I crave the blood of plants

So I've been eating mostly vegan for...a while now. However long it's been since my mother returned home from her visit with us. I think about a month or so. I must say, I'm feeling good. But apparently vegan isn't good enough for me anymore. For the past week or so I've been eating about 75-80% raw, with a high emphasis on vegetables (rather than fruit and raw desserts, which seem to be a pitfall for a lot of raw foodists.) I've also been juicing every day. It's a wonderful way to start the day, it's like getting a shot of energy right in the arm without the needles and pain. Here's a picture of a juice I make the other day that is primarily greens with one beet:

Very red :) I was reading a lady's blog the other day and she referred to her morning juice as "plant blood." With a beet in there, I can totally see it. So this is what I have found after one week:

I have more energy: Nothing to write home about, but then, I'm exercising very little. Even so, I have less of the mid afternoon lag, and generally feel alert until I go to bed.

Better elimination: I'm a fiber nut and get totally obsessed with proper elimination, so this is very exciting for me. Good colon health is the start of good health in general. Incidentally, my sweat smells a bit milder also. I think this is related, as sweat is another form of eliminating toxins.

Mental clarity: A big reason I have been messing with my diet lately is that I find that my mental state is often scattered and foggy. This past week I have found a significant increase in mental clarity. I am far less forgetful and much more task oriented. I even paid my rent on time!

Confidence: This one is strange and unexpected, but I have been experiencing feelings of confidence that anyone who knows me well will say is unusual. I was actually able to calmly stand up for myself in a situation during clinicals recently that I would never have felt comfortable doing before. I find that I walk tall and worry less of what people think of me. I'm not sure why, or if it's even related to my dietary changes, but it coincides with the timeline.

Weight/size: I don't have a scale, so I don't know if I've lost any weight. I've also been lifting a lot of elderly people lately, so I don't know if a scale would even register fat loss if there has been any. But my clothes have been fitting less tightly, and that's always a good thing.

Tastebuds: BIG change. Whenever I go off sugar and then try it again later, it's always just as delicious as ever. But yesterday I took a sip of soda and found that it was mortifyingly disgusting. I'm not even off sugar, either. I eat fresh and dried fruit, and even coconut sap, raw honey, and agave nectar. Not a lot, but they are present in my diet. The food I eat is also very....complex to me now. I think my palate is becoming less muddled (although I did quit smoking-again-a few weeks ago and I'm sure that has contributed as well.)

Blood sugar: I have never had any blood sugar tests done, but have always experienced the symptoms of hypoglycemia. This past week I have found that when I get hungry (which is often!) I don't go through the mental fog, energy drain, and hysteria that I often feel during times of hunger.

Skin: While not clear, I've definitely noticed a bit of a glow. My skin looks a bit more alive and less dull.


So while I am not sure if I will be vegan or even vegetarian in the long run, I do know two things for sure: I will continue juicing, and I will continue to eat my veggies :)

I'm tired because of....energy drinks?

So lately I've been on a quest to figure out why I never have any energy. I realize that this is not normal, as I am a 26 year old who recently quit smoking, (yay oxygen!) eats primarily organic, and gets sufficient sleep. But still I drag myself through each day, relying on a cup or two of coffee in the morning, and several english breakfasts throughout the afternoon. For a while I was thinking that maybe I've gone a little crazy with the GF carbs, because the products available now are far superior to the saw dust blocks that were around when I first went of gluten. But my dad suggested that it may be caffeine, and recommended that I read "Caffeine Blues" by Stephen Cherniske So I did. And it makes a lot of sense. He has a checklist of symptoms, and shows you how to find out how much caffeine you're actually consuming in that giant mug of coffee. Turns out a good estimate for me is between 500 and 900 mgs of caffeine, depending on the day. I'm not a big fan of following other people's plans, so instead of the reduction plan the author outlines, I'm switching from coffee to black tea in the morning, and from black tea to green tea in the afternoon. I'll be doing that for a few weeks and then switching from black to green in the morning, and green to herbal in the afternoon. And before you know it I'll be caffeine free. This is actually pretty exciting, because this year is the year I vow to get super healthy, and so far I have made some excellent headway (the aforementioned organic food and cigarette ban.) maybe after this project I'll get back into yoga.

Tasty Cakes

I had a rough day today. I had to go get blood taken to confirm that I've had chicken pox, and when I have blood taken I have a tendency to hyperventilate, pass out, vomit, or any combination thereof. We all have a weakness or two, right? Anyway, now I'm ignoring my homework and doing the things I enjoy doing, one of which is baking. I just pulled some delicious oat cakes out of the oven. Wanna see? Here they are:

I know, they're tiny. Almost cookie-like. The dough ended up being a bit crumbly, so I scooped it onto my parchment-clad baking pans with the aid of a cookie dough scoop. I initially found a normal scottish oat cake recipe and adapted in using palm sugar instead of cane, coconut oil instead of butter, and adding my go-to spice combo, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Mmm. So the adaptations make this delicious snack a blood-sugar balancing, blood purifying, bad-flora killing super cookie. What more could you ask for? Oh yeah, and they taste uh-MAZE-ing!

Modified Scottish Oatcake

1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups oat flour (I just used my food processer)
1/4 cup palm/coconut sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves (guesstimate)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (ditto)
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 egg
2 tablespoons water

You know the drill. Combine the dry, add the oil till crumbly, combine the wet together, then add that to the oat mess. I flattened them with the bottom of a glass, then baked at 350 for about 5-8 minutes (i wasn't paying attention, i just waited till they smelled done.)

If I find something else worth baking today, I will definitely let you know :)

Vegetarianism

I'm going veg. I decided that yesterday after a very long internal monologue concerning the copious amounts of fast food roast beef and potato cakes I had for lunch. Don't get me wrong, I like meat. But what I like more is eating clean food. And it really does come down to being able to afford organic beans, grains, and veggies versus being able to afford mystery meat and questionable veggies. And don't even get me started on the price of gluten free goodies....that's a whole other tirade. So today is day one. Split pea and toast for lunch, oat groats and lentil-winter vegetable soup (shown) for dinner. And I now have an apple crisp in the oven. ...And a bunch of meat in my freezer. I'll flexitarian it out of there slowly. (Yes, I know flexitarian is not a verb) Besides, it's Co-op meat. That is, ground elk and bison, and a whole chicken raised by people with standards. Could be worse, right?


P.S. The soup was awesome. It contains sweet potato, turnip, red, purple, and yellow potato, carrots, celery, butternut squash, zucchini, red onion, shallots, and garlic.