Food simply doesn't change my mental state!

[francstoic]

In a very Pavlinian way I chose to do 2 thirty-day trials on what food I consume.

From October 1, I decided to give into the temptation to really eat to my stomach's content. Since I am vegetarian by default, for each of the thirty days, I had (vegetarian):

1. really tasty medium Pizza Hut pizza in the night
2. few burgers and french fries for lunch
3. 1.5 litres of any soft drink throughout the day

I consumed no milk, no fruits, no nuts... whatever vegetables I ate were completely cooked (via the pizza and burgers). All the food that I had in the thirty days was completely restaurant-manufactured (no home-made food). Also, I have never smoked, in case it matters.

Then on November 1 (my birthday), I went on an almost-raw diet. I had lots of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and lots of milk for straight thirty days. Restaurant food was a complete no, not even salads or juices. The only doubtfully-raw thing I had in the thirty-days was a bowl of soup I'd have every night (it was basically a bunch of vegetables in boiled water with some salt, that's all, no other spice).

And, gladly enough, I completed my thirty days of success, but the result is simply baffling: I didn't really feel much change at all.

Aside from whether 30-days are indeed enough to try out any significant change, I'm having some serious doubts on what kind of digestive system I was born with.

I noticed very very little change with ability to concentrate. In fact, the month that I was doing the horrible food trial, I ended up with an A in a chemistry test, whereas the previous month, because I often felt deprived (because of the sudden change and all), I couldn't really study much.

I have no idea what to make of this. Am I like so resilient to the food I eat?

By the way, during the horrible-food trial, I didn't do any exercise at all (in fact I didn't even walk around much)... whereas in the raw food trial I went jogging every morning for 20 minutes -- I didn't do any other exercise though -- I really only wanted to see the effect of food.

What's your take?

[Dharma]

Maaaaaaybe food isn't the creator or your experience. (You are.)

[InterfaceLeader]

Originally Posted by francstoic

Then on November 1 (my birthday), I went on an almost-raw diet. I had lots of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and lots of milk for straight thirty days. Restaurant food was a complete no, not even salads or juices. The only doubtfully-raw thing I had in the thirty-days was a bowl of soup I'd have every night (it was basically a bunch of vegetables in boiled water with some salt, that's all, no other spice).

Milk isn't raw [unless you're specifically buying raw milk]. And 'lots of milk' will probably cancel out all and any health benefits from the rest.

Don't get me wrong, I drink small amounts of milk on occasion, but it is very definitely one of those foods that are only good in moderation. Some people will say you shouldn't drink it all. Either way, it messes up the raw thing, unless you were buying raw milk from a local farm.

More importantly though, everybody's optimum diet is different. Maybe on the junk diet you were getting certain nutrients that you weren't getting on the good diet. Maybe going vegan would be better for you than going raw. Maybe you were 'cheating' on your diet occasionally. Maybe your raw diet was made up mainly of supermarket veg and nutrition-deficient plastic fruit, while your junk diet tended more towards upmarket stuff. There's way too many variables.

[PVince81]

The last few weeks I tried eating at least 5 different vegetables/fruits per day (very unusual for me), and it seems that it helped me think more clearly. I even felt happy. But it could be a coincidence, or due to the fact that I succeeded to do so gave me some satisfaction, which in turn made me happy.

[Chris Cade]

Try going on a 7 or 10 day fast, THEN eat some food. I'm sure you'll notice a difference

[cnwoods]

It's strange, I've done something similar (also vegetarian) where I went sugar-free for a week, thinking I'd find it hard. In terms of what I couldn't eat anymore, it was hard to find any processed stuff that didn't have it in the top 5 ingredients (my criteria), but I didn't feel particularly deprived, didn't lose any weight and didn't change at all. I've done other food trials, with similar results: difficult to follow in terms of practicalities, but not feeling major changes from them.

This last month, after Steve mentioned the true nature of coffee, I accidentally found myself giving it up - I had intended to do a short 'fast' of it after my 30 day early rising trial, but it didn't work out that way. Funnily enough, having taken coffee out seems to have had a domino effect that nothing else has done before. I'm no longer wanting as much dairy (one of my biggest addictions, especially cheese) and I'm craving fresh foods and starting to turn off 'junk' - even when there's nothing else available I'm almost finding myself cringing at eating it.

I suspect coffee was a lynchpin which kept a lot of other bad habits in place. I didn't think 1 or 2 cups a day would be that important, but the net effect - and it's still snowballing - has been huge. Maybe milk or something you're consuming is working as a similar lynchpin for you?

[Dev]

Originally Posted by Chris Cade

Try going on a 7 or 10 day fast, THEN eat some food. I'm sure you'll notice a difference

For me Chris is bang on target. I did a 7 day raw trial & then reverted back to my old ways. I can see the difference. Hoping to do another trial very soon.

[francstoic]

Thanks for the responses everybody!

Well, during the "raw food" trial, I honestly never cheated. Of course I was tempted to, but I somehow satisfied myself by either eating more fruits or some combinatric variants (such as different fruits chopped and thrown into a bowl of milk with some turmeric powder in it, which is a pretty healthy concoction).

And, yeah, the milk was completely raw. I guess you have to boil it to kill some unwanted bacteria, but I consumed it raw anyway.

cnwoods, yeah, I guess that I should try to analyse what might be the lynchpin for me, although currently I suspect I did get rid of it during the raw trial, because I felt so much deprivation (because I've been eating rather hot spicy curries all my life), and mentally I'd try to visualise being raw-fooded as a very optimal healthy fresh active kind of thing and cooked food as some dead and dreadful thing to eat, so that kind of helped.

Chris, could you elaborate on the 7/10-day fast?

[InterfaceLeader]

Milk from the store is pasteurized. It's not raw. Just because you don't heat it up, doesn't mean they don't. Unless you are buying specifically raw milk, which will only be available from a local farm since you have to drink it that day, your milk is not raw.

[Rose of Cairo]

I very much agree here!

Originally Posted by InterfaceLeader

Milk from the store is pasteurized. It's not raw.

I agree. Raw milk is extremely difficult to find. You have to buy it unofficially from some farmers and drink it immediately, and in most western countries, selling it is illegal. All milk you can find at some store is at least pasteurized, not raw.

Originally Posted by InterfaceLeader

And 'lots of milk' will probably cancel out all and any health benefits from the rest.

I agree. If I drank lots of milk for a month, I'd feel just as crappy as on a cooked diet.

Some people will say you shouldn't drink it all.

I agree. Me, for example.

There's way too many variables.

I agree again. It's difficult to say, maybe your raw stuff wasn't organic so you absorbed lots of pesticides, making it as unhealthy as a pizza diet. Plus, everybody has to find out what the optimal diet is for them, maybe raw + milk is not that for you. Your state of mind plays a big role, too. If you don't enjoy eating healthy food, it'll be unhealthy for you

Originally Posted by Chris Cade

Try going on a 7 or 10 day fast, THEN eat some food. I'm sure you'll notice a difference

I agree once more, maybe you're simply not particularly sensitive to diet differences. But after a fast, you'll get a much better feeling of what makes you feel good or bad.

Good luck

[Dimond]

It's rare for one to feel the benefits of a raw diet on a short-term basis. But since it wasn't a true raw vegan diet (milk+soup), this is most likely why you didn't feel even a little better. Dairy should never be a part of a raw diet whether raw or not. It will still affect you negatively.

[MariaG]

@francstoic - I have to admit that I've had similar experiences. I spent 2 weeks on a very strict vegan diet with no wheat or soy and felt 0 difference from my regular diet of lacto-ovo veggie fare. I also spent a month living on $1 of food per day as a fundraiser. Beyond the normal "I'm hungry and cranky" stuff, it didn't seem to effect me much.

Admittedly I would feel pretty sluggish if I only ate processed foods with no fresh veggies, but I really don't notice any mental clarity/emotional detox benefits like Steve and others have described.

[lovelyn]

Your diet definitely wasn't raw. Like others have said raw milk is hard to come by and pasteurized milk is terrible for you. Soup is also not raw.

You need to find a diet that works best for you. Many people would have you think that being a vegan is the only good way to eat. People have such strong convictions about food. I tried to be a vegan for about a year when I was in college and I didn't do well on a vegan diet. I generally don't do well on a vegetarian diet either. I was a vegetarian until recently and felt sluggish and generally annoyed most of the time.

I think that no matter how you chose to eat, it's important that you cut processed foods out of your diet. You may not have felt any affects from your junk food trial at first but if you kept eating junk, it'd have a negative affect on your health.

Try out being a vegan or a raw foodist and see if it works for you. You'll need to try it for longer than 30 days to see if it makes a difference.