I slept a total of 6 hours last night and was up 15 minutes before the alarm clock rang this morning. I felt terrific. The last 5 days, I’ve gotten up ready to take on the day. No feeling of dread here. Just eagerness to fulfill my dreams and aspirations. You may think that it’s all in my head, that this is just a placebo effect, but I can reassure you that the positive effects of this diet are real. Over the last 21 days, I’ve been eating food as nature intended it – heat free, without preservatives, and non-processed. This has done wonders to optimize my body and mind. I’m not the only person that this has happened to. Many of the raw foodists I’ve met have experienced similar improvements in their lives. I’m just happy I could be one of them.

Breakfast

Breakfast today consisted of raspberries, pears, Braeburn apples, and bananas. All organic of course.

1. organic bananas (284g)
2. organic raspberries (173g)
3. organic Braeburn apples (379g)
4. organic pears (524g)

This breakfast kept me full for around 6 hours. Since starting the raw food diet, I don’t get as hungry anymore. I hardly notice lunch time coming around. On the SAD, I would become irritable and cranky if I did not eat my meal on time. Now I hardly notice if I work through lunch.

Lunch

Today I ate lunch an hour later than I usually do. I did not feel the need to. I diligently worked through the lunch hour, then went home and prepared a salad and superfoods cocoa smoothie.

1. mixed salad: Italian salad (289g), organic blueberries (127g), organic avocado (135g), organic cherries (158g)
2. superfoods cocoa smoothie: organic baby spinach (89g), organic bananas (311g), organic Goji berries (19g), organic hemp (31g), organic raw cocoa (20g), 3 cups water

If you look at the ingredients for the smoothie you’ll see that I included some organic hemp. I bought some organic hemp seeds and then put them into the coffee grinder with the organic Goji berries and ground them up. Then I added both to the smoothie.

I ate the salad while sipping on the smoothie. The salad was kind of bland and I did not really enjoy eating it. If I stay raw, for longer than the 30 days, I definitely need to use some spices or come up with some creative salad dressings. I had the smoothie to get me through the blandness. Unfortunately, the smoothie was a bit on the chalky side. I pushed through both, fueled mostly by thoughts of the good feelings that would come after the meal. I was not disappointed. About a half hour after completing my meal, I felt like I was gliding on a cloud – light, present, and at ease. I know it’s kind of surprising to hear that coming from a manly man like me, but that’s how I felt.

Pre-Dinner Snack

1. organic raw pumpkin seeds (67g)
2. Braeburn apples (261g)

Just a light snack before dinner.

Dinner

For dinner I had a mixed bag of fruit, along with some sunflower seeds. I noticed I become tired of eating too much of any one thing. For example, I would have trouble eating 12 bananas in one sitting. It doesn’t appeal to me. I rather have smaller portions of a few fruits than one large portion of a single fruit.

1. organic blood oranges (252g)
2. organic bananas (335g)
3. organic sunflower seeds (45g)
4. organic Asian pears (296g)
5. organic apple (155g)

Vitals

Weight: I lost .5 lbs. That means I weigh 174.6 lbs.

Body Temperature: My temperature came in at 97.7 °F.

pH levels: The average pH level today was 7.50 pH.

Blood Pressure: Systolic blood pressure was at 126. I’m starting to think the blood pressure machine may not be that reliable. My reading today was peculiar. I mean, I was at 123 systolic just one day ago. The diastolic was at 69.

Endurance: I did not run today.

Strength: I did not go to the gym today.

Cognitive Capacity: I feel like a superhero!

Although the alarm clock woke me up today, I woke up feeling pretty happy. I was just in a good mood and ready to start the day. I can feel a major difference between my SAD diet and the raw food diet even when getting up in the morning. On the SAD, I used to drag myself around the house for 30 minutes while getting ready for work – now I move around like a lighting bolt. I’m ready in half the time and I feel so much better upon getting up.

Breakfast

Today’s breakfast was simple. I had some bananas and pears.

1. organic bananas (451g)
2. organic pears (723g)

Although I don’t become too excited at the thought of eating bananas or pears, I do find that they are extremely convenient and simple to eat.

I was listening to NPR (National Public Radio) a while back and one of the guests was an expert on bananas. He said bananas lack genetic variation – which means they can’t evolve. This makes them susceptible to Fungi, which can give the bananas diseases – a major one being Panama Disease. I found the interview fascinating and had no idea that bananas are basically clones of each other.

Lunch

For lunch I decided to make a fruit salad. The salad was delicious and gave me a boost of energy which lasted for around 4 hours, after which I glided back to my normal laid back and blissful state.

1. organic mango (643g)
2. organic raspberries (175g)
3. organic blueberries (120g)
4. organic carrots (175g)

To make the fruit salad, I peeled some mango then added some blueberries and raspberries. For some reason I was craving carrots, so I ate two of those as well.

During this experiment, I’ve had a few instances where I’ve craved  a specific raw food. When I ate the food I craved, I entered a relaxed and happy state. If for some reason I could not eat the raw food I craved at that particular time, then I ended up in a somewhat deprived state. I would then think about the specific raw food and the craving would not go away for some time. Later the craving would reemerge and stay with me until I gave my body the particular raw food it longed for.

The lesson here – listen to your body. Your body will tell you what it needs. Of course you need to use some common sense as well. If you are having cravings for pizza or hamburgers, then giving your body those foods is certainly not a healthy choice. On the other hand, if your body is craving raw foods such a carrots, avocados, or pumpkin seeds then it would be wise for you to listen to it.

Speaking of the body, mine has become way more chiseled and sculpted. Although I am not as big as I was on the SAD, I still have great muscle tone and now it’s more clearly defined. Body wise, I’m starting to look a lot like Bruce Lee.  Whaaaaaa-cha out!

Pre-Dinner Snack

1. raw almonds (120g)

I ordered some raw almonds from an internet site a couple of weeks ago. I first tested them out to see if they would germinate and after they did, I threw some in a Ziploc bag so I’d have them to snack on in between my meals.

Dinner

For dinner I had some Asian pears, raspberries, bananas, and avocados. I ate the avocados because they are a good source of vegetable fat. I’ve noticed that when I skimp on the vegetable fats, my hands get dryer and my body starts to itch. By adding the vegetable fats back into my meals, I quickly remedy the dry skin.

1. organic Asian pears (473g)
2. organic bananas (322g)
3. organic raspberries (172g)
4. organic avocados (193g)

After eating the avocados, I ate the Asian pears. Although this was not my first time eating an Asian pear, I was still taken by surprise when I took the first bite. I tasted my first Asian pear about 5 months ago and could not grasp the concept that this particular fruit has the qualities of both an apple and a pear. To be honest, I’m still struggling with the concept.

I mean, I’ve lived twenty-eight years and experienced the apple and the pear as separate entities. My taste buds have been trained to differentiate between the two distinct fruits. Then along comes this Asian pear and totally changes my perspective on things. It causes my taste buds to go crazy trying to figure out which fruit I’m really eating – an apple or a pear? This small example just goes to show that no matter what you think you may know in life, there will always be something that will surprise you. An experience, a person, a thing, that will teach you something new.

Vitals

Weight: I lost .3 lbs. That means I weigh 175.1 lbs.

Body Temperature: My temperature was 97.5 °F.

pH levels: The average pH level today was 7.50 pH.

Blood Pressure: Systolic blood pressure was at 123, which is the lowest to date. Exciting and hopefully it’s not just the machine playing tricks on me. We will see if this was just an anomaly or if I will get this reading again. In any case, the systolic measurement has dropped from the first day’s measurement, so I’m sure it’s not a fluke, but more of an effect of the diet. The diastolic was at 71.

Endurance: Running the mile was a breeze. I finished it faster than I usually do on the SAD.

Strength: My strength seems to be improving, I went to the gym and lifted the current weight with ease.

Cognitive Capacity: Just three words to describe my current state of mind – sharp, fast, and clear.

The alarm clock woke me up mid-dream this morning.  I was dreaming that I was eating a raw food mixture.  When I went to see David Wolfe speak in Orlando, a raw food group in the lobby was giving out raw food samples that  supposedly tasted like grilled chicken.  I did not partake of the sample myself (it had spices in it), but saw a big crowd at that particular table.  I think depriving myself of that experience left me longing for it, so I worked the problem out in my head by dreaming about that point in time.

Dreams aside, I’ve been receiving some feedback that this is not the ideal diet for a person to be on.  While I can see myself agreeing with that statement if it refers to being 100% raw for life without any sort of supplementation (B12 for example), I can not agree with its validity when it refers to being on the raw food diet for 30 days.

There is so much conflicting information in the world today and so many diets that it’s hard to know what to believe.  What I do know is that I’m on the diet.  I have been on the diet for the past 19 days.  The way I feel is real, I’m not dreaming about it.  While some people can speculate on all the things this diet lacks, few have ever tried it.  Even fewer have experienced the unfathomable bliss it brings.  That’s one of the reasons I undertook this experiment – to let the those people know what they’re missing! It’s easy to say, “The raw food diet is a another diet fad, it doesn’t work.” But without going raw yourself, you’ll just be parroting back the things you’ve heard or relying on information that’s been spread by corporations with hidden agendas.

Breakfast

I had some organic papaya for breakfast, I’m trying to expand my raw food diet palette.  If I see a fruit that is exotic, I usually buy it.  I liked the papaya’s taste when I first put it into my mouth, but I felt the juice had a weird aftertaste, which I was not particularly fond of.  I cleansed the not so tasty juice out by eating the bananas.  Then I ate the pears.

1. organic papaya (341g)
2. organic bananas (316g)
3. organic pears (786g)

After breakfast I felt great, as I usually do.  I had a peaceful energy around me.  It felt like I was nestled in a blanket of sunshine.  I lacked the euphoria I experienced on Day 19, but I still felt happy, contemplative, and relaxed.  The thing I appreciate most about this diet is the emotional balance it brings.  All the noise, the doubt, the stress, that was in me before (even if it was just in small amounts), seems to be gone now.  I’m a newer, happier, me.

I’m glad I’m on the raw food diet.  On top of feeling better, I’ve also had a chance to explore new foods that I’d never tried before.  Like most people, if you had asked me to name some fruits before the raw food diet experiment, I would have said, “Bananas, strawberries and apples.”  Now while those fruits are delicious, they are not that interesting.  They don’t lead to new sensations or experiences, they certainly don’t ignite any interesting conversations.  Contrast this with the papaya, the mamey sapote, and the blood oranges (I had these for dinner) and you realize how limited my fruit choices have been until now. If these three tasty fruits exist, there’s no telling how many other varieties of exotic fruits there are available for me to try.

Not only am I expanding my world, but I’m making new friends by talking about the things I’m doing.  I have made several new friends just by talking about this diet and the blog.  The people I talked to wanted to hear more about it.  They saw the passion and energy I had when talking about the raw food diet and most of them were hooked.  I say most because I lost a few when I mentioned the raw food diet involved eating no meat.  Even so, the carnivores were still interested in hearing about the benefits of going raw.  I’ll post those in a future post after I’ve completed the full 30 Days.

Lunch

For lunch I had a mixed salad and a green smoothie.  It tasted great.  As a bonus I also threw in two mangoes.

1. organic mangoes (638g)
2. mixed salad: romaine lettuce, red cabbage, organic carrot shavings (287g), organic tomatoes (272g)
3. green smoothie: organic bananas (278g), organic baby spinach (110g),  2 & 1/2  cups of water

This salad is pretty much standard in my diet.  Today, I did not feel the need to make the smoothie complicated so I just made it using ripe bananas and green spinach.  Spinach is a great source of beta-carotene, a powerful disease fighting anti-oxidant that’s been shown to reduce the risk of developing cataracts, heart disease, and even cancer, so I try to eat as much spinach as I can.  I don’t like eating it plain, but it tastes great if I put it in a blender with some ripe bananas.

Dinner

I was looking forward to eating dinner tonight.  I had spotted some red colored mini-oranges at the store and I decided to try them.  They are called blood oranges.  The peel of the fruit is semi-red with the rest being orange.  Once the fruit is peeled, it has a dark red color.   As soon as I bit down into one, I realized the name is a prefect fit. The juice dripping down my hand looked almost like real blood.  Hence their name.

1. organic blood oranges (320g)
2. organic raspberries (174g)
3. organic blueberries (129g)
4. organic blackberries (171g)
5. organic bananas (255g)

I wanted my taste buds to be fresh for the blood oranges, so I ate the oranges first.  They tasted sweet and mellow, mostly like regular oranges only a bit more tangy.  If I had to describe them I would say, 90% orange and 10% cranberry.  I liked them and might try them again in the future if they are available.  I ate the berries next, along with the bananas.

Post Dinner

About a half hour before hitting the gym I ate some organic pumpkin seeds and two Fuji apples.

1. organic pumpkin seeds (80g)
2. organic Fuji apples (239g)

The pumpkin seeds don’t taste that great on their own, but add two apples and they go down a whole lot smoother.

Vitals

Weight: I lost .4 lbs.  I definitely don’t think I ate enough calories on Day 19.  This puts me at 175.4 lbs.

Body Temperature: My temperature came in at 97.8 °F.

pH levels: The average pH level today was 7.50 pH.  I think I’ve hit the plateau.

Blood Pressure: Systolic blood pressure was at 126. The diastolic was at 69.

Endurance: I ran the mile with ease.  I felt like I was gliding through it.

Strength: My strength seems to be stable.  The weight I’m doing is not hard.  I feel like I am challenged, but that I can add more weight if I need to.

Cognitive Capacity: Still sharp.  I don’t see the mental powers going away any time soon.  My brain feels like a sports car.  It can rev-up when needed and just cruises around the rest of the time.

Today was fantastic!  I was ecstatic for around 4 hours during the day, with a gushy happy feeling all over.  It started in the morning.  I was up after 5 hours of sleep.  There was no alarm clock set to wake me up, but I still woke up early.  I decided I would go back to sleep. I fell asleep within 2 minutes of wanting to do so, zonking out for another 30 minutes.  After waking up the second time, I just jumped out of bed and dashed to the the restroom.  Took care of the hygiene, as per my normal routine, then went to the kitchen.

Breakfast

1. green grapes (258g)
2. organic apples (388g)
3. organic oranges (296g)
4. organic bananas (266g)

I ate these while sitting on the couch, but after 10 minutes it felt like someone had hooked me up to a giant battery and turned on the juice (get it? juice ).  I felt an immediate surge in energy and started getting excited.  The energy came fast.  In my head the transformation felt like I was Bruce Banner (aka: The Hulk), but instead of getting angry, I was going in a the opposite direction.  I was becoming happy – so happy I was giddy.  I started singing even though my living room radio was off.  I didn’t need the radio, I was making up my own songs.  It was such a greet feeling.  I felt joy - I felt joy in abundant amounts.

I would compare the feeling to when you are really excited about going on vacation to a new place, or that feeling you get when you have a crush on someone and you know you will see them later that day.  It’s a sense of euphoria.  Quite frankly, I had been wondering where it had been all this time.  In my previous raw food diet experiment, this feeling first came about on Day 11.  It is the feeling of being alive.  There was no reason for the feeling.  I don’t have a crush on anyone right now, I’m not going on vacation any time soon, and I didn’t win the lotto.  I just felt alive…and that was enough.

Some of you may think I am exaggerating here, but I’m not.  I have nothing to gain by it.  I’ve had this feeling before, but it’s usually brought about by some outside event.  This time it just came to the surface and I could not explain it.  I felt truly amazing for about 4 hours.  After that the feeling subsided.

Lunch

Right before lunch time, I started coming back to a more normal but happy state.  The euphoria was coming down somewhat.  I had a friend come over to eat with me.  I ate some fruit and he had a sub.  I can truly say that today I actually preferred my fruit over his sub.  Trust me, once you feel the euphoria resonating though every cell of your body, you don’t want to give it up.  I was actually looking forward to a second burst, but it didn’t come.

1. organic pears (413g)
2. organic grapefruit (482g)
3. strawberries (233g)

This meal tasted great.  Although I didn’t return to the euphoria I had experienced after breakfast, I still felt happy.  The raw food diet helps to filter a lot of pollution we have in our bodies.  After our bodies are cleansed, it helps clean the clutter, noise, and stress we have trapped in our minds.  I think after the house cleaning is done, the diet really kicks in to make you feel joyous. I know that doesn’t sound very scientific, but that’s my theory.

Dinner

For dinner I had a mixed salad along with a chocolate smoothie.  The yellow stuff in the picture is the salad dressing.

1. mixed salad: organic romaine & radicchio lettuce (286g), organic tomatoes (257g), cucumber (70g), organic onions (50g)
2. salad dressing: cucumber (76g), organic banana (71g), carrots (36g), 1/4 cup water
3. chocolate smoothie:  organic ripe bananas (315g), organic mango (251g), organic raw cacoa (14g), 2 cups water, 1/2 cup ice

Although everything I ate for dinner tasted great, I should have added some greens to the smoothie.  It tasted too light.  I definitely felt the greens missing from it.

Vitals

Weight: I gained .1 lbs.  This was an amazing breakthrough.  It seems I’ve finally stopped losing weight and actually gained some.  This puts me at 175.9 lbs.  I’m kind of relieved about adding some back on.

Body Temperature: My temperature came in at 97. 6 °F.

pH levels: The average pH level today was 7.50 pH.  It’s not going up too much.

Blood Pressure: Systolic blood pressure was at 125.  I think I might have spoken too soon when I saw it down to 124 yesterday. The diastolic was at 68.

Endurance: Missed the gym today.

Strength: Felt strong, but did not have a chance to test myself in the gym.

Cognitive Capacity: A state of complete calm has engulfed me.  I was sharp today, but in a contemplative state with bouts of euphoria in the morning hours.

This morning I set my alarm clock a little earlier than usual.  It buzzed me to consciousness even earlier than I had intended.  I used the extra time to access my host panel statistics.  I wanted to see who some of the main visitors on this site were.  So far I’ve had 312 unique visitors this month and it turns out that around 1/4 of them are from Canada.  I met a lady (from Canada) just a few days ago who told me how popular the raw food diet is in Vancouver.

I just wanted to welcome you, my Canadian readers, and also to let you know that your presence here is appreciated.  As is the presence of all my readers.  If you are enjoying the blog or have some suggestions, don’t be afraid to leave me some comments letting me know your thoughts.  Also, if you enjoy this blog, help spread the word! The info here is free and that’s a price everyone can afford.

Breakfast

I ate the fruits pictured below as though they were my last meal.  For some reason I was really hungry this morning.  This is unusual because on the raw food diet I don’t feel hungry that often.  Most people think you will feel like you are starving, but I noticed it’s just the opposite.  If my friends and I eat our respective meals (they:cooked food and me: raw food) at the same time, my friends will complain about being hungry hours before I’m ready to eat again. Most of the time I only feel a sense of hunger after I’ve used up massive amounts of energy, for example, after an intense workout.  Keep in mind that hunger and cravings are two different beasts.  Hunger is like a little Chiwawa, while cravings are like monstrous Pitt-Bulls that try to sink their teeth into you.  In the above paragraph, I’m speaking about the Chiwawa.

1. organic mangoes (471g)
2. organic oranges (448g)
3. organic pears (709g)

After consuming all the fruit, I felt bloated again.  I don’t like feeling like I’m stuffed, but on the other hand I don’t want to have to prepare more meals.  Staying on this diet is challenging enough, but having to measure, take pictures, eat, re-measure, document, and then blog about the experience is even harder.  To add to that, I also have a 40-45 hour job, a gym I need to frequent 3-4 times a week, an active social life, and family to keep in touch with.  Enough moaning though, time to go to look at what I ate for lunch.

Lunch

I was still felt satisfied form having breakfast and when lunch came around I did not feel like eating too much.  I prepared a meal consisting of honeydew, tomatoes, avocados, and a  green chocolate  smoothie.

1. honeydew (628g)
2. organic avocado (173g)
3. organic tomatoes (443g)
4. green chocolate smoothie: organic ripe bananas (356g), green kale (48g), organic baby spinach (47g), organic raw cocoa powder with maca (28g), 3 cups water

The honeydew was sweet and delicious.  I really should eat it more often because it really hit the spot.  The organic avocado and tomatoes were good too.  As for the green chocolate smoothie, I think I overdid it on the cocoa powder with maca.  I feel I added too much, therefore the smoothie had a chalky taste.  If you’re experimenting with this particular recipe I suggest you hold back on the raw cocoa.  I don’t have a problem eating any of my recipes, but there have been times when I’ve had to push through a couple of sub-par ones, like the soup from Day 2.  Although I’ll though it out, I don’t expect you to, that’s why I’ll usually give you a heads up on the not so tasty recipies.

Dinner

For dinner I felt the need for something sweet.  I prepared a smorgasbord of fruits for myself.

1. organic blueberries (284g)
2. organic mango (249g)
3. organic avocado (87g)
4. organic pears (561g)
5. organic tomatoes (447g)
6. green chocolate smoothie: organic bananas (242g), organic baby spinach (68g), organic hemp (15g), organic raw cocoa with maca (14g), 3 cups water

I felt this smoothie tasted better than the lunch smoothie.  As you can tell, I’m starting to like the cocoa.  When I told some of my friends that I’m mixing in organic raw cocoa into my smoothies, a few seemed concerned about the amounts of caffeine that I’ll be exposed to.  To set things straight, we have to make an important differentiation between the cocoa you buy at your local supermarket and organic raw cocoa.  The cocoa you buy at the store is usually processed into some type of product (chocolate bar, ice cream, etc).  It has caffeine added to it while it is being produced in the factories.  This is currently being done by some chocolate producing companies.  The companies add caffeine to some products to make consumers associate the pep in their step to those particular products.  Even when this is done, the overall caffeine content is still about 1/4 that of a cup of coffee.

Unlike most consumers, I am using raw cocoa.  Pure and unprocessed.  I might be exposing myself to some caffeine, but the amount is so infinitesimal that I’m surprised it even registered as a blip on my friends’ radars. I’ve had caffeine before, when I was drinking various energy drinks, but the feelings I experienced from drinking the raw cocoa are completely different. When I drink raw cocoa in my smoothies, I feel a clean smooth energy - not the jittery energy that comes from drinking coffee or energy drinks.

Vitals

Weight: Down another .7 lbs.  This puts me at 175.8 lbs.

Body Temperature: My temperature came in at 97. 7 °F.

pH levels: The average pH level today was 7.50 pH.  I’m happy with this.

Blood Pressure: Systolic blood pressure was at 124.  The lowest to date.  I’m glad I’m seeing some progress here.  The diastolic was at 67.  I’m down 1 point on the systolic so I can’t complain.

Endurance: I did not go to the gym today.

Strength: I feel fully recovered.

Cognitive Capacity: Not much has changed on this front.  I feel sharp and can make connections between different thoughts easily.  Like I said, I feel like I’ve gotten an upgrade.