The lost college grad and a Raw Vegan Meetup...

College ended for me in October when I ditched my study abroad semester in Italy to follow my lost soul into the real world- we still haven't made it quite there yet.

Instead we (my soul and I) have been traveling trying to find our place in the world. And for some strange reason I can no longer remember we have created a base in Toronto, Canada. I know no one in this country but I convinced my raw vegan hottie (RVH) to move across the world (from Israel to Canada) to join me on this journey.

We decided that since we do not know anyone in Toronto we would try Meetup.com to meet some like minded individuals. We joined a Raw Vegan Potluck on Meetup.com and after much worry about the perfect dish to bring I made my "I can't believe it's not couscous". RVH and I travelled across Downtown Toronto excited to meet some more RV's (we never met RV's other than each other before this event.).

Okay now I guess I never put much thought into how nutty one would need to be to become an RV which was probably where I went wrong in the first place. But let me warn you now- Raw Vegans are not an exciting bunch of people! They are strange- like run for your life and cover strange! One guy we met eats like 10 pounds of honey a week (he was just Raw not vegan obvs) but we were standing talking with him as he gossiped about how much of a whack the lady wearing radiation-proof clothing was (she asked everyone to turn off their cellphones and brought out a radiation detector- tips: a radiation detector is never a good thing to bring to a group gathering it is always a bummer). 

Everyone at the meetup tried to sell something- three different people tried to sell water filters (including crazy radiation lady) and people were just selling the weirdest things like classes on how to make sauerkraut (um I'm pretty sure that's what the internet is for...) but oddly enough people were buying the merchandise! 

Only three of the people in attendance were actually 100% raw but one of the gossiping grannies did confirm that one of them eats baked potatoes (Ah the travesty!) apparently this was a big deal, gosh the gossip! Did you know that some people even used non-organic ingredients and lied about it?!  

So what have I learned from this event?

1. RVs that attend meet ups are usually above 45 years old and single.

2. None of the RVs we met look healthy and they all look older than they really were.

3. To go RV (even if you're not 100%) you gotta be a bit nutty! 

Now where do I stand on raw veganism?

By default we (RVH and I) eat over 75% of our food raw (Rbreakfast, Rsnacks and Rlunch with a half Rdinner)- so technically we are raw vegans. But we are not going to go all nutty over it and we are not defining ourselves by our food. I have spent to many years of my life fighting against my food (recap: I was a 200lbs teenager) to let it define me as a person.

So I ultimately learned from the Raw Vegan Potluck meetup that what I eat doesn't define who I am- and I am no longer going to look for RV friends because the food I eat doesn't define who I am. Those RV's and I are anything but like-minded.

So if I have a good recipe even if it is not RV I will share it with you. Because a whole food is a good food cooked or raw.

Stay healthy,

REL

Kick-Start fitness & a smoothie

I am not a fan of the gym. Last August I signed a contract with the country club (yea it costed a fortune) to force myself to go to gym and take part in their classes. What a fail. I went maybe ten times in those six months it is embarrassing really. But truthfully I am not that person- I hate being inside, I hate the machines, I hate how boring it is and I hate how not natural it is.
Fast forward to April. I decided I needed to make a change. I don't want to be a lazy couch potato I want to move- mostly I want to want to move. So I hired a personal trainer and started working out with her at the park near my house. BEST THING I EVER DID FOR MYSELF!
Three times a week I meet Tali at the park and she pushes me more than I would have ever pushed myself.
Finally I began enjoying working out (it's possible!)
After a month of working out with Tali I realized I love movement and took it to the next step...
I joined a hula hoop dance class.
Before the class I was so nervous because I was always the fat kid who couldn't do sport so I never successfully hula hooped before. Tali told me that when I go to the class not to look at anyone else and just to have fun with it. Best advice ever. Within the first five minutes I was able to figure out the movement and keep the hoop at my waist! If only Mrs Robinson (my gym teacher) could see me now! By the end of the one hour class I was able to even do a trick! I can spin the hoop from my waist to above my head and continue spinning it over my head... I am spending the week practicing this trick but it is so cool- I am really excited about it.
This month I lost 8 pounds.

With my new fitness hobbies life got busier... So my morning smoothie is my energy kick-starter!
I am a student with a seriously small freezer so instead of storing ice cubes in my freezer I store ripe fruit so I can quickly just pop in the fruit to the blender and get a yummy smoothie!

My favorite smoothie

Blend:

1 banana

6 pecans

1 or 2 dates

a bit of water

A lot of stores give nice discounts for really ripe fruit... buy in bulk then store it in the freezer for your morning smoothies!!!! (I got a 35% discount on like 20 organic bananas and ended up paying like $3... And three packs of organic strawberries for $5)

Keep it healthy
- REL

I'm Back!

What better reason to stop blogging about raw veganhood than a year of falling in deep moving in with my raw vegan hottie!
Right now he is squeezing us some fresh organic grapefruit juices, yum!

What a year- it has been my last year of college and possibly my last in Israel (next year I am studying in Italy! After that who knows where I will be...)

The Struggle:
Vegan for me is easy because I have been vegan forever but raw vegan is one tough cookie. As people we tend to get stuck doing what comes easy so most of my meals this year have been the plain old faithful salad or a plate of fruit. The struggle with staying raw bit me in the ass this year. Feeding a raw vegan guy got way expensive. He seriously eats a lot! So I did a [stupid] shortcut and started cooking him grains to fill him up so he wouldn't eat all the food in the fridge. So instead of having to go food shopping daily we went 2-3 times a week. Let's just say Eve fed Adam the apple and she was punished by gaining weight (it is hard to refuse my own cooking).

I read some pretty good advice last week- it said if there is something you want to do and need motivation tell a bunch of people you will do it so you will be forced to complete it out of sheer embarrassment of not completing it. So now here I am ready to re-health my meals. And blog my way to health.

Some resolutions I have:
1. Fix my thinning hair
2. Lose thirty pounds
3. Eat healthy and wisely
4. Exercise more
5. Live for me


Keep it healthy!
-REL

Snack on this...

Today I was craving some serious junk food. So I invented a raw type of cookie dough....

1 organic banana

15 pecans

1/4 cup of oats

dash of vanilla

YUM!!!!

Guilt Free Chummus- oh it's possible!

Okay have you seen the movie Don't Mess With The Zohan? Remember is chummus toothpaste? That obsession with chummus describes me perfectly. But it is so fattening ugh! Which is why I searched for a guilt free alternative... raw zucchini!

For this recipe you will need a food processor.

2 cups of zucchini

1 clove of garlic

4 tablespoons of tahina

2 tablespoons of lemon juice

2 tablespoons of olive oil

parsley and paprika to garnish!

Add everything to the food processor and get it nice and smooth! Then garnish and eat!

Store this in your fridge for a healthy snack. 

HEALTH TIP: When you are procrastinating from homework, instead of sitting on facebook waiting for a notification, go wash and cut up tons of vegetables and keep them in containers in the fridge. Then when you get hungry you will go straight for the healthy food because it is already prepared! Snack while cutting and you will have to brain-food to continue your homework!

Welcome back from spring break!

xoxo

REL

Spring Cleaning

Passover brings upon us spring cleaning season, yet Jews fill them selves up meal after meal with meats, matzoh and sugary, potato starchy, processed mock foods. 

So in honor of Passover this year I partook in a 10 day detox to clean out my system, shed some extra fluff and continue my raw vegan path. If you are looking into doing a detox similar to mine read up on it somewhere else first since there is a lot more information than what I am providing for you... also you can do this for 3-10 days!

I followed aspects of the master-cleanse detox with some added twists:

Each day I had 6 cups of "lemonade"

The ingredients in my version of the cleanse (I would make 2 cups at a time so this ingredient list is for 2 cups worth):

2 Cups of filtered water- I used bottled water because I don't have a filter... sorry plastic :(

4 tablespoons of lemon juice (It is about half a nice sized lemon)

4 tablespoons of Agave Nectar (or Grade B maple syrup- I switched it up from time to time for new flavoring)

1 teaspoon of chia seed (Lots of nutrients in the seeds and also they expand to make you feel full- so you are not going into starvation mode!)

1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

Mix and drink!

Drink lots of water through out the day (if you are ever looking to lose weight the most important thing I can tell you is to drink at least eight cups of water a day!)

Some evenings and some morning I had herbal laxative tea- completely natural no chemicals or anything in it- just to help the cooking process ;)

This is my second time doing the master-cleanse and I really feel that it was a success! On the forums I have read to find out how other people did on the cleanse I read that people lost a lot of muscle as well as fat- I lifted weights and worked out regularly while on my detox so luckily this did not happen to me.

I really felt energized during the cleanse but I did run into some problems.

1. I got sick of the lemonade on some occasions and really wanted food, at those times I listened to my body... on night seven I was out late with friends so I ate a raw energy bar and on night eight I found myself eating an apple for an extra boost of energy (the best apple of my life!)

2. My friends thought I was going anorexic and I was crazy because they do not understand the health benefits in a detox.

3. There is a lot of extra time where you would normally be eating- and you can't help but think of all the delicious foods you are missing out on. Ugh boredom.

4. It is hard not to be able to really go out and socialize with your friends because most socializing happens over food or drinks.

5. DATING SUCKS WHILE DETOXING! (Maybe in my case dating always sucks! If you are reading this and you recently asked me out... I apologize, can't wait for our date!)

I broke the cleanse with the first day consuming organic fresh squeezed grapefruit juice and the second day I had melon for breakfast, a smoothie with melon, apple and mango for lunch, and a sprout salad (with the sprouts I grew myself for dinner) AND WOW I LOVE FOOD!  

Okay now some results...
I started at 158 lbs = 71.6 kilo (which is weird because I've weighed 155= 70.5 a few days before the detox)
After the detox I now weigh 147 lbs = 66.6 kilo
Side note: Some of the weight will likely come back, because detoxes are not meant to keep weight off they are meant to rid the body of toxins.
But since I used to weigh 200 lbs = 90.7 Kilo and I lost so much over the past two years I am not afraid of gaining the weight back now- because I know I will reach my goal of 123 lbs = 56 kilo in due time :)

Before

After

So my friends I must tell you that I feel great and have had so much energy! Detoxing is a great way to begin a lifestyle change such as raw veganism, or to quite smoking, drinking and other addictive behavior. Many of my friends were worrying that I was becoming anorexic- but I must inform everyone that after losing so much weight the healthy way and it staying off I am not looking for a quick fix... just a spring cleaning :)
Much love,
REL

Sprouting :)

Tomorrow I am finishing a 10-day detox (I will post more about it in the future.)
But after cleaning out the toxins from my body (and life) I have decided to take up something that I have been planning to start for a while... SPROUTING!
I am uber excited about my sprouts!
I went to like the 5nis (1 dollar) store and bought some glass jars, and got a nut milk bag for cheap too. Tonight I started sprouting: Mung Beans, Buckwheat, Lentils, and Sunflower seeds.

So I just youtubed how to sprout and it's pretty simple.
1. Rinse seeds
2. Soak in water that covers seeds and like 2 inches above the seeds
3. Mung beans, lentils, and sunflower seeds let soak over night 8-12
4. Rinse every 4 hours for mung beans and sunflower seeds, lentil I did in a nut milk bag think and rinse every 12 hours the video says (I am sure there are tons of techniques.
5. They will be sprouted
6. You probably should just youtube this all!
7. Buckwheats different but I am too lazy to blog about it! So check out Youtube my friends!

Yum healthy food! I have no idea what I am going to use my sprouts for but I have sometime to decide.
But I still have tomorrow of detoxing so no food recipes to share :(
Also Sproutpeople.org is a good site for information, go check it out!