March 9, 2010
I'll be "back" on Monday. Maybe this time I'll make it more than 5 weeks. We have the cruise in October that I desparately want to have lost 80 pounds by. Going high raw, all vegan, gluten-free; and will be exercising at least 5 days a week. I'm debating on a juice cleanse again to jump start the journey.
I'll be taking pics again, but doubtful that I'll post them until I've lost a substantial amount of weight. I just can't stand to see the reality in a photo. Not now anyway.
Wish me luck!
March 14, 2010
Tomorrow starts my journal back to health. High raw, vegan, gluten-free. That's the plan. Last time I did this (January 1st), I made it 5 weeks, and then stopped the night we found out Steph got laid off. Starting over. That's all we can hope for...is to keep getting back up and trying again. Only if I ever give up completely will I feel I have failed.
My plan for the first three days is to juice during the day, then eat salad and fruit at night...no nuts, seeds or almond butter until Thursday.
Eventually I'll get back into raw gourmet also, but have to buy another dehydrator. I sold mine several years ago, and refuse to buy anything but the same again...the Excalibur. Steph got me a spiral slicer so I can start making raw ravioli and zucchini spaghetti again too. One thing I miss most is my Coconut Macaroons. And I wanna make Steph a carrot cake, since that is her favorite dessert.
Here's the grocery list from Trader Joe's today (total was $49.27). Have more to buy, but it's just a start.
- 2 bottles 64 oz each organic unfiltered apple juice
- 2 cartons not-from-concentrate orange juice
- bag of romaine salad
- bag of spring salad mix
- 2 pounds organic gala apples
- 1 pound organic carrots
- 5 organic fruit leathers
- 2-pack of celery hearts
- mango smoothie juice (for Steph)
- carton low sodium organic vegetable broth
- container of roasted red pepper hummus
- container of edamame hummus (for Steph)
- 3 organic bananas
- 2-pack of guacamole
Weight: 285.5 (I'm so sad to write that number. Steph and I just had the discussion that I've gained 80...80...80...pounds since she and I got together. Holy hell. NO MORE!)
March 15, 2010
So the journey has begun. I juiced all day. By 1:00 pm, I was hitting the bathroom often, and not just to pee. The diarreah started early this time. I went to bed late last night, so with that plus the juicing, I was exhausted. And no coffee. My head is hurting now (late evening when I write this), and I just wanna crash.
The greatest thing about starting a high raw, vegan, gluten-free diet with juicing, is that by the time I eat, I'm not freaking out wanting crap food...I'm simply desperate for a salad or fruit, anything solid at all. I highly recommend starting out juicing, cause you really do appreciate food once you eat, and something healthy will completely satisfy you.
As for exercise, I thought I would walk, but when I got home, I passed out and never left the couch til bed. If today is any indication, I will likely not exercise until Thursday.
PS I said I wasn't gonna eat seeds or nuts until Thursday, but at the last minute tonight, I added sunflower seeds to my salad.
Here's a pic of my salad, pre dried cranberries and sunflower seeds.
Food Intake:
- 8 oz unsweetened iced tea
- 16 oz orange juice
- 16 oz apple juice
- 8 oz hot Earl Grey tea with agave nectar
- 16 oz orange juice
- 16 oz apple juice
- 16 oz water
- celery, carrots, guacamole, red bell pepper hummus, salad (half bag romaine, half bag spring mix), cherry tomatoes, green bell pepper, black olives, dried cranberries, dry roasted/unsalted sunflower seeds, Trader Joe's Goddess dressing
- 4 clementines
Exercise: none.
March 16, 2010
Day 2. Going well. Lost two pounds so far, but I just don't know if it's from juicing during the day or just general water weight loss from stopping the crappy, salty, fried foods. I had a horrid headache first thing this morning, but it went away after about an hour. Then I got another headache just as I was leaving work this afternoon. It's hung on all evening. As soon as I got home from work, we ate a huge salad (I juiced all day again today). For dessert, I had a banana and an apple with some natual peanut butter. Again, I hadn't plannedto eat nuts til Thursday, but I was really feeling the need for something heartier. My body isn't feeling any lighter, but I know after another few days I'll start noticing a difference physically. So ready to see the weight just fall off. We'll start working out Thursday evening, since we'll be eating food during the day, and because my detox will have lessened.
Food Intake:
- 8 oz unsweetened iced tea
- 16 oz orange juice
- 15 oz pomegranite/apple juice
- 16 oz apple juice
- 8 oz hot earl grey tea with agave nectar
- 8 oz apple juice
- 8 oz water
- salad: romaine, leafy greens, cherry tomatoes, black olives, carrots, celery, few bites guacamole, red bell pepper hummus, Trader Joe's Goddess dressing, roasted/unsalted sunflower seeds, golden/Thompson raisins
- banana, organic gala apple, 2 Tbl natural peanut butter
- clementine
 
Exercise: none (still juicing 75% of the day)
Weight: 283.5
March 17, 2010
Day 3. Another day went really really well. I juiced all day, then when I got home, had a nice big salad. Waited til nearly 8:00 and made a fruit and almond milk smoothie for dessert. I considered some air-popped popcorn, but decided to have the smoothie instead. I lost another pound and a half today taking the total to 3.5 pounds in two days. Hoping tomorrow will give me another pound or two. We are going to start walking tomorrow night. I wanted to tonight, but Steph had a bad headache, so I decided I'd stick to the original plan of waiting til the juicing was done. I know my juicing wasn't a typical juice cleanse. Most people probably do a full 3 days, 24 hours a day. I decided on the juicing during the day to help ease myself back into high raw, vegan, gluten-free eating. It's not easy to do when you've been eating crap, so I wanted to take whatever steps necessary to do it the best way for me, to help ensure success this time around.
It's late and I'm tired, so not gonna write any more tonight.
Food Intake:
- 8 oz unsweetened iced tea
- 16 oz apple juice
- 8 oz orange juice
- 8 oz pomegranite/apple juice
- 16 oz orange juice
- salad: romaine, spring mix, cherry tomatoes, shredded carrots, celery, red bell pepper hummus, black olives, mixed raw nuts with some dry toasted almond slivers, dried cranberries, last of the Trader Joe's Goddess dressing, some of Trader Joe's fat free balsamic vinaigrette
- 12 oz unsweetened iced tea
- Trader Joe's organic fruit leather
- smoothie: frozen banana, frozen strawberries, drop of vanilla extract, agave nectar, almond milk
Exercise: none
Weight: 282
March 18, 2010
Feeling really good. Lost another 2 1/2 pounds. That's 6 pounds total so far. My body is responding well already. I can feel things tightening up, if that makes sense. Like the bloating is gone, my skin feels tighter, smoother. My face is clearing up, smoothing out the splotchiness and bumps. My hair is feeling softer. Already. In just four days. I'm sure a lot of what I'm feeling is due to the excitement of being back on track. But I really don't care. Positive reinforcements will keep me on track.
Went for a walk tonight. First exercise since we got back on track. Felt good, especially since the weather outside was perfect.
There's a sense of freedom I'm feeling. Not sure if I'll be able to adequately describe it. When I'm eating bad, the entire world is available to me. I have no sense of self control, because I don't have to. I can eat everything and so I do. When I'm eating "clean," vegan, gluten-free and high raw, the choices and options are simply removed from my "menu." The freedom isn't that I'm free to eat anything, instead it's that the control food has on me is removed. My menu, ingredients, recipes, grocery list becomes shorter and easier to get a hold of...instead of it having a hold of me. I'm reminding myself of the "eat to live, not live to eat" motto. For example, I wanted apples and peanut butter tonight. Peanut butter isn't a no-no on my food list, however tonight I knew I had already had enough nuts, so I chose to eat apples by themselves...instead of adding non-essential fast and calories to today's food intake. So freedom to choose and feel confident in that choice, I guess. Who knows what the next feeling will be, but for now, I'll enjoy it.
PS I'm gonna stop posting my food intake pics here, since it's easier for me to upload from my iPhone directly to Facebook. My Facebook posts automatically go to my Twitter account. So no worries, become a fan of the From SAD to RAW Facebook page or follow me on Twitter and you'll be able to keep up with me all the time :)
Food Intake:
- 12 oz unsweetened iced tea
- 8 oz orange juice
- gala apple
- 8 oz orange juice
- organic fruit leather
- 2 clementines (brought 3 to work, but gave one to my colleague)
- salad: romaine, spring mix, grape tomatoes, celery, hummus, raisins, roasted/unsalted sunflower seeds, Trader Joe's fat free balsamic vinaigrette
- 16 oz water
- 8 oz water
- large handful mixed raw and some toasted almond slivers
- salad: romaine, spring mix, grape tomatoes, celery, guacamole, roasted/unsalted sunflower seeds, black olives, Trader Joe's fat free balsamic vinaigrette, handful gluten-free pretzels
- 8 oz water
- 2 gala apples
Exercise: 1.5 mile walk
Weight: 279.5
March 19, 2010
Lost another half pound today. That's 6.5 pounds so far. Go, Michelle. Go, Michelle. Dork.
Tonight at dinner, I asked the manager of Jason's Deli to confirm that the low-fat organic french dressing is vegan. He proceeded to bring me a printed and laminated sheet of vegan items that Jason's offers. I was impressed and thrilled to see that the french dressing that I love, is indeed vegan. It likely has sugar, but it will be organic and Jason's doesn't use corn syrup in anything in the deli, so at least it's not the "bad" sugar. I'm happy with it, which of course, is all that matters.
I finally have some links for those of you interested in following me outside of this site (thank Annette for encouraging the Facebook fan page). Below are links to the From SAD to RAW "fan" page on Facebook, as well as my Twitter page, which essentially sends updates that I make on the Facebook page. Don't expect those social networking pages to do much more than offer photos, and random food/weight-loss related posts. Keep coming here for actual blogs, daily food intake lists, exercise updates and weight loss progress. But it is much easier for me to share photos of what I'm eating, and random thoughts when I'm away from my computer, but able to use my iPhone.
 
Food Intake:
- 12 oz unsweetened iced tea
- banana
- 10 oz apple juice
- gala apple
- 2 clementines
- 6 oz hot English Breakfast tea with agave nectar
- Panera Bread: 1/2 order Fuji Apple Salad (minus the chicken, onion and gorgonzola): romaine, dried apples, pecans, tomatoes, fuji apple vinaigrette; cup of garden vegetable soup (minus the pesto to keep it vegan) --- didn't eat the few pieces of pasta found in the soup
- 32 oz water
- Jason's Deli: two trips to the salad bar: romaine, grape tomatoes, peas, carrots, red bell pepper hummus, green olives, yellow bell pepper, mixed roasted nuts, seeds, raisins and dried cranberries; low fat organic french dressing (vegan)
- several glasses unsweetened iced tea
Exercise: walked 1.5 miles
Weight: 279
March 20, 2010
Not a great day for me. I worked overtime from 8 am - 1 pm and I barely had time to drink some oj and shove a banana down. I was starving by the time I got off work, and Steph, my colleague and I went to have Thai food for lunch. It was sooooo amazingly delicious, fresh and exactly what I wanted. However, even though I felt I ate really healthy, I still felt unusually full and even guilty afterwards. I know the fried tofu in the summer rolls (assumed it was steamed, but still ate it once I realized) wasn't good, but I was still vegan and gluten-free, and overall very healthy.
There was a complete 180 at dinner. We went to Shogun Japanese Steakhouse with a group of 7 of my colleagues/friends. It was so radically different than the Shogun's I've been to in the past. This one was kind of white trash meets tacky 70s decor, and the soups, salad dressings and vegetables were completely different, and not in a good way. I ate half a bowl of the soup, didn't eat the salad, cause they put a mayo-based dressing on it, and barely picked at the veggies, which were cooked by themselves without oil and butter (just soy sauce). And the saddest part is my being vegan, seemed to dampen the show by the hibachi grill chef. It seemed from the soup and salad to the rice (which I gave to a colleague), I was having a discussion with the chef every few minutes. It's so embarrassing sometimes to be that "annoying" vegan who has so many special dietary requirements.
I am absolutely starving right now, but decided just to have a banana, since it was already 10 pm when we got home and I didn't need to be eating this late.
PS I lost another half a pound today. Steph has lost 8 pounds, 1 more than I have. Sometimes it's not fair to see someone who has so much less weight to lose than you do plus still eats things like chicken, rice, dairy and eggs...be able to lose even more weigh than you do.
Food Intake:
- 12 oz unsweetened iced tea
- banana
- small small handful mixed raw and roasted nuts
- 16 oz orange juice
- Tida Thai restaurant: 3 1/2 fresh vegetable summer rolls: rice wrap, bean sprouts, basil leaf, lettuce, cucumber, carrots, fried tofu (thought it would have been steamed, but I forgot to mention it to ensure), peanut sauce; steamed mixed vegetables in a brown sauce with cashews added; water
- Chickfila drive-thru: large unsweetened iced tea
- Shogun Japanese Steakhouse: 1/2 bowl miso soup, no salad (mayo-based dressing), hibachi-grilled veggies: mushrooms, bean sprouts, mushrooms with soy sauce; glass of pinot grigio; water
- banana
Exercise: none, there was no time
Weight: 278.5
March 21, 2010
It's late and I've got to get to bed. But I will say I got terribly sick after having lunch today at Outback Steakhouse. There is one of two possible explanations. 1.) I truly can not eat broccoli. Nearly every time I eat broccoli, I get a tummy ache. Today was above and beyond just a tummy ache. 2.) I got food poisoning. Not eating meat or dairy products, I often wondered if I was still susceptible to food poisoning. If it wasn't the broccoli, I guess I am. I couldn't tell which end the cramps were going to impact, and by the time I got home from Trader Joe's (after lunch), I had thrown up like a mad woman. It was terrible and I was crying and super upset. It's so violent to throw up, and always seems to be emotionally traumatic for me. I slept for an hour and a half afterwards, with Steph stroking my hair and wiping a wet washcloth across my face. The rest of the night I sat on the couch and didn't move. My throat is terribly sore and burns to swallow. Not a fun way to spend a beautiful, sunny, 78 degree day.
Food Intake:
- 16 oz orange juice
- banana, mixed raw and roasted nuts, golden and Thompson raisins, agave nectar
- Outback Steakhouse: salad: romaine, cucumber, carrots, cabbage, grape tomatoes, vegan Tangy Tomato dressing; baked potato with chives and covered in sea salt (looked like sea salt, anyway); steamed veggies (plain): carrots, snap peas, squash, broccoli; unsweetened iced tea
- banana, mixed raw and roasted nuts, natural peanut butter, Thompson raisins, agave nectar
- unsweetened iced tea
- bowl of air-popped blue and yellow popcorn, spritzed with olive oil and salted
- unsweetened iced tea
Exercise: none
Weight: 277.5
March 22, 2010
Lost another pound. Super happy. 9 pounds now. That excitement was quickly squashed when I looked in the mirror this morning and saw that both of my eyes had busted blood vessels/capallaries from the extremely brutal bout of vomiting I experienced yesterday. I've never had this happen before, but I'm not really that surprised. It was that bad. If you wanna see the pics, you gotta go to the From SAD to RAW fan page on Facebook. But beware, it's gross!
Food Intake:
- unsweetened iced tea
- banana
- 1/4 c. mixed raw and toasted nuts
- 8 oz orange juice
- gala apple
- Panera Bread: "you pick two:" half Fuji Apple Chicken Salad (without the chicken, onion and gorgonzola): romaine/spring mix, tomatoes, pecans, dried apples, fuji apple vinaigrette; garden vegetable soup (without the pesto and didn't eat the few pieces of pasta in the bowl); unsweetened iced tea (took the apple with me to take home)
- 2 clementines
- unsweetened iced tea
- 10 oz apple juice
- banana
- salad: romaine, spring mix, grape tomatoes, celery, red bell pepper hummus from Jason's Deli, green olives, carrots, mixed raw and toasted nuts, Trader Joe's Goddess dressing; package of gluten-free, vegan pretzels
- water
Exercise:
1.5 mile walk
Weight: 276.5 (9 pounds down!)
March 23, 2010
It's late...no time to write tonight. So tired. Oh and my eyes are crazy looking today. The red has spread all the way to my pupils, but along the edges it's at least starting to fade a bit. I look like an alien.
Food Intake:
- unsweetened iced tea
- banana
- 1/2 c. mixed raw and toasted nuts
- organic fruit leather
- gala apple
- work cafeteria: salad: romaine, spring mix, grape tomatoes, green bell pepper, carrots, black olives, roasted sunflower seeds, guacamole, vegan vinaigrette
- unsweetened iced tea
- 2 clementines
- 10 oz apple juice
- small handful raw cashews
- 2 (yep, two) veggie burger sandwiches for dinner: 2 veggie patties, Jason's Deli red bell pepper hummus, roma tomatoes, sprouted original Ezekial toast
- unsweetened iced tea
- raw dessert: frozen banana run through the Champion juicer on the blank plate (to homogenize), raw chocolate sauce (raw cacao nibs, mesquite powder, agave nectar, vanilla extract, raw almond butter, unsweetened vanilla almond milk); raw and toasted mixed nuts
Exercise:
1.5 mile walk
Weight: running late...didn't weigh this morning
March 24, 2010
Had a mess up day today. Started out perfect, drank iced tea, fruit juices, ate fruit and nut. Then Steph picked me up for lunch and we headed to Olive Garden for soup and salad. I have exactly one hour for lunch....I called ahead and they said there was no wait in the bar or in the dining area. When we got there, the lobby was packed but we sat down in the bar right away. I ordered as quickly as the bartender would allow. 30 minutes later we still didn't have our soup or salad and she had not even returned for me to ask where our food was. I got pissed off and we walked out (never returned even as we were leaving). We ended up with 20 minutes left of lunch and I was so upset I made a bad decision and chose Subway (the quickest, least "bad" place around). I said "screw it" and ordered the veggie patty on 9-grain bread (mustard, veggies and no cheese, but still not vegan, nor gluten-free). I ate half right then, shoving it down in five minutes and ate the other half on my afternoon break. I felt guilty, but was so upset that our lunch was ruined, it was almost instinctual to just throw away my journey in the moment. When I got home tonight, we went on a 3 mile walk. When we got back I said screw it again, like "well I blew it this afternoon, so I might as well blow the day," and had 2 more veggie burger sandwiches (like I had last night). Then, it dawned on me that even when I was thinking I was being so good eating Ezekial bread, I realized that it's not gluten-free anyway. I don't know what to call myself sometimes. I'm high raw, high vegan, high gluten-free I guess? I hate having to put a name on it, but it always seems so important, to me and to others. Anyway, just thought I'd be honest and admit I had a cheat day.
Food Intake:
- unsweetened iced tea
- banana
- 1/2 c. mixed raw and toasted nuts
- 8 oz orange juice
- gala apple
- 10 oz apple juice
- Subway: 1/2 of a foot long veggie patty sub: veggie patty, lettuce, tomato, pickles, black olives, mustard on 9 grain bread; baked plain Lays potato chips; unsweetened iced tea
- other 1/2 of the veggie patty sub
- unsweetened iced tea
- 8 oz water
- few bites raw chocolate sauce-dipped gluten-free pretzels and raw nuts
- celery with natural peanut butter
- 2 veggie burger sandwiches for dinner: 2 veggie patties, Jason's Deli red bell pepper hummus, roma tomatoes, sprouted original Ezekial toast
- unsweetened iced tea
Exercise:
3 mile walk
Weight: woke up super late and had no time to weigh
March 25, 2010
Food Intake:
- unsweetened iced tea
- 16 oz orange juice
- 1/2 c. mixed raw and toasted nuts
- 2 gala apples
- 8 oz orange juice
- 2 organic fruit leathers
- Lunch: Jason's Deli: salad bar: romaine, red bell pepper, carrots, red bell pepper hummus, peas, grape tomatoes, green olives, mixed roasted/salted nuts, dried cranberries, raisins, low fat organic french dressing, unsweetened iced tea
- Dinner: Olive Garden: salad: iceberg lettuce, tomato, black olive, oil and vinegar; minestrone soup (didn't eat pasta bits); water
- bananas, mixed raw and toasted nuts, natural peanut butter, raisins, raw chocolate dipped gluten-free pretzels
- unsweetened iced tea
Exercise: 1.5 mile walk
Weight: 277.5
March 26, 2010
It's way late again and I'm working overtime tomorrow, so I'm not gonna write much. I promise I will this weekend. Eating well, but overeating a bit on nuts. Exercising each day except today - walking so far. Plan to go bike riding soon, now that the weather is warming up a bit. Ok, off to bed...
Food Intake:
- unsweetened iced tea
- 1/2 banana
- 16 oz orange juice
- 1/2 c. mixed raw toasted nuts
- 1 clementine
- Panera Bread: "you pick two:" half Fuji Apple Chicken Salad (without the chicken, onion and gorgonzola): romaine/spring mix, tomatoes, pecans, dried apples, fuji apple vinaigrette; most of a small bowl of garden vegetable soup (without the pesto and didn't eat the few pieces of pasta in the bowl); water (took the apple with me to take home)
- 16 oz apple juice
- 2 pieces sprouted Ezekial original toast with natural peanut butter and agave nectar
- unsweetened iced tea
- made a huge beautiful salad, then ate only 3 bites of it...had no appetite for a salad: leafy greens, roma tomatoes, red bell pepper, carrots, celery, black olives, mixed raw nuts, dried cranberries, gluten-free pretzels, Trader Joe's Goddess dressing; unsweetened iced tea
- The Skinny Dip for dessert: vegan chocolate strawberry frozen yogurt with fresh strawberries, shredded coconut, almond slivers
- bowl air-popped popcorn spritzed with olive oil and salted
- unsweetened iced tea
- 2 pieces sprouted Ezekial toast with red bell pepper hummus and a slice of red bell pepper
- some more Skinny Dip that we brought home --- vegan peach frozen yogurt
Exercise: none
Weight: 277.5
March 27, 2010
Food Intake:
- unsweetened iced tea
- banana
- 1/2 c. mixed raw and toasted nuts
- 16 oz orange juice
- 16 oz apple juice
- 2 small baked potatoes with chives, red bell pepper hummus and some A1 sauce
- unsweetened iced tea
- 2 pieces sprouted Ezekial toast with natural peanut butter, agave nectar
- air-popped popcorn spritzed with olive oil and salted
- PF Chang's: 1/4 glass Pinot Grigot; wok-seared mushrooms, steamed vegetarian dumplings with some type of soy-based sauce; Buddha's Feast minus the broccoli: steamed snap peas, carrots, asparagus, steamed tofu, added some of the wok-seared mushrooms; 1/2 cup steamed brown rice --- everything vegan; water
- Cold Stone Creamery: vegan pink lemonade sorbet
- unsweetened iced tea
Exercise:
4 mile bike ride
Weight: 277
March 28, 2010
Have not had a second to write, though I have been posting lots of pictures on the Facebook fan page. I'll try to be better this week about posting how I'm feeling, what I'm going through, how things are going...
Food Intake:
- banana, mixed raw and toasted nuts, natural peanut butter, raisins, agave nectar
- unsweetened iced tea
- Jason's Deli: salad bar: romaine, red bell pepper, carrots, peas, grape tomatoes, green olives, mixed roasted/salted nuts, dried cranberries, raisins, low fat organic french dressing, unsweetened iced tea
- bowl air-popped popcorn spritzed with olive oil and salted
- licked the spatula on a raw chocolatey dessert I was making
- 12 oz apple juice
Exercise:
1.5 mile walk
Weight: 276.5
March 31, 2010
Ugh. Started my period yesterday. Am struggling uber hard right now with high raw. Struggling with vegan. But hey, not struggling with being a vegetarian. Point for me? Not really. I'm not eating unhealthy, but I'm not eating vegan and gluten-free the last two days. Yesterday I had a veggie sandwich and baked Lays at work, along with a COKE. Gasp, the shame!! Last night we ate at one of our favorite restaurants, Max & Erma's and I had an awesome salad and plain baked potato; however the salad had blue cheese crumbles and sweetly coated pecans. Oh and I had a breadstick. Um. Two.
Today I had a veggie burger and baked Lays with animal cookies (free lunch once a month at work). Tonight I had a beautiful salad at Schlotszky's, but added a side of blue cheese crumbles and a side of Italian dressing pasta. Finished the evening off with a non-fat vegan frozen yogurt from The Skinny Dip.
See, not doing great, but to ME, not that bad. Once again, I'm in turmoil over knowing I can lose weight the quickest by eating a high raw, vegan, gluten-free diet; but not being satisfied with living that way and wanting to just eat healthy, but not necessarily vegan or gluten-free. Primarily my focus has been wanting to get some exercise nearly every single day. But I know it's a balance of everything, diet, exercise, attitude, and of course consistency. I'm not getting any younger, so I have got to do something consistently.
So that's what's up with me. Haven't lost any more weight, haven't gained any.
Weight: 277
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