My thoughts on macronutrients

I can't believe I am blogging so much this month..lol Anyway I have been really perplexed lately by the whole macronutrients dilemma. I am sure you all have heard of the Zone diet which breaks it down to 40 30 30 (carb/pro/fat) there are also crazy ones like the 30 bananas a day 80/10/10 diet which a lot of raw vegans do. It is also known as the fruitatarian diet. I tried the 80/10/10 for 2 weeks. I kept track of all my nutrients on cronometer.com. This website has really opened my eyes to what nutrients I was lacking in and those I was getting a whole bunch of. It breaks down all your food into percentages and also gives you calorie goals based on the macronutrient ratio that you desire. So I plugged in 801010 and went shopping for a crap load of fruit and veggies. I ate soooo much and never felt worse! I cannot believe I lasted 2 weeks on this diet. My skin dried out my lips cracked my fingers were so dry my skin was literally cracking and bleeding. Oh yeah and horrible acne! It was horrible! People on the website and tons of raw vegans talk about how this diet is great...I say it's for the apes. Speaking of apes this diet is based on the theory that we should eat more like our ancestors the primates (chimps, apes) who mostly graze on fruit all day. Those who disagree with this diet do not think that human intestine were meant to digest this much fruit. I have to agree my gut was so bloated all the time and I put on 5 lbs in the 2 weeks. I was tired and had no energy. So obviously I have switched up my diet. I have read a lot about how a low fat vegan diet is healthy for you and also how there is no need for a lot of protein. I changed my macronutrient ratio to 64/12/24 carb/prot/fat. From what I have researched women need a good amount of fat in their diet to keep our bodies healthy. I noticed as I started eating more fat (nuts, coconut oil, seeds) my skin looks better I am no longer bloated and lost those 5lbs immediately. Weird huh? Fat is my friend. I eat a tsp of coconut oil a day and I really think it is making me feel so good. It is yummy over sliced bananas in the morning. I realize that as long as I get some sprouts and a wide range of foods like Chia, hemp and nuts I get all the protein I need in my diet. Recommended is .8 x your weight in kilograms. I exceed that which is also recommended if you do weights or any resistance exercises. I recommend reading The China Study. Research shows we don't need more than 10% of our calories from protein. Especially not animal protein. Which will give you cancer and heart disease...like most americans die from! What it boils down to is how you feel. You have to listen to your body. Some foods I know I don't digest well....if you are not digesting it then you can't use that food as fuel properly. If you can eat fruit all day and feel good go right ahead. Not me I'll keep eating at this ratio now.... I do change it up though especially if I need to Carb Up for a long endurance training session. I have a Duathalon coming up in Feb. I will keep you updated on my training for that. I hope this post did not confuse anyone...Trust me I am still researching and learning about macronutrients. I think my next blog will be on micronutrients....whole nutha issue :) Stay tuned folks....

Fruit dip

Friday night with the girls....what is more perfect than a delicious healthy raw dessert after dinner? I modified a recipe I found online and added some ideas from Ani Phyo's lemon pudding recipe. I made a fruit dip and served it with fresh pinapples, strawberries and blackberries. Here's the recipe: 1.5 cups of cashews (soaked 8 hours), 2 tsp psyllium husk, 2 tsp coconut oil, one mini banana, 1 cup of water, 1 tbsp vanilla, some lemon zest, .25 tsp himilayan salt. I threw this all in my Vita Mix and blended on high until it was creamy. I let it chill in fridge for a couple hours.....it was gone at the end of the night! I was licking the bowl clean! Lol

Please try this recipe you will not regret it! :)

JORJA Black Vegan SMALL MATT & NAT

JORJA Black Vegan SMALL MATT & NAT

Here is my bag! I love it!

New Years 2012 in San Diego!

I love San Diego! The vibe the ocean the shopping the night life...but especially the food! So Fargo and I started our trip early New year's eve morning hoping to get to Encinitas by lunch time. I wanted to go to a restaurant called Peace Pies which is completely Raw, Vegan and Gluten free. We ordered Kale chips, sauerkraut, a slice of pizza for me and a veggie burger for Fargo. We also ordered dessert but I ate that late 1 am after our wine binge because Raw food makes you soooo full! I also ordered a Kombucha to drink with Hemp protein. I really liked the crispy onions and saurekraut. I would so come back here! Fargo did not like it sooo much. He is not so big on the raw food like I am.

So after lunch we checked in to our room downtown and rested. I decided I wanted to find this store called All Vegan because they carry a line of purses that I have been wanting to get for myself. A lil extra Xmas self love is okay right? So we went and I bought an adorable black purse that is Vegan and made of 100% recycled plastic! That is so awesome! I will post a pic later :) So for dinner we planned on going to an Ethiopian restaurant called Harar's. Sadly they did not make me GF injera (special teff based pancake that you use to eat with). The waiter said the lady that makes it went out of town....gggrrrr so I had the veggie combo without the bread and I was still completely satisfied. The spices are amazing! And unlike Indian food they do not use butter just olive oil. If you have never had Ethiopian food you have to try it! We had Ethiopian wine too. I had a red and Fargo a sweet honey wine. I liked the red better. The waiter said you have to buy it in LA where its made to get it. BTW the waiter was like the Ethiopian version of Napolean Dynamite. So dorky and absent minded. All in all the food was delicious just sad that I got no injera...oh well maybe next time.

On New Year's Day Fargo and I walked to a place called Evolution. This place is awesome it is 100% vegan and has a fast food window. They have cooked "junk food" like french fries and also raw options. I had no appetite due to far too many chips and junk food at the wine bars (the wine encounter and Mosaic wine bar, loved them both btw)the night before so I did not have anything. Fargo had a smoothie, soft serve and vegan buffalo wings. We then took a long walk in Balboa park. The weather so far in 2012 has been heavenly for the middle of winter. 80 degrees! This is why I love Cali so much. Happy New year to all my followers! Please comment me sometime people so I know you are interested! :) God Bless!

Denver in December

Yes I know that I have to be the world's worst blogger! One of my new year's resolution is to blog more :) Fargo and I recently took a trip in early December (8-11th) to visit our old friend Isaac Overholt and my auntie Meme and godsister Yolanda. We stayed with Isaac and he put up with taking us out to eat at of course Vegan spots...lol The first place we visited was City o City. I ordered a Vegan GF pizza and was disapointed. The crust was gummy and the flavors were bland. I did have a very good beer though that was GF it is called Estrella Damm from Spain. Look it up its interesting bc it is made with barley but through some new process the gluten is extracted somehow?.... It was good! Next day we went to a place called Watercourse foods.

OMG so good. I had a salad and a plate of vegan cheese with a Kombucha to drink. That afternoon we went to the Denver mountains (the continental divide). I hate the cold so I walked or slid in my boots and then complained until we came back down to flatter land. I have to say that it was beautiful.

That evening we went to dinner at a place called Beau Jo's. I really enjoyed their GF vegan pizza. Unfortunately their marinara had cheese in it so I had to get salsa. After dinner we went out looking for dessert to take along on our carriage ride downtown. We went to a place called the Shoppe. I ordered two GF vegan cupcakes and was so grossed out. Yuck! Frosting tasted like plastic and cake like just plain crap. It gave me bad stomach cramps too! Can't figure out what did that to me?? I even emailed owner... Our last evening we went to a place called Hops and Pie with Yolanda and her little boy. The wait was long but so worth it! Best Pizza in Denver. 14 inch pizza and ate the whole thing. (pic came out dark sorry)

They also had a delish hard apple cider that was organic called Scrumpy. Best I have ever had! It is seasonal so it may be hard to find any other time of year :( Could not find it at Bev Mo here in Cali...Wonder if I will ever find it? Later that evening we went to a wine lounge/bar downtown denver called Row 14. Not too impressed there were some real snooty people in there that were looking at us like we did not belong, although the staff was very nice and gave me a lot of wine tastes until I found what I liked. A Sangiovese tickled my fancy! Enjoy the pics and I will blog soon on my New Year's trip to San Diego :)