Day 113

It was pointed out to me that I've been talking about 80/10/10 a lot lately, but never actually explained what it is. I know that not everyone around here is raw, so here's a brief rundown.

80/10/10, or 811, is a method of raw veganism in which 80% of your calories come from carbs, 10% from protein and 10% from fat. It's basically eating a low fat raw vegan diet, as opposed to high fat and nut heavy. It's based on this book by Dr Doug Graham. He advocates that most of your diet should consist of fruit, that it's our natural, biological diet, and we should eat it in simple combinations of 2-3 items at most at a time. Mono-meals, an abundance of one fruit, is best and least taxing for the digestive system.

811 is not a low calorie diet and highly encourages exercise. To get the necessary nutrients, it's important to eat around 2000 calories a day and then exercise to burn off about 500 calories. This is a lot of fruit, and I'm actually having trouble eating as much as I should. I just get distracted and forget to eat.

To give you an idea of how my days have been going, this is what I ate yesterday:

7 bananas
3 oranges
1 pear
1.5 cups cherry tomatoes
3 cups spinach
2 cups mango
1 cup papaya
1 oz cashews

It wasn't a great day for me. I only ate 1497 cals, which is way too low. My ratios were decent, though: 84/6/11. I'm using the CRON-o-meter to help track my intake, which is really helpful. Today has been better so far:

5 cups watermelon
3 pints of strawberries
4 bananas
4 dates
3 pears
1 papaya

I'm going to eat a two ears of corn, which will bring me to 2096 and 89/5/6. Corn is crazy high in calories. No wonder why they give it to animals instead of grass to fatten them up. My day was much better on the cals, but I need to work on getting my protein up a bit higher.

I've been hanging out a lot lately at 30 Bananas a Day, which is a great place to be if you have questions or need support in 811. Eating this way makes a lot more sense to me than using cups of nuts in each meal. I feel good so far.

-Eloise

Day 112

The current state of the fruit table. Minus the watermelon. I cut that up for dinner.

I want to be a runner. I want to be the type of person who says, "I went on a short five mile run this morning" as if it was no big deal. I want to run a marathon. I want to look good in spandex shorts.

My dad's a runner, and it's something I've always really admired about him. I remember being in 6th grade and getting on the bus at an ungodly hour on a cold winter morning. We were all bundled in parkas with hats and mittens. As the bus rolled down my street, we passed my dad who was heading home from his morning run. In shorts. One of the cool boys on the bus exclaimed, "That's so hardcore! That guy's running in shorts!" And I was so proud to say that was my dad. He's run multiple marathons. He ran the Marine Corp marathon in 1994,the same year as Oprah, and passed her on the course. He doesn't run as much lately, but he's still heavily involved with his local runner's club, helping to organize races.

It's not that I haven't had the opportunity or tried before, but I've never gone about it the right way. I always push myself to go too far too fast in the beginning. So that's my motivation to starting Couch to 5k. It's meant to ease a beginner into running through interval training By the middle of the summer, I should be running a little over three miles regularly. That's the plan, anyway.

Today was day one, and it went well. My running was a respectable pace, and I tried to pay close attention to my form, so I don't set myself up for bad habits later on. I didn't get a stitch in my side and I didn't feel like my lungs were going to burst, all of the hallmarks of my previous running experiences. None of the neighbors pounded on the door because of how loud the treadmill is, which I was kind of afraid of. We talked to them, but you never know. Oh, also, instead of timing myself or watching the distance, I'm using this podcast, which is working out really well.

So here's to being more like my dad! I never, ever thought I would say it, but somehow I am becoming more and more like him every day. I kind of accidentally became an engineer, and now the whole running thing. I suppose there are worse things. I'll just skip the mustache, thanks.

-Eloise

Day 111

Yesterday, the back of my living room looked like this:

Today, it looks like this:
As an aside, why are cats never attracted to the thing specifically purchased for them, but run right to the new, shiny thing you'd rather not have them sitting on?

So our treadmill is here! We paid extra to have it delivered and set up, which was totally worth it. First of all, we're on the fourth floor and this thing weighs more than both Mad and I combined. Also, assembling Ikea furniture typically results in us not on speaking terms for a good couple hours. I guarantee if we tried to put this thing together, this would be an entirely different post.

Now we have no excuses left for not exercising and one very big and expensive reason why we should. Also, when you think about it, in the long term, we'll be saving money by not buying exercise apparel. I'm totally running in a sports bra and sneakers. Maybe undies. We'll see. I'm heading out shortly to get fitted for some new running shoes, and tomorrow starts day one of couch to 5k. I'm still going to the park to hike every other morning. Outside is good.

I haven't been posting a lot about food lately, cause honestly, it's boring. Madeline and I are doing 80/10/10, which is really amazing so far. It really makes sense with what I've thought all along: nuts are way too high in fat and calories, and getting into shape is not going to happen on a high fat diet. Even if it is raw. So mostly we eat fruit. Today so far, I've had 1/2 lb of strawberries and 9 peaches. I'm going to grab a bag of grapes to take with me on my way out. I'll make big salads for us tonight for dinner. Nothing really blog worthy.

I was just emailed some more pics from graduation, so here's one more that I love of Madeline, myself and my best friend, J:

-Eloise

Day 108

With my little brother. So to speak.

It's official! I am officially a college graduate. It's really amazing. I was looking forward to finishing, but the sense of accomplishment that I felt walking across the stage was incredible. I have worked so hard for this. High school was a very difficult time for me, and I barely graduated. For a few years, I worked unfulfilling jobs and really had no purpose. When I made up my mind to go to college, though, it was for me, and I was determined to do my best. I said no to a lot of parties, I forewent nights out to study, and there is a chair in the library that perfectly conforms to my butt from the hours I've spent sitting in it.

Forgive me, then, if I take the moment to revel in my accomplishments. On Friday, there was an award ceremony where I received an award and a complimentary membership to a professional organization in my field. On Sunday, I graduated summa cum laude with a perfect 4.0 cumulative GPA. I was also given an award for the highest scholastic achievement in my school (there are five schools that comprise my university). I was also awarded a research assistantship position and in exchange for 20 hours of research a week, I get complete tuition remission and a stipend.

At the award ceremony with my parents

And I am so excited for grad school. I think before it felt like just a continuation of school, but graduation really helped to frame my undergrad. I'm excited to start with a fresh slate and I'm excited to get into new research and I'm really motivated to work.

Before that, though, I have the whole lovely summer ahead of me. I'll still be working, but my schedule is flexible and I'll have three whole days off, two of which coincide with Madeline's days off. I'll be running, going to park, hiking, painting the apartment, cleaning out all the clutter we've accumulated, and just basically taking time to relax.

I'll be honest, this has not been the raw-est weekend... there may have been some tequila along the way. But I've been reading 80/10/10 and mono-mealing bananas today, and I feel really good about going further with my diet. I'm feeling the raw love again.

-Eloise

Day 105

Nap time, apparently

It's not the best picture, but it definitely made me smile. Yesterday, I walked into the living room and found Madeline and all four of the cats asleep. The first thing I did was get the camera to take a picture. The second thing was to settle onto the end of the couch with a book.

Also. I get it. I've been wondering why I haven't been feeling the raw love lately and why I'm been so emotional. I've been frustrated and upset about things I thought I had moved way beyond, and I've been sabotaging my own efforts at getting healthier. It hit me like a ton of bricks.

As my diet improves and I eat more light and simple meals, I'm also getting rid of one of my main coping mechanisms for suppressing my emotions. I've had so much clarity and insight into myself these past few weeks, but I haven't made the connection to what I've been eating. But come on, that's what emotional eating is, filling an emotional void so we don't have to think about what's really bothering us.

I can see this now. So I'm going to try to work through what I've been going through, try to process it instead of putting it away. This summer is all about me, loving me, taking care of me. It's not selfish, I have to keep telling myself that. I need to take care of myself, and I will be better for it.

-Eloise

Day 103

Garden of weeds

It's getting late in planting season, and I haven't done a thing with my container garden yet, but look what I discovered on the balcony today! It's actually starting to look like a garden again. Other than the chives, I have no idea if anything is of any worth. I didn't think that much of what I planted was perennial. In the pots last year were tomatoes, strawberries, chives and peppers, clockwise from the top left. Anyone have any clue if I might actually be growing fruit and veggies? Or are they weeds?

Herbs? These didn't even sprout last year

I took my last final today, which means I can blog, knit and otherwise procrastinate with a clear conscience. There's no lab work and no studying to be done. I don't think it's completely sunk in yet. I still feel very tense. I think it's more than school work, though. Even when I've had the time, I haven't wanted to go hiking in the past few days. I tricked myself into taking a walk both yesterday and today. Yesterday, I told myself I was going to mail a letter at the mailbox two blocks away. I did, and then I just kept walking through the neighborhood, looking at gardens and letting my mind wander. Today I took out the garbage and just started walking again. For someone who doesn't want to be outside or exercise at the moment, those hour plus walks were certainly cathartic. I felt much better when I got home. Why is it that I resist what I know will make me feel better?

It's a bad habit of mine to focus my anger and frustration on small things and realize much later that it's a bigger issue that's bothering me. I've been trying to be more aware and in tune with what I'm really feeling. If I make myself go outside and walk, sometimes the pieces sort themselves out on their own. As far as I can tell, there are two issues that are bothering me. In the immediate future, my parents are visiting twice this weekend. I love them, but our relationship is strained at best. And that relates to the bigger picture.

The short version is that as I get older, I need my parents less and less. Though I work, they've help to support me through college. I've secured funding for grad school that will largely take care of living expenses, but I may still need their help to some extent. When I start working, though, I won't. My father tries to keep an open mind, but my mother is vehemently against gay marriage and against gay couples raising children, both of which I intend to do within the next decade. This has been underscored by the fact that my cousin got engaged this past week. I am very happy for her, I think that her and her fiance make a great couple, but in contrast I know that the church wedding I dreamed of as a kid is not a reality for me. I've fought fiercely for independence, but the thought of estrangement makes me sad. Completing undergrad is a huge milestone, but it also puts me closer to this. I didn't choose to be gay. It's been almost nine years since I came out, though, and it's unlikely that my mother will change. The way I deal with it is what has to change.

This has nothing to do with being raw, but I think I'm hoping that acknowledging it and putting it out there will keep me from repressing how I feel and coping with emotional eating. Bleh.

Also, I miss Madeline. She's been working such long hours lately. She leaves the house at 6am, before I get up (although I get a kiss when she's on her way out the door), she gets home after nine at night, has enough time to eat dinner and spend time with me briefly before she crashes before 11. Ostensibly she has two days off, but she goes in then, too, if there are things that need to get done. I don't in any way resent the time she spends at work. It's essential to her career, and she needs to establish herself. It's just the way it's going to be for now. I'm just used to spending more time with her, and I feel a little lost at home in the evenings by myself.

Okay. All the negativity goes in this one post. Now we can move on.

-Eloise

Day 102

Yarn: The Fibre Company's Canopy Fingering in River Dolphin

50 % Baby Alpaca, 30% Merino, 20% Bamboo

In the spirit of studying and research, I thought I'd explore a topic I raised the other day: the eco-friendliness of supposedly green fibers. This is distilled from a research paper I completed earlier in the year. Some of my (vast, vast) audience may be incredibly boring, so please bear with me until the next post, but if you find it informative, let me know!

Is bamboo really a green fiber?

Once regulated to ornamental gardens, bamboo has seen a recent surge in the American textile products. A newcomer to the market, bamboo fiber was developed in Beijing University in 2002 (Orensten). With a natural abundance of bamboo and a vast textile production industry, it was an ideal innovation for the country, and China remains the only manufacturer of bamboo textile products (Everman). Currently in the United States, bamboo can be found in everything from tee shirts to sheeting and towels. In some aspects, it is the ideal sustainable fiber. “[It] grows as much as 18 inches in a day, maturing to a harvestable size in three to five years, compared with 50 to 100 years for most hardwood species” (Stark). It is naturally resistant to most diseases and pests, requiring minimal pesticides and fertilizers. It also requires very little water, particularly in contrast to cotton (Koprowski). Once planted, bamboo will maintain a root network that will continually produce new shoots, eliminating the need for replanting (Lackman). As a plant, bamboo is incredibly environmentally friendly and sustainable.

However, the thick fibrous grass is not naturally suited to textile use and requires extensive processing. Bamboo is a regenerated cellulose fiber, meaning it must be liquefied and reconfigured into fiber form, either through mechanical processing or chemical processing. Mechanical processing incurs minimal environmental damage. It involves masticating the plant into a pulp and using natural enzymes to further break it down. The natural fibers can then be combed out and spun into yarn. This process is lengthy, expensive and not widely used. Fabrics made from yarn that is processed in this manner is often referred to as bamboo linen, as it is similar to the linen processing (Lackman).

More common is the use of chemical processing, similar to that of rayon. The bamboo is made into a pulp in a chemical bath of sodium hydroxide and carbon disulphide. The detrimental effects of both of these compounds are widely documented. Sodium hydroxide, which is also known as caustic soda or lye, is extremely corrosive and pollutes soil and groundwater, and exposure to carbon disulphide can result in neurological damage. Excessive exposure can be fatal (Stainsby). The liquefied bamboo is then extruded into fine fibers and set with an acid bath.

Bamboo also is the subject of widespread greenwashing. It is widely purported that bamboo has natural anti-microbial properties. According to the Japan Textile Association, who worked in conjunction with Bambro Tex®, the Chinese company that originated commercial bamboo textile production, it contains a unique bio-agent, dubbed ‘bamboo Kun’, which is naturally anti-bacterial. Many clothing manufactures and news outlets have perpetuated this theory. The American Fox news has reported, “…bamboo contains a natural element called “bamboo kun” which serves as a natural antibiotic, protecting the wearer from nasty germs as well as body odor, which is caused by bacteria living in our armpits” (Stark). However, in tests conducted by researchers at Colorado State University’s College of the Applied Human Sciences, bamboo fabric was not found to be antimicrobial. Subhash Appidi, who collaborated on the project, found it comparable to other cellulose based fibers: “All cellulose fibers allow more moisture to leak in and provide more food for bacteria to eat. That’s why bacteria grow more on natural fibers rather than synthetic fibers” (Marsh). While the process of producing bamboo may be green, the production is found to be lacking.

Works Cited

Everman, Victoria. "How Green Is Bamboo Fabric?" 4 Oct. 2007. 20 Apr. 2009

<http://victoria-e.com/2007/10/04/how-green-is-bamboo-fabric/>.

Koprowski, Gene J. "How Green Is Bamboo-Based Clothing?" Fox News 14 Feb. 2008. 18 Apr. 2009 <http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,330621,00.html>.

Marsh, Charmayne. "Ajoy Sarkar Investigates the Properties of Bamboo Fabrics." 11 Apr. 2008. College of the Applied Human Sciences. 18 Apr. 2009 <http://www.cahs.colostate.edu/news/item/?ID=550>.

"Natural Anti-bacteria of Bamboo Fiber." BambroTex. 18 Apr. 2009 <http://www.bambrotex.com/second/bc_nab.htm>.

Orensten, Evan. "Bam Clothing." Cool Hunting. 18 July 2006. 18 Apr. 2009 <http://www.coolhunting.com/archives/2006/07/bam_clothing.php>.

Stainsby, Sam. "Beware the Bamboo Greenwash." Junk Mail from the Universe. 15 May 2008. 20 Apr. 2009 <http://sam.stainsby.id.au/blog/?p=16>.

Stark, Judy. "Bamboo Growing Like Weeds In The Fabric Market." Bamboo Clothes. 21 Oct. 2006. St. Petersburg Times. 18 Apr. 2009 <http://www.bambooclothes.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=bamboo_fabric>.

-Eloise

Day 100: pt 2

Good morning, creatures!

I was thinking that my entry this morning sounded slightly dismal for a 100 day retrospective. So to supplement that, here's a list of the things I am loving about being raw:

1. Increased energy: I am definitely feeling better, lighter, less weighed down. When I eat all fruits and veggies, I don't feel tired or sluggish after eating.

2. Clear skin: That's one of my favorite changes so far. I rarely break out, and I've been leaving the house without makeup fairly frequently. You have no idea what an accomplishment that is for me. When I was 13, my best friend at the time joked that when I got married, I'd sneak out of bed after my husband went to sleep to wash my face and then get up before him to apply makeup and get back into bed. My, how things have changed.

3. Quick meals: It's true that making raw food can take days. But a salad can be thrown together in minutes and fruit can be eaten as is, and that's what I'm increasingly craving.

4. Getting into shape: I may not yet have a bikini body, but I do definitely have a tee shirt body again. In the last few months before going vegan, I was increasingly reluctant to wear more form-fitting clothes and opted for blousier tops. I'm sure obscuring my figure wasn't helping me to look thinner, but I wanted to hide the weight I was gaining. Although I haven't lost much weight, my stomach is flatter and I'm liking the way I look in clothes again.

5. Wanting to be more active: Changing my diet has encouraged me to start working out again, and that's where the real physical changes are going to come from.

6. Empowerment: I don't really know how to put this one into words, but being more decisive with my food choices has helped me to be more decisive with my words and actions. I feel more grounded and centered, and much more deliberate.

7: Connecting to nature: Wanting to get into shape has gotten me outdoors, and it feels so good to hike in the park and be surrounded by dirt and trees instead of cement and cars. I'm enjoying the sun in small, protected doses, and haven't gotten a sunburn yet this season.

8: Solidarity with Madeline: Like going vegan, eating raw is something that Mad and I have done together. We support each other and we hold each other accountable, and I couldn't imagine doing it without her.

9: Cheap groceries: We're really lucky to have a really inexpensive produce place nearby, and as we've cut way down on the nuts, our grocery bills are now lower than when we eating cooked food. We spend $30-$40 per week for the two of us, and we're eating really well.

10: Okay, I can't think of a 10, but you ending a list at 9 is just wrong. So, uh... oh, it's easier to wash dishes, cause most things we just rinse off, and there are no pots and pans to scrub. There you go, 10.

-Eloise

Day 100

One of many, many salads

100 days! The days seemed to creep by so slowly in the beginning, but holy crap! 100 days now seems like nothing.

You know, I really thought that this raw thing was going to be a piece of (figurative) cake. Eat fruits and veggies, feel great, drop those 10 lbs, easy peasy. After more than three months, though, I'm not where I want to be. After graduation, though, I am recommitting myself to starting over, to eating better and exercising more. To taking care of myself. That's always the first thing I let slide when I get stressed out, and I can only imagine that grad school is not going to get any easier. I stopped weighing myself a couple weeks back, because I wasn't making any progress and it was occupying too much of my mind.

I think that the most difficult thing has been trying to break the habit of using food as emotional comfort. I suppose this is hardly a revelation, nor is it uncommon by any means, but I have the uncanny ability to make even raw food unhealthy (did you know that dates stuffed with cacao nibs taste like an inside out Raisinet? And whereas Madeline will eat half of one and enjoy it, I will eat four and feel guilty).

There has been a really interesting shift going on in both our diets, though. We're eating far fewer nuts, much less oil and way more fruit. The few nut heavy recipes I've made over the past few weeks, even the things we used to heartily enjoy, like walnut pate, leave us feeling sluggish and heavy. I haven't posted any recipes recently because in addition to being too busy to prepare anything interesting, we're eating primarily whole fruits and vegetable, nothing revolutionary.

So here's the plan: I bought The 80/10/10 Diet, which I am going to read. I've had it for a few weeks, but I think I've been scared to find reasons to want to change my diet further. I've also been really annoyed with the junk science in some of the raw books I've read previously, so I hope that this will be different.

We also purchased a treadmill, which was an incredibly huge investment. Scarily huge. I've been reading everything I can find about treadmills, and a lot of lower end models are good for walking, but don't have the structural integrity to withstand running, which is what Mad and I both want to do. So we went with a more expensive model that will hopefully last us for a long, long time. Once it arrives, I am going to start working on Couch to 5k, which is something I've wanted to do for a while.

This has been good. And it will get better.

-Eloise

Day 98

I look better in the picture on the right. But Madeline looks better in the picture below. I am going to post both, cause I'm considerate like that. ;)

I am heavily mired in finals (still), but I can see the end! One week and two days from now, I will have already walked across stage to, well, not get my diploma. They mail that later. But I'm sure it will be significant and symbolic all the same.

I have to say that at this point, raw has become rather rote. In a lot of ways, it's easier than just being vegan. When I'm heading to the library for a marathon research and study session, I dump the fruit bowl into my bag, and I know that I'll be good for the day. I used to think that just fruit and veggies were never filling, that I needed that starch to fill me up, but without bread and crackers in my diet, an apple hits the spot. I've been heavily subsisting off of apples lately.

Mad and I did venture down to Maryland Sheep and Wool last Sunday, which was fantastic, particularly if you have an affinity for the smell of wet sheep. It rained all day, as it has the entire week. We combated the slightly dismal prospect of traipsing in the mud with wet toes by tailgating in my car prior, hence the MySpace-esque self portraits. I do so wonder sometimes if perhaps I have been too academically minded when one of the highlights of my college years include pre-gaming before a yarn festival, but there you go. I had a lot of fun, and I scored some gorgeous yarn.

The best part of the day was getting to meet Jacey from Insubordiknit. I love her gorgeous yarn and her blog and her podcast, and she is just as sweet and funny in person as she is online, even after I accosted her introduced myself out in the open as we were all rushing from tent to tent to find cover. I had heard that she was going to be there on Sunday, so I admit, it was a goal of mine to meet her (and in the car on the way home, I kept asking Mad, "Was I a huge dork? I'm always much cooler in my head"). I have a piece that I submitted to her for an upcoming podcast, so stay tuned for forthcoming details!

-Eloise

Day 92

Incidental salad face

Three months raw. I just did a quick tally in my head and have figured out that we've eaten cooked meals 6 times in the last 92 days, which I think is pretty impressive. It's getting a lot easier to eat raw now that it's getting warm. I am really looking forward to the summer. Graduation is two weeks from tomorrow, and this will be the first time I'm not taking classes during summer term in three years. I know that it's going to be difficult for me not having Madeline around, though. Her work schedule has been really intense: 12-18 hours a day five, sometime six, days a week, and it's been a huge adjustment. I am incredibly happy that she's enjoying her work and finding it fulfilling, but selfishly, I do miss her very much. I will be working this summer, but I'll still have a lot more free time. I'm going to make the best of it and really focus on myself and my well-being over the coming months.

One thing that Mad and I have both noticed-reproductive organ alert- is that eating raw is kind of screwing with our periods. For years, Mad was on a consistent 27 day cycles, but she's been rather irregular these past three months. I have always been very irregular, but the time between ovulation and actually getting my period has noticeably lengthened and the physical symptoms, primarily bloating and tenderness, have become acute. I'm really not enjoying this development. I've been reading very good things about evening primrose oil, though, and I'm going to try taking supplements next month to see if that helps.

Tomorrow, Mad has a rare day off, and we're traveling to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, which I am incredibly excited about. I have a huge batch of kale chips dehydrating and I made a giant fruit salad, so hopefully we'll have enough provisions to sustain us through the day. I highly doubt we'll find any raw vegan food among the fried oreos and lamb kebabs at the fairgrounds.

-Eloise

Day 89

Cauliflower popcorn and kale chips

Still slogging through the end of term.

Dinner last night was a lot of fun. We had raw "junk food." I'm going to post the recipes quick and then get back to the lab report I'm working on.

Cauliflower Popcorn
My own interpretation extrapolated from various sources around the web
Ingredients
1 large head of cauliflower
1 c cashews, soaked 2 hours
Juice from 1/2 lemon
2 T nutritional yeast
water to blend
salt to taste

Break cauliflower into bite sized pieces. Put in big bowl and set aside. Blend remaining ingredients. Pour the sauce over the cauliflower (should be fairly thick) and toss to coat. Dehydrate 24 hours.

The kale chips came from We Like it Raw. I'm not even going to attempt to emulate the great tutorial they have, but I want to post the ingredients so I can readily find them next time I want to make them (and I do... as soon as I get more kale).

Kale Chips
2 bunches kale
1/4 c olive oil
1 tsp salt
juice from 1/2 lemon
1 T agave

Dehydrate 6-8 hours.

Oh, also: when I was retrieving an errant cauliflower floret that fell on the floor, I found Ethel sitting like this:


I didn't catch her mid-stretch, she was actually just chilling like that. Weirdo cat.

Bonus points if you spot the cauliflower!

-Eloise

Day 88

Five 4.5 pounds of Medjool dates. Mmm.

Madeline called me the other night and asked if I wanted to meet her at work to get dinner. I hesitated for the briefest of moments. After all, we'd used up our self-imposed quota of one cooked meal per month with lunch the week prior. But I had been in the library working on research for the past 6 hours and Mad was going to be at work for 18 hours that day. As soon as she mentioned suishi, I was packing my things and heading out the door.

Dinner was fantastic. There's this amazing Japanese restaurant near her work, in a strip mall of all places. You wouldn't expect it to be so cute until you made it inside. We sat across from each other with a platter full of veggie rolls talking about how are days went. Madeline looked exceedingly sexy in her work clothes- dress slacks and shoes, white button up rolled up to the elbows. On a normal night, we change into PJs right after walking through the door and eat on the couch with salad bowls balancing on our bellies. It was just really nice to go out together, and I think it's really good for our relationship.

So this the long way to say that I've been thinking about what it means to eat raw (again), and how it's impacting my life. A lot of good things have come out of it. I am happier, healthier, more energetic, in love with my skin. I am eating much, much better. There are downsides, too, though. I am hyper aware of everything I'm eating, which I don't think is necessarily a good thing. If I had a smoothie for breakfast, a big salad for lunch and fruit throughout the day, I don't want to feel guilty because I had some rice with dinner.

As we're nearing three months, I'm going to let go a little. Everything we make and eat at home will still be raw, but eating out will be flexible. It'll be an occasional treat, as we've never eaten out more that every couple of weeks, anyway, and of course it will always be vegan. But I'm going to stop obsessing over whether or not I've had a cooked meal within the month. I think this is more a change of my state of mind, rather than circumstances, because really, does it make a huge difference to eat a cooked meal every three weeks as opposed to four. Not really. But relaxing and being able to enjoy it instead of feeling like I'm "cheating" is important to me.

It's kind of difficult to talk about being less than perfect here in the open, but I want to create an honest narrative. Eating raw isn't always easy, and it does involve sacrifice, both gastronomical and social. I know that I will never be one of the raw gurus, but I'm okay with that. Health is the goal for me, not purity.

I think I'm also going to expand my horizons here a little and include s0me knitting content every once in a while. I used to have a knitting blog, but I only finish a project every couple of weeks or so. Makes for slow updates. Doing so opens me up to another world of controversy, though.

I knit with wool.

Wool is not considered vegan.

I consider myself vegan.

There, I've said it. I was a knitter prior to being a vegan, and it's the one thing I never gave up. There are very good reasons for opting to abstain from wool, which I will not recapitulate, but direct you here if you're interested.

But I am also a materials engineer with a focus on textiles, and I can tell you that the production of almost every fiber has significant ecological repercussions. Many so-called green fibers are terrible, bamboo and recycled-from-soda-bottle polyester being my biggest pet peeves. Also, science cannot replicate nature, only mimic it if it's lucky, and there is nothing like wool for it's insulative, wicking and shape retention properties. It's good stuff.

So bottom line: I'm really not raw and I'm really not a vegan. Glad we cleared that up.

-Eloise

Day 84

Sprouting cats

Please take note of Fred's whiskers on the left side of the image. He was being nosy.

So things have been feeling a little stagnant around here lately. I'm not sprouting and the cats have taken to using the station as a sunny chaise. Un-cooking happens in random fits of inspiration. Today was the first day in about two weeks that I made it to the park for a hike. All I can repeat is my tired mantra: school. It's school that's keeping me busy. In these last two weeks, I have a combined fifty plus pages to write. Albeit, a good portion of that is a lab report which is filled with data charts and tables, but still. It's time consuming.

I really had no business even going to the park today with all that needs to get done, but I had to pick up Mr. Bingley's cremains from the vet before it got too late, and once I leave campus, all bets are pretty much off. It's a gorgeous day, and it's hard to pass that up in comparison to the climate controlled lab or the library. I will be there all this weekend, though.

There is an end in sight, and once that happens, hopefully things will get a little more interesting around here. And I'll be able to spend all the time I want outside. Afterall, I have this new nifty gadget that's going to make me the coolest geek on the trails:

It's so dorky, and it's awesome.

-Eloise

Day 82

I have been so incredibly hungry lately. Really, really famished. For the past two days, I have been this bottomless pit, eating everything in the house (which is luckily all raw). I made an indulgent, nut heavy apple crumble tonight. Madeline and I have already devoured half of it, which satiated me for a while, but I'm kind of hungry again. And I want something salty. That combined with the InstaThreePounds!^TM and the cup overfloweth that's been going on lately can only mean one thing: my body is preparing to gestate. Not that that's a possibility, but it's a good a reason as any to eat dessert.

The reason I bring this up is because I've noticed something. My skin is looking incredible. It's smooth and clear, and I'm not broken out at all, which is amazing. I know it sounds like I'm shamelessly boasting, but acne has been something I've dealt with for more than half my life now. I've pretty much got it under control with a regimented washing routine that's incredibly unnatural, but during ovulation, all bets are usually off. My skin very easily marks, too, so evidence of break outs tend to hang around long after the damage is done.

But this month, nothing. See?
Unexpected happy consequence of going raw.

-Eloise

p.s. Oh, boy. I have a bellyache. Waaaay to much apple crumple.