Struggling On A Raw Food Diet?

Are you not getting everything you had hoped for out of your raw food diet? If so, you're not alone! Many, many people find themselve exactly where you are. I myself was struggling with my raw food diet for quite a while, until I discovered the information that I am going to share with you in this article.

Most raw foodists say they eat "a lot" of food. But the thing about raw food is that it is MUCH less calorically dense than the cooked food they were raised on. My first thought, if you are not feeling awesome, is that you are not getting enough calories. Are you tracking your caloric intake on a website like Cronometer.com? Doing this really helped me to better understand the foods I was eating, how much I should be eating, ect. I suggest aiming for at least 2500cals per day for women, 3000 for men, and significantly more than that if you excersize or are otherwise active.

Next, it's best to examine where your calories are coming from. Namely, are you eating enough fruit? On a raw diet, there are 2 places to get our calories from: fats (nuts, seeds, avocado) or sweet fruits. Obviously, greens/veggies could never supply enough calories to keep us going throughout the day. Fats are good in small amounts (maybe 1 avocado or 1 - 2oz nuts per day), but I don't think there can be much argument that we shouldn't be getting the bulk of out calories from them!

So that leaves us with fruit as the bulk source of our calories. What could be better? Everybody knows how nutritionally awesome fruit is. However, sadly, many people are scared to eat too much fruit because it's "too much sugar". I hope you haven't fallen into that trap. Remember that the sugar in fruit is accompanied by fiber, nutrients, water, ect. It is not refined and it is nothing to be afraid of. It is worth noting that generally any study that points to fruit as the source of health complications (such as obesity or diabetes) used isolated (refined) fructose or glucose, NOT whole fruit.

In fact not only is fruit not bad for us, but it is what our bodies run on most optimally. It is delicious, it digests so easily, and it kicks cravings like none other! The energy in fruit is very easy for us to utilize, as our bodies run on glucose. It takes very little relative effort by your body to convert simple carbohydrate sugars to glucose, which means more energy for you!

Now that we know fruit is the best source of calories, how much of it should you be eating? Fruit is far less calorically dense than cooked food or even raw fatty sources of calories like avocado, nuts or seeds. In a typical day I eat:

-breakfast: 9-10banana smoothie, w/ water (or other calorically equivalent smoothie) for around 1000calories
-lunch (I eat at school): green smoothie (ex: 5nanas, 1c pineapple, 1/2cilantro, 1c greens, 1c water) or monomeal (of oranges, this time of year), about 600cals
-2nd lunch (I eat again several class periods later in study hall): green smoothie or smoothie, about 600cals
-dinner: GIANT SALAD (1+ head lettuce, half a cuke, half an avo, 1 tomato, strawberries/apples/oranges, and 1/2c+ dried fruit or dates, + fruit-based, homemade, fat-free salad dressing (leave me a comment if you'd like some ideas, I'd definitely do a post on that), or a blended salad, 400 - 500cals
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All this = around 2,700cals.

Eating this way, I feel AMAZING, better than I can remember ever feeling! I have so much energy. I am 5'2 weighing 100lb, and I've been eating this way for over a year now....so all the sugar in this fruit certainly hasn't made me fat! (;
(Oh, here you go, if you don't believe me:)

I was never fat, but I haven't always had a nice, flat stomach, either! Here's a before & after.

What does a typical day of food look like for you, in detail/numeric amounts? If you still have questions, feel free to post a comment below!

Peace. (:

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Strawberry Ice-Cream Shortcake

Yum! This is so decadent and super simple and healthy - only 4 whole food, raw ingredients!
It would make an excellent Valentines meal or dessert.

There's two parts:

Shortcake:
—30 halawy dates (or 15 medjools)
—¼c dried, unsweetened coconut

Icecream:
—¾c frozen strawberries
—1 banana

Simply blend dates & coconut until a sticky, sweet dough is formed. Press lightly into bowl or dish.

Blend bananas & strawberries with a little bit of water. Pile on top of your shortcake pastry and enjoy!

This recipe makes a nice meal for 1 person, or a good dessert for 2.

Peace!

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Comforting Kale Soup

Hehe.

Ingredients:
—3 c kale (preferably baby kale)
—1½ c warm water
—1Tbs lime juice
—1in ginger (or to taste)
—½tsp turmeric
—⅓tsp cumin seeds
—½ avocado

Easy Prep:
1) Blend kale with warm water
2) Add spices, ginger, and lime; blend again
3) Add avocado and blend one last time

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Creamy Low Fat Raw Vegan Dill Chowder

Hi there! Yes, yes this is a new recipe. And yes, I realize pretty much all my recipes are green. I love greens, they make me feel awesome! (And they have a pretty overpowering color.)

I love fruit, too. Fruit makes me feel awesome as well.
However - I don't know why, but - in the winter, I'm much more attracted to greens & savory foods. I normally eat greens with at least two of my meals in the winter, unlike in the summer, when I might have a some greens every few days.

To ensure I'm getting enough carbohydrates with my green soups and so that they are more satiating, I normally add some sweet dried fruit or dates to my soups.

Anyhow, my favorite way to eat greens is blended. It's less natural, I know - but I feel better afterwards, and enjoy eating blended greens over whole greens, generally.

For lunch, I like to have either a green smoothie or green soup.

Today, I made myself some nummy Creamy Dill Chowder Soup, and now I'm gonna share it with you.

Ingredients

• 1¼ cucumbers
• 1 c water
• 1 c fresh dill or 1Tbsp dried
• ½ c cilantro
• ½ c salad greens
• 1Tbsp lemon juice
• ½ avocado

• 1½ c corn kernels (one corn cob=about 1c corn kernels)
• 13 small dates (or 7 medjools)
• ½ tomato

Easy Prep

1. Blend 1 cucumber with water.
2. Add dill, cilantro, salad greens, lemon. Blend again.
3. Add scooped out avocado and blend one last time, until smooth.
4. Chop dates and tomatos into chunks & slice ¼cucumber thin (like in photo to the right!)
5. Pour soup into bowl. Mix in veggies & fruits.
6. Enjoy!

(Sit cross-legged on a wooden floor while playing Jack Johnson as you eat for full effect.)

Peace! 

What A Teenage Fruitarian Eats In A Day

I get people asking me often enough, what and how much they should be eating in a day. I obviously can't answer that 100% - we're all different; only you can answer that by experimenting and finding out what what works for you.

However, I can show you what works for me and what I do, to give you some sort of basic understanding.

So, here is a play-by-play of everything I'm eating today!

Breakfast - smoothie (1L):
—4-5 bananas
—2c OJ
—¾c strawberries (or other berry)
Blend everything until smooth.

I always start my day with a smoothie! I sometimes experiment with different foods for breakfast, but in my experience, a smoothie for breakfast is the best! It's hydrating, flavorful, easy to digest, and full of healthy carbohydrates to fill you up and energize you for the day.

I've found that it's very important to get enough calories in my breakfast meal, and that eating a lot early in the morning provides excellent energy levels and a positive mood for the whole day - plus I'm not hungry all the time for the rest of the day.

This size smoothie normally fills me up until lunch - but some days I'm hungry earlier, so I often bring a small snack of whole fruit or extra smoothie to school with me (it almost always gets eaten up, either before lunch or as a snack in the afternoon).

Snack - extra green smoothie that wouldnt fit in my lunch jar. Aha

Lunch - green smoothie (1L):
—2c romaine
—¼cilantro
—1c water
—½lemon, juiced
—3bananas
—1.5c pineapple
Blend greens with water and lemon until smooth. Add fruit, blend again until smooth.

This is probably my favorite green smoothie! I love pineapple with greens.

For lunch, I normally have either a green smoothie or a monomeal of whole fruit.

I like the fruit monomeal because it is convenient and easy. Recently, my monomeal has been about 10 oranges. There're super easy to transport and don't go bad fast, so it's nice.

I'm out of oranges now, though, so I've been doing green smoothies instead. I really like the way they are sort of savory and sweet at the same time. I think this is awesome for lunch, because you're not looking for something quite as sweet at lunchtime as you had for breakfast, but you still need a good amount of calories to get you through the rest of the day. Making smoothies take a little extra prep time in the morning, but they are also a nice, convenient way to eat at school (or work).

Dinner - 2 heads of broccoli dipped in maybe ½c sundried tomato paste, with ¼ avocado and a sprinkling of curry

This may sound like a wierd meal, but I thought it was super good! Lol, I have really been loving broccoli the past few days! (And, it was on sale at the grocery store, aha.)

I've noticed that at different times, I'll crave different types of greens and fruits. (I normally can't stand broccoli or cruciferous veggies, but I sometimes go through phases of like a week, where I just can't get enough of them. Wtf?) I can't imagine this is anything other than my body telling me what it needs, which I think is pretty cool! ...I used to try and eat the things that I knew were *good* for me....but I've found that I feel and do a lot better when just eating the fruits and veggies I'm wanting to eat at the time.

Previously to my broccoli kick, I was doing a cucumber "pasta" just about every night, with a sauce that differed from day to day. I posted a few of these sauce recipes. Basicalky what I would do, would be blend up a base of about 1c water and 2 - 3c greens, then add spices, herbs, other veggies, to to taste, and see what worked. This was super fun, and made for awesome flavor variey - even when using basically the same base ingredients every day, hah. (:

I like having a savory, green meal for dinner. I often throw in a few dates or some dried fruit to sweeten the meal up. The sweetness helps to satiate better than if it were just a low-calorie green meal. The fact that I eat more carb calories earlier in the day, makes it possible for me to have and enjoy a green/salad-type meal for dinner.

I also had about 2½ cups of water today. I don't force down the water like I know sme raw foodists do. I just drink when I feel I need it. Many days, I don't actually drink water by itself (though I normally blend some with my smoothies), and this seems to work just fine for me.

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So, thats my intake for the whole day! Keep in mind that I am a small-boned, 5'2, 100lb female. I don't do huge amounts of excersize, especially being winter - just some walking and about an hour of yoga every night.

So, obviously most people are going to need more food than this. The best way to figure out just how much food you need is to listen to your own body and experiment: there is no one size fits all answer.

If you are just beginning a low fat raw vegan diet, theres a good chance your tummy won't even be able to fit all the food you'll be needing! This is because cooked food is a more concentrated source of calories - a lot of the fiber and water that is present in raw foods is normally removed in cooked food. So it will take some getting used to, just do the best you can - and if you must, don't be afraid to maybe supplement with some rice for dinner, if you must. It's better than not getting enough food, in my opinion!

Hope this was helpful to you!

-Peace!

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Tomato-Orange Salad Dressing

This raw salad dressing is fat free and salt free for optimal health!

I put this dressing on a salad I shared with my SAD parents, and they loved it! It's super flavorful, tangy, creamy, and sweet - just the right balance! It makes a great sauce for raw pasta, too.

Ingredients:
—¼ container grape tomatoes, or 1 tomato
—2 oranges
—⅓c sundried tomatoes (soaked)
—2 cloves garlic
—oregano, to taste
—basil, to taste

1) Blend oranges until smooth & creamy.

2) Add sundried tomato & garlic. Blend until smooth.

3) Add fresh tomato and herbs. Blend more for a smoother dresssing, less for chunkier dressing.

4) Pour over salad of your choice and enjoy!

Peace. 

Before & After II

Hey! I just realized, yesterday was my one-year blogiversary! Exciting day. Haha

In honor of a year passing since my first blogpost... I figure perhaps another before and after is in order. ヅ

I honestly haven't changed in weight that much, but I have been getting stronger, losing retained water weight, etc. - also, I think I look significantly healthier now than I did a year ago...or two years ago...or three!

What do you guys think? ☺

This is me! Today! (Actually, that's a lie. It's me, last night, before I went to bed. Haha)

I've been raw vegan for 2 years, and vegan for 3 - and honestly I can't remember feeling better than I do right now! So glad I discovered LFRV.

Oh my goodness! Don't laugh, guys! Haha. This is me almost exactly a year ago! I honestly didn't realize there was such a change!

Well there it is, folks. This is before I removed nuts and oils from my life - and you can see the difference!

And here I am 2 years ago! Haha.

It's almost exactly a week after I went raw, I believe!

Don't be fooled by the relative healthy-looking-ness.

I was pretty much starving myself at this point,, and I had loads of makeup on.

..That's all I've got for ya today! Peace! ☮

Banana-nog!

YUM! So it turns out even raw vegans can sip eggnog by the fireside this holiday season! (And anybody else can have a nutritious, guilt-free version of this favorite holiday drink!) Just made this for breakfast this morning, it really does taste pretty eggnog-y. (And yummy!)

It's super easy to make:
—2 bananas, chunked
—2 frozen bananas, chunked
—1c coconut milk (or, if you're staying overt-free, coconut water would probably be good as well)
—½ tsp cinnamon (or more, to taste)
—dash nutmeg (to taste)

Throw everything in the blender and blend away until it's smooth and creamy...then pour into your favorite mason jar and enjoy!

Curry-Ginger-Lime Soup

Tonight, I got to make dinner for the fam - and of course I wanted to give the people I love something yummy that would also nourish them, like all food should.

Well. Dad didn't want to be adventurous and Joe wasn't hungry - so I actually just made dinner for Mom and I... but she loved it! (And so did I.)

Tonight, we dined upon a delicious Curry-Ginger-Lime Soup!

If you're craving a savory, flavorful, creamy, warm raw soup yourself, give this one a try!

The ingredients are as follows:

• 1 endive
• 2 c lettuce (I used romaine)
• 1 c warm water
• 2 Tbs fresh ginger
• 2 Tbs lime juice
• 1 tsp curry
• ½ avocado

• ½ cucumber
• 10 small dates (or 5 large)

I know, it's kind of a lot of ingredients. But it sure is good!

It's very easy to make, too - no worries! 

1. Chop dates and cucumber into small-ish chunks.
2. Blend romaine & endive with warm water until smooth.
3. Add ginger, lime, and curry. Blend again, just until mixed.
4. Add avocado. Blend one last time.
5. Pour into a bowl, mix in dates and cucumber, and enjoy!

Yum!

Spiced Dates

I've got a delicious holiday recipe to share! It's perfect as a meal, as a desert, and it would be a lovely, easy little treat to pass at holiday parties with all your SAD friends!

It's also a fantastic way to pack in the carbs if you don't have a lot of time, and (like me) can't bring yourself just eat plain dates.

The ingredients include:
—500cal worth of dates (that'll be about 25 deglet noir or khadrawys, or 10 medjools)
—2tbsp dried, flaked, unsweetened coconut
—¼tsp fresh orange zest
—1tsp cinnamon
—1tsp ginger

Throw all ingredients in a blender and blend until everything is chopped up pretty finely and well-mixed. Pour into bowl, eat as is, or roll into nice little balls or press together and cut into bars or chunks. They're awesome served with caffeine-free tea (my personal favorite is a Lemon Zinger). Enjoy! 

LFRV Chocolate Icecream?!

Today for lunch, I've got a huge (24oz!) tub of chocolate icecream... Fat free, guilt free, and cruelty free! Vegans can't eat anything? Bullshiiit!

The recipe is super simple (and delicious, and totally the consistency of icecream!) :

—8 frozen bananas (chunked)

—8 dates

—½c carob powder

—⅓c water (if using blender)

Blend all ingredients in a blender (or with icecream maker? I assume it would work, I don't have one so I don't know.)

That's it! Enjoy!

(Recipe is best if eaten right after making it.)

Keepin' It Frugal On LFRV!

This article is for those of you who are young and can't afford to spend $100 on food per week. This article is for people who think spending such a huge amount of money just to eat raw foods is ridiculous. This article is for those SAD eater who say that they won't switch because organic vegan foods are so expensive. This article is for anybody who is already eating a low fat, high carb, raw plant-based diet and wants to explore ways to eat more cheaply on this diet.

I am a 16-year-old in High School, and I only have $40-$50 to spend on fruit each week.

I eat loads of bananas, because truthfully, they're pretty much the only thing I an afford to eat significant quantities of (especially in the winter). I don't really like bananas much at all, and contemplated, at one point, going back to cooked vegan in lieu of living on bananas...but I just absolutely didn't want all the bloating and gas and constipation and apathy and lack of energy that comes with cooked every time I try. HCRV is like golden handcuffs.. Now that you've tried it, you can never leave. Because its just too good.

So, I finally gave in and started making smoothies... I'm so glad, it really helps, and they're actually super delicious! Right now (I know it's bad food combining, but,) I've been making banana-OJ-frozen strawberry smoothies. Super cheap and utterly delicious. Sometimes I put chopped dates on top. Its an easy way to add calories and...yum! Extra sweetness.
Another nummy way to eat bananas (and making sure you always have ripe, raw calories in the house!) is letting them ripen, and then freezing them! Throw 'em in the blender with some dates and carob, makes a perfect chocolate icecream....guilt free! (;

Also, make sure you're eating plenty of greens, especially if you are eating mostly just dates and bananas. I find that it helps my appetite for these sweet foods. Especially on a limited budget, you'll probably want to grow your own (since there's no way you'll be able to afford organic greens, and there's generally a lot of pesticides in the conventional stuff). This is not hard to do, even if you live in a cold climate! Just put some big pots of dirt by a window, and sprinkle salad mix seeds - and a few days later, they'll start sprouting! They'll keep producing as you cut them, so it's super easy! Just make sure to keep them watered, and maybe put some compost on occasionally, to make sure they don't use up the nutrients in the soil (:

 So yeah, buying conventional produce and bananas from Kwik Trip, I'm living on $6 per day - that's less than most people on SAD!

An additional tip for young people: Ask your parents how much they spend on food for a week for your family. Then divide that by the number of people in your family - ask them if they can just give you your share of your families food budget to spend on your own food - if you're determined, you will learn to budget it correctly to get enough calories and make raw veganism work for you.

Peace, and good luck to all!

LFRV Mango-Strawberry Pie!

Yumm! You can use less nuts for lower fat...still delicious. Also, try adding some romaine lettuce in with the filling; makes it more savory, and still super duper yummy. (Though the color's a little less savory like this. Haha)

Fruit People Protein!

I talk a bit about protein on a low fat, high fruit raw vegan diet.

Healthy Appetite Again!

So I have a story to share, I haven't talked about this much before.

Like most girls of my generation, I once upon a time had an eating disorder. I actually don't know when it started for me. I faintly remember worrying that I was too fat before I was even in school. I think maybe it stemmed from the fact that Daddy spoke badly of fat people on occasion... People would always tell me I was skinny/tiny, even when I was little, but for whatever reason, I didn't believe them. Anyhow, psychoanalyzing that is a job for someone like Sigmund Freud, not a 16 year old who's been in her first psychology class for about 20 days. 'Cause I'm just guessin'. Aha.

Anyhow, I remember being like 10 years old, and I would eat more than I needed. I wouldn't really be hungry - I just loved the taste of bagels and Ritz crackers!

In 5th grade, I visited France on foreign exchange; I was there for about 3 weeks, and spent  the last half frightened that I had gained weight eating all of this rich, probably unhealthy, french food. And I didn't have a scale to make sure I hadn't gotten fat! Not kidding. 5th grade.

In 6th, I went on my first diet.

In 7th was when the eating disorder started, officially, I think. I started eating like 200calories per day, pro-ana sites, the works.

In 8th grade, I started going through binge-starve phases. At times I would decide I wanted to get better, but at the time I didn't really know how to do it, and I was still super afraid of gaining weight... So even though I tried not to care and just "listen to my body", it had me eating crazy amounts of food (to make up for starving at other times), I puffed up to my highest weight of 114. (It doesn't sound that bad...for whatever reason, I'm lucky enough my weight actually has never fluctuated horribly.)

Around 9th grade, bulimia started as well.

Throughout all this, I was slowly working my way through veganism, gourmet raw veganism, and fruitarianism.

Recently, I came to a place where I really feel like I understand food and what I'm eating. I understand what my body needs, and no longer feel like its a fight.

I've been raw for almost two years now, and I finally feel like my appetite has returned to normal. Like, normal normal healthy healthy. I eat when I'm hungry, and I don't eat when I'm not. The food I'm eating feels good in my body, and I don't regret what I'm eating.

I feel like I've reached equilibrium. I think a lot of this long-sought-after peace is thanks to my raw vegan fruitarian diet, and I feel so lucky that I found the diet and had the strength and resolve to stick with it this long.

I can't explain exactly what the diet has done for me, I don't think someone who hasn't experienced it could understand. But I feel more confident, I feel more mature, I feel more empathetic, I feel more in tune with my body, I am able to feel emotions more purely and strongly, I feel capable of truly loving, I feel more positive, I feel more at peace, I feel stronger, I feel more independent, I feel better.

And I can't imagine why anybody wouldn't want to live this way. And lucky you, now that you've heard about LFRV, you have the opportunity to make it yours, too.

Valuable Beginner Tips!

•young people (under 20) don't be afraid to eat a little extra fat (between 10 - 20%, probably-ish)

•get fats from fruits (avo is best from experience) rather than nuts & seeds

•surround yourself with fruit that you love!

• don't be afraid of overreating! (eat as much as you desire, that's the beauty)

•eat enough! Dont end up one of those people who decides veganism made them sick, emaciated and tired all the time - that was you under relating cause you're not used to the light caloric density of whole plant-based carbohydrate. (ideally fruit)

•if you're craving salt, eat greens. As many greens as you desire (try fruit-based dressings, no oil)

•it's not an all or nothing thing. Almost all raw foodists eat cooked sometimes. (not naming specific people, but I have heard from close friends of some big raw names, that they occasionally eat cooked; a few others like durian rider & Fredric patenaud are open about it. (i personally drink pasteurized not-from-concentrate oj, and will have marinara sauce sometimes) you do eat some cooked it's ok, just keep it high raw, always keep it vegan (although if you don't think you can do that even, then obviously mostly vegan is better than not at all), and try to keep cooked foods whole and carb-rich as much as you can.

•do what is right for you! Every step in the right direction is better than where you started, if you don't think your ready for something, that's fine. Don't push yourself and end up giving up and going back to SAD.

•educate yourself! Watch earthings, read 80-10-10 - if you know exactly why youre doing this, you'll obviously be more likely to stick with it.

•try smoothies! I'm personally not a big fan, but I know lots of people love smoothies and it enables them to get lots more fruit in, and even positively share part of this diet with those around them, and that's excellent.

•start paying attention to just how you feel after eating things, emotionally, mentally and physically. Rather than following diet dogma, listen to your body. As your body becomes more accustomed to a whole food, raw, plant-based diet, your body will become better and better at sending you signals - and it'll get more and more natural for you to pick up on them.

Woodstock Fruit Festival 2012!

Simplest Sandwitches!

So simple, so yummy, so nutritious!

Only two basic ingredients!

• Greens (romaine, red leaf, iceberg...whichever's your favorite)
• Tomato
• +optional condiments

Making them is so simple as well!

Get out all of your ingredients, slice tomatoes.
Put a slice or 2 of tomato on lettuce leaf. (Here I'm also putting on a mustard sauce.. I'll discuss this below.)

Fold lettuce over, bite, and enjoy!!

And now for a few optional condiments that I think taste rather delicious! (In case you don't think you could enjoy just lettuce and tomatoes... or are just looking for a way to spice it up.) I don't believe any of these are technically 80-10-10 though, in case that's important to anybody.

1. Mustard sauce - mix some mustard with a little agave, maple syrup, or date paste; spread a little on each piece of tomato.
2. Black pepper, oregano, garlic - this is not
3. Chili pepper, lime juice

And of course, you can experiment with your own concoctions as well!

What I Ate Today & A Recipe!

• 1/2 head kale
• 1/3 head romaine lettuce
• 1 roma tomato
• 1 pineapple
• 2 1/2 zucchini
• 3 bananas
• 3/4 c sun-dried tomatoes
• 4 Tbsp chili powder
• 3/4 c orange juice

Nut-Free, Overt Fat Free, LFRV Tacos!

Ingredients:

• Some sort of greens (kale, romaine, etc)
• 1 zucchini (or you could use other vegetable such as maybe carrot or beet?)
• 2 Tbsp chili powder
• Chipotle pepper
• Garlic (optional)
• Sundried tomatoes

Instructions:

• Grind sundried tomatoes to small bits/chunks in blender/food processor
• Add zucchini, blend until chunky
• Spoon mixture into bowl
• Mix in chipotle, chili powder, & optional garlic
• Wrap a small/medium amount of the mixture in each of your greens, and enjoy!

LFRV-Friendly Fast Food?!

(That's a bag of seeds in my hand, by the way... we were going out to plant cucumbers, zucchini, yellow summer squash, and mango melons!)

My friend works at Jimmy Johns... and at Jimmy Johns, they serve "unwiches". These "unwiches" are basically their normal wraps, only wrapped in a piece of lettuce rather than a tortilla. She ordered mine with tomatoes, peppers, and lettuce. Hehe!

100% LFRV.