Another go

Our little girl is going to be a month old tomorrow - time flies! Also my husband goes back to work after being home with us and being a great help, not sure how I will manage without him being here 24/7! And on top of all I've decided to give another go with raw food transition, starting tomorrow. Is it a good time to start now when I'll be on my own with a month old baby and an active toddler? Time will show. I guess this is as good time as any other. 

So the plan is to start with Natalia Rose's raw food transition - no radical changes at once, but a more gentle and sensible transition. It still means leaving out lots of "baddies" such as bread, processed meat, cow's cheese - all my favourites. I also need to make sure I get enough protein as I'm breast feeding. I'll do lots of juicing and green smoothies to get plenty of nutrition from fresh fruit and vegetables. I'm under no illusion that it's going to be easy - I do give in to temptations very easily and when I'm stressed I often choose the easy, not so health options. And I'm bound to be stressed looking after 2 kids - at least until I get a hang of it.

I'm hoping that I'll also have more time to keep my blog journal about the progress, even if it's just a quick update from my mobile.

To start off, here is a delicious raw food ice cream recipe I made few days ago, courtesy of Raw Mums:

1 frozen banana

1 fresh banana

1-2 cups of frozen cherries (or blueberries or strawberries)

handful of fresh cherries, pitted and halved

agave syrup for taste

Blend frozen banana and cherries and fresh banana in blender until smooth and creamy, adding some agave or maple syrup. Serve with fresh berries on top, delicious! Any left over can be frozen to be eaten later.

She's here!

Our little daughter Lily arrived exactly on her due date: 1 July. She was in hurry as well, from first contraction it took only 5 hours and out she was!

Pain and food

I'm in pain! My problem-free, healthy pregnancy has turned into a bit of a nightmare. I have SPD - Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction. I have problem with walking, standing up and sitting. So basically laying down is the preferred position, which is not the most practical. I'm still working, one more week to go, and 4 weeks until due date. So not long now.

With this in my mind, the food is not high on my priority list. I feel that I can't plan what I should eat, which is a must for healthy eating. The mornings still start with green smoothies, but after that is basically whatever is easiest and least effort (read: least walking to get to). I try to have avocado and some healthy bread for breakfast. Lunch - ready made salad from shop or vegetarian sandwich or left overs from home. Dinner - something quick like a pasta or rice dish. Far from being high raw, I'm basically "ticking over" so to say. Then when I take the time to ponder about it, like now, I do find myself procrastinating again: I'll start with more raw food after the baby has come. So that's the plan for now. I might change my mind, maybe once I stop working and don't have to do anymore commuting, sitting hours behind the desk and so on, I might get motivated to add more raw food to my diet again. We'll see...

I'm back!

I’m back! Yes, it’s been a while, but as I mentioned in my last post, things have been happening. Among other, less important things, we are expecting. Yes, another baby! Being in week 34 I feel okey-ish. Second trimester was great though, felt full of energy and content. It hasn’t been this way all the time though, first 4 months I was nauseas, lethargic, hormonal etc. Which was the main reason for the pause in updating this blog. Another reason for the break was that I was just too busy, working full-time and looking after extremely active toddler. So I had these bad guilt feelings every evening when I went to bed without updating the blog, but once I took the decision to take a break, these feelings disappeared.

Final reason I didn’t feel updating was that I had completely fallen off the wagon, as they say. I couldn’t go on my raw food journey anymore. I just couldn’t face another green juice or salad, couple of times I actually threw up my green smoothie. And the constant hunger was just too crippling to be ignored, and the only things that seemed to tame it were carbs. In any form. Toast, yes please. Pasta, mmm. Mashed potato, yummy! Even white baguette went down without much further ado. Funnily, my evening cravings were watermelon and ice cubes, but somehow I didn’t think these 2 items, even though falling into raw food category, would amount into much blogging.

So what has changed? I feel almost normal again (well, except ever bulging abdominal area and other pregnancy "side effects"). And this means I have no excuse not to eat raw food again. Of course I’m not doing any drastic dietary changes during my pregnancy, but I have slowly started to eliminate the “baddies”. And introducing the “goodies”. My long life lover Mr Cheese is being pushed aside for Mr Green Smoothie, and I have even started to juice again. My Oscar has been looking very sad...

I have been reading a lot. Raw food blogs. I’ve been looking for this inspiration, success story, something, to give me this kick in the back I need. I found one great blog – Earth Mama, which has inspired me a lot. It’s a pity the blog has been discontinued, but in a way I can understand. I guess once you’ve done it, once you have reached that ultimate goal, being high or 100% raw without much effort, what else is there to write about? You could use it as a recipe blog, but the most interesting, captivating part of raw food blogging is still the transformation. Before and after pictures? Yes please.

I still haven’t figured out what stops my own transformation, but it obviously has to be in my head (let’s put the preggie hormones aside for now). I have all the knowledge. I have the tools. I have the means. So what’s lacking? The will power? This single incident that will be the final push? The re-gigging of the brain?  I don’t know. But I’m determined to find out. And write about it. For my own benefit as much as yours. Maybe I’ll be your inspiration one day. Maybe…

So here my journey begins again…

Taking a break

I guess it's best to let you all know that I'll be taking a break from blogging. I haven't written anything for a while, and I've been feeling a bit guilty about that. So it's best to take a break and then continue when I feel ready for it again.

Reason? There are few, main one being that there are things happening in my life at the moment that take all my energy and thoughts, leaving little for anything else. I may tell you all about it one day. And also I'm taking a break from raw food for a little while (not from green smoothies though, these are too good to be without them). I'm hoping I'll have a new start with raw food next spring/summer, for now I'm trying to stick to vegetarian cooked food (must confess some meat has been sneaking back in to my diet again).

Come back and have a look at my blog after new year, I'm hoping I'll be in writing mood again by then!

XXX

Raw till dinner

Indian summer! It has been rather nice and warm outside, 20C for this time of year is definitely above average. So I've been trying to consume more raw food again, with various results. The-green-smoothies-for-breakfast-routine is most definitely a keeper, rest of the day is more of a hit and  miss. Some days I've been high raw, some days rather low raw. Like yesterday I had marmite toast for mid-morning snack, savoury hemp pancakes (by Gillian McKeith, delicious and filling, not foldable though...) with organic cheese for lunch and salmon for dinner. By evening I felt like I had swallowed a brick, so to compensate this I started the day today with 1 litre of green juice, followed by 1,5 litres of green smoothie, then 1/2 melon and raw salad for lunch (see recipe below). I felt rather proud of myself, and no bloated belly. But then it was time for dinner, and hungry husband coupled with slightly grumpy toddler meant something more substantial than raw salad was needed, so it was fish and potatoes with steamed vegetables. 

So I can definitely do "raw til dinner", but will I ever be able to go 100% raw? Not sure, but I'm not too worried as long as I eat as much raw food as possible during the day. 

Today another raw "uncook" book arrived, by high profile raw foodist Ani Phyo. Her book Anis Raw Food Kitchen - Easy, Delectable Living Foods Recipes has been praised as great source of easy and tasty raw food recipes. I had a quick look and there are quite few I'd like to try, and today I had one of her salads for lunch. I was worried a bit about the onions, but after marinating they are quite mild. Both me and Maya loved it!

Wilted spinach salad with marinated onion in mustard seed dressing 

Serves 1-2

Marinated onions

1/2 smallish yellow onion, sliced

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp Bragg Liquid Aminos or Nama Shoyu (in worst case, light soya sauce will do)

Pinch of black pepper

Mustard seed dressing

1 tbsp soft dates or agave syrup or maple syrup or raw honey (I used honey)

2-3 tbsp of apple cider vinegar 

3-4 tbsp of virgin olive oil

1 tsp of mustard seeds

1/2 tsp of seal salt

Salad

Couple of handfuls of spinach

1-2 carrots, julienned

Pinch of ground black pepper

To marinate onions, combine them with vinegar, pepper and Braggs and set aside while preparing the salad. For dressing, mix all ingredients in a bowl (if using dates, soak them in little water for 5 minutes and then mix the dates and water until syrupy). Place spinach and carrots in a bowl, pour onions and marinade over, toss a bit and then pour the dressing over, toss again. Serve the salad with some freshly ground black pepper. Enjoy!

I have been off from work for 3 days as our nanny is on holiday, and I have really been enjoying spending time with Maya. She's been having her toddler conversations with me, stringing together 4 word meanings already. And of course, copying almost anything I say. It's now I can see that trying to continue with OPOL (One Parent One Language) approach is going to be a challenge, as she speaks mainly English and it's often easier to respond in English. Especially when she asks: What's that? (sounds: sssat). But I'm determined to talk Estonian to her and I'm now reading bed time stories to her in Estonian (thanks Karin for the books!).

Off to bed now, I'm back to work tomorrow...

Cold weather and raw food

It’s cold outside! Well, maybe not today, but the weather is definitely getting colder. And this is my first winter on raw food journey. I feel already now that it’s going to be a struggle, as I’m not lover of cold food when I’m freezing – my winter favourites are hot soups and spicy casseroles. So I'm going to still have them, but the soups and casseroles will be vegan and vegetarian this winter.

We’ve had to make some adjustments with our food shopping as very high part of our income will be going to childcare in a month time. I’ve been keeping track of our food bill for few months now and it’s high. Being on organic high raw food diet is not cheap, that’s for sure. So I’m now doing weekly menus, shopping lists and I’m also hoping to do most of the shopping online to avoid the impulse shopping I’m prone to when in supermarket (and I sooo hate supermarket shopping, too many people). I’m trying to make simple, quick meals during the week, and then have something nice at weekends. Breakfast is still a green smoothie, then some snacks at work and for lunch salad or vegetarian meal. My goal is to get the food bill down at least 30%, if not more. 

When I have time (which is not very often) I try to read other raw food blogs and information about raw food on the net. It's amazing how much different views there are about raw food, which is very confusing. One says that fruit is best and should be a major part of raw food diet. Other says that fruit is not good, it feeds candida and all sorts. One says supplements and superfoods are the key for successful raw food diet, other says that no supplements should be consumed as it puts stress on liver. One says that good quality mineral salt is ok to consume (not table salt), other says that all salt is dangerous. One promotes green juices, other green smoothies. Some say that only 100% raw food intake is the only way to be true raw foodist, others say that steamed or roasted root vegetables and whole grains are the key for successful high raw food diet. So what should one do? 

After some googling and referrals from other raw food blogs, I got myself e-book by Frederic Patenaude: Raw Secrets . I haven't read it yet, but he claims to be able to bring some light on all this confusion and also help to overcome fall-backs. He even has a chapter about how to to stay raw in cold climates. Will be interesting, will let you know what I thought once I've read it. 

Our little green warrior still managed to get some nursery bugs despite my superfood feeds and has been having snotty nose and been a bit off food. She's been eating lots of green stuff though - raw spinach and salads, vegetables and bean sprouts and seaweed and fruits. It is such a good feeling when ones children are happily eating lots of healthy food, so I hope this phase lasts for a long time, if I'm lucky, forever!