Raw Food Diet - Day 27 (Blog)

[Savage]

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

Raw Food Diet - Day 27

[beel]

what is a kohlrabi?

[Savage]

Originally Posted by beel

what is a kohlrabi?

Kohlrabi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[takkaria]

I get that same kind of skin drying and cracking when I'm not getting enough sleep. It's a useful warning mechanism, since I often don't get enough of it, but it will probably be something different for you. I found it was made worse by washing my hands a lot-- something you mentioned previously.

[Liquid Soap]

Steve, please make sure you've seen my other post regarding your cracked hands. Changing the soap you use could help a lot.

[Bruce Achterberg]

Originally Posted by Steve, Raw Food Diet - Day 27

I think I’m addicted to green smoothies. Everyone else in my family is afraid of them, but I really like them. I’d never have guessed that bananas and spinach tasted so good together.

Me too! After experiencing addition of greens in a shake (spinach is my favorite), I don't think I'll be able to go back. They shakes are just so tasty, fresh, and alive, and I love the fluro-green colour they turn once they're blended.

I have you to thank for introducing them to me, Steve. I've heard of them before, but didn't find any decent recipes for them. After you posted the simple banana + spinach recipe, though, I had to give it a try!

Simple, easily duplicated ideas like this are a nice change of pace from the high level, often fairly difficult-to-apply topics you write about. I think that, in terms of providing value to your visitors, this is definitely something to consider when thinking of future 30 day trials you may blog about. Where as more abstract blog posts are iterative, this "daily log" format seems to be an excellent medium for more specific ideas.

Originally Posted by Liquid Soap

Steve, please make sure you've seen my other post regarding your cracked hands. Changing the soap you use could help a lot.

Haha, I love your forum account name.

[gettingskinny]

So, do you think you will add in flax crackers, nuts and etc and remain raw? It's be interesting to see how you feel after a week or 2 or another 30 days switching to a higher variety raw diet. Or will you go back to cooked vegan?

[Inquisitive Raven]

On the blood pressure thing, do you have a baseline from before the trial? I'm wondering if stress/anticipation of the new diet may have caused an elevation in BP and the fact that you're used to it and much more relaxed about it is what caused the drop. You can't know that unless you has some idea how your blood pressure ran before.

More generally, if the 120/80 is no longer considered "normal." The new guidlines sensibly specify a range, but it stops just shy of a systolic pressure of 120 Torr (mm Hg). I found these guidelines on WebMD:

3. What Is a Normal Blood Pressure?

The Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure has classified blood pressure measurements into several categories:

* "Normal" blood pressure is systolic pressure less than 120/ and diastolic pressure less than 80. mmHg
* "Prehypertension" is systolic pressure of120-139 or diastolic pressure of /80-89. mmHg
* Stage 1 Hypertension is blood pressure greater than systolic pressure of 140-159/ or diastolic pressure of 90-99 mmHg or greater.
* Stage 2 Hypertension is systolic pressure of 160 or greater or diastolic pressure of 100 or greater.

Unfortunately, it doesn't give you any guidelines for low BP. People with abnormally low blood pressure may be prone to dizziness on rapid changes in position (lying down to sitting, sitting to standing), and syncopal episodes (fainting). Of course, a really low blood pressure (systolic below 90 Torr) indicates late stage shock. (Yeah, BP crashing is a late sign of shock.)

[Wildside]

I to am totally adicted to green smoothies now as well...thanks Steve . I usually have at least 2 a day, one in the morning and one when I get home from work. I use banana's and usually an apple with lots o spinach, oh and some frozen berries (strawberry, blueberry etc) for flavor.

The only difference with mine is I always put in two tablespoons of hemp protien powder. The Hemp protien powder is raw (I think all types are) and besides being a complete protien source it also has the perfect ratio of EFA's and has 55% of your daily fibre with each serving (2 tablespoons)...the stuff just rocks! Anyway, thanks for turning me on to green smoothies Steve and good luck with the rest of your raw trial!

Originally Posted by Bruce Achterberg

Me too! After experiencing addition of greens in a shake (spinach is my favorite), I don't think I'll be able to go back. They shakes are just so tasty, fresh, and alive, and I love the fluro-green colour they turn once they're blended.

I have you to thank for introducing them to me, Steve. I've heard of them before, but didn't find any decent recipes for them. After you posted the simple banana + spinach recipe, though, I had to give it a try!

Simple, easily duplicated ideas like this are a nice change of pace from the high level, often fairly difficult-to-apply topics you write about. I think that, in terms of providing value to your visitors, this is definitely something to consider when thinking of future 30 day trials you may blog about. Where as more abstract blog posts are iterative, this "daily log" format seems to be an excellent medium for more specific ideas.

[standgale]

I was thinking this morning, whilst looking at my own fruit, that Steve doesn't really have much variety in the diet and there is a lot of fruit he is not eating?
Eg. all the different types of berries other than the 2 he has; stone fruits - nectarines, peaches, apricots, various types of plums, cherries; all the other types of apples which can taste quite different to each other; all the different types of pears; kiwifruit; different types of melons. Some of these might be out of season and not imported or produced otherwise, but the fruit selection in my supermarket (I live in NZ for reference also) is awful compared to those I know SHOULD be available or even that are available elsewhere in town - and it is still more varied than what Steve is eating.
Some people on these forums have talked about the "hundreds of types of fruit and veges" that are available - which is certainly not true here - so I expected more exciting fruits and veges; all that is in the diet that we can't usually get here is okra and kohlrabi.
Other veges that can be eaten raw that are not included which are quite nice - courgettes/zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower. (And why only little tomatoes and not big ones?)
Fresh figs and fresh dates are other interesting fruits. There are (apparently and according to my cook book) other types of bananas too.

I don't know about how much protein and amino acids and minerals and vitamins a person should have, but I think the simplest key to a healthy diet is variation - because at least that way you are more likely to pick up the things you might be missing.

Anyway, this is a very interesting trial and fascinating to read about.

[joanmhe]

Originally Posted by Inquisitive Raven

Unfortunately, it doesn't give you any guidelines for low BP. People with abnormally low blood pressure may be prone to dizziness on rapid changes in position (lying down to sitting, sitting to standing), and syncopal episodes (fainting). Of course, a really low blood pressure (systolic below 90 Torr) indicates late stage shock. (Yeah, BP crashing is a late sign of shock.)

I had BP of 90/60, or less, for most of my 20's and 30's, but never had any issues except being turned away from giving blood once or twice. The Red Cross eventually loosened up on that.

[chow vegan]

I just started reading the raw food challenge, of course now that it's almost over. It's very interesting. I've recently had the dry skin split thingy on my thumb that wouldn't heal because it kept splitting open. The only thing that actually made it heal was Aquaphor. Use it consistently several times a day on the split and it'll heal like in a day or two. It really works, regular moisturizer is just not strong enough.