My First Experiment with Raw Butternut Squash

November 13, 2006

Now that I am on the east coast, I am opening myself up to new winter foods. I have fell in love with radish, Chinese cabbage, and bokchoy. Who would have thought you could get so much bokchoy on the east coast. The good news is that bokchoy has more calcium than Kale, so the more I can eat it the better.

Anyhow, this morning I made raw butternut squash soup. It was a lot different than I expected. When I tasted it, my initial response was "I can't eat this..." In the soup was butternut squash, an avocado, a whole can of coconut milk, 3 carrots, cinnamon, and maple syrup. I blended these ingredients in my blender for a long time. The texture of it is what threw me. I expected it to be a little more creamy, and it wasn't. It wasn't horrible, just weird. So I warmed the soup a little in a clay plot, and the heat definitely helped.

I ate the soup for lunch and I must say that I am looking forward to eating the rest when I get home. I will share more recipes as my butternut squash techniques improve.

-Brandi

After being in Thailand for two months, I'm sick again for the second time.

The first time was exactly one month ago. It was on a Thursday, October 12th to be exact. I had made plans to go out to dinner with the other 9 Americans, but suddenly and awfully I was feeling sick, a lingering irritation that let me know something was in my body and doing things that my system did not like. It went on for days in fact, including an eight-hour Saturday bus ride to Chiang Mai. Yeah, I had motion sickness and nausea, but not enough to throw up. My greatess symptoms which were emphasized by the bug were irritation and a BAD MOOD. It lasted until Tuesday, but by then I had decided I was going to pass this bug on. I said "I'm not leaving the house today. I'm going to go ahead and be sick and get it over with." And that's what happened. I went to the bathroom, didn't stick anything in my mouth, I just started coughing and there it came. For hours, I alternated sleep and vomiting sessions, and when I didn't have anything in my stomack, then came the diarehea. It was not pretty, but I was happy just to get it out. By the night time, I couldn't hold anything down, not even juice, so the doctor gave me some meds for that and to stop the diarrea. I slept the next day and was fine.

So where did it come from? Obviously the food. It's weird, people tell you not to buy food from street vendors because it's unsanitary, but street food is like 65% of the experience here in Thailand. Tourists eat it, Thais eat it, I figure there's no way I'm not going to eat it since I'm here for six months. But somethings like an exposed mound of noodles sitting under a lamp in on a crowded street with everything from bugs, people and unsmoged cars coughing passed it... I will not be eating. And the gorgeous looking papaya and pineapple sliced with knives that you shouldn't expected have even been rinsed in the last hour, and sitting in ice that has traveled on the back of open pick up trucks and swung in who knows how many directions on the way to that glass case which has been sitting in the sun for hours holding those gorgeous papaya and pineapple slices...I've learned to buy only fruit that is sliced before my eyes. But after one month of trying to figure out when to ignore the Center for Disease Control (CDC) warnings to find the best Pad Thai in Bangkok, and when and where to look for signs of healthy rats and daddy roaches, I inevitably got sick. It happened to most of us within that first month.

No, this time, after adjusting to the move up north to Chiang Mai, the locations of food I like and am willing to try, I'm sick again. But this time, I think it's more related to the lack of nutrients I'm getting in my food. My diet here hasn't varied much partly because once I decide I like something, I eat that dish for days at a time. I also haven't been eating much because it's been hard to get used to seeing bugs in my food. Here, people don't mind too much if there's an ant, or gnat, mosquito, or other insect in your food but I'm looking through everything, and at almost every meal, there's a bug. Now, I've given in enough to just take it out, or not eat that part of my plate, but it has defintely limited my intake. I've also been warned against eating fruits that don't have a protective shell which could prevent any bugs or pests from getting inside. And living in a house with no kitchen and no cookware has made it impossible to cook my own food. Which means I haven't been eating much.

The bright side is that I will buy a blender this weekend, I just bought a knife and cutting board last night, my school just hooked me and my roommate up with a sink, and some ladies from my school have given up a hot water machine and a hot plate. I'm all over the web looking for "protein" resources for vegetarians, and I've got my vitamin supplements on hand. It's on. I'll keep you posted.

Surrounded by pizza faces...

Right now, I am sitting in my class surrounded by 16 people consuming 6 boxes of pizza. Talk about feeling awkward and little disturbed.

-Brandi

 

November 5, 2006

It has been 3 whole months since I wrote anything in my journal. Many things have happened. I have moved to State College, PA and started graduate school. I have also been 100% raw since my last post. So, as of today, I have been 3.5 months raw. This is pretty cool because this is the longest that I have been raw. However, the last few months have been difficult. It has actually been more difficult than the first time I was raw.

But during the last 2 months I have come to one main conclusion: I am addicted to cooked foods. Although I haven’t eaten cooked foods in a while, I have eaten a lot of dehydrated foods. Mainly raisins, and I tend to eat them with nuts. The result is that I am not eating foods with high water content. I think that this why my experience being raw this time has been more difficult than the first time. The first time I was raw, I really connected with the life-force in foods and hardly ate anything that was not fresh and juicy. Now I crave texture, taste, and the need to feel full. I also eat a lot less fruit than before. Being in State College has limited my access to winter fruits, so it has been a little difficult. However, as the season progresses, organic fruits are popping up in the grocery store.

Also I think that my high consumption of dried foods has left me feeling stuffed up and blocked inside. I don’t feel like I have detoxed consistently. I also haven’t lost much weight. I am thirsty a lot because I am not getting water from my foods. I am also eating less than I should be. Overall, I feel that dehydrated foods have caused more problems than benefits.

Now that I know what I am missing, I am determined to eliminate my cravings for dried foods by eating more fruits and vegetables. There is nothing more frustrating than looking at a fridge full of foods and not knowing what I want to eat.

I want to love foods the way I used to love foods. I want to see the life-force in foods. I want to experience divine happiness. I want to be happy all the time. I want to fall in love with myself again. This is what motivates me to eat high energy foods. Maybe the energy has been in the water all along.

By the way, here is a picture of me 2.5 months raw.





















This is a picture of me now, 3.5 months raw.

Also, I just came back from my 5 year college reunion, and I was told that I have a glow. Apparently, it looks like I am in love. Pretty cool!

-Brandi