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So today’s day 18 of raw food, and I’ve got to say it’s not as hard as I thought it would be.
I mean, I knew I was pretty disciplined, but I thought I’d be suffering a lot more than I was.
I’m still not sure what I’m going to do after 30 days – if I’m going to go to 80% raw, or if I’m going to stay 100%.
My friend Adrian Bye showed me a site that had some negative information on raw food, which made me question a bit.
(For what it’s worth I hate 99% of the site – but the bio struck a chord with me.)
I went on one of the raw food boards (I paid for a bunch of raw food information, but my favorite board is free – RawFoodTalk.com) and asked people who’ve been raw foodists over 3 months what their experiences were with 100% raw. They said much more positive things than that site said, so I guess I’ll end up seeing what feels right.
Here’s my experience of raw food so far in a Pro/Cons context:
Cons (To end on a good note :))
Hard to be in traffic – I’ve always had problems breathing around smoke, but now that I have an extra-keen sense of smell, there have been quite a few times where I felt like I was going to pass out while near cars. I was sitting on a public bus one day (no air conditioner, windows were open) and we were stuck in traffic for near an hour – I was contemplating death.
Sleepiness – There are some days when I’m ridiculously sleepy, and there were a few times when I was downright lethargic. I know this is part of the detox process, but one day I couldn’t even stand up and see straight. Literally, every time I got up, the world was spinning.
Social Aspects – I’d love to go to a churrascaria, or go out to fun restaurants with Brian sometimes – not for the food (I really have no desire to eat cooked food), but because of the “normalcy” that comes with it. Food is an important part of culture, too, so I’m missing out on that.
Boredom Of Foods – Like I said, it’s not that I crave cooked foods, but it gets boring looking at the same foods over and over again. I know there are better raw food options outside of Brazil, but even still, I think a lot of those “gourmet” things aren’t so superhealthy – tons of fat, sugar, etc. – the best way to go raw, in my opinion and according to my research, is to eat mostly fruits, veggies, and minimal nuts (those are supposed to be eaten at night before you go to bed since they take so long to digest). Healthy, but boring.
Pros
Energy – Like I said, there are times when I’m sleepy – but there are also times when I feel like I can take on the world. Many raw foodists say that this is the normal feeling all the time after the detox process.
Focus – Not all the time, but there are times when my focus is on like nobody’s business. I’ve always been a morning person, and get TONS done then – but on raw foods, I can get tons done all day.
Inexpensive – Sort of. I’ve been eating a lot of raw granola (each package is $5) and have been going to a raw food restaurant once in a while, so it hasn’t been outrageously cheap – but fruits and veggies are pretty cheap here.
Healthy – This trumps every other way of eating (I’ve done a ton of research). Even if I had a zillion cons and this was the only pro, I’d have a solid case pro-raw.
Spirituality – A lot of people say they have much greater spiritual developments while raw. This has definitely been the case for me.
Excellent community – Most raw-foodies are awesome, positive, growth-minded people. They care about themselves, about others, about community – and they all tend to be pretty intelligent (at least the ones I’ve come across). I was checking out places in Sydney, and I saw there’s an amazing raw food community with tons of events going on all the time. Something like this (especially because of how it effects social situations) really bonds people.
Aesthetics – Have you SEEN some of the people who eat raw? There’s tons of 40, 50, even 60+ year olds that look like they’re in their 20s. They look incredible. A lot of people say they release a lot of weight with raw food, too (this hasn’t happened to me yet – but I’m told it can take a while and I’m in no rush).
There are tons of other pros and cons that other people experience, but this is just my own experience so far – 18 days into it.
You could definitely do it if you wanted to, I think you´re WAY disciplined.
I´ve always admired you from afar with all your niche perseverence, the article marketing – you have way more patience than I´ve shown… =)
I actually stopped the trial on day 21 so I could experience the food at Sao Paulo. As I said in the negatives, being social is an issue on raw food. I talked with a raw food restaurant owner in Rio, and she passionately told me that going 100% raw is something she doesn´t believe in. She says a lot of raw good experts might say they´re 100%, but then she sees them eating non-raw (she takes a lot of classes and is considered renowned in her field). She went on and on about how food is an important part of culture and if I want to ´cheat´once in a while, I absolutely need to.
She also talked about a group of people who are 100% raw that always come to the restaurant, and says they won´t go to birthday parties because they don´t want to be tempted by chocolate cake. Who wants to live that way? High raw seems the best, in my opinion =)
As far as Tim´s diet, it seemed to work better for men than women in the comments… not sure though. It definitely looks sound, I just couldn´t vibe with it when I looked at it. I´d love to hear how you do though!!
Wow, you ARE disciplined – serious kudos to you. I know for a fact I couldn’t do that – just started Tim Ferriss’s ‘Lose 20 Pounds In 30 Days’ diet yesterday and I’m already struggling! I know I won’t lose 20 pounds (I’m not actually overweight) but I just kind of feel compelled to lose some weight before Christmas (the health thing is important to me too of course!).
The aesthetics thing has struck a chord with me though – I’m only 28 and I can already see just the faintest hint of wrinkles starting to form. VERY worrying!