For my first experiment, I have decided to try the raw food diet. I decided to go on the raw food diet because I believe it can be extremely beneficial for my mental, physical, and spiritual health. I’ve read nothing but great things about this diet and see no problems with trying it for 30 Days. Having done some preliminary research, I believe the raw food diet is a step in a more conscious direction.
I will officially start my journey on the raw food diet path tomorrow and will commit to it for 30 days. I plan to do this mainly to see if I can raise my consciousness by riding my mind and body of the toxins I’ve accumulated over the years. I want to gain a deeper mental clarity and awareness of the world around me, as well as improve my quality of life.
I expect the raw food diet to provide me with improvements in cognitive capacity (clearer thinking, improved intuition, faster response time, etc). I also expect a boost in my energy levels, which is supposedly what happens if you eat a strict raw food diet. Furthermore, I expect this diet to improve my athletic performance.
For this experiment I intend to eat nothing but raw foods, which will consist of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. I plan on eating organic foods as well, but due to a tight budget, only some of the food will be organic. I have planned my budget so at least half the food will be organic and I will differentiate between both types in my daily log.
Throughout the experiment, I will drink only water or smoothies (made of raw fruits or vegetables or both). I will be drinking between a 1/2 gallon to 1 gallon of water a day (this will include the water I use to make the smoothies). I will not be using any spices for the duration of this experiment, this includes salt and pepper - the two main condiment culprits of a standard diet. For the benefit of my readers, I will also be monitoring my weight, body temperature, pH levels, blood pressure, endurance, strength, and cognitive capacity throughout the entire experiment.
The Challenge
Going full raw from my Standard American Diet (SAD) is not going to be easy. Most of the people who have tried this diet and are now raw foodists adapted to the diet by going through a step down stair system. They went from the Standard American Diet (basically eating anything) to being vegetarians, from vegetarians to vegans, and from vegans to eventually eating raw. I’ve never liked using stairs so I’m going to take the elevator approach and skip everything in the middle. What can I say, I’m not big on detours.
This is going to be quite challenging. I love to eat steaks, burgers, my all time personal favorite the Zaxby’s Kickin’ Chicken Sandwich, and other things meat. I also like other cooked foods, so I’m going to have to step up my discipline if I want to make it through the entire 30 Days.
Although it will be tough, I do have some things going for me. For one, I’ve always loved fruit so I don’t see too much of a problem maintaining the diet past the initial 7-10 day detoxification period. In addition to my advantageous love of fruit, I also did a trial run of this diet from December 12th to December 25th. After I made it through the initial detox period, which was NOT fun, I was doing great.
Great up until December 25th, when my family members pressured me to eat “like a normal person.” Sadly, I jumped back inside the box. I then decided I would start again when I was better prepared.
I feel like I’ve come a long way since December and I’ve decided to try again. This time, I’ve done the research on the diet. If you think this is just something I decided to do on the spur of the moment, that’s not the case – it was back in December. This time around, I’ve read quite a few books on the raw diet and plan to make it through the whole 30 days without incident. No one is going to stop me…no one!
Today, I tested the waters by having a raw food meal for dinner. I ate an extremely large salad consisting of spinach leaves, lettuce, romaine, chopped red, green and yellow peppers, as well as some carrot shavings. I also added blueberries, grapes, pears, and kiwi to the salad. I didn’t finish it all because the portion was enormous, so I stored it in the fridge for later. Eating the salad was satisfying and filled me up for around 4 hours.
I came back later and finished it off, but only after adding some raw walnuts and raisins to it. Afterward, I had a handful of almonds and I am now snacking on some baby carrots as a write this entry. I didn’t notice any changes yet and probably won’t for a while. I didn’t include today as a raw food day because I ate cooked food for lunch, thus tomorrow will be the first official day of the 30 Day Raw Food Diet Experiment. I’m looking forward to it!
