A New Twist on Raw Vegan

Today we tried the Veggetti, spiral vegetable slicer. It is a small gadget that cuts vegetables, such as zucchini, squash and cucumbers, into strips like spaghetti. I was very concerned that it would not taste so good. We had a tough time deciding what we wanted to dress our vegetti with and settled on a very natural spaghetti sauce. The sauce we ended up getting was called Monte Bene Farm Fresh and we went with the tomato and basil variety. It had very few ingredients in it and everything you would put into a homemade sauce. I had concerns that the kids may not be eager to eat the squash veggetti, so I also got a package of rice spaghetti to mix with it on their plates.

Well, let me tell you, we were all very pleasantly surprised! The kids ate their half & half spaghetti/veggetti with no comments or complaints. My 8 year old son said he could not tell which was which. This seemed odd to me because it had a very different texture with even a bit of crunch. I took that as his way of saying one was as good as the other. He cleaned his plate! Those of us who had only veggetti also loved this new twist on pasta. I am sure that this delicious sauce added to the enjoyment of the meal, but this was fabulous. I truly think I could go without ever eating spaghetti pasta again! This will most definitely become a regular weekly dish in my house :)

As for todays totals, I ended the day with 1111 calories breaking down as 85% Carbs, 8% Fat, 7% Protein. I walked for 2.8 miles today, trying to add in more exercise to help with improving my health, lifestyle and weight loss. Feeling  better about these changes everyday, so glad I am back on and going to try hard not to get side tracked by processed food again.

The day after

This was my recovery breakfast. I decided on a high antioxidant meal to try to offset the carcinigens that were definitely in last nights campfire dinner. It was 2 bananas, a kiwi fruit, a cup of raspberries and a cup of blueberries. DELICIOUS :)

I was so surprised to get through the night without feeling ill, but believe me, I did not escape the perils of last night's toxic meal!! This evening, about 24 hours after, I got so sick. I had severe cramps and awful diarrhea. On top of that, I felt parched all day. I just could not get enough to drink. I am certain that came from the outrageously high sodium in the hot dogs and beans. My weight was up this morning and I know I am going to be paying for that meal for days to come :(

Campfire chEATing

Today we had another cheat day but did not keep vegan. My grand-daughter was wanting a campfire meal like we had a few years ago for her birthday. In an attempt to make it as healthy as possible, I got Applegate turkey hot dogs to roast over the campfire. Of course no weenie roast can be complete without smores.... so I also got marshmallows, some gluten free short bread cookies and some mini Ghirardelli caramel chocolate squares. We also had baked beans.

I am already feeling guilty about this meal and hoping that I do not  get sick since I have not had any meat in 2 weeks, nor processed food. It sure made the kids happy while we were roasting though. These are the moments that are hardest to find replacements for. I will have to search for replacements for this sort of family activity in the vegan world because I already know we do not want to do this again. I am super thirsty from the salt content and the meal was not really gratifying while eating, only the process of making it together as a family was fulfilling (and I did not even participate in the roast due to the mosquitoes).

Even with the cheat meal, I only had just over 1200 calories today. This is just proof to me that a calorie is not a calorie, because I know that if I had a meal like this on a regular basis I would gain all the weight I have lost back and continue to gain more even with keeping the calories in my proper range.

Market Day

Off to the market to replenish our produce stock today. What a beautiful, colorful site my kitchen counter is!

The entire family is really loving the added fruits. I feel as though everyone is healthier and we are truly off to a great start on our lifestyle change :)

I had a hard time today eating enough calories. Ended the day with only 807 calories breaking down as 85% Carbs, 7% Fat, and 8% Protein. Gonna keep working on it.

Almost raw breakfast for the kids

You may be wondering how the kids are making out with our Adventures in the Raw. I am not being near as strict with them as I am with myself. I am taking it slower and giving them time to adjust and they are doing wonderful with the changes.

One of their favorite breakfast meals is overnight oats. I have started getting the most out of my empty jars of peanut butter and jam by using them to make overnight oats, this allows for the oats to get flavored by the leftovers on the side of the jar that you just cannot get off. My kiddos LOVE this!

Yesterday, they finished a jar of applesauce and I used the jar to make a batch of overnight oats for them. In my recipe, I use old fashioned oats and almond milk. It is a 2/1 ratio or I often even just eyeball it. I need enough milk to completely cover the oats as they will expand overnight. I also add  1 tablespoon of chia seeds per cup of oats. With our Applesauce Oats, I served them in the morning with a dash of cinnamon and some raisins sprinkled on top. It was a HUGE hit!!

 Give it a try in your house, even if you are not trying to make a full change to Raw of Vegan, this is an easy way to have a delicious, nutritious breakfast. And did I mention that since the prep is done the night before, there is no time lost in the morning accept to pour it into a boal and add toppings. It could even been eaten right out of a small jar :)

Vegan Cheat Day!

Yesterday was a CRAZY busy day making it very hard for me. Not to make raw vegan choices, but to  have time to eat in general and get enough calories in. It was overall a bad day totaling less than 1000 calories.

Today, I did not feel good at all when I woke up. I had a terrible headache that I had actually fallen asleep with and I had absolutely no appetite. I did not feel like eating at all. It was 11:00 until I forced myself to eat a plate of 2 sliced bananas, 1 mango, and 1 kiwi. It tasted delicious but I just did not feel hungry. I did snack on 2 bananas throughout the day as well. Come dinner time, I was really hungry! I decided to treat myself with a vegan cooked meal, something very satisfying. 

I made some thin wedges of red potatoes and roasted them in the oven while cooking up a batch of vegetarian taco filling and served them both up over a large bed of lettuce. It was delicious! Definitely hit the spot. The small amount of oil on the potatoes put me up to 16% fat for the day but it was worth it and I will make up for it the rest of the week by returning to the low fat, raw, vegan lifestyle I have been living for the past 10 days.

I cannot believe that I am 1/3 through the month already with no real desire to go back to my old habits. I really think this may be the diet I could live on :)

One Week of Low Fat, Raw Vegan Eating

I have now committed one full week of my life to making this worth-while change. I feel pretty good about it overall. Although the first 3 days were somewhat of a challenge, once I got past those, I have not had any cravings or felt hungry at all. I eat as much as I want and can of raw fruits and vegetables and I am actually struggling to keep my calories high enough. Today has been my highest calorie intake day totaling 1256 calories, which broke down as 89% Carbs, 3% Fat, and 8% Protein.


I have lost a total of 6 pounds so far and that is even with my period, which usually slows my weight-loss down to a halt! I must say though, that I feel like I have totally indulged today and can't help but fear I may gain weight. Twice today, I made myself banana ice cream in my vitamix. At lunch I had 4 frozen bananas blended with a cup of frozen blueberries (delicious) and at dinner I, again, had 4 frozen bananas blended with a serving of chocolate flavored rice protein powder to make a Wendy's Frosty type treat. It felt like a treat too, I felt as though I were cheating on my diet!!


Since this week sent so well, I am rather confident that I will have no problems completing another week and then move on to the goal of a month.

Day 6 and feeling much better...

I am feeling so much better today! No cramps, no achiness, no headaches. My period is a much lighter flow than normal and having no cramps with it makes it so much better.


I had a low calorie day today, although I did not mean to. I just find that I am not hungry on this eating plan and that I am satisfied, making it as though I sometimes need to force myself to eat. My end of day calorie total is just 1095. I will have to pay better attention tomorrow and bring that up. I ate only fruit today, no greens at all. It was not an intentional decision, it just sort of happened. I need to make a better effort at making sure I am getting greens and veggies in along with my fruit.


My 1095 calories was broken down into 90% Carbs, 4% Fat, and 6% Protein.


Tomorrow is day 7. I am anxious to check my weight and see how many pounds I have lost. Although I am ultimately doing this to improve my health, I have a good deal of weight to lose in order to be considered healthy. Looking forward to it starting to shed off.

My yummy breakfast!

Day 4 & 5, not feeling as well...

Yesterday was a rough day so I never got around to blogging. I felt terrible! Headache, pain in my neck and back like a muscle cramp but I have not yet added exercise to my adventure so no reason I could think of. Then I realized that my period had started. I often get rather achy with my period but I also get severe cramps and headaches, usually a day or two before my period begins. That is what was so odd this time, it literally snuck up on me. I had no prior cramps or headaches, just woke up feeling like crap with my period. I think this is a good thing. I have read that eating better reduces menstrual symptoms. Hoping for a lighter and shorter lasting cycle than my norm too. I ate well yesterday, ending my day with 1012 calories distributed at 90% carbs, 4% fat, and 6% protein. I ended the day taking 800mg Ibuprofen and going to bed with a hot rice sock. I really did not want to take the ibuprofen but I was in so much pain that I just had to :(


Today I am feeling better...not 100%, but better that yesterday. I had a busy day ahead of me, which was exhausting because I could  not sleep well last night. I put down my 80/10/10 book around 11:00 and went to sleep without too much trouble. Unfortunately, I woke up at 3:00 for a bathroom room and was unable to get back to sleep at all! Needless to say, I can barely hold my eyes open. Not sure why I was unable to sleep. I had a busy day out today at homeschool meetings, signing the kids up for their community service and driving my husband to and from work. I packed fruit and found it rather easy to stick to my plan again today. I have now completed 5 days of completely Raw Vegan. I am very proud of myself.


Yesterday we did trial the banana ice cream with frozen bananas in the vitamix, it was fantastic!! So tonight, that is what I had for dinner, 4 frozen bananas blended into a creamy deliciousness, topped with 1.5 cups of raspberries. It did not feel like a meal at all, but more like a high calorie treat :) My total calorie intake today was 1199. distributed as 91% carbs, 3% fat, and 6% protein.


I did not bother to weigh myself since I have my period, afraid of a false reading. I am hoping to weigh myself on Sunday or Monday to see if I am actually losing weight. Meanwhile, I see no reason to stop!

Mango, Kiwi, Banana, and Raspberry for breakfast! Yum Yum!

Day 3 and feeling GREAT!

Today was the third day of my low fat, raw vegan, lifestyle change and I am really enjoying it so far. I am finding this to be far easier than I had anticipated and I just love eating fruit!


For breakfast, I had 2 bananas sliced with a sliced kiwi and a pint of raspberries ~ delicious start to my day! For lunch I had 3/4 of a cantaloupe with 2 bananas and, in an attempt to get in higher calories today and a bit more fat, I had a stalk of celery with peanut butter. Dinner was a sliced cucumber and a HUGE chuck of watermelon topped off by a 1/2 an apple that was leftover from making the applesauce to use in the kids' banana muffins. My calories were higher today, totaling 1241. My percentages were 79% Carbs, 13% Fat, and 8% Protein. Not to bad for a beginner and not yet reading the section of the book (80/10/10) on what to eat! I really did have a great day but tomorrow I will leave out the peanut butter and try a small amount of seeds again. I have some mangos that should be ripe tomorrow and the kids and I bought a box of perfectly "over-ripe" bananas at the produce market for $6. Crazy how they are considered over-ripe when they are perfect for eating. The girls made a batch of no added sugar banana muffins and froze a bunch as well in hopes of having banana ice cream tomorrow :)


The rest of the family is still following the Raw til 4 plan for now and I made them rice and beans for dinner, which they ate with some salsa, and they had banana muffins for desert.


I am feeling so energized and great today that I cannot wait to feel what a week of eating this way is like. We are a home-school family and started school today. Looking forward to many more good days. We will keep you posted!

Day 2 In the Raw

Today was easier than I had expected. The kids and I went to the pool with some friends and I thought it would be hard to stick to eating raw while out. I went prepared though. I ate a big bowl of strawberries and orange wedges before heading out for the day and I packed a lot of fruit to take with us. I took 2 bunches of bananas, 4 apples, a bag of grapes, an orange, some raw almonds and sunflower seeds. I had no problems sticking to the fruit that I brought along to eat, as a matter of fact I only ended up eating 3 of the bananas while we were out, but the kids ate up the rest of the fruit along with some rice cakes I brought along for them. We drank plenty of water and had a great time. When I got home, I made the kids baked potatoes with salsa and guacamole and I had a HUGE bowl of spring mix and watermelon. I checked my stats in My Fitness Pal after that and felt that I just did not have enough in for the day and my percentages were 90% carbs, 6% protein and 4% fat. So I topped of my dinner with a tablespoon of raw sunflower seeds and a tablespoon of raw pepitas. This ended my day with 980 calories, 82% carbs, 7% protein and 11% fat. I still need to work on adding more food each meal to increase my calories I believe, however I was not hungry at all during the day. I am truly loving being able to eat all the fruit that I want because it is my favorite food group of choice. No headaches today and I did not feel tired. I am really pleased with my start and looking forward to this adventure.


I need to get back to reading and finish up the 80/10/10 book. Excited to see what tomorrow brings :)

New Month, New Me

After years of yo-yo dieting, I am just fed up! I am ready for a real life change that will improve my health and my waistline. I have a family and want to do what is best for their health as well. I have been slowly moving to a vegetarian lifestyle and have dabbled in it off and on for the past few years. Unfortunately, although I feel it is a great choice, I have had a hard time committing. In trying to adopt this lifestyle, I have read many books and watched many documentaries. I was amazed by Forks Over Knives and I absolutely love Joel Fuhrman I have read many of his books). I am constantly looking for more motivation and support to  keep me moving in this direction but I am truly addicted to food and have struggled with cravings and always caved in. Recently, I stumbled upon some youtube videos about Raw eating. It really seemed to make a lot of sense to me and I had just read in one of Fuhrman's books that it is best to eat at least 50% raw so I began to watch vlogs of folks who eat mostly and only raw diets. After watching several of the videos on Freelee the Banana Girl's youtube channel, I decided it was worth a go. She has a plan she calls Raw til 4, which sounded like a good compromise to work myself up to eating a healthier diet. Freelee eats a mostly fruit based diet. Raw til 4 was really working for me, I was feeling  better and enjoying raw fruits and vegetables more than ever. I also found that I had less cravings for junk and comfort foods. However, I was not really losing weight on the Raw til 4 yet, which was just fine since I was feeling better. Since then, I went away to work at summer camp for the month of August (this is an annual tradition for my family). I fell off the vegetarian wagon and the Raw til 4 plan while at camp although I did find myself making much better choices than previous years at camp. I only gained 4 pounds this year which is much less than I usually gain while at summer camp. While away, I started to read the book 80/10/10 by Douglas Graham. This is a book that Freelee talks about so I decided that I needed to read it. I am only half way through the book but have already decided that I must attempt a Low Fat Raw Vegan Diet. I am so excited about it and so ready to make a permanent change in my health. Today is the day....New Month, New Me!

I have been juicing and mostly eating raw the last few days so my cravings have already begun to diminish. I started my first official Raw day with a juice of pineapple, oranges and spinach blended with banana. It was delicious and the kids enjoyed it as well. For lunch I had a large bowl of spring mix with 1/4 of a watermelon....very satisfying. Since Graham states that he feels it is better to eat a low fat cooked diet than a high fat raw if you must choose between the two, I have decided to cook for the rest of the family tonight. I have concerns with the growing children getting in enough calories on just raw yet. They had baked potatoes with salsa, black beans and guacamole. I stayed raw for dinner and had a fruit plate of 1 mango, 1 banana and a quart of strawberries.I logged my food on My Fitness Pal to see what my percentages would come out to be. I ended my day with 91% Carbs, 3% Fat and 6% Protein and just 871 calories. I am happy with the percentages, however I fear my calories are low. I have read that eating enough calories is the hardest part of this raw vegan lifestyle, however I feel stuffed and unable to eat more tonight. I will give myself a few days to adjust to eating this way and for my body to get used to this type of fuel. I will also try to add in a bit more each day and see where I fall by the end of the week. Tomorrow I am going to the pool for the day, so I worry about having access to enough raw food to sustain me through the day. I will have to make sure I take an extra bunch of bananas with me just in case.

Looking forward to sharing my experiences as I embark on this adventure :)