Art's Raw Journey: 
January 2007

Email: gastrawnome at gmail dot com
(not a clickable link to avoid spammers)

Well, I was doing really well, going to the gym on a regular basis, when once again, something beyond my control intervened. This time, I got sick. Yes, the All-American head cold reared it's ugly head and struck me.

I got a tickle in my throat last Tuesday night, which I thought was odd.. I thought vegetarians didn't get sick. Well, this one did. Maybe that's the problem. Maybe I've been too vegetarian and not enough vegan.

It started out as a chest cold, and worked itself into a full-blown head cold, complete with watery eyes, sneezing, faucet nose, etc. I battled it with soup and lots of orange juice. And some of that"Airborne" stuff. Nothing helped. It had to run it's course. I am starting to feel a little bit better. I'll just think of this as an inconvenient episode of detox. :) I remember reading somewhere that we don't "catch colds" from germs, but we have colds when the body needs
to clear out a lot of junk. Not sure I totally buy that, though.

I didn't eat much. I drank a lot of fluids like soups, etc. As a result, I've lost about 8 pounds.. weight that I really don't want to see come back, but I'm sure will anyway.

It's sure been an eye opener. I found myself wondering.. when's the last time someone like Todd got sick (except for obvious episodes of detox).

I think it's time for me to eat more raw. I really don't want to feel like this ever again. I hate when I get on a roll going to the gym and something like this stops me dead in my tracks. Maybe I'll try the all fruit diet thing like Todd's doing. Maybe not for 30 days, but maybe for a few days, anyway, to see how I feel.

I can't wait to get back to the gym, by the way. This is a temporary setback. Here's to feeling better! Stay healthy, everyone!

Also yesterday, I made a huge crockpot stew with black bean soup as the base.. also put in broccoli, green beans, carrots and some other stuff. My wife didn't like it (I forgot she doesn't like black beans), so I've been eating it. Had 3 bowls yesterday. Cooked, yes, but at least it's vegan.

Today I kind of picked. Had some hummus (cooked) and some lettuce. Made a smoothie of oj, fresh pineapple, and vegan coconut ice cream. Had 4 servings of natto (fermented soybeans); 2 for lunch and 2 at dinner, then 2 cups of instant organic oatmeal.

I'm freaking out a bit (ok, a lot) because we're going to be moving next weekend. Our house closing is on March 29.. I'm renting a van the next day and using it to move boxes from my mom's place, my storage unit, and here at our apartment to the new house. The moving truck comes on Monday. So basically, we're going to be packing this weekend and all next week, and then we'll be out of here by Monday night, which means the apartment has to be cleaned as well. Soon after that I'll be attending the closing for my mom's place, hopefully that goes smoothly as well. In the meantime I still have to finish getting my mom's place cleaned out, plus tie up a million loose ends on everything else.

So, I've got a lot on my plate for the next week to two weeks. I'm going to try really hard to keep raw foods and juices on that plate as well, but we'll probably be eating out a lot as we get settled into the new house. Maybe this wasn't the best time to start eating raw again..but I'm still glad I started, anyway, for what it's worth.

At least, when we move on Monday, April 2, my wife has off that whole week for spring break.. and to think we were thinking of booking a cruise for that week.. glad we didn't! We'll have the whole week to get unpacked and settled in.

Weight is still at 228. Haven't made it to the gym this week. I think that's what's holding my weight loss back.. not going to the gym/exercising enough. We do plan on getting a treadmill for the new house.. I think that will help with regular exercise a lot.

Smoothie consisting of walnut soak water, a banana, scoop of hemp protein powder, maca powder, a little maple syrup.

Lunch was shitake mushrooms in a marinade of olive oil, a soaked sun dried tomato, jerk paste, crushed garlic and ginger, and a little Nama Shoyu, on a bed of mixed greens. Also some "spicy taco meat" which was soaked walnuts, Nama Shoyu, cumin, and coriander. Something in the salad did not agree with me.. can you say "colon blow"? Other than that, no ill effects. Maybe my body just isn't used to all this raw.

Dinner was a large salad of Boston lettuce, sliced cucumber, more mushroom mix, cooked hummus, and some olives.

Had a cannoli for dessert (from the bakery, not a raw one), then a bunch of Club brand crackers with sunflower seed butter and juice sweetened cherry fruit spread.

I seem to do great all day then eat less than wise (crap) choices at night. However, this is still an improvement over before when I used to eat crap all day and night, too. :)

Didn't make it to the gym today, still sore. Tomorrow's going to be a really busy day, but going to try to make it.

Weight still holding steady at about 228 lbs.

Today I had:

An apple
Large salad for lunch consisting of mixed greens, mandarin oranges, raisins, mock tuna (carrot pulp again), raw olives, olive oil, a sprinkling of nutritional yeast.
Dinner was miso soup, a crunchy spicy salmon roll, and some sashimi: salmon, white tuna, yellowtail, ikura (salmon caviar), and raw scallop. I ate everything on the plate including all the daikon and the cucumber slices. Also had some fish tempura, which was a complimentary appetizer.
A cup of green tea
Not nearly enough water

Didn't make it to the gym today, but I'm still sore from yesterday's workout. Will get some cardio in tomorrow!

So this morning I got up and went to the gym.. did a lower body workout.. when I was done, decided to do an upper body workout as well (since I hadn't done one since Feb. 22!) Took it easy, but I still feel it (I'll especially feel it tomorrow!)

Today's food:

About a quart of water
10 oz. soy/rice milk with packet of Strawberry Soy Spirutein after workout
Large salad of mixed greens, raisins, mandarin oranges, about a TBS each of olive oil and sesame oil, sea salt, about 7 raw olives
Way too much non-vegan chocolate cake (it's gone, though!)
2 glasses rice milk
Maybe a half cup of simple mock tuna salad (basically just carrot pulp from the juicer mixed with vegenaise, a little garlic powder, and nori granules).

Decent approximation of tuna salad. Got the recipe from my favorite new raw site, www.goneraw.com. Lots of great raw recipes on there!

Having two raw nights this week, and two cooked nights. My wife is doing raw days.. she'll be having fruit for breakfast and salad/veggies/hummus/nuts combos for lunch. I'll be doing smoothies for breakfast, probably salads for lunch, supplemented with juices.. and making simple stuff for dinner, like Spicy Walnut Taco Meat (from goneraw.com), maybe some zucchini hummus. I do want to make Alissa's"Rawviolis" this week, or sometime soon.

I think it's easier for me to be vegan if I'm leaning towards being raw rather than cooked. We'll see. How many times have I started this journey?

I believe I'll be more successful if I actually plan my meals ahead of time.. that's what I'm doing this week.. let's see if it makes a difference.

I'm not Irish and did not wear any green today.. but I made sure I ate some. :)

We didn't make it to my in-law's last night because of the snow.. we went today instead. My wife had her requested birthday dinner of homemade macaroni and cheese and pan-fried tilapia. And a Carvel ice cream cake.

I got up this morning, cleaned the snow off the car, and went to the gym. Did 48 minutes on the treadmill.. mostly walking at 3.8 mph, but I did jog for a few minutes at 5.5 mph.. had all this extra energy.. just felt really good. Burned 410 calories. Sat in the steam room afterwards and then took a shower. Went to the lunch counter and asked if they had any fresh juice.. all they had was fresh squeezed orange juice so I had some of that. Afterwards, I drove to the bakery and bought my wife Italian bakery cookies for her birthday weekend. I also bought a couple of cannolis and some pignoli (pine) nut cookies. Came home, took a short nap, then headed over to the in-laws. Back home now.

Today I ate:

12 oz. fresh squeezed orange juice
about 7 or 8 pignoli nut cookies (all gone!)
1 cannoli
2 pieces pan-fried tilapia
Few tablespoons of hot sauce
Large bowl of organic spring mix greens with chopped tomato bruschetta mix and olives
Maybe a tablespoon of butter toffee almonds
glass of sangria wine
at least a quart of water
1 bite of macaroni and cheese (I'm not a big fan of pasta and try to avoid it)
Large spoonful of lemon sorbet

Not a great day food-wise, but could have been much worse. Monday will be better, provided I make it to the store tomorrow to stock up on fresh fruits and vegetables!

When I went to the store with my mother-in-law, it was then that I bought the bruschetta, olives, and spring mix.

Going to try to journal my progress everyday. I'm hoping to make it to the gym again tomorrow.

Forgot to mention my starting weight in yesterday's journal.. 229 pounds. This weight has been fairly consistent for months now.

Today I fired up the juicer for the first time in a LONG while. There isn't much raw stuff in the house, but I found a bag of carrots in the vegetable bin. They've been there for a LONG time.. but I peeled them and put them to use. Had 8 oz. of carrot juice.. and about an hour later had another 8 oz. with a scoop of hemp protein powder. Noted for the future.. nasty combination. Hemp protein powder works great in smoothies, but not in plain carrot juice.

Also juiced a head of romaine lettuce. Different. Sweet and powerful. Probably wouldn't drink it by itself again. :)

The juices kept me satisfied and energized for the whole day, and made me eliminate twice. Powerful stuff.

I also had one pitted date and about a quarter cup of roasted salted cashews for a snack.

Had some Amy's Spicy vegan chili over vegan buttered wheat toast for dinner. Then I had some non-vegan chocolate cake with a glass of rice milk for dessert (it's my wife's birthday this weekend.. the cake was leftover from work.. it's really good cake.. I'm glad there's left
than half left). Later I had a few spoonfuls of vegan coconut gelato.

Weight this morning was 228, but that may have been a fluke.

Had a major snowstorm today (ridiculous, I know.. tell that to Mother Nature!) so I couldn't get to the store. I'm hoping to go tomorrow or Sunday (to Whole Foods, hopefully.. they're a lot more raw-friendly than the local supermarket, I can get raw nuts there and other things I need. I don't want to overbuy, though).

Felt really good today.. didn't get to exercise, though.. perhaps I'll be able to squeeze in a trip to the gym tomorrow!

Been keeping really busy with cleaning out my mom's condo and getting ready to move to the new house.

Today is the start of a new era for me.. I realized I need to be consistent in a lot of areas of my life, and today I begin that quest.

I've also decided that I need/want to be raw again. Looking back over the past two plus years I've kept this journal.. the only time I've lost weight and kept it off (and felt good in the process) was when I was raw.

I'm not going to fool myself by aiming for 100%. I don't want to be fanatical about this.. that sort of attitude has gotten me into trouble in the past. I do want to be consistent, however. Raw breakfast, raw lunch, something cooked for dinner with a raw salad.

I wanted to start this coming Monday, since this weekend is my wife's birthday weekend, and I'll probably be eating less than optimal selections.

But I actually WANT to do this.. that's half the battle. So, I did start today. I had a mango smoothie with raw hemp powder and fresh squeezed O.J. for breakfast, and a similar smoothie for lunch, with the addition of some frozen blueberries and 2 frozen bananas. Dinner was a vegan chix patty, 2 vegan sausage patties, and some tater tots. Then I snacked on sunflower seed butter, cherry preserves and Club crackers... yack.. it's hard to be honest. Still, it's a start.

I've been doing a lot of research on the benefits of going raw. THAT is what is going to be my "mantra", so to speak. When I want to eat crap.. I'm going to refer to a list of benefits first.

Another reason for going raw.. when I last journaled on Feb. 11, I mentioned that I was sick. Well, I recovered from that cold, and then got sick AGAIN less than a week later with a much more vicious head cold/bronchitis combination. Since starting this journal, I've become ill with colds/flus at least 4 times.. once in April 2005, again in December 2005, and two in a row this past February. So, somehow I went an entire year without being sick, only to get whacked with it twice in one month.

So, I desire to be raw again, both for the short-term as well as long-term benefits.

My weight was at an alltime high of 237 lbs. I think some of that was water weight, but today I weighed in at 229 lbs. The weight is slowly but steadily coming off, probably because I've been between 95 and 100% raw since Monday. Non-raw items have been things like olives and a tablespoon or two of hummus.

Yup, raw again. I've committed to it for 2 weeks. So far it's been pretty easy, I think because I'm eating a lot of greens, and keeping it fairly simple.

Didn't exercise today, but yesterday did 15 minutes on the rebounder.