Flood waters receding...

Most of the last 24 hrs we have been without phone (& internet) at home. Not a huge deal - we still had electricity & heat, after all. Yesterday morning it was still raining heavily and there was a lot of water around the yard, and the creek was raging in the back. The crawlspace was, indeed, under some water - probably 12" at least. I turned the hotwater tank breaker and heater breaker off for down there, just to be safe, until this morning. After a night of little rain (and the gutters cleared), the water level appeared to drop by close to 8" in the crawlspace, so I turned the breakers back on, and all seems well down there (not that I've gone & looked, myself, LOL). The puddles around the yard are mostly gone and the sun even shone brightly for a few minutes. Driving into town (25 kms), there are several spots, both minor and major, where the road has been under water... and like I say, a few major spots. Looking at the news online it appears the road west of us is closed at the moment... indefinitely.

Rowed again today, which felt great. Exercising earlier in the day (as opposed to after dinner in the evenings) is SOOOO much easier, in regards to motivation. I'm aiming for rowing on weekdays this month, and taking weekends off.

Yesterday I felt really bloated in the later evening. Took a few minutes to go over in my mind what I'd eaten all day and I came to the realization that dark leafy greens have gone by the wayside in my diet lately. Easy to tell because my hair is noticeably gray-er (to me, anyways) and I'm obviously eating more nuts and seeds this winter season (my cheekbones aren't as slender as right after the juicefeast, something only I'd notice). Yesterday I had a bowl of raw muesli (with a little cinnamon sprinkled on it) with a banana cut-up on top and some almond mylk for breakfast, an orange for a snack, california rolls with 'not tuna pate' for lunch (with red pepper, alfalfa sprouts, grated carrot, avocado, and a little miso) - used toasted nori as I don't have any raw nori and I have another package of toasted nori to get through before I indulge in buying raw nori (especially at $30 a package). So the california roll recipe makes two sheets of nori, or about 12 slices. yummers. Another bowl of muesli for a snack in the afternoon (with another banana sliced on it, and almond mylk on top). I actually had a mug of herbal tea in the afternoon - mint and rose, from the local organic farm. And for dinner I had 2L of smoothie - the meat and water from a young coconut, 2 bananas, a grapefruit, some E3Live (1/4 cup?) and a bag of cranberries, with a dash of agave nectar. Delicious, but VERY filling, and when I reflected on the day, I realized I'd had 4 bananas - which is probably too many. That's a lot of fruit in that smoothie, and 2L is a LOT of smoothie, especially to consume later in the day. I think it's probably easier to ingest 2L of smoothie earlier in the day, when you're going to be more active (note to self: I don't lead an overly active lifestyle!!!)... but the great news is that I feel really committed to raw food in this moment - making a menu/eating plan for the week has helped so tremendously. :)

The recipes for muesli and california rolls are in Jennifer Cornbleet's book Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 People (LOVE that book). I added a tbsp of buckwheat crispies to the muesli recipe; buckwheat crispies are a recipe from Ani Phyo (probably found in Ani's Raw Kitchen book; can't remember).

Anyways the overall lesson there was that I'm probably taking in too many calories and definitely not getting enough greens. And my water intake is considerably lower than when I was feasting. I just felt so sluggish and bloated and heavy last night. So today I'm making a conscious effort to drink more water and eat lighter foods - I had a lovely salad for lunch. More dark leafy greens. Definitely.