My Story and My 1-Year Raw Anniversary!

I LOVE Clean Eating and have been feeding my family that way for quite some time now. I personally, have taken a side road from Clean Eating, a stricter version of the same basic principles. We each have different ways of dealing with our health and our life choices have shaped these decisions. Mine was a very rocky path and I'm glad to say I came out the other side, happy and healthy. Here's my story:

I have been riding the roller coaster of eating disorders since I was 13. By that age I was bigger than any of my sisters or friends. I wanted to be just like them so I started dieting, it went downhill from there. I went on every hair brained diet known to man then eventually ended up both anorexic and bulimic. By 17 I weighed 110 lbs on a 5' 6" body. Mind you people start to bug me about being to thin when I hit about 130 lbs. My dad threatened to put me in the hospital for treatment which led me to pretend I was eating. It was a very lonely struggle which was hard for everyone around me to understand. For once, I was getting the attention and I kind of liked it. When I was 19 I met my now husband, he knew about my eating disorders and really helped me get them under control. All it took was him putting his foot down and telling me I had to stop or he'd leave. Tough love worked!

Eventually I started to become more interested in good nutrition, the kind where your food feeds you health and vitality. I became a walking nutrition dictionary. If you needed to know anything about any health food you just had to ask me. The funny thing is, I wasn't applying all of this wonderful info into my everyday life. I am an all or nothing kind of person, it has to be 100% perfect! Perfectly planned and perfectly executed. This is not always possible.

My first real stab at becoming healthier was when I was 20 or so, I became a vegan and was vegan for two years. As time passed I became what I call, a "french fry" vegan. You know eating food just because it was vegan and not necessarily because it was good for me. I wasn't feeling very good and so I slipped back into the standard American diet.

Over the next 7 years I was busy with the birth of my 3 wonderful boys. I got caught up in their world and started cooking things that were easy and fast.  I loved planning meals and cooking but the constant rush got the better of me. I started to cheat here and there and kept "convenience" foods in my home. It's amazing how you can justify keeping junk around. It's cheaper, it's easier, it makes you die younger! Yeah, that's convincing, not!

Fast forward 10 years, I was miserable, irritable, pudgy, and tired. I was still working out everyday but with no results. This made me feel like a hamster on a wheel, spinning around forever and getting no where fast. I figured it must have something to do with my Hashimoto's disease or my missing gallbladder, so off I went to my doctor and than an endocrinologist hoping they could tell me why I was so miserable. Nothing. The endocrinologist all-knowing advice, "Go check out Weight Watchers". Weight Watchers? That was the long awaited answer I had been looking for? I don't think so!

In my desire for an answer I started searching high and low on the internet for answers. The Raw food lifestyle kept coming up in searches but it was not what I wanted to see. With a husband and 3 young boys in tow I knew it wouldn't work. Too much time, too much money and too much structure. I kept searching and searching and Raw just kept popping up. After awhile I started softening to the idea. I wanted to prepare to talk to my husband about it so I sorted all my info and sat down with him. I told him I couldn't live like this anymore, things needed to change. He knew I had been feeling yucky so he promised I could go Raw and he wouldn't hassle me....... too badly:) Now he's not an unreasonable person but he has been with me through many of my eating disorders so I think he was thinking it would be another one of "those". He gave the green light and so my Raw Adventure began.

I would have to say that Day 2 sticks out in my mind as being the hardest. I had an awful headache, I was cranky and I was tired. The funny thing is that on that day my mind was whispering, "You need to eat junk food, this Raw thing is crazy". Of course, when I had these little whisperings, I knew that eating crud was NOT the answer but my mind was wrestling with it big time. Would the coffee and Cadbury chocolate eggs have made my headache go away, probably. Would it have made me feel better physically, uhh no!

Here I am at 33, 1-year into my Raw Adventure and I'm feeling great! The hardest part for me is that I am still surrounded by all of this non-Raw food. My husband and kids are not Raw so I still make them their meals. Granted I don't feed them poorly, they all eat lots of fruits, vegetables, salads and chicken but there are a few indiscretions still lying around. The good thing is that I incorporate healthier foods into their diets so that we can all feel this good together! Because of the profuse amounts of fruits and vegetables I keep around, it is really easy to make my family Clean Eating Meals. Clean Eating works so well for them. I use the same vegetables for my meals as I use for their meals, the only difference is that all of mine stay Raw. I use all of Tosca Reno's cookbooks and magazines and I have to admit that my mouth waters when I look at some of their meals. I do have a ton of Raw and Clean Eating recipes and even started a Raw blog to keep track of the Raw recipes.


I just had a new round of blood work done so I will soon see if my one year Raw has been worth it. Regardless of the blood results, I know with the way I feel, it's been worth it!

Okay, so here is what I have typically been eating:

6:30 a.m.- Water with the juice of one lemon

6:45- Vegetable juice Mostly greens with a few carrots for sweetness

9:30- Smoothie made with berries, greens, almond milk, coconut water and meat, green powder and hemp protein powder.

12:30- Collard Wraps with carrots, sprouts, avocado, spinach and Raw ginger dressing or Raw hummus, yum!

3:30- Pure Bar, fruit with a handful of nuts, flax crackers w/ avocado or another green smoothie

6:30- Kale or lettuce Salad w/ bell pepper, sprouts, carrots, broccoli and a yummy dressing, I also will eat guacamole with my salad if I want a Mexican flare to my meal. I miss Mexican food a lot!

7:00- Sometimes I treat myself to a little Raw chocolate or some berries

I hope you all follow you're own journey to health and well-being, it's a long road but so worth it! Remember, these are my thoughts and conclusions and in no way suggest that anyone else has to come to the same conclusion I have. I hope that in the end we all find our niche' when it comes to living a healthy, happy, full life:)

On April 12th I will celebrate my 1-year Raw anniversary. I am so excited that I have reached this milestone. It is so much more than I thought I could do. I now know I could and will eat this way forever. There are so many people who have been pivotal to my success. Thank you to Kristen from Kristen's Raw for the encouraging words and delicious recipes, Matt Monarch and Angela Stokes for providing such wonderful raw foods so I don't get bored, Averie Sunshine for creating the best, easy, Raw recipes that make it that much easier to keep up this way of eating and for constantly encouraging me, ShannonMarie who also creates amazing Raw foods with flare, Heather Pace who is awesome with Raw recipes and always has fun adventures to share, Liz/Veggie Girl who encourages me to stick with it, and my wonderful family who has supported me 100% even though they think I'm crazy sometimes : )

Nicole 

Way Out of my Comfort Zone

Okay, I can't even believe I am posting this but I promised you all long ago that I would post some before & after photos of myself. Well, I have been sticking at this weight for a few months now so I thought I would show you the changes that have been made from eating Raw, organic, vegan cuisine. Here goes nothing!



Ugh, is it over yet? I am short of breath and my palms are sweaty! Did I really look like that. It's actually good for me to see these side-by-side. Makes the difference a little bit more noticeable.

For those of you who don't know my story, please click HERE. I am not trying to be Miss Fitness or anything, just a better wife and mom : )

Thanks for entertaining me,

Nicole

Fitness Success

Well, I put aside my workout phobia and I took a total cardio/weight break for my active rest week last week. Guess what? I didn't die and I didn't gain 10 lbs., shocker! I did yoga everyday in place of my usual light weights and cardio and it felt so nice. In fact, in felt so good I think I just may make it a regular thing, for my rest week that is. When I started my new rotation this week I felt more excited and ready to start it then I had in awhile.

I have been pushing my body 6 days a week with hard cardio and weights for over 7 years now. Even my active rest weeks have become extra "active". It's like I'm addicted to the burn and the sweat. I am afraid sometimes that if I stop pushing hard in my workouts that my weight will come back on so I just keep going unless my body stops me. Most of the time my body stops me by yelling really loud from my back. I have had back issues for years but I am glad to say it hasn't bothered me for quite a while, yay! Oh no, did I just say that out loud?

Since I lost 30 lbs. I have had many people ask me, "How did you do it"? When I say diet and exercise they get all bummed out like they wanted to hear it was a magic pill or something. I'm telling you right now, there is NO magic pill that is going to help you reach your goals. It would be like if Oprah said, "Oh I just sat back and watched the money roll in"! I don't think so! Losing and maintaining weight takes a lot of hard work and determination and as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't get "easier". It becomes more normal and doable but never easier.

Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE my workouts and I LOVE my eating lifestyle, I just want everyone reading this to know that there is no easy way to success. If it was easy, it wouldn't be a stand out success, it would be everyday life. I want to encourage all of you to keep going and working hard at your goals in life and health, you WILL get there! If you want anything bad enough it's worth fighting for!!

If any of you have any questions about your fitness goals or eating dilemmas just e-mail me: thefitnessfreak@cox.net. I also am on facebook so just click on the tab on your right and visit! I am not a licensed physician or personal trainer but this is what I love to do! I have devoured all the information I can for about 15 years now and I love sharing it with others : )

How many of you find it hard to take a break from your workouts? How many of you are finding it hard to start a fitness routine?

Nicole

Raw Emotions- How do you deal with them? Not just for Raw food enthusiasts!

I have officially been 100% Raw/Vegan for over 6 months now, yay! I have made this way of eating a lifestyle, not a diet. It's been a long road but so worth it. I made this decision as many of you know to rid myself of the thyroid disease (Hashimoto's) I have had for the past 10 years. Is it working in that aspect or not, it's too soon to tell. I was hoping I would notice a change in my TSH numbers by now but that has yet to happen. Am I discouraged? No! I feel so much better day to day without burdening my body with processed foods of any kind.

My latest Raw adventure, EMOTIONS! I have always used food as a medication of sorts. When I was sad, angry, annoyed, tired, bored, etc., I would get myself a special "treat". It could have been anything from a coffee to a piece of cheesecake, just something to make me feel happy and content. Well, guess what? All of my usual special "treats" are gone now that I am Raw, so what am I left with? ANGER.

Yep, anger is my new best friend. Believe it or not this is a good thing. I feel like I may be getting to the bottom of my eating disorder. I am always upbeat and happy, joking with people all the time so this is an interesting development for sure! I had been told by many of the Raw nutritionists that anger might be an issue and until now I hadn't experienced any. Annoyed yes, angry no. Now most of the nutritionist said it would be a detox symptom but 6 months in I have come up with a theory of my own, I have pacified myself for so many years with food that I never got a point where I had to deal with what was going on inside. Now I'm not saying that there was a traumatic childhood incident or any reason that I know of to be angry but alas, here it is. The question is, what do I do with it? I know I can do something constructive, but what?

With every other diet or eating lifestyle I have adopted I have never dealt with this kind if emotion. When the going got tough I would just let myself have a little treat here and a little treat there and eventually I would feel good again. Of course, I would gain weight, feel lousy, and the whole cycle would begin again. Feel bad, treat, feel better, gain weight, feel lousy, lose weight, treat, gain weight, fell bad, etc.....

This made me think of all of you, my fellow foodies and fitness buffs. How many of you out there may be ignoring an emotion or feeling that may be stopping you from reaching your goals? I am not talking about any mumbo jumbo here, just honest, true feelings that we may not realize we have because we are pacifying ourselves with food or working out. Maybe distracting ourselves from the issue is a better way to look at it. Have any of you ever dealt with this? I would love to hear from you!

By the way, I will always post Clean Eating recipes, vegan or not. I will also continue to post Raw/Vegan recipes because I love creating new ones : ) I have no issues with others choosing to eat animal products. Now I know this will relieve some and make others angry but it is what it is. I am Raw/Vegan out of necessity, not out of conscience. Because of my thyroid issues and my lack of a gallbladder I have a hard time digesting animal proteins. I also have to avoid soy because the affect it has on my hormones. I have found many vegan alternatives so this has been such an exciting journey!

Another note, I will also continue posting my favorite workouts, moves and reviews. Fitness is my first love and what really gets me excited! It makes me feel good and endorphins are so important especially at this hectic time in my life. Fitness has always been my constant and it will continue to be for as long as these little legs can keep up : )


So what do you think? Do you agree with any my little ramblings? Did you learn anything? Did it make you think? Let me know!!

Nicole

Fitness/Nutrition Journal Update

Well, it's been awhile since I checked in with everyone regarding my personal workouts and food intake so I thought I would share some of it with you today.

My daily food has been pretty boring but it's working for me. Here is my daily food as it is the same everyday.

8:00 a.m.- Green Juice (I make this with Health Force Nutrtionals Vitamineral Greens and whatever green veggies I have in my fridge that day. It's usually a mixture of kale, spinach, chard, celery, cucumbers, field greens, parsley, etc.)

Post Workout- Green Smoothie (Thai coconut water & coconut meat, hemp protein powder, maca powder, Health Force Nutritionals Earth Powder, frozen blueberries, cherries or strawberries, 3-4 cups of greens, i.e. spinach, chard or kale.)

Lunch- melon of some sort or blueberries (I usually try to eat fruit and greens until 3 pm or so.)

Mid Afternoon- Blueberries or other yummy fruit:)

Early Dinner-Lettuce wraps with avocado and veggies or a big salad (I have stopped eating after 6 pm and find that I sleep better and feel better all around)

Snacks- I rarely snack but if there are kale chips lying around, watch out! If I am out and about I will bring a Pure Bar with me. I would say those are the only snacks aside from fruit and greens that I eat. My digestion gets a bit wacky if I try to throw to many foods in the tank at the same time. This is a side effect of the missing gallbladder and Hashimoto's, ugghhh.


As for my workouts, this month I did a strength and flexibility rotation. I really enjoyed it as it allowed me to fit yoga in twice a week. I usually only fit it in once because I like to separate my strength and cradio. this month I added in a few strength/cardio circuits and it seemed to work just great. Nothing like good time management:)

Here is a sample week:

Monday- Muscle Endurance: Upper Body Split (45 minutes)
Tuesday- Muscle Endurance: Lower Body Split (39 minutes)
Bootcamp: Lower Body Only (10 minutes)
Legs & Glutes: Floorwork Only (10 minutes)
Wednesday- Yoga Dance Fusion (50 minutes)
Thursday- Kitchen Sink Conditioning (71 minutes)
Friday- Power Yoga 4 Happiness (52 minutes)
Saturday- Turbo Sculpt (40 minutes)

As you can see I like to keep my workouts at about an hour a day. I never workout on Sundays which I think my body has adapted to. I would love to make it a varying day but alas it is the schedule I have to work with!

My next rotation is going to be another heavy weight rotation. I get addicted to lifting weights so I have to give my body a break every other month or so. I am currently running a 4 week on, 1 week "active rest" rotation. I would recommend that for just about everyone.
If you would like more help creating your own rotation go to Cathe's Workout Manager for ideas.

I hope that gives you all an idea of how I live day to day. It's working for me now and I am feeling all together better for it. I have lost 20 lb.s since becoming Raw and I am guessing will lose about 10 more before I add in more Raw foods. Yes, I had that much to lose! I am hovering at 145 which is a comfortable size 8 semi-comfortable 6. When I get to my desired size I will put up some before and after pictures if anyone is interested.

Nicole

Workout & Food Journal

This is pretty much my go to menu. I mix up the veggies and fruits I use but the blueprint is usually the same. I actually am finding that I don't care what I eat as long as it's a fruit or vegetable. It's nice to not spend your day thinking about your next meal:)

6:30 a.m. water w/ lemon juice

7:00 a.m.  green vegetable juice

9:30 a.m. green smoothie w/hemp protein

12:30 p.m. 1/2 cantaloupe

2:00 p.m. large salad w/ hemp oil, vinegar, avocado and lots of veggies from my fil's garden

3:00 p.m. some of my yummy granola

5:30 p.m. green smoothie 

6:30 p.m.  grapefruit from my father-in-laws tree, the best!

My workout for the last three weeks has been my new STS program I mentioned in the last workout journal post. This week is an active recovery week. I did Turbo Jam yesterday and followed it up with a tough 2-1/2 hour hike with the family. I wouldn't really say that's a typical recovery week as it isn't even a typical workout week, haha. 

Here's the plan for this "recovery" week:

Monday: Turbo Jam 3T & 2-1/2 hour hike

Tuesday: Power Yoga 4 Happiness 2

Wednesday: Turbo Jam Cardio Party

Thursday: Kickbox Yoga Fusion

Friday: Turbo Jam Lower Body Jam

Saturday: Exhale Core Fusion Pilates Plus

We started the hike down where all the little houses are. Yowza!

Raw Food, My Story

I have been riding the roller coaster of eating disorders since I was 13. By then I was bigger than any of my sisters or friends. I wanted to be just like all of the them so I started dieting and it went downhill from there. I went from every hair brained diet known to man then eventually ended up both anorexic and bulimic. By 17 I weighed 110 lbs on a 5' 6" body. Mind you people start to bug me about being to thin when I hit 130 lbs. 

Eventually I started to become more interested in good nutrition, the kind where your food feeds you health and vitality. I became a walking nutrition dictionary. If you needed to know anything about any health food you just had to ask me. The funny thing is, I wasn't applying all of this wonderful info into my everyday life. I am an all or nothing kind of person, it has to be 100% perfect! Perfectly planned and perfectly executed. 

My first real stab at becoming more healthy was when I was 20 or so. I started my journey by becoming a vegan and was vegan for two years. As time passed I became what I call, a "french fry" vegan. You know eating food just because it was vegan and not necessarily because it was good for me. This angle was not working so I stumbled back into the "typical" American diet.

Fast forward 10 years, I was miserable, irritable, pudgy, and tired. I was still working out everyday but with no results. This made me feel like a hamster on a wheel, spinning around forever and getting no where fast. I figured it must have something to do with my Hashimoto's disease or my missing gallbladder. Off I went to my doctor and than an endocrinologist hoping they could tell me why I was so miserable. Nothing. The endocrinologist all-knowing advice was to go check out Weight Watchers. Weight Watchers? That was the long awaited answer I had been looking for? I don't think so!

In my desire for an answer I started searching high and low on the internet for answers. The Raw food lifestyle kept coming up in searches but it was not what I wanted to see. With a husband and 3 young boys in tow I knew it wouldn't work. Too much time, too much money and too much structure. I kept searching and searching and Raw just kept popping up. After awhile I started softening to the idea. I wanted to prepare to talk to my husband about it so I sorted all my info and sat down with him. I told him I couldn't live like this anymore, things needed to change. He knew I had been feeling yucky so he promised I could go Raw and he wouldn't hassle me....... too badly:) Now he's not an unreasonable person but he has been with me through many of my eating disorders so I think he was thinking it would be another one of "those".

Here I am at 32 starting week 2 of my Raw Adventure and I'm feeling great! I would have to say that Day 2 sticks out in my mind as being the hardest. I had an awful headache, I was cranky and I was tired. The funny thing is that on that day my mind was whispering, "You need to eat junk food, this Raw thing is crazy". Of course, when I had these little whisperings, I knew that eating crud was NOT the answer but my mind was wrestling with it big time. Would the coffee and Cadbury chocolate eggs have made my headache go away, probably. Would it have made me feel better physically, uhh no!

The hardest part for me is that I am still surrounded by all of this junk food. My husband and kids are not Raw so I still make them their meals but it's getting easier. Granted I don't feed them poorly. They all eat lots of fruits, vegetables, salads and chicken but there are a few indiscretions still lying around from Easter. The good thing is that I can slowly start incorporating healthier foods into their diets so that we can all feel this good together!

Okay, so here is what I have typically been eating:

6:30 a.m.- Water with the juice of one lemon

6:45- Vegetable juice with an apple thrown in for good measure:) see below

9:30- Smoothie made with sub-acid fruits and hemp protein powder.

12:30- Nori rolls with carrots, sprouts, avocado, spinach and Raw ginger dressing, yum!

3:30- Pure Bar

6:30- Kale Salad w/ bell pepper, sprouts, carrots, broccoli and Raw ginger dressing

7:30- sometimes I eat a yummy Snackaroon from The Raw Food World (click on link at right)

I hope you all follow you're own journey to health and well-being, it's a long road but so worth it! Remember, these are my thoughts and conclusions and in no way suggest that anyone else has to come to the same conclusion I have. I hope that in the end we all find our niche' when it comes to living a healthy, happy, full life:)

Nicole 

Food Journal

Well, I started the big trek today. I have been fully immersing myself in books, blogs and web searches soaking in the info. I think I'm ready, I hope I'm ready, I am:) 

It was quite an undertaking to prepare for a Raw lifestyle but I did it! Thanks to the many helpful blogs I came across like, Raw Success, Kristen's Raw, Raw Reform, Raw Epicurean and more, I have become quite intrigued with the Raw food lifestyle.

This week I'm focusing on detox so it will be full of smoothies and fresh vegetable juices. I'll throw some roughage in there for good measure too:)

I have added helpful links to my "Sites I Love" so that you to can check them out.

My food intake today:

Energizing Workout Smoothie (Kristen's Raw)

Detoxifying Smoothie (Kristen's Raw)

The Greatest Hummus in the World w/carrots (Kristen's Raw)

handful of raw, soaked almonds and a couple of dates

Huge salad with raw dressing

frozen blueberries

Don't forget, for all of the Raw supplies check out The Raw Food World picture link on the right.

My Favorite Breakfast

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday I lift weights. After I'm done I like to eat a bit of lean protein with yummy veggies. My favorite way to do this is to make a veggie scramble. Here is my concoction:

1/2 to 2/3 cup chopped swiss chard or kale

1/2 cup small broccoli florets

1/4 cup sliced mushrooms

4-5 egg whites, lightly beaten

1 oz shredded fat-free mozzarella

cooking spray

Spray a small, non-stick skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Put all of the veggies in the skillet and let cook for about a minute. Add egg whites and stir, cooking until almost set. Sprinkle with cheese and cover. Remove from heat and let sit for about 1-2 minutes until cheese melts. Yummy!

P.S. For all the vegans out there, egg substitute and rice cheese would be a great replacement in this dish:)~

Click HERE for a printable version.

Nicole

My Journal

.......or is it?

Well, I decided I needed a clean start because I had been allowing a few no-no's to sneak into my diet. I am on a raw, vegan, organic adventure! I like to call it that because it makes it sound more interesting than the food I'm eating:)

Every day I start out with a concoction of 2 oz. unsweetened cranberry juice mixed with 6 oz. purified water, the juice from 1/3 lemon and 1 tsp. vinegar. If that's not enough to wake you up, you drink it again before lunch and then lastly before dinner, yikes!

Breakfast has consisted of an apple and soaked raw nuts. Mind you I do let them air dry:)

My post workout meal consists of hemp protein powder with water. It's not for taste here, it's merely to get protein in my body after my weight lifting. Hemp protein is certified organic and raw!

Now if that excites you, you can imagine what is for lunch, kale salad. I have actually come to like kale quite a bit because it is very crunchy and I feel so good eating it. I also add some beets, sprouts, carrots, tomatoes, avocados and a little flax oil and vinegar on there for some pizzazz.

I enjoy my afternoon snack because it is a Larabar. According to the book I'm following I am not supposed to have dates, raisins or any dried fruit of the sort, but I'm desperate! I figure the 18-23 grams of natural sugar from dates won't kill my liver since that's all the "sugar" I get in a day.

For dinner I have been mixing it up and having a spinach salad with much of the same toppings as the lunch salad. About an hour later I have a cup of blueberries to finish off the day.

Mind you this craziness is only for two weeks because with my workout regime I could not sustain this for any length of time. I do feel a TON better on this eating plan. The first four days of headaches were killer though! I don't drink coffee on a regular basis but I do enjoy it every once in a while as a treat so it's been hard to not have any.

I don't think I ever realized how much I use food as a comfort or reward until now. I start to feel detached from the rest of the world when I am really strict with my food intake. It just goes to show you how much food plays a role in our social lives. For me, it's time to change that. I need to eat to live, not live to eat!

By the way for those of you who are wondering I am following Dr. Eric Berg's book, The 7 Principles of Fat Burning. I have Hashimoto's disease which is a form of hypothyroidism. I have tried bumping up my workouts, eating less and diet after diet but it's tough to find something that works 100% of the time. Dr. Berg has done many studies on different "body types" and found that our body has outward signs that tell us what's wrong with it. Go figure mine is the "thyroid type". I am hoping that through this journey my thyroid will start working like it's supposed to and I can enjoy the feeling of total health.

Also, this week was my first week of ChaLean Extreme. I LOVE it! Chalene is so motivating and fun to workout with. None of the workouts are over an hour and that's a plus for me. I'll go into full detail when I review it on February 1st. I'll share my 30 day stats with you and let you now how many inches and pounds I lost.