So I learnt something ...

A few things I would like to say first up. One is that I think that me blogging is so terribly narcissistic, but I absolutely LOVE reading everyone else’s blogs and well, I like to talk (type, whatever) so maybe, hopefully, I can entertain someone out there with mine. Secondly, the name of my blog, I feel I should explain a little. I think I mentioned previously that I have no intention (at present) to become 100% raw, or vegan, vegetarian or any other ‘label’. I just want to keep my foods as close to nature as possible for the benefit of my body and mind. My main goal at present is to keep raw the majority of the day, staying raw till dinner is a good starting point and to progressively cut out processed/refined foods. I know that this lifestyle will have its challenges and I will endeavour to work through them, but we have to be real, and well, I am a realist (no, it’s not just another label for a pessimist ok) And the blog name, Damn I am good!, was taken :)

Eating completely raw until I get home from work (ok, so not quite dinner time) is working really well for me. (Side note: I have been losing weight, intentionally, since April this year by counting calories. It has worked so well, and I recommend this method to all wanting to lose weight in a sensible and doable way. CK has been a godsend) So, during the day I eat pretty much the same amount of calories that I would have when eating cooked foods. I have noticed however that by the time I get home I am really hungry and without fail, grab the following foods and inhale…Tinned tuna in olive oil, a pita bread and organic cheese. Now these are ok, I don’t mind that I am eating this. The thing is that after eating, say about 4:30pm, I am SO TIRED! I usually fall asleep on the lounge for an hour or so. My (uneducated) guess is that my body hasn’t had to work this hard at digestion all day, so when I eat these foods, it’s not ready for them? That is all I can come up with! Once I wake up I am fine, I don’t feel sick at all from the foods, just tired. I have never had an intolerance to breads before, however I have never felt 100% after eating pasta, so perhaps my cleaner eating has made me more sensitive to the bread? Generally after I wake up I go for a run/walk for 90mintues or so then come home. I might have a salad or some baked sweet potato, or chuck some frozen mango and dark chocolate in the food processor for a raw ‘sorbet’. Never have a problem getting to sleep come bedtime and waking up is simple as…well except when the boy is over, just want to snuggle up all day then :). So that is the major thing I have noticed. Also, my tendency to binge at night is sneaking back on, haven’t had that issue since April. I am taking steps to counteract this now by eating more raw snacks during the day and upping my calories during the work day (though they are already a fair bit higher than my ‘weight loss’ calories).

My usual work day is looking like this (weekends are, well mine. I have no routine, I try and keep is as raw/unprocessed as possible, but this is something I just take weekend by weekend)…
Breakfast: Vegetable and Fruit juice – celery, apple, carrot, beetroot, pineapple, spinach and a squeeze of lemon. The amount used and what is used varies on, well, what’s in my fridge, but that’s the usual. This morning was different; I made a smoothie, more about that later
Morning Snack: 1c Pumpkin, 2x small plums, 2x Cherry Tomato’s. Cup of Lemon Myrtle Tea – this stuff is the bomb!
Lunch: (this week, I like to change it up every week, this week is quite lazy) Garden Salad, mixed lettuce, baby spinach, red capsicum, ½ avocado and some balsamic vinegar and olive oil to dress (or this great new sweet chilli sauce I discovered yesterday!)
Afternoon Snack: 2x fudge babies (cookie cutter heart shaped)1x Kiwi fruit, 2x passionfruit and a cup of Lemon Myrtle Tea
Afterwork snack: Tinned tuna, pita pocket and organic cheese
Dinner: This changes daily, the last 2 weeks I don’t think I’ve had a dinner at home, so it changes. I try to keep is as raw and unprocessed as possible. Tonight, I am having sushi with the boy, can’t wait for some sashimi – nomnomnom!! J

My exercise is now a combination of running/walking/jogging. I have just discovered a brilliant new running track and love, love, love it. I used to be a gym gal, through and through. But I really can do with the extra $18p/w they were charging me and I love being outside. What I don’t love is when I am not paying attention to where I am going (damn you distracting iPhone) and I almost run into a GIANT possum (will get a pic next time). He was on the paths fence running along also, when I look up, see him, freak out cause he is bigger than my head and accidentally let out that girly high pitched scream complete with arm flail – on a busy main road by the way! Quite embarrassing…oh and did I mention it’s happened 3 times now – in the same spot. No I will not learn.

Yep, so this morning I made a breakfast smoothie and it was delicious J It all came about as I attempted to make Chocomole last night. D-I-saster! (will try again one day soon) However, I realised it will make an excellent smoothie base J So I had 3 giant (possibly beyond giant) tablespoons of the chocomole-D-I-saster, 1-2 cups of rice milk, 1 cup and a hearty chunk of young coconut water and flesh, 1 passion fruit and ½ a mango. Blended it up nice and good, added some ice and drank it at work. It was lousy with calories (like 600). I drank it, rather I began to drink it, at 7:30 finished it at 9:30 and I am still satisfied (its 11:30) Hmm…would love some Lemon Myrtle tea, but can’t leave my desk L So I think it will most definitely go on my morning beverage rotation. Hardly even dream about long black’s now…hardly, and don’t worry I haven’t forsaken the delicious black liquid just yet – still heart my coffee.

Well, I best love you and leave you for now (you know, being at work and all) though I shall return soon with more ramblings. I will leave you with some pics of my ‘lil vege garden. So cute, cant wait to expand it!!!

My Cheery Cherry Toms and some baby spinach nestled in there too!

My mixed lettuce!! Cant wait to eat you....

Peace All, have a great weekend...only 2.5 days to go!

Yet another life evaluating crisis

Happy Friday Eve All,

I'm having one of those moments in time where you sit back and look over your life and think, NO, there is no way this is it. I can't possibly sit here any longer, I will go insane! As per usual, work is on the cards. I tried to get into the mindset of, its just work, do your time and do with your leisure time the things you love. But you cant, it doesn’t work like that. I am at work at least 8 hours a day; it is part of my life, a very big part.

Now I am very thankful for my current job, it’s not totally mind numbing and pays the bills, but it’s not my passion. What is my passion? Well that’s the million dollar question isn’t it. I was having these feelings earlier in the week, it happens every now and then and snowballed a little when I stumbled upon Angela of Oh She Glows story. I had a similar experience earlier this year; however I just moved from my hellish job into a job of convenience, as you can’t get buy in this world without cash my friends, it just does not work. So 9 months later, here I am, evaluating what I am doing, again - oh yay.

So yeah, passion…Now, I have always been interested in health (not meaning I am the epitome of health, far from it, I myself am on a delightful weight loss journey, half way there!), still the love for health and health education has always been something close to my heart, be it sports, nutrition, sexual health. I absolutely loved studying it in high school and was top of the class, but never even thought to progress with it after school. No idea why it didn’t cross my mind - probably because the though of studying at that time was less than appealing, so I got a real job. That’s how the world works right? Now I would love to say I worked my ass off and saved much, much moolah, but all I did was work my ass off for minimum pay in a role I loved for a company I loathed – but lets not go there…

So, after a lovely 4 year break (whoa, I can’t believe its been 4 years since grad!) I am now much more into the idea of study. I had been looking into a fitness course earlier in the year (in another life evaluating crisis moment), and planned on completing the course then working within the fitness industry then later in life studying nutrition and working in that field. I am now not so sure on the fitness side, as its nutrition that really gets me going. So I have been looking at some courses and there is an open day for a college I will check out in a few weeks. Also, uni is an option, so I will be looking into that. There are no accredited Nutrition courses offered by Tafe, which is a bummer as that’s who I was going to go with for my Fitness certificate. So right now it is all about going for the best study option at the best institution for me. Eventually I would like to use my nutrition powers ( :P) in treating and preventing disease. Oh I get kinda excited at the thought.

So…eating raw! Still doing well with eating raw till dinner, or really till my after work snack. I am still finding it odd how simple it all is and how good I am feeling throughout the day. Though, I did have a shocking headache yesterday which I couldn’t shake. Headaches can be part of detox, though I don’t think I would be going through any detox as yet? In any event I am feeling fine today. Went to see the folks yesterday and mum gave me her juicer!! So excited about making some juice! I am still not ready to let go of my morning coffee (mmm, coffee J) so I may make the juice as an afternoon snack, to get me through my workout. I have added some raw nuts into my day, brazil and pecan. Not too many as they are lousy with calories and very Moorish. I also bought some seeds which I will bring into work next week for snacks. I am still loving my breakfast of raw pumpkin and watermelon and afternoon snacks of kiwi fruit and apples. Don’t think I will need as big a shop this week as last. I spent about $70 all up, which is a little more than usual. I am usually between $30-$60 depending on the week. But a fairly small cost change wont be stopping me from continuing, my health is far to important J

Just a quick thanks to my new followers, you ladies are fantastic – Thank you!

Have a great Friday Eve!!

Suprised at the simplicity of it all...

I really do think that eating raw is for me (yey). My body is taking to it so very well, and I haven't even had any craving for cooked or pre-packaged foods, even my meat consumption has gone down. Which is odd as I do love my meat, but the thought of cooking a piece of chicken just isn't appealing to me. I did have some tinned tuna on toast yesterday, which was nice and my only non-raw meal of the day. The weekend was, as per usual, a food and exercise write off. Exercise and planned meals just wont happen. In saying that, I went out for breakfast Saturday morning and almost didn't order anything as they had zero raw options, I just did not want to put anything they had on offer in my body. In the end i ordered an omlette (minus cheese) plus mushrooms and Spanish onion. Couldn't get through it all, as all I could taste was the grease they used on the hot plate - urgh! Later on in the day got back from some retail therapy and made a huge, raw salad - while my housemate munched away on Macca's, which I wasn't even tempted to steal a bite out of :D

Going back a bit, Friday night I, for some reason, wanted nachos and for some other reason, I made some. So, heated some beans, grated some cheese and had corn chips, salsa and sour cream - I was SO bloated after them! I looked 6 months pregnant, now I have never been pregnant, so possibly slight exaggeration...but you get the idea. Needless to say, didnt eat too much more crap that weekend. I even fell asleep on the couch at 7pm, I couldn’t stay away and digest, man my body was pissed at me :P

I went looking for a V slicer over the weekend, but in the end I just couldn’t part with $80.00....one day though, but for now my knife and grater will do the job.

Oh, having a good 'ol fashioned bake off tonight. A good friend of mine (finally) resigned from her job! I resigned from this company about 9 months ago, office environment was too toxic! So I am so freaking happy for her! So in light of this I am baking her a delicious muffin basket. She isn’t one for purchased flowers (prefers hand picked) so since I have no idea where I can pick flowers I will bake her some muffins - everyone loves muffins! Catch is she is coeliac and lactose intolerant, so I have googled some great recipe's and cant wait to give them a shot tonight. Already lined up some boys to take my creations to later for testing... :D If I can figure out how to post pictures, I will do. And recipe's if they're any good! Not very raw, but hey....

So, about the raw foods yeh. Today I am having Gena's Raw Peanut Noodles for lunch. I had it yesterday and it was delicious! The sauce is amazing. Lousy with calories (about 1700 for the entire sauce recipe, though this is about 5 servings) however eating it with vege's it’s still a pretty low-cal meal. And it is a meal. I usually have a garden salad with lunch, but couldn’t fit it in yesterday, so super filling and delish! For breakfast I had a cup or so of watermelon and a cup of raw pumpkin. Snacks I noshed on 3 pecan halves and a brazil nut. Afternoon snacks I have a kiwi fruit (yum) and an apple or mandarin. On the menu tonight is a big green salad with mixed lettuce, baby spinach, grated carrot, grated beetroot, maybe a cooked egg and some feta sprinkled over the top. And maybe some meat if I feel so inclined. Nothing too heavy though, as I will be sure to be picking at those muffins...

Must love you and leave you as I am at work (teehee) and must get something done!! Damn I hate excel spreadsheets!

Peace lovers xx

The journey begins...

And the journey beings. I recently discovered a wondeful blog (chooseingraw.com) that opened my eyes to the simplicity of living raw in the real world. I am currently not a vegetarian, and for the time being do not plan on saying goodbye to meat (give me a med-rare steak and a plate of chesses any day) but I will be living as raw as I can, to the benefit of my body, mind and soul.

I am also losing that excess weight that comes with a lifestyle of chowing down on processed junk and excessive consumption. So far, I have shed 15kgs since April this year, looking to continue, however I am focusing on living raw, as apposed to counting calories as I have been.

Well, thats the reason I started the blog, to have a place to write about how exactly you work raw living into living in the real world. Things dont always go as planned, people dont always understand and sometimes you just have to compromise.

About me...I live in beautiful Brisbane city. I love my life, it has its ups, downs and rollarcoaster days, but I love the twists and turns life is providing to me. I am single, and I love it. It took some time to get used to after the end of my last long term relationship, but now I know, that I am enough. Its something that young and old girls alike should come to know - you are enough, no one else will complete you. I work in admin and it is as boring as all hell. Left a job I loved 9 months ago, as I could not work in the toxic office environment. I dont regret that decision, but I miss the role, so, so much. I live with my best friend (of almost 11 years) and would not have it any other way. My other besties has jet setted off to a far away land to work and is happier than I have ever known him to be. I miss him like crazy, but knowing how at peace he is with himself stops those selfish urges to call him and tell him to get his ass back to aus :D

So, I am just blabbing, will take some time to get used to this blogging... :)
I am on about day 3 of raw eating. I am aiming to eat raw until dinner time currently (baby steps). Went well wed-fri. However friday night, for some unkown reason I decided to make Nachos (which I dont like at the best of times) so suffice to say, they left me feeling so incredibly bloated and sleepy! I have started running again also, and have had so much energy in the mornings I actually wake up BEFORE my alarm goes off! This has been happening since I have added more raw foods into my diet and exercise. So, boy did I feel it when I ate those bloody nacho's!!! Note to self: keep away from the processed foods...far away my dear!

Went out to breakfast this morning and there was very little raw options, well, none. So, I ordered an omlette minus the cheese with added mushrooms and spanish onions. Could not get through even half. I could feel the fat used for cooking on my lips and the cooked foods just did not site right in my stomach. I still cant beleive how well my body has taken to the raw foods and how much I already notice the difference when I dont eat raw foods, or at the very least a completly unprocessed meal.

Well....thats me for now. Thanks for taking the time to listen to my ramble, I promise it wont be so choppy next blog!

Have a fantastic weekend...

Peace xx