I am at the end of my trip and will be heading back home soon enough but before I do, I thought I’d share the some of the rest of the goodies I have picked up whilst being here in the States:

On Saturday I mentioned I hit up Katy Mills for some outlet shopping and I was happy to snag some goodies from the Nike store:

(Don’t ya just love the hotel room carpet?) With some of my buddies from Boot camp and Boxing class singing the praises of the Nike Tempo shorts I thought I’d better get me some to try out. And to be honest, it’s been a while since I actually bought some new’ish workout gear, usually opting to just wear old t-shirts and tank tops with 3/4 pants when I work out, but I really needed some new threads. And  I am really impressed with the cut, fit and style from Nike. I tend to stick to Asics trainers (runners) so I’ve not really gotten on the Nike bandwagon, but I really like their workout clothes, sweat-wicking and all. Do you have a favourite brand for workout clothes? I’m really happy I may have just found mine!

Also something I’ve wanted for sometime is some Mason Jars for storing my seeds and nuts and powders and Ryan reminded me on her blog that I needed to get me some (the last lot I ordered from Amazon never reached my hotel in time so they got lost in the dead letter office I’m sure). This won’t be the last you see of them….

Today I couldn’t believe my luck, when channel surfing, to find Ellen interviewing the writer of a new book called Eating Animals, Jonathan Safran Foer. I hadn’t even heard of this book before so of course when I went to one of my favourite places in the world this evening (Borders) I just had to get me a copy. And I found this little gem next to it:

I suspect living in Saudi Arabia has turned me into a hoarder big time. When I get let out for trips I tend to go a little nutso on picking up things I feel I am missing out on having access too. So my plan when I get home is to make sure I get stuck into these books

Has anyone else read these?

Well it’s way past my bedtime, so I am off to pack up the last of my supplies and start to get ready for the big haul back home. I am looking forward to seeing 3 faces (2 furry & maybe 1 human!) and I have to get home in time to bid farewell to Becci as we take her over the causeway for the last time as she takes off for her new life in Europe.

Edit: Go on and check out Chic Runners blog on running shorts here

Don’t forget today is the last day to enter my latest giveaway here. Winner will be announced on my blog on Sunday

I have a treat for you all today! The first in an instalment of guest posts from some of my favourite blogs that KEEP me inspired. As I mentioned here, staying focused and surrounding yourself with inspiring people will help to keep your goal in mind and anytime you slip up, plugging into one of these blogs will encourage you back on track, especially if you don’t have likeminded people around you.

So with that I introduce you to Lori & Michelle!!

Hello Girl on Raw Readers,

We are the Pure2raw twins from pure2raw.com. First we would like to say THANK YOU to Robyn for inviting us to be a guest on her blog. We are honored and excited to share our tips on being raw with a busy schedule, a quick background of our company, and what it was like to go to the first raw foods culinary school at 105 Degrees Academy.

We have been living the raw foods lifestyle for over 2 years. It was a slow transition and we are not 100% but feel best when are diet is high raw. We suffered from a few different health issues, which we discuss on our blog, and raw foods has helped us heal. For us raw foods is not some phase or diet but an overall life change!!!

What is Twin Cakes?

Twin Cakes Bakery is our bakery where we create delicious gluten-free, vegan, peanut-free, casein-free, soy-free, corn-free and no refined sugar treats. We suffer from multiple food allergies and wanted to share our baked goods with others. We offer healthier alternatives to the sugary white flour dairy filled treats out on the market.   Soon we will be launching an online store dedicated more to the baked goods where we will sell our dry mixes.  Currently we sell at local farmers markets and working on a cookbook!

What is Pure2raw?

Pure2raw is our personal blog, we have a mini store where we sell mostly our Pure2raw products. As we enjoyed more of the benefits of eating raw and played around in the kitchen, we realized we wanted others to enjoy the same treats we were.  We aim to show others that raw vegan treats DO taste great. We believe in the power of raw foods…how it can heal your body, fuel your body, and nourish your body with all the nutrients needed to survive. It is our goal to help people eat more greens, so we have a ‘green line’, which we made products that contain our favorite greens, like kale, collards, etc. We have many clients who hate dark leafy greens but have been enjoying our flatbreads. ; ) Many have actually lost weight by replacing our wholesome treats and breads over their preservative filled counterparts.

We wanted to further our raw foods knowledge, so Michelle attended 105 Degrees, while Lori stayed and ran the bakery.  It was one of the hardest months but also one of the most rewarding. Michelle learned how to make some yummy things like these:

Red Pepper Wrappers

Walnut Fig Tart

Also we got to meet some of our favorite celebrities Raw Chefs

Lori, Ani Phyo, and Michelle

Attending 105 Degrees was one of the best career choices I made. If you are interested in learning more about creating raw living foods I recommend looking into 105 Degrees Culinary Academy. You do not need to be a chef to attend, just have a passion about learning…and be ready to open lots of coconuts!!

How do you maintain a busy schedule and stay raw?

Planning and flexibility!!  Our schedules are not always ideal (working till midnight or later and/or getting up at 3am to bake a cake) but we make it work because we love what we do, and that is key! We have one day a week where we sit down and plan out our “ideal” week but things happen all the time….it keeps life interesting ; )

One of the easiest and healthy meals is a green smoothie; we know Robyn is a fan of green smoothies. We enjoy a green smoothie every morning. We rotate our greens and fruit to make sure we are getting variety in our diets. We actually write out, kale on Mondays, collards on Tuesday, etc. Green smoothies are a great addition to your daily life mainly because it is easy to travel with and easy to digest! And they will keep you full for hours!

Great snacks that we enjoy: fresh fruit, plain avocado, (soaked) nuts and seeds, raw flatbreads and crackers (which we sell some on our own online store), and raw desserts or snack bites (a.k.a raw macaroons).  All these items are great for grabbing if you are in a hurry and just want something quick to snack on.

How we do it?

• every Sunday we plan out our week of meals and go to the store and/or farmers market to gather up our ingredients (stock up the fridge)
• once a week we make a lot of fermented veggies and sauerkraut so we have those ready to eat for the week ahead
• the night before we soak any nuts or seeds that we may need to eat the next day *or you can soak your nuts and seeds, dry them out in dehydrator and store in refrigerator or freezer so you always have some on hand ready to go
• make any sauces/dressings a few days out, measure out into servings, and freeze extra
• on real busy days we make green smoothies the night before so ready to go in the morning, just blend and pour into a quart sized mason jar : )

• remember simple the better (a little goes a long way) we have been realizing that our bodies like simplicity and a few ingredients is all you need to make a great dish
• dedicate once a month or every 2 weeks to make little snacks or goodies for you (or of course you could purchase from Twin Cakes Bakery) and leave in refrigerator or freezer till ready for consumption
• buy in bulk!!!

When eating raw foods you just have to be creative and plan out your meals. Raw foods can be a lot of fun and so rewarding to your body. We share lots of easy recipes on our blog to help those looking for fun and different things to try, as well as Robyn! Raw foods does not have to be scary & remember keep things simple. One of our favorite fast meals is avocado with lime juice and dash of sea salt. Quick, easy to digest, alkaline for the body and full of vitamins and healthy fats that nourish the body!

What about workouts?

Fitness is an important part of our lives and many people question how can we eat a high  raw diet and be athletes?  We aim to workout for at least an hour everyday. Some days we are extremely busy that we can only get in 20 minutes, but we always try to do at least something whether it be a quick run, walking, or light lifting. We just love to get the body moving. One of newest loves is yoga. Just doing a few Sun Salutations gets our hearts going.

This past January we ran in our 2nd marathon at Disney in Orlando, FL. And we documented our training and eats over the few months leading up to it. The more raw foods we ate, we noticed more and more improvements in our workouts. We were able to train less but with the same amount of intensity and had faster recovery. This is something most athletes strive for and we did it on a high raw no meat diet.  Two great resources that helps us for our training was Brendan from Thrive and Tim from Running Raw, who we got to meet!

Lori, Tim VanOrden, Michelle

The key is to eat foods that are easy to digest, nutrient dense, full of proper sugar and fat, and are alkaline. Hemp seeds, lemon, coconut oil, and dark leafy greens are great things to incorporate into your diet for energy.

We feel even if you can incorporate a few raw foods into your diet and exercise to your routine is very important. There are no rules that it has to be all or nothing. When you eat right and exercise, you will notice improvements in your body that you will want to continue reaping the benefits. We are not perfect with balancing it all, but when fuel our body right we have the energy to get it done.

Thank again to Robyn for letting us be a guest writer for her blog. And many thanks to all of the Girl on Raw readers.