30 days raw! – Eating uncooked food for a whole month

I began this year with a post about some of my goals for 2010. One of my goals was to improve my overall health by eating more raw foods and I mentioned that I might try going to a completely raw food diet for one month this year to really give it a serious try and also as a way to challenge myself and test my self-discipline. Eating raw, uncooked, vegan foods is one of the best ways to raise energy levels and detox the body in a safe and natural way. Over the last couple weeks I have cleared out almost all of my processed and cooked foods and meats to minimize temptation during the next 30 days. I ate my last 3 Bacon & Egg McMuffins 3 days ago, and ordered my last pizza 2 days ago and I think I’m finally ready for the challenge. And I’m sure it will be a challenge.

During the next 30 days I will be taking my diet one step farther than veganism, although I don’t think I will ever call myself a vegan. Not only are all meat and dairy products eliminated from my diet, but none of the food I eat will even be cooked at all! If you would have told me that I would be doing this a year ago I would have laughed you out of town, but in the last year I have come to learn a lot about nutrition. I always knew that cooking food damaged and destroyed some of the nutrients in food, but I had no idea to what extent.

In the next 30 days I will not be consuming:

Meat
Dairy
Sugar
Anything cooked
Anything processed
Drugs & alcohol, with the exception of pot, including prescriptions, caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, and anything else

When food has been heated to over 115 degrees F (46 C) many of the beneficial enzymes are destroyed. Vitamins, minerals, and fats are all effected. Vitamins are destroyed and diminished and proteins are altered. Fats are oxidized once they go above 115F/46C. Minerals become harder for the body to absorb, they are changed at a molecular level when heated. Cooked food takes longer to digest and can sit in the body for days sometimes, all the while it is fermenting and rotting. Think about what would happen if you left meat out at 37 C (human body temperature) for as long a day or two… Nasty! And that’s happening in your body to some degree while you digest it! That could be why you experience so much heartburn, and could probably explain your ass that won’t stop clapping too!

Cooked food has very few enzymes left in it which forces the body to use its own enzymes to break down the meal. Having depleted enzyme levels, the human body may experience symptoms like diabetes, allergies, skin disorders, cancer, weight gain, digestive system disorders, inflammation, fatigue, low motivation, muscle degradation, premature aging of the skin, and can put unnecessary stress on your organs. Eating raw foods can reverse many of these conditions, and more.

Eating raw foods automatically begins the process of detoxification. All the junk that’s been building up in your organs, your digestive tract, your cells, everything. The body finally has a chance to heal itself when this process begins. The benefits of detoxification include more energy, stronger immune system, increased vitality, reduced toxic buildup, your body adjusts to its optimal weight and size, improved digestion and absorption of nutrients, purification of the blood, mental clarity, heightened senses and more focus, better memory, improved sleep, healthier skin, clear sinuses, reduced or no allergies, no cravings, higher enjoyment of life, freedom from addictions, and a feeling of being rejuvenated. The body becomes much more alkalized and your pH level goes up which is great for your health. Alkalization helps fight off almost every kind of disease and can even cure and prevent cancer by ridding the body of candida.

During a detox your cells release all sorts of toxins into your bloodstream and this may cause some, uh, let’s just say ‘less than desirable’ side effects. During the first two weeks I can expect any or all of the following symptoms:

Headaches
Tiredness
Nausea
Fevers & Colds
Coated tongue (wtf?)
Skin eruptions (does this mean my skin is going to spontaneously explode?)
Muscle aches
Trouble concentrating
Emotional issues come to surface
Weakness
Dizziness
Mucus or other discharge (ew)
Intervals of diarrhea
Constipation
Bloating
Frequent urination
Sugar cravings
Nervousness
Irritability
Depression and negativity

Well, that sure sounds fun… But the people who promote this diet say that once you make it into the 3rd and 4th week the benefits are way worth it.

So in the next 30 days I will not be consuming any:

Meat products
Dairy products
Sugar (including pop, energy drinks, etc)
Anything cooked
Anything processed
Drugs & alcohol, with the exception of pot, including prescriptions, caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, and anything else

A lot of people say “Where are you going to get your protein? You’re going to be a sick, weak, skinny little vegan after this!”

Most people don’t realize that plants have more than enough protein to keep us super healthy. People see protein as a meat thing, not so much a veggie thing but the truth is that some foods are very high in protein and the forms of protein found in plants is much easier for our body to digest. Some high protein plants are:

Spinach – 49%
Broccoli – 45%
Cauliflower – 40%
Lettuce – 34%
Peas – 30%
Green Beans – 26%
Cucumbers – 24%
Celery – 21%
Potatoes – 11%
Honeydew – 10%

Seaweed, leafy greens, and superfoods like chlorella, spirulina, wheatgrass, bee pollen, sprouted beans, and hemp seeds all are high in vegetable protein as well. It’s easy to get enough protein from plants. I plan to continue taking some supplements, mainly chlorella, sunshine mist Vitamin-D spray, organic whole food multivitamin, probiotic, evolution superfood, and EnerHealth Botanicals green energy superfood and coconut milk powder. Taking these supplements is not necessary but I am currently taking them so I have decided I will continue taking them throughout this experiment.

The raw food diet will naturally bring your body to it’s optimal weight. It’s a very effective diet for weight loss and optimal health. I expect to lose about 10 pounds over the next 30 days but I must stress that I am not doing this for weight loss. I don’t have any problem with my current size or weight but I know and expect that naturally I am going to lose some weight doing this experiment. I will be frequently tracking my weight throughout the 30 days to keep an eye on what happens. I just bought a new scale specifically to do this trial. I will weigh myself nude and dry and I will try to weigh myself around the same time each day, probably before I go to bed to try to cut out as many variables as possible. I am currently weighing in at 168 lbs.

I expect to have to eat a lot of food. The nice thing about raw food is that you can eat as much as you want. If you are hungry, you can eat. I will be eating a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables. If I feel like I am still hungry I will just eat more! This could be a fairly expensive month for food but I doubt it’s any more than I was spending eating subway almost every day. I will always choose organic produce over regular produce as well since organic products are far superior and have better flavor and nutrition. A downside is that I will have to make frequent trips to the store or farmers market, probably every few days.

Throughout this month you can expect to see a lot of posts about how this diet is going, what my thoughts are, any struggles or issues that come up, any changes in weight, and I’ll even tell you about my turds because I know you all wanna read about that now don’t ya?