Raw Week Wrap-Up

I was so good this week! This was my by far my most successful attempt at adopting a raw diet. I've always thought that raw vegans are crazy. I used to think that all vegans were crazy, but I honestly don't think I could ever do the raw thing 100% of the time. It's not about money or prep time, I just really like warm and cooked food. But who knows. I have been working on giving up gluten, and it is going very well. I'll admit that it was complete and total hell when I first started, and I am still working on it. I started weaning myself early this summer. My goal is to be 100% gluten-free by 2012. It seems like a very long-term goal, but it's very realistic in this case. Wheat is in EVERYTHING.

My main dependency on cooked foods is due to my protein needs. I think most raw/sprouted beans taste like crap. I have been hooked on my home sprouted mung beans lately, but raw chickpeas, lentils, and fava beans really gross me out for some reason. There is just some flavor there that does not agree with me until it is cooked away. I have the same aversion to falafel also. I do prefer raw nuts to roasted ones, but I would not want to have to rely on them for my only protein source. Plus, soy beans and tofu are awesome.

Yes this is my shoulder...edamame FTW!

Even though I was mostly raw this week, I ate a lot of steamed edamame for protein. Everything else was pretty much raw, thanks to a huge shopping trip to Sam's Club.

I can report that after 6 days the mushrooms, strawberries, spinach, grapes, broccoli, and carrot juice are all gone. The carrot juice is not raw, of course. I just used it to get my smoothies moving because almost every day I had a super tasty fruit smoothie made with 1 cup each of green grapes, fresh strawberries, carrot juice, packed baby spinach leaves...and a chunk of fresh ginger. If you have never added spinach to your smoothies, what are you waiting for?? I promise you that you will not be able to taste it. The only negative effect is that it turns things a lovely shade of ick.

I have stupid tattoos and I drink ugly smoothies out of 600 ml lab beakers. Jealous?

I promise you this tasted much better than it looked. Other food highlights included raw broccoli salads with tahini based dressings, and spinach salads loaded with raw goodies. I made 2 different kinds of tahini broccoli salads: one with carrots, pumpkin seeds, dried zante currants, ginger, and cumin. The other one had carrots, ginger, garlic, green onions, sesame seeds, and chili garlic sauce.

Yum! I also experimented with eating raw portobello mushrooms for the first time. I sliced them super thin and then marinated the strips in some oil, Braggs, cumin, and garlic. It didn't take long for them so soak up the marinade, which I also used as a salad dressing. I layered the marinated mushrooms over a HUGE bowl of baby spinach, and then piled on tons of red onions, pumpkin seeds, currants, and sprouted mung beans. It was hard to get a picture of everything since it was all stacked in a big mixing bowl.

So nothing I ate was quite 100% raw, but I felt good that I didn't really crave any warm cooked foods. My only complaint is that after about 4 days I was super bloated and miserable. I thought at first that it was because I had a massive smoothie for dinner. It was a satisfying dinner but it left me miserable soon after I drank it. I think I was probably suffering from a fiber overload. I did not eat any grains all week, and I think this might have been the problem. On Friday my mom came to visit and I ate some rice noodles, and honestly the next day I felt amazing the next day. Maybe it was just in my head, or maybe it's proof that a raw diet is just not for me. I suppose you could get used to it after a while, and the bloating would probably go away. I have to be in a wedding next weekend so bloating isn't something I'm going for this week! I've also put myself on a pretty intense fitness plan, so I need some carbs. More on that later!