Raw Food Diet Diary

I’m sorry that I haven’t posted for a couple of weeks.  As you’ll learn in this post, I’ve been a little preoccupied with other concerns.

The day after my last post, I received an e mail that a friend and colleague had passed away.  She suffered a massive heart attack on Friday, died on Saturday, and was buried on Monday.

She was 56 years old.

Claudia’s funeral was beautiful.  It was attended by family, friends, and former students.  Her four daughters lovingly shared their memories of their mother, and she was eulogized by her boss.  My friend was full of passion and energy when it came to her cello playing and her teaching.  She is missed by many.

A week later, my mother-in-law’s significant other succumbed to cancer.  He had been battling prostate cancer for about a year.  Additionally, he was beginning to suffer from Parkinsons, and arthritis was getting the best of him.

I feel sad for my mother-in-law.  She developed her friendship with Earl shortly after both of their spouses passed away in 1997.  They propped each other up during their grief, and became consistent companions over the next eleven years.

My mother-in-law has had her own health challenges over the years.  She’s had knee and hip replacements and heart surgery over the last dozen years.  She is currently using a walker, because she hasn’t fully regained her leg strength since her heart surgery in April.  Between her lack of mobility and the loss of her companion, I’m concerned about her prognosis for the future.  Time will tell.

The Princess and I have been on our own for the last week while the Sweetheart flew home to her mother and then to a business meeting.  Last night, at bedtime, the Princess told my wife that she had been having dreams about something happening to me as well.  We don’t know what that something is; it scares her enough that she doesn’t want to talk about it for fear of dreaming about it further.

I’m not afraid of death.  I am, however, concerned about the process of dying.

Death can come at any time, regardless of how healthy my lifestyle is.  I also know that healthy lifestyle won’t necessarily fix everything if I get hit by a truck and it makes me an invalid for life.

I think, though, that dying the ways that Claudia and Earl did is almost completely avoidable.  That’s why I’m choosing to move toward a raw food diet.

However, I haven’t been honoring that commitment as well as I could lately.  I also noticed, when I checked in at Roger Haeske’s forum, that others are struggling, too.

So, as my mother used to say, it’s time to shit or get off of the pot.

Easier said than done, Mom, but I promise to do my best.

Today’s Menu

• Grapes (64 oz.)
• Green Smoothie (12 medium bananas/10 oz. blueberries/1 bunch spinach/12 oz. water)

(I also ate one black bean burrito containing black beans, rice, tomatos, chiles, and a tortilla.)

I decided to try a new strategy aimed at helping me comply with a strict

raw food diet.

Years ago, I attended a series of nutrition classes given by a naturopathic doctor in Boulder, Colorado (yes, I’ve been down this healthy eating path before).  One of the things he gave participants is an outline of what one should eat daily.  He cautioned us against approaching dietary change from a deprivation viewpoint (i.e. we shouldn’t be “punishing” ourselves by taking things away).  Instead, he encouraged us to eat everything on his list every day, and then we could eat whatever we want . . . if we had room left over.

I’ve been adopting that strategy in my transition toward the raw food diet.

The past few days, I’ve eaten a huge, four-pound box of strawberries for breakfast.  It was filling, and it held me well until lunch.  My problem, though, is that by evening, I’ve been craving starchy food . . . even if I had a green smoothie for lunch.

This morning, I ate four pounds of grapes, instead.  This effectively doubled the number of calories I’m eating in the morning.

At lunch, I did a practice run of making green smoothies to go (for work).  It takes me between 10 and 15 minutes to get the job done.  Looks like I’m going to have to push myself to get up earlier so that I can have a good lunch.

I tried eating the dozen bananas for lunch.  It takes me an hour.  Technically, I have only 30 minutes for lunch.  Fortunately, my preparation period is right after lunch.  I can choose to take a long lunch, but my preparation is going to take a hit if I do that all of the time.  Having a blender in my office is impractical at this point.  So, I’m packing smoothies in thermoses and taking them to work with me.

The forumula above makes about five pints of smoothie.  I need to buy a third thermos . . . maybe one that holds only a pint (to minimize oxidation).  Today, since I drank the smoothie immediately after making it, it wasn’t necessary.

However, I’m not sure that drinking five pints of smoothie in a single sitting was a good idea.  I’ll leave the results to your imagination, but suffice it to say that I was in a great deal of discomfort for a couple of hours afterward.  That won’t work for me when I have to face groups of 20-30 teenagers every afternoon after lunch.  So, I’ll be splitting that smoothie in half; I’ll drink half at lunch and half at the end of the school day.

I set out four pounds of strawberries and some loose leaf lettuce for dinner, but the thought of eating any more fruit today wasn’t appealing.  So, I had half of my usual (lately) dinner.  The strawberries will keep for one more day, and I’ll try them (with the lettuce) for tomorrow night’s dinner.

I’ve gotten lax about updating my raw food diet progress over the last few days as I readjust to my working schedule.  My bad!

I’ve made some terrific progress stretching my stomach.  The last three days, I’ve eaten between two pounds (grapes) and four pounds (strawberries) of food for breakfast and five pounds (bananas alone or green smoothies) for lunch.  I still ate cooked food for dinner (black bean burritos or vegetarian Chinese), but I managed to keep to a caloronutrient intake of 80/10/10.

Yesterday, I set foot in a gym for the first time in five years.  I only did three exercises: Barbell squats, pull-ups on the Gravitron, and dips on the Gravitron (the Gravitron exercises were supersetted using Escalating Density Training).  My upper body feels fine this morning, but my legs are a pair of hurtin’ units!  I plan on making this a Saturday habit (or Friday nights when I have to work on a Saturday).  During the week, I’ll look at other options.

My biggest challenge right now is readjusting my sleep patterns.  I’m finding it difficult to get back on my school-year sleep schedule.  Friday, I took a long lunch (I don’t have students or inservice yet) and came home for a 30 minute nap.  My family has been watching the Olympics together; I’ve been falling asleep while watching, then having trouble falling asleep when I get up and go to bed.  Changing that is a no-brainer . . . I’m heading for bed in the evening when I begin to feel drowsy.

That’s all the news that’s fit to print for now . . .

Today’s Menu

• 2 lb. mangos
• 3 lb. peaches

(I also ate a black bean burrito, 8 oz. black beans and 8 oz. of rice mixed together)

I learned today that I really need to have bananas for lunch.  Lots of them.

I also learned that my stomach is adapting to a larger volume of food.  Both fruit meals took a long time to eat (especially the peaches . . . over an hour), but I was not uncomfortable afterward.  I’m finding that the lower I keep my fat intake, the more food (in volume . . . not calories) I can handle.

Tomorrow, to continue my transition back, I’m going to cut out the tortilla and just eat the rice and black beans.  Friday, I’m thinking that I’ll have a little fruit before eating the rice and beans.  Beyond that, I’ll wait and see how I’m feeling.

Today, I was able to work through my “midday slump.”  I also didn’t miss my traditional “Starbucks breakfast” on my first day back at work.  The mind was willing, but the body wasn’t!

I didn’t sleep enough last night.  I wasn’t sleepy when I went to bed, so I watched TV (which usually makes me sleepy within a few minutes).  I think I was finally ready to sleep at about midnight, and I had to get up no later than 6:30 this morning.  Hopefully, tonight will be an easier go at falling asleep.

I’ve been extremely regular today.  Without getting too graphic, I’ll say that it looks like transit time for my meals has dropped down to about 16 hours.  (You may all say, “Ewwwwwwwww!” now.) 

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is today’s raw food diet report!

Today’s Menu

• 2 Green Smoothies (6 Bananas, 5 oz. Blueberries, half bunch Spinach)

I also had a couple of black bean burritos from Taco Cabana.

I had a great time in San Antonio.  I’m happy to report that I drank a half-gallon of green smoothie every morning that I was there.  The rest of the day, I ate out with friends (as I said I probably would).

The half-gallon of green smoothie was a great addition for several reasons:

I had fewer digestive problems than I usually do when I make this trip.  Part of it, I suspect is the water and fiber in the smoothie keeping me regular.  Part of it is that I didn’t feel the need to eat as indiscriminately as I usually do on this outing.

1. I slept more soundly than I usually do when in a motel (and I forgot my CPAP, so that’s really saying something).  Consequently, I didn’t have to rely on a steady caffeine infusion to stay awake.
2. It kept weight gain to a minimum . . . and I’ve already lost most of it after three days back.

The two disadvantages:

1. Pre-making and chilling the smoothies made them far less appetizing than drinking them straight from the blender.
2. I roomed with a friend to save costs, and I didn’t see a practical way of setting up a blending station sharing the room with another person.  Plus, I don’t know that blending in my room would be very neighborly . . .

Roger Haeske and Tom Brownsword both suggested eating copious amounts of fruit, instead.  I may do that next time I travel.  That’s probably better for me than letting blended fruit and veggies oxidize for three days.

Steve Pavlina shared a great article about the challenges and benefits he experienced changing to a raw food diet yesterday. I highly recommend it.  After reading it, I feel much better about my challenges in staying 100% raw.  The big takeaway, for me, is that I have to work at attaining sufficient personal “knowledge, experience, and discipline” to make the raw food diet work for me.

I return to my day job tomorrow.  Dr. Graham says that adequate rest is another important component to superior health.  So, it’s off to bed for me!

Today is the final installment of the 7 tips.  I’m headed out of town tomorrow for a professional conference and I’ll be spending little or no time on the Internet.  My next post will be sometime after Sunday, August 3.  Live well in the meantime!

Here are the last two raw food diet tips that I have to share:

Get Support!

I’m the only one in my household that is moving toward a 100% raw food diet.  My wife and youngest daughter are incredibly supportive, but they don’t know what it’s like transitioning toward eating raw in a cooked food world.  I’m sure that there is at least one raw food group in the city that I live in, but my schedule doesn’t allow me a lot of social time to actively participate.

Enter the Internet!

The great thing about the Internet is that virtual communities centered around an endless number of themes are springing up online daily.  Whatever your interest, there is very likely an online community that is centered around it.

My forum of choice is Roger Haeske’s membership site, HowToGoRaw.com.   Roger offers a lot of great resources for the aspiring raw foodist.  The great takeaway I get from the site is that I’m not the only one who has challenges going raw, and there is a community ready, able, and willing to share how they move through their own transitions toward (or how they maintain their lifestyles in) a raw food diet.

Accept Yourself!

Not all of us are Tom Brownsword.  If you read Tom’s blog from the beginning, you’ll notice that he planned to do a six-step transition.  One day, he decided to try one full day of eating raw.  Before he knew it, he had reached his first month, then two months, and now he’s well over 100 days.  Tom will be the among the first to tell you that his way may not be your way . . . you just need to keep moving toward your goal.

I’ve written previously about my experiences becoming complaint free.  What I’ve learned from my partcipation in that program is that I haven’t failed because I haven’t given up.  I also know that, as a direct result of my example, at least three other people have taken up the complaint free challenge.  All of them know that I have yet to make it for 21 consecutive days without complaining.  Yet, they see that striving for that goal has changed me for the better, they see that the goal is a worthwhile one to strive for, and they’ve chosen to join me because of my example . . . not because of anything I said.

I ran into a couple of folks recently that I haven’t seen since the last school year ended.  Both of them asked, “Have you lost a bunch of weight?”  In spite of my “detours,” the changes I’m making for the better are visible to others, too.

I keep in mind a saying that used to appear on the back of “No Fear” t-shirts: “A champion is someone who gets up one more time than he’s been knocked down.”

Tom got the raw food diet right on his first try.  He’s exceptional, and I admire the living daylights out of him for doing so.  However, most of the rest of us go back and forth for awhile.  That’s OK.  As long as you keep moving toward the goal of being raw, you don’t lose!

All the best to you in your quest to go raw!  Please do me a favor.  If you have a tip that I haven’t thought of that would help me (and anyone else reading this), please share.  Together, we can help each other to achieve greater wellness.

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!