UPDATE!!!

OK, so I obviously dropped the ball on updating the blog, but I did not quit the raw food diet. I made it through the 30 days I set out to do and lost a total of 8 pounds that month. Not bad. I somehow thought I'd lose more, but I was not disappointed either. For me, it was a lot more about health than weight. And considering that, I had the best results I could have ever hoped for. I was given a clean bill of health by both my doctors. All signs of precancerous cells and the tumor completely disappeared. I am thankful that God lead me to learn about this diet because I don't know of another way to get such great results so quickly, well, short of an actual miracle. ;)

I still try to eat as much raw food as I possibly can. I always have 2 big salads every day and plenty of fresh fruits as well. I would say it's about half my daily intake again. I had another doctor's visit today, so I will know soon if this is enough to maintain my results. If not, I will bump it back up. I suppose the best result of this whole experiment is that now I know there is an answer beyond surgery, drugs, and chemo...and it really works!
 
Thank you for everyone (dad) who read my blog daily. LOL  I'm posting two updated photos to end the blog as I promised. Sorry, I'm too lazy to do measurements. ...and I've lost more than 8 pounds at this point, but yeah...didn't take that photo, so these are the ones I've got!!!

Day 20

So you guessed it, I'm failing at keeping up on this blog. I'm thankful that THAT wasn't my real goal. Gosh, I hate to fail. But again I have not fallen off the raw food wagon. Things are going well. I can't believe I'm 2/3 of the way there. CRAZY!!! It's been so easy.

What I've been doing mainly is eating salads for lunch and smoothies for breakfast and snacks. I've had zucchini chips (dehydrated) or Italian "bread" (purchased at 4th Generation) with salsa or almond cheese with chives. Oh and I made these fantastic agave and cinnamon walnuts. Did I tell you this already? I forget. I'm making more right now. I am going to post a few pictures of things that I have had over the past week or so. I'm amazed at how easy it has been to stick to this. I am still craving free and full of energy.

Dinner tonight was good...and different at the same time.

Juice:

• sweet potato
• orange
• apple

Coconut rice & lima beans:

 Coconut Rice:

• 1 1/2 cups wild rice
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 cup unhulled sesame seeds (soaked overnight) and drained
• 1/4 cup raisins
• mix the above together and set aside
  
• 3/4 Tbsp olive oil
• 3/4 Tbsp flax seed oil
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground black mustard
• pinch ground cloves (optional)
• pinch fresh ground white pepper (optional)
• Celtic sea salt to taste
• mix together in a small bowl and then pour over the coconut/rice mixture.

lima beans 

• frozen lima beans (soaked in warm water)
• 1 Tbsp cold pressed olive oil
• sea salt
• pepper
• red pepper

OK, and this wasn't from today, but I had this falafel ball wrap at 4th Generation on Saturday and it was huge, so I ate half for lunch and half for dinner. The picture below is dinner. I added some fresh mango slices. Very gude. (spelled wrong for emphasis...and because I'm weird.)

Day 15

OK, so I fell off a bit here. Don't get me wrong, I stayed 100% on my 30 day challenge, but I have had a very busy week and have not had time to update the blog. Sorry. In my rush, I have been living off of smoothies, salads, fresh fruit, and the few items I bought pre-made at 4th Generation and Whole Foods. I made a raw pizza the other day. I will find the picture and post it.

Raw Pizza:

I purchased agave sweetened, cinnamon walnuts and decided I should be able to do this myself. So I soaked walnuts over night and then drenched them in agave and cinnamon and dehydrated them for about 10 hours today. Let me just say....SOOOO good.

My PH Level has been pretty acidic lately. I wonder if this is due to my "friend" being around this week. But I've been consistently staying at 5.5-6 every morning and staying around 6.5 at night. I will keep monitoring this and hopefully it will level out.

Today was weight and measurement day. I lost 5 pounds and 5 inches this week. That means I am at 7.5 pounds and 10.25 inches in total in 2 weeks.That is definitely OK with me. :)

Day 11

Well, I'd love to say today was more eventful than yesterday, but it hasn't been at all. I woke up with a horrible headache and was barely able to keep anything down all day.

PH Level: 6.5

Breakfast: coffee with raw almond milk and stevea

Lunch: Raw chips and almond cheese - completely forget what was in these and stupid me threw away the package. This is a small bag, maybe a cup or so of little wheat thins-looking crackers. I will buy more and update this post!! I bought them at 4th Generation Organic Market, an amazing resource for anyone trying to live a raw food lifestyle in South Florida.

Dinner: fresh grapefruit, orange, and apple juice

Apples, pears, and cinnamon walnuts with organic Greek strained yogurt 

Day 10

OK, so I had a rough day today and didn't eat much. I'm strange like that. I can only eat when I'm happy. But by dinner all was well and I made up for things. ;)

PH Level: 6

Dinner:
Nut Burger, raw taco, 3 sushi rolls with amino acids for everyone

Mushroom soup for my dad:

Delhi Express Soup for Ben and I (though I could only eat a few bites of mine):

Green Smoothies for everyone:

















Both said they liked the raw food I made for them and I tend to believe them, since there was nothing left. That is the best result I could have asked for. =)

Day 9

This day was a lot of rushing around, so it has been "fast food" all day long. (as in Whole Foods and 4th Generation Organic Market) I'm blessed to have these options. Oh and my PH Level was 6 this morning.
Breakfast: (at 1pm for the record, since I know these are not breakfast foods)

1 handful of dehydrated veggie chips

• sweet potato
• squash
• carrot
• green bean
• taro
• salt

2 pieces of raw Italian Herb Essene Bread with salsa (there's only one in the picture and no salsa - OK, so I forgot to take a picture and did this afterward and did not want to make a mess - consider me caught.)

•  sprouted whole wheat
• scallions
• parsley
• cilantro
• basil
• thyme
• celtic sea salt

3 banana balls

• apple
• banana
• medjool dates
• walnuts
• almonds
• raisins
• cinnamon
• nutmeg
  

1/2 Pineapple Raw Fruit Pie (sounds like a lot, but it was 4 oz- the picture is the other half!)

• bananas
• pineapple
• almonds
• dates
• dried coconut
• strawberries
• raspberries
• kiwi
• blueberries
• cinnamon
• nutmeg
• celtic sea salt
  

Coffee with raw almond milk and stevia

Lunch:

Raw Pizza

• Raw Italian Crackers
• sunflower seeds
• chia seeds 
• water
• salt
• basil
• rosemary
• sun dried tomatoes
• oregano
• garlic
• parsley
• fennel
• cashews
• black olives
• sun dried tomatoes
• zucchini
• onion
• red leaf lettuce
• sprouts
• tomatoes
  

1 brain-on macaroons

• coconut flakes
• coconut butter
• salt
• cashew
• brain-on flakes
• mint oil
• agave
• vanilla

Snack: Left over green smoothie from yesterday...and here you thought I wasn't going to have one. Pish!

Dinner:

Sub Sandwich:

• my last nut burger *sniff*
  
• raw almond cheese - this changed the sandwich from very good to YUM-MY!
• spicy mustard
• tomatoes
• sunflower sprouts
• lettuce as a wrap

So my dad is coming to dinner tomorrow and he wants me to make him raw food so he can try it. Since it takes more raw food than cooked food to fill a person, I'm going to be making a huge dinner, so he doesn't go home and eat! I hope he likes it. Mainly because it's going to be a long day of preparing!! Also Ben, my boyfriend, agreed to eat a raw dinner tomorrow night, so the feast is on and the pressure is a bit scary. I've only done this for 9 days...anyone know a good caterer? ;)

Day 8

Why, helloooo and welcome back. Today is weigh in day and I have lost 2.5 lbs. That is a normal safe pace, so I'm OK with this. I would have also been OK with a 10 lb loss, but that is neither here nor there. Let's see, my measurement difference is minus 5.25, though REALLY SURPRISINGLY my stomach stayed the same. I'm not even sure this is possible considering that's one of the first things I noticed. I FEEL like it's flatter. How is that possible?? I'm confused, but willing to walk this out anyway. 5.25 inches gone with only a 2.5 pound loss...I'm going to say this is a water retention issue. Anyone who wants to agree with me, please do. If you want to disagree, you know, zip it. *big cheesy grin*

My PH level was near perfect again today, at 5.3. I feel good about that, at least. My energy levels are still good.*does a little dance* My skin however has not recovered...boo. 

Breakfast:

Green Drink:

•  2 cups spinach
• 1 cup honey due
• 12 oz coconut water
• 2 oranges
• 2 frozen bananas

Snack:

Giant fruit salad with cacao and honey
(I took the picture and then later I added banana)

• Grapefruit
• oranges
• strawberries
• bananas
• cacao

Coffee with raw almond milk and stevia (x2)

Lunch:

Green Salad:

• Lettuce
• Kale
• tomato
• cucumber
• avocado
  

Dinner:

Avo Soup (By Stephen Arlin)

• 2 large avocados
• 1 medium cucumbers, chopped
• 1 medium tomato, chopped
• 1 Tbsp fresh cilantro
• Distilled water to desired consistency
• 1 cup hopped zucchini
• 1/2 cup corn
• 1/4 cup chopped green onion

Combine 1 to 1 1/2 avocados with the cucumber, tomato, and cilantro in a blender. Blend, adding distilled water to reach desired consistency and pour into a bowl. Chop the remaining 1/2 avocado into small cues and stir into the soup, along with the zucchini, corn, and onions.

Note: THIS SOUP SUCKS! My friend, Cheryl, and I both had this for dinner and spent like 10 minutes trying to figure out which spices would make it taste less bland. In the end, we found that it tasted best in the garbage disposal.

Btw, Cheryl came over tonight and smashed my Wii Fit Soccer score all over AGAIN. Sigh, it's gonna be a long night folks.