She's gone bananas!!

The looks I get at work as I hit the blender every few hours.... the bananas I consume in a day..... I think my co workers may wonder if I've totally lost the plot.... haha GONE BANANAS!!!


I have been consuming a lot of these little beauties lately. I must admit that before deciding to hit up 30days of more disciplined clean eating, I was already pretty close to this. In  theory anyway. I have gradually moved myself closer and closer to a high raw vegan diet. This came with a lot of resistance, but not a lot of choice health wise. 

Winter last year was a bit of a rock bottom health wise for me. It had been coming on for a couple of years before but I pushed on, because quite frankly I didn't have any time to be sick. I had moved out on my own with my son who I had 50% of the time. With no real support network. Sure I had a lot of friends that were willing to help out, and absolutely did help out plenty of times. But bottom line was I had no financial security and no family in a place financially to help me. So I was running myself on empty, afraid that if I put one foot out of line I would end up homeless. Of course this never happened. I have a knack for making money appear when I need it. But the problem was the fear that was eating away at me and I reached a point where I had trouble getting out of bed, my body was depleted of vital nutrients due to stress over such a long period of time, but also the fact that I wasn't paying enough attention to the food I was choosing as fuel for my body. I was reading the books and buying the food. But at the end of the day I had a pantry full of super-foods and books full of information and ideas. But my reality was that I was keeping myself so busy I wasn't using these books and ingredients very often and my health was suffering as a result. I was literally living off green tea - to make up for my complete lack of energy, cupcakes - the start of my cupcake business, I'd just grab and run and home made miso soup. Which is great in moderation. But it was pretty much all I would eat whenever my son wasn't with me. 

I had discovered that although I absolutely adored to cook for other people. When it came to myself, I simply couldn't be bothered. I had no energy and it was becoming a vicious cycle. I needed to change. So I did. As I mentioned before I had no choice. I was running out of sick leave and I had committed to not eating meat ever again, despite the constant reminders from  well meaning friends, that perhaps if I just ate meat I would be ok. HELL NO! So I set out to prove that I could indeed be super healthy and energetic following a vegan diet. 

The biggest change I had to make was the decision to start to care for myself the same way in which I care for others. I had to put effort into my meals, my food. Of taking care of my body. I had to value myself as much as I valued my son and my friends. This was the biggest challenge and one that perhaps we are all working on? I know I am getting better at it, but its certainly a journey.

I found RAW. I had always been drawn to the raw lifestyle. But mostly though books, I had never thought it achievable for the average person in the "real" world. However I met a friend who had recently tried 80/10/10 eating fruit pretty much all day. So I tried. Despite my doctor telling me to cut out all fruits for a short period of time (I turned up to see him with photocopies of evidence as to why I could eat all this fruit and be fine) I ate mostly fruit all day, until dinner time. I experimented with this on and off. And found my energy levels much higher. I even put on a little weight, but felt healthy. Something I hadn't done in years and I felt the extra couple of kilos did me good. (and the plus side for those who want bigger breasts....mine got noticeably bigger haha but true story).

So not I eat lots of fruit and I recommend it to anyone. I am full. I eat lots. Its easy to do as you just eat fruit. Easy to prepare. I either eat it whole or blend into a smoothie. It takes the work out of deciding what to eat for lunch etc. I just need to ensure I'm stocked up with enough fruit and I'm good to go. I'm still not on a perfect diet and still am flexible with things. I find balance to be important, more important than perfection, especially when it comes to diet. Aiming for perfection can easily lead to feelings of failure and guilt when we don't live unto our own ridiculously high expectations. And that is a cycle that I see all too frequently and takes me back to the days of my own eating  and weight issues. No one needs that.

I had intended that this blog be about the nutritional value of bananas and how to tell when they are perfectly ripe. But instead this happened. When my fingers hit the keyboard there really is no telling what will happen.

I want to encourage people to try adding more fresh fruit to their diet. Even if just for breakfast. It really is natures perfect food. That and encourage people to listen to their body. Enough of the fad diets and negative body image that seems to haunt so many. I would love to see everyone comfortable and healthy in their own skin. Lots of people happy to be naked vegans haha. Comfortable in our own skin. The ultimate goal. XXX Claire

PS. The recipes and banana tips will come.. promise...