Week 18, Day 1 - Day 2 of 100% Raw

Ahh...feels SO good to have one whole day of 100% raw under my belt! No matter WHAT happens, if I can sprinkle in at least 2-3 days per week at 100% then I will be very happy with that!

Now that I am firmly in my 2nd trimester, there is no trace of the sickness that so plagued me for so long, even up through my 16th week. I am SO THANKFUL for that!!!!

But on the downside, things don't really make me sick anymore. The only reason I feel crappy these days is the same reason anyone would feel crappy - for stuffing themselves with TOO MUCH food that is not good for them. Like donuts on top of ice cream on top of pizza on top of....chips or something. Duh! But EVERYTHING I eat tastes really delicious!! I remember this from previous pregnancies - I would usually go into a gourmet mode where I was making these extravagant meals for dinner that took like 3-4 hours. It's like my taste buds have been rejuvenated or something. So I'm trying to turn that towards eating raw, cuz otherwise I'm in trouble. Nothing really hurts my stomach anymore, no matter how bad it is for me....

Yesterday I enjoyed these things in different quantities:

Watermelon
Grapes
Chocolate Maraschino Cherry Shake
HUGE salad w/organic greens (Mina, I used ALL those greens you gave me in that one salad! It was so yummy, thank you!)

Now, guess what? It is THREE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING - yes, I know, so lame!!! But insomnia has kicked in...I get that with pregnancy every once in a while. I woke up at 2:30 and tossed and turned for an hour, then decided to just turn off my alarm for waking up at 5:30 to go running, and surf the net for a bit. If I wake up early on my own, great, but if not - oh well. I think my shoulder is well enough that I can sub my running with a good hard weight training workout.

But anyway, the "guess what" part is that my MIL said I can borrow her Excaliber dehydrator!! Those are like the limousine of dehydrators...one of the best you can get, and pretty spendy...like $200 spendy. I don't know how long she'll let me use it, but I definitely plan to put it to good use, and HOPEFULLY be able to stay excited about new raw recipes so I don't stray to eating SAD (standard american diet) food again. We'll see! I have in mind veggie pizza, corn tortilla wraps, kale chips, cinnamon rolls, sweet potato fries....mmmmmm!!!

I remembered this raw "Black Forest Cherry Cake" recipe from a really long time ago that I've been wishing I could try.

I have a pound of frozen cherries in my freezer and I want to use them on this...it should be yummy! I have to get a few things for it - mostly cashews, I think I have everything else.

I love it when I get excited about eating raw and making all sorts of yummies. Then I'm not really even tempted to eat normal stuff, because I am looking forward to eating xx after naptime, or xx tonight for dinner. It's like if I have these treats to look forward to then I don't need the stimulation of cooked food and the "reward" of it on a hard day, so to speak. Some days I feel like I just NEED a treat to look forward to or the day is unbearably long, you know? Funny how that is - I think that's why I love my quiet evenings after the littles are in bed so much, to wind down and enjoy a little time doing what I love to do.

I haven't weighed myself in 3-4 days and it actually feels nice. Tomorrow I'll probably weigh, after a whole day of raw usually things start settling back to normal - although it usually takes 2 whole days to lose the water retention from too much salt and fatty foods.

The Raw Food Talk forum is where I usually go to get inspiration to stay raw - they have the coolest section that is devoted to food recipes and questions only, and I love to hang out there. One thread in particular, is a "pictures only" thread where you post pictures of the raw food you've been eating, and often times, the recipe when people request it. Just scrolling through the many pages, I get SO INSPIRED to make the food! And it is ALL legal, all 100% on target with how I want to eat; can't get any better than that! I just have to watch out for the lure and enticement of the gourmet food, which requires ingredients that are pretty spendy. For the most part, I try to stick with juicy fruits, simple salads, and green smoothies - and then have 1-2 recipes that require a bit more ingredients that are yummy on the side to supplement my normal food with. I try to only allow myself to make the things I already have ingredients for - the staple things like inexpensive nuts (no macadamia's or pine nuts here!), coconut butter/oil, cocoa powder, etc.

Guess that's it for now, I'll be sure to share fun yummy new recipes as I try them!