New Instagram Account

So I've decided to start an Instagram account. I'm "leanlibrarian" there. Follow me! I love browsing all of the #rawvegan and #vegan photos and recipes there. It inspires me to venture out of my creature-of-habit ways.

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Posted in: instagram

Sick. Sick. Sick.

I have not been doing well with maintaining a raw food diet. It's easy to eat this way at work. I pack a huge bag full of raw foods and snack all day. The problem is at the end of the day. I still cook for my family and it's too tempting to not eat cooked foods. I bargained with myself, allowing cooked vegan and vegetarian foods in the evening, but all that has done for me is made me sick. This is probably the 5th cold I've caught since the school year started. I haven't been this sick since my first year working in an Elementary School.

Eating raw in the winter is challenging. I get really bored eating apples, oranges, bananas, and salads. Many of the fruits I crave are no longer in season. What's an aspiring 100% raw foodie to do? The only thing I can think to do is to start a Master Cleanse session to jump start myself back into eating raw. I loved the way I felt when I ate ONLY raw foods.  My most pressing goal is to find someone with a lemon tree. Lemons are expensive. If I can't find anyone with a tree, I will substitute grapefruit for the lemon.

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Posted in: sick

0% to 50% to 100% to 80% to 95% Raw

by Ed Yourdon

So I have been all over the map when it comes to how I eat. After going 100% raw, I found it difficult to maintain. My weaknesses are bread, cheese, and potatoes. After eating clean for so long, I can immediately recognize how certain foods effect my body. When I eat anything dairy, I feel sluggish, my bowels slow down, and I produce crazy amounts of mucus. When I eat bread and/or potatoes, I immediately want to take a nap and then later I feel bloated. When I eat rice, my body feels sore, my head is stuffy, I'm headachy, and I become full of mucus. So now I am back to the goal of 100% raw. The only difference now is that I have changed my mind about what being raw looks like.

When I first started, I thought that I needed fancy recipes, food processors, and kitchen tools. The longer I dedicate myself to eating raw fruits and vegetables, the more I realize that all I need to do is KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid). Mono-meals work for me. Breakfast might consist of a green smoothie or juice & 2-3 bananas. Lunch looks like a large mixed green salad or a whole melon. Dinner could be 10 cuties. I snack all day: green smoothies, fresh green juices, plums, grapes, peaches, nectarines, melons, mangoes, avocados, apples, oranges, cuties, etc. (mostly organic). I'd estimate that 85% of what I eat is simple fruit. When you change you mind about what mealtime looks like, you can feel better about what you eat. Reading 80-10-10 has changed my life among other documentaries and books.

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Posted in: fruit,raw foodie,rawfood,recipe,vegetables