Even though I slept around 6 ½ hours, I woke up today feeling kind of tired both physically and mentally. Physically I felt like I was moving slower than I usually do on my standard diet. I was in a sluggish state for around 20 minutes after I woke up. Mentally I’m still running at about half capacity. Well maybe running isn’t the best word, I feel it’s more like a zombie crawl.

It seems that instead of venturing outside the field of the mental fog, I went deeper into it. It feels like I’m thinking in slow motion. I had a few moments throughout the day where I spaced out while people were talking to me. I don’t remember the mental fog being this strong in my December experiment, but at least I’m not bouncing between the extremely energetic and supremely sluggish states like I did during that trial.

Breakfast

Today’s breakfast was a kind of on the small side due to some errands I had to run.

1. mango (203g)
2. organic banana (95g)
3. 2 organic golden apples (206)

This wasn’t very filling, but I needed to go pick up my laptop and do some shopping so I measured the fruits, cleaned them, and put them in a plastic container. I grabbed a fork and ate while I was driving around. Out of my way pedestrians!

Lunch

I had a craving for cucumbers after picking up the laptop, so I went and bought a couple from Whole Foods. Cucumbers are somewhat bland and they make me crave salt. I’m not using salt for this experiment, so I had to think up a way to flavor them. I have tasted organic tomatoes in the past and noticed they tasted saltier than any of the other vegetables I eat raw so I picked up a few organic tomatoes as well. I placed them side by side with the cucumbers. This was a good natural solution and it dissipated the cravings nicely. I had a green bell pepper in the fridge (all by his lonesome) so I pounced on him. I ate half the green bell pepper and threw the other half in the blender.

1. organic cucumber (178g)
2. 3 organic tomatoes (217g)
3. ½ green pepper (113g)
4. green smoothie: ½ green pepper (113g), 2 organic bananas (182g), organic collard greens (46g), organic baby spinach leaves (35g), strawberries (112g), 2 cups water

I’ve been cheating the system by throwing everything I don’t really like to eat into a blender. I love fruits, but the green vegetables are no friends of mine. Since the green veggies are the ones that are most beneficial to one’s health, I have been blending them with some bananas and fruit so I can still drink them down but not have to chew through them. The upside to this is the blender does a lot of the breaking down of the tough cellulose for you so you don’t have to chew through tough vegetables. This is also easier on your stomach, unless of course you like chewing green raw vegetables that have no flavor.

*EDIT*: I did not know this at the time, but you still need to chew the mixture out of the blender. You need certain enzymes to further break down the cellulose walls of plants. Those enzymes come from your saliva, so if you just drink the smoothie there won’t be enough saliva enzymes present in the food in your stomach and you won’t get all the needed nutrients from those plants. So take a sip and chew it until it is warm, then drink it down.

After lunch a friend of mine called me to go to the birthday party he was hosting. He said he was cooking burgers, hot dogs, chicken, ribs, etc. on the grill and lots of our friends would be there. I knew it would be fun, but I didn’t want to be tempted by the cooked food. On my previous raw food attempt, I went to the Whole Foods store near my house and mysteriously wandered into the freshly cooked meats section. I then caught myself sniffing the lamb for around 30 seconds. The guy running the deli section kept asking me if I wanted some of the lamb. The nerve of the guy! After he asked me a second time, I felt kind of silly, so I headed back to the produce section.

The birthday party would be a little more challenging to deal with, but I figured if I could deal with the party then I could deal with any other obstacle that might derail me, so I pushed forward and faced it head on.

When I got there, my friend’s guests had just started eating. Not the best timing, but hey, I’m known for that. After they ate, they started playing touch-football so I joined in. I don’t do too much cardio normally, but my stamina during the game was way less than what I’m normally capable of. After 10 plays I was already pretty tired. It could be due to the lack of breakfast calories, but it can also be the side effects of adjusting to the raw food diet. Needless to say I also missed a couple of passes due to the spacing out side-effect that I dealt with throughout the day.

Although I made it out of the party without eating any of the cooked food, I did it through will-power alone. Luckily, only a couple of people were insistent on me eating the cooked food, but a few good “No!” responses took care of things.

I must say that if you try this diet and you don’t have the ability to be stern or resist temptation then you might want to stay away from eating out or eating out with friends. This is especially important during the adjustment period (usually 1-2 weeks). I say this, because if you pair the cravings for cooked food with some peer pressure and mix in a lack of restraint, then it’s not hard to fall back into your old eating habits.

Dinner

After playing football and seeing people around me eat meat for a second time (they ate when I got there and then after our outside football game), I was ready to devour dinner. OOOOOUT OF MY WAY PEOPLE!!!!!!

1. mango (216g)
2. salad: romaine (89g), purple cabbage (14g), diced red, green, and yellow peppers (70g), grapes (112g)
3. raw salad dressing: avocado (40g), organic garlic (23g), 4 tablespoons of water
4. fruit smoothie: organic bananas (214g), strawberries (186g), blue berries (86g), organic ruby-red grapefruit (286g), 2 cups water, 1 cup ice

This was a delicious meal, but it made me cry. I was literally tearing up while eating it because the garlic was so strong. I pushed through it though because once the pain subsided I liked the aftertaste. It tasted good, but every new bite brought about a new tear. The garlic was really using my taste buds as its punching bags, but at least this was less painful than my previous trial where I ate mashed garlic on top of some romaine leaves. If you are a garlic fanatic like me, you might want to try the avocado and garlic salad dressing above. It has a kick and will definitely clear up your sinuses.

Vitals

Weight: I got on the scale this morning and saw 1.3 lbs drop in my weight from Day 2. I also am losing the “swollen” look I had when I ate meat. I didn’t go work out today, but I can certainly tell some air has been let out of my muscles. It’s hard to believe it’s only been three days.

Body Temperature: My temperature today was 98 °F. This is within the normal standards and has not changed much since I started the experiment. I don’t see any benefit of running at a lower temperature, so we will see what happens.

pH levels: The pH level today was an average of 7.0  This has certainly moved. The pH is less acidic than at the start of the experiment which means less stress on the body to try to neutralize the acidity.

Blood Pressure: My blood pressure is still high.  I had no idea. The systolic was at 131 and diastolic at 69, which kind of worry me. It’s only the third day so we will see what happens. Hopefully, this will be lower by the end of the experiment.

Endurance: This was below average to say the least. I was not at my normal capacity and grew tired pretty quickly when playing football.

Strength: I didn’t go to the gym today so I couldn’t measure any gains here.

Cognitive Capacity: This was at an all time low, I couldn’t even pay attention to people who were talking. I kept spacing out a few dozen times throughout the day. Oh and I mispelled cognitive, luckly spellcheck helped me out.

Woke up this morning feeling fine. Got out of bed like I usually do. I went and brushed my teeth and came back to weigh in. I had dropped 1 pound since Day 1, which was nothing to worry about since my weight usually fluctuates. This morning I ate my breakfast pretty slowly. It consisted of all fruit. I still wasn’t hungry.

Breakfast

I usually have a bigger appetite in the mornings. Today was different. I still felt satisfied so I did not want to force myself to eat.

1. organic golden green apples (211g)
2. mango (154g)

What I love about eating the fruit is that I immediately perk up after I eat it. It’s like a battery being recharged. I feel it within a couple of minutes of eating the fruit. I drank coffee in college and I can safely say the differences between eating fruit and drinking coffee are black and white. The fruit gives you a clean energy burn and there is no jittery feeling. Also there is no sudden drop in energy. Coffee works for a couple of hours to wake you up, but then it causes a crash in your energy levels. When the coffee wears off, it’s like falling off a cliff.

I was talking to a couple of wise guys today and they told me that doesn’t happen to them because when they feel the crash coming they just have more coffee. Don’t they realize that’s not healthy in the long run? There goes a few more months off the ol’ life span.

Lunch

Today, I just prepared some simple finger foods and a soup. I was excited about the soup and ate it kind of slowly. It taste bland even though I had added strawberries. As I was eating it, I kept resisting the urge to flavor it with spices. It was around the time I finished the soup that I also started getting an extreme craving for meat. I decided I would eat everything, figuring that if I got full the craving for meat would subside.

Good plan, but my stomach was not amused. I ate everything I had prepared, but I still wanted to eat cooked meat. When my stomach saw me resisting, it decided to hijack my brain. My stomach must have rewired some neurons because within a few minutes I started seeing images of steaks, veal, and lamb chops.

The cravings were so strong I almost hopped in my car and drove to the store to get a steak. It kind of shook me up because usually I’m able to control myself pretty well, but in this case I started to have doubts. I didn’t think I could continue the diet if those feelings didn’t go away. I read that you can quell cravings for cooked food by eating more leafy green vegetables. I didn’t have enough time left to prepare a green smoothie, so I just drank more water. I figured that would provide a temporary fix. It did. It also made me feel bloated and I had to make more trips to the bathroom. At least it got my mind off the meat. Take that stomach!

1. blueberries (166g)
2. organic ruby-red grapefruit (387g)
3. onions (73g)
4. avocado (192g)
5. organic baby carrots (83g)
6. raw soup: avocado (92g), tomato (95g), strawberries (73g) 1 T fresh lemon juice, ½ cup water
7. glass of water

Great lunch, but the raw food soup could use some work. I kind of pushed through it, but I did not think it tasted that great. You might want to avoid this particular recipe if you decide to try out a raw food diet experiment.

About an hour after lunch, I felt like a fog was developing around my brain. I started to feel mentally tired, much like when you don’t get enough sleep. My processing time was slowing down. This wasn’t extreme, but I definitely noticed some changes in how fast I was doing work. Physically I felt fine, much like I did on my standard diet.

Dinner

I really hope this is part of the detox, but I felt more mental fog set in after dinner, the fog was thicker. I spaced out a couple of times when trying to organize some books on a bookshelf and placed a couple in the wrong place. I also wanted to finish a couple of projects and I needed to generate ideas, but it was as if my brain had shut down. The creative part was definitely not functioning. In the evening while at the gym, I became  physically tired, which was kind of a surprise.  I did not expect that to happen for a few more days.

1. blueberries (163g)
2. green seedless grapes (238g)
3. organic oranges (240g)
4. strawberries (240g)
5. bananas (190g)
6. pecans (95g)

Looking over the list, I really need to buy more organic food. I don’t usually see a huge difference in taste, but I know organic is grown naturally and harmful chemicals are avoided. I need to be buying more organic raw foods because I don’t want to ingest any waxes, fertilizers, etc. Just something for me to think about in the future.

Vitals

Weight: I dropped 1 lb from Day 1, to 188 lbs today. I am not too concerned because I usually fluctuate between 1-2 lbs throughout the week. Sometimes I am up 2 lbs and sometimes I’m down 2 lbs.

Body Temperature: My temperature today was 97.9 °F. This is a little lower than Day 1, but I would not say it’s a significant drop.

pH levels: The pH level today was still 6.75, which means I’m still on the acidic side, so I’m assuming there’s still some gunk in my system from my standard diet affecting this.

Blood Pressure: Systolic pressure today was 130 which still puts me in the pre-hypertension range. The diastolic was 69. I hope this goes lower in the future. It’s telling me I need to do more cardio, which I can’t say I like to do too much.

Endurance: I felt a little more winded while running the mile today, it wasn’t severe but I noticed something was off and I completed the mile a little more fatigued than usual.

Strength: I still lifted my normal weight at the gym, but was more tired after each set, I was struggling more and more with each set and my break time in-between sets went up.

Cognitive Capacity: At the beginning of the day I was fine and within my normal realm, but as the day progressed I felt like a fog had enveloped my brain. It felt like I was in a smoky room and I couldn’t see things clearly or I would think of something, but it would be slower than usual. The processing time had gone way up.

The Raw Food Diet Experiment has officially started. Woo-hooo! I ate breakfast right up today. I love raw fruit and have it for breakfast on my standard diet. Normally, I pair the fruit up with cereal and soy milk ( I haven’t had cow’s milk for over a year ), but I didn’t eat the cereal or soy milk this morning. I just ate more fruit than I usually do. Shortly after, I noticed a small boost in energy. I also felt more awake, which is a little out of the ordinary for me in the mornings.

Breakfast

This morning’s breakfast was tasty! The oranges were right out of my mother’s backyard and were even better than the organic oranges I bought at Whole Foods (during my December ‘08 trial). I believe this could be attributed to the oranges being so fresh.  I picked them out of a tree, so they were never hauled in a refrigerated truck over a long distance. Also, I ate them shortly after they were picked so they didn’t have a chance to sit in a store or a refrigerator. I can’t imagine fruit being any fresher than this! The bananas were good too – they are my staple fruit due to being so convenient to eat. Also, if you are on a budget like me you appreciate their low price. To me, bananas are the Ramen noodles of the raw food world.

1. organic oranges (521g)
2. organic bananas (163g)
3. blueberries (412g)

Lunch

For lunch I had a tasty salad. I don’t eat many greens normally and my body was enjoying it. Even so, I still kept feeling like I needed to add bacon bits or croutons to it. Eating this meal made me appreciate the little things we take for granted sometimes. In this case it was the croutons. They are so little, yet so tasty. You don’t even realize how much you miss them until they’re gone.  Oh well…bye, bye, little croutons.

For the salad, I made the dressing myself and it came out pretty well.  I used only natural ingredients and no spices. It tasted good, but the dressing definitely felt lighter than the usual Caesar dressing I throw on my salads. Still the mango, avocado, and onion blend provided a new sensation, which I improved upon by adding some lemon juice. The lemon juice gave the salad a bit of a zesty taste and really brought out the dressings finer points.

The actual preparation time for the food was short, only the weighing of the food took some time. To make things clear – the weight and quantities listed below the images will measure only the food I eat. So even though the picture may be of two bananas with peels, or whole apples, I am only counting the edible parts in the measurements. Therefore peels, cores, seeds, etc. will not be in the final measurements.

1. berry smoothie: strawberries (150g), blueberries (110g), organic bananas (192g), 2 cups coconut water, 1 cup ice
2. blueberries (339g)
3. salad: organic romaine lettuce (132g), organic radicchio lettuce (14g), diced green, red, and yellow peppers (56g), organic tomato (95g), organic avocado (51g)
4. salad dressing: mango (57g), organic avocado (44g), organic white onion (69g), 1 tsp lemon juice

Dinner

For dinner I had a smoothie and some almonds. I didn’t feel that hungry so I didn’t want to force myself to eat. I ate some almonds just for some added protein and some apples to clean out the almond pieces that were stuck in my teeth.

(no pic)

1. smoothie: bananas (236g), organic collard greens (96g), papaya (181g), mango (168g), carrots (113g)
2. almonds (54g)
3. apples (216g)

One thing I immediately noticed today is how much lighter I felt after every meal. This was unusual since I ate pretty big portions. Another contrast to my standard diet is a lack of sleepiness after meals. Normally I get sleepy after eating certain meals on my standard diet and I can’t stand when my eyes start drooping. That didn’t happen today though. I didn’t want to rest after eating any of these meals and I was ready to go as soon as I had finished them. Other than that, no side effects of any kind occurred today. I felt pretty normal.

Measurements

For this experiment, I will be keeping track of how much I eat, my weight, temperature, pH levels, and blood pressure throughout the 30 Days.  I will be measuring the majority of the food in grams, but will also be using some measurements that are used in cooking recipes, such as teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, etc. I figured it would be easier to say cups of water than trying to measure the water in grams. For the food measurements, I bought the Escali Primo Digital Multifunctional Scale. I read a lot of positive reviews about this scale and the price is quite reasonable. The weight measurements will be tracked in lbs and I will be using the Weight Watchers Glass Precision Electronic Scale – WW34. From using it a bit, I’ve discovered that the scale needs a flat surface for it to give an accurate reading, so don’t put it on carpets or uneven surfaces. Other than that it works great. The thermometer I will be using is the Exergen TAT-2000 C. It is used by nurses in pediatric offices, so I know it has be pretty accurate. The pH paper is something I picked up at my local store and it measures the pH levels in .25 pH increments. I will be taking my blood pressure (systolic and diastolic) every day using a blood pressure machine that is located in the Pharmacy Department at a Publix Supermarket next to my place of work.

Vitals

Weight: I weighed myself this morning at 189 lbs, which is pretty close to my average weight of 190 lbs. I tend to lose or gain a couple of pounds throughout the week.

Body Temperature: My temperature this morning was 98.1 °F. This is close to my average of around 98.2 °F.

pH levels: The pH level today was 6.75 pH. A bit on the acidic side, but this corresponds with the readings taken prior to experiment.

Blood Pressure: My blood pressure was a little higher than I expected. I took the reading and the systolic pressure was 133 and the diastolic was 67. The systolic reading was in the pre-hypertension range, which surprised me because I work out 3-4 times a week.  I do have a sedentary lifestyle at work and at home though.

Endurance: I went to the gym today and ran my warm up of 1 mile. I didn’t feel a difference in my energy levels while running it or after finishing the mile.

Strength: My strength did not seem to change while lifting weights. I was doing my normal weight and did not feel any differences while lifting.

Cognitive Capacity: I was at a normal state throughout the day. I did not notice a difference in mental capacity.

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!