ok, here’s what really happened.

i gave up. there, i said it.  i did paleo great.  i did raw great (mostly…93.4%), minus the part about posting about it.  third month challenge came - i buckled under my own pressure.  shit.  what can i say.  it was pretty ambitious to eat seasonally while touring.  so, while it seems very glamorous to only eat springtime-harvested veggies in the spring, i’m going to save that task for when i’m older and border. 

however, this challenge mostly just got diverted because I’m two weeks in on a juicing experiment.  yes, i spent 12 days hauling around a breville juicer through the east coast.  i have re-defined the term “bag lady”.  please take a moment to picture it.  laugh accordingly.  now, let’s get back to blogging.

eating (mostly) raw in month two of this challenge not only pretty much executed my meat cravings but it also got me doing some interesting research.  i read live to eat, and the china study, and i watched fat, sick, and nearly dead.  and now, i’m juicing.

so, what does this mean?  well, i’m drinking a liquid vegetable garden.  in a pinch i have had some naked juice, or a piece of fruit or so.  i may or may not have eaten the better part of a watermelon the last few days, but that’s pretty much water anyway, so i’m letting that one go.

my plan is to do this for at least two more weeks, and then maybe more.  

i’m pretty committed to this one.  14 days juicing, you’d have to be, i suppose.  all that to say, let’s pick up where we left off, shall we?

in the meantime, i came up with a keeper:

megan’s watermelon dream:

watermelon + mint leaves + ginger + lime

put all ingredients into a (freaking heavy-ass when you’re hauling it around NYC) juicer

push the loud on switch that sounds like you’re blending bones

enjoy immensely.

my smoothie looks like alien food

being a raw foodey is requiring my experimentation with green smoothies.  by experimentation, i mean, whatever i have that’s healthy and blendable, and ample amounts of vanilla stevia to mask however much ruffage is being emaciated.  

my best smoothie in the last week has been: spinach, banana, blackberry, 1/2 avocado, peach, vanilla stevia.  yum.  really. and crazy filling.

i’ve also been having a little fiesta in my mouth on a daily basis with my homemade pico over an avocado. aka lunch.  i made a HUGE bowl of the pico sunday, which has lasted three days.  fortunately i’m in the same place for a few days so that’s actually doable.  

i’m not feeling too deprived.  i’m not really missing meat so much which i figured i would be having a really hard time with.  it’s a little strange to think that i can’t eat a roasted brussel sprout.  i mean, what the hell is that really going to do?

but, i’m sticking to it.  three more weeks.  

juiceland

no, that’s really a place.  it’s a magical land in austin, tx where magical people blend up what was once a piece of produce into a delicious liquid lovingly poured into your recycled water bottle.  think disneyland for raw foodies

today my cocktail was peach kale ginger lemon.  heaven.  i’m going again tomorrow.  oh wait…it’s 3:44am.  it’s tomorrow.  (i’m at sxsw music festival.  that should be explanation enough)

raw buddhist

i have to say, i knew that something amazing would happen when i went to mississippi, because “raw food” and “mississippi” don’t belong in the same galaxy, let alone the same sentence.  and it did.

four plus some odd years ago when i moved down to cleveland, mississippi to “start my life”, i was renting the back guest cabin of a house the capps family owned.  my time there was short-lived, but the friendship was not (that’s what happens with my friends… they have to sign a life-long friend contract ;)… anyway..  blah blah blah some stuff happens, fast forward to yesterday when i’m on the phone with cordelia capps to discuss plans for my late night arrival, and what she’s going to fix up in the kitchen the next morning.  i told her i recently converted to being a raw foodist, so a lot of southern cooking probably wouldn’t be necessary.  

well, seeing as though she and i are from two different planets, she heard that i had “converted to raw buddhist” and was thinking i had come back to the south to try and convert her.  amazing.

 well, i didn’t convert her to buddhism or raw foodism.  but she did send me on my way with fresh raw turnip and asparagus from her garden.  which, i sliced and ate with an avocado and lemon.  i think turnips might become my new cracker.  i’m excited to experiment and dig for raw turnip recipes.  it’s just a hunch, but i have a good feeling about this one.

i’m finally in austin, land of people who eat all weird like me.  and of course, the whole foods mother ship.  i’m excited about tomorrow’s exploration.

over and out.

nectar of the gods

i’ve had a change of heart.  in a day.  i’m such a pushover.  i ate a juicy amazing mango (cause we know how much i love them) today that wasn’t dried, fried or packaged.  it was amazing.  the dried mango thing was really just a lazy thing.  i’m very excited about my self-induced de-lazy my fruit integration situation.  say that 10 times fast.

my morning started with a banana smoothie comprised of a banana, stevia (i think that might not be raw, but that gets to be a conditional item), raw cashews and pumpkin seeds and this grandtastic protein powder called raw by garden of life.  i learned a trick from my naturopath when picking protein powder.  take the net carbs, subtract the fiber and what you have left should be low…like 0-3 for protein powder.  this one is ZERO.  and it’s gluten free, and it’s protein and it’s raw.  and i’m about to be living off it.

i think i calculated about 1800 calories today.  i was full and satisfied and happy all day.  but like i guesstimated yesterday i’m going to love the first four days, and hate the three after that… so.. glad to know my prediction skills aren’t as bad as my availability to date skills.  

love,

zenta (that’s my new raw name.  sounded progressive.  just go with it.) - team juicy mango member

i’ve set out for the big world

i’m officially no longer a cavewoman.  my paleo challenge has come to an end; time for 28 days of rawtastic.  it’s a bit bittersweet.  i so enjoyed my time roasting vegetables and enjoying meat piles.  i especially enjoyed the party that happened at my best friend’s wedding this past weekend.  all of which contained plenty of treats that were so conveniently provided by modern-day agriculture.  including the innards of pecan pie.  thank you, my liver.

the fun, however, is taking a turn down a different lane.  it’s the kind of fun that takes coddling and often bribery (which speaking of, might just be a good time to mention that i’ve coaxed two suckers into raw for the next four weeks - care to join the fun?).

paleo was a good phase to start with - nothing too drastic to start with.  i felt like it was a little too easy to default to the fruit/nut situation, especially when traveling (which i have been for 3 weeks).  all good, very wholesome - but i didn’t crave the veggies like i thought i would.  i think the most noticeable part was that even if i went nut happy (the almond variety, pervert :)..) i never felt that heavy gross feeling you get when you eat too many grains.  i immediately felt the ouchiness of eating processed food the few times i slipped up.  and bottom line, being a cavewoman is super badass.  lowta might just be in hibernation.

this next challenge, is going to rely bunches on veggies, and my creativity in preparing them.  so, i can’t get lazy and divert to the mangos so perfectly dried and ready for easy consumption.  i’m most excited to see how i feel on this one.  i’m thinking i’m going to love day 1-4.  hate day 5-8.  love day 9-28.  that’s my prediction.  

let the games begin.

primal soup

i’m in the land of the creatures.  normally, i’m really not one for seafood.  but i’m putting on my big girl britches and toughening up.  i’m a cavewoman after all, dammit.  i hate an oyster.  talk about primal.  (that experience, truth me told, was really more about doing something that i’ve never done that happen to fall under the guidelines of this regimen).  i also enjoyed what was actually quite tasty - seafood chowder of sorts.  it was dairy, just veggies and lots of crab and shrimp and broth.  my new pal louise was so sweet to cook this amazing meal for chelsea (who i’m spending my MA time with…friend from Boston days….amazing singer/songwriter. chelseaberry.com) and i.

i’m finding myself thinking about the sweet days of “culinary freedom” as my friend jamie puts it, until the raw food experiment that starts in five days.  and so, in true form, i ate a heaping pile of seasoned animal today from the whole foods salad bar.  and it was ever so satisfying.  

it also occurred to me, that do to this super well, i probably should have had a blood draw before this whole wild hair idea i had.  i’m full of good ideas, i never said i’m full of them at the perfect moment.  ain’t it just like a good idea to show up late to the party.  sounds like a song lyric.  it’s mine.  not yours.  i’m using it.

back to health - i’d say that this has been the easiest phase for me, cause it’s similar to what i normally do.  i’m finding myself heading for the fruit fix in replace of grains.  which, i’m not loving, but i’m also not feeling that heavy or water-retention feeling you get.  i think that’s a grain culprit.  and the carbs in fruit seem to be having the same effect.

i haven’t really had time to explore some crazy awesome recipes because i’ve been traveling all month.  BUT it hasn’t been hard to stay on it.  raw… might be another story.  although i have some tricks up my grocery bag.

three more days til lowta gets re-birthed into a raw food lady.

combo plate special

this is a three in one post.. think combo plate… because nyc is crazy and people there don’t sleep and when you get home at ungodly hours, the ability to make sense of the english language is about as easy as it is to get a cab in the middle of kansas.  (did you like that random, off-top-of-my-head, semi-lame metaphor?)

i wanted to share this video my pal sent me after i made the salt post.  it actually has me really excited for the raw phase.  i’ve even wrangled a few suckers to join me for the challenge.  you in? 28days raw (phew!)  anyway this video talks about salt and raw food and cancer.  only the three most relevant topics on the market today.  the lesson: eat raw food to cure bad things.  don’t eat table salt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  sea salt is for lovers.  

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgbdNNfotwM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

i found my way in the union square farmers market yesterday.  i LOVE farmers markets, and i LOVE union square, and i LOVE that i could walk around new york with my hot apple cider from the hot apple cider lady in a cool cup, like all the cool coffee drinkers do.  i’m so hip.

there is a lot posted about juice and that you really shouldn’t drink it (cause cave people wouldn’t take the time…blah blah blah), but i settled for being cool instead.  

one day i waltzed into a regular ‘ole grocery store, and walked through the isles and realized that 90% of the store didn’t apply to me - which really made it all sink in differently somehow.  i felt like i was in a toy store - rows of bright shiny things that looks like candy, but isn’t.  it made everything look so completely unappetizing.  

i had some slips.  they included a handful of m&ms, what i’m pretty sure was butter on vegetables at a restaurant instead of oil, and red wine.  interestingly enough, the first two made my body feel CRAZY almost immediately.  i swear every organ in my system was screaming “foreign object, foreign object, i hate you, you asshole.  punishment.  punishment”.  the red wine: no. big. deal.  i *did* do some internet research to find that the occasional glass of wine is a-ok for cave people.  so, for all intensive purposes, i’ve been hunting down lions in nyc, and it was stressful, and i took care of that accordingly.  aren’t i a resourceful cave lady.  

one more week of lowta..  then i become raw.  i’ll need a new name.  lowta is so primal.  raw is so.. zen.  zenta.  in a week, meet zenta.  until then, i really need to keep working on my veggie intake.  i’m just not craving them like i have at certain times ( i DO take green superfood supplements), so while i’m in MA in a semi more chill environment, i’m hoping it’s easier to pound them down.  the nut/fruit war as been taking the lead.. at least in crazy nyc.  

over and out. 

lowta

Cast me on survivor.

It’s official. I actually feel like I live on an island.

What do you do when it’s 3am in Brooklyn, ny and your 2nd spare that you had made doesn’t work, and you’re locked out and it’s raining. Well, let me tell you. You take your sorry ass out for a little adventure. This caveman..excuse me, cavewoman thing has had be pretty filled and satisfied so, I realized that I hadn’t eaten in 11 hours. Normally, I’m all for not eating before bed… But I’m on an adventure to last an undisclosed amount of time.

Here is where it hit me, I’m totally surviving on almonds… My ideal snack would have been some chipotle chicken and salsa. Yum… However, as much as I love this sleepless city. Chipotle people take extended naps and it just got happens to be over the 3am hour.

But. Almonds. Now almonds are something you can find just about whenever the hell you want. They really the perfect deserted island food. Protein plus good fat in a crunchy morsel of delight. However, they are not what i call a slammin late night snack. I’m declaring my allegiance to green vegetables for the duration of my cavewoman days. Too. Many. Almonds.

Moral of the story: live in a damn cave because you don’t need keys to get Ito caves.