Diary I went to bed so late last night. But, I woke up super energetic this morning like usual. However, I think taking all four of those capsules together last night caused me to wake up with some pretty strong … Continue reading
Diary I woke up bright and early this morning, despite having the day off from work. I woke up energetic and ready to go! However, because I’m home for the majority of the day, I got distracted by all the … Continue reading
Diary Guys, I’m shocked. Dumbfounded. I feel like I’m crazy in the head! I weighed myself this morning, post-shower, post-oil-pulling, post-getting dress, and even with all of that, I am down over 4 pounds! Normally I would chalk this up … Continue reading
Diary Ok, so this morning was not off to a great start. Yesterday, I had an amazing lunch with some pretty amazing social media peeps, and even though I ate healthy, that falafel bowl (and half a personal-sized raw carrot … Continue reading
Recently, I’ve been in a cleaning mode. I don’t know if it is Spring Fever, the desire to move, the realization that I don’t even use half of the stuff I own, or simply the fact that I’m missing a few papers to get my taxes done and they are due soon! Whatever the reason, I have been cleaning and sorting through my stuff which led me to an interesting discovery: a ReCleanse Herbal Cleanse that I had clearly forgotten I had purchased sometime within the past year.
I have a passion for studying health-related topics. I’m not sure I intend to go on many “cleanses” as I believe your daily diet can be just as cleansing. However, I am a fan of herbs! So, why put this to waste? Let’s try it out! (I really have a hard time wasting things…)
In this spectacular, refreshing packaging is a set of guidelines to follow for a diet while taking their herbal formulas. The provide you with the serving numbers you are supposed to have per meal according to your weight range. I need to consume 4 servings of low density carbs,  2 servings of high density carbs, 4.5 servings of protein and 3 servings of fat at every meal. This is NOT a typical way that I eat, but for the sake of the cleanse, I shall abide by the rules.
I basically looked at the list of approved foods and tried to figure out what meals I could throw together while still keeping variety. I must say, protein was the hardest. They basically have two suggestions for vegan proteins, so I added a third, keeping in mind that the foods are generally whole foods. They suggested soybean milk and tofu, but I added tempeh as tempeh is a fermented soy product with minimal ingredients (sorry, no fake meats in this one!).
You are NOT allowed to have preservatives, colourings, flavourings, salt, or processed sugars. You are NOT allowed to have hydrogenated or refined fats and oils. No frying, deep frying, or overcooking food. No condiments that have sugar, salt, colourings or flavourings (what condiments are left?!). You can’t have mushrooms, peanuts, farmed fish or yeast (only one exception is made with whole grain bread). No dairy, and no alcohol. My saving grace is that I’m allowed one glass of fruit/vegetable juice a day! But that is ONLY in addition to a full 8 glasses of water. This is a lot! It seems a little overwhelming to be honest, but let’s do it!
My plan for meals is as follows:
Breakfast:Â Smoothie (2 cups spinach, 2 cups berries, 1 cup banana, 532 mL or 18 oz. soy milk, 2 tsp. almond butter, 1 tbsp. ground flax)
Lunch:Â Sandwich (2 slices whole grain bread, 383 g or 13.5 oz tempeh, 1 avocado, 1 cup cucumber, 1 cup lettuce, 3/4 cup tomatoes), 1 carrot
Dinner:Â “Stir-Fry” (1 cup rice, 383 g or 13.5 oz tofu, 3 tsp. almond butter, 1 cup zucchini, 3/4 cup cauliflower, 3/4 cup broccoli), “Dessert” (1 cup celery, 1/2 cup dates)
Yes, I plan on doing this for every day. I’m the type of person that doesn’t usually get sick of food I like, so I’m hoping this will go well! Wish me luck!
Journal:
Today is National Sandwich Day and I had planned this day to be a sandwich day to see how my body would react to introducing bread. I woke up still not feeling 100% and needing to run to the washroom again. However,it was my hope that the bread would also help with this issue while I was at work. It would either be a success, or a completely bad judgment call. Only time would tell.
Early in the morning, I showered, got ready, and left early. I went and got gas so I wouldn’t have to do it in the evening, and then I hit Subway for their BOGO deal. I got two simple veggie subs on Italian bread (the only vegan bread). For sauces I got mustard and sweet onion sauce. And as for veggies? I got all the fresh veggies with the exception of jalapeño peppers as I didn’t need to put my body through that today.
What was my instant reaction after eating one for breakfast? Blah… not energizing, not “fulfilling”, just blah… I really was hoping this wouldn’t spell doom for the rest of the day.
By snack time, I was hungry again. So I pulled out the other sub and ate half. At lunch, I finished the sub. It amazed me how “empty” my stomach could feel while also feeling so not great. The caloric density of bread is not making up for the normal volume of fruit and veggies I normally eat. I also began to notice how dehydrated my body was beginning to feel.
When the afternoon hit, I was hungry again. I didn’t have any more “sandwiches” with me, but I did have a packet of savoury oatmeal, so I quickly whipped that up and ate it. I actually had never had savoury oatmeal before. Growing up, my favourite oatmeal included lots of brown sugar and dates. I always found that the dates tasted exactly like candy when cooked in oatmeal, so the thought of a savoury oatmeal did not really entice me. However, trying this Masala-flavoured oatmeal allowed me to quickly fall in love; it was so good!
Now, by the end of the afternoon, my stomach was in an all-right outcry. It already had not been feeling good throughout the day, but I knew it was not good. I had not been successful in my plan of trying to use bread to stop the bathroom issues and that did not work at all. In fact, I think the bread made it worse and my stomach more painful. So this plan was as good as failed.
After work, I drove to a place called Press’d to get another BOGO deal for sandwich day. I ordered two sandwiches called the Beatnik. The original recipe includes ranch dressing and swiss cheese, so I just took those off the sandwich and replaced them with avocado. I then brought them home and put my own sauces on them that I had in the fridge. It was much easier to control what they were putting on my sandwiches this way.
By the time I had eaten both sandwiches, I felt like I was so over-salted in my body, so dehydrated, stomach cramping badly, and just tired and terrible. Oh man… this sandwich day has been awful. I honestly am looking forward to going back to eating raw tomorrow. My body is so unhappy. I’m actually beginning to wonder if I’m truly digesting the food properly or not. I didn’t even go to the gym again tonight because I’m still scared of being away from the bathroom for too long. I want my health back!
Review of Symptoms:
-Stomach is bloated.
-Acne is terrible.
-Tired.
-I can feel the excess salt in my system.
-Still running to the washroom throughout the day.
-Not digesting food properly.
-Craving raw food and water.
-Pulled a groin-area muscle while playing soccer on the frosted grass with students today. Ugh…
Weight at the end of the day =Â 168.6 lbs (up 3 days from yesterday thanks to bread… ugh…)
Total Calories =Â 2691 (75% carbs, 12% fat, 13% protein)
Journal:
I wasn’t as prepared for today as I wanted to be. I was exhausted, my stomach was hurting a lot from having junk food two days in a row, I didn’t sleep very much because I had so much to do, and I didn’t even prep my grapes for today. However, after reviewing the whole diet plan again, I decided the best place to start again was with the grapes breakfast because the only two breakfasts that are left include persimmons (of which mine are not ripe yet), or a smoothie of which I had no time to blend. So I chose to do Day 1 today, packed some grapes, spinach and bananas, and went off to school.
I got to eat breakfast around 10:00 am as my students were outside at recess which gave me some time.
In the afternoon, I was not able to make my smoothie because our school kitchen is not set up for me to do so at the moment as a lot of people have been using it. So, this meant that I ate a banana instead to tide me over. It’s still on the meal plan, just whole instead of blended. It was a way better option than eating more junk again today. I am breaking away from the bad habits I’ve developed in the past few days. I hate feeling miserable. Raw foods are definitely the way to go.
After I got home, I had to quickly get set up because I had a webinar to watch. So, I took my dog outside for a bit, then came in and cut up some kiwis as that was the “pre-dinner” snack. I could have made my smoothie, but sorting through spinach would have taken way longer than just slicing up some kiwis. So that’s what I did. In fact, I didn’t make the smoothie all day.
Now, after the webinar, and perhaps even during the webinar, I fell asleep. I was so exhausted. I’m literally sleeping like 5 hours a night because I stay up working so much. I keep saying I need to balance things out, but the truth is I really do. Perhaps this weekend I’ll actually draw up a schedule for every day.
After I woke up from my nap, I immediately had a huge stomach cramp and had to run to the bathroom. Three times today this happened, and it has been painful. My stomach is finally in a full rebellion of the junk food I ate and is starting to cleanse itself. Hopefully this is short-lived and my body can do its job efficiently because I didn’t even go to the gym tonight in fear of being too far away from a bathroom for too long.
I didn’t feel like eating again for the longest time, but did end up making a salad before bed. However, the salad didn’t taste the greatest (it’s very hit and miss with the dressings), so I only ended up eating about half of it. But because my stomach was fairly empty, I was so hungry and couldn’t even go to bed without eating something else. So, off the meal plan but still predominately raw, I sliced up some banana, drizzled some apple honey (honey consistency but made from apple, no bees required), and put a few vegan chocolate chips. Now, I’m not sure what was wrong with my kiwis earlier, but they were very “zingy” and it left what almost felt like some stinging in my mouth which made the late night dessert not so good. Perhaps my kiwis were not fully ripe; I really don’t know. I don’t have any food allergies and have never reacted to kiwis before, but perhaps there is more to the story than I know.
Now, tomorrow is National Sandwich Day and it is a planned, off-course day. It will still be vegan with tons of raw veggies, but I am intrigued to see how my body reacts to bread. I do suspect that bread will help stop the immediate bathroom needs which would be nice while I’m at work since the staff only have one washroom to split amongst us all, but I’ve also heard people discover their gluten intolerance when trying gluten after so long of not eating it. So this will be an experiment to see how my body reacts. Then I’m back on course with the last two days of the Rawsome Healthy Diet Plan. I’m still trying to decide where I want to go after that, but stay tuned and you’ll find out.
Review of Symptoms:
-Stomach is in an all-out war, cleansing mode!
-Tired/exhausted
-Acne is the same.
-Hair is so soft, but still a little static-y.
-Muscles are finally less sore today. Aiming for the gym tomorrow.
-Tongue/mouth seemed to react a little to the kiwis (not swollen, just like a “sting”).
-Hungry
Weight at the end of the the day = 165.6 lbs (down 4.8 lbs from yesterday)
Total Calories =Â 2087 (83% carbs, 10% fat, 7% protein… good macro ratio!)
As a kid, I LOVED sandwiches. All the time, anywhere. Picnic foods were my favourite. I don’t know what started it, but it was a love that grew quick.
As a vegan, I don’t indulge in bread too often. I try to eat more whole foods and less processed foods. However, I broke that today.
I did a quick grocery shop with my husband this morning, and I picked up a loaf of Silver Hills bread, some Vegenaise, Symphony lettuce (check it out, so pretty and good!), as well as a few other things. I came home, said goodbye to my husband as he had to head to work, and then got out my knives and my toaster. A sandwich was made!
Yes, that was the finished product. Two slices of toasted Silver Hills bread – The Big 16, with one organic, sliced up tomato, roughly 10 small leaves of Symphony-packed lettuce, and Vegenaise, included in the picture for you to see. Not one animal was harmed in the making of this sandwich! How cool is that? And the taste? Delicious! Yum! In fact, I ended up making another sandwich with a different head of the Symphony-packed lettuce and cucumber instead of tomato. Drool…
For those that are wondering, Silver Hills is a bread company that works out of British Columbia. Their breads contain no dairy or eggs, and have excellent ingredients, primarily being made from sprouted grains. Check them out here: Silver Hills.
This morning, I woke up at 5:30 sharp. What time was my alarm set for? 7:00. I have so much energy I can’t even finish sleeping in the morning! Seems a little strange…
So the first thing I did was drink a cup of water. Time to start getting the body hydrated!
For breakfast, I had an organic mini seedless watermelon. Almost halfway through the melon, I started wondering how I was even going to finish the thing. It was a beautiful red flesh, sweet flavour, and very little white flesh melon. So delicious. Somehow, I just kept eating and ate the whole thing!
I got ready, went to my chiropractor and acupuncture appointments, and then starting thinking those food thoughts again… I wanted so bad to stop and get sushi. Oh my goodness, it took the whole drive home for me to talk myself out of going. Not that it’s not vegan (cucumber rolls, avocado rolls, etc…), but it’s definitely not rawtill4 and I really don’t need to spend the extra money.
Somehow, I did it again! I beat my mind, came home, made a sandwich with Silver Hills Squirrely bread, an avocado, some lemon juice, cucumber, this raw ranch dip, and some salsa. I then had another fifth of my fresh mango cake with some vanilla coconut yogurt on top. Not the best raw meals, but it did stop me from spending extra money and it will tide me over for now.
For supper tonight, I’ve asked my husband to go to our stir fry place where I can get different fruits and veggies that I want, served with rice and noodles. I can’t believe I’m craving rice! I used to dread eating it. I have such a craving for it today!
After my husband came home, we got ready and went to our stir fry place. Oh, it was so good! I made a mix of carrots, bean sprouts, cauliflower, chick peas, tofu, mini corn-on-the-cob, pineapple, dried cranberries, peanuts, kale, noodles, and coconut rice. I use sweet and sour sauce and coconut milk as a topping. Oh it was so delicious. I even indulged and had a green onion cake. It was just so good and so filling! I couldn’t eat it all.
After we came home and let the food digest a little, we got ready and went to the gym. I did 30 minutes of treadmill cardio, followed by some variations of lunges, walking high kicks, stretches and the chiropractor exercises. It was a good energizing workout.
When I got home, I finished that fantastic stir fry. In fact, I wished I had more. Maybe next time I’ll make my stir fry bigger! 🙂
That was basically it for the day. I’m feeling good!
Two words come to mind when describing today: exhaustion and stress. It was so hard to get out of bed this morning. My body aches, my mind needs more rest, I’m nothing short of totally exhausted.
The school day went fine, and I had to stay after work for another 2+ hours for a meeting about a tutoring program that we’re trying to start up at the school. This alone was not necessarily stressful, but extremely tiring when you’re already exhausted.
After the meeting was over, I didn’t even go home. Our dogs were out of food, our skinny pig would be out of food soon, and my husband needed some “sick foods” replenished. So I went to the mall. What should have been a half hour trip turned into an hour and twenty minutes or so.
First, there was a homeless (or maybe not so homeless) man standing outside the grocery store. He was asking people for food or change. Now, I’m all for providing people with food because I know it will go to good use. I’m usually a little more cautious with money in fear of feeding an alcohol or drug addiction. He didn’t specifically ask me, but I heard him asking others as they went by. As I’m sure God would have it, I went inside, kicked myself, and walked back out, asking if I could buy him a sandwich or something he liked. He looked so surprised and happy and told me his preference of cheese and mayo (simple) and that he would really enjoy some milk. I’m not sure about you, but it has been my experience that if someone has dropped to the level of begging for food, that person has passed the level of humiliation. It is not easy to be someone who is at the point of standing by the grocery store door begging for food. And so, with this in mind, I went in and found a loaf of bread, a package of cheese slices, a jar of mayo and a jug of milk. He didn’t mention any meat so I was unsure as to whether he even ate meat (knowing a lot of vegetarians myself). But I got the bulk items so that this man could not just have food once but several times. And I did not pick the cheapest items because I know the blessings the LORD has given me. What pride if I shared some of my gifts with someone in need. Am I rich? Far from it. In fact my husband and I are in the middle of trying to balance our budget and get rid of some of our debt. By many financial standards, we are just getting by. But by someone, like a homeless man’s standard, we are doing well. And so I wanted to give this man not just quantity but also quality and selected items that were a little better than others while still trying to think simplicity to ensure he liked what I gave. When it came to the milk selection, however, I went organic. Not necessarily for the health option, but also because it was the only milk that came in a jug instead of a carton, and not knowing how far he had to go, a jug seemed like the better carrying option.
Either way, the whole point of that whole tangent of a story is not simply to boast about something I did, but rather to encourage you to pass on some good will. I don’t know the man’s story. I don’t know if he was really homeless, but the fact is that I’m not supposed to be the judge, God is. And so I can only do what seems to be the right thing. If I was hungry enough to beg for food, I can only imagine how thankful I’d be for someone to share with me. It’s definitely something to consider the next time.
So after that little time block of a detour, I went back into the grocery store to find the things my husband needed. I had a list, so it wasn’t really that bad. What was bad were the line-ups. It was like several busses had come and dropped everyone off. Plus they had like 3 promotions going on at the same time so the transactions took twice as long.
Finally, I got the stuff to my car. By this time, I’m starving, I can tell my blood pressure is low, and I’m not feeling good at all. So I made a bad choice. I bought a small package of candy and a small chocolate bar. Was it quick carbs to elevate my sugar levels? Yes. But were there better things I could have chosen? Absolutely. This was a weak moment. I moment that caused me to over my macros for the day. A moment I would go back and change. It didn’t even taste as good as I thought. This was a food fail.
I went to the second store, finished buying the things I needed, but tried to carry everything without a cart (14 kg dog food bag, skinny pig food, bag of hay, dog bones). Needless to say, this did not work so well. I ended up leaving the stuff and getting a cart. Lines were long again, and eventually I made it to the car.
But this particular mall has a parking lot challenge. It seems to contain many impatient people. I almost got hit a few times. For example, as I was leaving and slowly backing out of my spot, a car flew behind me, barely squeezing between my car and the car parked behind me. There was no thought of waiting until I had finished pulling out. Those kinds of things.
When I finally got home, I was so happy. So exhausted, tired, and just worn out. It felt so nice to be home. I was going to make today a rest day, but my husband really wanted to go to the sauna. So while he sat in the sauna, I did 25 minutes of steady state cardio on the elliptical.
To be honest, I feel really bad about the food. I know better than that. But I guess this is a reminder, a lesson to remember. There are better choices and I made a bad one. But this is a reminder to prepare even for the worst situations. And should the event arise where things take longer than expected, I can make a better choice.
Off to bed and a better day tomorrow!
Calm in Christ and Fitness 