Raw Vegan 30 Day Challenge : Day 1-10 update

I have posted below a log of the first 10 days of my raw vegan 30 day challenge.

January 20, 2009

I completed my 2nd day of a 30 day trial of eating only raw fruits and vegetables. I had a kale, banana, and frozen blueberry smoothie (40 ounces) for breakfast, a mixed salad with pineapple and 2 bananas for lunch with orange juice. I had a banana for afternoon snack. I had a salad and a bowl of fruit for supper. I had basically the same menu as yesterday. I weighed 172.0 pounds this morning. The 3 pounds I lost is probably mostly water and detox.

I have not been able to exercise the last few days because of the weather and my 12 hour schedule. I hope to start back commuting to work on my bike Thursday. The roads will be too icy to ride in the morning. I may run tomorrow after work.

January 21, 2009

I have now finished 3 days of eating raw. I basically had the same thing today as yesterday, but I replaced the salad and fruit for dinner with a spinach, banana and blueberry smoothie. The smoothies are very satisfying and filling. I gave up on my raw challenge after 3 days the last time I tried it because I was not eating enough calories. I lost 7 pounds in 3 days and was having massive cravings for cooked food. I learned that I have to eat a lot more fruit because raw veggies are highly nutritious but very low in calories.

I have been getting a lot of encouraging support from family and friends. Thank you, all! Now that I have made it public, it is much harder to give up.

This morning I weighed 169.8 pounds. That is 5 pounds in 3 days. I expect the weight loss to slow down within a week.

January 22, 2009

I successfully completed 4 days as a raw vegan. I enjoyed my usual spinach/blueberry/banana smoothie for breakfast and a mixed greens salad with fruit for lunch. I had a banana for morning snack, but I was too busy today at work to stop for an afternoon snack. This week has been very busy and stressful. I would usually come home after such a busy day and have major carb cravings for things like bread, rice and beans. However, I did not want to post today that I gave up the raw trial after only 3 days. I was also too tired to write this post, but I decided to do it anyway. Good habits come from consistently doing the little things that lead to big results. Focus on the process and not the goal. In other words, don't worry about the huge goal like losing weight or doing a marathon. Instead, focus on eating healthy at the next meal or going on a run today. So, I should just focus on eating one raw meal at a time and posting one short note at a time.

This morning, I weighed 169.6 pounds. I am beginning to feel a calm energy even through my fatigue of working 6 12-hour shifts this week. Yesterday and today, I felt such a surge of power that I wanted to sprint down the halls of the hospital. I am missing my exercise this week.

January 23, 2009

Day 5 and still raw. I slept 8 hours last night, went for a 3 mile run and saw the kids off to school after their 2 hour snow delay. After the run, I ate 6 clementines and 1 banana - delicious. I then read for a while and slept until 2:30. I woke up hungry and fixed a kale, banana, blueberry and flax seed smoothie. I will probably have some fruit before I leave for work and then have a green smoothie for a midnight snack at the hospital. I make it at home and bring it to work in a thermos. I will also bring some bananas to snack on. The reason I have so many smoothies is because they taste good, are filling and don't have to be chewed. Have you ever tried to eat 1 pound of raw greens? They take forever to chew. It is also better to blend the greens because this helps to rupture all of the cell walls to release the most nutrition. I use a Vitamix blender. They are expensive, but they last forever and would make Tim "the Toolman" Taylor happy with the amount of power they deliver.

I weighed 168.7 pounds this morning. I need more calories so I don't lose weight so quickly.

January 24, 2009

Day 6. I managed to stay raw last night at work. I finally got enough calories in the last 24 hours since my weight did not drop - holding steady at 168.7 pounds. I had a green smoothie at midnight and snacked on 3 clementines and 2 bananas. I was tired and feeling the need for comfort when I got home this morning. I had an intense craving for a bowl of hot grits, but I ate 5 clementines instead. I slept and then woke up to have a green smoothie and will probably have some raw veggies before work.

Like many people, I tend to eat for comfort. Eating raw does not really satisfy the cravings. One of the reasons that I am doing the raw challenge is to break the habit of eating for comfort. I used to eat ice cream, cookies, lots of buttered toast, scrambled eggs with cheese grits and other unhealthy foods before becoming vegetarian in 2001. Since then, I eat cooked carbs when I need comfort food. Although the carbs I have been eating are much healthier, I really want to break the habit of eating for comfort. I need to find a new habit to take the place of eating when I am stressed or need comfort food. If you have any ideas, please post them in the comment section.

January 25, 2009

Day 7. I was having major food cravings yesterday. Julie made a tasty veggie plate for Kess and I last night before I went to work. She sliced tomatoes, mushrooms, red bell peppers, carrots, broccoli, and avocado. I made a really good dip with spicy brown mustard, raw Agave nectar, and soy sauce. Technically the mustard and soy sauce are cooked, but I made the small sacrifice to keep the motivation up for the bigger challenge of eating an abundance of raw veggies. Sometimes, you must make small sacrifices to achieve a larger objective. My objective is not to be a perfect raw vegan, but to massively improve my health. Remember this for your own goals and challenges.

I had a green smoothie after dinner for desert and then another green smoothie at midnight after I finished the first wave of admissions in the ER. The veggie plate really helped the cravings, and I did not feel like snacking at all last night at work. I seem to be sensitive to too much sugar. I remember getting very moody and depressed after eating a lot of processed, sugary junk foods in the past. I think I have been eating relatively too much fruit in my attempt to get enough calories. I need to eat the same amount of fruit, but increase the veggie intake. I am still losing weight quickly, which suggests that I am not getting enough calories. I weighed 166.0 today. That's 9 pounds in 7 days - too much too quickly, but I did expect this to happen in the first week based on my previous weight loss experience.

I had a green smoothie for breakfast, slept for 3 hours, then had a green smoothie for lunch and went on a very cold 42 mile bike ride with great friends (OJ to drink on the ride). I came home and had 2 clementines for a snack and then a repeat veggie plate and smoothie. I just finished a snack of 3 clementines and now I am off to bed. I have jury duty tomorrow. I think I will bring a smoothie in a thermos and some bananas and clementines. This will be my first real challenge. I am going into an unknown situation. Most people who go to jury duty can just go to the nearest fast food restaurant for lunch and be back in time for the afternoon session. However, there are no raw food restaurants in Goldsboro, although I might be able to go to Ruby Tuesdays for the salad bar. They have an excellent salad bar - more than just iceberg lettuce. If I only have an hour, I may be cutting it close to getting back in time. I am a stickler for being on time. Well, enough with making myself nervous. I will make it work.

January 26, 2009

I made it through day 8. I did not lose weight today (166.0). I had a green smoothie for breakfast and then trudged off to the courthouse to sit in the jury room until after 3:00. For lunch, I had a green smoothie. I did not get hungry during the day, but I was feeling the need for comfort because I came home tired and grumpy about spending my day off in jury duty. I do believe it is important to serve, but I would rather be home or on my bike on a day off.

I had doubts about continuing the 30 day challenge. This doubt was magnified by the fact that I was up until after midnight last night doing laundry. I was already tired after working all night Saturday. I usually go to bed at 9:30. In the past, my biggest trigger for eating junk food for comfort was having a busy, stressful day and coming home tired and feeling like I needed to veg out (pun intended). Now I come home and veg out. I had orange juice and a salad for dinner with the mustard dressing I described in a previous post. For a snack, I had a banana and 4 clementines. I still do not have an effective strategy for dealing with cravings and doubts like I had this evening, but I struggled through it. What helped most was telling my 2 daughters about my moment of weakness. They are very bright, supportive and insightful. They always know what to say. The whole family watched the new episode of "John & Kate Plus 8" tonight. That was fun and very comforting.

What triggers do you have that get in the way of your goals? How do you deal with them?

January 27, 2009

Hooray! Day 9. I feel much better today. I think I was just tired yesterday. I really appreciate all of the support from friends and family. It made me realize that no one accomplishes anything worthwhile by themselves. I frequently have epiphanies of the obvious.

I had a green smoothie for breakfast and then came home for a 3 hour lunch break from jury duty to have a banana, a medium sized salad and half of my usual green smoothie. I had an afternoon snack of a banana and 3 clementines. For dinner I had a veggie plate with carrots, avocado, tomato, red bell pepper, yellow squash, zucchini, and the spicy mustard dip that I mentioned in a previous post. After supper, I finished the other half of the green smoothie. I found a great recipe for raw applesauce dessert on a raw vegan group discussion board on Facebook. It is very simple and tastes incredible. I highly recommend you try it. Peel 4 or more apples and throw them in a high powered blender (like a Vitamix), add cinnamon and blend until liquid. It is best served chilled. My daughters loved it, and so did I. It will definitely become a staple. A big part of remaining on this raw diet is finding a variety of things to eat that taste great and are simple to fix. People frequently ask me when they find out that I am vegan, "What do you eat?" I was eating far more variety of foods that taste good on my cooked vegan diet than I ever did when I was eating Southern Fried. I am working on getting the same interesting variety on the raw diet. I would like to eat this way permanently if I can do it. I will decide at the end of the 30 day challenge. I feel bursting with energy today. Maybe the detox period is over.

I gained weight since yesterday - 166.4. Most of the initial weight loss was water and maybe 2-3 pounds of fat. I expect the weight loss to plateau and then slowly trend down at least another 10 pounds.

January 28, 2009

I completed day 10 with no hitches. I felt surprisingly centered and calm today. I had a green smoothie for breakfast, lunch and supper. I added whole flax seeds to the breakfast and supper smoothies. For dessert, I enjoyed a bowl of the delicious raw applesauce that I described yesterday. It is really strange that food cravings that I have battled for over 30 years seem to be vanishing. I smell cooked food and it smells good, but I just really don't want to eat it. Most of what I have read in the raw vegan forums suggest that it is easier to eat 100% raw because adding just a little cooked food brings back the cravings. I really did not believe most of what I have read in the last year about the pleasures of eating simple, raw meals. I read about having 6 bananas or 12 clementines as a satisfying meal, and now I am beginning to understand that it is not only possible but desirable.

I have always had a student type personality - I love to read, research and study a topic to the nth degree before taking the first step. Now, I realize the value of the clinical trial. You need to just get out there and do it. I teach my kids that if they want to succeed, they need to make mistakes. In other words, take action, learn from it and adjust your next action. I made lots of mistakes the first time I tried to go raw last year. I think I will be successful this time.

The initial weight loss is stabilizing. I weighed 167.0 this morning. I think I have lost most of the water and excess toxins.