Two rainy Tuesdays in a row. My colleague rejoices when it rains during any weekday, the logic being that the probability of it raining over the weekend decreases. I dunno about that - mother nature is pretty random. In any case, it was a pleasantly raw day.
Today I had:
strawberries (I think I’ll stop quantifying food at this junction. What’s the point? It’s not as if calories matter so much when you’re raw…. then again, gotta watch that nut consumption volume.)
raw string beans
monkey bananas (mini bananas)
kinkan (a mini orange-like fruit)
almonds & cashews
tomato, avocado, and ruccula salad with balsamic vinegar and oliver oil
organic wine
Found yet another movie trailer for a raw-foods related flick. You can get the DVD’s website by clicking on the image at left. Simply Raw is an independent documentary film that chronicles six Americans with ‘incurable’ diabetes switching their diet and getting off insulin. The movie documents the transformations brought about by a raw food diet in the 6 people’s lives, including medical, physical, and emotional changes. The viewer gets a peek into their struggles, but also their gradually renewed sense of hope once they learn how easily diet can change their health, reversing diabetes.
The flick is pretty cool in that it seems quite unbiased. You get to see people slagging off raw food and going through emotional detoxes of sorts. I really want my mom to see it, as she’s got diabetes….
Today was uneventful. I successful enjoyed exploring raw food blogs and browsed the day away (nope, I don’t work Mondays! ), adding links to my site. Of course what I should have been doing was preparing for classes tomorrow, and now that it’s suddenly gotten dark, I’d better get to it! Didn’t eat much today. Kinda forgot, if you can believe that! (Definitely not like me- I usually eat even when I’m not hungry. Umm, maybe it’s about time I put that kind of statement into the past tense!)
My face looks a lot leaner today. Clear too.
Today I had:
pistachio nuts
dried mango
1 mango
left-over Asian slaw
1 banana
orange juice
2 shots of MonaVie
ginger and lemon tea
What a perfect spring day. After faffing about on my my computer in the morning and enjoying some fresh fruit, my roommate and I headed to the local park to enjoy the sunshine reading under the final falling cherry blossom petals. Our neighbourhood is chock full of young families, so we also wittled away time watching little kids fall down trying to walk, frisbees and other recreation thingies being tossed or kicked, and a surprisingly large assortment of dogs. There were fresh pistachio nuts to munch on.
My nails seem to be stronger and growing faster. This often happens in the summer, especially with all the sun creams one tends to slap on oneself. But it’s too cool for that, so I wonder if it’s got anything to do with diet? My allergies seem to have dissipated too, but I think that could be due to the sugi season having passed. It was particularly bad this year.
I could go on also about the changes in my bowel movements, but let’s just leave it at saying that the changes are good.
Yesterday evening I found an interesting product at the health food store: an organic concoction of ginger juice, lemon juice, and honey. Mix with water and clear the morning sludge out of your limph system. With pleasure. The stuff tastes good, although expensive, so I’ll by my own ingredients and dust off the juicer in my cubbord.
Today I had:
ginger mix
MonaVie acai juice
2 kiwis
1 banana
1 small mango
pistachio nuts
home-made Asian slaw (cabbage with soy sauce, ginger etc.)
dried mango (no sugar added) Hummm, really should get a dehydrator….
I obviously had a tad more wine than I should have last night and was tired, otherwise I would not have slept in until 10:30. Oh, but what I lovely lie-in it was! My roommate and I sat around and enjoyed reading, computing, easy-listening piano ballads, and raw food. Later, after a private lesson in my “language studio,” we headed to a veggie-friendly place for dinner near the station. Not all vegetarian, not all organic, and not all raw, but I certainly stayed vegan and ate as much raw as I could.
Today I chowed down:
10 strawberries
banana,kiwi,frozen berry smoothie with honey
assorted raw green salads with various dressings
cooked spinach and sesame seeds
hijiki, soy bean, and tofu curd salad
burdock root slices
pumpkin and onion mash
picked Japanese radish
5 liches
soba tea
a little red wine
I had difficulty getting up this morning, as I had gone to bed so late, but with a nap after classes and before some desk work, I was just fine- especially with the help of some tasty nuts I thankfully had on hand. I feel very clear-headed today. After a lot of office work, the day culminated in my first restaurant eating experience while trying to remain raw. The menu at a cheap izakaya chain called Murasaki ended up being better than I thought. I had all raw, but no, I can’t vouch for what went into the dressings and sauces. It all tasted great, as did the copious amounts of wine my colleague and I consumed. I have to say, wine hits you delightfully fast and strong when you are raw, and wine is definitely better when it’s organic (no crap in it means no hangovers, no matter how much is consumed. At least for me, anyway.)
I had:
2 shots of MonaVie (acai juice blend)
1 big slice of green melon
2 small bananas
salad (oliver oil and cider vinegar, cucumbers, red peppers, tomatoes, avocado, greens)
small bag of raw peanuts
small bag of chestnuts
cranberry juice
red wine (lots!)
Eda mame (salted beans)
daikon (radish) salad with shiso and ume boshi (pickled plums)
Korean spicy salad (greens, spring beans, hot peppers, sesame oil etc.)
sliced cucumber with light sesame dressing
I’ve been cluttering the screen with a lot of video recently, but I’ve one more I’d like to share-yet another documentary-type film preview. This one strikes me as a tad evangelical, but would like to see it nonetheless.
I slept soundly until 9am today, and worked all day at my computer wearing my yutaka, setting up students’ blogs and doing beginning-of-term administration. There are part-time teachers out there who teach twice as much as I and travel twice as far. I don’t understand how they do it. I suspect a lot of content repetition, correcting on train rides, and lack of sleep. Until now I’ve always worked full time, which entails less teaching but oodles of administrative work all the same. Both pay the bills better than I am currently doing, but it is nice to have the time to do a proper job.
I kept to fruit in the earlier part of the day. Frutarians must be constantly eating, as no sooner does fruit enter my digestive track do I feel famished again. I had to do a shop to replenish my depleted fridge. Must get more mangoes at Costco….
Today I ate:
2 mangoes
water, frozen berries, molassis smoothie
natto, kimuchi, and dried nori
2 kiwis
one slowly rock-roasted sweet potato (Kagoshima-style)
1 big glass red wine (organic)
pumpkin seeds
I googled more on the title “Food Matters” and found that Mark Bittman has unsurprisingly written a book with this name. I have no idea if the movie mentioned in an earlier blog is based on this, but I suspect it might be.
A more organized and under-control day has passed. I met with new students at Tama University for the first time this term, munched on some carrots, split peas and natto, did an hour of administrative stuff, had a private trial lesson at the station near me, then proceeded to work 8 hours straight making blogs for my students- a very lengthy process indeed, but by using http://edublogs.org, I get a lot of control and can better help students who are lost in technical BS. A long process in the beginning though. I hope it’s worth it!
My little headaches from earlier on in last week have gone, and I’m not thinking about bread, rice, or pasta, much less junk food. Still have to make an effort to eat more though, as I’m seemingly always hungry. No weight loss as far as I know, but that may come later.
Today I ate:
cranberry juice
3 kiwis
carrots, split peas
natto
sunflower seeds
apple vinegar water
miso tofu
dried apple chips
1 banana
Speaking at the 2007 EG conference, “renegade lunch lady” Ann Cooper talks about the coming revolution in the way kids eat at school — local, sustainable, seasonal and even educational food:
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Found yet another movie trailer for a raw-foods related flick. You can get the DVD’s website by clicking on the image at left. Simply Raw is an independent documentary film that chronicles six Americans with ‘incurable’ diabetes switching their diet and getting off insulin. The movie documents the transformations brought about by a raw food diet in the 6 people’s lives, including medical, physical, and emotional changes. The viewer gets a peek into their struggles, but also their gradually renewed sense of hope once they learn how easily diet can change their health, reversing diabetes.
), adding links to my site. Of course what I should have been doing was preparing for classes tomorrow, and now that it’s suddenly gotten dark, I’d better get to it! Didn’t eat much today. Kinda forgot, if you can believe that! (Definitely not like me- I usually eat even when I’m not hungry. Umm, maybe it’s about time I put that kind of statement into the past tense!)