Hello Everyone,

I found this forum just shortly after starting on a 90% raw food diet. I've been journalling the journey so far on FaceBook, but decided to post it here too. I hope that newcomers such as myself find the accounts of my raw vegan journey inspiring and informative.

A little background... I'm a 38 year-old working mom and formerly avid runner living the "health nut" (but still SAD) lifestyle. In my early 30's, I ran many 10ks, some half-marathons, and even a marathon in 2003. A few months after the marathon, something began to change. I had very little energy. I felt I was pouring everything I had into just meeting the minimum expectations at work and spent my free time just trying to recover from the busy work week. My muscles (especially my neck and shoulders) ached all the time. I got very frequent, severe headaches. It took longer to recover from exercise and so I ran and exercised less and less. I tried eating better, even cut dairy and wheat out of my diet for two months, but nothing helped. Month by month, I felt worse and worse, until it began to be a struggle just to keep my eyes open at my desk.

I ran the gauntlet with mainstream medicine and every medical test under the sun, got treated for severe TMJ (which contributed to the headaches and neck pain), but still felt exhausted and achy all the time. Finally in 2006 I walked out of my doctor's office disheartened by a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) with Chronic Fatigue (CFS). I was told that I would just have to "live with it" and manage the best I can. My doc tried pushing a lot of different drugs on me, but I didn't want anything that listed fatigue as a side effect. More fatigue was not acceptable! I intuitively felt it just could not be a good thing to be burden my body even further with all the toxins in prescription drugs. I wanted to take as natural an approach as possible. I tried yoga, acupuncture, tons of different supplements... everything I tried enabled me to barely "manage," but my life revolved around managing FMS and CFS. If I had a little too much fun or pushed myself a little too hard, I'd only be hit with a "flare" and yet another setback.

I began working from home in 2007 and that helped enable me to get more sleep. I also continued what I believed was a healthy diet and gentle exercising 2 -3 days per week. Nonetheless, my energy levels continue to drop lower and lower. I found myself avoiding exercise and felt foggy and exhausted if I didn't sleep 9 or 10 hours a night. This winter, I developed bad wrist and hip problems that limited my activity even more. The heat and ice packs became my new best friend. I gained 8 pounds in three months. I felt heavy, listless, and lifeless. I missed the vibrant, energetic Maryl I used to be 6 or 7 years ago and all the fun, athletic, outdoorsy activities I used to do without batting an eye. By January of this year, I was totally fed up!!! ...And willing to try anything to feel better and recapture my lost vitality.

The first time I heard about the raw food lifestyle was several months ago on that TV show "The Secret Lives of Women." I thought it was WACKO!!!! How could anyone live on raw food alone??? I thought I could never give up meat or dairy... I just LOVED the satisfying taste of animal products way too much. But, desperate times call for desperate measures. I decided to read more about it, and within a few days of reading many raw foodist's testimonials online, I was almost convinced.

Then, serendipitously, I was channel-surfing one evening and I stumbled upon that documentary "Eating" (by Mike Anderson) on my local PBS station. That really clinched it for me. Realizing that I could do the environment (not to mention my body!) so much good by choosing to not eat animal products was the final push I needed.

Fortunately, my sweetheart Brian has been very supportive and eats a lot of raw meals with me. He's still eating some SAD foods when I'm not around -- he doesn't want to tempt me and I don't think he's quite ready to go vegan yet. I loved a good juicy hamburger as much as he does, but I wouldn't trade all the hamburgers, pizza and ice cream in the world for the way I feel now!!! I want to live -- and I'm becoming a believer that a diet of LIVING FOODS is the path for me to live again.

My kids aren't quite convinced yet... they've enjoyed several raw meals with me, but they really hate the idea of giving up animal products. I bought the "Eating" DVD online and my 15 year-old son watched it with me. He better understands now why I choose to eat this way. In the meantime, I'm still buying the boys cage-free eggs and sprouted grain breads, so they don't feel totally deprived.

At present, I've been consuming about 90% raw foods for almost three weeks. I never thought I would have the self-discipline to pull it off -- and I never thought it was possible to feel this good this quickly... I'm hooked!!!!

My first several journal entries will be in my next post, and I'll add to it as I go along.

Love, Light & Laughter
Maryl



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/12/2010 12:27AM by Maryl_E.

DAY TWO - Detox and Withdrawal

I’m through one full day on a vegan and mostly raw food diet and onto Day Two. Last night I had lightly cooked portobello mushrooms and steamed green beans with my dinner, and that’s the only cooked food I’ve had so far.

Mornings have been the easiest to get through. I’m still having coffee, but sweetening it with honey or agave nectar and coconut milk instead of a flavored non-dairy creamer, or what my sister likes to refer to as “embalming fluid.” I usually drink 2 - 4 cups of coffee daily, but even though my coffee tasted fine, I found that I did not have a taste for it so only had one cup. Hey, maybe I'll quit drinking coffee too, who knows.

I've added spinach, celery and red chard to my usual breakfast fruit smoothie. Believe it or not, even though my smoothie looks like baby sh!t, it still tastes pretty good. Instead of cow's milk or yogurt, I add coconut milk, aloe vera juice and water to make it thinner and more fluid. The coconut milk also adds some healthy fat which helps slow the digestion and keeps me feeling full longer.

My lunch yesterday was a big fruit salad made of mango, strawberries, blueberries, a handful of raw pecans, and a spoonful of shredded coconut. An hour later I was hungry again and ate a whole avocado and a banana. For dinner, I started with a ridiculously huge salad of mixed baby greens, olives, piles of bean sprouts, tomatoes and raw sesame seeds, then later enjoyed the cooked portobello mushrooms and steamed green beans.

I did a lot of reading on this subject before I decided to try it. I read a variety of personal experiences, ranging from an amazing resurgence of health and feelings of well-being within a few days of starting on a vegan raw or mostly raw diet, from experiences of detoxification symptoms and intensely frustrating cravings.

For me, so far the cravings have been minimal and mostly at night. Saturday night was probably the worst… I had this sickening, gnawing hunger that was only slightly calmed by a snack of fruit salad and a few squares of dark chocolate. I felt terrible and began to wonder if I could really do this raw vegan thing long-term.

Saturday was pretty miserable – I needed to fill my belly every couple of hours to keep the hunger at bay. I also have to floss a lot! Except for smoothies of course, everything I eat gets stuck in my teeth. Sunday is when the nausea, gut-cramping and malaise really kicked in and so far, it continues today. The waves of nausea and gut cramping in between waves of hunger made the cravings on Sunday night a little easier to cope with. I also got so bloated that I looked eight months pregnant! Yeah, the gas is terrible and humbling, if not entertaining!

Overall, I’m not feeling that great. The fatigue is the same as always – add to that a few headaches, occasional nausea and gut cramping, and just a general overall feeling of malaise, which is really nothing new from the way I felt starting last Tuesday before I started this diet anyhow.

Any time there’s a cessation of chemicals that a body has become tolerant of and accustomed to, even if those chemicals are harmful, there are bound to be symptoms of withdrawal. Take tobacco or drug cessation, for example. Nicotine and illegal drugs are very harmful toxins, but with repeated intake, the body quickly adapts and re-stabilizes itself as best as it is able. Once the body has become tolerant and adapted to a toxin, the sudden cessation of that toxin destabilizes the body's homeostasis again and it will experience malaise-like symptoms of withdrawal. The more toxic and destabilizing a chemical is, the more pronounced the experience of withdrawal will be.

I recognize that alcoholics, drug addicts and smokers have intense cravings when they quit, even though they know that their drug of choice is harmful to their health long-term. Why should processed, fatty, sugary foods be any different? Of course I’m going to crave hamburgers, french fries, Oreos and pizza! Of course my body craves what it is used to, especially because that stuff tastes really GOOD!

I also recognize that if I give into the cravings and eat the foods I’m trying to avoid, I’m only prolonging the periods of cravings and withdrawals and making it harder on myself. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and I know if I give in to the cravings, the light will only move further away.

So I think I will be okay in handling the cravings… I just hope I start feeling better soon. In my reading, I also noted that most people who have experienced dramatic improvement in their health by changing to a raw vegan diet, chronic fatigue was usually the last symptom to go. Many accounts said that the chronic fatigue didn’t start to improve until 6 – 12 months into a vegan diet. That could get discouraging – it’s the fatigue I want relief from most of all. But for now, I’m hanging in there.

On a positive note, before Saturday, I felt cold all of the time. I feel warm and comfortable most of the time now. Last night, I also didn't wake up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat like I usually do. That is something!

Oh yeah - I must note that this morning I stepped on the scale and I'm down to 144 pounds. The last time I weighed myself on Thursday morning, it was 148. A lot of that weight loss is probably water and @#$%& (LOL), but I'm still going to take it as a sign of progress.

Here's an informative article about "detoxification events" which are a normal part of the process of dramatically changing one's diet, even for the better.

[www.selfhealingempowerment.com]


DAY FOUR - Sudden Lightness

Detox hasn’t been fun, but I am optimistic that the worst is behind me. I no longer have that general feeling of malaise, but constant hunger has been a little annoying. I’m consuming mass quantities of fruits and vegetables, so I’m sure I’m getting enough nutrition, but because it digests so quickly, I find myself hungry again 30 – 60 minutes after eating my fill. That is getting annoying. Yesterday I coped with it by eating a banana or a few soaked almonds between meals. I had three bananas yesterday!

The only cooked food I’ve had since Sunday is brown rice… but not much. On Monday night, I soaked a cup of brown rice in two cups of water and three tablespoons of coconut milk for two hours before cooking it. When it was done, I added a squeeze of fresh lime juice and a bit of finely chopped cilantro. It was delicious and the hot food in my belly sure was a nice treat!!!

Still, the cravings are worst at night. That’s also when I feel most hungry. Last night I craved a juicy Red Robin “Santa Fe” hamburger. I managed to get through it by eating a huge fruit salad with soaked pecans and some dried shredded coconut. I got hungry again an hour later. I was so hungry I couldn’t sleep, so I heated up and ate the leftover brown rice.

No night sweats for three rights in a row now. Yippee!

The scale is holding steady at 144 pounds so far. I'm okay with that -- it's only been four days! I would like to lose about a pound a week until I get back to my "fighting weight" of 135.

I had an interesting and unexpected experience last night at about 8:15 PM. I was sitting on my bed munching on a huge salad, the TV and my laptop were on in front of me, and I was thinking about how my salad had too much seasoning on it. All of the sudden, it was if the clouds lifted and the sun came out... inside my brain and inside my body. Something felt distinctly different. My physical and subtle senses suddenly felt acutely... aware. I had this strange sense that my body was "bigger" somehow, but also lighter. I felt very present in my body, and more… I felt more aware of the energies around me in my immediate environment too. The feeling is very difficult to describe. If I could compare the feelings before and after to sounds, as of last night, it’s like the clear ringing of a bell. Before, it was like erratic, unrelenting background static. Am I making any sense? Probably not.

So far, I am not feeling much more energetic, but at least I can say that I feel a notable positive difference already. I was fully prepared to tolerate feeling crappy for a lot longer -- I didn't expect to appreciate a positive difference so soon. I still have that lighter, more alert feeling that I had last night, although I don’t yet have much more overall physical energy. I’m pleasantly surprised! I think it will only continue to get better as all the meat, diary and processed food of my previous diet works its way out of my system. I’m encouraged – and hopeful.


DAY SIX - The Jury is Still Out

It's hard to say if I'm actually through detox or not yet. :-\ It doesn't help that my cat Luna had the crazies all last night and woke up me up repeatedly, so I'm not exactly well-rested... feeling low-energy as usual. I ended up having two very large cups of coffee this morning to shake off the sleepiness. I ran out of coconut milk, so I used almond milk and about a tablespoon of commercial non-dairy coffee creamer (embalming fluid).

I'm full of aches and pains still too, if not worse than before I started the raw diet. My right hip is still bothering me a lot even though I've totally laid off of exercise for the week. My neck and left shoulder also completely knotted up a couple of days ago.

My digestive system is in an uproar again today, and I'm not sure if it was something I ate, more of the same detox process, or this morning's extra coffee and embalming fluid. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that the dates I added into a couple of my smoothies might be the culprits. I can't eat dates by themselves - they are just too sweet and I tend to feel kind of icky soon after I eat even just one or two. Several raw food smoothie and dessert recipes that I found online include dates as a sweetener because they are loaded with sugar. As sweeteners go, they have the added benefits of fiber and some vitamins in them. I tried adding three dates each to my two smoothies yesterday and felt that same "icky" feeling shortly after drinking them. Drinking a smoothie never made me feel that way before... So I'm skipping the dates from now on. Blech!!! :-P

I also discovered, by happy accident, a smoothie recipe that tastes A LOT like cheesecake!!!! I am stoked! Best of all, it was very filling. Here's the URL to the recipe where I posted it on a raw food discussion forum, if you're interested: [www.rawfoodsupport.com]

Night-times are still the worst for hunger and cooked food cravings. I get through the day just fine on a big smoothie, fruit snacks and salad. For dinner I stuff myself with a huge salad, and an hour later, I'm hungry again. So I eat some more fruit and/or nuts again, and soon after... hungry again. Going to bed with gnawing hunger is a regular thing, and so far, my least favorite thing about this way of eating. I have a feeling that when my body adjusts, this won't be as much of a problem. I'm also going to start eating pine nuts in my dinner salad - pine nuts contain a naturally occurring chemical that is known to reduce appetite. Of course it also helps to consume plenty of fats with my evening meals and snacks.

I haven't weighed myself in a couple of days, so I don't know if there has been any weight loss. My clothes don't fit any differently, but I wouldn't expect them to after only a week.

Hopefully I'll get plenty of rest this weekend and maybe even some exercise... Then maybe I'll start to feel a difference.


DAY NINE - Clarity

This weekend, sticking to the raw diet was a little tough, but I feel like I'm finally turning the corner. I wasn't feeling great on Friday and even worse on Saturday -- I had tremendous aches and pains all over my body for no apparent reason. I felt like I'd been beaten up and run over. I am not sure whether to attribute that to ongoing detox or something else, but this was a blow to my motivation for sticking with this diet. I experienced the worst cravings for cooked food and meat thus far.

Nonetheless, I kept it in mind that feeling so miserable was likely due to detox and it takes time to experience the benefits of this diet. So I hung in there. I even drove through McDonalds to buy some dinner for the kids, but managed to not eat even one single french fry -- even though I really wanted to! I was pretty impressed with myself.

My appetite is also finally adapting better. I'm still eating fairly often, but I don't need to eat as much to feel satisfied. Last night I was a little bit hungry, but it was no where near as bad as the gnawing hunger I'd experienced nightly all last week. There was a definite difference -- and I'm greatly relieved about that, since night-times were the worst!

Saturday was the first day in probably well over a decade that I went without any caffeine intake whatsoever. I felt fine until Saturday night when the caffeine withdrawal headache kicked in. It was excruciating! I took two Tramadol at bedtime and it knocked me out -- at first. I woke up at around 2:00 AM, and my sleep was broken and fitful most of the night. When I woke up Sunday morning with the headache still there, I gladly downed two cups of coffee, which cured the headache pretty quickly. I'm back to one cup of coffee today.

The only cooked food I've eaten this weekend was some more brown rice on Friday, portobello mushrooms on Saturday, and Shittake mushrooms on Sunday night. After the Shittake mushrooms were mostly cooked, I turned off the heat and threw some red bell peppers and mung bean sprouts in the skillet, just to warm them up. After eating cold or room temperature food all day, warm food in my stomach feels very comforting, even if it's not as comforting as say, a nice big bowl of buffalo chili with a pile of shredded cheddar cheese on top. LOL

My experience of detoxification began with the physical layers of built-up toxins and old waste in my cells and digestive tract. The emotional and spiritual body seems to lie underneath the physical layer. Once the physical layers of toxins slough off, the emotional detox begins. For me this was brief -- Friday night in the bathtub when I had some epiphanies. I'll spare the details, but when I stepped out of that tub, I felt like a brand new person -- or maybe just who I've been all along, buried underneath all those layers of toxicity and its resultant long-standing, chronic low-grade dis-ease.

Today I definitely feel somehow different, even more so. There's an indescribable sense of inner clarity -- like that feeling I mentioned experiencing last Tuesday night, but more... It has an added dimension to it now... a sense of inner strength and wholeness. At the same time, I also feel a small sense of foreboding and maybe even grief, knowing that there is no turning back, as life as I know it is about to forever change. I know bigger and better things are waiting, but change is always a little frightening and often not without a little grief too.

I know that change is only frightening and painful in direct relation to our resistance to that change. I'm taking deep breaths and telling myself that I can do this and to just go with the natural flow of things. It's time to take life to the next level, and I know deep "in my gut" that the good health I will experience through a mostly raw vegan diet is the vehicle to take me there.


DAY 12 - Signs of Progress

I don't know how I've managed to make it this far, but here I am, twelve days into this [mostly] raw food diet. Some noticeable signs of progress have emerged... My facial skin looks more clear, smoother, maybe even a little more (?) radiant. My skin on the rest of me is incredibly soft, although I haven't been using any lotion (except on my hands and feet). Although my physical energy is still a little low (likely due to inadequate sleep), I feel more alert, yet calm and very centered. It's like a kind of serenity, awareness, and quiet strength. I feel as if the very vibration of my being is raising in frequency while becoming more.... cohesive. Cohesive... yes, that's the right word.

I've lost seven pounds. Yes, SEVEN!!!! I can't quite squeeze into my favorite pair of jeans (that I "outgrew" three months ago), so I suspect that much of that weight loss has been water and @#$%&. (LOL again.) But Brian says he notices a difference...

My hip has gotten better. I still feel it when I lie on my right side and when I first get up after lying down for awhile, but overall, I think it's healed enough to resume some activity. With increased activity, I'm sure the weight will come off much faster - although the weight loss has already far exceed expectation, especially considering the copious volumes of raw food I've been gobbling down. My neck is still torqued out, but I'm planning on visiting a chiropractor to take care of that.

The cravings are still a bit tough to cope with in the evenings, so I decided that getting a food dehydrator is now a top priority. I'm getting a little tired of salads night after night and I'd really like to try some recipes I found for veggie burgers and pizza. I can't buy one until pay day (next Thursday), but I'm going to start looking on CraigsList and hopefully find a good deal.

All in all, so far so good. I'm feeling good (except for the aches and pains and sleep deprivation) and have no plans to quit this diet anytime soon.


DAY 18 - ON A ROLL!

Two and a half weeks into the raw food diet, I have to say there is a noticeable improvement in my sense of overall well-being and energy levels. I'm down to 140 pounds now -- a loss of eight pounds so far. I am stunned at how much weight I've lost, considering how much food I consume and how much energy I have. I didn't know it was possible to lose weight without feeling tired and crabby as a result of the calorie deficit.

I can also now be sure that a good deal of the weight loss isn't water and toxic waste, but body mass too. I had to cinch my belt a notch tighter yesterday and my jeans definitely have some wiggle room in them that wasn't there two weeks ago.

I'm also learning, through trial and error, how much cooked food I can "get away with" eating without noticing a dip in my energy level. Last Saturday, I ate about 60% raw and the rest cooked food (cooked mushrooms with lunch and brown rice and black beans with dinner), and on Sunday, I felt utterly exhausted and miserable. Granted, some of that fatigue very well could be because I had to get up early on Saturday to take my son to his wrestling tournament... But I slept in until 10:00 AM on Sunday, so I should have been caught up on sleep by then.

I also noticed that I have the most energy when I consume lots of fruit and very little fat. When I consume more fatty foods like avocados, olives, nuts and coconut, although I feel more satiated, I feel a little more foggy and sluggish too.

I still don't have a food dehydrator, but I have a little spare cash so I can afford to shop around a bit. In the meantime, I'm having fun experimenting with different recipes that are both tasty and filling. I think I've adjusted fairly well to this way of eating -- I don't really miss animal products, starchy processed foods, or sugary desserts. The only difficulty I really have with it now is that sometimes I really just want HOT food in my belly. That's when I allow myself to eat some rice or cooked portobello mushrooms, but that is usually only every other day.

My appetite has adjusted really well. It's down to the same levels where it was before I started the diet. Evening cravings have diminished, but not entirely yet. I still get a little hungry around bedtime, but I've discovered that a banana and a nice warm cup of chamomile tea really helps with that.

Sprouted seeds, beans and grains are filling, highly nutritious, loaded with protein and living energy. I started sprouting seeds and grains at home since it is much more economical than buying them at the grocery store. I use large sprouting jars that I picked up at Vitamin Cottage Natural Grocers for about $4 each. I way overdid it on my first batch of mung bean sprouts -- two cups of beans now equals about 10 cups of sprouts. Oops! Sprouts, anyone? I won't be able to eat all those sprouts myself before they go bad. Next batch, I'll try using a quarter cup of mung beans. Buckwheat groats take 24 hours of soak time and another 24 hours of sprout time before they are ready to eat. (I eat them when the sprouts are only about 1/8" long.) I make a yummy oatmeal-like "mash" by pulsing the sprouted buckwheat groats in my food processor with diced apple, cinnamon, walnuts or pecans, and a little honey. I pour hot almond milk on it to heat it up without making it so hot that it kills the sprouts. It's very hearty and filling, and actually tastes GREAT! My son Collin even loves the sprouted buckwheat mash, and he's a super picky eater.

I felt so good on Friday that I decided to go for a short run. To my vexation, my right hip hurt really bad during the run and for two days afterwards. However, it seems to have recovered much more quickly this time. Maybe this is a good sign that my body is better able to heal itself. Last time I ran and it hurt like that, it took a week to be able to walk without pain.

My energy level isn't quite where I'd like it to be this week, but a lot of that, again, is due to my crazy cat Luna waking me up several times a night. I'm going to have to start locking her up in a crate at night or something... she's killing me. I love her so much and she is such a sweet kitty, but I need my sleep! As a result, I'm not going to think about quitting my morning cup of coffee yet. Nonetheless, most days I do feel that I have more energy than I've had in a long time.

I'm encouraged. So far, the payoffs of this diet have been more than worth the sacrifices.

WOW! WOW! And WOW! I really enjoyed reading your story. Very inspirational! You are an interesting writer too.

Like you, I got into trying a "crazy" raw food diet out of desperation and experienced so many unexpected benefits that I felt encouraged to keep at it. It took a few months for me to get the benefits that I was seeking, but now I'm doing great. What started as a trial run has become a lifestyle.

I hope your energy levels continue to increase. Best wishes and welcome to the site!


My favorite raw vegan

Hi Trive,

Thank you for reading and for your words of encouragement!!!

Here's the latest:

DAY 25 - Half Baked = Half Alive

I ate probably about 50% cooked foods on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, and I'm feeling about 50% lower energy too. :-\ Yes, I am beginning to see the correlation.

Brian and I went to Denver on Saturday for a friend's birthday party. They were serving sloppy joes, chips and all kinds of cooked goodies. Luckily they had a large tray of fresh veggies and guacamole too. I discovered that cucumbers in place of chips for guacamole is actually quite tasty. I probably ate at least three or four avocados worth!

Everything smelled so incredibly delicious, but believe it or not, I did not cheat! Well, at least not intentionally. There was a delicious dish of what looked like rice with chopped spinach and cherry tomatoes - after I started eating it, someone told me that the rice was actually orzo pasta! Oops!!! But I only ate a small amount, so it's all good. We spent the night in Denver and before I woke up on Sunday morning (Valentine's Day), Brian ran to the grocery store and bought fruit to make me a fruit salad for breakfast. What a sweetie! That afternoon we drove further north to Loveland to visit Brian's father Wayne, who was in the hospital to recover from an attack of severe diverticulitis.

On the way to the hospital, Brian and I stopped at Chipotle for lunch. I had the vegetarian burrito bol with no cheese, corn or sour cream. It had raw lettuce, guacamole (yes -- MORE GUAC!) and mild salsa, and the rice, beans, onions and green bell peppers were cooked, of course. When we got home on Sunday night, we had MORE GUACAMOLE, raw red bell peppers, lettuce, and cooked black beans. Then on Monday night, we made vegetarian chili and cooked brown rice. As you can see, I ate a LOT of cooked food. The chili was Brian's improvised concoction and it was absolutely delicious!!! I had a huge bowl of it for lunch on yesterday too but everything else was raw.

I felt horribly exhausted and like I was coming down with the flu yesterday. My muscles and joints ached badly all over -- just throbbed -- I had a sore throat and stuffy nose, and I felt sleepy (as if drugged!) heavy, and lifeless. By late afternoon my sinuses were plugged up and I had a terrible headache.

Since I ate a tremendous amount of avocado over the weekend, my weight loss for the week is nil. At least my weight is holding steady -- I suppose I can't complain about that.

I am going to eat all raw for the next few days (except for my morning coffee and commercially prepared organic almond milk, of course) to see how I feel. My meals and snacks since last night have all been raw, and perhaps not so coincidentally, I'm feeling better than I was yesterday. I'm also going to work on consuming more fruit for the next few days, since I've already noted that I have more energy and feel much more mentally alert when my diet consists mostly of fruit.

I did however prepare a raw vegan "cheesecake" last night. It was really easy to do. I put the cheesecake in the freezer to set it up, but did taste some of the "batter" -- and it was ecstacy!!! I let the kids taste the batter last night too and they couldn't believe it wasn't real cheesecake. We can't wait to try a slice for dessert tonight!

Here's a link to the recipe: [www.giveittomeraw.com] I'll have to keep my portion small though, as it's made from macadamias, cashews and a 1/4 cup of coconut oil, it's extremely fattening! I'm going to do some step aerobics using a low step and wrist weights during my lunch hour today. I'll do maybe 10 - 15 minutes of yoga too. My hip is still giving me a bit of trouble but I can't stand being limited... I have to do something -- especially if I'm going to eat that rich raw vegan cheesecake!

FUNNY COMMENTS & QUESTIONS BY NON-VEGANS ABOUT MY RAW VEGAN DIET

I wanted to add a little something more today. With this weekend's social activities, I got a lot of funny questions and comments about being on a raw food diet.

I never thought I'd ever in a million years give up my SAD lifestyle (LOVED MMMMEAT!), so I can understand where some of the questions and comments... However, some of the most interesting and comical comments I received were from a vegetarian.

Without further ado...
----------------------------------------------------
Question: You don't miss meat?????

Answer: I did the first week, but not anymore. The smell of meat cooking still stimulates my appetite, but I recognize that's just my brain's programmed response to the smell of cooking meat, and I have no desire to actually eat it.
----------------------------------------------------
Question: Aren't you hungry all the time?

Answer: I was the first couple of weeks, but my body seems to have adjusted and my appetite is normal now. I ended up losing 8 pounds without feeling hungry all the time.
----------------------------------------------------
Question: So is raw food diet like... just salads and raw fruit and vegetables? Doesn't that get boring?

Answer: With a food processor, blender, and food dehydrator you'd be amazed how creative you can be with raw food. I make a variety of smoothies, desserts, veggie burgers, crackers, bread... and it all tastes really good. I don't miss cooked food, except for chili. I love chili!!! I sometimes have brown rice or cooked portobello mushrooms, because sometimes I just want hot food in my stomach.
----------------------------------------------------
Question: So what about protein? Aren't you worried you're not getting enough?

Answer: I eat nuts, spinach and lots of sprouts. Spinach and sprouts have tons of protein. Besides, the World Health Organization says that 5% of our daily calories should come from protein, and a grapefruit is 8% protein. So I'm really not worried about protein.
----------------------------------------------------
Comment: Raw food has a lot of water in it and you could get hyponatremia. Beware of hyponatremia! (This comment was from a vegetarian!)

Response: I also eat a lot of celery and drink coconut water after exercising. I get plenty of electrolytes and sodium.
----------------------------------------------------
Comment: Did you know you can actually get too much nutrition? Be careful that you don't get "hypernutrition!" (This comment was from the same vegetarian!)

Response: I've been using a great website called FitDay.com to calculate my daily nutrient intake, and my daily intakes are at or slightly above the daily recommendations, except for Vitamin C. I get about twice as much as the US RDA of Vitamin C.
----------------------------------------------------
Question: Do you spend a lot more on groceries?

Response: I am spending just a little more on groceries - but I'm spending a lot less on vitamin supplements!
----------------------------------------------------
Comment: If you go off the raw food diet, beware of rebound scurvy! (This comment was from the same vegetarian!)

Response: Well, at least I will never have to worry about high cholesterol, diabetes, hypertension, etc...
----------------------------------------------------
Comment: Well, I admire your willpower. I'd never be able to stick with it as long as you have, especially with all this good free food sitting around.

Response: Thanks, but I've learned it's not about willpower. It's about knowledge and understanding. I know now we are culturally programmed to eat a certain way that is not optimal for our health. And it's about wanting to feel healthy more than wanting to taste a sloppy joe.
----------------------------------------------------



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/18/2010 12:50AM by Maryl_E.

Great responses! The question I get is: "You eat what???" followed by an incredulous stare. You may not want the spices, but if you're still transitioning, maybe this will help you get past your longing for chili...

Chili:
Make a thick sauce sauce by blending tomatoes and red bell pepper. Then add more minced red bell pepper and tomato. Some paprila will make it redder. Season with chili, Braggs or sea salt, garlic, lemon, cumin, and oregano. Choose and mince additions from the following: celery, mushrooms, onion, yellow squash, and/or zucchini. Add corn kernels and shredded carrot. Stir. Add tomato juice as needed. Warm to 105° or so. Serve with dehydrated crackers.


My favorite raw vegan