So here's the plan...

After trying to figure this thing out for the past week or so, I've decided that for practicality sake, I will lower my raw goal to 70% a day. This will allow me to eat raw all throughout the day and enjoy a nice meal with my family in the evening.

Really, I could eat fruits and veggies, salads and smoothies, energy bars (homemade) and snack mixes (nuts, seeds and dried fruit) all day. That's not the problem. I actually enjoy these foods. It's the amount of time to prepare the "gourmet" raw foods that help to add more variety into my food selections that is the problem. All the soaking, sprouting and dehydrating and the amount of coordination and organization that requires me to do this well is, at this stage of my life, prohibitive. What would be ideal is that I'd have a windfall of money - an astronomical amount - that would allow me to hire a raw food chef to prepare my entire family's meals every day. Of course, since that is not happening any time soon, I'll simply strive to eat raw 70% of the time. The evening meal I prepare will be comprised entirely of foods that I can both pronounce and recognize, but they can be cooked (basically, a cooked meal with God-made foods).

As for my half marathon training, I ran 3 miles yesterday. For now, it's all just prep work. The "real" training schedule actually begins week after next. I'm hoping that my hip heals up by then. It's really been uncomfortable since last October when I ran the 4.0 mile leg in the KC Marathon as part of a relay team - all up hill, too. After yesterday's run, it was really bugging me. I went to the chiropractor and he did an amazing adjustment that made me feel 1000% better - said my hip was rotating backwards. I'll see him again tomorrow. It's still tender and I'm icing it three times a day. I'm praying that it will be healed completely and quickly!

And on a final note, I just want to say "Thanks" to all of you who have asked me about my "Raw Food Adventure." I so appreciate it! It's helped me to stay accountable and focused. I never know when someone is going to say, "Hey, Loula! How's that raw food thing going?" and knowing that it could be at any moment helps me to smile and say "No" when I'm trying to justify that brownie batter could be considered a "raw" food...

What have I gotten myself into?

The more raw recipes I'm finding, the more I'm seeing that going raw is not just a willy nilly decision. Not that I ever thought it was, mind you. But I didn't really understand just how much work it is.

One of the books I've borrowed from the library is one called Raw Food for Real People. The recipes sound lovely. There's one called "Wild Rice Pilaf." It sounds divine...until I read that you have to soak the rice for 3 DAYS! I don't know if I'll be in the mood for wild rice pilaf in three days! This will take quite a bit of organization and preparation.

I'm also finding that it's much more expensive to eat this way. I could easily use my entire month's food budget on raw food for me. And yet, I still have to feed my husband and kids (who are not going raw with me).

Frankly, at this point, I want to give up. It seems like a big task - too big for my circumstances, really. Yet, I don't want to give up. It's not that I don't like eating the foods. What I've experienced so far has been quite scrumptious. I want to see what happens as I add more raw to my diet in regard to my health. I mean, it certainly doesn't hurt to add more God-made foods into my diet. However, the time and financial requirements are of concern to me. We'll have to see what is the best course of action for me to add as much raw food into my diet without being impractical.

Stay tuned...more to come!