I decided to take the plunge and try 30 days of RAW Vegan.
Today was my first day. It went quite well…I was pleased and surprised by
several things:
Plates adorned with colorful organic fruit and vegetables
were enough to make me excited for what I might come up with for the next meal.
I didn’t dread trying to find something to put together and cook for any meals.
In fact it was quite the leisurely experience to browse the fridge for amazing
food combinations.
I was full before I expected to be. Lunch in particular…I
had a loaded plate and chose to eat my “fatty” avocado dip and vegetables first
leaving no room for an apple. The apple, however, did make an excellent
afternoon snack with raw peanut butter.
Daily routine did not make me as tired as I have been
lately. Instead of wanting to take advantage of a full 2 hour nap while the
kids were sleeping, I found myself energized after only an hour of rest.
Tomorrow is full of promise as I’m looking forward to what
other delicious meals and snacks I can come up with or repeat again.
Ever so grateful for the internet and those that post their successes,
meals, observations and tips and I hope to be as helpful as I record my daily
journey with RAW.
It’s time for the diapers to go! My little girl is
only 19 months old, but if she can tell me she’s going “poo!” then she can do
it on a potty. Geared up with our juice, new underwear, pink musical potty and
a week free of obligations Monday started us on our day’s journey of wet
panties and cleaning little turds off the carpet. Ah the joys of motherhood…
It was a long day measured out in ten-fifteen minute
increments of plopping little butt cheeks down to do business at the ring of
the alarm. We did a lot of sitting and reading, so, by the end of the day…or
rather 3:30 in the afternoon I wasn’t the only one crawling the walls. Dressed
in my running gear a full twenty minutes before my husband got off work I was
rearing to go running.
By the time my husband got home, the in-laws stopped
for a quick visit and my daughter had managed to get off the potty and proceed
to have a full waterfall on our front step I had completed my running outfit
with ear-buds and running watch. Out like a shot I told myself to pace myself
and turned my attention more towards the song that was playing than pace.
Top of the first hill and the beep signaling my first
lap, a half mile, and I’m amazed to see my casual, not even taking my breath
away pace was under 9 minutes a mile…a feat for me! The rest of the run felt
fantastic as I blazed my way along the trail feeling so fantastic I didn’t
bother to worry about the TWO missed calls from my husband…no doubt a desperate
man searching for a clean pair of frilly panties.
As I stopped, I noted that I had felt fantastic the
whole run, not felt winded or wanted to complain as I do normally with short
runs. And wouldn’t you know it…all that sitting around cooped up for potty
training had me energized to run and beat my best 5k time! By the end of the
week I intend to try out for the Olympics.
“Do these really do anything and what DO they do?” the sales
cashier asked while ringing up my three Vanilla Bean and two Chocolate Outrage
energy GUs. Headed out in for a long run – 18 miles – I was prepping my fuel
belt the afternoon before I ventured out for self inflicted torture. “These are the difference between being able
to run for a long time and not by refueling your glycogen” I replied.
Ever since my first 10 mile run - attempted without anything
besides water and a stern but practical nudging from my running partner to look
into a fuel belt and running gels during marathon training - I’ve been amazed
and re-energized with GUs. I truly believed the difference between my successes
or failures pounding pavement relied solely on gels…now I’m not so sure.
5am Saturday morning I found myself posting a small movie
clip of the dragon from Disney’s Mulan proclaiming
“I Liiive!” while rising from magical smoke. My feelings exactly. And that was
about all I was feeling in exception to serious intimidation of running 3+
hours by myself. I wasn’t feeling it and coffee with a small snack didn’t help.
Nothing seemed to improve as I plodded away keeping more
attention to my watch and pace than how my body was feeling. As I passed the
two mile mark I wondered if I was alone in the ability to actually believe you
can attempt sleeping while running…
Finally waking up around 3.5 miles, I turned my thoughts to
my GU refueling strategy – 4 miles, 7-8, 11-12 should get me through without
remotely feeling the effects of bonking. The first gel was a burden and took me
a half mile to slowly ingest and was it my imagination or was it bugging my
stomach? Being truly awake didn’t seem to be helping me find my running groove
and thoughts of heading home were already creeping in at mile seven.
Mile nine and I’m wondering if I’d rather be in labor than
volunteering to run this far and I’m only half way! Naaaa…I’d keep running but
with the ever present awareness of my handy phone ready to call for a ride. Gels
two and three were about the same as number one and all other gels for the run
were definitely not part of my strategy even as the last daunting miles stared
me in the face. The GUs were not doing their job today as I plodded along…even
on that last six mile stretch home when I generally feel the loose flowing
stride coming easily.
I started to wonder if the GUs had actually hindered my
feeling better and if I would have done a better job without them. I struggled
through my long 18 mile run. It was tough. Were GUs really the difference
between my success – actually finishing decently alive- and failure Saturday? I’m
thinking not since the only thing getting me through the last four miles
consisted of sheer willpower to not make a phone call.
I’ve decided to revise my statement on GUs – GUs make up the
1% of the 100% needed to complete a long run…while gels are still incredibly helpful, one’s
mental state does 99% of the work to get the body through a long run. I will
still run with GUs but I might be prepping my attitude more than my fuel belt
from now on.
“It looks…oh!...yummy!”my 4-year-old exclaimed this morning as he approached the breakfast
table. I felt that I’d succeeded as both a mother and an individual…his squeal
of delight touched my heart and I glowed with pride at having obtained such a
rewarding reaction for something so simple.
But it really is the simple things in life that seem to mean
the most. For instance, how this breakfast came to be. Yesterday I was looking
to improve the view of a small corner of my house by hanging a decorative
cookbook stand on the wall. I daydreamed that it would only be a complete
picture if I had Bride & Groom: First
and Forever Cookbook to display. Sighing, I placed the cookbook stand,
empty, back on my counter.
Would you know it!? A simple thing, such as looking at my
local up-cycle Facebook page, later that afternoon resulted in that very
cookbook available, in nearly new condition, for $3...of course I went out and
got it!
I was elated…even now I’m elated and decided to put it to
use this morning finding this simple breakfast:
(modified from originalrecipe)
Banana Milk
1 cup almond milk
2 bananas, 1 frozen
1 tsp vanilla
Blended
Dusted
with Cinnamon Plus Spice Blend from The Pampered Chef
Peanut Butter Toast
Whole wheat bread slices
Natural peanut butter
Drizzled honey
Dusted with Cinnamon Plus Spice
Blend from The Pampered Chef
Displayed on Willow House medium Blue River Stone Platter garnished
with firm but ripe red cherries.
Breakfast, so simple, yet so delicious and rewarding.
