Thick shake held me over for lunch!
I have been eyeing the last 2 bananas left and contemplating a shake. I went for it! 2 bananas, a squirt of honey, a teensy pinch of salt and a bit of vanilla, mixed with the last of my almond milk, and - may i burn in raw foods hell! - a shake or two of cocoa powder. i thought about mesquite powder, but... i dunno. i just couldn't resist the pull of cocoa. neither raw nor organic! well, it wasn't even a tsp, which is about 20 calories for cocoa. therefore, it was less than 1% of a 2000 calorie diet. hmm. bad nim!

ok, i'm over it. i'll look for carob tonight when i go shopping. doubt i'll find it raw; i never do. but after my fasting the next few weeks, i'll order a lot online and be loving life!

I think I was thirsty after that shake, which might be why I was craving sweet. Anyway, about 2 hours after the shake I cut up an apple and sprinkled some cinnamon on it, then drizzled just a smidge of honey on it. Yum! True vegans would hate me, but I don't consider myself a raw vegan, just a raw foodist who's mainly vegan. Ah, grey areas.

Another day, fully raw
Well, completing yesterday marked my 6th full day raw. Once today is done, I'll have gone my longest no-cheating stretch ever!

Yesterday after lunch I had the last pint of strawberries, then 4 or 5 dried apricots. I also had 2-avo guac for dinner (with corn, of course). After 9pm or so, I had a banana with honey and mesquite powder, a handful of granola, and a few more apricots.

This morning I finished up the granola with the almond milk. I have a little almond milk left, so I think I'll make a shake later on.

I couldn't get to sleep until way past midnight, and I was up and about before 6 with no problem. I even wandered back down to the bed, just to waste the time until I _had_ to be up, and couldn't get back to sleep! A first for "Miss Horizontal 2003".

I've been keeping to my activity schedule, which mainly is just cleaning and evening crafts, but I'm sticking to it, which is the point. Gosh, what's next? A completed project??

food log
I munched on some granola, but mainly ate the rest of the essene bread at lunch. That's definitely what set me off earlier. I'm sure I'll have another round of _that_ kind of fun tomorrow because of it. Oh well, now I know. I chased it with a grapefruit, which tasted soooo good to me. I'm really looking forward to some guac tonight -- can't wait!

I had some green tea earlier, which fills me up to no end! I'm still thirsty, so I've been drinking water like mad. Almost caved in to one of those oatmeal cookies just lying about. I might have a strawberry smoothie or something in a bit. Need to eat those expensive organics before they have a chance to go bad!

GI fun
Hmm. Well, that thick feeling in my stomach, which started sometime yesterday morning after I ate my essene bread or perhaps the night before with those mushrooms, has progressed to gastro-intestinal fun. This is a first for me in this lifestyle! I wonder if it's cleansing or if there was something in the mushrooms or the bread that my body doesn't like. Let's see:

Sunday: mushrooms with pesto, also 'pizza' mushrooms. Felt reall full afterwards. Lotsa nuts today, like pine nuts and cashews. Think I also had guac with 2 avos, so this is a high-fat day. Made the bread and nibbled some. Even my apple/cinnamon treat didn't sit well, come to think of it. Also had veggie crackers.

Monday: Essene bread in the AM, with agave and cinnamon. Almond milk, granola. I felt overly full after the bread, but pressed on at lunch with the leftover mushrooms. By dinner I knew I needed something more simple, so I had a salad -- dressing with lots of garlic and parsley. 1 sliced avo in there, plus corn and some grape tomatoes. Didn't even feel sleepy until midnight. Granola snacked all day.

Today: Lethargic to wake up. Wonder if I should have tried to sleep earlier? Breakfast was granola and almond milk. GI has settled down since I first woke up -- and what a wake up call! I think that's what ultimately got me out of bed. Pretty small, as far as my brekkies go, but I'm still not feeling hungry, but pretty thirsty.

Energy!
Interesting. I've been fully, 100% no-cheating raw for 5 full days now. The days before that were mixed with salad dressings or a cheated-in ice cream helping. Such a weakness. But ha ha! No more! Point is, I'm super-charged with energy today. I've gotten soooo much done! There isn't a scrap of dirty clothing in the house, nor a dirty dish, and that's just the every-day stuff! Nevermind the re-arranging of furniture and the straightening/super-cleaning of shelves and drawers and closet. Hmmm.

I do feel a little thick in the stomach from time to time today. I think it was the essene bread I ate for breakfast. It's just so dense! Tomorrow I should be able to eat that granola I've been drying tonight. I snitched a lot of it, and it does taste great! Well, time to re-vamp my other website. Another proverbial closet-cleaning.

First order of business
Alrighty, I suppose I should say what brought me to this blog and this diet. I decided to get rid of animal products about a year ago, just to cleanse and (eventually) provide a nice, nutritious base for any critters-to-be. I ran into raw foods discussions, probably in my search for non-processed sugars. I don't recall exactly.

Anyway, since then, I've been trying to become raw -- that is eat no food heated above 118 degrees -- with varied success. Usually I make it a full week then crumble before the sight of ice cream. And once the floodgates are opened..

So skip to now, when I've seen pictures of myself after my summer of no meats or sugars and wow! I look great. Then pics of me after the holidays when I "let" myself eat all sorts of anything. Le yuk. So since January 2004, I've been more motivated, and consistent, than ever.

To that end, I decided to set up a site of links and articles so people, like my husband, can find out more about this lifestyle and why I've chosen it. And lo! A blog is included in tripod's package. Ok, then. Blogging, here I come! And in the end, I think, the blog will be more of a food journal for me. This journey is pretty fresh for me, and until I learn to really listen to what my body needs, I'd better write down everything, no matter how boring or gross it may be at first.