Learnings from Raw Food Diet

I have been travelling since last thursday. A good friend was getting married in Pennsylvania and I have been making the rounds to visit family in NYC/NJ/PA. After the wedding and a few days of parties, I’ve finally made it to home sweet home.

My raw food diet is now officially OVER. My original goal was to keep up with a 70% raw food diet for 30 days before switching back to a mostly vegan diet, with a point to consumer more water-rich foods than normal (fruits and veggies targetting 30%-50% of total diet, either raw or cooked). I am moving into that phase of my diet right now. After 17 days on the raw food diet I trully felt amazing. I lost weight and was getting stronger. However, travelling around and staying with family has made it hard to keep up this program.

I will be applying what I have learned to the way I eat going forward. Some of the major lessons:

• When you are tired, you must 1) Breath 2) Drink and then lastly 3) Eat….in that order. 80% of the time, #1 or #2 will take care it. The body is rarely hungry (physiologically speaking) when you feel that you are hungry.
• Triple the amount of vegetables you eat. At least. As a vegetarian, I though I ate enough but after some introspection it was clear that I wasn’t eating enough fresh veggies to have any impact on my health. Modern Western nutrition and the food pyramid is wrong. Look at many foreign diets (Asian, Indian, Meditteranean, Middle Eastern) and there is much higher emphasis on whole grains, veggies and fruits. Even in these cultures, the diet is morphing to a more western-based diet that is heavy on meat and starchy food (I mean really…potatoes might technically be a vegetable but come’on…eat some spinach for godsake!)
• Throw out any fruit juice in your fridge: it is pure acid and toxic to the body (really)….only drink fresh squeezed stuff (mmmmm Jamba Juice!). Drink juiced veggies if you can.
• Drink 1 or 2 servings of a “green” drink mix (like SuperFood or Green Magma) a day. It alkalizes the blood and keeps energy levels high without adding a lot of junk calories your body doesn’t need. It also will mitigate skin problems you might have.
• Eat veggies (carrots and broccoli) or a few pieces of fruit for breakfast. Avoid any processed carbs, including cereal or breads; especially in the morning. Once you start creating a high insulin response in your body early in the day, you are setting yourself up for a erratic energy level.
• Avoid dairy if you can. It is tough for the body to digest. If do eat dairy, make sure to eat a big green salad or la big serving of veggies with it (raw or lightly cooked)
• Cut back on the coffee. After a few days on the raw food diet I had so much energy I never needed coffee. It dehydrates you and makes it impossible to maintain a sustained and high level of energy throughout the day. If you want to drink it because you like the taste (as I do), that is fine…just know and be honest about why you are drinkin it.
• The body can operate on much less food than you think, while still retaining strength and keeping energy levels insanely high. The key is to make sure what you eat is very high quality and to get your stomach and gut clean and effective so your body can proerply assimilate what you eat.
• Avoid useless snacking. if you are really hungry, eat a few almonds or a carrot. Avoid that if you can. I watched a lot of the Discovery Channel when I was a kid. I never saw Lions running around snacking on rabbits and lizards. No. They ate meals. I am not saying you need to gorge yourself yourself like the lions. But eat meals during mealtime and leave the snacking to the vultures.

Related posts:

1. Raw Food Diet: Day 16
2. Raw Food Diet: Day 11
3. Raw Food Diet – Day 50
4. Juicing
5. Raw Food Run-In
6. Two Keys To Diet Success
7. Body Tranformation: Check-In