DAY TWELVE

DAY TWELVE

Fruit shopping haul at Aldi

                             

Tea – fresh ginger and half of lime in cup topped with water

Juice – cucumber, carrot, celery, Beetroot, lime, ginger, one apple

Smoothie – kale, banana and frozen strawberries

Tub of grapes

Large salad – grated carrots and Beetroot, plum tomatoes sliced cucumber, gem lettuce, red onions and avocado.

Homemade salad dressing – olive oil, apple cider vinegar, agave nectar, balsamic vinegar, garlic, green chilli, black pepper, mixed herbs and blended with celery to make it creamy.

                                  

Hand full of dehydrated cashew and almonds

Coconut water

EXERCISE – Aqua aerobics

Today was the first day in a long time that I actually rushed to do anything and it felt great I rushed to get kitchen and bathroom cleaned and moped, I rushed to have a shower to get to the gym to do Aqua and I even rushed home so I could go score some fruit from Aldi.  I am more agile and can now walk longer distances and I can’t wait to join a walking club in Margate as there are loads and some of the landscape is so pretty.

I have an observation, I am no longer waking up in the middle of the night maybe because I still playing Paul McKenna and he never fails to put me to sleep but also the change of diet is doing its thing, I have noticed at night that if I am tired my body won’t let me fight it any more I just have to go to bed or will be sleeping on my feet.

DAY ELEVEN

DAY ELEVEN

Shopping delivered

Smoothie – spinach, banana, mango and chia seeds

Juice – 2 cups of melon juice

Large salad – romaine lettuce, spinach, tomato, cucumber, spring onions, black and green olives and my dehydrated onions from yesterday.

                               

Smoothie – almond milk, two bananas, little agave nectar

One litre of coconut water

Dehydrated – tray one, cashews and almonds marinated in soya sauce, hot pepper and a little olive oil, tray two and three, kale chips

I was in a liquid mood today and I forgot that I ordered natural coconut water yummy, I like to drink it straight up like it was just coming out the coconut and it taste like it too!  It expensive though so I will have to have it as a treat until I can get to Jamaica.  I had a lazy day as it was part two of dye that hair and had indigo in my hair all day it was worth it though as it did the job and dyed my roots black.  I must admit I do like the colour of the henna, it Jamila and it gives a reddish colour and it highlights great just don’t want that in the roots.

Nothing much else to report I am doing well on the life style change so far and I am feeling the benefits, no more coma and binging and I do believe that I have not craved too much I guess that is because I have a substitute for almost everything.

I can report a few uncooking fails, the flax seed crackers with the orange and pineapple pulp tasted rank lol and although I enjoyed the spaghetti made from courgettes it got a bit starchy so I will making it with cucumber next time everything I have enjoyed.

Uncooked successes, the almond crackers are to die for mainly because of the nutritional yeast making then taste like cheese and the melon juice its like drinking sunshine it is so yummy.

DAY TEN

DAY TEN

Juice – 1 cucumber, 3 storks of celery, 1 carrot, 2 pears and small piece of ginger

Smoothie – spinach, 2 bananas, blueberries and chia seeds

                                             

 raw vegan pasta - two tomatoes, half cucumber, one bell pepper, one avocado, two teaspoons oregano, one teaspoons of basil, one half teaspoon of sea salt, and a tablespoon of extra Virgin Olive oil and a little hot pepper to give the sauce a kick. I used a spiral slicer to make spaghetti with a large courgette.

Dehydrated aubergines with sauce from pasta

                         

2 apples

Whole pineapple peeled and cut

Ginger teabag

Dehydrated- flaxseed crackers and some almond crackers

EXERCISE – Leslie Sonsole walk a mile in 12 minutes

Saturday was a process, It was dye my hair day and because I do it with henna and indigo it takes forever, have to mix the henna on Friday so that it can sit all night in a warm place to release the dye, I didn’t put it on until the evening so I had to sleep with the henna in my hair as it take at least seven hours to really take, then once I wash that out its time for the indigo which takes another seven hours  and this weekend is pretty much a wash out and it’s a shame as there was a multi cultural festival in Folkestone today. Saying that though I prefer henna as it is completely natural and it strengthens the hair as since going raw my hair does seem a bit unruly and thicker too.  The last time I died my hair it was a shop bought dye that completely weakened the front of my hair which I will never do that again.  It seems I am going natural with everything lol, I think next it will have to be skin care and makeup as that is the only thing left!  Will do some research as from what I understand your skin is an organ and does absorb whatever you put on it and it would make sense to be kind to the skin too if you are going to cleanse from the inside out like what raw food is doing for me.

I have no detox symptoms what so ever, even my poo is normal now except that it is green and still Pooing every time I want to wee lol, I feel lighter and do have lots of energy, I am concerned that I am not eating as much as I thought I would be but that might have something to do with it being summer and want to drink more than eat?  Or is it my body telling me to stay hydrated?

DAY NINE

DAY NINE

Juice – 1 cucumber, 3 storks of celery, 1 carrot,2 apples and small piece of ginger

Smoothie – almond milk, 2 bananas, agave nectar

Small plate of Sweet cabbage salad

Large salad – pre packed mixed salad leaf, plum tomatoes, green olives, dehydrated mushrooms and peppers and avocado

Juice – 2 large cups of melon blended with a little agave nectar and ice

                                       

Dehydrated – aubergine marinated in water, olive oil, fresh chilly pepper, paprika and a little salt, also dehydrated some onion rings in korma seasoning

EXERCISE – aqua aerobics

What can I say it’s been a nothing day, I didn’t feel that hungry this morning so I thought I would give myself a energy boost and have some green juice.  I was not that hungry for some reason and I am typing this at 8pm in the evening I still am not getting any real hunger pangs, but I don’t want to eat for the sake of it.  I went to aqua aerobics and I really enjoyed it.  I think the Focus T25 was too much for me so I will do my walk a mile in 12 mins videos, I just don’t want to put myself off exercise.  On the plus side, headaches defiantly gone yay, dizziness gone too and I have not done the nap in the day time in ages, I have too much energy: Just left with a little diarrhea.  In the evening I was not in the mood for food but was thirsty, I looked around to see what I could blend and hey presto the melon was just sitting there in my face lol.  I just blended the melon added a tiny drop of agave with ice and there you have it.  It was so refreshing and so good I made a second cup.

I really think the Paul McKenna thing is working as I don’t actually have Hugh cravings or missing anything and its almost like my body is talking to me telling me what it needs hence the melon!

DAY EIGHT

DAY EIGHT

Water

Smoothie – kale, water, banana and frozen mango

5 conference pears

Lettuce wrap – romaine lettuce, mashed up avocado with spring onion, cucumber, tomato and pesto made earlier this week

                                                     

             

Almond pulp crackers with pesto

Sweet cabbage salad with romaine lettuce – cabbage salad made with sliced red cabbage, two sliced apples diced spring onion, grated carrot, agave nectar, currents, apple cider vinegar and salt and pepper

                        

EXERCISE – Focus T25

I woke up this morning and found that I was dizzy or disoriented but that soon passed and although full of energy have Diarrhoea, thought the detox symptoms were done with but I guess not.  I did some research on the dizziness and it turns out I might not be eating enough?  Are you kidding?  I thought I was eating too much lol, it also said it is also a detox symptom.  What I am excited about is I can actually see some weight loss the sides of my tummy are sinking in!  I am not much for weighting myself but cloth size never lie so I decided to buy a new dress in a size down as it’s my granddaughters birthday so next weekend will be my first raw experience outside the home, will be traveling on Friday and back on Sunday, planning on bringing my blender, bring some dehydrated goods and buy fruit and veg, they are planning on going to pizza hut so there is a decent salad bar lol.

I am going to mix it up today, I am going to make lettuce wraps and using cabbage for the first time since going raw.  I really enjoyed my food today the cabbage hit my sweet cravings and the best thing is no headaches today.

I have started exercising today and it was hard going lol, I stopped 3 times but did surprise myself as to how much I could do.

DAY SEVEN

DAY SEVEN

Cup of green tea with honey and lemon tea bag

Smoothie, kale, banana, blueberries and chia seeds

                             

Tub of Fresh strawberries

Pistachio

Large salad – prepacked salad of beetroot, lamb’s lettuce, red chard, dehydrated mushrooms and bell peppers, chopped plum tomato, spring union, half avocado and a few olives, with French dressing

                                            

Smoothie – almond milk, banana and agave nectar

Cashews

grapes

I have made it to day 7, hooray, what a difference 7 days makes, I feel lighter, have more energy and not sleeping all the time and I want to get active now.

One thing I have noticed in the past 7 days is my tiredness has now gone completely and I am getting the feeling I should be doing more, time to get the exercise tapes out and I think I will be going to aqua aerobics tomorrow, now that my first 7 days are up I need to start exercising to burn off this excess energy.  Will start adding exercise to journal to keep me motivated.  Just had a thought it could be Paul McKenna again giving me itchy feet.  Have been listening and going to sleep to him every night for the last 3 nights and I think it’s working lol.

Had a really late night went to bed at 2 in the morning hence the midnight binge on the crackers and hummus.  Was loving my smoothie this morning, well almost midday if I am honest and it was very filling.  That is why I do smoothies more than juicing at the moment as you get the goodness and fibre in one as opposed to juicing where you get a hit of nutrients but no fibre. I also add either flax seed or chia seeds as it gives it a protein boost too and can help thicken it up.  I Always blend greens with water first, then banana or other fresh fruit (either banana my fav or if I run out, apples or pears but requires peeling unless you like the skin of apple and pears in your smoothie but I don’t), then frozen fruit to finish as it makes it nice and cold and adds extra goodness.

The tub of strawberries was fantastic I think they are my new candy or is it because they are in season at the moment?  It’s always best to buy in season as the fruit and veg taste better or are my taste buds changing too, bit of both me thinks, I demolished the whole tub in seconds lol.  I was going to save them for a smoothie but I couldn’t resist them lol.

In the afternoon I went to lay down to avoid the football and ended up sleeping for 3 hours, needless to say I woke up hungry and had a big salad but still felt like I could eat so I make the almond smoothie.

The fruit pulp crackers came out really well you can taste the pineapple and orange in it and the smell of the cinnamon is divine.

DAY SIX

DAY SIX

Cup of green tea with honey and lemon tea bag

Smoothie – spinach, 2 apples peeled, pips removed and frozen mango

Dehydrated crackers anti pesto dip

Fresh cherries

Pistachios

Large salad – romaine lettuce, cucumber, tomato, grated carrot, avocado, hot peppered olives

Juice – ¾ pineapple, 4 Jaffa oranges

Flax crackers with hummus

Dehydrated – tray 1 and 2, almond crackers made with almond pulp, nutritional yeast, flax seek ground up in coffee grinder, black pepper, salt and mixed herbs, mixed in food processors with s blade, tray 3 sliced bell peppers marinated in soya, hot pepper, olive oil and salt left over from veg sticks yesterday (hate to waste will be great for salad garnish) and tray 4 more kale!

Second round of dehydrated – tray 1 and 2 flax seed crackers mixed with the pulp from pineapple and orange juice and cinnamon, tray 3 pineapple and banana chunks and tray 4 banana chunks

Woke up feeling better than yesterday but very hungry the swelling near my knees have almost gone and the headaches was much lesser.  Decided to get out my Paul McKenna hypnosis and listened to lose weight in 14 days and more successful life in 7 days as the weight loss one has worked in the past in terms of making right food choices and motivation.

Got the dehydrator going again and have made crackers with pulp left over from making almond milk for the last 4 days, they turned out really good but are very dry but they actually cheesy thanks to the nutritional yeast, the peppers are fantastic, I always have left over pepper will dehydrate the left over from now on.

Have noticed I am doing far more washing up of containers and tools such as food processor, juicer and blending cup which is getting on my nerves a little.

My tummy is a lot better today as I had no cashews and I think I was right the cashews were upsetting my tummy, I am also feeling very alert so going shopping as it’s a beautiful day in Margate.

Feeling a little isolated and am thinking about seeking out like-minded people which I have never done before looking on line there are lots of pot luck meet ups, meet up apps and a lot of raw food festivals so watch this space!

I woke up extra hungry this morning must have been all that juice yesterday so after going shopping made an extra big salad and it was so big that afterwards I felt tired and had a nap ended up sleeping 5 hours and I still was not hungry after that lol.  It might also have something to do with the fact that I woke up at 5am and could not go back to sleep.

I was in the mood for something sweet so juiced some pineapple and oranges and the flavour never tasted so good I wanted to make more but I thought about all that sugar or was it the Paul McKenna tape?  Only time will tell.  Fresh orange and pineapple juice made fresh is so much better than shop bought, I forgot what I was missing, might make carrot, apple and ginger tomorrow that is also good and sweet too but not so much sugar.  I will save the pulp to make sweet dehydrated crackers, just be adding cinnamon and flax seed and that will make something sweet to chew on and will add fibre to the cracker too, basic dehydrated cracker recipe includes one cup of flax seed and 2 cups of water, best left over night, that’s it, then you just add to it for flavour.  Also makes a great hair gel if you boil the basic recipe then just add essence oil and if you want it to last then also add vitamin e oil, it has a glue consistency and is great for the protein benefits, that’s why the dehydrated cracker never fails just soak with a little less water if using juicy ingredients like tomatoes or fruit and veg pulp.

As for shopping well I got some good deals today went to the pound shop and they actually had pumpkin seeds (I feel granola and nut bars coming on lol), also went to Holland and Barrett’s and got some good deals too, they had buy one get one half price and I have their card so also got a £1.50 discount!  I bought 2 bottles of agave nectar usual £3.69 a packet of flax seed and some sunflower seeds and I paid 5.96 for the lot, score lol.  I then went to Aldi and found pineapple for 69 pence, jars of black and green olives for 49 pence each and a bottle of balsamic vinegar for 69 pence.

Will be making some salad dressings when I am in the mood, basic ones include balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar, garlic, agave nectar, olive oil and herbs then I like to add chilli peppers, or mustard depending on what mood I am in and if you want it creamy then you can blend with celery, I make then in old olive jars as they are air tight.

Further will not be dehydrating again until all that dehydrated stuff is gone lol just don’t want to feel deprived!

DAY FIVE

DAY FIVE

Lemon and ginger tea made with teabag

Half of melon

Juice – half cucumber, large carrot, 3 storks of celery, stick of ginger, 2 red apples, then blended with spinach and water, made 2 cups, saving the other for later

Dehydrated crackers with last of dip

Dehydrated kale chips made last night - yummy

A little of the dehydrated onions and sweet potato

Water

Second cup of juice

Veg sticks with dehydrated crackers and Anti pesto sauce made with 1 clove garlic (minced), red pepper (1 used jarred ones), 2 large tomatoes, Handful of olives (pips removed, used ones from a jar),1 tbs lemon juice, added a little hot pepper, black pepper and salt, blended in a food processor with s blade as to much to go into my ninja type cup blender

Smoothie – almond milk banana and agave nectar

Woke up this morning ankles less swollen and legs especially near knees less swollen and my skin feels softer, I don’t fell so grubby and sweating less but also Woke up with headache and feeling sick in the tummy so went back to sleep and woke up to my surprise midday!

While eating melon my jaw felt tired so decided to give it a rest today as well as my tummy so decided to juice and blend today, guess my jaw got used to the junk and not chewing my food so much!  

Before juicing felt groggy but after drinking the juice felt better inside and out the kick of ginger might have helped, although I can still taste the ginger on my tongue ½ hour later, ginger is meant to be good for the digestion.  Went back to bed as felt tired.

Think I figured out why my tummy was not doing well, the cashews were not soaked, so I will try soaking them for half hour with the mushroom marinade and then dehydrating with some seasoning to see if that makes a difference.

Also got the pulp left over from blending almonds from smoothie so will be experimenting with the pulp, have made dehydrated cookies in the past but it requires some diced coconut which i don’t have so will be making some herby dehydrated crackers, hate to waste the pulp!  Should have thought about that with the pulp from the juicing as they make excellent crackers too but was groggy at the time of juicing, will save the pulp next time and will add to flax crackers.

Also of note not missing meat or junk so far and as you can probably guess i love savory stuff and have that covered but am beginning to miss the sweet stuff and although the smoothies help I think I will be needing some sweet stuff to chew on, will be making some dehydrated fruit, pudding cups, nut bars and possibly some sorbets and simple raw ice creams to keep the cravings at bay.

Further note am weeing a great deal today, losing water weight perhaps, if the swelling on my legs going down anything to go by I guess that might explain it and more liquid in the diet too.  Went poo 4 times today unheard of for me in a very long time, a sign of my body flushing the crap out?

Didn’t feel like a salad today but veg sticks with the dip was yummy and the crackers are a god send as it curbs the need for bread, come to think of it am doing a lot of substituting and its making a difference for me, for example I love crisps but I have substituted with kale chips, sweet potato chips and the union chips and a have nipples here and there throughout the) day and are cheap to make, a large bag of kale is a pound and onions are next to nothing, cheaper than buying gourmet crisps and a lot better for you

I have noticed my taste buds are changing, I hated raw bell peppers but having them in my dip has made a difference.  The flavor just explodes in my mouth!  It true what they say things that you hated before taste different when you go raw

DAY FOUR

DAY FOUR

Water

½ water melon

Smoothie – spinach, water, banana and frozen mango

Salad – romaine lettuce and spinach, tomato, spring union, cucumber and basil mix with mixed olives with herbs and chilli mix from Morrison’s and balsamic dressing

Onions sprinkled on salad that I dehydrated yesterday

Some flax seed crackers with dip from yesterday

Nori rolls – nori sheets (seaweed sheets) from Tesco, avocado, tomato and red pepper dip including chopped garlic, hot pepper and black pepper and salt (peppers from jar), grated carrot and sliced cucumber

Smoothie – almond milk, banana and agave nectar

Dehydrated – tray 1, mushrooms marinated in soya sauce, olive oil, hot pepper, black pepper, mixed herbs, Tray 2, 3 and 4 kale chips marinated with nutritional yeast, salt, lemon honey and herbs and a hand full of almonds soaked in mushroom marinade

Cashew nuts

Over did it with the water melon but was so good just kept eating lol!

Went walking on the promenade had to wee twice while out but had a good walk with rests in-between

Less tired no sleep breaks today hooray!!!

I spoke too soon, went to bed 11.30 but woke up at 3.30 in the morning with a headache but went back to sleep straight away.  Woke up gain in the morning with a headache and feeling a little sick like something didn’t agree with me probably too many nuts trying to substitute for heavier food?

I have a feeling the headaches are due to lack of coffee, not only do I have a Tassimo machine but a café tare too and have a least 3 cups of coffee a day – hate instant coffee and gallons of sugary mixed drinks and my favourite, cherry coke.

DAY THREE

DAY THREE

Smoothie – spinach, banana and frozen blueberries, chia seeds

Unsalted cashew nuts

Small Mixed exotic fruit bowl

Salad – romaine lettuce and spinach, tomato, spring union, cucumber and basil mix with mixed olives with herbs and chilli mix from Morrison’s and balsamic dressing

Water infused with blueberries

Nori rolls – nori sheets from Tesco, avocado, tomato and red pepper dip including chopped garlic, hot pepper and black pepper and salt (peppers from jar), grated carrot and sliced cucumber

Smoothie – almond milk, banana and agave nectar

Apple

2 quartered oranges

Sampled 1 piece of flax cracker with dip made earlier

2 squares of 85% dark chocolate

Dehydrated - tray 1 and 2 flax crackers infused with sundried tomatoes, spring unions, herbs, salt and pepper, tray 3 and 4 sweet potato chips, tray 5 onions seasoned with korma seasoning, salt and hot pepper

           

Severe headaches all day could not sleep off had more energy than usual so cleaned instead and took headache tablets

Woke up at 2.30 in the morning could not sleep headache read for a while went back to sleep at 4am

I think I am substituting the flavoured water for all the sugary drinks I have been having and its working a treat, fortunately had a cup with a diffuser but I have seen some in the pound shop and on amazon (bigger but a bit more expensive), just popped some frozen fruit in the diffuser and left it sitting, the frozen pineapples and the frozen blueberries work very well but I don’t think I left the sliced fresh oranges for long enough.  Its great eating the fruit afterwards too that is left in the diffuser.  Had a thought I guess if you have a café tare (to make coffee) you could use the press part for fruit instead of coffee will try it and let you know as will not be used for coffee for the time being lol.

DAY TWO

DAY TWO

Had shopping delivered

Glass of water

Smoothie – frozen mango, avocado and banana with flax seed

Salt and pepper cashew nuts from Morrison’s

Pre-packaged Caesar salad with cheese, crotons and salad dressing

Mixed salted nuts from Morrison’s

Smoothie – almond milk, banana and agave nectar

Water infused with sliced oranges

Felt tired kept sleeping on and off, headaches

DAY ONE

DAY ONE

Starting weight = 19st. 7lb

16^th June 2016

Smoothie – mixed frozen exotic fruit, avocado with flax seed

Went shopping for raw ingredients

Salad – mixed salad leaves with mixed olives, dried sun tomatoes and herbs and plum tomatoes

Water infused with frozen pineapple

Dried salted smoked almonds from Morrison

Banana

Excited for the start of my journey!

I Blow dryed My Hair!

May 2013

I was curious to see  how my hair has grown since the last time I blow my hair out and what a difference! it appears thicker (not sure if it was the products I used) than before, the first picture I used straighter but in the second picture it was just a blow out.

August 2013

       Loving the blow out