All Fruit Day – Healing Journey Day 36

Journal:
I’m still shocked at how little of a difference the food I ate yesterday made in my weight. I’m really figuring out that the more raw fruits and vegetables we eat, the better it is for our bodies. Honestly, if you need to get healthier and lose some weight, start swapping out cooked meals for raw meals and eat as little cooked food as possible. I promise it will work.

I slept in again today and it felt great. Unfortunately, I did not make it in time for church so I watched a church service from home. My stomach felt so heavy when I woke up this morning, but of course, I knew it was because of the cooked food from yesterday, so it wasn’t really a surprise.

I didn’t eat until 2:00 pm today. I’m not meaning to do intermittent fasting, but it just seems to be happening. I’m not complaining as it does mean that I’ve learned that a hunger feeling is ok and normal. But… I should be so lazy.

So for my first “meal”, I had a smoothie made from frozen bananas and frozen strawberries. It was pretty good and came out more of a sorbet consistency.

Later, I made another smoothie with bananas, blueberry juice and strawberries. It was good as well but again, came out as a sorbet consistency.

Because these smoothies were very low calories, it didn’t take long for me to get hungry again. So then I decided to snack on ten deglet noor dates.

I didn’t do much for the rest of the night; mostly some work on the computer. I was super hungry still, so I made another banana and strawberry smoothie. However, I never was satisfied. My fruit supply is low which means I desperately need to go buy some fruit tomorrow. And then on Monday, I get to have salads for supper! I have been doing my research to find some dressings made only out of fruits and veggies so I’m looking forward to that! The variety is about to increase!

Review of Symptoms:
-Digestion is good.
-Acne still bad.
-Muscles are so sore after yesterday’s workout (need to eat more).
-Very hungry on few calories.
-“Your poo smells like roses.” This is a sarcastic phrase I’ve heard since a child. However, I have learned that the more pure the food is that you eat, the less smell there is. There is a difference when you eat cooked foods.

Weight at the end of the day = 170.4 lbs (down 1.8 lbs from yesterday)

Total Calories = 1047 (93% carbs, 3% fat, 4% protein… need to eat more)

Vegan Meals Are Boring… Right?

I love going to visit people who are not vegan/vegetarian. Half of them (or more) always say, “So… do you just eat salads?” It actually makes me smile because when I first turned vegetarian years and years ago, nobody in my area knew what to do. For that matter, I barely knew what to do. I lived in a hunter’s world. So for the longest time, I ate just salads, potatoes and whatever things I knew didn’t have meat in them. It took me awhile and a trip to the hospital to figure out how to do it right.

Alas, I’ve noticed more and more that people believe vegans are “missing out”; that our meals are “boring”, and that we don’t enjoy food anymore. It’s quite the opposite. Take a look!

There is a local organic grocery store called Planet Organic that I love shopping at. They have a “deli” of sorts that has in-house-made dishes, as well as a small bakery. I decided to grab some things to sample and made a meal out of it. From left to right in the picture above, there is: Vegan Chocolate Cake, Vegan Mac ‘N Cheese, Vegan Mediterranean Wrap, and a Lentil Patty. It was all delicious!

So I don’t know about you, but I can certainly say that veganism is NOT boring at all. Yes, I do enjoy most eating basic fruits and veggies, but if I want to be “fancy” and eat things I used to eat, I can still eat them without having animal cruelty be a part of it. Quite honestly, I think the vegan versions taste better too.

So there it is, ladies and gentlemen, I love being vegan!

Vegan on a Trip

Hello everyone, I’m back! Unfortunately I’m back with a bit of a head cold, but regardless, I’m back!

So as I wrote before I left, I would give you a quick summary of what it was like for food on this trip. As I said, everything was vegetarian to begin with, so meat would never be an issue. But vegetarians also consume dairy and often eggs. So this is what I encountered:

For many of the meals, there were vegan options. At times, they would make salads or pasta salads both with dairy and some specifically set out as vegan. Most of the time this was ok, except a few times when the vegan options tasted horrible. I guess there must be an art to figuring out vegan alternatives.

Many of the meals, such as breakfast, would be items such as pancakes, french toast, or egg breakfast sandwiches. However, they did offer oatmeal and cereal options with soy milk. So if you picked what you ate carefully, the weekend probably could have been done vegan. That would sometimes mean eating a lot of vegetables (especially on the macaroni and cheese night), but if you could stomach large amounts of simple things, you could do it.

Now, many of you know that I try to eat raw until four, particularly with lots of fruit. I believe this could have been made possible IF I had made arrangements ahead of time. However, without contacting the head cook and giving them a specific shopping list for me, it was impossible. I think we had fresh fruit two or three times out of the 10 meals we had. So that was a bummer.

I also packed a few vegan snacks, just incase. I took some fruit and nut bars, trail mix, chocolate almond milk, some seaweed, some kale chips, and some vegan jerky to try. So I didn’t go hungry, that’s for sure.

So I guess my biggest lesson is to plan ahead. If I do this trip again in the future, I will try to contact the head cook and ask for the large fruit breakfast. I think if the chef is assured that she doesn’t have to cut it up or do any extra work for it, I can’t see it being a problem. The vegan snacks were an awesome idea to bring, just to ensure that you have some of your own vegan foods, just incase.