Hurray it’s Weigh Day!

OH I am excited! DESPITE a very unstructured week of discovery, and a big bag of Salt and Vinegar chips, Friday night at the Mexican restaurant, and several of those disgusting chewy granola, ‘yogurt’ dipped bars that people REALLY want to believe are good for you, I STILL managed to be down 2 pounds!

When you have 65 pounds to lose, 2 pounds does not seem like much, and I am quite sure no one will notice it, (although my husband, God bless him, will SWEAR he can!) but still it is progress in the very first week. My mind vey quickly calculated that if I lose 2 pounds EVERY week I will reach my goal in 8 months, which is 4 months earlier than my goal date of one year!

How did I do yesterday? Well yesterday was my best day, and I think is going to set the pace for what is to come. I have been flirting with the idea of going vegetarian for health reasons, and not because I have anything against eating meat. But I was thinking, if I made vegetarian choices whenever there was a choice, and raw even better, then wouldn’t I be much healthier?

Anyway, yesterday was a critical point in my fascination of the raw food, and vegan/vegetarian way of eating. All day I made raw food choices. (My healthy chocolate is cold processed and heated only enough to pour into the molds so even IT is raw!) I ate a ton of fresh fruits and vegetables and drank lots of alkaline water from my ionizer. I also had a great big mug of Waiora‘s Detox Tea before I went to bed. I will admit that I woke up at 2:30 AM and I was hungry. So I got up and cooked a small bowl of large flake oatmeal in a bit of milk and ate that. It filled up my belly and I went back to sleep quite peacefully.

This morning I will admit to waking up energized EVEN THOUGH my night sleep was broken. THAT is a huge deal for me, since I have been exhausted for months and months now. I even NAP most afternoons for heaven’s sake! So today I feel so great! I am going to go shopping this afternoon and get better prepared for my raw, whole food, vegetarian experiment. I already have a juicer, and yesterday I ordered a dehydrator. I am going to see if I can get a coffee grinder and a grain mill. The coffee grinder should be relatively easy to find, but I suspect the grain mill will be a different story. (I really live in an area that is know for their ‘meat and potatoes’ lifestyle… fishermen, farmers.. you get it!)

I am also going to be on the lookout for a good raw vegan recipe book. I MAY get lucky and find something like that here! There’s always Amazon, or Chapters online if all else fails!

Have a great day all…. I’ll be back later on with my articles of the day. Today I might do one about juicing since that’s going to be on my mind! :-)

Boy Am I tired!

Anyway, I digress! Today I am tired and I don't really know why I didn't sleep well last evening. I feel vaguely unwell, which isnot really like me. Although I have read about people experiencing a 'depression' kind of feeling when they cut back drastically on the refined flours and sugars etc. I didn't have anything processed or refined at all yesterday except for that gra-candy-nola bar. That is pretty dramatic for me. Maybe my body is rebelling against all of that raw natural healthy food.

Anyway, I did my exercises yesterday… stretching, 20 minutes on the stationary recumbent bike, and some upper body exercises with the lightest weights I have (2 lbs). I am still kind of sore today but in a good way. A way that tells my body I actually did something yesterday. I haven't exercised yet today though, and I want to get to it before I put it off and then find an excuse to not do it at all.

So back to the 'depression' thing. I have found an answer to the 'deprivation' I feel and the associated 'down' feeling from denying myself the food pleasures I am used to. It's a healthy chocolate product that comes without guilt. It is actually recommended that you consume AT LEAST 3 pieces a day for 'optimum health effect'.

3 pieces of chocolate daily for HEALTH!

Hmmm Imagine THAT! I am going to write an article but in the meantime you can get a sneak peek and order some healthy chocolate by visiting    ChocolateDaily.com. If it is too much of an effort for you to eat chocolate every day on a healthy eating plan then this probably isn't the blog you should be reading! hehe

In all seriousness, cocoa has been shown recently to be packed full of antioxidants and other really good for you things. It also stimulates a "feel good" release of natural brain chemicals. Some scientists believe this has something to do with serotonin. It is the processing that makes it so awful for us. All that added fat and sugar, and all that cooking the LIFE out of it makes it something that harms our health. Hmmm sounds like US doesn't it? Taking nature's bounty and turning it into a Big MAc! 

Anyway, I don't care WHY this particular chocolate is good for you. I am just glad someone showed me this early on so I don't have to SUFFER needlessly! :-)

So I am off to exercise now. I will be back, hopefully later today with my chocolate article, and some new changes/improvements to the website.

Many Blessings,

Shelley