Life in the Raw World

Okay, so it’s the last week of my raw foods boot camp and I’ve been miserable about posting anything to my blog lately.  Should have been better at posting this little raw foods journey, but the good news is I’ve decided to extend the boot camp challenge for myself for another 28 days (and actually diligently do the workbook exercises and make a ton more of the recipes).  I will also try to be more diligent about capturing my journey here.  I can note that although I’ve been awful about journeling and doing the homework every night, I can say I’ve been juicing every day and eating at least 60 percent of my daily food intake totally raw.  I’ve certainly been eating healthier but still haven’t lost any weight just yet.  The next phase is to get moving on the fitness portion!  As I tailor my diet more and get the fitness portion in line, hopefully then I’ll start seeing some real improvement in that area.

Last Monday I talked a friend into visiting a farm and separate, local garden only 5 minutes from my house.  The farm (Wild River Farm) is currently growing different types of greens – Kale, Arugula, Bib Lettuce, Basil, Buttercrunch Lettuce, etc., as well as some tomatoes.   They also have a blueberry patch that will be ready for harvest in the spring and an apple orchard.  The nicest thing is you can purchase a whole lettuce plant for around $2.00 and they pull them with the roots intact, which keeps them fresh for much longer.  The local garden hasn’t completely come to fruition yet, but looks to be another place to harvest and purchase local produce soon.  I plan to make these places weekly or bi-weekly shopping excursions and I’m thinking of joining the Wheatsville Coop as they seem to have the best selection of locally grown, organic produce around.

Some days I miss making my own green juice or smoothie in the morning, so on those days I’ve been stopping at Skinny Limits food truck off of Lake Austin Blvd and Mopac and getting one of their yummy juices.  I’ve also tried their RAWmazing chips and queso (made from cashews) and the RAW Garden Pud Thai.  They are both super yummy!  Today I was given some of their RAW mock egg salad to try.  I think it’s made from cauliflower.  

At work, we’ve decided to do another Biggest Loser Challange.  It starts this week and goes for four months.  We’ll be doing more group activities and fitness challenges and tracking weekly walking efforts so it’ll definitely challenge us more.  Since I won’t be undergoing chemo at the same time this time around, the fitness challenges will be super helpful to me.  I begin physical therapy tomorrow which will help me get on a better fitness track as well.

I feel that my efforts are slow going, particularly with regard to the weight loss; but the foods I’m consuming now versus what I used to have changed dramatically!  I do need to fine-tune my eating habits, such as the times I eat during the day and night and I need to become more mindful while eating.  However, to make these become lifelong changes, slow incorporation is key.