College Raw...An Attempt at the (almost) Impossible

I wish that I could blame my lack of blogging on preparation for college, but the truth is, I packed the morning of my departure and school certainly has not been on my mind much this summer. Hopefully, now that I'll have the opportunity to get myself into a regular routine, I can fit in specific blog time a couple days during the week.

We'll see how it plays out.

Anywho, I moved into my dorm yesterday (in DC) but spent the night at my brothers place in VA. I came back on campus this afternoon and have been getting settled in since then. Before I left VA to return to campus, my parents and I went to Lowes to get some last minute things for the room (ex. rug, surge protector). While getting ready to check out, my mom suggested that I buy some greenery for the room...you would have thought I'd be the one to suggest it. We went to the lawn and garden section of the store and had tons of plants to choose from.

Just a small side note...as a city girl, I can't recall seeing many hardware stores in NY with such a vast selection plants.

I was taken away by the amount of green that was surrounding me. If only it was all edible! (now that's what I call an all you can eat buffet - yes, very corny). I paced around for about ten minutes before I found what I wanted. Turns out that I probably got the two most random plants I could've purchased.

Here are the babies:


The one on the left is 'ornamental kale' and on the right I have an 'anthurium' (never heard of it before). The kale is kind of cool because it has a purplish tone to it in the center of each leaf...and I can eat it eventually if I choose to. There was no real rationale for choosing the other, I was mostly just drawn to its size and the fact that it looks manageable for my soon-to-be college lifestyle. I'll post updates on these guys quarterly...or whenever I feel like it.

I was surprised to see these two items when I walked into the room for the first time:


I imagine that I won't get much, if any, use out of the microwave, but the mini fridge will definitely be helpful. And to think...I almost brought my own from home!

One MAJOR item that I left home is......MY JUICER. I had it all packed up and ready to go. I had used it that same morning to make some carrot juice before leaving and I made sure to clean it thoroughly because I knew I'd have to sit in the car with it for 4 hours. Lo and behold, all of that hard work was for nothing. Next time I go home (which should be at the end of September), I'll have to lug it back to school with me. Oh, how I miss it already....

Gotta give another shout out to the 100 day raw food challengers...stay strong!

Raw. Love.
-Natalie

The Ultimate Irony

I'll try to keep this brief, simply because this subject does not make much sense to me.

My niece turned 13 this past weekend, and my sister asked that I escort her to a Jonas Brothers concert that took place last weekend at Madison Square Garden. My niece is absolutely infatuated with these three boys and she loves their music. The two of us had a good time at the concert...but there was one thing that really bothered me about it...


The youngest Jonas brother, Nick, is 15 years old and was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes 2 years ago. He played a song at the concert that he wrote after learning about his condition, and the title of the song, A Little Bit Longer, is also the title of their new album.

Throughout the concert, they showed videos of he and his brothers volunteering at children's hospitals to help out other young people who suffer from diabetes as well. There were also video clips of him checking his insulin levels, and describing the shifts in his diet he was required to make.

All of that was fine....very touching. But then I looked down at my neck where my free Jonas Brothers key chain was hanging and saw this:


And when I looked up from my chain, there were Burger King ads galore on the two 50ft television screens above the stage. UNBELIEVABLE. The ads were running during the whole hour and a half that we were waiting for their band to come on.

Of coarse, my niece couldn't have cared less (and I didn't want to ruin her time), but that right there was a valuable lesson in ethics.

I don't know how much control the Jonas Brothers have over who sponsors what, but to allow something like that just seemed unfitting and unacceptable.

Weigh-in on it. What do you think?

Raw. Love.
-Nat

Testimonial

(Before - January 6th, 2008)

I'm dedicating this post to my progress. I wrote about the strides I've made in a post that I wrote last month, but I was too ashamed to put up shirtless photos. Although the picture that I put up last month displays my 'pimple plague' (which was pretty awful), I think that the one above is a lot worse.

This picture was taken on January 6th...the day before I started the Body-for-Life program. Not only does my facial expression scream misery, but my insides were very much screaming it as well. I was in a really unhappy place at that time. Not only was the freezing New England weather keeping me down, but I was also pressed to meet college application deadlines, keep up a decent GPA, and play Varsity Basketball. On top of all of that, I was away from family, which meant that I wasn't receiving all of the support I needed.

At that point, I decided that it was time I support myself.

My first attempt to do this was by borrowing my sister's copy of Bill Phillip's Body-for-Life and reading it cover to cover. As my brain matured on the issue of health, I took the next step and purchased a copy of Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin...and read it cover to cover. Reading those two books eventually snowballed into what eventually became my raw food obsession.

No, I'm not 100% raw (yet), but I make an effort daily to include plenty of raw foods into my diet. As a result of making simple changes such as substituting cucumber apple juice :-) for processed orange juice, or subbing a large, hearty salad for a turkey burger with fries (okay, maybe that's not such a simple swap)...I now look like this:

(Now - August 6th, 2008)

I still have lots of work to do in order to get to where I would like to be, but for now, I'm pretty content with the progress I've made. It's been a long, SLOW process, but there's not much that I would change about the way I approached my transition.

I used to think that protein shakes and loading up on creatine would be my best bets for dropping pounds, but nothing has given me greater results than a vegan diet with a large emphasis on raw foods.

Since my ankle still hasn't completely healed, I haven't started a workout regimen as of yet. I can do things such as powerwalk and upperbody weight training without being in much pain so I need to jump on that right away in order to add some shape and definition to my body.

Although, I find it amazing that I've gotten this far just by changing my diet. Imagine when I start throwing in workouts!

All I can do is stay determined and strive for the best.

Raw. Love.
-Nat

Cucumber Extravaganza

My smoothie/juice of choice lately has been either the cucumber + peach combo or the cucumber + apple combo. Both sounded incredibly gross to me when I first heard about them, but you can't knock something unless you try it. Well, I ended up trying it and loving it. I made some for my mom as well and she was amazed by how refreshing it was...especially on such a hot summer day in NYC.

I really have no preference when it comes to throwing the ingredients in the blender or juicing them...both have their positives. I like blending it because I can drink it slower and chew it along the way. I like juicing it because it goes down faster when I'm in a rush and I also enjoy the smoothness.


At the start of the afternoon, I made myself a cucumber and peach juice and it was incredibly tasty. I normally throw in some cinnamon, but I couldn't find any...the drink was perfectly fine without it though. I also usually use two peaches and one cucumber, but I only had one peach at home today...once again, the drink was perfectly fine without the second peach.


This was actually the first time I'd ever juiced a peach. I find that juicing apples comes more naturally but I think the softness of a peach makes me feel the need to blend it instead. Whatever though...it worked out fine.

One thing that I make sure to do when I'm blending (not juicing) cucumbers is to peel the skin off. I think that there are mixed feeling when it comes to doing this, but I've found that the inside of my mouth and lips go numb when I keep the skin on. Maybe that's a reaction that only I experience, but it is enough for me to stay away from cucumber skin.

I'll leave you with an image of today's juice...with me hovering over it :-) Enjoy raw foodies!


Raw. Love.
-Nat

Hello DC

On Friday, August 1st, I left NYC to spend a few days in DC. August 1st was also the start of the 100 day raw food challenge which I registered for a few weeks back. I was really excited about the challenge but kept it to myself because I didn't want to come across as a hypocrite if I didn't stay strictly raw throughout the challenge. For the past couple of days, I've just been steadily going at my own pace and I'm feeling really good about the strides I've made. Now, I know it's only been about 2 1/2 days, but my diet has cleaned up tremendously and I'm liking it.

When I arrived on Friday, I stayed in a hotel with my sister located by Embassy Row. The area was very nice and not too crowded. When I woke up on Saturday morning, my sister had already left for a conference that she needed to attend and I was alone trying to figure out a way to keep myself entertained. I called up my brother (who lives in northern VA), and asked if he knew of any farmers markets in the area. His wife directed me by phone to a popular market in the Eastern Market area where I was able to grab some breakfast and some other things that I was able to bring back to the hotel. I spent just a little more than $10 on fruits and veggies. I didn't really need that much because I wasn't staying in that hotel on Saturday night. Instead, I headed to my brothers later in the afternoon where he had plenty of groceries that catered to my diet.

Before I left for Northern VA, my sister and I grabbed some chow at a Japanese restaurant in the area where our hotel was. I LOVE sushi...and it took a lot of will power to pass it up. I found a good alternative though...it was called the Sakana Healthy Salad and it ran me about $6.95. It was an amazing raw Seaweed Salad with cucumbers; So tasty. Here's what it looked like:

I was pleasantly surprised by how full I was upon finishing the salad. I have a HUGE appetite and a bottomless pit for a stomach, so it's not easy to fill me up...that's why I was extra impressed with this Seaweed Salad. This dish definitely made it easier for me to sit next to my sister and watch her devour 3 sushi rolls. Torture, or will power booster?

A nice surprise at the end of my meal was the fact that I didn't have to pay for it. Since my sister was on a 'business trip,' her company paid for all of her meals while she stayed in DC. There was one side of me that was upset because if I wasn't raw, I would have cleaned out that place by eating all of their sushi. On the other hand though, I enjoyed my free salad and was very thankful for receiving such a nourishing meal. Actually, passing up free, quality sushi motivated me to be good for the rest of the challenge because if I constantly slip up, what would have been the point of me turning down what was practically an all-you-can-eat buffet of my favorite food? Confusing, yes, but if you read the last sentence twice, my message should be clear.

Moving along, I arrived at my brother's house yesterday with my two bags and an empty stomach. My mother had just left the day before and she stocked their refrigerator with lots of fresh veggies before she left...I was so excited!

I made myself a nice little salad for dinner and my sister was hovering over me the whole time I was making it. She couldn't stop talking about how good it looked, so I reluctantly allowed her to try the first bite. Here's the salad...my sister is responsible for the presentation, she tossed it until it looked perfect:

Meal-wise, I was done for the day and didn't get hungry again until this morning. I had a cucumber/peach smoothie with cinnamon for breakfast and it was so refreshing. I drank it while I went out on a walk with my brother, his wife, their two kids, and my sister. What a gorgeous day it was.

I took a few photos of the farmers market produce that I bought, but I think that this post is long enough and I wouldn't mind dedicating a post later in the week to just that. My farmers market trip wasn't extremely exciting, but I guess it'll be enough for me to write here.

Bottom line (which I didn't really discuss)...I love this city, and I'll be seeing a lot more of it soon because this is where I'll be going to college...YAY!

More to come...soon.

Big ups to everyone participating in the 100 Day Raw Food Challenge...We can do this!

Raw. Love.