This morning I bought a cheap and good pair of cruelty-free boots, so now finally there is nothing holding me back, so no more items made from animal ingredients.

My menu:

February 14, 2014:

- (1:20 pm) 7 bananas
- (3:25 pm) 5 oranges
- (6:45 pm) 5 oranges
- (8:45 pm) 6 oranges
- (10:30 pm) 2 bananas

Energy: 1152 cals
Calorie breakdown: 92.3% carbs / 4.8% proteins / 2.8% lipids

This was Day 14 of my 30 day February fully raw challenge.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

Yesterday and today I talked to my dear friend about what I eat. She wanted to make sure I enjoy a food package she wanted to give me in the memory of her mother who recently passed away. So I told her that fruits are great (she asked me if I like bananas as they were her mom's favourite, and also if I eat oranges).

So she brought me a large bag with beautiful yellow bananas, oranges and apples. So thoughtful of her

Today I went with her and another friend of her to the cemetery, to her mother's grave. As we are planning to go to a monastery this April or May (it is the monastery where she goes when she wants to find her peace), I told her that I need to speak to the superior nun there and tell her that I eat no cooked foods (the nuns don't eat meat, only fish, and also dairy and eggs, plus cooked foods).

So this was the moment I have been waiting for, so that I can explain to her what it is that I eat. And I told her and her friend that I only eat raw fruits and veggies, I told them the reasons for this, the benefits, and they were so great to approve and understand. And they said this will not be a problem, as the nuns in this monastery have their own garden of fruits and veggies

My menu:

February 15, 2014:

- (2 pm) 7 bananas
- (4 pm) 7 oranges
- (8:20 pm) 7 oranges
- (10:20 pm) 3 bananas

Energy: 1472 cals
Calorie breakdown: 92.1% carbs / 5.2% proteins / 2.7% lipids

This was Day 15 of my 30 day February fully raw challenge.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

On Saturday I took pics of my leather boots and put then for sale online for half the price.
Yesterday a very nice girl told me she would like to exchange one of her articles for sale with my boots. So I got to choose a pair of boots made of ecological leather in exchange for my boots.
Today we exchanged addresses and we sent the package to each other and on Thursday we will both receive our boots. That was nice to do, she told me she really liked my leather boots.
I asked my family but they were not that interested in my boots, that is why I put them for sale online. This way I gave them to someone who liked them.

My husband found out that I wanted to sell my boots (or maybe he just guessed, since I told him I no longer wear leather – and I didn’t tell him I put them for sale). Maybe he saw them on this site, since he uses it to sell different stuff for his dad and brother.
So he told me not to dare sell them, because it was his money (indeed, he paid for them). He said that if I gave him the money, I could do anything I wanted with them. So I told him not to be upset and that I would make up for this.

My menu:

February 16, 2014:

- (1 pm) 6 bananas
- (4:45 pm) 4 bananas
- (6:45 pm) 9 oranges
- (11:20 pm) salad: 770 g tomatoes, 262 g long red sweet peppers, 272 g long cucumber

Energy: 1557 cals
Calorie breakdown: 89.8% carbs / 6.3% proteins / 3.9% lipids

This was Day 16 of my 30 day February fully raw challenge.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

Today the detox is back. I have a runny nose again and in the past two days I had sore throat and pain when swallowing. My scalp is itchy and dry - maybe I am detoxing from all the bad shampoo I used in the past.

My menu:

February 17, 2014:

- (11 am) 4 bananas
- (11:30 pm) salad: 4 tomatoes, 2 long red sweet peppers, 1 long cucumber, 1 small green bell pepper, 4 medium red radishes, my “wild rice” – 300 g raw cauliflower, 1 green bell pepper, juice from 1 lemon, 2 tomatoes, lots of dill; 1 head of butter lettuce

Energy: 747.2 cals
Calorie breakdown: 83.3% carbs / 10.1% proteins / 6.6% lipids

Yesterday I had no appetite and I felt no hunger the whole day. I looked at my spoty ripe bananas and I felt I didn’t want bananas anymore. So I froze them all and I will make banana ice cream soon. I still have the yellow bananas from my dear friend, but they are not spoty yet.

The weather was just amazing, pure spring. My body felt it and he was screaming for veggies. He knew he had bananas the whole winter, so he told me he needed something else. So I bought all the ingredients for yesterday’s dinner and he was very happy.

This dinner was just what I wanted, it is actually my fav dinner. The raw cauliflower tasted so good and the whole meal reminded me of spring and made me feel great.

This was Day 17 of my 30 day February fully raw challenge.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2014 01:33PM by Ela2013.

Today I bought lots of ripe bananas, lots of oranges, some chocolate tomatoes (I never had those).
I also found some great natural sun dried figs, plums and dates, they are so yummy - I am going to use them in my banana ice cream.
I also got some strawberries - also for banana ice cream.

My menu:

February 18, 2014:

- (11 am) 6 oranges
- (1 pm) 6 oranges
- (2:50 pm) 2 Romanian red apples
- (11:40 pm) salad: 4 tomatoes, 2 long red sweet peppers, 6 small red radishes, cauliflower puree – 300 g raw cauliflower, 2 small green bell peppers, juice from 1 lemon, 3 tomatoes, lots of dill; 1 head of butter lettuce

Energy: 1084.2 cals
Calorie breakdown: 86.5% carbs / 8.7% proteins / 4.8% lipids

This was Day 18 of my 30 day February fully raw challenge.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

My menu:

February 19, 2014:

- (11 am) 2 oranges
- (1:30 pm) 2 dried plums and 1 dried fig
- (3 pm) 3 dates
- (11:30 pm) salad: 4 tomatoes, 3 long red sweet peppers (312 g), 1 long cucumber (332 g), 3 chocolate tomatoes (Kumato tomatoes) (358 g), dill
- (0:20 am) 2 dried figs, 4 dried plums, 4 dates

Energy: 712.2 cals
Calorie breakdown: 86.9% carbs / 8.1% proteins / 5% lipids

This was Day 19 of my 30 day February fully raw challenge.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

My menu:

February 20, 2014:

- (11:20 am) banana and strawberry ice cream (524 g frozen bananas, 125 g fresh strawberries)
- (12:20 pm) banana and fig ice cream (460 g frozen bananas, 3 dried figs)
- (2 pm) banana and plum ice cream (460 g frozen bananas, 6 dried plums)
- (5:25 pm) caramel ice cream: banana and date ice cream (430 g frozen bananas, 6 dates)
- (7 pm) banana and strawberry ice cream (430 g frozen bananas, 125 g fresh strawberries)
- (11 pm) summer squash spaghetti with tomato sauce and dill sauce (1 small summer squash, 5 tomatoes, lots of dill, the juice from 1 lemon, little diced green bell pepper)

Energy: 2578 cals
Calorie breakdown: 91.9% carbs / 4.6% proteins / 3.5% lipids

These were the best 2578 cals.

The squash spaghetti were delicious, so tender and light.

This was Day 20 of my 30 day February fully raw challenge.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

I have been experiencing more symptoms.
Last week – sneezing, runny nose, sore throat, pain when swallowing.
After the ice cream day – very sore throat, a lot of pain when swallowing (both in that evening and the next morning, then all gone by midday).
Hot flushes in the afternoon, very sore throat, a lot of pain when swallowing (after dinner) plus very cold flushes (I was shaking with cold) followed by fever-like symptoms and headache. I was 37.5 degrees C, but I am sure I had a lot more before. When I was in hospital last summer, the nurses would take my temperature daily and it was constantly around 35 degrees C.
Something like this happened to me twice last year, but both times I got scared by the symptoms (and the fact that I was so shaking with cold that I could barely speak, plus the 40 degrees C fever) and I took medication. I wasn’t fully raw then, and I was following the Oshawa no. 7 diet.

My menu:

February 21, 2014:

- (12:30 pm) 4 bananas
- (1 pm) 1 banana
- (1:30 pm) 1 sun dried apricot, 1 sun dried fig, 10 tiny sun dried dates without pits
- (11 pm) summer squash spaghetti with tomato sauce (5 small summer squashes, 4 tomatoes, dill, the juice from 1 lemon, 1 long sweet red pepper, a little bunch of cauliflower)
- (11:45 pm) 1 sun dried apricot, 1 sun dried fig, 10 tiny sun dried dates without pits

Energy: 1275 cals
Calorie breakdown: 90.3% carbs / 6.1% proteins / 3.6% lipids

At the fruit/veggie market here there are peasants selling dried unsmoked plums. I asked them how they dried the plums, the answer was “in the oven”.

I bought some more sun dried fruits because in this box I found sun dried apricots and I wanted to try them - they are very good, just like apricot jam.
The dates in this box are also sun dried, but they are without pits and very small, but very gooey and soft and sweet.

This was Day 21 of my 30 day February fully raw challenge.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

The two possible approaches of convincing my family and friends to become vegan: by showing cruelty pictures/videos and by sharing pictures of vegan dishes and the wonderful benefits of being vegan.

I tried to bring them into this world by showing how great this lifestyle is, how many beautiful benefits it brings, how wonderful vegan dishes are.

I am a very sensitive person myself when it comes to animal cruelty and so are they. I rarely posted such cruelty aspects on my Facebook page and when I did it, I posted them indirectly through whole videos/presentations with no explicite pictures at the very beginning.

I think that if I posted cruelty pictures/videos, I would have driven them away or made them silent and feeling awkward in my presence. And I want this journey to be a pleasurable experience for them and help them slowly and maybe even unknowingly transition to veganism.

So I tried to reach to them by my personal example, by sharing beautiful dishes and by underlining the great feeling of being and living vegan. I think I achieved much more going this way.

But for myself I strongly used the cruelty aspect, this motivated me like no other aspect. For them, I focused on the wonderful benefits and I made them be interested in this lifestyle and agreeing with it.

I am aware that the cruelty aspect is crucial to becoming a vegan, it definitely was for me, it is what keeps me motivated (among the incredible benefits I experience). But for them I chose the gentle way.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

Today I drank a lot of water, around 4 liters. Must be because of detox and also because of the dried fruits, I just felt the need to drink as much water as I could.

My menu:

February 22, 2014:

- (10:30 pm) 5 oranges
- (11:55 am) 5 bananas
- (2 pm) 5 oranges
- (4:25 pm) 4 sun dried apricots, 1 small sun dried fig, 15 tiny sun dried dates without pits
- (10 pm) zucchini spaghetti with tomato sauce (2 zucchini, 2 tomatoes, dill, the juice from half a lemon, 1 long sweet red pepper, a little bunch of cauliflower)
- (11:55 pm) 10 sun dried plums
- (0:25 am) 1 small sun dried fig

Energy: 1593 cals
Calorie breakdown: 91.9% carbs / 5.3% proteins / 2.8% lipids

This was Day 22 of my 30 day February fully raw challenge.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

Fever was gone without taking medication. Now I still feel weak and I have stuffed/runny nose and cramps and headache because of PMS. And pain in my hip/leg.

My mom told me she is glad I eat dried figs because she likes them too. She also loves dates more than figs and she likes buying the same brand of dates that I like to buy.

My menu:

February 23, 2014:

- (11:20 am) 5 oranges
- (1:20 pm) 7 bananas
- (5 pm) 25 sun dried whole plums (or 45 halves)
- (0:20 am) zucchini spaghetti with tomato cauliflower sauce (2 zucchini, 2 tomatoes, dill, the juice from half a lemon, 1 long sweet red pepper, a little bunch of cauliflower)

Energy: 1884 cals
Calorie breakdown: 92.8% carbs / 4.6% proteins / 2.6% lipids

Water: 3 l

This was Day 23 of my 30 day February fully raw challenge.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

Not long ago I posted an official announcement on my Facebook page telling everyone that I was no longer buying/wearing/using anything that had animal ingredients or was tested on animals. My sister said: “ok, good to know”.

My mom said she admired those who could take this decision and put it into practice as she agreed it was a noble thing to do; she also said that this ment I had to wear only synthetic clothes/shoes and that I needed to think of myself first, so that I felt comfortable (she imagined I felt uncomfortable with synthetic materials). She told me that man was the most important creation of God and that he was put above all the other creatures that were given to him so that he could manage and use them with wisdom for his own benefit and welfare. She mentioned that she was not for extreme measures, but that she understood my decision and she would behave accordingly if that made me happy.

My friend from Germany told me he totally agreed with my decision, that my intentions were noble and caring for animals and that he understood me. His brother and his brother’s family are and live vegan so he is used to this. He said he was not that committed to take this step yet, but that he was trying to compensate that by helping animals and showing his love for them (he is working in an owls natural reservation – he just loves owls). So things are good.

My menu:

February 24, 2014:

- (8:30 am) 10 sun dried figs
- (9 am) 3 oranges
- (12:30 pm) 9 sun dried figs
- (4:10 pm) 3 bananas
- (6:10 pm) 3 oranges
- (1 am) summer squash spaghetti with tomato cauliflower sauce (4 squashes, 3 tomatoes, dill, the juice from half a lemon, 1 long sweet red pepper, a little bunch of cauliflower)

Energy: 867.8 cals
Calorie breakdown: 88% carbs / 7.7% proteins / 4.3% lipids

Water: 4 l

This was Day 24 of my 30 day February fully raw challenge.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

How I got rid of my bread addiction

I discovered I was kinda addicted to bread in the past. I stopped eating commercial bread as it tasted too salty to me, plus all the added chemicals (though I was so tempted by white fluffy bread just out of the oven). So I started making my own bread using just wholewheat flour and water (no yeast, no oil, no salt or anything else besides flour and water). I sometimes used white flour and yeast as I found some artisan bread recipes on the internet and I wanted to try them. I was making buns, rolls, knitted bread, large pretzels, heart shaped cookies and all sorts of shapes. But my favorite were the buns from wholewheat flour. I wasn't combining this bread with other foods, it was so good that I was eating it on its own. Then I thought I should stop eating bread alltogether. I was on/off eating bread until I realized I was kinda addicted to this homemade bread too.

So I started reading all I could find on bread addiction, gluten intolerance and all the negative effects of bread/gluten on my body. Here it's something that really made me quit eating bread: [blog.trackyourplaque.com]...

I stopped eating bread also because at that time I had problems with my hip joint and I wanted to improve that. Then I replaced bread with simple polenta (just corn flour and water; I even made corn buns - polenta shaped in form of buns then baked a little in the oven ), with mash potatoes (just potatoes boiled in water and mashed) and with baked potatoes (potatoes baked with skin - I sometimes ate the skin too). I also put lots of dill and sometimes garlic/green onion in my polenta and mash potatoes, for a little flavor, or just eat these dishes with plenty of salads.

Then I noticed I started to gain weight because of eating polenta and potatoes. So I wasn't comfortable with that. I also read about starches making joint pain worse. So I just went raw vegan and I lost that weight. No more bread cravings ever since.

But I must say I did struggle a lot with bread cravings (actually craving my homemade buns) before those cravings stopped. I kept telling my husband how much I was craving my buns, he kept telling me they were no good for me (which helped, as I had his support). Then I told him to never let me buy wholewheat flour ever again. And I never did. I was thinking that I was much stronger than bread cravings and that my health was far more important than 5 minutes of pleasure. Besides, there was my problem with my alcoholic mother-in-law and no access to oven so that just made things easier for me. And also I am kinda lazy when it comes to cooking, I don't have enough patience for boiling/baking, so this was a plus. I mostly had to make buns/polenta/mash potatoes during the night when my mother-in-law was sleeping so that was making me very tired. I am so happy that all of those things are so far behind me.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/2014 11:46PM by Ela2013.

Yesterday I was looking at Tarah's pics on 30 bananas a day and Instagram. They are amazing and so inspiring, showing happy times, wonderful adventures and beautiful memories. She is so happy and vibrant and full of energy in these pics. This got me thinking that I would never live such an amazing life, as I don't have the money or the support to make such a radical change in my life. Because of my living arrangements, in an environment constantly full of fights and negativity, stuck between 4 walls each day and in a daily routine that never changes, not being able to move freely around the house and chased by the fear of an alcoholic person, having to watch every strange move here and there and waiting for calmer moments to get out...Being forced to hide my food and my utensils every time I live my room for fear they would be gone when I come back...I barely enjoy my raw vegan lifestyle, the food abundance and I have no one to share my enthusiasm with. I feel I am imprisoned and not allowed to spread my wings like I dream to. I wish I could just walk away and never look back, I wish I could follow my dreams and feel fulfilled and happy...and not like I'm wasting myself and my life between these 4 walls...

My menu:

February 25, 2014:

- (12:30 pm) 7 bananas
- (2:40 pm) 20 sun dried dates (they are Rotab dates – from Iran)
- (6:10 pm) 1 orange
- (11:20 pm) summer squash spaghetti with tomato cauliflower sauce (4 squashes, 2 tomatoes, dill, the juice from half a lemon, 1 long sweet red pepper, a little bunch of cauliflower, 1 small head of butter lettuce)

Energy: 1347 cals
Calorie breakdown: 91% carbs / 5.7% proteins / 3.3% lipids

Water: 3 l

Yesterday I bought lots of almost ripe bananas, lots of summer squash, plenty of long sweet red peppers, lots of cute tiny lemons and one huge cauliflower. I feel I could eat zucchini/summer squash spaghetti everyday for the rest of my life.

This was Day 25 of my 30 day February fully raw challenge.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/2014 08:59AM by Ela2013.

My menu:

February 26, 2014:

- (4:20 am) 20 sun dried dates
- (9:30 am) 6 bananas
- (2:10 pm) 3 oranges
- (4:10 pm) 20 sun dried dates
- (1:10 am) summer squash spaghetti with tomato cauliflower sauce (7 small squashes, 3 tomatoes, dill, the juice from half a lemon, 1 very long sweet red pepper, 200 g cauliflower, 1 head of butter lettuce)
- (1:30 am) 1 sun dried date

Energy: 1752 cals
Calorie breakdown: 90.8% carbs / 6% proteins / 3.2% lipids

Water: over 4 l

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

My experience with dried fruits:

I recently included dried fruits in my diet, as I wanted to know what they tasted like. So I was glad to find natural sun dried apricots, plums, figs and of course dates. I liked them and I rediscovered the good taste of figs, but dates were still my favorite. Today I finished the last dates and I have no more dried fruits. So this led me to my conclusion: apricots were good, plums were also good as they reminded me of my grandma’s plum marmalade. Figs were amazing, like cookies filled with jam (I liked to gently squeeze them and make them look like flat cookies). And obviously dates were the best, so gooey and sweet and caramel like…

In terms of digestion, apricots, plums and figs gave me some bloating and cramps, even though I drank 3-4 liters of water daily on the days eating the dried fruits. Dates caused no issue for me whatsoever, they even improved my digestion and my bowel movements, but I was constantly afraid for my teeth as dates were so sticky and sweet, like eating caramels.

So, as great this experience was, I will no longer but dried fruits, as I feel they do not do me that much good and most certainly they are nothing like sweet fresh water rich fruits. Plus they are kinda expensive. But it was indeed a great experience in my raw vegan journey.

Now an update on my detox:

After those flu-like symptoms last week, I had 2-3 days of feeling better. Now the detox is on again, with sneezing, runny nose, stuffed nose, sore throat, cold flushes and weakness. I so welcome detox, but I have been trouble sleeping lately because of stuffed nose and the hot flushes. As I was on my pillow trying to fall asleep, the nose was stuffed so I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t want to use nasal drops so I couldn’t get much sleep. This explains my late night dinners as I couldn’t fall asleep, and also my very early snacks and breakfast. I hope I will be able to get some decent sleep in the following days as the detox is still going strong and I have no intention to stop it.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

I have always been told by doctors to "eat a little meat, at least some chicken liver, some yogurt and low-fat cheese, you need a little of all these to be ok". I didn't even want to tell them that my favorite foods were fruits and veggies for fear of their reaction. They were also prescribing drugs that had a ton of side effects. Never, not once did they say "increase the amount of fruits and veggies". I got a single good advice once: "you need to drink more water", which I liked and followed and it worked.

This is my hospital experience from last year.

When I was in hospital last year for 13 days, they would bring catering food based on bread, polenta, potatoes, pasta, rice, some veggie soups with potatoes or rice or noodles, little portions of meat like boiled chicken and chicken liver, and for breakfast either bread (a whole bread for the entire day for each person), boiled egg and jam, or bread, melted cheese and jam or honey, or bread, egg and butter, and of course tea (with or without sugar). There was not a single veggie salad for the whole time I was there, not one tomato or one cucumber. Not a single fruit, not even cheap apples. The only veggies were few veggies in the soups and cooked dishes like potatoes and carrots and summer squash and beans.

At one point we were asked to fill in a form with suggestions and the head nurse told us to write down that we suggest more fruits and veggies and especially fresh ones. My husband had to bring me fresh fruits and veggies and water almost every day and it was good that we had a small fridge in our room. So I was eating all those huge quantities of fruits and veggies beside the catering food to compensate it. The women in the room were amazed at how many fruits and veggies I was eating and at how happy I was when eating them. I even dare to say I made them crave my salads as they were looking at them like they wanted some. They were also commenting on the fact that I was so slim and my skin was so bright and that they needed to lose weight. They were eating the catering food just like that, no salad.

One of them was active being a mountain hiker in weekends so she was also eating more fruits, her husband was bringing her some fruits almost every day. One of them started to eat no salt while in hospital and she was happy that she lost 2 kg in one week (obviously, water content). Another one was very into healing herbs and fruits and veggies so she started to write down the way I was eating and what I was explaining to her about raw foods, and they were all listening in amazement. This woman said that she would try to eat as much fruits and veggies once she got home. So in a way I felt good while in hospital as I got to teach them about raw foods.

When I checked in the hospital I brought with me 2 large boxes with red cabbage carrot salad and one large box with butter lettuce salad, so I was eating those along the first few days and I was happy. One day as I was eating the hospital food and my salad, the doctor entered the room, saw me, said "enjoy your food" and asked me: "Do they give you salads too now?" I was like: "no, I brought my own" and all the other women said: "she is eating so healthy, lots of fruits and veggies". So the doctor was pleased. One of the nurses that were bringing us the food in our room told me that it was good I was eating that healthy, but that she couldn’t live without meat.

If it wasn't for my husband, I would've been in a lot of trouble without my fruits and veggies. I had already began to feel in my body the negative impact of cooked foods and animal products, so towards the last two days I just stopped eating the catering food and stuck to my fruits and veggies only, to gradually prepare myself for going back to high raw vegan. Once I got out of the hospital I promised myself I would never ever check into a hospital, not ever again.

It’s the only thing I regret from last year, that I was so weak and gave into cooked foods and animal products while I was in the hospital. Though I only ate boiled chicken and chicken liver (small portions, as they do not give large portions of meat in hospitals) and I didn’t eat eggs, melted cheese or some sour cream they put on the polenta (I was craving the polenta without the sour cream so I scraped the sour cream off my polenta and gave it to one roommate – but there was still some left inside and on the polenta that I couldn’t remove). They also served summer squash soup with sour cream, and I ate it too.

So I regret that I ate that meat and those sour cream dishes. I wasn’t that aware of the ethical reasons back then and this shows just how important it is to choose the ethical reasons as your motivation in going (raw) vegan. It’s not going to be enough if you do this just for health or for belonging to a movement or a trend. Making sure your motivation is based on ethical reasons will keep you on track and away from animal products for the rest of your life and beyond it.

So I kinda felt good eating meat again, as I wasn’t that caught into ethical beliefs. Chicken liver has always been my favorite and also lean chicken legs (which they served in hospital), so I though “what the fruit, I can eat this meat and be fine”. I did felt guilty at first, but then the guilt just melted away as I kept eating meat the next day, and the day after, and so on.

Another thing I regret from that time is that I ate cooked foods like rice and pasta and potatoes and polenta. They were cooked differently from what I did, with oil, sauces and I’m sure the pasta was made with eggs. They were still hospital diet foods so there was not much oil or sauce, there was no salt in the food because it was forbidden in the hospital (which was a good thing), but still I felt those cooked foods like enemies in the end. Still, I was weak because polenta and potatoes and pasta were my favorite in the past so I saw this as an opportunity to eat them again. Very bad thinking…

I remember that on first day there, when the nurses brought the food at lunch time, it was steaming and smelling so good and I hadn’t had such cooked food in a while (at least not those recipes). My roommates were in the therapy room so there I was all alone with all this appealing food that was basically calling my name. It was summer squash soup with sour cream and chicken liver with rice. At first I thought I wasn’t going to eat any of those. Then I thought I wouldn’t eat the soup and I was figuring out how to get out of the situation, as I knew the nurses would question me why I hadn’t eaten it. So there I was trying to find a way to divide my soup into three portions and pour it in my other roommates’ bowls (we were a total of four). Then I thought “what the fruit, I should just eat it and get over with it”. So I sat down at the table with the luring soup in front of me, still hot and steaming and great smelling. I didn’t dare to take the spoon and dig in, I sat there for a while again, but then I gathered all the courage and just ate it, spoonful by spoonful. I was amazed at the feeling that invaded me – good feeling – all the childhood memories of my mom’s summer squash soup just came in. And I ended up enjoying it.

Meanwhile one of the roommates came in and saw me eating the soup and said “It is so good, isn’t it? It will do you good”. I previously had told her that I ate no animal products and only little cooked food that I prepared for myself, so she was glad that I decided to eat the hospital food after all. I mentioned to her that I would eat cooked food only while in hospital and that I would make up for that when back home.

Then we both ate together the chicken liver with rice. I was again invaded with good feelings from my childhood and I actually liked the food. I kept telling myself that once back home I would never eat those foods again.This kept me going and made me feel less guilty. So I thought I would consider all that as just an experiment and that 13 days of eating cooked food and animal products wouldn’t hurt me.

I still ate no bread, no sugar, no tea, no biscuits, no jam, no honey, no dinner dish like pasta with sugar and breadcrumbs, no bean soup and I avoided the sauces as much as I could.

But I was still thinking in a wrong way, I should’ve just refused eating the hospital food. But I was afraid that the doctor wouldn’t keep me in the hospital if I disobeyed. She didn’t force us to eat the hospital food, but she implied that we needed to eat what we were given and not bring food from outside the hospital (it was a free of charge hospital, a public one, not a private one, hence the demands). I needed to be in this hospital as requested by the expert doctor on whom I depended for granting me the retirement. It was hard to find a hospital for treatment, so I just didn’t want to lose my retirement. I thought that the sacrifice was worth it, but it turned out that it wasn’t that much of a sacrifice since I was actually enjoying the hospital food.

So there I was waiting with pleasure the surprise of everyday’s dishes, but still considering it an experiment. It was like a test for myself and I was looking forward to my reactions towards those dishes and to my will power in refusing anything other than the chicken meat and the cooked veggies/non-sweet pasta and rice (because they also served sweet rice, like a pudding). I said to myself that since I have to eat the hospital food, I’d better make wise choices and choose the least evil. I know I should’ve refused the meat at least, but I didn’t to make a fuss and I thought that the veggies were cooked in the same pots with the meat anyway so they wouldn’t be vegan (I never liked to eat just the side dish of a meal that involved meat, as I wouldn’t consider that side dish as still being vegan). I also thought that I should make the hospital experience an enjoyable one and that it would all depend on my attitude. So, even though I was feeling like in a prison, I decided to make it a happy stay.

Other than that, me and my roommates were getting along great, there was this solidarity between us and against the doctor and the nurses, as the doctor was severe and weird, with strange unexpected reactions, and some nurses were also weird, forcing us to take medications and shots (which I miraculously managed to avoid altogether as I was always telling them that I felt ok at that time so no need for medication or shots).

There was a military daily routine performed by the hospital staff. Very early in the morning, the nurse came into the room and turned on the lights, waking us up to measure our blood pressure (and sometimes to take blood for analysis). It was so awful as we were sound asleep and dreaming and the nurse woke us up with the bright neon lights. Later in the morning, the nurse came to take our temperature. We were given those electronic thermometers that at some point were not even functioning and almost all of us never went beyond 34-35 degrees C. After that, we had breakfast (I usually had my fruits as they were having boiled eggs, bread and whatever food they had brought from home).

Then, after a while, the doctor came on the morning rounds. She was talking to each of us, asking how we felt and examining us. We were afraid of her and of what she was going to say, as she was known for being emotionally instable and we couldn’t know what she was going to say next or how she would react. I was scared of her every visit and I was praying that she wouldn’t say anything bad to me or asking me what I was eating while in the hospital. She also advised me to eat meat, yogurt, milk, and I made sure I confirmed I was eating the hospital food, so that she didn’t kick me out of the hospital. Then we head to the therapy (for me was gym and massage), came back for lunch (I was having the hospital lunch plus my salad), then we were free until next morning.

In the evening the nurses brought dinner (usually one cooked dish, or biscuits and jam or honey) and I was eating either the cooked dish, with salads, or more fruits or just my salads. I remember that I was preparing my salad at lunch time and I was in no hurry chopping my veggies. And my roommates were surprised at how many veggies I was putting in my salad. They asked me: “you are saving some of that salad for your dinner too, aren’t you?” And I was like “nope, this is all for my lunch”. Then at dinner I was making another large salad like the one for lunch, and they were like “oh you’re not going to make another salad, are you?” And I was like “yeah, I am”. At some point they got to know me better and they eventually got used to my way of eating.

At night time, the nurse came for one more time with our prescriptions. The doctor used to write down for each of us what medication we had to take for the night and the next day. So I was always scared of the thought that I would be forced to take a pill or a shot. Thank God He protected me and I didn’t take a single pill or shot. The nurse would give me the pills and I would be like “ok” and just store them in a bag hidden in the drawer of my nightstand. I remember that when I got home I had this rather large bag of unused pills. The shots were my biggest fear, but somehow I never got one.

The daughter of one of my roommates brought us a laptop so we watched movies each night, or listened to music. During the day we were allowed to spend some time in the yard sitting on benches and right near our yard, practically in our yard, there was a big church (I heard it was purposely built there so the ill people could benefit from it – but there also came people outside the hospital, those living in the area). We were allowed to attend the Sunday service and we were also watching the daily service while sitting in the yard or from our window. I was so blessed to have this church so close to me while I was in the hospital, I couldn’t have made it without God’s help. We were also allowed to have visits so I had friends visiting me and bringing me fruits, and also my husband on daily basis just visiting me or bringing me my load of fruits, veggies and water like every two days (or even daily when needed).

So this was my experience as a high raw vegan in hospital (or rather my experience of being once again cooked non vegan). I was left with light consequences as I only felt kinda bloated at times, kinda constipated at times, and I was clearly feeling the need for a 100% raw vegan diet. But learning to cope with this particular situation and to compromise was a good and I dare say wise choice and a “must do” for me in order to get through the hospital experience and being able to live with the memory of it afterwards.

So in the last days I couldn’t wait to go home. I wasn’t sure of my leaving until I saw the signed papers and I had the “ok” from the head nurse. I was so happy to leave that I wanted to scream it out loud. I reached home and I immediately went shopping for my fruits and veggies. I was finally feeling free once again.

The (happy) end.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

Reading the girls’s posts on a Romanian forum (where I post my menu to show those who eat a standard diet that they can be healthy and eat in abundance if they follow the raw vegan diet), I was thinking that I wouldn’t want to live a life of restriction like they do. I like following their posts as I get a clear difference between standard diet and raw vegan diet. And they are also a reminder of what I don’t want to have. It’s all like a real, live study case.

They are following a diet they call „healthy eating”, meaning low carb, low to moderate fat (and only healthy fats like nuts/seeds/avocado, olive oil), lean meat, little or no fruits and moderate amounts of veggies. Their menus are so frustrating and restrictive that they lead to hunger and then binging on „forbidden foods” (sometimes, they include fruits in this category). And once they binge, they binge even more, saying that "since I spoiled my diet with these cakes, I might as well eat some more, the damage is done already". Some also say they are not friends with veggies.

Their menus include food quantities like the following: 2 teaspoons of cottage cheese, 1 very thin slice of bread (or even half a slice), a little piece of steak "smaller than the back of my hand", 2 mouthfuls of sausage, 10 g ham, 15 g hard cheese, 1 table spoon mayo veggie salad, 1 small tangerine, 1 tomato, 8 slices of cucumber, 1 slice of orange, half a pear, a piece of cheese the size of a matchbox, 1 table spoon of rice, 1 baked potato, a tiny piece of cheesecake, half a pancake, 1 piece of chocolate, 2 French fries "from my boyfriend’s plate because they were so irresistible", etc.

I most certainly wouldn’t want my diet to be characterized by words like “a little”, “a slice”, “a teaspoon”, ‘a mouthful”, “a piece of”, “half a piece of” and I wouldn’t want to justify my menu using excuses like “I ate that slice of orange because I forced myself to stay away from it for so long and I just gave in”, "I ate one extra small banana and now I feel guilty" or “I felt I was craving that walnut to death so I just had to eat it ”.

I want my diet to be guilty-free, to be able to enjoy my food with no fear of gaining weight or of getting sick. I want to nourish my body and to be able to welcome abundance in my lfe. I want to describe my diet in terms of "I just had a 10 banana smoothie", "I bought 5 kg of oranges just for myself", "I'm going to have another 10 banana smoothie for lunch", "I get to eat this huge box of banana strawberry ice cream as a snack" and "I will indulge in my rich rainbow salad for dinner and unwind and feel amazing".

One girl says: “I followed the ketogenic diet but then my liver was in trouble. I have digestion issues and irritable colon. I need a high fiber diet. I perfectly lose weigh on a low carb diet, but then I get constipated. I feel that the carbs make me hungry and give me cravings for sweets, but without them I don’t have enough energy ”. So I guess she just said it herself – she does need to get those carbs in.

And yeah, they tell me how long do I think I will be able to make it with my high carb low fat raw vegan diet...like they expect me to die any minute now...

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

My menu:

February 27, 2014:

- (7:30 am) 12 sun dried dates
- (1:30 pm) banana orange smoothie (850 g frozen bananas, juice of 8 oranges – separately I also ate the pulp of these oranges)
- (0 am) summer squash spaghetti with tomato cauliflower sauce (5 small squashes, 4 tomatoes, dill, the juice from half a lemon, 1 long sweet red pepper, 400 g cauliflower, few leaves of butter lettuce)

Energy: 1711 cals
Calorie breakdown: 89.6% carbs / 6.7% proteins / 3.7% lipids

Water: 2 l

This was Day 27 of my 30 day February fully raw challenge.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

My kitchen rules:

I usually wash my utensils right after I finish making the dishes, so then I can really enjoy my food. If I don’t wash them right away, I become lazy and I have the tendency to leave them for the next day. I tried washing them in the end after eating, but I wasn’t in the mood, so I said I was going to wash them the next day. The next day I was lazy and I only washed them in the evening, right after making dinner. I’m glad though that none of my utensils involves washing away grease, fats, oils – in fact, they are pretty clean after making my dishes...and my bowls/plates too...

And now more thoughts on my current living arrangements:

As I’m more and more thinking of improving my life, I have two choices:

a) living in the same apartment with an alcoholic person and having to put up with everything this situation implies, but not paying the bills, so using my money just for your food;
or
b) moving out of this apartment and living without stress and fear, but having a very tight budget as I'm forced to pay myself for all the bills like electricity and heat (no gas, as no cooking is involved).

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

My menu:

February 28, 2014:

- (10:30 am) 9 oranges
- (3:30 pm) 1.5 l banana milk (750 ml sparkling water, 850 g frozen bananas, 3 fresh strawberries)
- (9:20 pm) cucumber spaghetti with tomato cauliflower sauce (1 long cucumber, 2 tomatoes, dill, the juice from half a lemon, half a long sweet red pepper, 150 g cauliflower, half a head of butter lettuce)
- (0 am) summer squash spaghetti with tomato cauliflower sauce (2 squashes, 3 tomatoes, dill, the juice from half a lemon, half a long sweet red pepper, 150 g cauliflower, half a head of butter lettuce)

Energy: 1515 cals
Calorie breakdown: 88.1% carbs / 7.6% proteins / 4.3% lipids

This was Day 28 of my 30 day February fully raw challenge.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

My menu:

March 01, 2014:

- (12:30 pm) banana strawberry ice cream (10 frozen bananas, 2 fresh strawberries)
- (2:30 pm) banana strawberry ice cream (500 g frozen bananas, 2 fresh strawberries)
- (4:30 pm) 9 very small oranges (the size of tangelos)
- (0 am) summer squash spaghetti with tomato cauliflower sauce (3 squashes, 2 tomatoes, dill, the juice from 1 small lemon, half a long sweet red pepper, 300 g cauliflower) and cabbage salad (300 g white cabbage, the juice from 1 small lemon, dill, 2 tomatoes, half a long sweet red pepper)

Energy: 2067 cals
Calorie breakdown: 90.1% carbs / 6.2% proteins / 3.6% lipids

This was Day 29 of my 30 day fully raw challenge and the beginning of a new fully raw month.

I feel I'm into this raw vegan lifestyle forever.
Have a wonderful spring

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

In the past 2 days I have been experiencing eye sensitivity and redness on the inner lower lid, and in both mornings my eyes were somekind of glued due to a secretion. I know it's an eye infection as my mom is an eye doctor. I usually would use antibacterial eye drops, but I think they would be in the chemicals field. Maybe it's detox, I don't know. Maybe I will use the eye drops, as my eyes' health is the most important.

My menu:

March 02, 2014:

- (12 pm) banana strawberry ice cream (5 frozen bananas, 1 large fresh strawberry)
- (2 pm) banana strawberry ice cream (5 frozen bananas, 1 large fresh strawberry)
- (4 pm) banana strawberry ice cream (5 frozen bananas, 1 fresh strawberry)
- (10 pm) tomato noodle soup with rice (tomato soup: 4 tomatoes, dill, lemon juice, half a long sweet red pepper, half a green bell pepper; noodles: 1 spiralized summer squash; rice: 50 g cauliflower)
- (11:30 pm) spaghetti with tomato cauliflower sauce (spaghetti: 3 spiralized summer squashes; sauce: 2 tomatoes, dill, lemon juice, half a long sweet red pepper, half a green bell pepper, 150 g cauliflower)

Energy: 1628 cals
Calorie breakdown: 89.9% carbs / 5.9% proteins / 4.1% lipids

The soup was so hearty and filling and nourishing, even though it was a cold, raw soup. And the spaghetti were awesome, as usual...

This was Day 30 of my 30 day fully raw challenge. It is said that after 30 days the old habits change. It is true. After 30 days I ditched the old bad habits and I replaced them with new healthy ones. No more questionable raw foods, no more food that comes in a package – only fresh raw fruits/veggies/greens.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

My menu:

March 03, 2014:

- (11 am) banana strawberry ice cream (500 g frozen bananas, 1 fresh strawberry)
- (2 pm) banana strawberry ice cream (500 g frozen bananas, 1 fresh strawberry)
- (3 pm) banana ice cream (500 g frozen bananas)
- (5 pm) banana ice cream (1 kg frozen bananas)
- (6:30 pm) 5 very small oranges (the size of tangelos)
- (0:15 am) tomato noodle soup with rice (soup: 5 tomatoes, dill, lemon juice, half a green bell pepper, half a long sweet red pepper, a quarter of a long cucumber; noodles: half a spiralized summer squash, half a spiralized long cucumber; rice: 50 g cauliflower)
- (1 am) spaghetti with tomato cauliflower sauce (spaghetti: 2 and a half spiralized summer squashes, half a spiralized long cucumber; sauce: 2 tomatoes, dill, lemon juice, half a long sweet red pepper, half a green bell pepper, 150 g cauliflower)

Energy: 2766 cals
Calorie breakdown: 90.8% carbs / 5.5% proteins / 3.7% lipids

This two course dinner was huge, so amazing and delicious, an explosion of taste and freshness.

This was Day 1 of the 100 day fully raw challenge. I want to take this challenge even further, I know this lifestyle is in my blood now.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

My menu:

March 04, 2014:

- (11 am) 8 very small oranges (the size of tangelos)
- (2:30 pm) 5 oranges
- (4:20 pm) 1 orange
- (5:20 pm) 7 very small Romanian red apples
- (10 pm) stuffed peppers with rice (rice: 2 tomatoes, lemon juice, 2 long sweet red peppers, 300 g cauliflower)
- (10:20 pm) spaghetti with tomato cauliflower sauce (spaghetti: 1 spiralized summer squash; sauce: 1 tomato, lemon juice, half a long sweet red pepper, 300 g cauliflower)

Energy: 1316 cals
Calorie breakdown: 88.5% carbs / 7.5% proteins / 4% lipids

This was Day 2 of my 100 day fully raw challenge.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

Yesterday I went shopping and I bought: 3 bags of summer squashes, 1 bag of tomatoes, 1 bag of long sweet red peppers, 2 bags of oranges and 3 bags of not-yet-ripe bananas. I craved bananas, either ice cream or fresh. I decided not to buy cauliflower, I wanted to try a simple tomato sauce with my spaghetti. It was difficult for me to carry all this produce (I put it in a bag pack and two large hand bags), but it made me feel so happy and safe. I feel so safe with all that food all for me. I spent around $40.
Today I bought some more oranges (around 3 kg) as a back-up plan.

Yesterday I got my menstruation and at some point my blood was somehow violet. So I go to my husband and say: “Hey do you know what color my blood is?” and my husband is like: “Green”. Haha…he was so cute, he thought my blood is already green from eating raw foods. I told him it was the nicest thing he said to me

I wonder if it is ok what I have been doing: I keep finding bottles with wine belonging to my husband’s alcoholic mother. So I keep throwing away half of the wine and replacing it with water. My husband told me that he and his father used to do this in the past but with no results, so they stopped doing it and now they never take any action to prevent her from drinking. So I said that at least I am doing something, even if it is not a big thing. But I just can not see the bottle with wine and just do nothing and allow her drink all that wine. It is a small step, but it is a step in the right direction. I just would not forgive myself if I had a chance to do something and I did not do anything.

My menu:

March 05, 2014:

- (12:30 pm) 7 oranges
- (2:30 pm) 5 oranges
- (5 pm) 5 oranges
- (10:30 pm) spaghetti with tomato sauce (spaghetti: 4 spiralized summer squashes and 1 spiralized long cucumber; sauce: 4 tomatoes, lemon juice, 1 long sweet red pepper)

Energy: 971.4 cals
Calorie breakdown: 87.7% carbs / 8.6% proteins / 3.7% lipids

This was Day 3 of my 100 day fully raw challenge.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

What's your thoughts on eating dried fruit? I know some raw foodists think its unhealthy.

Well, airport5, I ate dried fruits for the first time only recently, when I bought dates from a natural store. On the bag it didn't say anything more than dates as ingredients. I used them in a raw vegan cake, I soaked some over night and I used some unsoaked ones as well.

I recently found naturally sun dried fruits like dates, figs, apricots and plums, I found that it was a huge difference between the dates I first bought and the ones that were naturally sun dried (which were so soft and moist and gooey).

I think dried fruits are ok to eat, especially dates which I like a lot. While eating dried fruits, I drank lots of water, like 3-4 liters/day, but it came naturally, I didn't force myself to drink.

It's very important to find ones that are sun dried and raw, not processed, as they usually are oven dried instead of left on the tree to dry, they can also be re-hydrated before selling, they can be coated with oil, or they can be preserved in sulphites or other preservatives, they can have added chemicals.

So I think dried fruits are good and a great back-up plan when you don't have fresh fruits, when you don't have fruit variety (especialy in cold seasons), when you have to travel and you can't carry lots of fresh fruit with you on the road. Just make sure they are raw and naturally dried (reading the label or calling the company can be a great help) and that you drink plenty of water. Dried fruits are loaded with good carbs, have practically no fats and go well with banana ice cream or in banana smoothie (you can add raw carob powder, it's a great combination), but also on their own.

From what I have searched so far, this is a great source of dates, they practically sell mostly to raw vegans

[www.datepeople.net]

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/2014 08:28AM by Ela2013.

I’m having some weird days now. Yesterday and today I’m feeling pretty strange. Yesterday began with me having to register a complaint against my ex-boss for refusing to pay me for my medical leave last year. Then I ate oranges until dinner, and every time I ate oranges I felt they didn’t sit well with me and that I was about to throw up. Then at dinner time I wasn’t hungry, but I thought I made my usual spaghetti because I bought lots of summer squashes and I didn’t want to waste them.

So I went ahead and made the spaghetti even if I felt I was going to throw up only at the thought of eating spaghetti. Bad idea. I first ate a whole long cucumber and it made me feel good. Then I was making the spaghetti while thinking that my body surely didn’t want to eat anything. So I finally finished making the spaghetti, which for the first time in weeks just didn’t look appealing to me. I tasted them and I didn’t like them, so I put some parsley on them, to add in a little green. Usually I don’t like parsley, I only used to eat parsley in cooked tomato soups. Otherwise, it tastes bitter to me. So I didn’t like parsley this time too, and I thought of eating little garlic, because otherwise I couldn’t finish the spaghetti. So I forced myself to eat the spaghetti with 1 clove of garlic. Another big mistake.

I finally finished the whole meal but I was feeling sick because of the garlic, my stomach started to burn immediately and I also became very dizzy, light-headed and spacey, like on drugs. Then I felt I was going to throw up. Before making the spaghetti, I checked my bananas in the wardrobe and some were spotty, so I craved them, but I didn’t listen to my body and I said I was going to have bananas in the morning. So I forced those spaghetti, and parsley, and garlic on my poor body, who has been given me enough signals that he didn’t want any of that.

Then I went to bed and I had a weird night with weird bad dreams. Like yesterday, today I also feel like having some sweet dates, so I’m thinking to go buy some Rotab dates again, they are the closest to natural raw I can find here (I called the company and they said they bring them raw and naturally sun dried from Iran, and that they have no chemicals, no additives, they are not processed in any way – though I wonder how much truth is in there).

I also feel, like yesterday, that everything I eat makes me feel like throwing up. It’s like I don’t like any raw vegan foods anymore all of a sudden, but I also don’t crave any cooked foods as I feel they make me throw up as well. I don’t even crave my favorite frozen peas. It’s like the thought of just any food, raw vegan or not, is making me feel like throwing up and not looking appealing to me anymore. I don’t know what this means, it happened to me before, first when I felt I just couldn’t eat any animal products, and then many times back when I was eating vegan, both cooked and raw. It’s like I am at crossroads or I reached a point where I either move on, or just go back. The only thing that looks appealing to me is a box of dates.

I have plenty of summer squashes in the fridge, plus some lemons, tomatoes and sweet red peppers, but I just can’t eat them anymore, I guess I’m going to donate them to poor people or something, I don’t want to force my body again on eating them just because I bought them. I have no idea what to do from here, I feel like I’m lost. My husband tells me that I feel like this because I eat only fruits and veggies and my body needs a little of everything. The problem is that I can’t eat any food now, so that’s not the point. At times like this, I’m even questioning if I am meant to be a raw vegan or not after all…

Anyways, yesterday I had a really bad day, I felt really down and depressed, lots of torments in my mind. Maybe I’m having an emotional detox as well…you know, when you realize that you haven’t achieved anything in life and that you are stuck in the same routine and environment for the rest of your time…

Health wise, I’m still feeling pretty bad, with flu symptoms and runny nose most times; the weather here doesn’t help, as it’s rather winter than spring…

My menu:

March 06, 2014:

- (1:30 pm) 10 oranges
- (3:30 pm) 5 oranges
- (5 pm) 5 oranges
- (9:50 pm) 1 long cucumber with a quarter of long sweet red pepper
- (10 pm) spaghetti with tomato sauce (spaghetti: 3 spiralized summer squashes; sauce: 3 tomatoes, lemon juice, three quarters of a long sweet red pepper, the core of the squashes) ; some parsley; 1 clove of garlic

Energy: 1100 cals
Calorie breakdown: 87.8% carbs / 8.5% proteins / 3.7% lipids

This was Day 4 of my 100 day fully raw challenge.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

Yesterday I again felt like throwing up after everything I ate. Even after eating dates, but the dates did me really good, I immediately felt my body responding and being happy and my digestion improved so much (so I eliminated all that garlic). I asked my husband to buy two boxes of dates (750 g each box). I read some more about Rotab dates. They grow in Bam region in Iran and they are the best Iranian dates, also called Mosafati dates (they are in the category of soft dates).

I didn’t feel like eating anything, not even sweet fruits (except dates). This was rather surprising for me, but I’m trusting my body and my instincts. Green peas sounded great to me though, pretty much the only thing other than dates that my body felt like having. So I asked my husband to buy me several packages of frozen green peas, they were even on sale for great price.

I realized that right now I tend to eat as simple as I can, mono-meals mostly or very simple combinations (like green peas and tomatoes). Also, I only need small quantities for each meal. Yesterday I could only eat 3 oranges or 3 bananas in one sitting. But I drank a lot of water. I won’t buy large quantities of food any more as I feel my mood is changing a lot and so are my preferences. So I will only buy small quantities according to what I feel like eating for the next day or two (except bananas, which I feel I must always have around, for ice cream mostly).

So yesterday I went to bed early at 10:30 pm, but I woke up at 2:30 am when my husband came home. I couldn’t sleep anymore, I was hungry. So I tossed and turned until 5:30 pm and I went in the kitchen and ate 5 long red peppers that I previously bought the other day. I was still hungy so I made a freshly squeezed lemon orange juice (I had 21 extremely tiny baby lemons that needed to be consumed, I added 2 oranges and it made a 500 ml juice). The juice was still sour but it had plenty of vitamin C. Then I had to eat 5 dates to get a sweet taste and after that I finally fell asleep at 7:30 am until 11 am.

Right now I just had a bag of 400 g of frozen peas. They taste incredible, so sweet and fresh, and my body responded great to them also. If I were to eat only green peas, dates and banana ice cream for the rest of my life, I would have no objection to that.

I still feel sick or dizzy or just like a zombie for only sleeping 4 hrs last night, here is very cold outside, it has been raining the whole night, it is dark and cloudy and I wish spring was really here already.

So I guess for the next period of time I will be listening to my body and to my daily preferences and go from there.

This time I feel I really needed to eat green peas, even if they are frozen. I think they are not an addiction to me, but rather something my body requests (I read so many good things about green peas, even frozen ones: they are anti-inflammatory, they are great for the bones – so there must be something they contain that my body needs). Since they can’t be compared to frozen corn and they are not fattening, I will eat them whenever my body wants them. I am not a purist on being 100% raw vegan as I know frozen peas are not raw (actually they are a good compromise as they are not really raw, but they are not really cooked either), this is a step for my well being. Also the dates I’m buying may be or may not be raw as you can’t always trust the label or what the producer is telling you, but there’s no reason for me to worry as well. I decided not to have a challenge for anything anymore, as I only want to go day by day for the rest of my life. I may have good days, I may have bad days like these past three days, so my goal is just keep going and do the best I can.

My menu:

March 07, 2014:

- (8:15 pm) 5 extra small bananas
- (1:45 pm) 3 oranges
- (5 pm) 3 small bananas
- (7 pm) 2 small bananas
- (10:30 pm) 20 dates

Energy: 1346 cals
Calorie breakdown: 93.5% carbs / 4% proteins / 2.4% lipids

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.