16 Days Into 30 Day Raw Trial

[dinc]

Well, I've been fully raw for about sixteen days, purely because I thought I'd try it. I didn't want to ignore a potentially life-changing dietary switch, and I was mildly, thought not excessively harboring pretty high expectations.

I switched right to raw from a SAD overnight, and I have not deviated from it since. I think the worst sin I committed in regards to breaking my all raw diet was maybe consuming a small amount of pasteurized juice.

For the first few days I felt strange -- Not better, not worse, just strange. I also suffered, and am still suffering, with a mild skin infection, though I am pretty sure this is not due to the diet.

So far, I can detect no noticeable difference between the SAD and the raw diet. I only feel just ever so slightly worse, like I have less energy.

My standard menu is very simple....No, extremely simple. I don't make any raw dishes besides maybe blending up a bit of dressing every now and then. Mostly, I just eat raw fruits and veggies. My usual day might include:

5-9 bananas
2-3 pears
4-5 oranges
occasional apple
A bit of coconut flesh or some nuts
1 cucumber
1/4 head of lettuce

I may be under-eating a bit, and I'm wondering if a lower caloric intake can account for the little effect this new diet would have upon me. Especially during the last week, I've been eating less than I did at the start, and during the last few days I've only been eating a few greens. Could that be a problem? I have some weight to lose anyways, so I didn't think it would be a big deal if I fell below my average calorie intake.

Any suggestions? The mediocrity of this diet does not instill confidence in me, and I would like to know if I'm doing something wrong NOW, while I still have time within this trial to fix it. I do not want to revisit this trial if I see no positive benefits this time around.

Thanks in advance.

[heatherluv111]

I'm about as far in as you are, although this will be my fifth or sixth time attempting to go raw. I learn more each time and each time gets much easier than the last. I am transitioning from a diet that to anyone not raw would seem fantastically healthy (no caffeine, no meat, no refined sugar, alcohol, cigarettes, dairy, wheat, no recreational or pharmaceutical drugs, basically I'd gotten to the point where, over a period of years, I eliminated everything in my diet that I felt was bad for me and the only hurdle left to jump was giving up cooked food - the last and by far most difficult frontier!).

For about nine years I've been doing extensive research into the raw lifestyle, reading everything I can get my hands on, and taking in as much as I can from those who have made it successfully to the other side. Of all the things I've picked up from these people, two really stand out:

1) You cannot expect immediate results. It might take months, yes, months, for you to feel any major positive shift in your health, but from what I understand, it is very, very worth the wait. I have realized that 30 days is way too small an amount of time to expect anything to happen. It might happen for some, but by no means is it the norm. And right now you are only 16 days into this! Keep going! Don't give up! For more info on this, you should read the two articles I posted on the Health/Fitness page here - the title of my thread is "A Must-Read for All Raw Fooders." The articles are written by my raw food coach, who has been 100% raw for over 8 years. She is an excellent writer, and she has taken the time to describe for our benefit exactly what happened to her when she transitioned to raw. She didn't see any results for some time. She says for the first few months she didn't look or feel well and she didn't lose any weight at all until 5 or 6 months in. But then the magic happened!

2) Your taste buds will change. What tastes good to you now (i.e. your favorite cooked dishes) will not be what tastes good to you later. Your taste buds have been completely numbed by years of eating overly stimulating, concentrated cooked food. Over time they will reawaken and the simplicity of raw food will taste amazing to you and it will be what you naturally crave. There might even come a time when you actually feel revolted by those cooked dishes that now seem so tantalizing.

The last thing I will share is the raw food Bible - "The Live Food Factor" by Susan Schenk. You can order it thru Amazon and it is chock full of info - it is THE BOOK I think should be on the shelf of every raw foodist.

Good luck and keep sharing your experiences as you continue your trial!

Heather

[dinc]

Hey, thanks alot for your input. I did take at look at your raw coach's website, and was immediately discouraged. I can only keep this diet up for a month, as I'm only seventeen years old, and I've already spent hundreds of dollars on produce during the past twenty days. I can't afford any more than that.

I still feel very little difference between the past me and the present me, so all in all, I don't think this diet is right for me. While I may start to feel better in the coming months, it isn't worth those months to find out, at least for me. Perhaps years from now I will come back to the raw diet and try it again, but I doubt it will be any time soon.

I still have eight days left, so I may yet change my mind...

Thanks for the encouragement anyway!

[Eisho]

I have nearly finished 4 weeks of a raw food diet and I will be continuing it after too.

I have had a fantastic experience with it: huge amounts of energy (sleeping 3-4 hours a day and able to work out with no problem), improved concentration (despite less sleep can read books more than before), improved skin and hair condition.

From my own experience I would say you need to have a wider variety of foods with as many different colored foods as possible.

Check out my blog for more information.

Cheers,

Eisho

[Holiday]

Hey Dinc-

A quick and dirty calculation reveals that you are taking in 1,518 calories on average- that's not enough if you partake in much physical activity...have you considered some calorie-dense food like nuts or avocados?