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View Full Version : 30 Days RAW!! Heading into my next 30 days...



MangoMan
05-12-2006, 03:40 AM
Hi everyone! I am so proud of myself. (Ooh, an older part of me wiggles a little bit at proclaiming that I'm proud of myself, in public. Ah well, it is true, and there shouldn't be shame in saying it.) After a year of reading this forum, purchasing the book and DVD, watching it, ... and waiting ... I decided to take the '30 Day Challenge' .. and I just completed it!! I got to see when I am reaching for food just to satisfy an emotional need (and still ate it if I wanted), I noticed how often most people eat processed and refined foods, I let myself eat whenever I wanted and not harsh on myself, and I had the fun of knowing that I was on a quest - could I really eat only raw foods for 30 days!

I wrote about this in my journal, so I'll repost it here. Thanks to all of you for being on this forum and contributing to such a wonderful and supportive environment!!
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Today is my Day 30!!

WOW, this went quite well! Except for a few times with my wilderness class, I ate 100% raw. It wasn't difficult, though I am finding that I still need to either prepare dishes a few times a week, or eat novel raw foods. Sometimes I'm bored with the same foods, because I've grabbed some nuts and fruit for my lunch in a hurry .. for too many days that week. However, prepping more dishes from Alyssa's book should remedy that.

So here's my confession: I was planning to do this for 30 days, 100% raw, and then decide what I want to eat. I wasn't planning on living on live foods forever. Today is day 30, and I feel I have hardly given this way of eating a chance, so I am heading into another 30 days. This time I'll be making more meals and expanding my understanding of how to prepare raw meals. Am not yet ready to add exercise into the mix, but I will add in stretching.

I have a list I made of my pre-raw bodily complaints, and I want to check in on it, but I am going to wait until this second phase of 30 days is complete. I want to really give my body time to adjust to this new way of eating.

The most fantastic thing is that, for the last 30 days, I haven't had ANY processed foods! Can't ever remember a time when I could have said such a thing! This alone feels great. On top of it, to say that I've been eating raw foods ... now that is incredible!

Today my wife said, "You're food is life! My food is ... death." It sounds so harsh, doesn't it? I asked her if it sounded any better to say that my food is life, and her food is filler. ;) All kidding aside, she has supported me very much - tasting my odd greenish smoothies (and my odder green lemon pudding), praising my stick-to-it-iveness, thinking of me when she's at the grocery store, etc. I sure do love her!!

Ginger
05-12-2006, 04:23 AM
WOOT!! Right on!! :D

MangoMan
05-12-2006, 04:49 AM
Thanks RVM! Great new avatar as well!!

Finding Me
05-12-2006, 05:03 AM
:D Congrats MangoMan!! :D

Mookie
05-12-2006, 05:27 AM
F A N T A S T I C !!!

vegggeeemom
05-12-2006, 10:11 AM
MM,

That's a great accomplishment. And yes, doesn't it seem funny that it seems a little to say we are proud of ourselves for accomplishing something, but that's great and you should be proud of yourself.

Here's to the next 30 days and it being a breeze for you!

Pam

robertandenith
05-12-2006, 10:15 AM
yay!!!! WTG MM!!!

how do you feel? Now... is your wife ready for the change as well? just by that statement she made, it's clear that she knows her food is just not going to supply the nutrients she needs. You should now challenge her!! ...in a good loving way of course! :p :D

swingbolder
05-12-2006, 10:17 AM
Yay mangoman!!! Congratulations. And yes -- you should be proud!

MangoMan
05-13-2006, 10:54 AM
WOW, thank you everyone!! It feels so great to take on a challenge, and to put myself into it 100%. I am learning a lot about eating raw, and inspired by the incredible recipes posted on this forum, as well as by the incredible stories of successes and challenges.

Enith, it has never worked very well for me to pressure my wife into anything... she's almost as headstrong as me! ;) So that option is out. Bummer. :) I do challenge her on things, but eating touches people so deeply .. we are all emotionally attached to food, at some level. Eating all raw is 'radical' to many people .. but I can see that just by being me and supporting my wife in her own choices, she is open to seeing how my food choices are contributing to my well being. It seems that the best way I can influence her is just by being me 100% and being a model. She will then be able to draw her own conclusions and choose more powerfully.

I do sometimes wish I could just corral her into something. Then again, she probably wishes the same of me at times. :D

Thanks for all of your posts! Here's to Day 2 of Challenge 2! Now, what shall I eat for breakfast...

rawpriestess
05-13-2006, 11:54 AM
MANGO MAN,


Massively cool, and CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

YOU RAWK!!!

go for the 30, you can do it again, and again, and again, and again.

MangoMan
05-13-2006, 02:14 PM
Thanks for the encouragement, RP!

Rawkinlocs
05-13-2006, 02:28 PM
What an inspiration! CONGRATS for this 30 and more to come!

sosiesmom
05-13-2006, 02:31 PM
You are an inspiration. I'm on Day 13 and it's flying by....

Shan
05-13-2006, 04:25 PM
Congrats Mangoman, that's fantastic! I'm on day one of thirty :) Hopefully I can be as successfull as you!

Shan

PATH301
05-13-2006, 10:45 PM
Congrats MANGOMAN,
Your doing a fantastic job. 30 days done with! Keep on cruising to the next the next 30 :D

MangoMan
05-14-2006, 01:14 AM
Rawkinlocs - Thanks!!

Shan - there is no doubt that you can do it! The only tip I have is to make sure you have a lot of food options at hand. That way you have no excuse but to eat yummy raw food stuff instead of going back to what you were used to... I always have nuts, dehydrated fruit (hello gas!), fresh fruit, carrot sticks, etc. with me wherever I go. I also have purchased some raw bars, like Larabar and Raw Revolution .. it seems odd to pay for a bar that has like 3 ingredients in it - but if that is what helps me get through the day, then I'm all for it!! Oh, BIG suggestion: Visit these boards OFTEN, and post any questions, concerns, comments you have!! This is a HUGE supportive community!

PATH301 - whenever I see your photo/avatar, I always think of you as being an angel ... it looks like you have wings on! Really, don't know if others have already commented on that, but every time I see it I think of you as an angel. And with your posting on the How Tall Are You thread, it sounds like you're a Tall angel! :D Thanks for your kind words!!

MangoMan
05-14-2006, 01:25 AM
Hey, I have counted exactly ZERO calories since going Raw.
I've stepped on the scale exactly ZERO times (don't even own one).
I've eaten anything (raw) that I want and as much as I want ... and get this:

Next week is my birthday and I went to REI with a gift card my dad sent me to go get some clothes .. I only have like 2 pairs of pants, a few shirts that I really like, etc. I have been VERY hesitent to buy more clothes because for several years I've been getting larger. Uh, let's make that 10 years that I've been getting larger. Anyway, the last pair of pants I purchased was a size 42. :eek: And that was in November .. and I'd gotten larger then that because they were fitting very snug! I went to REI and tried on a pair of pants that were size 42 and ... ... ... they were WAY too big! I tried on a 40, but still too big! I couldn't believe it. I tried on a size 38, and they fit perfectly! I then tried on a 38 in several other manufacterers pants, just to see if it was a fluke .. but no, I'VE DROPPED 4 PANTS SIZES since my Master Cleanse and 30 Day Raw Challenge!! WOOHOO!!! :D

I also am wearing a Large shirt in most manufacturers instead of an XL! And all of this is entirely from my way of eating. I haven't worked out once. Not that I don't want to, just that I am not yet ready to make that emotional and physical and time commitment. So WOW-WEE!! I am THRILLED!!

Just had to share with the community! Thanks for reading!

rawpriestess
05-14-2006, 01:26 AM
mangoman, I always see that window in the door of Path's pic as angel wings too.


I've never said anything, because for the longest time I thought they were wings, and he was in a costume or something, then one day I realized it was a door, and I thought I should have mentioned the wings earlier, LOL

Path, did you plan that?LOL