One Week Raw

I started this raw foods cleanse one week and one day ago.

For the first several days I felt horrible.  I wasn't just tired, I was exhausted.  I was moody.  I was headachy.  I was irritated by how difficult it was to make anything better than a salad.

Soon after this I began craving eggs.  Oddly, any time that I am protein deficient I seem to crave hard boiled eggs.  You'd think that I'd want steak or chicken, but no.  It's eggs all the way.

Because I carefully monitor my nutrients and calories, I could see that I wasn't getting enough protein.  I need about 80 grams per day and I'm getting roughly 20 on any given day.  This is with eating tons of nuts and nut butters.  To get enough protein, I would likely need my calories to go through the roof.  This is definitely not something that I could ever maintain full time.

I do feel pretty good though.  I have had people who don't know that I'm on the raw foods cleanse compliment my skin and tell me that I am "glowing."  Someone also asked what was different about me and told me that I looked good.  My energy level is up.  I did 305 minutes of cardio and about an hour of resistance training this week.   Tomorrow is my rest day.  I don't need to take and it and I'm not looking forward to taking it, but I will take it because it's so important to give your body a chance to rest.

And even though I am keeping my calories up (1400 being my lightest day), I have lost 7 pounds after 9 days of eating raw.  This makes my total weight loss 52 lbs.  So, 52 pounds down, three to go!

So, half way through my cleanse here is how I feel:

I see and feel the positive effects of eating a 100% raw diet.
I feel great.
My energy is up.
My weight loss is through the roof.
But I don't like eating 100% raw foods.
I miss baked potatoes and cooked broccoli and delicious salad dressing and soup!
I need way more protein than what I am getting and am having serious protein cravings.
This is not sustainable for me beyond a cleanse.

That said, I do think that I will try to eat completely raw for at least one day of the week and I am planning on keeping every day raw, while just eating a cooked dinner.

Because my calories are the same and my activity is so high, I don't see myself regaining this weight when I begin eating cooked foods again.

I can't believe that I am 3 pounds from my goal.

Day 4 of my raw vegan cleanse

It's been a stressful couple of days, but I've stuck to my cleanse.

I'm four days into the raw vegan diet and have conflicted feelings.  I'm dropping weight like crazy even though I'm carefully tracking my calories and nutrients.  The only nutrient that I seem to consistently be at a deficit with is protein.  I've read that a lot of research shows that humans need far less protein than we consume, so I'm not sweating it.  I find it incredibly interesting that though I'm eating the exact same amount of calories, I'm losing weight very quickly now.  I'm 6 pounds away from the original goal that I set for myself.  My BMI is back within a healthy range.  I can fit into clothes that I never thought I'd be able to get over my knees again.  Of course, this didn't happen by losing just 4 lbs, but losing so much, so quickly is always noticeable.

I do not notice a difference in my energy level.  I've been working out 6 days a week- doing anywhere from 40-60 minutes of cardio a day and following up with weight resistance training when I have the time to.  With the holiday weekend I've had to work with Jay's schedule and have had limited time.  Usually I go while the kids are in school and I have all the time in the world.  It's probably too soon to see a noticeable difference in my energy level, but I have always been under the impression that it's immediate.  It's also possible that my energy level is being effected by my non-caffeinated state.

I've been pretty creative about the food that I prepare for myself, but if I'm being honest, I MISS COOKED FOOD.  I do think that I could be a happy vegan and will likely continue to eat a mostly plant based diet, but I really miss eating warm food.

I will definitely continue with this cleanse.  I'm excited to see how I feel at the end of it.  At the moment, I'm not too impressed though.  Outside of my crazy weight loss, I just don't feel much different and though I like everything that I'm eating, I wish that I could just eat a big hunk of vegetable lasagna or a bowl of steamed broccoli or a warm apple crisp.

Some of my complaints are growing pains.  The food that I'm making is unfamiliar and the preparation of it is time consuming.  For the most part I eat raw fruits and veggie during the day and then mix myself up a fancy dinner.

Last night I made raw spring rolls and I have to admit that they were just delicious!

Here's how you make the guts

1/2 head cabbage

1/4 head red cabbage

3 cloves garlic

1 medium sweet potato

1/4 up apple cider vinegar

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 tsp raw tahini 

Put it all in a food processor and shred it to bits and pieces.  Wrap it in romaine lettuce leafs and serve with a side of stacked onion, tomato and avocado.  

Tonight, I made a raw gazpacho and am dicing avocado and onion to put inside.  Avocado has been a life saver for me.  It's filling and satisfying and nutrient dense.  And I love it, which is a bonus.  

First Day On a Raw Diet!

Today was a big success.

I suffered terribly from caffeine withdrawal yesterday and wound up with my head on the pillow by 6pm.  Luckily, I woke up feeling incredibly refreshed, and though I'm not 100% better, I am feeling wonderful in comparison to the way I felt yesterday.  Actually, I did 60 minutes of cardio at the gym this morning, which is my personal best.  In the past 5 days I've done 250 minutes and had resistance training 3 times.  Tonight, my head is still a little funky, but I hope to be back to myself by tomorrow.

I was shocked when I woke up this morning and ALREADY felt as though I had a few cups of coffee.  I just felt... awake.  Right away.  I didn't need an hour to a few minutes to wake up.  Is this what I've been missing for all these years?

I wanted to show a sample to my diet for the day, since I know that going raw can be a little bit scary and people often think of raw food as just salad.

My breakfast for the past few days has been a raw foods shake that my friend Amber gave me.

It's totally delicious and contains awesome stuff like hemp seed, gojiberry and flaxseed.  It's sweetened with Stevia.

I mix it with water instead of almond milk to keep the calories down.  One scoop has 90 calories, which is just about what I consumed in coffee each morning... so it evens out.

I had to eat lunch on the go, in the car.  Today was a huge errand day for us, so there wasn't time to make a proper lunch at home.

While doing our Whole Foods shopping, I picked up a banana, an apple and this raw pecan butter, which was more delicious than I can possibly explain in human words.

The pecan butter is really filling and it turned a mid-day snack into a satisfying meal that kept me happy until about 3pm, when I ate another banana.

For my dinner, I got creative.

I've been studying different raw foods recipes for the past few weeks and I think that I've got a few tricks up my sleeve.

Tonight I made a macadamia nut pesto using macadamia nuts, basil, garlic, EVOO, lemon juice, raw tahini and sea salt.

I tossed this pesto into raw kelp noodles, spinach leaves, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes and served a side of raw, unmarinated, spicy sauerkraut.

This dinner was pretty good and very filling.  I thought that I might have a few grapes for dessert, but didn't have room for them.

Hunger was my main concern while starting this cleanse, but I really am not hungry at all.  The nuts and seeds that I added to my diet made it easy to get the fat, calories and protein that I needed to have a healthy day and they really filled me up!

I wasn't sure how this would go... but I think I'm going to be able to make it through two weeks.