Wednesday, March 5, 2008

New Recipes!

These past few days have been good! It's easy to eat healthy when there is a lot of healthy food in the house, but easy to eat badly when there is bad food. So I made a goal to use every last drop of the good food I have because I don't want to waste any. Also, I want to show Austin that I'm serious about it and will use it, because if I show him that it's something I'll stick with then he'll be more apt to agree that we buy a VitaMix, hehe. I also finished my recipe book! Of course it's just a fraction of the recipes out there, with all the books and online recipes, but I wanted to make something that I could share w/friends and family in case they ever want some healthy alternatives. Well, I'm almost positive now that I am indeed lactose intolerant, because I haven't eaten dairy in days, and my bloaty, gassy symptoms stopped. I was never a big dairy person in the first place, and now I think it will help me avoid things like cheese. Plus, I think that giving the excuse of "I'm lactose intolerant" when declining dairy is more acceptable than "I'm a raw foodist" lol. So I read something ironic today, along the lines of my last post. As I was coming to terms with the fact that I'll never have a figure like Nicole Kidman's, I read in a magazine that she's "wanted Marilyn Monroe curves her whole life". I guess it's true for all of us, even celebrities, that we only want what we can't have. I am for sure making my pizza bread tonight, finally! I also found this recipe for raw veggie pizza with a nut based crust that looks way good, so I'll make it soon and share it.

So the other day by accident I made a shake that tasted just like an Orange Julius! It was sooo good. I also made some chocolate pudding, and some raw spaghetti!:

Orange Julius

half a banana
juice from 2 oranges
8 oz almond milk, or vanilla almond milk
1 tsp vanilla extract (omit if using van alm milk)
ice

It comes out very nice and frothy, just like a "real" orange julius. Scrumdidlyumptious!

Chocolate Pudding

1 avocado
1/4 C carob powder
squirt of agave nectar
1 tsp vanilla
water to blend

Ok, so I just put all this in a blender, adding water as I went...but...I'm pretty sure this recipe would be TONS yummier if instead of water I used almond milk, and used an electric mixer to make it creamier instead of my crappy blender. I could also substitute cacao powder instead of carob, but for me, that would be way too chocolaty.

It doesn't look very creamy but that's my blender's fault.




Raw Spaghetti

sauce:
1 tomato
dash of oragano
dash of garlic powder
drizzle of olive oil

noodles:
zucchini strips

Just pour sauce on top and eat! I'm not gonna lie, I'm not a huge fan of zucchini, so I didn't eat much of this. I am thinking of trying butternut squash next time instead. The sauce was good though.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Recipe book

I have amassed so many recipes online that I've decided I'm going to make my own, personal raw food recipe book! I figure I'll have around 30 recipes or so, and I can put them in a 3 ring binder so that I can continue to add to it. All the recipes I've found are free and are just shared throughout the world wide web, so if there is anyone who is interested in getting a copy of my book just let me know and I'll print you a copy for free (when it's done of course, which may take awhile, who knows!)!

I also recommend Alissa Cohen's Living on Live Food as that has many, many great recipes!

Update!! NO more diets!!

Ok, it has been TOO long since I've written, what is wrong with me? Well, the 100% raw challenge hasn't gone super well...I've been about 60-80%...but, I learned something about myself. Well it's pretty obvious to me that I'm an emotional eater, but I never realized how much so. First of all, I really need to stop the whole "diet" mentality, it's what causes me to fail every time. I thought that I was strong enough to do the raw challenge for 30 days, but I realized that once I start to challenge my body it challenges me right back...and it always wins! The stupid thing is that it's all in my head too. I know that if I just told myself "ok, you can eat whatever you want for 30 days" then I'd probably choose yummy raw things that I love and know are good for me. But if I tell myself "ok, you are only going to eat 100% raw foods every day" then those cravings start to pop up, and I slip. So ya know what? NO MORE DIETS FOR ME! Forever!!!!!! From now on, I'm taking the knowledge I've gained (and hope to gain lots more continually) and I'm just going to make the healthiest choices in regards to what I put in my body. Since I believe that raw foods are the best for me, I will be eating mostly them. I realize now that eating raw foods is not a "diet", but an ideal, a lifestyle. It's a conscious choice, every day, to nourish my body in every way. Since today is March 1st, and I just got back from grocery shopping, I'm going to get my mentality back on track, and start to eat as healthy as I possibly can, because I love my body, and I'm grateful for it. I've found that when I'm tempted to hurt my body, if I repeat this phrase - "my body is a gift" - over and over I feel better, and I realize the truth of it.

On a different note, it's almost spring, and that makes me want to jump for joy. It rained today, and I didn't even mind it - I like rain. But then it turned to snow...BLAH! Oh well, it was 50 degrees there for awhile, and that is warm, so I can't complain!

Well, I said that I would post my measurements for March 1st, and I'd better do it. I hope I haven't done too much damage these past 2 weeks! My digital camera is stupidly dead (again!) so I can't take a picture, but I'll try to post one soon. I'm only going to measure the parts of me that matter, however, because some things like my neck, wrists, ankles...those aren't going to change, lol.

Bust - 40 3/4 - 3/4 gain
under - 34 - same
Waist - 34 1/2 - 1 3/4 in. loss
Hips - 40 - 3/4 gain
Butt - 39 3/4 - 1/4 gain
Thigh - 18 - 1 1/2 in. loss
Calf - 15 - same
Bicep - 11 - same

Ok so overall, since Feb 1st, I lost 1 1/2 inches, lol. Weird how I gained on some parts and lost on other parts? I am hoping that by Austin's birthday, May 6th, I will be a lot closer to my ideal size, because I want to look good for him! I have finally embraced my body shape, and I realize that I'll never be a statuesque beauty like Nicole Kidman or Uma Thurman, it's just ain't happening. I think it's ok to be short and curvy! Look at Salma Hayek, she looks dang good! She's 5'2", and will always be voluptuous. She happens to have around the same body type as me, with bigger than average hips and bosoms for her height.












I only wish I could look that good someday! But with my own face :P. Ya know, I'm sick of thinking that I "shouldn't" wear this or that, because I'm too chubby, or my legs are too muscular, etc...I've decided that I just don't care anymore! As long as I'm healthy I am going to wear what I want, what I think looks cute, because I like the clothes more than what the clothes look like on me. I'll never be a supermodel, but why should I have to miss out on wearing cute things just because they might not look AS good on me? It's stupid! I'd still only wear what is flattering though, no tube tops or anything crazy, lol. I've realized that I can only be what I am - nothing more, nothing less. Here's to women of every shape and size embracing their unique bodies! Cheers!