Be ready to pay for your indiscretions against your raw food diet! But also learn a little more about yourself and your ideal dietary needs

Well I made it to my destination without a hiccup and even blended my week’s worth of green drinks when I arrived, but there are just those weak moments that catch you off guard.

To top it off there were many of my old favorite restaurants and foods that were just whispering in my ears, telling me one meal wont hurt, eat me, eat me …EAT ME!!!

So I caved a few times, although during the day I was able to stick to my raw green drinks. Part of me also had a curiosity about what would happen if I ate some of these foods again after 3wks plus of my raw food lifestyle.

Well, I am happy to say that I have proven to myself that Raw Food as a lifestyle is definitely what I am going to strive to maintain. I realized that every time I ate something that was not living I paid for it dearly. I can honestly say I have never felt things like I experienced in my body like I did that week. I have never been so utterly aware of my digestion. That is a good thing, but it felt like something was in my belly playing twister! I could picture every moment of the digestion and how hard it had to work to get through my little meals that were off plan.

This was very different than eating off plan on a fad diet. This was an awareness to my body, what it needs, what it wants and what it has to do when I am not taking care of it properly.

I was able to distinguish between specific foods which gave me some more insight into my own personal optimum diet. Dairy, to my surprise, did not bother me as much as other things. Gluten in any teeny tiny amount was killer!!! I could feel it start within minutes of eating anything with gluten.

So currently as I am scrambling to unpack, and get back on my rhythm I am trying to regain my happy go lucky digestion too! As soon as we arrived home my sweet daughter picked me the most amazing raw salad and we had a wonderful Summer Solstice Celebration.

You better believe when we wrote out the things we are releasing from the first half of the year I added any non raw food habits and cravings. I am letting them go and letting my self be free of them for good! Once you experience a pure and clean digestion and you feel the awesome benefits, you can’t help but start craving that instead!

Until next time…
Blessings
LunaMamaP

How to take a Raw Vegan road trip!

Taking a road trip on a raw vegan diet may seem impossible!
Accept for a few extra minutes of planning it really wasn’t much of a challenge. I found myself into week 3 of my raw diet and planning how I would make things easy. I bought extra fresh greens and veggies at the farmers market the weekend before. Even though normally I would be buying less fresh stuff in days leading up to a vacation, this time I knew whatever I didn’t eat during the week, I would blend and juice down into jars and pack in a cooler for my road trip.

Basically with a few canning jars with lids, all the fixings for your favorite green drink, and some fresh fruit for snacking and your set! It really was that easy. I had considered making a salad and keeping it in the cooler but lets face it, trying to make a salad and pack it, you end up with a wilty mess that is far from appetizing. I needed something that was going to sound yummy and be yummy when it was time to eat. I made enough green drinks to last well into my week here as well. It has made sticking to my raw lifestyle very easy while being out of my element.


So I am happy to say two days on the road and I had no hiccups to report. I had my green drinks in pint jars in the cooler, some fresh oranges, apples and strawberries for snacking. I also brought along some nuts and avocados. I believe if you really want to make something work for you it’s possible. I was really proud of myself for sticking to this. This is the perfect situation we find ourselves in; we can tell ourselves its too hard and then feel guilty and yucky when we eat out of our normal lifestyle, or take a few minutes and make a plan.

Now lets be realistic, I am not saying that there aren’t those times to just let yourself eat something you WANT. I really believe that when it comes to food there is such an emotional attachment. Yes, there are those of us who are lucky and don’t have that. I find it hard to believe sometimes since I am so utterly aware of my emotional attachment to food but I know these "super humans" exist. They really don’t like to eat. It’s not an event that feeds them on more levels than the physical act of eating; they do not get that emotional “Oh yummy”, or the “I just want to vegg and eat Oreos, ice cream and buttery popcorn”, while watching a marathon of movies. It seems impossible to me to think that I could never want to do that. However, finding a balance and having a grip on the emotional desire and needs we have to eat certain foods is really important. Being aware of it is step one and then finding the way that you can attain balance and be happy in your everyday life is next.

Well I am off to spend time with my family and friends. Until next time…
Blessings
LunaMamaP

Well I am approaching the end of week 2 now and this raw lifestyle… I am doing pretty darn good considering. My will power has astounded me. I haven’t even needed will power like I would have thought. I brought strawberries and a green drink to the movies and didn’t even think about the yucky movie goodies that taste so yummy!

I found myself at the end of the first week starting to get a scratchy throat and allergy / hay fever symptoms. As it is the time of the year when this is common it didn’t surprise me much. However, I haven’t experienced allergies here in our new climate before. I am certain I was doing some pretty heavy detoxification even though I eat a really clean diet normally. They got pretty bad into the first weekend and all the way into the beginning of the second week. I was at the point where the headache was so bad it was making me nauseous and absolutely sick! I was down for a few days.

I stuck out the green drinks and as much raw food as possible. At dinner time I still had salads but ended up eating a few pieces of whole grain breads, manna bread, grilled chicken and shrimp during that time. One morning I just broke down and had an egg with cheese on toast because…. Well, I wanted to, but more importantly I was craving it so badly that I thought I am going to see how this makes me feel. I want it so let’s just see how I feel after.

It wasn’t a big deal. My stomach was definitely processing and working harder than it had too in a few weeks. There is a distinct difference in the way you feel when you are eating raw food exclusively for sure. I really don’t know how to describe it. I have never felt my digestion feel so pure & rested.

I am actually almost to the beginning of the third week now. I have been eating nothing but raw green drinks, salads and fresh organic fruit and vegetables for the past 5 days with no slips and I finally weighed myself and found that I also have lost 8 lbs in the past few weeks.

This is a bonus for me. I have been working out harder than I have in my life and getting into great shape but have still struggled to loose the extra pounds even with strict calorie monitoring and balanced % eating. My thyroid has not been working at the optimum level either. It has actually been hypo- but I have avoided treatment from any external prescriptions and have been working on it holistically.

Overall my diet for the past 10 years has been steadily improving. In the past 4 yrs it has become a completely free of processed foods, artificial anything, zero HFCS (High fructose corn syrup), Trans fats and full of whole grains and organic produce meats and fish.

Still finding the right combo for how my bodies needs to be fueled properly and work as efficiently as possible has been tough. At this point a 100% raw diet is the first thing that has felt right for my body.
We leave to go back home to visit end of the coming week and I will be tempted by all the old restaurants I haven’t eaten at in over a year!!! PF Changs alone is taunting me and its 1300 miles away! : )
We’ll see how that goes. Luckily I am bringing a vitamix for my dad so I will be able to continue making my green drinks and smoothies. Phew! My next post should be one full of how to take a road trip on a raw diet! Ha!
Have no fear I have a plan…. Until then… have a blessed day!
LunaMamaP