So my first "adventure" in my quest for the best possible health and more energy was to go completely RAW for 30 WHOLE days....and I DID IT!!!!! Some people thought I had lost my marbles, and while that may be true some of the time;), in this case I did not. What I did was a LOT of research/reading and digging to find how I can NATURALLY (without the aid of any medication...sorry doctors) help myself with some "issues" that while not very serious were still impacting my quality of life! In other words, I felt drained and lacked energy almost 24...7...and did not want to go another year without taking things into my own hands and regaining optimal health and well being!!! While I am far from done (this will be a whole year quest and experiment), I can report that the reason I know I am NOT crazy is that it WORKED! I haven't felt as much energy as I have during this diet since I don't know when (before puberty probably)...and my digestive issues were almost non-existant (I say "almost" because even with a raw food diet it's about finding what foods work with and the optimal way of using them). So I will put it down as a HUGE SUCESS. I will not lie and say it was easy, as a matter of fact in the first week (maybe up to two weeks) I was NOT liking my life too much. In short, I missed all my cooked, warm comfort foods!!! BUT the last two weeks + became a breeze, in large part because of experimentation with the foods and how to prepare them. I bought several raw food cookbooks (Thanks Ani Phyo and Natalia Rose) which became my best friend's. I found I could still have a lot of my favorite dishes with substitutions and different ways of preparing them (like dehydrating). I even had 100% RAW chocolate brownies with 100% RAW whipped "cream"....the secret ingredient in most desserts is nuts..nuts...and more nuts;). Also, with the help of my new Vitamix blender (the BEST blender EVER) I made LOTS of great raw soups, sauces, ice cream and something I came to LOVE and will NEVER give up...GREEN smoothies! So, while I am now done with my 30 day adventure in raw foods..I am NOT even close to done with eating raw foods and trying even more new things to keep things going in this new directions I have discovered! I plan on trying to be 70% RAW at every meal ALL year, keeping the juicing and green smoothies going and adding in all sorts of other "adventures" like meditation, and other stress reducing/relaxation techniques. WHY? WHY NOT:)???!!!! So if you feel like it, stay tuned for more of my "experiments" and whether or not they help.....
I have included one of my favorite raw breakfast recipes here as well...
