Laura: Really? That's cool. I guess.
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Welcome to Day 3 of Casual Kitchen's seven day raw foods trial! As I've done on Day 1 and Day 2, I'll list the foods I ate as well as the eating schedule I kept, with explanatory notes where necessary. Below, I'll share my closing thoughts on the day. [See the full archive of posts on my raw foods trial.]
Breakfast 10:00am
Smoothie: 1 apple, 3/4 cup red raspberries, 4-5 Tblsp soaked wheat berries, 2-3 ounces water. Yield: a bit over 1 cup.
Note: I went for a 2.4 mile run at about 1:30pm. I'm tapering my workouts in preparation for a 10k road race which is (coincidentally) happening on Day 7 of my trial. That ought to be a solid test of the fitness aspects of a fully raw diet.
Late Lunch: 2:30pm
1 apple, followed by a large salad of green bell pepper, cucumbers, spinach and tahini-lime dressing. Tossed in a couple tablespoons of wheat berries too.
By around 5pm I had some mild indigestion.
Dinner 6:30pm
Smoothie: Juice of 1/2 a lime (plus the lime's pulp and even some rind), 2 apples, about 1 1/2 cups of cubed cucumber, 3-4 Tblsp soaked lentils and 4-5 Tblsp soaked wheat berries. Yield: about 18 ounces.
Note: Best smoothie yet! It was so filling I could barely finish it.
Concluding Notes/Thoughts on the Day:
1) More dehydration: Just like yesterday, I woke up shockingly dehydrated--again, it's strange because I'm drinking more than my normal amount of water each day (my normal water intake is a lot as it is), and because I'm mainly eating water-based foods.
2) My headache from yesterday is gone and I feel relaxed and peaceful. Hard to say how much of this is due to not drinking coffee and how much is due to three days of raw foods.
3) One of the key things I'm trying to understand is how well I can train and run when on a 100% raw diet. So far my runs have felt just like normal.
4) I spent the entire day writing and had a really successful day--with much better than average mental clarity. I was able to work on several different posts simultaneously, which is not my normal pattern of writing.
5) I'm also getting a lot faster at making smoothies. After a few days of practice, firing up a blender for a quick smoothie is almost as easy as pouring a bowl of cereal, and it's much easier than cooking up some eggs and sausage. Yet a smoothie is far cheaper, far healthier and (if you include these laws-of-physics-defying wheat berries), just as satiating.
6) I craved cooked foods this evening, both before, during and after dinner. "Cooked foods" is sort of a strange thing to crave--in my case, it's not a desire for any specific thing, it's more of a vague, indistinct craving for a generalized category of food. Really weird. Normally when I crave a food, it's with a fair degree of specificity, like "I crave a bar of Lindt 70% Cocoa. Right now."
7) Another weird appetite-related feeling: even after the huge smoothie at 6:30pm, I was actually hungry again around 9:00pm. Even more weird: By 10:30pm my hunger totally went away--even though I didn't eat anything. Are there any raw foodists out there who have had similar misleading hunger sensations in the early days of a transition to raw?
Onward to Day 4!
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8 comments:
Green bell peppers are unripe and many people have trouble digesting them for that reason -- maybe the indigestion source?
My brain will often tell me "still hungry" after a smoothie, and then it eventually figures things out. The time lag isn't usually as long as your experience, though.
I wonder if the wheat berries are absorbing moisture from your system, or if it's the lack of fat that's making you feel dehydrated (dry skin & mouth could be fat-related). No idea, as I didn't have this experience myself.
Good luck with the race!
I'm surprised that tahini is considered ok for a raw diet -- isn't it made from roasted sesame seeds?
Nowan, you ask a good question. Actually tahini is made from ground unroasted sesame seeds (phew!--I could have been on a 99.99% raw trial rather than 100% raw...). However, that still doesn't mean your tahini is technically raw--you also have to check and make sure it's not pasteurized.
Fiona, thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. You might be onto something with the lack of fat. I'll be testing it out by adding more avocados to my diet in the next few days.
DK
I looked at wheatberries in the hfs this morning... did not buy them (yet).
How come you have not yet eaten a banana or nut? When I think raw foods, those are the first things I think I'd be eating.
Bethany, great question. Regarding nuts, some nuts are pasteurized, and I couldn't tell if the ones in my store were or weren't (they don't necessarily say on the labels). So I decided to err on the side of caution and avoid them. But yes, normally they'd be a big part of my diet if I were to go raw for a longer period.
And, weirdo that I am, I don't really like bananas. As with nuts, they'd typically be a big part of most raw foodists' diets.
DK
Hi! Just found your raw experiment through Cheap Healthy Good. My husband and I did something similar last March, we blogged about it and have some recipes at: www.rawfoodrealpeople.blogspot.com
I was going to ask the same question about bananas - one food I eat near daily, raw or not. But, if you put about half in a green smoothie you won't taste it. One combo I love:
-banana, small apple, handful frozen blueberries, handful of kale or as much green as you can handle!
Also, about chocolate - buy some raw cocoa powder! There are so many chocolate pudding recipes made with avocado and agave out there, in addition to bars made with cocoa powder, nuts, and dates (if you decide to start using nuts!)
Good Luck!
I find it fascinating that your sprouted wheat berry smoothies are filling and sustain you.
I'll have to give these a try. I'm not going to embrace a raw food diet entirely, but I often struggle with breakfasts and this might help.
I have the hunger there and then gone thing, but I don't eat raw. I find I typically get hungry later at night, but if I ignore it, it goes away. I see this as faux hunger - maybe boredom? Tea or tisane usually kills the cravings, but if not they tend to subside on their own. I eat mostly veg, with some meat.
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