The first thought that came to my mind as my first sip (lol, more like gulp!) of my Mango Banana smoothie as I begin my ‘transition week’ is DAMN, how I have missed raw food. It is ELECTRIFYING. I can feel the goodness oozing into my body and filling my blood with oxygen and nutrients!
Then, I laugh at the term ‘raw food’. Sometimes, I think it is just plain silly to have to refer to whole, unprocessed food as ‘Raw Food’ and give it a name. Shouldn’t junk food burden the adjective?
Anyway, I am nothing short of amazed at how I could go without this lifestyle for so long. I even have to admit that this morning, I put off having my smoothie so that I could drink a cup of coffee while I fed Baby Aya and am collapsing breakfast with lunch (at 12:49pm). What an interesting examination of my eating habits this transition week will provide!
More importantly than what I feel this smoothie is doing for me, is what it’s NOT DOING to me. There is a distinct difference between eating food in a cooked state and eating whole, unprocessed foods. Even something as simple as using pasteurized apple juice and orange juice in smoothies makes a HUGE difference in how I feel when drinking one. Upon drinking this smoothie, I felt what I can only describe as ‘relief’, like my body made one giant, exalted SIGH. It isn’t burdened with figuring out what it is digesting, no white blood cells are rushing to my stomach, alerted that some mangled, unknown substance is attempting to enter my bloodstream. Enzymes aren’t colliding with one another in my intestines, frantically attempting to decipher what insane concoction of melted, sopping, goopy (and poorly chewed) shenanigans are occurring down there, slowing down my brain activity and diverting my valuable oxygen carrying blood supply from it and down into my belly.
Instead of feeling tired, I feel energized, which I feel is a more enticing representation of what ‘should’ happen when I put FOOD in my body. Why should my temple crumble and sputter and require rest each time I eat? That doesn’t make sense if the purpose of eating is to provide nutrition and energy for the body. Why would I want to eat something that makes me tired and wish I could just lay my head on my desk and pass out?
Take me the right way here, I am in no way negating that cooked food tastes great. It sure does when that is what I am ‘used to’ eating. However, after just one smoothie and salad, cooked food seems really unappealing without the ‘peer pressure’ from my family. If you think that raw food won’t make that much of a difference for you, it is my simple request that you try it out for two weeks and see how you feel. Until that point, how can you really know? I tried it that way for myself for two weeks and didn’t go back to cooked foods for almost 5 years!
Ok, I promised my shopping list and total yesterday for this week’s transitional food purchases. This total is for EVERYTHING except the herbs and a couple of other ingredients, which I estimate to be about $10 once purchased.
Here is what I bought (@ Sam's Club):
8 mangoes
3# of lemons
12 nectarines
4# strawberries
3# almonds
1 pineapple
22 bananas
1# baby spring mix
1# spinach
6 romaine hearts
3# blueberries
3# broccoli florets
3# cherub tomatoes
Total Price: $73.81
I am not kidding. When I saw the total, I thought, WOW! this is awesome! Most weeks raw, I likely will not use anywhere near this much produce, but for a transition week, I feel it is really important to have A LOT of food on hand in the event that I need a snack or something. I can always prepare and freeze the whole fruits in a freezer bag in the event that I don’t eat them fast enough. The tomatoes, I can google a gazpacho recipe or a raw marinara if I don’t use them in enough time. I will definitely use the greens, as I am really fond of salads.
First, I took about 1# of almonds and chopped them up in my food processor (could have used a knife, but I’m a fan of convenience, speed and smaller mess), then added about 3 T of sesame oil and a bunch of sea salt and mixed it up in a bowl. I set that aside.
Then, I chopped up 1 romaine heart, added a good sized handful of baby spring mix and chopped 10 cherub tomatoes in half and threw it all in a bowl with a large handful of broccoli florets. I doused it all in olive oil, squirted the juice of 1/2 a fresh lemon over that and about 1/4 cup of the sesame oil/almond/salt mixture. I mixed all of that up really well and grabbed a fork. This salad is HUGE and will satiate any appetite! A good addition would be some chopped basil, but l won’t be picking up herbs until later today. This is a great, basic salad that is filling and tastes really great!
Alright, I am really craving that salad now, so I’m outskies. More to share later on, including pics tomorrow morning! Thanks for tuning in!
Love,
Andrea
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