Happy Resurrection Sunday!! Today was a wonderful day in the Lord, Amen, Amen! In terms of my food, it was definitely not 50% raw nor 99% vegan. I started the day with a Naked brand Mango smoothie, and that was it for brunch. For dinner I had a traditional cooked Easter meal with my family after everyone got out of Church services. Since this is a vegan and raw food blog, I won’t get into the details of dinner, but I will say that it was d-e-licious! I had previously made the conscious decision to eat meat and cheese dishes at Easter dinner, and because of that I made sure to eat light for breakfast. I wanted to keep my caloric intake for the day at a minimum. I know that flies in the face of keeping my metabolism up by eating small meals often, but my family can COOK and I wanted to enjoy small portions of every dish that was prepared for this special day. While I did enjoy the food I ate today, I know there are probably other things I could have done to enjoy the holiday with my family. Things I have done in the past include preparing a few dishes that I could eat and others could share, and only sticking to the vegetable side dishes and fruit appetizers for my meal. Please comment if you have other strategies for getting through the holidays in a balanced, vegan and raw food way.

Here are my “Raw On The Road” tips for the day:

• Nutrition – Try to have a strategy for special events and holidays. You don’t want to become a hermit on the journey, just more healthy.
• Weight Loss – Every “diet” food out is not more healthy for you. Eat whole grains and a multitude of vegetables to rev up your metabolism.
• Workout – Continue to challenge your muscles by trying new exercises. If you can do 3 sets of 15 repetitions try to increase the weight you are lifting.

Yesterday was busy busy busy, not from work though. I had so many errands to run and personal work to do. I started the day with grapes and potato chips before leaving out, then grabbed an orange juice between errands from Starbucks when I realized that I was hungry. For dinner I had a Chipotle burrito. I stuffed it with black beans, rice, salsa, corn, lettuce, and guacamole. This is a huge feat for me, because I used to think that I would not like any Mexican food without cheese and sour cream…I was wrong, the burrito was satisfying with the guacamole only. Late into the evening I had two Shirley Temples from the club, and after the club (approx 3am) I stopped by White Castle to grab a hot chocolate. I’m noticing that beverages are my standby when I’m hungry and am out and about. I will need improve and bring more fresh fruits with me in a bag to offset the dependence on juices and drinks for nutrition. Today was definitely 50% raw and 99% vegan.

Here are my “Raw On The Road” tips for the day:

• Nutrition – Try to expand your palette, it will help you to bring variety into your food choices.
• Weight Loss – Don’t be fooled by those weight loss pill ads. There is no magic pill for becoming and staying healthy and fit.
• Workout – If the weather is nice where you are staying and you decide to workout outdoors, be sure that you feel safe and that someone else knows where you are. Also invest in a shoe tag for an extra measure of safety.

The beginning of the day started off slow in terms of food choices, but by the end of the day I was so full and so pleased with my vegan life. Breakfast was me drinking a glass of water and munching on potato chips while working. Bad choice, I know, but if you have ever had Grippos bbq potato chips you will understand my satisfaction with this breakfast. For lunch I had huge green pepper (cut into strips) and hummus, which was a great choice. Dinner was delicious. I shared a firepot of Tom Yum soup and veggie Pad Thai from a local restaurant that had good reviews on yelp. The reviews were well warranted, the food was delicious. I would skip the tofu and just get veggies if you are not a fan of medium firm, but definitely get the firepot. I’ve included a picture of our firepot for you to review…..so good, so good! I would say today was about 30% raw, but definitely 99% vegan!

Here are my “Raw On The Road” tips for the day:

• Nutrition – I have found that Asian foods are the best for regularly incorporating fresh veggies into their takeout and leaving out the dairy.
• Weight Loss – Support in any endeavor, including weight loss, is a powerful force. Find a trusted friend and allow them to be your cheerleader.
• Workout – You can get workout tips from a multitude of places. Fitness magazines may give you ideas for your next lifting series.

The morning started with a Naked brand juice. I have these all the time. Just in case anyone is not familiar with these, I have included a picture so you can find it in your local grocery store. They are usually kept in the refrigerated section by the produce, and sometimes they are by the bakery close to the cheese and hummus. I really like the Red Machine, Power C, Strawberry Banana, and Mighty Mango.

Like seriously, I could drink these all day and be cool. I actually did yesterday! My day started with a Power C….a full bottle is two servings, so it counted as my breakfast and morning snack. It will take you all morning to drink it also, because its just pure fruit puree. Its very thick so you can not drink it down like water. For lunch I had whole wheat pasta and tomato sauce, a chocolate brownie and water. I got on the road for my drive and had about 2 servings of cashews and a Red Machine Naked brand juice. Although I stayed up until around 2am, that was the last thing I ate at 6pm. I suppose my body was hungry, but my mind was occupied with work and other things so it didn’t register.  

Here are my “Raw On The Road” tips for the day:

• Nutrition – Be sure to eat at regular intervals. Your body does not like to be denied fuel and it can hurt your metabolism.
• Weight Loss – Just because you are making food choices with no meat or dairy does not mean that all of the food left out there is healthy. Stay away from chips, rich desserts, and other processed foods as much as possible.
• Workout – Wii fit is fun! While I would not allow it to replace my lifting routine, it does give you a good activity level and you might even break a sweat.

I’m going to start todays post with dinner…..blech! I really need to stop trying to make myself like veggie burgers….it’s not working out for me the way I thought. I like the fresh vegetables much better. After the evening at the gym I thought I would try a veggie burger from Red Robin. It was such a bad idea, I ate a little of the burger and just threw the rest away. So basically for dinner I had steak fries and a water. It totally wasn’t worth it and I was wishing that I had just went to Panera and picked up a salad and apple.

My day started with a Naked brand smoothie. For lunch I had a green salad with olive oil and vinegar dressing, rice and steamed broccoli. I also grabbed a hot chocolate in the afternoon. I’m noticing that the stress at work is impacting my picking up fruit at the hotel. I’m tired and don’t want to get up, because I’m working late into the night. Then I’m rushing out of the hotel to the office, and don’t have time to stop and pick up my fruit container. I will need to put an end to that behavior, it’s not working well for my breakfast nutrition.

Here are my “Raw On The Road” tips for the day:

• Nutrition – While substitutes are okay, sometimes they are really gross. You may be doing yourself a favor by opting for the green stuff.
• Weight Loss – Visualization is powerful. Create a full image in your mind of yourself at your goal and try to spend time in that thought each day.
• Workout – A short workout is better than none at all. I only had a few minutes to spare this evening but I made sure I went to the gym, as sometimes that’s the only thing you do for yourself in a day when you are traveling for work.

So today was an extremely high stress work day, but I am proud to say my 50% raw food level is back in effect! I started with a banana and a fresh fruit cup from the office cafeteria. I ate the banana but hardly any of the fruit cup….note to self: the hotel fruit is better than the office fruit. I spent most of my day in back to back meetings, but I was able to grab a salad with vinegar and olive oil dressing for lunch. For a mid afternoon snack I had a handful of cashews and another banana. Later I grabbed a hot chocolate before leaving the office and heading to the gym. After the gym I ordered sautéed green beans and scallion pancakes from an area Chinese restaurant. The green beans also came with a container of brown rice, but I barely ate the rice. For whatever reason, I wanted something sweet at dinner so I had a Diet Orange soda instead of a cookie….I hope that was a good choice, sans the chemicals I subjected my body to. I purposefully hit the gym hard today because I had so much stress at work….work, work, work. Another day of it will begin tomorrow.

Here are my “Raw On The Road” tips for the day:

• Nutrition – Try to eat more for breakfast and less for dinner. It will help to keep you fueled throughout your day if those foods are high quality.
• Weight Loss – Try to set a “weigh-in” schedule if you are concerned about being consistent in your weight loss. Being a slave to the scale is no fun.
• Workout – Take your job stress out on the treadmill and weights at the gym, or a favorite workout dvd. It’s better than taking it out on a bottle or your loved ones, and for fewer calories.

Today was a great day, although I did not get nearly enough raw foods. Actually, I don’t think I had any raw food today! Whoa, that’s not great, but it does leave me room for nothing but improvement tomorrow. I had another long drive in the morning and forgot the smoothie I prepared the night before. Therefore I was left to the fast food places along the highway. I decided to give McDonalds a try, everyone can appreciate the golden arches, right? Not so much! I ordered an Egg McMuffin, hold the cheese and ham. So basically I had an egg and English muffin with a little grape jelly on it. I also had the hash brown, a coffee and a water. I guess it was breakfast, but it left me with a greasy, empty feeling in my stomach. I made it to the office and had a veggie soup for lunch. It was mostly broccoli, cauliflower, tomato, onion, and a few other veggies in a broth. I had half of the bowl for lunch and the other half for an afternoon snack. In the late afternoon I grabbed a green tea, and for dinner I had the tofu pad thai from my trusty Thai restaurant out here. So while everything I had was vegan (save the eggs at breakfast) nothing was raw at all. I will be fixing that situation tomorrow.

Here are my “Raw On The Road” tips for the day:

• Nutrition – When you have a less than great day, don’t fall completely off the wagon. Just commit to doing better when the sun rises, or even better yet, at the next meal.
• Weight Loss – Try to keep a log of your day, to determine what triggers your unhealthy patterns. For me this has been helpful and I learned that job stress used to trigger me to make poor choices. Now I am super-vigilant about keeping job stress to a minimum.
• Workout – Try to take mini-breaks around the office by walking to a colleague’s desk instead of sending them an instant message, or taking an extra lap on your way to the restrooms. There are many creative ways to move your body in a sedentary job.

Today started with a glass of water and banana. I woke up and wasn’t really that hungry, even though it was pretty late. I walked for about 2 miles in the early afternoon, then went to a late brunch of scrambled eggs and french toast at Cracker Barrel. I ordered the baked apples also, but they really kicked rocks. Why? Well first off, the apples weren’t peeled. They still had the skin on them. Second, they weren’t baked but just sort of heated up, maybe even microwaved? Third, they were swimming in some kind of apple fakefood-highfructosecornsyrup-gelatin-mess! It was so gross, like the inside of a McDonalds apple pie or something, which for the record I have never liked. I had one bite and was done. The $2 that they cost wasn’t worth sending them back, but those will definitely not be a staple on my vegan journey.

For a snack I had a half of Freshens strawberry banana “carribean craze” smoothie with an added scoop of protein powder. It really didn’t taste that good to me, it tasted “processed” if that makes sense….like there was just too much added sugar. I’ve had it before and it didn’t taste that way to me, however it has always tasted sweet. I think I’m becoming really sensitive to HFCS since my body is getting so much natural sugars. The whole foods are changing my taste buds for the better! I had dinner at a friends house, baked beans, potato salad, greens and roasted corn. I do have some of the best friends in all the world, and they do cook for me when I visit their cities. In all, today was the first day I did not come in at 50% raw and 99% vegan. I’m going to focus tomorrow on making sure I get the raw and green stuff In and keep the cooked foods to a minimum….I need my body to start feeling the effects of the enzymes, I’m hoping to feel an increase in energy and focus. I’ll need it, next week at work is going to be a busy one!

Here are my “Raw On The Road” tips for the day:

• Nutrition – Stay away from high fructose corn syrup if you can. Your body isn’t quite sure how to process it and it generally is just a bad idea.
• Weight Loss – Try to kick your soda habit. The scale was nice to me today. Maybe it’s due to all that green tea I was drinking, so I’m going to keep that up. Now if I can get rid of the soda life will be grand!
• Workout – Get out in nature when you can. You may not notice it immediately, but trees, lakes, rivers, grass, ducks and all the things you see while being outdoors, it all does good things for your spirit.

Today was a busy day full of errands and catching up, but pretty uneventful in terms of my eating. I was over 50% raw and 99% vegan, so things are still moving forward with positive momentum. I had a Power C naked brand smoothie and a few cashews to start the day. The middle of my day was spent at a relaxing salon. There I had an apple, a few more cashews, and a plate of watermelon. After leaving the salon I ordered a take-out dinner of tofu pad thai from a local restaurant. I snacked throughout the late evening with some potato chips and a Red Machine naked brand smoothie. I think I am falling into a pattern and getting the hang of choosing fresh foods and making vegan selections. I’m excited about that because it doesn’t feel like a huge effort to make good choices. Instead it is coming rather effortlessly, and I’m appreciative of that fact.

Here are my “Raw On The Road” tips for the day:

• Nutrition – Don’t be afraid to let others know of your dietary plans. Some people are very supportive and may offer you a snack that falls within your plans….that’s how I got a plate of watermelon at the salon…score!
• Weight Loss – Reward yourself with things other than food for sticking to your plans. My reward for making it through my first week was a deluxe manicure and pedicure by one of the best in the Midwest….and it was oh so luxurious!
• Workout – Even when you are busy with errands, still try to get your activity level up by parking far away and pushing carts. Small changes in your daily habits add up to a big difference.

Today was a great day! I realized that an average place for me to eat regularly is a wonderful place to eat for vegans: BD’s Mongolian Barbeque. I ate there for dinner with a friend and it was delicious! If you have never been to BD’s, it is a chain restaurant with a “create your own stir fry” menu. Guests are supplied with a bowl where they select from a variety of raw meat and seafood (uh, not me!), vegetables (yes!), sauces (yes!) and spices (yes!)…then guests give their bowl to a master griller who cooks the food on a 7 foot and 600 degree grill. The grill is entertaining I guess, but I was more impressed with the selection of fresh vegetables that I could choose from. They even had tofu available, but I decided to stick with the veggies. Along with the bowl of stir fry our server brought us brown rice and fajitas. White rice is also available and all three are included in the price. I really liked that I was able to control what I ate, and had a fully vegan meal….except for the ice cream in the cookie we had for dessert (shakes fist at friend). Luckily I only had three bites of it, so I think that still counts as 99% vegan….please don’t challenge my math…lol! Here is the rundown for what I ate today: breakfast of a naked brand strawberry banana smoothie; lunch of a green salad with tomato, snow peas, ginger dressing and cashews; snack of apple; dinner of veggie stir fry, brown rice and fajitas; snack of sliced strawberries with chocolate syrup.

Here are my “Raw On The Road” tips for the day:

• Nutrition – Strawberries are delicious! I went too many years of my life thinking otherwise…I was wrong! Eat lots of them as often as you can!
• Weight Loss – Try not to obsess over the scale. Instead take your measurements and weigh in twice per month, four times at maximum.
• Workout – While cardio is great for you, be sure to pick up a weight or two at the gym. It strengthens your bones and makes you strong. And lets face it, it takes muscle to lift that carry-on bag into the airplane overhead compartment.