Tweedle

mmmmmm daiya. I went (back to) raw a few weeks ago, but I've still got a bag of daiya in the freezer that I'm definitely going to dive into on a special occasion. My boyfriend was trying to steal it the other day... "Hey...since you're all raw and what not... are you gonna eat that Daiya?" "UM HELL YES, DON'T TOUCH MAH DAIYA" hahaha really though it's awesome.

I dig the simple one ingredient frozen banana method myself, but that's just me. You gotta make sure they get really good and frozen...HARD. and then I usually stick it in the freezer for a little longer after blending, and stir it up...with crushed strawberries, oh yeah!

hmm, I'll have to check that out. I wonder if Orlando is anywhere on his route?? I don't know the geography of Florida all that well. I don't think I'll be able to get out anywhere to meet him if that's what it comes to, because we didn't rent a car or anything. I'll check it all out though and see what he might say Thanks!

Glad you're having such a great time with it already! I've definitely noticed sharper, heightened senses as well. One tip I might offer for your trip to Disney: take dried fruits, maybe bananas, mangoes, whatever, and just soak them in your water bottle to rehydrate them. I dunno what their policy is on bringing outside food in though. Dried fruit would also be a lot easier to sneak in, if that's what it comes down to. They are okay with you bringing food in the park, I know that much. But I've done my research and found produce stands in just about every park and in our resort's cafeteria, so I'll probably just stock up tons of bananas and such in the cafeteria and bring them along wherever we go I mean... it's Florida they should at least have oranges

Well I'm working my way into the 80/10/10 way of raw. The more I read about it, the more I realize what I was doing wrong when I was raw last time. Of course it's only been a few days since I've started 80/10/10--but, I can already feel a huge difference even from being just a normal "rawist" who tends to eat lots of nuts and such... I feel SO much more energetic, and noticed a HUUUGE difference when I was lifting today. It was just so much easier! Course I have some kinks to work out yet. Coffee, birth control. I'm going to Disney World in less than two weeks and am a little curious about what my food situation is going to be like... I hear they've got lots of fruit stands and such around the parks or whatever, but I guess we'll see. Should be interesting! hehe I'm totally digging on the idea of the fact that being primates, fruit makes the most sense for us to get most of our calories from... and I'm starting to understand my food cravings that I have been struggling with and all that so much more. Even just cutting out salt and what not for a few days, I'm feeling less inclined to eat salty, sweet, and fatty foods. It's going to be a long journey to get to where I want to be, and I know that, but, I have so many goals I think eventually I want to eat mainly foods that make the most "sense" to eat... meaning, foods that would be easiest to eat straight from nature. For example, a pineapple isn't as easy to eat as an apple... There's something about eating with just my hands and mouth, I think, that make me feel more in tune with my body and my environment. ANYHOW... I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for this working with weight lifting Just gotta get my body used to eating a little more since it's still struggling to eat the volume of fruits it needs to get the calorie requirements. thanks everyone! xoxo ETA: regarding the mention of mental clarity as well... definitely feeling that already. uhh is it just me, or have those of you that have tried or on a raw diet noticed heightened senses? my sense of smell and hearing have definitely been greater... and I don't know if it's related, or just a weird little coincidence?

well, even though I said I wasn't gonna do it earlier... I'm going to try giving it up (again). I'm only worried about how my circulation (or whatever the heck is going on) is going to react. And trust me, I've been to a doctor...countless times...for my issue with my hands and feet. For some reason when I quit coffee last time, my hands and feet would swell up and get painful. And they do do this occasionally without coffee, but coffee seems to minimize it for whatever reason. I'm obviously active, and I don't smoke cigarettes, so I can't think of what else I could do to help the problem....especially without knowing the cause (the doctors have no clue...how reassuring, isn't it?) I've just been getting more and more into the idea of treating my body as I would if I were not part of a modern society...if I were in nature, and coffee is definitely not something you'd be sipping on in the forest lol I also want as good as digestion as I can achieve since I've struggled my whole life with it, so I'm going to start doing that by trying not to toxify my body with stuff... Anyway... there's no telling how it's going to go, but here's to hoping for the best! cold turkey, that's the way I do things

coming back about a month later, I'm *trying* to do this raw thing again. Must. get. it. RIGHT! I'm going to take "thedeepeningcrisis"'s advice on the calories from fruit, nutrition from leafy greens idea. you may have something there. I think I might have been weighing myself down with too much overt fats. I get some intense cravings for "heavy" food and I think I may have been over-indulging in raw cashews and avocado especially. Another thing that concerns me however...and I know a lot of people here and on other vegan websites don't seem to nervous about it... is B12. I know a lot of raw foodists will still eat nutritional yeast and such to get some B vitamins, but I can't handle a whole lot nutritional yeast in raw food. (in cooked vegan food, it's a little different...) So, I'm considering getting a b-12 supplement (not raw, and especially cause those raw supplements are SO expensive and I am not made of money haha) I'm still not sure what went wrong. I was doing really well on the raw diet UNTIL I started training. Then I just started falling apart. Maybe I just wasn't eating enough? I don't think I really upped the amount of anything that I ate from when I wasn't training to when I started to. I know a lot of rawists will eat POUNDS of fruit in a day, and my stomach simply can't handle that much food. I want this to work because I believe in the raw lifestyle, yet I really want to be able to keep training without my health plummeting. Ideas????? edit to say: the first couple months that I was raw I wasn't doing ANY type of exercise because of a foot injury/cold weather/lack of gym membership...so as soon as I got that gym membership, is when the raw diet started having "ill" effects on me.

I totally dig the tat...the idea behind it and the art itself. great!

I'm in the same boat as the original poster, looking for a good sugar alternative...because as it turns out, stevia just doesn't seem to work well for me. I can always notice the bitter aftertaste except in recipes like pancakes... I like using stevia in my pancakes. Agave nectar is awesome, but like someone else said, liquid isn't always a good option. Right now I'm just using organic turbinado since I can't seem to find anything else that I like... I don't know the facts on Splenda or other zero cal sweeteners but I stay away from them just to be safe. Dates are great---is date sugar different than date paste?

100 bucks wow! yeah but it's worth it... really. especially when you're susceptible to ankle and knee issues like I am. I haven't had any weird ankle or knee pains since I got these. I don't know, I think a good shoe is important enough to spend the money on.

I have the same thing. Granted, I don't have a six-pack but I'm a whoppin' 110 lbs so I'm not fat, and still I get bloated in my lower abdomen constantly. It's frustrating.

http://www.arbourshop.com/images/product_images/product_6560092_0000.jpg these recipes are incredibly easy, and really good. and this book isn't ALL vegan, but I'd say about 75% of the recipes are, and I'm sure you can veganize the ones that aren't: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_b3VZ6_BlqMM/SxQdEI_yN5I/AAAAAAAABxw/2_i2Q_IxrHI/s320/FRONTCOVER.jpg.w300h428.jpg then I have my vegan cupcakes cookbook, of course, that isn't at all nutritious

oh and by the way, it also depends on how you take your coffee...of course if you're pouring a whole bunch of creamer and sweetener into it...it's going to be bad for you. I personally take mine black...

i fucking love coffee. pour me another big cup of of that stupid useless weakness. here, here! Honestly... coffee is another one of those things that there is a lot of conflicting information about. Coffee in excess is definitely bad for you due to the high amounts of caffeine, however, if you drink one or two cups in the morning, I don't think it's going to have a negative impact on your health...in fact, for me, it has a negative impact to cut it completely out of my diet. I have poor circulation in my hands and feet that tend to cause them to swell up and ache from time to time, and for whatever reason coffee seems to help regulate this and minimize the frequency that the swelling and pain occurs. And I have read about others who have had the same. There's also theories that coffee in lower amounts can be beneficial for you liver and digestive system. But you know...it's just like the controversial discussions that surround soy, too... no one really knows, and it's also based on what works for the individual. If coffee doesn't work for you, don't drink it, but I don't think it's fair to say that one or two cups a day for everyone makes them "stupid and weak" I can tell you right now if I didn't have my coffee every morning I wouldn't even have the ambition to train. (And there was a point in time that I did quit coffee for a few months, and I never got past the feelings of mental cloudiness when I quit drinking it)

my body won't tolerate a full meal at breakfast, it makes me feel bloated and uncomfortable all day, so I usually do something like this: breakfast: is usually either about a half piece of toast with some peanut butter with a few strawberries or grapes, and a glass of soymilk or something comparable. snack: a banana, lots of water and maybe more fruit, possibly a handful of nuts, raisins.. lunch: a huuuge smoothie with soymilk, a large banana, about 1.5 cups of strawberries with .5 cup of pineapple sometimes with some blueberries or mango, too. I usually train a few hours after lunch so I don't eat anything after lunch, and after I train I usually eat a Clif bar or something. then I eat a large dinner with the majority of it being leafy greens like spinach, always a couple carrots, some broccoli, and some other veggie that I like to change up. I eat all my veggies RAW because I don't see a point to eating them cooked since it destroys almost all nutritional value... but sometimes I find broccoli a little dry, so I dip it in some veganaise or Organicville non-dairy ranch I usually pair this with some type of protein, usually it's some sort of tofu meat, or beans,or peanut butter, with some sort of grain like Ezekiel sprouted grains bread. I eat LOTS of alfalfa sprouts, too... I eat a snack an hour or two before bed because I cannot handle going to bed with an empty stomach... it varies, but it usually consists of something like an apple dipped in peanut butter (and btw, I NEVER eat the mainstream peanut butter that contains sugars and oils... I only get the stuff made at the organic store that's 100% peanuts) or I eat a Larabar and some grapes or an orange, etc.