Tuesday, May 12, 2009

back home

well, i'm back home! it's nice to be in an environment that is quieter and cleaner. i sure won't miss the traffic, pollution and noise of madrid...i can now look out my window and see trees, grass and flowers...i don't have to walk 40 minutes to see some plants!

i'll do a food update later on...needless to say, i'm still getting used to the time change...but i'm still going strong 811 and loving it.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

home tomorrow!

well, another year in madrid has come to an end and i'm heading home tomorrow! i couldn't be happier about that :) i don't know what the future will bring, only time will tell...

...i could get a typical 9-5 job or i could take a chance on something new and exciting. not really sure yet...but i do know that a tropical environment with an abundance of fresh fruit is calling my name ;)

Sunday, May 3, 2009

update

things have been going really well lately. i've been enjoying my food and eating lots of it! i have more energy now than i could ever have imagined. i'm really enjoying life right now :)

well, thursday there was an end of the year party at school...concert and food. or should i say "food". i had requested that there be some fruit available as it is usually pretty much just ham, cheese and bread products. they assured me there would be fruit...well, i get there and i see tables filled with ham, cheese, mini sandwiches, breadsticks, tortilla espaƱola, seafood salad on mini toast, chips, salted nuts, etc. there was no fruit in sight. so, i went over to the lady in charge of the food and asked if there was any fruit. she said it wasn't ready yet. i'm thinking, "not ready yet?! there isn't much prep work with fruit." but anyway...

on to my beverage...i've stopped drinking all alcohol...i had been drinking red wine occasionally, but i can tell it does me no good. so, i got a bottle of water (after waiting around for them to find one!!) and began to mingle...i received a few comments regarding my beverage of choice. no one really noticed that i wasn't eating--well maybe they did and just didn't say anything ;) ...a bit later, i did see some sliced cherry toms on a couple of tables...but there were no toothpicks with them and there was no way to really pick them up with my fingers. so, i grabbed a toothpick out of a piece of tortilla espaƱola and stabbed a cherry tom. it was then that i realized it had been covered with oil.

unfortunately i hadn't eaten enough before i arrived because i had class directly before the concert and party. i already knew i wouldn't be eating the typical cooked food fare because i've gotten such amazing results eating this way that other food just isn't all that appealing (for what it will do to me). i almost grabbed a couple of potato chips just because my hunger was calling out and my body wanted some fuel, but i stopped myself. so, i did eat quite a few more cherry tom halves, trying to get as much oil off as possible...

around 8.50pm the fruit came out...little bowls and not even enough for every table! the amount of fruit in each bowl wouldn't have even been an appetizer for me! haha anyway, i repositioned myself to get ahold of some fruit and had a few mouthfuls of kiwi, grapes, strawberries and pineapple. it was a good thing it came out because i was starting to get quite uncomfortable with no food and all of the noise around me. my head was aching a bit and i decided i'd had enough. not to mention that friday was a holiday and all of the stores were closed--so i had to get to the grocery store for some food for the weekend.

i sped walked to the corte ingles to find that they had NO greens, NO grapes, NO mangoes and NO melon!!! i could not believe it! and there were tons of people there. i guess they were all stalking up for the long weekend (little did i know that the major stores were also closed on saturday as well). i left and went to a fruit stand where i usually get some items...luckily they were still open at 9.45pm...i managed to pick up some grapes and 1 watermelon. they also told me there that they were going to be open this weekend (both saturday and sunday!).

friday i ate a watermelon for bfast...grapes for lunch and 2 hearts of romaine (luckily i had the greens in the fridge) and i wasn't sure what i'd be having for supper when i decided to check on my papaya and saw that 2 of the large ones were finally ripe! yummy!

saturday morning i went back to the fruit stand and picked up more grapes, a few small papaya, a couple of cukes and 1 small avocado. so for bfast and lunch i had grapes and for supper i ate the cukes and the avocado. the papaya is never ripe at the store, i always have to wait at least a few days.

this morning i ventured out and saw another grocery store open. sometimes for the first sunday of the month certain stores will open for a few hours. i went in and got some celery, papayas and 2 galia melon. then i headed to my fruit stand for loads of grapes, 1 large papaya, some cherry toms, 1 yellow pepper (just for a change!) and a few peaches (first ones i'll be having this season :) ).

now on to today's lunch...i have to say it was amazing! awhile back i bought about 20 unripe ataulfo mangoes...now they are ripening and calling out my name ;) i had 8 mangoes and about 350 grams of celery for lunch! it was delish!


ataulfo mangoes are my new favorite fruit :) i think i could eat them all day...i would love to go on mango island, but it would be far too expensive around here. mangoes are my luxury item actually...i'm hoping that once i get home i'll be able to find some good deals on fruit.
wow...next week at this time i'll be on my way home... :) i'm so looking forward to being back!

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

end of the semester & durian dreams

11 more days until i fly home--yay! this is the final week of classes...i just have 1 more class this afternoon and 2 tomorrow...

i had a big presentation yesterday that went really well :) i felt pretty good actually. normally i'll get a bit nervous having to do a presentation or speaking in front of a group of people, but yesterday i was relaxed. i was surprised to get various compliments throughout the day yesterday and even this morning about how well my presentation went. a couple of people even commented on "my impressive level of spanish". hehe...i was pleased, to say the least ;)

the other good news is that all of my final papers are done! i just have 3 exams next week...and then i'll be leaving on the 10th!

i've been having lots of energy lately! i've also been in a very, very good mood. i'll find myself smiling "just because" :) i've been enjoying some simple pleasures as well...what a joy it is to sit in the sun eating melon....or to walk around on a beautiful sunny afternoon.

mono-mealing has been very satisfying lately. now i tend to shy away from "complex" dishes and if i'm not mono-mealing, i prefer 2 or 3 ingredient meals. i never would have thought that i could be so satisfied after eating 1.5kilos of grapes haha, but it's great!

mental clarity is also one of the many benefits eating low fat raw has brought to me...as long as i continue to eat well, my thinking has gotten clearer and clearer...

oh and a random thing...last night i had a dream that i ate durian for the first time and it tasted like bavarian custard....so creamy and so good! actually i'm not even sure i've ever eaten bavarian custard, but i specifically recall saying in my dream that that's what it tasted like! yummy--i can't wait to try my first durian!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

yellow dragon fruit

oh so good! i picked up 2 yellow dragon fruit the other day...just had them a bit ago. they were very good!
in the past i've had the other two varieties. a few years in mexico i tried the red ones that are red on the inside and last year in barcelona i ate the red ones with white flesh...so, when i saw the yellow ones i wanted to try them!

i've read online that the yellow ones are the sweetest variety and i would have to agree. they are not really sweet or anything, but just right. i absolutely love the texture...the little seeds were cool. hopefully i'll be able to get my hands on some more soon :)

check out the pics...

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

what a yummy day

today was another excellent day :)

bfast: watermelon
lunch: 4 mangoes, 10 fresh dates, 1 cuke, 150 grams oakleaf lettuce
supper: 7 kiwi, strawberries, 5 kumquat, 1 cuke, 150 grams of oakleaf lettuce

i made sure my mangoes were nice and ripe...they tasted like honey! the dates were so fresh and moist they were like caramel. who knew fruit could taste this good?!

a lot of people say that it's too hard or too compicated to live off of fresh fruits and leafy greens. it's only as hard or as complicated as you make it. one thing that has really helped me is to be absolutely sure that i'm getting suficient calories. without enough fuel, cravings and other problems pop up...but being sure to eat enough should take care of any troubling issues. i'm still taking some time to get used to the large volume of food i need to eat...

and now that i've started running again i need to be eating more. so, i'm eating more calories and feeling really good!

today's totals:
calories = 2,021
ratio calories/protein/fat = 90/5/5
protein = 34.5g
fiber = 55.5g
carbs = 534.5g
fat = 11.2g

a couple pics...
bfast watermelon


kumquats


this was my first time trying kumquats. i'm trying to get my hands on any new fruit i can-it's such a treat to discover a new fruit :) they have tangy, sour flesh and a pleasantly surprising sweet skin.

Monday, April 20, 2009

a nice little treat


these cuke-date sandwiches are inspired by ashley over at raw food climber (http://badashclimber.blogspot.com/) and boy are they good! thanks for the great idea, ash :)