Raw Food Diet - Day 5 (Blog)

[Steve Pavlina]

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

Raw Food Diet - Day 5

[Dan.Linehan]

No almonds are really raw anymore due to false labeling by the California Almond Board.

[Steve Pavlina]

Originally Posted by Dan.Linehan

No almonds are really raw anymore due to false labeling by the California Almond Board.

Wow. I didn't know that. Strangely as I ate them they didn't seem quite as alive to me as the other foods I ate. I was going to eat about 2 ounces but stopped after eating a little more than half that. I thought I just had an off batch.

If the almonds are pasteurized, it's highly unethical to label them as raw. If they're dead, they won't sprout when put in water, for instance.

[Dan.Linehan]

Yeah, here's a video about it. It talks about the methodology of the pasteurization as well, which is pretty scary, especially if you don't buy organic.

These guys, Living Nutz, are the only source for truly raw almonds that I know of now. They do almond sprouting, which pasteurization makes impossible. They import all of their nuts from Italy and Spain.

[openeyes]

Originally Posted by Dan.Linehan

No almonds are really raw anymore due to false labeling by the California Almond Board.

It seems a number of things are like that. A few months ago when getting a bottle of kombucha tea which had "raw" in large print on the label from the local organic grocery store the cashier told me it was actually pasteurized (likely all drinks but perhaps water have to be at this point, but the labeling was quite misleading). Most "raw" honey has also been heated, hence one has to look for honey labeled as unheated, not just raw.

[Jesse E]

Great trial and I'm really looking forward to see what happens...

Sounds like you're slowly going out of metabolic balance. I know you don't believe in that sort of thing, but that's seriously what it sounds like is happening to me.

The coldness, lack of sex drive, irritability, craving for heavier foods (protein type foods) are all signs that your metabolism is getting out of balance.

[beel]

Be careful of the nuts labelled raw, most of them are not actually raw as others have mentioned. Macadamia nuts in particular are NEVER raw unless they are still in their shell and you crack them yourself. This is because it's nearly impossible to open them without steaming and for mass production cracking them by hand is not practical. There may be a few exceptions if buying from a raw specific resource, but even then I'd be weary and you're probably going to pay a higher price for them. The same is true of cashews. If you've never experienced a raw macadamia nut that you crack open yourself, i HIGHLY suggest it! They are delicious and sweeter and creamier than any pre-shelled macadamia. However, they are really difficult to open and pretty much require a special macadamia nut cracker to open (or a hammer although even that is harder than it sounds). I like to use these or other nuts that come in their shell, that way I am sure they are raw and it's not as easy to get carried away and eat too many which can often be the case with nuts.

You might also try pumpkin seeds instead of nuts if that sounds appealing to you. Sunflower seeds as well. I rarely eat nuts now for a variety of reasons and replaced them with pumpkin seeds if I want a crunchy protein fatty snacky food. You can eat many more pumpkin seeds than nuts and I find this to be more satisfying. Pumpkin seeds are a great source of amino acids, zinc, protein, and iron and pretty tasty too. The brand I buy is "go raw" sprouted pumpkin seeds that I find at whole foods. (http://goraw.com), although I believe they do have celtic sea salt so this probably isn't the brand you would want to buy since you are not including any salt.

I don't think the increased sensitivity to smell is abnormal, did you not experience this on your previous raw trials? The bad smells can be terrible, but the good smells like fruit can be amazing! I hope you are smelling the good smells too!

[Michelle]

Keep going, Steve!

I've been doing Paraliminals once or twice a day which seem to help with the mood factor.

@Jesse E - I don't know how much truth lies in your metabolism idea. But it has always been my understanding that in order to change or find new balance in any given area one has to allow/tolerate a certain period of imbalance. It is a process.

[Frans]

Originally Posted by Jesse E

The coldness, lack of sex drive, irritability, craving for heavier foods (protein type foods) are all signs that your metabolism is getting out of balance.

Exactly.
These are symptoms that your body needs fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K) urgently.
I predict that if you don't raise your fat intake, you'll get more problems very soon. Ask any doctor.

[nickynoodles]

"These are symptoms that your body needs fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K) urgently."

+1

Watching Steve try out this diet is interesting, but it seems pretty far from a balanced diet to me. The protien that you're getting will mostly be unusable by the body. Whilst some fruit is higher in Fructose that Sucrose, starchy foods, grains and beans are simply a *much* more efficient way to get complex carbs. I don't think there's any way around that. I can't see how you'd get enough Calcium or Iron on this diet either.

As far as weight training is concerned, I can't think of a worse diet to be on at the same time. Complex carbs and (usable) protien is needed for muscles to grow. Also you're excercising when your muscles are at their very weakest. You can burn fat early morning, but it's much harder to build muscle (look it up).

[Bruce Achterberg]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina, 'Raw Food Diet - Day 5'

Mood-wise I was rather grumpy for at least half the day. It was a grind making it through. Now that the initial burst of motivation has faded, this is the part that requires self-discipline and willpower to keep going. 25 more days seems like a lot, but I’m taking it one day at a time.

Keep going, Steve. The initial difficulty of the challenge may be unpleasant, but there is potential to be tapped should you succeed. Fire up your determination and burn through it!

I know you don't need me to tell you that, but I figure you could use some love while you're moving through the initial stages of the challenge.

One thing that amazes me is how you manage to maintain such a high quality of writing in your blog posts. Whenever I write when I feel a little off (ie. tired, moody, etc) it usually comes through in my writing, but I see no signs of it in your writing. Damn good work. You're a great writer, and an inspiration in terms of how you just keep mowing through what you need to do (maintaining such high quality, no less), despite the influencing factors.

[wulph]

I have to wonder also about working out before eating. It seems you're exerting the most energy when your body has the least fuel. Wouldn't exercising, say, an hour after breakfast be more sensible?

Edit: I see a pre-workout apple today; do you notice any correlation between that and improved performance at the gym?

[Rose of Cairo]

Steve, I'm very surprised by all these difficulties you're experiencing. I had some detox symptoms like headache on day 2 and sadness on day 4, and I'm still stinking, but I don't find it difficult to follow this diet. Not at all, it feels wonderful. It requires neither self-discipline nor willpower, and 25 days to go don't seem a long time for me. I'm already pretty sure that I will stick with it forever, actually. I don't have real cravings, just a habit to break. Can't relate to your lack of sex drive either

I can't tell you how many % in fat I eat, since I don't care about theory, but when I feel like eating nuts, I eat as many nuts as I want, and when I feel like eating something else, I eat something else. Why don't you just listen to your body? It will tell you what you need. If you want fat, eat fat...

Anyway, keep going! Maybe it'll be better soon. It's just day 5, maybe you need a bit more time to adapt

Originally Posted by beel

Macadamia nuts in particular are NEVER raw unless they are still in their shell and you crack them yourself.

Oh sh!t! I ate some of them yesterday. I bought them in my wholefood shop and carefully asked if they are really really raw, and they said yes. Thanks for telling us.

I love pumpkin seeds, but I can find them only roasted here, not raw

[Jake Birkett]

Keep going Steve!

I have some questions:

1) Maybe this is a typically British fascination, but how are your bowel movements? You are eating so many kilos of fruit (and incredible quantities of bananas) that you must be either visiting the loo a lot or shifting some serious load in one sitting! Also do your stools seem healthy ("zero maintenance") or odd at all (perhaps still detoxing)?

2) What the consensus on eating lots of acidic fruit and its effect on teeth? Perhaps you clean your teeth more than twice a day? Although I have heard that orange juice weakens the enamel temporarily and that it's best not to brush until 30+ minutes afterwards. Also I personally hate eating fruit after brushing my teeth as it makes it taste funny. I prefer to get up, drink water, wait, eat fruit, wait, eat cereal (with soya milk) then clean my teeth.

3) Are you avoiding nuts to keep you fat % down? When I think of raw food I think: Fruit, vegetables (greens/salad etc), nuts. Perhaps you would feel better, and wouldn't need to eat so much fruit, if you ate a few more nuts? (I'm sure you've considered this already) Although I realise it's still early days in the trial so any side effects you feel are a) detox and b) rebalancing as you get used to it

Good luck with day 6!

[patrickq]

Originally Posted by Jesse E

Great trial and I'm really looking forward to see what happens...

Sounds like you're slowly going out of metabolic balance. I know you don't believe in that sort of thing, but that's seriously what it sounds like is happening to me.

The coldness, lack of sex drive, irritability, craving for heavier foods (protein type foods) are all signs that your metabolism is getting out of balance.

Just discovered Steve's blog a couple of days ago - via a raw food site - and this is my first post!

Trying to figure out exactly what your point is here, Steve's metabolism is sure to be changing, but 'out of balance' implies that it was perfect before and now isn't.

I see irritability/cravings as classic results of detox, all be it mild. Coldness quite possibly due to change in metabolism, but not in a negative way. Sexual drive is usually a misnomer for sexual obsession - being unable to focus on life without sex steering one's attention.

Getting sufficient protein is hugely hyped, undoubtedly by the meat/dairy industries, as being so important. In fact overconsumption is more of a problem. If you eat a balanced fruit/greens/seeds type diet you'll get more than enough protein for your needs. Protein excess I suspect is the cause of many health problems, in vegans as much as veggies/carnivores.

[Jake Birkett]

yeah that's why I used the word "rebalancing" as I'm sure it's just a phase as the body gets used to the new system (same as how the body can get used to an unhealthy "modern"/SAD diet). Mine's got used to my diet tweaks this year (and my sex "obsession" is still OK ;-)) I've totally failed to get up in the mornings lol, Steve was right about too many 30 day trials at once!

Oh my partner just made me a blueberry, banana and lettuce smoothie and it was lush. Great start to the day!

[patrickq]

Steve,

You're going great, keep at it, brave of you to be blogging it live each day. I'm starting on a raw green smoothie 'binge' in the next few days ... soon as I finish the baguettes and fine wine

I'm hugely impressed by your detailed account, looks like a full time job just measuring/recording/photographing everything and posting on blog ... let alone actually eating it!

Slightly bemused by some comments suggesting that you need more fats/protein/vitamins/minerals etc, as if you're having major problems. This is early days and they're always the hardest, if one's lucky the timing is right and it all flows easily, but that's not usually the case.

If anyone wants to get an idea of how powerful it can be living on a raw vegan diet, no pointless supplements etc, then take a look at Tim Van Orden's website (runningraw.com). This guy, who is almost 40, came 3rd in a highly competitive race up 103 floors to the top of Sear's Tower in Chicago, you don't do that kind of thing if your diet isn't right.

[MaxRoeleveld]

Sorry to hear you're feeling somewhat lousy, Steve, even if that was to be expected. It also makes it very clear that I'm nowhere near even thinking about this kind of 30DT.

My own 30DT (no coffee) is coming along fine. I felt like a wreck on day two, but I'm not even sure that it's related, and I'm feeling good now.

Reading all your vegan-related posts (including the raw ones) did make me reconsider my meat intake, to the point where i consider going vegan at some point in the future. I've already lowered meat intake and started eating more fruits.

You're a great inspiration, Steve. Keep up the greatness, and here's to hoping you'll feel better pronto.

[Fortune]

Hmm, interesting. Since going 100% my libido has actually increased. It may help that I've been high raw for about a year now.

[Steve Pavlina]

Originally Posted by Michelle

I've been doing Paraliminals once or twice a day which seem to help with the mood factor.

I've been using them too, at least once a day. I listened to the Dream Play one last night before bed (program B). They really do help with relaxation. And of course Perfect Health and Ideal Weight are good fits for this trial.

I also have several new Paraliminals that were recently released, including Happy for No Reason with Marci Shimoff of The Secret. Marci actually got a reading with Erin last month, and I had a brief email exchange with her as well. Her speaking/writing career is really exploding.

I felt fantastic when I got up this morning. That's a good sign I may be nearing the end of the initial detox.

I'm down another 0.8 pounds too, 4.4 pounds overall.

[Steve Pavlina]

Originally Posted by Frans

I predict that if you don't raise your fat intake, you'll get more problems very soon. Ask any doctor.

Ok, I'll ask Dr. Graham.

[Anuradha]

I am not doing raw at the moment but I did a long experiment (almost 2 years) on a very similar diet.

The one big support I needed with my juice and fruit diet was 2 tablespoons of coldpressed extra virgin olive oil with with lemon juice and salt.

My cravings for fat almost disappeared and I got energetic with this addition.The sluggishness of the liver due to metabolic variations was taken care of.

[Steve Pavlina]

Originally Posted by wulph

I have to wonder also about working out before eating. It seems you're exerting the most energy when your body has the least fuel. Wouldn't exercising, say, an hour after breakfast be more sensible?

Edit: I see a pre-workout apple today; do you notice any correlation between that and improved performance at the gym?

I've tried exercising at other times of day, but I like the metabolic boost that a morning workout provides. It helps me feel more energetic and alert the rest of the day.

I normally eat a piece of fruit on the way to the gym, usually and apple or banana. I did that long before this trial too. It's only about 100 calories, but I find it improves my workouts, especially when doing weights.

[Roger Haeske]

Originally Posted by Jesse E

Great trial and I'm really looking forward to see what happens...

Sounds like you're slowly going out of metabolic balance. I know you don't believe in that sort of thing, but that's seriously what it sounds like is happening to me.

The coldness, lack of sex drive, irritability, craving for heavier foods (protein type foods) are all signs that your metabolism is getting out of balance.

I don't think he's going out of metabolic balance. I had those same symptoms when I first went 100% raw. But I've continued to eat 100% raw for over 6.5 years and I am doing better than ever.

What he's experiencing is typical of most new raw foodists. But if they stick with it and do the diet properly they'll be fine.

It's not going out of metabolic balance to eat your natural diet. There are no animals in nature that I know of that know their blood and metabolic types and have designed their diet for their metabolic type. I don't see why humans are any different. But thats a whole long argument to get into.

It's simply his body and mind adjusting to a new way of eating. There's a transition and a detoxification stage, which Steve is going through now. If I listened to the metabolic typing misinformation, I'd never have become a raw foodist.

For instance, I read Dr. Gabriel Cousens book, Conscious Eating and he's a raw food proponent and has many metabolic typing systems in there. You need a PhD to understand how to eat. But according to traditional Ayurvedic philosophy I'm a Vata and I shouldn't be able to thrive on a raw food diet. But that Ayurvedic stuff turned out to be completely wrong. Yet it held me back from going 100% raw for several years. It's designed for people who eat cooked food and of little use to raw foodists.

Although I like Dr. Mercola (One of the metabolic typing proponents.) I believe he has a lot still to learn in the field of nutrition. If he simply studied a group of people trying to do the low fat raw food diet and didn't interfere only observed the results from afar, he'd be forced to change his out of whack nutritional theories.

But that can be said of just about any of the diet gurus out there. I don't mean to sound egotistical, I'm just stating what I've discovered in working with hundreds of raw foodists.

Roger

[John P]

Originally Posted by Bruce Achterberg

One thing that amazes me is how you manage to maintain such a high quality of writing in your blog posts. Whenever I write when I feel a little off (ie. tired, moody, etc) it usually comes through in my writing, but I see no signs of it in your writing. Damn good work. You're a great writer, and an inspiration in terms of how you just keep mowing through what you need to do (maintaining such high quality, no less), despite the influencing factors.

Hear hear! I completely second that thought.

Thumbs up, Steve

[Neutral]

Steve, you can eat banana skins if you wash them. They taste fine depending on ripeness and they adds extra nutrients.

Loss of libido happened to me after massive weight loss/dietary change. A new life direction helped kill it too but it's not a disadvantage in my eyes!

[Andrew Brunelle]

They should make apples in "100-calorie packs." It truly is the ultimate snack and the ultimate way to start your day. And when it comes to taste, a Fuji is at the top of the line.

I read somewhere that green bananas are not so bad for you, but the really ripe ones do cause a spike in your blood sugar and have a pretty high glycemic index. I am not sure how accurate this claim is, but it does make sense to me. Any thoughts?

[qed]

So on one extreme we got the fruit-eating, rawist Steve P, and on the other there is Ray Kurzweil who pops hundreds of pills each day to push the capabilities of his biological existence...

[Rontz]

Because of cases of Salmonella traced to almonds in 2001 and 2004, in 2006 the California Almond Board proposed and the USDA approved rules regarding the nature of almonds available to the public. From 1 September 2007, raw almonds will technically no longer be available in the United States. Controversially, almonds labeled as "raw" will required to be steam pasteurised or chemically treated with propylene oxide.

[Natsu]

I am amazed at your honesty. With all the detox and almost withdrawal symptoms you mention, I still don't know how some people think you are trying to "veganize" or "rawize" your readers. I am trying raw, but the moment I get a headache, I'm having an omelette or some cooked rice. I have an extremely low tolerance to pain