Raw Objectivism

The Live Below the Line challenge, for those of you who haven’t heard of it, is an awareness and fundraising effort for those who are living in extreme poverty. Those participating in the challenge eat for less than $1.50 (USD) per day for a week to better understand the experiences of the 1.4 billion people living every day in these conditions.

Of course one week (5 days) of living at $1.50 of food a day while still driving to work in a nice car, living in a nice (if not so air-conditioned – mine’s broken and I’m waiting for the repair guy to come fix it next week) house, and wearing my comfortable clothes hardly represents the extreme poverty that people in other countries deal with daily. However, it will give me a glimpse into their lives.

I am doing this because some of the guys at work suggested that we do it as a competition – see who can make it through the whole five days without exceeding their daily budget. I tried to up the ante to include who could have the most well-rounded meals (I.E. no Raman) with the highest nutritional value, but they wouldn’t bite. So instead I think we are just aiming to see who can make it and spend the least. The latter part I intend to win (competitive much?).

The Meal Plan

The easiest way to do the $1.50 a day challenge is to eat the same thing every day. So my plan is to eat pinto beans and rice every day for lunch and dinner as well as bananas for breakfast/snacks. I’m cooking the pinto beans with 1/3 cup of cumin for flavor.

The other key is bargain shopping. Bananas tend to go for anywhere between 49 cents to 52 cents a pound. I found them at Ruler Foods (an Aldi-type store that is a subsidiary of Kroger) for 35 cents a pound.

Pinto beans tend to go for around $1.49 a lb. Ruler Foods had them for 50 cents a lb.

Cost for the Week

So here is the cost breakdown:

Pinto Beans – 1 lb – $0.50

Cumin – 0.7 oz – $0.25

Short grain sweet brown rice – 2 lbs – $2.26

Bananas – 5.77 lbs – $2.02

Total – $5.06 for 5 days

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Tags: $1.50 a day, $1.50 a day challenge, Cheap Vegan, Dollar fifty a day, Live Below the Line, Vegan
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It’s obviously been a while. I got out of the habit of blogging after my computer died and I lost all of my files. It was just too much work to rebuild. I lost my ebook as well. So I’ll have to start that over again, but with the new year (and with it being my 25th birthday!) I have a renewed sense of purpose and a desire to start blogging again.

New Year’s Resolutions

With it being the new year, it is time for new years resolutions. My new year’s resolution is to be 100% vegan for the entire year. I tend to go off of veganism whenever I’m home in Indy for holidays. It is easier to eat with my family as a vegetarian than a vegan. My whole family eats meat and they are annoyed enough with the vegetarianism. Veganism is just a whole step beyond. But this year, I am going to stick to it. Even when I’m home. I know I can do this. Just a matter of proving it by lasting the year. Hopefully I can use this as a stepping stone to being 100% raw vegan for a year!

I also resolve to be more active on my blog. Expect posts at least once every two weeks, if not once a week. (Depending on my workload.)

New Recipe

On that note, see the new recipe in the recipe section for Raw Vegan Pizza Kale Chips!

And a Teaser – Raw Vegan Cheez Cake – this is not my recipe, but look for a link and recipe review in the reviews section in the next few weeks!

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I have decided to work on my very first raw vegan recipe e-book. It will be completed by December of this year (just in time for Christmas! Hint, hint!). The book will contain an overview of the health benefits of going raw, the importance of organic produce in your raw journey, a debunking of a key raw food myth, a list of the key tools for raw food creation (and where you can get them), and finally, over 25 recipes! There will be a myriad of sauces, soups, entrees and desserts including those that are in the recipe section of my blog (see http://recipes.rawobjectivism.com/category/raw/) along with many new ones.

Input Needed

With all this in mind, how much would you pay for this e-book? I will use your input to determine the best price point. Also, what format would you prefer (i.e. PDF, Kindle, etc.)? Please leave your comments below. Thanks for your help!

Tags: ebook, raw, Raw Vegan, recipes, Vegan
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Starting Weight: 121.8 lbs

Starting Fat %: 22.2%

I started P90x for the second time today. I did it previously about a year and a half ago. I only made it for 50 days, when I got the flu and was down for the count. I didn’t feel like starting back up again once I was better, so I only did 50 days. I am doing it again though, and this time I plan to go for the whole 90 days.

P90x is a workout program by Beachbody that Tony Horton instructs. The man is obnoxious, but his ridiculous comments like “this is X-stream” (complete with hand motions crossing his arms in front of his face in the letter “X”) are oddly motivating. And for someone in his late 40s, he is in great shape.

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Tags: p90x, Vegan, Vegetarian
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I am heading to my Alma mater tomorrow to go out with some friends. Thursdays are a big night at Purdue – Cactus night. The Cactus is the closest thing you can find to a night club in West Lafayette, and there is a piano bar. I love piano bars. I am really excited to go and it is probably the last time I will be able to. Most of my friends who are still at Purdue are graduating this year so it is unlikely that I’ll have an occasion to return (or a place to stay for that matter). So the question presents itself – do I drink for my last Cactus hurrah?

The issue with drinking at the Cactus is that the cups that you purchase for your cheap (under 2 bucks) Cactus mixed drinks hold about 20 oz. Even after you account for the ice, that is still a good amount of liquor – at least two shots worth, unless you get a Long Island and then more like four. One of those and I’m at the edge of tipsy – and that’s when I’m not mid-cleanse. The other negative is that drinking is that it is obviously not part of a detoxification.

It’s something I will have to consider. I plan on starting the night with a few waters and see how I feel. If I decide to have alcohol, that’s ok. I will just continue with the cleanse afterward. If I decide not to drink, then I will be done with the 21 days on May 11 (which happens to be the day of the  celebration for my boyfriend graduating from medical school) and I will probably drink then. May 11 is technically the 21st day, but I think your boyfriend graduating from four years of med school allows for a bit of loosening of the reigns.

Today’s Food:

I tried a new raw soup today. I will post the recipe later in the recipe section of this blog, but for now know it was delicious. Carrot juice, avocado, parsley, cilantro, ginger and coriander…delish! I love ginger (to the point that my boyfriend jokingly called me a cannibal – I have red hair), and it makes this soup wonderful.

Feelings to Note:

I felt rather anxious and stressed today. This could be a side effect of the 5-HTP. It is also possible that I was hypoglycemic. Once I made and ate dinner, I felt much better.

Tags: alcohol, Clean Diet, Clean Program, Cleanse, detox, gluten free, purdue, Raw Vegan, Vegan
Posted in Clean Program, Gluten Free, Raw, Vegan | 1 Comment »

Today is day four of my second round of the cleanse. I had one slip up last night when I ate an apple after dinner (one of the principles is to not consume solid food after lunch, allowing the body to digest the food more easily and spend more energy on detoxifying your system). After the disgusting soup attempt I made last night I had to do something to cleanse my palate so I ate an apple. I put way too much onion and garlic in last night’s raw soup and it was a disaster.

Today was a great, success, however. I had my normal morning shake of spinach, almond milk, flax seed and Sunwarrior Vanilla protein powder. I had a lunch of curried rice and beans (pinto beans, onion, long-grain brown rice and curry powder). For a snack I had some carrots and an apple. And then we come to dinner.

For dinner I created a wonderful raw vegan soup: “Cream” of bRAWcoli (the cheesy puns are basically required for raw food, sorry). It was delicious. I love using cashews to make my cheeze, and I love cream of broccoli soup. Since cream is not part of the Clean program diet guidelines (which also suggest that you should have at least 51% of your food come from raw sources during the cleanse), I decided to invent my own version. Unsurprisingly, to those who know me, it included cumin. And it was to die for. Check out the recipe here.

Feelings to Note:

I had a great day today. I was full of energy and even now feel like I’m running on a crap ton (technical term) of caffeine — which I’m not, of course, as caffeine is not allowed on the cleanse. It could be the mood enhancing 5-HTP (more on this later, but feel free to read up) I am taking that is contributing to this energetic feeling, but either way, it is a welcome change to depression. Going to the gym helps too!

Exercise:

1 hour of Body Pump

Tags: Body Pump, Clean Diet, Clean Program, Cleanse, detox, gluten free, Raw Vegan, Vegan, Vegetarian
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I am in detox mode again. I have decided that after gaining over five pounds, drinking every weekend, and overeating multiple times all in the last few months, it is time to get back to a clean and natural state. To do this, I am repeating the Clean diet that I did in September. I have felt so lethargic and depressed lately, and I have been neglecting my blog.
On Wednesday, I started the cleanse again. However, I ate bananas on Wednesday, which have a high sugar intake and therefore are not allowed on the cleanse — sugar causes a spike in your blood sugar and interferes in digestion and detoxification. So that day didn’t really count as clean.

On Thursday I took pain medication for the unbearable headache that I had from Wednesday night on, and I couldn’t take it anymore. Also I wanted to be able to go to Body Pump on Thursday night since I had missed it the week before (went to New Orleans for French Quarter Fest — an even bigger indication of the need for a cleanse!). So Thursday didn’t really count.

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I am having issues with eating fruit lately. Before Christmas I ate two pineapples, which caused the corners of my lips to crack and hurt. Yesterday, I ate an apple and the corners of my lips went numb. It’s possible that the fruit was under-ripe so it was more acidic than it should have been.

I ate apples again today without any issues. However, I cut them into bite-sized pieces so they would not touch my lips. This could be the reason for the lack of issue.

Mostly Raw

I ate 100% raw yesterday, but today I added in eggs and some roasted peanut butter. I did not notice any issues after eating cooked food.

Today’s Food

Breakfast: 2 hard-boiled eggs, blackberries, kiwi, and blueberries

Lunch: Salad with spinach, tomato, green bell pepper, cucumber and avocado

Dinner: Rawvioli with Tomato “Cream” Sauce

Snacks: Three apples with peanut butter and dried goji berries

Tags: gluten free, Gluten-Free, ravioli, Raw Vegan, rawvioli, Vegetarian
Posted in Gluten Free, Raw, Vegan, Vegetarian | 1 Comment »

It has been a few days since I have posted. I’ve been delinquent. With the holiday season, I have been getting ready to head home to Indianapolis for the holidays. Christmas Morning we leave for Miami to go on a cruise. While I am gone, I will not be blogging as they charge a ridiculous amount of money to use internet on a ship. I’ll take notes though and I will tell you all about it when I get back. I am interested to find out how I am going to eat LFRV on a ship when I have to have dining room dinners every night. Adventure!

I was in Houston this weekend visiting my boyfriend. I had a lot of high fat gourmet vegan food this weekend: raw veggies marinated in olive oil and balsamic vinegar and a raw carrot cake from Whole Foods, raw veggies marinated in sesame oil (as a “stir fry”) at Field of Greens, a delicious swiss chard wrap with apples, peanut butter, and ginger from the Houston Farmer’s Market, as well as bananas with fresh, raw cashew butter.

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Tags: gluten free, Houston, LFRV, Raw Vegan, Vegan
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I was off on my day  count last post, that was day 15. Oops.

I had some issues yesterday after eating apples. My body started to feel tingly like I had consumed too much caffeine, and my legs felt restless and wouldn’t stop. It was very uncomfortable. Then I started getting a migraine. The nap I took after work helped though, but it did mean no working out, unfortunately.

Today was similar. I had some pears after lunch for a snack and I got the same sensations.

I’ve looked at the similarities between apples and pears. They are both sub-acid fruits and they have about 2.5:1 ratios of fructose to glucose (from cronometer) broken down in the liver. It is possible that I have fructose malabsorption issues. I plan to stick to the higher glucose:fructose fruits tomorrow to see if I still have issues with the sugar high (luckily bananas are about 1:1).

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Tags: gluten free, headache, LFRV, Raw Vegan, sore throat, sugar, Vegan
Posted in Gluten Free, Low-Fat Raw Vegan, Vegan | 1 Comment »