Eating Out

Exercise: Run, lots of walking and escalators
Food: Freshly squeezed orange and grapefruit juce, some dates, banana 'ice-cream', salad from Beetroot, and then a salad from Fresh and Wild (leaves, raw tofu, carrot, alfafa sprouts, beetroot etc), corn, water with slices of cucumber

Forgot to say, checked out Saf restaurant in Shoreditch last week! It's the latest opening by raw chef Chad Sarno. I was able to go late afternoon when it was very peaceful. The decor and service is beautiful. I had a starter and a main. For starter I had flax crackers with guacamole, salsa and cashew cream. It was all lovely but I try to keep the fat levels down, so next time will ask for extra salsa and minus the cashew cream as it was a touch rich for me. My main was the Saf bowl with courgette noodles, parsnip rice, marinated mushrooms, a spicy dip and a couple of other things. This was very refreshing and I liked it a lot. I didn't try any of the desserts, well mainly because I ran out of time! And they are yet to launch their take away service. But I was sitting alongside another lady and we swapped notes on our choices. She then very kindly put aside one of her raw cookies for me from her dessert. It was very generous and unexpected. It was some sort of lucuma/choc combo. I'm not a fan of raw choc for a myriad reasons, but if I do decide to eat it I'm not kidding myself it's a health food. Awareness is the first step to freedom. So actually would have happily done without it as I didn't enjoy it that much, I could tell if I had eaten more of it my body wouldn't have been happy.

I remember last year after spotting a raw choc bar in Spitalfields Organic I bought it and ate it, nothing surprising there! But by the time I got back to my desk I felt distinctly unwell and it was like my throat was constricting. Managed to get myself to the bathroom without looking like I was dying, and threw up, after which I am grateful to say I started to feel human again. I remember checking the ingredients and lucuma was one of them along with the obvious raw cacao etc. So anyhoo not a fave for me. I had my eye on the lemon tart so will probably try that next time. Nice for a treat. One fab thing I brought home from there was their delightful way of putting slices of cucumber in the drinking water. Such a simple act but very aesthetically pleasing as well as being very blissful to drink.

Today I had a salad at the dinky Beetroot cafe on Berwick St, I've eaten there once before, it has a good vegan selection both hot and cold, but also carries cheese and meat stuff. My salad was a mix of greens, the signature beetroot, carrot, cabbage in a soyonnaise dressing, quinoa and some peanut, sprouty bean thing. At first I thought the large box looked quite small. But then realised it had depth. I chewed for England. Very yummy and filling. Highly recommended for just £5.90. I think it would be great for a low-key food date.

I had initially been exploring Wardour St to find Vitaorganic which I found but it was closed. There are a quite a few raw/health friendly cafes in that millieu of Wardour, Berwick and Brewers St. Also got some Itsu edamame and another salad from Fresh and Wild for later. The past couple of days I've not been wanting the lettuce part of my salad but happy with celery, cucumber etc. So just going with that. What I have been wanting a lot of is orange juice. So am going to load up on the golden ones this week. OJ is my number one favourite raw thing to have anytime of the day.

I've had a pack of chickpeas in the cupboard for ages so have decided to have a go at sprouting and make some raw hummous!! Also my fabulous Matstone juice which serves me so well has attachments for making pasta and nut butter, so will see if it can do the vegetable spaghetti. When I think of it the machine is pretty amazing. It also has a very simple slicing attachment which I use for celery and cucumber and other bits for salads, I enjoy them so much more when they are finely cut. Plus it has a an oil extractor attachment which I've never used, But just thinking I could use it to extract oil for my skin and hair. I'll need to work out whether the yield is worth it, but I can have fun finding out!

Banana Ice Cream

Food: 6 bananas, Salad of house/deli leaves, sun-dried tomato, avocado, beetroot, carrot, cabbage, at home about 4 bananas and another 3 blended up with 1 mango and a sachet of acai pulp

I ate A LOT yesterday. It was like I was ravenous, bananas, green smoothie, 3 salads, cherries just non-stop. Today unsurprisingIy I didn't feel hungry so decided not to eat until later. Went and bought some bananas around 2.30pm and they were so yummy, because I was ready to eat (plus my system had emptied out). But even then I wasn't that hungry so just goes to show how a little hunger can make a difference. And that's what I want to develop this year my hunger muscle. So want to push off eating now until about 2pm but will eat earlier if definitely feel hungry.

I am also going to start my bodyweight exercises from tomorrow. I feel my body is ready to get moving again, and run at the weekends until the mornings get lighter.

Yes the title of this post, I was getting to it! Well I have discovered banana ice-cream, and I am sure that most people know this one already rawies and cookies. But remember I couldn't eat bananas until recently so it's new for me. I had loads of uber ripe bananas after my fast so I froze them. Well at the weekend I remembered them. So I just threw them in the Blendtech. Oh my it was like ice cream but proper all natural honest-to-goodness food. Blew me away. I did another batch with acai, and then another with blueberries. I just thought how completely blessed/spoilt am I?

Because when I went vegan I knew I would never eat dairy ice cream again. Some things you just know they are gone. It's not something you have to battle they are just out of your life for good. And ice cream was one of those things for me.

And then I discover this!!!!!!!!!! And these are foods/desserts that most people can relate to whatever their eating patterns.... And that's a great thing I want people to feel attracted to raw, not condemned by it... Including my humble self!!

You may have noticed I had avocado. I think I'm ready for the fat! But do want to keep it low. Avocado is my favourite raw plant fat. Not least because I would never want more than one a day! Can't say the same for nuts! Hope to phase nuts right down. But will have some if I want some, because my body certainly lets me know when I've 'crossed the threshold' anyway!