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. :)
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
I *almost* ate the last cupcake
I almost ate the last cupcake.
But I didn't.
It wasn't a matter of will power or anything like that. In fact, this post was supposed to be "I ate the last cupcake."
But I didn't.
It happened like this:
I still had a bunch of leftover cupcakes from Tuesday (St. Valentine's Day). Nobody was eating them. Well, not entirely true: Some were eaten on Tuesday, my 4yo niece had had one each day since, the little guy I look after had one yesterday and I indulged yesterday (and regretted it), but that still left many cupcakes. Hubby and my kids aren't eating them.
So I ate one after lunch.
Or rather, 3/4 of one.
I'd eaten half of it, really paying attention to the taste and texture, and was kind of thinking, "Why am I eating this? It doesn't even taste that good." See, it wasn't homemade and made of fine ingredients. It was No Name cake mix and some sort of prepackaged frosting. Full of man-made chemicals and crud. As I threw the last 1/4 of it away, I said to my daughter, "It doesn't taste like real food." Pause. "That's cuz it's not real food." (And even just the 3/4 I did eat left me with my tell-tale headache. I don't know if it's the cupcake or the frosting. Or an ingredient common to both. Or just my body's way of saying, "Stop eating this cr*p!")
I had no temptation for the rest of the afternoon.
My 7yo niece and 11yo nephew arrived after school. I let them each have a cupcake. (And part of me inside is now going, "Why am I feeding them that junk?") That left one. Which sat there. And sat there. And sat there.
I ate supper. With the cupcake sitting there still on the table. I thought, "I guess I'll eat it. I'd hate for it to go to waste."
In half a second, through my mind went the idea of blogging about how I ate the last cupcake and why-oh-why-did-I-eat-it-when-it-didn't-taste-that-good-and-how-I-catch-myself-doing-this-eating-things-up-because-I-don't-want-them-to-go-to-waste-but-won't-it-just-be-going-to-waste-in-my-body?
Going to waste in my body.
And for something that I didn't even really enjoy.
I looked at that thing sitting there. The poor thing: its fate was doomed. No way I was going to eat it now.
I cleaned up my supper dishes and confirmed that nobody was going to eat it. Then I picked it up. It is now in the garbage--because everybody else here has the sense to not eat it. And now I do, too.
And that's how this post, that was going to be "I ate the last cupcake", became "I *almost* ate the last cupcake."
But I didn't.
It wasn't a matter of will power or anything like that. In fact, this post was supposed to be "I ate the last cupcake."
But I didn't.
It happened like this:
I still had a bunch of leftover cupcakes from Tuesday (St. Valentine's Day). Nobody was eating them. Well, not entirely true: Some were eaten on Tuesday, my 4yo niece had had one each day since, the little guy I look after had one yesterday and I indulged yesterday (and regretted it), but that still left many cupcakes. Hubby and my kids aren't eating them.
So I ate one after lunch.
Or rather, 3/4 of one.
I'd eaten half of it, really paying attention to the taste and texture, and was kind of thinking, "Why am I eating this? It doesn't even taste that good." See, it wasn't homemade and made of fine ingredients. It was No Name cake mix and some sort of prepackaged frosting. Full of man-made chemicals and crud. As I threw the last 1/4 of it away, I said to my daughter, "It doesn't taste like real food." Pause. "That's cuz it's not real food." (And even just the 3/4 I did eat left me with my tell-tale headache. I don't know if it's the cupcake or the frosting. Or an ingredient common to both. Or just my body's way of saying, "Stop eating this cr*p!")
I had no temptation for the rest of the afternoon.
My 7yo niece and 11yo nephew arrived after school. I let them each have a cupcake. (And part of me inside is now going, "Why am I feeding them that junk?") That left one. Which sat there. And sat there. And sat there.
I ate supper. With the cupcake sitting there still on the table. I thought, "I guess I'll eat it. I'd hate for it to go to waste."
In half a second, through my mind went the idea of blogging about how I ate the last cupcake and why-oh-why-did-I-eat-it-when-it-didn't-taste-that-good-and-how-I-catch-myself-doing-this-eating-things-up-because-I-don't-want-them-to-go-to-waste-but-won't-it-just-be-going-to-waste-in-my-body?
Going to waste in my body.
And for something that I didn't even really enjoy.
I looked at that thing sitting there. The poor thing: its fate was doomed. No way I was going to eat it now.
I cleaned up my supper dishes and confirmed that nobody was going to eat it. Then I picked it up. It is now in the garbage--because everybody else here has the sense to not eat it. And now I do, too.
And that's how this post, that was going to be "I ate the last cupcake", became "I *almost* ate the last cupcake."
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Listen to your body!
I have in my head, after writing "Listen to your body!" the song "Listen to Your Heart" by Roxette. And it being St. Valentine's Day and all, seems like an appropriate song to have in my head. :D
In any case, I just wanted to babble a bit about the messages our bodies give us. This is one of those days where my body is either speaking loudly--or I'm just paying more attention!
I woke up this morning feeling like I was coming down with something, not hungry, eventually ate a banana. Not hungry for a while, my stomach was grumbling though, decided to drink some water and saw another banana and went, "Mmm, that would be good." Nothing else was the least bit appetizing. Not even the frozen dessert made last night.
Lunch came around. I was starting to feel hungry a bit, but nothing seemed to appeal to me. I eventually settled on making a cucumber, celery, carrot salad (I won't share what I did--it wasn't a very good sauce lol). By the time I finished it, I was actually feeling quite a bit better. I decided to try my raw frozen dessert (YUM!), looked at the clock and it was about 12:15. The whole morning was raw! Woot! :D And rather unintentionally.
I was feeling like I needed something more, so I reheated some leftover rice. Again, it was one of those things of considering multiple options and when I saw the rice, I knew that was the thing to do.
After that, since we have a close-to-expiring cake mix, I made some Valentine's cupcakes. I naturally ate a couple. And now I have a headache. I was fine all day--until I had the cupcakes.
My body is telling me something!
How often do we ignore these signs? How often do we recognize them but continue on eating what causes the problems anyhow?
Someday I'll learn. Being very aware that this headache, and the blah accompanying it, came as a result of the cupcakes is definitely making me look at the cupcakes as evil little things--at least for the rest of today. lol. I really do have to try to make some raw cupcakes sometime. But I need to find one, or adapt one, so that there aren't any almonds!
All I really want now is water. I think I'll listen. :D
In any case, I just wanted to babble a bit about the messages our bodies give us. This is one of those days where my body is either speaking loudly--or I'm just paying more attention!
I woke up this morning feeling like I was coming down with something, not hungry, eventually ate a banana. Not hungry for a while, my stomach was grumbling though, decided to drink some water and saw another banana and went, "Mmm, that would be good." Nothing else was the least bit appetizing. Not even the frozen dessert made last night.
Lunch came around. I was starting to feel hungry a bit, but nothing seemed to appeal to me. I eventually settled on making a cucumber, celery, carrot salad (I won't share what I did--it wasn't a very good sauce lol). By the time I finished it, I was actually feeling quite a bit better. I decided to try my raw frozen dessert (YUM!), looked at the clock and it was about 12:15. The whole morning was raw! Woot! :D And rather unintentionally.
I was feeling like I needed something more, so I reheated some leftover rice. Again, it was one of those things of considering multiple options and when I saw the rice, I knew that was the thing to do.
After that, since we have a close-to-expiring cake mix, I made some Valentine's cupcakes. I naturally ate a couple. And now I have a headache. I was fine all day--until I had the cupcakes.
My body is telling me something!
How often do we ignore these signs? How often do we recognize them but continue on eating what causes the problems anyhow?
Someday I'll learn. Being very aware that this headache, and the blah accompanying it, came as a result of the cupcakes is definitely making me look at the cupcakes as evil little things--at least for the rest of today. lol. I really do have to try to make some raw cupcakes sometime. But I need to find one, or adapt one, so that there aren't any almonds!
All I really want now is water. I think I'll listen. :D
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
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