This is it: Weigh in Day!

"No one knows the trouble I've seen...." Louis Armstrong

:-)

Let me start with the end: I'm headed now to the gym to weigh in after my first week of the RAW diet. SO I DON'T KNOW YET HOW IT'S EFFECTED ME.

But in the middle I can tell you that I feel like a new person. 100%.

Example:

PRE-GLUTEN FREE:

I bought a bike last fall and rode a couple of times - but every time I would ride I would come home & be sick for about 2 days. Exhausted. Even a little achy ( and NOT the good kind that comes after a great workout...just flu-like achy) Ick!

What did I do? I tried riding shorter distances and not pushing myself so hard... maybe going 2 - 4 miles at a speed of 11 mph.

Still SICK! ugh. I was thinking MAN this getting old really stinks! Depressing thoughts huh!

POST GLUTEN FREE / PRE RAW:

This year - when I started riding (after I had gone gluten-free last December (well outside of biking season in Northern Wisconsin):) I started with just a couple of miles.

Much to my amazment - NOTHING. I felt very good. Tired, but a normal tired. Not exhausted and absolutely not achy.

YET: I would go a casual 6 -7 miles, maybe up to 12 on a great day and come home. Feeling like I had a good workout - but nothing amazing.

AFTER RAW:

Yesterday I biked 26 miles at an average pace of 16 mph (even into the wind on Lake Michigan!) and

the coolest thing about it - when we arrived at our half way point in our typical ride - I was the one who asked my husband if we could keep going further!

So I added an additional 14 miles to our trip!

I'm very excited to see how my body is doing as far as burning off some unneeded fat and I can only imagine how great my physiological numbers will look as well.

I'll get back to you soon, after I weigh in and get you another great recipe too!

Much Love,
Jen

Tacos! Awesome!

Ok, so I've been through most of the cravings - but today I just wanted something that tasted heavy. I wanted to feel a bit full.

So I went to Festival & found Sprouted Corn Tortilla Shells from a company called: Food for Life.com

The amazing thing is that these tortilla shells are awesome! Way better than 'regular' corn shells - which says a lot because I LOVE regular corn shells.

I can definitely see myself eating these shells forever.

So here's what I did:

TACOS:

- Heat up the shell just a bit: not till crunchy - no oil. Just until its a bit warm.
- Add: alfalfa sprouts (trust me on this one), sliced tomatos, onions, avocado, shredded carrots, mushrooms (if you like em), cucumber (again, if you like them).
- Then add a bit of all natural green salsa

eat while still warm!

YUM!

I admittedly haven't done any cardio yet today - there was a ribbon cutting at Felician Village this morning. Their new building is gorgeous by the way.

I'm planning on heading out for a bike ride in about an hour!

Tomorrow is my sons high school graduation party! Wish me luck on the raw diet! I feel confident! and I am making a plan so I can stick to my guns.

AND REMEMBER: MONDAY IS WEIGH IN DAY for me.

:0)

Much Love,
Jen

Pina Colada Smoothie: Whoo Hooo!

1/2 orange (peeled & sectioned)
1/2 cup fresh pineapple (chopped up)
1 ripe banana (I like frozen, but any kind is good)

Blend it up & drink it.

Thats it.

Simple. just like i like it.

PS: Monday is weigh in day for me. I started at 141.75. I'll let you know how it goes. I FEEL a ton more healthy I can tell you that right now!


I am working with a couple of women here in town to put together a "bootcamp" for people who just need a kick in the rear to reach their goals. I'll keep you up to date on that one. :-)

Much Love,
Jen Rada

Breakfast: Smoothie

Just a quick note about WHAT I ate for breakfast today:

8:00 a.m. I started the day with a cup of 1/2 caff. coffee (I'm writing it as an admition - i'm not so sure coffee is RAW? Anyone know anything about this?

Well with it I had a Sprouted Flax Bar - again, my favorite: Chocolate Cashew. It makes me feel like I'm endulging - yet I still feel good about it. So that's good.

Then I had a bunch of water with Lemon. lemon in water is extra extra good for you - not just the flavor. It helps with your bodies alkalinity (more about this later).

BREAKFAST SMOOTHIE:
THEN: I made a smoothie: Spinach. Water. Fresh Fruit.

- Big handful of spinach.
- 8 oz of water.

Blend it up really well to avoid chuncks of spinach stems in your smoothie. Ick.

- THEN add fruit. You really need very very little. you will be amazed at how little fruit it takes to completely eliminate the spinach taste. (I even like spinach - but not necessarily in my breakfast smoothie). :-)

That's it. Then blend it up!

Enjoy right away! It tastes bad if you let it sit.

Best,
Jen

Ok...it's Thursday. RECIPE DAY!

Many thanks to all of you who have approached me offering your support & condolences. :-)

I have made it this far and I am doing pretty well.

Several people have asked for MORE RECIPES. And I have crossed some new thresholds in the last 3 days - so I am happy to share that with you. The recipes I am using currently are either from the internet RAW sights or from a book I bought called: Raw Food Made Easy for 1 to 2 people: by Jennifer Cornbleet

I really like this book because it has only a few ingredients per recipe and they generally are ingredients that I can identify! With RAW 'cooking' I have had trouble running into books or recipes that have 20 or more ingredients & I have no clue what half of them are or where I would ever be able to find these mystery foods.

So this book has really been great.

MY Big accomplishment in the last couple of days has been that I have stuck pretty well to the RAW diet AND I made my first batch of homemade "Almond Milk" and "Walnut Pate".

The really amazing thing is that it actually tastes pretty good. Whew!

Almond milk is a basic item it seems in most RAW diets. This book says: "Homemade almond milk is more nutritious than boxed nondairy milks, yet it takes only minutes to make." So I thought...why not, I'd better give it a try. Especially if it only takes minutes to make! I can do that. :-)

Here's how it all went down:

ALMOND MILK:
2.5 cups water
1.5 cups RAW almonds (soaked over night in water)
3 dates (which I didn't use because I forgot to get them at the store)
1/2 teaspoon of real vanilla extract

IMPORTANT: SOAK THE ALMONDS PROPERLY
- Put the almonds in a container (preferrably not plastic) the night before and soak for at least 6 hours - up to about 10 hours.
- The next morning: drain this water off of the almonds - and rinse them with clean water (you will be amazed at how brown & cloudy the almond water is) Soaking gets a lot of the starches out of the almonds & softens them for blending!
- Now you're ready to make the milk!

Put all of the ingredients (almonds, water, dates, vanilla) in a blender & blend em up.

Take the mixed up ingredients and strain them through ONE of the following:
- a find mesh strainer
- or a "nut bag' - it's a bag you can get at a health food store that is a fine mesh strainer
- or in my case - I didn't have either of these things - so I asked Andy for an CLEAN white t-shirt that I could quote "destroy". I cut pieces off of it and strained my almond milk through that.

Whichever 'strainer' you use - just squeeze your almond milk into a seperate container and save the powder/flour that you will have left over. There are things you can make with this flour (I don't know what yet - because I haven't gotten that far in this adventure. Mine looks like it might make good crackers or maybe even a pizza type crust...mmmmm).

Oh, and almond milk will keep in the fridge for about 5 days. It will seperate - so you will have to shake it each time before you drink it.

It's good on granola (yes there is RAW vs non-RAW granola as well).

I hope this helps you see that although Raw is a pretty far stretch for our 'typical' diets - it can be done.

But my biggest thought right now on all of this is that: I can't help but end up healthier & learn a few 'cooking' tricks along the way.

I am planning a blog post on exercise and how this all fits in to life in general. :-) because I have had a TON of people in the last 3 days ask me about health & fitness - not just losing weight - althought that almost always comes with the territory!

For those of you who don't know - my first job ever was as a personal trainer. Dating myself but - I worked as a personal trainer from 1987 - 2002 pretty consistently.

I have some great ideas on pulling all of this together - as it may seem a bit disjointed right now. Diet/Exercise/Friends/Family/ There are a few key ingredients that add up to success. But I'll get to those soon (maybe even later today).

If you have questions - please feel free to facebook me.

I'm off to make my breakfast shake (more on that later too)! :-))

ttys,
Jen

Here we go.......40 days raw!

K - heres the deal. I have committed to a group called 40 days raw. The deal is this: eat raw foods for 40 days. Simple eh?

Heres the link:
http://www.facebook.com/notes.php?drafts&id=725119023#!/group.php?gid=121992294503133&ref=ts

Well my goal is NOT to just be a carrot munching fiend. Although it probably would help my tan!

My goal is to find out how good I can feel & to kick some butt on the way. (plus I'm sure it can only help me lose those last 10 pounds!! Ugh :-))

I am 39 years old and while that isn't very old - I can honestly admit that I have noticed some mild aches & pains in the last 3 - 4 years. Especially in my left knee (my chiropractic adjusting knee). Also in my neck now that I think of it (but that gets better when Im a good chiropractic patient and get adjusted regularly - thanks Apple Clinic docs!)

So you may be wondering WHAT IN THE WORLD AM I EATING?

I'm wondering that too! (Just kidding) Let me proceed to say that I have actually enjoyed my food and it may be a stretch for some of you - but I think I am going to find there are a lot of great foods I have been missing out on due to the typically 'American' diet (no offense Uncle Sam).

Please keep in mind as well that I am living in Wisconsin - a state known for 3 things: Beer, Fried Cheese & the Green Bay Packers (I had to through that one in). :-) So this whole RAW thing is going to take some extra dedication on my part.

Well lets get down to it: I'll give you a sneak preview of what has transpired to far (24 hours into this thing!).

First I went to Festival Foods and bought:
- a couple of RAW Revolution bars (My favorite is Chocoalte Cashew - it actually is quite tasty) Their website: www.rawindulgence.com

- Raw almonds (to make almond milk)
- Fruits (minimal amount)
- Veggies (quite a lot of green things)- especially avocados, cilantro, spinach, broccoli, lemons, onions, garlic, cucumber, fresh basil, red & green cabbage
- Sprouted bread (look in the freezer section)
- Seeds & Nuts: Flax seeds, Walnuts
- Coconut water (I'll let you know how this one works out...)
- Raw Granola
- Tamari (like Soy Sauce - but better for you...google it.

SO THE REAL QUESTION - IS WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH ALL OF THIS?

I like to call this my "WHAT?! list":

Answer: #1: Spices my friends. Spices. That is going to be my savior in this endeavor. To keep me from feeling like I am missing out on good stuff.

I have to admit in the last 24 hours I have already stretched my comfort zone and used a few spices I wouldn't have known what to do with just a short time ago.

Oh, #2 on the "WHAT?! list" has to be planning/preparation.

Planning/Preparation - lets just call it P&P - will be my victory or my arch enemy (I've always wanted one of those).

I'm currently soaking almonds (for almond milk) and walnuts (for walnut pate/meatballs) :-)

Ok, there are 2 things I want to share with you quickly before a go in search of "brunch":

1. My starting measurements: yep, I'm actually gonna say em.

As of July 5th, 2010:
Weight: 141.75 pounds

Measurements (with a tape measure):
- Calves: 15"
- Knees: 15"
- Thigh: 24"
- Buttocks :-): 40.25
- Umbillicus: 34.50
- Chest: 36"
- Neck: 13"

Other health stuff - measured 5/26/2010:
- BMI: 24.2
- Cholesterol: 184
- LDL (bad stuff): 99
- HDL (good stuff): 75
- Triglycerides: 50
- Blood Pressure: 100/64
- Height: 5'4"
- Body Fat %: 28%

There is more...but I may have lost some of you already with all of that detail!! :-)

BUT FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE STUCK WITH ME...Here's the second thing I want to share with you:

#2: What a RAW breakfast looks like: (I'm all into keeping it simple & tasty):

GRANOLA:
1/4 cup soaked raw almonds
1/4 cup soaked raw sunflower seeds
1/4 cup soaked raw walnuts
4 pitted dates, chopped
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (ground)
Salt if you want a bit
1/2 cup cut up fruit (fresh) ex. apple, banana, peaches
1/2 cup almond milk

1. Place almonds, sunflower, walnuts in a blender/food processor & gently blend (pulse if possible - until coursely chopped).
2. Add dates, cinnamon, & salt & mix
3. Store in the fridge - it will keep for 2 days
4. Serve with fresh fruit mixed in & add almond milk as desired

Thats it friends.

Look for some more great recipes tomorrow.

AND IF YOU WANT TO GIVE THIS A TRY: EVEN FOR 4 DAYS: SEND ME A NOTE ON FACEBOOK & I'LL HELP YOU ANY WAY I CAN!

Rock on...RAW!
See you guys soon!
Love, Jen

www.AppleForHealth.com