Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Adventures in Raw Foodie-ness (Chapter 2)

Day two of my experiment - same weight: 143... heavy sigh. Changing your diet is a lot like exercise -- somehow I feel like after a hard workout (or a day of eating raw) I should magically be 10 lbs thinner.

But I am feeling pretty fabulous... teetering on the edge of hungry, but feeling pretty good. I've heard that the body needs a certain amount of '"fat" to feel full: so do the Omega-3s in avocado count?

Besides wondering how I am going to push through an extra dose of hot yoga tonight, I am wishing I had the secret recipe to Omar's Almond Curried dipping sauce that our vegan nori-rolls came with last night. It just makes everything better.

A Great Debate -or- A Different Kind of March Madness
I've also been doing a lot of thinking (or obsessing?) about the vegan/vegatarian thing. It made sense to me NOT to be a vegan with all the processed soy products and fake-sausage patties and faux-margarine, faux-food products. None of that stuff really seemed like a eco-conscious choice once you figured the oil/gas equation for plastic, packaging, shipping, the food science processing, etc. As I've mentioned on so many occasions, I prefer to eat Food. Real Food. Not Food-like products.

Vegetarian made a little more sense: it's such a wide scope and you seem to be able to eat a little more sustainable. . . and for me, my body almost seems to crave it during the summer. (Though I usually end up being one of those Octo-Lacto Vegetarians: so I grant myself the luxury of eggs and dairy).

I dig the idea of being a free-range seasonal eater (very little meat/animal products except in the colder months and eating what's local): seems like this choice would have the least amount of environmental implications... you're living off the land, taking proper steps for food storage during the months where the snow means limited local produce. And it seems to be a lot more consistent with what I believe on a religious level (spiritually, I'm not exactly sure.) But then again when it comes to animal slaughter, no matter how nice that chicken's life has been, I always seem to end up coming back to the mantra "It still hurts to be killed."

And full circle back to the Raw-Vegan-Foodist thing. So you definitely win points for staying clear of all the personal and environmental horrors associated with mass meat/poultry/etc consumption, and your eating minimally packaged foods (I mean just how much packaging does a raw yam come with, you know?) But the bigger question is where is all your produce coming from?

I mentioned I didn't buy all organic produce. But even if I did, there's not a plethora of local anything right now in SLC. Things (organic and conventionally grown alike) are being shipped from all over the world to my local Costco (where I bought the bulk of our fruit & veggie eats for the week). I picked up some stuff at Liberty Heights Fresh, Whole Foods, and my local Smiths. But how sustainable is it to eat raw when there's still snow on the ground?

Unless you're growing bean sprouts in a backyard green house, how is this lifestyle choice sustainable in Utah?

I find myself wrestling with questions like these all the time. Often when I'm peeling a banana because that monkey food is NEVER in season in Utah. :)

But I'll continue to wrestle with the moral and ethical questions about my food choices probably forever. Regardless, I think on a cellular level my body is grateful for the overhaul. Day three tomorrow: and usually the most challenging for any cleanse. (I remember this from my past life when I was addicted to Diet Mt. Dew. I was also eating out twice a day and would've considered boneless buffalo wings and fries with ranch dressing from Wingers one of my favorite meals. My how things change. )



Today's Raw Eats & Treats:
breakfast: "Island Smoothie:" Fresh pineapple and mango with frozen banana, home-made almond milk, avocado and apple juice.

Snacks: carrot & bell pepper sticks with guacamole, banana, more of Alyssa's cacao/coconut date "brownie" deliciousness, asian pear slices, orange slices.

Lunch: Romaine lettuce wraps with chopped cucumber, orange bell pepper, onion, alfalfa sprouts, guacamole and that divine curried almond sauce left over from last night. (What am I going to do tomorrow when I run out?!?!)

**UPDATE: 9:30 pm**
I had the same romaine lettuce wrap for dinner that I had for lunch and another bite of the 'brownie'; but I seriously had the greatest Bikram class of my life. Just got back from my second Bikram class today (I get to attend the 'advanced' class occasionally).

But seriously, I feel AMAZING! I wasn't perfect, but my body was getting into poses it has never been in before. I didn't even really feel tired; and the class is and hour and 45 minutes -- yes, hot, humid yoga. This morning at the beginner class I was getting lightheaded and kept feeling like I was going to blackout/pass out.

Is it possible my 'horrid 3rd day' was moved to 6 am this morning because of the yoga practice? Or more like 3 hrs and 15 minutes of yoga?

Only time will tell.

BUT I FEEL RADIANT!

1 comment:

Cicely said...

Here's the thing...