My first days of Raw!! input :)

[j923571]

My first days of a raw food diet.

A little bit about me, I love food, mostly I love steak and I love cooked meals, no one can tell me that a warm meal is not good, or that the taste is not amazing, because for me it is (or was? I can’t decide just yet). I am also a bit of a food snob when it comes to “good food”. (I like gourmet restaurants as well as gourmet foods) I am also a gym rat and have been since I was 18 (though I tend to gain weight easily as well as being a bit lazy if I am not going to the gym).
If you combine this with a busy schedule, work and 10 years you have a not so pretty combination. After some years I have managed to pack a lot of weight, mostly 17 kilograms as well as changing my nice hard pecs for a bit of man boobs, from not exercising correctly even though I still can bench 200 kilograms. Plus, (my wife could say) I drink 2 beers a day. Beer is a pleasure for me, always has been.

Once I arrived from Mexico, where I ate all kinds of delicious tacos made out of fresh tortillas, lard, pork, lots of different meats, margaritas lots of beer and so on, my wife decided to go into a raw food diet. This was for me at first one of the worst moments in history, as my wife is one of the best cooks I know and prepares some delicious meals, just thinking on getting back home for this reason, daunted me.

The first day that I arrived, she greeted me with some freshly made guacamole and carrots, I could not do anything else but complain and see how we change to “rabbit food”. The next days were accompanied by freshly made juices of many kinds of vegetables, to my surprise, lots and lots of food, until today I am never hungry.

The first days I had what I thought was a Montezuma’s revenge for leaving my country (again!), now that I see back I was de-toxing from my amazing lifestyle. I also had a bit of a headache, mental fogginess and was a bit tired all the time. Now, (you will say), why the hell will you through that?! In all honestly, the only reason I can find is, love to my wife. Because if it was up to me, I would have never found the amazing benefits for this diet, and I hope more in the future, of a lifestyle.

Today I am only in day 6, so you can say I can still crack easily, I agree, however, the reason I am writing this is because today that I went to they gym after a long time and having “the runs” and not being able to go in Mexico, nor here. I decided to run, since I woke up I felt more energized (on day 5), like when I was 18 again. So I went running, I ran 3 kms, but couldn’t stop, so I ran 5, still I had energy so I ran 9, then I said to myself, stop you will get hurt as you haven’t ran in a while, instead I went to the bench press and worked out like I haven’t in years, like something changed, my mental clarity is almost up to speed, (with this I mean I still have to detox a bit more), as I live in Amsterdam (if you know what I mean).

So, for all of you who think this is just for hippy-tree-huggers, I salute you as I would have agreed, but in all honesty and I guess with some humbleness I can say, they were (and are) right (in some things).

I will continue reporting (work permitting) and let you know how it is going, but right now I think I found a new choice that I didn’t even think I had.
I just wanted to share this with you! Have a good day.

[katchmoleen]

Haha, you really crack me up! I love your honesty and refreshing point of view. I am from a long line of meat eaters too, and my son told me yesterday he would never be all raw because he would never give up meat. Maybe I'll have him read your post. Good luck and it is so sweet how much you love your wife and how much she also apparently loves you!

[Moretta]

Welcome and good luck on your RAWNESS journey.

[Veganforlife]

RAWsome! Yes, please keep us posted. Do you or your wife have Alissa's book and DVDs? Powerful tools to help you on this healing journey!

[jacsam]

So much fun to read about your experience with raw......hope to hear from your wife. (how she found out about raw and drove her to do it and pull you along with her) Veganforlife mentioned Alissa's book and DVDs, they are worth every penny. Good luck and welcome.

[spicyfull]

I wish you everything you need to Stay RAW..........Welcome to MY World.

[Frugal Raw]

Welcome!! I wish you the best of rawesome health!!!

[j923571]

Thank you all for your good thoughts!

So,my eight day on raw food

As I wrote before, I started to eat raw because my wife was doing a cleanse as well as trying to eat healthier, I was away and she convinced me that upon my return, I would eat raw for 10 days, well, today I can give you some conclusions that I have drawn from this lifestyle.

First the negatives, as you may all know, socially is kind of hard, because you can’t drink, you can’t go out for “dinner” or “party” (at least until you get used to this lifestyle and how to integrate it into your “old self” in order to make it sustainable in the long run) plus, everyone wants to discuss why raw food is wrong and why you are just a crazy person, I am just tired to even talk about it with strangers, I know in their minds there is just "shut up hippie! you don't know what you are missing!"

Having said that, I have found this diet enriching, today, again, I ran 10k in less than an hour, for me, that is a huge step on the positive as I haven’t been able to do that since sophomore in College. Also, I started at 87kg, 23.9% fat now I am at 84.8kg and at 22.9% someone who doesn’t believe on this diet, would argue that the energy may just be a placebo effect, however, I wonder why would I still have lots and lots of energy after 8 days.

In all, I would say that this diet (I don’t like that word, can we call it lifestyle or something?!) is amazing and has improved my life. Though, I warn anyone wanting to start, there is a price to pay, that is, cooked food may just not taste the same as it did before, I are what I thought was a raw corn and it was pre-steamed- it tasted, well….like chalkboard, that is why you put the salt and butter I guess. Try it raw, its DELICIOUS!

[somelikeitraw]

Welcome! Really enjoy your posts! I agree, let's call it a lifestyle.

[Aleesha Sattva]

yup, it's a life choice for me and i love it. congrats on having the courage to give it a try and congrats on all the benefits you are already experiencing. just think of where you can potentially be in two years!!!

[j923571]

14 days raw food diet
Although yesterday I was really moody, I feel still much better, the energy levels do not decrease over time and I feel much better now physically and mentally.
To date I have lost almost 4 kilos and my fat % went down 1.5% that is a lot considering it has only been 2 weeks.
I think I still find it hard to cope with not drinking beer as I am a beer lover, but I know its bad for me but this weather doesn’t help either!
Hope all of you are well

[j923571]

First let me say thank you *forum* AND wife
It has been 45 days since I started raw food, changing beer, beef, roast and other cooked goodies has been easier than I though. Although not “thaaat” easy.
I can say that I do have more energy, however I also find myself moodier all the time. I am also tired on trying to explain to people why this is a better diet. I guess time will tell and I can be an example (or so I hope) since I started, I lost 6.5kgs and 7% of fat.
It is important to mention that I do work out a lot (at least three times a week- weightlifting or HIIT) and I am preparing for a half-marathon (again, the energy from raw food is incredible). I had to supplement with raw vegetarian protein powder (from sun warrior). I have to say I was loosing a lot of muscle in the first 30 days I noticed this because I have a scale which give your % f at % muscle% water. (Although this is not completely accurate, it is however, a good benchmark to work on, I highly recommend it!).

It also made me appreciate more ways of life that I do not understand (by this I mean, raw foodists compared to SAD, how much I learned from both and how much each are in one extreme, I think there should be a common ground as I believe extremes make it harder for everyone and some of the arguments are valid on both sides–like cooked spinach is easier to absorb and has better nutrient value when cooked-but, I don’t want to start that argument here. (Maybe I just did )
Raw foodist have the advantage in many grounds but as you all know it is not easy to keep up and it is quite expensive to make the transition or to even totally change your way of eating.

I still have to loose 6 more kilos and 7% more fat, and then I will post my results as well as how my race went(if I was able to finish). All I can say is that this forum has helped me tremendously, I wish there were more guys out there (nothing against you girls, but I need some male recommendations on how to approach this diet, if you know what I mean!).

I went from a couch potato eating a whole (big bag) of potato chips a day plus 3 to 4 beers!!! To juicing and eating raw foods, running, reading more, getting more out-doorsy and as a whole a better person, so in all it already helped me to change my way of life. Still a long shot and still really easy to go back to my “old ways” but I will continue. I hope that by October 30th or November I can post some results.