Raw Ranch Dressing

We've been eating a lot of this lately. It's REALLY good with veggies. You can make all kinds of variations of it, for example you don't have to use cashews every time, we've tried sprouted lentils, walnuts, pine nuts, and other stuff. Experiment - it's very versatile.

Raw Ranch Dressing

1.5 Cups Raw Cashews
4 teaspoons lemon juice or 2.5 teaspoons raw apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried dill weed
1 teaspoon italian seasoning
1 basil leaf

Blend it up. Can store up to 2 weeks in fridge. Feel free to vary any of the ingredients - I like mine a little stronger than this so I add more garlic and onion.

From: The Complete Book of Raw Food

Day 10 - Matt

As of today I've completed one full week of eating raw food, and am into my second week.

These are my stats currently:

Weight: 220.5 lbs
Gain/Loss: -7 lbs

The last week started out with the diet being fairly hard for me. I was really craving cooked food (pizza, pasta, chips). However, after about 36-48 hours of being raw the cravings got to a totally managable level and for the rest of the time it's been easy to stay raw.

We've experimented with a lot of different foods this week. We found a GREAT recipe for "ranch dip" in one of our raw books ("The Complete Book of Raw Food"). We've made several variations on the recipe and all of them are really good. I can eat an entire Cauliflower or bag of carrots with this dip it's so good.

I also finally was able to make some mexican style food. I made a refried bean paste from sprouted chick peas, a cheddar style spread from red pepper and nuts, and added avocados, onions, tomatoes and hot sauce (my only non raw food for the week) on to a big lettuce leaf. It was good. Not quite as good as I remember it being on a tortilla, but it sure tasted good, and was a lot more healthy.

I also went out to eat this week. I met a friend for lunch and just ordered a big salad. It went fine. I stayed raw without any trouble.

The first few days I seemed to lose weight really fast. I think the first few pounds were the easiest because those were the ones that were put on most recently. It seems that my average weight over the last coulpe years has hovered around 220, so it makes sense that I'll hang out here for a few days. Sure enough, when I hit 220 I've stayed there for the last 3 days. I'm sure more weight will come off in in time - but it feels great to have lost 7 lbs already, in 9 days. At one point I had hit 219.5, but went back up to 220.5.

I plan to stay raw this entire week, it should be easy now that I have a few "favorite" things to eat that happen to be raw. It makes it a LOT easier once you get the feel of raw cooking and find a few things that you really enjoy eating.

Matt - Day 5

For any fans out there I should tell you that I've been doing well and haven't fallen off the band wagon (not even once.) I've been eating a lot of Samantha's onion flat bread, pesto stuffed mushrooms (and tomatoes,) grapes, apples, a pear, bananas. I ate the corn chowder last night (which was good,) and of course a couple salads.

I really think the hardest thing doing this is the first 24-48 hours. After that it's really managable and not too hard at all. I'm not saying I couldn't eat a piece of pizza, but it's not a "craving" really. It's totally doable. As of this morning I've lost 4.5 lbs, but I'm going to wait until next Saturday to do an official weigh-in and pictures to see if there's been any visual progress.

I most certianly feel a little better. I seem to be starting to sleep a little better as well.

Sorry I haven't updated this very often.

Matt - Day 2

Breakfast:

1/4 Honeydew
Snacked on some of Samantha's Onion "bread"

We are sprouting some Chick Peas in the hope I can make some bean paste and have some "burritos."

For lunch I had: 1 banana, grapes, 1 apple.

Iced tea for snack in the afternoon.

For dinner I had:
Pesto Stuffed Mushrooms

1 Cup Walnuts
1/2 Cup Pine Nuts
2 Cups Basil
1/2 Cup Olive Oil
1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt

Place mushroom caps top side down on a plate. Blend all stuffing in a food processor until smooth. Scoop a small amount of stuffing into each mushroom cap. Dehydrate at 105 degrees for 5-6 hours (we only did it for 2 hours and it was GREAT.)

Also. Here is the recipe for the Onion Bread that Samantha made:
Onion Bread

2 1/2 lbs sweet onions, peeled
1 cup ground sunflower seeds
1 cup ground golden flax seeds
1/2 cup olive oil
3 oz. Nama Shoyu

Put onions in food processor with 's' blade and process until small pieces, (but not mush). Put in mixing bowl with the other ingredients and mix thoroughly. The flax will absorb liquid. Smooth onto teflex sheets* about 1/4" thick and place in dehydrator for 5 hours, turning over for another 3-4 hours or until dry and crispy. Either break into pieces or cut with a pizza cutter, and store in refrigerator in an airtight container.
*If you don't have an Excalibur dehydrator, any type will do - just use natural unbleached parchment paper instead of the teflex sheets.

Day 1 - Matt

This morning I got up and was excited to start eating raw 100%. I weighed myself and we ate some breakfast together. As you can see my primary reason for wanting to do this is to get to a more reasonable weight. But there are many other health benefits I've heard others speak of that makes me want to do it too.

For Breakfast I had:

In a bowl:
Two Bananas Cut into small pieces
A handful of walnuts
A handful of rasins
Almond Milk
Agage Necter

Plain:
1/2 a Peach

For lunch I had:

Arugula Salad:
Arugula
Tomatoes
Avocado
Onion
Walnuts
Apple Cider Vinegar
Olive Oil
Lime Juice
Sea Salt

Here are my pictures from day 1:

Age: 28
Weight: 227.5 lbs



At about 6pm tonight I started feeling a little ill. I want to eat some junky carbs so bad - just like some chips or something. I have a headache that seems to get getting worse, and I'm craving some junk food. I think this is because I have a habit of eating a large meal in the evening.

I ate a banana and then we went to the local fruit & vegetable stand. We bought about $50 worth of raw food and brought it home. I'm still feeling tired, grumpy, and have a headache, but just ate some avacado salsa, then a banana and am feeling a little better. Here is what I ate:

Avocado Salsa on Endive:

1 Avocado
2 Tomatoes
1/4T Cumin
1/4T Mexican Seasoning
Pinch Sea Salt
1/4T Apple Cider Vinegar

Put in food processor and chopped up a little.
Put this on Endive.

It was pretty good. About a 6 out of 10

Went to bed feeling a little better. Hopefully will be feeling well tomorrow.

The Last Supper

Tonight was the last night we ate cooked food (for at least 30 days, maybe more). Samantha went out and bought some things for Quesadias & Burritos. It tasted really good because we had some good tomatoes, and a very fresh onion.

Tomorrow we're going 100% raw. For those that don't know - that means we're not going to eat any foods that have been heated about 118 degrees F. Also, we're going to be raw vegans, that means no dairy or meat products either. Pretty much just fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, legumes.

Tonight Samantha put some oatmeal (Oat Groats) out to soak so that she could have some in the morning.

Tomorrow we'll be taking pictures of ourselves and beginning a raw journey. Samantha already has decided to do it for the long term, I've promised I'd give it 30 days.