Raw Food Diet - Day 2 (Blog)

[Savage]

Use this thread to discuss the following entry from Steve Pavlina's blog:

Raw Food Diet - Day 2

[Dan.Linehan]

Hmmm.

This post really made me jealous of being unemployed.

[daisylover26]

Sorry to hear you didn't feel so well today. I'm sure things will improve as your body adjusts. I'm really loving your meal pictures! When I read you were going raw I wondered what exactly you would eat and I couldn't imagine many ways of mixing things up. But even seeing the way you arrange the mixed fruit on the plate makes it all seem far more appetizing than just thinking about eating the individual fruits. Good job!!

[Bruce Achterberg]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina, from 'Raw Food Diet - Day 2'

When you go vegan but not raw, it’s easy to eat substitutes for all the old foods you’re familiar with.

... unless you live in Australia.

Seriously though, while you can get "some" off that stuff in Australia, it's pretty hard to find, most of it is pretty expensive compared to to the non-vegan alternatives, and when you first go vegan it kind of feels like you're entering into a new world where no-one supports your diet in any shape or form.

Granted, I personally didn't prepare as much as I could have for the transition to veganism, but you honestly don't think you have to from the perspective of a non-vegan, or at least, from someone who hasn't ventured too far away from the mainstream diet. You say, "pfft, not eating animal products can't be hard. Ha!

I actually think it'd be much easier going raw foodist, since fruit and veg are readily available and since your diet is so crazy-restrictive anyway, you just resign yourself to eating what you have instead of wishing that you could find some <insert "vegan substitute to a non-vegan product that America has in 4 different varieties but is nowhere to be found in Australia" here>.

Fruit and veg are also not too bad price-wise, since (A) unlike vegan substitutes, there is a big demand for those things so they can be sold a little cheaper, and (B) if you're smart about how you buy, you can get some pretty cheap fruit in Australia. For example, just today I got a tray of 22 mango's for approx. $0.80 AUD. That's a good deal! And they were juicy and delicious to boot!

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina, from 'Raw Food Diet - Day 2'

Before I made my lunch, I saw Erin in the kitchen preparing a vegan chick’n burger with lettuce and tomato. I said to her, “Mmmm… that looks good.” She said something like, “Awww… too bad you can’t have it.” I replied, “I was referring to the lettuce.”

Of course her whole meal looked delicious to me, and if not for this trial, I’d have joined her in a second. It’s only 30 days, right?

Hehehe.

I think that, should raw foodism work out for you, the optimal diet (in terms of convenience, health, pallet, etc) will probably be a mostly raw, whole foods diet with some occasional standard (ie. maybe cooked) vegan fare to make things interesting and a little less crazy in terms of not really being able to eat anything (or at least, have much available to you) when you eat out and having to do lots of preparation all the time.

But forget I said that, Steve. It's only 30 days, right?

<looks at Steve's raw food diet day 2 breakfast>

“Mmmm… that looks good.”

Damn you and your tasty winter fruits! (It's a sweltering summer here in Australia, FYI.)

PS. I also love the creative meal pictures.

[munish]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

Although I felt lousy in the morning, I gradually felt better as the day progressed.

I may continue to skip my morning workouts and give my body more chance to rest if I feel it’s necessary.

I also felt the same in the morning. But during the day it was much better.

Thanks for your suggestion regarding morning workouts .

[Bruce Achterberg]

Oh, I've been meaning to ask --

Can anyone tell me what is in this mysterious "mixed greens" concoction that Steve keeps mentioning? It apparently comes from Costco, so perhaps someone other then Steve can unveil the mystery.

Cheers.

[munish]

Originally Posted by Bruce Achterberg

Oh, I've been meaning to ask --

Can anyone tell me what is in this mysterious "mixed greens" concoction that Steve keeps mentioning? It apparently comes from Costco, so perhaps someone other then Steve unveil the mystery.

Cheers.

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[Michelle]

I thought "mixed greens" is just another way of saying mixed leaves or mixed salad...?

[Aiste]

Thanks, Steve, for sharing this experience with us. My only question is why did you choose that little fat ratio in your diet? The dietitians recommends 55%/15%/30% (Carbs/Protein/Fat) and you are targeting 10-15%... What about bringing some nuts & seeds to the diet...

[Dorota]

Thanks for sharing this experience in such detail - it's great!
I have found using raw hemp in shakes provides a very quick and filling raw meal. It's available in health food stores (at least where I live - Canada). Another really great raw product is Vega: it's raw hemp mixed with a whole bunch of other superfoods. It's pretty awesome, although quite pricey.
Good luck with the rest of it! I'm watching it closely.

[Toine]

Just wondering if you drink in between meals, if so what and how much?

Oh by the way I really like this new trial. Great stuff! Very interesting. Keep up the good work.

[Savage]

I do drink some water between meals, but I find I need much less than usual because the foods themselves are so water-rich.

@Bruce: The "mixed greens" is the Organic Spring Mix from Earthbound Farms. It's sold at Costco and Whole Foods. The ingredients listed are: organic baby lettuces (red & green romaine, red & green oak leaf, red leaf, lollo rosa, tango), organic red & green chard, organic mizuna, organic arugula, organic mache, organic frisee, organic radicchio.

I can't say I know what all of those things are, but it's tasty.

[Inquisitive Raven]

I don't think you can get raw hemp in the US. With laws being as nuts as they are, hemp is legally required to be sold in a form that can't be germinated. Hmm (thinks about it a minute), well, maybe it can be sold raw as long as it's ground into some kind of meal a la flax meal. Certainly you can't get whole seeds unless they're cooked. Not legally, anyway.

[jmac]

Hey Steve,

You should be a food photographer! I want to sit down to a plate of fresh fruit after reading your posts!

Re: something salty--I used to briefly toast nori sheets over a stove burner (for 5 seconds or so) and crumble it into my tomato and avocado salad with fresh chopped sunflower sprouts. I guess you could sun dry the nori or put it in a dehydrator too. It was kind of salty and nutty and crunchy. ...very yum.

Looking forward to hearing more and thanks for sharing your experience during the 30-day period. It's inspiring.

P.S. Erin's pancakes looked very good...but not as good as the strawberries sitting next to them!

[Lauxa]

Steve, thank you for doing this 30-day raw foods trial, I have been wanting to try this for a long time but just haven't done it yet. I love all the detail you put into your blog entries and the pictures of your meals. The one thing I would like to see added is a cost analysis. I know that grains and starches are very cheap compared to any other food, so I am curious as to how much more it costs to eat only fruits and veggies as compared to grain-based meals, or if eliminating the higher-priced food items (such as meat and dairy for me, or soy-based products for you) balances out the expense. But even if you aren't able or willing to add this information, I'll be watching your experiment with avid interest! Thanks.

[gettingskinny]

I too felt lousier yesterday (day 2). I had a splitting headache all day! I'm happy I stuck it out. I knew that today (day 3) I'd feel much better and I do. For me though, I had to eat more to get thru the day! So far today I have had a large bowl of fruit salad: blueberries, blackberries, 1 banana and some raw agave nectar drizzled on top!

Have a great day!
January

[WillPowers]

hi, i stumbled upon your experiment searching for polyphasic last week, and I found your article on how to wake up early - after 3 days of trying, today I woke up at 5:30am after following your tips- thanks!

I have a few questions I was hoping you could address, and i mean these in the most curious possible way:

1) why dont you eat any apples? a friend of mine has been a raw vegan for years and 3 apples a day are a staple for him, is there a reason you are not eating them?

2) why only fruits? I have noticed that you are not eating any legumes (i.e. lentils), or raw nuts (like almonds and brazil nuts)

3) Could you possible create a complete list of all the foods you are going to eat over the 30 days? I am merely wondering what the degree of variety will be.

4) You seem to be eating a lot of bananas, i know they are healthy, but more than 5 a day? is there a particular reason for this or do you just love bananas?

I have also started to eat what I thought was a raw vegan diet, it consists mostly of apples, carrots, tomatoes, black/blue/ras-berries, avocados, bell peppers, and i drink a kombucha and Odwalla Superfood everyday. I hope this is enough, i might add some Legumes to this later on.

I feel great, and I really enjoy reading your posts, thanks!

[Savage]

@Will: I do eat apples. See the day 2 photos. I'm sure there's a sliced apple in one of the photos. I also had an apple at breakfast this morning.

I'll be eating nuts and seeds sparingly, since I want to keep the fat calories between 5-15% of total calories. On day 1 I had some tahini (from sesame seeds), and on day 2 the fat came from an avocado. The first time I went raw I ate lots of nuts and seeds, but this time I'm trying the low fat version. I'm sure you'll see some nuts in there soon.

I'm not doing legumes for a few reasons. I might explain that in the blog later.

I can't list all the foods I'll eat over the next 30 days, since I don't know what I'll eat yet. Anything that's a fruit, vegetable, nut, or seed is a candidate. But check back on January 31st, and you'll see the complete log.

Many raw foodists eat lots of bananas. One told me he eats about 20 per day. Bananas are easy to eat, inexpensive, and very filling if you eat enough of them. Some people eat more than 10 in a single meal. The most I've ever eaten in one sitting was 9, and that was after a 20-mile run.

[Fullcrum]

Your detox experience is quite surprising. What WERE you eating on the average day before you tried raw?

Hopefully not too many "processed" vegan foods.

[Rose of Cairo]

On day 2 I also woke up at 3 in the morning, funny I had a big headache all day long too. I felt great - but compared to today (day 3), it was lousy! Good luck to you all.

[Andreas]

I hope you feel better soon, Steve!

Thanks to Steve and all who are participating in this dietary 30 day trial. People will be referencing this trial for years, I'm sure of it. You are all doing an important service to humanity.

"What did this do to you? Tell me. And remember, this is for posterity so be honest. How do you feel?”

Perfect quote, Steve!

[Mr.Mustache]

Originally Posted by Toine

Oh by the way I really like this new trial. Great stuff! Very interesting. Keep up the good work.

I second that! Its fascinating, you make a great guinea pig Steve!

[Holistic Star]

I'm so pleased you are posting about this trial. It is really inspiring!

I've been interested in raw food and definitely feel better when I eat a high amount of it. However I kept falling off, and looking at the amounts you eat I can see why, I simply wasn't eating enough!

I have eaten about 95% raw today and yesterday and definitely feel better for it.

One aspect I struggle with is the social aspect. A lot of my meetings with my friends revolve around food and drink so it can be hard to stick to long term.

Will you be going out much during your 30 days or are you staying in so that you don't have to encounter it much?

[sidelko]

What do you use to make the fluffy pancakes with. those sound yummy.

I take it that recipe is in Erin's book? if so, I might need to pick that up.

[gettingskinny]

I haven't been able to wrap my mind around people eating 10+ bananas in one sitting or even in a day! Maybe I will one day, I dunno. I need smaller meals...I almost snack all day to tell you the truth. Well, this is about Steve's Day 2, so I don't want to hijack the thread! We have a support thread for the whole 30 days here. I can't wait to read Steve's Day 3!!! I'm sure he feels better than day 2!

[WillPowers]

Steve, thanks for the answers. Bananas make me gag (it is an involuntary reflex, eggs do this to me also, I am much more sensitive to texture than to taste), so after reading your post I went to the store and bought 10 bananas. I might as well figure out how to get over the gagging now, cause I'm going to be eating a lot of bananas in the near future

[Andrew Brunelle]

I have a good feeling I am going to love this food log. I've read plenty of raw food logs before, but they did not include beautiful pictures and interesting dishes. It was more of a bland way to go raw. I am looking forward to any new ideas I can extract from this experiment. I just went out and bought a whole bunch of apples. Great for breakfast.

P.S. Gettingskinny, your link is broken. It directed me to a site that doesn't exist.

[Amit]

Wouldn't you say Steve that your intake of fruit is a bit too high? Four bananas at one sitting is huge amount of sugar even if it does come from a raw source. Not to mention all the clementines and berries. Wouldn't it be better to maintain a higher intake of raw veg rather than fruit?

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Amit

Wouldn't you say Steve that your intake of fruit is a bit too high? Four bananas at one sitting is huge amount of sugar even if it does come from a raw source. Not to mention all the clementines and berries. Wouldn't it be better to maintain a higher intake of raw veg rather than fruit?

Every cell in your body runs on sugar. It's our primary fuel. On this diet consuming tons of fruit sugar is the whole point; it's not something to minimize or avoid.

If I eat more raw veggies instead of fruit, I'll have to eat a lot more of them to get enough calories. A stalk of celery only has about 5 calories. To get 2,000 calories from celery (if that was all I ate), I'd have to eat about 400 celery stalks. I can get the same calories from 20 small to medium bananas.

Everything I eat has to be converted to sugar for my cells to use it. Fruit is the easiest class of foods for the body to convert. Anything else I eat is a less efficient energy source for my cells. In this experiment I want to give them the best fuel possible to see what effect that has on my whole body. You could say I'm trying to get my cells to be more productive in order to see what effect that has at the macroscopic level.

Time will tell.

[Amit]

P.S. The Princess Bride, one of my favorite movies of all time too!