Raw Food Diet - Day 12 (Blog)

[Steve Pavlina]

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

Raw Food Diet - Day 12

[Dan.Linehan]

You'll be able to get local food again soon; I read today that a Vegas vertical farm is going to be built.

[beel]

sorry you didn't feel well today, especially after the day before being so blissful.

blood oranges are not supposed to taste like that! i think you must have gotten a bad batch. they typically taste sort of tangy sweet with a berry aftertaste.

i hope tomorrow is much better for you.

[beel]

ps - your greens consumption was very low today. i really think increasing greens results in feeling much better. it can be time consuming, expensive, and unpalatable to always rely on fresh greens for this boost. this is why i frequently use vitamineral green in my smoothies. it's easy and incredibly nutrient dense. i know a lot of people are against "nutrition in a bottle", on the whole i am as well, but i love the results i get with it and the makers are very conscious so its an exception for me. not that this will help you during this trial, but something to consider if you continue to eat raw. increase your greens and i bet you will feel better as you did yesterday.

[wbuch]

I know in general you eat too much sweet stuff, but when you mentioned the sourness of the blood oranges, it made me think of miracle berries and their sour-to-sweet effect: miracle berries

I haven't tried them yet, but it sounds like it would be interesting.

[gomengb]

When I have eaten raw food, there has always been loads of nuts included, providing protein and fat, and loads of veggies rather than sweet fruit. Is there a reason for the low protein high sugar regimen?

[Kita]

I had a day where I felt like you're describing earlier in the week, a couple actually but one in particular where I just felt lethargic and pretty depressed. It was a really disturbing experience for me because I never get depressed normally, but on this day all I could do was lie in bed thinking "what's the point". As far as detox effects go it was pretty strange, but apparently not totally uncommon. These past few days have been consistently good with occasional awesomeness though, which is relieving. Hopefully the phase breaks quickly for you. I don't believe any particular food choices affected this depression for me, but more greens are always good for energy.

[Rontz]

I have followed this similar diet for last 12 days. I am not measuring my daily intake but i seem to eat much less than steve.
One bothering symptom i have lately is that my skin is extremely dry now. And in the mornings i have dry and broken lips.
I am not sure exactly what causes that , maybe i should increase my protein intake.

[Jacko Green]

emotional ups and downs are from all the sugar. Your pancreas must be in overdrive to produce enough insulin to handle this diet.

Hang in there bro. You're almost at the half way point. A few more weeks and you can have a vegan pancake and some soy bacon.

[PrimaryErn]

Hey Steve - sorry you aren't feeling as well. Even though I had a couple of critical posts early on, it was more about playing devil's advocate and not about wanting you to fail.

Plus I'm on a 30 day no caffeine so I'm extra cranky

Anyway, I wonder if you can address a sum-up question a lot of people seem to be asking a variation of. Why attempt this raw diet when it seems to be missing key components (nuts, specific foods, specific nutritional suppliments, etc) that a lot of raw foodists say are required for the diet to work? It seems you are setting yourself up for failure. Of course the answer could be "I'm trying this specific diet to see what the specific results are" and that's good, but it seems rough for you regardless.

As much as the 30 day concept works (which it does!), maybe you can add a 15-day 'adjustment' and add those things for two weeks at the end - add the nuts, extra veggies like onions and suppliments for a few weeks but still be basically raw - before transitioning back to vegan, assuming you do. Just to see if there;s any truth to the alternate raw foodists advcie.

[Joeschmoe]

For those of you who've been asking this post please go back to steve's blog just before the new year for an explanation on the diet he is on. Steve has tried the high fat raw diet before.

The comments about too much sugar and your pancreas producing insulin overtime are uninformed. Fruit doesn't cause blood sugar spikes with low GI numbers. They don't have a detrimental effect on blood sugar. I wonder how long we are going to see the "you're not getting enough protein" people?

[MasterD]

Originally Posted by Rontz

I have followed this similar diet for last 12 days. I am not measuring my daily intake but i seem to eat much less than steve.
One bothering symptom i have lately is that my skin is extremely dry now. And in the mornings i have dry and broken lips.
I am not sure exactly what causes that , maybe i should increase my protein intake.

weird stuff indeed. got the exact same symptom; also my eyes are swollen and I got a really nasty head-ache. My sinuses are a little bit better again than yesterday; but still irritated. It is really like my allergies are surfacing again.

[Noemie]

4 bananas in a meal? You might as well be spooning granulated fructose straight into your mouth.

Let me be a meanie in my first post. You aren't getting enough roots and leaves in this diet. Have you tried some variety like turnips, jicama, raw corn, grapes, spinach, sweet onion, cabbage, brussels sprouts, beets, mushrooms? Make time to find some actual recipes (like raw tomato soup, raw coleslaw) to add some variety.

Add fresh herbs to your meals too. Parsley, mint, basil, etc.

[martin]

I LOVE blood oranges. They are delicious.

[Jake Birkett]

Keep up the good work Steve! I guess that you can actually view "down" days in a positive way because they tell you that "Change" is occurring and in fact it may be old mental patterns in you (as well as the detox) trying to bring you down and make you give in because they don't want to let go. So this tells you that a change is occurring and you are making progress, otherwise you'd feel the same as normal (whatever that is).

I had a weird down day the other day where I felt like all sorts of things were going wrong, but I was just being paranoid and the day after it was laughable. I don't normally get like that so it's probably related to the new diet and old habits trying to make me eat crap.

Just did a weekend of high-grades Aikido (with Bokken and Jo practice) and 500+ miles of driving on fruit and nuts (uh, plus a small amount of Chinese food (like rice and noodles) at a social), and I feel great. Got back an Helen had made me a "Steve Pavlina" salad with a lovely tahini, celery, lemon juice type dressing. I had a really clear mind at Aikido and was able to tune in to what other people were thinking so could feel them move really early, very useful...

[beel]

Originally Posted by wbuch

I know in general you eat too much sweet stuff, but when you mentioned the sourness of the blood oranges, it made me think of miracle berries and their sour-to-sweet effect: miracle berries

I haven't tried them yet, but it sounds like it would be interesting.

i have tried miracle berries - they are truly bizarre! they really do work and make everything taste sweet! my favorite thing to eat with them was rhubarb... it tasted like a sweet apple! we also tried a variety of other fruits like lemons, limes, and several others. oh, i just realized you linked from tynan's blog, he is a friend of mine and that is who i tried them with so you can read all about my experience there...

i just read what tynan wrote and wanted to add that i actually felt sort of sick after we ate all those fruits and miracle berries, sick like i had just eaten a huge bag of sugary candy. also, i thought the miracle berries themselves tasted like a grape and i liked them a lot. for me, it the taste of fruits was too sweet (i don't really like sweets) and i probably would not order them again. with that said, it was a very interesting experience and i recommend everyone try them sometime!

[Addict]

303g sugar

Holy crap! I think sugar is about 4.2 grams per teaspoon. We're talking about 72 teaspoons of sugar in one day. Now, I know that the sugar you find in soda and the sugar you find in fruit aren't exactly the same, especially because of all the extra goodies you get in fruit.

But still! I'd say it's no wonder that you're feeling unusual highs and lows after 72 teaspoons of sugar, even it is from sweet fruit. Hang in there, but if you plan to stay raw after this, you might want to reconsider all that sugar.

[nownow]

Originally Posted by Joeschmoe

For those of you who've been asking this post please go back to steve's blog just before the new year for an explanation on the diet he is on. Steve has tried the high fat raw diet before.

The comments about too much sugar and your pancreas producing insulin overtime are uninformed. Fruit doesn't cause blood sugar spikes with low GI numbers. They don't have a detrimental effect on blood sugar. I wonder how long we are going to see the "you're not getting enough protein" people?

I would disagree with the above statements. Fruit does force your body to work harder to maintain stable blood sugar. One or two pieces of fruit are ok but when you stuff your face with it (eg. bananas) it's not healthy.

When I read yesterday that he felt a few hours of euphoria I took that to mean that he is loosing balance in brain neurotransmitters as a result of not enough protein and good fats in the diet. Euphoria or depression mean an imbalance in the brain , too much serotonin and not enough dopamine in this case. Insulin raises serotonin plus he is not getting necessary amino acids such as L-Tyrosine which would increase brain dopamine.

[WanderingOak]

Today I basically just ate to avoid hunger, not because I enjoyed what I was eating. Eating almost seemed like more trouble than it was worth.

That's interesting. Today, I was in full-out manic home con/destruction mode. All I had to eat today, until I called it quits after nearly 12 hours of working was a bowl of tuna salad (I'm an omnivore, so sue me), and I wasn't hungry at all. I just finished a small flatbread pizza for dinner, if only to keep myself from gnawing on my arm in my sleep tonight. Admittedly, I did have a few quick glasses of orange juice, and one Coke (I did quit sodas for a while there, but I'm back 'on the wagon'), but those were all of the calories I consumed between 7:30 AM and 6:30 tonight. About halfway through the day, I also took a 'five hour energy' shot. It looks to be mainly a mega-vitamin supliment with a bit of caffine on the side. The odd thing is that I was working HARD today, only taking a few breaks for less than five minutes each. Now the project that I was working on was essential, almost life-or-death, and I did complete it. It could be that I was just so motivated to complete this project that I just completely ignored any and all signals from my body, from hunger to fatigue. In fact, after dinner, I am still 'rarin to go', so to speak. However as I have to put in a token appearance at the office every now and then, I do need to at least put on the appearance of being at least a semi-sentient hominid early tomorrow morning. So, I do need to turn in soon and get a bit of sleep, otherwise, I could wind up being sent off to learn with the talking Apes at the National Zoo. The 'Deep Relaxation' paraliminal has been a lifesaver these past few days. I do not plan on spending all of my life like this. With my adrenals working overtime, I would probably destroy my kidneys after a while.

Pardon my ramblings. I would clean up my post but I do need to turn in sometime soon...

[Fortune]

Originally Posted by Addict

Hang in there, but if you plan to stay raw after this, you might want to reconsider all that sugar.

Isn't everything you eat converted into sugar anyway?

[Joeschmoe]

Originally Posted by nownow

I would disagree with the above statements. Fruit does force your body to work harder to maintain stable blood sugar. One or two pieces of fruit are ok but when you stuff your face with it (eg. bananas) it's not healthy.

When I read yesterday that he felt a few hours of euphoria I took that to mean that he is loosing balance in brain neurotransmitters as a result of not enough protein and good fats in the diet. Euphoria or depression mean an imbalance in the brain , too much serotonin and not enough dopamine in this case. Insulin raises serotonin plus he is not getting necessary amino acids such as L-Tyrosine which would increase brain dopamine.

Where is your information coming from? I just would like to know how a food that is lower GI than most of what the US eats for breakfast is going to overwork one's system. Low Gi means low impact on blood sugar. Also it takes a lot more work to convert protein or fat into blood sugar, so I would say he's giving his system a break.

[Addict]

Isn't everything you eat converted into sugar anyway?

So maybe we should just all replace our meals with cakes and pies?

Have you ever heard of diabetes?

In all seriousness, this is my understanding of the issue: all carbohydrates are converted to sugar, excess or undigested protein is converted to sugar, and fat is very rarely converted to sugar (maybe if you're starving). I'm finding some varying information on the internet. I'm a little bit confused, so if anyone has a good reference, feel free to share it. According to Steve:

The cells of your body run on sugar, so if you eat foods high in protein, fat, or complex carbs, those macronutrients have to be broken down into sugar (glucose).

Foods that are converted to sugar the fastest are the most detrimental to your blood sugar. That's why these foods would have a high glycemic index.

Fat and protein are essential macronutrients. Carbohydrates are completely nonessential. That means Steve is basing his diet (80% of it) on a macronutrient he doesn't need at all. That's not to say he's not getting a whole bunch of good nutrients along with it, but I imagine that it puts a strain on the body.

[wulph]

Originally Posted by Addict

So maybe we should just all replace our meals with cakes and pies?

That sounds like an awful lot of work. Why not just suck down a couple bottles of high-fructose corn syrup?? *grin*

[nownow]

Originally Posted by Joeschmoe

Where is your information coming from? I just would like to know how a food that is lower GI than most of what the US eats for breakfast is going to overwork one's system. Low Gi means low impact on blood sugar. Also it takes a lot more work to convert protein or fat into blood sugar, so I would say he's giving his system a break.

Fruit may have a low GI relatively speaking but its still way too high. Protein and vegtables have a lower GI. Lets