Thursday:

Sorry for the lateness of this post, I tried posting the past two days but Blogger was down :(

Breakfast was an apple banana salad, alas my bananas went bad, so it was just apples and walnuts. It was still good :)

Lunch was supposed to be Simple Raw Burgers, but it was nut based and I had nuts for Breakfast and I'm trying to lose weight, so I just had 4 cups of O.J.

Dinner was coconut based, so since I was worn out I just ate the young coconut, water and meat and was perfectly satisfied.

Exercise was 15 mins on the WII in the morning and 15 mins in the afternoon. I boxed, played tennis, and bowled. Breaking it up into two sessions instead of one marathon session worked well. I wasn't sore too much the next day.

Wednesday:

Feeling great! My back is back to normal (for me) and I'm able to make all my meals and exercise. The day started with,

Breakfast:

Blueberries and raspberries. The raspberries were a little tart so I used a bit of raw honey.

Lunch was Herbed Cashew Cream Dip and Cucumbers. I used fresh oregano as the herb. It tasted amazing and my roommate loved it as well.

Dinner was dessert, my fav! This time it was supposed to be Mango Raspberry Pie, but my mango was bad so I just used more raspberries. The crust was raw pecans (which are amazing) with dates, raisins, vanilla, and cinnamon. The result was luscious!

Exercise today was 30 mins on my hand cycle. The first lap was very challenging, my arms were dead from Tuesday, and my back was sore. But I pushed through it and was very proud of myself for not giving up. I'm on the last week of the diet and I want to lose as much weight as possible for my "after" pic.

Tuesday:

A full day at last! Started the morning with:

Breakfast: Banana Mango Smoothie. I love mornings now, whereas before I never had a reason to get out of bed. I often didn't eat until afternoon, and then just cereal. I feel happy to get out of bed now and make my delicious breakfast :)

Lunch was Cauliflower Popcorn. Cauliflower chopped up and mixed with nutritional yeast and salt. I'm not one for raw cauliflower, but it was easy to munch on this. I had a huge head of cauliflower, so I didn't come close to finishing it. Leftovers for tomorrow!

This is what was leftover!

Dinner was a mixed green salad with Storm's Dressing. Tahini, lemon juice, salt, onion, olive oil, and Italian seasonings. I used oregano, tarragon and sage, all fresh and organic. It was up to me to figure the quantities but I did just fine.

Big salad with lots of dressing!

I exercised today. 35 mins on my hand cycle and I nearly made it four miles (3.8) I went my fastest as well, 7.0 mph compared to my usual 5.8 or so. I got out on the main road today and I think that made the difference. Feeling great! My hubby noticed that I was walking better on my crutches. I told him the longer I stay raw the lower my pain goes. I still have flare-ups, but I've noticed a big change for the better!

Monday:

Weekly weigh in: 168 lbs. I'm into the 60's! 2 pounds down from last week.

Finally feeling better, I was able to make all my meals today! Hopefully the rest of the week goes well. Fingers crossed 😃

Breakfast was a fruit salad, sorry forgot the pic, but it was just banana and blackberries. Very sweet blackberries at that!

Lunch was falafels. Sunflower seeds were the base, add in some Tahiti, spices, lemon and garlic and voila! Also on the recipe was falafel cream, and the veggies. I didn't have any lettuce to act as the "pita bread", so I just ate as is. It was very good and filling.

Dinner was Almond Butter Chocolate Yum. Almond Butter, honey and organic raw cacao. It made very little, but it was very rich. Another recipe for the keep pile!

No exercise today, I wanted to give it one more day until I got back on the bike. Still feeling outstanding on the diet. Tons of energy, good food, and never hungry.

Sorry to all my readers, my blog is behind again! This time I have an excuse :)

My back has been really bad the past week, add in a four alarm migraine and you have one bad blogger.

I have stuck with the raw diet, no cheating! I haven't always eaten what was on the menu, because I couldn't stand long enough to make it. I had a lot of juices and smoothies, a few salads, some cut up fruit. I didn't take a pic of everything I ate like usual, but I did take a few pics:

One thing I've noticed about this diet is the colors! The SAD diet is Brown and tan. Meat, bread, white rice, French fries, etc. I watch My 600 Pound Life and everything they eat is brown. Now I look at my diet over the past six weeks and it's so full of color! Check out all my pics; yellow, green, red, blue, orange - so full of color and life. Even if I go back to a cooked diet I know I'll include lots more raw fruits and veggies. How can I give them up after this?!

Exercise: due to my back I was only able to exercise twice, both times on my hand cycle. Back pain was enormous and I barely made it both times. But I'm glad I did something when I could have just stayed in bed :)

Thursday:

Finally got the blog caught up! Today is supposed to be a water only fast. However, last time I did that, on the 21 Day Raw Cleanse, my body freaked out and I didn't lose a single pound that week.

This time I thought I'd take a page from Storm's book and do an OJ fast.

I juiced about three pints, and felt full all day with no cravings.

Tomorrow we leave for a weekend camping trip, so I'm juicing, mixing, and packing enough raw food for three days. No small feat when one day"s worth of food can fill a paper grocery bag!

Back is back to normal, so I started off slow with 15 min of stretching and 15 mins of weights.

Wednesday:

Liquid only cleanse day. I love juices and I drink water like a fish, so I love these days.

Breakfast was 8 grapefruits juiced. It made 8 cups! The grapefruits I got are seriously huge.

Lunch was Watermelon Juice. I had this first in India. I'm surprised we don't drink it more here. It's soooooo good!

Dinner was either an OJ Banana Raspberry Smoothie or Durian. Of course I chose durian. You could make a smoothie with OJ, but I didn't want to change the luscious flavor.

My back is almost healed. I'm up and around, though not exercising yet. Tomorrow is a fast and we're not supposed to exercise, so I hope to go out Friday.

Tuesday:

Still getting the blog caught up. Tuesday was green day!

Breakfast was a Green Juice, this one is one of my favorites. Kale, cucumber, celery, apples, and a whole lemon, peel and all. It tasted very light and summery. I can see this being a hot weather fave.

Lunch was a Big Sunny Salad, but I was still full from breakfast, so I skipped it and went straight to:

Dinner: a Blended Salad. Tomato, avocado, kale , celery, cucumber, and lemon juice. I left out the bell pepper as I don't care for them and the dulse (seaweed) flakes as I couldn't find them. The result was luscious but grossed my roommates out :)

My back is feeling better, but I haven't exercised yet. It's been raining, so I can't take my hand cycle out. And I'm worried about using the WII or doing weights. I'll give it a few more days.

Monday:

Weekly weigh in: 170! That's 5 pounds down in one week, and 10 lbs down since I went raw four weeks ago!

Still mostly bed-ridden. No exercise beyond pushing myself around in my wheelchair Sunday doing my shopping.

Breakfast was Watermelon Juice, but I slept until 2:00 pm, so I skipped it and went straight to lunch.

Lunch was Big Fruit Salad. Basically every fruit you can think of. Mine had banana, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, apple, Asian pear, and orange. It took all day to eat!

Dinner was an OJ Banana Blueberry Smoothie. Delicious!

Hopefully my back has benefited from rest and I'll be able to exercise again.

Sunday:

I'm pretty much bed bound. My back is in constant spasm. For breakfast I had leftover Silky Green Smoothie:

I couldn't make lunch and was in too much pain to be hungry.

Dinner was ice cream! Frozen mango, pineapple, and banana, blended with OJ. Just like a sorbet only better! And not to hard to make.

Saturday:

My back is trashed. However, today is the first day I've had to visit our good friends Dave and Renee. Dave is fighting brain and lung cancer (stage 4) and I really wanted to see them. I looked at today's meals and knew I wouldn't be able to make them. Breakfast was, thankfully, Mandarin juice. I substituted OJ and made extra to sip throughout the day.

For lunch I brought an apple, a banana, and a Silky Green Smoothie. A yummy, easy to make meal with a young coconut, spinach, and avocado. I used  little more spinach than what was called for, so it turned out more like a soup. A delicious soup! Sorry for the pic, I forgot until I packed it away.

By dinner we were home, and my back hurt so much I went straight to bed, no dinner. It's been awhile since my back has been this bad.

Friday:

Sorry for the lateness of these posts, but I had a bad back weekend.
Friday breakfast was Orange/Grapefruit juice. 7 cups of yumminess!

Lunch was Penny's Pate. Sunflower seeds, fresh herbs, and some lemon. It didn't say how to eat it, so I grabbed some spinach and ate it wrapped in the leaves. It was amazing! Definitely a keeper. Get some the recipe by signing up for the program at 28daysraw.com.

Dinner was Avocado Tomato Watercress Treat. Great salad, the avocado and a squirt of lemon took the bitterness out of the watercress.

Exercise was hard for once. I went out on my hand cycle, but barely made it 28 mins. I don't think my back was ready yet.

Thursday:

Woke up with my back throbbing. Definitely over did it on the WII. Took a high dose of pain meds and a muscle relaxant just to get out of bed.

Breakfast was an O.J. Banana smoothie:

By lunch my back was hurting again, luckily lunch was easy. Kale Subs with avocado, tomato, cilantro, lemon and salt all wrapped in kale:

Was hoping to exercise today, but after lunch my back was trashed. I decided to listen to my body and laid down to watch TV. I was asleep within minutes. I slept from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm. I felt a little bit better, but decided against exercising. I watched a few movies with my hubby and went to bed at 10:00 pm without dinner. I was hurting too much to eat and had already taken all the meds for the day.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be doing better. I will keep exercise on the WII down to 15 min until I get used to it. I'll up it by 5 min each time instead of jumping to 25 min. all at once!

Wednesday:

Morning started off with grapefruit juice. I was supposed to juice 8 grapefruits, but they were so huge that 6 made 8 cups!

That's a 4 cup measuring cup, the grapefruit was the size of my head!

Lunch was Cheesy Noodles. Kelp noodles in a sauce of cashews, lemon, salt, and seasonings. It wasn't what I would call "cheesy" but it was delicious. The noodles had the same taste and texture of Vietnamese glass noodles which are made from white rice.

This is just a half serving. It was easier to blend the sauce with the noodles if I did it in batches. I ate almost the whole thing. Very filling!

Dinner was Apple Pie. However, I had just finished working out and didn't want to break out the Vitamix. Also it came with a crust made of almonds I hadn't soaked, and didn't really want. I'm trying to lose weight, and decided to have just one serving of nuts a day. So I ate two huge Honey Crisp apples, and a few dates. I was stuffed!

Exercise was 25 minutes on my WII, boxing and playing tennis. I was worn out! I gobbled down dinner happily while the rest of the house had In N Out burgers and fries. I felt great, they looked a little over full :)

Feeling great on the diet. Am able to exercise much more, and think leaving out some of the fatty foods here and there will help my weight loss.

Tuesday:

Back was hurting when I woke up, and I didn't have the macadamia nuts to make breakfast, so I juiced a grapefruit and four oranges.

By lunch I was feeling better, and made the Nut Sushi. Ground almonds and some coconut meat was the "rice" portion. Avocado, cucumber, tomato, cilantro, and sprouts went in the nori along with the Nut mixture. The result was delicious and decedent! I ate every single bite!

My hubby picked up the macadamia nuts, and so I had breakfast for dinner! Chocolate Silk by Storm. His recipe called for carob, but I used raw cacao powder. I discussed the pro's and con's of these a few days ago, if you're interested. Anyway, it had macadamia nuts, young coconut water, a super ripe banana, dates, honey, cacao powder, olive oil, and salt. The result was a luscious l chocolate shaker that I will keep in my permanent recipe file!

I did well with exercise today. Upper body weights for 15 min. in the morning, and 30 min. on my hand cycle in the afternoon. For those who haven't seen one, here's what it looks like:

I am an incomplete paraplegic, so my legs rest on either side of the front wheel, and I pedal with my arms. Using your arms to move your body weight is three times harder than using your legs. So 30 mins. on a hand cycle is approximately 1 to 1 1/2 hours on a bicycle. Whew! I set two new records: I went my fastest - 6.64 mph. and my furthest - 3.66 miles. Yay me!

Monday, and start of The Garden Diet 28 Day Transition To Raw Program. My starting weight is 175 pounds.

For those of you who don't know me, or haven't seen me out of my wheelchair, this is the true me. Clothing hides a multitude of sins :)

Breakfast was 16 oz. of OJ. Yummm!

We were out shopping, so I had a snack of 1/2 a raw coco/coconut bar. My husband had Godiva chocolate. Sigh...

Lunch was Tabouli. This was a recipe from my cleanse that I absolutely loved. Cilantro, parsley, green onions, tomato, avocado, hemp seeds, lemon, olive oil, and salt. Better than you can imagine.

Dinner was supposed to be Gazpacho, but I ended up cleaning out two refrigerators and putting away a week's worth of fresh fruits and veggies, so dinner was a piece of durian. My fav and totally allowed on this diet!

It's not too late to start the diet, sign up at http://28daysraw.com. Follow along with me as I continue my raw vegan journey!

Sunday, and the last day of the cleanse. My ending weight was 175, a loss of five pounds. It's less than I'd hoped, but considering I was sick the first two weeks, then bed-bound for three days due to my disability, it's not bad. Also, I was only able to exercise four times, and that certainly was a factor.

Breakfast was two grapefruits, eaten traditional style. Lunch was supposed to be Sprout Salad, but we were running around and I didn't have time to make the dressing, so I had a couple oranges on the road.

Dinner was a celebration of the New Year, and a new roomie, so we went out for a non-raw-non-vegan naughty dinner. I still ate healthy, but it was weird eating hot food for the first time in 21 days. It was awesome.

Tomorrow starts my 28 day Transition To Raw Program. This time, I'll have four whole weeks to lose weight, and should be able to workout every day.

Still loving the raw food. I feel great, am using less medication, and when I do exercise I am able to go further and faster. I'm looking forward to doing another month of tasty and nutritious recipes.

Join me at http://28daysraw.com.

Saturday:

Feeling better, able to make all my meals today. Breakfast was my fav, OJ!

Lunch was a new recipe, Almond Avocado Mousse. Sounds gross, right? It was awesome! It had soaked almonds, raw, organic cocoa powder (more on that later), avocado, mint and a strawberry. Mix into a mouse and it was chocolate heaven!! Like dessert for lunch :)

Now the recipe called for carob powder. There is a debate amongst vegans about carob vs. chocolate, mostly due to the caffeine. Personally, I am on the cacao side. One, it just tastes better. Two, the recipe called for one tablespoon. I don't know how much caffeine is in one tablespoon, but it wasn't enough to affect me. Three, I think the positives, nutrient-wise outweigh the negatives. To each his own, read up and go with with what you are comfortable with. If you want the delicious, amazing recipe, sight up for the cleanse at http://21daysraw.com.

Dinner was a Kale Salad. Kale, with vinegar, salt, hemp seeds, nutritional yeast, cumin, coriander (the spice, not the fresh herb), and olive oil. It was surprisingly good. I was a little worried about all the spices and just kale without any other greens, but this is another recipe I'll be holding onto. Along with the mousse!

Yummy!

I exercised today, 33 min. on my hand cycle. I'm getting faster, and going further. Yay me!

Friday:

Still hurting, but I was able to get out of bed and make all my meals. Breakfast was Ambrosia. Macadamia nuts, dates, strawberries, young coconut water, honey, and water. It made a creamy smoothie I drank over ice. This is another recipe I'll hold on to. I let my roommate try it and she loved it so much I promised I'd save her a cup. No problem as it made seven cups, was rich and filled me up.

Yummy!

Lunch was a nice, fresh Cucumber Dill Salad. I'd never had dill before, and found I love it. It was big, but not too filling, so it was a great follow up to breakfast.

Dinner is Almond Mylk. I'm peeling almonds as soon as I'm done updating my blog, and it will be a great rich, creamy dinner to put me to sleep. 

Back feeling better today and I should be able to go out on my hand cycle tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Thursday:

We were up until 5:00 am this morning. I woke up at 10:00 am by my medication alarm and knew I was in trouble. The pain was unbearable. I took my meds and asked my hubby to bring me an apple and a banana, my scheduled breakfast, in an hour. He went back into the living room and promptly fell asleep. As did I. He awoke and woke me up at 5:00 pm! Whoops! I ate breakfast in bed and took more meds. Finally, about 9:00 pm I was able to get out of bed and make lunch.

Lunch was Lemon Cream Pie. Dried, raw, shredded coconut, lemon, honey, banana, and flax oil. Again, no pic, but it was positively luscious! Like having dessert for lunch. This is something I will definitely crave and make whether I remain raw or not.

Dinner was nut sushi. The recipe looked amazing, but it was too complicated for me to make with my back the way it was, and too late at night. I was in too much pain to be hungry anyway.

I spent the whole day in bed. My own fault for over doing it the day before.

Wednesday:

New year's eve and doing a lot of running around. Breakfast was blueberries and raspberries. No time for the tacos that were scheduled for lunch, so I had two cups of papaya.

All day we were cleaning, shopping, and cooking for our annual New Year's Eve party. I finally had time to make dinner which was Kale Subs. Avocado, tomato, cilantro, and seasonings all wrapped in kale leaves. I proudly ate it in front of a room full of horrified carnivores :) No pic, but it looked like the salsa/kale tacos from last week.

Food, desserts, goodies, drinks, and a keg of Newcastle and I didn't cheat once. So proud of myself. I did, however, take a lot of medication to get through the night. That came back to bite me in the ass.