Nothing Besides Tea and Milk After 6:00 pm

I made up a new rule for myself a few days ago and I'm seeing how it goes. It is where I don't eat anything besides tea or milk after 6:00 pm. This specific rule will help me with my plan to have a reverse-ratio diet (I made that term up by myself) where I eat a big breakfast and eat less and less as the day goes on. I woke up at 9:00 am a few days ago, made a beautiful big breakfast for me and my brother (which I posted), and wasn't hungry for the rest of the day. In fact, I actually felt full, bloated, fat, and greasy. My skin was oily. I kept thinking about the egg yolks and hot dog slices in the scrambled eggs and their (and I hate using this term) fat content. I also kept thinking about the granola and Greek yogurt and how I wanted to eat that more often. I want to be more extreme in my diet by eating more vegetables and fruits and less meat and (again, hate this word) fat. This feeling lasted until I came back from dance class and drank some tea. Then I was a little bit hungry. But when I laid down in my bed, I almost felt at peace. I didn't get to sleep right away, but I felt satisfied. When my 14-year-old sister offered me a cookies-and-cream ice cream bar at seven o'clock the other night, I told her about my new rule and elaborated by saying if I were to eat something like that, I would eat it in the morning and that I don't eat desserts at night anymore. She rolled her eyes like she always does and left me with the over-packaged ice-cream box to put in the freezer.
I like this rule. I like how it gives the illusion of easing into nighttime and slumber.

FullyRawKristina

I do not follow one particular diet. I pull tips and information from different sources and develop my own diet plan. My hero is Micheal Pollan, the author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food, and my favorite, Food Rules. His ideas are mostly based around listening to tradition and culture as opposed to science and media to tell us what to eat. I am always finding new voices with whom I agree.

For example, today I came across a YouTube channel called FullyRawKristina, and I clicked it because she spells her name the same as me! Her videos were all about her raw vegan lifestyle. Her diet pertains of raw fruits and vegetables, with the occasional nut here and there. As always, I approached her ideas with skepticism. Why would you refrain from cooking food? She claims that cooking food "kills it."
She follows all kinds of out-of-the-ordinary practices like making a cobbler crust only with almonds and dates or pasta made of cucumbers and zucchini. Her day consists of a Vitamix full of smoothie for breakfast, a huge bowl of fruit for lunch, non-sweet fruit for an appetizer, and an enormous salad for dinner.

Although I do not adhere to her diet, I do admire and respect her greatly. She and I may not share the same philosophies about health and food, but I just saw a very beautiful, happy, energetic, full-of-life woman who was more than comfortable with her food choices. And that's what I like to see. Raw vegans eat enormous meals of fruits and veggies to make sure they get enough calories, and there Kristina was and I don't think I could eat a quarter of that her salad or smoothie. She had a wonderful relationship and good energy with her food. It made me happy and full of hope. I found myself wanting to nourish myself by using fruits and vegetables as the base of my diet. Her inspirational ideas lingered in my head and made me crave a raw pastry made entirely of nuts and figs.
FullyRawKristina was very confident in her food choices and was eager to help other people eat more raw food. She was also very happy, energetic, glowing, and slender. I want to learn more about raw food and perhaps incorporate it into my lifestyle. It is very interesting.
For some reason, recently there is something exciting to me about adhering to a strict diet. A mysterious drive inside of me has motivated me to not just settle for a slightly-healthy diet. I want to be one of those people with a weird diet who can just resist certain foods with no problem. I am already quite petite, but I want to sculpt my body to be exactly what I want it to be.

One thing about Kristina puzzled me a bit. She claimed her eyes changed color, from brown to hazel to nearly blue. She says this is because of her diet.
I have always had very dark eyes. It goes with my thick, dark hair and Mediterranean-olive skin tone. I have always loved my eyes. And I would consider myself very healthy. My sister, on the other hand, used to have brown eyes but now has hazelish, greyish, greenish color-changing eyes (as I like to call it, "barf-colored eyes"). She eats crap. Not only that, but she is taller and meatier. She doesn't get zits, but her face is always pink. Her skin tone has more of a pinkish tint, and mine is more brownish. I am smaller but there is a blob of I don't know what (fat? skin? organs?) on my belly that I have had ever since about third grade that hasn't gone away entirely.
I have a friend who ate only fruits and vegetables for one week as a cleansing. I always see her on her bike. She is very healthy, but she is also a bit overweight. I wish there was a legitimate way of telling if one is healthy or not. The world may make sense to people like FullyRawKristina, but it sure doesn't to me.

I also saw a video of a different girl explaining why she no longer adheres to the raw vegan lifestyle. She said she was experiencing strange symptoms such as excessive acne, extra weight where she never had before, a hiatus from her menstrual cycle, and elevated triglyceride levels.
There are so many things people say about food and what's healthy and what's not--and one doesn't always know what to believe.
As the video progressed, I realized that what I was going to write right here is exactly what she had said. She made it a point that there is no one "right" diet, and that one must find what is right for them specifically. She doesn't discourage anyone from going raw or vegan or vegetarian or whatever they want to do; in fact, she empowers them to eat the kind of diet THEY want. She explained that being raw vegan was a "cleansing" at the beginning, but just wasn't right for her in the long run.
Me, I love all food. I love fruits, veggies, nuts, homemade bread, cheese, yogurt, raw milk, fish, pork, chicken, beef, chocolate, cake, honey, tea, and lots more yummy foods. All foods have their place. The only principles with which I restrict my diet is organic, local, and humane.

I have been through a horrible, traumatizing experience a few months ago and I am still living in the dark. One doesn't achieve happiness by herself. Happiness comes from outside sources. The only thing I am motivated to do is be healthy. I want energy, I want to focus better, I want to be productive, I want clearer skin and bright eyes, but more than anything, I want to be happy. I would say I eat a very healthy diet, but I still feel and look like crap.

The Big Breakfast Diet

I recently acquired interest in the "Big Breakfast Diet." I use the principles loosely, as I approach all food claims skeptically. This diet is based on the age-old saying, "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" and follows the old wives tale "breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper." Most Americans eat a small breakfast (or none at all) or just a measly cup of coffee in the morning, a bigger lunch, and then they spend the most attention to dinner. This diet turns that scale around 180 degrees to focus the most on breakfast. One following the diet would eat a large breakfast (roughly 600 calories) and eat less and less as the day goes on (approximately 600 more calories split between lunch and dinner). This claims to work because it kick-starts your metabolism, allows your body to use the energy from the food, and satisfies cravings before they even occur.
This morning I made a wonderful big breakfast for me and my little brother. It was delicious and filling!

I cooked my scrambled eggs with leftover hot dog, mini peppers, Swiss cheese, slivered almonds, lime juice, cream cheese wedge, and basil leaves. I also had a small bowl of Kirkland Signature by Nature's Path Organic Ancient Grains Granola with Almonds with The Greek Gods Greek Yogurt. I had a side of cantaloupe and a glass of water with lemon juice, ice, and freshly picked raspberries.

Erik also had some cherries our dad picked yesterday from the trees in our yard. Erik gave me the idea to make this blog. Love you bro!