Week 8 Rawview

These are just some of the foods I ate this week:
Buckwheat Granola
Green smoothies (various fruits mixed with kale, spinach or other greens)
Romaine salads
Apples
Bananas
Carrots
Crackers (made of various seeds)
Cucumbers
'Egg' Salad
Muskmelon
Nuts (almonds, cashews)
Pears
Pizza Flax Snax
Plums
Potato Chips (dehydrated)
Ruby Tuesday's salad bar (raw vegan ingredients only!)
Strawberries (fresh and dehydrated)
Yellow Watermelon
Water, water, water

Emotional changes:
I got LOTS of encouragement this week from family.  That always helps!  When we visited my sister- and brother-in-law they were completely supportive.  I saw my Dad and he gave me the thumbs up for making these changes AND tons of veggies from his garden (I'm working on a post with pix and sharing what I did with them)!  I also visited with my Aunt Nardy and got to share my story in more detail with her which was so nice.  However, besides the positive encouragement, I have noticed that some people in my life are continuing to react negatively or passively/agressively to all of this.  The longer I do it the more REAL it becomes and I think they can't believe it's actually happening.  Sometimes I can't believe it either!

Physical changes:
I used to feel tired all the time.  I thought I was able to tell the difference between being a little wore out vs. being fatigued due to the MS.  Well, now that I am feeling different and am reflecting on how I felt before, I am pretty sure most of my 'tiredness' was all the JUNK I was eating.  Because NOW, NOW!, I feel energized most of the time!!!!!...can you tell by my use of exclamation marks?!  :)  Granted, I still have legitimate periods where I need to rest, but that is even happening less often.  Now if I think I'm feeling 'tired' it's usually because I need to eat, not because I'm actually sleepy.  Once I truly fine tune the quantity of food I eat, I bet when I feel tired, I'll actually be tired.  What a concept!

Speaking of being tired, my sleeping patterns have shifted.  I used to flip flop between needing only 7 hours of sleep for a few weeks at a stretch to needing at least 9 hours of sleep for a few weeks at a stretch to actually feel rested.  When I started eating raw vegan I was at the point of needing around 7-8 hours of sleep.  I am currently getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night, but I wake up feeling different than I did before.  I feel like actually getting OUT of bed and not just lying in it so I can get some more rest.  I'm definitely more alert during longer days.  I don't feel like going to bed at 9 p.m. (or earlier!) anymore.  For quite a few weeks I was going to bed at 8:30-9 p.m. every night because I felt just so exhausted.  Now I sometimes start a new project or task at 9 instead of lying on the couch...in other words, I'm MUCH more productive!

I went to the dr. twice this week for various things and my blood pressure was checked each time, so I thought I'd report that...sadly I don't know what it was previously.  However, I do know that I've never had high blood pressure.

Also, remember how last week I didn't have my usual scale to weigh myself?  Well, that may be a factor in my supposed 4 lb. weight loss this week.

Blood Pressure: 108/74
Pounds lost this week: 4.0
Pounds lost so far: 25.8
Average pounds lost each week: 3.2

On a side note, I got a new hair cut/color to help reflect some of the changes that are going on!  I love it!  A HUGE thank you to my sister, Laura!!  First, my hair before...starting to look a little ragged.  Then the turn around. :)