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Janie's August 2002 Journal Thursday 8/1: 2:30pm: 5 HI apple bananas ~7pm: salad (4-5 cups lettuce, 1 cup katuk, 1 stalk celery chopped) with blended tomato (2 medium) & macademia nut (14 or 15 freshly opened) dressing The dressing wasn't very good, I could still eat the salad, but I don't think I'll make it again. I wasn't hungry for a long time today, just thirsty. I ended up drinking water until about noon and not eating until 2:30 (as you can see). I didn't feel like I was particularly cleansing, but I did sleep in a bit. Yay! The watermelon people were back at market today! We got a 11 lb yellow seedless one and a 12 lb red regular one! The mountain apples seem to be at the height of their season, almost everyone had them. I'm glad, I love them & our tree isn't producing yet. We got the regular round of HI apple bananas. I also got an abiu today - haven't had one before. I got another sapote (at least that's what they said it was, but it doesn't look like the picture or description in my "Fruits of Warm Climates" book). I also heard today that it's the end of the lychee season - there were still lots of them at market though. We got two bags of them. Friday 8/2: 9am: watermelon! yay! Sorry, it's hard for me to figure out how much I eat when I eat watermelon. I suppose it was about 2-4 cups, but could have been up to 8... 1:30pm: 5 HI apple bananas 7pm: lettuce; 2 med. tomatoes; 1/2 avocado; 1 stalk celery I was washing a new round of lettuce for the refrigerator this evening, thinking of making a salad for me and my family, when I suddenly just had to have some right then. I chowed down on the lettuce & ended up with not much left of what I washed to put in the refrigerator. LOL My son also came in and chowed down on some of it too. Between the two of us I think we ate about 10-20 cups of it! After a while, I was done with eating lettuce & wanted tomatoes real bad. So I dug into the tomatoes. It only took two to satisfy me with them. I then wanted avocado & ate 1/2 of one. I was no longer 'hungry' at this point, but wanted celery, so I ate a stalk. It was perfect. I was quite happy at the end - & I didn't even need to use any plates or bowls. I only had a knife & spoon to wash - all day! I like that. :-) Although, I had to wash the knife twice - breakfast & dinner. Saturday 8/3: ~8am: watermelon (not enough 'cause I was in a hurry) ~10:30am: more watermelon - between my last meal & this one I ate ~1/2 of a 12 lb one ~1pm: 4 or 5 HI apple bananas ~6:30 or 7pm: salad (~4-5 cups lettuce) with tahini (3Tbp) - tomato (3 roma) dressing Sunday 8/4: ~9am: watermelon (not enough - in a hurry) ~11:30: cold water; 1 small stalk celery (inner one); 1 HI apple banana 2:30pm: 3 HI apple bananas 5:30pm: 4 mountain apples 7pm: tahini (3Tbp) - tomato (3 roma) mush onto lettuce leaves w/ 1 or 2 arugula leaves as well This morning I finished the rest of one of our watermelons, which wasn't much. My hubby wanted to go out on a hike that I thought was best done early in the morning ('cause I'm still shy of the sun a bit) and I wanted to go too. I did some unwise choices in the process... Rather than delaying a bit to open the other watermelon or bringing food with me, I just decided to go and eat later (figuring it was a relatively short hike). I was feeling a bit groggy & that my body was working on some sort of cleansing thing, but figured it'd probably stop once I started hiking (wrong). I skipped my 'shower before anything' routine too. I became thirsty on our drive over there and realized that we forgot to bring water with us too. Still figuring it was a short hike and early in the day, I thought it'd be no big problem. It became sunnier than it was before and the hike turned out to be about twice as far as I thought (although still shorter than many of the hikes we've taken in shady areas). I was feeling great energy wise, yet had some problems on the way back up to the car - had to stop about 3 or 4 times and sit down. I was having trouble getting enough air (it was a very, very humid day & my hubby said it was a bit more difficult for him too), and I was thirsty. I started to get lightheaded and decided I should stop and sit down in the shady areas. The last stop I made was longer and I layed down - after that I felt better, but still thirsty. On our drive home I felt just fine & the thirst subsided too. Needless to say, I drank lots of cold water when we got home anyway. I had been sweating a bunch too, so I ate some celery and then a banana (even though I wasn't hungry). I then took a nice long shower, ending with cold water (as usual) and felt just great again with no trace of light headedness. I humbly re-learned some things that I should have known: that I shouldn't go on hikes when feeling a cleanse going on, before taking a shower, without taking water with me, without bringing some food, and/or think any hike's going to be short & 'not really' a hike. Luckily it wasn't a major health problem for me to re-learn these things, but it was enough to get my attention. ;-) Monday 8/5: ~8am: watermelon (a bit less than 1/2 of a 11 lb yellow seedless one) ~1pm: 3 HI apple bananas - strange, I got full faster today... ~4pm: 43 lychee - I guess I got hungry again 'cause I didn't eat as much before... ~7pm: salad (~4-6 cups lettuce, ~1 cup arugula, ~2 cups katuk) with tahini (~3Tbsp)-lemon(~5Tbsp juice)-tomato (1 roma, 1 med.) dressing I had a tiny craving for falafels (I confess, it was spurred on by a TV commercial for some sort of flat bread sandwich that reminded me of them). When it was dinner time and I was actually hungry I made the tahini-lemon-tomato dressing for my salad. It really hit the spot. I liked it more than I ever liked the falafels - I think my favorite parts were the lettuce, tomato and tahini-lemon sauce! Looking back on it, the falafel balls and pita bread were just excuses to eat the rest to me & tended to make it a bit too dry. I ate them 'cause I thought I should... LOL Funny thing to realize how silly that was. :-) Tuesday 8/6: 8:30am: watermelon (1/2 of 11 lb yellow seedless one) ~11:30am: 6 HI apple bananas 6:30pm: salad (~6-8 cups lettuce, ~1 cup arugula, ~1 cup tat tsai) with tahini (~3Tbsp)-lemon(~5Tbsp juice)-tomato (1 med.) dressing Dinner last night was so good, just had to have something like it again today. :-) I felt like tat tsai instead of katuk today though, so switched them. This afternoon I took a very short (10 min.) nap & then did some pretty heavy duty work in our garden. Our weed-eater's been broken for quite some time & the weeds around the pool and by the fence have gotten huge! They're as tall as me! Anyway, pulling them out for a couple of hours got me sweating quite a bit. It was cool though - 'cause I'm often allergic to grass & when not eating raw food I can't even pull one that large without a major itch attack. I wasn't able to finish the job 'cause I did eventually get itchy, but I went for pretty darn long! I kind of wanted to test it out to see how well I'm doing on that level (when I was raw for a couple of years the time before, I could pull tall grass like that all day). I went in and took a shower right after it started to get itchy. While I was showering I smelled some sort of vaguely familiar chemical smell - it was coming out of my skin! I realized I must be cleansing something, but didn't know chemicals would come out of your skin! Anyway, shortly after that I recognized the smell - it was the photography chemicals from when I was in college (about 17 years ago). As an art major, I used to spend hours on end in the dark room, losing track of time, etc. My clothes would gather and hold the smell (even though I used gloves, etc.). I guess my skin did too. I took an extra-long shower to help it out & by the time I was done, it had stopped. My skin scent cleansing didn't stop there though. I started to smell like french fries a little later too. My son was the first one to notice it - I just thought I was having a little craving or something. He said I smelled like french fries when he came near me & was upset about it 'cause we don't have any french fries (& he wanted some) LOL. It's stopped now. No other interesting, recognizable cleansing scents coming from my skin now. It's so strange how I get these weird cleansing things that smell exactly like the thing I'm cleansing (at least I figure I'm cleansing it when it smells like it). I don't know anyone else who gets them & I've now gotten them twice - once with the lungs the first time I was raw fooding & now with the skin this time... I'm glad to have the stuff gone - especially the chemicals, but it is weird. Anyone else get this? Wednesday 8/7: 8:30am: 53 lychee; 1 mountain apple 4:30pm: 2 HI apple bananas 6:30pm: 4 HI apple bananas 9pm: 1 stalk celery with about 5 or 6 cherry tomatoes I ate the apple bananas at 4:30 'cause I wanted the peels to give to my guinea pigs - we were mowing the lawn & I needed to put them in a bucket to protect them from stuff that gets thrown up by the mower. I didn't want to put them in the bucket without a treat & since I somehow skipped lunch (didn't get hungry), and had been working hard out there I figured I could use it. :-) I almost skipped the 9:00 meal, but felt like I needed the salt & a little 'something.' I probably would have had a salad with tahini and all if it were earlier, but I don't like to eat this late so I kept it light. It feels like it was a good choice so far. :-) I had more of the cleansing scents today after working out - chemicals in the shower for a bit & then french fries on my breath towards the end of the shower this time. It was over by the end of my shower, so don't know if anyone else would have smelled it this time or not. I should say that the kind of heavy duty physical work I've been doing in the garden is uncharicteristic of me (although I was that way when raw before). My hubby was saying for me to be careful not to overdo it 'cause I was doing so much. LOL I've started doing much of the stuff that I would ask my hubby to do for me/us in the past. In fact, I don't think he would have done the work I've been doing lately - I think he'd wait to fix the weed wacker or cut it down with the machete. I decided to pull them instead - 'cause I'm not as good with the machete as he is and also 'cause we'll have to do it less often if I just pull them out by the roots. I felt fine & only stopped 'cause of the itches again. I feel great & my muscles feel happy that they're being used more now too! :-) Thursday 8/8: 9am: little tiny grapes - I think they're called 'champagne' grapes, but are red, not green 11:30am: 5 HI apple bananas 6pm: salad (~6-8 cups lettuce, ~1 cup arugula, ~1 cup katuk) with tahini (~3Tbsp)-lemon(~5Tbsp juice)-tomato (4 roma) dressing No chemical scents in the shower today, but did get the french fry scent on my breath during the shower again. I ate lots and lots of french fries during my lifetime, so there are probably loads of them to cleanse. LOL I practically lived on them in high school. Friday 8/9: 9am: a few bites of grapes while washing them for my son; 10 strawberries; some grapes (the little ones) 2pm: 7 HI apple bananas 6pm: salad (~6-8 cups lettuce, ~1 cup arugula, ~1 cup katuk) with tahini (~3Tbsp)-lemon(~5Tbsp juice)-tomato (4 roma) dressing My son had green table grapes & 4 strawberries for breakfast & cooked food with friends for lunch and dinner. My hubby had 1/2 a honeydew melon for breakfast & I can't remember what else for the rest of the day... I got the french fry breath in the shower again today, but not as intensely & not for as long. I also discovered that I'm not completely immune to bruising. I got one on the back of my leg from a severe pinching thing that I did last night. I sat down onto a chair over it's wooden arm & then got up over it too (it hurt - won't do that again). It's still a major improvement 'cause the bruise is minor & it's from something that actually hurt & I remember. It was noticably fainter as the day went on. It was much smaller and lighter than things I used to get from stuff I never felt happening. Saturday 8/10: 8:30am-ish: 2 large nectarines noon: 1 large melon papaya (they're the huge kind - like small to medium sized watermelons) 3:30pm: 4 HI apple bananas 6pm: salad (~6-8 cups lettuce, ~1 cup arugula, ~1-2 cups katuk, 1 celery stalk chopped) with tahini (~3Tbsp)-lemon(~5Tbsp juice)-tomato (a bunch of cherry ones - forgot to count) dressing My hubby had green table grapes for breakfast, katuk & fish for lunch, and salad (~4-5 cups lettuce, ~2-4 cups katuk, ~1/2 cup arugula, 1 celery stalk chopped, some cherry tomatoes & a bit of red bell pepper) with a bit of grated cheese, olive oil & vinegar dressing. I don't remember what my son had before dinner - he kind of munched on things all day (both raw & not). He had a big sandwich made with my homemade vegan whole wheat Italian style bread (bagette style) with lots and lots of salad veggies (lettuce, tomato, etc.) and a touch of cheese, pickles & black olives (with oil & vinegar sprinkled on it). It's a sort of transition/compromise thing - they're a healthier alternative (all organic, whole grain, etc.) to Subway sandwiches (which he LOVES) and he puts way more veggies on them than they do too - but also too many pickles (working on that one). No more lychee or mountain apples at market - at least not at today's. There were some mountain apples on Thursday though, but no lychee. They had free health screenings today at the market & I got my blood pressure taken. They said it was perfect - gee. (blushing) ;-) Seriously, they did say that - it was 107/72. I thought it was better to have it over something less than 70, but they said 70-80 was best... I don't remember what it's been in the past, but I've never been told it was particularly bad or good before. They were also going to do cholesterol & other tests, but their new tester wasn't working correctly (or they couldn't figure out how to get it going yet). We got coupons to get glucose and blood lipid testing done at the hospital for free if we go before the end of the month. I'm curious what the numbers on those are now too, so I think I'm going to do it. I'll report the results. After reading about the bellydancing that some of the people here are doing for exercise, I decided to see what they had at our library for bellydance exercise videos. I remember that I used to like doing belly dancing in high school (took a class with my mom). It was fun. :-) Anyway, our local libraries didn't have any videos, but I was able to request some from other libraries. One of them came in today & I checked it out. I still like it - maybe even more now. It felt good to be moving my torso so much. I could feel my muscles stretching and working out at different points and my body was happy doing it. I got a similar excess, giggly-joyful energy while doing this video as I get sometimes from eating good fresh ripe raw fruit now. It was great! The video was a bit too short for me - only about a half hour. I found myself wanting to do more & being disappointed it was over - even so, I sweat a bunch. I think I definitely want to include belly dancing as one of the activities I do in my exercise rotations. :-) Sunday 8/11: 1pm: 7 HI apple bananas 6pm: salad (~6-8 cups lettuce, ~1 cup arugula, ~2-3 cups katuk) with tahini (~3Tbsp)-lemon(~5Tbsp juice)-tomato (7-9 cherry ones - lost count a couple of times as cutting them up) dressing Okay, I seem to be having the french fry breath cleanse thing with every shower lately, so I'm going to just quit mentioning it. Gosh, so many french fries in my life! My hubby had fruit for breakfast, cooked food for lunch (then needed to take a nap LOL), and a salad for dinner (same as last night, but smaller). Last night I watched some women's gymnastics on TV and became inspired by that along with someone from the message board who's working on headstands and handstands. This morning I decided to start doing some handstands against the wall every day to work on my upper body strength (and get some of the benefits of inversion as well). It was both exciting and scary 'cause I haven't done headstands or handstands in a very long time. I decided to get my hubby to spot me at first since we don't have a very good area on our wall to do it against (too many book cases & windows). I did better than I thought I would, yet had a harder time holding it for a while. I could only hold it for a minute or two - partly because I was doing it against a mirror that wasn't attached as securly as we thought (& it didn't seem safe). After picking a new spot in the kitchen it went much better for most of my body (tighter and straighter, etc.), but I my arm muscles were already tired out for that so it was a bit shorter this second time. I decided to also work on headstands to get the rest of my body used to being tight and upright in that upside down way again. This way I could do them more often as well, 'cause it's more controlled and I wouldn't need the spotting. My hubby and I had lots of things we had to do today, so I didn't get around to doing the headstands or any more handstands today. Maybe tomorrow, although we still haven't finished what needs to be done by Tuesday... These things that need to be done are quite stressful for both of us and I noticed that I'm handling the stress & feeling it less much more now than I had been before eating all raw. I don't know if there's a direct connection or not, but it's nice to feel more at ease with this stressful thing. I wish my hubby could feel more ease with it too. Monday 8/12: ~9am: 7 apricots ~1:30pm: 5 HI apple bananas ~7pm: salad (~6-8 cups lettuce, ~1 cup arugula, ~2-3 cups katuk) with tahini (~3Tbsp)-lemon(~5Tbsp juice)-tomato (a bunch of cherry ones - forgot to count) dressing Went for a short hike with my son - it was really fun. He was invited to a friend's last minute birthday party last night - the party's today. We have no money right now, so we worked on figuring out what we could do for a gift instead (find things in good condition that we don't want anymore, download freeware games & burn them on a CD, or make something). We decided on the last two options. The CD 'cause what he wanted to make was a bit involved and we didn't know if he'd be done in time. He decided to make a bow and blunt-tipped arrow, so after looking around our yard we decided to hike out to a spot where the guavas were growing too closely together and harvest one. When they grow too close together they grow straighter and thinning them out's okay. We hiked out there, he went in and cut down a sapling, cut off the top, took the middle for the bow and replanted the top. They grow roots and continue growing that way. We had some feathers at home that we had collected from time to time and a smaller straight stick for the arrow, as well as some nylon string for the bow, so he was set. We went home and he got it done just in time for when they picked him up! It looked great! He said he'd been thinking of making one for himself for a few weeks so had it pretty much all worked out ahead of time. He didn't have time to make one for himself yet, so we'll probably do the whole thing again sometime soon. It was great to hike with him again (only do that during school for PE & he's in his Summer vacation still) and see him being creative in a non-computer way. He's so creative in computer, mechanical and electrical technology, but is also creative in arts, crafts and construction. He's been focusing on the digital technology more than the other areas for the last few years. I like to see it balancing out... We had some strawberry guavas and edible flowers on our hike together, which was tasty and fun too! :-) Tuesday 8/13: ~9am: 6 mountain apples, then ran out, so had the rest of the champagne grapes 1:30pm: 5 HI apple bananas ~7pm: salad (~6-8 cups lettuce, ~1 cup arugula, ~2-3 cups katuk) with tahini (~3Tbsp)-lemon(~5Tbsp juice)-tomato (9 cherry ones) dressing No exercise yet today. :-( No time. :-( Maybe I'll do a little bellydancing in a little bit before my going to sleep routine (reading while stretching). :-) My hubby and son splurged on a food decadence tonight - chocolate ice cream. I splurged on a raw food decadence of my own, although probably nobody else would see it as such. LOL I had the SAME salad & dressing I've been having even though I've been thinking that I should change it for variety (especially since I have 2 ripe avocados in the 'fridge waiting for me to eat them before they rot). I just love the tahini-lemon-tomato dressing sooo much. I figure it's really okay & I guess I'll stop loving it if it isn't... It felt decadent though & I thoroughly enjoyed it. ;-) I've been noticing lately that my hair is really soft now - by my scalp. For the last week or so I've been noticing it when I run my fingers through my hair close to my scalp in order to push my hair back. It's feeling rather silky for the first 2 inches or so. Cool! My hair used to be really nice when I was a child & has been just sort of okay as an adult. It seems to be going back to that really silky, shiny stuff that I used to have a love/hate relationship with. Loved it 'cause it was nice, hated it 'cause everyone always wanted to do stuff with my hair and touch it all the time. I would let it go unbrushed as much as possible as a child and cut it short as a teenager for that reason. LOL I think it'll be easier to handle it all better as an adult. ;-) In the meantime (most of it's still like it's been as an adult - it's only the first couple of inches from my scalp that are silky so far), I'm enjoying pushing my hair back when it falls in my face. :-) Wednesday 8/14: ~8:30am: 3/4 large melon papaya ~12 or 12:30pm: 4 extra-large Williams bananas - could hardly bite into them they were so plump! 6pm: 1/2 avocado; 2 roma tomatoes and ~6-8 cherry tomatoes; the center parts of a celery bunch (~=3-4 reg. sized stalks); 3 or 4 leaves lettuce; 1 small cabbage leaf I had actually planned to have my regular salad and tahini-tomato-lemon dressing for dinner. I was making a guacamole for my son to dip lettuce into (with dehydrated spices) and my body changed my mind. I tested the avocado after opening it to see if it was good or not. It was so good, that I really wanted to eat just that, so I did - I ate half of it & made the guacamole with the other half. After that I realized that the regular salad was out 'cause it'd be too much fat, but wasn't disappointed about it, just a bit at a loss of what else to eat. I then started rummaging through what I had and ate some celery, then tomatoes, then lettuce (but wasn't really into most of the lettuce), then tried some cabbage (which was too 'hot' in some ways, but seemed to hit the spot after finishing the small leaf). I was no longer hungry & felt satisfied, so I stopped. It's quite a bit less in volume than I usually eat, so I don't know if I'll be getting hungry again later or not - we'll see... After my son insisted that he wanted it the 'regular' way so he could just eat it straight if he wanted (that means with spices), he decided that he didn't want to eat it. Uh! He said it hurt the spot where he bit his lip (I had mentioned that before, but he didn't believe me - that teenager LOL). He also said it didn't taste that good - I couldn't tell 'cause the spices threw my smell way off (& I wasn't going to taste it myself). The scent of the fresh spices in guacamole always seems so much stronger than it actually is... Okay, skip that. I just went out there and he's eating it now. Go figure! I sent my hubby to work with a large peach, a basket of mission figs (~10-15), 3 apple bananas and a salad (~4-5 cups lettuce, 1-2 cups katuk, 1/2 cup arugula, 1 stalk celery chopped, 7 cherry tomatoes cut into quarters, 1/8 cup raw cheddar cheese grated). He came home having eaten all the salad, one banana, the peach and almost all of the figs. He's been quite stressed lately and hasn't been getting enough sleep so he was a bit depressed and had more of his chocolate ice cream and then went to sleep... Oh yeah, I didn't end up doing the bellydancing last night. We had moved the VCR into our bedroom earlier that day to tape something with the other VCR and it was still there - along with my hubby sleeping. I decided to do the Fit for Life II yoga routine, some extra stretches and my usual stretch/read session. It worked out pretty well, although I could have used more aerobic activity... I did do a few headstands last night too, before the yoga. I don't like the headstands as much as the handstands - it makes my spine feel too compressed. I did an upside down relax-stretch for a long time afterward & it helped, but I don't think I'm going to do headstands again for a while. I did some bellydancing today and it was fun. :-) Thursday 8/15: 10am: 8 large apricots 1pm: 2 or 3 very large Williams bananas - oops! I forgot! ~6pm: ~3/4 of an abiu; 1 pumello 9pm: salad (~4-5 cups lettuce, ~1/4 cup arugula, ~1-2 cups katuk) with tahini (~2.5Tbsp)-lemon(~4Tbsp juice)-tomato (3 roma) dressing My hubby and I tried 2 new fruits that I got at the farmer's market a while back & they were finally to the point where they were supposed to be ripe. The abiu was ripe and tasted okay, but there wasn't much to eat in it - mostly seed and skin. The taste wasn't good enough to warrent it IMO, but I might eat them from time to time for variety anyway, 'cause it was okay. The other fruit I was told was a sapote, but it is round and green (like a little wild green apple), not like the descriptions or pictures of the 2 different kinds of sapote I've seen. Anyway, I don't think it was ripe 'cause it was hard inside, I took a few bites after my hubby decided to try it & said he liked it more than the abiu. I didn't like it & thought it wasn't ripe. It tasted kind of like a dry hard cucumber or chayote, but not ripe... One of them left a bit of a weird feel in our mouths so I ate the pumello and my hubby had a few bites as well (just to get rid of the feel). We were careful to stay away from the peel of the abiu, so I don't think it was that. I think it was the other one - not ripe enough... I'll have to ask about how to tell when they're ripe at market again and then see what I think one more time... I think I'll skip the abiu for now though. I had extra energy again tonight, so did some more bellydancing, jumping around, etc., then got hungry again so had my reg. salad a bit late. I had a smaller one and still had bunches of energy afterwards. I stayed up later than usual (even than my latest usual, which has been about 1-2 hours later than my pre-raw usual). I feel so much more like exercising these days - it's been a bit harder to sit down and do my computer work. I keep thinking about physical activities I want to go do. Pre-raw I would know I should but never felt like exercising, now it's almost all I want to do! LOL I am still able to do my work anyway though - while looking forward to when I can go & move my body... ;-) Pretty darn cool! My body needs me to feel this way - exercise has always been my weak point of the health building/maintaining equation, now it seems I'll be able to take care of that too! :-) Friday 8/16: 8:30am: 26 lychee ~noon: 5 HI apple bananas 5pm: 1/2 avocado; 1 med. tomato; 3 stalks celery Our family went out to the movies tonight and I packed some rambutan in my purse in case their snacking on popcorn made me want to snack. I also brought some baby carrots and left them in the car for that same reason. It's funny, they didn't get popcorn, only drinks (& my son got some candy with the money he made babysitting the other day, but not as much as he used to). It was kinda' cool! We had a great time & afterwards we went and got some pizza mainly for my son to have tomorrow. My hubby and I are planning on going out to eat at a new restaurant we heard had vegan cooked and raw food as a date tomorrow night. After dinner we're going to go to the local ameteur astronomer's club stargazing night & look through their telescopes at things. We figured that since we're going out & he's not, that we'd get him some pizza to have at home. We also went ahead an bought the "Fellowship of the Ring" on DVD for him to watch. We don't buy movies often, but certain ones you know will be good for repeated viewing. The Lord of the Rings is definitely in that category - a masterpiece of a film in our family's opinion. Getting back to the pizza... both of them said they weren't hungry for dinner, but once we got into the car and they smelled the pizza, they had to have some right then. They couldn't even wait until we got home. LOL I was feeling fine - except for wondering if I was going to get spills in my car... It was weird, I've almost forgotten what it's like to have a craving like that & it's only been 2 months? You know, the kind of craving that makes you eat something very filling even though you're already full 'cause you like the taste so much? I know I used to do that all the time, & have even had a few bites of a fruit for the same reason, but it seemed so foreign to me tonight for some reason. Anyway, we all had a really great time & I didn't even want/need the rambutan or carrots after all. Saturday 8/17: 8am-ish: watermelon ~noon: 5 HI apple bananas & 3/4 of a large Williams banana (other 1/4 was bad) ~1 or 2pm: some strawberry guavas and rose myrtle (fuzzy blueberry - type of fruit) we foraged while hiking 6pm: salad (~6-8 cups lettuce, ~1 cup arugula, ~ 1/2 cup cilantro, ~1 cup katuk) with tahini (~3Tbsp)-lemon(~5Tbsp juice)-tomato (4 small roma) dressing My son woke me up early in the morning complaining of symptoms of constipation. I don't think he's really ever had that before. Poor thing, we've raised him eating so well that he didn't even know what was going on. I guess the last few years have started to catch up with him and he's starting to feel the results. Actually, I'm kinda' glad he's starting to feel it some, so that maybe he'll relate to the problems of eating a SAD better and be more open to fixing up his health by the time Dr. D.'s video arrives (apparently they're not shipping the orders until after Sept. 1st). At least he knows they're's something wrong when he's feeling this way, many people grow up thinking it's normal to have only one bowel movement every few days (like my hubby did). My son was lamenting 'cause he wasn't in the morning, but he did yesterday - guess eating the pizza (white flour and cheese) when not hungry caught up with him. After my hubby and I came back from the farmer's market at lunch-time, our son was feeling better (although still hadn't pooped yet). He wanted to go out and harvest some more guava sticks to make a bow and arrows for himself today. We had a really good hike & our dog was SO very extra excited to have us ALL going on the hike together with her she just couldn't contain herself with pure joy and exuberance! She got me going and she and I had fun running and jumping around joyfully for a while - she outlasted me on that one. The strawberry guavas are starting to be ripe enough for eating as well as the rose mrytle, so we foraged a bit on them on our hike as well. Yum! There was a bit of Jamaican lilikoi ripening again too, but we didn't harvest it today. My hubby and I plan to go back tomorrow with some bags & without our impatient son and harvest more rose myrtle, strawberry guava and lilikoi. The rose myrtle is quite abundant when it ripens, in the areas where it grows. It's considered a noxious weed officially 'cause it does so well and takes over areas so it's a good one to harvest in a few ways. It's part of the rose family, but the fruit seems more like a blueberry. I like to call them fuzzy blueberries, but they're also like rose hips in their shape (as well as botanically). They probably have lots of vitamin C, but I really don't know their nutritional content. I like to eat them wet 'cause the fuzziness doesn't get to me as much (prefer nectarines to peaches for the same reason). When we got home my hubby and son started on their bows right away - they both harvested guava to make bows. My hubby knows a place where thin bamboo grows that would be good for the arrows, so they'll probably get it another day. Our son didn't want to go get it today - he was stubborn about wearing long loose pants instead of shorts and he got rather hot. So anyway, they spent the afternoon watching the Lord of the Rings DVD and making bows. Actually, my son got involved with watching the movie and stopped making his bow pretty early on & my hubby kept at it. At about 4:30 or 5pm my son got a phone call & I went out to tell him and discovered he was sleeping like a log in his chair (I couldn't wake him), so I don't know how long he actually watched the movie. LOL He had said he had trouble sleeping last night, so I was glad he was catching up. At about 5:30pm my hubby and I decided not to go out tonight after all. He was feeling really tired too & since we don't go out much (limited funds), I wanted him to really feel up to it when we did. He went to sleep too. My hubby got up at about 8pm & my son at about 10pm and then stayed up until about 11 or 12 before going back to sleep for the night. My hubby said when he got up that he thought he might be getting sick 'cause he had mucus and sore throat, etc. I thought something like that might be going on with them - I mean pizza kind of knocks you out, but not that bad (and we didn't do that much exercise on our hike...). It will be interesting to see if they get sick and I don't. I wonder if my immune system has armed itself enough from the good eating and exercise yet... Sunday 8/18: ~10:30am: watermelon on drive to hiking spot; rose myrtle (fuzzy blueberries) on hike ~noon: 1/2 papaya; 7 rambutan; ~ 2 cups 'fuzzy blueberries' gathered on hike before; 4 HI apple bananas 6:30pm: salad (~6-8 cups lettuce, ~1 cup arugula, ~1 cup katuk) with tahini (~2Tbsp)-lemon(~4Tbsp juice)-tomato (4 small roma) dressing My hubyy and I went on a short hike to get the small bamboo for the arrows today. We went early after it had been raining, and the trade winds weren't getting through the bamboo so it was quite humid in there. There were quite a few mosquitos which was rather annoying 'cause they'd rise up into my face at times when harvesting the fuzzy blueberries. The thing is, I don't think they bit me - or if they did, my body didn't react. I was thinking I was going to look like I had a bad case of acne afterwards on my face and arms, but there were no red bites. Cool! Hubby had 1/2 papaya for breakfast & a few bites of my watermelon, rose myrtle on the hike. Then he had a banana-'blueberry' smoothie using bottled organic papaya-grape-pineapple juice for lunch. I think he used 2 HI apple bananas & about a cup of the fuzzy blueberries. Monday 8/19: 8:30am: watermelon 1:30 or 2pm: 5 or 6 HI apple bananas 6 or 6:30pm: salad (~6-8 cups lettuce, ~1 cup arugula, ~2-3 cups katuk) with tahini (~2Tbsp)-lemon(~3Tbsp juice)-tomato (4 small roma) dressing I stopped by the restaurant that my hubby and I are planning on going to in order to see if I could get a copy of their menu to take home. I wanted to be able to see what kinds of raw food they have (if any). They didn't have take home versions, so I had to look at it there. The cover said it was both cooked vegan and raw cuisine, so I suppose there'd be some raw stuff. I didn't have a lot of time and just scanned it. Nothing jumped out as particularly raw - seemed like potential for cooked elements in almost everything, but it's hard to tell with just a quick scan. They do have a custom made salad option, so I know I'll have something to eat. It's also supposed to be all organic food too. Cool! It will be fun when we do end up going, then I can really take a look and ask about the raw dishes, etc. When we do go I'll be sure to report back in that day's log about it - maybe even as a separate post... After my hubby got home from work it looked like a clear enough day that we could work on finishing the wood stain we're doing for our presently untreated wood fence. It looks better and is preserved by the stain... Anyway, it went really well - we were both impressed about how much of it we were able to get done today - and it only took an hour and a half! There's still that much and more to do on the exterior, plus about that on the inside as well so we're far from done. It did feel like a major accomplishment to both of us though 'cause we've been wanting/needing to finish it for quite some time. Check that off as another 'round-to-it found! ;-) I guess my food log was a bit boring to read today - it's kind of the 'usual' if I have watermelon. That's 'cause these are my current favorities - they're not boring to me. If I have watermelon, HI apple bananas, the fixings for salad & tahini-lemon-tomato dressing then I'm all set! :-) I will probably be eating grapes for breakfast tomorrow though 'cause I got them before the watermelon & I don't want them to go bad... I also have a few fuzzy blueberries left, so I'll probably have them too. I'll have more watermelon the next day. :-) Tuesday 8/20: 9am: ~8 or 9 fuzzy blueberries; ~2 cups or so of tiny red champagne table grapes noon-ish: 4 HI apple bananas (large ones); 1/2 sunrise papaya - the best kind if you get it fresh - mmmm... ;-) 6pm: salad (~4-6 cups lettuce, ~1 cup arugula, ~2-3 cups katuk, 1 stalk celery chopped, 1/4 cup cilantro) with tahini (~2Tbsp)-lemon(~3Tbsp juice)-tomato (4 small roma) dressing I didn't have as much official exercise today - ended up working on cleaning our garage and getting rid of stuff with my hubby (sorting, bagging, labelling, moving it all around into sections, etc.). I went a bit light on the stretches tonight 'cause it didn't feel right. It ended up being a mistake 'cause I had a hard time going to sleep & had the restless leg syndrome thing again (haven't had that since about a week into this round of raw). I did some more stretches and it went away - yay! I guess I'll keep up with my evening stretch/read routine... could have also been due to not as much exercise as I've been getting too... My hubby had watermelon for breakfast, a couple of lettuce & tomato sandwiches on whole wheat bread (yes, cooked), and salad for dinner (~4-6 cups lettuce, ~1 cup arugula, ~1/8 cup cilantro, 1 stalk of celery chopped, ~6 cherry tomatoes) with some sort of dressing - I think. He didn't eat enough and got hungry right before bedtime and ate some cheese and carrots. He had trouble getting to sleep and was up for half the night as a result. I suggested that he have citrus fruit before his salad the next time he has it for dinner. Maybe that will help... Wednesday 8/21: ~1:30 watermelon ~4pm: 2 HI apple bananas ~7:30pm: salad (~4 cups lettuce, ~1 cup arugula, 1 stalk celery chopped) with tahini (~2Tbsp)-lemon(~3Tbsp juice)-tomato (9 cherry) dressing It was strange - I wasn't hungry much this morning. I had a very slight tinge of a hunger related feeling for a few minutes and then it went away? Well, I decided to go with it and just eat when I actually felt truly hungry. It went pretty well I think. I ended up eating a bit later, but I stayed up later too... I guess it threw off my fat percentage 'cause of less total calories and all - oh well! Close enough for now. ;-) I did some more staining of our wooden fence with my hubby today. I do the lower portions and he does the upper ones 'cause the parts we don't do are difficult for us. I also like doing the lower ones (besides being able to reach them) because I get to squat, bend, and move around more. Now that I've been eating this better way of being raw I just like to move my body however I can - it's great! :-) BTW - I'm still getting the french fry scent in the shower - mainly when I wash my face. I don't know if it's coming from my breath or my facial skin... There was one day that I didn't get it a few days back, but then that day I had a BM that took over that scent for the day. ;-) I thought maybe that was the end of it, but no... I'm still getting rid of all those fries and fried foods - every once in a while it doesn't smell specifically like french fries, just general fried oil. I read somewhere that blackheads come from fried oil & I have plenty of them on my face - maybe that's why I smell it when I'm washing my face in the shower? Hmmm... whatever's happening it's interesting & kind of scary that it stays in there so much, but encouraging that it's leaving now... :-) Thursday 8/22: 8am: watermelon 1pm: 5 HI apple bananas; 1/2 eggfruit (canistel); 1 nectarine ~7:30pm: salad (~4 or 5 cups lettuce, ~1-2 cups of katuk, ~1/4 cup arugula, 1 spinach beet leaf) with my tahini (2 Tbsp.), lemon (~4 Tbsp. juice), tomato (~ 9 cherry) dressing I actually literally ran out of bananas at lunch today. Well, not completely - there were a few that were overripe that I couldn't eat... Things have been ripening much quicker this last week than before - have had quite a few losses to overripeness. :-( I had a small fat cone-shaped (kind of Hershy Kiss shaped, but larger) eggfruit that ripened quicker than I thought too. I decided to eat it when I ran out of the bananas. I haven't had them since I was eating raw the last time... It was pretty good at first & then by the time I got close to half done I just could barely deal with it. It's sooo sweet - makes my stomach turn after a bit. That's what happens to me with dates too & why I don't have eggfruit much... Anyway, I had a nectarine and that did the job for lunch. :-) I forgot to tell you all about something that happened a few days ago you might be interested in - first a little background info... I've been not preparing cooked things as much as before, leaving my hubby and son to their own devices more often unless they want salads. They're both capable of making their own food - even cooked and often do (my son often babysits for extra money and cooks dinner in the process). My son at home, however, is quite lazy about it - which I'm counting on to help him go raw in the long run. ;-) He wants to do whatever he's doing and convince or trick one of us to cook him something rather than making it himself or eating the raw food I have readily available. Sometimes he does eat the raw things because they're ready and easy. I try to make them really visable and wash the ones you eat with skin right away when I bring them home or cut up the watermelon into a glass container without the rind. Anyway, the other day he convinced my hubby to help him make some pasta with cheese sauce thinking my hubby was going to do it all for him. My hubby is starting to catch on and only started the water for him, telling him when it was boiling... He did end up making his own food for himself and then I reminded him to wash all of his dishes and things from cooking when he was done. He said something like, "That's why I don't like to cook the food - there's too much to do and clean up afterwards." I said, "Well, then maybe you should eat like I do." He thought about it a little... Friday 8/23: ~8am: a few bites of watermelon (~1/2 cup) on my way out of the door late for a meeting... ~10am: more watermelon after my meeting - this time enough (~9 cups?) ~2:30pm: 5 HI apple bananas ~8 or 9pm: hodgepodge salad (~1/2-1 cup lettuce, ~4-5 cups katuk, ~2 cups cabbage, 3 celery stalks chopped, ~1 cup cilantro, ~1 cup arugula) with tahini (~2 Tbsp) - lemon (~4 Tbsp.) - tomato (~6 cherry) dressing I ran out of lettuce today, but still wanted a salad, so I made it with whatever leafy things I could find... It was a bit strange, but it did the trick. ;-) I spent the afternoon with a friend of mine who runs a gymnastics studio and teaches gymnastics classes. She's into health and has auto-immune difficulties too (which is how she came to eating better). She was able to lessen the food allergies and other problems (some quite major) through a vegetarian diet that limited certain things as well as some Chinese medicine. I don't know the particulars, but do know that she tends towards macrobiotics and is interested in my way of eating. She says that seeing me eat all those bananas for lunch whenever I visit has inspired her to eat more fruit. She said she's getting more tolerant of bananas now too. I admire her physical abilities & would love to have arms like hers. :-) Maybe some day... I need to keep doing those handstands, push-ups, pull-ups, etc. and clean up my weight set... We always have fun hanging out together so it was a good day. :-) Saturday 8/24: ~9am: a few bites of watermelon (~1/2 cup) on my way out of the door late again, this time for the farmer's market ~11:30am: 3/4 or so of a white sapote, ~1/4 of an atemoya ~1pm: 5 HI apple bananas right before the party ~5pm: a bit of salad at the party (~1-2 cups lettuce, a few sunflower sprouts) I also got ~3 slices tomato, ~2 or 3 slices cucumber, 3 or 4 baby carrots ~7 or 7:30pm: salad (6 or 7 cups lettuce, ~1/4 cup arugula, ~1 cup or so katuk) with tahini (~2 Tbsp) - lemon (~3 Tbsp juice) - tomato (2 med.) dressing Well I'm glad I gave the sapote another go 'cause it's really good! It's 'white' sapote, which is why it looks different I guess. Anyway, the person at the farmer's market had samples this time and we knew that it hadn't been ripe before 'cause it was quite different. My hubby also got a ripe atemoya and started eating it at the market. I was surprised about liking the atemoya - they've always been too sweet for me in the past... my hubby said that maybe I'm getting more tolerant of sweet fruit now that I've been raw for a while. Anyway, we finished it when we got home and tried the sapote again then too. My hubby was focused on the atemoya, so I ate most of the sapote. It was great! It tasted like avocado to me - the fruity kind, or the creamy kind if in a salad that has lemon in the dressing... I was thinking that I'd have to look up whether sapote has fat or not 'cause it sure seemed like an avocado in its taste. If not, I thought it'd be great - have the avocado experience without the fat! I haven't had a chance to look it up yet, maybe later. Our family went to a one year birthday party for some friends' grandchild today. It was fun - these friends are like a big extended family with us and several other families so it was a big get-together. We spent all afternoon and the early evening there at the park's playground by the beach - Hawaiian style. Our son had a blast with the kids his age and enjoyed watching the littler ones and helping them with the games. He almost fell over a few times when he was being spun around while blindfolded before trying to hit the pinata. You know how they spin you around one time for every year old you are... They were doing everyone up through age 21, but put a cap on the spinning at about 16. It was funny, the pinata came down on his head a couple of times and then after everyone had a chance they let the little dog try. The dog broke it open really fast - it was a tiny little dog too. LOL We got to see an old friend who moved to the US Mainland years ago and is visiting right now. My hubby and I took a couple of long walks on the beach during the day too, which was very fun. :-) On our first hike it rained on us on the way back, which was actually welcome because it has been kind of humid and hot lately. It helped cool off things a bit. We went and looked at some of the petroglyphs in the rocks on our second walk. Our son didn't want to leave when we did, so he got a ride back with them and stayed for the fire and marshmallows, etc. they did later that night. My hubby and I went home and finished some work we had to do, then had a nice evening together - our son ended up spending the night... We didn't know it was a pot luck, 'cause the invitation sent out by the parents of the one-year old didn't say it (usually our friends, the mom's parents, just tell us about it). We should have known though, 'cause all of our friend's parties are always pot lucks... the invitation threw us off. Anyway, we didn't bring food, but I ate right before 'cause I knew there would be something... At the eating time I ate a little bit for appearances even though I wasn't really hungry yet. I realized it would be a bit weird for me not to be eating after being there for so long since they had some stuff I could eat (salad stuff and some chopped veggies for dip). I enjoyed the sunflower sprouts - haven't had them in a while... I didn't feel like telling people I was eating all raw again yet. These friends included the friend who had quit raw after several dedicated years of it, and the mom of the one year old was the child she had while a raw fooder & had attempted to raise on raw. I think she was 3 years old when they stopped. According to our friend, her kid wasn't into the raw food much and was very stubborn about it - even picking up gum from the sidewalk to chew it (to my friend's dismay). I can see that in her now that she's 21 and a mom herself. She still isn't into raw food - she's into sugar, big time. I didn't know them when they were raw, so I can't say how they went about it. Apparently it wasn't the best way for them 'cause it didn't stick... Anyway, I didn't feel like letting people know I'm doing all raw again right now 'cause I didn't feel up to the protein discussion, etc. Also, the friend visiting from the US Mainland was attempting to eat all raw when we started raw the last time and was one of the ones heavily pressuring us to not eat so many bananas and fruit... I know they wouldn't be able to sway me now, but I just didn't feel up to the vibes, etc. I preferred to be incognito so-to-speak (or rather type LOL). I knew if I had a bit of something to eat nobody would pay attention to what or how much it was, but would notice if I didn't... It worked out just great & I got to pleasantly re-discover sunflower sprouts. ;-) Nice day... Sunday 8/25: 10:30am: a few bites of watermelon (went bad, so didn't eat it); 13 rambutan ~1pm: 1/2 white sapote ~2pm: ~1 or so cups champagne grapes; ~ 1.5 papayas' worth of papayas (most of a med. and all of a small) ~4 or 5pm: a few strawberry guavas & fuzzy blueberries on hike 6pm: salad (~6-8 cups lettuce, ~1-2 cups of katuk, ~1/2 cup arugula) with my tahini (2.5 Tbsp.), lemon (~5 Tbsp. juice), tomato (~ 2 med.) dressing The other two sapote (from the 3 we got at Saturday's farmer's market) were ripe today, so my hubby opened them both for us and we sat down with spoons eagerly to eat them. The thing was - by the time we were finished with half (his was of the smaller one and mine of the larger one), we didn't want anymore. It was like eating the eggfruit - tasted great at first, but then changed and was too sweet for me. I don't think it was too sweet for my hubby, but he didn't want any more anyway. It was quite unexpected 'cause I ate most of the one yesterday without a hint of that... It really tasted mostly like avocado yesterday - and today, until the taste changed. My hubby put them in the refrigerator commenting on how he'd put them beside the uneaten half of eggfruit and half of avocado... LOL My hubby and I decided to go and pick bunches of fuzzy blueberries today while on a quick hike with our dog (only had about an hour today). When we were out, we also found some strawberry guavas that the fruit flies hadn't stung yet - yum! An extra special treat was finding some Jamaican Lilikoi, mmmm, we picked it to eat later...so good! :-) Well, I'm not to the point of not getting sunburnt yet - however, I hardly got pink and was out for much longer yesterday than I usually would have. I wasn't really aware of how long I was out in the sun during our walks. My hubby said that he was & that the thought had crossed his mind that I usually would have wanted to stop & go back or get in the shade or something long before we were done. I didn't get that 'you're getting too much sun and might burn' sensation on my skin. I didn't really burn, just got pink and it faded as the evening went on rather than getting worse, like it used to. The clincher in showing me that my sun tolerance has improved was the fact that my hubby got red too - almost more so than me. Usually I would get burnt way before him and often he wouldn't be burnt at all eventhough we had been out for the same time (or him for longer). Cool! I definitely could use this! :-) Monday 8/26: This was a kind of stressful day for me - my hubby and I are experiencing a stressful situation right now that hopefully will be resolved in a couple of weeks. It's something that's been affecting us for a couple of years now & will finally be resolved soon. We can't wait - it will be sooo good to have it over with! We plan to go on a mini-vacation afterwards with our son to chill out together. Good thing I'm eating raw now - otherwise I'd be as much of a mess about it as he is. It helps for one of us to be able to sleep, feel somewhat at ease, etc. Anyway, as a result of this stressful day I didn't eat much... 12:30pm: 4 HI apple bananas - felt like too much when about 3/4 done with the last one, but stuffed in the rest 'cause I don't like to waste food. Felt silly about it afterwards when I felt it might not stay down. It did & I felt fine about 10 minutes later. Don't know if it was good or bad to finish it - probably best to not have the stress... ~7pm: 1 navel orange sliced and ~ 1/8 - 1/4 cup walnuts - I ate them alternately by taste & moisture... I had a hard time sleeping 'cause my hubby was up doing things all night - he couldn't sleep at all... He was productive during that time though, so I guess he put the time to good use. He also got some exercise by cleaning and rearranging more of all the stuff we have in our garage. It was amazing - in the morning he had it virtually transformed enough so that we can work out in there already! :-) Tuesday 8/27: ~9am: a bit of watermelon ~1pm: 3 HI apple bananas ~4:30 or 5pm: a few fuzzy blueberries & some watermelon I think I had some more fruit at about 7pm, but I'm not sure... I forgot to write it down & I'm re-creating it a couple of days later... This was another stressful day. I had a lot of last minute stuff that had to be done by 4pm - and it required a lot of moving around, so at least I got some exercise. :-) I wasn't very hungry 'cause I was so busy and a bit stressed... Wednesday 8/28: ~9-3: snacked on watermelon while during a big collaborative project ~7:30pm: 2 HI apple bananas Well, this wasn't as stressful of a day, but I did have a big challenging project that I was doing with someone else. It ended up taking way longer than we thought it would and was much more challenging. I enjoyed the challenge though, so it was fun. I just was so into it that I didn't get hungry much again... I'll be sure to eat more the next day, no matter what. :-) Thursday 8/29: ~8:30am: watermelon ~1:30pm: 4 HI apple bananas ~5pm: 1 acerola cherry to try - my hubby got some at the farmer's market today, but most of them had already gone bad, so I only had one to taste. It was pretty good. :-) 7 or 7:30pm: salad (~4-6 cups lettuce, ~1/2 cup arugula, ~~1-2 cups katuk, ~1/4 cup clover sprouts) with tahini (2 Tbsp.) - lemon (4 Tbsp.) - tomato (~2 med.) dressing Well, I tried to eat more like normal today & came pretty close, but I just didn't want as much food. I think it's the heat. It's been exceptionally hot and humid lately & the air conditioner in our office (the only one we have) broke, so we're back to fans. The only problem is that my office is the hottest room of the house 'cause of the way the sun hits it, the few windows and all the computers heating it up more. I just feel like drinking water when it's this hot... Maybe that's why I haven't been eating as much lately. Maybe it hasn't been the stress or business... Whatever it is, I'm just not wanting much food right now. I'm getting really close to my regular size (the size I've been most of my life), so I figure I should start eating more again. Maybe when it cools off a bit and/or when the trade winds start again. :-) After the sun went down & it cooled off a bit, I got hungrier & had the salad. I think it really is/was the heat. Friday 8/30: ~9am: watermelon ~noon: 1/2 starfruit - was really hungry, then not at all once I started eating - strange... ~3:30: 1.5 starfruit; 1 rambutan ~7pm: salad (~4 cups lettuce, 2 stalks celery chopped, 1/2-1 cup arugula) with tahini (2 heaping Tbsp.) - lemon (4 Tbsp.) dressing I didn't have any bananas that were ripe - some were too ripe, some not ripe enough. I brought a bunch of rambutan & star fruit for lunch with me to my friend's house. I got hungry and started to eat them, but then was satiated very fast - after only one fruit? I wasn't sure what to do - eat more anyway or stop. I don't know if it's 'cause I'm used to eating bananas for lunch most of the time or if it's because of the heat or what. I mentioned that I haven't been very hungry at all the last few days to my friend and she said that she hadn't been either. It was quite unusual for both of us. Maybe it is the heat... I give up, I'm just going to go with it and see where it takes me. Eventhough I've pretty much returned to my usual weight, I do still have a bit of fat to live on so I figure I'll be fine... Shower-detox update: I already posted that the french fry and fried oil scents stopped a couple/few days ago. I forgot to say that they were replaced by a metallic taste in my mouth at the same time in my showers. This seems to have coincided with my lack of hunger - I wonder if that's connected? Maybe my body's working on more heavy duty things - like metals & doesn't want as much food in the process... Oh yeah, and also I noticed tonight that my sweat is now smelling good again - like in college. When I first went raw this time around it didn't smell bad, then from time to time it smells bad from the detoxing, now it actually smells good - like perfume. I had forgotten about it smelling that way before... I took a jazz dance PE course in college once and the woman who was dancing beside me wanted to know what perfume I was using. She was amazed (& a bit dubious) when I told her I wasn't wearing any - that it was my sweat (didn't wear deodarant then either). Cool that it's doing it again! :-) Saturday 8/31: ~8am: watermelon ~noon: 2.3 HI apple bananas; 1/2 eggfruit; 1/2 large white sapote; 1/2 small white sapote; bite of celery ~1:30pm: several pickle weed 'leaves' at beach ~3pm: 1 starfruit; a few bites of orange after hike ~7 or 8pm: ~ 1 orange and some pecans (~1/4 cup?); 1/2 stick of celery The County Farm Fair is going on here & today's the day they offer an 'unlimited ride braclet' for sale. This is very popular for my son and his friends, since the individual rides at other times are quite expensive. They only offer it one of the four days the fair runs & it's only good from noon to 6pm that day. Needless to say, all the kids our son's age from the island are there then & it's a big social scene as well. ;-) Anyway, because of this, we dropped our son off at the fair at noon and made arrangements to meet him at 6pm. After we dropped him off we (my hubby and I) went on a walk at the beach by the end of the airport's runway. It's a really rocky beach, hardly any sand. There are variously sized large rocks there - great for stone hopping, etc. There are also really interesting rock formations with the soil & in places it looks like a moonscape or alien world or something. There was a lot of pickle weed growing there and my hubby asked me if I wanted some. I hadn't had any before & he got me some. It did taste a lot like pickles (at least how I remember them being) - very salty. It was kinda' cool and I ate several of the small succulent almost cylindrical 'leaves' before deciding that I better stop or I'd get thirsty. Afterwards I was wondering weather it was an okay food to eat & figured it was okay every once in a while in small quantities, but not regularly because of the saltiness. I noticed during this hike/walk/rock hopping adventure that my body's a lot more confident in these movements than it's been in years - possibly more than ever. I have an enormous increase in my balance, coordination and overall dexterity and control of my body now. The last time I was rock hopping was before I went raw this last time & the difference was quite noticable to me. Rather than feeling a bit unsure, fragile, unstable and possibly unable to regain my balance on a shaky or loose rock (like before) I now felt unworried, strong and completely capable of maintaining or regaining my balance on shaky or loose rocks. As a result I was able to just go through and over them well and without worry in a quicker, upright and natural fashion. I was able to keep up with my hubby even though his stride is about 1/2 again as long as mine (so I take 3 steps for every 2 he takes - which means more rock steps for me) and he was using a walking stick to aid in his balance. I had a blast too! :-) I mentioned to my hubby how my balance had improved & wondered if it had to do with mucus clearing from my inner ear or something like that, because I have lots less mucus in general now & the inner ear has to do with balance, etc. He thought it very well could be the reason why I felt more control and balance. I can see how an athlete could benefit greatly from this alone. I was seeing such an improvement in my performance after only two and a half months and I'm not even an athlete or training... After our hike we ate some juicy fruit. My hubby had 2 oranges and said that he felt that one of the keys to him being able to do all raw food again is the timing - having the right food available at the right time. He said that there was nothing better than oranges in the world to have after that hike for him. He was totally in bliss eating the oranges at that point. I was enjoying my starfruit, but not as into it as he was with his oranges at the time. They did smell good, so I had a bite or two of one slice, but decided I didn't really want it. I was actually wanting water more than anything and we had forgotten to bring some with us... We went to the store afterwards and got some water though, which was yummy. :-) Unfortunately, on the way to getting the water my hubby said that he was feeling a bit of nausea & was really tired. He thought that maybe the oranges didn't go with the food he had earlier & then I remembered that he had eaten some cooked Mexican food (beans and rice) about 15 minutes before the hike, so it probably was still in his stomach... The beans and rice don't combine on their own & the oranges just added another miscombining element to the mix... Oh well, he felt better after a nap in the car when I went to the store to buy some stuff. We went to the fair with the friend I usually visit on Fridays and had a good time looking at the booths and the plants and veggies from the competitions. There was a bonzai demo. that was fastinating. I didn't know you could use older trees to start them off - thought it had to be babies that were 'trained' and stunted. The prize-winning fruit and veggie tables were really interesting and educational. There were some fruits there that I'd never seen or heard of before, like the dragon fruit which won 'Best Fruit in Show.' It looked kind of like a fat ginger flower on the outside and was filled with translucent white mushy fruit inside that had small black seeds (very similar to kiwi seeds) scattered throughout it. We sniffed it and it smelled really yummy. There were 2 other fruits that I hadn't heard of before there too, but I can't remember their names. We were also amazed that someone had grown some red delicious apples! Here! They were quite tiny, but that's a bit amazing - must have been some sort of refrigerated greenhouse thing or something... I also had a chance to find out where to get some kumquats - 'cause there were some there on display & I read who the farmer was. We know them and they're up our way - and they're organic. Cool! I'll have to go pay them a visit and buy some from them. I had brought in some oranges, pecans and celery for dinner 'cause I didn't expect to find any food there that I could eat. This is what my hubby and I had for dinner, but I also discovered that I might not have had to bring food if I was willing to eat non-organic. There were a few produce stands there where some of the farmers were selling their produce - cool! My friend was releived to find a good vegan meal offered as well - it looked pretty and smelled good, she said it was good. My son didn't eat anywhere nearly as well as we did. When we were leaving and had a chance to actually spend time with him (always off with his friends), we asked him what he bought with his money, etc. He chose to take the opportunity to eat junk foods, etc. Good thing we at least got some beans and rice into him first - even though they're not the best and nowhere near well combined raw food, they're loads better than what he chose to eat at the fair. LOL He had 2 ice creams, a malasada (very sugary cream-filled donut type of thing) and some other equally junky thing. He said he was going to get cotton candy too, but the line was too long - good thing IMO. ;-) I just keep reminding myself that every time we get good food into him is a success and that he's heading back to the more healthy way in general... can't wait until that Nutrition and Athletic Performance video and Recipe Guide that we ordered finally arrive. It's been a long wait for the shipping to start up again, but it's supposed to go out after tomorrow. Yay! They had free body fat testing at the fair too, so I decided to see what my body fat is now (even though I don't know what it was before). In the process I was also able to find out how much I weigh now. I don't have a scale, so the only times I usually find out my weight are when I go into the doctor's office. The last time I went in to the doctor's office was about a month or less before I started eating raw again & my weight was in the 120's (pounds). After about 2.5 months raw I weigh 102 lbs. and my body fat is supposedly at 20.9% now. I thought I was getting close to my target range. I figured that between 92 & 105 lbs. was pretty good for me - as that's the weight I've been all my life since I was in 8th grade (excepting my pregnancies and the last few years). I want to add more muscle, so the weight will change and the body fat will probably continue to go down a bit too. In the process of it, she had me flex my bicep and I was a bit surprised to see how much I had there. It's funny, Dr. D. says that people are often surprised to find out how skinny they are under all their fat - well, I've been surprised to find out how much muscle I have under all mine. LOL I thought I was going to be much more spindly than I am - although maybe my muscles have been building themselves secretly during this transformation as well... Overall, it was a good and enjoyable day had by all. :-)
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