day thirty/thirty one

it's been hard to be raw since i've been home. if & when i move back to the northeast, i don't know how easy it will be to keep up with something like this. all i want to eat is soup & warm things!

since i've been home, i've been trying to be pretty good. but i've still been sick, so honestly haven't been eating that much. i've been sticking to tea, soup, and fruit. i know that this is going to be hard over the holidays, but i'm really just going to try to stay away from meat. i figure if i can at least be a vegetarian until i get back to florida, that's okay.

i also haven't worked out since i ran 14 miles last week. this is not good for keeping up. i'm going to get a 14 day pass at my sister's gym so that i can at least work out. temperatures have been below zero, and i just can't bring myself to go out & run in something like that!

day twenty nine

i haven't blogged in a few days because i've been sick, which i probably got from all of my glorious gift wrapping hours at the mall. i'm sure i picked up something somewhere.

anyways, needless to say, i've been ingesting pretty much juice/smoothie's and i still haven't been able to kick this. my nose is raw and i can't smell anything. its crappy.

i did, however, make these AWESOME veggie manicotti last night(not raw)... & i thought i would share the recipe here:

* 12 oz box large pasta shells
* 10 oz package spinach
* 1 Tablespoon olive oil
* 1 medium onion, diced
* 4 cloves garlic, crushed
* 8 oz mushrooms, sliced
* 1 package of extra firm Tofu, drained
* 2-3 Tablespoons lemon juice
* 3.8 oz can sliced black olives, drained
* 1/2 cup basil, chopped
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/8 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
* 2 1/2 cups prepared spaghetti sauce
* 4 Tablespoons pine nuts


Bring a large stockpot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta shells al dente(usually 12 minutes.)

In a non-stick skillet with a lid, heat olive oil on medium. Saute onion for 2 minutes, until brown on edges. Reduce heat to low. Stir in garlic and mushrooms and spinach. Cover and let simmer for 10 minutes(which reduces the spinach).

Place tofu in a medium-size mixing bowl. Sprinkle lemon juice over tofu and stir with a fork, crumbling tofu into small curds that resemble ricotta cheese. Once mushrooms have sauteed 10 minutes, stir in tofu, spinach, olives, basil, salt and pepper. Simmer over low heat another 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 375.

Spread spaghetti sauce in the bottom of a 12x8" baking dish. Gently spoon vegetable-tofu filling into the shells. Arrange in tight rows on top of the sauce. Bake for 15 minutes on the middle rack. Raise oven heat to broil. Sprinkle shells with pine nuts and broil (still on middle rack) for 5 minutes.

day twenty five & twenty six

it's amazing, now that i've detoxed all the bad food out of my system, how horrible i feel when i actually do eat crappy food. i had a good morning/lunch but was gift wrapping at the mall last night and ate a piece of pizza and a brownie for dinner and about 30 minutes afterwards my stomach started to lurch. i'll just leave it at that. i did thirteen miles this morning with my T(train)E(endurance)A(achieve)M(matter)(GO LLS!) and at 6 or 7 miles was really starting to feel that pizza working it's way through my system (what didn't work it's way through last night).

one of our team members, Doug, is now out of remission, showed up to give our mission moment, and i couldn't help but cry. he has a family and cannot work and not only is he on new treatments because his old one stopped working, but his bills are over $8,000 a month. i'm donating whatever i make over my gift wrapping to his family & i'm going to put together a starbucks basket. this seems like peanuts, but i can't swing anything financially to give. at least i can donate my time to try to give money that way, and some coffee and tea. if you feel like donating to such a worthy cause, you can here! the more i get donated (i have $289 left) the more that i make from wrapping will go to Doug to pay for his treatments.

that being said, i have to really thank my mentor this year, Lisa. i was pretty miserable when i moved to Orlando, & didn't know if i was going to last. joining the Leukemia & Lymphoma society's running team is my new family down here. we cheer each other on, trade emails, share stories, and we're doing it for a great cause. Lisa, my mentor, is an angel. she works full time, has a family, runs all these crazy miles every week(she's doing the GOOFY challenge, both the half marathon AND the marathon, god bless her), AND she runs SO many fundraisers for us, including gift wrapping at TWO malls, which is an insane amount of work. she is always there to pick up my phone call, answer an email, and is incredibly easy to talk to. i would have not made it through this season of running, or even this semester of school, had it not been for her. Lisa has had an unbelievable impact on me & i hope that she can take some time for herself & rest over the holidays. I hope I can be just like her when i grow up!!

today i had a english muffin with almond butter before my run(no time for a smoothie)
lunch:fruit smoothie
dinner: salad & a lara bar
and i had a coffee on the way home, too.

can't wait to go home next week!

twenty four

i had a weird day... work, nap, hair cut, gift wrapping, blind date.

breakfast:
coffee
oatmeal (i cheated; i overslept & forgot to bring something with me)

lunch:
left over veggie stirfry

dinner:
raw dinner @ cafe 118. i had the veggie stir fry there as well and it was AMAZING. and i also had the raw chocolate hazelnut tart, which I think i might be able to live off of for the rest of my life.

i'm on a mad hunt for canistel/egg fruit, something native to FL and used as a substitute for raw foodist for pumpkin to make pumpkin pie. only native to FL and Hawaii. I might have to venture farther south for one, though, like Miami.

Counting down the days until I fly home...

twenty two & twenty three

I did not post yesterday due to an insane amount of work I needed to get done. I turned in a 45 page paper yesterday, and completed a seven hour exam today online. but it's all done, phew. my first semester of grad school is over.

yesterday i munched on a lot of veggies & hummus, and had a raw sandwich for dinner. (with left over fruit smoothie for breakfast from the night before).

today i had coffee, a salad, and a blanched stir fry with marinated(ginger teriyaki) tofu. and some raw dark chocolate for dessert.

now that school is over, I'm hoping i can step up my game with this and really start experimenting(despite my crazy work schedule and gift wrapping hours before i leave next thursday for home).

also gearing up to run another 14 miles on saturday morning!!!

day twenty one

3 weeks i've been on this diet. i haven't been exactly REGIMENT about it, but i've been pretty good. today i was on a mostly liquid diet. although the diet requires no cooking, it actually requires a lot more work prepping than i thought!!

breakfast:
lara bar
coffee

lunch & dinner:
smoothie:
one banana
1/2 mango
two blood red oranges
one apple
2 tablespoons of coconut
1 tablespoon of wheat grass
eight ounces of odwalla superfood juice

smoothies like this are actually pretty sustaining!

i also ordered these 2 books from borders (because they were having a huge sale) and got them the other day. I've briefly looked over them, but will get more in depth once i finish my final exams on wednesday.

day twenty

breakfast:
coffee
lara bar

lunch:
a few turkey meatballs

dinner:
a piece of fish
blanched asparagus

dessert:
raw chocolate & almonds

day eighteen & nineteen

okay, i didn't post yesterday. i worked, i gift wrapped, & then i went to bed early in anticipation for my big first half marathon race. well, unfortunately for me, i did not go. i was really bummed out, but there was flooding in effect for the race, and it was torrentially down pouring when i got up this morning. being so close to the disney race, i didn't want to risk an injury (i was advised from my coach to do this).

friday, the 4th:
breakfast
lara bar
coffee

napped through lunch

dinner:
kombucha
raw lettuce wraps filled with squash, carrots, more lettuce & other good stuff from whole foods
carob/almond milk hot chocolate(pretty interesting)

today, the 5th:
breakfast
coffee
go raw bar


lunch:
more coffee (it's just one of those raining, feeling tired, days)
crispy raw spring rolls

i'm not really that hungry, so i don't think im going to eat dinner (and seeing as it's already 8pm & i have to get up at 4am to work tomorrow)

oh, and i also went shopping today - i got a pant size smaller than i normally wear. that was exciting.

day seventeen

last push through finals & gift wrapping

breakfast:
think fruit bar
coffee

lunch:
salad

dinner:
vegan pad thai (raw veggies & spelt noodles)
raw blonde brownie

(& then regular chocolate chips cookies my roommate ate & now i feel sick. blah.)

slowing learning my lessons as I am not eating so much junk anymore!

day sixteen

ugh. i was reminded today why i don't drink soda anymore. it tastes GROSS!

breakfast:
coffee
apple

lunch:
awesome fruit smoothie!
(same one I made a few days ago)

dinner:
soy latte (gotta love finals)
a piece of chicken
cheese & crackers

it's been a really long few weeks & i can't wait until finals are over & i'm home for the holidays.

day fifteen

it's hard to believe yesterday was 2 weeks since i started this raw food blog. i've since lost another 2 pounds (making it 16 pounds total, i hope to hit 20 before christmas). i haven't gone totally raw yet, but i'm out of oatmeal, and only have a few pieces of chicken & fish left in the freezer. then i'll be golden.

some other life changes: cutting down hours to one shift a week at starbucks & substituting instead. & hopefully, once i'm sleeping on a more normal pattern, i can quit coffee. i feel better about where things are headed... i've had to cut some ties that have been really hard on me to let go of, but i suppose it's all for the better in the end.

breakfast:
think bar
coffee with soy

lunch:
raw sushi
edamame

dinner:
decaf tall soy latte
a few pieces of raw chocolate