On Monday, November 7, I embarked on my first raw eating adventure. For 5 days I would eat all raw. I would lose weight. I would feel great. That relentless bulge in my midsection would shrink. Those jeans wouldn't cut off circulation. My mind would clear. And it all did.
Eating raw, which involves only ingesting food and drink that has not been altered by heat in any way - uncooked and unprocessed - has a host of benefits. Raw Food Stylist, Melissa Henig, who I met at the Venice Farmer's Market and absolutely adore, describes these benefits on her website. "A diet containing raw food leads to more energy, clear skin, easy digestion, Alkaline body, less cravings for sugar or processed foods, more nutrients, vitality, and natural weight loss." Adding to those benefits, Henig includes a more detailed list of benefits in the "Why Raw?" section of her site, which I've pasted below for your curiosity convenience.
1. Energy
2. Improved skin conditions and healthy glow
3. Weight loss naturally
4. Enzymes- Great digestion and clean colon
5. Reduced risk of heart disease(a raw food diet contains fewer trans fats and saturated fats)
6. Full of anti-oxidants
7. Body alkalinity
8. Hydration
9. Fiber
10. FLAVOR
11. Oxygen rich environment
12. Nutritionally dense food
13. Contributes to a healthy planet
I want to reap from all of those improvements, and I assume most of you do, too. Henig defines a raw food diet as "eliminating all processed and cooked foods and eating fresh fruit and vegetables, sprouts, nuts, seeds, avocado, coconuts, raw milk, raw bison and sea vegetables." I'm not sure about "raw bison..." Henig should be tapped for further explanation, but as a non-meat eater, it doesn't quite concern me. Heating food above 110 degrees "destroys the life in food," says Henig, including killing enzymes and depleting minerals and nutrients.
I told friends and family about my plan, most of whom claimed they could never do it. But seriously, folks, it was very simple. It was boring because I lacked creativity in my spontaneous raw diet. But I had two secret weapons that kept me going through the fruit and veggie salads - NUTS and AVOCADO. Stock. Up. I'm a pescetarian who rarely eats fish and hates salads, except those that are prepared for me by someone else. But slap on half an avocado and that salad will sing. Nuts were my prime source of protein - raw, unsalted cashews, pistachios and almonds. But plants also offer protein. According to Henig, spinach and broccoli are 30% protein. I did not thoroughly research nutrition specifics before starting my diet as it was short term, so if you plan on going raw for more than a week, definitely do your research to make sure you're getting all the proper nutrients. I probably should've taken a multivitamin, but hey, I forgot. I've never been much of a pill popper.
Day 1 began with a big fat fruit salad, a dish that I quickly became addicted to and kept very simple.
1 banana
1 apple
1 handful of mixed grapes
*Very tasty, very filling.
For snacks, I noshed on a 1/4 cup of cashews (yes, I measured my nuts), sugar snap peas and then a banana before heading to my spinning class. Surprisingly, this grazing method kept me full and energized without a heavy lunch.
Dinner time begged me to use the overwhelming amount of veggies I'd crammed into my fridge. Let's take a look at my first dinner salad:
herb salad mix (Trader Joe's) and baby spinach
micro greens
heirloom tomatoes
cucumber
1/2 avocado
1/2 yellow bell pepper
onion
sliced raw, unsalted almonds
Most store-bought salad dressings are not raw, so I made my own.
cold-pressed sesame oil
balsamic vinegar
apple cider vinegar
cilantro
Oh, and I drown my innards with lemon water throughout the day. I peed A LOT.
I awoke on Tuesday sans the usual groggy weight pulling me back into slumber. I felt great. Throwing off my covers, I hopped onto my scale. The results were gratifying and motivating - down 3.7 pounds in 24 hours. Granted, a lot of this (maybe all of this) was water weight, but I felt the difference.
Below I'm sharing my treats for the rest of the week just in case any of you out there want to give raw foodism a go.
Day 2
Breakfast: Fruit Salad
1 banana
1 pear
1 handful of mixed grapes
1 orange
Snacks: 1/4 cup cashews, 1/4 cup pistachios
Dinner: Salad
herb salad mix and baby spinach
micro greens
heirloom tomatoes
cucumber
1/2 avocado
1/2 yellow bell pepper
onion
homemade dressing
Day 3
Breakfast: Fruit Salad
1 banana
1 pear
1 handful of mixed grapes
1 orange
Snacks: 1/4 cup pistachios
Dinner: Salad
herb salad mix and baby spinach
micro greens
cucumber
*This time, in lieu of homemade dressing, I made guacamole (avocado, onions, tomatoes, lime juice from a fresh lime). AMAZING. I highly recommend this, especially on day 3 when stomaching yet another SALAD seems like cruel and unusual punishment.
SIDE NOTE: I'm constantly daydreaming about pizza, tofu and sandwiches.
Day 4
Breakfast: Fruit Salad
1 banana
1 pear
1 handful of mixed grapes
1 apple
Snacks: 1/4 cup cashews, 1/4 cup pistachio, 1 orange
Dinner: I snacked a little extra during the day, and after an intense yoga class, I (shockingly) wasn't hungry!
Day 5
Breakfast: Fruit Salad
1 pear
1 handful of mixed grapes
1 orange
*Ran out of bananas. They were sorely missed.
Snacks/Dinner: I decided it was time to reward myself on my final day, so I hopped over to the Venice Farmer's Market to visit the Raw Food Stylist. I scored a few Breakfast Balls, Kale Chips & Collard Wraps with Papaya Mango Chutney. I should've taken photos, but amidst my treating glee, I neglected to do so.
And that was it! I followed my raw diet into the next day while en route to Vegas to meet up with Mama Lloyd then indulged that evening. Everything tasted extremely salty to my tongue, and I was stabbed with a tinge of regret as a mouthful of pizza dumped into my happily cleansed tummy. "Sorry," I told my body as I reached for a glass of wine. I know what you're thinking: pizza and wine to break a cleanse? Let me explain. I didn't have much choice with dinner considering I was forced to select from a menu that offered one vegetarian option: pizza. I was pleased to find that my appetite had drastically decreased. A salad and two tiny pieces of pizza pie, and I was stuffed. Good. Great. Excellent. Keep it up.
I felt much lighter during my raw cleanse, both physically and mentally. Typically, the mornings are my enemy. It takes an embarrassing amount of energy and bitter taps on the snooze button to yank me from my dreams. I love sleep. But I was a changed woman during raw week. I awoke each morning with ease and a happy tummy. My skin felt smooth, though it did break out a bit more than usual. This may have been a side effect of the cleansing combined with me being a woman. Additionally, the mucus that usually plagues my body and disrupts my workouts vanished by the third day. I realized how much cleaner my sinuses and lungs felt during a spin class when, to my delight, I wasn't constantly clearing my throat and wiping my nose.
As for weight loss - drum roll please - I lost a grand total of 9.2 pounds in 5 days. Sure, I was netting way too few calories due to a low caloric intake paired with daily spinning, which burns around 500 calories per hour, but I felt like a million bucks. The above is not a long term diet plan - far too boring and not researched - but I highly recommend it if you need a good cleanse or want to drop significant weight in a short amount of time to kickstart permanent weight loss. I'll do it again, and when I do, I'll be a bit more creative with my raw recipes. And I'll buy that juicer I've been eying for years. If you want to go raw for long term, do it! Just make sure you know what you're doing to stay healthy.
Post-raw diet proved to be the hardest part: keeping the weight off and losing more. I know exactly what to do. It's common sense and simple: diet and exercise. But that's much harder than it sounds. Once I master that beast, I'll let you know. Until then, let's just be healthy and tune in to our bodies. Stop to listen. You'll be surprised what that stomachache, headache, joint pain, etc. is telling you.
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