Day Two of the Raw Food Challenge
Yesterday, on Day One of the Raw Food Challenge, I ate:
– Smoothie with 1/2 frozen banana, 3/4 cup water, 1/8 cup each orange pulp and kale pulp (both leftover from my juicer), 1/4 cup frozen blueberries, 1 tbsp each wheat germ and ground flaxseed, and 1/2 scoop calcium/magnesium powder
– 1 carrot cut into sticks and 1 cup rooibos tea
– Zucchini Pasta with Marinara Sauce: I borrowed Amanda’s recipe and adapted it. For my version, I made pasta out of zucchini by peeling one small zucchini with a peeler into long strips. I set it aside in a bowl. Then I put two roma tomatoes, 1/4 chopped green pepper, two chopped soaked dates (with about 2 tbsp of the date-soaked water), 1 clove minced garlic, a sprinkle each of sea salt and crushed red pepper, a big sprinkle of basil/oregano/black pepper, a few pieces of a yellow onion, and the juice squeezed from 1/4 lemon into a food processor. Blended it together so that it was still a little chunky and then topped my “pasta” with the sauce. It had a bit too much liquid, so next time I think I’d just not add any water.
– 1 date lightly dusted with raw cacao powder, 1 apple lightly dusted with cinnamon, and 2 cups rooibos tea
– Salad with mixed spring greens, cucumber, broccoli, 1/2 cob chopped corn, 1/2 tomato, alfalfa/mustard/clover/radish sprouts, hemp seeds, and a homemade dressings (pomegranate seeds, a squeeze of lemon juice, a mandarin orange and some crushed red pepper tossed in the blender)
– 1/2 apple with chocolate spread. The “chocolate spread” was a weird mixture I concocted because I was having a nut butter craving, but peanut butter isn’t raw and almonds aren’t raw so I couldn’t have either of those. So I threw 1/2 banana, 1 tsp cacao powder, 1/4 cup soaked buckwheat, 1-2 tbsp raisins, and some cinnamon into the food processor. It was really awful.
– 1/2 apple and 1/2 banana with homemade cashew butter plus some extra cashews on the side. After the “chocolate spread” fiasco, I remembered that I’d picked up some (expensive) emergency cashews a few weeks ago, so I made up some cashew butter. All I did was toss a bunch of cashews in the food processor and processed it until it turned into a thick paste. Eating that hit the spot and satisfied my craving!
– 1 “Multi Enzyme Full Spectrum High Potency” Vegetarian Capsule with two glasses of lemon water (1/2 scoop calcium/magnesium powder went into the second glass of water). It’s really just a capsule of digestive enzymes to aid digestion. My tummy gets upset very easily so I’m hoping that taking one of these capsules every day or every few days will help me out. Of course, the capsule got stuck in my throat when I tried to swallow it, so that was not a pleasant experience. I guess that’s what happens when I’m not used to taking supplements!
The breakfast smoothie needed a little something extra. I missed not having Almond Breeze in it. But the zucchini pasta was yummy; I really like the addition of the dates. It’s funny, because although I ate a lot of food and the above sounds like a huge amount, by my estimate it would have been at most 1,000 calories. Normally I eat closer to about 1,800. So I found that interesting. Although, I wasn’t very satisfied until I had the cashew butter. I think my body was craving those healthy fats.
Lesson learned: Don’t experiment with raw food if you really have absolutely no idea what you’re doing. Until then, follow someone else’s recipe!
I’m only spectating during this challenge, but I can still learn and challenge myself in smaller ways. I’m going to taste a date! I’ve mastered prunes. So the date should be a breeze?
What a great challenge!
Happy New Year!
I’m really excited about this challenge for you. I dabbled in a high raw diet over the summer and although at first it can most definitely be difficult I’ve found that there are various amazing (and delicious) benefits as well. Good luck with this and everything else you do in 2010. A very happy belated New Year my dear :).
Yum Yucky- Dates are super sweet. I don’t usually like to eat them on their own (I was really craving something sweet when I had one), but they do go quite well with a cup of tea. One is usually more than enough! When I went on the POM Blogger Harvest Tour, one night they served us an appetizer of an almond-stuffed bacon-wrapped date. It was to die for. If you want to experiment with dates, THAT is the recipe that I would go for!
Tricia- Thanks and Happy New Year to you too!
Danielle- I’m going to be coming to you for guidance if I need it 😉
That cashew butter sounds scrumptious! I might make that my January “treat”! 🙂
That all sounds really good. I am looking forward to hearing all the combinations of foods you eat and how you feel after completing this challenge.
You wouldn’t know it from reading my blog but I really love eating raw. Every once in a while I go totally raw for a week or so. It’s really hard for me to do it during the colder months. But in the summer I try to eat raw for two out of three meals a day. I really admire you that you can go totally raw – I start getting really bad cravings. I can’t wait to hear more and get some food ideas.
Cammy- It IS delicious! I’d never had it before and to be honest I didn’t even really like cashews before. But when other nuts are mostly off-limits, WOW they taste amazing.
Diane- So far so good 😀
Reeni- Granted, I’m only on Day Three. Hoping the cravings don’t get too intense, heh. That’s awesome that you go raw periodically! It seems like it would be a good idea to do for short amounts of time- a few days or a week- each month.