Eating cooked vegan meals

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I have been a raw vegan for quite some time now.  It's been at least nine years.  I have walked the walk up until a year ago.  I began incorporating cooked vegan meals into my diet when traveling or when my non vegan friends and family invite me out for a meal.  I try my best to be socially friendly with my non vegan loved ones.  I am not a preaching vegan but that doesn't mean that people are not uncomfortable around me.  I am the only raw vegan in my social circles so I have allowed myself to adapt.  I still consider myself a raw vegan and raw food is what I prefer, however, not all restaurants are vegan friendly, even though they say so.  There are so many ways to get your fruit and vegetables into your diet without feeling stuck or deprived.

Enjoy yourself!

My raw vegan journey continues...

Wow!  We are already through the first week of March.  Where does the time go?  I have just completed my annual Master Cleanse and am now back on solid food again.  I had my first large green salad for dinner last night.  As I took my time enjoying each morsel, I thought about the past year.  It was quite a stressful year and I found myself eating what was convienient and filling.  This meant that it was not always raw, but it was vegan.  The drawback is, for me at least, eating out of convenience always has it's consequences.  After eating raw since 2007, my body reacts to cooked vegan food. It literally shuts down.  Elimination becomes very sluggish and I suffer from edema and constipation.  My remedy is to get back to 100% raw.  No it's, ands or buts.  My personal challenge is to not stress eat, even though I eat healthy vegan food.  I need to be more conscious about my eating. This morning I made fresh almond milk and savored every sip, instead of gulping it down and dashing out the door.  Herbal tea is my only heated pleasure on chilly mornings, and yes, I savor it too.

SABOTAGE, FOOD ADDICTION AND RENEWAL

Hi Friends,
I can’t believe it’s been so long since I last posted on my blog.  Being human,  I let life get in the way and stopped blogging.  Now that I am back, I would like to pick up where I left off. I  Completed 30 days on my juice feast/fast last summer and felt absolutely amazing.  Then it happened, Starting from October through  until April.  I gradually started eating more often and my portions were getting increasingly larger.  I even found myself having  a cooked meal once in a while and let’s not forget the holiday cocktails and drinks.  Yes it happened.  As you know, I have been a raw vegan for close to five years, so why would I allow this to happen.  There are several reasons.  I have a history of emotional eating.  In addition to being an emotional eater, I am easily swayed by my environment.  I found myself lately and more often in situations where I am unprepared.  When I’m not prepared I wind up eating foods that are available.  Going out with my family and friends meant I was outnumbered in where we are going to eat.   This is how the best of intentions get SABOTAGED.  I want to be social and polite so I don’t make a fuss,  but,  “just this one time” ends up happening more often.  The good thing is I always choose a vegan meal.   You are probably thinking to yourself,   what’s wrong with vegan?…it’s healthy!  You are right,  it is healthy, however, the problem is the addition of sugar, salt and starches.  I have raw for a length of time and my body has been reprogrammed.  The cooked vegan foods, condiments and such take longer for me to digest.  They taste awesome and they are beautifully prepared.   The end result is now I’ve gained weight quite rapidly And have now awakened the  ”sleeping  giant” of FOOD ADDICTION.  I didn’t gain all my weight back, but enough were I am back to square one.  I’m sure that I am not alone.
I felt like a failure and a fraud so went on to beat myself up.  Then it dawned on me.  I wasn’t a failure or a fraud.  All along I was making healthy choices, even in the most challenging situations.  I could have “thrown in the towel “ and consumed steak and potatoes or a pepperoni  pizza like everyone else, but I didn’t.  I learned and am still learning a lot about myself and my personal nutritional needs.  Friends, your body speaks to you.  All you have to do is listen to it and follow it’s direction.  For me, the direction is raw food, juicing and fasting.  It’s how I roll.

Today I started my 2013 Juice feast.  Today is my  RENEWAL  Day I.