My Fruit Bowl Overfloweth

Okay, first off a disclaminer. I am not a dieter. I have never counted calories or eaten cabbage or grapefruit for days on end. I love food and cooking but lately I have been feeling like I had to do something to shake things up. I have been feeling awful - no energy, bloated, clothes too tight. I read about the Raw Divas on somewhere and thought, "Hmmm, maybe this is something I can do." I went to the website and signed up for the 7 Day Detox before I really had a chance to talk myself out of it. Then I did what any normal woman would do - I told my best friend she was doing it with me.

So right after I signed on I started getting emails from Tera, not terribly frightening ones but with enough raw food fevour to make me think, "What have I gotten myself into?" But of course the whole idea wasn't just to lose weight or eat nothing but sprouts for a week, it was to challenge myself, to step outside my comfort zone to use a tired phrase.

The detox started with 5 days of prep, just stuff to read and think about, then they dropped the bomb. The first day was a 24 hour fast. Yup, nothing but water for 24 hours. Now for a mother of three not eating for 24 hours is my idea of hell. I still had to prepare all the meals for my family and then watch them eat it. And explain why I was doing it to my boys who use "fat" as the worst insult they can think of. I don't know why but that in itself is a whole other post. So I thought about starting on Monday instead of Sunday since we were at the cottage and that meant the usual huge breakfast of bacon, eggs and sticky buns from our favourite bakery. But I decided that there would never be a perfect time to start, so I just did it. Had a wonderful meal Saturday night and then avoided the kitchen Sunday morning as the bacon was frying. I told my Other Half what I was doing as we got into bed Saturday night but of course he didn't get it and had forgotten by the morning when he called me for breakfast.

The day wasn't so bad, I kept busy cleaning out closets and I did make the boys lunch without too much pain. But then the headaches kicked in. Don't know if it was the lack of caffeine or food but they lasted all day and made me very grouchy. On the plus side I wasn't thinking about my stomach because my head was hurting so much.

So yesterday was day one of raw food eating. I went shopping and bought a full grocery cart of fruits and veggies. Spent nearly as much as I usually do on a regular shop and boy are my crispers jammed and my fruit bowl overflowing. I had a smoothie made of local (yeah!) strawberries, mango and frozen wild blueberries. Then cut up fruit for lunch while watching the two older boys in their regional track and field meet. Luckily for me this year they decided to forego the usual BBQ with hotdogs and chips, instead encouraging the young athletes to pack healthy lunches. About time I say.

I felt pretty good all day, no more headache and by four o'clock when my energy level is usually at its lowest I was fine. For dinner I made pork tenderloin with carrots, cukes and sugar snap peas for the boys dinner and I sat down to an awesome salad. I can't believe I didn't take a picture of it but it had almost everything I had jammed in the crisper and the fruit bowl including mixed greens, cilantro, fennel, oranges, blueberries, pear and a sprinkling of sunflower seeds which I now realize aren't on the detox list. It was gorgeous.

I had a good sleep and woke up this morning somewhat saddened by the fact that my hubby remembered not to make me coffee but I did make one of the Raw Divas' Green Smoothies with kale as a base then blueberries, strawberries, mango and banana and although it started a little brown once I added the blueberries it looked much more appetizing. For lunch I'll try a lettuce wrap.

So, so far so good. I do feel better and they say the dark circles under my eyes will start to disappear. If they do then I'm sold. I don't think I will be a convert to the raw food lifestyle, I love bread, cheese and a good steak too much but it has re-energized my salad making and eating. Plus, as a reward at the end of the week my friend and I are treating ourselves to a dinner at one of Toronto's raw food restaurants. I'll keep you posted on how it all pans out (no pan intended or was used in the writing of this raw food post)