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Community PageClaire T, you nailed it! Just now getting my bearings and then, time to go back. 
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Day 20: Yesterday was a bit of overindulgence on the food scene! Breakfast was fruit, and some of the leftover raw hummus and crackers I picked up.
For lunch I ordered the cucumber tomato salad with tahini, as well as raw Asian rice. The rice dish was surprisingly good! They minced cashew, carrot, onion, and a bit of cucumber and added tamari sauce and coconut oil. It had a great mouth feel to it and was very filling. I think I'm going to replicate this dish when I get home. I ended up adding the tomato cucumber salad (which were also minced) because the "rice" was too heavy otherwise.
Post-lunch, I got a smoothie of coconut milk, pineapple and mint... which I later had to add almonds and dates to because it was otherwise too grassy and not very sweet (I find pineapple here is chewier and not as sweet as India or the US).
Dinner, I ordered a large salad and raw tempeh. I really like raw tempeh because it has a texture that's very hard to replicate in other raw foods--that chewiness and that filling density, too. I also got a piece of raw chocolate but didn't eat it yet because I was just too full. Because of the heavier foods for lunch I was glad to have some of the lighter greens. It's actually a bit hard to get (salad) greens in India, although it's getting easier. Plus, I find leafless salads are actually delicious in their own right: Just add more of the things like carrot, beets, tomato, cucumber, etc, and it's fine. But anyway, the salad last night was simple but hit the spot.
Oh, random notes: I got an awesome glass straw. It's one of the only things I got this trip since I'm not much of a shopper, and it's a silly thing but I really like it. Also got its pipe cleaner because I don't like the idea of not being able to clean it.
I also tried ear candling--I read about it here on this forum and saw a sign for it, so I decided to do it for fun. Can't say any bugs came out or ridiculous grossness, but hey, my ears are now just a bit cleaner than before!
Today it's going back home. Great vacation, and great to be going back, too. In a lot of respects Bali is better than my home city, but there's something about home that's just comforting, too. Not even from a food perspective (though that may definitely be a part of it!) but just being back among the people I know and love.
Day 16-18:
Day 16 and 17 were limited in options and I was trying to be creative as a result. A lot of cucumber, some nut dressings which were so-so, fruit salads in the morning, and pretty basic food. I definitely got irritable on a few occasions mostly because I was so tired of eating the same stuff over and over and over again. Variety is a pretty important part of a raw vegan lifestyle and while I don't need gourmet all the time, I at least want to feel like I have access to a decent selection of fruits and veggies, and that I can go to the store to get basics. I didn't have that at our new place where we stayed for 4 days. No decent market (or at least, it was closed often), and just... not much. The store didn't have a produce section, to give an idea of its limitations. Plus the fruit just wasn't that good. I found some freeze-dried fruit and that helped a bit. Oh, and got those dates!
Day 18: Had the usual fruit breakfast, but shifted to one of the most touristy locations in Bali. I already knew there were great raw options here, so I went a little crazy and ordered nut burger, veggie burger, avocado soup and a dessert. I think my appetite shrank or something because I was full after half the nut burger. I'm stocked for the day as a result!
I don't want to sound ungrateful for being in such a lovely place, though I won't mind getting back home and back to my normal life. :) On the plus side, my stamina has been surprisingly good! I hauled my toddler around on a small trek to a waterfall with steep inclines and managed well. I can't say I notice any other obvious effects of being raw. Two weeks ain't a lot of time, though, so it's not like I expect sunshine and sprinkles. I don't like that emotions are tied with food, though, since normally that indicates... well, not a good mental headspace. The thing I always loved about veganism was its general liberation from concerns about what to eat, how much, etc. I have a great food compass on a vegan diet and I've wondered if that can be refined with raw veganism. I don't know the answer to that, but feelings of frustration around food is a new feeling that I'm wrangling with. I'm still figuring out if that's normal, a typical part of the experience, or if it's a sign that this isn't a good idea. I'm going to fulfill the 30 days for sure, but I definitely have questions about the long-term feasibility based on the mental part of it.
I notice when I'm full, life is good so maybe I just need to eat more. And to eat more means to plan better. That's the other thing, though: I don't like planning my food. I have to remember back when I was vegan, though, and there wasn't even soy ice cream as a standard option. There was a time when vegetarians had limited options at restaurants, too... but now there's such a world of choice. I don't know if raw vegans will ever get there, but the plethora of recipes that have proliferated online is a great sign. I guess what I'm saying is that it's okay to be a little food frustrated or food conscious. Maybe it's just part of learning the ropes of a new lifestyle, which always takes some getting used to. I don't know when that goes away, though. Or if it does. Or what that grace period should look like. It doesn't help that while there are countless good vegan role models, the number of raw ones are very, very limited. I remember getting into raw back in 2005-2006 and none of those same raw foodists are still raw today. Anyway, long tangent... but just typing aloud.
Interesting, I've never heard it can cause vomiting! Peeling zucchini might help, but I find it one of the most monotone-tasting veggies, so I'm not sure how it can be nausea-inducing.
Carrots are another good food to spiralize. I add some salt to mine and let it sit for a bit to soften them into more bendy noodles.
Still going raw, but it's been a bit harder since we left Ubud. We went to an ecolodge where it was a captive market situation when it came to food, but they had a few raw options. And by "a few" I mean two, so it was a ton of salad and a veggie wrap with cashew sauce. Thankfully I brought a hand blender that's been a lifesaver. Plus I stocked a few veggies so it's been manageable. Now we're at a place on the beach which is fantastic, but just as remote when it comes to options. At least there's a full kitchen since I had to borrow a knife in the last place.
Day 11-15: at the ecolodge
Breakfast: a fruit platter and some fruit juice. Not too extensive when it came to fruits, though the snake fruit was nice!
Lunch: The raw wrap and a salad. Sometimes green juice or a smoothie.
Dinner: Salad
Snacks--I had some cashews, cacao, and cucumber slices while there.
To give credit to the lodge, their greens were grown on-site and were phenomenal. But it definitely got... monotonous. To be expected, coming from a place like Ubud where the selection was unreal.
Day 15 dinner: shifted to the new place. We went to the local market but it was closing so there were only a few stalls open and selling very basics like tomatoes and cucumber. Thankfully cucumber is legit one of my favorite foods, and one of the takeout restaurants had a tomato basil salad. I built on that and made a walnut pesto dressing, then drizzled it over the balsamic tomatoes and cut up more cucumbers. It turned out surprisingly well. Today, though, we may have to get a car to drive the requisite 30 minutes to get to a decent store--it was a 25-minute trek up some crazy hills to get to the little local market, and that seems not fun when carrying stuff like watermelon.
That's the update! There have definitely been a few, "why am I even doing this?" especially when there were lovely vegan options at the lodge. I'm getting into the, "this isn't fun" part of the diet (er, lifestyle). It's to the point where I've lost interest in the food and feel a bit more of a defeatist attitude. But, I'm happy with my ability to prep and make my own food. For example, oranges plus almonds plus ice and salt = decent smoothie. I'd kill for some dates right now, though!
