After feeling sick for more than a week, it’s no surprise that I’m craving some new flavors. Whether it’s psychological or physiological or somewhere in-between, I’ve been craving fresh, raw, whole foods by the truckload.
I had a huge green monster for breakfast this morning – 3 kale leaves, a whole banana, three strawberries, and a splash of almond milk. (Too tired for photo, sorry.)
I snacked on some pomegranate white tea, Mary’s Gone Crackers, and almond butter mid-morning. I was worried this was going to be too heavy.
Lunch was a rabbit’s dream 
Broccoli and lettuce wraps. (I ended up mixing the broccoli with the leftover sauce from the lettuce wraps, delicious!)
I made good use of the food processor last night to demolish 5 stalks of celery and 7 carrots in less than a minute. While I was prepping those, I put some chopped shitake mushrooms on to saute in sesame oil. Those all went in a huge (4 quart) bowl with 16 oz of cubed tofu, a package of mung bean sprouts, and a mixture of soy sauce, cayenne, ginger, garlic, and a little more sesame oil. It tasted good last night, but was even better this afternoon, especially in the company of crisp, green romaine.
And last but never least, chocolate and raisins. I’ve been on a real raisin kick recently; I had stopped eating them long ago because they’re relatively high in sugar. Same thing goes for bananas, which have also happily found a renewed lease in my kitchen.
And dinner, what can I say about dinner…
On the left: “tomato soup”, made from vegetable juice (Whole Foods V8-esque juice) with a tiny drizzle of olive oil and a splash of curry powder, heated
On the right: tofu with nutritional yeast, broccoli with chili powder (a blend that includes oregano, thyme, and garlic along with chilies), and some raw beet and cabbage salad from Whole Foods that is dressed with plum vinegar.
I ran 2.81 miles at a 12:15 average pace (intervals of 10:30 alternating with 12:30) between the raisins and the dinner It was supposed to be 3 entire miles, but I was way too starving to finish. I tried doing my warmup at a 12:30 jog rather than walking – worked quite well, highly recommended. I’m hoping to get my “easy” pace set at a firm 12:00 by race day (currently at 12:30), and I’ve relaxed my goal pace to about 10:30. If I could alternate between those two for the entire race, I’d easily finish by what used to be my dream time….
The rest of the week should look much the same as today. Light, flavorful, and strangely vegan. I don’t necessarily believe in going vegan forever, but I’m happy to cut out dairy and eggs when the mood strikes. I felt alert and awake and light all day, which is a great way to feel. Sure, a change in perspective is the real culprit, but it’s true too that we are what we eat.