30 Day Raw Food trial

[Hyperchiller]

Raw Food trial day 1

Starting today, I'll be dedicating myself to a 30 day raw food trial that is composed of a diet of mostly fruits, vegetables, some nuts and eggs. So this will be a raw 'ovo-vegetarian' diet.
My purpose for doing this is to have more energy, sleep less and have better mental clarity.
After an initial bout with my parents, they're ok with me eating no meat now and they're supportive of it now. Which is pretty good news.
I'm going to record what I eat and how I feel for each day. I hope that writing this gives me the discipline to follow through on eating a raw ovo vegetarian diet.

As for genetics, which is important when considering an optimal diet, I am Chinese. I am currently 20 years old but will be 21 in exactly a week.

Breakfast:

(1.2 litres) Smoothie made out of :
Two oranges
One small apple
Four cloves of garlic
One small banana
Three cups of raw pineapple
One stalk of celery with leaves
A big bunch of spinach
Three fresh strawberries
A cup of blueberries
Some water

It tasted quite funny but I'm ok with that. The garlic was strong which was quite nice.

Didn't feel hungry so I exercised a bit and had a small lunch.
Did 70 pushups in total. 10 pushups at a time. This is inspired by the 100 pushup challenge

Lunch:

An array of nuts and seeds which include:
Brazil nuts, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, almonds, sunflower seeds.
And a handful of cashews.


Snacks:
12 pieces of dark chocolate (50% cocoa)... which includes white sugar.
I decided to go on a 30 day trial after dinner so I can't be responsible for this.
Ok so no more of this..

Did a bit of dancing and also helped my dad pick up stray sticks and bark for a burn off later. I do live in the 'bush'.


Dinner:

A smoothie made out of:
A bunch of spinach
Some parsley
Seven leaves of a purple lettuce
Four scoops of papaya
Honey
Water

Also had some rocket leaves and two mini roma tomatoes.

Comments:
After each meal I don't get a mental fog like you get after you eat meat.
I already seem to have better mental clarity and verbal sparring ability.

I did have a bit of gas after eating the nuts because I wasn't that hungry (that's some emotional eating right there!). It might also be attributed to the fact that I gulped the smoothie down without mixing the stuff with my saliva. I will mix the smoothies with my saliva from now on too for better digestion. I was pretty full after that smoothie. I will eat when I'm hungry when possible from now on.

Also another plus with this diet is that it's easy to prepare. All I do is wash and cut. No gas is required. All I use is a supermarket blender. The smoothies are also very fast to consume.

I will need to get some Vitamin B12 from somewhere. I suppose I will have to eat some raw eggs.

Anyone got any advice about what I'm missing in my diet? I want to get some kale but there aren't any in local supermarkets. I also bought some nori seaweed today to get my iodine. I've also got flax seeds and some avocado at home.

[Hyperchiller]

Also does anyone believe that grains are essential? I want to eat some grain but I don't want to eat white rice, brown rice or bread.

[Hyperchiller]

Raw Ovo-vegetarian Day 2

Even though it's not day 2 yet, I am planning on having the following:

Breakfast:

Silverbeet Smoothie of Doom:
Big bunch of silverbeet
One small banana
Two navel oranges without peel
One small organic apple
One cup of frozen blueberries
Four fresh strawberries
One cup of pineapple
Water


Lunch:

Rocket Salad of Glory:
One carrot
Four mini roma tomatoes
Big bunch of rocket leaves
Big bunch of generic salad leaves
Big bunch of red butter lettuce
Lemon juice
Three strawberries

15 Almonds of Doom


Dinner:

[Hyperchiller]

Transition from meat eating diet

Before I was eating meat every day but I don't think I'll miss it. I really hate that mental fog you get from eating meat.

Nuts

I just realised that the nuts and seeds I'm eating aren't totally raw... oh well. I guess this won't be 100% raw but close enough. I plan to eat eggs raw though.

Finding Motivation

Doug Graham talks about the six parameters of good health and they make a whole lot of common sense. The six parameters are: eat raw food, eat ripe food, eat plant food, eat organic food, eat fresh food and eat whole food. Now I'm not eating predominately organic food but I've covered most of the bases. So by aligning myself with these principles I can motivation from the fact that I am doing the best thing for my health.

[Hyperchiller]

Day 2 continued

After lunch:

Vitamin C Juice:
Grapefruit
Lemon
Orange

Dinner:

Stomach feels sick now salad:
Papaya
Avocado
Alfalfa
Plenty of honey

The papaya made this salad a bit yuck to eat. I should blend papaya next time.

Snack:

Some sheets of nori seaweed

Comments:
I felt about the same as yesterday although I couldn't fall asleep the previous night. It was probably because I was dancing a bit before sleeping. Feel way more energetic consistently than on a meat diet. Last night I slept for 11 hours.

[Hyperchiller]

Day 3

Breakfast:

Supergarlic smoothie:
2 Oranges
1 small organic apple
1 cup of frozen blueberries
3 strawberries
2 big silverbeet leaves
4 cloves of garlic

Lunch:

Protein salad:
2 mini avocados
2 raw eggs
1 handfuls of roasted cashew nuts
2 handfuls of baby spinach
Some olive oil dressing


Dinner:

Steamed white rice
Steamed broccoli

Snack:

1 banana

Comments:

So much for going totally raw after dinner haha. My parents had it ready but the broccoli was so good steamed. I don't think 30 day diet is going to be fully 100% raw. I think this diet is just a 'no meat, no refined sugar, no refined flour, and minimize cooked food' sort of diet. Which I guess is as balanced as I can make it at the moment. I think I need some grain so I'll just eat steamed rice along with whatever else there is.

I also didn't think the raw egg salad was incredibly tasty haha... i'll probably use eggs in a smoothie instead. It was quite runny which wasn't that appetizing.

[Hyperchiller]

Day 4

Breakfast:

Mango and Spinach smoothie:
1 banana
1 mango
Big bunch of baby spinach leaves
Water


Lunch:

Salad:
Baby spinach leaves
Mint leaves
Mini roma tomatoes
Rocket leaves
Afalfa and broccoli sprouts
Lemon juice

Plus heaps of cashews and almonds.



Dinner:

Steamed white rice
1 large hydroponic tomato
Finish off the salad from lunch time.
1 mango
A little bit of sautéed beans


Comments:
My energy levels are significantly higher than on a meat diet. It's going quite nicely. I don't think I'm coming down with any fevers or detox symptoms. Maybe it's because I'm eating cooked nuts and some cooked food. Anyway my concentration and energy is more consistent throughout the day.

[Hyperchiller]

Day 5

Breakfast:

Protein Smoothie:
2 bananas
Big bunch of baby spinach leaves
Almonds and cashews
Soymilk

Lunch:

1 Apple
1 Orange
1 Mango

Snacks:

Cashew nuts

Dinner:

Cooked dinner:
Cabbage
Beans
Potato

1 raw avocado
1 mango

Snacks:

1 mango


Comments:

I did 60 pushups before breakfast with 4 repetitions of 15. And then I had my after workout protein smoothie muhahaha.
On Tuesday, I did 60 pushups but with 5 repetitions of 12.
On Saturday I hope to do 64 pushups with 18, 16, 16, 14.

Last night I had a good nights sleep. After I initially woke up (9am), I went back to sleep but I felt groggy when I woke up again (9.40).

[Hyperchiller]

Day 6


Breakfast:

Cooked in vegetable oil:
Two eggs
Pasta sauce
Added a blended mixture of:
Spinach
Parsley
1 tomato
Red lettuce
Flax seed

Lunch:
1 apple
1 orange
1 avocado

Snack:

Two Cherry ripes!

Dinner:

Red lettuce
White rice
Steamed broccoli
Tomatoes


Comments:

I had 6 hours of sleep last night. Awesome! I usually had like 10 hours on a meat eating diet. But before I usually over ate and didn't have enough enzymes in my opinion. Now I try to eat when I'm hungry and not over eat too much. And even if I do overeat, it will be light food.


I have changed my goal from 100% raw to around 70% raw. I have been persuaded by this site keeper's experience: Beyond Vegetarianism--Raw Food, Vegan, Fruitarian, Paleo Diets
I desire to be more balanced and a 100% raw diet to me at the moment does not seem balanced. Even though Steve says staying 100% raw is easier than 90% or less than 100% raw I disagree. To me there doesn't seem to be much of a difference. I don't have huge cravings for cooked food but I will eat them. I'm not going to let the diet control my life, trying really hard to stay 100% raw which is now ridiculous in my opinion. So I am probably going to have go 60-70% raw food and now with more eggs, milk and yoghurt. I will have cooked food occasionally. It shouldn't be any big deal especially if it's steamed rice or broccoli.

And now an interesting excerpt from the above website:

Before listing the main areas of disagreement, let me state explicitly that I am pro-raw, pro-vegetarian, and that 100% raw vegan diets have a good (but not perfect) anecdotal record in the short run, but a dismal record of failure in the long run. In contradiction to the party-line claims that strict 100% raw vegan diets are "ideal," 75-90% raw vegan diets often work much better in the long run than 100% raw diets.

My current diet is 75-90% raw and includes some dairy--mostly raw milk or yogurt and a very small amount of ghee (a cooked dairy product). My diet includes sprouts, nuts, avocados, raw vegetables, fruits, dairy, and other foods (raw honey, etc.).

Humanely produced, sanitary, raw cow's milk is readily available in the area I live in (San Francisco area: I use Claravale Farms raw cow milk). Lately (August 2000) I have been using yogurt instead of raw milk, as it is more convenient. Adding dairy to my diet has helped me in many ways:

Increased my strength and stamina.

Effectively eliminated physical cravings; milk and yogurt are comfort foods and anti-craving.

Increased body weight, and the weight is staying on, rather than melting off.

Increased hydration (many raw vegans are dehydrated--I was, before adding dairy to my diet).

Increased sense of well-being; in other words, I feel better.

Helped with my health problems, and also helped balance me, in Ayurvedic terms. There is another benefit of using dairy: it helped free me from the negative mindset of vegan anti-dairy propaganda. Finally, I could appreciate the gentle nature of Mother cow, and her generosity in sharing her milk with us. That is a far cry from the hateful rhetoric about dairy that one often hears from so-called "compassionate" vegans, e.g., "liquid meat," "cow mucus," "sexual harassment," and so on. [P.S. Pardon the sarcasm, but it would not surprise me if the preceding remarks motivate some "compassionate" vegans to send me "compassionate" hate mail.]

My current diet includes about 10-25% cooked foods: mostly steamed vegetables such as broccoli, asparagus, string beans. Lately I have been eating some rice, in the form of khitcharee, a mixture of basmati rice and split mung beans, mildly spiced, that is very easy to digest. Yoga is also very important to me; I teach yoga in San Francisco as a volunteer (public) service. On request, I also give occasional talks on raw foods, nutrition, and related subjects.

[Keith Campbell]

I did the raw food trial about five weeks ago. I was developing diabetic symptoms and I panicked. I remembered reading about Steve's experience (I've followed the site for a while) as well as watching the trailer for the "Raw for 30" movie. So I was absolutely religious about raw food for a month.

Well, blood sugar eventually came down to 79 (from about 200). and I lost 35 pounds (plenty more where that came from I'm afraid). All sorts of health benefits... but

I did feel like I was missing something. I read "Eat to Live" (a FANTASTIC book) and found he was getting similar results in terms of health improvement with a vegan diet with some cooked foods. Specifically he uses about a pound of raw veggies, a pound of cooked veggies, 4-6 fruit servings, and at least a cup of beans a day. More of ANY of those if hungry. Then he allows up to one serving of whole grains or starchy veggies (like potatoes) a day. It's more livable, and I really don't detect the mental difference like Steve did. Still, I may go back to raw for some periods if I want to kick-start things again.

- Keith Campbell
raw foods weight loss

[Hyperchiller]

Originally Posted by Keith Campbell

I did the raw food trial about five weeks ago. I was developing diabetic symptoms and I panicked. I remembered reading about Steve's experience (I've followed the site for a while) as well as watching the trailer for the "Raw for 30" movie. So I was absolutely religious about raw food for a month.

Well, blood sugar eventually came down to 79 (from about 200). and I lost 35 pounds (plenty more where that came from I'm afraid). All sorts of health benefits... but

I did feel like I was missing something. I read "Eat to Live" (a FANTASTIC book) and found he was getting similar results in terms of health improvement with a vegan diet with some cooked foods. Specifically he uses about a pound of raw veggies, a pound of cooked veggies, 4-6 fruit servings, and at least a cup of beans a day. More of ANY of those if hungry. Then he allows up to one serving of whole grains or starchy veggies (like potatoes) a day. It's more livable, and I really don't detect the mental difference like Steve did. Still, I may go back to raw for some periods if I want to kick-start things again.

- Keith Campbell
raw foods weight loss

Hey Keith

I don't know about you but at the moment, a 100% raw food diet seems really imbalanced to me. Obviously if you were rich you could buy the best organic produce and possibly be fine with it but for me it's not the best diet. I don't actually want to lose weight! I want to gain weight so going raw isn't the best thing for me!

I'm actually dropping this raw food diet trial and going for a more 'balanced' approach. I actually want to get into bodybuilding and build more muscle. I'm learning from this guy on youtube - YouTube - scooby1961's Channel who is providing some really good tips on working out at home. He espouses that bodybuilding should be a cheap thing. It's not like we need a gym membership and buy a tonne of supplements. So I'm going to start building more muscle the cheap and easy way at home with my trusty dumbells. I eventually want to do handstands and planches.

So I've actually returned to a meat eating diet but I am eating in a way more balanced way now. So to build more muscle, a raw food diet with no meat isn't going to be the best diet. But I am enjoying more vegetables and fruit in my diet now which has caught on from my weeklong trial of raw foods.

Yang