Week 17: Day 2 ~ Stir Fry & 5 Days Raw!

I am really happy to say that I think I have turned a corner and seem to be doing well. No apparent reason, *except* that my friend Annalise challenged me to 7 days 100% raw with steamed no-starch veggies as the only exception. I do so well with challenges, I really thrive on them! So I determined to stay 100%, even through the women's retreat at our church this weekend. I did really well, actually, all things considered.

I was 100% raw with a gigantic stirfry once per day, until Saturday night when we had a "feast" and they served a delicious dinner (plus I was hungry at the time; not very smart!). I decided to go ahead and eat the dinner they served, seeing as it was a very special occasion that happens rarely and I wanted to really enjoy myself. So it was really good and WORTH it, salad w/croutons & ranch, yummy homemade roll, parmesan chicken with rice, green beans and almonds with a big slice of chocolate cake! Afterwards I determined, like I always do, that I am going to be 100% raw from now on and then was promptly tempted to eat some of the spinach dip they served with the veggies afterwards. But I didn't! My stomach wasn't feeling too well at that point so I decided to just "fast" for the rest of the night. I ate half a banana before bed, though.

From then on, I've been 100% raw + my stirfry which I am in love with. =) Basically I throw a TON of all my favorite nonstarchy veggies into a big pan w/1 T. of coconut butter, and add Bragg's, Ginger, Salt, & Pepper. Yum!

It feels really good to know that I'm on the path I want to be for my health and not a slave to my cravings. That's not to say it won't be easy but I am hoping I'm back on track for good.

Today I got inspired to go for a walk because it was gorgeous weather out there. I walked a mile & a half to the school & back, picking up DS from Kindergarten. It was really cold, though, and Jack was crying by the time we got back. It felt good...I wonder how things will turn out if I exercise on a regular basis this pregnancy? I've never been able to do that, but I'm thinking maybe this time I just might. I have all my weights and workout bench in the garage and I thought - if I make up a chart and just work 2 muscle areas per day, that would probably make a big difference. It would take maybe 15 minutes each day, but also build muscle which speeds up your metabolism. I know I'm going to be so glad I did when it comes to postpartum and trying to get back in shape in the summer, especially.

Starting weight: 127
Week 8: 130
Week 9: 130
Week 10: 132
Week 11: 135
Week 12: 136
Week 13: 137
Week 14: 138
Week 15: 140
Week 16: 144 (4-day vacation where I ate SAD the entire time, & gained 4lbs!)
Week 17: 143

Today I made Almond Joy nuggets, all raw. It's my first experience with cacao butter, and it took me so long to melt it that I gave up and tried to mix it with it about 3/4 of the way melted. Probably why the chocolate didn't turn into the drippy, melty chocolate it was supposed to. It was more of a thicker, cake frosting consistency so I wasn't able to dip the coconut mixture and properly get the chocolate to cover it to form cute little Almond Joy nuggets.

Instead, I improvised and ended up making a "pie" of sorts - with the first/bottom layer being the coconut, the top layer the chocolate, and then sprinkled coconut flakes on top with almonds all around the edge. It turned out pretty yummy and all my kids were begging for tastes. It's too rich to eat as a meal or anything like that, so I put it in the fridge to have a few spoonfulls now & then when I feel like something sweet besides my favorite, dates.

Week 15: Day 5 ~ Greens

I have to leave soon for an appointment, but I wanted to jot down this little goal that I've set for myself. I've been trying to eat 1lb of greens per day, minimum. So basically I stuff 1lb of greens into my once-per-day smoothie which also includes (today, anyway) 6 bananas, 1 huge apple, and 2 cups of water. That's 7.5oz of spinach and 8.5oz of romaine for the greens which basically turns out to be 1 bunch of each. So, two bunches of greens per day. Then if I also have a salad later in the day it'll be an extra bonus. =)

The cool thing is that Jack totally doesn't seem to mind if his bananas are mixed with greens either. So this morning for breakfast he had 2.5 medium sized bananas, 1 packed cup of spinach, and 1/4 of an apple. I know, he eats alot, lol! He didn't quite finish all of it, but most of it. I love knowing I'm giving him life-giving food!

Week 14: Day 5 ~ Craving Salads!

This is so cool! Salads have been on my bad list for a really long time. I don't know why, but they've always seemed annoyingly SLOW to eat and prepare, and I couldn't be bothered. Much easier just to throw some greens into the blender w/fruit and drink quickly.

Recently we went to our church's weekend retreat, and often times the last day they'll put out a big cart full of the leftover food and label it "Free". I've never seen such an overflowing cart! Just taking ONE of each thing, I had a big box that was almost too big for me to carry. For my family I got alot of SAD things including roast, chicken, etc - but one of the meals had been a salad bar. So I was able to come away with big Ziploc baggies full of chopped & ready to go lettuce, cheese, onions, broccoli, bell peppers, and olives.

THEN I happened upon a nice sale at Fred Meyer - pre-cut lettuce and readymade salads are $1.00 each, regularly $3.99! I think I got 10 of them, mostly spinach because I love how easy it is to throw that in the blender without needing to wash it. But I also got some spring mix lettuce and European lettuce, baby lettuce mixes...I just save the packets of other stuff (croutons, roasted nuts, dressing) for my DH. So I've been enjoying the most scrumptious salads and they're super easy to make because they're already cut up. I don't have the cheese, but I have been eating the olives - that and sun-dried tomato vinaigrette dressing are the only things not raw on my salad.

I can't seem to find a good italian or vinaigrette dressing! I made one yesterday that ew, wasn't very good at all. It seems like my attempts as of late are kind of disasters. =( But I really want to find a good homemade raw dressing so I can eat a 100% raw salad (olives are gone now, thankfully!) knowing I'm staying all raw.

My cacao butter isn't scheduled to arrive until the 13th! Waaah! But fortunately my agave arrived today - it was very weird to be out of that. You can't really make much without it, I didn't realize how much I relied on it!

I can tell, though, that I need to get more fresh fruits in my system - I've been living on dehydrated and other raw stuff that requires alot of ingredients lately. I've noticed alot more gas. Even the salads have quite alot of different ingredients; I love adding sunflower seeds, walnuts, and raisins to them too. I wonder how that is on digestion?

I wish it were easier to eat 80-10-10 as far as mindsets go. I get so restless and bored just eating mono fruit meals in the winter. I long for watermelon and berries - but especially watermelon. I'm excited that my baby is coming smack in the middle of the season because I know it's going to help me lose alot of water weight and also keep me really hydrated since I'll need that to build milk supply.

Sometimes I get so excited realizing that I've been given another chance to go through the awesome experience of having another baby. It gives me chills to think of the monumental way each child has formed me into the person I am. And I'm so thankful for these things!

Other times I look down at my growing tummy and I quite honestly can't believe that I'm pregnant again. Again! Seems like I was just pregnant, like JUST last month. Not very many people get to have 7 babies in 10 years - to me, it's normal, but I have to admit it is alot to swallow sometimes. I'm humble though, to think of the faith in God I've been given and I'm so grateful for that gift.

Week 14: Day 3 ~ Chocolate chocolate chocolate!

Chocolate has been my downfall ever since I got pregnant. To me there is something that just feels good when I sit in front of the computer to surf/read blogs and have an ample supply of chocolate at my elbow. I munch & munch, enjoying the endorfins that come from it and then....of course, feel like crap about 1/2 an hour later.

I've been working really hard, every day, to change my mindset and when I feel like just zoning out with chocolate, usually because of some stressful thing or another, I am trying to focus on something raw that I really enjoy that I can have instead.

So I found some raw chocolate recipes that look sooo good! I had to order some things online in order to make them, mostly cacao butter - but I also have most of the ingredients already.

Yesterday & today I actually did my workout!! It felt positively LOVELY and I love the sore feeling I have today. My workout is just 20 minutes from start to finish, and I do it right after the kiddos go to school in the morning. Afterwards I skin brush from head to toe, and my skin on my face is already feeling more smooth. That combined with eating raw will hopefully help me lose these love handles that have appeared quite rapidly from eating so much junk.

I've also been looking outside with longing to go running again - I will probably mostly just do a powerwalk and possibly work up slowly into a jog, but I'll do what I feel my body is telling me to do as far as that goes.

Starting weight: 127
Week 8: 130
Week 9: 130
Week 10: 132
Week 11: 135
Week 12: 136
Week 13: 137
Week 14: 138

Another post...Almond Milk & Weigh-In Surprise

So Tereza you asked about Almond Milk? Oooooh it's yummy! (And by the way we are MISSING you guys this weekend!! I wanna see that sweet baby girl!) I make it like this:

1 cup almonds soaked for 5-6 hours to make the enzymes "live"
3 cups of water
1 T. Agave

I mix this altogether in my Vitamix, about 1 minute until it's creamy and frothy. Then I have little bag made out of netting - I've also used nylons or you can use cheesecloth...you get the picture, that type of very fine mesh sort of strainer.

Strain, then you'll have a rich, creamy YUM-O almond milk. To make it creamier, add less water...or sweeter, add more honey or agave. Last night I put about 1 1/2 cups in the Vitamix (of just the milk) and added 5 frozen strawberries.......walah, strawberry milk! It's so good I am always having to keep myself from drinking more because I need it for Jack, at least until my almond shipment comes in.

The cool thing is, you can do it with other nuts too, not just almonds. I know those can be spendy. I've heard Brazil nuts make really yummy milk, and you can do it with seeds too such as Sesame Seeds (not sure about the water/seeds ratio though).

I also dry the pulp and grind it in my little coffee grinder, using it as "flour" in raw recipes. Here's an almond milk recipe page I found from a simple Google search:

http://www.all-creatures.org/cb/r-milkalt.html

So this morning I weighed myself - over Christmas I especially struggled with SAD food and my weight actually reached 140, which is a 13 lb weight gain in 7 weeks or so. YIKES! This morning I weighed in at 138 - yay! I hoped my weight would go down after I stopped eating so much junk, even just water weight. Hopefully I'll hold steady at about 137-138 for a few weeks now like I did last pregnancy around this time. Baby's not growing THAT big just yet, lol!

Week 13: Day 7 ~ I'm so excited!

I'm *supposed* to be getting many littles ready for church which starts in 2 hours, but I just wanted to jot this down before I forget. But my two little ones are trying to play the Princess Wii game and they can't figure it out so I don't know much I'll be able to do anyway. =)

I'm just excited because I think I've been able to turn over a new leaf. I get in these ruts and can't get out of them no matter how hard I try - and then get inspired somehow, by something whatever it happens to be. I think for me it was being challenged to feed Jack as raw as possible - and in doing so I've been inspired to be raw too.

So the past few days haven't been perfect, but that is why I'm excited - I'm still up & running! Yesterday for example. Bret & I had an all-day appointment in Portland, so we got up early and got the kids off to Grandma's. Being gone all day can be hard when you're 100% raw, so I planned the best I could with extra bananas and 2 32oz. bottles of green smoothie stuffed with greens, bananas, apples, flax seed, and bee pollen. Some of which I fed Jack, too, as it was pretty thick from the flax, alot like pudding.

We ended up having to walk quite a ways to our all day appointment, so I left one of the bottles in the car - thus at lunchtime I was quite hungry. We only had 30 minutes for lunch and there was a cafe in the building, so we went there. They didn't even have much for vegetarians, and their usually plentiful salad bar was closed due to it being the 2nd, practically a holiday.

So I ended up getting a sesame seed bagel, toasted, with mayo & stuffed with fresh veggies. It was delicious, and they also included some cooked veggies for me, which I was happy with. I also bought a Waldorf salad pre-made that came with blue cheese dressing which I just put a tiny bit on so it wasn't too bland. It came with apples, delicious mixed greens, grapes, walnuts, and tomatoes. Later after eating my last banana, I was hungry for a snack so I found some "all natural" nut mix in their little store - mixture of nuts & dried fruit.

All these things are not the best obviously, since raw would have been, but my point is that I COULD have gotten anything I wanted, including muffins, candybars, etc - all of which I have been giving in to in the last months. Hurray! It felt SO wonderful! Then the dilemma - it was 5:15 when we got done, and the kids were being fed dinner at Grandma's so...we could have gotten takeout dinner on the way home anywhere I wanted. Instead (and this was a bit hard because I love eating takeout w/DH, just memories & stuff) I drank my smoothie & DH got mexican takeout.

Last night as I was laying in bed, I figured out something. If I go into each day with the mindset that I DO want to eat raw, but everything else looks soooo good and it's soooo hard, etc - then I am building myself up to fail. But if I go into each knowing - okay, Sherah. This is going to be hard. It's NOT going to be easy - and when I EXPECT it to be a suffering, then I can go into the situations armed with a mind of steel. This will of steel is what got me through so many months - years actually - of being 100% raw or close to it. Like there IS no choice, I will simply be raw, come what may, to the best that I can (like yesterday).

I've been GREATLY enjoying almond milk!! I just love it - and I found the best recipe for raw Cranberry Maple Granola that I absolutely can't wait to try. I've got the stuff coming in the mail soon - and I really miss having cereal in the morning. Even though I haven't had it in years, I still miss it. I used to have SAD granola and bran muffins like ALL the time (and gained lots of weight with it!) and while I know that now it would make me feel awful, at the time I loved it. Here's a picture - doesn't it look delicious?

The other good thing is Jack LOVES almond milk as well! I've ordered 20lbs of almonds - I plan to routinely give him that instead of milk. It also makes him much more full, since the milk I give him is nonfat and quite watery anyway. He's still waking up at night but at least his diaper is not always soaked through (due to the almond milk being more dense, his body utilizes the nutrients more, I think) and I only have to give him half a bottle and his little tummy is happy. I love knowing I'm giving him something nutritious!

Okay, well, I better scoot. Here's to a beautiful, raw day!