A couple of weeks ago, my daughter decided she didn't feel any different when she was eating wheat, so while she still would turn to some gluten-free things now and then during the week, she didn't restrict herself from eating wheat the way she had been.
Then she had a weekend that had a lot of wheat.
And her stomach ended up with two days of stabbing pains.
So, now we're back to no-wheat/gluten-free (except one or two meals per week).
And on top of trying to adjust back to wheat-free, we're both sick.
And she's super stressed with school and therefore, combined with not feeling well, gets very super stressed with something as simple figuring out what to eat for lunch.
I've made her lunch two days in a row. A kind of chicken fried rice yesterday and then I created a teriyaki bowl (with quinoa--first time using quinoa!) today. (I have a picture of the broccoli and yellow pepper cooking with a garlic clove in the pan, but forgot to take a picture of the rest!)
I've tried two new things in two days. I'm beat. lol.
Now I have to figure out a supper. And I'm so tired, I just can't even think and nothing sounds appealing.
I'm not in the mood for beef; we had chili with beef (and noodles) yesterday. I had chicken two lunches in a row. The supper needs to have at least some wheat-free food for me and my daughter (I've gone back to wheat-free although am not going to freak out about tasting to see if wheat noodles are ready or not). And it has to have a dairy-free element for me.
It would be much simpler if we were all accustomed to eating a raw vegan diet, wouldn't it?
But that kind of change for tonight requires energy and thought capacity, both of which I'm lacking.
I have a bunch of leftover cooked quinoa from lunch. Might be able to find something to do with it.
I saw that we have frozen hash browns. (Can hash browns be turned into a supper?)
We have ground beef and frozen chicken in the freezer. I don't want either one.
We had kidney beans yesterday and I'm not in the mood for more beans today.
I don't have any potatoes left--other than the frozen hash browns.
I don't have any tomatoes (neither canned nor fresh) left.
Maybe my real problem is not what to eat for supper but that I need some groceries.
I could have a each-to-their-own supper evening, but I know what that will lead to with my 15yo: "I don't know what to eat..."
I think I'll go rummage through the fridge, freezers and cupboards, see what I might come up with.
What do you do on days where you're just not up to snuff and don't feel like anything (and have food sensitivities to deal with!)?
(Did I really just write a post where most of it is made up of one-sentence paragraphs?)
Showing posts with label struggles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label struggles. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Hopping Back On Board
Well, baby-hopping my way back on board!
Today is the first day of school here which is a good time for new beginnings. Somehow, it's just easier to push ourselves through with something new on a day that seems "new" anyhow.
I have decided it's time to hop back on board and baby step my way over the next week or two. I was feeling so good when my mornings were almost entirely raw, lunches were raw or mostly raw and then supper was cooked but high veggies and often a salad. It's been weeks since I've eaten like that and the results are clear: low energy, headaches and sinus problems are back, skin's a mess, my ears constantly feel slightly plugged, allergies are through the roof... I hate this. I keep getting mentally stuck on the "perfect" (sic) way to eat and some part of my mind broke through and finally said,
I can do something, can't I? Of course I can.That something for me is starting off my day with fresh fruit or a green smoothie. I actually did so yesterday, but that was just a "bonus day" of sorts. Today is the beginning of the actual commitment to do this. I know I'm going to feel so much better!
At the same time, my daughter and I have plans to have a gluten-free day this week. Clearly it's not today. Tomorrow's probably too soon and Friday probably wouldn't work, so I guess Thursday will be the day. I'll see what I can come up with for simple meal suggestions and we can even buy necessary items if we need to tomorrow. She is very used to eating wheat of some sort at lunch and often breakfast, so it could be particularly hard for her. I think people in general tend to get into ruts with what they eat and to pull themselves out and try something different doesn't always feel satisfying!
Btw, I'm still doing my 100-day yoga challenge. Yesterday was the 22nd day in a row. It's never too late to create your own challenge and to join me in either yoga or healthier eating!
Today is the first day of school here which is a good time for new beginnings. Somehow, it's just easier to push ourselves through with something new on a day that seems "new" anyhow.
I have decided it's time to hop back on board and baby step my way over the next week or two. I was feeling so good when my mornings were almost entirely raw, lunches were raw or mostly raw and then supper was cooked but high veggies and often a salad. It's been weeks since I've eaten like that and the results are clear: low energy, headaches and sinus problems are back, skin's a mess, my ears constantly feel slightly plugged, allergies are through the roof... I hate this. I keep getting mentally stuck on the "perfect" (sic) way to eat and some part of my mind broke through and finally said,
"Just do something each day that's better."
I can do something, can't I? Of course I can.That something for me is starting off my day with fresh fruit or a green smoothie. I actually did so yesterday, but that was just a "bonus day" of sorts. Today is the beginning of the actual commitment to do this. I know I'm going to feel so much better!
At the same time, my daughter and I have plans to have a gluten-free day this week. Clearly it's not today. Tomorrow's probably too soon and Friday probably wouldn't work, so I guess Thursday will be the day. I'll see what I can come up with for simple meal suggestions and we can even buy necessary items if we need to tomorrow. She is very used to eating wheat of some sort at lunch and often breakfast, so it could be particularly hard for her. I think people in general tend to get into ruts with what they eat and to pull themselves out and try something different doesn't always feel satisfying!
Btw, I'm still doing my 100-day yoga challenge. Yesterday was the 22nd day in a row. It's never too late to create your own challenge and to join me in either yoga or healthier eating!
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Why Honesty Is Ultimately the Best Policy--from Karen Knowler
I could relate to this so much, except I haven't made it back into the food that makes me feel good! /D.
August 24, 2012
Why Honesty Is Ultimately The Best Policy
There's a theme that runs through my coaching work and it's been (and still is) true for me, and I know, if you too are a human being also, then it'll surely be true for you.
When you begin dabbling with raw food to any significant degree (say 50% +) chances are that you will start to think and feel differently to how you did before.
You will find yourself, automatically, asking bigger questions around a lot of things, but at the very least about the foods you have eaten previously, comparing their purity and integrity to the raw foods you're now eating...and finding yourself very much feeling the divide.
Over time this divide becomes increasingly apparent, and it's here that we face the hurdle:
When you begin dabbling with raw food to any significant degree (say 50% +) chances are that you will start to think and feel differently to how you did before.
You will find yourself, automatically, asking bigger questions around a lot of things, but at the very least about the foods you have eaten previously, comparing their purity and integrity to the raw foods you're now eating...and finding yourself very much feeling the divide.
Over time this divide becomes increasingly apparent, and it's here that we face the hurdle:
Do we jump the fence into the field of 100% honesty and find what really works optimally for us or do we do a U-turn and stay in the twilight world where "bad" food is sometimes "good" and "good" food is always "good" (but that feels annoying!)?
Looking back to the start of my own journey, I recall many more times than I care to remember, that I flat out refused to believe that raw food could make so much difference to me.
I fought it. I denied it. I tested it. I closed my eyes to the results and talked myself out of it. And finally, as you would expect, I turned my back on it.
But of course, truth being as it is, it kept tugging at my conscience and so turning my back for a day, week, month or more was never, ever the end of it!
And so later, when I was going through a good patch, where life was good and the food was good too, eventually, after seeing things with open and honest eyes, I would admit it. Raw food DID make the world of difference. How annoying!! (This whole little routine happened many, many times over the first 5 years).
At that point, when I was 100% honest with myself and all was aligned, I would very happily jump that hurdle into raw food land and enjoy those fairer pastures, where I would run around joyfully for days, weeks or even months at a time with no desire whatsoever to jump back over the fence again and into that twilight zone.
And then there would be times, after a little while, when I'd look back over my shoulder and realise that 99.99% of the people I knew (and cared for) were in fact not even on the horizon, let alone approaching that jump out of the twilight zone or U-turning away from it.
And that felt bad. And wrong. And sad. And lonely.
And more often than not I would weigh everything up and say, "You know, I would rather be with people than raw and virtually alone."
And back I would go. Jumping back over into oven ready meals, tubs of ice-cream and bottles of vino, "celebrating" my return to "the real world" and greeting my friends and family with "I'm taking a more balanced approach; this is much more realistic." (And they would sigh with relief and welcome me back to the fold, and say "here, have a cheese sandwich and a glass of wine. Now you can enjoy life again!!")
And then I would crash.
Before not-very-long-at-all I'd feel awful physically, sad emotionally, confused mentally and disconnected spiritually.
And then I'd just feel even more confused because I wanted the best of both worlds, but as far as I could see that just wasn't going to happen.
So what to do?
Well, as I said, after many many times of doing this whole "hang out - jump - hang out - jump back" routine, I finally had to have a good chat with myself!
"Karen," I said, "Let's be honest here: How do you really feel when you're on raw?"
Relief.
I could finally be honest with myself; I was being direct, I was asking the right question and I was waiting to hear my own answers. Big relief. And scary and exciting too...
And my list went something like this:
Happy
Energetic
Creative
Fun
Young
Playful
Alive
Excited
Brave
Visionary
Connected
Strong
Vibrant
Radiant
Invincible!
And the next question of course was:
"And how do you feel when you go back to cooked? Yes, even a little?"
And my list read...
Sad
Confused
Frustrated
Disillusioned
Dark
Blue
Supressed
Compromised
Gloomy
Lost
Off-track
Misaligned
You get the picture!
When we have evidence in front of our eyes like that we have a choice. We can either continue to go against what our own self tells us and try to go back or fit in or even try to walk the line between two worlds (not easy or fun), or we can commit to following what I affectionately term "the yellow brick road" and commit not to raw food per se (this is my truth and it may not be yours), but a life that is built on 100% honesty and commitment to our own truth however that shows up.
As it turned out, the moment I committed to my own truth my whole world changed. No exaggeration.
After years of yo-yoing and jumping back and forth trying to avoid the truth about raw foods and me for fear of what it meant, once I had matured enough to realise that "to thine own self be true" was the ultimate philosophy to live by (not just for me but for all of us I believe), I took my mixture of fear and excitement and turned it into action. There just wasn't anywhere left to go!
I committed to being raw (and now I had clarity it felt very joyful and easy now at this stage), I committed to finding my life purpose, I committed to finding a place to live that would support me and act as a "cocoon" while I metamorphosised into the more fully congruent me, and I committed to doing whatever else it took to stay on that yellow brick road, to walk it with a spring in my step and a song in my heart and not to look back.
It's been a few years now since that happened. It was the spring of 1998 and when I committed to me and to my truth, and not only did I go 100% raw, but I left London, went to work in a meditation centre, manifested a car, a flatshare and very soon after a wonderfully positioned and perfectly sized house (all for me!) overlooking Ely cathedral, and needless to say my whole life changed completely. I truly felt I was living my bliss.
Since then, it has changed way further still. To go into details would take another 5 articles and some I'm sure, and I'm still walking that yellow brick road today.
Can I honestly say I never turned back?
No, I can't. There was a time between late 2003 and late 2005 where I really did turn my back on the whole thing. Three very emotionally turbulent events all hit within the space of one month and they threw me so off beam that I really didn't care what road I was on, because I felt so much pain and loss and so many other painful emotions at that time that nothing else mattered apart from getting out of that place in one piece, re-aligned and feeling sane!
Eventually, after my two years in the wilderness where I was semi-raw I woke up from the half-life I had cocooned myself into and decided I was ready to get back on the road again. It was a fairly slow rise from my couch potato status to reach the end of that particular story, but once I had got my faith back in life and the perfection of it again (seeing that in spite of the pain and turbulence, everything had worked out for the best after all) I rejoined my path with a renewed sense of joy, purpose and understanding that I never had before.
And as I got back into raw foods again once more the magic began to kick in. Once more, as reliably predictable as the sun rising and the sun setting, the way I felt on raw foods returned and it was as if I had never been away.
Once more on purpose my life moved back into the "magic zone". Things flowed, I felt aligned and in the right place headed in the right direction. What a huge relief.
And with that faith once again renewed and knowing that live food would NEVER let me down and had a level of integrity, energy and purity that no other foods seemed to have, I once again gravitated towards my own truth and kept on walking.
Ever since that time I have found increasing delight in plunging the depths of honesty, integrity and even intimacy with myself (from my cells out physically and from my heart out emotionally), which really is a non-negotiable fundamental when it comes to living a truly fulfilling, heartfelt, soul-led life.
Today I find that naturally as part of my work I now very much attract clients who are at all stages of that journey. Some are in the twilight zone, fighting it like I did (not just the food but the whole kit and caboodle of what being truly honest means!), some have made the leap but are now wondering what they've let themselves in for, and others are happily and consciously walking the yellow brick road but need ongoing assistance and support and handholding from someone who has trodden that path before.
Whatever stage of the journey you are at, my main message for this time is to know that, although the journey to rawdom can appear very scary at times, it really is the safest territory on earth that we are walking when we start that journey towards our highest, most vibrant and fully alive version of truth.
What else is there, really?!
I fought it. I denied it. I tested it. I closed my eyes to the results and talked myself out of it. And finally, as you would expect, I turned my back on it.
But of course, truth being as it is, it kept tugging at my conscience and so turning my back for a day, week, month or more was never, ever the end of it!
And so later, when I was going through a good patch, where life was good and the food was good too, eventually, after seeing things with open and honest eyes, I would admit it. Raw food DID make the world of difference. How annoying!! (This whole little routine happened many, many times over the first 5 years).
At that point, when I was 100% honest with myself and all was aligned, I would very happily jump that hurdle into raw food land and enjoy those fairer pastures, where I would run around joyfully for days, weeks or even months at a time with no desire whatsoever to jump back over the fence again and into that twilight zone.
And then there would be times, after a little while, when I'd look back over my shoulder and realise that 99.99% of the people I knew (and cared for) were in fact not even on the horizon, let alone approaching that jump out of the twilight zone or U-turning away from it.
And that felt bad. And wrong. And sad. And lonely.
And more often than not I would weigh everything up and say, "You know, I would rather be with people than raw and virtually alone."
And back I would go. Jumping back over into oven ready meals, tubs of ice-cream and bottles of vino, "celebrating" my return to "the real world" and greeting my friends and family with "I'm taking a more balanced approach; this is much more realistic." (And they would sigh with relief and welcome me back to the fold, and say "here, have a cheese sandwich and a glass of wine. Now you can enjoy life again!!")
And then I would crash.
Before not-very-long-at-all I'd feel awful physically, sad emotionally, confused mentally and disconnected spiritually.
And then I'd just feel even more confused because I wanted the best of both worlds, but as far as I could see that just wasn't going to happen.
So what to do?
Well, as I said, after many many times of doing this whole "hang out - jump - hang out - jump back" routine, I finally had to have a good chat with myself!
"Karen," I said, "Let's be honest here: How do you really feel when you're on raw?"
Relief.
I could finally be honest with myself; I was being direct, I was asking the right question and I was waiting to hear my own answers. Big relief. And scary and exciting too...
And my list went something like this:
Happy
Energetic
Creative
Fun
Young
Playful
Alive
Excited
Brave
Visionary
Connected
Strong
Vibrant
Radiant
Invincible!
And the next question of course was:
"And how do you feel when you go back to cooked? Yes, even a little?"
And my list read...
Sad
Confused
Frustrated
Disillusioned
Dark
Blue
Supressed
Compromised
Gloomy
Lost
Off-track
Misaligned
You get the picture!
When we have evidence in front of our eyes like that we have a choice. We can either continue to go against what our own self tells us and try to go back or fit in or even try to walk the line between two worlds (not easy or fun), or we can commit to following what I affectionately term "the yellow brick road" and commit not to raw food per se (this is my truth and it may not be yours), but a life that is built on 100% honesty and commitment to our own truth however that shows up.
As it turned out, the moment I committed to my own truth my whole world changed. No exaggeration.
After years of yo-yoing and jumping back and forth trying to avoid the truth about raw foods and me for fear of what it meant, once I had matured enough to realise that "to thine own self be true" was the ultimate philosophy to live by (not just for me but for all of us I believe), I took my mixture of fear and excitement and turned it into action. There just wasn't anywhere left to go!
I committed to being raw (and now I had clarity it felt very joyful and easy now at this stage), I committed to finding my life purpose, I committed to finding a place to live that would support me and act as a "cocoon" while I metamorphosised into the more fully congruent me, and I committed to doing whatever else it took to stay on that yellow brick road, to walk it with a spring in my step and a song in my heart and not to look back.
It's been a few years now since that happened. It was the spring of 1998 and when I committed to me and to my truth, and not only did I go 100% raw, but I left London, went to work in a meditation centre, manifested a car, a flatshare and very soon after a wonderfully positioned and perfectly sized house (all for me!) overlooking Ely cathedral, and needless to say my whole life changed completely. I truly felt I was living my bliss.
Since then, it has changed way further still. To go into details would take another 5 articles and some I'm sure, and I'm still walking that yellow brick road today.
Can I honestly say I never turned back?
No, I can't. There was a time between late 2003 and late 2005 where I really did turn my back on the whole thing. Three very emotionally turbulent events all hit within the space of one month and they threw me so off beam that I really didn't care what road I was on, because I felt so much pain and loss and so many other painful emotions at that time that nothing else mattered apart from getting out of that place in one piece, re-aligned and feeling sane!
Eventually, after my two years in the wilderness where I was semi-raw I woke up from the half-life I had cocooned myself into and decided I was ready to get back on the road again. It was a fairly slow rise from my couch potato status to reach the end of that particular story, but once I had got my faith back in life and the perfection of it again (seeing that in spite of the pain and turbulence, everything had worked out for the best after all) I rejoined my path with a renewed sense of joy, purpose and understanding that I never had before.
And as I got back into raw foods again once more the magic began to kick in. Once more, as reliably predictable as the sun rising and the sun setting, the way I felt on raw foods returned and it was as if I had never been away.
Once more on purpose my life moved back into the "magic zone". Things flowed, I felt aligned and in the right place headed in the right direction. What a huge relief.
And with that faith once again renewed and knowing that live food would NEVER let me down and had a level of integrity, energy and purity that no other foods seemed to have, I once again gravitated towards my own truth and kept on walking.
Ever since that time I have found increasing delight in plunging the depths of honesty, integrity and even intimacy with myself (from my cells out physically and from my heart out emotionally), which really is a non-negotiable fundamental when it comes to living a truly fulfilling, heartfelt, soul-led life.
Today I find that naturally as part of my work I now very much attract clients who are at all stages of that journey. Some are in the twilight zone, fighting it like I did (not just the food but the whole kit and caboodle of what being truly honest means!), some have made the leap but are now wondering what they've let themselves in for, and others are happily and consciously walking the yellow brick road but need ongoing assistance and support and handholding from someone who has trodden that path before.
Whatever stage of the journey you are at, my main message for this time is to know that, although the journey to rawdom can appear very scary at times, it really is the safest territory on earth that we are walking when we start that journey towards our highest, most vibrant and fully alive version of truth.
What else is there, really?!
© 2012 Karen Knowler WOULD YOU LIKE TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR ON YOUR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Karen Knowler, The Raw Food Coach publishes "Successfully Raw" - a free weekly eZine for raw food lovers everywhere. If you're ready to look good, feel great and create a raw life you love get your FREE tips, tools and recipes now atwww.TheRawFoodCoach.com.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
I Have No Business Eating Meat, So Why Do I?
I went to the farmer's market today. As always, busy, busy, full of people and all kinds of neat things to look at. And as always, I saw the packages of meat. And I physically and emotionally reacted. I don't know why it doesn't always affect me that way in the store, or when I'm cooking meat, but at the farmer's market, each and every time, I can feel my facial expression change and my stomach churn. It's even worse when I go by the booth where they put pictures of the animals up to show the different kind of meat they have. There is absolutely no possible way I could buy meat from there for that expressed reason! "Oh, hey, want some elk? Look how lovely they are when they are alive!"
I have no business eating meat. I know this. I somehow put little blinders on and keep doing what I've almost always done, but maybe I need to go to the farmer's market more often to remind myself that I have no business eating meat.
Now, this has nothing to do with the general ethics of eating meat. This is not, "We have no business eating meat." It really is I have no business eating meat. Frankly, I'm just not the kind of person to go around trying to convince others of why they should stop eating meat. It's not my place. And I frankly don't care. lol. That sounds mean, but it's really a matter of I'm not going to spend my time deciding how others should eat. It's got nothing to do with me. Except what my children eat. And I won't even expect them to become vegetarian just because I want them to.
I have wanted to be meat-free since I was 16. That's a long time, given I'm in my late 30s. I keep talking about it in here; anybody reading is probably tired of hearing me go on and on about wanting to be vegetarian and not doing it. I don't know what's stopping me, so that's why I keep talking about it. And the more I connect with the part of me that wants to stop eating animals, the better chance I have of succeeding!
Can you bear with me a bit? I have no business eating meat, I know that in my deepest self. It saddens me, bothers me when I think about it, so why do I eat meat? No, let me be completely truthful to myself here: Why do I keep eating dead animals? There is absolutely no way that I would ever pick up some dead chicken or cow, watch it be prepped for eating, then cook it and eat it. I am clearly mentally disconnected with what I'm cooking and what's going into my mouth and the reality of the situation. It's almost like because I can't figure out what I can eat instead, I'm just going to blindly continue what I've been doing. Bah.
That said, I have made progress around here: more veg suppers are being served, I'm more likely to choose veg options when we go out. I guess part of me would like to be able to just say, "Fine, I'm done!" and that'll be the end of it. Maybe I'm just being unrealistic and keep flip-flopping from one end to the other instead of finding a middle ground. I suppose on thing that's different now than in the past is that I know I will eventually be vegetarian. Before, it was all-or-nothing. Now, no, I'm on a path towards vegetarianism. It'll happen. Someday. But I'll still have this nagging little voice in me asking, "I have no business eating meat, so why do I?"
Did you struggle with a switch to veg*ism? Please share your story in the comments section!
I have no business eating meat. I know this. I somehow put little blinders on and keep doing what I've almost always done, but maybe I need to go to the farmer's market more often to remind myself that I have no business eating meat.
Now, this has nothing to do with the general ethics of eating meat. This is not, "We have no business eating meat." It really is I have no business eating meat. Frankly, I'm just not the kind of person to go around trying to convince others of why they should stop eating meat. It's not my place. And I frankly don't care. lol. That sounds mean, but it's really a matter of I'm not going to spend my time deciding how others should eat. It's got nothing to do with me. Except what my children eat. And I won't even expect them to become vegetarian just because I want them to.
I have wanted to be meat-free since I was 16. That's a long time, given I'm in my late 30s. I keep talking about it in here; anybody reading is probably tired of hearing me go on and on about wanting to be vegetarian and not doing it. I don't know what's stopping me, so that's why I keep talking about it. And the more I connect with the part of me that wants to stop eating animals, the better chance I have of succeeding!
Can you bear with me a bit? I have no business eating meat, I know that in my deepest self. It saddens me, bothers me when I think about it, so why do I eat meat? No, let me be completely truthful to myself here: Why do I keep eating dead animals? There is absolutely no way that I would ever pick up some dead chicken or cow, watch it be prepped for eating, then cook it and eat it. I am clearly mentally disconnected with what I'm cooking and what's going into my mouth and the reality of the situation. It's almost like because I can't figure out what I can eat instead, I'm just going to blindly continue what I've been doing. Bah.
That said, I have made progress around here: more veg suppers are being served, I'm more likely to choose veg options when we go out. I guess part of me would like to be able to just say, "Fine, I'm done!" and that'll be the end of it. Maybe I'm just being unrealistic and keep flip-flopping from one end to the other instead of finding a middle ground. I suppose on thing that's different now than in the past is that I know I will eventually be vegetarian. Before, it was all-or-nothing. Now, no, I'm on a path towards vegetarianism. It'll happen. Someday. But I'll still have this nagging little voice in me asking, "I have no business eating meat, so why do I?"
Did you struggle with a switch to veg*ism? Please share your story in the comments section!
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
The What If's
I was messaging with my pseudo-niece this evening and the topic of what if's came up. Originally, it was about what will I do money-wise next school year since my income is going to simply disappear this summer. (Stopping my dayhome because everybody's moving on.) In my case, every time I start thinking about job/career possibilities, a little nagging voice says, "Why aren't you writing [your book]?" And the what if's start:
It hit me that I do this with food, too.
I could go on and on. It didn't hit me until tonight just how many what if's I've really got going on inside. I don't usually think of myself as a doubting kind of gal, but it seems I am. At least in some areas.
What is the purpose of what if? What does it do? Does it show us our doubt? Is it fear of forging ahead anyhow and it's trying to stop us? Is it a form of anxiety? Does it matter? It's a pest. An annoyance. A self-created block. The what if's above are like little bullies or liars doing NOTHING but holding me back from achieving things I want to achieve! This is starting to make me mad! lol
I've just had a thought: What if I ignored these doubts or told them to take a hike? What if I treated such doubts as lying thoughts out to ruin me? (That sounds decidedly paranoid, doesn't it?) What if I forged ahead and wrote that book and changed my diet, and everything else I'm self-blocking regardless of problems or difficulties that could arise?
Maybe what if's aren't so bad. Maybe we just need to use them to work for us instead of against us.
"What if I can't finish the book/finish it in time?"
"What if I can't get published?"
"What if I can't figure out what to write?"
"What if it doesn't make enough money?"
"What if...?"
It hit me that I do this with food, too.
"What if I change my diet and I still have allergy symptoms?"
"What if I change my diet and I don't feel any better?"
"What if I change my diet and I don't lose the excess water/weight on me?"
"What if I finally make the commitment to veg*n and can't find enough yummy food to make?"
"What if I finally make the veg*n commitment and it causes a lot of problems with extended family?" (We get together for meals a LOT.)
"What if I try that recipe for supper and my family won't eat it (because they're really picky eaters, just like me)?"
"What if...???"
I could go on and on. It didn't hit me until tonight just how many what if's I've really got going on inside. I don't usually think of myself as a doubting kind of gal, but it seems I am. At least in some areas.
What is the purpose of what if? What does it do? Does it show us our doubt? Is it fear of forging ahead anyhow and it's trying to stop us? Is it a form of anxiety? Does it matter? It's a pest. An annoyance. A self-created block. The what if's above are like little bullies or liars doing NOTHING but holding me back from achieving things I want to achieve! This is starting to make me mad! lol
I've just had a thought: What if I ignored these doubts or told them to take a hike? What if I treated such doubts as lying thoughts out to ruin me? (That sounds decidedly paranoid, doesn't it?) What if I forged ahead and wrote that book and changed my diet, and everything else I'm self-blocking regardless of problems or difficulties that could arise?
Maybe what if's aren't so bad. Maybe we just need to use them to work for us instead of against us.
(Taken from How to Escape the What-If Trap. A good read if you, too,
are suffering from negative What If's!)
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Saturday Night's All Right
It's been a while, hasn't it? I didn't realize it had been quite so long until I saw the date on my last post. The weeks have not only been busy, but I've been hit by one nasty virus after another, not leaving me with any desire to blog--and certainly a lack of focus in healthy eating.
But I'm on the mend (I hope--it's been over a week) and have been thinking. Mostly I've been thinking about how many anecdotes/testimonials I've read of how healthy people are when they are eating a healthy vegan or raw vegan diet. I've been thinking how my 11yo son, who is almost NEVER sick, has been sick alongside me these past weeks--and how prior to getting sick, he had clearly not been consuming as much fruit as he had in the past. Two and two are being put together.
Another thing that got me thinking was when I was in the kitchen earlier today (or maybe it was yesterday--my thought processes and sense of time are messed up right now) was noticing my cookbooks. I have a section of a shelf reserved for all the vegan and raw vegan books. I have 4 books on raw veganism alone. How many recipes have I made from any of them???? But a handful. I have nice little tags sticking out of a few, hinting at me to try them, and somehow it just hasn't happened. I'd like to take at least a step in this direction this week.
So, I'm sitting here this Saturday night on the sofa, laptop on my curled up legs, a pile of vegan and raw vegan cookbooks next to me. Elton John may have sung that Saturday night was all right for fighting, but me, I think it's all right for exploring and planning. :)
But I'm on the mend (I hope--it's been over a week) and have been thinking. Mostly I've been thinking about how many anecdotes/testimonials I've read of how healthy people are when they are eating a healthy vegan or raw vegan diet. I've been thinking how my 11yo son, who is almost NEVER sick, has been sick alongside me these past weeks--and how prior to getting sick, he had clearly not been consuming as much fruit as he had in the past. Two and two are being put together.
Another thing that got me thinking was when I was in the kitchen earlier today (or maybe it was yesterday--my thought processes and sense of time are messed up right now) was noticing my cookbooks. I have a section of a shelf reserved for all the vegan and raw vegan books. I have 4 books on raw veganism alone. How many recipes have I made from any of them???? But a handful. I have nice little tags sticking out of a few, hinting at me to try them, and somehow it just hasn't happened. I'd like to take at least a step in this direction this week.
So, I'm sitting here this Saturday night on the sofa, laptop on my curled up legs, a pile of vegan and raw vegan cookbooks next to me. Elton John may have sung that Saturday night was all right for fighting, but me, I think it's all right for exploring and planning. :)
Monday, February 13, 2012
I am such a NOOB!
It's been an interesting day.
Interesting isn't the right word. It started out fine. Then grey clouds covered over the sky and the winds picked up and it seemed to set the mood. For me at least.
Someone had shared a raw dessert recipe in Twitter. I will try to find it later. It looks delicious though. But back to the point: I bought what I needed to and decided to make it today.
I set out my nuts to soak. Then I went on with my day.
When the main work part of the day was done, I decided to tackle making the dessert. I followed the instructions and put the Medjool dates and pecans in the food processor. I pulsed and pulsed and pulsed. Kept hearing a hard thing hit the sides. I figured it wasn't yet ready. I pulsed again. I tested as they indicated. Still some hard things. I pulsed again, even though the overall texture seemed more than fine. I stopped. Still these darn hard things.
I picked one out. I processed it as a very hard pecan that just wouldn't blend. You could see the marks where the blade had tried to and it didn't work. As I was throwing it out, I had the thought: "It looks and awful lot like a pit." Saw another one in the food processor. It is a pit.
The dates.
They weren't unpitted.
The recipe never said anything about pitting the dates, but I'm guessing that it's simply a given that you pit the dates before using or buy unpitted dates.
I'M SUCH A RAW FOOD NOOB! lol.
My adventure did not end there. It hit me that I had not taken out my frozen raspberries to thaw. Here I am, almost half-done the preparation, and the raspberries aren't thawed. And the package does not indicate a way to thaw them faster.
I continue with the rest of the preparations as slowly as possible. I mix in some multi-tasking: laundry and dealing with cat urine and working on St. Valentine's Day cards and dishes and... I finish the filling, other than the part with the raspberries, and the raspberries are nowhere near done.
*sigh*
Again, I'm such a noob! lol
Then there's supper to make while trying to finish a card and deal with the laundry and clean up messes and figure out what to do with the raspberries that are still nowhere near thawed... It's been "interesting".
We had supper, the raspberries still weren't thawed. Let me point out that I started making the dessert around 3pm and 3 hours later, it still wasn't ready. Not because it should take that long. lol.
My 14yo had a ballet lesson tonight, so off we went to that. The raspberries still thawing and the rest just patiently waiting. If the raspberries aren't fully thawed by the time we get home, I may just scream. ;) No, not really. I'm actually laughing a bit inside over it all.
It's a dessert that is supposed to be frozen before eating. I'll be able to finish it and freeze it overnight.
I may just have a raw frozen breakfast tomorrow morning. ;D
Interesting isn't the right word. It started out fine. Then grey clouds covered over the sky and the winds picked up and it seemed to set the mood. For me at least.
Someone had shared a raw dessert recipe in Twitter. I will try to find it later. It looks delicious though. But back to the point: I bought what I needed to and decided to make it today.
I set out my nuts to soak. Then I went on with my day.
When the main work part of the day was done, I decided to tackle making the dessert. I followed the instructions and put the Medjool dates and pecans in the food processor. I pulsed and pulsed and pulsed. Kept hearing a hard thing hit the sides. I figured it wasn't yet ready. I pulsed again. I tested as they indicated. Still some hard things. I pulsed again, even though the overall texture seemed more than fine. I stopped. Still these darn hard things.
I picked one out. I processed it as a very hard pecan that just wouldn't blend. You could see the marks where the blade had tried to and it didn't work. As I was throwing it out, I had the thought: "It looks and awful lot like a pit." Saw another one in the food processor. It is a pit.
The dates.
They weren't unpitted.
The recipe never said anything about pitting the dates, but I'm guessing that it's simply a given that you pit the dates before using or buy unpitted dates.
I'M SUCH A RAW FOOD NOOB! lol.
My adventure did not end there. It hit me that I had not taken out my frozen raspberries to thaw. Here I am, almost half-done the preparation, and the raspberries aren't thawed. And the package does not indicate a way to thaw them faster.
I continue with the rest of the preparations as slowly as possible. I mix in some multi-tasking: laundry and dealing with cat urine and working on St. Valentine's Day cards and dishes and... I finish the filling, other than the part with the raspberries, and the raspberries are nowhere near done.
*sigh*
Again, I'm such a noob! lol
Then there's supper to make while trying to finish a card and deal with the laundry and clean up messes and figure out what to do with the raspberries that are still nowhere near thawed... It's been "interesting".
We had supper, the raspberries still weren't thawed. Let me point out that I started making the dessert around 3pm and 3 hours later, it still wasn't ready. Not because it should take that long. lol.
My 14yo had a ballet lesson tonight, so off we went to that. The raspberries still thawing and the rest just patiently waiting. If the raspberries aren't fully thawed by the time we get home, I may just scream. ;) No, not really. I'm actually laughing a bit inside over it all.
It's a dessert that is supposed to be frozen before eating. I'll be able to finish it and freeze it overnight.
I may just have a raw frozen breakfast tomorrow morning. ;D
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Oh my goodness...
After I posted the previous post, I checked out my sidebar blogs. Karen Knowler posted: http://karenknowler.typepad.com/living_in_the_raw/2012/02/falling-off-the-wagon.html
"This week, more than a few people have shared with me that it hasn’t been their “best” week ever food-wise. I can sympathise. Hormones? Changing weather? Recent life changes? Something larger and far more cosmic than meets the eye? "
I am not alone! lol
"This week, more than a few people have shared with me that it hasn’t been their “best” week ever food-wise. I can sympathise. Hormones? Changing weather? Recent life changes? Something larger and far more cosmic than meets the eye? "
I am not alone! lol
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