Category Archives: Raw Diet

Eat raw foods to maximize nutritional value.

Raw Diet – Conclusion

I made it through day eight and into day nine of my personal challenge.  Day nine was Sunday and spent much of the day thinking about the challenge I made to myself.  Why did I want to try this? What have I learned so far?  What do I want to do now?

I wanted to try it because I know that increasing the plant foods I eat would be beneficial to my health and I wanted to lose weight.  There are numerous news articles, studies, and other data out there that say eating fruits and vegetables are good for you. There are long-term benefits, such as reducing your risk of cancer. Plus there are immediate benefits of more energy, feeling fuller, clearer skin, improved concentration, reduce digestion problems, stronger immune system, and so many more.

Raw Diet – Day 7

It is Friday night and I am only slightly missing my glass of wine while sitting on the couch.  Instead, I have washed the dishes and swept the kitchen floor.  I’m full of energy but starting to get a slight headache.  Today overall, was mostly free of headaches.

We tried something new for breakfast. It was a smoothie but it was not green!  I found a new recipe in a magazine from The Blender Girl. It was supposed to taste like chai tea and it did.  I will definitely keep this recipe.

I had a dentist appointment today, so I ate lunch early.  As a result, I ate two afternoon snacks.  I used some of the leftover coconut sauce from last night’s dessert as salad dressing today.  It was a nice change of pace.

For dinner, I was out of interesting ideas. since I had not had a green smoothie for breakfast, it was time to have one for dinner.  I made enough for the rest of the family to have a small glass with their food.  It is a good way to get some fruits and veggies into the orange chicken and fried rice dinner.  My six year old asked if fried rice was healthy because it was full of veggies.  Unfortunately it is not healthy because it is cooked with a fair amount of oil.  I am happy that they did eat every little carrot, pea and soy bean on their plate without complaint.

Today’s Menuimage

Breakfast – 278 calories

  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup coconut water
  • 1/8 cup almonds, soaked overnight
  • 1 medium banana, frozen
  • 1 date, pitted
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 dash salt
  • 2 shakes allspiceimage

Lunch – 244 calories

  • 2 cups 50/50 baby salad mix
  • 1 cup strawberries
  • 1 small mandarin
  • 1/8 cup almonds
  • 3 tbsp coconut sauce from yesterday

Afternoon Snacks – 175 calories

  • 1/8 cup almonds
  • 3/4 ounce Brad’s Crunchy Kale, Nachoimage

Dinner – 281 calories

  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 medium banana
  • 1 cup pineapple
  • 1 1/2 cups kale
  • 1/8 cup cashews
  • 1/4 cup of remaining coconut sauce

After Dinner Snack

  • 1 cup grapes (it’s almost wine!)

Raw Diet – Day 6

imageI’m over half way through.  Today was rough, I was ready to throw in the towel until my dessert/dinner.

Breakfast was very tasty. I really enjoyed the green apple in my smoothie for it’s sweet tart flavor.  I was quite hungry by 9:30 and dove into my almond mid-morning snack. Time flew by and before I knew it I was hungry for lunch and it was 12:30.  Unfortunately, I cut into my avocado at lunch time and found strange brown, stringy, rotten looking things staring back at me.  This didn’t leave me with much to eat for lunch.

I wasn’t hungry at 3:00 but knew it was only a matter of time. I went to the local QFC and couldn’t find anything raw nuts.  They were all roasted.  I ended up buying some natural chunky peanut butter. It was delicious with a banana, but was not raw….hopefully close enough.

When I arrived home, I nibbled on the nacho kale chips from yesterday while I made a dessert for dinner and for the rest of the family.  It was a Fruit Tart recipe from Blender Babes that I recently saw on Facebook. I did not take a picture because mine looked nothing like theirs.  I really liked the taste and so did my husband.  It disappeared before I had a chance to ask if he liked it!  My two boys have different tastes; one loved the fruit and one loved the crust.

Today’s Menu

Breakfast – 169 calories

  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 small tangerine
  • 1/2 cup spinach
  • 1/2 medium banana
  • 1/2 green apple
  • 1/2 cup strawberries
  • 1/2 tbsp chia seeds
  • 1/2 cup ice

Morning Snack – 119 calories

  • 1/4 cup almondsimage

Lunch – 32 calories

  • 2 cups 50/50 spring mix
  • Pico de Gallo from Day 4

Afternoon Snack – 295 calories

  • 1 medium banana
  • 2 tbsp natural crunchy peanut butterimage

Dinner – 335 calories

Evening Snack – 66 calories

  • Brad’s Organic Kale Chips, Nacho

Raw Diet – Day 5

I slept fairly well again except for three trips to use the bathroom.  I focused on drinking 64 ounces of water yesterday, so I’m not surprised about the multiple trips! I weighed in 5.8 pounds less than my starting weight today.  Hopefully I’m losing fat in addition to the water.

I was not starving this morning as I had been yesterday. There was a chill in the air. I can tell fall is coming and I was missing my usual hot cup of coffee or tea. I made a kale smoothie with cashews. I prepared for today with protein more often by including nuts in my smoothie and my afternoon snack. I was hungry again at 10:30, so I ate a plum for a snack.

At lunch, I ate the pico de gallo from yesterday. The batch made enough for three servings. I will be eating it again tomorrow. To mix it up, I ate it with spinach instead of lettuce.  Although not hungry, I ate almonds for an afternoon snack to keep my energy going.

It was leftover remake night at our house.  The family ate a left over pork roast turned into BBQ sandwiches and baked fries.  I didn’t mind my dinner of honeydew melon with blueberries.  It was perfectly ripe and delicious.  I scooped each bite out of the melon with a spoon and it actually took me longer to eat my dinner than the rest of the family.  As a side note, I was able to prepare my dinner in under 2 minutes and their dinner took 30 minutes. Winning!

I had stopped at Haggen on the way home today and searched for a raw snack food other than fresh fruit and veggies. I found Brad’s Raw Chruchy Kale in two flavors, Nacho and Vampire Killer.  I wasn’t able to decide which to try, so I purchased them both. I tried the Nacho flavor today. It was good but not great. It was also weirdly addictive.  I wanted to keep eating it because the flavor was so new to me.

Today’s Menu

Breakfast – 262 calories

  • 1 cup water
  • 1/3 medium bananaimage
  • 1/8 cup cashews
  • 1/3 cup blueberries
  • 1 cup kale
  • 1/2 cup mango, frozen
  • 1/4 cup cherries, frozen

Morning Snack – 30 calories

  • 1 red plum

Lunch – 199 calories

  • 2 cups spinach
  • 1/2 avocado, small
  • Pico de Gallo from yesterdayimage

Afternoon Snack – 119 calories

  • 1/4 cup almonds

Dinner – 196 calories

  • 2 1/2 cups honeydew
  • 1/2 cup blueberries

After Dinner – 132 calories

  • Brad’s Raw Crunchy Kale Nacho Chips

Raw Diet – Day 4

imageI slept fairly well last night.  I was discussing the diet/personal challenge of eating raw for 10 days with a coworker and discovered that, in addition to weight loss, I would love to benefit from this challenge with a better sleep pattern.  This was described as one of the benefits of eating massive quantities of fruits and vegetables in Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead. I watched this documentary and it motivated me to make this personal challenge.  I had considered eating raw for many years and have read many blogs.  The documentary was just the push I needed to really try it.

I was feeling very good this morning and made a delicious smoothie that provided enough to also be my mid-morning snack. I made a larger quantity because my pineapple looked like it needed to be used or it would be spoiled soon. The chia seeds did turn the smoothie very thick by the time I drank it as my snack. It still tasted very sweet and fresh, just had a thicker texture.

I was very hungry by lunch. I didn’t pull myself away from work until 12:30 to eat.  My salad was very spicy and a good variance from the sweeter fruit based meals I’ve been eating.  I was left with garlic breath. I’m noticing that raw foods seem to leave a more potent flavor in your mouth.

For dinner, I was also very hungry again.  I really should have remembered to bring an afternoon snack.  I made a fruit and spinach salad and am really growing fond of lemon/mandarin orange juice as a salad dressing.

Today’s Menu

Breakfast – 186 calories

  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 cup pineapple
  • 1/3 cup blueberries
  • 2/3 cup spinach
  • 1/3 tbsp chia seeds

Morning snack – 186 calories

  • see breakfast

Lunch – 224 calories

  • 2 cups mixed lettuce
  • 1/2 avocado, diced
  • Pico de gallo, made in morning
    • 1/3 tomato, large
    • 1/4 white onion, medium
    • 1/4 cup cilantro, minced
    • 2/3 garlic clove
    • 1/3 lemon, juiced
    • 1/3 lime, juiced
    • 2/3 mandarin, juicedimage

Dinner – 242 calories

  • 2 cups spinach
  • 1/2 cup sliced strawberries
  • 1/3 cup bluberries
  • 1/4 cup almonds, chopped
  • Dressing
    • 1 lemon, juiced
    • 1 mandarin, juiced

After dinner snack – 105 calories

  • 1 medium banana