Julz goes raw!

So if you know me, you know that I've been researching and flirting with raw food concepts over the past year. I started with Green Smoothies and suddenly over the last couple of days my frustration with my weight has pushed me over the edge. Today without completely realizing it, I just did it. I went raw. And this evening I went raw shopping so I can hopefully get through the next few days and then who knows. I'm starting to think this is doable for at least a month.

I know I'm not alone on this journey. I had the opportunity to talk with Melissa Mango herself yesterday and am so grateful for that conversation. I think in addition to my personal frustration, Melissa's confidence and supportive attitude made it possible for me to finally just do this. I'm looking forward to reading her ebook, Melissa Mango's Green Cuisine Live Food Recipes. I also ordered Get Naked Fast! A Guide to Stripping Away the Foods That Weigh You Down, suggested as a great resource by Melissa.

I also visited Jenna Norwood's site last night and watched some of her videos. And yes, I'm a bit of a shopaholic so I've ordered her video, Supercharge Me! 30 Days Raw.

So let's do a report.

I just turned 41, and I'm about 5'3.5" tall. My weight this morning was 160.2 lbs.

My vitamins for the day included - 2 Coenzyme B-Complex, 2 Complete Omega 3-6-9, and 1 serving of Organic Life Vitamins. I split the B and Omega into 1 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon.

Throughout the day, I drank an Herbalife tea with mango aloe.

At about 10:30am I stopped at Mountain View Co-Op, visited with Caitlin and she made me a fabulous 16 oz. juice with apples, beet, cucumber, celery, lemon, ginger, and chia seeds.

At about 1:30pm I made 32 ounces of green smoothie with kale, spinach, banana, frozen mango chunks, some goji berries, and coconut water. It took about 2 hours to finish it.

Here we have a cheating moment to confess. I shared a Dagoba Milk Chocolate with Cherries bar with my writing team. I ate 1/4 to 1/3 of it.

At 4:30 - 5:30, I went to Downtown Desert Yoga for some fabulous Flow Fusion Yoga with Sky.

Then I did a little raw shopping. What did I get?

• Chard, Spinach, Romaine, Basil
• 4 heads of garlic and some ginger
  
• 3 Yellow Tomatoes and a package of vine ripened red tomatoes
• 6 avocados
• shiitake mushrooms
  
• 2 oranges and 2 pears
• a bag of apples
• 3 lemons and 3 limes
• celtic and himalayan sea salt
• extra virgin cold pressed olive oil
• coconut oil
• raw honey
• 3 bottles of some local kombucha
• a treat - black licorice
  

Finally, for dinner, I'm having a raw soup that I wanted to try with 6 small tomatoes, an avocado, a lemon, 4 cloves garlic, a little ginger, about a teaspoon of coconut oil, and himalayan sea salt. I blended it in my Vitamix. I still love my Vitamix and will probably order another one because I've been taking mine back and forth from home and work and that's just a pain. Honestly, the soup is a little bitter, maybe the ginger and the white part of the lemon? But it's satisfying and I'm enjoying that I'm doing this! I don't even think I'll be able to eat all of it, it's very filling.

So that's it for today. Wish me luck, I NEED it!

Good luck on your journey whatever it may be...
:)
~julz

Great grocery salsa for those who are salsa-prep-impaired

I just discovered this salsa and I love it! I tried the Thick and Chunky style in medium and it's perfect. Not authentic NM salsa style, but the flavor is close. Lots of fresh tomato, onion, jals, and cilantro, and little acidity taste that makes similar brands not so good.

Garden Fresh Salsas