Day 13 closes...

So day 13 has come and is (almost) gone. Almost to the 1/2 way point! For some reason I had convinced myself that day 14 was 1/2 way (as in two weeks down, two to go)... DUH!

So Friday I felt a cold coming on, Saturday it got stronger, Sunday I was full-blown sicky-poo and had a bridal show to work which made things just totally spectacular for me. I'm sure I made a great impression on people, running behind my big framed poster to blow my nose in between greeting brides. I'm awesome like that.

Today I'm worse and as the evening progresses, I'm fairly convinced that an ear infection is beginning. Again - I am awesome.

Now the big question is - Do I think it's the diet? My answer is no. DearAdam has the same cold and he's not on the diet and we hang out all of the time and just about everyone I know has had some killer cold that I've been avoiding thus far, so I guess it's just my turn. I'm just hoping that I can kick it soon without a doctor's trip. We've switched insurance programs since my last trip to the dr and I'm not sure my old one will be covered. And when you're sick isn't exactly time to shop for a new doctor. They can't deal with the issue at hand without having you download your life story. Ugh.

On to today's meals, though... You know, the really fun stuff that you come here for. Riiiiight? LOL...

Breakfast:
I was feeling awfully sick and craving some mac n' cheese or chicken noodle soup to soothe me, so I went all balls to the wall and had dessert for breakfast because I knew it would satisfy me. I made myself a little apple crisp again. It improved my mood drastically!

I snacked on a few dried fruits while watching some white trash TV... Have you seen this show called Temptation? (I'm sure you haven't unless you're jobless Wa-tra) but it's a dumb show for shopaholics where you answer the dumbest questions and then the show encourages you ("yes you! watching at home right now!") to shop on the way in/out of commercial break. I think they spent more time on their product promotions than on trivia. Seriously I think they only asked about 3 minutes of timed trivia during the entire show. See? Total crap. But I wasted 1/2 hour of my life watching it. 1/2 hour that I could have spent soaking buckwheat grouts or pureeing flax seeds. This is what my life has come to.

Lunch was a delicious spinach salad with cranberries and almonds. I had almost forgotten (until this diet) how much I love fresh spinach. I got a big @ss bag in Amish Country last Monday for $1.99 and it's lasted all week. It's still fresh and lovely and we still have a ton left.

I went grocery shopping which was an interesting experience. I found myself judging what other people had in their carts, something I never thought I would find myself doing. I spent forever in the produce section, collecting all of the goodness that we require and when I had to jump through a few aisles to find the proper paper products, etc and I saw people loading their carts with garbage (for some reason a customer collecting an obscene amount of chef boyardee and various other unhealthy canned meals)... I just felt a little self-righteous. And I shouldn't--this is just a 30 day diet and I've had my fair share of McNuggets in my life. I'm not vegan, I don't intend to be and also I know that if I could have, I would have totally slammed on nacho cheese Doritos today. But jazzed up on my cart of produce goodness, I felt like a better person.

Here's the grocery list:
1 eggplant
2 green peppers
1 red pepper
1 zucchini
1 squash
2 avocado
1 mango
2 pkg. dates
1 HUGE box mixed spring greens
1 HUGE pkg cherry tomatoes
1 bag oranges
1 lime
2 lemons
basil
alfalfa sprouts
3 jugs of juice (this has to be pasturized, so it's techincally cheating but it's the freshest, no additives juice that I've ever had)
1 califlour
soy sauce
4-5 lbs bananas
1 cucumber
2 pkg mushrooms
2 portobella caps
6 McIntosh apples

I'm forgetting a couple of times, but my Giant Eagle bill ended up coming to liek $65 and then I spent a couple of dollars at Mr. Bulky's (dried parsley, raw sugar, raw chick peas to make more hummus), and then like $20 at Marc's between extra groceries, birthday cards, etc.

For dinner I had some of the extra pate' from the sushi rolls Kirk made yesterday. I wrapped those in nori with strips of cucumber. Last but not least, I had some cups of juice later in the evening as well.

Lastly it's confession time since I mentioned the juice above and the fact it's technically cheating. It also turns out that the nori sheets that I purchased are actually toasted. I didn't realize it at the time, so techincally I'm a cheater. I'm also not 100% percent sure that the dried fruits that I bought in Amish Country were dried at the proper temperature, but I can't dry fruits daily. So there are a couple of things that aren't 100%, but still... pretty effing close if you ask me. And it's not like I'm cheating and sneaking to have something yummy like ice cream or the Doritos mentioned above. They're still vegan, but might break the rules on how raw/living they actually are. And while I'm confessing, I can't afford to purchase all organic produce. This diet is really super expensive, so I gotta cut corners where I can. Sue me.

So the official "cheat list":
Tea - I will not give it up
Nori sheets - actually toasted
dried fruits - not sure what temp dehydrated. Or they could be oven-dried for all that I know.
juice - pasturized
"raw" almonds - they're now legally required to pasturize them in the US, but they're still sold labeled as "raw." I read it on someone's blog while looking up a recipe and actually called the # on the back of the Giant Eagle package to verify.

I think that's it. So it's not an exciting cheat list, but whatever. I have not eaten any other food item or consumed any beverage that would be considered cheating. We also gave up alcohol this month to detox from that as well, although organic wines are allowed on the raw diet. I only craved any alcohol one night last week after work when I came home stressed out and annoyed. I had a nice cup o' tea and then got over it, though.