Let's go Raw!

Since my last update I've been running lots and have changed my diet! I am trying a raw food diet. Week 1 of the diet change I cut out all unnatural sugars, so any chocolate, cookies, anything that's not natural (aka fruit). I started adding in more vegetables and eating less cooked foods. The following week, I was eating cooked foods but only whole cooked foods, so nothing that was processed. Week 3 I begin with all raw foods only, and have been this was for about 2 weeks now! After the 5-6 days I started to notice some differences, and now I love it and am feeling great! I highly recommend trying this. I am planning on doing it till the end of October, in hopes to shed a few kg's and to really just be more healthy. This diet is tough in general, but I feel like in Korea it is especially tough. Fruit here is very expensive and the selection of vegetables isn't nearly as wide as it is in the states. I have noticed my food cost go up a lot, but it's worth it. The most notable differences in costs are to buy things like avocados here it's about $5 for 2; $7 for 4 grapefruit; $7 for 6 oranges; $6 for 10oz of cherry tomatoes, but lettuce is quite cheap, I can get a whole bag of organic lettuce for $2.50! One thing I don't really like about produce here is it's very seasonal and the seasons are rather short. Grape season just happened, you could buy fresh grapes on every corner big boxes for $10-$20 (like enough grapes for a small army), but about 1-1.5 months later all the stands are gone and the only place I see them is in the grocery stores for ridiculous prices. Nonetheless, the with eating raw I have noticed a big price difference. Some of the great thing I've made:

Raw Date Balls (dates, nuts, fruit - blended and rolled!)

Raw 'Pasta' (zucchini noodles)

Raw apple crisp

Guacamole

Salads

Raw hummus

Raw Thai Peanut Sauce for Thai Coleslaw (so good!)

Raw Almond Butter

Running as has been going great! I am building my mileage in a smart way, a bit each week. I'm getting closer and closer to my next race... a 1/2 marathon! Tomorrow I'll head out for a 10 miler! Looking forward to it :) In the past few weeks, I've done a few races: a 5k, placed about 5-6th and beat my past time by 6 seconds; then I did a 10k and hit my planned splits right on target! Next up is a 10k with my run club at the end of the month and a few weeks later is my race! 

School has been going great! It's nearly done, my contract has about 75 days left on it! I have been applying to school in Seoul for next year! Looking hard for that university job that will give me the ability to teach adults plus the same perks (or slightly better) as teaching in public schools. I recently finished writing an ESL book, it's about 110 pages long full of lessons, worksheets, grammar... Since this is finished, along with all my other lessons for the year, I don't have much to do when I'm not teaching. Lots of time to surf the internet, read, or just chill at work. :)