Hello!!!

Depression

2008-06-30T21:19:00.003-04:00

I'm really bummed out today, my itchiness is still very persistent. I'm really to the point where I don't know what to do. I pretty much have ruled out stress because yeah I was stressed but not as much now and it wouldn't have lasted this long. I've really been wondering if it's because of my new diet and I have pretty much decided it is short of going to an allergist. I'm wondering if my body is detoxing and if so how freakin long is it going to take????? I mean come on! I can only scratch so much! I going to have to cut my finger nails off! Seriously! I don't, I don't know, I don't know. Someone please tell me what to do. It's really bringing me down almost to the point of going back to regular food just to see if that's really what it is and I don't want to. I've noticed now every time I eat any cooked food, my mouth gets extremely dry and I'm terribly thirsty and then I feel gross. Please, if someone has any ideas please for the love of God let me know.

I also wanted to let everyone know as I said I would how my squash turned out and I have to say I AM NOT IMPRESSED! I was so disappointed. I don't think I put enough seasoning in it but I will try to fix it and give it another go. I did make my nut milk out of macadamia nuts that I soaked over night. I was a little concerned because I read conflicting recipes on line that said "go ahead it's really creamy" and "don't soak, they taste like crap" but I already did so it was too late. It actually didn't turn out that bad considering I had no mylknut bag. It also made a very yummy banana smoothie this morning which I scarfed down.

Right now I am trying to drown my itchy sorrows in as raw of a margarita I can make. Fresh squeezed lime and lemon juice with 100% agave Petron. Please send me your thoughts and suggestions. Have a beautiful evening.

The Itchy and Scratchy show

2008-06-28T11:49:00.002-04:00

Does anyone remember that cartoon from the simpsons. It has absolutely nothing to do with what I'm going to talk about except the itchy part. I always thought that cat and mouse where kinda sadistic. So for probably about the last 3 weeks to a month I have had really weird rashes and my skin has been extremely itchy. I got a steriod shot at work last week and then went to the ergent care only to be told "I'm stumped". They sent me home with a prescription of prednisone which I have been taking and it's not really helping with the itching. Oh yeah and when I scratch alot in one place it leaves little blood spots under my skin in a trail. I have an appointment with a dermatologist but not untill the end of July. It is extremely difficult to get into one because they are so booked. I even pulled the "I work for a doctor card" and tried to refer myself as a patient, no go. So I am wondering if the change in my diet could be causing this itchiness, is my body detoxing? I don't know.

One reason I'm not sure is because I'm not 100% raw.I still eat cooked food here and there but I always try to eat good stuff. ie salads, fish, veggies etc.... Has anyone ever had this happen to them or am I just a freak of nature? Your thoughts and comments would be greatly appreciated.

On another note I have noticed now when I eat cooked food I always feel extremely dehydrated and this morning my tongue is covered with those little white bump thingys on the bottom which is pretty painful. It's almost enough to make me not even want to eat it anymore.

I have some raw pistachios and today I'm going to soak them and then dehydrate them and spice them up! I love pistachios. I'm also going to make my first nut mylk and then tomorrow I'm going to make a squash casserole. I'll let you know how it goes. Have a blessed day!

Rawsome Party and Veggi Chili

2008-06-24T12:03:00.004-04:00

Last night was so rawsome!!! My friend Penni hosted a wonderful raw food get together at her lovely home. To the right is a picture of her super delish lasagna, guac and the best damn pineapple chutney I've ever tasted. The other picture is of the stuffed mushrooms I made which were pretty yummy if I don't say so myself

and they were really easy to make. You can find the recipe on RawFoods.com under appetizers. So I have to give a big shout out to Pretty Penni for a fun and interesting evening of food and festivities. If you wern't able to make it then you really missed out.

I also wanted to post a recipe I found because I love chili and this sounds so good and super easy.
Veggie Chili
A chunky chili with veggies and no beans. Very tomato-ey with a nice crunch from the peppers.
Ingredients:
2 Medium Tomatoes
1 Avocado, halved
1/4 cup Sundried Tomatos, soaked until soft
1 clove Garlic
1 Handful of Cilantro
1 T Chili Powder
1 Tsp Ground Cumin
1/2 Tsp sea salt
1/2 Red Pepper diced
1/2 Green pepper diced
1/4 cup Green Onion
1 T Olive Oil
1 Tsp Lime Juice
Puree tomato, half of the avocado, sundried tomatoes, garlic, and one handful of cilantro in a food processor until smooth. Blend in spices. I had to add alot of chili powder to get this spicy, but be sure to taste as you go. Dice peppers and green onion and put into a bowl. Add in the puree and give it a good stir to blend. Chop the other half of the avocado, half a tomato or whole one if you wish and some cilantro, add this mix in to the chili. Add olive oil and lime juice, stir that baby real good, add a little more salt if you like and you're done! Enjoy!
I'll probably add some zucchini and jalapeno to mine. I likes it spicy!

Been Gone To Long

2008-06-18T23:08:00.004-04:00

Hi , I'm going to keep this short and sweet hopefully cuz I'm really tired and it's really late. I've had alot going on in my life since I last blogged. I've been training a new employee. I received my dehydrator, bought a food processor, received my vitamix in the mail two days ago but not to sure if it's as powerful as it should be so there is a 3 day return policy, have to decide weather or not to return it by tomorrow. I tried to make a smoothie out of frozen fruit and by that I mean totally frozen rock hard bananas, strawberries, and raspberries with water and juices and ice and it locked up just like my regular blender so I'm thinking It's probably already worn out or is that just the norm? I don't know. I'm currently listening to an awesome song on itunes "Your Winter by Sister Hazel" check it out if you can. It's beautiful.

I haven't been very good lately and fallen into the trap I didn't want to fall into. It seems that lately I've been eating more cooked food than raw, but I feel that I'm trying my best given my extremely stressful situations at work. Is that a good excuse or what? Like I mentioned before I have now purchased a dehydrator, food processor, and vitamix but yet it seems so hard to find the time to actually make my own raw food not to mention the cost of organic produce. I do have a full time job so the only time I really have is the weekends. Thank god for Cynthia's raw food delivery service which I can only do every other week which is fine because it's enough for two. Anyway last weekend I made the jalapeno corn chips with raw salsa which everyone at home and office loved as well as some granola which was supper yummy. I really think about my diet all of the time and feel really guilty when I eat cooked foods and It's not like I turned 100% raw overnight, I knew going into this that I wouldn't be able to do that but I think that certain situations and circumstances have a big influence on your choices. I'm sure if I had more time to myself or at home I would absolutely love to experiment with raw food recipes but for now I'm doing the best I can. I am going to make a lovely recipe " stuffed mushrooms" for my fave raw foodie "Pennie" she's having a get together this Monday. If you can make it you should come, it should be fabulous. Enough for now, sorry if this is sporadic, like I said I'm totally exhausted but I really wanted to give a shout out. Stay beautiful!!!

It's a beautiful morning

2008-06-07T08:53:00.003-04:00

I haven't blogged in a couple of days because things have been pretty hectic but it's Saturday morning and I am currently sitting here with sticky watermelon juice on my fingers typing while I eat my breakfast. Guess what it is?
As I've stated on Wednesday's post I picked up my food from purerawcafe.com and I had the lasagna for lunch on Thursday and it was pure and utter bliss. The taste and texture was absolutely amazing. I still can't get over how much it tasted like I was eating real lasagna. The strawberry nirvana soup is to die for. I drank about half of it Thursday morning and the other half yesterday. I couldn't help it, it was just so darn good. Anyway I just wanted to drop a line and let everyone know how awesome this food is. You have to get some! Hope everyone has a wonderful Saturday!

xoxoPJ

What a day!!!

2008-06-04T18:51:00.002-04:00

Today was Caraaaazy. As I mentioned before I work in a doctors office, we just recently hired a new receptionist and I'm training her. On Wednesdays we do procedures in our office so I also help with those besides my regular job as office manager. I felt like a freakin chicken with my head cut off. My head is pounding so hard right now I can't stand it. It's been a while since I've been this physically and emotionally stressed out. I just want to lay down and go to sleep.

But enough about me, this morning I had another super yummy smoothie made with fresh organic bananas, acia, spirulina, and grapes with a touch of stevia. Mmmmmmmm. Then for lunch a had a small bowl of starkist tuna packed in water mixed with this really good organic wasabi dressing I found at Whole Foods. Kinda reminds me of sushi. So I haven't eaten much today which is good because I feel like I've really been pigging out lately.

I got my food today from puretogo.com and it all looks fab. I only sampled the chicken salad because I'm really tired and just wanted to chill but it also came with lasagna, Mediterranean feast, sun burger, strawberry nirvana soup (they give you enough for 3 servings) and banana cream pie. mmm mmm mmm! Can't wait to dig in, especially the soup. Penni gave me a taste of it one time and it was delish. Hope everyone had a beautiful day. More to come later.
xoxoPJ

I want to rip my uterus out

2008-06-03T18:35:00.000-04:00

I woke up with the worst cramps ever!!! I normally don't have cramps or periods because I take the Depo-Provera shot but it's time for my shot and boy do I know it. The main reason I started on it was because I have severe endometriosis. It really helps though and I've been on it for about 15 years. I'm thinking I need to get a bone density test though because that is suppose to be one of the biggest side effects "bone loss" but hopefully everything is ok. I was talking to my niece about it today and she suggested that maybe that was the reason I hurt so much but I reminded her that I haven't been hurting hardly at all since I went semi-raw. I also have thoracic scoliosis so no matter how much raw food I eat nothing can prevent that. Because it is in my thoracic spine it makes my muscles pull in unnatural directions causing massive trigger points but I am happy to report the seem to have settled down since I have began my raw journey. Today was ok but I was super bitchy and everyone irritated the crap out of me. I work in a doctors office and sometimes it's really hard to be nice to peeps when all they do is complain but I understand. Sometimes we all need to complain.

Enough about me, I made a totally delicious banana acia smoothie w/ spirulina, honey and a smidge of OJ this morning just as I said I would. I love to take them to work and gross everyone out because it ended up looking like the color of dark green baby poop. Maybe that's what I should call it "baby poop" I'm sure I'm not the first one who's thought of that. I also had an organic salad with sweet red bell peppers and cucumbers and jalapeno peppers (I like it hot) with a roasted red pepper dressing. I scarfed it down pretty quickly but it was filling. Then for a snack I had a banana. Yum yum! Don't know what's for dinner yet, not really that hungry but we'll see. I'm excited for tomorrow, I ordered a weeks worth of food form puretogo.com and I get to pick it up tomorrow. I'll let everyone know what I get and how it taste's. I always have to sample a little taste of everything because I just can't help it. It always all looks so freakin good.
Hope everyone had a beautiful day. Talk to you later :)

Feeling Good

2008-06-02T19:34:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was a most excellent day! It was the perfect day to lay in bed and watch movies and that's exactly what I did. I had some yummy fruit for breakfast (I don't know why but I'm really hooked on pineapple right now) while cuddling in bed with two if the cutest little toy schnauzers ever! Then my son and his girlfriend woke up and came in and watched movies with us too. After one movie we got cleaned up and went and ate sushi at Fuji on Brookside and it was soooooo goooood. I like to peel the rice off of the outside and just eat the inside part. It taste just as good to me. After that we came home and watched 27 dresses. Totally funny chic flic and after they left too go back to OKC I watched Dan in Real Life. I feel sorry for that guy in the movie, he can't get a break. Here's my fav pic of Dylan and Robin, my son and his gf. Aren't they just the cutest ever!?!

Anywho, I woke up in a blah mood today but it turned out to be a pretty good day and I feel pretty happy. I was especially excited because I found frozen sugar free acia bars at Whole Foods to make smoothies with so I can't wait for tomorrow to make something extra super duper yummy. I also bought a parasite cleanse so we'll see how that goes. The thought of having parasites in my intestines really freaks me out.

So I had pineapple again this morning, some raw chili flavored pistachios I bought from living nutz and leftover sushi without the rice again. I'll probably do salad for dinner. Oh yeah FYI I'm getting my vitamix blender sometime next week. YAY!!!!!!!!!! I won the bid on e-bay so I'm totally ecstatic about that. I can't wait to make delicious raw food!

Hope everyone had a most excellent day!

Obsession

2008-05-31T20:30:00.000-04:00

I woke up this morning around 6ish and realized that I am totally obsessing about my weight and also about what I eat. I thought to myself, self....this is crazy. Alot of it has to do with the fact that I quit taking my diet pills and my appetite has shot through the roof. Also as I mentioned before I'm having a really hard time because fiance and I eat out alot. Don't get me wrong he always asks where I want to go so I pick a place I know I can find salad or healthy choices but it doesn't help when he and the kids order appetizers. That's where my problem lies. Although I have always thought of myself to be pretty disciplined it's just too tempting to where I'm probably going to stop going out to eat until I can get ahold of myself and line out my willpower a little more. It's just so, so, so tempting to start taking the diet pills again because I really didn't realize until now how much they do control your appetite. I also have become extremely conscience of how I eat and how much I eat and what I eat. Now that doesn't always mean I'm going to be super strict although I wish I could. But at least I'm aware and I think that's the important part, is being aware of what you eat and what you put in your body. Eat for life, eat to live I say but eat to be healthy! I want to feed my body all of the good nutrients it's been missing out on for so long, I want the glow! Glow on people!

A blogger virgin no more!

2008-05-30T13:36:00.000-04:00

So I've been contemplating for a very long time whether or not to blog my journey on raw food and finally decided too because I realized I just can't do this thing alone. My fiance thinks I'm on a "crazy diet" and when I try to explain to friends and family what I'm doing they all just assume I'm eating raw carrots and salads all the time. I don't really go into much explanation anyway unless someone is really interested. So come on people!!!! Show me the raw food love!!! Seriously though I am having a hard time resisting cooked food. We eat out alot (fiance and me) so it makes it really hard and I pretty much do end up eating alot of salad which is ok but I'm really excited to start making my own food. I just ordered my Excalibur dehydrator which I can't wait to get and I'm currently bidding on a couple of vitamix blenders on e-bay so wooooo hoooo. I should be in raw food heaven in a few weeks! I do have to give props to Mrs. Penni Shelton and Cynthia Beavers though. Penni has been so sweet and very informative I might add as I just began this journey in April. She has been my mentor and a wonderful supportive friend. Cynthia is the fabulous raw food chef of pure cafe which I hope will be opening soon here in Tulsa. She has an online food order service which is so freaking good. It is mostly due to her wonderful food that I have been able to experience what delicious raw food can be. You can get 5 entrees and a desert for $125.00 which is not bad. I can usually split the entrees in half and still be very satisfied and full. Anyway I look forward to meeting a whole lot of raw foodies and juicy people and participating in this fabulous online community.