The Overdosed Pumpkin...and lovin' it!

Happy Halloween, guys!

Love, 

the Green Smoothie Overdosed Pumpkin

Yay for Halloween!  This is by far my favorite time of year!  Steven and I had fun with this guy last night.  Since his "body" was naturally leaning, I figured I'd make him a little "sick."  I know you can't tell, but those drips are a greenish paint...Green Smoothie!  He marked his spot on the front porch last night, lookin' fine, I must say.

Halloween day will be filled to max with activities for me this year.  My mom's birthday is Halloween, I have my first 5 mile race debut that morning, my sister and bro-in-law will be in town from CO, and I'm sure we'll hit up some festivities later that evening!  I'm really excited about the race.  I got a 4 miler in this past weekend with some friends, so that really helped boost my confidence that I'll be all good for the 5 miles.  I've done 5 mile runs a couple times before, but I haven't done one in a while.  I felt great after the 4 miles, and am planning on doing a 5 miler this weekend.

As for raw vegan updates, I have decided I need more iron in my diet.  Yes, I eat the hell out of leafy greens, but I'm not sure that's cutting it for the amount my body's telling me I need.  At whole foods I found a RAW vegan natural iron supplement!  SO excited, as I've heard synthetic iron can cause nausea, and doesn't have the best reputation for absorption.  The raw vegan iron supplements I bought smell exactly like broccoli and other veggies, so I know there's something good going on in that capsule.  I've been taking them for 3 days now, and I feel awesome!  I've also added Spirulina to my green smoothies in the morning, which has a decent iron amount, as well.  I was dragging a bit on my runs the past couple weeks, and I'm pretty sure it was from low iron levels.  Back on my S.A.D. diet, I used to eat Malt-o-Meal before my runs simply because it was fortified with iron.  I don't know why I didn't make this "iron connection" between my two diets sooner?!

The most interesting observation, still, about my raw vegan diet has been this overwhelming sense of satisfaction!"  No.  More.  Cravings.!  It's weird.  I mean, you still have your natural habits of eating;.  For example, I have to end every meal with something sweet, like a bite of dark chocolate, but before I would need a whole 2 scoop sundae, or eat a whole bag of chips, or something extreme like that.  I used to eat massive amounts of food at night until totally disgustion.  I don't have the desire to do that anymore.  I'm still so shocked at this all the time.

I'm not craving any S.A.D. food, either.  All the raw vegan substitutes for the foods I would miss have been completely awesome.  I must say, I do have a slice of whole wheat multi-grain leavened bread with my dinner about every other day, so that's helped with the bread craving.  I've also had cheese pizza with Steven about 3 times since the beginning of all this raw vegan stuff.  I don't have a problem with these little "cheating" episodes whatsoever.  I consider my dinner to be "let loose" on the raw vegan stuff at dinner (this is where I'll cook my veggies, and eat cooked whole grains), but I still never bring animal flesh or dairy into the mix...except for those cheese pizza incidents.  Cheese pizza does make me extremely constipated the next day, so believe me, I pay my price for cheating.  My diet is still primarily 98% raw vegan/cooked vegan, so I'm pleased. 

Man, I can't stop eating these kale chips!  They are definitely a new favorite for me.  Dang, they're good!