So this year for Lent, I'm planning on doing a Raw diet. This entails eating nothing but raw foods. Sprouted grains, fruits and vegetables. Some people on Raw will also eat raw meat, or drink raw milk products. I doubt very highly that I'll be eating raw meat, but if I can find some raw milk or raw cheese, I will probably (definitely) incorporate that. My friend has a pet goat, so I can maybe ask her for some. I can maybe get some fresh eggs too... I will not be eating raw eggs, I'm just almost out of eggs anyway. Lent is a month away, so I need to get some eggs.
Anyway, so I started going to this new (to me) grocery store on my side of town, and it's an international grocery store. I actually went there last week and had a hard time because it's just so much to take in all at once. First off, it's not relaly organized like a traditional grocery. Everything is laid out by ethnicity. So you might be looking for beans, and find beans in the Mexican isle, and also find them in the Indian isle. On top of the organization structure, there are just so many new and exotic things to look at. I honestly went in there with the intention of getting a durian to try and left with nothing but some really nice table chopsticks. I did not find a durian.
So after the initial visit, I went back the next week, which happens to be this week. I spent roughly $88 on only produce and here's what I got.
2 Cactus Pears (don't pick a prickly pear my paw. if you pick a pear, gotta use the claw)
1 Big Ass Papaya
14 Persimmons
10 zucchinis (at least.. maybe 12?)
15 oranges (10 regular, and 5 blood)
3 bunches of bananas
2 heads of green leaf lettuce
2 bok choys
3 bunches of cilantro
2 bunches of parsley
3 of the biggest carrots I have EVER seen
1 bunch of THE BEETS! with beet greens
1 4 pound Durian
1 dragon fruit
5 Huge Gala Apples
1 Pineapple
ALL the Broccoli in the store (3 heads)
2 different kinds of dates
5 Peaches
And I'm forgetting a few things. I know I got some more things. This store is INSANE! such great deals on produce. It would have easily cost me twice as much for all of this at any other store. So I'm definitely getting my produce here from now on. It's worth making that second trip for it.
Anyway, I've been eating nothing but raw this weened. I started Friday with one apple, 2 cups of blueberries a ton of water, and a 5 banana smoothie with dates and strawberries. This is absolutely not enough food on this diet. I'm finding out through watching videos like this
that you're supposed to eat like 10 pounds (that's right, pounds!) of fruit and veg daily. How do they even? I have no idea. So counting calories is totally jumping out the window? Nope, you have to count them to make sure you're getting enough. At least 2000 every day. So if you're not at the 2000 mark, eat some more! I never ever thought I would struggle to eat so much on a diet.
Yesterday I ate a full head of green leaf lettuce with about a cup of cilantro mixed in and I also threw in a handfull of almonds. I dressed it with about a table spoon of olive oil and lemon juice, salt and pepper and garlic powder to taste. It filled an olive garden sized salad bowl, and it was ALL FOR ME. It was less than 350 calories; most of which came from the olive oil and the almonds. It took me over an hour to eat it all! Eating healthy is such a chore! But I'm definitely not hungry. I had to eat a ton of fruit yesterday to make sure I had enough calories. And I still came in about 600 calories short of my goal. I even broke down and ate some cheese last night because my body craved the fat. But that's a minor setback. Onward and upward!
I'm pretty excited about the rest of the weekend. And I think if I have trouble eating the rest of this, I'll end up having enough for the next few days as well. I'll eventually get to a point where eating so much isn't so difficult.
Peace!
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