The End of Raw

So here it is. The end of my first 30 Day Challenge.

While I did allow for the special occasions, I remained raw for all but 4 days of the month. I cannot explain the clarity that comes from eating raw; my body feels cleaner and my mind crisper. Not to mention I dropped those holiday pounds!

I'm too much of a steak and potato girl to eat like this long term, however, one of the lessons learned is to use it as a tool to detox and start a new when I feel sugary or carby cravings coming on. So what else did I take away and want to try to implement into my life as I move forward....

• How quickly I can throw together a smoothie or salad for a quick meal or bite to eat and how filling they can be. I'll never have an excuse to skip a meal and believe me with 3 little ones excuses are a plenty.
• Allowing for celebrations and to live my life is key to my sanity. If I can't have fun, what's the point?
• I really like the idea of carefully watching what I eat during the week when it is more scheduled and allowing for my weekends to be "free."
• I almost think I'd like a vegetarian lifestyle...again if I wasn't such a steak and potatoes gal. :)

Onto my next challenge....

T - 1 Day

With one day to go there was reason to celebrate and celebrate I did. No raw today. While I could've waited and I thought long and hard about doing do, I'm going back to my rule of living my life. It was truly a special day and deserved to be treated as such.

With that said...a very odd thing happened today. For the first time since I've been raw I had extremely low energy for my very intense workout. This was a complete disaster. I've been including protein in my diet and working out 5 days a week (intense 3 days) have not had any problems except today. Today I could not do it.

The End is Near

It's been great being raw, but now I want a burger! Not a craving. Not that my body needs it, but I just want it. Just a few more days.......

No Cravings!

One of the things I've really enjoyed about going raw is once I got through the first few days (and the sickness) I haven't really had any cravings. Of course I'm looking forward to having a juicy burger at the end of this month's challenge, but I haven't had a real craving for anything carb, sweet or salty. I've even gotten my cycle this month and had no cravings associated with it. Hmmm....must figure out a way to continue this trend. I love the no cravings!

Mid Month Check In

Feels good to be raw.

I took some time off from being raw this weekend to celebrate a few special occasions. It was nice to be indulgent and enjoy, but it feels good to be raw again. My body feels cleaner and less bloated.

I'm a little more than 1/2 way through the month and have started to think about additional lessons to take away from this month's raw challenge.

6 Days

That's how long I made it raw - 6 Days. I'll set the stage and say I caught a stomach bug that surpassed my appetite. I think once it came back, it came back with a vengeance and salad wasn't cutting it. I needed a burger!

Kind of sad, but lessons learned....

Aside from the burger, I feel less "carby" and definitely no longer bloated. Raw is good for me that way.

Last year when I was a very diligent food plan I allowed for my weekends to be "free." I think my body is vey accustomed to that patten and honestly I don't think it's a bad thing.

I'm going to continue eating raw this month, and incorporate my lessons learned.

January's Challenge - Going Raw

I picked eating raw for January because I thought it was fitting after all the indulgence over the holidays. What a great way to kick of the New Year!

Ever since I read Michael Pollan's, In Defense of Food I really wanted to make a conscious effort to eat more "real" food and add more fruits and vegetables to my diet. I thought why not take that a step further, completely immerse myself and just go raw. I've done a week long raw diet before and found it really helpful to detox or clean my palate. Consuming nothing but raw foods really helped rid my body of cravings that I was finding hard to do otherwise. It'll be interesting to see what 30 days looks like. The first few days are the roughest, but a third of way through I get the hang of it and then it's smooth sailing.

I'm a picky eater so I looked into several raw food plans and tried to come up with a system that works for me while still ensuring that I get all of the nutrients my body needs.

I'm on Day 2 and so far so good.

One of the rules I am applying to this challenge and all of the 30 day challenges is that I will not impose my challenge on others (although there are some my husband has willingly (and happily) agreed to participate in). I will also allow for special occasion exceptions. This month brings special occasions mid month so while I'll stick to the spirit of raw foods, I will allow for exceptions. Some may call it cheating, I'm calling it living.

Happy New Year!

What better way to kick off a new year than with changes!

New Year's Resolutions? No.

This year I've decided to take on a new twist to the New Year's Resolutions. Instead of making 1 or 2 promises and trying to keep them for a whole year, this year I'm going to take on one new commitment a month. I'm going to explore things I've always wanted to do, things I've been terrified to try or never had time or energy to even attempt.

I'm going to take on one new commitment a month. My list so far: (in no particular order)

1. Eat Raw
2. CrossFit
3. Yoga
4. Sex
5. Prepare Non Processed Foods & Snacks
6. Use no Disposable Products
7. Eat only Local Foods
8. Enjoy North Carolina - Manteo to Murphy
9. Explores my Artsy/Crafty Side
10. Minimize my Carbon Footprint
11. Read for 30 minutes a day
12. ..........still thinking.......

The challenge is that every month I'll take on one of these and do them every day for 30 days. I can do anything for 30 days, right?? It's been argued that a month's time frame is all you need to break bad habits and build new good ones. Working within some general guidelines for each (I can't actually spend an entire month exploring the state) I hope to take some lessons learned and incorporate at least a small aspect of each commitment into my life, permanently.

So here's to 2012! Happy New Year!