Day # … I’ve-lost-track-but-I’m-‘done’-in 3-days-and-refuse-to-do-the-math…

I’ve been helping grow a fruit, vegetable and herb garden. I have begun referring to the plants as my bambinos.

I’ve been unbelievably lax about updating this blog over the last week. Things got on top of me a little HOWEVER I have still been eating TED and so here’s a little summary so far:

Phase 1 (RAW FOOD)

• What I ate: 100% uncooked food. Gluten, dairy, wheat, yeast- free. Entirely vegan and predominantly comprised of chickpeas, leafy greens (kale, spinach, lettuces), fruits and starchy vegetables (- that I could eat without cooking). Chia seeds and oats, almond milk and dried fruits and nuts.
• Difficulty: It was fairly easy really. I had approached the entire 21 days with a mindset of intentionality – I was going to go hard or go home so cutting everything out was easier than focussing on select ingredients. If you go at something knowing it is going to suck, when it does suck you’re neither surprised nor disappointed. What was hard, was eating out or at other people’s homes. I’m not a fan of inflicting my dietary requirements on others, especially when it a voluntary adjustment and not provoked by an underlying health issue.
• Affordability: Pretty expensive. I had just purchased all of my TED essentials (himalayan pink salt, flaxseeds, chia seeds, agave nectar, gallons of almond milk, fruits, vegetables, coconut oil, soaps and shampoos, deodorant) and many of these I didn’t need to buy again.
• How did I feel: At the end of Phase 1 I felt energized and truly cleansed, inside and out. Physical changes were loss of water retention and bloating. More muscular definition and tone, though this may be attributed to an increase in exercise that same week. Otherwise, just a feeling of fullness after meals, reduced cravings and high energy. Psychological changes I had already begun to look at food differently. I gained a respect for people with dietary requirements that impose on their daily living and a greater respect for the environment which provides us with all of these necessities. It’s easy to slam people as ‘hippies’ for their love of the earth and monologues about preserving it. I don’t consider myself a true environmentalist, green party supporter or avid conservationist yet. But I’m working on it.

Phase 2 (VEGAN)

• What I ate: No dairy, no eggs. Simple food combinations. All of the same from Phase 1, with the option to cook the vegetables and fruits and chickpeas being consumed. I did not introduce grains such as quinoa or rice into my diet. Gluten, yeast, dairy, wheat-free.
• Difficulty: This was harder for some obscure reason. The start of Phase 2 felt like I was on a diet and I began to feel hungry again all of a sudden. I had begun to weasel my way back into the real world by eating with others at restaurants but my choices were limited. The only restaurant that really offered anything vegan-friendly and wasn’t just a salad was The Boba House in downtown Greensboro. The day I wanted to go, it was closed and my eating out plans were ruined. I went back home and chewed on some kale while contemplating the purpose of putting myself through the ordeal. I was spending noticeably less time with friends and this naturally made my mood drop. The novelty of the diet was beginning to sway. Having said that, I actually preferred the physical benefits to eating vegan. (See below) There were enough options when it came to cooking at home. It was the fun of cooking with the added benefits of restricting the variety of the foods I was eating. Keeping things simple helped me assess the things that make me bloat, more/less hungry, lethargic, dissatisfied and spotty.
• Affordability:  Less expensive than Phase 1. Mostly because I had many of the ingredients already and instead of buying lots of different fruits and vegetables to make eating raw as exciting as possible, I selected fewer groceries and experimented with different ways of cooking each thing. I have done everything to kale that is humanly possible.
• How did I feel: At the beginning of Phase 2 I felt pretty sombre. I missed eating with my friends and after a day at work followed by a session in the gym, having to think up recipes that were worth making (when 100% famished) was totally tedious. So I ended up making the same meals each night, usually a combination of vegetables, sautéed, with some chickpeas thrown in. By the end of Phase 2 however, I had defeated all the spots on my body, the bags under my eyes were less … baggy? and I was seeing much more muscle tone. Again, this last observation could be down to an increase in exercise but I’m pretty sure diet had some role to play. I actually most liked eating vegan.

(Current) Phase 3 (VEGETARIAN) 

• What I ate: All of the above plus dairy and eggs. I still haven’t introduced cow’s milk (I didn’t drink milk prior to TED in any case). I have actually only eaten dairy twice just to try it out (american cheese on all occasions… is that even a cheese?!). I have had eggs on a couple of occasions. But I still find myself naturally restricting my options with food, sticking mostly to a vegan diet. Still no meat, gluten (except for one occasion…), wheat and yeast free.
• Difficulty: Easy peasy. Having the extra options makes me feel like I have a choice. And I’m choosing to eat vegan in this phase. That’s my natural choice. I’ve tried eggs and cheese but I wasn’t in any way compelled to do it. I guess I’ve just gotten used to being mindful about my food choices and so with the option of more, I am still choosing less. It’s not a conscious mindfulness, however. I’m not having to stop myself and say “Now Julia… Do you really want to eat that piece of cheese?” – it just seems to be habitual now and that’s really exciting.
• Affordability: Cheaper than ever before. Eating out especially. Before, asking for ‘special requests’ meant more expense. Substituting feta cheese for a roasted red pepper cost me $2. Taking out a burger bun and substituting an extra side of spinach cost me $3. Now I’m can have dairy and eggs, it’s easier and cheaper. In terms of groceries, I added eggs to my list but I removed chickpeas (GOD I WAS SICK OF CHICKPEAS). So there was no real change in expense there.
• How did I feel: I feel pretty amazing. It’s great to think I’ve stuck to something for this long. Despite the attempts to convince me otherwise, I’ve managed 3-days-away-from-21 days of TED. How have I changed? Yes there are physical changes particularly in energy levels, cravings, skin, weight and bloating – but the psychological changes and the adjustments to my mindset are what I am most pleased to report.

What have I learnt?

1. You can say NO. For someone who is a people pleaser and has always been taught to ‘eat what you’re given’, I feel liberated by the fact I can refuse to eat something. Not because I don’t like it (I’m yet to eat something I detest) – but because I don’t want it. Eating now, not to just be filled and feel full, but satisfied. Eating in a way to ensure every bite is packed with nutrition and goodness.
2. Meat is an addition. Meat was always the center of my meal and everything else accompanied it. Not anymore. I have experimented with vegetables to a degree that transforms them from the ‘accompaniments’ on my plate to the primary focus. I will not go forward claiming to be wholly vegan/vegetarian. I will eat meat again. But it will not be the default choice anymore. There is culinary skill involved in making a meat-free pattie that I truly respect and find fascinating. Meat-free choices will definitely become more of a thing.
3. Anyone can do TED. Having eaten raw, vegan and vegetarian for a week at a time, I can see how easy it is to do TED in those capacities. Throwing meat into the mix does not make my diet any less TED! There is no reason why my diet cannot stay entirely organic, gluten-free and non-processed. I may end up switching between a raw foodist, vegan, vegetarian and meat-eater, but I will ensure my diet stays as close to TED as possible.

 

Day # 12 – Hi my name is Julia and I haven’t chewed a piece of gum for 12 days…

 

 

I think I had a problem. I chewed a lot of gum and aside from making my breath minty fresh, it would stop me from apparently grinding my teeth. Or prolonged compulsive gum chewing has subsequently left me grinding my teeth in withdrawal… I’m not sure which. But in either case, I now catch myself grinding my teeth when stressed, happy, tired, asleep… I never knew you could grind your teeth and drink at the same time, but I have been since enlightened.

What’s in gum?

Latex sap – a form of rubber formally known as chicle. You can google the full ingredients list and discover that the Greeks were the first to invent gum from the mastiche tree sap and la la la… but in short is it bad for you?

Many people chew gum for weight loss. I certainly popped a piece of gum after every meal and it seemed to make me feel ‘fuller’… But looking back, I don’t think I ever felt ‘full’. It became a compulsive thing to chew gum after eating as a sweet note after a meal. So when I didn’t have gum, I began to feel hunger. In fact, I was chewing gum so much, I constantly felt hungry. Why????

Chewing gum tricks your digestive system into thinking that you’re about to start the digestive process. It secretes the necessary enzymes and adjusts the stomach’s pH to suit digestion. When nothing drops down from your gullet into your gut, your poor stomach is churning. Personally it got to the point where I was just constantly hungry. I mistook this for a high metabolism. But I was wrong. Gum was making me hungry because I was in a perpetual state of digestion.

There’s no evidence to suggest that chewing gum can lead to appetite suppression or weight loss but there is also no evidence to suggest it leads to weight gain. 

Sugar-free or…

Sorbitol is the additive typically used in chewing gum as opposed to sugar. It gives you the sweetness you need from gum without the sugary consequences (tooth decay, weight gain, GI issues). HOWEVER this ‘non-absorbable’ carbohydrate just creates other issues… namely bloating, cramps, gas and diarrhea. Yum.

I will not, on a public site,  testify to any of the above symptoms. But what I will say, is I’m certainly not experiencing the above since giving up gum (and starting TED). Those things have stopped happening. They don’t occur anymore. I just testified. #lull

In addition to Sorbitol many chewing gums are packed with things like aspartame (the artificial sweetener which is almost directly scientifically correlated with higher risk of cancer) and carageenan. Carageenan is a funny one… it is natural and found in a lot of milk substitutes (yes – almond milk too). It is extracted from parts of red algae and seaweed and so technically, while an additive, it is naturally occurring unlike aspartame and sorbitol. But it has been linked to digestive problems too as it acts as a laxative, pulling water from the intestine…

In short, Ladies and Gents, gum if you must. But be wise. A piece of gum to freshen breath after a meal can be beneficial. But just like anything else, don’t make it a habit.

Day #5 – Messy kitchen. Spotless back.

In addition to Ninja (if you don’t know what I am referring to here, see Day #4’s post), I have begun to use all kinds of other kitchen utensils I have never bothered to use. Like a garlic crusher (because raw chunks of garlic are not the one). Damn those things are hard to clean…

My kitchen looks like someone gave the Tasmanian Devil a can of red bull and let him loose in the house. I get through double the bowls than I normally would and my fridge section is perhaps aspiring a hostile take-over. My housemates are relatively understanding of my refrigerator hogging. They are less tolerant of the green trail I seem to leave on the floor. I’m like a supernatural slug, who leaves a radioactive slime trail wherever she goes. Given my housemates think I’m some kind of weird mystical being, who makes magical potions (green-based smoothies) and eats grass (raw spinach), the green debris on our kitchen floor could be seen as anything from a piece of vegetable, to a miniature Emerald City.

But while my kitchen is a mess, my back is entirely spotless. Spot-less.

Spot the Difference

For years I have struggled with hormonal imbalance. This doesn’t mean I walk around with a deep manly voice, erratic mood swings or bags under my eyes. (Although catch me a night after drinking 5 shots of Tequila and a shot of Scotch and you may dispute that claim). My biggest issue has been around acne and psoriasis, particularly on my back and my chin. I know. How SEXY.

Day#2 I broke out in spots all over my face and shoulders. It was so upsetting that I didn’t really want to blog about it because I was holding out hope that it was just a part of the detox process. Well 5 days in and all of my spots have gone from my back and shoulders. Not a single patch of redness or dryness. I still have  a couple of spots on my chin which look as though they are well on their way to clearing up.

Eating raw: what is happening on the inside? The non-scientific science.

 I’m going to simplify the jargon and explain the two main things compromised when we cook food:

Enzymes – Your wing man

Imagine the most attractive person across the room from you. You want to go over but you don’t know what to say. By the time you’ve warmed them up to ask them out, it’s time for them to go. So you get your phone out to take their phone number. Battery is dead. You find a receipt but your pen doesn’t work. They ask you your full name and say they’ll ‘add you on Facebook’. You never get theirs.

You didn’t ask them out, you didn’t get their number and you never took their full name. You have to wait on them to decide to look you up. Sure. Nice work, Cassa-never.

Now imagine that friend. Everyone has that friend. The one who says not only what they think, but what you think also. Social exchanges with said person tend to involve them monologuing. When silence falls, rest assured they will fill it. (An aside: I’m that person and I apologize). Replay the scenario with your buddy as a wing-man. They make everything happen 10x faster, so that you end the night with a phone number, at the very least. They’re a great matchmaker – they simply speed up the process and move along.

Enzymes are little matchmakers. They are little living proteins inside all of us, which give us direction and speed up the conversion of large chunks of food (especially if you’re super hungry and forget to chew) into teeny tiny chemical structures that just slide through the cell’s walls and into our cells. Enzymes can activate hormones (the things that regulate our body’s daily duties) among many other things. But your wingman is only good at matchmaking if the situation is right. Too much noise and no one will hear them talk. They’re as ineffective as you are at getting the job done.

Your enzymes are only any good if their environment is right. Too much heat and they’re unable to perform to their natural ability. When we cook, we actually destroy many of the enzymes that help us naturally digest/metabolize our food.

Vitamins – housekeeping!

Vitamins are like employing housekeepers. Daily life is busy so you never get round to doing all the things you need to in the house. Your house would be way more efficient if you closed the windows to stop the cold draft creeping in and heat escaping out. It would also be better to polish your silverware weekly, rather than wait for it to completely tarnish first. Your body is a house and the housekeepers keep these things on check. Vitamins are the housekeepers which allow the cells in our body to function properly. They play a crucial role in converting the food we eat into energy and regulating metabolism.

Cooking will unfortunately destroy many of the vitamins and minerals in the food we eat. Some studies have said as much as 50% of B vitamins are destroyed through cooking food. Cultures which eat raw food are known to live longer, healthier lives.

---

The reason why raw diets help detox, is because the vitamins and minerals are retained and enzymes are better equipped to perform their duties. My skin has cleared up so quickly through a probably combination of increasing intake of fruits and vegetables and eliminating processed foods from my diet. Something I have been eating has been causing this imbalance and by slowly reintroducing food types, I will be able to pin point exactly what it is that is making my back and chin look like a pizza.

HOWEVERRRRRR as great as I feel, cooking food is not bad for you. There are also benefits to cooking food. A raw diet is great and for some, it can be a permanent way of life. I enjoy how I feel now and plan to continue eating raw for the most part, but it is hard to sustain yourself for a long period of time with so many restrictions.

I also cannot wait to eat something warm.

Bring on Phase 2!

 

Energy balls (hehehe…. balls)

This was positively delightful to make and even more delightful to eat. I’m guessing they’ll give you energy… they have 100% natural sugars from fruit and nuts. They use no dairy, no gluten and no effort. All you need is some kind of ingredient-breakerer-upperer. Normal people refer to such utensils as choppers, blenders or processors. Mine is called ‘Ninja’ so from here on out, that is what I will use in order to refer to said device.

Recipe Makes 10-15 (depends on how large you like your … balls.)

1 cup almond meal (basically, ground up almonds. See below for cost-saving tip!)

1 cup unsweetened, desiccated coconut (posh word for coconut powder/chopped coconut flakes)

6-7 dates (pitted before placed in the Ninja. Medjool or California. Medjool ideally but, hey… we’re not made of money.)

5 dehydrated figs (dehydrated is generally ‘dried’ but some ‘dried figs’ are actually dried, sweetened, oiled, baked, frozen, packaged and chilled. So it depends on how many peoples’ hands you want all over your fruit before you pop into your mouth without washing…)

1 lemon Dash of water To make the almond meal:

Almond meal is used in vegan baking. It can be made in your own home and so easily unprocessed food. It is high in protein, natural fatty acids and is all round great. Almond meal, however, is extortionately priced. The worst bit is they let YOU weigh it too. There are rarely value-for-money pre-weighed and packaged bags of almond meal, so it is always way cheaper to use the dispensers. DIY, if you will. The one time I bothered to buy almond meal in its ground form, I deposited nearly 4lbs worth of it into a paper bag by mistake. That’s basically $16 worth of almonds. My conscience wouldn’t let me pour what I’d already dispensed back into the container, so I sucked it up and paid the money. This horrible experience led me to believe there must be a better/cheaper way. Here it is! Buy sliced almonds. They are easier to chop up in a processor and are generally cheaper than whole raw almonds. Bung those bad boys into a blender, et voila. You have a far better, far cheaper version of almond meal.

 

Once the almond meal is ground up, chuck in the pitted and chopped dates and figs. Ninja this until you achieve a clumpy consistency. You want the mixture to be moist enough to form balls out of but not so wet that it is gloopy.

Add the lemon juice to this mixture and mix it in using a spoon/spatula. Roll your balls to whatever size you prefer. I like mine small so it is just about a mouthful.

Roll this in the desiccated coconut and then place all balls on top of each other in a pyramid-like fashion. This last piece is an essential part of the ball-making process. Be sure to observe it.

Day # 4 – Foods I have eliminated, those I crave, foods I love and those I-swear-I-will-throw-out-the-window-cos-I’m-sick-to-death-of them…

I’ll keep this one short and sweet because I have lots of little kitchen-based experiments to share instead! *girly squeal*

Eliminated foods:

Things I used to eat regularly but have not eaten these last 4 days.

• Sweet potato
• Rice, pasta, grains, lentils, quinoa
• Meat/fish
• Dairy (Greek yoghurt and cheese)
• Eggs
• Tinned items (including chickpeas!)
• Bread (in fact, all Gluten)
• Alcohol (beer or wine!)

I have actually lost all interest in starchy vegetables. Eating raw restricts my vegetable intake to mostly salad greens. I don’t take to eating raw potato or squash, so I have not included those in my diet these last few days. And actually, I’m not that bothered. I have eaten a shed load of broccoli, which seems to hit the spot. As an aside, whenever I eat broccoli alone, I feel like a kid again. I morph into this pre-historic herbivore, who spots a series of fallen trees. My dinosaur self then swoops down, and in one flail chomp, devours the leaves of the broccoli tree. I then proceed to devour the trunk of said tree as a cheese string. You know… those fake-cheese-rubbery-sticks that allow you to peel bits off and make lassos out of them? In a nutshell, broccoli bates the inner-child in me. Not that my inner-child requires all that coaxing…

---

 

Craving:

The foods I want to eat and consequently the only difficult part of doing TED

• Meat/fish

Yep. I miss meat. My guess is it’s exceptionally hard right now because it’s still early days so 1) I’m adjusting and 2) I can’t see the end. But for real… It feels like I’m in this meatless void forever. And what is it about giving something up and suddenly smelling it everywhere? I gave up caffeine for 46 days and for the entire 46 days, I smelt coffee e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. Each morning when I woke up (before I’d even left my bedroom) – coffee. Now, all I smell is cooked bacon. Again, the smell starts from before my feet have even poked their weary toes out from under the bed covers. Just this morning I had to poke my head out my window to make sure someone wasn’t just standing on the ground floor, grilling bacon for their own amusement. “Heard she’s goin’ Vegan. Well bless her heart. I’ll knock some darn sense into that there whippersnapper’s skull fer sure, Earl!” If your inner-ear (phonological loop for the Psychologists out there) did not hear that in the most Southern Hill Billy accent… And I’m not sure who Earl is, or why he has joined the taunting Hill Billy bacon-griller, but quite honestly, I don’t like either of them. If you see them, kindly ask them to stop grilling bacon under my window. Thanks.

I know that pregnancy heightens your sense of smell, taste and sensitivity in general. But I’m not pregnant. If I were pregnant, I could guilt people into buying me things like bacon. “I’m eating for two, you know”. Contrastingly, this meat-deprivation and subsequent meal-craving is self-inflicted so… no sympathy, no I’m-eating-for-two excuses and certainly no bacon, for me.

But even as much as I miss eating meat, I really don’t see it as a staple. It bothers me most when I’m dining out because most vegetarian alternatives cost the same but have less… stuff. I feel like I’m being cheated. I do miss it, but it won’t be something I will go back to eating lots of. I just like having the option there, should I want it.

Other than meat? Nada. I like not having all those options. Eating raw is actually my favorite thing. It will be nice to add some cooked pieces to my meals but as a rule, I think I’ll stick to raw where possible.

---

 

Foods I love:

Put all of it in my face right now.

• Almond/coconut milk (oh God. The 50/50 stuff – I’m not sure why the combo works, but it bleeding does. I never drink dairy milk anyhow, but this is the one from here on out. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE.)
• Dates and figs (instead of granola bars for energy)
• Coconut oil (tastes SO much better than olive oil/vegetable oil in my salads. I can’t explain why. Just does.)

• Lemon water (wakes me up in the mornings)

• Homemade muesli. I will never buy muesli ever again.

 

nomnomnomonomnom

---

 

No more. Please. No more:

Too much of a good thing…

• Chickpeas. For Pete’s sake. I bought a bag of Organic chickpeas at the local farmers’ market this Saturday gone. The farmer selling them to me mentioned how locally grown, organic chickpeas are best. Mostly because a recent outbreak of E.Coli had been pinned on non-organic chickpea sprouts. He seemed very earnest so I believed him, bought his explanation and his chickpeas. A bit of research later, and I discovered that the outbreak of E.Coli was in 2011, in Germany… caused by human excrement found in an organic farm. They tasted fantastic, don’t get me wrong. And I would still opt for Organic. But a whole bag of chickpeas for little old me? I am sick of chickpeas.

No more chickpeas for at least a week.