Day 4

Last night was tough - made lasagna w/ garlic bread for my family & it smelled SO good! One thing that kept me from eating it, though (besides the cheese & butter) was that I had noticed that I didn't get tired in the afternoon like I usually do. There have been days in my life when I just couldn't keep going without a nap. Yesterday, I didn't get tired at all! So I had another salad and the last of the chickpea watercress mix in a ww pita.

So I finished off the day well. Had trouble getting to sleep, which is nothing new for me, but it was different. Like it just wasn't time for bed, yet. More energy, maybe - too early to say for sure, I think.

Today, I thought about having my usual Heritage Flakes with almond milk for breakfast, but went with pineapples instead. Started getting hungry around 10:30, but that happens no matter what I eat. I staved it off & had a big salad at 11:30, then an apple. There's a bowl of white bean soup calling to me, but I think I'm going to save it for supper & see if I can do all raw until then again today.

I have had a few very brief headaches & felt a little nauseous Tuesday night, but that's been it for the detox. I have rosacea and am hoping this diet will help clear that up, but it hasn't gotten worse, so that's good.

I actually gained .4 pounds yesterday, and I'm not sure how that happened, but since you really aren't supposed to weight yourself every day anyway, I'm not going to worry about it. Last January, I followed Eat to Live for 2 weeks and lost 11 pounds. I started from a higher weight that time though (I gained back 5 of those 11 in a year) so maybe it won't come off as quickly this time.

Living in an area where the grocery options aren't good was too challenging for me last year. This year, I started closer to spring, and I'm putting in a bigger garden. I'm hoping to have better access to fresh greens, etc. I also found an organic food market that ships overnight in the US, and got one lovely shipment from them already. So I know if I need to, I can do that. I'm going to start soaking some nuts & seeds when I sign off here so I can add sprouts, etc. to my menu as well.

So - that's it for now. So far - I think it's going well.

Day 3 + recap

Decided to do a blog, mainly for myself. Maybe someone else will follow along. I may or may not let people know about it.

So, March 1st I started a combination of Eat to Live & high raw. In some ways, they aren't compatible. Eat to Live, for example, says lots of fruit is ok, but not undiluted fruit juice. I'm going with juice from my juicer is ok in moderation. I'm pretty much an ok in moderation kind of person. I've been vegetarian for about 3 years & vegan for almost 2, so that part of it is no problem. I eat organic when I can & try to stick with whole grains. I love pasta & bread, and that is my primary weakness - along with chips & salsa which has way too much sodium. I have no health problems, but my BMI puts me into the overweight category. I'm 48 years old, so losing weight isn't nearly as easy as it used to be. I want to break my food addictions, lose 15-25 pounds, and maintain habits that will keep me healthy & strong through my 90's.

Anyway, this is a record of my journey so far, and we'll see how long I keep it up. Maybe going high raw will help my ADD symptoms enough that I will stick with this blog.

I'm going to try to recall to the best of my ability what I've eaten in the past 3 days. I've had odd work/errand hours this week, so meal times were off whack.

Monday:

breakfast: mixed fruit cut up - mostly melon

snack: banana & raw cashews, small square dark chocolate

lunch: salad + garbanzo bean, watercress, pine nut, radish mix in a ww wrap

early dinner: more salad, a clementine

late snack: rainbow chard, strawberry banana smoothie w/ flax seed

Tuesday - down 1.4 lbs from Monday

breakfast: banana slices w/ raw almond butter wrapped in romaine lettuce. (didn't much like it)

snack: strawberries & red grapes

lunch: salad & mix from Monday in a ww pita

early dinner: Amy's black bean veggie burrito w/ Jack's salsa, a clementine

late snack: pineapple, mango & spinach smoothie w/ flaxseed & hemp protein

Wednesday - down .6 lbs from Tuesday

breakfast: oatmeal w/ apple & dried cranberry which had been soaked overnight in pomegranate juice + flaxseed

snack: clementine

lunch: salad & mix from Monday in a ww pita

early dinner: homemade white bean soup, cooked over low heat

snack: banana + raw cashews

Thursday - down .4 pounds from Wednesday (I'm eating too often + too much cooked food & grain yesterday)

breakfast: pineapple in juicer mixed in blender w/ banana & blueberries

lunch: homemade V8 + salad

I'm trying to learn to tell when I'm really hungry & when I just want to much on something. I have some Spry gum for when I just want to chew. Not terribly satisfying, but better than nothing. I'm also trying to get out of my snack habit. It's a tough one. I also have a fear of BEING hungry, so have a tendency to eat before I go somewhere just in case I might GET hungry later.

Went to the gym today & rowed for 20 minutes. It's been almost 2 months since I did that & my stamina's definitely down.

So, that's where I am so far - let's see where this goes!