Raw Breakfast Ideas

What beautiful weather!!  NYC is gorgeous on days like this, low humidity, breezy, sunny, sort of like fall.  My window overlooks my awesome tree lined street and it's so hard not to go out on the fire escape and just hang haha (I take my food pictures on the fire escape all the time).


I just finished my yoga book reports so I should be getting my official certificate this week that says I'm a certified vinyasa yoga teacher (anyone in NYC or PA need yoga lessons?)  I also signed up for unlimited yoga classes at Sonic Yoga on the west side and I went with my yoga class friends yesterday...it kicked my butt!  On the running front, I went to see the sports medicine doctor last Friday and he gave me some strengthening exercises for my foot and lower leg.  Yesterday my ankle was killing me because I did alot of walking and I ran so today I'm taking it easy.  Having an injury when you just want to RUN is so frustrating!  My next big run isn't going to be until the spring in NYC, I'm going to sign up for the half marathon.  Until then, I'm slowly going to build up my miles and try to stay injury free.

So, it's my second day doing raw til 4 and I'm feeling great!  Right now I'm enjoying my chia seed pudding and loving it (how can you not??!!)  Have you ever had chia seed pudding?  Well, if you haven't, try this recipe, you won't regret it :)  I used my Arbonne chocolate protein powder for the chocolate flavor, which is technically not raw so if you need to be 100% raw, use cacao powder.  I didn't have any cacao powder so I used the chocolate protein powder.  The protein powder also give the pudding some sweetness.  Ok, so here is the recipe!

Chocolate chia seed pudding:
3 tbsp of chia seeds
1 cup of coconut milk (or other non dairy milk)
2 scoops of Arbonne protein powder

Mix all of these ingredients in a mason jar.  Mason jar tip: reuse an empty jar-there is no need to go out and buy jars.  I save my coconut oil and peanut butter jars.

Mix the above ingredients well, making sure the protein powder is dissolved.  Put the lid on the jar and store in the fridge for a few hours.  Peel two ripe bananas and place in the freezer.  I have frozen bags of organic blueberries that I used for this recipe.  Let the bananas sit in the freezer for about 4-6 hours depending on how cold your freezer is.  When the bananas are 90% frozen, put them in your blender along with 1 cup of frozen blueberries and blend until you get creamy blueberry banana ice cream.

Take out your jar of chia seed pudding and scoop the ice cream into the jar.  Enjoy as lunch or a snack at the end of the day.  The chia seeds have a ton of fiber and omegas and the chocolate taste will make you feel like your're enjoying a decadent, unhealthy dessert when in fact you are not :)

The past two mornings I had plates of fruit and veggies.  I started out the day with 1 serving of 4-5 different fruits.  This morning I paired cucumber slices with dates pieces-it was an interesting combination.  I bought coconut balsamic vinegar, which I'm obsessed with, and I used that in my salad yesterday instead of olive oil.  I'm trying to be high carb low fat.  Yesterday I ate a handful of walnuts with a banana as a snack and later had 1/2 serving of almond butter so I didn't want to eat anymore fat.  Honestly, I think raw til 4 is great because you can still eat cooked food and go to parties/out to dinner in the evenings and not worry about being raw but I will say I wanted a bagel yesterday in the middle of the day!  It takes about 66 days for a habit to form so I'm going to keep at it!  I'm not going to ignore my cravings because I can still have whole grain bread after 4 but I want to push through my bread cravings while focusing on fruits and veggies.  Rome wasn't built in a day!  We can't change overnight, the key is to make small, sustainable life changes.

In other good news, I'm officially halfway through my Institute for Integrative Nutrition program and I can start to see clients!  If you or anyone you know wants to complete my free health history consultation, email me at fabulousveganrecipes@gmail.com and I can send it to you.  Then we can discuss your health history form and talk about your goals.  It's that easy...and free!