Raw Radness: Eating Raw for a Day
Sometimes, a girl has got to sit back and take stock of her life — ask the hard questions, like, “Who am I?” “How are my actions affecting others?” and “Where the hell did all my cupcakes go?”
Sometimes, asking those questions reveals a sort of inner conflict. Case in point: Who am I? I’m a healthy person who writes about others. Where did my cupcakes go? In my belly, that’s where. Both of ’em, in rapid succession. See what I mean by conflict?
Yes, I am a healthy person, but from time to time I slip. I’m human, and as such, I do human things, like eating like an Ironman competitor when there is no such Ironman on the horizon. I often joke that I do Ironman because it lets me eat whatever I want, but it’s actually no joke at all. I really, really, really like to eat, and that requires really, really, really large amounts of exercise to keep this Fit Bottom in check. When I have no race on the calendar, like I do right now, it’s important for me to take inventory and hit the “reset” button on my eating habits. Some may advocate a juice cleanse or something similar for a person in my situation, and I would advise that person to go back a few sentences where I talk about how I really, really, really (did I mention really?) like to eat.
For me, raw food is the way to go. It’s easy, it’s tasty and it quickly reminds me of how good I feel when I eat right. Here’s what I ate for a day during my raw-food reset!
My Raw Food Breakfast
I had an early-morning Pilates workout, so I wanted a light breakfast to get through the session without slowing me down. I piled some strawberries, blueberries and blackberries in a bowl and topped with cashew-chia cream.
My Raw Food Post-Workout Snack
After two hours in the studio, I was thirsty! What you consume post-workout is what your body uses to recover and repair muscles, so it’s important to choose wisely. In other words, skip the chocolate-chip bagels and peanut-butter smoothies! They’re a tasty reward, but not very helpful when it comes to enhancing the gains made while exercising. Green juices are a great way to deliver big nutrients and bigger flavor, without a ton of calories. Today’s post-workout drink contained spinach, kale, cucumber, celery and lots of lemon.
My Raw Food Lunch
Because I work from home, I usually end up eating at my desk while researching or editing articles. The ideal lunch is something I can eat with one hand while the other scrolls through journal articles and e-mails on my laptop.
Today’s one-handed, raw-tastic lunch was a collard green wrap, stuffed with avocado, tomato, carrot, purple cabbage, peppers, sprouts, fresh herbs, almond “cheese” (I make mine with this recipe from Rawmazing) and a squeeze of lemon.
Another Raw Food Snack
Around 3 p.m, I came down with a case of the munchies. Since I had another workout coming up in a few hours, I figured the timing was right to grab a quick snack — it’d give me time to digest before hopping on the bike.
I’ve been on a pistachio kick lately — specifically, the raw pistachios from Trader Joe’s. As I wrote an article for the March issue of Triathlete magazine, I munched on a handful of pistachios, along with an apple.
My Raw Food Workout Drink
My evening workout was … not my favorite thing ever. I love to ride my bike, but I love to ride it more when I can do it outdoors. By the time I finished my work for the day, however, it was too late to get on the roads. After setting up my bike in the trainer, I made a “workout beverage” keeping with the raw theme by shaking a bottle of water mixed with lemon juice, lime juice and a pinch of sea salt for electrolytes. Normally, I drink Skratch Labs when I ride my bike, but this trainer session was short and sweet (one hour of mostly form drills), so I didn’t need a lot of calories. I just needed to stay hydrated.
My Raw Food Dinner
One of the reasons raw food is “easy” for me is because I live in Phoenix, where there are an abundance of places that serve up delicious meals for the raw-food crowd. One of those, Pomegranate Cafe, is right in my backyard. One of my favorite things to do for a healthy dinner is walk to Pom for a taco salad with greens, walnut “taco meat,” guacamole, fresh veggies and chimchurri. Though it’s something I can make at home, I like to go out to eat, because Pom makes something I have yet to master …
My (Amazing) Raw Food Dessert
Raw tiramisu. Yes, I said raw tiramisu. And it was delicious.
Juice cleanse? Pssht, please. Who needs a juice cleanse?
What do you do when you need to hit the reset button on your eating habits? —Susan