I woke up feeling fantastic today! No signs of mental fog at all. I think I made it past the tough part. I bounced out of bed and was already in the bathroom within a few seconds. I felt energized and after washing my face I was wide awake. Usually I drag myself around a bit in the mornings. On my standard diet it takes anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes to fully wake up (I don’t drink coffee), but today I was ready to go in a flash.
As I walked around my house I was doing everything more quickly. I wasn’t in a rush, I just felt like the energy levels were off the charts. Even as I was preparing breakfast, I was executing the cuts with more precision and speed. I felt like my head was in a state of clarity. Like I was seeing clearly for the first time since the previous experiment. It is difficult to describe the experience, but the differences between my SAD (Standard-American Diet) and raw foods is light years apart.
The differences could be compared to watching movies on an old black and white TV (SAD) and watching movies on a “52 Plasma Flat Panel TV with the Blu-Ray DVD player built in (raw foods diet). I use this example because I’ve seen the “52 Plasma TV in the mall for around $20,000 and people were very interested in it. Now imagine you could experience everything in high definition with a clarity unparalleled by anything you’ve experienced in the past. Would you be interested in that experience? Of course you would and it’s not even going to cost you anywhere near $20,000. In fact you’ll be able to feel those amazing feelings for a fraction of a percent of what it costs to purchase the big screen TV. On top of that, while the TV will make you just want to sit and watch it, the raw food diet will give you the energy to do the things that really matter to you. On to breakfast!!!
Breakfast
Today I made a big fruit salad involving some of my favorite fruits. Looking at the plate it almost looked challenging to eat. I say challenging because I don’t really like eating a lot of food in one sitting, but I finished this off in around 15 minutes.
- mixed fruit salad: plums (230g), organic bananas (176g), strawberries (213g), red seedless grapes (195g)
After finishing the breakfast, I really felt alive. Another side effect of the raw food diet is that my sinuses feel clearer. My lungs feel cleaner as well. I was not having breathing problems on my standard diet, but I noticed that I do feel like it’s easier to take in deep breaths on this diet.
Lunch
At lunch the back of my hands started to itch. At first, I started getting dry fingers around Day 3. After Day 3, the dryness spread to the inside of my hands, then around lunchtime today I noticed the outsides of my hands were dry and cracking. I looked at the outside area where my lower thumb meets the rest of my hand and it was a light red color and puffy. I assume that because I am eating no greasy foods and very little fat, that my hands don’t have any oils to lubricate themselves. In any case, the drying of my hands has progressed rapidly, I mean, I’m only on Day 7, I wonder what will happen when I reach Day 30.
- organic kiwi (210g)
- peaches (290g)
- salad: organic baby spinach leaves (89g), iceberg salad (60g), organic tomatoes (210g), avacado (86 g), organic onions (40g)
For lunch I had a mixed salad which was quite tasty. I ate the peaches and kiwi at the same time. So I would take a fork full of salad and eat it, then I would sneak in a bite of a peach or kiwi as I went along. I feel salads are kind of bland without dressing, so this is the solution I figured out on Day 3.
Dinner
For dinner I changed things up a bit. I ate some raw peanuts. I like to live dangerously, so I picked some raw peanuts up from my local Whole Foods store and ate them. Raw peanuts need to be inspected for mold because it grows on them easily. I did a brief inspection as I measured them and then moved on to making my salad. Dinner was delicious, especially with the berry smoothie I made.
- peanuts (40g)
- organic grapefruit (221g)
- berry smoothie: strawberries (270g), organic blueberries (140g), organic bananas (218g), 3 cups water
- mixed salad: iceberg lettuce (160g), organic spinach (120g), organic tomatoes (80g)
- salad dressing: mango (40g), organic carrots (20g), organic banana (20g), 1 T lemon juice, 1/4 cup of water
After dinner I spent an hour reading a few articles on raw foods. I then headed to the gym for what turned out to be an amazing workout. Upon arriving at the gym I felt energized. I ran my warm up mile on a higher speed than usual. I just felt like my 6.5 mph was a bit of a slow pace so I upped it to 7 mph. Then after I was finished I went on to lift the weights, which felt lighter than usual. I increased the weight on each exercise by 5 lbs. This may not seem like I big jump, but I don’t want to go overboard just yet. I finished my sets for the day and I felt like I still had energy to spare so I did a couple of extra sets today.
Vitals
Weight: I’m down another .4 lbs from Day 6. Down to 181.6 lbs. Hmmm…need to eat more, problem is that I feel full so I don’t eat.
Body Temperature: My temperature today was 97.9 °F. A little lower than Day 6.
pH levels: The pH level today was an average of of 7.25, guess I’m moving out of the acidic zone.
Blood Pressure: A new low for systolic today, although not by much. The systolic was at 128 and diastolic at 68.
Endurance: I went to the gym today and I had energy to spare. I went from machine to machine hardly needing any rest. I don’t see why more athletes don’t adopt this diet.
Strength: I lifted around 5 lbs more in each of my exercises today. I felt great and the weight felt lighter than normal. I also did a couple of extra sets on some exercises.
Cognitive Capacity: I felt sharper today and this started at the beginning of my day. I felt like my mind was crisp and quicker than normal. Processing time was cut down for thoughts and I had some creative ideas for projects in the future.
I haven’t really read all the comments people have left, I’ve only read your posts, so may have already addressed this..but just wanted to share that there are so many options in raw food outside of just the basic fruit/veggies/salad/smoothies. It’s made my transition easier enjoying all the new recipes with zucchini pasta, cashew milk based ice cream, dehydrated stuffed mushrooms, carrot/celery/onion chili, walnut crackers….the list goes on and on. They are all organic and raw.
PLUS put goji berries or raisins on your salad. Easy way to make them tasty, Plus some real sundried tomatos (not the kind in whole foods) if you take scissors and cut them up they make a salad really yummy and try sprinkling lime on a salad in a pinch also
Everyone is so different, even being “raw”, BUT from my experience being raw, I couldn’t live on the meals you are. I tried, but it just didn’t work. My body craved more, and no it wasn’t detoxing or purging itself. I have not eaten meat for years and only had to cut out salmon. But I am very active and have a high metabolisim and an apple and celery wasn’t going to cut it. I am 24, just had a baby and was already 106 pounds. Plus I wasn’t happy. Food became everything to me, it was all I thought about, and I wasn’t enjoying life. I never became unraw, but I made raw work for me. I found staples I could use like maki, zuchini wraps, and tortilla chips. YES I know corn is a hybrid blah, blah, blah but it is tasty, easy to make, and healthier than 100% of the sad diet, plus I found the tastiest cheese dip recipe. You can use it for anything; eggplant ravioli, zuchini pasta, or blend it in a vitamix on high speed and it will get somewhat warm and taste like con queso. YUM! My advice get a dehydrator for $200 and spend one day making some staples; bread, wraps, and then freeze them. That way you can make some tasty meals in no time Here are my staples…
maki
untoasted nori
cucumber
red/yellow pepper (NEVER GREEN)
green onion
avocado
etc.
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zuchini wraps
3c peeled (zucchini)
3T olive oil
2t lemon juice
Pinch cayenne
1t ground coriander
1/2t salt
1/2c flax meal*
• Blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender until smooth.
• Add flax meal and blend again until smooth.
• Pour mixture onto 2 dehydrator sheets and spread evenly into a circle on each.
• Dehydrate for 8 hours at 105 degrees F, or until able to peel of the sheet.
• Once the dehydrator sheets are removed, return to the dehydrator for 30 – 60 mins, until both sides are dry to the touch but still pliable.
* Flax meal is flax seed that have been ground in a coffee grinder or similar, to produce a fine flour.
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tortillas
corn..frozen organic works in a pinch
red pepper
and flax meal
you can even make it without flax at all, with garlic, lime, possibilites are endless. Just spread on paraflex sheets and dehydrate.
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Cheddar Cheeze Spread or Dip
Adapted from ‘Vibrant Living’ by James Levin & Natalie Cederquist
1 cup red or orange bell pepper
3/4 cup cashews and/or almonds, soaked
1/2 cup water
2 – 3 tbs rolled oats
2 tbs nutritional yeast
2 tbs lemon juice
2 tbs tahini
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
Blend all ingredients until smooth. Add more water or oats until desired consistency is reached.
Enjoy on your favorite crackers/breads, zucchini pasta, pizza or with veggie sticks!
I also love raw desserts!! A fav is just an avocado, dates, vanilla and cocao powder. Chocolate pudding YUM!
Take raw cashews (sunfood.com the only raw source) and soak them for 30 minutes, soak some dates for 10 minutes, grind them up and either add vanilla for vanilla frosting, or cacoa for chocolate frosting. YUM!
What I am saying is the possibilities are endless and very satisfying! Maybe you are just doing a 30 day raw detox diet, but if you want to stick with in in the real world, and be happy you may want to do like I do. But these are just suggestions and I do wish you the best, because being raw really is the way to go!! BTW this was all typed one handed, holding my little babe, so sorry for the typos and weird grammer. I swear I graduated college lol!:)