Day Seven

One week raw!

 

This is going to be a short post and not the book review intended, because I am exhausted. Nothing raw related, but my weekend job is much more physically labor intensive than my sedentary weekday jobs and I'm just not getting enough sleep (full time school plus three part time jobs is overwhelming at times). 

Last night's lack of sleep was entirely my fault, but very much worth it. In a uncharacteristic display of social interactivity, Madeline and I went to my friend, Bridget's house for drinks. Which are not raw, but are included in my personal exception list (along with dark chocolate, maple syrup and aforementioned tea). It was a lot of fun. Brig and I have three classes together this semester, so we wind up working together frequently. I've been telling her about going raw, which she listens to very politely while partaking in Cheetos and Mountain Dew for breakfast. She thought to buy us a plate of raw veggies to snack on, which was awesome of her. She also bought hummus, because she didn't realize it wasn't raw, but Mad and I brought guacamole with us, so we were set. I think it was a good balance of conscious eating and sociability, which is incredibly important to me. I never had too much trouble going out with friends as a vegan, and similarly, I want to be able to enjoy every aspect of my life as a raw foodist.

Looking around the raw community, I see a lot of percentages being tossed around: 75%, 80% 90% raw%... I supposed if you wanted to argue semantics, Madeline and I have not gone completely raw. But I have no intention of berating myself when I've exchange my pasta and rice for heaping plates of veggies for lunch and dinner. It's a huge change. And so far, so good. I haven't had any of the major detox symptoms like flu symptoms or acne breakouts. I was getting hunger pangs between meals for the first half of the week, but for the last day or two, it seems like my body has adjusted to the amount and frequency of food. I'd even venture to say that I have more energy. I'm tired, certainly, but my body doesn't seem to be so heavily weighed down as it used to at the end of the day. It may be psychological at this point, though. It's still really early on in the game.

I had a little extra money this week, so I purchased The Live Food Factor, which I am very excited to read. The most critical review on Amazon complains that "[t]here are many many many references throughout the entire text of the book, making it a bit of a cumbersome read for me and making it feel a bit like reading a student's research paper", which is exactly the type of book I love. I want to hear the facts and be able to follow up with my own research by going to the original sources. I'm a bit fanatical like that.

This was not short.

-Eloise

Day Four

Posting at lunchtime today during my office hours (I'm a TA at my school). I should be grading papers, but I'll get to that later. Lunch today is the Hearty Corn Salad from The Raw Food Detox Diet.I made it last night for dinner, but really hated the raw Cesar dressing that was recommended. I made more of my Italian dressing today, and it's 100% better. In the recipe, Natalia Rose says something to the effect of It's so hearty, you'll think you're eating stew! which makes me think she hasn't had stew in a long while. It's a good salad, but really, it's a freakin salad.

I've been thinking a lot about why we're becoming raw foodist. It's been bothering me since the first day when we weren't prepared with what to eat and Madeline said, only half jokingly, "We've become anorexic!" Now that's certainly not the goal, and nor do I want this to be a diet of deprivation. But I would be lying if I said that one of my main motivations for changing my eating habits was not to lose weight. It certainly is a primary driving force. My father has an extremely high metabolism and despite eating mountains of food, there is not an ounce of fat on his body. I didn't inherit that genetic gift. If I did, fatigue and chronic stomach and headaches be damned, I'd eat vegan lasagna, fried tofu and double chocolate chip cookies every night. I know that I'm not really overweight. I'm well within the range of healthy, but probably 10-15lbs from what I consider ideal. But if I don't have the body I want at 23, then when? Madeline has heard me say on more that one occasion in the past month, "When I have my raw body, I'm going to..."

So could I eat a healthier cooked vegan diet? Probably. But it's much more difficult to make small changes, harder to reframe the existing picture. It's better to start with a new picture entirely and work with a whole different landscape. I've been reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and was struck by this quote:

"Most of us are creatures so comforted by habit, it can take something on the order of religion to invoke new, more conscious behaviors- however glad we may be afterward that we went to the trouble."

She is referring to her family's efforts to eat locally for a year, but I find it to be very applicable to my current state. It goes beyond vanity, though. I have been reading as much as I can about diet, nutrition and raw food, and there's a lot of information out there. It's kind of overwhelming, really, to sort through the fanatical crap to get to the hard facts. But the more I read, the more I'm convinced that this is the answer. And if we stick to it long enough, it, too, will become a habit. It's easy to forget how inhibited I felt when I first became vegan when all I can remember is how easy it was before I began this raw transition. Over time, it became second nature, as will this. 

-Eloise