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Week 3 – Raw Vegan Challenge

February 29, 2016 by indigokitchen 4 Comments

This weeks post I’m going to get very personal, which is something I am extremely nervous about. When it comes to my personal life I’ve always been quit private, only sharing with a few people, people I felt really comfortable with, people that made me feel safe. This is something that the internet will never offer, but I do want to be genuine and honest! I’m a real human being with real life problems, and I promised I wasn’t going to sugar coat it.

If you haven’t read my previous posts you can click here for week 1 and here week 2. Also, this week I wont be sharing daily journals, because at this point I have created a daily routine of eating which is almost the same every single day. I will be sharing my daily routine to give you an idea of what I eat in a day.

Daily routine:

I always start my day with half a liter to a liter of water to hydrate and awaken my body. After drinking the water I chill a bit, (depending on the time I’ve got left) do some yoga and freshen up. My first breakfast is a smoothie bowl or when I’m in a hurry a couple of bananas and a date bar. Then in between meals I’ll have some snacks like date bars, raw chocolate, dates, fresh or frozen fruits and other raw treats. Dinner is always the same, I always eat a big salad and sometimes some frozen fruits or raw treat as dessert. During the day I drink at least two liters of water, I have to add that when it’s summer and a bit warmer most of the days I end up drinking three liters.

Time to get personal

So I guess its time for me to spill the beans and share a reoccurring struggle I’ve faced this past week, well actually yesterday. Starting this “cleanse” I decided not to drink alcohol during the entire month, because let be real, wine isn’t very cleansing to the body. This cleanse started the day after my birthday, so the first day I had a huge hangover! This made it easy for me think “I will never drink again”, but come on, the moment I forget the agony of the hangover, is the moment I forgot all about that. But since this cleanse was a raw food diet I would never eat or drink anything that isn’t raw, because I’m kind of an perfectionist and I really want to see this through without “cheating” and binging on cooked foods.

Note: All the alcohol I drink is indeed vegan.

The moment I found out wine is technically a raw food is the moment my struggle started. Every weekend, or whenever my stress or emotions were in a peak I felt like having a few drinks and already started planning the first weekend after my cleanse. Yesterday my cravings were very intense, so I decided not to give in and not to drink, but I did ask some close people for some advise in this matter. And I came to the conclusion that its about time for me to learn how to have balance and control, because even though its a struggle, I can abstain from alcohol, but most of the time I end up drinking way over my limit plus I used to drink to escape my problems, emotions and stress (which never really works anyways). Although this is probably an excuse I told myself to have a drink, I did choose to have two glasses of wine and not a single drop more to learn how to control myself and I guess I succeeded, yesterday I had 1 and a half glass and not a single drop more.

Although I am a bit embarrassed and disappointed I drank wine during what was supposed to be a “cleanse”, I am proud that I didn’t lose control causing me to end up drinking way over my limit. Today I am going to a sweaty Bikram Yoga class and hopefully this will help me “cleanse” my system once more. I am confident that when I’ll have my next dinner party I can stick with just a few glasses of wine and maybe one day even quit drinking all together, but for now balance is already a big achievement. So i guess there is a silver lining to all of this. This is me, not perfect, just human.

Ever since going vegan I’ve struggled with attaining this image of “perfection” when it comes to health and lifestyle, knowing there is no such thing as perfection. So I’m not gonna fool anyone and pretend to life a perfect life over social media, no I’m actually gonna share my struggles with all of you. Its very hard for me to share all of this, but you know what, if I’m gonna share my journey, I’m gonna share not only the beautiful but also show the ugly, because we’re all just humans and non of us are perfect. Maybe I’ll be sharing more on this subject in another post in the future.

Observations:

I don’t want to jinx myself but I actually think that my eczema is going away, the past few weeks my skin hasn’t broken once. Hopefully next month my eczema will be totally gone and if not I’ll be looking into other holistic methods of removing it.
This brings me to another skin related point. Some people have noticed my skin clearing up and starting to look very healthy. Ive never dealt with acne but whenever I used to drink alcohol or lots of junky and oily food my skin started to become a bit more bumpy.
Although I haven’t lost that much weight (still some kilos), I do notice that my body is starting to tone a little bit more. I know that this process would go a lot faster if I wouldn’t be indulging with all those raw vegan nut based treats, but at least I’m becoming more mindful of this!
It’s still a bit of a struggle to eat proper meals when I’m outside of the house, but Its a bit less hard then it was during the first two weeks of this challenge.

Conclusion:

One of the major things I’ve learned during these three weeks of being raw vegan is that my bond with food goes way deeper than I sometimes realise. Besides being an emotional eater, I also eat when I’m feeling bored and that can sometimes be a problem. Being raw for already almost a month did change my eating habits in the sense of me becoming more mindful of what I’m eating. Its also no longer a struggle, even though dinner is still nothing other then salads, I’m actually cool with that at this point.

After this month of eating raw I’m sure that my salad and smoothie game will be strong! And you know what, I actually don’t think that I’ll go binging on cooked foods when this challenge is over. Maybe this month has been more about learning to have balance and becoming mindful then actually cleansing to be honest. No matter what, I’m happy decided to do this.

I know that I’ve been slow with bringing out recipes, but I promise that from this point forward I’ll make a little more effort working on them, I’ve just been very occupied past few weeks. But starting tomorrow be sure to check in for more raw food recipes.

Bless,

A.J

Week 2 – Raw Vegan Challenge

February 21, 2016 by indigokitchen 1 Comment

So I just finished week two of my raw vegan cleanse and I’ve got a lot to share, if you haven’t read my first update yet you can find it here. First off let me share some daily journals to give you an idea of how I spend my day and what I ate. At the end of the post I’ll share my conclusion and overall review of week two! Again I’ll be sharing some pictures of the foods I’ve been eating throughout the week to give you an idea of the things I eat on this raw vegan challenge.

Day 8:

After returning from yoga I realised I still didn’t have bananas as ripe as i’d prefer them to be, but stubborn as I am i still decided to make a smoothie using the semi-ripe bananas, which was an epic fail. When I went to the store I decided to buy and try some raw vegan cracker made from seeds and sprouts, I wasn’t a big fan but with a nice cashew based spread, they were ok! So in the afternoon while writing the blog post for week 1 I had some of the crackers with a cashew spread and some sprouts. In the evening I had a big salad and some additional snacks.

Day 9:

My bananas were still semi-ripe but i still decided to make a smoothie using banana, pineapple and blueberries because I really need to get in more food. At lunch I ate 2 kiwis and a pear combined with a date/nut bar and as a snack before dinner i had some kale chips and raw chocolate. Before dinner I helped my grandparent remove their couch from their apartment. For dinner I had a salad. I’m still figuring out how to eat enough food but my energy levels are quit stable.

Day 10:

Today I ran short on time in the morning so I ate a banana and date bar before leaving the house. I quickly went to the store to get some coconut yoghurt which I would eat for lunch with some kale chips and date bar. When I came home I tried a piece of some raw vegan “cheesecake” bites I’d been working on and worked on another recipe for a salad dressing/sauce. At dinner I had a salad with the sun dried tomato aioli sauce i’d been working on.

Day 11:

For breakfast I did a happy dance as my bananas were finally perfectly ripe, my day started out awesome! Today I had the day off so I decided to go out and walked around the city, where I decided to get my nose pierced. At lunch I had another smoothie bowl and for dinner a salad. The day was perfect and I felt great.

Day 12:

At this point my bananas are ripening one after another so my mornings start off great! Had two smoothie bowls and a salad throughout the day. I worked on some recipes and played some Wii U.

Day 13:

Friday is the start of my weekend and I always start my day with a yoga class. After coming home from yoga I made a smoothie bowl and had some grapes. After breakfast I walked around the city with a friend and bought more grapes (they were really good) and a gift for my nephew who’s turning one tomorrow. For lunch I had some coconut yoghurt, grapes and some of the raw crackers with a raw sun dried tomato spread. I finished a post for raw “bounty” bites, which were yum! And for dinner I had another salad.

Day 14:

Today my nephew turned one and for breakfast and lunch I had a smoothie bowl for breakfast and lunch. As snacks I had some of the bounty bites I made the day before.

Observations:

One of the things I’ve been struggling with during my first weeks going raw is getting in enough food! This week this was a lot easier then last but its still something I need to monitor, because it’s very easy to not eat enough and binge on date bars and other raw vegan snacks. When I eat two big smoothie bowl, I’m not craving other foods and they keep my energy levels stable throughout the day.
This bring me to the second point! I’ve noticed that when I do get hungry, its very easy for me to buy some date bars, kale chips or other raw vegan snacks, which (besides the date bars) are very pricy. Besides this I find this diet to be a bit more expensive then my normal lifestyle, because rice, beans and potatoes are more expensive then organic fruits and veggies. Of course I do eat a lot of vegetable and fruits on my normal lifestyle but not nearly as much a I do now.
Another thing I’ve noticed and that I’m happy with is that my eczema is drying out and my skin stopped breaking. This to me is major! I really hope that by the end of this challenge my eczema has completely disappeared.
Also I never thought I’d actually get used to being on a raw food diet, I mean i’m a major foodie, emotional eater and absolutely love to cook and eat delicious warm and spicy foods. But after only two weeks in I am actually getting used to the idea of not cooking food at night and having a salad instead.
Which bring me to the next point. Although I am getting used to eating salads at dinner, I am still missing the variety of dishes that I normally have, but this doesn’t bother me too much.
I struggle a lot when I’m outside of the home and looking for a place to eat. Again I noticed that every corner of the street has a fast food shop but finding good raw foods is still like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Conclusion:

Every day that passes it gets a bit easier to be on this raw food diet. At this point I can say that its not as hard as I initially imagined, although I would never be doing this during winter, ever again. One thing thats very important for me is to have plenty of ripe bananas so I can make quick smoothies and keep myself full and satisfied. Next week I really need to cut down on the raw vegan snacks and focus more on getting in enough food.

I think I’m finally getting used to the whole raw food diet!

Bless

Raw “Bounty” Bites

February 19, 2016 by indigokitchen Leave a Comment

Going raw vegan for a month comes with a lot of perks and raw desserts are high on that list. I mean who doesn’t love to indulge with delicious food without feeling guilty afterwards!? They are filled with nothing but whole foods and delicious ingredients.

These raw treats are delicious, easy to make and pack zero guilt. Whenever you make a batch you can simply keep them in the fridge for at least a week and munch on them throughout the week. They are perfect for those afternoon dips or as a snack on the go!

You can also hide little nuts or berries in the middle of the balls, like pictured above (but this is completely optional). This time I went for hazelnut, but feel free to use any other filling, in the past i’ve used dried inca berries which worked out perfectly. Fun Fact: Im allergic to hazelnuts, I like living on the edge!

When you rolled the balls you can also roll them through different toppings such as, desiccated coconut, cacao powder, chia seeds, hemp seeds, or whatever topping you desire. For these balls i went with desiccated coconut dusted with some spirulina and beet powder.

Now its your turn to make these delicious, easy and nutritious treats! If you try them and have an instagram account I would love to see your creations, so feel free to tag me in your post.

Bless

Raw "Bounty" Bites

Easy, Delicious and Quick to make "bounty" bites

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 mins

Total Time 10 mins

Course Dessert/Snack, Rawfood

Cuisine Vegan

Servings 13 Balls

Ingredients

1/2 cup pecans
1/2 cup dates
3/4 cup desiccated coconut
2 tbsp cacao powder
1 tbsp flax seed

Instructions

Add all the ingredients to a food processor and process until everything's well combined and you can roll them into little balls. When you rolled all of the balls you can store them in the freezer, or fridge. You can also roll a little hazelnut in the centre (optional) and roll them through some coconut, chia seeds, cacao or other toppings.

Week 1 – Raw Vegan Challenge

February 14, 2016 by indigokitchen 3 Comments

Move over Freelee the banana girl, there is a new banana freak in town! Today marks my first week going raw vegan for a month. I’ll be making weekly updates on how I experience this cleanse and what kind of an effect it has on my body and mind. After this month is over I am going back to my normal diet, planning to eat less junk and more whole foods. I am going to be very honest and won’t sugarcoat anything. First let me explain why I decided to start this challenge.

My main reason for going raw vegan for a month is because I feel like my body needs a good cleansing. My initial reason for going vegan was for my health, but that soon shifted into a more ethical driven decision, heavily outweighing my initial reason. Because I am kind of an emotional eater and the past few years have been turbulent, this shift caused me easily binge on vegan junk food. Here is where reason number two comes in place, I want to stop binging whenever I’m feeling like crap, this cleanse is not only for my body but even more so for my mind. And reason number three is that lately I started to drink more frequently and I want to control and one day even stop my (vegan of course) alcohol consumption. My last reason was my eczema which all of the sudden appeared a couple of months ago (if anyone has any tips you are more then welcome to share them with me).

Ok let me start by saying that timing is everything! I decided to start this cleanse after my birthday because I turned 25 and wanted to do this with a bang, knowing I would probably drink one to many (vegan) wines, it felt like the right thing to do. Well for someone living in the Netherlands, February might not have been the easiest month to go fully raw, because it gets cold! So take notes everyone, if you ever feel like doing this, I advise you to plan it during warmer months as your body will be craving more fruits and vegetables, making it easier then during the colder months, in my opinion.

I hope these daily journals are helpful and entertaining. Throughout this post i’ll add some pictures of the foods I’ve been eating as some inspiration for anyone interested!

Day 1

Day one was definitely the hardest and this was partly my own fault, due to my outrageous hangover I couldn’t keep anything down, not even water. I tried my best to keep myself hydrated but my body kept rejecting anything I gave it. Still trying to get my nutrients in, I decided to made a salad with some carrot, while knowing i’m allergic to raw carrot (I just wanted to give it another try). Normally when I hide thinly sliced pieces of raw carrots in big spring rolls i’m fine, i just don’t eat to much of it. Well this went horribly wrong and only magnified my agony as I felt my throat closing up and decided to discard the carrot and take a pause from eating. After this I had to throw up and after an hour or so I tried to finish the remaining salad and decided to lay down, to ease the nausea.

Day 2

Waking up I immediately drank a liter of water because my body was definitely dehydrated. After drinking the water I had a big smoothie bowl, noticed my voice was gone and started my day. Throughout the day i had some snacks like dates and nuts and in the evening i had a salad, but I really didn’t eat enough and was still feeling weak from the day before. My body was weak and sore and my voice was gone. I craved a lot of cooked foods.

Day 3

Today I made more effort to make sure i ate enough throughout the day. My energy levels were still not where they would be normally but at least I wasn’t feeling sick anymore. I also noticed that my belly wasn’t bloated at all and didn’t feel heavy. In the afternoon I did quit an intense exercise and I tried to eat enough food an hour before that, but although I was full, the food wasn’t very calorie dense so my energy levels were still not there yet. My cravings for cooked foods definitely didn’t diminish I made an observation that to thrive i’d need to include one extra smoothie throughout the day to maintain my energy levels.

Day 4

Today started as usual with at least half a liter of water and I rolled out my yoga mat to do my morning practice. After a few sun salutations I noticed my body felt weak and my mind was distracted, all I could think of was food, I decided to do some asanas and go over in savasana (the final pose). For a split second I felt a bit bummed my body was to weak to do the things it normally does, but I could quickly let go of this disappointment and accepted where my body was at that moment in time. In the afternoon I started making cinnamon rolls because I promised someone i’d make some, i’m not gonna lie it was very challenging to not try one myself. This day I had a lot of raw vegan snacks such as raw chocolate and date bars which ended up being kind of an overkill, because i started to notice my belly felt a bit bloated after eating one to many treats.

Day 5

At this point my morning routine is the same, I start with water immediately after waking up and have a smoothie before leaving the house. At lunch I ate a pomelo and a raw chocolate bar while everyone around me were eating the cinnamon rolls I made a day earlier. Now i have to admit that this wasn’t as hard as I expected because my belly was full with the pomelo. I do have to add that I feel its kind of struggle to eat out without bringing your own food because there are not many different raw vegan options to choose from besides (un)fruit. After coming home i had a smoothie and some fruits and a salad for dinner.

Day 6

I feel that my energy levels are back to what they used to be, which is something i’m very happy about. Over the day I had two smoothie bowls and two salads. In the morning I decided to go to yoga class which was awesome because my energy levels were on point. My observation is that two smoothie bowls are definitely a minimum for me to thrive throughout the day.

Day 7

Today was a rough morning as I realised there were no ripe bananas, at this point i also used up all my bananas I had stored in the freezer. I still had a couple bunches of bananas but none of them were ripe and I really do not like unripe bananas! So I went to the store and bought more bunches of banana to prevent running out of bananas in the future. Of course there this is a luxury problem but because I feel like my options are already limited I really need to have my banana based smoothies because this exactly what my body desires to thrive! The rest of the day I decided to relax, work on a recipe and play zelda wind waker HD.

My observation of my first week going raw comes with a couple of tips.

Have plenty of ripe bananas! Use my mistake as an example, bananas are a great base for smoothies or raw vegan ice creams and will give you the energy you need throughout your day. Always try to have a some frozen (peeled and chopped) bananas for quick meals.
Make sure you eat enough food! If you want to maintain a steady stream of energy you really want to get enough food in which can be a challenge because i personally am not a big fan of huge salads, so I make sure i have big smoothies to fill me up and have a salad in the evening.
If you ever feel like doing anything similar i advise you to plan it around the summer/spring.
My belly doesn’t feel bloated at all and I experience almost no gas.
Go easy on the raw vegan snacks and gourmet foods like nut and date bars and raw chocolates, but be sure to treat yourself from time to time, because you deserve it!
Be kind to yourself!

I also faced some struggles in my first week!

My energy levels were really low the first half of the week.
The weather made me crave more warming foods and if it wasn’t for my own discipline to pull through and finish this without cheating, I would have definitely had some cooked foods.
I didn’t plan that well and ended up not always having enough food to sustain me during the day, ending up eating date bars and raw chocolates, which bring me to number 4
most raw vegan gourmet food and snacks are super expensive and I am really considering buying a dehydrator but because the “good” dehydrators are also very expensive I’m not sure if i will.

Conclusion:

For now my cravings food cooked foods are still there but not as extreme as the first half of the week. My belly feels flatter because I do not feel bloated. I do not recommend anyone doing this during cold months and when this month is done I’m gonna work on a recipe for a calzone pizza, which of course I’ll be sharing with all of you. Next week is gonna be a challenge because my nephew is turning 1 and I’ll be surrounded by tons of delicious food I won’t be able to eat. With that said I see an awesome opportunity to make a raw vegan cake, right!?

I’ve got some raw vegan recipes in the works so you can expect some healthy recipes coming your way soon! I hope you liked this post and feel free to leave me tips in the comments below or on my instagram and make sure to stay awesome!

bless.

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Raw "Bounty" Bites

Ingredients

Instructions