Mid-Term Break Relief!

     Hello everyone! Yes I am alive, well, and still here. Not only am I back at Union College this year but I'm also in the honors program now, and am going to be playing in the school production of "Fiddler on the Roof" so this semester had left me with little time to even breathe. Fortunately I have a small reprieve this weekend. This week was mid-terms week, but it ended Thursday and I had Friday off, which has made this a glorious 3 day weekend. =) So I had plenty of time to catch everyone up on what has been happening over these past couple of months.

     My Ecology class this semester has been a blast! The first weekend of school was spent on a class field trip with said Ecology class to Estes Park in Colorado. The point of the trip was to study the how the changes in climate and temperature effected the species and variety of vegetation found in the environment. This meant I got to visit Rocky Mountain National Park, and go hiking on Sabbath (Saturday). I am now completely in love with hiking, and hope to visit Colorado again soon to do just that.

A Marmot

Pawnee Pass - Elevation 12,550 ft.

Not all of my ecology class hiked this trail, 

some stayed down at Lake Isabella to explore the glaciers.

From left to right: Me, Ellen, Dr. Abbey (my professor), and Dalton.

A White-Tailed Ptarmigan 

(their feather turn white after it begins to snow regularly of camouflage).

Grasshoppers!

Got to try out my new KSO Vibrams, and the work really well for hiking. 

I'm on top of the world! 

Lake Isabella 

Chasm Falls

Brought my lunch with me on trip: grapes + tangelos + plums = yum!

A Clark's Nutcracker Bird

     Over Memorial Day weekend I got to spend my time earning some extra cash by working for a local farmer in his organic blueberry farm! I got payed two days out in the sun while also getting lots of fresh air and exercise. What wasn't to love? (They pay was pretty good too. LOL).

Blueberry Bushes

Blueberries

He also keeps a few cows in the fields 

not being used to grow anything.

Some sort of fruit tree. Looks sort of like a Pomelo.

He has his own organically grown 

private orchard and garden as well.

And no farm would be complete without goats. =)

     This year I also got to participate in Project Impact! Every September Union College takes the second Thursday off from all classes in order to allow students to participate Project Impact. This event that started here at Union 30 years ago in which students and faculty alike volunteer (in partnership with various charities and organizations) at numerous locations around Lincoln doing what they can to help the community (e.g. house repair, cleaning and fixing old bikes, constructing a new play set for the elementary school, yard work for the elderly and the home for battered women and children, painting the work rooms of local businesses, soup kitchens, etc.). I spent my 3 hours of volunteer time painting the printing room in Christian Records Services where they print story book that are written in both brail and regular writing. This is so I blind parent can read to their child, or a seeing parent can read to their child while they follow along, and so on and so forth. I had a lot of fun helping the community, meeting new people, and I'm looking forward to doing it again next year.

     I've also had the opportunity to run another race; my first race to ever be run outside of Georgia. I had signed up to run the Omaha Marathon (yes a full marathon, not a half-marathon). However, I made the mistake of not considering how changes in state meant changes in temperature and humidity. On the morning of the race the temperature was 40°F with low humidity. 

     

     This was very VERY bad news for someone like me who had only ever trained for this race in the hot, warm, and humid weather of Georgia's spring and summer weather. Needless to say my body did not react well at all. I couldn't seem to warm up, even after I had started running. As a result the muscles in my legs and ankles started cramping up, and by the time I had reached mile 12 I was in some serious pain. When it came time for the ahl-marathon and marathon tracks to split up I had two choices: I could continue on the marathon track and risk injury, or I could suck up my pride and take the other track and finish another half-marathon instead. It was really hard for me, but I finished the half-marathon and spent the next hour having my muscles iced and rehydrating before heading out. 

     This race was a humbling experience for me. It made me realize that just because you train hard and eat well it doesn't mean that you're invincible. When school started I still had a whole month to train for the marathon, but I was stupid and didn't consider that I needed to run during the cooler hours of the day so that my body could acclimate to the new environment. Instead, I chose to run during the heat of the day because that is what I was accustomed to the temperature. 

     Fortunately I will have another chance to run a full marathon. This spring is the Lincoln Marathon, and in Nebraska spring mornings can still be quite chilly. I have all winter to train for this event, and I plan on running outside in the cold whenever I can so that when spring roles around I will be well acclimated and I can kick some running butt! LOL. In the mean time I will also be training run the Atlanta Thanksgiving Half Marathon when I go home for Thanksgiving Break. I ran it last year and I'm determined to make this race to be the one where finish in less than two hours. I will defeat that courses evil hills!

More pictures will be coming in as soon 

as my photo download order is processed.

     And now for the fun food update. With my busy schedule this year I haven't been able to drive up to Omaha very often to visit Whole Food, but I have been able to buy fruit from Jourdan's Beautiful Foods and some scrumptious dates from the Bautista Family. I've also been able to find some pretty good local places that have met my dietary needs: Trader Joe's, Super Savers, and the Open Harvest Market. 

     Trader Joe's Has a really nice selection of Organic produce as well as a good selection of california peaches and nectarines. Super Savers is just I giant discount food store, and a lot of their produce isn't that good; however, they do have a fantastic selection of bananas, grapes, cherries, pineapple, black mission figs, and cherry tomatoes for really good prices. And the Open Harvest Market is a quaint health store, deli, and co-op that sells amazing local fruits and vegetables (local food is always a + in my diet).

     With this wide array of food sources I have been able to keep my self well stocked in the food department. The only downside on living in this area is that I am currently unable to buy fruit in bulk (unless I buy online) which has caused my food bill to be double what it was in Georgia. Hopefully I can find some way to rectify this, or at least get some more income to balance it out, but for now I've been managing to keep my food bill at reasonable level considering the area I'm in and the prices of good fruit.

Some of My College Culinary Creations:

     Now schools back in full swing. I wish break had lasted sooner, but all good things come to an end. I am looking forward to the Steven Curtis Chapman concert my friend Jamie and I are attending this Friday. It's sure to be a blast! I just have to get through three more days of class and I'm home free. =)

     Until next time!

A Very Fruity Post

     Hello out there all my lovely readers, and a special shout out to when in particular, Aubrey, who reminded me that I need to get back to posting! =) Ever since school ended for the summer I've been busy training and packing up to move back to Lincoln, NE. I have had time though to do a few fun things, such as going to see the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie (Johnny Depp!! Yaay!! LOL), and taking the plunge, signing up for my very first full marathon. The race is in Omaha, but doesn't take place until late September, so I have all summer to train for this. 

     Tomorrow I'm flying down to Vero Beach, Florida to spend a few days with some fellow raw-plant based eaters. Three whole days filled with fruit, fun, and sun! Don't worry, I'll be sure to take lot's of pictures to share with you. 

     I think that wraps things up for now. However, I wouldn't end this post without sharing some pics of my latest fruity treats. For the past few weeks at the Dekalb Farmer's Market, Ataulfo Mangos have been really good, and really REALLY cheap, so I've been eating almost nothing but mango. 

MANGO MADNESS!!

     Until next time! =D

Training for Half Marathon - Days 26 & 27 + Food Intake

Day 26 - Friday

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     Friday was rain, rain, and more rain! My exercise routine was reduced to 15 minutes of weight training  and a 20 minute 4 mph walk. Like a mentioned in my previous post I had planned to go swim laps, but my mom wanted to go to the mall for some indoor speed walking. She didn't want to go alone so I decided to join her instead of going swimming. 

Day 27 - Saturday

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     Today was overcast and a bit on the chilly, but no rain! You all know what that means right? I got to go for my run!! :-D I went to my local park and went for a vigorous and refreshing 30 minute (3.5 mile) run. Today was my best running-before-needing-to-walk-for-a-minute-to-catch-my-breath time. I was able to run for 7 min. and 20 sec. before needing a brief rest walk before starting up my run again. Considering that the trail terrain at the park is rough, with lot's of ups and downs, I would say that's doing pretty good! I also did 10 minutes of weight training, 5 minutes of stretching, and 8 minutes of dancing to my iPod.


     My plan for the marathon is to try to up my running-without-stopping-to-walk-to-catch-my-breath time to at least 20 minutes. That way I can pace myself during the half marathon (20 min. running with 3-5 min. walking), thus maintaining a steady and constant pace towards the finish line.

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     Eating nothing but raw fruits and vegetables (with sparing amounts of nuts and seeds), having a rather speedy metabolism, on top of being quite active as well, I have to eat a lot, and I love that I can do that! :-D

For example today I ate:

•  2.5 Cups Blueberries
• 14 Clementines
• Green Smoothie (3 C. Mango, 1 C. Frozen Banana, 2 C. Spinach, 0.5 Cups Coconut Water,  Stevia)     

    

• 3 Fuyu Persimmons
• Mint Papaya Smoothie (4 C. Papaya, 2 Large Bananas, Handful of Mint, Juice from 0.5 Lime, 0.5 Coconut Water, Vanilla, and Stevia)
• 2 Large Bananas + 3 Medjool Dates

     Consuming this much food is usual for me and I enjoy every mouthful. To be honest with you, a year ago, I would NOT be able to eat all this food. When I first transitioned to this diet I wasn't able to eat all that much food, in fact I was barely able to maintain my weight as I could only consume 1300 - 1500 calories a day. It took about three month for my body to adjust up to 1600 - 1800 calories a day. This January, with the increase of my activity level, I now easily consume anywhere between 2200 - 2650 calories a day. 

Banana Bonanza!!

     Today, as is you can see, I bought a lot of bananas! My family and I go through quite a few bananas throughout any given week, and I was just getting tired of running back and forth to the store JUST to buy bananas. So today I drove down to my local Kroger and bought every ripe or almost ripe banana bunches they had. I think I can now be confident that I can grab some bananas to devour without worrying that my mother or brother might want one because there is plenty for all!


     I have had quite an eventful week. I created some new recipes, my special superfood order came in, my friend Terra moved back from Oklahoma, I've looking at potential property with my mom, I've been working on CSNN and college applications, and helping out my lovely mother any way I can. Lot's of stuff and I'm loving it all! I really enjoy keeping busy, especially these last couple of days as I have been feeling steadily euphoric. I don't know why but for the last couple of days I have been feeling so good both physically and mentally. I hope it lasts.

     So let's start with my superfood order. Now, since my raw plant based diet is basically the exact same thing as the rv80/10/10 diet, I don't really do superfoods anymore. However, with the economy the way it is today, it doesn't hurt to stock up on nutritionally dense supplements that are as close to a whole food as possible. Bananas, I believe, will always be relatively cheap and available, but other fresh fruits and greens (especially organic) might become more difficult to afford and/or obtain. So, my mom and I decided to stock up on cacao powder (my brother loves this stuff), spirulina (because it contains B12), and a sample pack of some other superfoods to try to see what we like.


All Raw and purchased from http://livesuperfoods.com/:

• Organic Cacao Powder
• Organic Spirulina Powder
• Organic Yacon Powder
• Organic Purple Corn Extract Powder
• Wildcrafted Green Papaya Powder
• Organic Pomegranate Powder
• Organic Acai Powder
• Organic Mangosteen Powder
• Wildcrafted Acerola Cherry Powder
• Organic Noni Powder
• Wildcrafted Mangosteen Powder
• Organic Green Stevia Powder

     For the last couple of months my mom and I have been looking around online for plots of land for sale within our price range. We both would like to be able to have enough land to start a garden, have a goat and a horse, and start a bee farm, and living in suburbia puts a clincher in this dream. Last Friday we discovered a 10 acre plot with a barn and a small lake up for sale, and only 45 minutes from where we live. My mom and I went out to take a look at it and found it had potential. I don't think we will be making an offer on it anytime soon because we do want to see what else is out there, but it was nice to actually SEE something that could give us a better idea of what we're looking for.

The stairs lead to a living apartment. Basically if you lived here you would be living above the barn. :D

     As for recipes, I have created the most AMAZING raw Cinnamon Apricot Jam. It's a big hit with my mom. She and I can polish a batch of this stuff of in about 4 days, so I have to have dried apricots on hand all the time. Seriously everyone, this stuff is now officially a staple in my household for the rest of this winter. My mom likes to spread it on her nine grain toast in the morning, and I like to have it as a dipping sauce for my crispy sweet apples.

Cinnamon Apricot Jam

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1 1/2 C. dried apricots, soaked in water for 6-12 hours

1 1/2 Clementines or Tangerines

1/8 tsp. Cinnamon

1 tbs. Raw Honey or 3 Medjool Dates

Blend until thick, smooth, and creamy!

This recipe is so good and SO easy to make, that I plan on making a recipe video on how to make this, just look for it sometime within the next week at - http://www.youtube.com/user/Rawaholic.

     Today I tried two new recipes that I've been meaning to try but haven't ever got around to it because I never was able to have all the ingredients on hand at the same time. The first one was a recipe that I got from joannabanana (check out her blog at - http://acupofjoanna.blogspot.com/) on the goneraw.com forums. She has ranted and raved about this green smoothie and I just had to give it a try today for my lunch. OMG it was the BEST green smoothie I have ever tried. I put like a TON of spinach into this smoothie and I didn't taste any of the greens.

Green Grape Smoothie

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2 C. red Grapes

1 C. frozen Bananas

4 1/2 C. Spinach

I will be making more of this tomorrow only with even MORE spinach now that I know the taste won't be coming through anytime soon. Grapes and bananas do wonders in dominating the flavor of this luscious concoction.

Then for dinner I made a lovely raw fruit cereal out of 2 large bananas, 1 1/4 C. blueberries, and 1 C. raspberries with fresh coconut milk (just the water and meat of 1 Thai coconut blended with a splash of vanilla). I haven't really had any overt fats in the last week (i.e. oil, avocado, nuts, & seeds) so this was a real treat for me, and man did I love it!  So good. . .

Am I making you all green with envy yet? Hehehe! :D

     I think that's about it this time, it's getting late and I get up at 5:50 a.m. every morning to I need to get some sleep. Posted below me are a video that I found on youtube that I think are worth sharing with you. Feel free to make comments on anything that you read or watch on this post or my blog in general, and I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!