Chicago is for Foodies!

I am having an a-m-a-z-i-n-g time here in Chicago meeting and hanging out with all the Healthy Living Summit attendees! I’ve had a busy day so far but I’ve got to catch you up on my RAW experience last night first (went from good to very very bad !).

So much to blog about….so little time!!!

Last night, a group of 15 bloggers/readers went to a small eatery called Chicago RAW Food in the Chicago French Market. It was about a 2 mile walk from the hotel, so by the time we arrived we were hungry and hot!

They had a wide variety of raw/vegan meals and SNAX including smoothies, juices, salads, spreads, sandwiches and desserts.

The owners, Polly and Carole, were incredibly welcoming and even offered us some samples! As you all know, I love my samples .

The samples included Raw Signature Hummus, Lasagna, Falafel patties, Raw Sushi, Hazelnut Biscotti, and Lemon Squares.

They even opened up some RAW Oatmeal for us to sample as well. It tasted a lot like overnight oats.

Here I am with two of my roomies and NC blogger friends! Remember our meet-ups back when I was still at Duke? You can see them all on my favorite posts page.

Unfortunately, I ate a sample that contained cashews and had a mini allergic reaction. I asked them if their food contained peanuts, but forgot to ask about any of the other nuts I’m allergic to (brain fart!!). My reaction went away after awhile but I suddenly lost my appetite completely.

I figured some vitamins would help so I ordered a green juice. The owner let me customize my juice (since there are some raw veggies and fruits I’m allergic too….gah!).

I got a juice with cucumbers, collard greens, lemon, ginger, parsley, and blueberries (for sweetness). She even let me have some coconut water on the side. I’m telling you, this lady was a total sweetheart.

I love green juice!!

Slurp slurp slurp.

I also picked up a Signature Carrot Muffin. We ALL know I cannot refuse a carrot baked good! This was dense, heavy and filled with whole nuts.

I was feeling pretty full from the samples and the green juice so I just broke off a little bit and saved the rest for later.

The whole group:  Kath, Tina, Meghann, Sarah, Meg, Nicole, Freya, Katy, Gracie, Gabriela, Emily, Heather and Diana (thanks Diana for the links!).

Next, we cabbed it over to the YumUniverse launch party.

They had some vegan/raw treats, wine and cocktails.

Treats included Raw Butter Kale Crackers, Vanilla Almond Mini Cakes w/ Orange Icing…

…and salted almond truffles.

I got a much-needed complimentary massage! The lady worked out a whole buncha knots in my upper back. Ahhhh!

Afterwards, we chit chatted at a nearby restaurant where some people got dinner and drinks.

Raw Gone Wrong!!

The rest of the night was spent eating tums and clutching my stomach for dear life!! My tummy was not happy with me. Not at all. It felt like my organs were turning and I experienced some very sharp pains. I was up all night long tossing and turning and at one point thought I should go to a hospital!

What happened? It wasn’t the cashew allergy because that went away pretty quickly. I only had nibbles of a couple samples (at both locations) and I’ve had green juice plenty of times before. So I have no idea!! Apparently, a raw diet is not for me though.

The pain subsided substantially by the time I woke up but my stomach has felt a little funky all day today. I’m trying to eat lighter foods because I suspect I am developing something IBS-ish? I’m hoping it’s just due to traveling.

Not to worry. I’ll be in good hands if anything happens because one of my roomies is a doctor!

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I’ve been updating my Twitter status regularly so be sure to follow me to get the scoop on what’s going down! I’ll be back later with shots from my photography walking tour of Chicago.

Tagged as: Carrots, Chocolate, Green Juice, Juice, Lasagna, Muffins, Oatmeal, Raw, Smoothies, Sushi