kale salad. I wasn't good at taking many pics yesterday but it was a good food day. Really happy to have fortuitously found the juice. That kept me going until lunch.

    ClaireT
  • ClaireTClaireT Raw Master

    Aw. Sorry to hear about the dosas. There are always future attempts! 

  • CatherineRCatherineR Raw Superstar

    I'm still raw! Just being lazy at the documentation process... but I've been having fun in the kitchen with various veggie burgers. Unfortunately I'm having a hard time getting good recipes. I'll try one from online that looks gorgeous and it just turns out to be rubbish. I also tried a recipe from yet another pretty well-known raw foodist who self-published her recipe book and I've not been pleased with the outcomes of those, either. 

    I guess I'll continue my Julia and Julia-like endeavor of just trying the recipes from the Rawtarian's book since those have been overwhelmingly good. 

    On the whole, it's been pretty easy being raw! No cravings at all for cooked food and I'm in a decent routine: fruit or a green smoothie for breakfast (and the usual coffee), a salad for lunch, and for dinner I'll have soup, some type of pasta or dehydrated meal (sandwich or pizza). Snacks will be something sweet, salty, or a juice. 

    Oh, exercise fell by the wayside though. Otherwise all good, but I may not do as regular of updates. Just perhaps checkins. :)

    ClaireT
  • ClaireTClaireT Raw Master

    You have my breakfast routine down wink

     I'm glad that eating raw has been working out for you. I feel like a part of your journey after this past month smile

  • CatherineRCatherineR Raw Superstar

    Thanks, Claire, you've totally been my check-in buddy, too. It's been much appreciated. Oh, and I love breakfast because it requires zero thought--throw in some fruit and greens, and good to go. :)

    Also checking in to say I found that dosa substitute, yay! I tried Markus Rothkranz and Cara Brotman's raw vegan naan recipe made from coconut meat. I have super easy access to tender coconut meat here so I figured I'd give it a try: it's just blending coconut meat with onion, then dehydrating the mixture while topping it with garlic, more onion, and a few spices. I was actually really impressed with the consistency and texture, although admittedly I've toned down the onion on subsequent batches. It tastes suuuper spicy otherwise. But it makes for a fantastic wrap--soft, holds together well. Which is great because I've spent like, $10 on a pack of coconut wraps from Whole Foods before and they weren't good at all. The most recent thing I made was a soft taco and was impressed that it held up beautifully. This one's a winner. Only thing that may hold me back is finding out those suckers are a million calories and while I generally don't hold that as a benchmarker for what I will/won't eat, that's a little steep even for me. But I'm super thrilled to have discovered the beauty of coconut wraps, esp because they're so easy to make here. I've since made "soft tacos" and even momos with them. 

    It's funny because every time I'm in the US I think, "how am I going to survive back in India without things like peaches, cherries, good lettuce, hemp seeds and this restaurant to keep me raw?" And then when in India I wonder how I can go to the US without my fresh coconut meat, mango for breakfast, coconut water, dehydrator and amazing dates?" Funny the way that works!

    But yeah, still going raw and still doing well. :)

    ClaireT
  • ClaireTClaireT Raw Master

    I never thought of coconut as a super high calorie food, but it makes sense that it would be, especially if it's the main ingredient. The wraps sound good. 

    That's one of the reasons I love to travel. These is so much food variety out there, and it's always nice to go back to a place and revisit everything we fell in love with the first time. 

     

  • CatherineRCatherineR Raw Superstar

    I'm still raw two months in--yay! I call this the month of the dehydrator. I've been using that thing like crazy but it's introduced so many fun and wonderful dishes that I wouldn't ordinarily try. They also tend to be much more filling, too!

    One noticeable effect of going raw is an increase in my vocal range. I'm not a professional singer by any means but I'm trained decently enough. I was singing some old songs and noticed some high notes that used to give me trouble were super easy to hit. I then did a few other songs and noticed the same thing. Tried again the next few days and no problem. Who knew? I do notice I have little to no phlegm eating this way, so maybe that's it. But yeah, any vocalist should seriously do a raw vegan diet. 

    I picked up Matt Amsden's book and have been playing around with the recipes. They're more sophisticated (read: complicated) than what I'm used to, and some are more time-intensive as well: I remember seeing one where I had to soak an ingredient for a day and then dehydrate for another two days. I remember thinking how ain't nobody got time for that. Some are also insanely high fat (a noodle dish has 2 1/2 cups of oil... for one serving. No joke), but the majority of recipes attempted have been fun and delicious. They have a love affair with coconut meat which I'm happy to have on hand, so that's been cool. The recipes are from their restaurant and it's been such a delight making stuff that seemed like magic to me when it'd be served beautifully on a plate for $20 per dish. 

    Oh, non-raw stuff: I got puffed amaranth and used it to make little (otherwise raw) dessert balls. No guilt. :)

    One of the fun things about making my own food is getting to use high end stuff that isn't practical (or is so pricey) when made in restaurants. For example, today I made a berry smoothie with cacao, which might not sound exotic but berries are insanely hard to procure where I live. Another example is using the hazelnut oil I have, or the beautiful fresh vanilla pods. Though people may think a raw diet is deprivation, sometimes I eat stuff where I feel so blessed and grateful because it feels like such a luxurious treat.

    That's it in my neck of the woods. 

     

    ClaireT
  • ClaireTClaireT Raw Master

    Awesome :) :) It does sound like you are finding some great things to eat, which makes life so much more interesting and a raw diet so much easier to manage!

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