Eating completely Raw...

I used Progesterone Cream to get pregnant with both Rylee and Nathan. When Nathan turned three and I was still not pregnant, I began to wonder if I would be able to have another child. I could feel that there was something wrong with my body. 


I met a friend that was eating all raw foods and it started me on a research path. I read everything I could find on the subject. I decided to give it a try. After a few weeks of eating this way I found out I was pregnant. I feel like I reset something that had short circuited. I did not gain any weight during my pregnancy. I had plenty of fat to use up (I was eating plenty of food and my baby was growing normally). 


Since then I have went back to my normal diet with the exception of no soda. I almost drink all water. I am thinking of trying out raw food again. My kids have been begging to go back to raw food. You know how they love fruits and vegetables... 


So I thought I would share how I did it last time and will probably do it the same way this time. Tim might even join in this time- he has shown interest- we will see if he can go without his steak. :)


During my research I read that you need to eat tons of fruit if you are eating raw because that is where you will get your calories. Vegetables are important but they will not give you very many calories. I also read that you shouldn't eat anything for at least 30 minutes after eating fruit. It digests really fast and if you eat other foods, they can prevent the fruit from digesting and they can become rancid in your stomach. I read that fruit would not hurt your blood sugar level. It isn't the same as regular sugar. I was not sure I believed this but decided to try it. After several weeks on massive amounts of fruits I can say that my experience was that I never felt better. I never experienced the feelings that regular sugar gives me. So for me it seems to be true. My children did this with me. I never required it. They were always aloud to have other things but they very rarely wanted anything else. They loved eating this way and often ask to go back to eating this way.


How I did it...


I started with just breakfast for a week. I made a smoothie with my vita-mix. The fruit varied but usually included: berries, melons, peaches and pineapple. Dates: the only sweetener you will need. I also put in spinach and wheat grass as well as freshly ground flax seeds, bee pollen and a scoop of Nu Plus.  My kids and I would drink this while munching on as many apples, oranges and other cut up fruit as we wanted. To give an idea of how much fruit I was eating for my breakfast. It was the equivalent of about ten bananas. I never felt hungry.


A few days later, we added morning snack to our raw food movement. We basically just kept munching on cut up fruit all morning. As much as we could.


A few days later, we added lunch to our new diet. I would cut up an entire watermelon, apples, pears, oranges, and whatever else we had. 


A few days later and we added afternoon snack- same as morning snack.


About a week later we started changing our dinner by eating a bunch of fruit 45 minutes before dinner.


A few days later I replaced dinner with a huge salad. One serving was a head of lettuce, then every vegetable I had available piled on top including avocado for fat. I then topped it with a raw Pesto dressing consisting of basil, pinenuts, olive oil and sea salt blended up. 


I would also have an evening snack of Almonds, Sunflower seeds and Pumpkin seeds. This time around I am going to add sprouted seeds, nuts and beans to the equation. 


My children usually ate the fruit and salad with me for dinner but would then choose to eat some of Tim's dinner too.


In case your curious, I get produce from Klesick Family Farms and some from Costco. I am also going to start placing orders with Azure Standard. There prices and quality are outstanding.

This year I would like to...

I know it isn't January but I have a mental list of things that I would like to try or become better at this year.

1. Cloth diapering: I started using cloth diapers at the end of Nathan's diaper days. I really liked them and intend to use them almost exclusively with this baby.

2. Composting: The only thing that has been holding me back is the price of those really cool spinning composters. :) So I need to either build my own or fit one of those in my budget.

3. Canning: Tim and I tried canning last summer with blueberries. It was more work then I was expecting. This summer and fall I would like to become better at it. I want to try canning a lot of different things.

4. Sprouting: I have dabbled with sprouting in the past but I would like to make sprouts a staple in our diet. I want to add lots of variety too.

5. Home birthing: This should probably be at the top of my list since I am planning this one in about 5 weeks. :)

6. Bread making: I would like to start using homemade bread exclusively.

7. Sewing: I would like to dust off my sewing machine and put it to use.

8. Raw Milk: I want to make the switch to raw milk.

9. Line drying our clothes: I don't think this is possible during the winter here, but I want to try it this summer.

10. Upick fruit: This summer I would like to go to several upick farms and pick as many fruits as possible so that I can freeze and can them for the winter.

Gardening would be on this list but sometime this summer our yard is getting torn out. We tried a garden last year, it didn't do very well. We will have our hanging tomatoes again this year though.

Raising chickens and goats would also be on this list if we lived out of the city. Hopefully someday soon.

There are tons of other things that I would like to try but that list should definitely keep me busy for the rest of the year.