Fit Fare

In order to prepare for my attempt to “eat raw” for a week, I started with a shopping trip. Fresh fruits and vegetables were the basis of my shopping list, but I knew I had to come up with some other options. I just couldn’t seem to picture eating a smoothie for breakfast, a salad for lunch and then… a salad for dinner? I needed to find some other options with some more “staying power”. I stocked up on fresh fruits and vegetables at my local farmers market, and then scouted my area for the closest health food store in order to find foods that I felt would be delicious and keep me satisfied, but still be considered “raw”.

The store had a lot of raw foods: nuts, seeds, dried fruits, and juices. The store also had a refrigerated case with ready-made raw food meals and treats. The options were very intriguing, and I ended up selecting a GRAWnola bar with fudge which is a product of Awesome Foods. I also purchased some raw almond butter, some flax seed crackers, and a bottle of organic pineapple juice. While I was excited for my purchases, the items were quite pricey. This was a factor that I did not really take into account when I planned to do this diet.

Day one of the diet started on Monday August 13. I started the day with a smoothie that consisted of half a banana, half a cup of orange juice, fresh pineapple, and ice. This smoothie was refreshing and surprisingly satisfying. I also ate the other half of the banana with the smoothie. Things got a little dicey when I reached for my coffee cup. Was coffee part of the raw food diet? Gosh, I just didn’t know. I doubt it, but I don’t know that giving up coffee was what I signed up for. I had my cup; but I couldn’t help but feel that by 9am on the first day that I had already cheated.

I felt good through to lunchtime, at which point I pulled out my flax seed crackers and nut butter. This was a quite satisfying snack and the flax seed crackers were quite good. The afternoon snacks consisted of an apple and some cherry tomatoes. I got through my afternoon workout ok, but when my husband came home, everything went to pot. I hadn’t really shared my raw-food quest with him, figuring I could push some salads on him and he wouldn’t notice. After my workout though, the stomach was grumbling loudly, and when he suggested cooking I muttered “uh-huh”, and there were no more raw foods consumed for the rest of the day. I had pasta, roasted tomatoes and peppers on the grill, and a 4oz. chicken breast sprinkled with fresh parmesan. Boy, it was good. Summing up the first day, I would say I ate about 70% raw. Not too bad, but I was really hoping to do better.

The second day I started with the same smoothie as on Monday, and I ate my grawnola bar for lunch, along with some flax-seed crackers and almond butter. The grawnola bar was absolutely delicious, almost worth the $5 cost. I had some raw vegetables and hummus later in the afternoon, and in the evening I had a salad with oil and vinegar, followed by some fresh strawberries for an evening dessert. The second day I ate almost completely raw, with the exception of my cup of coffee, and as an after thought I realized that the hummus was probably not raw.

This happened with many everyday foods that I considered eating. Salad dressings, regular peanut butter, regular nuts, hummus – these are all foods which I initially thought were raw, but after some thought I realized that they weren’t. Eating raw requires a lot of planning, and I found myself getting caught unprepared.

A disclaimer: I have never been very good with diets of exclusion. I do not eat beef or pork, and have not done so for over 15 years, but any other exclusion can make me obsess on the product I am excluding and I break fairly easily. I had hoped to be able to eat 100% raw during this time, but after doing a fair amount of reading, I’ve reassured myself that by eating a majority, I was doing ok, but should really try to do 100%.

There were some positives through the first two days though. I never thought I could be full throughout the morning with a breakfast consisting solely of fruit, but I was; this may be a change in my morning habit that I stick with – only fruit before lunch. My skin looked brighter, and I definitely felt good. Not a drastic change, but I certainly felt lighter and happier.

I’m sure I will have more to say on this experience when it is over, and I will be finishing up my report on the Raw Food Diet next week.