Raw Objectivism

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
Posted in Ebook, Raw, Vegan | No Comments »

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
Posted in Clean Program, Gluten Free, Vegan | No Comments »

I know I’ve been AWOL lately and I apologize to my avid readers (all three of you) for being away. I have had a lot going on in my life lately and have felt either unmotivated or too stressed to write. I am still sorting the situation out, but I am not going to let it keep me from writing.

Birthday Gluten

My birthday was three weeks ago (Jan. 7th) and I am now 24. It seems so odd to me that I am almost 25 (quarterlife crisis anyone?). For my birthday I drove down to Bloomington to see my friend and go partying. We went out Friday and I drank hard cider and hard liquor. I didn’t get terribly drunk, but I did have quite a hangover on my birthday (Saturday).

That night we went out and I drank again. After partying for quite a few hours I decided I wanted breadsticks, and damn it! it was my birthday so I was going to have gluten. So I got myself an order of 10” cheesesticks at Papa Johns and proceeded to eat the whole thing. It was delicious; the melted cheese covered dough dipped in hot nacho cheese…mmm. So good.

But like other decisions made while drinking, it seemed like a much better idea at the time than it did in the morning. I woke up feeling warm all over my body. It was akin to the flush I felt when I reintroduced bread after I finished my Clean Diet, but it was much more intense. More of a whole-body experience. I also experienced constipation and floating stools, which my doctor friend tells me is a symptom of malabsorption. So while the food was delicious going down, this is not an experience I am looking to repeat any time soon.

Read the rest of this page »

Tags: Bloomington Indiana, gluten free, Paleo, Raw Dairy, Raw Eggs, Raw Vegan, Vegetarian
Posted in Paleo, Raw, Vegetarian | 2 Comments »

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 »

My plan was to do thirty days of Low-Fat-Raw-Vegan. For those thirty days I ate completely raw and tried to stay as close to 80% calories from carbohydrates, 10% of calories from fat and 10% of calories from protein as possible. However I noticed a lot of cravings for fat (and likely protein as well as many high fat raw foods like nuts and seeds contain higher amounts of protein). I also got a lot of head aches and shakiness, which I am attributing to a sugar high.

The Cruise

I went a cruise with my family for Christmas to celebrate my grandfather’s 80th birthday. It was a bunch of fun. We went to Key West, Nassau and Cococay (a private island in the Bahamas owned by Royal Caribbean Cruise Line). I wasn’t a big fan of Nassau or Cococay. Nassau was too kitschy and Cococay is a beach. Being a ginger, I’m not one for beaches.

I started eating raw on the cruise. There was a buffet for lunch on the first day so I got some salad and fruit. However, dinner was a bit more complicated. I could have had just a salad for dinner and stayed LFRV, but I decided to add back in cooked food. It was technically only day 29, but it was easier and tastier to have a cooked meal.

I went back to vegetarian for the cruise adding in eggs for breakfast and a lightly creamed dish for dinner – a potato curry one night on the cruise and another Indian dish the day after, both of which contained ghee.

Mostly Raw Vegetarian

For the last few days I have continued eating mostly raw and vegetarian. I got some raw gruyere cheese from Whole Foods and tried that. Surprisingly it did not cause any of the symptoms I experienced with pasteurized cheese (flushing, upset stomach, constipation). It was odd that it was such a different reaction raw. I had soft-boiled eggs with the raw cheese. Delicious.

Going Forward

I plan on staying high raw and doing a more reasonable amount of fat, protein and carbohydrates going forward. I got a dehydrator for Christmas so I will be using that to make almond crackers, onion crackers, banana crepes and whatever else creative dehydrated foods I can think of. I will be posting the recipes in the recipe section so look for them!

I’m not sure yet if I will continue to add in eggs and dairy. I will start out being raw vegan and see if I can thrive. Stay tuned!

Tags: Cruise, gluten free, LFRV, Raw Vegan, Vegan, Vegetarian
Posted in Gluten Free, Raw, Vegetarian | No Comments »

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.

Read the rest of this page »

Tags: gluten free, Houston, LFRV, Raw Vegan, Vegan
Posted in Gluten Free, Low-Fat Raw Vegan, Vegan | No Comments »

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).

Read the rest of this page »

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

Today marks the start of the second week of being raw. I haven’t had many cravings however, I have been wanting hummus. Because it is normally made with cooked chickpeas, store-bought hummus is out of the question on a raw diet. Instead I decided to make my own.

It was delicious and really hit the spot. However, it is higher in fat than the LFRV diet recommends so it is not a food to have every day. But it is good for the occasional treat.

Read the rest of this page »

Tags: gluten free, LFRV, Raw Vegan, Vegan
Posted in Gluten Free, Low-Fat Raw Vegan, Vegan | No Comments »

Today was a great day! I ate well and had no cravings. It helped that I was back home so I was able to bring my own food for lunch. I do think I had too much “salty” food today. I ate a bag of baby carrots for a snack, and it left my mouth feeling dry. I only had 505 mg of sodium today though, which is well below the RDA.

Today’s Food

Calories: 2183
Carbs: 551 g
Protein: 37 g
Fat: 10 g

Read the rest of this page »

Tags: Body Pump, Cxworx, gluten free, LFRV, Raw Vegan, Vegan
Posted in Gluten Free, Low-Fat Raw Vegan, Vegan | No Comments »