I’ve been traveling for the past two weeks. For the first few days I was diligent about sticking to my raw food diet. Breakfast would typically be a few pieces of fruit. I carried raw almonds with me to snack on during the days. Lunch was typically a large salad. Dinner would typically be eaten out (or should I say “ordered in” since we were conducting focus groups during dinner time) with my Microsoft teammates; usually Chinese, Thai or Italian. I was doing alright, actually feeling great; then I headed out to Philadelphia to hang out with my college buddies and go to a wedding. I fell off the bandwagon.
Luckily, my college buddies also happen to be triathletes, runners and cyclists. Which means that no matter how much alcohol, or how many burritos were consumed the night before, working out the following morning was an absolute given.
After a few days of this craziness, and a couple days back at work, I headed out this past tuesday afternoon for a multi-day sailing adventure in Puget Sound with a few friends. Even when the sun is shining, the cool wind on The Sound cuts right through you. Fortunately, someone snuck a bottle of whisky, giant bags of chips and few packs of chocolate covered cashews on board. That stuff will definitely keep you warm 
So since last Friday, I’ve been about 10% raw at best. I’ve supplemented with more than my share of crap food. I’ve had much less sleep than normal. I’ve been over hydrating with Lionshead Pilsner, Stella Artois and Hot Whisky.
It’s hard to say if it is all the cooked food or the lack of sleep or the alcohol that has been making me irritable and totally tanking my energy level (probably all of the above); but it has been a nice comparison point to my little raw food experiment.
Besides the generally lower energy level, I find that as my diet reverted back to a more “normal” diet, many of my bad habits resurfaced. I felts like drinking coffee to wake up (and often did, including today). I slept later than normal. I overate, or just ate crap. I also wasn’t as mentally alert or pleasant to be around. Not that I turned into some raving lunatic, but the shift was much more dramatic than I would have expected.
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