Raw Food Diet - Day 30 (Blog)

[Savage]

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

Raw Food Diet - Day 30

[Andrew Brunelle]

Congrats, Steve. Thank you for your detailed logging of the whole experiment. We all look forward to future 30-day trials.

[WilliWibald]

@Steve: In the last weeks of your trial you didn't mention drinking water very often... did you actually drink any water?

I just did a little test run of "80/10/10 raw vegan" for 2 days and had no thirst whatsoever. But the day after that I only ate cooked foods and immediatly I felt the need to drink my usual daily amount of water (2-3 liters). It never occurd to me before, that eating cooked food is coupled with the need to consume water.

And by the way: Thank you Steve for this trial. It kept me really focused on the raw-food-topic - and it has already expanded my reality again - thanks Steve.

[Michelle]

Congratulations, Steve, on making it! You are a hero!

[wisped]

Yay, you've done it, congratulations! And thank you. My eating habits are pretty sad and I've got some weight to lose, but thanks to your wonderful food log and your photos I've adopted your smoothie -- though I add fresh pineapple and mint to the spinach and banana. Having a green smoothie and an apple for lunch is making me feel great, and I've lost 2 pounds per week the past 3 weeks with no other changes (well, maybe I also switched to oatmeal for breakfast about that time too, to replace my usual peanut butter toast...) Next, I'll try to reform my dinner, but I'm shooting for high-raw, not all raw.

Sorry for the ramble...I do appreciate you being the 8-1-1 guinea pig! I've been curious about it for a long time.

[theknightwhosaysni-NI]

Congratuations Steve, this was a great demonstration of self discipline, very inspirational.

It is also valuable for giving an idea 'live' of how to do a 30 day trial, day after day, and will definitely inspire me to try this approach, although on a different topic than foods.

[Keith]

Is this really the hardest trial you've done? Some of the others sounded like doozies (polyphasic sleep, for example).

BTW, I notice that the pictures look oversaturated with colour.

[Jake Birkett]

Yep, BIG congrats Steve. Very interesting reading the blog and you've no doubt helped a LOT of people to think about their diet who are now eating healthier. I'd made up my mind to go from Vegetarian to Vegan (and cut out a whole load of veggie junk food) a few days before you started your trial (but didn't start until Jan 2nd) so it was great feeling that I wasn't alone in my trial :-)

I'll be carrying on my diet of lots of fruit, salads, water, nuts and only really healthy cooked food (not sugary/fatty/processed foods) for the foreseeable future because I feel great. Now I'd done that for 30 days and it feels normal, I feel ready for another challenge (I think it's going to be more exercise) - keep on building ...

Thanks again, look forward to the post-mortem blog.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Keith

Is this really the hardest trial you've done? Some of the others sounded like doozies (polyphasic sleep, for example).

Yes, this one was much harder than polyphasic sleep. PS was really hard only during the first several days, but I was too tired to think about how hard it was. This trial was challenging the whole way through.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by WilliWibald

@Steve: In the last weeks of your trial you didn't mention drinking water very often... did you actually drink any water?

My water intake has been low lately, maybe 15-30 oz per day for the last week of the trial. But I do include a cup of water with most smoothies, and I was probably averaging about 4 liters of smoothie per day, so that's an extra 32 oz of added water right there. I would sometimes have fresh juice as well.

[MasterD]

Jo Steve,
Congrats for completing this trial.

Curious to hear the insights you got conducting this trial and hope you got a lot of them that will make the next trial even 10 times more succesfull. GL with your fingers btw and enjoy your bites of cooked foods!

[gettingskinny]

Congratulations Steve!

[GrannyGamer]

Steve -- living an authentic life means being honest, right? Well, I have to be honest and tell you that I -- like you -- am glad this challenge is over, though for different reasons. One more day of hearing about your urine pH, dry skin, or sleeping problems and I would have dreaded looking at another orange or avocado for the rest of my life.

I congratulate you on your perseverance, though! And who knows, perhaps I'm just jealous that through it all, you lost weight (as if you needed to!).

I do hope you revisit the concept of the 30-day challenge in a future blog entry. If I recall correctly, when you first discussed it here, you said you got the idea from software developer's common 30-day free trial offer.

Following that analogy, I would not have stuck with something that I knew early on was NOT for me. After all, we wouldn't force ourselves to continue using a piece of software for a full month if we knew two days after installing it that we didn't like it.

I'm the first to admit that I may just be looking for ways to justify my tendency not to stick to my commitments, but I think we also need to be able to know when to quit (I'm not necessarily talking about your raw food diet, but in general).

Finally, I think it's important for pro-bloggers to post regularly (preferably daily, if at all possible). I subscribe to some blogs that haven't had a new post in weeks and in one case, in two months! We are creatures of habit and I enjoy starting my mornings with a good satisfying breakfast f Pavlina or Zenhabits (heck, better than an apple and a strawberry!)

[impaul99]

Originally Posted by GrannyGamer

I do hope you revisit the concept of the 30-day challenge in a future blog entry. If I recall correctly, when you first discussed it here, you said you got the idea from software developer's common 30-day free trial offer.

Following that analogy, I would not have stuck with something that I knew early on was NOT for me. After all, we wouldn't force ourselves to continue using a piece of software for a full month if we knew two days after installing it that we didn't like it.

I agree with you here. I don't believe in 30 day trials anymore either. I mean, besides drumming up a tonne of traffic to his Blog, what value has this trial had for Steve? Why create something on day 1, and then ignore what you're learning and your body is telling you for 30 days, just because the 30 days hasn't gone by yet?

Why not adjust, evolve and actually stick to a healthy diet forever?

Steve started his trial on January 1st. I started my health plan on January 1st as well. The difference is that throughout the month, I've been listening to my body, making small adjustments here and there, and thinking LONG TERM instead of "Oh I just have to make it another 8 more days..." If my body doesn't feel right, I adjust, and evolve my diet and keep learning and keep moving forward.

I ask myself "Is this sustainable long term?" when I make decisions.

Now, it's day 31. I've lost 10.4lbs, I've ran for 30minutes on my treadmill every single day, I've done some type of strength training every single day, I feel great, I feel empowered, and while most "30 day trials come to an end today" I feel excited to continue on my plan for the rest of my life, adjusting and evolving my plan to continue to meet my needs and goals in life.

I'm really not trying to brag about my accomplishments, because they mean nothing. What's important is what you do, not me. I'm just trying to share my story because learning to think and commit to things long term is something that I am really learning the power of lately and I hope this resonates with at least one person who's "tried" to do these "30 day trials" in life and gotten nowhere with them long term. I personally think it's more important to do whatever research you need to do and to overcome whatever limiting beliefs one has to be able to commit to something forever, allowing yourself room for adjustments and evolution.

Anyway...just something to think about. Or not.

[kat]

I personally find 30-day trials to be a quite useful tool. They're just that: a tool. They're not the ideal way to approach every situation, and they don't always produce lasting change, even when it would be for the better. Despite this, I'd say they're the single most helpful thing I've picked up from this blog.

[The David]

The 30 day trial is only for ideas you think are good, not just ideas you are curious about. I might be curious what it would be like to eat only junk food for 30 days, but the reward (knowing what it would be like) would not be enough to justify how I would probably feel (peptic ulcer). What Steve did, though, probably was not dangerous, just maybe not ideal for a long term change.

[standgale]

Hopefully you will post about your first day back on normal foods!

It has been good to read a blog post every day, and hopefully you will continue with regular postings, although you probably can't create high quality posts on relevant interesting topics everyday.

Congratulations with completing the thirty days; it has been very interesting to read and follow. It's like a weird kind of soap opera we tune into everyday.

[beel]

SO STEVE - WHAT HAVE YOU EATEN TODAY?!!! I am anxious to hear that you ate and how you felt eating it. I hope there will be a Day 31 wrap-up post tonight

[gettingskinny]

Originally Posted by impaul99

I agree with you here. I don't believe in 30 day trials anymore either. I mean, besides drumming up a tonne of traffic to his Blog, what value has this trial had for Steve? Why create something on day 1, and then ignore what you're learning and your body is telling you for 30 days, just because the 30 days hasn't gone by yet?

Why not adjust, evolve and actually stick to a healthy diet forever?

Steve started his trial on January 1st. I started my health plan on January 1st as well. The difference is that throughout the month, I've been listening to my body, making small adjustments here and there, and thinking LONG TERM instead of "Oh I just have to make it another 8 more days..." If my body doesn't feel right, I adjust, and evolve my diet and keep learning and keep moving forward.

I ask myself "Is this sustainable long term?" when I make decisions.

Now, it's day 31. I've lost 10.4lbs, I've ran for 30minutes on my treadmill every single day, I've done some type of strength training every single day, I feel great, I feel empowered, and while most "30 day trials come to an end today" I feel excited to continue on my plan for the rest of my life, adjusting and evolving my plan to continue to meet my needs and goals in life.

I'm really not trying to brag about my accomplishments, because they mean nothing. What's important is what you do, not me. I'm just trying to share my story because learning to think and commit to things long term is something that I am really learning the power of lately and I hope this resonates with at least one person who's "tried" to do these "30 day trials" in life and gotten nowhere with them long term. I personally think it's more important to do whatever research you need to do and to overcome whatever limiting beliefs one has to be able to commit to something forever, allowing yourself room for adjustments and evolution.

Anyway...just something to think about. Or not.

Of course its' to build traffic, that's the whole point!

Congratulations to you though. I'm proud of you!

[chow vegan]

Congratulations! Looking forward to seeing what you have for your first cooked meal and your thoughts about the whole trial. I don't think I could pull off a raw diet. I like my food cooked but I'm inspired to try to include a little more raw foods. And maybe try some raw food recipes out there?

[Adrienne]

Congratulations Steve!
Steve's new motto can be.. taking self discipline to a whole new level.

The whole series was very interesting, and i enjoyed it immensely.

Adrienne

[Fullcrum]

The reason Steve draws out this trial for a full 30 days even if he felt it wasn't totally for him is that, unlike software where the general concept of what it can and cannot do is usually evident in the first few days of use (or if you really need it), the HUMAN BODY is a dynamic living organism, and change is slow and often takes WEEKS to show up.

The drawing out of the trial was awesome! If he didn't how would we know that he'd be feeling euphoric and consistently good starting week 3 and into week 4? We'd just think "Oh, look, this diet gives you mood swings and makes you feel lazy and eat tasteless greens." Which is not his intention - this is an EXPERIMENT. That's why scientists follow up on their "subjects" YEARS after their food trials have completed, to gather any more relevant data that may have popped up.

[Keith]

Originally Posted by Keith

BTW, I notice that the pictures look oversaturated with colour.

Noone commented on this. Is it because noone noticed the comment, or because I'm the only one to whom the pictures appear highly saturated?

[wulph]

Originally Posted by Keith

Noone commented on this. Is it because noone noticed the comment, or because I'm the only one to whom the pictures appear highly saturated?

The color balance looks OK to me. The only thing that looks overly vibrant are the spinach smoothies... but I suspect they might actually look like that.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by wulph

The color balance looks OK to me. The only thing that looks overly vibrant are the spinach smoothies... but I suspect they might actually look like that.

Yes, that's how they actually look.

[Andrew Brunelle]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

Yes, that's how they actually look.

That is crazy. So green, like a crayon. I have to make one of these for myself. If it looks as good as it tastes, then I have a feeling I need a bigger blender. I guess that is a consequence of owning the Magic Bullet Blender. I do want to go at least 50-75% raw in the next few weeks and it looks like fruits and greens will be my staples. Hey, good luck on your readjustment period and assimilation of a new diet, Steve.