Hi friends! I wasn't really planning on sitting down and writing this post just yet-- but here it is, cause why not? So my diet has been going really well!! It's great to be able to say that. I'm not being completely raw-- like I mentioned yesterday, if I didn't have to cook for Marlowe, I would probably continue raw, mostly fruit most nights-- but if I'm making warm food for her, well then Im going to have some too. It would just be too much and unnecessary for me to cook two separate meals for the two of us. And while she'd be happy to eat all fruit too, I'm happy to continue feeding her veggies + legumes + some grains. But overall, I do feel a lot better (still) from eating mostly fruit. The only times I don't feel great is when I don't sleep great or enough. So as long as I'm making sure to rest sufficient amounts and eating easily to digest foods (mostly fruits + some greens + veg) and something cooked, but not overly hard to process for dinner, then I'm set!
So I've been mostly following that 801010 guideline-- the book that I had linked yesterday. The book recommends that you're completely raw, which I'm obviously not, but otherwise I am trying to follow it. The main focus is to keep the fats down. Which I know I mentioned this at some point in these food posts: cutting down my fat a few months ago (by suggestion of my acupuncturist) made a huge difference in how I felt. I had put such a focus on eating fats-- with every meal and even as a snack-- because I wanted so badly to gain weight. But it didn't actually help me gain weight, it just put waaaay too much work on my gut and body and made me feel ill. I'm still eating things like avocado, coconut milk, and seeds for fat (sometimes a bit of toasted sesame seed oil for that delicious dressing recipe that I shared), but other than that I've cut down on the fats significantly.
It's been so interesting learning completely new ideas on how our body processes food. I could hardly eat a tiny bit of strawberries when I first got sick, because I would have the most intense blood sugar spikes-- it was terrible. It's hard for me to even describe how terrible I would feel after eating right after c. diff. and for months after on a high fat diet. But now, since reading so many different books about this sort of thing and doing my best to really understand how the body processes food, well, I'm a bit blown away. THIS book + that 801010 book + others I've read all explained how (natural) sugar is not the problem in blood sugar issues-- it's fat. And after testing out the theory myself, I've found it to be completely true. I was eating fat for every single meal and unable to process anything, not even brown rice without a blood sugar spike + terrible symptoms. But after three days of cutting out the fat from my diet (at least most of it), I can sit and eat an entire pineapple without any sort of negative symptom or blood sugar spike. It's insane... and amazing. If you're interested in learning more about it, I would totally suggest getting the books-- as they will explain it far better than I could!
Like, I totally and completely get that this diet won't be for everyone, but man, it's made such a positive and healthy impact in my life, body, and mood.
Almost every morning I start the day with a 16 ounce celery juice. I loathe celery. Not as much as I once hated banana-- but gah, it makes me cringe. I'm doing this in hopes to increase my hydrochloric acid and improve my digestion even more. I know it'll be a long road until my gut is completely healed.... remember even ONE dose of antibiotics can and will change your gut floral for An ENTIRE YEAR. So for me? Well, I got a ways to go, but it's surely getting better. And I'm going to take any little step I can to make a better impact on my life. And if that means that I'm going to gulp down celery juice in the morning--- well, I'm going to suck it up and do it (pun intended).
Well, to be even more specific, I start my day with one to two glasses of water, and I still take my probiotic most days. THEN I chug down celery juice as fast I can.... to get it over with.
I bought my juicer about 7 years ago. And I've gone through phases where I didn't use it at all... but now I'm back to using it everyday again. Weeeee!
I let that settle in my gut a bit and then I make myself a giant smoothie. And when I say giant, I mean giant. I think thats about 50 ounces of pure goodness. I often add spirulina to it a bit too. I've been able to basically cut out all the supplements and magical expensive superfoods, but I still hang on to that probiotic and my spirulina--- I love them both.
I never, not ever counted or looked at calories in my entire life. Until now. Now I do it, but to make sure I'm getting (more than) enough. Honestly, eating mostly plants and little processed foods = not having to count calories. The only time I really had to worry about weight gain before was because of drinking (alcohol), not food. But now I do count calories, for myself, yeah, but also because I know people start to question the whole thing when I say I eat mostly fruit and I like to give them a total break down of everything and explain it as best I can. So when I say, hey, it's cool I'm happily eating 1000 calories before 10 am everyday-- people don't question limitations or restrictions as much. So yeah, I start my morning, post celery juice, with an 800+ calories smoothie. PARTAY.
ALSO. Alex wants me point out that I fought him on buying a vitamix for about a year because they are so goddamn expensive--- but then I finally gave in when my 8 year old stick blender broke and said, FINE you can get the refurbished one if you want-- and it's been one of the best purchases we (he) has made. The refurbished one is about half the price, and have zero complaints on it. Honestly, I use it about 3 to 5 times a day. So he won that battle. He asked if I wanted to buy it off him, heh.
fav. food lately + life changing foods + the 80/10/10 diet reading.
After my smoothie I usually just eat more fruit until about lunch time. Papaya with passionfruit on top or a pineapple is my absolute favorite. I do eat at least half, but usually the whole papaya or the whole pineapple. Both are packed with really wonderful digestive enzymes. And are freaking delicious. I'm SO SO SO grateful to have organic papayas growing in the yard.
Lunch is either some sort of lettuce wrap (like this) or a giant salad (^^thats a VERY small one, more of a snack. ^^ but I realized I haven't really taken salad pictures, so you get this photo) or sometimes more fruit. The biggest struggle I've found is creating salt free + oil free dressings that I really love. I might find a fruitarian cookbook to play with more dressing recipes.
For dinner, you can scroll through What Marlowe Eats-- what she eats is basically what I eat. For lunch she'll have quesadillas and sandwiches and things I can't eat. But for dinner we eat mostly the same. I tried to do raw pastas for a bit, but with the exception of few, I mostly hate them. And I don't want to hate this process-- I want to love it for what it is. I'm still making things like this yellow curry or eggplant pasta for the two of us-- just slightly tweaked now. Even for Marlowe, we stopped using wheat noodles, we eat rice or quinoa ones. Sometimes what I'll do is make zucchini noodles and toss them in with my pasta-- so I'm eating more raw noodles, with just a bit of the warm ones for taste and texture. It's been interesting making the foods that we're used to without oil. It's hard to shift the way you completely think and cook-- I think anyone can agree on that. I use less or no oil, less salt (I'm trying to cut it out completely, but it's hard so far), less roasting and more raw veg, etc. I'm still eating bits of grains here and there-- mostly brown or black rice. But not everyday. And of course, I still don't eat nuts or gluten-- since they are both very difficult on the/my gut.
It's been sort of pricey, yeah. Mostly because there really aren't many fruits in season right now-- even here in South Florida. I've been making it a point to buy things in bulk when I can. Eating a ton of bananas everyday (still can't believe I eat bananas EVERYDAY now... or even at all. I couldn't even peel them before without gagging!!)-- but they're cheap, high in calories, and nutrient dense. But I no longer have to worry about expensive things like oil or processed foods like almond milk or yogurts. We actually stopped buying almond milk completely-- it's not even a regular in Marlowe's diet anymore either. I try to be smart about shopping-- the hardest thing is the pineapples-- they're so expensive, but they get me every time--- I love them so much.
Overall this has been a great process. I'm happy I took this step. It's true, when you've got nothing left to lose.... well, I had nothing to lose... and I ended up gaining so much. Not only in health, but in knowledge. I could sit there and read and learn and try to understand all day. I'm looking at fats and proteins in ways I never had before. I'm eating more fruit than I ever have in my entire life. I'm appreciating my tropical location now more than ever. It's all really good.
There are a few raw or mostly raw recipes I'd like to put together for you guys. Hopefully soon. If you guys have any personal questions, please don't hesitate to ask. You guys know I'm open about sharing everything. And I totally love and appreciate all the positive feed back I get from people when they say they're trying things I've suggested and it has made them feel amazing too. I know the vegan thing isn't for everyone. And the fruitarian thing (actually so different from most typical raw vegan diets) isn't for everyone-- but I know it's helped so many people, and I'm so happy to be an example of what it can really do. If you want to learn more about the science, I definitely recommend checking out the books searching online. There are so many resources out there! I don't want to be one of those people-- but we totally were designed to eat specific foods and fruit is one of them-- and as long as you're going about it the right way (not cutting out the fat + eating lots of fruit = blood sugar + candida nightmare), I think you'd be happy with the results you see <3
Hope you guys are having a delicious week!
oh ps. If you're not looking into the fruitarian thing, but thinking about switching to veganism or adding more vegan meals into your diet, don't forget about The Plantiful Table :) It's a great holiday gift too :)