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View Full Version : Yes! 5 days of camping/hiking/playing raw!!



MangoMan
05-27-2006, 02:16 PM
I did it!! I went on a 5 day trip with my class and ate raw foods the entire time!

I spent the last 5 days in the Okanogan hills of Washington. Our class (http://www.wildernessawareness.org/WARPResidentialPrograms.html) went out there to learn the ways of the scout. In essence, we broke into 4 teams and played capture the flag over 80 acres of wilderness – moving silently day and night, without compass or flashlight, listening to the language of the birds to tell us who was where. We actually did more than that, having other games and exercises during parts of the day, and eating meals together. I slept (the few times I actually slept instead of scouting all night long) under a tarp wrapped in only a wool blanket. And it rained BUCKETS out there! So happy to say that I not only survived the experience, but that I had a great blast of a time and was able to eat raw foods the entire time!

I brought with me a huge bin of food:
Lots of mangoes, avocados, oranges, apples, and almonds.
Several of each bar: Raw Revolution, Larabars.
Some tomatoes.
A package of raisons.
A jar of Apitherapy raw Honey (my all time fav honey!)
Some lemons and other fruit that my mom sent me from her trees.
A few bell peppers.
Mixture of dates and cashews.
2 of those personal watermelons.
Oh, and a dozen bananas, of course! :D

I ate bananas for breakfast, with some other fruit, and almonds. Pretty much had almonds in my pocket the entire time so I could snack on them whenever I needed a lift. Breakfast was usually a time when IÂ’d have a fingerful of the raw creamed honey.

For lunches or dinner I would often have an avocado with slices of meyer lemon and a sprinkling of sea salt (or the seasoning Spike .. probably not raw, but in such a tiny quantity that I thought it worth it). I might also slice the avo and put it in a bell pepper with tomatoes, lemon and a pinch of seasoning. And any other fruit I thought I needed to round it out. One evening I ate a salad made from my food and some lettuce and sugar snap peas and carrots the class had brought for a meal.

The bars were good for food on the run (or crawl as the case might be).

I rarely ate the raisons, but sometimes a sweet dessert was wanted, or an afternoon sugar pump .. and raisons certainly provide that!

I actually never ate the watermelons, but am presently drinking them blended with apple, banana and hemp seeds. Yum!!

Oh, I brought a pineapple! Shared that with folks!

I usually ate the oranges whole, but also brought a little hand squeezer so I could indulge in fresh squeezed orange juice on occasion.

Mmm, and I ate some plants while on the move. I didnÂ’t think I could bring any lettuce/spinach etc. and have them stay good .. but I did forage while out there. I ate some dandelion, mullein, young fir needles, dock leaves, yarrow, ....

I was never hungry. Well, the last night when I was guarding our flag for hours and hours in the rain ... toward 3am I could hear my tummy grumbling a bit. The amazing thing is that I had plenty of energy during this entire trip! The most hours of sleep I got was four in a night. Two another night, and none the last night! Once I had a nap of a couple of hours. The rest of the time that we werenÂ’t together for meals or something being taught, I was walking/crawling over acres and acres and acres and acres! And I am not someone who has worked out in a long time. (Do wish to start that up though.)

I am not saying that I’m going to eat raw forever. I don’t know what I’ll be eating next month. However, my first “30 Days” was fantastic, and this current “30 Days” is magnificent! My time last week really showed me that my body does quite well with eating raw foods.

Next week will be even more of a challenge because I am heading out with my class on a 5 day survival trip. I will only get to bring the clothes on my back and the shoes on my feet! Not even a knife. IÂ’m sure IÂ’ll find many wild edibles. Not sure the salmonberry is ripe yet .. that would be a huge source of vitamins and sugar. Our class will most likely be catching some animals to eat as well. When in a survival situation, the important thing is to have shelter, water, fire and food. During that situation, if the food comes in animal or vegetable form matters not. IMHO.

I wonÂ’t have much time to connect on this forum since I still have some of my Kamana naturalist studies (http://www.kamana.org/) to complete before the final week of school, but I will love to catch your comments soon.

VibraTechJulie
05-27-2006, 05:04 PM
Wow Rees, I am sure impressed! Stick with it!
Raw Blessings,
Julie

MangoMan
05-28-2006, 12:28 AM
Julie,

Thanks for the encouragement!!

rawpriestess
05-28-2006, 01:34 AM
CONGRATULATIONS, you did great, sounds like yuou had a great time.

Dragggon
05-28-2006, 01:56 PM
WOW sounds like you did and will soon again have a great time being one with nature

safe journeys

RowanC
05-28-2006, 02:19 PM
Sounds like a wonderful trip and you are certainly an inspirition for my pilgrimage. I plan on buying fresh fruit/veggies along the way whenever possible and packing some nuts in my pack.

Thanks for sharing!

MangoMan
05-28-2006, 06:17 PM
RP - Thanks! It was incredible!

Dragggon - I've never headed out with less, and spent so much time in nature. Well, I've gone on 10 day and 2 week trips before, but they were well organized by other people than myself. This trip tomorrow will certainly push 'my edges' to an extreme. I'll not only be dealing with a fasting situation (can't imagine we'll find a huge amount .. we'll see), but also creating fire from friction to burn bowls out of fallen wood to use as water containers for when we heat up rocks to put into them to boil / purify the water, we'll be building shelters, learning the landscape (we have no idea of where we'll be other than W. Washington), dealing with either extreme rain (like it is now .. which will make water collection much easier but will create more of a concern of hypothermia) or sunny days which will caution us against sun stroke and burn (no sunscreen other than what natural forms we can find), and what may be the biggest challenge: group dynamics (22 of us students who are close, but putting us in a situation where people will be without many calories, without their vices, and with their fears ... should be interesting!!).

RowanC - If possible, make or buy some raw bars. Then use them as a treat .. the nuts will be great, and the fresh fruit and veggies will be awesome .. but there may be lean times where it doesn't work out to buy what you need and a bar would ease you through it. Can't wait to hear about your adventures as well!!

Thanks y'all for chiming in here!! 'See' you in a week!