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!!!!

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.