I ate more than I usually do for breakfast because I was starving (and craving eggs on toast). Afterwards I felt like I had had too much sugar. Early afternoon I was really tired and felt like I needed a stodgy meal (still craving eggs) and a hangover recovery nap. Instead I had a salad and tried to sleep but couldn’t.

Dinner was a massive raw feast. I’m lucky enough to have awesome friends that suggested a raw potluck dinner party on day 1. It was surprisingly delicious and even more surprising – really filling!

I am including raw meat and fish in this raw food diet. Interestingly enough I struggled with the ceviche at dinner and felt like my body was needed more of the veggie based food.

Food Diary

Breakfast:
Green smoothie (banana, melon, spinach, ginger) / Fruit salad (melon, banana, grapes, dried fruit and nuts) I realise Im doubling up on ingredients but I haven’t had time to shop yet / Hot water with lemon. (Is it raw? I’m not sure, but I’m going with it.)

Lunch:
Salad – romaine lettuce, 1/2 tomato, fresh mint, fresh dill, red capsicum, purple cabbage, fennel, 1/2 avocado, sprouted chickpeas, walnuts, linseeds + Dressing: lemon, olive olive, tahini, salt and pepper.

Dinner: (potluck dinner so I had small portions of everything listed below)
— Sweet corn, garlic & tomato soup with avocado and dill
— Raw sushi with bean sprouts & tahini miso ginger sauce
— Zucchini spaghetti with raw pesto
— Caribbean ceviche with avocado mango salsa
— Asian mackerel ceviche with pawpaw
— Raw chocolate brownie

Snacks:
— Handful of walnuts, 2 medjool dates, handful of mixed fruit and nuts, lots of warm water with lemon.

Day 1 verdict:

My main observation from day 1 is I feel like I’ve eaten a lot more sugar and fats than I’m used to. They are ‘good’ sugars and fats but I still feel slightly ill from all the high calorie food. I’ve snacked all day on dried fruit and nuts but I’ll need to find something else as these are so high in sugar.

When you mix loads of different fats, proteins and sugars the combo can be a bit of a shock for your system and make you feel pretty average. What a rookie.

I woke up early for a Sunday – I felt tired but energised, which is an extremely frustrating feeling. I’m also craving something low GI – something filling that isn’t so sweet. I waited a bit before I ate even though I was hungry – I really couldn’t put any fruit or veg in my stomach just yet.  I had a few hot waters with lime and eventually I had a raw cocoa and banana smoothie and it sorted me right out – tasted amazing and made me feel LOADS better.

I did 45 minutes of pilates / strength work. My motivation to exercise is really low for me – it was a big effort.

I have a fear of being hungry on this diet – I think it will just take a bit of time to get used to the fact I can’t just grab a cracker every time I’m feeling a bit low in energy or feel like I need to put something in my belly.

Favourite conversation of the day was with the guy from the health food store – talking to him about raw he said ‘Oh yeah, I was raw once, back in the 80’s when it was cool’ Ha, awesome, good to know I’m only 20+ years + behind the trend! 😉

Food Diary

Breakfast :
Raw cacao smoothie 

Lunch:
Salad with sun-dried tomato dressing: lettuce, tomato, radish, capsicum, raw pecans + sun-dried tomatoes dressing 

Dinner:

— Zucchini Noodles with Basil-Pumpkin Seed Pesto

Snacks:

Green grapes, apple with cashew nut butter, almond milk with cacao.

Day 2 Verdict:

I feel energised and positive. I actually feel like I’ve got too much energy for this time of night (10pm). I love sleep – anywhere between 9 and 10 hours is good for me so I should technically be more tired than I am considering I’ve only had around 7 for the past two nights. I managed to eat less dense (high sugar and fat) food today and I think it helped a lot. I’m craving tea, is that a thing – tea cravings?

By 3pm I was STARVING. I ate a green apple. That worked for about 3 minutes.

4:30pm I’m beyond starving. More green smoothie and some fruit and nuts.

I’m going to have to get used to not feeling full. I’ve realised I really like feeling full – good full – like after you’ve had a big bowl of mashed potatoes.  I’m getting enough calories but I’m not getting the full tummy feeling because before I get there I get the mildly nauseous feeling from all the nuts and oils – but it is hard not to eat too much of this stuff when I’m feeling so hungry.

Exercise today was a quick post-work gym sesh (25 mins cardio)

Food Diary

Breakfast:

Cacao Smoothie 

Lunch:
— Chili Courgette Pasta

Dinner:
— Chopped Asian Salad

Snacks:
— Green smoothie (melon, green apples, spinach, ginger, fresh mint, water) / Green apple / Dried fruit and nuts / Raw chocolate pudding / Carrots (wish it was claret)

Day 3 verdict:

Feeling AMAZING – super positive, happy, energised but also somehow tired at the same time. I’m scared I’m going to crash soon…

I need more sleep. I think it mostly has to do with the fact I’m struggling to find enough hours in the day for work, food prep and blogging rather than being tired from the raw food, but we will see.

A few observations from four days raw:

— I haven’t had a migraine yet. Every work day for the past 6 weeks plus I have had a migraine – yep, thats a LOT. I’m definitely not saying raw has cured my migraines (because I’ve been plagued by them for over 30 years and tried everything including dietary changes so I’m a little sceptical) but it is just an interesting observation.
— I’ve also had a stress rash under both my eyes for about the same period and that looks to be going away – again just an interesting observation for now.
— I wasn’t nearly as exhausted in hot yoga as I usually am and didn’t sweat nearly as much
— I’m feeling a little bit ill after almost everything I eat with the exception of just fruit or a simple fruit smoothie

Food Diary:

Breakfast:

— Cucumber, pear, mint and ginger smoothie (well delish)
— Hot water with lemon

Lunch:
— Left over Courgette Fettuccine from yesterday, plus a green salad

Dinner
— Italian salad: rocket, cherry tomatoes, avocado, red capsicum, olives, lemon juice, olive oil, walnuts, linseeds. It was nice to keep it quite simple tonight
— Raw chocolate
— Pawpaw and grapes with lime

Snacks:
Dried fruit and nuts / Fresh orange juice / Almond milk, banana and raw cacao smoothie / Green grapes

Day 4 Verdict:

Grumpy as fark. It would be nice to get rid of the nausea but all things considered I’m feeling ok.

Fun Fact:

Miso:

Miso paste is fermented soybean paste. It is the base to miso soup and you can use it to add flavour to soups, sauces, salad dressing (see day 3 post), or pickling meats or vegetables. It’s high in protein and vitamin B.

Quick guide to miso paste
Comprehensive guide to miso paste

• Crackers – rice crackers, wheat crackers I don’t mind – just something plain and dry
• Rice – again something plain – I’m really missing the feeling of filling up my belly with something warm
• A cup of English Breaky tea

One of the biggest things I’m struggling with is not ever having the full belly feeling. I keep snacking looking for that satisfied feeling but I’m realising I’m not going to get it so I have to somehow teach my body to come to terms with that over the next 23 days.

Today I bought two coconuts for €5. I was in Thailand last month and for €5 I could have bought 44.2 coconuts. Ha, should have gone raw last month.

Food Diary

Breakfast
— Green smoothie: green apple, pear, banana, spinach, fresh orange juice, ginger. I made quite a bit and sipped on it all day.

Lunch:
Creamy Celeriac and Apple Soup with Sage

Dinner:
Leftovers:  raw sprouted hummus. + leftover salads (Asian and Italian salads, tamari marinated mushrooms, raw pesto)

So you can sprout lentils, that’s cool. My first two attempts failed, but honestly sprouting is not difficult at all. They taste more like mung beans than lentils, but I’m down with that. Sprouted beans definitely feel lighter and easier to digest than cooked lentils, which has to do with the fact that the sprouting process neutralizes the phytic acid which means your body can digest and absorb the nutrients better. Lots of info on lentils plus a How to guide to sprout lentils.

Snacks:
Dried fruit and nuts (as per…) /medjool dates / hot water with lemon / green apple

Day 5 Verdict:

So far so good. I got a good nights sleep last night but I still feel tired.  My tummy is feeling a bit better so hopefully it’s getting a bit more used to the fats and oils.

I’m not going to post much tonight because I don’t feel well.

I did have salmon sashimi tonight. I don’t feel like this caused me to feel so foul but maybe it was the culprit. I’ll try it agin in a few days to see if I have the same reaction.

What Did You Eat?

Breakfast:
— Green smoothie: fresh orange juice, apple, cucumber, spinach, mint, lime, prunes.
— Hot water with lemon

Lunch:
— Italian salad: avocado, cherry tomatoes, olives, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Dinner:
— Hummus platter: raw hummus, carrots, cherry tomatoes, miso pickled cucumber, pecans, olives (Miso pickled Cucumber: Remove all or some of the skin of the cucumber > Scoop out the seedy fleshy bit> Fill this section with the miso paste > Wrap in cling film > Leave in the fridge at least 24 hours > Cut and serve.
— Salmon sashimi

Snacks:
The rest of my breaky green smoothie / Handful of dried fruit and nuts / Orange

Day 6 Verdict:

I feel like I need to spew

Tonight I went to The Alchemist Garden – which is as far as I know one of only two raw restaurants here in Amsterdam. The food was really great but the best news of my night came from Alec the owner when he told me WINE IS RAW.

I’m not super pleased about this because I want to go out and get trollied, (weeelll, I may do that at some stage but that’s not the point here) I’m so excited because this opens things up for me socially. Today our chef at work cooked an amazing roast veggie dish.  It smelt SO good that I had to go outside for a walk at lunchtime because my stomach was grumbling so much and I was afraid if I sat with my work mates for lunch I might drool in someone’s bowl. So instead I waited until everyone else had eaten and got myself a salad. I sat in the kitchen for a bit on my own, got bored of that and went and ate in front of my computer. It’s the first time I really realised how anti-social this diet can be.

this good.

Food Diary:

Breakfast:
— Green-ish smoothie: Cucumber, pear, apple, fresh orange juice, mint, lemon
— Hot water with lemon

Lunch:
— Zucchini and tomato salad with rocket, almonds and hazelnuts. Dressing was lemon, olive oil and salt.

Dinner:
— Raw sunflower seed burger with beetroot and carrot slaw, cashew mayo with flaxseed crackers (I finally got my crackers!), seaweed salad.
— Chocolate pie
— Fresh coconut juice
— 1 glass red of wine

Snacks:
I sipped on the leftover green smoothie all day today / Dried fruit and nuts: figs and hazelnuts

Day 7 Verdict:

I’m feeling way better than I did 24 hours ago. I woke up still not feeling great and it took awhile before I could eat much more than my green smoothie, but I got better and better as the day went on.I had absolutely no nausea after dinner tonight (humm, says something about my cooking??) so hopefully I can get through the weekend feeling this good.

I also bought ingredients to make onion bread and date and almond balls. I’m excited to try all these new packaged raw treats but I feel its also important I learn how to make my own raw snacks. If I don’t stay raw after these 28 days I at least want to have learnt new cooking (preparing) techniques and new healthy recipes and alternatives.

Food Diary:

Breakfast:
— Green smoothie: mango, fresh orange juice, spinach, coconut and mint (SO yum – I will be adding more fresh coconut to my green smoothies!)

Lunch:
— Salad from Wanaka:  Living sprouts, caramalized seeds with mango, chili and cacao. Roasted sesame and ginger dressing (dressing was delish)

Dinner:
— Thai coconut curry – really great, one of my favourite recipes so far
— Quick banana cacao ice cream (frozen bananas blended with cacao, mejool dates and some coconut oil – yeah boy)

Snacks:
— Green apple and raw cashews
— Post yoga smoothie (I call this one the Poga. Sorry, had to be done) Banana, orange, cucumber, mint.

Day 8 Verdict:

Today I woke up both tired both and full of energy (again) – it’s such an odd feeling. However once I got up I was completely fine and was pretty much bouncing around all day. In the afternoon I did a hot yoga class. The room was far too hot so it was a fairly uncomfortable 90 minutes, but other than the extreme heat, my body felt pretty good.

Fun Facts

Coconuts – can we just talk about how awesome coconuts are for a minute. They taste amazing and are so good for you. My body instantly feels healthier when I drink coconut water. If you haven’t got into coconuts (or even if you have) take a look here  for the health benefits.

This morning I got the chance to try some raw ‘baking’ for the first time. I don’t have a dehydrator but I’ve recently learnt that you can achieve the same effect by using the oven on the lowest setting (keep the door ajar if the lowest setting is higher then 40 degrees. Yes, not entirely energy efficient) I baked Onion bread. It needs another few hours so I’ll let you know how it tastes tomorrow.

As often as possible, on a Sunday afternoon, my friends and I get together for Crafternoon – you drink tea, eat nice things and do craft. Today we went next level and had…Rafternoon – yep you guessed it – craft + mates + raw food 🙂 We had blueberries, almonds, guacamole with carrot sticks, nammi nammi and caramel slice. I can honestly say I didn’t miss the cooked food one little bit.

Food Diary:

Breakfast:
— Green smoothie: mango, pawpaw, apple, kale, cucumber, mint, coconut
— hot water with lemon

Lunch:
— Jazzed up left over salad from yesterday

Dinner:
— More leftovers – Thai coconut curry. I added some pawpaw this time and can recommend adding it – gave it a nice sweetness.

Snacks:
— Nammi nammi balls (date, almond and coconut balls)
— Caramel slice
— Handful of dried fruit and buts
— Blueberries

Day 9 Verdict:

Feeling really awesome! Lots of energy, I’m sleeping well (I usually do so no real change), and no migraines so far…

Fun Fact:

Hemp seeds come whole or hulled. This page explains the difference. I have are accidentally bought whole and they are a bit odd to eat as they are quite hard. Apparently you can blend these up in a blender to make them easier to eat. The simplest way is to get the hulled ones – I’ll make an effort to include some over the next few days.

More info about the benefits of hemp seeds here.

I have been questioned about why I would pick the coldest month of the year to start a raw diet. Other than the fact that I can sometimes be a muppet and just do things the hard way, the main reason is February fitted in well with my personal life – my boyfriend is in NZ for the month so it felt like a good time for a personal challenge. I was definitely aware that it might be harder because of the cold but I properly felt this this afternoon when I was starving, and just absolutely couldn’t put another piece of fruit in my mouth. I love fruit but my favourites are all the summer fruits (pineapple, mango, peaches, strawberries) so I was as excited about eating my green apple as I would be about eating a plate of dog food. But I ate it, (the apple, not the dog food) and it filled me up. (for all of 20 minutes)

If I don’t stay raw beyond these 28 days I will definitely be keen to try a raw diet again in the summer when I actually feel like salads and fresh fruit.

Food Diary:

Breakfast:
— Green smoothie: pear, orange, kale, cucumber, mint.

Lunch:
— Salad: rocket, tomato, avocado, hazelnuts, flaked raw almonds, olive oil and lemon.

Dinner:
— Raw Super Slaw with hemp seeds plus Onion bread
— Chocolate caramel slice

Snacks:
— Rest of my green smoothie
— Dried figs
— Green apple
— 2 x mandarin
— Raw cracker (packaged)
— Nammi nammi (date balls)

Day 10 Verdict:

I unfortunately got a (fairly mild) migraine today. It felt like it was more from a stressful day than anything I had or hadn’t eaten.

Today I did a 45 mins strength / pilates workout – it felt slightly easier than normal.

Fun Facts

My onion bread was (kind of) a success! It took longer than the recipe said to dehydrate but I actually think I might have had my oven even lower than 40 degrees. I ended up leaving it in the oven (oven was off) overnight and then turning the oven on again after work today for another 2 hours to dry it out enough. I also had to flip it over to dehydrate the bottom side – I did this by rolling it onto a rolling pin (like you do with pastry) and this worked well to ‘cook’ the bottom side.

Recipe here.

Grumpiness levels continued to rise until about noon when I take a deep breath and laugh at myself for being a dick.

There was nothing to actually be grumpy about. But I was very aware that I was feeling pretty agitated for most of the day. It is probably the worst I have felt in terms of moodiness this whole month. I’m not saying raw has made me grumpy but I am blogging about this because it was such an intense feeling for me today.

I wasn’t really hungry all day either.

After work I ducked to the gym quickly – I needed to properly rid myself of the grumps and I find cardio is good for this – it did help.

Dinner was the highlight of my day. My friend Tyler cooked raw lasagne and it was AMAZING. I might go as far as saying this is the best raw meal I have had so far. Recipe below.

Tomorrow is another day – day 12 of raw – I have high hopes for less grump and more sparkle.

Food Diary:

Breakfast:
— (a few sips of) Green smoothie: pear, orange, kale, coconut (I don’t know how but adding the coconut made it taste foul) 🙁
— Hot water with lemon

Lunch:
— Left over super slaw  There was so much crunching that my jaw actually got sore!

Dinner:
— Raw lasagne (amazeballs) with marinated mushrooms
— Raw version of this chocolate mouse
— Dates and dried fruit and nuts (quite a bit in fact, gym hunger kicked in)

Snacks:
— Honeydew melon
— 2 dried figs

Day 11 Verdict:

I just want to go to bed…

There are loads more of course but these are my current favourite go tos.

Today I’m feeling a little flat, but better than yesterday so that is good. I just feel like I could do with a hug (anyone?). I also had a migraine this afternoon and needed to take my migraine medication – which also makes me feel a bit flat / dull.

Food Diary:

Breakfast:
— Green smoothie: frozen banana, apple, kale, cucumber, linseeds
— Hot water with lemon

Lunch:
— Thai coconut curry

Dinner:
— ‘Super salad’ – kale, red pepper, tomato, spring onion, zucchini, chia seeds, linseeds, sesame seeds, raw pistachio,  hemp seeds, honeydew melon. Dressing: lemon, olive oil, walnut oil, salt, pepper and a little bit of agave.
— Cacao, almond milk and date smoothie
— Nammi nammi

Snacks:
— Carrot + raw cashew paste (store bought)
— Pear
— Handful of walnuts
— 2 pieces of onion bread (homemade)

Day 12 Verdict:

Mehhh. Today I’m tired, and flat.

• I haven’t seen any change in my nails or hair – but it has only been 13 days
• It took my tummy almost a week to get used to the new foods – but, I haven’t had the nauseous feeling in 7 days…
• The diet could very easily be quite anti-social but I’m really lucky to have good mates that are supporting me on this journey so I haven’t really felt the full impact of this yet
• I haven’t had as many migraines as usual
• I feel like I am eating too much sugar and high GI foods. I’m trying to find snacks that fill me up but aren’t so energy dense. In a way I feel like I’ve replaced protein and complex carbs with (natural) sugars – fruit and dried fruit. And I’m not convinced that is a good exchange…
• I’m waking up really thirsty (might be from all the sugars?)
• I don’t have as much endurance for exercise – I’m finding it hard to push myself to get the extra bit of workout in
• I’m not really craving anything. The smell of toast makes me a bit weak at the knees, and I would love a cup of tea but other than that I’m not actually in need of anything

Food Diary:

Breakfast:
— Green smoothie: green apple, orange, frozen blueberries, kale and cucumber
— hot water with lemon

Lunch:
— Coleslaw with avocado and pine nuts

Dinner:
— Broccoli raisin salad – DELISH!

Snacks:
— The rest of my green smoothie
— Handful of dried fruit and nuts
— Nammi nammi ball
— Strawberries

Day 13 Verdict:

Physically I’m feeling pretty good. I’m still feeling a bit tired and wired, but overall feeling better than I was a couple of weeks ago.

I got tipsy very quickly (no surprises), and then really tired almost instantly – I felt like I had turned the clock back 8 years and I was a ballet dancer again – which was my past career and my tolerance for alcohol was practically zero.

Today is halfway through the 28 days – it feels good to have got to this point and I’m feeling confident I can keep it up for another 14 days!

Food Diary:

Breakfast:
— Green smoothie: mango, kiwi fruit, green apple, cucumber, kale and lime

Lunch:
— Broccoli and raisin salad (again). It wasn’t even left overs, I actually made another batch last night to take for lunch today because I liked it so much 😉

Dinner:
— Raw pizza with spinach pesto & marinated vegetables – I don’t have a dehydrator so I ‘cooked’ the pizza base in the oven at 40 degrees – 2 hours last night and the final 2 hours tonight. It turned out surprisingly crispy!
— Salad: spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms with a cashew garlic dressing
— Kris’s chocolate dessert: My flatmate Kris has made this a couple of times for me now and it is such a great simple, delicious chocolate dessert / pick me up. Blend coconut oil, mejool dates, cacao and water together.  You can eat it straight away or refrigerate.

Snacks:
— Rest of my green smoothie
— Carrot sticks with cashew butter + salt (I was craving salt in the afternoon so this was a good quick fix)
— Handful of dried fruit and nuts
— Strawberries

Day 14 Verdict:

For the first time today I had a very minor 4pm dip – I was sleepy and craving something salty. It didn’t last long but it did remind me of how tired I used to  get in the afternoons. It has been a really big week so I’m not surprised that I was feeling it a bit today. But in general, – positive, happy, good energy, calm mind.

My friends ordered amazing looking vegetarian dishes – lots of roast veg, sweet potato cake, stuffed fennel bulb with lentils, mushrooms and blue cheese. I was doing my best not to be a sad sack and drool all over their food, but it wasn’t the most fun dinner for me.

It is a Saturday night tonight, I’m heading out for drinks (red wine) with friends. It’s great that I can join in for a drink but I am finding there are limited ‘letting-your-hair-down-opportunities’ on a raw food diet. Just knowing that you can’t go to the bar to get a coffee or a Coke if you are feeling tired, or a kebab on the way home makes the whole prospect a little less appealing.

Today I watched Knives over Forks – really interesting documentary about how a substantial amount of degenerative diseases can be treated with a whole food plant based diet. It is definitely a controversial subject but they make a lot of sense in the documentary and I highly recommend checking it out. Link below to more info on the film.

Nifty little chart here to help you work out bad, better and best options for all sorts of things – sugar, coffee, spreads etc.

Food Diary:

Breakfast:
— Green smoothie: fresh coconut water, banana, pear, spinach, lime, a dash of cacao and chia seeds. I only added a tiny bit of cacao but the whole drink tasted really chocolatey – which was kinda odd when it was so green!

Lunch:
— Pimped leftover salad with pizza

Dinner:
— Salad with cashew dressing

Snacks:
— Second green smoothie of the day: honeydew melon, mango, kiwi, kale and mint
— Dried fruit and nuts
— Tamarind

Day 15 Verdict:

Today I woke up feeling a little groggy, but if didn’t last long. I felt pretty good all day, even better after an afternoon run, then a little flat again at dinner.

Ok, rant over.

Food Diary:

Breakfast:
— Green smoothie: 1/3 tsp of wheatgrass powder, green apple, banana, spinach, chia seeds and linseeds
— Handful of brazil nuts
— Hot water with lemon Lunch:
— Super salad, ready for it…spinach, kale, red cabbage, tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini, parsley, basil, mint, walnuts, brazil nuts, chia seeds, linseeds, sesame seeds, hemp seeds, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, walnut oil, with spinach pesto 🙂 Dinner:
— ‘Cauliflower Rice’ (hence rant above) with mixed herb pesto

Snacks:
— Smoothie: frozen raspberries, orange, cucumber, mint
— Handful of dried fruit and nuts
— Store bought raw crackers

Day 16 Verdict:

I woke up a little tired today and had a slow morning. But overall I’m feeling great.

This week I’m going to try and eat a bit less sugar. I have a fairly low sugar diet normally and I tend to be able to feel how much sugar I have in my body. (not the exact amount of course – that would be weird, I just mean I can feel it when I’ve had more than normal) I get hot, a slightly weird taste in my mouth and it feels like I have a lot of energy to burn. Energy isn’t a bad thing but what I’m finding on this diet so far is when I do exercise I don’t have the endurance to push myself that little bit extra like I can normally, so that combined with the high sugar levels is a slightly frustrating feeling.

Food Diary:

Breakfast:
— Green smoothie: banana, pear, kiwi, kale, ginger, wheatgrass.
— hot water with lemon

Lunch:
— Zucchini pasta with pesto Dinner:
— Beetroot and carrot salad with raw cheese. I marinated the beets in olive oil and lemon.
— Almond milk, cinnamon and fresh coconut smoothie   Snacks: (a lot!!)
— Rest of my green smoothie
— Walnuts and brazil nuts
— Handful of dried fruit and nuts
— Green apple
— Dried figs
— Onion bread
— Piece of raw chocolate
— Spoonful of cashew nut butter (yep we were at that point…spoon in the jar)

Day 17 Verdict:

So far so good…

I had a slightly different strategy for today as well – I usually get really hungry about 4pm and that is when I snack on lots of dried fruit and nuts. (high sugar and fats) This morning I made extra green smoothie in the morning and smashed the rest of it about 4pm. It got me through the remainder of the afternoon and I also had enough energy for a 45 min strength / pilates session after work. (wow, I’m posting about what time I drank my smoothie – is this my most boring post yet?…)

Food Diary:

Breakfast:
— Green (more like purple today) smoothie: banana, frozen blueberries, apple, cucumber, spinach, mint, wheatgrass
— hot water with lemon

Lunch:
— Zucchini pesto pasta with sun-dried tomato and sunflower pate

Dinner:
— Salad with tomato-basil sunflower seed pate and almond cheese. LOVE this pate – next time I would blend the sun-dried tomatoes with the rest of the ingredients before adding the seeds – the mixture was too thick – even for my Omniblend so a lot of the basil and tomatoes weren’t completely blended (not such a bad thing to have lumpy bits though of course) I would also soak the seeds for less time – the recipe said soak for 4-8 hours, I forgot about mine and left them soaking for 24 hours and they started to sprout :-S

Snacks:
— Handful of brazil nuts and walnuts
— Rest of my green smoothie
— Lots of spoonfuls of the raw chocolate I was making for dinner party tomorrow night

Day 18 Verdict:

Feeling pretty good – I already know the rest of this week is going to be a bit mental for me so I’ll be interested to see how I cope over the next few days. I (very surprisingly) didn’t get a migraine today (touch wood). Normally when my day is as intense as it was today I would start to feel a migraine coming on by early afternoon but it looks like I somehow managed to remain migraine-free today – wahoooo.

Tonight I had dinner at my friend Jamie’s house. Raw food just took on a whole new level of awesome for me. Jamie is a holistic nutritionist so I knew she would create something yum, but this was next level. I think for the first time this month I 100% didn’t feel like I was eating a ‘restrictive diet’ – I just felt like I was eating a delicious meal. It is also such a treat talking with someone with so much food and nutrition knowledge – there is a whole world of information out there that I’m just starting to learn about. This is especially exciting and motivating for me because I thought I previously knew quite a bit about food and health but really I’ve got so much more to learn, which is a great thing.

Other significant things that happened today in no particular order:
— I finally had something different than a green smoothie for breakfast – cool me down!
— I realised on this diet I can probably only eat about 10-15% of what is stocked in my local supermarket and this doesn’t worry me at all
— I felt a migraine coming on, I went for a walk in the fresh air and it disappeared. 🙂
— My boss joined me on raw today, he lasted until 4:45pm, and then had a sandwich haha 😉
— I sniffed a bag of corn chips, that’s not weird at all right?
— My good friend Dave has decided meat smoothies will be the next big thing. I have promised to drink one once he has perfected his recipe.

Food Diary:

Breakfast:
— Store bought raw muesli with almond milk. I added chia seeds, banana, linseeds, walnuts.

Lunch:
— Salad: mixed greens, tomato, avocado, lemon, olive oil + tomato-basil sunflower seed pate (I made LOADS of pate….it is likely this will feature in all my meals for the next few days 😉 )

Dinner: (Mostly from Raw and Simple by Judita Wignall)
— Thai veggie noodles
— Five pepper vegetable chilli
— Cauliflower couscous (it was amazing – no rant needed tonight, says something about my cooking..)
— Raw chocolate. So simple, just dates, coconut oil and cocao. I made four types: plain, pistachio, fruit and nuts, macadamia, sea salt and chilli. YUM!

Snacks:
— Green smoothie: mixed greens, apple, kiwi, ginger, wheatgrass and chic seeds
— Walnuts, macadamias and brazil nuts
— Carrot sticks with tomato-basil sunflower seed pate.

What percentage raw are you?

Emily: I’d say 80-90%, some days less… some days more. It all depends on what I feel like I should eat that day.

How long have you been raw?

Emily: Um… 3 years-ish?

In your opinion what do you think are the main benefits of eating raw?

Emily: Hydration, nutrient density and fiber! All raw foods have a very high water content, especially juicy fruits. Also, when you leave foods raw, they usually retain the most nutrients (although some foods are best eaten lightly cooked, ex. steamed broccoli, because more nutrients become available. Read “Becoming Raw”  by Brenda Davis, Rynn Berry, Vesanta Melina for more info on this). 

What made you decide to go raw?

Emily: It wasn’t really a decision to “go raw” so much as it was a gradual realization that the more raw food I ate, the better I felt… and thus came the natural increase of those foods in my diet. I don’t see raw as a switch you turn on or off, I view it as an aspect of healthy living that every body could probably benefit from.

Would you recommend raw as a lifestyle or as a detox for a restricted period of time?

Emily: It depends. I think people have constructed a slightly misleading idea of “detox”. If you’re eating right, then your body is always detoxing! When it doesn’t have any diseases or illnesses to fight or toxic food to digest and get rid of (i.e. soda, fried meat) then it’s default action is to be cleaning your system up… it’s pretty awesome. So if you wanna “detox” – just eat a whole foods, plant based diet! It will be a slower detoxification process but ultimately that’s best for you. Extreme changes, generally speaking,  aren’t good for the body. For me, my diet is very “clean” already (by that I mean I eat a whole foods, hydrating, plant based, predominantly raw diet). If I want to put my body through deeper detoxification than normal, I do a juice fast because that’s the only thing that’ll do it for me. But for the average person, slowly and comfortably changing their diet into a wholesome vegan-ish one is the best idea. If you want long term results, you need to make lifestyle changes.

Do you have a favourite raw food or recipe you want to share?

Emily: Simplicity is best… I love green smoothies, fresh papaya with lime juice, or dates and almond butter. But of course… who doesn’t want cake? Here’s a new fave recipe of mine:

VANILLA, RASPBERRY & PEPPERMINT CREAM CAKE with CACAO TRUFFLES

Crust:
1/2 cup hemp seeds
1/2 oats or almonds
1 cup dates

Cream cake:
2 cups cashews
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup dates
1-2 tablespoons coconut nectar (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla powder
Pinch of Himalayan salt
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
1 peeled orange
Water, as needed (I used about 1 1/2 cups)
1 cup raspberries
1 cup mint leaves

Truffles:
1/2 cup dates
1 tablespoon cacao powder
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil

Chocolate drizzle:
Use this recipe.

To make the crust: pulse the hemp seeds and oats or almonds in a food processor until they turn into flour or crumbs. Add the dates and process until it all sticks together somewhat. Press in to the bottom of a lined cake pan (mine is adjustable and was about 7 inches). Put in the fridge.

To make the cream cake: blend all the ingredients together until smooth, EXCEPT the berries and mint. Take out one third of the mixture and pour onto your crust. Put back in the fridge. Take out half of the remaining mixture in the blender and set aside. Add the raspberries to the blender and blend until you get a smooth pink cream. Spread on top of your first layer and put back in the fridge. Put the remaining mixture (that you set aside a moment ago) back into the blender along with the mint leaves; blend until smooth and green. Spread evenly on top of the pink layer and keep in the fridge for 24-48 hours to let the cake set and flavours develop.

To make the truffles: put all the ingredients in your food processor and process until smooth and thick like frosting. Roll into balls and coat in cacao powder. Decorate your cake with these, as well as hemp and pumpkin seeds, if you like. Drizzle with chocolate and slice!

Any advice for anyone going raw for the first time?

Emily: Again, if thinking about it as “going raw” is intimidating, then don’t think about it that way! There is no pressure to fit a strict definition and you shouldn’t feel guilty if you “fall off the wagon”. I don’t like all the restrictive language in the health food world because if you eat a diet that doesn’t fit a label, you’re often judged negatively. I think you should to eat to FEEL GOOD, and preferably eat foods that are good for the planet and our animal buds. If you are interested in raw foods: start adding more organic fruits to your diet; in smoothies, at breakfast, in between meals… and eat LOTS of it. Check out farmers markets. Get creative. Add in raw veggies and hummus or raw dips as snacks, and experiment with my (or any) raw dessert and entree recipes. Buy or borrow some raw food cookbooks. Add a giant salad to dinner, and keep increasing the size until you don’t even want your main course. Drink plenty of water, get enough sleep, and try to get in some moderate exercise everyday (even if it’s just a 15 minute power walk and some punch-dancing). Most importantly: be excited about and love what you are doing. If you won’t wanna do it, then it’s not gonna work. Do what works for YOU. <3

Check out Emily’s book – Rawsome Vegan Baking: An Un-cookbook for Raw, Gluten-Free, Vegan, Beautiful and Sinfully Sweet Cookies, Cakes, Bars & Cupcakes. See here for more info!

Food Diary:

Breakfast:
— Green smoothie – mango, apple, banana, coconut, kale, ginger
— Hot water with lemon

Lunch:
— Salad – mixed greens, tomato, avocado, hemp seeds, linseeds, chic seeds plus tomato-basil sunflower seed pate

Dinner:
— Thai coconut curry with kelp noodles

Snacks:
— Rest of my green smoothie
— Handful of dried fruit and nuts
— Orange
— 4 mejool dates
— Left over chocolate from last night!

How Are You Feeling?

Really great! A tiny bit nauseous again today. I had sprouts for the first time in ages today (and last night) so I’m wondering if there is a connection.

I can honestly say that (probably naively) before I started this diet I thought I would just go straight back to my normal way of eating. Maybe start my first day of non-raw day with some poached eggs on toast, definitely eat some cheese and crackers in the afternoon and maybe eat some pasta or something carb-y in the evening. But I am having such a great experience eating raw food that I’m almost a bit scared to come off it. Of course I was interested in raw food otherwise I wouldn’t have picked it for my first 28 day experiment, but I don’t think I anticipated how good I would feel, and actually how easy it has been to incorporate it into my life. I haven’t made any decisions yet about if I will stay completely raw or what percentage raw I would like to maintain, but even the fact that I am considering this is a big change from where my head was at four weeks ago.

I did get a migraine today but an odd thing happened. I took an over the counter pain killer, got some fresh air and it went away. This is quite remarkable for me and I don’t honestly think I can remember a time I got rid of a migraine with fresh air and paracetamol!

Food Diary:

Breakfast:
— Green smoothie – pineapple, apple, coconut, banana, kale, ginger, wheatgrass.
— Hot water with lemon

Lunch:
— Zucchini fettuccine with mixed nut pesto (only because I had bits of lots of types of nuts so I just blended them all up together)

Dinner:
— Super salad: kale, tomato, zucchini, red onion, hemp seeds, almond cheese, lemon juice, olive oil, linseed oil, apple cider vinegar, walnuts
— Quick guacamole with carrot sticks: 1 avocado / Lemon juice / Garlic / Red onion / tomato / some fresh chilli / salt and pepper

Snacks:
— Rest of my green smoothie
— Handful of mixed nuts
— Chocolate avocado pudding

Day 21 Verdict:

I had enough snacks with me to quickly put together a tasty lunch before heading out for a meeting and also had enough raw ingredients at home to make a yummy dinner that I hadn’t planned  – most meals I am planning at least the day before so it felt good to be able to wing this one – kinda feels like I’m getting the hang of this

Any evening (while eating raw) that I’ve tried to go out I’ve found I’m SUPER tired and struggle to stay up late. Right now it’s 11:55pm –  I’m yawning every few minutes and feel like I need toothpicks to keep my eyes open. It will be interesting to see how long I last…

Food Diary:

Breakfast:
— Raw Coconut Mango Grawnola, with blueberries, grapes and almond milk
— Hot water with lemon

Lunch:
— Super salad: kale, red cabbage, alfalfa sprouts, tomato, zucchini, mung beans, kelp noodles, walnuts, linseeds, olive oil, lemon, linseed oil, apple cider vinegar, tomato-basil sunflower seed pate

Dinner: (At The Alchemist Garden restaurant)
— Raw lasagne
— Linseed crackers with mayonnaise
— Glass of red wine

Snacks:
— Dried fruit and nuts
— Smoothie: cacao, frozen banana, medjool dates, pear, almond milk.

The first time I froze banana to use in my smoothies I made the rookie mistake of freezing them whole, with the skin on. But it’s a biatch to try and peel them frozen! 🙂 The best way I have found is to wait until they are nice and ripe, peel them and cut them up into 1 inch chunks. I then put them into the freezer in a plastic container or zip lock bag and just use as much as I need.

Here is a wee tutorial on how to prep and freeze your bananas for smoothies!

Day 22 Verdict

I’m tired, but feeling good.

It is probably a combination of all four things but the last one is really interesting to me. I have had this before with different phases in my life (E.g – doing a lot of yoga, or getting in shape for something specific) but it is interesting to me how unappealing alcohol is to me right now.

Let’s talk about tummy bloating

I’ve suffered from the tummy bloat since I was a kid. I would race home from school, eat two weetbix (wheat based cereal) and then head off to ballet class. I would stand there, in my leotard, skinny arms and legs, big smile on my face and my big beach ball sized bloated belly. I remember it hurting but I just thought that was normal and most people’s tummies hurt after they ate. I’ve never been tested for wheat (or any other) intolerance but I just realised at one point in my life that I feel better if I eat less bread and wheat. Not none at all, because I really love a good spag bol or eggs on toast, but just less.

The reason I’m mentioning this is I realised yesterday that I have had pretty much zero tummy bloat for the past 3 weeks. The first time was yesterday afternoon when I made myself a super sweet / heavy smoothie (dates, banana, cacao, almond milk) and I could feel almost instantly it was just too much sugar for my body to handle and almost instantly my tummy bloated. But other than this moment I have managed to avoid the beach ball belly while on raw.

Let’s talk about sleep (or lack of)

Over the past three weeks I have had a lot less sleep than normal. I’m finding I haven’t been able to nap much (I am usually a great napper!) or sleep in. As soon as it starts getting light my brain is awake and I find I can’t get back to sleep even though I feel really tired. Once I’m up I’m usually fine but for the past few days I’ve started to feel really exhausted early in the evenings. It isn’t even 8pm right now and I feel like I could easily fall asleep on my laptop. I’m hoping it is just from a really busy week and I can do some catching up soon.

…Oh, and last night I made it until 2:30am at the party. Even the 15 minute cycle through the cold Amsterdam night didn’t really wake me up. When I got home I had mung beans with lemon, olive oil and salt and it was surprisingly satisfying!

Food Diary:

2:30am snack:
— Mung beans with lemon, olive oil and salt.

Breakfast:
— Green smoothie: green apple, kale, cucumber, orange, ginger, chia seeds, linseeds.
— Handful of brazil nuts
— Hot water with lemon

Lunch 1:
— Super salad: left over salad from last night plus loads of other goodie bits

Lunch 2:
— Guacamole with carrot and celery sticks
— Date balls

Dinner
— Raw muesli (I love having cereal for dinner. I think its a girl thing, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a dude say that)

Snacks:
— Handful dried fruit and activated nuts. The idea with activated nuts is if you soak them and it is easier for your body to absorb the nutrients.

Day 23 Verdict:

Feeling TIRED (but great)

Luckily I live above a market and can get a lot of my supplies – especially nuts and seeds a lot cheaper than if I was buying these from a grocery store. One Saturday I spent over €40 at the nut stand  – I knew I was going to buy a lot and I really wanted to say ‘Ok, I’m going to go nuts here’ but it looked like it might be lost in translation so I opted to just keep it to myself.

You also need a blender – I have been using mine (well my flatmate Kris’s…who joins me today for 5 days of raw!) at least twice a day and it would have been a very different experience without one. I would actually go as far as saying I probably wouldn’t try a raw food diet without one so that may be a cost you will have upfront.

But, I am going out way less and spending substantially less money on nice dinners and alcohol, so overall I haven’t spent as much money this month as I usually do. I can only talk about my personal experience and if you are someone that usually doesn’t go out much, and really wants to buy more of the packaged raw treats, then eating raw may actually work out more expensive for you.

Today I had a migraine 🙁 I suffered for a couple of hours and then took a migraine tablet around 4pm. I had planned on doing a yoga class but decided a walk was nicer on my brain than spending 90 minutes in 40 degree heat.

Food Diary:

Breakfast:
— Green smoothie: Frozen cherries, banana, orange, kale, ginger, wheatgrass.
— Hot water with lemon

Lunch:
— Zucchini fettuccine with sun-dried good heart tomato sauce (recipe link below)

Dinner:
— Super salad: spinach, beetroot, carrot, tomato, mushrooms, activated almonds, alfalfa sprouts, almond milk dressing. I grated the carrots and beetroot and marinated them in lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper for 30 minutes
The almond milk dressing is the left over milk from the nut cheese I’m making at the moment. To make the cheese you blend together almonds, garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper and then place the mixture in a cheese cloth. The liquid that comes out of the cheese makes a really nice dressing!
I then threw in the spinach, tomato, mushrooms, alfalfa and activated nuts, plus a spoonful of basil pesto – yum!

Snacks:
— Handful of nuts (brazil nuts, cashews, almonds, hazelnuts)
— Rest of my green smoothie
— Handful of dried fruit and nuts
— Mandarin
— Dates

Day 24 Verdict:

Feeling a bit tired and flat now from the migraine medication.

What I know fro my experience:

1. I have read about how switching to a mostly raw food diet is great because it saves you time in the kitchen. For me it has actually been the complete opposite. Just because there is no cooking involved it doesn’t necessarily reduce your kitchen time. I made raw cheese over the weekend – this involved going to the market to buy the nuts, soaking the nuts overnight, draining them, adding flavour, blending, then straining the mixture through a cheese cloth, setting the cheese in the fridge overnight and then (optional) dehydrating for at least 8 hours. Trust me, buying a block of feta from the supermarket to crumble on your salad takes a lot less time!

2. For the first two weeks I was struggling with not ever feeling full. I don’t mean I was hungry (well, that too at times) – but I mean not feeling like you do when you eat a bowl of mashed potatoes or a burger. It was SUCH a frustrating feeling. Now I feel great – my body has adjusted and I’m no longer craving that fully belly sensation but at least for the first 10 days or so I was searching for this sort of ‘comfort’ and feeling slightly odd when I couldn’t achieve it.

3. It takes time for your body to transition. I was nauseous almost every time after I ate for a week. A friend of mine who joijned me for a bit on this diet felt pretty rotten for 6 days before she even started to feel the benefits of raw. I’m sure for everyone it is different but it is important to realise that you are probably not going to feel great from day one.

4. Raw cauliflower isn’t EVER going to taste like rice, no matter what you do to it. Some recipes have blown me away at how tasty and satisfying they are but raw food is different from cooked food so it isn’t going to taste the same. My freshly made nut cheese looks a lot like regular cheese but in reality it tastes like savoury marzipan. Don’t get me wrong, I’m really enjoying it – it gives me a different texture that I can add to my salads but don’t be fooled into thinking it will taste like a piece of camembert!

5. It is very time consuming. If you are happy to live on basic salads and some fruit then this wont apply to you but for me my diet has to be interesting and most import – taste good! It takes time to research recipes (until they are in your repertoire), it takes time to find the ingredients especially if you haven’t used them before and need to go to health food store or markets to find specific things, and it takes time to prep the food – lots of soaking, blending, adding flavours, dehydrating, freezing, refrigerating. And don’t forget you are making (almost) everything – pestos, dips, hummus, crackers, sweet treats…everything that you may have bought from the supermarket before (or at least when you were too busy to create the homemade version) you need to make yourself.

6. It can be anti-social. You can feel lonely or left out. You might even feel a bit weird and question why you are doing it in the first place.

There is so much great info out there on transitioning to a mostly raw diet but there is some misleading information (that usually comes with lovely images of  women smiling and eating salad) that just isn’t real. Some articles I have read made me think that the writer has never actually tried a raw diet at all.

As you can probably tell from my recent posts I’m a pretty big fan of eating raw right now but I also think it is important to get real on this stuff – I would definitely encourage people to give it a go but just make sure you know it isn’t all going to be a walk in the park.

What Did You Eat?

Breakfast:
— Green smoothie: (just for a change!) pear, kiwi, fresh orange juice, ginger, spinach, wheatgrass, mint
– Hot water with lemon

Lunch:
— Super salad: mixed greens, tomato, beetroot, hemp seeds, raisins, pear, activated almonds, walnuts, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper

Dinner:
— Coconut wraps with tahini dipping sauce: I bought the wraps and then filled them with avocado, alfalfa, grated carrot, red pepper. They were tasty but slightly odd because I kept thinking I was biting in a rice paper roll…so the coconut flavour kept catching me off guard!

I made this dipping sauce to go with the wraps (it is a variation of a dipping sauce from Judita Wignall’s Raw and Simple)

Tahini / Lemon juice / Water / Coriander / Fresh chilli / Red pepper / Garlic / Ginger / Agave / salt and pepper….and blend!

— Dessert was banana ice cream with coconut and cacao

Snacks:
— Raw chocolate (store bought)
— Mixed raw nuts

Day 25 Verdict:

A lot better than earlier today! I woke up with a migraine – the worst kind…knowing you will have to deal with it all day… but I’m feeling like myself again now and have my fingers crossed for a migraine free day tomorrow 🙂

I made raw almond cheese again on the weekend. This time I got a bit more creative with the flavours – I added nutritional yeast, paprika and more garlic and salt. I prefer this version as it have quite a bit more flavour.

To keep things simple, I’m just thinking about ‘Day 29’ breaky for now:

1. Green smoothie. And only slowly transition off raw food if and when I feel like it
2. Eat what I would normally eat pre 28 Days of Me, which would probably mean two poached eggs on spelt toast, fresh orange juice and a cup of English breaky tea 🙂 (finally!)
3. GO AND SMASH A MACCAS BURGER

Although eating a greasy, over-processed burger sounds kinda fun, I am also 99% sure that it will make me feel sick and I’m not convinced I want to spend my day feeling that rotten.

What if I actually stayed raw? I really do feel pretty good, I’ve passed the initial hump of nausea, weird blood sugar levels, and adjusting to not ever really feeling full so I feels like it makes sense to keep going, right? But, on the other hand it would be great to have a cup of tea, to eat a mashed potato or have a cracker now and then (strewth – I’d love a cracker!)

I can honestly say I didn’t think at this stage of the experiment I would at all be contemplating staying (even a percentage raw), so this is new territory for me. I haven’t made a decision yet, but I’ll definitely update you in the conclusions.

This post might actually be the most boring post so far – planning what I’m going to have for breakfast 3 days out 🙂

 Food Diary:

Breakfast:
— Green smoothie: pear, orange, apple, ginger, mint, spinach, wheatgrass
— Hot water with lemon

Lunch:
— Macadamia Monster Mash (how can you go wrong when it’s called Monster Mash?!) with zucchini fettuccine

Dinner:
— Lettuce cups with five-pepper vegetable chilli and guacamole from Judita Wignall’s Raw and Simple

Snacks:
— Handful of nuts
— Rolling down the street eating kale and sippin on my big green juice.

Day 26 Verdict:

This morning I was a little euphoric. After lunch I felt little bit nauseous. And after dinner I had a pretty intense belly ache. I had lots of fats today (nuts, avocado and oils) so I think that’s why my belly wants to explode right now. Even after 26 days on this diet I’m still making rookie mistakes 😉

I had fresh orange juice for breaky, a green smoothie during the morning but was STARVING by 1pm… so had a salad. Ha, I haven’t ever done a full liquid / detox cleanse before, and even with the green smoothie – which has a bit more oomph than just a juice – I still couldn’t do it.

I’m keen to give it another go at some point but I kinda feel like my energy and motivation for additional diet restrictions is pretty low right now.

I was actually starving all afternoon and ended up having another salad about 5pm. I did eat less sugar and fats today than I have been recently so even that change felt good.

I really can’t believe it’s the last day tomorrow of my raw diet. This month has gone incredibly fast for me – way faster than I had anticipated.

I feel good 🙂

Food Diary:

Breakfast:
— Fresh orange juice
— Hot water with lemon

Lunch:
— Simple salad: spinach, tomato, zucchini, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper.

Dinner:
— Super salad: kale, alfalfa, cos lettuce, tomato, mushroom, corn, red capsicum, raisins, cashews, apple cider vinegar, walnut oil, salt pepper and almond cheese.

Snacks:
— Green smoothie: pear, kale, mint, ginger, wheatgrass
— Second lunch salad – tomatoes, avocado, spinach, olive oil and salt
— Raw chocolate dessert treat (blend cacao, coconut oil and dates, almonds, desiccated coconut and a bit of water!)

Day 27 Verdict:

Feeling really great! Tummy settled down over night. Body feels good, mind feels good.

I feel proud for achieving what I set out to do and I’m looking forward to getting some of my free time back, but in terms of being able to eat non-raw food, it doesn’t really seem to faze me.

Maybe it will be a slow burn and in a few days time I will be gleefully chomping on roast spuds, but right now I don’t feel excited or even motivated to transition off raw. Not a scenario I was expecting at all.

We really are such creatures of habit and it felt like once I established my routine – meal planning and market shopping on Saturdays, raw baking and food prep for the week on Sundays, green smoothies every morning, raw lunch either brought by me or cooked by our chef at work, raw snacks in the afternoon and dinner either super salads, raw dishes – then I was sorted. I imagine I will feel a bit lost tomorrow when I break this routine for the first time in weeks.

Today I went back to the doctor to get my blood tests done again. I had them done at the start of the month so I can see if there has been any change. I was talking to the nurse about my raw food diet and it completely freaked her out. She was almost repulsed, which I thought was funny…but also a bit scary as she works in the health industry…

My blood pressure is lower than a month ago. I was a little surprised about this as I haven’t been doing quite as much exercise this month (for a few reason – 1. I don’t seem to have the endurance and 2. I have been busy with creating content for the blog) But I guess it makes sense as my diet has been so low in saturated fats and processed foods.

Soon I’ll create the conclusions page about my experience – how it differed from my expectations, what I would do differently next time, any advice I have for raw newbies. I will include the blood test results here as well.

But for now it’s time for me to make a cup of tea, get ready for bed and say thanks for joining me on my journey X

Food Diary:

Breakfast:
— Green smoothie: pear, frozen raspberries, orange, kale, ginger, mint, wheatgrass, chia seeds (it looks a bit rough right!)
— Hot water with lemon

Lunch:
— Kale, cos lettuce, tomato, mushroom, red pepper, alfalfa, raisins, activated almonds, walnuts, hemp seeds, linseeds, chia seed + Pistachio Pate (Pistachio, garlic, lemon, olive oil, salt pepper, chili flakes, water and blend)

Dinner:
Was a bit odd. Carrots dipped in left over pistachio pate, mixed raw nuts, left over chilli, a spoonful of guacamole and the rest of my raw cacao dessert treat from last night. Wasn’t worthy of a pic and i was 100% just being lazy and eating what I had left.

Snacks:
— Rest of my green smoothie
— Second helping of my lunch salad

Day 28 Verdict:

Happy to have made it. I really wasn’t sure if I could stay completely raw for the full 28 days, so I’m feeling proud of myself for doing it.