Fit Fare

Over the years I’ve been intrigued by the Raw Food Diet. Stars such as Demi Moore and former model Carol Alt have espoused the raw food diet as an energizing wonder. It doesn’t take a genius to also figure out that by eating mostly just fruits and vegetables that you will lose weight as well. Yet neither the energy gain nor the weight loss is what has inspired me to try this diet. What has inspired me are claims by regular people that this diet has cured them of a number of chronic afflictions. One food blog which I enjoy reading regularly is The Girl Who Ate Everything which is written by a young lady living and eating in New York. Usually her blog is full of pictures of mouth-watering baked goods and sandwiches, but a few weeks ago she talked about the Raw Food Diet and how her asthma was helped by eating this way. I have also seen testimonials from people that the raw food diet has cured their juvenile diabetes, arthritis, and assorted food allergies. I cannot say that I suffer from any of these afflictions, but I am curious to see what changes my body will experience while spending a few days eating this way.

The Raw Food Diet does espouse many of my current beliefs about healthy eating; try to eat food in an unprocessed form, eat “whole” foods, and try to have the majority of space on your plate be filled with fruits and vegetables. There is a large divergence from my beliefs when it comes to the Raw Food’s Diet statement on heating food. The claim is that by heating food above a certain temperature destroys vitamins and enzymes vital for digestion. I’m not quite sure that I buy this, and I think that espousing a diet whereby you essentially eliminate whole food groups from your diet is unhealthy. The raw food diet is also very against the ingestion of cow’s milk, because of claims that it is filled with antibiotics and hormones. The diet is mostly vegan as well, although I assume I can have a few pieces of sashimi? I’ll have to do some more reading to figure out if that is allowed.

I am coming at this experiment from a very critical viewpoint, mostly because I do not believe this is diet which one person can stay on for a long period of time. I believe that a life of healthy eating cannot really be accomplished if it has a negative affect on your social life. If I went to a dinner party tomorrow, the chances of there being anything there which I could eat is low. Perhaps I could just have the salad course with some oil and vinegar, but not much else. This marginalizes and isolates people and in general increases feelings of deprivation in normal people. Yet I cannot overlook the supposed healing power attached to this movement.

Strictly considering my own feelings of deprivation, I will certainly miss a morning bowl of cereal with milk, but I can handle not having that for a few days. What I will find almost impossible to give up are what can be considered cultural “staples”, such as pasta, rice, bread, and potatoes. These usually make up about 25% - 50% of each of my meals, and eliminating those items will be difficult. Yet I am doing this because I would really like to see if I feel different. Will I have a glow like Carol Alt and Demi Moore? Will my post-meal indigestion and occasional evening heartburn disappear? Only time will tell. My initial goal is to eat raw for at least three days, and possibly go for five, depending on how it is going. I am training for a half-marathon in September, so if my energy level is unusually low I may have to make some adjustments. Wish me luck!