Focusing on Positives

Today was the first day that I focused on 50% raw. I'm using Karen Knowler's transition plan for beginners. I highly recommend her ebook "How to Get Started with Raw Foods". I printed it out, put it in a 3 ring binder and went through it cover to cover this weekend in preparation. I also re-read Angela Stokes' ebooks "Revealing the Physical Changes" and "How to Go Raw for Weight Loss". Then, I also started listening to Kevin Gianni's four part lecture "7 Steps to Optimal Health". Part one is about goal setting, and it was very valuable for me.

The yummiest thing I had today, which I never tried before, was half a melon blended into a smoothie, all by itself. Delicious. I'm not going to detail all of my food, because it is Karen Knowler's copyrighted material, and a lot of work obviously went in to it.

I did have cooked dinner, as planned. It's hard for me not to say that I should have been MORE raw today, but that' ridiculous, because I was only planning for 50% for this first phase. I'm trying to learn to be easier on myself, and to focus on the positive.

Because I like to look at pictures, here is a picture of the yummy spiced fresh apple juice I made for Christmas.

Unamused Cats

We are not accustomed to our new brother. He is smelly and loud.

It's Animal Day!

Here is our newest family member Gomez!

He is an adopted three year old chihuahua mix.

Here is an action shot, he's an action dog!

Smoothie 2 of 14

This one looks really gross, but it's good. Strawberries, spinach and a spoonful of Trader Joes "Greens" powder.

Smoothie 1 of 14

Here is my green smoothie of the day. I know, I know, it's not really green in color, but it's still a "green smoothie" because it has two big handfuls of baby spinach in it. It's very purply because of the blueberries.

It is sitting next to a pumpkin that my hubby grew in the garden, awwww, cute!

Green Smoothie Challenge Part 2

The Green Smoothie Challenge is starting again! If you're not familiar you can check it out here: http://www.greensmoothiechallenge.com/site/index.php

Anand and Runi are very interesting and generous people who have putting these challenges together. They've revamped the website for this new challenge and it looks great! So for the next two weeks, I'm having my green smoothie! (I have it pretty frequently anyway, I'm definitely a fan of the green smoothie.) Today's smoothie is pretty simple but tasty. Fresh organic blueberries and spinach and water. Hello antioxidants, roam around inside my cells, and take fistfuls of toxins when you leave, ok? Thanks!

In other news, I was up 0.3 pounds at weigh-in, which is kind of stupefying to me, but I was eating terrible foods prior to this week, so maybe my body is still catching up. On the other hand, still no conclusive proof that I am *not* pregnant...

Sick Saturday

Long time no bloggy. I am working on recovering from a nasty cold right now. I guess the long work hours finally caught up with me, so I am promising myself that I will only work five days a week from now on. At least, at the office. I want to spend more time working with my lovely hubby on Big Ole Face Full of Monster, our fun magazine (gomonstergo.com).

My 100 raw days is not really happening as consistently as I wanted it to, but I'm eating more veggies than I was when I started! I don't really see myself ever being 100% raw. I have to admit that it may not be right for me, at least not now. I get a little obsessed with food, especially the more I restrict it, so I have to be careful.

In non-food related news, am I preggers? Who knows. The magic stick says NO, but I am about a week late. I'd like to be preggers, so I think I'm going to start charting my cycle finally. Unless of course, it turns out that i'm already pregnant!

I got myself a ticket to meet Sarah Kramer at her book release event in San Francisco in October. She's kind of a hero to me, I think she's very inspirational and fun, so that is very exciting for me. If you don't know who she is, and you like vegan food, check out her three books, How it All Vegan, Garden of Vegan and La Dolce Vegan. They all have great recipes that everyone likes when I make them. The hot and sour soup recipe is a regular on the menu at my house.

Soup Success!

I had a better day today, foodwise. Not everything was raw, but a lot was. I started the day with a banana/strawberry smoothie that I made at home, I had a Swampmonster Smoothie (apple juice, pineapple, banana, spirulina and E3Live Powder) from the juice bar, raw veggie sushi.

For dinner I looked at a couple of different raw tomato soup recipes and tinkered around a bit. I put one big chopped tomato, one chopped red bell pepper, one tiny cucumber, about a tsp of miso paste and half of an avocado in my little blender. It was great and very filling.

I took it in to the computer room to take a picture and the cats thought they wanted to smell it. Here is a photo essay called: Cats Hate Soup!

Thanks Kevin Gianni!

Kevin Gianni and his wife Ann Marie are awesome. If you haven't checked out his show, at renegadehealth.com, you should. A few weeks ago they had a recipe for portobello steaks with veggies and pinenut cream sauce on top. I made it tonight and the hubby and I dug it. I hope he doesn't mind me posting my picture of it, which is here:

After dinner, I prepared for the week by making four green lemonades to freeze. I just can't seem to always get it together in the morning, so frozen is good enough. Here is a quart and half of lemonade!

The recipe is from Natalia Rose's Raw Food Detox book, which I'm using a lot right now. I need to do this in stages or it doesn't work so well for me. I kind of fell off of the wagon HARD while I was in vacation, but now I'm back to my commitment of at least 50% raw for the rest of the 100 days.

Have a healthy day everyone!

Jenni

I just created a huge post and accidentally deleted it. So I will just show you my crazy submission to the Raw Fu Green Smoothie Mustache Contest. Why am I making this face!

I've eaten about 50% raw for the last five days and I'm happy about that!

We leave tomorrow for Hawaii! I've never been, hooray! There will be photos when I return!

RAW FU Journaling Rules! (I found my lost post!)

Bunny Berry is a genius. She made us all this great little workbook to download and printout as part of our first mini-challenge (Day 1 through 10 of 100 days). There are 10 little circles, about the size of a quarter, and each day you're supposed to doodle something in the circle. It's so cool, it's a teensy journal. Here's what my circles say for each day!



Mmmmm, Citrus Surprise Smoothie!

Yee-Haw, Nut Milk and Raw Cacao Mmmmm

Big Salad saves the day!

Raw donut holes are crazy! Mmmmmm!

Raw Donut Holes = New Wheaties!



See, they're like crazy headlines for the end of each day. I love it.



I made raw donut holes last night from the Ani Phyo cookbook (thanks for getting it for me Sweetie!!). They were good, but my tiny magic bullet blender was not up to the task of grinding almonds in to powder or chopping dried pineapple. When I tried to chop the pineapple it made a horrible smell. When I took the blade off, the bottom was so hot it burned me. Sorry little blender. But they were tasty. Even tastier left over for breakfast.



I said to my hubby "Oh no, this is exactly the kind of halloween treat that kids hate isn't it!?" Yes, I'm that person now. Too bad, I like eating a natural goodie!

Chia Cereal = Kind Of Creepy

I so wanted to post a glowing review of the Ruth's Hemp Food Chia Cereal. It tastes fine, it sticks with me like oatmeal would, but it's really a little gooey to take. I know that it's chia seeds do, but I prefer a green smoothie to the goo. I will use up the bag, maybe it will grow on me.

Have a great day!
Jenni

Day 1 of the Raw Fu Challenge

Day 1 of Bunny Berry's Raw Fu Challenge! I did well, I have to constantly remind myself that my goal is 50% or more raw, so 50% is still great! (And way more raw than I was before.) I started the day by throwing two very ripe peaches, half a frozen banana and a bit of water in the blender and drinking it before work. Yummy! But not much staying power. I had some iced herbal rooibos tea instead of my usual coffee and two donuts for breakfast. I'm not kidding. The lack of caffeine combined with work stress made me start to feel like hell, so I ate some raw almonds mid morning and had a grapefruit, mango, banana apple smoothie, which was so very tasty.

I did eat some other things that were not raw. But at dinner, half my plate was raw veggies. This is very good for me!

I hope everyone had a great day 1!!

Jenni

Ch-ch-ch- chia or What's for Breakfast?

Hi everyone. I went to Whole Foods today and picked up a few things. I was looking for plain raw chia seeds to make an amazing looking chocolate pudding that someone posted. I found raw cacao powder (which appears to be pricier than heroin), but they didn't have plain chia seeds. The guy working there found this stuff in the cereal aisle called "Chia Goodness". It's a raw cereal, cranberry ginger flavored. It was $6 (!), but it says that the bag has 11 servings. I'll let you know how it tastes. You just mix 1/3 cup of water with 2 TBSP of the chia cereal and let it sit for five minutes. The website for the company is www.ruthshempfoods.com, if you want to check them out.

I'm going to have it with a banana. What are you eating for breakfast?

Safe Foods and Goals

Howdy everyone. I'm still gearing up for the Raw Fu challenge. I read this story twice in one week, so I'm going to blather on about it. I checked out one of the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" books from the library, because I like to be inspired, to warm the cockles of my sticky black heart. Anyway, there was this story about whales at Sea World type places, and how they train them. (I know, Sea World, not so nice.) But the way they train them is to first set a goal that there is no way they cannot achieve. They couldn't fail if they wanted to. They put the rope or line or whatever they jump over way under the water, so the whales just swim over it. Then they reward them like crazy. And gradually they raise the line until they can jump way over it. Every jump, huge praise and love and rewards. If they don't do it, no punishment, no mean looks, just no response.

Then, I got this story AGAIN in my email. So I started thinking about setting a small goal this week. In BunnyBerry's awesome week one raw fu workbook, she has us set a week one goal. Even though the challenge starts August first, I set a goal on Monday. I decided to write down every single thing that I ate this week. (I'm trying to lose some weight so I can be healthier and so I can get pregnant, so journalling my food is a good thing.) Then, I almost set a hard goal, like at least 50% raw! No matter what! Rawwrrrrrrr! Then I thought about the whales. So the other goal that I wrote down is this. I will take a green highlighter every day and highlight every raw thing that I ate. I won't make frowny faces or write that I suck next to the non-raw foods. And I like it. Because I can't fail. Some days have more green ink than others. It's achievable.

Finally, I'm drinking a sort of raw yummy dinner, because I just got home from work. (My lovely hubby is watching a scary show, and I can't watch it before bed, so I decided to write something.) Anywho, last night I soaked an ounce of raw almonds in some water, with a few raisins and some yerba mate tea. I meant to blend it all up to make a nut milk tea thing this morning, but mornings are difficult. So when I got home, I took out the tea bag, and drained off the tea (bummer, but it's almost time to sleep, and it has a little caffeine), added some soy milk and a handful of cherries and blended away on my trusty crappy blender. Yummy almond cherry stuff. With nut bits. But very yummy.

See you all tomorrow!

Moderation!!

Hi Everyone! I am very excited that Bunny Berry's Raw Fu 100 Day Raw Food challenge is starting on 08/01/08. I tried to be 100% raw yesterday to see how it went. It was not the best day of the month to do this for the first time, if you know what I'm sayin', and I think you do.

I even babied myself and purchased some things from the Power Source Juice Bar near my work. It is the only place that I have found in San Francisco's financial district (the fidi, if you will) that is raw friendly if you want more than a plate of romaine lettuce and a wedge of lemon. I had a swampgrass smoothie in the morning, which I LOVE! I really like wheatgrass, and if you blend it with yummy fruit and spirulina, I'm all over it.

I went back to the same place for the Power Source Power Food Salad. Tons of spinach, with broccoli sprouts, hemp seeds, carrots and raw walnuts. With a yummy balsamic vinagrette on the side. I was even enjoying eating outside, instead of at my desk, until it became so windy that my spinach leaves started blowing away.

And I had a carrot juice in the afternoon. So I'm feeling pretty awesome, and then I get home. I was planning to have zucchini noodles with raw tomato sauce. I've made it before and like it. But the thought of the zucchini was making me feel queasy. I think I was just hungry, because by the time I was done making dinner for me and the hubby, I felt awful and sad and mad. I had a bowl of fresh mushrooms with chopped tomatoes and half a smushed up avocado. None of which tasted good until I put a little salt and hot sauce on top. Later in the evening I had some sourdough toast, which is not raw, but I felt gross and the toast made me feel better. Today I am only doing about half raw, and I feel much less creepy. I need to ease into this.

How was your healthy day??

Independence from Feeling Bad!

I know, I know, that's cheesy. Here's the deal. Still no working webcam, so I'm just going to start blogging here without videos. The fabulous Bunny Berry is starting a new 100 day raw food challenge on August 1. I am going to do it too! You in virtual-land will help me keep accountable. (Even though there are only a couple people reading, it will help me!)

Tomorrow, I'm starting to transition, because I know that if I jump in to 100% raw, I'll do it for one day, freak out, cry and eat a plate of nachos. No, I am not kidding.

Luckily, the internet can be a great source of free info if you dig around a little. Karen Knowler, http://www.therawfoodcoach.com/, has some nice free things on her website. I downloaded and printed out a transitional planner to help people ease into raw. So I am sticking my toe in the ocean people! I hope it's ok with Ms. Knowler if I talk about her planner here. If it isn't, I will remove it of course. I will be modifying things, because our work weeks are very busy here for me and Mister Monster and there is no way that we are making complicated meals each night! (We are also on a super limited income right now.)

Here is the meal plan I am making for tomorrow.

Let's see, raw muesli is on the menu for tomorrow. Using the magic powers of google, I found a recipe, but I have tinkered with it to get this:

Jenni's Monster Muesli
1 apple, chopped
1 TBSP raw sliced almonds
1 TBSP raw cashews
2 TBSP raisins
1 cup of strawberries (defrosted from frozen)
1/2 frozen banana, blended in the magic bullet with a splash of soymilk to make a thicker soymilk conoction.

I will pour the banana soymilk over everything else. I'll let you know how it goes!

Lunch is going to be pasta salad, with whole wheat pasta, "raw ranch dressing", not my own recipe, and lots of chopped up veggies.

Dinner is going to be cooked veggie soup with sprouted bread and salad. I'm going to make the Tortilla Soup from one of my favorite cookbooks, The Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook.

Have a healthy day, and I'll see you tomorrow.

New Lunchtime Adventures

First, thanks to Anand and Angela for leaving such nice comments. I appreciate it!

Yesterday, I had mango, spinach and banana smoothie, which is just about my favorite. (There's a green juice I like even better, but that's different.) Today, late waking up again. Grabbed an odwalla superfood smoothie at the coffee shop. Not as good as a real homemade fresh smoothie, but it was green!

Lunch was great. I brought a bunch of different veggies from home and cut them up at my desk. I had belgian endive leaves, and I put bits of avocado and tomato on top, with a squeeze of lime juice. Yummy! And some mini bell peppers. I did add a few wheat crackers, but it was mostly raw veggies.

Meanwhile, at home, my husband is experimenting with lots of different homemade pickles. He has them for lunch with some fresh fruit.

I'm looking forward to weighing in on Sunday. It's not the only reason I'm trying whole, raw foods, but it is a big reason for me.

Have a healthy day!
Jenni

p.s. Hopefully videos on youtube are coming soon. We bought a super-cheap $10 digital camera and it doesn't work. :( It was all we could afford, so no videos yet. If anyone reading this has had success with an inexpensive webcam, please let me know what you use.

Day 2 - In Which We Learn the Value of Waking Up On Time

Day two of my journey towards better eating. My goals this week are simple: have a green smoothie or green juice every morning. Next week I'll add on. If I have more raw or vegan goodness, I'll talk about that too.

I overslept this morning, which meant I did not wake up in time to make my green smoothie. Bummer. I knew there was a juice bar called "Power Source" which I had seen near my office. So I found it on the way in. I was afraid it would be Jamba Juice like. It was pleasantly more hippie-esque than that. Once inside, I almost caved and ordered a delicious fruit smoothie. But I ordered the "motor oil" juice instead. It had beet, spinach, carrot and celery (and parsley maybe) juices, mixed together. Yummy. But $4.50? I could make a week's worth of green smoothies at home for that. Such is the Financial District.

My hubby made great veggie dinner too. We had the hot and sour soup recipe from one of the Sarah Kramer cookbooks, which is always popular with us.

Tomorrow I'll get up in time to make my green smoothie!

Have a healthy day!
Jenni

A Kale-y Good Morning!

Hello Everyone,

This is my first post here. I will accompany it by videoblogging when my camera arrives, so anyone can see my journey.

I am Jenni. I am a 39 year old office worker, living in the Bay Area in Northern California. I live with my amazing hubby and our two cats. He is a teacher and also puts out Big Ole Face Full of Monster, our fun horror magazine that you can check out at www.gomonstergo.com.

So why am I here blogging, and why is my blog called "Rawk You Like a Hurricane"? Many reasons. I've been very fat for most of my life. As I march into middle age, I want to get healthier and we want to get pregnant. I've been venturing into some raw foods, inspired by the beauteous Bunny Berry at http://bunnyberry.blogspot.com/, Philip McClusky at www.lovingraw.com and a few others. Some how my interest was peaked after reading something from the Anarchist Book Fair this year and finding these two websites.

I'm not 100% raw, and I don't know if I will be. But I lose weight and feel good when I eat more raw foods. For the second time, I am using the Green Smoothie Challenge to challenge myself as I start. You can check it out at http://www.greensmoothiechallenge.org/. Nothing to buy, just nice people helping other people get healthy, two weeks at a time. I started it last week, but missed two days, and started again yesterday. Yesterday's smoothie was two big handfuls of beautiful salad greens from the farmer's market that included edible flowers, a peeled orange and two bananas, whirred up with a splash of water. It looks awful, but tastes good, and gets you through your math homework on a Sunday afternoon!

Today's smoothie is a handful of kale, a banana and a half a handful of frozen mango, with a splash of water. Not as tasty, but makes me feel good. If you don't have a fancy expensive blender like the vita-mix, kale can be hard to blend entirely well. My magic bullet does the job, but there are little bits of kale floating around.

And it's called Rawk You Like a Hurricane because the Scorpions do indeed rock. Have a healthy day everyone. More tomorrow!

Jenni