Fat, Sugar = Weight gain

   My mother called the other day and she had been doing a vegetarian type diet. I asked her how she was and she said that started to eat a little meat again. She did this because she was detoxing to fast and getting sick. She also was so frustrated because she had gained back the 10 pounds that she had lost.
Because of this I want to share what I have learned about meat, and sugar.
  First, I want to talk about what happens when we combine fat or meat with sugar or fruit.
When we eat fruit the sugars hit our system really fast. We are talking about within 15 minutes. It then goes through the blood stream, then from the blood stream to feed our cells. The whole thing happens really quick. This is good!!! This is what is supposed to happen. We need to feed our cells the right kind of food. High carb, low fat, low protein,  mostly raw diet will feed your cells the sugars that they need.
  Here is what happens when we combine meat and fats to our diet. When we add meat and fats to our diet the fat goes into our blood stream and can stay there between 18-24 hours. When we add the sugars to our diet, the sugars go into our blood as well. The fat that is hanging out in our blood slows down the sugars from escaping the blood and feeding the cells. This is also how we spike our insulin and can cause ourselves diabetes. This happens because the sugars cannot go anywhere. And when the sugar can't go anywhere they get stored for later use. Also known as fat. Fat as we know is just stored energy.
    I am not saying that you can't ever eat meat again. I was thinking about how to solve this issue of combining the fat and sugars. This is what I came up with. For those who are wanting to work their way into eating vegan mostly raw, but are getting sick from the detox this is what I suggest. Not tested or proved just makes sense to not combine the sugars and fats.

   Monday:
  Breakfast- As much fruit as you desire!!! Make sure to combine correctly or you will have a gurgley stomach.
  Lunch- More fruit mixed with a salad. Check out fullyraw.com for ideas on salads
  Dinner- Salad with fruit, or a dinner with high carbs such as vegan soup with base of tomatoes. Next cut up and cook, carrots, potatoes, celery, onion, peas, beans, corn, ect. To season your soup use herbs and spices. Do not use salt! My husband thinks that I am crazy but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE cilantro. Or you could use rosemary, thyme, and parsley. Or Tarragon would be good. Play with your spices. Add garlic powder, Onion Powder, ect. Look up other soups and use the spices that they use.
Try and eat high calories on this day. Carb UP!!!! 2500+

Tuesday:
Breakfast- Veggie juice with a lemon or lime but no other sweet fruit. If you feel you need something to sweeten it up a little try Stevia drops, or Doterra oils. Orange, or lemon would be good. :0)
Lunch- Salad with no fat and no sugars. Try some Doterra oils again to make some type of dressing.
Dinner- Meat and salad or other non-starch veggie. Broccoli, Celery, Colaflower (Potatoes), Green beans, ect.
  Eat this early around 3:30pm if you need something before bed make it a non-starch veggie again. No Fat No Sugar.
Eat low in calories this day. Your meat will have a lot of calories so if you only count your calories on your meat days that will work. I would try and get around 1500. No lower then 1200 and no higher then 1850. This high number should be if you are a man or if you are usually eating 3000+ calories a day.
                            
Wednesday:
 Veggie juice with Lemon or Lime or oils again no sugars and no fats.
 Lunch Salad or other veggie non-starch low fat low sugar.
Dinner eat after 3:30pm this gives your system 24 hours to deal with the fat and protein in the blood.
Fruit and veggies again!!!! Or other starchy food. Potatoes, carrots, ect. Salads with fruit based dressing. Mmmmm I will post some dressing ideas at the bottom of this post. :0)    
Try  and hit around 1800-2500 calories.                   


Thursday:
  Same as Monday

Friday:
Same as Tuesday

Saturday:  If you feel like you want to splurge this is this is the day to do it. Your blood has little sugar in it if you ate like Tuesday.  Pizza? Tocos? Stake with potatoes? Pasta with French bread (My personal weakness)  Whatever you want go for it. Just know that because of the salt you will weigh more so DONT step on the scale until Monday or better yet weigh once a week on Thursday. The day before your splurge day.

Sunday:
  Feel free to just drink a LOT of water this day and give your system a break. Let it clear out and clean up before you start your week again. I heard once that our systems work 24/7 and if we want to be healthy to let it have a day of rest as well. I think it makes sense so I usually do at least half the day fasting from food. If you feel you need something make a veggie juice or just some greens. Make it a light day. No fruit and no meat. Veggies only IF YOU FEEL YOU NEED SOMETHING.

If you like this way of eating stick with it.  However, if you feel that you want to work your way to raw vegan, only eat meat once a week. If you do this then choose a day maybe your splurge day. Then you just have to follow the day before the meat and after the meat. The rest of the days EAT!!! CARB UP!!!! Fruit? Salad? Soups? Potatoes? GO FOR IT!!! Don't worry to much about counting calories.
  Please do some activity. It can be even putting your arms in the air and back down 20 times 3 times a day. Or it can be running for miles, Swimming, Weights. Whatever. the point is to one or more times a day depending on your physical strength to goout of your comfort zone. Push yourself and know that it is only going to last for 1minute or for 1 hour ect.
The body heals fast and when we push ourselves we might be sore at first but soon your muscles, lungs, and heart will catch up.
  We can do hard things right? RIGHT!!!
 Go and find your reason WHY!!! Also, when you feel like you really want something write it down and make your list for splurge day. ;0) You only have to stick to it for ___ days. That's easy.
If you are like me I just got so tired of having my hands swell that I am on day 2 of High Carb
80 10 10 diet. I like the way that it makes me feel. I don't much like the swelling and heaviness that I get by eating food that is processed or fried.
  One other thing I want to talk about here. It is important to be kind to yourself. If you "mess up" get back up and try again. It is a process. Learn to love yourself and learn to take care of your body. You only get one. If you are on the road to health be patient. It is a learning curve. You are beautiful just where you are. I want you to know that it is not about the number on the scale. It is about how you feel mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
If you feel like giving up. Let me believe in you until you can believe in you.
 Hugs, Emily

Savory Dressings can be used on the no sugar or fat days with your salads.

Tomato Dressing
4-5 Big Stake Tomatoes or 2-3 Cups cherry
1 Cup Chopped Celery
1/2 Cup Sesame seeds
1 Clove Garlic
Pinky of Ginger
2 TBSP Lemon Juice
Blend and enjoy store the rest in a jar in fridge

Cucumber Dressing
2-3 Cucumbers
3-4 Cups Chopped Celery
1 Bundle of fresh Dill
2 TBSP Lemon
Blend and enjoy Store the rest in a jar in fridge

Chili Lime Dressing
1/4 Cup Lime Juice
Tamarind Sauce (This is in the produce department and it looks like a brown bean with a hard shell. Take the shell off and then soak them in water. If you can take the beans out it will make a sauce that is sweet and a little sour. They are actually very good and can take the place of Soy Sauce.)
1 TBSP Coconut Sugar or Stevia if you are using on a no sugar salad
1-2 Cloves Garlic
1/2 -1 Tsp Chili Powder More to your liking.
Blend and enjoy

Sweet Dressing

Honey Mustard
1-2 Cups of Lemon Juice
1- 1 1/2 Cups Dates (Soak to soften but then drain the water or save it for another time)
1/4 Cup of Ground Mustard
Blend and enjoy

Orange Pineapple Dressing
1-2 Cups of chopped Pineapple
1-2 Cups of peeled and quartered Oranges
1 Red or Orange Bell Pepper
Blend and enjoy I am going to try adding Cilantro

Peach Dressing
4-5 Peaches
1-2 Orange Peppers
1-3 Cup Avocado
Blend and enjoy

Mango Date Dressing
1 Pineapple
3-4 Cups Mangos
1 Cup soaked Dates
1 Large TBSP Rosemary
Blend and enjoy

Day 11 Food combining.

  Here I am 11 days in and just feeling like I am getting the hang of this. I don't feel like it should have been that hard to get the hang of going raw till 4pm. I have found that it is more mental then anything. Like I said before I used to eat 1200-1500 calories and to TRY and eat 2500 in fruit and veggies is harder then you think. I feel like I am eating ALL day long. On top of that I am supposed to drink around a gallon of water a day. If you do this be prepared to be in the restroom more often than not. All that being said, I actually really do love this way of eating. I just need to get some recipes so that I can actually make food other than just the fruit itself. Not that I haven't  loved eating a ton of the different fruits but like everything if you eat to much of it you get tired of that same food.

Oh, another side affect is that your animals loose their extra fat as well. They don't much like apples, oranges, bananas, figs. Our dog does like to eat grapes and carrots now and again. She will take a bite of those but then most of the time leave it.

 So, food combining. Here is the combining that you can and should do. I would go off of how your tummy is feeling as well.

Sweet Fruits like Bananas, Dates, Papayas, Figs, Persimmons, Jackfruits, Lychees (Whatever that is) Can go with Green veggies low starch, sprouts, ect as well as Sub-acid fruits such as, all berries, Mangos, apples, grapes, cherries, and stone fruit.

Sub-acid fruits can go with Green Veggies, Acid fruits, Acid fruits are: Tomatoes, Oranges, Lemons, Limes, Grapefruits, Mandarin's, Clementine's, Pineapples, Pomegranates. Also all berries can be combine with Fatty fruits, ( Avocados, Young coconut flesh, nuts, and seeds.

Acid Fruit can be combine with, High Starch Veggies, Corn, Sweet Potatoes, Beets, Peas, Carrots, Chestnuts, Pumpkin, Squash, Zucchini, Cauliflower, Cabbage. and Green Veggies,

Fatty Fruits, Nuts and Seeds, All of these are listed above with the exception of Durian which needs to be eaten alone. All of the rest can be combine with Acid Fruits, Green Veggies.

 High Starch Veggies  can be eaten with, Green Veggies, Fatty Fruits, Nuts and Seeds, with the exception of the Durian. Again needs to be eaten alone.

  Foods to be eaten alone and not mixed with ANYTHING are all of your Melons Water and liquids.
I do know the reason for these two. Melons and water and other liquids dilute your stomach acid and makes to so that your digestive juices can not work as effectively. Therefore should be eaten alone. :0)

 This is the list and for now I will do my best to follow it and as I do I will continue to learn about the Why behind it. For now this is all. Hope this helps those out there who are like me and just trying. This has been a journey and there have been times (like tonight) where I had to question if I could really eat like this long term and why I am doing this in the first place. (Please refer back to writing down your "why") This is what keeps me going and looking at the long term. Step by step and learning the benefits is a huge help.
   
   Keep smiling :0) hugs, Emily

Day 8 & 9 Feeling GREAT!!!!!! Also, cleaned out my food

                     I didn't get the chance to blog yesterday, I took the children rollerskating.

It's a little fuzzy but the blur in the black skirt is Spice. 

Today I want to talk about the energy that I feel. It is amazing!!! I was talking to a friend of mine after I left I noticed that I was talking a million miles an hour. Little confession here. I got hooked on the 5 hour energy shots. Which is part of the reason that I decided to go raw.

    To have the natural energy through the right kinds of food. I also don't want to become a slave to anything. Which is what happens when you are addicted to something. After I realized how much and how fast I was talking I realized how GOOD I felt. I can't really describe it, I felt like I had taken one of the shots. The difference was that I didn't have a crash. When I finally did get tired, it was a healthy tired. I did notice however, that I did start to get the munchies around 9:30ish. I figured out that it was because I was tired. I needed to rest but wasn't able to. I had to pick up my hubby from the airport at 11:30pm. But I slept well when I finally did crash. 

Here is my day

I was mostly raw yesterday. It was again a little tricky because we went to my sisters house. She does not do raw but I made it work. I did try some of her "Fire Dragon Chili" I really liked it. I had about 1/4 of a cup. I may have to get that recipe. 

Today, I feel a little tired but that is because I went to bed LATE and wonk up early. I couldn't  fall back to sleep so I went to the gym. I may have to take a nap a little later. Anyways, I wanted to show you what my fridge ect looked like before I cleaned it out and what it looks like now. 

I don't like to though away food so I gave it to my niece and her husband who just got into their new place.  I helped both of us, I got rid of a ton of stuff and they don't have to go and spend the money for it. 

These are not in order. But I will explain each section. 

This is the small drawer in my fridge before I cleaned it out. This is where I usually keep the cheese, sandwich makings ect. 

                                         This is the second drawer where we keep our dairy. 

                                                       
                                                     Bottom drawer is a fruit drawer.

                                                    Oh my, ya all of the sauces and milks.

                                           Freezer. this shelf is frozen veggies and grapes.

                                                       Frozen greens for shakes.

                                              Shelf where the nuts and grain type things go.

                                                 Top shelf in the fridge. Greens for salads.

 Eye level to Beeps and Bear this is what I usually have here as well as grapes or other fruit.

 Middle shelf  veggies and other things. These tomato's are going to be turned into salsa. :0) Then eggs. Hanging on the side is an onion.

                                                                        Juicing veggies

All in all not so bed right? Like I said before I was doing the "Clean Eating" 

I cleaned it up and cleared some of the stuff away so here are the pictures of the after. I also added pictures of my pantry and other placed that I put food. 

        This is now the second shelf up. Still eye level to the kids so they can pick healthy. :0)

 Bottom drawer. Ruby Red Grapefruit. (Pink doesnt work so well in my back ground), Plums. 

Dairy drawer, still kept the yogurt and butter but added more Grapefruit and Pomegranates

The door. I only kept a few of the sauces. Low Sodium Soy Sauce, Spicy Mustard. Some Ranch for my children.  I also kept my bee pollen

                           Cheese drawer, Eggs and the cheese and meat, tortillas under that.

Same as above.

      Eye level, Raspberries, Strawberries, Sugar Snap Peas, Green Beans, Had the Tomato's but I ate them all. Mmmmmm

In my cupboard Bananas, Red Pears. SOOOOO GOOD!!!!

                                             This is my pantry. Top shelf is where I keep things that I need to refill and can goods.

                                                        Grains and my sunflower head. Below are more refill and other grains ect.

 I decided to open the drawers to show you what is inside.  This one is Pop Corn.

 Roots, Sweet Potato, Onions Potatos. 

                                                         Sweeteners and Corn shells.

 Pastas, All Wheat or grain. No white here folks.

 Floor, In the buckets are my flours to make bread and then I have my Brown baking sugar.

                                          On the side of the drawers are my vinegar's and oils.

Later today we are going to take the kids to a 5K  and a kiddie run. It will be a good time. Will post those pictures tomorrow. 

                                                   
I also have decided to put on a feast!!! I have wanted to speak for a while now about health as well as sharing my journey. I think that it is time to just jump in and DO IT!!! Sooooo, the last part of February I am planing on setting a date. I am excited!!! I will be sharing my journey from where I was a child to now. How I am feeling and what it was like to do this. And I am also going to talk about the importance of eating raw.
    It's not an all or nothing here, You don't have to start jumping headfirst into the pool here. But it is always good to continue learning about health. Anyway,s look out for that with an official date, time, place. Also please feel free to let me know if you are interested. I will need to know how much food I will need, and also get a place large enough. :0) I will let you know a price as well.
   Hugs, Emily

Day 7 Season there of.... Part 1

   So today was a near perfect day for food today. I received my book and I have been reading and learning. I also have been reading the banana girl e-book. They are both informative, and I am hoping that the 80-10-10 book will give me a lot of information in general but also about the food combination.

I did the best I have done thus far as far as raw goes. The only cooked food I had today was a bite of the kids pasta (Brown Rice and Wheat combo)  to make sure that they would eat it. I also was not to tempted to skip my salad and eat the pasta instead. Which as really nice. The only reason I did take a bite is because I make my sauces and I need to make sure that I didn't need to tweak it. Besides that I did all raw.

My tummy is not as gurgly today. Which is nice. 

Food I had today

Breakfast: Frozen Banana, Strawberries, Raspberries, Dates, blended

Chopped Banana, Plum, Mango

Lunch: Grapes, Apple, Banana

Dinner: One head of Butter lettuce, Celery, Cucumber, Salsa Raw, Tomato's, Avocado 3/4ths,

2 bites of the pasta.

Exercise: I didn't wake up this morning I was very tired and needed the sleep. Tonight I am going to get on youtube and do a yoga video in my room.

So day 7 and it was a little easier.  As mentioned my tummy isn't so gurgly and bloated from not being used to eating all/mostly raw. I also didn't need a nap today. Not sure if it is because I got about an hour extra sleep or if it is because I have more energy. Maybe a combo.

So, I wanted also to quickly talk about the two different ways to go raw. I have done them both. The first is going high fat the second is high carb low fat.

.When I fist went raw I did the high fat version. I ate a LOT of nuts and Raw deserts. I also tried to make a lot of fancy meals. It was hard and I gained weight. Not what I wanted; also my family missed cooked food. We did that for around 4 weeks before I went back to clean eating. It was hard and to much prep for me.
  The second way of going raw is what I am doing now. High carb low fat. I actually really  love that I can eat as much fruit as I want and that potatos are good, as well as brown rice. Anything that is high carb low fat and unprocessed. I am NOT hungry and so far I am eating about 2000-3000 calories a day. Which is weird because I am really not used to eating this much; thanks to the bananas and mangos I can hit that number. I am not used to thinking that eating this many calories is good for me . We have all been trained to starve ourselves and to stay within a certain calorie range, between restricting calories and working my tail off is how I lost my initial weight. I was eating between 1200-1600 calories a day and working out for about 2 hours 5-6 days a week. It was crazy!!!  I kept falling off of the wagon. Then telling myself that it was ok, I would start again tomorrow. Now, I am eating all that I feel like, more actually and I can still fit into my size 8 jeans they feel a little tight. However, I really am not worried about it. I was told when doing the research part of this that I would gain a little at first. The banana girl it was about 14ish days then she started to become less bloated and her body started to adapt to eating the high carb food and eating around 3000 calories a day. I am really taking a leap of faith and going for it!!! I wish that I would have found this earlier. Better late than never right?
    Next payday for our food shopping I am loading up on the fruit!!!! Right now I have a lot of healthy food like celery, cucumbers, lettuce, apples, pears, had grapes but the kids finished them off. Still have some eggs, as well as yogurt, cheese, some meat. Other clean eating foods as that is what I was doing before this. When those are gone I will not be replacing them!!! We are going to do this as a family. I'll keep you posted on how that is going. I will also take a picture of my fridge. I need to go through and clean it out. I do this every other Thursday to get ready for Friday and Saturday. Which are my shopping days.
     I am excited to take this journey with my family. My hubby is always asking me to "help" him loose the weight as I have done. He doesn't like that I weigh less than him. He is a smaller guy and has a small frame. I am not a big heavy muscle person but I am naturally sturdy. I like to say athletic. :0) I don't want to be "skinny". I like to look healthy and fit.

    As I started to write this part of my post I got into a lot of research about health and it might take me a little bit to put that together. I will finish that and post it at a later date. For now I want to post a list of fruits in the season there of.
   Fruit in the season. I am going to post this list as a month to month list. So according to the month of the year when it is in season. Please note that this list includes pre and post season. Which means that IF you can find it and If it isn't to expensive. If you can't get it without paying an out landish price for it. Other wise wait a month and it will be in season. :0) Not all of the fruit is on this list but the most common that you can find in the store.

 January
Bananas, Kiwi, Oranges, Papayas, Tangerines.

February
Bananas, Kiwi, Oranges, papayas, Tangerines

March
 Bananas, Kiwi, Strawberries, Tangerines, Oranges, Strawberries (pre-season)

April
  Avocado, Banana, Mangos, Oranges, Papayas, Strawberries, Tangerines,

May
Avocado, Banana, Blackberries, Cherries, Mangos, Mellon, Oranges, Papayas, Pineapple, Strawberries

June
Apricots, Avocado, Blackberries, Blueberries, Banana, Cherries, Figs, Grapes, Mangos, Mellon, Nectarines, Papayas, Peaches, Pineapple, Raspberries, Strawberries, Cucumber, Yellow Squash, Zucchini

July
Apricots, Avocado, Banana, Blackberries, Blueberries, Raspberries, Cherries, Figs, Grapes, Mangos, Melon, Nectarines, Papayas, Peaches, Pears, Pineapple, Plums, Cucumber, Tomato, Yellow Squash, Zucchini

August
Apples, Avocado, Banana, Blackberries, Blueberries, Dates, Figs, Grapes, Mangos, Mellon, Nectarines, Papayas, Peaches, Pears, Pineapple, Plums, Raspberries, Cucumber, Bell Peppers, Tomato, Yellow Squash, Zucchini

September
Apples, Avocado, Banana, Blackberries, Blueberries, Dates, Figs, Grapes, Papayas, Peaches, Plum, Pears, Persimmons, Pineapple, Pomegranates, Strawberries, Cucumber, Bell Peppers, Tomato, Yellow Squash, Zucchini,

October
Apples, Avocado, Banana, Blackberries, Blueberries, Dates, Figs, Grapes, Papayas, Pears, Peaches, Persimmons, Plums, Pomegranates, Strawberries, Tangerines, Bell Peppers, Tomato

November
Apples, Avocados, Banana,  Dates, Kiwi, Oranges,  Papayas, Persimmons, Pomegranates, Tangerines, Bell Peppers, Tomato

December
Avocado, Banana, Kiwi, Oranges, Papayas, Persimmons, Pomegranates,

Well, my friends that is all for tonight. Time to tuck my children in and do some yoga and work on my relationship with my Savior.
 Hugs, Emily

Day 6 Life is GREAT!!!

   Today is day 6 and it feels like I have had a break through. I posted earlier about how I wanted sustained energy. I have to tell you it has been a little bit of a struggle in the way of feeling like I miss meat, CHEESE!!!!, eggs, ect. I have NOT been perfect in the last 5 days but I have been trying. It is amazing what happens when you just TRY.
  This morning I woke up at my usual 5:00am to start my day. I usually roll out of bed and convince myself that this is what I do and that  I LOVE (convincing myself again) mornings. Well, today was a little different. My alarm went off and I almost jumped out of bed. Ready to go!!!!! I was surprised by this. I didn't have any extra sleep or anything like that. I just felt refreshed and ready to go to the gym. It was very nice to feel this way. I hope that I can continue having this side effect!!!
   I was asked by a friend on myfitnesspal how to do a 30 day raw till 4. That is what I am going to talk about today. I will tell you my daily schedule and what I eat and when.
   5:00 Get out of bed dress and drink a HUGE glass of water. Big enough that my tummy hurts. I think my glasses hold around 20-24oz. Sometimes  I squeeze half a lemon into that.
  5:30 Hit the gym
      a) Warm up 5-10 minutes
      b) Weights
      c) HITT workout usually on the treadmill (If I have time) or run
      d) Cool down/stretch if I am not running late.

  6:45 Home to make my kids breakfast before most of them head to school.
 (I drink another big glass of water at this time and make myself a veggie juice.)
    8:10 Those who are in school are gone and I start my fruit portion of the day.
This can look like some of the other posts that I have posted. Bananas are usually involved at this time. I will eat a big bowl full of fruit. This morning I had 4 Bananas chopped up and in the blender I had Mangos, Strawberries, and Dates. Blended up and mixed into my bananas.
   9:00 I do school with my son whom I am homeschooling this year. I will set him up then maybe get some blogging in. :0)
   11:00 We walk to go and pick up "Beeps" who is in Kindergarten.

Isn't she cute. :0) This is our baby.

When we get there I play a math game with Buddy. It goes like this "I am thinking of two numbers that when times together equal __________" If he gets it right I have to do 5 burpees. If he gets it wrong he has to do them. It is fun and I get a little more cardio in and he gets more math. :0)
   12:15 We are home and time for lunch :0) Today I want to the store and purchased some of the big plums I will eat as many of those as I want to. I am guessing around 5 of them.
   1:15 More school for Buddy and studying for me as well.
   2:45 Pick up "Spice" from school.

This is "Spice" Not real name. She is our second oldest.

3:00 If I walk back to pick up "Bear" it is time for me to leave again.

"Bear" is our second to the youngest.

 

 If I am hungry I will grab something Banana, Strawberries, Pineapple, Apple, Grapes, what ever I have in the fridge. That is easy. I can walk and eat or if I am running late I can drive and eat. :0) I will usually leave at the same time. If I want some extra reading time I take along a book and read while I wait.

4:00 Home and homework time with snack in I want it. Same kind of food as above.

5:30 Make dinner: Tonight I am going to have a salad. As will the children but I am going to make Home made mac and cheese for them as well. With Wheat Noodles.

If I am still hungry I have a bakes spaghetti squash that I will eat with salt and pepper. Mmmmm

6:30 Free time

7:30 Finish homework and clean house.

8:30 Story time and scriptures

9:30 Kids get ready for bed Family Prayer and bed

10:00 Time with my hubby. He is not home right now he is at training so this wont happen till Friday.

10:30 TRY to get to bed

11:30 Usually get to bed.

 

Now that you know my schedule and what I am going to eat today back to the question.

What is raw till 4 diet and how do you do it?

Raw till 4 simply means that everything I eat is raw and vegan until 4:00 pm. After that I am still vegan but I can have cooked foods if I feel like it. Or I can choose to stay raw for the rest of the day. It really depends on what I feel like doing but after you eat cooked you should not eat raw again for 3-5 hours after you eat cooked. Different foods digest at different speeds. :0) Like a race car. Vroom Vroom. Some things like cooked food takes longer to digest then raw food does. Especially fruit!!! You also should not mix veggies with fruit. I usually add only a LITTLE to my morning juices. Usually half an apple. 

I am still studying food combinations I will post more about that in another blog after I fully  understand it.

 I hope that this helps. :0) You should just jump in and do it if this seems like something that feels right. You don't have to be perfect you again just have to TRY!!!!

 Hugs, Emily

This is my oldest "Sugar" This was last winter at a piano recital.

Then there is "Buddy" our one and only living son. Right smack in the middle of the girls.

 

Buddy and my Hubby. Love my family!!!!

Day 4 One of the Keys.

  On my first day posting about this 30 day challenge I talked about important "Key's" to fulfill goals. That is what I want to talk about tonight.
  As we all know that once you start something the excitement of it gives you "will power" or "motivation". The trick is to KEEP that motivation when you REALLY want some of your old favorites. Brownies and ice cream  are huge downfalls of mine. Tonight at the party they had both. How does one stay "motivated" when 2 of your 3 downfalls are right there staring you in the face?
 Find out your reason WHY!!!! Why are you doing ____________. You fill in the blank. Lets use health as and example.  WRITE IT DOWN!!!
    Ask: Why do you want to be healthy? Then ask it again, and again. Find your "root" purpose. Again, write this down and read it EVERY DAY!!!
  Here is how this works. I will use  my 30 day raw as an example of how this should look.
  Question: Why are you trying to do the 30 day challenge?
  Answer: Because I have been reading about going raw and I want to have the experiences that they have. Such as sustained energy, bright eyes, and I want to hit my optimum weight.
  Question: Why do you want that?
  Answer: Because I believe that my body is a temple and I know that I need to take care of it the very best I can. Also, it is a challenge, and I want to prove to myself that I can be the one in charge of my body. Also I know that I need to train my body to "crave" the things that it needs not what it craves or wants.  Because I know that I can do hard things even if at first I am NOT perfect. It is the process that brings me closer to my goals.
  Question: And Why do you want that?
  Answer: Well, God gave me this body and tells me that I am to govern it as best I can. That it is a temple and that it is the only one that I get. I want to do the best I can to live by His commandments and to do the things that He tells me to do. I also want to become more then I ever have before. I also want to help other people know their true potential.  
   True Reason; WHY I want to do this challenge.
     ROOT Answers:
               1. God gave me this body and it is a gift as well as a temple.
               2. I want to live Gods commandments as best I can and be healthy.
               3. To show others that they can achieve their true potential and that they don't have to be perfect. They just have to TRY!
   Sometimes it may take more than three times of asking and answering.  I am sure that I could go on with some of my answers like my last one but it is late and I need to go to bed but before I do. The important thing to remember is to find your reason why you want to do something. As you do this and you find that you are having a rough time sticking to it. You have already found your why. If it is truly your real reason and you truly what it then this "KEY" will help you stay or get back on track.
    I truly help that this helps you. It can be a very beneficial practice to incorporate into your life, your goals, your dreams.
  Hugs, Emily

Deciding To Try Something New With My "Diet"!!!!

  As I sit here and think about what I want out of life, where I long to head as to my health and where I have come from, I have decided to put my pictures up of myself at my heaviest and what I look like now. I will also journal for the next little while about my new goal. I want to get to my ideal weight and I also want to have a lot of energy. To accomplish this I will be eating a mostly raw, vegan, low fat, high carb "diet".
   Please be nice as we all have imperfections and we are all working to become better people.

Above: My starting place at 216lbs.

Not a whole lot of a change but here I was 194lbs. My hubby and I ran the haunted half marathon.

  I live by the law that "modesty is the best policy" however, I wanted to share that I still have a little bit to go before I hit my goal. With my shirt on it is not to bad. I have a few friends and family who think that I don't need to loose anymore weight. I am currently at 153.6lbs I have come a long way but I still have about 15-20lbs to go.

I get asked how I was able to lose most of my weight and I always give the easy fast answer. My Fitness Pal and going to the gym most days. Which is mostly true but I have also found some KEY things that we must do in order to make any real permanent changes. Which is a different post. But I did need to make a bold commitment to make some changes. I have been working on doing a 30 day raw challenge!!!

My plan is to do a LOW FAT,  High Carb, Vegan diet. Mostly raw.

I have done MANY "diets" in the past and have found success in most of them. The problem was that I didn't maintain the release of weight permanently. I want to not only achieve my goal and perfect weight for my frame but also to become extremely healthy!!! 

SO.... Here we go!!! Tomorrow I will be committing myself to a vegan, mostly raw low fat diet.

 You may be thinking "what is she talking about low fat, high carb, vegan?"

Here is what I have been doing for the last 2 days.

Breakfast: Juiced veggies with  little fruit. This is when I wake up to get my system going with amazing raw enzymes and minerals. When you juice your veggies your body can simulate into your bloodstream in 15 minutes!!! It makes it so that your body does not have to "sift" through the fiber to find the treasure your body needs to cleanse as well as use to feed your cells, blood, ect.

Veggies and herbs that I have been juicing include: Broccoli, Carrots (not a lot), Beets and the greens, Romaine Lettuce, Cabbage, Lemon, Celery, Ginger root, Mint, Cucumber, Peppers, Kale, Water Cress, Cilantro, Parsley, Radish. Just to name a few. Fruit that I put in it is usually half and apple.

Later when I feel hungry I will be eating fruit!!! In fact I will be eating a LOT of fruit until 4pm. As much fruit as I want. :0) No calorie counting as I have done in the past. If I am hungry I eat fruit. As much as I want. Half a Watermelon. Sure why not? Today I ate about half a Pineapple, 5-7 Bananas, 3 Pears, 3 large Plums,  1 Mango.

Tomorrow I will probably eat Grapes, Bananas, Nectarines, Plums, Strawberries, and anything else that I think sounds good. :0)

For dinner I think we will be eating Baked Potatos, with fresh Salsa. Maybe a Salad with veggies.

My goal is to write on this blog almost daily to let you know how things are going.

 Oh, I feel it important to let you know that I am planning on making this a life style if you want to know more about this way of eating please read this book called 80/10/10.

I will not be weighing myself for the 30 days. I have done some research and it is said that, at first from bloating, healing of the damage done by low calories, Processed Sugars, and many other things that we have done to hurt our system, it is normal to gain before releasing. So because of this I will not be stepping on the scale. So at the end of my 30 days I will post pictures and my numbers. 

Hope you feel free to follow my journey.

Bread

  Growing up my mother taught us the importance of being able to make bread. It is the staff  of like if and when tragedy hits or if you are just short on your payday and you need to make your money stretch.  But for me, I love the way it makes my home smell. I love the way it brings the kids into the kitchen so we can talk. I love the smiles I get when I share it with neighbors and friends. Fresh baked bread makes people happy. And that is one of my favorite things to do is to make people happy.
   So here is my basic bread recipe
   Heat your oven to 300
Basic Bread
6 Cups Warm Water
1 Cup Honey or Sugar (Use Honey for Wheat Bread. Use Sugar for White Bread)
3 Tbsp Salt (I use Sea Salt but any table salt will do)
2 tsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp Baking Soda
2/3 Cups Oil (I use Olive or Canola but again any will do)
2 Tbsp Yeast

Mix this together for a few seconds and let it sit for 5 Minutes.
Turn off your oven!

If you want to add any seeds or grain this is the time. We like Millet, Steal Cut Oats, Pumpkin Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Sprouted Wheat, Quinoa, Anything. I have only done this with my wheat bread however. But it might taste good with your white bread. I do know that if you want to make potato bread now is the time to add your instant mashed potato or left over home made mash potato.

Mix in 9 Cups of Flour. When it gets to thick to mix with a spoon it is the fun part. Make sure your hands are washed and place 3 more Cups of Flour into your dough. Start to knead it. Do this for about 3 minutes adding flour if needed. You will know that you have enough flour when you push on it and it bounces back. It will still be a LITTLE sticky. Wash your hands spray them with cooking spray and go back to kneading it for about 3-5 more minutes. This last part of kneading is best done on a clean, dry surface with a little flour on it. I like to use my table it is low enough that I can really do some folding and pushing. We need to kneed the dough to build up the gluten in it. This is what makes it not fall apart after it is cooked. So don't be afraid to work it!

 Let me try and explain how to knead your bread.
Pull your bread from the opposite side of you and pull it toward you. Then with the heal of your hand push it away from you. Turn your dough and do it again and repeat.
  I remember I had a room mate once who wanted to learn to make bread and I was coming back from my job or school or something and she was trying to make bread. She had her dough but when it came to kneading it she was just poking it. That picture came to mind when I was thinking about kneading it. I had to tell her that she couldn't hurt the dough and that is why people like to make bread when they are mad because they can beat it up and it still turns out great. LOL
So DONT BE AFRAID to BEAT up your dough.
 
Place your dough into a BIG bowl that has been sprayed with cooking spray and knead it about three more times. This just puts some of the spray onto the top of your dough. Cover it with a big dish rag and place it in your oven. Let it sit there for about an hour. Check it and see it if has doubled in size. If it has, push it down and take it out of the oven.
 Get your loaf pans ready by spraying them well with your cooking spray. Grab a nice sized ball and fold it so that it is smooth on the top. You will want to turn it and fold it again. For beginners don't worry about trying to make them the size of the pan. I like to take a chunk of dough about the size of a soft ball and work with that. You will fit 2 of these in one pan. Do this until all of your dough is used.
 Place your pans into the oven for about 10 Minutes. Turn on the oven at its LOWEST setting mine is about 170 and let it bake for 15 minutes. It should be doubled in size again. Turn up the heat to 350 and let it bake for about 30-35 Minutes. If it is Wheat it will be a nice brown. If White then it will be a golden brown.
  Take out of the our oven and top with butter. If you are watching your calories you can do a quick spray with your cooking spray (Olive Oil) or you can even get a clean spray bottle and add some water to it. Put it on a fine mist and spray the top.
  Dump them out and enjoy!!!

MATH!!!! Did I just scare you? Just take a look!!!!!

 I have not gone into what I do in my home school in this blog. That will actually have to be another blog post. Because what I want to talk about in this post is the sometimes 4 letter M word. Yes! MATH!!!
  Oh how we have struggled in this area. My children, I am not happy to say, are behind in this area because it was a constant struggle to get them to do ANY kind of math. All with the exception of my little Bear. She LOVES to learn everything and is excited to "play" with numbers.
  About a month ago I went to a home school seminar where a lady was talking about math being fun. That caught my attention because of our struggle in this area. It also read in her bio that ANYONE can learn to like math. HELLO this class is just up my alley. She was telling us her story about how she went to college, and wanted to make a change in the school system. Her plan was to help the children realize that they can all do math and be successful in this area. Long story short. The school that she worked for didn't like her methods, but the children LOVED it and started to "own" their math.
 She has a program and I just knew that my family needed this. I had no idea how I was going to pay for it but I knew that we needed it. So I brain stormed and found a way! I am so excited to start.  So why am I telling you about this? Because they have a free starter kit that has already worked some miracles in the way my kids view math. Even my oldest "Sugar" who has learning difficulties is starting to not fight so much. It takes an open mind. But if you are like me you have tried EVERYTHING else and so what is there to loose?
 Here is the link.
 Math inspirations starter kit
    Because of this kit I also have purchased more games from a company called Simply Fun. My children are having a great time with all of their math games that we have purchased from them as well. It has opened up my eyes that math can be fun! But also is a struggle but in a good way. The way that she teaches parents and teachers/mentors to help their children and students makes it so that they "own" what they learn. This, to me, is the most important part of learning. I don't want to be a teacher, I want to be a mentor. I want my children and students to "own" their education. To work hard at it, and for it to be something that they can be proud of. To be self confident, independent thinkers. To actually learn HOW to think and not WHAT to think. This is my goal in educating my children.