So apparently I was lazy yesterday

I feel like a bad blogger for not posting about yesterday, when it was actually yesterday - and I also neglected to do a Marathon Monday posting - but I will blame the fact that it took quite a while to get my fundraising link up and running.

If you didn't read my earlier post, don't forget to check out the left sidebar on my blog's homepage if you would like to donate to my marathon charity organizaiton, Ceasefire!

I always say I'll be quick and then I continue to ramble on, haha. So this time I will actually try to be brief, but who knows what will happen:

* raspberries for first part of breakfast (not pictured, I had not gotten my camera back yet)
* went to Jewel for groceries
* made FABULOUS raw, vegan Almond Joy cookie dough comprised of 3 c. almond meal, 6 T cocoa powder, 7 or 8 T. agave nectar, a splash of almond extract and a pinch of salt. Throw into Kitchenaid mixer, and voila. This mess of fabulousness contains to butter, white sugar, transfats, or dairy products, but somehow manages to taste like heaven. Try it!!!! (Oh, and instead of making a GM like I planned, the second half of my breakfast was comprised of many, many nibbles of this dough)
* Spinning class - awesome - crunches, and arms
* Went to Whole Foods for more shopping... LOVE that place and badly miss my employee discount from when I worked there during college!
* Green Monster - tried to use 1/2 almond milk, 1/2 water, and the quality definitely suffered with the addition of water - needs more AM for flavah!
* got my haircut, see pix below... this was at the very end of the night so it wasn't lookin its best, but it's a Gwyneth Paltrow long bob-type style

* Got my camera back, woohoo!

* Fantastic avocado salad for lunch (forgot to take pix of this, I'm already out of the mindset of photographing my meals and have to remind myself to take pix of everything again)

* Lindt choc squares for snack - thanks to Joy Beck for the Lindty candy bar!!

* Here are some pix of the awesome Nu Naturals products that the company sent to me! So far everything I've tried has been top-notch* While Mike and his dad were at the Green Day concert, my MIL and Yaya came over to our condo to hang out for the night. We walked to the lakefront and I could not resisit the hydrangeas (my favorite)

These weren't bad either :)

Burnham Harbor

* Dinner was a second avocado salad - I made one for my MIL as well who I think was pleasantly surprised that she liked it, since it was vegetarian AND vegan AND raw AND healthy!

* Decaf green tea

* A couple more Lindt squares

* Banana soft serve with some cocoa/Almond butter sauce

* STILL hungry (or at least had a sweet tooth), and snacked on some more of my Almond Joy cookies... I did not want to risk ruining them by baking them, so I'm going to eat them as is - the joy of making cookies w/o eggs!

I also wanted to mention Sarah's recent posting, and I am stealing a snippet that I found especially interesting. You can read more about the article here, but one part that stuck out to me was the paragraph that said that:

“certain refined food consumption behaviors meet the criteria for substance use disorders, not unlike tobacco and alcohol” and “the key to overcoming food addictions is to get the addictive foods out of the diet and replace them with foods that are not addicting. Scientific evidence very strongly suggests that foods that are the most addicting and harmful to our health are refined sugars and processed carbohydrates and other processed foods.”

It basically suggests that eating a more raw diet is a more realistic, healthy alternative to the SAD (Standard American Diet) for those who suffer from anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating disorders. Even for those who do not fit neatly into one of those categories, I feel that most women have had a disordered relationship with food at some point in their lives, and I think this article offers an interesting insight into what will help and what just hurts women in these situations. Thanks for bringing the article to my attention, Sarah!

I also wanted to thank Kathy and Jon for being the first to make a donation to Ceasefire Chicago! I apologize if others have donated and I haven't gotten word of it yet - I'm not sure how often Ceasefire will notify me when donations are made, I just happened to talk to K and J and found out about their donation that way. Thanks for making a difference!!