I had no idea how much food I would have to eat to stay comfortable eating raw vegan. I feel like I was eating all day long, and I just felt voracious. I guess I get why horses and cows and other herbivores graze all day. I ate a whole watermelon (not in one sitting), a bunch of bananas, probably 4 oranges and then finally steamed the last of the trout in the fridge and felt completely defeated. It didn't matter what I ate or how much, I just couldn't get enough to feel satiated. I guess I get where one of the raw fruitarian websites get's it's name... 30 Bananas a Day. I probably could have eaten that many but I felt a like a pig and I realized that I way under shopped. My son isn't faring too well, so he's gone back to fish, so far today though, I've had no animal derived proteins. He would totally live on oranges, apples and bananas, but he just kept saying how hungry he was. I know this is a learning curve, I figure I can put him on it slowly as I get the hang of it. I can't expect a 4 year old to get it all of a sudden. Plus, with how picky kids can be, it's hard to be sure he's getting everything he needs.
Today, we went to the Farmer's Market and even though I have said I'm going Raw, I did have a Vegan Strawberry Cupcake. It was divine and I felt horrible for breaking my word to myself the 2nd time since I committed to it. I do get though that getting discouraged is how people give up on things, so I just told myself that I'm still learning and went on my way. I'm still in shock over the sheer quantity of things I have to eat and how quickly I go from feeling okay to hungry. It's amazing how full and for how long you're full something like fish can make you feel. It's understanding how so many people fail on this lifestyle. They give up before they get any real health benefits from it because you just can't feel satisfied on roughage right away. In that way, I see how animal flesh is addictive.
I'm going to keep on trucking, though. I know I'm going to screw up and I'm prepared for it. One thing that I am going to miss is honey. Here in Ohio it's such a big part of the organic and farmer's market scene that it's unavoidable. Is honey really that bad in small quantities? Ethically speaking. Bees aren't harmed anymore. They used to be, but that was well over 100 years ago. I really loved it drizzled in super fine, almost hair thin ribbons all over some fresh strawberries, peaches, hell, almost any fruit. The warm taste it add is like Summer in your mouth. Yum. Okay, I'm going to stop now before I get myself into trouble.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Thursday, May 3, 2012
First Post!
I'm fickle. I'm also a fat ass. I've made my husband a fat ass (a lot of that I can blame on America though). I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, Chronic Migraines, Asthma, Allergies, Post-Cholecystectomy Syndrome, Keratosis Pilaris, Rosacea and Anti-Phospholipid Syndrome. That's a shit ton of problems. I weigh 220 and I am 5'2", and at the ripe old age of 27, I have high cholesterol. I struggled with Anorexia as a teen and my lowest weight was somewhere in the 70's. I am currently at my highest weight. My husband is British and was pretty much the picture of health before he came to America. I got married at 19 and the only cooking I knew was good old fashioned Midwestern/Southern food. I used butter like Paula Deen.
My husband, Sean, works on rotations. Five weeks overseas and five weeks off at home. His last rotation, we ate steamed fish and veggies pretty much every night, but I still feel like we could do more. My son is 4 and his enthusiasm for fruits and veggies is waning quickly, which worries me. I have about a thousand reasons why I'm going to try to go raw vegan. Since the hubs left for rotation yesterday morning, I took the chance to purge the house of meat, dairy, fish, processed foods, pretty much everything. My usual grocery bill at Wal-Mart or Meijer is around $200 every week, week and a half. Most of it is snacky things for my son. I am guilty of giving him hot dogs, ham, cheese, every horrible thing most American Mom's obliviously feed their kids. Every time he asks for a can of vienna sausages, a little piece of me dies. No. More.
Today, I went to Kroger. Usually I avoid that place like the plague because they're so bloody expensive, but I allowed myself free reign in the produce section. I chose Kroger because their produce section is so gorgeous, next time will be Trader Joe's. I came out with a cart full of food for $67. My son giddily asked for things and I never once told him no. We picked out melons, berries, grapes, apples, bananas, greens, cauliflower, carrots, celery, bean sprouts, citrus, anything that looked remotely good, we grabbed it. I noticed how much heavier the cart felt compared to when it's full of frozen things, meats, junk. We smelled and felt our produce and had fun bagging it up together. We talked about how we couldn't wait to get home and crack one of those sugarbaby melons open and feast.
I am not a big eater. Portions are not my problem. I can barely finish a Happy Meal. My problem is Insulin Resistance from the PCOS and bad food choices. I've come to this place in my life by baby steps. Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper were my weaknesses. A couple years ago, I switch to Diet Soda, a few months ago, I cut soda out completely. I started buying the Fruit2O's and sparkling flavored waters, and a little bit of weight budged. Once I finish the few bottles I have left in the fridge, I will just be on plain old water. I have 5 weeks to commit to this and show my husband the benefits of it before he gets home. This 5 weeks is an experiment. I'm hoping this blog keeps me honest and on track. So down to the facts...
As of today I am 220 pounds. Every morning I take Benadryl, 750mg of Metformin Extended Release, Claritin, Advair and Dulera. Every Evening I take Benadry, Unisom (Doxylamine), 81mg Aspirin, Zyrtec, Metormin, Trazadone (as needed for sleep), Advair, Dulera and all throughout the day, I have a Ventolin inhaler, as needed.
I didn't eat breakfast, but I had half a Sugarbaby Watermelon, a handful of Black Grapes, a Banana and I'm going to eat some baby carrots here in a minute. So far, it's only 4PM. Dinner tonight will probably go on tomorrow's post.
Thanks for reading, I hope all my posts aren't this long and boring!
My husband, Sean, works on rotations. Five weeks overseas and five weeks off at home. His last rotation, we ate steamed fish and veggies pretty much every night, but I still feel like we could do more. My son is 4 and his enthusiasm for fruits and veggies is waning quickly, which worries me. I have about a thousand reasons why I'm going to try to go raw vegan. Since the hubs left for rotation yesterday morning, I took the chance to purge the house of meat, dairy, fish, processed foods, pretty much everything. My usual grocery bill at Wal-Mart or Meijer is around $200 every week, week and a half. Most of it is snacky things for my son. I am guilty of giving him hot dogs, ham, cheese, every horrible thing most American Mom's obliviously feed their kids. Every time he asks for a can of vienna sausages, a little piece of me dies. No. More.
Today, I went to Kroger. Usually I avoid that place like the plague because they're so bloody expensive, but I allowed myself free reign in the produce section. I chose Kroger because their produce section is so gorgeous, next time will be Trader Joe's. I came out with a cart full of food for $67. My son giddily asked for things and I never once told him no. We picked out melons, berries, grapes, apples, bananas, greens, cauliflower, carrots, celery, bean sprouts, citrus, anything that looked remotely good, we grabbed it. I noticed how much heavier the cart felt compared to when it's full of frozen things, meats, junk. We smelled and felt our produce and had fun bagging it up together. We talked about how we couldn't wait to get home and crack one of those sugarbaby melons open and feast.
I am not a big eater. Portions are not my problem. I can barely finish a Happy Meal. My problem is Insulin Resistance from the PCOS and bad food choices. I've come to this place in my life by baby steps. Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper were my weaknesses. A couple years ago, I switch to Diet Soda, a few months ago, I cut soda out completely. I started buying the Fruit2O's and sparkling flavored waters, and a little bit of weight budged. Once I finish the few bottles I have left in the fridge, I will just be on plain old water. I have 5 weeks to commit to this and show my husband the benefits of it before he gets home. This 5 weeks is an experiment. I'm hoping this blog keeps me honest and on track. So down to the facts...
As of today I am 220 pounds. Every morning I take Benadryl, 750mg of Metformin Extended Release, Claritin, Advair and Dulera. Every Evening I take Benadry, Unisom (Doxylamine), 81mg Aspirin, Zyrtec, Metormin, Trazadone (as needed for sleep), Advair, Dulera and all throughout the day, I have a Ventolin inhaler, as needed.
I didn't eat breakfast, but I had half a Sugarbaby Watermelon, a handful of Black Grapes, a Banana and I'm going to eat some baby carrots here in a minute. So far, it's only 4PM. Dinner tonight will probably go on tomorrow's post.
Thanks for reading, I hope all my posts aren't this long and boring!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)