Raw Food Diet Diary

This morning, I read a post over on Steve Pavlina’s blog that bears reflecting upon . . .

I’ve previously written about my challenges in seeing myself as a raw foodist.  My challenges center around my social life and how that will change when I stop eating cooked food altogether.  I find it fascinating that Steve’s biggest concern was, “What will I do with all of the extra energy?”

At first, I found his concern rather odd.  After rereading the post a second time, I understand a little better.

A couple of years ago, I found myself in a strange position: Everything in my life was going really well!  I had just switched to a job that I’ve coveted throughout most of my teaching career, my finances had been on track for about a year, my wife and I were getting along better, my head was starting to clear after being off of Adderall for almost eight months.

Yet, I felt extremely uncomfortable.

I’ve experienced a lot of successes in my fifty years.  Most of the time, though, wild success in one area of my life was offset by miserable failure in another.  Two years ago, I was experiencing, for the first time I could remember, the most balance in my life that I can remember.

That moment in time was many years in the making.  I went through a lot of life experience, a lot of relationships, and a lot of professional assistance to get to that point.

However, it wasn’t a point of arrival.  Rather, it was a point of departure.

The departure of this new phase of my life actually started a year earlier.  I remember the specific moment vividly.  It is intensely personal, so I won’t share it here.  I will say, though, that it gave me the impetus to make a number of changes:

• I let go of the rage that had been crippling me, and my relationships, for many years.
• I made the decision to discontinue the medications that were keeping me moving.
• I made changes in my spending habits to become more financially responsible.
• I chose to participate in the Complaint Free movement.
• I started transitioning toward a raw food diet to improve my overall wellness.

Steve mentions that he attempted a number of transitions to the raw food diet, but that he became uncomfortable with the extra energy it provided him, and so he returned to his cooked food vegan diet because he found the familiarity of that state of being more comfortable.

I think it was Anthony Robbins who said that if one wants a better life, one must ask better questions.   Steve’s question to himself was a good one: “Why are you intentionally lowering your energy? What is it about that higher state of being that makes it so hard for you to contain it?”

His conclusion? “Since I was increasing my supply of energy, perhaps I needed to increase the demand as well.”

That falls into line with Dr. Douglas Graham’s philosophy expressed in The 80-10-10 Diet. Dr. Graham lists 32 Fundamental Elements of Health in his Introducton and asks the question, “Are you thriving or surviving?”  The raw food diet is only one of those 32 elements!

Steve listed seven positive changes he made in his post.  His changes didn’t appear to be so much new as they seemed to be his choice to bring increased focus to those things in his life that he values most.

All of those changes started with a couple of questions?

What questions do I need to be asking about how to make my transition to a raw food diet?  What questions do you need to ask about yours?

Today, I’m sharing two more tips for meeting the challenges of adapting a raw food diet.

Eat!  Eat a lot!  Eat more than you think you should be eating!

I’ve mentioned before in this blog that I’m not yet 100% raw.  I will be.  I’m still learning.

When I consume enough food, I have no problem with consistently maintaining a raw food diet.  In fact, if I go someplace where tempting food is being served, I have no desire to eat it . . . if I consume enough calories every day.

However, if you’re like me, one of the reasons you were drawn to a raw food diet is to lose the excess weight you’ve gained over the years.  And, like me, you’ve been taught that the way to lose weight is to consume fewer calories than you burn.

You’d be surprised at how many calories you burn, though!

I signed up for a free account at FitDay.com.  When I poked around the site, one of the things I noticed was a graph that showed approximately how many calories I burn a day given my size and activity level.

I burn through a lot more calories than I thought!

Right now, I’m working on eating enough calories for what I believe to be my ideal body weight (if you play around inside of FitDay’s personal area, you can figure out how many calories that is for you).  Believe it or not, my body seems to be sated at, or slightly above, that calorie level.

Keep Records!

Why keep records?

I choose to eat a raw food diet because it’s easy to prepare, consists of foods that I enjoy, and promises to bring me improved health over time.  But, I have a more immediate goal of dropping weight to look better, make it easier for me to participate in the physical activities that I used to enjoy, and to qualify for certain kinds of insurance (e.g. life, diability).

In order to meet that goal, I need to have some way of measuring my progress.

So, I use the tools at FitDay.com to track my weight and my daily food intake (it can also be used to track other things . . . like physical activity).  My records show me that when I eat foods that are high in water and fiber while being low in fat, I lose weight effortlessly.  When I lower my intake of high water and fiber foods or raise my intake of high-fat foods, I retard or reverse that progress.

Tomorrow, I’ll share the last two tips.  By the way, comments are open . . . if you have some additional tips to share, please don’t hesitate to do so.

Adapting to a raw food diet can be challenging . . . especially if you’re going it alone.  Today, I’m sharing three of seven tips I have to make your transition easier.

Learn to love bananas!

One of the challenges of following a raw food diet, especially one that follows Dr. Douglas Graham’s 80-10-10 caloronutrient formula, is getting sufficient calories to carry out your normal daily activities.

Bananas are an inexpensive, nutritious means to obtaining sufficient calories.

A dozen bananas a day gets most of us to between a third and half of our calorie needs (assuming you aren’t engaged in regular, vigorous athletic activity).  Plus, they’re the ultimate fast food; just peel and eat whenever the mood strikes you.

What?  You don’t like bananas?

I understand; I’ve always liked them OK, but I didn’t love them when I started my transition to a raw food diet.  Here’s a tip for the non-banana lovers out there . . .

Invest in a high-powered blender.

Eating a dozen or more bananas may seem like a daunting task.  I can tell you that it’s doable, but it’s time- consuming.  If you have an hour for lunch, you’re in great shape.  If, like me, you have 30 minutes or less, you need another solution.

Enter the smoothie!

Ideally, we eat our fruit-based meals in their whole form at leisurely pace.  Most of us, though, don’t live in that ideal world.  A good blender helps us by “pre-chewing” our food so that we can consume it faster and without discomfort.

I’ve tried an all-banana smoothie.  I can consume them if I have no other choice, but I’d rather put something else in to change the taste.  Right now, I enjoy mixing blueberries and nectarines with my bananas. I like the taste of mixing in strawberries, but I’ve noticed that the combination irritates my stomach, so I no longer drink banana/strawberry smoothies.

My absolute favorite smoothie is an all-cantaloupe smoothie.  I consider it to be a great breakfast drink!  Summertime is a great time to begin finding fresh cantaloupe to blend.  Typically, I blend the flesh of one melon for a refreshing drink.  Please note, though, that this is a very low-calorie drink.  You’re going to need to balance drinking those with other higher calorie fruits (e.g. bananas, grapes, papaya) at other meals.

Eat Your Greens!

Leafy green vegetables are plentiful year-round.  Dr. Graham advises us to get from 2-6% of our daily calories from tender greens on an optimal raw food diet.  If I eat a bunch of spinach, that brings me in at about 3% of my current daily calorie intake.

I’ll bet that eating a bunch of spinach or a head of lettuce every day seems even more formidable than eating a dozen or more bananas, doesn’t it?

If the greens are really fresh and organic, I can do it pretty easily.  I just put them in a bowl and eat them like popcorn.  I suspect, though, that I’m kind of odd in that way . . . most people have to cover the somewhat bitter taste of most greens.  I like really fresh leafy greens, but if they aren’t almost fresh from the field I have to mix something with them to make them palatable.

Enter the green smoothie!

If you look at my menus, you’ll note that the green smoothie is a regular fixture in my raw food diet.  They’re pretty simple to make, and they taste much better than they sound (or look)!  I’ve had to play around with my formula quite a bit, but here’s what I use:

• 8 oz. of water
• 1/2 a bunch of spinach
• 5 - 8 oz. of a sweet, juicy fruit (lately, that’s been blueberries)
• 6 medium (about 8″ long) bananas

All I do is wash and cut the spinach and fruit, place the ingredients in the blender in the order listed, then blend on high for a few seconds.  I spend a total of ten minutes on preparation and clean-up; the smoothie takes me between 20-30 minutes to consume.  I find that two of these smoothies daily provide me with a solid foundation for being well-nourished.

Ron’s Raw Food Diet

• Banana/Blueberry Smoothie (6 medium bananas, 5 oz. blueberries)
• Green Smoothie (6 medium bananas, 5 oz. blueberries, half a bunch of spinach)

Cooked Items (at the movies)

• Gardenburger
• Potato Wedges

I needed to write this post today.  I feel like Peter attempting to walk on water . . . I believe, help me with my unbelief!

The last few days, I’ve been mostly (but not completely) raw.  My weight has stabilized at 260 - 262 pounds.  I had planned on being down below 255 before my trip next week, but I’m not going to push that now.  This next week, I plan on eating as much raw food during the day as I want, and minimizing the nighttime “damage.”

Lately, I’ve been craving Mexican food.  So, the last couple of days, I’ve indulged myself in some black bean burritos from Taco Cabana.  I haven’t figured it out yet, but I suspect that the tortillas push my fat intake up some.  I know that the salt has got to be up there.

I suspect that my cravings come for a couple of reasons:

1. I haven’t been eating my greens faithfully every day.  When I eat a bunch of spinach (and occasionally a few stalks of celery) during the day, I don’t have the desire for cooked food.  Both Dr. Graham and Roger have said that . . . that’s going to be a top priority this coming month.
2. I haven’t been checking in daily here or at HowToGoRaw.com.  I find that when I make myself accountable by writing publicly about my experiences, I do better.

I always keep in mind that following a raw food diet is my choice . . . not an externally imposed requirement.  I remain committed to moving toward my goal of being all raw at a pace and in a manner that works for me.  Every step I move in this direction improves me . . . and self-improvement is my ultimate goal.

Today’s Raw Food Diet

• Strawberres (32 oz.)
• Nectarines (5)
• Banana/Nectarine Smoothie (3 Bananas/2 Nectarines/4 oz. water)
• “Mayan” Salad (greens, mango, grapefruit, avocado, onion, green pepper)

My wife called as she was leaving work.  She was going to Cafe Red Onion to pick up the Friday night takeout, and she wanted to know what my daughter and I wanted.  My daughter wanted the Mayan Chicken Salad (as did my wife).  I just said that I’d pass.

The Sweetheart asked at the restaurant if they would make the salad for me minus the chicken.  They said yes.

So, I got to enjoy takeout with the girls!  I doubt I’ll be this lucky every week, but it was really nice tonight.  Thanks, Sweetheart!

Today’s Raw Food Diet

• Strawberries (48 oz.)
• Grapes (8 oz.)
• Green Smoothie (7 bananas/3 peaches/ 1 bunch spinach/ 8 oz. water)

On the days that I strictly and successfully follow the raw food diet, it’s because I see myself living it as a lifestyle.  I see myself, in the future, as trim, athletic, free from illness, and having abundant energy.

What about the other days?

I have feelings about what I’m missing out on.  I’ve already mentioned that much of my social life is centered around meal times.

I think about

• Dinner and a movie with my wife . . . both at the same time!
• A weekly Chinese food “date” with my youngest daughter (who is Chinese by birth).
• Our Friday night Mexican food take out.
• Barbeque and Mexican food on the San Antonio Riverwalk with my friends.
• Chocolate milk and donuts with my middle daughter.
• Beer with my colleagues on Fridays after school.
• Sneaking out for a pizza buffet lunch with my colleagues who work across the hall.

And, I wonder how I’ll fill the voids that crop up by not eating that way any more.

Finding enough to do has never been a problem for me . . . even when growing up in a town where there was supposedly “nothing to do.”  I can keep myself as occupied as I want . . . whenever I want.  Sometimes, it even happens when I don’t want it.

However, most of those activities are either work related, household-maintenance related, or things (like writing this blog post) that I do alone.

Granted, it’s easier now than ever to find support for just about any endeavor simply by searching for a group of like-minded people on the Internet and joining it.  Virtual communities (a.k.a. Web 2.0) are springing up all over the place.  In fact, I belong to a raw food diet support community online.

I’ve done the chat thing in the past.  I won’t reveal my online identity here, but I will say that I enjoyed quite an active “virtual social life” for awhile.  After awhile, though, that got old.  The conversations seldom had a lot of depth, many of the chat room denizens were there for purposes other than just socializing, and I came to the realization that I was neglecting my “real world” relationships by hanging out online.  So, I stopped.

I’m confident in my ability to form new bonding experiences with my family.  Granted, we may miss doing some of the old eating-centered ones together, but we’ll get it figured out.

Figuring out how to replace those activites with my friends, on the other hand, is going to take a bit more thought and work.  I’ll talk about that more in another post.

Today’s Raw Food Diet

• Strawberries (3 lb.)
• Grapes (27 oz.)
• Bananas (7)
• Avocado (one-half)

My little trip off of the reservation yesterday cost me 2.5 pounds.  No worries . . . they’ll be gone in two to three days.

Today’s strategy: Eat raw fruits and greens until I’m at the bursting point.  I need to stretch the stomach, and I need to kill any cravings.

I’m not sure that cravings are my number one issue, though.

Hi, my name is Ron, and I’m a raw food diet commitmentphobe.

(By the way, is “commitmentphobe” a real world.  My WordPress editor says it isn’t.  Of course, it says that WordPress isn’t a real word either . . . ) 

Roger Haeske talks about this in his book, Think and Go Raw. Roger says that his epiphany came during a vacation trip when he realized that many of his fondest memories centered around food.  He realized that he was going to have to find new ways to make memories if he intended to stay raw.

That’s my problem.  Most of the social activities that I do with family and friends are centered around food.  And, some of the places I go with them don’t even have a decent salad on the menu to order.

One of the commitments I made to myself is that I would only eat food that I enjoy.  So, if my only salad option is iceberg lettuce with underripe tomatoes, I’m not going to eat it . . . period.

So, if there’s nothing good to eat, what’s my option?

More about this tomorrow.

Well, today I had my Steve Pavlina moment . . .

You may remember that Steve undertook a 30 day trial of the raw food diet at the beginning of this year.  He decided to return to eating cooked food on day 31.  And he paid for it.  Over the next several months, he decided that going raw was the best choice for him.

Today, I detoured from my commitment of eating 21 days raw.

The Princess and I are home alone this week.  Typically, we go out for “fun” foods when Mom is away to take her mind off of her mother’s absence.  She asked this morning if I would take her to Chuck-E-Cheese.

I wasn’t fond of that place when I ate pizza.  I definitely didn’t want to go there now.  So, I suggested a compromise that I knew would blow my 21-day plan.  But, I knew that she would enjoy it and I could minimize the “damage” to my plan.

We went to Pei Wei Asian Diner.  I had a vegan dish; she had lo mein.

She had a great time.  I, on the other hand, feel nauseous and sluggish.  It’s a little before seven right now, and I could easily crawl into bed for the night right now.

And I couldn’t be happier about feeling this way!  The only thing that could possibly have been better is if I had puked it all back up.

I’ll give you a minute to express your disgust . . .

Feel better now?  Good!

A little story: When I was younger, I enjoyed pepperoni pizza a lot.  I also enjoyed margaritas and had a reputation among my friends as a master margarita mixer (try saying that five times fast ).  One night, I made the mistake of overindulging in both and then passing out on my water bed.  I’ll leave the rest to your imagination . . .

Needless to say, I rarely indulged in either of those “treats” after that.  In fact, I couldn’t even bear the smell of any tequila-based drink for about five years after the incident.

My experience tonight gives me an anchor to fall back on the next time I think I want to eat cooked food.  In just a little over two weeks, I’m going to be out of town on business myself.

This conference, held in San Antonio, is an opportunity for me to grow professionally; more importantly, it’s an opportunity to spend time with friends that I don’t get to see nearly enough of.  And, we usually spend that time together eating.

So, I have a challenge.  I am going to spend time with my friends.  That’s important to me.

However, I’m not going to pay for that time with them by feeling sick as a dog because I went out to eat with them.  So, I’ve got some planning to do.

I know that most of the places we go serve salad.  I can stick to that when I’m with them so that I’m eating (and so that the propietors of the restaurants won’t kick me out).  However, I’m going to have to pack food if I don’t want to be hungry and tempted.

Will I succeed?  I don’t know.  One way or the other, though, I’m going to gain valuable knowledge and experience.

I’m below 260 as of today!  This is the lightest I’ve been in about four years.  I plan on losing more.  However, today also taught me that I need to be very careful not to restrict calories.  Granted, my appetite hasn’t been very big the last few days.  However, I think that I’m going to have to make myself ingest at least 2,000 calories daily to assure avoiding temptation.  Today, the Princess and I went to the store and stocked up on lots of yummy fruit!  So, I’m set to avoid temptation for the next few days.

I’ve also made an adjustment in my exercise program.  My left shoulder has bothered me on and off for years.  Two things seem to make my rotator cuff hurt:

• Sleeping on it when I haven’t exercised much.
• Bench pressing.

Since I haven’t darkened a gym door in about five years, or exercised much at all, my pushing strength is pretty low.  I’ve been doing push ups to restore it, but the combination of push ups and sleeping on my left side isn’t working for me right now.  So, I began cleaning and pressing my 16 kg. kettlebell instead.  My cleans are pretty ugly (because I haven’t practiced them for awhile) but my presses are strict and true to form.  I did some presses off and on throughout the day and my shoulder feels much better.   So, this is going to take the place of my pushup program for the time being.

Today’s Raw Food Diet

• Green Smoothie (6 bananas/2 nectarines/1/2 bunch spinach/8 oz. water)
• Grapes (27 oz.)
• Blended Salad (8 oz. tomato/8 oz. celery)

It looks like I was right about the extra weight I had accumulated.  This morning I weighed in 2.5 pounds lighter than I did yesterday.

Tonight is Mexican food night at our house.  The girls are having food from Berryhill Baja Grill.  This has been a Friday night tradition at our house for the past year.

I used to love the food from Berryhill.  But, their menu doesn’t jive with my current eating plan.  So, I had to figure out how I was going to deal with that urge.

Enter the blended salad.

Tonight, I kept it simple.  Since I was wanting salsa, I blended tomato and celery together.  I figured that would take care of the urge to consume the salty salsa.

I have mixed feelings about the blended salad.  One pound blended is only 75 calories.  That’s a good thing.  It’s also nice to eat something that’s not sweet without resorting to avocados (since I’m working on minimizing overt fats in my diet).  I can safely say that I don’t crave salsa anymore, too!

The texture is a little different.  I thought that the high water content of the tomatoes would make for a pretty thin texture.  Boy, was I ever wrong!  I’m still working on this thing as I write, and I’m going to need a spoon if I want to finish this before midnight!!!

I’ll have to experiment further with this.  The jury is still out on whether or not I want to make this a regular part of my diet.  I may wind up sticking to traditional salads and green smoothies to get my daily quotient of green vegetables.

The Princess was a little frugivore today.  We were running behind getting her out the door, so she grabbed a bag of grapes and a bag of shredded carrots to eat in the car on the way to her day camp.  Those were also her morning snack at the camp.  At lunch, she had me split three mangos and cleaned up on them!  She had a lot of questions about my way of eating today.  She’s not quite ready to make as drastic a move as me, but the notion of being vegetarian (still eating dairy and eggs) is quite appealing to her.

My appetite is still pretty low today.  I’ve eaten several pounds of food today, but it hasn’t been very calorie dense.  Maybe my stomach is still stretching . . . or maybe my body is feeding on its considerable reserves since it’s getting far better nutrition than it used to!

Today’s Raw Food Diet

• Strawberries (28 oz.)
• Grapes (24 oz.)
• Green Smoothie (6 bananas/2 nectarines/1/2 bunch spinach)

I may have shot off my mouth too soon . . . my weight didn’t move from yesterday to today.  I’m still inclined to believe that my body is holding water and waste.  I haven’t exercised enough to put on any muscle, and I don’t think I could have put on that much fat in two days . . .

Today, I didn’t feel very hungry when I got up.  When I poked around in the refrigerator, I saw the remains of a big box of strawberries that looked like it was “now or never time” if I was going to eat them.

The Princess and I went to HEB after I picked her up from her day camp.  She has been pestering me for grapes for the last couple of days.  A lot of good deals were to be had today in the produce section; I won’t be wanting for food for the next three or four days.

I added more spinach to today’s Green Smoothie blend.  It’s still pretty sweet, but not as sweet as yesterday.  Perhaps I’ll try a smoothie with a full bunch of spinach tomorrow.  Maybe my taste buds are more sensitive to sweet tastes and less sensitive to bitter ones.

Today is another one of those low-appetite days.  Yesterday, I was really impressed at how easily I consumed 2400 calories.  Today, I don’t see much chance of that happening.  If I cross the 2000 calorie mark, I’ll be surprised.

I noticed, as I sat down to write this post, that I’m beginning to get a mild headache.  My body must be fixin’ to detox from the stuff I ate for most of the last week.  It doesn’t feel like it, but I know this is a good thing.

I wonder if the two are related?  When I did a quick search on Google, I didn’t find a lot of information.  The only thing I can point to is Dr. Graham’s statements about the innate intelligence of the human body.  So, I’ll trust that I’m fine eating so little, and that my body will tell me when I should eat more.

Today’s Raw Food Diet

• Three Green Smoothies (6 bananas, 2 nectarines, 1/3 bunch spinach)

The three smoothies put my calorie intake over 2400.  That’s enough to keep me full . . . in fact, it’s more than enough (based on past experience).  Plus, 3% of the calories are coming from leafy greens; Dr. Graham recommends 2-6%, so I’m within that range.  Later in the week, I may try 2/3 bunch of spinach in the smoothie and see what happens.

FitDay says that my caloronutrient ratio is 88/6/6 (carbs/protein/fat).  That’s an acceptable ratio, too, according to Dr. Graham.

I was a “bad” boy yesterday . . . I went way off of the reservation.  I wound up gaining a couple pounds.  Again, realize that it’s pretty much impossible to gain two pounds of fat (or muscle) in a day, so the extra weight is water and waste.  It’ll be gone by tomorrow or the next day.

I’m curious to see if I’ll maintain a one pound weight loss every two to three days.  I’m guessing it will stretch out to four to five days.  I might surprise myself, though.

My next big obstacle to clear is exercise.  I don’t get enough.  One of the big reasons I want to lose weight is to make it easier to be active (like I used to be).  Ironically, I’ll have to get active at some point to get to the physical condition that I want to be in.

Today, on Roger’s forum, a member (who is returning to eating all raw after a “break”) asked the question: “How many Day Ones is someone allowed to have?”

Today is my third “Day One” since June 9.  I suspect that I’ll have some other “Day Ones” before this journey is over.

I think that lifestyle design is like any journey in that it can be subject to some wrong turns along the way.

Up until pretty recently, I used to get myself really worked up about taking a wrong turn while travelling.  I used to rant and curse and sometimes drive more aggressively in response to my mistake.  I’m not sure what it is about being lost that triggered those feelings, but they were sure strong ones.

Ironically, I always found my way to where I needed to be.  Sometimes, it meant retracing my path until I found a correct turn.  Sometimes, it meant consulting a map.  Sometimes, it even meant (shudder) stopping and asking for directions.  But, I always made it to my destination.

There are a couple of reasons that I do better with “detours” in my life than I used to (although I still have my moments).  One is that I’ve done a lot of work on my anger and I have gotten better at making the conscious choice not to get angry in the face of adversity.

The other is the work that I’ve done over the last year at becoming Complaint Free.  For those of you unfamiliar with the program, I wear a purple bracelet on my wrist that I obtained from http://acomplaintfreeworld.org.  Whenever I complain, I switch the bracelet from one wrist to another.  The goal is to wear the bracelet on the same wrist for 21 consecutive days.  My record, since May of 2007, is 9 days.  My average, at this writing, is about three days per wrist.

In other words, I can’t begin to count how many “Day Ones” I’ve had becoming Complaint Free.

Have I been a failure?

Absolutely not!  My family, friends, and colleagues have all noticed that my attitude and overall mood are greatly improved.  I’m much happier.  I’ve just about eradicated my swearing habit (I consider swearing a form of complaint).

Most importantly, I’ve never given up.  And, every “setback” has given me new knowledge about myself that helps me to improve myself.

I feel the same way about my raw food diet.

Examples abound of people who haven’t touched cooked food in years (and who wouldn’t touch cooked food if their lives depend on it).  I suspect that, someday, one of those stories will be my own.  In the meantime, I’m on the journey and determined to learn from it.

Even though I’m not 100% yet, I’ve realized a number of benefits:

• I’ve dropped weight.
• I’m sleeping without my CPAP more.
• I’m saving money (in spite of rising fuel and food prices).
• I spend less time in the kitchen preparing and cleaning up.
• I’ve gotten the upper hand on a raging sugar addiction and eliminated my dependence on caffeine.

Pretty good for a guy who hasn’t been successful remaining on a raw food diet for more than a couple of weeks at a time, don’t you think?