Stopping in to say hello!

Right now I am feeling tongue tied for words.  I have had such a long abscense from this space.  And with in that time so much living has been going on.  Moments that have passed like rapid fire through summer into late summer to now.  Is it really October?  How did that happen?

So, now I am here knowing full well that the next month holds still more flurry of activity especially as I, with fingers crossed, tie up the loose ends of my home study to mail in (come mid November).  And no matter how many ideas I brew up to share here, they will probaby slip away quickly just like these last several weeks. 

But I feel a new inspiration arising and so, I thought I would stop by to talk a little more about different ideas I have forming about the raw food diet.  I actually have started a raw foods blog, but that space has been as poorly tended as this garden I am attempting to grow.  Perhaps, I should only stick with one plot.  Or maybe one day all these food thoughts will move over to their new home and I will save this space for other things. 

So, right now I am participating in a 100 day Raw Fu Challenge created by Bunny Berry.  This has been a great experience.  There is a support forum where you can go talk raw foods and Bunny makes an inspirational video just about daily.  I think right now I am on day 70.  I started out eating about 100% probably for around 40 or so days, but since then I have been eating more and more cooked.  I slip back to the place that I seem to feel really comfortable at and this usually consitsts of a liquid or fruit breakfast followed by a raw lunch and then either a raw or cooked dinner. 

Around day 40, I actually decided to stop being so stubborn with myself and realized that if I wanted to make a cooked dinner, I should.  And here is the rationale behind that.  First of all I am a mom to two children.  Their eating patterns definitely far exceed any child on the standard american diet, but they are kids and they do love their Annie's mac and cheese or their panda bear licorice or "bars" (their favorite being Cliff).  And they did not start out eating raw.  Although, little Rowan came along while I was beginning my raw food journey and so, he definitely goes for the raw things more than his older brother.  Silas came along during my macrobiotic/ vegan stage, so he digs the miso soup and kale and kraut sandwiches or sheets of nori.  The problem I created in my mind though was that they were only going to pick at several raw dinners, so quite often I was making a raw dish for myself and up to two different cooked things for the little ones.  Rowan would maybe go for boiled corn on the cob, while Silas could eat brown rice noodles with flax oil, braggs and Nutritional yeast for every meal if I would left him.  And so, not only was I feeling a bit burnt out at meal times, I was feeling a bit guilty for not feeding my kids as much growing food as they should be eating.

Experimentation began.  One night I made a potato and green bean salad that is dressed with olive oil and apple cider vineagar, basil and red onion.  A favorite of last summer.  Some thoughts I had were that every produce item of the salad was either home grown or locally grown and all though it was cooked, I really didn't feel bad to eat cooked, local veggies.  Especailly ones that brought my whole family to the dinner table together.  It just felt so nice to me to share that connection and the fact that my children dig a meal like this is wonderful. 

Then came a delicious Armenian Lentil soup that had again all local and home grown veggies of the season with a nice very dark green mesculun mix salad.  Again my boys gobbeled it up and again, I felt united with my family.

Recently we had baked sweet potatoes and that same dark green salad (both times with a from scratch raw dressing) and that really hit the spot.

So, I am not really pushing for the cooked foods here.  I feel like I can enjoy these things because I do have such a high intake of raw foods in my diet and my body craves dark greens, so I usually have plenty of those as well. 

But at the same time, right now for me, it creates such a lovely balance to also allow for some cooked, seasonal foods. 

A couple of rules I try to hold fast to are

1). each day consume fresh green juice.  My new favorite is zucchini, celery, dark greens, and apples. YUM.  if fresh fruit isn't consumed, then a green smoothie.  When I was eating all raw, I could have green smoothies for several days and feel great, but when I have some cooked foods, I feel better with the juice or maybe both will be on the menu.

2) I also try to stop eating at 8:00, but I will drink tea at night and I am addicted to raw honey and a splash of soy milk in my tea (I am blushing here, but I can't do cow's dairy and rice milk just doesn't stay whole in hot liquids).  Some day I do hope to maybe make a second juice instead of drinking tea.  But I love the ritual of tea.

3) I also try to eat properly combined meals.  I do make exceptions as sometimes it is really hard to combine properly ALL the time, but I do feel like things digest better when I make the efforts- especially with cooked foods.  Do you know about this?  Fruits alone or with greens. Animal products only combined with non startchy veggies (no corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc).  Startches (beans, breads, rices, etc) only with veggies.  Bananas can go with nuts and dried fruits, etc.  These rules are easy for my brain to figure out, but for Steve it was more difficult and he would ask me often about proper combinations. 

One last point here, my diet has really cleaned up with the help of raw foods in my life.  I am gluten free (I haven't tried eating oats yet since I have eliminated gluten, but I do enjoy raw oatmeal, so I may try it out).  I eat VERY little dairy.  I do eat raw goat's milk cheese and seem to do fine with that.  I also was able to discover a corn sensitivity, so corn has been eliminated in the past couple of weeks and corn is in everything!  even baking powder.  I still think there is something that is bothering me in my diet, but I can't quite pinpoint it yet, but each elimination makes it clearer for me.  So, I feel like my cooked foods diet is really, really clean.  I can't even entertain the idea of many junk foods because I know I will feel rotten from it all. 

So, maybe in another post, I will talk about ideas for eating raw in the winter that I hope to incorporate this year. 

until then, blessings and thank you for stopping by. 

Comments

[Lynn]

Sara, I really enjoyed your comments at Beauty That Moves. I'm intrigued by your diet and am eager to learn more -- I'll keep watching this space! Don't know what your experience with oats will be, but my younger son and I (who can't do wheat or similar grains) have no problem with them whatsoever. One of his favorite snacks is a bowl of uncooked old-fashioned oats with raisins and a bit of hemp milk. Thanks again!

[yarrow]

Sara, so glad to see you back here. I have missed you. I am so intrigued by the raw food diet, and even have abook on it, but have yet to take the plunge. You are an inspiration.

Blessings,
Yarrow