Hello Vacation! Goodbye Diet!

My husband and I traveled to Asheville, North Carolina and Nashville, Tennessee for the first week of May.  We stayed in a beautiful cabin in the Pisgah National Forest that had a full sized kitchen.  We packed up the cooler and our trusty blender.  We awaited with open arms the numerous fresh produce stands that dotted the roadways.

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Hi, my name is Sara. I'm addicted to cooked food.

Pizza is my downfall. I also love pasta and garlic bread. I've managed to keep at arms length my beloved Puffy's, the most divine of all cheese curls.

I have come to realize that my love of cooked food is much more than taste. It connects me to memories. Pizza usually accompanies date nights with the husband. Eating Puffy's remind me of playing Settlers of Catan with our first Lancaster friends, Seth and Steph.

5 Golden Stars

I have a problem. It's a superiority complex.

Now that I'm nearly a raw vegan, I love food shopping now. I often spend hours meandering up and down isles, reading labels and finding out what's new in the natural food section. But then it hits me:

No, I Didn't Quit...

Alright, Doubty McDoubterson, I didn't quit my (nearly) raw, vegan lifestyle. I wasn't ashamed of my failure and therefore avoided blogging. I simply didn't blog!

So, I'm back and I have some announcements!

Please Don't Kill Me

I am down to the 152lbs hover rate*. I am half way to my goal! I no longer suffer from PPS (Pinchy Pants Syndrome) and I'm relieved to not have to purchase larger clothes. However, I credit this to being sick for 8 days, with little to no appetite during that time. So, I'm halfway there on a technicality!

Down for the Count

I'm down for the count. Today I woke up with a scary cough and I'm now running a fever. I don't get sick often, so I have been analyzing my entire life for the last two weeks to figure out who or what's responsible. I'm not getting answers.

The Black Thumb

Dear Reader,

I have a black thumb. I have this amazing ability to get excited when planting flowers or vegetables, only to lose interest the next day and kill everything I plant almost immediately. I even killed my indoor bamboo plant - aren't they supposed to be indestructible?? There are many with green thumbs; mine is black as death.

A raw food diet is an excellent reason to start growing your own veggies, fruit and herbs. Not only is it an inexpensive way to eat, but you also know where your food is coming from and what was put on it. My mother-in-law has full blown salads growing in her back yard. She saves hundreds of dollars each year on produce by growing it on her own. Additionally, she reaps the benefits of Vitamin D from the sun and plenty of fresh air and exercise. Back when I was a frizzy haired, glasses-wielding youngster, my mother grew an "organic" garden, taking care of the pests in safe ways (i.e. dousing broccoli heads in warm salt water to extract all the worms). Planting a garden seems like a natural activity for me this year, but I'm terrified of the looming black thumb!

It is no secret that a raw, organic diet can be pricey. But here in Lancaster County, there are roadside stands selling fresh fruit and veggies (I pass three on my way home from work!). Usually the prices are cheaper than the food stores and to be honest, I would much rather buy local, fresh produce than organics* from California.

So, do I cut off my proverbial black thumb and try my own garden this year? Or do I purchase from the ample supply of delicious Lancaster County produce?

~Sara

P.S. I completely failed the last two days. While I had fresh fruit and veggies, I also consumed white flour, refined sugar and dairy products. This diet is hard, especially if you had a rough day at work and don't feel like chopping veggies.

*The Hallelujah Diet recommends organic veggies and fruit, but does not require them. They claim that organic vegetables, along with their products BarleyMax/CarrotjuiceMax, simply help the healing process occur faster. They are not requirements in the diet.

Standard American Diet

For about six years now, I have scrutinized what I ate. I usually lived by two rules: 1.) the less ingredients the better and 2.) no eating 3 hours before bedtime. But not until I started this raw food diet transition did I notice some bad habits of mine beyond my scrutiny. Almost everything I ate was either cooked or processed (cooked/preserved before packaging). Except for my raw salads, I boiled, stir-fried, or baked everything. I also had a heavy dairy intake and I never ate fresh fruit.

In general, food in its natural state is better for you. We are the only creatures on earth that cook our food. All carnivorous and herbivore animals eat their food raw. According to the Hallelujah Diet and other raw food resources, heating food over 120 degrees "kills" it. By not eating "living" food, we apparently eat less nutritious and harder to digest food.

According to the Hallelujah Diet and other raw food sources, animal products are terrible for humans. Both meat and animal by-products like dairy and eggs are extremely hard to digest.

Foods to Avoid - Hallelujah Acres website recommendations

How many of you know people who are struggling with digestive tract issues? I know at least eight people in my small circle of Lancaster County friends that have major issues varying from IBS to Celiacs Disease. They are all females and in their late twenties and early thirties. Some have had children, some do not. Most have excruciating pain and their lives are turned upside down by doctor's visits and near constant diet changes. Many times, they receive no answers and have to live with these issues. What if our Standard American Diet is the contributing factor to these problems?

I plan on researching this much further before I make any personal conclusions. I welcome input from anyone who struggles with digestive track issues.

On another note: Dinner tonight = Indian food!! Basmati rice, split peas and lentils in curry, vegetarian sausage and a big spinach salad with nuts, other fresh veggies and homemade vinaigrette dressing. Dessert? Maybe a few Fuji apple slices :)

New Year's Resolution

Dear Reader,

Three years ago, I made two New Year's resolutions: Not to buy anything made in China and to balance my checkbook every month. Surprisingly, I kept both of those resolutions even though it was nearly impossible to not buy anything made in China. When I make a New Year's resolution, I take it very seriously. So when I was asked about my 2011 resolution, I said I wanted to lose weight. That comment was naturally proceeded by laughter, mine and the people present. It seems cliche, but I'm taking it seriously.

Since I was married in August 2008, I gained 10 lbs. Petty, I know, but hear me out. At a hover rate* of 147 lbs I was content. But at a hover rate of 157 lbs, I noticed significant differences. At 27 years old, I was starting to see some health issues that worried me (beyond my slight hypochondriac tendencies):

• Right and left knee aches and pains
• Worsening eye sight (my left eye prescription is -13.0!) and retinal pinholes
• Constant low circulation (icy hands and feet)
• Occasional binge eating
• Sluggish and lazy behavior

For the last six years, I have been a full vegetarian (no meat, but I eat eggs and dairy). I rarely take medication, I consume very little caffeine and use the hormone-free Fertility Awareness Method. To many, I seem healthy. So, while thinking about losing weight, I wanted to continue the healthy trend. One fateful day at work, my friend Gail suggested I look at the website for Hallelujah Acres. The Hallelujah Diet is a diet that has helped cure cancer, facilitated dramatic weight loss, prevented amputation and reversed eye sight problems. It's a raw food diet.

Wait, a raw food diet?! I thought. Isn't that for crusty hippies who live in California, beat on their bongo drums and use patchouli oil? Or those huge muscle-builders who juice their entire kitchen every day? Needless to say, I was intrigued.

I spent significant time on the website and, for lack of a better term, it started to haunt me. Twelve days later, I can't stop thinking about it! I started to make all these connections in my head that have lead me here. This has to be my resolution! I want to lose weight and change my lifestyle this year.

So, in this digital age, I decided to blog about my experiences during the next year. I have set concrete goals (50%-50%** or higher by the end of the year) and have identified friends who are also interested in a raw food diet. I'm anticipating a difficult transition (i.e. negative reaction from family and friends, breaking bad eating habits, creating new forms of self-discipline) but an exciting result.

Thanks for reading and I encourage any questions that you may have.

~Sara

*Hover rate is my term for the average I weigh throughout the week. Sometimes I would be 1-3lbs over or under any given day depending on what time I weighed myself, what day in my cycle it was and what I ate the day before.

**The Hallelujah Diet recommends eating a diet that is 85% raw and 15% cooked. I'm starting with a 50% raw and 50% cooked diet.