Janna's Raw Journey

Busy Busy Busy

2008-01-21T18:06:00.000-08:00

no post in awhile, but that's ok. i've been very busy with school and such. i'm working on my accounting degree, and i've got a full course load, so i've been studying lots.

so with the raw.....

i'm finding it kind of difficult to "stick" with. i know that i definitely eat more fruits and veggies than i used to (which is definitely more healthy for me), but i think with the 'raw' label i become disappointed in myself if i don't eat what i think i should be eating. so i decided to kind of switch gears for awhile to ease myself into it. i want to make this a permanent change in my life, so i can't just rush into it. i've been pretty set in my ways for the last 24 years, so i can't change my eating habits over night! so i'm deciding to eat 10-15 servings of fruits and veggies every day (mostly raw, but not going to beat myself up if they're cooked). so this will be the next step in going raw. while i am doing this, i'm going to search for some good "core" raw recipes that are really satisfying for me. this will help me when i make a more permanent transition to raw.

does this make sense? lol......well, i hope this rambling made sense, because it will help me to not be so hard on myself, since i have so much else going on in my life right now.

ttfn!

SNOW DAY!

2008-01-08T14:01:00.000-08:00

Well, my new year started off with my computer crashing, so that is why I haven't blogged in a bit! But I am back now, and hopefully my laptop will co-operate!

So raw has been going ok. I don't want to rush into it too quickly. I have been drinking lots of fresh juices and basically being raw until lunch/supper. I have had a few light headaches (I get migraines all the time, so this is expected, and not too bad), but other than that not too much is going on! I'm really tired the last few days, but that could just be because I am back at school now, and I have to get up early...my sleep schedule got all jumbled over the holidays. Speaking of school though, today was a SNOW DAY! And we hardly got any snow, lol! Our university is at the top of a big hill, so pretty much anytime it snows, it closes down, because cars can't get up and down the hill. This is the coast too, so no one knows how to drive in the snow!

Anyways, I am off to enjoy my day! Going to go for a nice walk in the snow. Hope everyone is having a great New Year's so far!!

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!

2008-01-01T13:50:00.001-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE! I hope you all had a great and safe night. I myself had a quiet night. I've always gone out on new years or I've been working, and I had the chance for once to have a very quiet and serene New Years by myself. My friends all think I'm crazy! lol. I just hung out by myself and watched a few movies I had been wanting to see. Very peaceful.....

So anyways, today seems as good of a day as any to start going raw, so that's what I did! I woke up this morning and had a nice green juice (kale, lemon, apple, carrot, celery) with spirulina in it. It was my first time trying spirulina so we'll see how that goes. The taste really wasn't all that bad. I have never had kale in my juice before, but i couldn't even taste it. The lemon kind of overpowered everything. I'm not really hungry yet, but i'll probably have some fruit later on in the day, a salad, and then a salad and steamed veggies for dinner (not going 100% raw because I don't want to detox too badly!).

So yesterday I went to the health food store in the city. I was a little disappointed. They didn't really have anything raw. It was all just organic. I found the spirulina and that was kind of it. I kind of live in the boonies in between a town and a city (it's about 15 minutes to either one, so it's no big deal). So then I went into town to their health food store, and I was a bit more impressed. They had a wider variety of "niche" foods, and more raw options. I am actually impressed with my local grocery store as well. They had a bunch of raw items in the bulk bin. I used to work for that grocery store and never noticed! lol. So I got a few things to try, but I am mostly just keeping it simple.

TTFN - Janna

Lunch Bags...

2007-12-30T16:41:00.000-08:00

Ok, so when I was out shopping the other day I saw the coolest lunch bag ever! It looks like a purse! I wanted to find a picture online, but I couldn't find the exact one that I am going to get (the one I am getting is brown/tan, I think). But anyways, this is a different picture. I think it's really cool! It's an insulated lunch bag (like a cooler!) so I can bring all my raw lunches to school, and not look like a dork carrying my lunchbag around! The university I go to has really crappy parking, so it's not easy to walk back to my car in the middle of the day, so I tend to take my lunch with me all day. My backpack has a built in cooler (it's actually why I bought it lol) but it's really small, so this will be better. And the best part is that it's only 20 bucks. Can't get much better than that!

Family Support.....

2007-12-30T12:25:00.000-08:00

So I told my mom a few weeks ago that I was going raw, and she is very supportive of it. My dad on the other hand, has never really been supportive of anything "diet" wise that I try. Probably because he has seen me fail so many times! He knows that I lost most of my weight on weight watchers, but when I was losing that weight, I was practically eating raw, and I didn't realize it. My weight watchers leader was actually a raw foodist, and she would give us all types of tips (banana ice cream instead of real ice cream, etc.) and she is super awesome! So anyways, today I told my dad that I am going raw in the new year. He was actually supportive of me! He even agreed to read my books on raw to understand it more. His only worry is that it is a "fad" diet. I told him it's not a fad diet, and if it was, at least i'd be getting lots of fresh fruit and veggies! He is also worried about me not getting enough calcium and protein, but I explained to him where I would be getting it from. He was also worried that I just wouldn't stick with it. I told him it would be a slow transition so I wouldn't feel deprived and so I wouldn't detox too badly (I have heard of lots of people losing their hair and I REALLY don't want that to happen to me!)

So YAY for family support! I know for a lot of people out there who transition to raw, not having family support is a big downer, so I am lucky to have a family that supports me (we'll see how understanding they are when I am using my juicer at 6 am!).

Stocking Up...

2007-12-29T14:20:00.000-08:00

Well, today I got my dehydrator, and I am really excited to use it! I found some recipes for breakfast bars I would like to try, as well as a recipe for "tortilla chips" that looks so yummy! I have always loved making homemade salsa, so these will be good to have with it!

MMMM!! This looks so yummy! The recipe for the tortilla chips can be found at goneraw.com

How I Feel/How I Want To Feel.....

2007-12-27T13:49:00.000-08:00

As I get ready to go raw, I've been thinking about how I'm feeling, and how I want to feel.

This is how I'm (sick of) feeling....

Bloated, irritable, agitated, sad, nervous, emotional, sensitive, fat, unhealthy, miserable, stuffy, sluggish, stuffed, annoyed, grumpy, depressed, slow, short tempered, angry, scowly, unsatisfied, unlovable, gassy, tired, etc.

Living this way isn't living!!!!

This is how I want to feel.....

Alive, vibrant, healthy, glowing, radiant, joyful, fresh, rejeuvenated, smiley, happy, satisfied, special, loved, comfortable, thin, awake, energetic, succesful, beautiful, natural, etc.

Cheers!

My Story

2007-12-26T23:07:00.000-08:00

So basically I thought I would tell you my story, so you know a little bit more about me.

I don't think I've ever really been happy. I've been satisfied for parts of my life, but not REALLY happy. I think eating crappy foods has made me feel like this, but there is also another side to it. I know I'm not supposed to be heavy. When I was younger, I was thin. I wasn't really a heavy child. I started gaining weight when I was 8 years old. I was in 4-H and spent a lot of time at the fair, eating hot dogs and cotton candy. I gained a lot of weight that summer. At the end of the summer, I became a vegetarian (my sister was one, so I of course wanted to be one too). Effortlessly I lost the weight. The thing is, I didn't even realize I was chubby until I looked back at pictures of that summer. I went back down to a normal weight.

I remained a vegetarian for 8 years, but over those 8 years I slowly started to gain weight. I was eating a "white" diet, as my dad called it. Potatoes, Pasta, etc. There was no COLOUR in my diet! Also, my portion sizes just kept growing and growing. I was fairly miserable throughout highschool, as my weight just kept going up. I let my size rule my life. I didn't, and still don't, feel comfortable in social situations. People tell me I'm pretty (and I think I am too!) but I know I'm fat. Currently I'm 188 pounds. My highest weight was 208 pounds. I lost those 20 pounds when I signed up for weight watchers a couple of years ago. However, counting points isn't really my style. I kind of need a system where I can eat whenever I want, and eat as much as I want (within reason, of course).

I have been reading many blogs and success stories/testimonials online of people who eat raw, and I want what they have! I just want to feel vibrant and alive. I'm tired of not having the life that I want and deserve. I'm so excited to be starting this lifestyle, and I hope that it changes my life.

Getting Started

2007-12-26T22:38:00.000-08:00

Well, soon I will be going raw. Probably not 100 percent - more like 70 - 80%. I've been thinking about going raw for awhile. I've been doing a lot of reading on it and it just makes so much sense. I want to lose 50-60 pounds (I have lost 20 pounds already). I also just want to feel ALIVE! I want to be healthier and happier, and eating healthier is the way for me to do it. Eventually I want to incorporate more exercise into my life as well. I used to be fairly active, but have become quite sedentry lately. I'm 24 and I feel like if I want to change my life, this is the time to do it. So this is about it. I plan on going raw early in the new year. It is just a little hard right now with all the family/holiday dinners. Right now I am just doing a little more research, purchasing supplies, etc.

This is my first blog, so I really don't know how it's going to go. I hope that it helps me stay focused and committed. I also hope that in the future I can inspire other people to change their eating habits.