It Feels SOOO Good to be Back!

(Green Lemonade)

Freshman year of college is finally a thing of the past and I miraculously got through it with a decent GPA. I'm kind of going to miss being a college student over the summer but I'm glad that I'll have lots of R&R time in the coming months. I'll also have plenty of time to do some well needed detoxing because my diet can use some real cleaning up. Not having a juicer or blender in the dorm makes my dietary life so much harder and my rigorous class/work schedule doesn't help matters much. The last few weeks especially took a toll on my body because I had been studying for exams anywhere from 3-7 hours everyday and chugging mocha-latte-cafe-machiatto's on the regular (I actually downed a 32 oz latte in about 15 minutes last Tuesday night and was jittery until about 10 a.m. the next morning - Good job Natalie).

Anywho, I have been delighted to once again have the honor of being in the presence of delicious greens, sweet and tasty fruits, and exotic superfoods. I've gotten a chance to spend some quality time with my juicer since my return and it has been the most amazing thing to reunite with it once again. On Sunday morning (the morning after I got back), I made it my first order of business to drive over to the grocery store and get the ingredients for a green lemonade (I have the ingredients listed in this blog post). Green lemonade juice (pictured at the top of this post) is one of the most refreshing green juices that I've ever tasted. I could probably drink one every morning with no problem at all. I remember when I was home for a weekend earlier this spring, I had a pretty bad case of the sniffles and just had an overall sick feeling. That night, I drank a hefty, probably 35 oz, serving of green lemonade and I felt like a million bucks the next morning. I'm not sure if it was just naturally time for my body to get better or if the green lemonade did the trick but either way, that eternally sold me on the power of green lemonade.

Plenty more posts to come since I actually have stuff to write about nowadays. Be sure to keep checking in!

Raw. Love.
-Natalie

This Thing is Interfering With My Workouts!!!

(Apparently I'm not supposed to go to the gym because of THIS)

In an effort to improve my cardiovascular health, I've been trying to be more consistent with my workouts recently. I got into the swing of things once again maybe 3 or 4 weeks ago and everything had been going well....until SWINE FLU decided to make a nasty appearance. There are 5 cases of swine flu so far at my University and this has caused a lot of people to get really paranoid when they engage in daily functions. Some things I think are appropriate, such as the University deciding to place Purell hand sanitizer and moist towelettes at the front desks in all of the dorms, but other things are just kind of unnecessary, like not coming within ten feet of your friend who spent spring break in Cancun. I mean, the 5 students on campus who supposedly have swine flu have been quarantined and are residing in a dormitory that is located three blocks from the main campus, so why is everyone still so panicked?

Okay, so maybe I'm a little too laid back and care free about the issue but when an influenza outbreak interferes with my ability to get my workout on, I get upset. A few days ago, I was standing in the hallway of my dorm talking to a couple of friends when I interrupted and told them I had to run because I was heading to the gym. Following this statement, I was immediately scolded and received a somewhat synchronous verbal expression of discontent with my decision to workout. Why were they so concerned? Apparently fitness centers are a breeding ground for germs and any old person walking around the gym could be carrying the virus. Even though I was aware of this, I was still willing to follow through on my plan to workout...but my friends weren't going to let me go that easily. The huffed and puffed and carried on about the danger I would be putting myself in so I just decided to submit and didn't workout.

And sadly, I haven't worked out since.

I think that, subconsciously, I actually listened to what my friends said and started to believe it to a certain extent. In recent hours, I've started to slap some sense into myself and was reminded that fear is a lethal weapon and it can truly hold you back. So yes, I'm going to be safe, but I'm also not going to let this swine scare dictate how I run my day. The perfect balance, right?

Take care all, and be sure to find YOUR balance of safety and freedom...

Raw. Love.
-Natalie

Skinny Bitch/Bastard in the NY Times

(Article about Skinny Bastard that was in the Arts sections of the New York Times)

During one of my recent New York Times adventures, I came across an article about authors Kim Barnouin and Rory Freedman and their new book Skinny Bastard. For those of you who've read some of my posts from last spring, you know that two books were heavily responsible for my bodily transformation: Body-for-Life (Bill Phillips) and Skinny Bitch. I have to say though that the latter had more of an overall influence on me because the authors really broke down the effects of animal products on the human body in a manner that was easy for me to understand. Skinny Bitch is the only book in the series that I own but in my bookstore travels, I've also had a chance to skim through Skinny Bitch in the Kitch (their cookbook) and Skinny Bitch Bun in the Oven (for women who are pregnant). All of them are excellent resources for anyone who is interested in pursuing a healthier lifestlye and are ready to turn things around; and I speak from personal experience when I say that.

(Authors Kim Barnouin and Rory Freedman)

I can imagine that the two authors may have had a hard time figuring out how to approach writing this book because dieting is typically thought of as a 'woman' thing...even though having sound eating habits is equally as important for men. The article stated that when it comes to dieting, men are more concerned about health than vanity...so trying to coerce a guy to diet in order to get rid of his 'man boobs' wouldn't be as effective as telling him that the amount of hamburgers he eats can lead to diabetes and heart disease.

I'm going to order Skinny Bastard off of Amazon.com in the coming weeks because I think that it may have some universal information that wouldn't only be valuable for men, but for women as well. One ironic speculation that the article pointed out was that women are probably more likely to buy this book than men...I guess I fall into that pool huh.

If any of you decide to go out and purchase this or any of their other books, be sure to leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

Raw. Love.
-Natalie

Still Working on it...

(My makeshift kitchen)

I just got back from the gym and I'm actually sweating on my keyboard as I type. I had a pretty good workout tonight. I kept it simple; 5 minute treadmill warm up, 10 minute run (running at about a 9 minute mile pace now) and a 5 minute brisk-walk cool down. I followed that up by some lower ab work and a couple sets of push-ups. It's amazing to me how much push-ups alone can do for your body. Not only do push-up movements work your biceps, but they are also great for the triceps, chest, abs, and back (to an extent). If all someone did was push-ups, deadlifts, and squats in an intense circuit rotation, they'd probably be in pretty good shape, with no gym equipment needed...maybe I should be that someone! Unfortunately, I won't have the luxury of a free school gym (like I have now) when I go back home for the summer so a circuit much like the one I just described might become a reality for me. I purchased a jump rope off of amazon.com a couple of weeks ago and I can't wait to use it during my workouts. I've been playing around with my room arrangement to see if I can create enough space so I can jump rope inside but that hasn't been working out so well. The weather has been beautiful anyway so I should take advantage of it and workout outside.

I labeled this post 'Still Working on it' because, as you can guess, I'm still working on gaining more control over my diet. I would give myself a B- for my dietary behavior over the past three weeks because although I have come a long way from where I was this winter, some of my habits are still pretty pathetic. I also have to be even more careful now because, ironically enough, when I workout, I get more cravings to eat unhealthy foods. Perhaps this happens because I think that I can simply burn off whatever fatty calories I ate during my workouts. This philosophy really sucks because that would be a huge waste of burned calories. I would much rather burn the fat stores that I currently have rather than new carbs and fats that I just consumed. AGHH!! Sometimes my own thinking can get me really worked up.

Does anyone else agree with me about cravings coming hand in hand with increased exercise? My sister told me that her habits are quite the contrary; whenever she gets serious about working out, she is more apt to follow up her exercise routine with healthy eating. I guess that gene was lost somewhere in between her birth and mine...

I'm no where near where I need to be in order to complete my first 5K of the season but I'm getting there slowly but surely. I think that once I knock the first one out of the way, the rest will be a lot easier. There's a 5K serious that takes place about 5 miles from my house and they hold their races every Wednesday night from April through August. Attending a few of these should make reaching my running goal more attainable. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to scope out their course when I head back home in a couple of weeks.

By the way, Tim VanOrden had a speaking appearance out on Long Island a couple weeks ago not too far from where I live. Did anyone attend? I'm just interested to hear what people thought; he's one of my favorites!

Take care everyone and don't be shy with the comments.

Raw. Love.
-Natalie

One Step at a Time

(I finally made my own food!)

It's no secret that my diet has been super out of whack recently. I've been teetering back and forth between periods of time where my diet is immaculate and even longer periods when I shovel everything in sight into my mouth. I could somewhat get away with this behavior during the winter because D.C. winters allow you to clothe heavily, but the summer is a bit less forgiving. People are already beginning to shed the jackets and jeans and it's a bit intimidating...

My original plan for the winter was to hit the gym on a regular basis and put on as much lean muscle as possible. I was going to keep an eye on my diet, but not nearly as much as I do during the summer. Like I said, the winter allows for some wiggle room in terms of clothing so I didn't think it would be a big deal. Following the bulk of the winter, around March, I wanted to calorie/fat cut a bit and lean out so that by the time I finished school (May 11th) I'd be beach ready (vain, I know). Well, that plan did not flourish and here I am weighing 10lbs more than I did when I arrived here in the fall.

It's okay though; I have a snapshot of where I am (figuratively and literally) and I'm ready to go forward. I went grocery shopping Friday and today and I was able to load up on some good produce. I got about a weeks worth of groceries...90% of them being raw.

As I learned in past experiences, jumping into a 100% raw diet can be incredibly tough, but for the sake of my trip to L.A. on May 15th, I'm going to go as raw as possible for as long as possible. My one vice will be cooked rice and beans (complete protein) but other than that, I'm staying away from cooked foods.

Also, I commence my new fitness program tomorrow so it should be interesting to see the results of a sound diet and working out during 5 weeks time. Over the summer, when my raw foodism was at its height, I lost a substantial amount of weight with diet alone, so you can imagine what a combination of a raw diet and exercise could potentially do for me...or anyone for that matter.

Pictured up top was my lunch which was, if I may say so myself, absolutely delicious. It was a mix of lettuce, tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, corn, and mushrooms which I cooked lightly. The flavor from the sun dried tomatoes could be tasted in the whole salad so I actually didn't need any dressing. It's been awhile since I've eaten something so clean and tasty.

What else did I eat today? I was somewhat of a pig, digging in to my newly purchased groceries, but here's my Sunday consumption list:

(not in the order they were eaten)
1 Grapefruit
2 Oranges
1 Banana
A Bowl of Lightly Roasted Potatoes
1 Avocado
Handful of Carrots
1 Cup of Cranberry Tea

...and it's only 7pm!?!?!

I've got to do something about this unorganized eating thing.

Take care everyone and feel free to drop a comment.

Raw. Love.
-Natalie

No More University Cash?!?!

(Lunch)

At the beginning of the school year, I wrote a post that went into detail about the dining situation at my college. I think that I was sort of content with it back then but now, I just can't stand it. Maybe I'm only saying that because I ran out of money yesterday with more than a month left in the semester...or maybe it really just sucks.

Just to put it out there, I'm actually quite an effective budgeter. I think that the fundamental difference between my spending habits and those of my peers is the fact that I eat healthier, and as we all know, sometimes healthy options can cost significantly more than unhealthy options.

For example: I don't drink cow's milk, which costs $3.49 per gallon at Safeway (the grocery store where most students shop). I do, however, drink soy, rice, and almond milk, which costs, on average, $9 per gallon at Safeway. Now, I maybe drink somewhere between 1/2 and 3/4 gallons per week so we're talking anywhere from $4.50 - $6.75 spent on a weeks worth of milk. I'm not mad about this, but I guess I'm just a little perplexed by the fact that my resources are drying up quicker because I choose to be healthier.

So, with the drying up of my funds comes the good and the bad. The bad is obvious; I no longer have 'free' money to spend on food. The good is a little less obvious; now I have the freedom to shop wherever I please since I'm now using my own money. True, I could have shopped anywhere I wanted before but in the interest of saving money, I used the university cash. Now that that is moot, I now have to spend my own money out of obligation and I can finally venture outside of the 9 square city blocks of campus.

First stop? Whole Foods.

Raw. Love.
-Natalie

New York Raw Lovin'

(Raw Enchillada from Raw Soul)

I took a well needed break from DC this past weekend and headed home to New York for a couple of days. My sister had her baby shower on Saturday so other than that event, I pretty much had the weekend to myself. I took an early bus on Saturday morning that dropped off at 34th street and then I proceeded to head uptown to see my mom. She recently started working at a restaurant called Raw Soul which is located on 145th Street between St. Nicholas and Edgecombe (for those of you who are familiar with the city, it is right off of the A/C train stop at 145th street). Since working there, she has really honed in on her raw food 'un-cooking' craft. If you look at some of my posts from last summer, I have a few photos up of some salads and other things she made for me when my leg was broken. Those were good, but nothing compared to what she's able to whip up now.


(Raw BBQ Burger from Raw Soul)

When I finally arrived uptown and saw my mother, she had a couple of raw dishes readily available for me to try. One was the Raw Enchillada which I had never seen or heard of before. It looked really good and it tasted even better. I believe that it is a new addition to the Raw Soul menu so for any of you in the NY area, I would encourage you to go ahead and give it a try. The second dish she had readily available was the BBQ Burger. I've tried this burger before and actually passed on tasting it this time because the last one I ordered from Raw Soul had this Horse Fly in it. I should be over that incident by now but that was all I could think of when I saw that burger.

Unfortunately, this was the only run-in I had with raw food during my stay in the city but I come home for the summer in about 6 weeks and I'm excited to do a tour of many more restaurants and see what new dishes I've been missing out on this year.

By the way, I heard that Jill's Cafe in Brooklyn is no longer?!?! That was my favorite raw food restaurant in the city. Anyone know anything about this?

Raw. Love.
-Natalie