Maria Siciliano's Blog (24)

I wish everyone at the Raw Food Rehab could have been here, but since you weren't I enjoyed meeting Dave for ALL of you! ;-D

It is late, and I don't have words for how much fun… all the information I heard… all the wonderful people I met! My experience with meeting Dave is one of those…

Had good sleep, good dreams and still I woke up sad. Feeling this way and still I got online and immediately saw an article about killing rhino's for their horns. Matt Lauer is getting more money and I still won't watch news on any channel!

Just because I am sad does not mean I will fall apart and eat crap. I'm just sad that our planet is in the hands of such greedy people. The food industry will poison us just to increase their own wealth. It makes me sad!

I am afraid that…

RFR is a wonderful place! I'm here because I can not stand the thought of the horrors that happen to animals… especially the poor piggies! People have tried convincing me that it is OK to eat meats, but in my heart I know they are wrong!

I have met pet pigs and they are smarter than my dog! My little dog is pretty smart!

It disgusts me! It saddens me! I have tears in my eyes because I saw a couple of minutes of the unspeakable tortures that happen at the…

Today has been wonderful! I am sending out good vibes to ALL of YOU! :-D

What a difference everything is when people are nice! My last post, I told of the disagreeable neighbor, well, today I had business to take care of and I had such a wonderful time.

Went to the bank and told my friendly banker about the woman and how she was so angry about everything. I told him how she yelled at me and that for days I was in a funk over it. Well, he reflected back to me how…

I was in the grocery store. Grapefruit were on sale for $1 a piece. A woman was ranting on the cost of fruit and vegetables… she was easily 100 pounds overweight. I ignored her but as fate would have it, she was in front of me at checkout. I had all fruit and vegetables in my cart… and a huge bag of those grapefruit. She was grabbing a few (10!) candy bars as she was checking out. They were $1.50 to $2.50 each. Can anyone tell me, what was she thinking?!?

So, this thing about the cost…

Chicago isn't known for it's lovely winter weather, but this year it is! Today is FIVE days in a row of 80° weather! This is not a complaint. I am "being here now!" Enjoying what is today.

Been preparing my garden for planting herbs and vegetables. Looking at the calender is the only way that I can be certain that it is winter. I have a tan starting. Been on a 20 minute or more walk every day for more than a week!

When it is cold I want cooked comfort foods. For…

I've been a fan of instant gratification since I was a child! Being someone that was raised by a B&W TV, in the 1950's and 1960's, I learned a lot about instant gratification! Ads in magazines, McDonald's, ALL things fast were good!

My mother died 6 years ago. That was the big change in my life! In an instant, all that was her's rolled over into my name. In an instant, I was well off. 

Three years before she died, my significant other dumped me! It was OK. I…

This is my first post in ages! So?

It is winter in Chicago and today was almost an entirely raw day for me! My personal vegetarian journey started about 4 years ago. Some of my first feelings about the transition feel like a dream. 

Summer is easy to eat lots of fruit, salads, juices, but winter gets tricky. At least it used to be something I was whiny about. I have to have my pasta because I just have to eat at least one cooked meal on cold days!

Well, I do like pasta,…

OK… it was only a little bad! Today, my eyes itched! I don't think of myself as having allergies, but I must be allergic to something. Searched for a solution, and tried the warm chamomile tea soaked cloth on my eyes. It helped!

The rest of my day was wonderful! Itchy eyes and all, nothing could put a dent in how well my day went!

I sort of think making a list of all my accomplishments would be boring as all get out… but there were some highlights that I will share. I actually…

Hey! I'm back! Going to get into the new initiative in the morning! I have been reading the most recent blog posts. When my payment is processed and I get my password to the new vault, I'll start reading those posts too.

In the morning, I will post my weight, hopes, goals… all those things that show I am in this! Although I learned from the last initiative, I didn't participate with posts as much as I had wanted to. Life got in my way for posting, but not in the way of my diet…

Boy! Sure wish I had the$33! Since my credit card was compromised a couple of months ago, and $1800 had to be replaced… naturally it took way longer to get it back than to take it, I have been living close to the financial edge ever since.

I had a great time this past 11 weeks! Lost 11 pounds, skin is looking pretty good, all sorts of improvements from a summer of deliciousness.

IF I can pull together $33… imagine having to worry about $33, but I have to…

When I started this part of the RFR, I thought that I would be happy if I just did this for 15 days. Now, I am going to continue. Hopefully, I will complete 30 days!

There are times, like last night, I wanted more food! Sometimes I am not really hungry, just wanting something. Last night, I was really hungry. I missed a smoothie, and it got so late that I thought it would be better to just let it go and wait until morning.

OH I wanted some foods! So, I planned…

It's pretty exciting to me! I'm one of the voices that was saying, "ALL juice?!? I could NEVER do that!" Here I am, nearing the end of the 13th day! How about that!?!

Well, it isn't really ALL juice. I have smoothies and blended soups, so it IS ALL liquid! I'll be ready for Dave the Raw Food Trucker juicefeast!

One of my favorite pass-time in the evenings, is to think about how I am feeling and if I am feeling better. What is different? What is better? Is…

About a month ago, my credit card was fraudulently used… several times for about $200 plus on each attack. It bummed me out so much that I just stopped posting my thoughts. I felt so taken advantage of and just sad!

It didn't stop me from eating good healthy raw foods and continuing with this this challenge. As a matter of fact, I find eating raw much cheaper than eating crap! My local produce market is a much better deal than anything at Whole Foods. I find organic, but I…

Glad to say, this is my 3rd day completely raw. Much easier by the 3rd day!

Seems that eating a 1/4 of a watermelon, after my 32 ounces of water, is working for me. I thought I was going to have a smoothie, but ate my orange and banana as snacks instead. Had a gigantic rainbow salad.

I just finished a bowl of my cacao ice-cream. That is how I have been finishing my evenings. I have heard that cacao is not good for people, and I have heard it is a super food. It is probably…

So far… so wonderful! I had he kind of day that can only be described as being wonderful.

The morning post of bird sounds put me in my garden. There are real birds, real sunshine, real plants… real everything and it is all mine!

After I played in my garden, I sat and drew this peaceful place that I…

No pasta today! I think that I cut back each day until I has such a small portion last night and that was it!

Today was a wonderful day! It couldn't have gone more smoothly. Woke up, poured some water, went into the garden with my dog and the garden birds. Got my 15 minutes of sunshine!

So many thoughts went through my mind today. Thoughts I wanted to share but think I had so many it isn't possible to share it all!

Ran out of watermelon yesterday, and I have been…

It has been a good day so far. Made a few changes in my day and in my life. I was going to start with a fruit smoothie, but when I cut a quarter of a watermelon, I started snacking on it. Soon the entire bowl of watermelon was gone! The watermelon, along with my morning water held me for a long time!

My next desire for food came around noon, and I had my fruit smoothie. I was hungry pretty quickly and not all that much later I had a green juice. Lemon, ginger, celery, cucumber, lime,…

So far… so good! There is a bowl of watermelon, a large cup of cherries and a salad in my refrigerator. If I want a snack, I have several ready for grabbing.

In my own opinion, I am doing a good job of following suggestions. I have not been perfect. Each day I have had some form of pasta. I am getting better each day and I am not worrying about the small pasta serving. I am eating so much raw, very near 90%. Pasta is my only indulgence from the cooked world.

Sometimes, when I'm…