Going Raw: Day 2 & Day 3

I have survived two days of my raw food diet, and seems like I would survive Day 3 (today) as well. (Fingers crossed).

Yesterday was a little difficult. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, it was my friend’s daughter’s birthday. And she was serving pizza and cake AND beer! And for those of you wondering if I survived, well yes I did! I did feel a little weak by the end of the day- I think the shock of having cake in front of me and not eating it just did not sit well with my body. Today morning though I was fine. And fresh. And did 45 minutes of yoga with V. He does a different yoga than the one I am used to. I do P-90X yoga, while he does a lot of breathing exercises and of course a few asanas as well. I need to expand my lungs, so the breathing exercises were a good change.

If yesterday was difficult, today was even more. The most difficult part is cooking for V. Even though he offered to join me in the raw diet, I didn’t let him because as one of my friends puts it, ‘if the man goes on a raw diet, he will blow away with the wind’. The guy just has good “thin” genes. Sigh! Plus, he loves taking care of his body and hates snacking and is not much of a foodie so doesn’t get tempted by food, unlike some other people aka me!

So V is not on any diet. That means I have to cook his meals. And that’s where it becomes difficult. The smell of the tadka hitting hot dal, my hands touching a warm chappati while making it on the skillet. It really isn’t easy. And the most annoying part- I have to cook blind. I don’t know if the salt is fine in the food, or if the spices are correct. And I almost go to taste the food, out of habit, and then realize I am not supposed to eat anything cooked and my hand stops mid air. I don’t know how my grandmother (a vegetarian) managed to cook such amazing chicken. I could have never been a vegetarian and cooked non-veg. I need to taste my cooking to know how I can improvise.

If cooking food for V wasn’t killing me enough, today I really tested my will power. I cooked samosas as well today. The thing is my friend had a baby two weeks back. And I haven’t met the baby since I have this lingering cold. Anyway, today we plan to go pay the baby girl a visit and since I know the new mother loves samosas, I thought I’ll take them along for her. It’s torture for me and actually nobody asked me to make them, but I guess I just like to make my life a little more difficult than it already is.

Of course I had to up the ante even more, and baked a cake as well for V’s office Thursday. And before you think what a good soul I am, I had to because of my SRC assignment which goes live this Monday and I had nothing prepared for it (more of it later on Monday). And the worst part of all this cooking for others is that I have to rely on V’s opinion on the final product. Even though I love that he loves everything I make, if I am making something to serve to others I really wish he would critique it a little less diplomatically, actually critique the food. Either way, it’s the thought that counts and I assume (based on V’s answers) that both the samosas and the cake are, at the least, good (if not great).

Coming to my diet. Yesterday and today I had a generous helping of raw buckwheat groats for breakfast. I had a pretty good salad yesterday with a dressing made from nutritional yeast, the recipe and pictures of which you see in today’s post. Today too I had salad for lunch and dinner. Today’s salad though was a different story. It started out fine- tasting good, but when I had it a little later it was quite an effort to finish the salad. I think my body is just fed up of salads and can’t relish them for both lunch and dinner for three consecutive days! Whatever the reason, I just could not eat the salad. Finally I had to blend it and drink it up just so that I meet my daily calorie intake requirements. And today is just day 3. Four more days to go!

Well, for now here is the recipe for the salad I had yesterday, which I actually liked.

Do note I am not claiming this dressing that I am sharing today is better than any of the creamier and non-raw versions- but it’s pretty good as being a raw dressing and it is also packed with a lot of vitamins. I do understand that not all olive oils are raw, but there are some cold pressed raw olive oils out there.

Raw food revelation 2: I like raw cauliflower and I don’t think I could ever be a vegetarian and cook a chicken dish- I need to taste the food I am cooking.