Back in action!

I've just joined Raw Food Rehab and am back in action! I didn't get to write for over a week because I was insanely busy with work and Bikram- I have been going to at least 3-4 classes a WEEK and with that and working 80 hours per week (remember I am an intern, I have no choice in the matter) and going to get fresh veggies/fruit almost daily to prep, etc, I honestly forgot about this dear blog. But, fact is, I CARE! and i really LOVE to write here.
SO, to quickly get up to speed, my juice feast kept getting interrupted by my consuming food every few nights, primarily in the middle of the night when on call, and mostly things like bananas, chocolate, and avocados. SO, I took time OFF from juicing, and have been enjoying food again YAY! I made an amazing zucchini pasta/marinara last night that I made with juicy organic tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, balsalmic vinegar, garlic, EVOO, and S&P. That was it. And it was to die for.
My hubby and I had that with a miso soup we made to start with (no tofu) made with raw brown miso paste, water, carrots, onion, shitake mushrooms, and seaweed. YUM! He is not raw, but eats all my raw meals with delight and appreciation. And he is always willing to help me with raw food prep. I wanted to take pics of our meal but was too hungry!
My goal for this blog is to start getting picture/blog posting savvy so that by the new year (2010 WOW!) I can have a pretty blog for all of you to really enjoy.

So, I am on this 11-week challenge on Penny's Raw Food Rehab. And the challenge is to be as close to 100% raw as possible and to lose weight along the way. My goal is to get back to the weight I was 10 years ago by Jan. 1st. Yes, I'm talking about my 19 year old body. I am so going to get it back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It means losing 20 pounds from where I am right now.

I am going to juice this week from Monday through Friday night since I am not on call this week until Friday. That should give me a good 2 pound start to my goal! :)

LOVE you!

Oh the signs

SOme signs from today- I have an assignment I'm working on so unfortunately have to make this short. but I must get it down!
found an awesome website today while drinking my lunch green juice:

http://www.suprememastertv.com/?langdir=1

Then, I left work with a superstar nurse, and we walked to our cars together and we bonded over our losses- her son at age 25 and my mother at age 52. I told her how losses make us value our time here more, help us pick and choose our battles and give us the insight to know when to let go and when to do things for ourselves instead of waiting for someone else to do it for us/motivate us. Then after kickboxing (i did bikram and kickboxing today hurray!) the original Golden Girls song was on the radio, some random channel. My mother and I used to snuggle together and watch the Golden Girls almost every night when she was sick, and even before she was sick.

I think that is all for today.
I shared my amazing green juice at lunch today and the 2 docs I shared it with LOVED it. Too bad they won't wake up and smell the fresh juice they could be brewing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love to you!
rachel

A GORGEOUS day in Maryland

What a beautful day. 75 and sunny. Perfect. Going for a jog around the lake- 2.4 miles. Then may go to the sauna, or come home and sit outside and read. Tomorrow morning I am doing a double of Bikram yoga, 9am and 11am. Definitely will go to bed by midnight for that one!
Feeling hungry so going to have the water from 1 fresh young Thai coconut before heading out for my jog ;)
Love,
Rachel

Day 2, a learning experience... again!

Day 2, and I had a hectic day. it is 135am and i am going to sleep in the call room until 730am. Yesterday evening (thursday) i spent about 1 and a half hours making the most amazing green juices to bring to work for my 30 hour shift, and i did fantastic, until i decided to have grapefruit juice and a banana for dinner instead of my spinach/tomatoe/celery/garlic/romaine juice, thinking i would have that juice later in the evening. The banana was really unusual for me for a juice feast, and in fact does not fit into a juice feast at all in my eyes, but i was having SERIOUS cravings for one. Also I usually allow one fruit sometime during the first day or two just to help the transition. So anyway, I then admitted a patient who was malingering. If you don't know what that is look it up please. These people make me furious because in my eyes they are still sick but in the view of the big picture there is really not much at all you can do to change them. AKA you cannot help them, just spend hours and hours going through paperwork with them while they fake many things not worth talking about on this post. Anywho, I got a little annoyed that my patient was doing so much lying, and I had a pretzel- now this was a small one, not the big dough carnival ones! this was just a little one from a chip/plastic bag with like 100 in one bag. You see, these overnight nurses bring in tons of J-U-N-K and I was on the computer in the room full of J-U-N-K. Yes, I consider pretzels to be complete junk. And also the other 'no preservative...' processed crap they bring in. And then I had a few strawberries. And a little rice :( :( :( You see, I am just as vulnerable to relapse as these patients. LOL. All the while I am thinking I am going to spit out the food and it won't count. Duh, that is insanity. Swallow. I am not food disordered.
So, the lesson I learned is that I need to do several things while on call on a juice feast:
1.) BLOG! I COMPLETELY forgot I have this outlet!!! ARGHHHHHH!
2.) Wear several layers so I don't get cold, it slows me down and also makes me procrastinate drinking my juices b/c they are even colder than me.
3.) DO NOT work AT ALL in the room with shit food. In fact, I decided yesterday to stay away from food altogether while I juice feast.
4.) Keep my ipod shuffle in my white coat so i can hear a song to redirect my attention when I start thinking about food.
5.) Take a nap around/just after dinner time if I can (in the on-call room).
6.) Just as important as #1: After 5pm have green juice with me ALL NIGHT, continuously with me, if I am not going to have a dinner juice at 5pm. If I have a dinner juice at 5pm, then have another juice with me at all times after 7pm. Or tea. Or water. All three in rotation would be the ideal.
7.) Tell the night nurses what I am doing??? I don't know, I don't see how this would help much.

What did you learn today???
Now I will sleep for a bit, get up at 730am, work until noon or 2, and go home to my honey ;) hopefully i will have energy to jog around the lake when i get home ;)
tonight's dinner juice is this morning's breakfast ;)
love and bear hugs,
Rachel