Day 39

I was just reading the Day 39 thread on Raw Fu and realized that once again I was slacking in the blogging department. Luckily, I have not been slacking in the raw food department. I had a feeling getting back into the groove of school/work would be good for me. It is just so much easier to grab a bunch of bananas for lunch than trying to pack a SAD lunch. I'm also finding that not having to use the microwave is a miracle because now I can bypass the line and happily eat my cold, raw lunch.

The big news in my life for the moment is that I am anxiously awaiting delivery of my new Excalibur 5-tray dehydrator, purchased from Matt Monarch's lovely raw food lifestyle site. I am *so* excited. The only foods I have been struggling with are tortilla chips. Eliminating gluten has made going raw easier in some ways, because even if I want to grab a slice of pizza, I know that it will make me sick and that it isn't worth it. I have a feeling that if I hadn't discovered the gluten thing, I would somehow be rationalizing that one piece of pizza isn't the end of the world, yadda yadda. I'm just dying for bread lately and this dehydrator is going to solve all my problems in that department. I haven't had real bread in a very long time, so I am actually craving Ezekiel sprouted bread, which I am pretty sure I can replicate in the D. I also plan to make pizza crusts and play around with some raw pizza ideas.

What I am looking forward to most, however, is when my husband fires up the oven to make his weekly football Sunday sugar cookies and I am not even fazed because I will have already filled the house with the sweet aroma of raw cookies. Yes, it really is the little things...

Day 25

Huh, apparently I have a blog. I didn't forget completely, as I have taken pictures of food over the past 2 weeks, but I just wasn't motivated enough to blog. I think there are several reasons of this. First, the gluten situation really threw me off. I did not stay gluten-free for 2 weeks, and subsequently did not have the endoscopy that was recommended. I did try, but after about 4 days I just couldn't take it. This was a hard decision, as I have a tendency to *need* the diagnosis in order to justify my eating habits, but seriously, it was getting out of control. I clearly have an intolerance to wheat/gluten. My stomach protrudes, I hurt, and I feel like curling up in bed in big thick sweats and sleeping. So, clearly the answer is to stop eating gluten/wheat. Period. No more trial runs, no more psyching myself out and pretending I can just eat the bread. I can't and I don't need a gastroenterologist to tell me that. I haven't taken all the precautions yet that celiacs have to make (separate utensils, etc), but I think it's coming soon, because even with eliminating what products, I have had mild symptoms the past few days, which to me indicate that I was glutened unknowingly.

The second reason I have dropped off from blogging is that I haven't been exactly 100% raw lately, perhaps not even 90%. I have 3 weeks off in August and somewhere along the way I decided that I want to relax and not punish myself for eating non-raw. I have been mostly raw, but I have also included fresh seafood, as I do live on Cape Cod, and it is that time of year. It's all ending soon, as I feel myself drawn back to raw every time I stray. I just wanted to enjoy the rest of my summer and feel good about that decision.

WIth those caveats in mind, I have still managed to prepare some excellent raw dishes along the way. I had a bit of a coleslaw habit going for a while.

Basic Recipe

-shredded cabbage- green, purple, or both
-shredded carrots
-apple cider vinegar
-olive oil
-salt and pepper

Tasty additions:

Fresh Sweet Corn

Fresh Sweet Corn & Green Onion


I also tried the amazing stuffed tomato recipe bouncing around Raw Fu. The original recipe was courtesy of Rawvelations.

Finally, my favorite new recipe is courtesy of SaraBeth. Good Lord this girl has some amazing raw dessert recipes. This is a piece of her chocomole pie, which I am pretty sure I could live off for quite a while. I'm on my third batch of the filling- I ditched the crust to try to maintain some semblance of a reasonable fat gram count each day. It is a raw food lifesaver.

Day 10

While I would like to be celebrating the completion of the first Raw Fu 10-day mini challenge, I am instead brooding over the fact that my tummy looks (and feels) like I am with-child. Adding gluten back in to my diet has not been going smoothly. I literally look pregnant, which is startling compared to how deflated I was feeling from all the raw food. All I can do is wait it out, but I have a feeling these are going to be a pain-filled, grumpy two weeks for me. No pics today, I'm too moody to create :-(

Day 8

In honor of 8/8/08, and the opening of the 2008 summer Olympics, I started the day with this red, white, and blue, non-smoothie (for once!) breakfast. This is one of my favorites when I am just not in the mood to eat breakfast through a straw. This one is also good when you need a little bit of a kick because of all the superfoods!

Breakfast "Cereal"

~1 banana, sliced
~about 1/2 a pint of blueberries
~almond mylk
~2 Tbl hemp seeds
~small handful of cacao nibs
~small handful of goji berries
~2-3 Tbl shredded coconut

I layer the bananas and blueberries in the bowl, add almond mylk until it covers the fruit and then add the other ingredients, topping it with the coconut. I don't actually measure anything, but I estimated how much I probably use.


Day 7 was a little shaky for me, as we spent the day on a friend's boat and I fell off the raw wagon a bit. I did well all day, even at lunch on Martha's Vineyard, but by the time dinner rolled around and the grill was on, I lost all will to stand in the kitchen and make a salad. So, turkey burgers were the culprit. Interestingly though, I woke up this morning without feeling guilty about it. I think maybe because I don't consider this a diet, but rather a lifestyle change, I'm not falling into the trap of disordered eating/thinking that I always have encountered in the past.

There have been a few forum posts on Raw Fu about brain games and tricking your brain into thinking the raw way. For me, I don't have to trick myself, because not only do I feel better on raw, but I actually enjoy eating it more that I ever do eating SAD. Also I have been impressed by the fact that I can actually make some pretty awesome dishes when I don't have to add the heating element.

Yesterday marked the first day of the 14-day period before my upper-endoscopy in which I have to add gluten into my diet. Still haven't worked out the best way to do this and honestly, I am dreading it, as I have been feeling great lately, but I do want to have a valid test. Hopefully I'll figure out a way to do it without feeling too uncomfortable.

Day 4

Well the first few days have been uneventful and surprisingly easy. Yes, I broke down and had weekend cocktails, but other than that, the eating part is cake (raw cake of course). This is the green smoothie that kicked off the 100 day challenge:

I made it to the farmers market and bought a truly beautiful bunch of kale, some huge zucchinis, a few tomatoes, and these baby greens which I believe are some kind of micro-spinach.

I have been keeping it pretty basic the first few days. Just trying to detox with lots of greens and not going overboard on the sugars (fruits) and fats. I made a salad with the kale and tomatoes and topped it with super simple homemade guacamole (1 avocado, half a tomato, juice of half a lime).

Lunch for Day 3 was collard wraps inspired in part by the recipe for Mediterranean Dolmas in Ani's Raw Kitchen. 

Truth is, I was craving her recipe but too lazy to go upstairs and 

retrieve the book. So instead I made up my own. 

I used shredded kale, broccoli slaw mix, chopped fresh basil, 

chopped heirloom beets, sunflower seeds, and raisins. 

I drizzled with olive oil and kind of mashed it up a bit. I put it in the collard leaves and topped with the little baby greens. 

The picture isn't great, but you get the point. 

They rolled up very nicely like a flour tortilla.

Lots of greens around here! Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the garlic cashew aioli I made last night but it

is absolutely ridiculous. I have been eating it on top of assorted veggies for the last 2 nights. If there is any left tomorrow

night I'll be sure to get a pic.

A day of lasts

I'm starting this blog to document the 100 day raw food challenge I am starting tomorrow. I have joined the beautiful people over at Raw Fu in accepting this challenge and I'm trying to make myself as accountable as possible, which I'm hoping this blog will add to. I named my blog "Raw on the Road" because I commute 2-2.5 hours each way to work and often eat 3 meals a day either in my car or various other places not conducive to healthy eating. 

I know, it's madness. 

I'm in graduate school and my internships change every year, so I haven't pushed moving closer to the city in hopes of keeping my daughter in a cohesive situation with school. The commute is stressful and although I don't eat poorly, my weight has been stagnant at too high of a number and I just generally feel crappy all the time.
I have tried eating raw for short amounts of time (a few weeks) and I immediately feel a difference. I have stomach issues (which I'm sure I'll be writing about in the coming weeks) and each time I eat raw consistently, I feel better. I have had the preliminary blood work done for Celiac's disease and it came back negative, however, I am not convinced, as I can track my stomach issues back to wheat almost every time. I read Gluten-Free Girl, (in book form) by Shauna Ahern and it was like I had found my answers! But my doc said nope, no celiac here. So on August 22nd I'm having an upper-endoscopy so a specialist can biopsy my stomach and intestine to check for celiac and a few other things. Not a big deal, but I have to eat gluten for two weeks before the test. The plan is to eat as close to 100% raw as I can until August 8th and then sneak in the gluten in the most minimal way possible. So far the only thing that I have thought of that I might be able to tolerate is Ezekial bread. 

Any thoughts out there, please let me know. I'm excited to be starting this blog, as I have read many of the raw food blogs out there and find them great motivation. Comments and suggestions are welcome!