Monday-Wednesday:

Today is the first day I'm not on any specific program, just raw on my own. My phone has been giving me trouble and I lost most of the photos.

Monday:

Breakfast was two grapefruits, I have an old pic:

Wasn't hungry for lunch, but I made a nut milk. Don't remember which, but it was good.

Tuesday:

Breakfast was a big honey crisp apple and a tablespoon of raw almond butter. No lunch because I was going out with my girlfriends for dinner and a movie. If you're thinking of seeing Fifty Shades of Gray don't bother. We actually walked out of it (I rolled out, ha ha) and got free tickets for another movie. Everyone who works at the theater said it was awful, but they aren't allowed to say anything.

We had dinner at The Lazy Dog, a mid-range restaurant. I told the waiter I was a raw vegan and asked him to see if the chef f could make me a salad with ALL the veggies they had on a bed of baby greens. I brought my own tahini based dressing. What came out made my friends a little jealous :) I got avocado, tomato, corn, sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, and carrot n a huge bed of spring greens. It was huge! Turns out I'm not the first raw vegan they've had, there is a regular that they make meals for all the time!

Wednesday: I have pics!

Breakfast was Ambrosia! Macadamia nuts, dates, strawberries, young coconut, honey and water. Yumminess!

Lunch was leftover salad from The Lazy Dog:

Dinner was Green Lemonade, apples, lemon, ginger, bok choy, cucumbers, and celery. Very tasty!

For the first time, I was still a little hungry, and craving something sweet. So I made chocolate truffles out of raw almond butter, raw honey, and raw cacao powder. I rolled it into balls, and rolled the balls in more cacao powder. I'm in love!

Sunday:  Ending weight from the Weight Loss Rumpus 160! That's 10 pounds in two weeks! I'm so pleased with the results, and I was never hungry. So I'm gonna stay on it for another week. I may include a few recipes from the 21 and 28 day diets for some variety.

As far as appetite goes, drinking less water hasn't worked so far. I still have no appetite. I guess I'll just eat what I can and try not to worry too much. Pain level has been kinda high in the morning, but once I'm up and around, it goes down.

Breakfast:

I'm out of almost everything, so breakfast was four cups of fresh juiced apples. Yum!

Lunch was a salad, kale with a dressing with lemon juice, olive oil, and tahini. I sprinkled some pumpkin seeds on top. It was delicious.

 The afternoon snack of nut milk made me crave the Ambrosia. It's the first time I've felt hungry or craved anything in days so I went for it. It's nut based so it wasn't far from what I'd be eating anyway. Macadamia nuts, strawberries, young coconut water and meat, and honey.

It was so filling it was my dinner as well.

1,900 points for my house.

It rained today, really hard, so I spent the day curled up with my husband watching Supernatural reruns on Netflix. Great day!

Saturday:

Well, still not hungry but it's only been a day with reduced water consumption, so I'll give it time.

Breakfast:

I made a smoothie with all my leftover fruit and greens. Blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, almonds, and spinach with dates to sweeten it:

Not hungry for lunch or my snack, but I made dinner to go. We went to a friend's birthday party, so I juiced dinner and brought it with me. Sorry, no pic. It had apples, celery, lemon, cucumbers and kale. It filled two 32 oz bottles. Unfortunately one of them had the cap partially open and nearly the whole bottle spilled into my backpack! Crap!

1,500 points for my house.

On the upside I saw a lot of people who hadn't seen me in months. Their jaws were on the floor! They all said they couldn't believe how good I looked, and not just the weight loss. They said my face looked brighter, happier. They saw me on my crutches (most had never seen me out of my wheelchair) and couldn't believe how well I was moving around. I told them all about my diet and two wanted to sign up! I showed them Jinjee's article about me (for those who haven't read it you can find it at   http://jinjeetalifero.com/?p=3962 ). They were very surprised at my weight loss and the affect of the diet on my pain. One of them is going to recommend the diet to a friend with M.S.

I can't wait to see friends at the Renaissance Faire in April who haven't seen me in a year when I weighed 190! I hope to be down to 150 by then, but I'm shooting for 145. 130 is my goal weight.

Friday,

Still not hungry. I juiced all my leftover grapefruits for breakfast:

Lunch was another big salad, kale with my favorite dressing with a twist. Usually it's just hemp seeds and nutritional yeast, but I added lemon juice and apple cider vinegar to make it less powdery and more dressing like:

Exercise was 45 mins on the hand cycle and a new record of 5.31 miles! Yay! It felt great, I can feel my arms getting stronger. I'm really building up arm muscle and no longer have those old lady "jiggle" arms :)

2,000 points for my house.

Still no appetite, don't know why, my pain level is still low. Weird. I'm going to start drinking less water, maybe I'm not hungry because my stomach is still always full of water. My minimum is 90 oz a day, usually more. So as of today I'm setting a cap of 64 oz. And I'll see if that works. Contrary to popular opinion, eating so little is a bad thing. Your body freaks out, thinks you're starving, and holds onto fat. So I gotta get eating so I can lose as much weight as possible.

Thursday:

Not very hungry today. I woke up late so I skipped breakfast and went straight to Lunch: Mixed greens salad with tomato, avocado, and pumpkin seeds with a lemon, olive oil and fresh herb dressing.

Dinner was Almond milk:

Exercise was 15 mins on the WII. My arms were sore from yesterday.

1,700 points for my house.

Pain level is still low, so I'm not sure when my appetite is, kinda weird. I'm just not hungry.

Wednesday:

Back to my old self! Man that ride yesterday felt good. Just getting out of the house and moving around did wonders for my back and my morale!

Pre-breakfast water and lemon 300 points.

Breakfast smoothie was two big honey crisp apples, raspberries, OJ, almonds, and kale. I totally made it up and liked it. The OJ (I juiced five oranges) really sweetened it. 500 points.

Snack was cashew milk. I think this is my favorite. It's so smooth, and very little flavor aside from a little sweetness. I added nutmeg and honey and downed it in a flash after my hand cycle ride. Protein and minerals never tasted so good! 500 points.

Dinner was out at a restaurant, I went with my husband to Bike Night, he's in a motorcycle club. I brought along some dressing I made with lemon juice, olive oil, vinegar, rosemary, thyme, and salt. Then I asked the chef to whip up a salad with every raw veggie they had. I got a salad too big for me to finish, and they only charged me $3.50 for a side salad! 500 points.

Exercise: two days in a row, so far so good. I did my regular three laps in 30 mins on my hand cycle. 500 points. Tomorrow perhaps I'll try to get back to 4.08 miles. My goal is 5 miles, after that I want to work on speed and see if I can enter a hand cycle race. Wouldn't that be awesome?!

2,300 points for my House.

Tuesday:

Doing soooooo much better, even woke up early for once!

Obligatory pre-breakfast water with lemon 300 points.

Breakfast was, as always, smoothie: 500 points

Two apples, a peeled orange, an avocado, blueberries, almonds and spinach. Looks good, right?

I won't say what it looks like blended. But it was sweet, rich, and filling. It lasted me all morning and afternoon.

Snack was pumpkin seed milk. Very good and another milk with cinnamon. Yummy! 500 points

I also juiced dinner, finally starting to make all my meals. Juice was apples, lemon, kale and cucumbers. Very refreshing and great to drink after my workout. 500 points.

Exercise: That's right, I'm back on the hand cycle! 30 min and 3.64 miles. I had been averaging 4.08 miles, but after a week off I figured I'd take it easy. I was surprised, my back didn't hurt nearly as much as I thought it would afterwards. I might be back to 4 miles within a week, but no worries, I won't push myself too hard. 500 points.

Total for my house: 2,300 points.

Monday: Weekly weigh in 165! Five pounds down from last week. Yay! I'm finally over that at plateau, I thought 168 was as low as it would go!

And huzzah, the spasms have stopped! My back is sore, like I was beat with a baseball bat, but no more spasms. Thank my lucky stars.

I didn't do any shopping, my fridge is still full of fruits and veggies from last week. So I'm gonna mix and match recipes depending on what I have and what meal it is. I'll be sure to drink enough water, and have my big meal in the middle of the day.

Pre-breakfast water with lemon, 300 points

Breakfast, I made a smoothie with apples, orange, banana, dates, almonds, spinach, and water. Looked gross, tasted awesome. 500 points

Lunch was a papaya. Sorry, forgot the pic. 500 points

Snack/dinner was sesame seed milk. One of my favs because I don't have to soak or peel anything. 500 points.

Drank 32 oz water 400 points.

No exercise today, I didn't want to push things. As it was I was up and around, got the ingredients from the back house myself, and made my own meals. So, a far cry from a week ago!

My total for my House today:2,200. Go Dragonfruits!

Friday, Saturday, Sunday:

I thought my back was getting better, but no such luck. I'm still bed bound most of the day. I managed to stay raw Friday. I earned about 1,000 points for my house. Didn't take pics or write anything down, I was in too much pain.

Saturday I had a raw smoothie, 500 pts, then got a cooked vegan pizza for Valentine's day. Minus 100 So a whopping 400 pts for my house.

Sunday I only ate once, vegan pizza. Minus 100 points. Nobody's perfect. I was in so much pain, at that point I just didn't care.

I really hope this gets better soon, I can't take much more of this. I was so used to the "new me" that I forgot how bad my back can really get. I'm back to my hand full of meds, I think I've gone through three week's worth in the past week. Keep your fingers crossed for me readers. I could use some support about now.

Thursday:

Day three of my back sucking :(  My husband is still rubbing my back down every morning and evening, and that helps a lot. Today was light, I had a collard green smoothie for breakfast:

No lunch, no dinner, but I did have cashew milk, my new favorite. Not very sweet but very smooth. Very milky!

I drank a lot of water today, maybe because I feel like I'm starting to recover. I didn't have to take nearly as much meds today, which is very good!

2,500 points for my house today!

Wednesday:

Monday morning smoothie was supposed to have pears but mine still aren't ripe, so I made some substitutions. If I remember correctly (and my back was still screwed so I was pretty doped up) it had banana, blueberries, apples, collard greens, and almonds.

Looks gross but tasted good. Blue and green make grey :)

Lunch was bok choy salad

Too full for my afternoon snack, so I went straight to dinner, Chard Green Lemonade

Before

After. Very tasty!

My back was still in spasm, my husband rubbed it again. No exercise, still bed bound. This sucks!

1,200 points for my house.

Tuesday:

Sorry this blog is behind, but my back literally spazed out on me! I woke up with a pinched nerve on the back of my neck that swelled up to the size of a golf ball. My upper back began to go into spasm and by the end of the day my entire back was in spasm and I was loaded with medication.

I was scheduled to eat/drink Lemon Water, Green Smoothie, Big Salad, Nut or Seed Milk, and a Green Lemonade. That is the diet for the entire two weeks. I didn't even come close.

I had my 24 oz lemon water, and made my smoothie. I had to make some substitutions based on what was ripe. So. My smoothie had banana, papaya, orange, Apple, some spinach, avocado, and almonds. I added some dates for sweetness.

Before

After. It tasted much better than it looks :)

Lunch was baby greens and a sunflower seed dressing that was just amazing!

That was all I could manage. My loving husband rubbed my back down with a special muscle relaxant oil and helped me with my meals. What would I do without him?!

Points for my House, 1,200.

Monday:

Day one of the Raw Rumpus! Starting weight: 170

Before pic:

I'm eating even more now! You eat/drink five times a day on this diet. I was so full today I couldn't eat dinner!

Pre-breakfast 24 oz water with juice of half a lemon

Breakfast was a Creamy Coconut Green Smoothie. It was so rich and thick it took me over an hour to drink it!

Lunch was a Kale Salad, very good and filling.

Those are raw pumpkin seeds in there! Soooooo good.

Afternoon snack, which I drank after my hand cycle ride was a Sesame Seed Milk. It was supposed to have a pinch of cinnamon, but I opened the wrong side and kinda dumped it in there. So it was a Cinnamon Milk! It was still good, and my first sesame seed milk. I like!

Dinner was supposed to be Kale Green Lemonade, but as I said, I was too full!

I also rode 30 mins on my hand cycle, and did 15 mins on the WII.

We also get points for drinking water, I drank four glasses. 

All together I racked up 3,250 points for my House. Not bad considering I missed a meal. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have 500 more points!

Sunday:

I was out of food, so I kinda had to improvise. Breakfast was OJ/Grapefruit juice.

Lunch was a piece of durian, yumminess!

Dinner was the rest of my oranges juiced and blended with the last piece of durian. I decided to try Jinjee's recipe, I've never tried the OJ/durian smoothie before. I was worried it would spoil the taste of the durian, but it was delicious! I think I juiced four oranges and used one piece of durian. Awesome!

No exercise, very bad back day :(

Monday I start Raw Rumpus, a weight loss program. Hopefully it will get me back on track as I've managed to gain two pounds!

Saturday:

Breakfast was supposed to be Mandarin orange juice, but I can never get juicy ones, so I made OJ and grapefruit juice. Yummy!

Lunch was Watercress Treat with watercress, tomato, avocado, and lemon juice. Always good, and this time the watercress was super fresh and not bitter at all.

Looks good huh? I finished every bite!

Dinner was supposed to be a salad of pineapple, carrot, and cabbage. But the pineapple was so ripe and sweet that I just had the whole thing! Storm calls it mono-eating and says if out body craves it, go for it! In fact it's easier on your digestive system to only have to digest one food. My body sure lived it!

No exercise today, we went to the movies and saw Project Almanac. Good script, good acting, but the whole thing was filmed with the shaky hand camera and gave me a headache!

Good day today, low pain and my stomach doesn't hate me anymore!

Friday:

We all make mistakes. The day started off great.

Breakfast was four oranges and four grapefruits, juiced.

Lunch was Almond Milk, my fav!

So far so good, right? I exercised today, 30 mins on the hand cycle and I set a new record, four miles! Yay! It may not seem that far, but believe me, it's a long way to push yourself with your arms. I also did 15 mins on the weights.

Here's where I fell apart. I'm starting a new raw diet Monday (same website as the 21 day cleanse and the 28 day program) but this one is called Raw Rumpus and is designed for weight loss. Since the scale has not moved from 168 in past two weeks I'm a little frustrated. In my moment of weaknesses I gave in and had a cooked meal. With cheese. And fries. I spent the next hour and a half bent over a barf bucket. Talk about negative reinforcement!

I told my husband and roommate to make sure I didn't fall off the wagon again until I reach my goal weight. And I won't be eating cheese or fries again! Barf!! Jinjee says not to beat myself up, no worries, my stomach did it for me!!!

Thursday:

Breakfast was an OJ Banana Strawberry Smoothie. Very good and made a lot!

Doesn't that look luscious?

Lunch was Penny's Pate, a pate made from soaked sunflower seeds. It is usually flavored with fresh herbs, but I was feeling like Indian food, so I used cumin, coriander, basil, and mango pickle (not chutney). I served it with bok choy leaves and mixed Indian pickle. It was awesome and sated my craving easily. One for the keep file for sure!

Dinner was supposed to be Zucchinigetti, but I was still full from lunch, so I had two grapefruits, eaten with a spoon.

Exercise was 15 mins on the WII, and 15 mins on the weights. Felt great after. I'm slowly able to lift heavier weights, still doing 3 sets of 10.

All over a great day :) 😁

Wednesday:

Breakfast was a n OJ Banana Smoothie. This time I added ice instead of pouring it over ice and it was much thicker and satisfying.

Lunch was Celery Chowder. Young coconut, celery, Brazil nuts and olive oil. It makes a very tasty soup, a little salty that my body craved. There was so much it made two big bowls!

Dinner was Apple Pie, but I was still full from lunch! So I had a glass of OJ/Grapefruit Juice.

I thought my readers might like to see my indoor Hockey Table turned fruit storage table!

That's only one week's worth!

I was finally able to exercise today. 30 mins on my hand cycle. It was a very easy ride, and my pain level has dropped finally. Huzzah!

Tuesday:

Breakfast was grapefruit juice. I was supposed to juice 8 grapefruits, but 6 made 8 cups!" Grapefruit juice is my favorite, so it was a great way to start the day!

Lunch was a Super Mineralizing Salad. A bag mixed greens, avocado, tomato, carrot j, and beet with a dressing of lemon juice, olive oil, and fresh herbs. I wolfed it down!

Dinner was Kale and Salsa Wraps, but I was craving something sweet so I had raw almond butter, honey, and raw cocoa powder. It was a treat from the 28 day diet that I had instead of cheating and eating something cooked.

Today was the first day I actually felt hungry. I'm usually so stuffed I can even think of cheating. I'm glad I stuck it out, even though I didn't eat what was scheduled, I started raw.

No exercise today, my back was not cooperating :(

Monday:

Day 1 of the 21 Day Raw Vegan Cleanse. Starting weight 168 lbs.

Breakfast was 16 oz fresh squeezed OJ.

Lunch was one of my favs, Tabouli! Cilantro, parsley, green onions, tomato, avocado, hemp seeds, lemon, olive oil, and salt. Very nutritious and delicious.

Dinner was guacamole and jicama. Yummy :)

No exercise today, high pain day. They still crop up but my good days definitely outweigh my bad.

Sunday:

Last day of the 28 Day Ease Into Raw diet. Ending weight was 168. Starting weight was 175, a loss of 7 pounds in 4 weeks, and 12 pounds since I went raw December 5th!

Breakfast was two whole grapefruits, eaten with a spoon traditional style. Looooooove grapefruits!

Lunch was supposed to be Cheesecake. But it was nut based, and in an attempt to cut calories I had a green salad with tahini based dressing.

Dinner was a cheater meal of cooked vegetarian Indian food. Don't tell anyone ;)

Exercise was 15 mins on the WII.

Overall I'm pretty happy with my progress. My weight is going down steadily, my pain level is down, and I'm using less medication. Check out my before and after of my daily medications:

Before the diet

After 7 weeks on the raw vegan diet

And here's my before and after body pics:

December 5th before the raw diet

After the 21 day cleanse and 28 day program.

Who knew diet could have this kind of impact?! Now I know I'll never go back to a 100% cooked vegan diet.