Today I woke up 10 minutes before my alarm clock went off. That means I was up 5 minutes earlier than on Day 12. I like waking up this way because I feel it’s more natural. Waking up before the alarm clock, tells me that my body (mind included) does not need any more rest to repair itself. I’ll take this over being summoned by the man-made alarm clock any day. I mean who wants to repeatably wake up to screeching sirens? To me, the alarm clock seems more like a torture device than an instrument for humanity’s benefit.
Alarm clock bashing aside, since starting the raw food diet I feel calm and clear headed as soon as I open my eyes. This is a contrast to the SAD (Standard American Diet), where I would need around 10 minutes to power up. The process wouldn’t even start until I had washed my face. Waking up on the SAD was like booting up the computer (notice it takes a few minutes to load all the software and applications). On the raw food diet, when I wake up I am already powered on. All I have to do is move the mouse so the screen saver can disappear, which takes no effort at all.
Breakfast
Today was a real treat. I had some watermelon for breakfast. Watermelon is my all time favorite fruit. Besides tasting delicious, watermelon is also rich in anti-oxidants such as Vitamin C, Vitamin A, and beta-carotene. These have been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease and colon cancer. If you have heart problems, you should have this fruit visit your stomach often. I have not eaten it during this experiment because it is not as calorie rich as other fruits. I mean it fills me up, but does not provide the carbs I need during the day. Even so, today I decided to have some watermelon. My fridge was empty so I drove 2 minutes and picked up this meal from my local supermarket. None of the food was organic, so I only bought enough for breakfast.
- watermelon (266g)
- strawberries (174g)
- cantaloupe (376g)
- bananas (368g)
After breakfast, I went to the gym and increased my weight another +5 lbs bringing the total up to +10 lbs from my SAD days. I increased the weight for a majority of the exercises I execute. This included the chest exercises (flat bench, decline bench, decline dumbbell flyes) and triceps (extensions, pull downs, close grip presses). The weight was not increased for the incline bench or for kickbacks.
This workout felt a bit challenging, but I managed to complete 3 sets (8 reps each) for the exercises listed. I notice that my rest time continues to be reduced from the usual 1 minute on SAD to 15-30 seconds on the raw food diet. Thus the benefits of the raw food diet for athletes would be faster recovery time and also increased strength. I am surprised that I don’t hear more athletes talking about this diet because from what I have seen, it would really improve athletic performance. Even though I’ve been losing weight, my strength and stamina have increased. This diet may sound like an unbelievable magic pill, but the results speak for themselves.
Lunch
I was hungry after my workout so I went shopping. I went to my local Whole Foods store and bought the fruit needed to make myself a huge fruit salad. I also bought some superfoods for a superfoods green smoothie that tasted amazing!
- organic bananas (366g)
- organic raspberries (196g)
- organic blueberries (132g)
- organic peaches (420g)
- superfoods green smoothie: organic collard greens (54g), organic baby spinich (68g), organic bananas (232g), organic raw cocoa (14g), organic goji berries (26g), organic pumpkin seeds (24g), 3 cups water
The fruit salad was simple to prepare, I just washed and cut the fruit. For the green smoothie, I put the goji berries and pumpkin seeds in a coffee bean grinder and ground them up into a fine powder. I found out, the hard way, that I should put more pumpkin seeds than goji berries into the coffee bean grinder.
Even though the goji berries are dry, when you put them into the coffee bean grinder they become sticky, so if they outnumber the other ingredients, then you will have to go in and scrape the contents off of the walls of the coffee bean grinder. This extends the preparation time. It is also troublesome when you want to clean the coffee bean grinder after you’re done.
To add some flavor to the smoothie, I put in some organic pure cocoa powder, which David Wolfe has said is beneficial due to all the anti-oxidants it contains. This particular cocoa batch was brought in from the Amazon, so it was extra pure. I also added some ripe bananas, which gave the smoothie a sweet and smooth chocolate taste. I can only describe it as sweet chocolate bliss!
After I consumed the fruit salad along with the smoothie I felt like I was bursting at the seams. I should have not made such a big meal, but unlike a cooked meal, a raw meal goes bad faster. Once fruit is cut up and exposed to the air, it starts to change colors. I did not want to put my salad into the fridge and then come back to it, so I just kept eating. After finishing it, I felt bloated for around 30 minutes. This rarely happens on the raw food diet, but if you eat around 4 pounds of stuff at one time, expect it to happen once in a while.
Dinner
For dinner, I decided to have an avocado paired up with some tomatoes and cucumbers. I like these veggies, even though they don’t contain a lot of calories. Knowing this I added in two apples. I also included another green smoothie.
- organic tomato (189g)
- organic avocado (114g)
- cucumber (117g)
- organic Washington apples (210g)
- green smoothie: organic baby spinach (61g), organic green chard (37g), organic bananas (191g), organic pumpkin seed (11g), sunflower seeds (14g), organic flax seeds (10g), organic hemp seeds (14g), 3 cups water
I wanted this smoothie to be thicker than my lunch time smoothie. As I’ve stated in the past, you have to chew your green smoothies. But if the smoothie is too thin, then it becomes harder to chew. To remedy this, I just grind some seeds and add them to the mix. Adding ground seeds to the smoothie makes it thicker and easier to chew. By chewing everything you ensure your stomach will be able to extract more of the nutrients from the raw food. Just a tip for you to use yourself.
Vitals
Weight: I’ve lost .8 lbs. This puts me at 176.7 lbs.
Body Temperature: My temperature today was 97. 6 °F.
pH levels: The average pH level today was 7.50 pH.
Blood Pressure: Systolic blood pressure was at 126 and diastolic was at 67. Seems I’m in a stagnant place or maybe a plateau.
Endurance: I ran the mile without even breaking a sweat. Then I had plenty of energy to go from machine to machine without missing a beat. This felt great. I did my exercises in record time with plenty of energy to spare.
Strength: I increased the weight another +5 lbs for a total of +10 lbs since starting the raw food diet on April 1st. I think I could have increased the weight sooner, but I did not want to rush it. My strength has definitely increased, which is surprising considering how much weight I have lost.
Cognitive Capacity: One word: sharp! I can’t describe the mental clarity. It’s like your thoughts move at the speed of light. If you are brainstorming, ideas come at you like raindrops falling out of the sky. If you want to perform anything physical, it’s like your motor functions get a boost as well. There are fewer processing errors (Freudian slips, numerical errors, blank outs, lost thoughts). The raw food diet may not make you smarter, but it will unshackle the chains around your brain.
This is really good website. I have a few myself. I really admire your design. I know this is off topic but,did you make this theme yourself,or purchase from somewhere?