Today's Eats.

Okay. Today was a fantabulous day for raw in our house.

Breakfast: Green Smoothie (well call 'em shakes around here). Today we had our easy-peasy shake with just spinach, water, and bananas. Sometimes breakfast just needs to be simple.

Here's the thing with the shakes, too....people always ask me "how" to make them. Honestly....just try it out. Sometimes they come out nasty. But most of the time you just throw some greens (spinach, kale etc) and add some type of fruit and BAM, *voila* its magic. Bananas always go a long way...and I always add about 2 cups of water for a 32 oz shake and about 4 cups for a 64 oz shake. Today it was 2 large handfuls of spinach and 3 bananas with 2 cups of water. I love bananas. MMmmMMm.

On to lunch: I had an amazing "untuna sandwich" which consisted of this concoction I made up in the Vitamix. I got the original idea from a cookbook (we'll talk about those later, too) but it just came alive in my kitchen. I added some almonds, and some sunflower seeds (raw ,of course) with some amazingly delicious spicy/sweet relish I bought at the local farmers market. Zip that up in the blender and O my goodness...deliciousness. I sandwiched that between to romaine leaves and added tomato slices. I seriously ate about 8 of these.

I had a snack or two throughout the day with some peaches and grapes, but for dinner I seriously just cut up two avocados, sprinkled them with sea salt and chili pepper and went to town. Best dinner. Yum. And don't even think about adding up the calories, remember I said to stop worrying about those pesky things?


Oh, and I'm still contemplating what to have for dessert. I'm going to sit down and watch a movie and relax, I'm sure some raw chocolate will be calling my name very soon.

Oh, and just a random thing I wanted to share...did you know I have eaten about 36 bananas since Monday? Wowzers. 


Rawfully,
Amber

Let's start at the very beginning...

So...how did this all start for me? Why do I do this, you ask?

It all started back in the beginning of the year. I was trying to eat healthier and get better exercise mainly to gain energy and have a better quality of life. I also had about 10-20 pounds to lose. I had already been trying to get healthier since last summer, and had shed almost 20 lbs but I was feeling lethargic. I wasn't getting exercise anymore and I needed a change.

After a week of eating out while hosting some out of town guests, I decided I need some type of body cleanse. A friend of mine offered some advice and I began eating just plain, unsweetened, unspiced, steamed or raw whole foods. Think salads, hard boiled eggs, and steamed brown rice. While it was really difficult the first few days...I realized how amazing my body felt after about a week. I had begun to detox all of the gross toxins and chemicals found in typical American cuisine. Plus, caffeine was gone and every refined sugar.

Anyway, about two weeks in...I found many many websites talking about "raw food". I tried a few recipes and well, and it was love at first taste. Not only did my body feeling amazing, I had a ton of energy, my skin looked great, but I also had amazing tasting food now. Oh...and in the first few weeks I I released about 15 pounds of excess from my body. That's just a bonus.

I forgot about counting calories, and ate whatever I wanted as long as it was raw. I started experimenting with lots of raw desserts, and I tell you...I just can't get enough. Eating raw is delicious, my body feels great, I've shed most of my unwanted weight and life is good. Raw is exciting and fun for me. I love thinking up new things to make and trying new recipes.

I also love inspiring others to think about what they put into their mouths. Raw whole foods are so great for you...you're body loves you when you feed it raw.

Well...that's how it all started.

I'm unsure how to organize this blog. I think it might help people if I post what I eat everyday to give you a general idea of how this lifestyle works. Maybe I do a FAQ post in the days to come as well. Send me your questions, if you got 'em.

Rawfully,
Amber

It's time.

So...for a while now people have been telling me all kinds of crazy stuff in light of my new raw life style.

"write a book!" "you should teach classes.." etc.

Um. Okay...first. I do not claim to know diddly squat about the raw food lifestyle. However, I have enjoyed quite a few benefits from switching to a mostly raw vegan diet (which I'll get into later)

So...I hope to share with you, my journey, my struggles, my non-perfectionist approach to raw food.

And to answer the question most of you are curious about:

How the heck do I "do" raw?

For those of you that don't know what "raw food lifestyle" is...let me divulge you.

For the most part I eat just plain, raw foods. Wait, scratch that...plain was the wrong choice of words. Most of the raw food I eat is irresistibly delicious...and yeah okay some of it has been just plain gross...but its all about the raw learning curve.

Back to the subject. Raw food. For me that means basically vegetables, fruit, raw nuts & seeds, some oils and spices etc. Natural as you can get. Straight out of the ground, preferably. And you can forget fast food. Forget dairy and breads. All that stuff (sorry to say) is pretty not-so-great for your body. And I usually don't eat meat...and we'll get into that later...I promise.

Anyway...more later. I just want to let everyone know...I'm up and running. :)

P.S. Anyone have any tips on making this drab blog a little more beautiful?

Rawfully,
Amber