This delicious salad was a welcome respite from a richer lunch that included chicken breast!

Yesterday I tweeted my joy at being stopped and being asked out by a “random cute guy” at least half my age.  Though I didn’t take the request seriously (after all, he was just a baby –CougarTown be damned!) Still I was flattered, and floated on air to a Christmas party that evening, where the elation continued.  Two more gentlemen — the first, though older than the one that afternoon, still was in his twenties; and another in his thirties — inflated my head by passing on their phone numbers.  I thought to myself “I don’t know what I did today, but I better figure it out quickly–and bottle it for future use!” Then it struck me: Could my raw food diet have made a difference?  I won’t ever know, but just in case…I’m gonna keep it goin’!

Notice we’ve discussed only three of the four gentlemen mentioned in the title…You’ll find out about the other at the end!

YOU’LL BE SURPRISED to hear about the non-raw foods I’ve been eating. But going wholeheartedly into something like this is nothing to be taken lightly.  I probably ate around 70 percent raw going into this challenge, but to actually make a COMMITTMENT to do something like this is more of a psychological challenge.  The instant you choose to NOT have certain foods, all of a sudden of course–now you want them.  But I’ve found that giving myself that 5-10 percent leeway by going MOSTLY RAW has taken the pressure off.  For this first week, I’ve been about 97 percent raw, with the other three percent being comprised of — wait for it — a McDonald’s hamburger and small fries, a SLEEVE of Oreos (over the course of the week, but a sleeve none-the-less), and today a small baked organic chicken thigh.  I did bake a spaghetti squash that was DELISH.  But being able to have the forbidden foods was the best strategy in the world.  I realized that the day I didn’t drink enough water was also the day I ate McDonalds.  A low grade headache, overall malaise and general grogginess were my prizes for that one.

DECADENT THINGS I CAN–and did–have include dark chocolate to my heart’s desire, unlimited fruits, raw goat cheese (there’s a local farm in Colorado that I want to see if I can visit and take my niece to–that would be awesome to share with you).  Being a hot chocolate fanatic, I was happy to find there are a number of ways to include hot chocolate on my plan.  Ironically though, I’ve found that as the days go on, I’ll think “Hot chocolate sounds wonderful right now,” and opt for tea with low glycemic agave nectar.  Crave dessert, passing the kitchen with full intention to have something gooey (just because I can), and end up with a tangerine or mango with sea salt (yummmmm-o!).  Yes, I know I sound like a dork, but it’s completely transformative.  If it wasn’t happening to me, I don’t know that I’d believe it. I’ve eaten healthfully since I can remember, but I’ve always loved my pastries as well.  Hmmm…it seems, that’s no longer.

QUICK AND EASY RECIPE

Last night, I made an amazing guacamole by squeezing the juice a fresh hothouse tomato into an avacado and added sea salt (my new favorite ingredient), garlic, black pepper and … and…  That’s it.  Smash it together and in just minutes–creamy, healthy, tummy filling joy.

I was shocked at how great it was. But even more shocking was that as I looked for something crunchy to pair with it….  no chips…. hmmm, Triscuits have gluten (which I rarely eat) but a few of my fave cracked paper and olive oil Triscuits.  Outstanding. But can I tell you what was even better?  I ended up downing mini sweet carrots with my avacado mash and practically licked the bowl with fantasy-like frevor.  I still can’t believe how good it was–the crunch of the carrot was exactly what I needed–no deprivation here!

Today was the day I ate the baked chicken with my asparagus and squash.  I ended up feeling a bit nauseous into the afternoon and all I could think about was a green salad.  Yes, a boring green salad! That’s the photo at the top.  Usually I make the BEST SALADS EVER, but some of the research I’ve been doing discusses food combining which makes the raw thing a bit tougher…definitely not for newbies or people like me that hate to think about food all that much.  In the next post we’ll talk about why food combining is controvesial, and why experts think it’s why people who diet don’t loose weight.

By the way, my green salad pictured above had cucumbers, green onion, celery, romaine lettuce, and of course my avacado/tomato mash (guacamole) recipe as mentioned above.  I ate it with a side of sweet baby carrots.  Delish!

I HAVE MORE PROOF–IT IS THE RAW FOODS

While writing this post, I received an email from a new business colleague I met at the party yesterday.  And I quote “Great meeting you last night Doni! You have a vivaciousness about you that was truly inspiring! What is your secret?” Wow. What a compliment! Maybe this thing is working after all…

So today is the day!  D-day… or should I call it, R-day?

I started a mostly raw food experiment today–so I’ll be eating 90-95% raw foods only for the next 40 days.  Woo hoo!  So exctited.

Snacks for today: sweet cherry tomatoes, crunchy wasabi peas, sweet mini carrots and fresh celery!

I received comments about it on Facebook today, one person thought I’d be really hungry and really skinny, another wondered about the holidays and if I’d eat raw on Christmas.  Great observations and questions!  I didn’t really think too much about it and I’m not too worried, for I’ve been thinking about this for years and spent the whole last week planning.  I even found about 8 books in my personal library devoted to raw foods (very pristine looking books, so obviously I didn’t use them all that much in the past!) but they certainly will be used now!

Breakfast--grapefruit and apple, post-workout aple and Vuka all natural energy drink (my fave), and Ghirardelli 72% dark chocholate for desserts

How I got here

Well, most of you know the last few years have been rough for me.  Last year Thanksgiving I almost died and ended up in the hospital with a pulmonary embolism, the Christmas before that, I had major surgery and took almost a year to heal (I got better right before the embolism, dangit!). This year, just again as I felt better, I was back in the emergency room on Thanksgiving.  What the???….  And I lost my mind!  Tears flowing, incredulously and like a crazy person asking myself out  loud “Am I never going to get better? — I can’t POSSIBLY be sick!!!”  And that’s all it took.  I guess waht I didn’t realize is the fear and apprehension of not knowing when I’d be better, when I’d be able to work regularly, when I’d have energy again, IF I’d ever be “myself” again was taking a bigger toll than I realized.  A couple of times I’d broken down for a hot second (once to my doctor from my hospital bed during the embolism scare and the other just a month prior with my yoga cleanse/revolution group), but both times I quickly “got ahold” of myself (had to control and suppress those feelings y’know!).  And both times, instead of just feeling what I felt, I stuffed the feelings while the well meaning people around me tried to relax my fears.

Lunch/Dinner, Green salad: asparagus, green beans, celery, shallots & romaine lettuce with sweet garlic soy dressing!

I guess acting like a crazy person for a few minutes is REALLY what I needed, because it was like a shot in the arm.  After a battery of tests including a CT scan and EKG, the doctors (who were nervous themselves), released me with a couple of prescriptions and a diagnosis of inflamed lungs.  More drugs?  Ah, man!!   I just got those out of my system!  And I had to realize I just might have asthma going forward.  Cripes.  Though I was extremely grateful and things could’ve been MUCH worse, I was on a mission to get ME back.  Hence, committing to a lifestyle that would help my body keep itself in optimal health.  I already was releasing old pent up emotions with yoga (we’ll talk about that another day), and now, I was ready to optimize with food as it was meant to be eaten.

All my food for the day. Wow, it's a lot. Let's see if I can get through it. Took me about 40 minutes of prep--I'll try for better timing tomorrow!

What does this mean for you?

I’ll keep you abreast of the journey with daily blogposts, videos, expert interviews and more.  Who knows? Maybe you’ll be inspired to go on your own raw journey!  For now, I’ll leave you with photos of my scrump-dilly-icious food I’ll be eating all day today.  I really can’t believe how I’m getting into all of this!  With a Caribbean cooking gourmet mom and a down home cookin’ too much is never enough meat and potatoes food monger ex-husband, who knew, this is what it would take to get me to think about food?  Again, more on that another day.

For now, if there’s anything in particular you’d like to see, know, hear, let me know–I’ll be happy to oblige!

Don’t just live; become Simply Alive,

Check out Simply Alive!’s  company logo drawn in the sand on a beach in Southern California during sunset.  Hand drawn (some of it upside down!) in the sand using a 3″ long stick.  The artist,  “Supie,” is a former lawyer who–after surviving tremendous illness–left her previous life to follow her dreams and provide affordable art to the world.   For more informaiton on Supie’s work, or to get a sand drawing for yourself, visit www.SandScribbles.net

This was a wonderful, highly informative interview! Donnyale shared her story about how she grew her homebased based business and attracted the attention of celebrities and QVC. She gave listeners insider knowledge about the challenges and compromises associated with launching and selling a product on QVC. She went on to tell us how she landed product placements at the EMMY Gift Lounge, VH1 Music Awards, and other celebrity events and discussed the importance and benefits of being a vendor at industry trade shows to get a jump start in the market.

CLICK HERE to read the full interview.