I'm Ready to Do This! (and a Contest for your Cooked Friends)

If you've been reading this blog you'll know that I'm mostly but not completely raw. At the very beginning of the journey in January I was eating some cooked vegan meals at home. I progressed to trying to eat raw at home but eating cooked vegan meals when I went out. I did the latter because I didn't want to have to stop eating out since that is such a social event, but I also didn't want to order an expensive salad without all the added stuff (chip strips, candied nuts, MEAT - eew, cheese, etc.) and end up with a $15 pile of iceberg. Then I saw this video with raw dancer Tonya Kay:



The key part starts at about minute 4:22 (though the rest of it is great too, including info on how to handle visits with extended family). She says that when she goes out to a restaurant she asks them to make her a salad out of every raw vegetable they have in her kitchen and she has never been disappointed. So, while out at Chili's, I asked for just that and had them toss it in a dressing I knew was vegan (I looked it up before I went; I'm not at the point yet where I am concerned if the dressing is raw, though who knows maybe that's the next step). Sure enough, out came a lovely, LARGE, salad that was tasty and satisfying and they only charged me $6.50 -- cheaper than any entree on the menu! That's when I thought: I can do this, I can be 100% raw.

O.k., I'll pause now to say that my current personal definition of 100% raw is not the raw community standard definition of 100%: as I said, I'll have a non-raw dressing when going out, not all my spices and seasonings at home are raw, and I'm still figuring out which nuts are truly raw (or that I'm willing to order at steep prices online to be sure they are raw). What I mean is no more cooked meals, no more cooked snacks.

In the latter area, salted roasted peanuts have been my downfall. Here I finally asked my husband to either not buy them or hide them from me. Problem solved. But so far that's been my only real remaining craving. I'm loving all the raw foods I eat and now I can eat out with friends too, even at a chain restaurant where even all the salads on the menu are loaded with meat and extraneous stuff!

Now the reason we went to Chili's is that I was selected for a BzzAgent campaign and recieved coupons for free Guiltless Grill entrees (not buy 1 get 1 free, just free). My salad, which was the most guiltless by far, wasn't covered by the coupon but as I said, it was cheap. Still, I was able to treat my husband and friends with the coupons. If you want to try it, I'm giving away two remaining coupons to one person. Chances are most folks reading this are raw, but with the coupons you'll be able to take your cooked companions out to eat and feed them something that at least isn't as bad as the rest of the stuff on Chili's menu, and you'll be able to try my new strategy.

To enter, just say hi in the comments and let me know how you found me. Make sure you leave your email so I can reach you! I'll close the contest and announce the winner (drawn randomly) in a week.