I found a local restaurant that actually serves raw food!

I can not tell you how excited I am about this! I thought I had searched the entire state of Colorado for such a restaurant and came up empty. Turns out just minutes from my own home is an organic vegetarian cafe called Tasty Harmony that daily serves a variety of mostly raw meals AND daily has an all raw speacial!

Is it just me or is it time for the "Happy Dance" Balki Bartokomous style? Da da da da da dat dat dat dat da... Hey! Hey! Hey! Or perhaps a little "Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy" Ren & Stimpy style? (What can I say I AM a product of the 80's)

Either way, check out the link and celebrate if you live in Northern Colorado or if you find yourself ever driving through. Ft. Collins is a really neat little town that I PROMISE is in no way represented by the shameful "Balloon Boy" stunt that took off from here over the summer.

Great posts I want to hang on to...

First pertaining to my last post is the following post on Kristen's Raw:

What To Do When You Don't Have A Lot Of Raw Choices Around (family gatherings, restaurants, and travel)

Now if only I could aquire her "who cares what others think of my 'weird yet healthy' diet choices" attitude!

The second is a post (another from Kristen's Raw) that touches both of the worlds that I blog about... Raw food, and infertility/pregnancy loss.

Setbacks and Silver Linings

Let me state that I am not the "look for the silver lining" type of person. That is not to say that I would classify myself as an unhappy person. Quite to the contrary. I have no problem laughing through the tough times. I get that from my dad. But when I'm upset I call a spade a spade and let the anger, hurt, jealousy, etc. run its course so that I can complete my grieving process and not leave any emotions unresolved. That is how I work and to be honest I don't understand those who can look for the silver lining and focus on that to avoid those emotions (anger, hurt, jealousy, etc.). Sometimes I even make fun of them... I know, horrible. Despite all of that, this post that Kristen wrote about her experience with miscarriage and finding the silver lining in the experience really touched me and gave me some great thoughts. I wish I would have had it as a resource when I miscarried in May of 2007. Unfortunately, Kristen didn't write this post for over 2 years after my experience. I will read this post often when we start trying to get pregnant again.

Finally, on a much lighter note, is a post answering the age old question on how to stay warm during the winter season while eating raw food on Cecilia's blog:

How to Stay Warm on the Raw Food Diet

The best part about the post? Tea is acceptable in the raw lifestyle!! I'm a BIG fan of herbal tea and probably go few days even in the summer without drinking some form of herbal tea (and occasionally green tea). I am perpetually cold so it is a major staple in my daily routine. Up until this point I have yet to research it for fear that I would find that it is not recommended due to the temperature of the water. Ahhhh... so glad this is not the case.

Also, this post inspired me to research some of the other questions I have on non-food items that I consume to determine whether or not they are acceptable and if they aren't what alternatives may be available. My first item on the list after tea: GUM.

My next post will be riveting won't it? ;)

Falling off the wagon... and getting back on.

I don't know what the deal is but despite all of my efforts to remain raw while traveling for work the susequent weeks at home I have truly fallen off the raw wagon. Unfortunately, getting back on the wagon seems to be very similar to starting from the beginning. And that is a challenge because there is a certain amount of stomach resizing, blood sugar balancing and detoxing that go into the beginning of this diet. I was warned by friends/family and experienced first hand that the first week (or more) raw can be miserable because of these changes that must occur.

Lately I just can't seem to get rid of the munchies. And munchies are bad because they bring on cravings for the most horrible, awful, fatening foods. Foods that I should avoid even if I wasn't raw. Pizza, candy, rich creamy desserts and pies, processed unhealthy carbs in any of their various forms, and of course dairy in all of its glorious forms. But I have been sticking it out over the weekend. I even went to bed hungry last night because my late night healthy snacking just wouldn't cut it. Luckily this morning the hungry tummy grumbles were gone in time to go running. Whew! Otherwise running would have been miserable.

My biggest challenge as of late is that busy work schedules on the part of my husband and myself in addition to a cranky mood front for our 14 month old son has meant serious slacking in making raw dinners. Therefore, my husband has bailed on the diet for the most part and it has been easy and tempting to just follow him back into that great and spacious building of cooked food.

But I'm back on. And I'm consuming almost embarrassing amounts of food (fruits and veggies of course) just to keep filled. And my blood sugar seems to be all over the place along with my mood. But hopefully (just in time to fall off the wagon again for Thanksgiving) I will be back on track soon. My body is definitely punishing me for my cooked food indiscretions!

Traveling Raw

In my last post I mentioned the great results I have seen from this diet. This is not the first lifestyle diet I have tried. I have also tried The Zone Diet and Eating for Your Blood Type. However, this is the first lifestyle diet that I have seen such quick results from. Unfortunately, those quick results come at a cost. This dietary style is by far the most challenging.

Case in point: I had to travel last week for work. I spent 3 days in Peach Springs, AZ the only town located on the Hualapai Indian Reservation. Despite the fact that they have the Skywalk (the glass bottom, horseshoe shaped, walkway over the Grand Canyon) and the 3rd busiest airport in AZ (all Grand Canyon tours out of Las Vegas go in/out of the Tribe's airport) the Reservation is remote and has few facilities. As a matter of fact that is why we are working out there!

The few culinary options included tourist oriented cafe's out at Grand Canyon West where the airport and Skywalk are located, and one restaurant in the hotel in Peach Springs. The majority have no options for eating raw. The rest offer only a house salad you have to order without cheese and limit the use of the obviously not raw dressing options.

I figured I could make the salads work for lunches and dinners but who eats salad for breakfast? The thought of going 72 hours eating nothing but salads was very unappealing so I had to take some items with me including raw oats, dates, almonds, raw food bars and my food processor. (fyi - my favorite raw breakfast is raw oatmeal made when the above items are soaked over night and then blended with a banana, cinnamon, honey or agave nectar and anything else that sounds good.) I've never felt so silly in my life. I wasn't even sure if they would allow passengers to have food processors in their checked luggage. I had images of a quarantined aircraft and runway as the SWAT team and dogs were brought in. And of course I imagined myself being hauled away in handcuffs being interrogated on what I planned to do with the food processor once I got to Vegas. I feel ashamed just thinking about it...

I also purchased fruit in the last major town we drove through on our way from Vegas to Peach Springs (which has only a very small grocery store) for snacks and meal additions. After that it went pretty smoothly but I still wonder what the people in the hotel rooms next to mine thought when they heard the sound of a food processor going at 7:00 am :)

Oh, what the hell!

I must admit, I am not sure how far this blog will go. Despite the fact that I am starting this blog for myself I struggled with many of my insecurities as I developed the idea. I felt the overwhelming need for this blog to be accepted. Which is silly because this is not my first blog. However, I would say that the topic of my other blog, my first blog seems more interesting to other people and is a great way for friends and family to keep up to date with us (myself, my husband, and my son).

But who is going to care about my experience going raw? Only my in-laws share this lifestyle with me. As a matter of fact I wouldn't have made the change if it weren't for a few days spent with them back in September. But, I will throw caution to the wind! I will write down my thoughts only for myself and will try not to flinch when I continually see that mocking "0" next to the word "comments" at the end of every post!

So, here goes. I am publicly posting my stats to remind myself WHY this dietary change is so important.

Cooked:
Weight - 132 lbs
Total Cholesterol - 145 mg/dL
HDL (good cholesterol) - 40 mg/dL
LDL (bad cholesterol) - 93 mg/dL
Triglycerides - 65 mg/dL

1 month raw:
Weight - 126 lbs
Total Cholesterol - 115 mg/dL
HDL (good cholesterol) - 44 mg/dL
LDL (bad cholesterol) - too low for machine to read (<60 mg/dL)
Triglycerides - 45 mg/dL

First I must note that the cholesterol/triglyceride levels under the "cooked" category were taken one year ago. However, because I have had no other dietary changes over the course of that year, I attribute a good portion of that drop to eating raw. Not, too shabby!