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) 

Day Two: Struggles and Temptations

Hello everyone!
I'm back with another blog post today, again to tell you what I ate and how I am adjusting to my new diet.

Here are the foods that I had today for each meal:

Breakfast:
a little bit of hot green tea
3 clementines (they weren't very good but they kept me filled up until lunch)

Lunch:
2 dill pickles spears (I don't think anyone knew my joy at the fact that I can eat pickles on this diet)
cucumber slices
pepper slices (both cucumbers and peppers with italian dressing)
banana chips
water with ice and lemon

Dinner:

Snacks:
4 Blazing California Rolls
Edamame (a ton of it)

Water Intake:
72 oz = 9 cups of water

Exercise:
does dancing in a musical for 2 hours count? I think yes.

Today, temptation attempted to distract me a few times today. Popcorn, Cheeto Puffs and Wendy's all tempted me, but all I could imagine was my face freaking out if I ate any of them. I know for a fact that I will let myself cheat every once in awhile, like with meat (or Oreos) but right now I'm trying very hard to stay to this diet. I'm struggling a little bit right now because I haven't gotten a chance to go out and get the ingredients I need to make a lot of the awesome recipes I've found. I feel that once I get the chance to make the trip out to Trader Joe's, this diet will be a lot more successful. That's all for today!

xo,
Caroline

Why I Made This Decision

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J--YMsvR17w

This video link above is my main inspiration to start my raw food diet, and the main reason is because of how fast her skin changed. I am not expecting that for me personally because I do not want to get my hopes up, only to be let down, but a girl can dream, right? Please view the video above if you are thinking about going on a raw food diet like me!

Special thanks to my friend Bella for showing me the video!

xo,
Caroline

About Me!

Hello everyone! 
Today, I am writing to you from my raw food blog! I decided to start a raw food diet because I know that it's good for clearing up skin, something that I have struggled with since I was 11. I know that I eat poorly, and I want to fix up my diet. This blog is going to cover the failures that I have with cravings, awesome recipes that I make and try, and daily posts of what I eat each day. I do not intend to lose any weight on this diet, so I do plan on taking multi-vitamins to make up for what I lose when I'm not eating processed foods or cooked foods. Hope you all enjoy! Here is what I ate today:

Breakfast: 
*Iced Green Tea
*Green Apple

Lunch:
*Hot Green Tea
*Carrots
*Celery 
*Pineapple 

Snacks:
*California Rolls w/ Imitation Crab
*Oreos (I CAVED! I know, but I plan on getting other sweet foods that are vegan and not overprocessed)

Dinner hasn't happened yet, but I'll probably have some edamame and bread of some sort. Remember, I'm still trying to get the hang of this but I want you all here on the journey! 

xo,
Caroline