Raw Foods Trial: Day 5

Dan: You know why they call collard greens "cruciferous," don't you?
Laura: Tell me.
Dan: Because they are crucifyingly bad when you try to eat them raw.

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Welcome to Day 5 of Casual Kitchen's seven day raw foods trial! As I've done on previous days, I'll first list the foods I ate and 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: 9:00am
1 whole avocado, 2-3 cups of fresh pineapple chunks

Lunch: 1:00pm
Smoothie: 2 apples, 1 cup raspberries, 4 heaping Tblsp wheatberries, 3-4 ounces water, combined in blender. Yield: about 2.5 cups or enough to fill a 20 ounce glass.

This was a truly simple, good and delicious meal.

Snack 4:00pm
A quick snacklet of some pineapple chunks and a handful of sprouted lentils and wheat berries.

Dinner: 6:00pm
I made an enormous raw veggie platter, carrots, celery, cukes and broccoli with a small amount of tahini dip:

Then I had a huge, green(ish) smoothie:
1 carrot, 1/2 an apple, 3/4 cup of raspberries, 1/2 cucumber, a loosely packed cup or so of collard greens, 4-5 Tblsp sprouted wheat berries, water, juice of 1/2 lime. Yield: 24 incredibly filling ounces. More than I could really eat, but I made room.

Note: For some reason, I had a huge burping fit after downing this smoothie. A world-class burping fit. Oh, if I could have been transported back to my college days for just a few hours!

Concluding Notes/Thoughts on the Day:
1) I'm feeling better today than yesterday. I still have that weird metallic taste in my mouth today, and a very mild headache as well.

2) I changed up my breakfast and had avocado and pineapple instead of a smoothie, partly because I'm getting a bit sick of smoothies, and partly because I wanted to listen to my body and give it the food it wants--as long as it's raw of course (if I really ate what I "wanted," I'd die of chocolate toxicity in a matter of days). Seriously, though, the avocado and pineapple were immensely satisfying, and the higher-fat breakfast fueled me just as well as a wheat berry based smoothie.

3) My body is getting still more and more efficient in digesting these large smoothies... Looking back, I think on Day 1 my body was confusing fullness with sufficient energy. I guess it pays to remember that hunger often lies.

4) Sleep: My sleep schedule is starting to rotate forward a bit. The past couple of nights I've stayed up a couple of hours later than usual, and I've been getting up later, at 7-7:30 am rather than my typical 5-6am. I've also needed a bit more sleep this week than typical, usually eight hours rather than my more typical seven. Hard to know if this is raw food- or caffeine-related.

5) On the aesthetics of veggie smoothies: I simply have to share a photo of today's dinner smoothie:

What, exactly, does this look like to you? One of my family members asked me if this was a "before" or "after" picture. Ironically, this smoothie didn't taste as bad as it looked--it was actually pretty good.

6) Finally, when Laura sat down tonight to her dinner of delicious (cooked) food and looked over at me masticating my way through a veggie platter and a barf-colored smoothie, she said, "today is the first day I feel a tiny bit sorry for you."

Onward to Day 6... only two more days to go!

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9 comments:

edj3 said...

I can't say that I feel sorry for you--after all, this experiment is self-inflicted. But I am enjoying living the raw food diet vicariously through you.

JCS said...

I don't feel sorry for you. It's self-imposed. I am interested in seeing your conclusions, but you signed up for this. Laura should be taunting you with delicious cooked meals every night. Better yet, she should host a dinner party and have people bring over all sorts of yummy dishes. Your suffering is what entertains us!

Daniel said...

Kx3 and JS: I don't feel sorry for myself either. Not at all. I signed up for this "self-inflicted" experiment (love that choice of works Kx3!) of my own free will.

It's been more than worth it: this entire week has been a fascinating and truly novel experience, and it's been gratifying to see so much interest and so many comments from readers.

DK

~+Angela+~(All About Shape Shifting) said...

I don't feel sorry for him either.
I know how wonderful it FEELS to eat a raw diet. I know the benefits that I myself - have yielded.

I also know that even if barf colored smoothies look gross, they can also be really delicious.

Mental clarity and how LIGHT and energetic I've felt on the raw diet, are things that keep me from wallowing in deprivation at cooked food. Switching back to cooked foods reminds me of how heavy, and also mentally clogging it CAN be.

So, pity in this case is hardly needed. The pity I feel, perhaps - is for others who haven't even given it a shot to know what it's like. Even if they choose to do whatever else feels more right to them after the fact.

:D

My .02.

Keep up the awesome work, Dan!
<3 Light and love! (From CGW#1, the first lady on stage...) lol.

-Angela

Laura said...

Yeah, my stomach isn't quite right today, and the picture of the smoothie just about put me over the edge. But mind won out over (spewing) matter. Thanks for the update and for the response about frozen food/applesauce back on day 2.

Are you going to take your experiment on the road in the next two days? Just wondering how a raw food diet works out when you're out socializing.

Daniel said...

Angela, thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. And actually, that barf-colored smoothie was quite good. Lacking in aesthetic appeal, yes, but otherwise not too bad.

Laura, sorry to push you towards (but at least not over) the edge!! :) Happy to help with your question from Day 2, no worries at all.

And regarding being out socializing: on Day 7 we'll see one situation where I went out to eat with friends, but other than that all of my meals were at home. As it turns out, going 100% raw is a real challenge at most restaurants.

DK

Little Les said...

Thank goodness you don't have to eat "local" at the same time you are eating "raw". Out would go the pineapple and avocados for sure.
I could tell the smoothie was a "before picture" because of how neatly it is poured into the glass...

HAPPY IN NEVADA said...

Eating raw in restaurants is quite easy. You order a main salad and anything that you don't want to eat in that (if you can't order it your way), you put on the bread plate.

Order up some extra beets (not cooked - the pickled kind if you have to). Order a side of coleslaw.

Order cottage cheese and put some of your cole slaw on it.

You get a side order of juice or a fresh fruit cup - you've got your veggies; fruit, and protein.

Usually if I eat with others, I just 'trade' with them....

Daniel said...

LL: you raise and intriguing question that I hope to address in the coming weeks. Agreed, raw and local would be tough in most climates.

Happy in NV: Thanks for the input. On Day 7 I'll share my own amusing restaurant experience. Stay tuned!

DK