Day 5

Last night all swirling fog and mysterious shadows. Delicious misty droplets alighted on skin and the cottage was snug and cosy. This is the reason I ate some pilaf. My resolve (or lack thereof) is directly affected by the weather. I enjoyed it very much but have gone straight back to raw. As I was saying to Mr this morning, even at the end of the 30 days, I suspect I'll stay raw most of the time and have the occasional cooked dinner when the fancy strikes me. My body feels great on this diet and I know it's extremely good for me. Now to kick the fags....

Oh, in answer to the surprisingly constant question asked of myself and Mr; 'So what do you guys actually eat?' I have decided to list our weekly shopping for anyone out there who's thinking of going vegan/raw or both. We totalled in at $130 this week, mainly because we had run out of a few staples that cost (like vegemite).

So here it is,

FRESH /CO-OP FOODS /GROCERY

brown onions/ raw cashews /cat food

cos lettuce /pepitas /vegemite

leek /sunflower kernels /canned corn

broccoli /pine nuts /canned chickpeas

celery/ TVP/ crushed tomatoes

avocados /savoury yeast /flakes tofu

cherry tomatoes /sesame seeds/ tomato sauce

kiwi berries /cous cous /BBQ chips (MR!)

pineapple

watermelon

rockmelon

bananas

broccoli sprouts

snow pea sprouts

ginger

cabbage

shallotts

yellow peaches

grey zucchini

lebanese cucmber

In addition, mum and I popped up to logan brae orchard on friday, so I have a lovely pile of new season gala apples, just picked. The trees were just dripping with apples, and I am still dead certain that there is nothing prettier than an apple tree loaded with apples. I always drive away from there with a huge grin and polish off at least 3 apples before we even hit blackheath.

All in all, I am very pleased. Our house is loaded with fresh goodness, our pantry is stocked with nuts and seeds and rices and spices, our garden is burgeoning with corn and beans and herbs and kiwi fruit and fragrant spectacular ginger-lilies. We have NO $$ left, but what on earth do we need to buy anyway?:-)

Here is what I do with shopping when I'm bored;

And, anyone that feels sorry for me having to 'endure' raw foods, here's a piccie and a 'recipe' for Cath-salad (I eat tonnes of this stuff!), it really is an enormously satisfying dinner-salad, and colourful and delicious and healthy and all that stuff.

CATH-SALAD

Cos Lettuce, corn kernels, roasted peanuts, apple, chick-peas, broccoli sprouts, snow-pea sprouts,bean sprouts, tomato, cucumber, broccoli, celery, pepitas, sunflower seeds, organic sultanas all chopped into fork size and dressed with Kraft balsamic 100% fat-free dressing (I am obsessed with it and go through 2 bottles a week:-)

Serve this for me at any time and I will adore you.

Happy days. -Have an on-line grocery list now too, so that's handy:-)
Actually, while I'm at it, I might as well share the recipe for Cath's super breakfast smoothie, -this keeps me zinging til lunchtime and beyond.

GREEN SMOOTHIE

Waternelon

Rockmelon

Banana

Peach

Wheatgrass powder (1 tsp)

lemon juice

3 spinach leaves (or whatever dark leaft greens I have)

Water

Chuck in blender and whizz until smooth, drink slowly whilst enjoying morning sunshine.

I generally have a B-complex tablet once a week just to keep those B12 levels up, folate I really don't need to worry about (as you can imagine!). The good news? I have already lost 2kgs (in 5 days). A lot of this will be water weight due to my drastically reduced sodium intake, and it wil level out as I continue, but just imagine! -I may be able to shift up to 12-13kgs this way. And it's a joy all the way. The pilaf incident didn't really seem to do any harm as I had lost another few pounds this morning despite my indulgence.

It should be mentioned that I have also had 2 bottles of wine this week, and even that hasn't had any negative effects.

To leave you with some food for thought, the following letter was published in The Age.

'Why is it that Victorians are allowed to hose their veggie gardens only twice a week, yet there are no restrictions on the amount of meat that people buy? A kilogram of steak requires up to 100,000 litres of water to produce, so restricting meat would save far more water than restricting veggie watering. In addition, the combination of less meat and more fresh, organic veggies would make for a healthier population'

-Jenny Moxham

Go to your bosom, knock there and ask your heart what it doth know

William Shakespeare