Yukiko has left for her first day at work coaching squash, and for the first few hours the dog was totally depressed and unable to settle down. I have spent the afternoon researching TWITTER uses in education, as I’d like to employ the application in my university EFL classes this fall. The dog is still sulking and whining, but thankfully I broke the sadness by taking him out for a walk (and dump - am very impressed with the little Japanese popper scooper contraptions available) in the late afternoon.  He is such a cutie! I think he’s a little spoiled by mom, though. (shhh! She’s protest if she heard that!)

Today I had:

green smoothie
marinated olives
natto
giant papaya (haven’t been eating enough fruit recently!)
senbei crackers and almond butter
nori (yes, as is!)
chestnuts
red wine, beer!

I finally tried the BaBa Ganoush recipe I’d put up on my blog, and it wasn’t bad, but I wouldn’t give it a perfect score. I didn’t follow the recipe exactly as I thought there was too much garlic and oils, but next time I definitely will follow it, as I found it just a tad bland. Needed more spices…  A typhoon is coming. We are stuck inside, but air conditioning is no longer needed. Thank the Lord. I have had quite enough of the heat, and look forward to spending more time outdoors!

Actually, I did go out in the rain today. I really fancied a little jog with the dog. Leo is sleeping now. Perhaps I wore him out? Unlikely - he was the one pulling ME around the “track” in the park. We had to stick him in the tub when we got back, though. Wet dog is bad enough, but rain and mud wet mutt is a no-go.

Today I had:

green smoothie
BaBa Ganoush with carrots, cucumber, and organic sea salt tortilla chips
2nd helping of BBG above with whatever was left of veggie kingdom in fridge
olive bread
red wine

I didn’t allow enough defrosting time for my eggplant, so I’ll have to make the BaBa Ganoush tomorrow. I spent the afternoon in the SoftBank store, hoping to take advantage of the last few days of the iPhone campaign. Too bad so many others had the same idea. Not only did I have to wait several hours, but I have to wait 2 weeks to get the new phone. Waiting in the store meant putting up with effeminate SMAP characters signing “the Locomotion” as part of SoftBank’s current campaign, but it also meant viewing different versions of the White Dog Dad campaign, which for some reason I find highly entertaining. (I get a free pair of “Dad” dog slippers for signing up). (Sorry to all readers outside Japan - everyone else will know exactly to what campaigns I am referring.) The timing was good though, as my AU contract is finishing this month, and my cell phone’s pretty worn down (though the camera in it is much better than the newest iPhone’s. Actually, Japanese cell phones are still better than the iphone, I think; it’s just that the iPhone will mesh well with my Mac, is international in its scope, and will work overseas. Plus there’s all the neat applications. I can’t wait for the map application. Yes, other cell phones have this, but I just love the iPhone interface. I won’t need my hard copy maps anymore. Then again, I can’t recall if the maps were in Japanese or English when I checked out the app in the store. All in Japanese is a pain in the ass when you don’t know the reading (and this is not a complaint exclusive to gaijin!) In any case, taking advantage of the promotion on offer means I’ll save 50% off the services and the phone itself. I can’t wait to get another Apple product!

Today I ate:

berry green smoothie (ran out of spinach so upped the powdered green dosage)
zucchini and tomato sauce
guacamole, left over tomato sauce, raw veggies and organic totilla chips
pistachio balls
OJ (and vodka)

It was a bit of a rush at home today getting off a couple of work applications for next year. One position demanded that I hand-write everything in Japanese, and not only does my penmanship suck in English let alone in Japanese, but I re-injured my shoulder in the morning, trying to show off a judo move I learned in CEGEP to my roommates. A typical “me” move that ended in the regular disaster. As a result, writing all day was extremely painful. The selection committee will unlikely be impressed with my application, which is too bad, as this job would be very convenient! Well, you never know.

Today I ate:

green smoothie
2 salads of arugula and anything else I could find in the fridge
whole grain bread and marinated olives
guacamole and salsa dips for raw veggies and organic tortilla chips (fried, of course, but surprisingly no nasties)
OJ
raw lara-like balls (am addicted to these… I know they are condensed in fat and sugar… and that’s probably why!)

I’ve known this about labeling for sometime, but the gentleman in this video explains how we are deceived quite well. It’s troublesome indeed!

I did my usual today - work on the computer broken up with a roller blade expedition with the dog. It was a good day, but I didn’t accomplish as much work as I’d hoped. I ate too many date nut balls…

Today I had:
green smoothie
arugula salad with tomatoes and citrus dressing
tomato sauce on zucchini pasta
pistachio-date balls with cacao nibs
OJ (and vodka)

I found yet another food-related DVD out on the market, this one called Processed People. Here’s one of the trailers:

I just got the DVD Food Matters in the mail a couple of days ago. (That’s the one my friend and I watched over pizza - how ironic!) It was good. It was more a set of interviews with people about the pharmaceutical industry more than anything, but very enlightening indeed. A main point to be ingested is that the big drug companies have nothing to gain by keeping us healthy, and food manufacturers (didn’t food at one time not require manufacturing?) have nothing to gain from us eating directly from nature. They are coming out with a Japanese version by the end of the year that I hope to get a hold of. A good thing, as the content is less visual than wordy.

I went roller blading today and outran the dog. My roommate usually takes Leo out at around 5pm for a walk and a poop, but she had a job interview in the evening, so I joined them while the sun was still out. Woah, was it hot! I had a good workout though. Also did some yoga this morning and also cycled to Costco. That all sounds great, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t overcompensate with calorie intake…. ugh.

Today I ate:

orange pecan date smoothie
green smoothie
tomato sauce and flax “crackers”
almond butter on same crackers
giant green salad with avocado
green tea
pumpkin seeds and goji berries (not really fond of the latter, I must admit)
OJ
red wine

My roommates headed into Shinjuku today for the soul purpose of getting some bread from an awesome bakery chain called “Paul,” which thank the Lord does not have any chains in my neighbourhood. I acquiesced when they offered (strongly) to get me some whole grain bread, but thankfully they were out (I was called from the bakery), and subsequently managed to refute offers to get me a white flour (albeit very nice quality) substitute, saying that, and actually this is no lie, it doesn’t digest well for me. It’ll be difficult to watch them enjoying that bread. It really is an awesome bakery… However, with the pizza I had the other day and even the whole grain bread earlier on as well, I really noticed an immediate, negative impact on my body. I got all crampy, farty, and lethargic. I think my system has really become sensitive. I want to eat more raw!

Having a new smoking (only outside), omnivore roommate who only wants to please through food and who is completely at a loss with this raw food gig is proving challenging. It is not her fault that I have in recent days consumed senbei and bread, albiet whole grain. However, were she not here… no, I would not have eaten them to be honest. I have to follow my own advice with regard to good-intentioned sabotage. The best (and thankfully true) excuse is to say simply that cooked / processed stuff doesn’t make me feel good, sometimes makes me feel sick, and then offer to make some banana ice cream (always a hit!). Of course, when you really do want to eat the food (which I did at the time), it is more difficult. You have to have a certain thinking ingrained in you. For example, it is EXTREMELY easy for me to avoid eating meat in any situation; eating animals is simple something I do not do. However, I am not at that stage of thinking when it comes to my old favorites, such as certain breads. Umm, nor do I necessarily want to completely ban them from my life. I never wanted to be more than 80% raw, after all. For me personally, 100% is just a tad too counter-culture, at least at the moment.

I am starting my 6th month on a mostly raw diet today. I’ve been good and bad, had ups and downs, but am generally feeling pretty good about it. I have a lot of progress still to make though, especially with regard to exercise. Soon it won’t be so bloody miserably hot and humid, so I’ll be up for some action. I plan to bike to school at least twice a week in the fall.

Today I had

giant green smoothie
raw flax crackers with raw almond butter
leftover fig balls
warm raw miso soup with carrots, mushrooms, and cucumber
seaweed salad with lemon
almond date balls
dried nori