Thursday, August 5, 2010

Background and Change

Not only was my birth birthday this week (yesterday) - but
it has been just about 1 year since I went raw.

Time sure does fly.

I began raw near the beginning of August last year.

I went 100% raw, 100% overnight. When I say 100%, I mean as close to that as it matters to me. There were some non-raws such as the tiniest amount that you'd use in a salad dressing of vinegar and some oils. Eventually I found some replacements for my old oils and switched my soy to nama shoyu in an effort to be even more raw.

But I haven't been raw the entire time. I'm not entirely raw right now.

There have been times when I haven't even been close. I try not to stress on it, I go with the flow at times.

I enjoy life - I want quality of life. Which, for me, means eating as high raw as I can. Right now I'm not satisfied with where I am so I'll make some changes.

BUT.

Despite being low- to no- raw (ok, I doubt anyone is 'no-raw'. If you eat fruit you're part raw! If you have a salad or some lettuce on a sandwich - part raw!!) Anyway, despite the ups and downs of the past year, I have noticed some really wonderful benefits of the shift in my daily diet. And these are evaluable differences. Not a 'feeling' or something that can't be quantified. These are measurable things.

First of all - I have brought my glucose (blood sugar) under control (mostly). I do not say that I reversed my diabetes or that it is cured. I don't think that is the case. If I go on and overeat a bunch of cooked carbs and/or candies, then my sugar will be high. Too high. My body has not miraculously gone back to being able to process that like it could pre-diabetes. BUT - we have control. With NO meds and NO exercise! (not that I recommend no exercise! Its just that I haven't managed to fit in an exercise schedule for the past year). So YAY! Glucose control!

Next, and this is important to me - I've been migraine free since going raw. COMPLETELY. I haven't had one single migraine. In fact, I've hardly had a headache - just a couple of slight normal tension type headaches. I am THRILLED beyond words about that. I believe this is totally attributable to going raw. I was having migraines at an alarming rate and had even undergone an MRI of my brain at one point due to a migraine that was associated with subsequent confusion and a sort of aphasia (confused language, word salad, repetition). It was scary. I have been told that people with diabetes can suffer migraines, so regulating my glucose may have also alleviated the migraines. All in all - the migraines are gone (YAY!) and its in some form or fashion thanks to raw.

Finally. Weight loss. I am uncertain as to how much, nor is that important. What is important is that I had gained a LOT of weight over the years, aging, pregnancy, a sedentary job, catered lunches, and going raw effortlessly took some weight off. I do know that I was down about 45 pounds from my highest point ever, though some of that came off pre-raw. I have also, in the past couple of months, slowly found about ten of the pounds that I had 'lost'. ;-) I know much of that comes from the high sugar, high fat, high processed food I have 'indulged in' over the past 2 months.

There are some changes that I can't measure - things like mental clarity and an increase in energy, better mood, and overall sense of wellbeing. and they count! Its just that I can't fully defend or explain those. They are real, they just can't be measured very well - its not quite as objective.

To get back to being more high raw, I have recently purchased a dehydrator. I am just barely beginning to experiment with that. Thinking about making wrappers (similar to tortilla shells) and various other items has me excited about 'un-cooking' again. I did try a made up recipe for crackers in the dehydrator while on vacation (yes, I lugged that darn thing on vacation!) and although they never got crisp, they were edible and had a nice flavor. I suspect the consistency has to do with ingredients. I have now amassed a sizable collection of wraps, 'burgers', chips, crackers and other things to try in the dehydrator.

I'll leave you with a lovely little un-recipe. Or raw HIDI (How I Do It - acronym stolen from my friend Hans Meevis - google him, he's amazing) I would say recipe, but so much of what I do in the kitchen is un-measured so I trust you to eyeball ingredients to mix according to your palate.


Pear Crumble HIDI

Pears (2)
A TBS or two of agave (realized later, this could very well be omitted)
sprinkle (or 2) of cinnamon
dash of sea salt
splash of vanilla
zest of one lemon
a few walnuts and/or pecans
flax seed (or just start with flax meal)
2 medjool dates




I mixed the agave, cinnamon, salt, lemon zest, and vanilla in a medium bowl.

next, I cut up the pears and added them to the bowl, stirring to coat.

Finally, everything else went into the mini-processor to create a nice crumble.

Assembly: scoop pears into a single serving bowl and top with crumble. ENJOY!

you can place the pears in the dehydrator fro 30 minutes or so to gently warm. And you could make some lovely whipped cashew cream as a topping -- or raw ice cream! YUM! but its fine the plain jane way too.

I also found that if you mix some pears and crumble together and refrigerate for a few hours it firms up into a nice treat. You may not enjoy the resulting consistency, put I thought it was quite good!

So what have you made raw lately?

2 comments:

Patinaware said...

I'm a little 'raw' (as you know), I do the morning fruit & veggie (mostly greens on the veg side) smoothie.
I started Dec of 09 and haven't missed a morning.

I started drinking one every night as well, while I sit and do what I'm doing *this minute* (catching up on my blog reads).

I had awful brain fog for a couple of years b4 I started drinking them. The fog is now gone.

PMS has parked else-where; it's rare. very rare.
when it does raise it's ugly head, it lasts less then an hour (usually). I used to have it for DAYS.

I've lost weight too... my problem is, I didn't need nor want 2! I hate it. I'm working on gaining it back using weights (which is good for all of us as we get old-er).

I eat cooked "healthy" dinners every day, but rarely lunch. I gave up red meat, pork,and everything processed when starting the smoothies.
I should eat lunch, but I really never have.
It's not something I think about. When I'm hungry I eat; that's it.

I keep saying " we've gotta get back to where we once were"; which was experimenting with different raw recipes. I'm juggling so much these days, it's hard to get back.
I will though. I'm just not sure when.


Have a great weekend!

And in case you didn't see my post last night on yr other blog -- HAPPY Birthday J!

Janice said...

Hey there!!! Sorry it took me so long to get back to you - I got your note and then got sidetracked!! I know you can relate!! You know I went 'off-raw' quite a bit over these past months, but I'm back on pretty good now. This week has been pretty much raw. And I'm experimenting with new combinations of things and I've printed a TON of recipes. I'm going to start sharing my successes AND failures in the kitchen.

((hugs))

talk soon!