It's All About What You're Comfortable With

(Today's Lunch - Garbanzo Stew on a Bed of Lettuce and Onions)

I know that last time I said I'd talk about survival tips today, but I felt the need to write about another topic that I think is relevant to many. I'm still putting together the Spain Survival Guide and I promise that it'll be up soon enough.

On to today's topic...

DIETS DON'T WORK -
and I don't think that's a massive revelation.

As much as I dislike the term 'Yo-Yo Dieting,' I guess I could have been classified as a 'Yo-Yo Dieter' up until I fell into veganism. Just like you hear all too often in infomercials, I hopped around from diet to diet with short-lived rewards each time. I went from The Zone Diet, to The Atkins Diet, to Body-for-Life, to Skinny Bitch, to 100% raw vegan for a period of time. Given the title and theme of my blog, you can clearly tell which route I decided to take as far as my diet goes.

What I've heard, seen, and read repeatedly and believe whole heartedly is the fact that vegetarianism, veganism, and raw veganism are not diets; they are lifestyles. I do not have my copy of Skinny Bitch right in front of me so this statement is not repeated verbatim, but the authors stated that with a vegan diet that stuck within certain parameters, you could literally eat whatever you want. It took me awhile to understand this point and eventually apply it to my life, but I slowly got it. After awhile, I didn't WANT hamburgers or milkshakes and I was no longer CRAVING sugary snacks or soda. Eventually, I craved those nutrient rich foods that were doing my body good. I ultimately felt like I was doing my mind and body an injustice by not feeding it raw, organic foods often (especially greens). Sure, I have my slip ups here and there and my diet isn't squeeky clean, but I'd say that 60-70% of the time, I have that feeling of 'I can eat whatever I want' because I'm not wanting anything harmful, and let me tell you, that's and amazing feeling to have.

What I am currently working on is that 30-40% of the time where eating whatever I want does mean a burger and fries or ice cream. Battling that yearning for something harmful has been rocky, but I get increasingly stronger with every setback. For the past week, I've been bouncing back from a traumatic 3 days of junk food binging and I can't recall a time where I've been cleaner for a seven day period. I'm feeling really good right now and veganism with an emphasis on raw is treating me very well. I don't see myself being plagued with another setback anytime soon but if I am, I'm sure I'll bounce back in a strong manner once again.

It's all about what you're comfortable with...

I gave the post this title because this is a very imporant idea and principle to go by. Be sure not to breach your comfort zone too quickly or too drastically. Transitions take time and I personally prefer easing into things. When you take it slow, you have the opportunity to step back and really take note of the positive changes that are taking place in your life. I'm at the point where I am actually having a lot of fun with my diet and fitness because I experiment as often as I can and I have come to the realization that I have the freedom to create the body I desire.

If you're not comfortable with being a vegetarian, don't do it. If being a raw vegan gives you discomfort, make a change. I learned in my business class recently that if we do not get energy from engaging in a specific activity, we will not experience success with that activity. I get energy from being a vegan and eating lots of raw food, but maybe that's not the thing for everyone. This is the same reason why so many diets fail...you commit for 8 weeks and then what? If you truly got energy from that activity, the commitment would be indefinite.

Think about this, and see if you can apply it to all facets of your life.

Raw love folks...
-Natalie

Time to Engage in Some Travel

(oh how I miss the days of Spain - Fall 2006)

Two nights ago, I gathered up enough courage to finally purchase some round trip tickets for Spain. As a nervous flyer, it's never easy for me to actually go through with the act of buying plane tickets but I forced myself to do it given how reasonably priced the tickets are nowadays. I'll be leaving in mid-March and I'll stick around for a week. I'm really excited about going and this trip has been the theme of my journal writing for the past week or so. What excites me most is the fact that this time around, I have a different challenge facing me than my last tour there...

If you've read some of my posts from either the spring or summer, you'll come across some mention of when I spent a school year in Spain. I was situated in a mid-sized city called Zaragoza where I lived with a pair of wonderful host parents and was able to become proficient in the Spanish language (however, my proficiency has surely declined). I call my host parents every once in awhile and I send them cards and packages whenever possible. Keeping ties with them is super important to me because they took amazing care of me while I stayed in their home. My host mom always tells me that I'm welcome to stay at their house whenever I visit Zaragoza but I may actually opt to stay in a hostel this time around because she is expecting a baby around the time of my arrival.

(My host parents and myself--that's not their baby by the way)

The challenge that I mentioned above will be largely related to my diet. When I stayed with my host parents, they provided me with two meals per day - breakfast and dinner - and lunch was provided by the school that I attended. Spanish cuisine was very new and different for me; it definitely took some getting used to but I was very appreciative of the opportunity I had to experience such a vastly different style of food first hand. Some examples of a typical dinner my mom would cook are: Seafood Paella, Blood Sausage with a side, Rabbit meat with grilled, sliced potatoes, Lamb with potatoes, and Pasta with Clams and Mussels.

Two things that I didn't realize about the Spanish is the quantity of food that they eat and how late they consume their food. I probably would have been fine during those nine months if I kept my portions small and ate 3-4 hours before I went to sleep, but I was under their roof and thus, their rules were the only one's that mattered.

I ended up heading back to the U.S. with an extra 6-8lbs on me and, I'm sure, a great loss in muscle mass due to my lack of exercise.

This time around, even though only for a week, I will keep close tabs on my eating habits. This will be more of a practice of self control rather than a fear of weight gain while I'm over there. The trip has also motivated me to shape up a bit before my departure...I want to look DAMN good upon my arrival.

I'll discuss my Spanish Eating Plan in further detail next time and I'll also see if I can come up with some survival tips for myself.

Raw. Love.
-Nat

Larabar Shout Out in the NY TIMES

So, as odd as it may seem, I enjoy reading the Thursday Styles section of the New York Times. As you can probably guess, I am back at school after a nice, long (could have been longer) winter break and we get the Times in my dorm for free every morning excluding the weekends. The only catch is that my dorm houses about 100 or so people and they only give us about 8 papers...what a rip. This means that every morning, I have to get myself up around 7, whether I have an early class or not, and run downstairs to grab a paper before they're all gone.

The paper options we have are: The Washington Post, USA Today, and the New York Times...but honestly, which do you think most of us want to read?

Alrighty, on to today's topic. The Thursday Styles section this week gave a shout out to my favorite snack bar - Larabar. They also reviewed another bar that I'm not too familiar with, it's called Raw Revolution Organic. I'll have to check that one out next time I go to a health food store.


Here are the write-ups for both Larabar and Raw Revolution Organic.

Larabar, $1.69, 48 grams, larabar.com
Larabar has the largest selection of all bars reviewed, with 16 dessert-inspired flavors. Ms. Bingham's (sports nutritionist) clients judged Larabar and thinkFruit (another bar) as tied for the best tasting of the new bars. Larabar was also a dietary leader, said the nutritionist, who was impressed by the fact that its three flavors made with walnuts provided omega-3 fatty acids, good for heart health, along with a moderate amount of fiber and protein. "Everybody really liked Apple Pie," Ms. Bingham said. "It actually tasted like apple pie but was low in calories and saturated fat and had one full gram of omega-3s, which is a significant amount."


Raw Revolution Organic, $1.99, 2.2 ounces (62 grams), rawrev.com
Raw Revolution, as the name suggests, is directed to customers on a raw foods diet, or those who eat foods not cooked above a certain temperature in the belief that they are richer in nutritional value. While traditional science has yet to find verifiable health claims to the diet, Raw Revolution's organic line can be beneficial to anyone on a raw regimen, Ms. Bingham said. "Raw Revolution was the biggest bar - 2.2 ounces each, compared to 1.6 to 1.8 ounces for the others - but it also had the most calories, fat, and protein, which can be good for people on restricted diets," she said. She also liked that the bars were lower in sugar and moister in consistency than the other brands (probably because their fat content is higher).


So if you haven't yet tried a Larabar, please go out and do so as soon as you can. They are amazingly delicious and well worth the $1.69 that they cost (I think you can buy them in bulk off of amazon.com for cheaper). As for those who are going to go after the Raw Revolution Organic bar, I'm right there with you. I'll hit you guys up with a review as soon as it passes my lips.

Take care everybody and Happy oh-nine.

Raw. Love.
-Natalie