So apparently, this didn’t work for me. It wasn’t that I gave in to temptation which made me sick. I was not getting what my body needed, and therefore ended up having a few days in a row of illness.

I read a few stories about people that went through exactly what I did. As I was reading these stories, I felt as if I was just reading my own experience, over and over again. Even though it had been 2 weeks, some stories were after years, months and even days. I’m also not going to accept the ”your body is just detoxing” excuse. Yes, sure, absolutely it was detoxing, but now I know that it was also screaming that I was doing some harm. So, the solution? A NEW BEGINNING.

I will be maintaining a High Raw Food Diet. This means that 2 meals a day will be raw. 1 meal will be non-raw. Whether that be cheese on a salad, an egg for breakfast, or actual meat, I will be having this, but in 1 meal only. So if I have it at breakfast, I adjust the rest of my day. Lunch, I have this at dinner. Etc.

In the non-raw meals, I will be making sure to keep it as lean as possible, as well as increasing vegetables and fruit intake for that meal. I’m also going to be cutting down my nut intake.

Perhaps I will try the 100% Raw Food Diet again, I’m almost positive that I will. But it won’t be until my health is back on track, after all, that is what journey I’m on. The Optimum Health journey.

*Love, Light & Health* ~ e.R.

Holding steady at 147.8

Although holding onto 147.8 bothers me and doesn’t make sense to me, that is not my main focus right now. As stated yesterday, I got quite sick. Felt better today, but I have to be honest, I ate more soup at lunch and had toast with my dinner. It made me feel much better, oddly enough.

Hoping tomorrow I feel even better than today!

Around 9:30am, after eating my banana and strawberries, I become very ill. Awful weird cramps in my stomach, and felt very nauseous. I then proceeded to puke 4 separate times after trying to eat a little salad for lunch. My amazing boyfriend left work to take me home, where he fed me pedialyte and soup that he made full of all the healing herbs we had in our kitchen.

I’m not sure if this is part of detoxing, or if I picked up something while out shopping with my friend. Either way, it was absolutely horrible. But, I napped, watched Ellen, ate soup, drank pedialyte and water, and got to bed early.

Let’s hope I feel better tomorrow!

*Light, Love & Health* ~ e.R.

Mac-n-Cheese to LIVE for!

1 C. Cashews
1/4 C. Water (or more depending on consistency)
1/2 C. Red Bell Pepper
3 Tbs of Nutritional Yeast
1 Garlic Clove
1 Tsp Lemon Juice
Dash of Onion Powder (or two rings of Raw White Onion)
Pinch of Salt (I use Pink Himalayan Salt)
Pinch of Cumin
Dash of Black Pepper (or a crank of peppercorns)
Sprinkle of Thyme
1/4 C. Chopped Walnuts

Put all ingredients, except Walnuts, into a high speed blender and blend until smooth. Add more water if needed to attain your desired consistency of sauce. Poor over Kelp Noodles or your favorite vegetable noodle and toss. Sprinkle with Black Pepper and the Chopped Walnuts.

Starting Weight: 147.8  

I have come to the conclusion that my scale is totally bonkers. 

So overall, I feel pretty fantastic. I’m having a blast finding new foods to try, but also terribly saddened by the lack of food I can eat while out. I will either have to eat beforehand, always carry food on me in snack form, OR stop going out all together. I love everything about the dining experience. I love the atmosphere, the service, the people, and the food. So I hate that I’m not finding more friendly foods. A lot of restaurants are offering Vegetarian options now, which is awesome. So if all else fails, I could seek out one of those meals.

I know I talk a lot about my weight loss, but I want you to know that my main focus is still on health, and for me, weight loss is a big part of that. But I can tell you that I have much more energy, my mood overall has increased (I feel happier and more care free more often), of course have a huge confidence boost, and finding out how strong of a person I am (pretty damn strong). Valerie actually means “Strong”, I was destined to have this name. No, seriously, I was. My birth story is as follows….or my name story in short: When I was born, my parents could not agree on a name, as I was supposed to be a boy. Luckily I escaped “Travis John”. In frustration, my mother grabbed the phone book, closed her eyes, flipped open a page and planted her finger upon a name. This name was to be mine. So somewhere in the state of Maine, I’m named after a woman, who I imagine is or was absolutely fabulous.  Valerie. Strong. I’m so happy I didn’t get Gertrude, or Bertha. Sorry.

Breakfast: Green Smoothie (Kale, Banana, Orange)
Lunch: Salad
Dinner: Mac-n-Cheese
Dessert: Dried Mango

This Mac-n-Cheese was AWESOME! I put the sauce over Kelp noodles. SO good. 

*Love, Light & Health* ~ e.R.

Starting Weight: 147.8 - down 0.8lbs - 9lbs total!

Nothing too exciting to report today. I have a huge appetite though, all day long. I ate a big salad for lunch, followed by a fruit cup, then snacked on Kale chips. I’m continuing to exercise each day, even if it’s just a little bit, but I’m making sure to at least do my sit ups each day.

Breakfast: Green Smoothie (Kale, Banana, Orange)
Lunch: Big Salad & Fruit Cup
Snack: Kale Chips
Dinner: Pad Thai Kelp Noodles
Dessert: No Bake Cookies (2)

Nacho Cheese Kale Chips - These are SO crispy and So good.

1 Bunch of Kale
1 c. Cashews
1 Red Bell Pepper
1/2 c. Nutritional Yeast
Juice from 1/2 Lemon
Pinch of Salt
Pinch of Cumin

Put all ingredients except Kale in a High Speed Blender and blend until smooth. De-stem Kale and pour cheese mixture over kale and massage into the kale until kale is covered. Dehydrate @ 105F for 12 hours or until crispy

Starting Weight: 148.6 – Down 1.2lbs – 8.2lbs total!!

I cannot explain the feeling I have from seeing that number on my scale. Seriously. I have struggled with 150 for a long time, and finally ­beating it is so emotional, but in a good way!

We went out to eat for breakfast today. Not one thing on the menu was raw. Very disappointing. So needless to say I didn’t eat much. I had some oatmeal with fruit and walnuts on the top. I tried to eat mostly the fruit. It’s pretty frustrating when you love to go out and eat and then there is nothing you can eat. I then endured my loving partner stuff his face with the foods I used to love. But then I think of how bad that food really was for me and how it made me feel after I ate it. It made it much easier to cope with.

It’s been nice having the lasagna, and since I’m the only one eating it, I can have it last a few meals, which means less prep time!

I went shopping and got a new pair of jeans. I haven’t bought pants since December, so I am happy to report that I am down 2 pants sizes!! So that totally motivated me to put in a good workout today. I did a bunch of abs work, kettle ball, jump rope, and a little zumba.

I’m not a huge chip person, but I am craving Nacho Doritos SO BADLY. I decided to make Nacho Kale Chips. 12 hours in the dehydrator better be worth it!

Breakfast: Oatmeal with Fruit & Nuts

Lunch: Lasagna

Snack: No Bake Cookie

Dinner: Pad Thai Kelp Noodles

Starting Weight: 150.2 – Haven’t been below this number in two years…

Honestly?…The exact same weight?…Same ounces today as yesterday after not even eating dinner? Now, I didn’t not eat dinner on purpose, however, I did think this morning that it was going to have some type of impact on my morning weigh in. I guess not…unless my scale is lying to me! Evil scale.

Well, needless to say, I am quite hungry this morning.  A satisfying bowl of chia porridge is in order. I did quite a good workout this morning which involved cleaning almost my entire house. Thank you, delivery man, for giving me motivation to clean. Cleaning is such a good workout too. Maybe tomorrow I can finally get below that dreaded number!!

Breakfast: Chia Porridge

Lunch: Raw Lasagna

Dinner: Lasagna

Dessert: No Bake Cookie

Even though I’m stuck on 150, I tried to have a great day. And it was great for the most part :)

*Light, Love & Health* ~ e.R.

Now this lasagna is pretty incredible with layers of zucchini, a creamy cheese, a spinach pesto, a sweet tomato sauce, and a sage sausage. All Raw, All Vegan, All Delicious!

Recipe from www.rawmazing.com 
(I was low on Walnuts so I did half the amount of Walnuts in the Sausage, and then used Pecans for the other half. I also used Pecans for the Pesto. YUM!)

Marinara Sauce