Long Time No Post!

Hello everyone! 

Sorry I haven't been blogging much recently, my schedule has been a little crazy! I just wanted to give you an update of my new exercise routine that I am trying to get into before I go off to college in the fall, so I have something to go off of to burn off the calories of all the food I will be eating! I have been going on the eliptical at my school's gym with my friend McKenna basically every day for half an hour and then we do planks, side planks, sit ups and crunches. Then, my friend Sarah and I went to a class called Yoga Fusion at a local yoga studio near our houses and it was QUITE the workout. The instructor told us we had burned 1,000 calories in an hour and I definitely believed her because Yoga Fusion is basically yoga and hardcore cardio combined in a hot room. As a result of that class, my friends and I are going to be signing up for some classes and going very Sunday together which will be super fun! 

Overall, I am trying to get back on the raw food wagon. I have been eating some raw, but I have given into temptation (AKA Oreos) more recently. I know that going completely raw is not healthy for me because I am already underweight, but I feel that eating mostly raw food has helped my skin immensely and I definitely notice a difference in my skin when I do not eat raw food and I give into greasy food. I just wanted to give you a quick exercise/raw food update! Have a great day! 

xo,

Caroline 

Shopping Raw!

Hello everyone!

Today, I went shopping with my diet restrictions in line for the first time. Originally I wanted to only spend $40 because that is what I had on my gift card, but I ended up spending around $52. So, here is what I got!

first of all, I got a LOT of granola. The one on the left is cinnamon and oat clusters and the one on the right is apple cinnamon, with dehydrated apple pieces. The KIND granola was $3.99 and the Love Crunch Granola was $4.29. I've only tried the apple cinnamon granola so far, and it's delicious! 

Next, I got three KIND bars, one with nuts and two with dark chocolate and nuts (I can't help eating chocolate sometimes, and I figure it should be dark chocolate, since it has antioxidants) These were 3/$5.00 and they are very good. I plan on having the granola bars as an after school snack and the granola with milk or just having a handful for breakfast.

Next are all of the drinks I got. On the far left are two flavors of Vita CoCo Coconut Water, in Peach Mango and Orange Respectively. I've had the Peach Mango before and I LOVE it and I'm excited to try the Orange flavor because I love anything orange. They were $2.00 each.

Next is Almond Breeze Almond Milk. I have tried this and I like it alright, I think it will be better with something else, like granola or raw cereal. This was 2.59.

Next, I found this organic Orgain drink. It's an organic iced mocha and I'm just going to try it and see what I think. This was more of an impulse purchase because it was organic and I wanted to try it. This was $3.59. 

Lastly are the Mamma Chia drinks, one in Coconut Mango and one in Cranberry Lemonade. I've had a sip of one and they definitely have a different texture, so we'll see! These were 2/$5.00 

These are more snacks that I bought. In the clear bag, I bought 3 apples, and they were $1.79/lb. Then, I got 2 packages of blackberries, and these were 2/$4.00.

Next, I bought edamame, which I LOVE! I'm not completely sure if this is raw, but they are really good for you. These were $3.99.

Next, in the two circular containers I have a tomato salsa which is completely raw and vegan, and a corn salsa that has roasted corn but I'm pretty sure everything else is raw. These were $3.71 all together.

Last but not least, we have two snack items and one item I forgot to take a picture of. Sticking with my ability to eat bagels, I got 2 everything bagels and 1 sesame seed bagel. They were each .79 cents. I figure I can have a half for breakfast each day. 

The next item is Tofutti Vanilla Ice Cream, or a dairy free ice cream. This has a LOT of sugar per serving, which I am trying to stay away from so I figure I can just have a spoonful when I'm craving something sweet to curb the craving but keep my sugar intake way down. This was $4.29. 

Lastly are these fries that I've loved since before I went on this diet. These are made with sea salt, are all natural, and are vegan. These are for when I have salty cravings. These were $2.99. 

So, while I didn't succeed with my budget and while I am trying to get all raw food, it's definitely hard, but I can pat myself on the back for resisting the temptation to fill my cart with Oreos. That's all for today, I hope you all enjoyed this post and I hope you all have a great day!

xo,

Caroline 

Shopping Raw for the First Time

This weekend, my parents are going out of town, and along with leaving me in charge of making sure my house is all in one piece when they get back, they have left me money to be able to go and get food that I can actually eat, now that they both know that I am on this new diet. First I was going to try to go to Trader Joe's, but my parents gave me a $40 gift card to Heinen's, so I am going to use my first raw food shopping trip as a challenge to spend $40 or under and to shop for strictly raw food in a store that isn't super known for it's organic foods. Last night, I looked through the Heinen's weekly ad to see if there were any foods or drinks that I could have that are raw. I did find a few, which I will be showing pictures of below.

My Shopping List Includes:

Mama Chia Drinks--these are 2/$5 right now, so I figure I'll try out two different flavors. These were recommended to me by my friend Noah when he found out I was doing this raw food diet. 

Blackberries--they're 2/$4, I figure I can eat them for breakfast, and still have enough to last through the week since I'll have two packs of them.

Chia Seeds--another recommendation from Noah, hopefully I'll like them!

Hemp Seeds--wow another recommendation from Noah. I'm not even sure Heinen's will have them, but I'm hoping they will so I can make a trail mix to bring to school and such. 

Unsalted Almonds--I have them being unsalted because I had salted almonds the other day for a snack and I felt like I was eating pure sodium.

Banana Chips--my favorite, love that I can still eat them!

Raw Granola Bars--these may be hard to find, but I'm determined! Heinen's has a great range of bars, so we'll see what I find.

Almond Milk--a little nervous to try this out, but I think it will taste good with the cereal that I want to try out

Cacao Nibs--my sub for chocolate chips hopefully!

Coconut Water--I love Vita Coco's mango flavor, so I'm going to pick up a few of those!

I know that I will definitely get more items than on this list, but this is a good start for me. That's all for now! 

xo,
Caroline 

excited to try these drinks soon! 

Keeping Snacks on Hand

Over the course of the week that I have been on this raw food diet and have been attempting to eat mostly raw foods, I think that a big part of making the switch to being completely raw (which is my ultimate goal) is to always have raw food on hand as a little snack, whether it's homemade trail mix or an apple. When I'm at lunch now, they have a bowl of pears and I always have one for lunch and then I take one to eat at a break during school so I'm fed throughout the day, without giving in to the temptation of the processed food that is being sold less than 20 feet away from me. 

Here are some ideas of raw food that you can carry with you, whether it's in your locker, backpack or purse:
1.) Apple
2.) Pear
3.)Trail Mix (whether bought or homemade, but I would make sure it has nuts in it for extra protein!) 
4.) Raw Protein Bar 
5.) Carrots or Celery (or both!)

Overall, I do believe that always having one or two raw snacks on hand will a.) help curb appetite and b.) help with temptation of wanting to have processed foods that seem to always be on hand in everyday life. 

                 

Ordering Raw Food Online?

Hello everyone!
So, today I decided that I needed to try and find some raw food products to eat, not only for snacks but for things that are on the go and for breakfast. After looking online at raw food bars and finding some VERY expensive options, I found some other options that I will be ordering ASAP. Of course, being the chocolate addict I am, I looked for products that would help me with my chocolate cravings that I have been having recently, while still trying to stay raw. After about an hour of searching, I came across a website called Raw Guru, which basically has everything that you need from recipes to a raw food store. 

The cool thing about THIS raw food store online was that it had a 'Transitional' section, meaning that it helps people who are trying to change their diet to raw food. I thought this was GENIUS and instantly went to look at what they had. Below I'm going to show you the items I plan on buying and why I was drawn to them. (all images are from Raw Guru and do not belong to me. I take no credit for them)

this first item is obviously rawtella, as you can tell from the label. I found a recipe for this online, but I guess that as long as I can buy it, it will definitely come out better than anything I could ever make! For 1 oz, it's $3.49

next up is this cereal that I found! I was super excited to find cereal because it expands my breakfast options SO much more. I get bored of having apples every day for breakfast, so I know this will be a nice change with some almond milk. Also, it has cacao in it, which from my understanding is just like chocolate. 9 oz is $9.29. A little steep in my opinion for cereal, but I figure if I buy it once and love it, then it's worth it! 

next is another chocolate item, which is almonds with chocolate! I was intrigued by these because I love chocolate and I also love almonds, so this combination seemed to be great for someone with a sweet and salty tooth like me! 1.5 oz is $3.99

and last but certainly not least is yet another chocolate that I can see myself being able to throw into my purse in case I get hungry during the day (which I often do!). You can get these for only 99 cents, so I ordered one in dark chocolate and one in synergy spice, as seen above.

After putting all of these items into my cart, the total without shipping came up to $18.75. Once I have the money to spend on this food, I think I'm going to go through and buy it because it all looks very good, especially the rawtella (with some strawberries--yum!)

That's all for today! Thank you so much for reading! Happy (raw) eating! 

xo,

Caroline 

Back in the Swing of Things and Subway

So this weekend was a super busy one for me, I had 3 musical performances and of course I had cast parties afterward. The first cast party, on Friday, I was able to stay raw because they had a fruit tray so I stuck to strawberries and blackberries while resisting the temptation of eating chips and popcorn. The next cast party, I ate Subway for lunch which was raw, not including the carbs, but like I said in my previous post, I am switching my diet around a little bit to include carbs with my raw food. My newest Subway creation is: a footlong sub on Italian bread (no cheese, no meat and not toasted), with lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions, black olives, olive oil and vinegar and salt and pepper. It's DELICIOUS. The other cast party I had a harder time resisting raw food but I mostly stuck with Sun Chips, the healthiest chip of the bunch. Of course, classic me, I gave into a few Oreos and pieces of pizza along the way, but I'm back on track with the raw food. I still need to run to Trader Joe's and get food, and when I do, I will be sure to write a post, including pictures and descriptions of everything! 

xo,
Caroline

Changes and Chipotle

Hi everyone! 
I'm here today to let you know that a lot has happened since I last wrote. Due to the fact that I felt lightheaded after lunch yesterday when I did not eat enough raw food, I decided to include carbs, like bread and rice into my diet. I will try and keep it as raw as possible, like not toasting bread or anything like that, but I feel that since my goal is to clear up my skin and not lose weight, adding bread to my diet will not be that bad. 

Yesterday, I had Chipotle for the first time since going on this diet, and it was raw except for the white rice that I put in it. Next time, I'll get brown rice because it's healthier, but last night I gave into my carbs craving. The rest of my burrito bowl was raw with: tomatoes, corn, lettuce and guac. Lemme tell you, guac is AWESOME on a burrito bowl, and it's 100% raw! It's really good, and it shows that not all raw food has to be plain and boring. While I usually get a tortilla inside my burrito bowl and put cheese on the top, I decided to keep the rice and swap out both of those processed food for guacamole. That is a simple way to make your diet mostly raw, without having to go hungry. Hope you all are having a great week! 

xo,
Caroline 

                                                 yay for Chipotle being raw!! (basically)