Raw zucchini marinara for dinner! Spiralized zucchini, spinach, mushrooms, scallions, red onion, basil, cilantro, tomatoes, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, cumin, garlic and salt.
Not pictured: an entire (somewhat small) pineapple.
Raw Portobello Burger (by Ninaroid)
Lunch! Lettuce, broccoli sprouts, alfalfa sprouts, sunflower sprouts, kumato (zomgyum), mung beans, tabbouleh, avocado, salsa. Nommmm
Raw tortilla
Overt Fat
If overt fat is eaten, it’s best to do so at the end of the day so energy is not diverted from exercise or mental tasks to digestion.
—The 80/10/10 Diet
Haha, I love this guy:
One morning, some wild turkeys were outside my tent eating breakfast. I opened my tent and said, “Good morning turkeys!” They did not answer. They just ignored me. It occurred to me that I am not here for their purposes, and they are not here for mine. I thought about goats and the goat cheese I was eating and decided not to eat it any more. I went two days without eating it. I was craving it though, so I had some. I watched my mood change as anger and hatred engulfed my body. I realized the impact eating the goat cheese had.
[from a testimonial in Doug Graham’s 80-10-10] ‘
Good morning turkeys! naww why are they ignoring me ;___; *vegan epiphany*
6 lady finger bananas blended with water.
I had a really upset stomach this morning. I have a gut feeling (lol) it was the juice I had yesterday. Either because it was a juice (no fibre, therefore fast transit = diarrhoea), or because it had carrot in it (root vegetable) or because it had spinach in it (which I don’t handle eating whole as a leaf). Or maybe a combination of all three. I’m focusing on mono meals today and probably for the oncoming few weeks. I had the banana for lunch (after a small mono meal of grapes for breakfast) and this afternoon had a couple of tomatoes with avocado. Then I went to pick my son up from school and when I got home I was in a terrible mood. For no reason (like, nothing bad IRL had caused it). I sat there feeling really moody and low energy for ages thinking, gah! Dying! So depressed! I didn’t really FEEL hungry so didn’t initially think it was hunger/ blood sugar related.
But then I started to piece together bits I’d read from Doug Graham’s book. High fat foods (too much avocado in my case) can lead to blood sugar problems. It also robbed me of my energy. And maybe I hadn’t eaten enough for the day, considering I had two lots of exercise.
Weight loss isn’t a priority for me but years of disordered eating is wreaking havoc with my thought processes.
Interestingly, I decided to put some grapes in front of me. Thinking I wasn’t hungry, I put one to my mouth. As Doug Graham suggests in his book, this is all it takes. My body WAS hungry, it did want the grapes. Two or three cups worth later and my foggy, crappy, terribly low mood lifted. Like magic. Living such a basic, simplified lifestyle makes understanding my body SO much easier! I’m no longer wondering which of the hundreds of different foods have upset me or what on earth is going on with my complicated system. I do love it.
So reading Douglas Graham’s 80-10-10 book has been really, really helpful. While I’ve been transitioning I’ve been guilty of many errors that I’m glad I now know better about (spices, fats, food combining, all sorts of things). Whilst being interesting, it’s also been a little depressing. I’m 95% pumped about being HCRV but there’s still this tiny bit of me that is like, man, really, no more chilli or garlic or root vegetables?! What about my dehydrator?! And man, my really expensive juicer :/ And where I initially thought, well maybe in six months I can have a healthy cooked veggie meal as a treat, I’m starting to realise that it’s probably not going to happen. Either because I simply won’t want it or because the risk of it making me ill won’t be worth it. But as much as I love certain foods that I won’t be eating again, I am just so desperate to feel better that I am completely committed.
Everything Doug Graham says just makes sense. It’s the first thing I have read in my life where I’m like, dude, I don’t even doubt you for a second. Besides the fact that he’s living evidence of what he preaches.
Sorry if this was a bit long, I think it’s important to track progress. For the upcoming week, I’m going to apply more of what DG teaches. The main thing I need to focus on is reducing my fat even further, adding greens in to my diet (am yet to source good organic greens) and bumping up my exercise even more. Perhaps even get to bed even earlier (currently 10.30pm, could do 0.30/10) considering I wake at 6 and am pretty tired when I wake. I hope you’re all feeling good!?
Beetroot
- Beetroot Is Your Liver’s Friend
The beta cyanin in beetroot can help detox your liver, having a knock-on effect for your bloodstream, by helping the body to eliminate toxins and potentially preventing the build-up of fatty deposits.
So if you have found yourself ‘over-indulging’, adding some raw beetroot or beetroot juice to your diet can help you recover.
Then again, why save it just for the ‘morning after’?!
. - Beetroot Juice Can Prevent Strokes & Heart Attacks
Beetroot juice has been shown to reduce high blood pressure. It affects an estimated 25% of the world’s adult population and is a significant factor in coronary heart disease and strokes.
Researchers at Barts’ Hospital (London) and the London School Of Medicine found that drinking 500ml of beetroot juice a day can significantly reduce high blood pressure, for over 24 hours after drinking.
Whilst most of us wouldn’t fancy a pint of red stuff every morning, the research gives us a very big hint that including at least some beetroot in our diet on a daily basis will be good for us.
. - Beetroot Is Packed With Nutrients
Beetroot is a super-storehouse of both vitamin C and iron, which is great news for your body. Both are essential elements for health, but many of us struggle to absorb enough iron. Luckily, good old Mother Nature included extra vitamin C in her beetroots and this vitamin helps increase iron absorbtion!
Vitamin C is water soluble, which means it leaches out of veggies when you cook them in water. So the easiest way to get your combo-fix is to eat raw beetroot.
Incidentally, young beetroot leaves are a better source of iron than spinach!
The roots are a good source of many other vitamins and minerals, including folic acid, phosphorous, magnesium and B6.
Here are some super-scrummy beetroot recipes to tempt your taste buds.
. - Beetroot Can Cheer You Up
Beetroot has been shown to contain the compound betaine, which enhances the production of the body’s natural mood-lifter seratonin. So it would seem that munching fresh beetroot can literally make you smile.
Betaine is also really useful for cardiovascular health.
. - Immune System Booster
Beetroot’s amazing range of vitamins and nutrients have been shown to boost your immune system, helping you better fight off infection. These nutrients help stimulate the reoxygenation of cells and the production of new blood cells. Pretty important stuff!
(Source: rawfoodjourney.co.uk)
on cooked food
In terms of human evolutionary history, years is an extremely short period of time, not nearly enough for our digestive physiology to have adapted to the kind of wholesale degradation that cooking causes to our food. Physiologists suggest that it generally takes 50,000 to 500,000 years or longer for evolutionary change to occur. Even then, however, we could not adapt in a healthful fashion to the nutritional losses or the toxins created by cooking food.
—-
Studies have shown that our immunes system often reacts to the introduction of cooked food to the bloodstream the same way it does to foreign pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi: The body literally attacks the food, sending an army of white blood cells to do the job. This phenomenon, which has been linked with the eventual development of AIDS, does not occur when we eat raw foods.
[80-10-10 by Douglas Graham]
Helpful if you can’t afford to buy completely organic (from here). Also, here’s 15 tips on shopping organic on a budget.
I love the colour that comes from freshly squeezed juices. Because of my pancreatic condition, I have to take enzymes when I’m eating fibre but when I drink juices, my stomach handles it a lot better. The photos above are 1)carrot, ginger and apple 2)added the beetroot 3)added the spinach and lime (a huge bag of spinach juices down into hardly anything but it’s so dark green and nutrient dense.
Five days down into raw and I’m starting to feel really good. I think I’m detoxing because my skin is pretty gross and my throat is sore and I’ve been quite tired but I’ve been a bit better today. I even managed to do both my yoga and my workout and after this juice, I’m contemplating a jog. This is seriously unheard of for me. I got diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (amongst quite a few other things), I was always so tired that just looking after my basic needs was exhausting. I never had the stamina to complete a workout or even gentle yoga!
I’ve never been fit or healthy in my life and although I’m a bit upset with myself for taking so long to get my shit together, I’m also really excited. It hasn’t even been hard which is funny, because when you’re eating a standard diet, or even a standard healthy vegan diet (which I was) - going raw always sounds so extreme and like it’d be hard work. The CRAZIEST thing about it so far, for me, is how I’m not even craving anything. Salts, fats, processed food, sweets, soft drink, caffeine, NOTHING! I never ever expected that. I find that there is always something within raw that can fulfill my cravings/needs. Crunch? Apples, celery. Salt? A teaspoon of fresh pressed natural peanut butter. Sweet? Well, totally haven’t craved that whatsoever due to all the fruit I’m eating.
Reading books on raw food also helps with my motivation, as does being on tumblr and seeking out the raw foodists on here. it’s so amazing when you google search and find all sorts of people successfully eating raw; even marathon runners. So far, I think I’d be happy eating this way indefinitely. The only thing I see myself bending for would be something like roasted pumpkin or a warm potato. Npt that I want it at the moment, but it’s hard to imagine life without them ever again. But maybe the longer I’m living this lifestyle, the smaller those “cravings” will get.
I’m just so antsy to see how I’m going to feel in a month’s time! Or six months. Or a year :D
Before and after juicing! We’re growing our own organic veggies and the dried out stuff that comes out is BRILLIANT compost. Also got heaps of really ripe bananas reduced at the organic shop so it looks like a big banana breakfast for me tomorrow :D This juice is apples, carrots, beetroot, spinach, ginger and lime. It’s totes good.
Durian Fruit
The durian is the fruit of several tree species belonging to the genusDurio and the Malvaceae family. Widely known and revered in southeast Asia as the “king of fruits”, the durian is distinctive for its large size, unique odor, and formidable thorn-covered husk.
The edible flesh emits a distinctive odor, strong and penetrating even when the husk is intact. Some people regard the durian as fragrant; others find the aroma overpowering and offensive. The odor has led to the fruit’s banishment from certain hotels and public transportation in southeast Asia. Some people have even said, “The smell was like a mix of rotting garbage and a rapid gas leak.”
Durian Health Benefits
- A strong blood cleanser.
- Contains high levels of the amino acid tryptophan, known to alleviate anxiety, depression, and insomnia, and create feelings of euphoria, by raising levels of serotonin in the brain.
- A good muscle builder. Contains high levels of soft proteins.
- Asian legends say that durian is a powerful aphrodisiac.
Taste
“It doesn’t taste nearly as bad as I expected it to. Sort of like caramelized onions mixed with burnt onions and bad, un-sweet pineapple.”
“It was an attack on all my senses. As long as I didn’t smell what I was eating, I was fine.”
How to Eat Durian
Durian is sold in Asian grocery stores. Look for light-colored spikes without any dark brown patches or bits of white between the spikes (signs of over-ripeness). Durian fruit freezes well, and is often exported and sold frozen. Store your durian in the refrigerator or a cool place until you’re ready to open it.
Place Durian stem-side down on a clean cutting surface. Using a large, sharp knife, make a cut through the thick skin in the top of the durian. Now put your knife down and use your hands to open the durian. The skin will rip fairly easily (just be careful not to poke yourself against the spikes). Remove the stones and use a spoon to eat the fruit. Be sure to cut all parts of the durian to make sure that you have all of the fruit (some is hidden).
from: fit and raw
Seasoning with Herbs and Spices
Cinnamon
Cinnamon has anti-inflammatory properties.
Cinnamon may help people with Type 2 diabetes control blood sugar levels, and may significantly lower LDL “bad” cholesterol, total cholesterol and triglycerides (fatty acids in the blood).
It has an anti-clotting effect on the blood.
One study found that smelling cinnamon boosts cognitive function and memory.
It is a great source of manganese, fiber, iron, and calcium.
Cinnamon helps to relieve arthritis pain.
Cayenne Pepper
It can do everything from kill cancer cells in the prostate, lungs, and pancreas to immediately stop a heart attack within 30 seconds.
It feeds the vital elements into the cell structure of capillaries, veins, arteries and helps adjust blood pressure to normal levels.
Cayenne is also great for the stomach and the intestinal tract. It stimulates the peristaltic motion of the intestines and aids in assimilation and elimination.
Onion Powder
Onion powder is naturally low in sodium, providing around 3.6 mg within each tablespoon.
Onions are believed to enhance the sexual drive and increase libido.
The onion is the richest dietary source of quercitin, a potent antioxidant (also in shallots, yellow and red onions only but not in white onions), which is specifically linked to inhibiting human stomach cancer.
Turmeric
It is a potent natural anti-inflammatory that works as well as many anti-inflammatory drugs but without the side effects.
It is a natural antiseptic and antibacterial agent, useful in disinfecting cuts and burns.
Prevented breast cancer from spreading to the lungs in mice.
Turmeric is a natural liver detoxifier.
Parsley
Parsley is rich with an antioxidant arsenal that includes luteolin, a flavonoid that searches out and eradicates free radicals in the body that cause oxidative stress in cells.
The vitamin C and vitamin A found in parsley serve to strengthen the body’s immune system.
A regular garnish of parsley can help ward off cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attack, stroke, and atherosclerosis.
Oregano
An effective treatment for bacteria and parasite infestation in the colon and intestines.
Because of its anti-parasitical affect, its oil has been used in head lice treatments.
It has been used in the treatment of allergies and even to regulate menstrual periods. Some cultures use it as a powerful pain killer.
Garlic Powder
Garlic promotes increased bile production to help reduce levels of fat in the liver.
Garlic is a proven broad-spectrum antibiotic that combats bacterial, intestinal parasites, and viruses. It can lower blood pressure and blood cholesterol, discourage dangerous blood clotting, lower chances of cancers (especially stomach cancer).
Drinking lemon water or eating a few slices of lemon will stop bad garlic breath.
Cumin
Cumin is extremely good for digestion and related problems.
It is rich in iron and thus very good for lactating mothers as well as women who are undergoing menses or who are pregnant, since they are more in need of iron than others.
Because of its high iron content, cumin can be a nutritious additive to daily diet for anemic people.
The essential oils present in Cumin have disinfectant and anti fungal properties. This prevents any microbial and fungal infection from affecting the skin.
Thyme
Thyme contains an essential oil that is rich in thymol, a powerful antiseptic, antibacterial, and strong antioxidant. The oil of thyme is used in mouthwashes to treat inflammations of the mouth, and throat infections. It is a common component of cough drops.
(Source: fitnraw.com)
So my pancreas has lost 90% or so of its function and I’ve been on digestive supplements to try and ease the affects of having a dodgy pancreas. But it’s been over a year and I’m no better. i’ve muddled my way through various diets trying to find something that works for me. The only foods that I didn’t really vomit from, or get diarrhoea from were processed sugary foods. But I’ve been reading that these foods (apart from making me stack on the weight) actually make pancreas function even WORSE!
This morning whilst reading 80-10-10, I read this:
“When pancreatic function is sluggish, as happens when the pancreas is fatigued or overused, the adrenal glands serve as a backup mechanism. The adrenals produce the hormone epinephrine (adrenaline), which stimulates pancreatic function and effectively increases insulin production.”
Another horrid thing that I live with is a constant state of anxiety with panic attacks when I push myself too much. This has only really been since my pancreas decided to fail but I never linked the two together (gah!). SO when I read that, about the adrenals pumping out adrenaline, I thought - oh my god, maybe that’s why I constantly feel anxious (other than the fact that my body is completely out of balance which causes a feeling of unease). Adrenal exhaustion which I most certainly have, also leads to its own host of problems.
I’m still doing a LOT of reading in seeing whether I will benefit from raw vegan (80-10-10) but so far, I’m feeling good and there isn’t much evidence to prove it will be detrimental to me. However, I need my pancreatic function to also get better. So far I haven’t found too much info but did read that omega 3’s can help pancreatic function. The only omega 3’s I was really aware of were fish oils but I found the great chart (pictured) which also lists some vegan foods! Not only that, but flax seed BEATS fish in omega 3 nutritional value!
I’m a firm believer in listening to our bodies and what they are trying to tell us. The cleaner we eat, the clearer the messages from our bodies are. I am obsessed with mustard and noticed that they are quite high on the omega 3 list; perhaps it was my body’s way of trying to heal itself.
