Barefoot Boom Boom

Tips on Barefoot Marathon Preparation

So I'm pretty much just learning as I go here, but I've been gearing up to hopefully run the Steamtown Marathon in one month from tomorrow. I've been doing quite a bit of training barefoot and have been stopped many times while wearing my VFF (yes, they are bright pink and I would consider running in them an attention seeking behavior) and asked how I converted to running distance in them.  Here are some tips I have, from my own experiences:

1) Start out on FLATS. I got a little over ambitious and decided to run up a rather large half mile long hill on my second day of ownership. My Achilles were so tight afterward that I could not run for two days. 

2) The "run every other day a quarter mile at a time" rule did not particularly work for me. In order to build up, I would argue, you need to put in some more distance than that. Sometimes you just have to grit and bear a little pain in the transition. I found that actually rotating out my Vibrams with the Nike Frees and my Nike Lunar Glides (or other more "mildly" rigid/cushioned shoe) worked much better. I would do my shorter days (3-4 miles initially) in the Vibrams and alternate our medium and longer length days with the other shoes.

3) Find trails/grass to practice on. I ran in my Vibrams where there was the opportunity to run on a trail or even in the grass next to the running path. This helped break things up from the concrete.

4) Running barefoot is fun! You might get excited and want to prance around like a kid! DO NOT run up on your toes or even try to hard to land on the ball of your foot. This will end you up in Achilles tendon pain. I would argue, instead, try to relax, running naturally, and let your body do it's thing. Your stride will naturally change and so will how you land when running. I'm convinced that my prior running aches and pains had something to do with me trying too hard to correct myself. Just focus on landing softly and relaxing.

5) Incorporate some plyometrics, core, and hip strength work.  This will help to train your body how to land. Believe me or don't, but Jillian Michaels is a plyometric and core strength goddess. Her "Master Your Metabolism," "Tone Your Trouble Zones," and "30 Day Shred" DVDs are cheesy, but they will kick your ass. Master Your Metabolism is chock full of classic and awesome plyometric drills that will make you a better, stronger, runner. Plus, you'll learn great mantras to incorporate into your running like "Don't phone this one in!" and "This is you time baby--MAKE---THE---MOST---OF---IT!"

Vibram Bikilas! WAAHOOOO!

I got them! Finally! And I went for the bright, bright pink/orange. I hope these are my winning marathon shoes. Especially now since I'm planning to do the Steamtown Marathon AND the Baltimore Marathon on back to back weekends. I have to make it into Marathon Maniacs.  Tomorrow is a BIG day. New Bikilas AND my husband and I are starting the Thrive Diet together for 30 days. I will miss refined foods...

Here are my new Bikis while still in the pants I wore to work. Yes I did run out of my door excitedly in my work clothes the moment I got them and proceeded to run down my street. My neighbors know I'm a clinical psychology person. They will probably refrain from referring clients to me in the future. Opps...

 

First 14-mile Long Run in My Vibram Five Fingers!

 

So, I did my first long run in my Vibrams and it was an awesome experience. Despite the down pouring rain, and rising water levels of the trail that I train on, it was probably one of my most memorable, most fun runs.  The other thing I've noticed about training in my Vibes is that I love to listen to the sound of my feet hit the ground. Can I make my landing quieter? Can I feel changes in my body as I adjust my stride? I've never gotten so into the zone before, instead, I've always tried to distract myself with music, podcasts, and such. I now find that I like the purity and self exploration that arises from paying attention to myself, my running, and my moment. The old quote, "I run because it makes time go slower," really may have more to it than the obvious sarcasm.  

The only downside to the Vibes was that I got so wet and muddy that I got a chafe/blister/bleeding cut thing on the inside of my foot. But, hey, in my shoes it might have a lot soggier with a lot more chafing. The Vibes drained remarkably well. 

With that said, I ambitiously came home and registered for my fall marathon challenge: Steamtown! I am going to attempt to train for it and run it in my minimalist Vibes. Look out Scranton, the Electric City, here comes Boom Boom! 

Vivooo oowwwwmyfoot! VivoBarefoot Shoe Review

Talk about blisters. Bloody, gross, ouchy blisters on my heels after one shopping trip in the Vivobarefoot $110 ballet flats that I (okay my Mom since it was a birthday present) dropped when I could purchase an equally blister-inducing pair for $20 at Urban Outfitters.  Needless to say, I am disappointed.  However, I'm not quite ready to throw in the towel, believe it or not, since they get such nice write ups elsewhere. I will continue to push through on my quest for barefooting success. Despite the heel blister pain, I really do like the way they feel underfoot. It's like wearing my beloved Vibes (Vibrams) to work (almost) without getting weird, why are you wearing camouflaged toe shoes? This is especially relevant when you are a clinical psychology fellow. 

A Shod Finale? The Half Sauer Half Kraut Marathon

After this I'm heading out on my barefootin quest for marathon transcendence. I decided to take the Glycerins for a 26.2 mile spin in the sweltering 96 degree heat and almost 100% humidity. I'm not sure if it was the millionth cup of water that I dumped on my head or my own sweat that resulted in my soaking through my beloved pink iPod shuffle at mile 10. It fizzled out and I remained in denial for another mile until I came across my race crew (i.e. Mom and Dad, the only people brave enough to withstand the heat to see me finish) and threw it at them as I passed by.  I ran the rest of the race sans headphones, and found that Dr. Sarno's introspective strategies (see blog entry below) were quite effective when it came to managing the pain, discomfort, and high, humid heat.   I managed to finish fourth in my age group and am looking forward to embracing my Vibram Five Fingers as my new marathon training partners.

The Mindbody Prescription: Is Pain Simply the Brain's Best Defensive Mechanism?

A growing body of evidence suggests that pain can be controlled by the mind, and that psychosomatic causes of pain are real.  In fact, we can break our old conditioning and train our minds to stop feeling pain. I was dumbfounded when I came across this NY Time article entitled That Which Doesn't Kill Me Makes Me Stranger. It is about a Slovenian ultracyclist who has no special V02 max capabilities, yet, is able to withstand and win some of the most difficult endurance challenges known to man.  The downside: he goes a bit crazy during them.  As a clinical psychology fellow, and distance runner, I am particularly interested in psychosomatic causes of pain. I found Dr. Sarno while searching Amazon and picked up a copy of The Mindbody Prescription. 

 

So Specifically, Here is a List of What I am Trying to Incorporate Daily From Dr. Sarno: 

- 15 minutes of quiet time for meditation (this is similar to what John Kabat Zinn  another mindfulness master recommends) 

- 15-20 minutes of free form journaling to write a list of things that make me angry (this can include "good" stressors) and to acknowledge my usually suppressed emotions like anger, rage, jealousy, anything negative that I store inside of me. In addition, free form journaling about feelings and emotions has been shown in studies to reduce injury, sickness, and hospitals visits over time. 

Note: I recognize that this totals a half an hour a day. Many of us may not have all that time, however, I do think it will become an integral part to my athletic training. That said, even if it's just 10 minutes of meditation and 10 minutes of journaling it's better than nothing.  

- When I feel an ache or a pain telling myself that I know it's because of my emotions and because I have some anger stored inside, there is nothing physically wrong with me, I am strong, healthy, and capable. 

- When I feel an ache or pain telling my brain to send oxygen to that area, telling it to Stop!, and becoming aware that I have emotions and pre-wired paths in my brain causing the pain, I have conditioned myself to feel it and I can condition myself not to feel it. 

- Telling myself that it is OK to feel those difficult emotions, and telling my brain that I want to deal with those emotions it is suppressing

Does this sound crazy? Maybe. But according to that NY Times article, being crazy will improve my performance, so Dr. Sarno might be onto something! It's also a bit affirming to be able to accept the connection between pain and emotions. After all, we are chemical beings and we can condition ourselves to have pain responses. We form pathways in our brains that become hardwired.  I think this may be the hardest part of my training over all, it requires so much work, patience, remaining in the present moment, and challenging myself to deal with those things that are difficult to accept. 

Dr. Sarno's book asserts that we discount the psychosomatic causes of our aches and pains and determine that they must be the result of some type of physical deformity or degeneration.  We do not focus on our emotions and the intensity of the anger or rage that builds up inside us, and so we store it in our bodies and the brain creates pain symptoms to distract us from it.  Since I am known for always having aches and pains from running, I picked up this book to help me overcome these and reach my full potential as an endurance athlete. If all these 50-somethings (no offense) can go out there and run multiple marathons in a row why can't I? Is it all in my head this pain I feel? Sure, I believe in building slowly, etc., but I've been building slowly for a long time now.  Dr. Sarno asserts that while it is difficult to change our personalities, we can accept that the pain is caused by rage and that there is nothing physically wrong with us, and spend time reflecting on these emotions.  Basically, telling the brain to stop sending pain to the body and deal with being angry or whatever scary emotion it is trying to suppress can help. 

 I just got this book last week and have begun implementing the principles in my life.  Even just being aware that our pain can be caused by emotions rather than something horribly physically wrong can make a big difference. I am new to the training but will try to keep up with it and keep you posted on my experiences with it. 

 

Nutrition Tips: Volumetrics & Rewards

Here are my two tips for healthy snacking:

 

1) Volumetrics: choose less calories dense foods: something that will fill you up and that you can eat a lot of for less calories. As we've said before, the mind can control the body. Examples would be soups, salads, yogurt, oatmeal, etc. 

2) Rewards: I add the healthy food to something that is more of a "reward" food but still stays within my caloric requirements.  For example, the below green salad on a flatbread wrap. The green salad is what is most nutritious, the flatbread wrap is my reward, what I look forward to eating. I keep myself motivated to eat it and look forward to it because I get to have the flatbread. I believe in balancing your very healthy foods with some that are less so, but that motivate you to eat the healthy food.  

Well I have quite the hard time committing to the green smoothie craze. Let's be honest, you drink a smoothie, you process it as drink, then you're hungry again. Or at least that's how it works for me.  I do drink a green smoothie after every workout but that's because I get to eat something shortly thereafter!

I needed to figure out how to keep myself going in the mid-afternoon between lunch and dinner. I've found that having a lighter lunch, and then having another "second" lunch works really well. How? First it allows me to do some light activity after lunch which keeps me feeling energized, and second, instead of something like a green smoothie I eat a huge green salad, sprouts, spinach, kale. I add just 2 TBSP of Dressing (my low cal DELICIOUS Galeo's Miso Dressing) and then dust on some Nutritional Yeast mixed with Hemp Seeds (picked this one up from the raw foodies---tastes like Parmesan). I put this on a flatbread, which yes probably has some refined flour, but only packs 110 calories and tastes delicious, soft, and more caloric than it is. Plus, they sell them at Whole Foods so they must meet their standards. I also called the company, Damascus Bakeries and they assured me they use natural ingredients. OCD much? 

The point in all this rambling, is that eating the big green salad helps to fill me up, and the fake parmesan and flat bread I look very forward to eating. The whole thing packs in around 200-230 calories depending. So, it has as much as an average energy bar and less than a Clif Bar. 

Mushrooms and Barely with Green Tea Miso Sauce

For Dinner I was inspired by one of Mr. Brendan Brazier's recipes: Green Tea Miso Gravy. I decided that I could pour this over some marinated raw mushrooms and whole grain barley for a great dinner. It was quite scrumptious! 

Here are the mushrooms in a marinade of soy sauce, ginger, and garlic: 

Here is the finished Mushroom, barely, green tea dish: 

 I cooked the mushrooms over medium low heat after marinating them for about an hour. Then I added them into the cooked barely and mixed in the miso sauce. 

 In the interest of not plagiarizing the Braze, I will tell you that the ingredients for the green tea miso magic sauce include brown rise miso, coconut oil, ground sesame seeds, onions, and some brewed and dried green tea. You can fool with these flavor combos yourself or buy his book Thrive which is a steal on Amazon for around $10 and quite inspiring. Although, I tried to make zucchini chips twice and they either burned or stayed too chewy, and regardless got chewy after a few hours out of the oven.  Yes, I ate them all anyway, but I didn't want to waste perfectly good zucchini! 

High Raw Brown Rice Vegetable "Sushi" Bowl

That's not a sushi bowl! Well y'all in yesterday's post on barefootin' I forgot to mention one of the most important parts: my training partner, so I put him here extra big to make up for it! He's showin' me the barefoot ropes! 

THIS is the sushi bowl: 
 
 Mmmm Sushi Goodness in a BOWL!

So for dinner I just invented this great recipe I wanted to share with y'all because it reminds me of the sushi I came to love so much when I moved to the city (my friends here know all the ins and outs of the best sushi joints in the town), but it requires no wrapping up and your rice doesn't have to be white or sticky and there's no fish! You can also make it with mostly raw veggies. I just cook the rice. Then I find that the warm rice helps to "steam" some of the raw veggies up when I mix them in the bowl. Ok, enough blabbering on of mine. I'll just get on to the recipe! 

 
 

Brown Rice Vegetable Sushi Bowl For Two: 

- Two to Four Cups Cooked (depending on how much you want per person) Brown Rice. 

    ***I recommend short grain brown or brown basmati. These rices do get "sticky" and they are a bit "sweet" like sushi rice so they work just great here. But you can use whatever kind floats your boat or another whole grain!

- Assorted mixed veggies chopped real small (sushi style) I used broccoli, mini red bell pepper, matchstick carrots, "broccoli slaw" mix (I grabbed this up at the Whole Foods). You can decide the quantity, but I used about a cup of small chopped veg. per person or more. 

- 1/2 Avocado (more or less to your taste)

- 1 TBSP Sesame Oil

- 3-6 TBSP your favorite Sesame Miso Dressing (or make your own)

- 2 TBSP Tamari, Soy Sauce, or Bragg's Liquid Aminos ( I don't know what an Amino is but I saw y'all eating this stuff tastes like soy sauce to me but I quite like it). 

 ***I love the Galeo's World's Best Brand Miso Sesame Dressing. I'll tell you at 22 calories a TBSP and the fact that it's CREAMY (oh my I miss my Mama's buttermilk sometimes but this will do!) I'm a sold customer. I can pronounce everything on the label it's all ingredients like vinegar, miso, pure honey . I got it up at the Whole Foods but you can even order it on Amazon. I'm placing one for a case load today!  

- Wakeme Seaweed flakes or Crumbled up Nori paper (this is optional but it really gives it that "sushi" taste

-  Sesame Seed and Dulse Flakes (optional) for topping

Equipment: Something to cook up your rice, something for chopping the veggies, and one or two tupperware containers for storing in the fridge. 

Directions: 

1. Cook your brown rice as you like it. I use a rice cooker with a ceramic bowl (another wedding present I didn't know what to do with until just now!) and a 2.5:1 ratio of water: rice. I cook up my brown basmati or short grain brown because it's sweet and it gets nice and "sticky" if you cook it for a little longer than usual. But, if you like your rice al dente make it as you please! 

2. While your rice is cooking chop up your veggies into the small pieces. (I like to get two tupperware containers out one for me and one for my husband and split the veggies between the two containers.)

3. When rice is finished cooking pour it on top of your chopped veggies and stir. This will "steam" your veggies a bit, especially the broccoli. 

4. Top with the sesame oil, miso dressing, soy sauce, and chopped cucumber and give it a good ol'stir again. I divide the sesame, miso, and soy quantities in half and use one for each "bowl" so I have personal sized rice bowls ready to go. 

5. Store it in the fridge until you're ready to eat. You can eat it warm but I like to make mine ahead of time and eat it up cold just like sushi!

6. When you pull it out of the fridge give it a good old stir and add in 1/4 chopped avocado per "bowl" (or more if you love your avocado) and the crumbled nori or wakame flakes. 

7. Top with sesame seed, dulse flakes, and more soy/tamari/aminos, some siracha (my husband loves this stuff) and as I've seen all you bloggies say: DEVOUR!

Barefootin': Tomorrow is my running day off so I decided to go for it today! Even though I'm trying to follow the advice of our Harvard genius and take it as a real slow, every other day start, sometimes it's just so fun to run in my five fingers I can't help myself. I did a 6 mile run on my favorite dirt double track trail and when I finished I went out for about another mile in my Vibrams. Hopefully the old achilles heel doesn't act up tomorrow! I also wore my barefootin' shoes out on all my errands and then stuck to straight barefeet around the home! 

Barefootin' and Mango Chocolate Recovery Pudding

 So, I've been called out by some friends and family who've been readin' for not talkin enough about my barefoot experiments. What am I doing with this? How is it going to so far? What "shoes" am I planning to wear to work when I start in July? So, lately I've been goin' around as much as possible in my Vibram Five Finger KSO's. I must say, I absolutely love 'em. So comfortable, even when I'm just walkin around that I forget they're on my feet until somebody invariably makes some sort of comment about them or asks me where I got them from.  However, they just came out with the Bikila and I think I must have it. In bright, bright pink of course!    

When I get the slack from people I tell them it's part of a barefoot experiment and they seem to leave me alone! But, I can't do this forever, considering I have some parties and such coming up. I ordered the following three pairs of "minimal, barefoot imitating" shoes to try out. I'd welcome any suggestions from all of you on what's worked for you and what you'd recommend I get.  

The terra plana folks have a "Vivobarefoot shoe" yeah, $110 to have a "barefoot" mocking shoe. OK, they are earth friendly (man all this hippie stuff is EXPENSIVE). So, since my birthday is next week, happy birthday to me: 

 Then there's the Sanuk folks. They're not shoes, they're sandals! And they're darn cute. So I got some in beige since my over the top expensive hippie Vivo barefoots are gonna be black: 

 These babies run about $45-$50. A little more reasonable if you ask me but we'll see! Today's Barefootin' involved a half mile run in my Vibram KSO's which I did after completing a six-miler in my trusty Brooks Glycerin 8's. They're the most neutral shoe I can do right now and run multiple miles in. I'm working my way into the barefoot!

 

The barefoot running program that I'm trying to follow is Dr. Daniel Liberman's from Harvard University's recently published study (the one that caused all the buzz). Apparently their study only included two habitually barefoot females (what's the matter girls---don't want to mess up your pretty pedicure?) so once I get up to full on barefoot running status I'll happily volunteer to be their third! Anyway, I've heard barefooting likened to strength training. You can't start (well I sure can't) benching several hundred pounds and you can't start out running miles and miles barefoot. I made this mistake when I first got my Vibrams. I ran 5 miles the first day and then ooppps! I couldn't walk right for the next three days! It's amazing how the Vibrams use such different muscle groups. So, Dr. Liberman in his program recommends a quarter mile every other day. I'm doing about a half mile to a mile every other day right now and doing OK with it. Today's barefootin' included a half mile run after my 6 miler in the park. I'm spending the rest of my days as barefoot as possible. Why? Well why not? I want to see if I can reduce injuries and run farther! Then I get to EAT MORE! 

Speaking of which...onto the food! I made a Mango Chocolate Recovery Pudding! It had about 3 cups of greens in it but you would never know. It contained: A cup of mango, three cups of greens, stevia, cinnamon, a scoop of my beloved Sunwarrior Chocolate Protein, and a serving of vanilla almond chia seed pudding. It was thick, delicious, and worth running for! See it here, before it gets all blended away: 

 

 

 

Still Goin' Strong and a Gooey Chocolatey or Vanilla-y SMOOSH Snack

 
Look at my ooey gooey chocolate! 

Ladies and Gentlefolk, this woman loves to snack. I ain't doin' all this runnin for nothin. In fact, I spend a great deal of time while runnin' figurin' out what I'm gonna throw down the ol'throat when I get home.  Sometimes I get motivated to run farther just cause I figure those extra miles equal the more I get to eat.Today I tried a new creation: Miss Boomer's SMOOSH! It's delicious, easy, and it tasted decadent even though it was good for me.  Well, back to the important stuff: SNACKIN! A big challenge for me on this high raw vegan diet is that I don't want to eat the old snackin' foods I used to love. My potato chips with ranch dips and turkey/cheese roll ups just don't fit in here. My focus is on the AFTERNOON snack.  See my energy is alright in the mornin when I head out for my runs or do some yoga. I do pretty good until after lunchtime when I just seem to fade in the late afternoon. I have a new love in my life and that is the Sun Warrior Raw Vegan Chocolate and Vanilla Protein. It tastes SO good I can just not tell you how much I'm in love with it. I incorporated it into my SMOOSHes! 

SMOOSH Recipe #1:  

- 1-2 TBSP Chia Seeds

- 1/4 Vanilla hemp milk (or almond, or coconut, or rice, etc.) 

- 1 Small Ripe Banana 

- 1 Scoop Sun Warrior Chocolate or Vanilla Protein Powder (Raw Vegan and 16g protein and only 80 calories!) ---You can sub another type of protein powder, which I haven't tried yet since I'm still lusting over my new Sun Warrior Protein but I will eventually.

Take the Chia Seeds and non-dairy milk and put them in a tupperware or pyrex type container and let them sit out for about 15-20 minutes.  Then SMOOSH in the Nanner and the Protein Powder. It will seem dry like cookie dough, but if you use a fork and SMOOSH it good it will blend up and have a cookie dough like consistency. Then see below for the Mixin' n Swappin' ideas! Stick it in the fridge until you're good and ready for your snack.  

 

Smoosh Recipe #2: 

- 1 cup Coconut Milk Yogurt

- .5 to 2 TBSP Chia Seeds

- 1 Scoop Sunwarrior Chocolate or Vanilla Protein Powder 

- Stevia and Vanilla extract (to taste)

Directions: Mix the chia seeds in with the yogurt and stevia and let sit for 15 minutes. Then give it a good stir and mix in some vanilla if you want. Next, mix in the protein powder and put it in the fridge or freezer until snack time! You can eat it like this or see Mixin' and Swappin' ideas below! I like to put it in the freezer and then move it onto the fridge before eating!  Once ready top with a little bit of peanut butter and yum! This also makes a great dip for apples, more banana, and the vanilla goes real nice with strawberries, mango, and pineapple. 

Now here comes the fun part! The Mixin' and Swappin' :

Optional Yummy Toppings: Peanut Butter (no JIF, Skippy or the ones with those hydrogenated health bomb fats in them!), Almond Butter, or other nuts of choice (almonds, walnuts, etc.) I find peanut butter goes great on the chocolate and almond butter goes great to make Vanilla Almond SMOOSH. 

Spices and Sweeteners: You can do vanilla chai with Cinnamon, Garam Masla, Nutmeg and Ginger. Or you can do any one of the "sweet" spices you might like. Honey, agave, maple syrup and stevia are all great options.  Vanilla pumpkin pie spice with honey is yummy! 

Optional Mix-ins: Vegan chocolate chips, dried fruit, and oats or other type of cereal like homemade granolas go nice here too. Also, coconut goes nice in either vanilla or chocolate. Fresh blueberries and raspberries work with either one.

Optional Dippin' Instruments: Apples, Bananas, and Strawberries go good with Chocolate.  Mango, Strawberries, Pineapple go great with Vanilla. You can make Vanilla Coconut tropical SMOOSH with mango, pineapple and coconut! Mr. Paul Newman makes some Spelt Pretzels which might be nice in here, or the Ener-G gluten free sesame pretzels would give you that "salt and sweet" taste. You could also dip in other "sweet" crackers like the Kashi Honey Toasted come to mind, although, I'm tryin' to avoid the packaged things as much as possible. OR you can make your own yummy flax crackers and dip those on in! 

Optional Wrap: I also love my Food for Life Sprouted Ezekial Wraps. You can put your SMOOSH in your wrap and take it to go! Or you can use flatbread, crackers, or the wrap as a "dipper". 

 I would just be so honored if you would share with me some of your favorite vegan snacks and how you keep your energy levels up, especially in the afternoon time. Mind you, I'm tryin not to eat the soy fake products like chik'n strips and such cause Mr. Brazier wrote a compelling argument over why this are not the best choices for us. I like my soy sauce but I'll keep the soy to that and the occasional tofu pudding I discovered. 

Barefootin' Notes: Today after my 20 plus mile run of my life yesterday I was actually able to still get up and go to the Power Yoga Works with my girlfriend AND ride my bike in the afternoon for some more of that "active recovery" everyone talks about! So this diet must be doin' something for my energy and my recovery. I even went to my Power Yoga in my barefootin' shoes (the Vibrams) as I'm tryin to break into this barefoot thing, so I'm going everywhere possible barefoot or in my barefoot shoes to see if it helps my leg strength. I ordered some barefootin shoes to wear out to work and around the city so I don't keep gettin all the weird comments from city folk who think those camouflaged teal five fingered shoes ain't the latest and greatest entrance to the fashion world---my girlfriends included.  My Power Yoga teacher was so thrilled to hear about my veganin'. She's been telling me since I moved to the big city that the yoga way is non-violence and I shouldn't be eatin' meats and stuff. My Mama, on the other hand, ain't as thrilled but she's not here to badger me to eat her fried chicken and homemade corn puddin. 

21.5 Miles and Sprouted EVERYTHING! Plus Homemade Polenta Wraps

Well, you vegan foodies just might know what y'all are talking about. Mr Brazier, I must say I've been jonesin' to be able to up keep my marathon training and run a 26 mile race for my 26th birthday which is coming up in a few weeks. There just happens to be a new marathon in my area and I would so love to be able to run it! The most I've been able to do is 15 miles for my weekly long run but I thought, hell, I'm experimenting, I'm going to try for the 20-miler I need. After three days on my high raw vegan diet I went for it, with "medjool" date energy bars as Mr. Brazier recommends as my fuel on the run. I did it! And, even more of a miracle, I was able to do "active" recovery on my bike this afternoon. I'm gaining the motivation to stick with this approach to eating, maybe y'all aren't as crazy as I thought. 

Anyway, I have recently discovered the Food For Life Sprouted Grain Line at the Whole Foods: 

 

These are great, quick, go to eats. Today I had a cinnamon raisin sprouted grain bagel before my run. Cinnamon raisin bread was my favorite growing up! We used to by it fresh made after church and go home to toast it up. My favorites are the Sprouted Grain tortillas which have sprouted millet, barley, and the like. I also love the Sprouted Grain Cinnamon Raisin English Muffins. I spread them with raw almond butter and then usually have half a banana sprinkled with some MORE cinnamon like so:

Yum Yum! crunchy outside and soft and chewy inside. One word of warning with the sliced bread though, it can turn hard as a rock if you toast it for too long or you leave it too long out of the toaster before eatin! 

My least favorite is probably the sprouted corn tortillas. I prefer to make my own polenta wraps. See the recipe below: 

Homemade Polenta Wrap cooked low temperature! 

These are topped with low-temperature baked fajita veggies avocado, cashew "cheese" and salsa:

3/4 corn grits

3 cups of water

1/4 cup nutritional yeast (gives it kinda the "cheesy, chewy" flavor)  

Salt and Seasonings to taste (so if you're making it mexican you can add in oregano, cumin, chili powder)

A bit of oil for greasing. 

Directions: Heat oven to 300 F. In a small pot combine corn grits, water, and salt/seasonings. Cook over medium-low heat until the corn grits absorb the moisture and become, well "grits". Turn off the heat and stir in your nutritional yeast. Split the mixture between two medium 9" pie pans which are lined with no stick parchment paper and lightly greased (this is optional but will make it a lot less sticky!). Put the pie pans in the oven and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes. Then when the top is crunchy flip 'em and bake them for another 5-10 depending on how "chewy" you want the inside of your wrap. That's it! Then they're ready for toppin and eatin! 
 

Barefootin': Well not too much today after that run! I did some yoga stretches barefoot on my floor!

Raw Carrot Cake Wraps with Vanilla Almond Chia Seed Pudding

 So I searched and searched for a recipe for raw wraps that used carrots (I had some baby carrots in my fridge that I needed to use up today) and couldn't really find anything. But, I found some other raw wrap recipes and decided to use them as a basis from  to concoct my own wrap recipe. It was successful! 

I was thinking that a wrap like this one would be a great refreshing afternoon snack if I filled her on up with fresh berries and the vanilla almond chia pudding that I made this morning. My heavens is it hot today-92 degrees! This was my first attempt, so it ain't perfect but it sure did come out better than I thought it would. Below is my step by step recipe and the final result photos. Let me know if you give it a try! Also, I don't yet own a dehydrator, but I've been doing the low temperature cooking that Mr. Brazier recommends. I cooked this wrap low at 200 F. 

Here's how they looked going into the oven: 

 Raw Carrot Cake Wraps

2 cups of baby carrots

¾ cup water

½ cup ground flaxseed (I will do 3/4 cup to 1 cup next time) 

¼ cup raisins 

1 tsp stevia or honey, agave, etc. (I will add at least a TBSP of Agave, honey, maple syrup next time)

Cinnamon to taste

3-4 TBSP unsweetened shredded coconut 

**2-3 Dates---I did not include these but I will next time)

**Coconut Oil---I did not include this but I think it would be good to add a little next time

I mixed the carrots with the water in the Vitamixer and then I added in the rest of the mix ins. I then spread them out thin on a parchment paper covered baking sheet and place them on a baking pan. In my oven, they took about 3.5 hours to cook up to wrap quality at 200 F.  Next time, I would add dates, more sweetener, more flax seed, and more coconut. However, for the first attempt they didn't come out so bad! And considering that I'm a complete newbie to all this homemade vegan cuisine, they weren't hard to make. Once they came out of the oven, I coated them in the cinnamon/stevia mix that I made and then I topped them with Vanilla Almond Chia Seed Puddin (see recipe below) and fresh raspberries. Wrap and Roll! 

 Vanilla Almond Chia Seed Puddin'

1/2 cup Vanilla Almond Milk

2 TBSP Chia Seeds

dash of Vanilla Extract

Stevia to taste

Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Ginger spices to taste 

Raspberries for topping

I let the chia seeds soak in the almond milk for about a half hour on my counter, until they became gel like. Tip: I threw it in the Vitamixer---which I found makes the chia seed pudding all thick and fluffy. I put it in the fridge to become even more delicious until I was ready for my afternoon treat! I wrapped this up as the filling a wrap for me and a wrap for the hubby. 

Zucchini Pasta?! Ice Cream?

 

Zucchini pasta? Are y'all smoking something?! I was sure of it when I saw this. Who in their right minds would go out searchin for zucchini flavored noodles? Then I realized you were using the real mccoy--the actual zucchini as your pasta! I thought about how to best go about doing this myself when I remembered the wedding gift I got that's been sitting in my cupboard. Is that what that veggie slicing machine is for? 

I opened it up and didn't know even how to put that contraption together. God bless my husband who happened to be home and came out to help. We both finally discovered it has a "safety lock" covering where the blade was, and man did I feel so dumb--just like I could throw myself on the ground and miss! Then I had to go about figuring out the different three levels of blading slicers, but once I got it, I got, I dare say so myself I got some great looking sliced zucchini!   

Y'all are still smokin' somthing, but it's the the good stuff because this zucchini makes a darn good pasta! In fact, with a little low heat and some sundried pesto sauce (which is a recipe that I made up after reading what all of you were doing with your pasta)  I can't tell the difference, and almost as importantly, neither can the hubby... but I'm sure the old waistline can. 

I think I will call it 'nasta because that sounds a bit like "not pasta" don't you think?

 Raw Sun-dried Tomato Pesto Zucchin"asta" with Portabello Mushrooms 

The Sauce: 

2 TBSP Olive Oil or Hemp Oil

2 TBSP Lemon Juice

2 TBSP Water

1/2 cup Sundried Tomatos (I did not pre-chop them)

2-3 cups loosely packed basil

1/4-1/3 cup pine nuts

1 TBSP "Noocher" aka Nutritional Yeast

2-4 cloves garlic (to your taste---I love garlic so I used 3)

salt and pepper to taste

Put everything in food processor or beloved Vitamix and blend until desired consistency

The Mushrooms:

two large portobello mushroom caps, sliced 

a few "squirts" or about a tablespoon of Braggs aminos

2 cloves garlic, chopped

put all the ingredients in a plastic baggie or tupperware and shake. Then leave to marinate for at least one hour (or a few hours if you like) in the fridge. 

The Pasta:

two sliced zucchinis on my newly discovered veggie slice machine but you can slice them thin or use a grater 

basil, thyme, oregano, salt and pepper to taste

The "Hempesan" topping---I borrowed this topping idea from Miss Gena over at Choosing Raw who was so kind to share. 

3 TBSP Hemp Seed

3 TBSP Noocher (Nutritional Yeast)

Grind them together in blender or food processor

Directions: 

I heated the pasta over low heat until it was a little less firm. This is optional. I did not use oil, I just put it in a saute pan in two separate batches (one each for my husband and I) it definitely made it taste like "real pasta". I then mixed this zucchini with the pesto sauce. The little bit of warmth also helped the pesto sauce spread real nice. 

Next I heated the mushrooms over low heat, made sure all the garlic got on the pan, but I discarded the rest of the marinade (You can do what you please, but I already OD on the salt). then mixed the shroomers in with the "pasta." HEAVEN---I can't believe it's not really pasta. 

I served it along with a mixed greens salad and topped the salad with the extra hempesean I had left. My life has changed since I learned how to use that dang veggie slicer! I'm going to have zucchini pasta coming out of my ears! 

 

 DESSERT: Chia Bannilla Softserve!

Where I come from we have a family tradition of make your own Icecream sundaes.  I topped it with some fresh organic berries I picked up at the Whole Foods and some certified free trade, "carob" chips because my old faithful Nestle's apparently have milkfat in them! So they don't count as vegan, which makes them a big no-no. I picked up the Chia idea and banana softserve from a bunch of people who have blogged about both--so thanks for sharing because It was divine! Read on for how I made the recipe:

I put the above pictured mixture into the freezer before dinner. Once I was ready for it it had frozen just on the top but the bottom was all thick and creamy. I gave it a good stir, topped it with the organic blueberries and I felt happier than a hound in a chicken coop! My husband was so happy, I think our marriage might just survive this little test of mine. 

 Banana Vanilla Chia Cream

-2 TBSP Chia seeds soaked in 3/4 cup vanilla almond milk for 2 hours in the fridge

-When you're getting close to havin dinner ready blend up: 

The Chia Almond Milk gel/pudding from the fridge

1/4 cup of cashews (mine were those ridiculously expensive raw, organic ones from the Whole Foods. I did not soak them first although I see some of you doing that)

1 packet of Stevia powder or however you like it to taste

pinch of Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Ginger to taste

1-2 frozen bananas (pre-broken into chunks first) 

dash of Vanilla extract 

Was this ice cream or what! Those nanners sure blend nice. I'm so glad Uncle Russ and Aunt Mary got me that Vitamix for my wedding. I didn't know what type of great blender or processor it was until I tried it with the sauces for my dinner and this here "ice cream."

Pre-Dinner Experiment: Zucchini Crackers--seeking some advice from you experts out there on this one! 

2 Zucchinis 

1 TBSP Coconut Oil

Salt, thyme, oregano, basil to taste 

I bought Mr. Brendan Brazier's Thrive Diet book since I saw so many of you talking about it. I thought his zucchini cracker recipe looked easy enough. So after struggling with my slicer I finally got cracker worthy thin zucchini slices. I coated them in 1 TBSP of melted coconut oil with salt, basil, thyme, and oregano. I baked them at lower heat (Mr. Brazier recommends 300 degrees) for half an hour flat and spread out on my baking sheet. When I pulled them out they were still quite more than a little soggy so I popped them back in the oven. In another 15 minutes there abouts I noticed some browning so I pulled them out and left them to dry. They were definitely thin enough as some were starting to rip a bit. They were still soggy so I tried pullin them off my baking pan and putting them in a tupperware without the lid. They are still so soggy! Do any of you know what I did wrong? I tasted one and it was quite good, but I'd love it to be crispy. I would love some advice from the pros!