I must admit, I'm happy today was my second last 'mega groceries' day. I'm wondering just how much money I'm going to spend on a raw food diet now.... I hope it's a bit less than what I'm spending on juice feasting now. I know when I was raw last year (little greens, lots of nuts) I was spending less money. I definitely want a diet that's mainly fruits and vegetables with 10-15% nuts/fats. I was getting way too much protein and fat on my last raw attempt...and that's typical of raw-newbies. Summer's also coming so this means I'll be able to go to the organic farmer's market to get a lot of stuff.
Watermelons are hard to find right now but my dad said he had seen some at Cosco. I hate Cosco with a passion. First of all, all the food in there is processed to no end and sold in huge portions. I noticed something about Cosco for the first time yesterday: there are a lot of overweight people shopping there. The painful thing was seeing my dad buy all this junk for him and the family. A 4 pack of double chocolate chip cookies, 2 huge bags of dorito corn chips, turkey burgers, a huge box of beef jerky.... the only healthy thing I think he bought was a 4 pack of orange juice (pasteurized but still 100% pure). I bought 4 VERY BIG watermelon.... I did, afterall, buy them at Cosco... and they are known for selling things "bigger". I was a bit annoyed that I could have gotten 4 times the amount of organic strawberries for the same price... though, the Cosco strawberries were not organic. I think it's especially important to buy organic when it comes to berries and fruits that don't have thick skins. I really hate to admit it but... I was getting some MAJOR cravings for certain foods when I was in there........ namely pesto (of course!), chocolate croissants, bean salads, tabouleh, tortilla chips, breton crackers, artichoke hearts, mini quiches, smoked meat...... oh yea... I'm not kidding AT ALL... this kid was craving SMOKED MEAT! I needed to get out of that store...fast. I was kind of sad when I realized I won't be able to have "smoked wheat" (a mock smoked meat made of soy and wheat gluten) anymore. That stuff was really good once in a while... with tons of mustard on white bread.
And I thought vegans were "healthy". LOL. Well we are for the most part... but we succumb more and more easily to 'processed foods' as the vegan thing becomes more mainstream and more businesses start to cater to that demographic.
My dad did tell me he was pretty impressed and 'tips his hat' to me for making it this far into the juice feast. That felt pretty good :) My dad has been amazing through this...driving me to 3-4 different places to get all the ingredients I need for a week of juice feasting. He's also pitched in a few times (buying a crate of coconuts here, watermelons there, etc). I have amazing parents... now if only I could get them to change their dietary habits a bit... Soon! :)
I got tons of goodies this week! Very exciting!
Today I had:
1.25L water+msm+lemon
1.25L celery/red kale/cilantro/parsley+E3live+kelp+Hsalt
1.5L grapefruit/blood orange/blackberry/acai berry
1.75L orange/apple/carrot
1.5L pineapple/blood orange/acai
Today I did:
Skin brushing
Acupeds
6.5 KM (4 miles) bike ride to work
(legs still hurting a bit... got to work a bit faster)
That's all for today! :) I have more exciting news for tomorrow! Stay tuned!
- Ben
6 comments:
That has got to be the most frustrating part about this healthy journey! We see our loved ones moaning about their health, while eating crap. They are in denial. I believe that the only thing we can do is inspire them with our own transformation.
I bet you don't see a lot of obese people at the whole food stores!
As I was reading your blog I was struck at how cool it is that your dad and you have a tight relationship like that. I know that older folks are more set in their ways, but I feel like you are planting seeds just by your lifestyle. Who knows when those seeds could get watered and actually produce change in your parents diet, even if the beginnings of that seem small. You are no doubt an inspiration to them and it sounds like your dad is proud of you in his own way. I have to go to Sam's Wholesale today and I hate that cattle call.
Love to you!
Penni
Hey Ben
Don't give up hope on your dad and family. When my nephew first went raw (he was 17 or 18) my sister called me freaking out about him being anorexic. He lost quite a bit of weight very quickly. I had already dabbled in raw food for a little while, tho wasn't at that time, so I re-assured her that he didn't have any eating disorder. At that time my sis was still counting mashed potatoes and corn as vegetable servings. LOL!
After she saw he wasn't going to die eating raw food, she became interested and switched to raw herself. She lost about 60lbs. and has stayed more raw over the past few years than either he or I have.
So great that you can be the light to shine for your family an show them there is a better way.
XO
Pixy Lisa
Cheers Ben for the coffee enema hints. Am going to read that chapter of the "Gerson" book today and add organic coffee to Tuesday's "mega" shopping list, which is growing by the minute :-o
["Eeeeee, Eeeeeeee" sound of purse-strings tightening in every other area of my life!]
Hey Ben, I'll bet you can whip up some delicious raw foods for your family when you get back to eating again. You can offer them as a thank you for all the driving and who knows, it might get them to change things up a bit.
hiya ben,
not til end of may, huh? and here i was getting ready to roll out the welcome mat! o.k., i understand.
re: sauerkraut. no stinky kitchen with the perfect pickler. just perfect kraut. we made it through a half gallon already - i think my sister was into it too, when she stayed here. we even took some on the plane so we would have it in florida! more is in the making tonight....along with kimchi this time.
you are so close, my friend! so deliciously close. hats off indeed, to an amazingly dedicated and determined fellow in the oceanic scape of jf-ing. you are a quite the champion, dear dapper one.
much love,
carrie
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