Thursday, September 25, 2008

I Didn't Even Have to Use My AK

Ice Cube doesn't have anything on me.

About a month ago I decided to change my life. I felt a need to gain control of my eating habits. I'm not trying to go too deep with this, but I've struggled with eating disorders for about 13 years now. Raw seemed like the logical leap to gain a better food perspective. I usually run to fasts to lose weight, detox and regain control. But this time I wanted to stay away from deprivation.

At first, this was definitely hard. I'm from Texas. We likes our food cooked. How I longed for a damn taco. Or good god! CTate's queso. However, something really clicked for me. I started seeing food as less of a thing to be feared and more of a thing to be cherished. I got so many great ideas about how to deal with food. It never dawned on me to use collards in place of tortillas. And raw desserts opened up an even better option. I am definitely a person obsessed with sweets. I feel like I have to have something sweet every single day. Sometimes fruit just doesn't do and raw desserts/smoothies give me a healthier alternative.

I feel different. More energized. Less bloated. I feel almost weightless. And I have done jack in the way of exercise for the past week and a half. I'm eating more fruits, vegetables and nuts. This is fantastic because I was relying far too much on soy and wheat gluten to get me by. I'm also loving the fact that I still feel satisfied eating unprocessed foods.

If you've ever considered a walk on the raw side, challenge yourself to do this. For a week. For a month. Whatever the amount of time, I guarantee you will look at things differently. In less than a month (with very minimum exercise) I'm down 11.4 pounds and up in energy like you wouldn't believe.

Okay. I'm gonna step off of the raw soapbox now.

Last night I did a little Vegan Mofo research. It's only a few days away. I watched Kissing Jessica Stein because it will be my "dinner and a movie" movie. So many great ideas. How stoked am I? I'm a ridiculous amount of stoked. Yay!

In my next blog, I'll upload pictures of the incredibly fancy/easy soup I made from The Artful Vegan yesterday. It involved tomatillos, cucumber, avocado and saffron-lime ice. It was garlicky goodness.

If you'll excuse me, the two Coreys are calling my name. That's right, I'm bout to watch Lost Boys: The Tribe. I wonder if watching it after the original would only make it even worse?

5 comments:

Kamaile said...

Today was a good day...

I always enjoyed looking at your food porn (ppk). I'm vegan too (yeah!) and look forward to reading your blog!

Dallas represent!

ps. I love exclamation points!

Sarah said...

hey! have you tried raw tacos yet? i used ani's taco "meat" recipe and a "cheddaR" recipe i found somewhere (cashews and red pepper are the main component) and put 'em in a romaine leaf w/ some veggies and fresh salsa. today i didn't have most of the stuff, but i had leftover meat so i used the romaine again and some red pepper slices and ani's black pepper cheeze and cilantro and WOW. i think they're the best tacos i've ever had.

Destiny's Kitchen said...

I'm so happy you're finding a balance between loving food & loving food too much. I've always had issues with that too. Weight fluctuations and guilt trips, ugh.

I haven't tried much raw "cooking", but I just bought a refurbished Vita-mix with my financial aid, so I'm going to be eating lot of smoothies, sorbets, etc. once it arrives. I've recently given up refined sugar & haven't felt better. It's amazing what a simple change in lifestyle can do for a person. I wish you all the best!

Anonymous said...

That was inspiring. I've always had issues with food as well. If I decide to do a raw challenge I'll definitley be coming to you for recipes and advice.

Monique a.k.a. Mo said...

Kamaile-TEXAS REPRESENT! It's always good to hear from another member of the Lone Star State. Thank you for the kind words.

Sarah-Yes. I did try taco meat made from nuts. My initial impression was blech. One of the nuts I used was giving of this sweet after taste. I'm going to try it again though.

Destiny's Vegan Kitchen-Where did you get the Vitamix? Was it online? I think that would save some time for me. Right now I'm having to use my food processor, coffee grinder and blender symbiotically.

Theliberalvegan-Do it! I promise you there is a difference! It's like...an extended yawn or something.