Day 11 – Raw Diet

Today was a decent day in my raw food challenge.

My physical energy definitely is increasing each day, but is still not consistent.  For example, I had about two hours of super energy this morning, but then it faded to a low point later on, repeat.  I would say sometimes it is associated with hunger, but most of the time it is up and down on its own.

Mentally I am am not seeing anything significant to note except maybe during exercise helping me break through some previous limitations.  I actually am having moments of ’spaciness’ during the day now and again.  Nothing serious, and it may be associated with low blood sugar or the reduced calories I am eating, but it has happened often enough that I took note of the change.

My exercise went well today.  I did not run quite as long as yesterday, but overall it was very productive.  I am trying to change my running form a bit to help alleviate some shoulder tension I get when running, so I tried to take it a bit easy today.

My meal plan went as follows today:

• Breakfast – Green Smoothie (Cucumber, spinach, mixed baby greens, avocado, tomato)
• Snacks – Coconut meat, grapefruit, blueberries, pineapple, raspberries, cacao nibs, goji berries
• Lunch – Green Juice (Bok Choy, cucumber, celery, spinach, kale, lemon)
• Post workout snack – Fruit Smoothie (mango, papaya, pineapple, ice)
• Dinner – Green Smoothie (Spinach, mixed baby greens, avocado, red pepper, cucumber)

My nutrition totals were as follows:

Calories – 1515

• 51% from Carbohydrates
• 42% from Fat
• 7% from Protein

Weigh in this morning had me at 105lbs, same for the last 3 days, so 6lbs lost in 11 days (started at 111lbs).
My weight seems to be holding, I am increasing my calories and working out, so this is about right for my body.  I know I am still gaining muscle, so not concerned about no change the last few days.

I am still doing mostly smoothies and juices at this point for my main meals.  Right now this is working well for me, both from a digestion standpoint, and to make it easy to stick to the 100% raw.  When I was trying to do recipes each night, I spent a lot of energy and time (and money) on items that I usually did not end up eating.  Right now I still consider this 30 days a detox and a trial, so I have dropped most of my recipe research and am just focusing on consuming enough food each day.  The smoothies definitely allow me a chance to relax and not overwork my brain on the changes.  I could not do this long term, but I have gotten into a rhythm that I enjoy right now.  My ingredients tend to be similar, but I am dropping items for a day or two in rotation.

At night I weigh and cut up items for the next day, it usually takes me between 45-60 minutes to prepare dinner, and then prepare breakfast, lunch, and snacks for the next day.  I spend 20 additional minutes in the morning making my juice and smoothie with the items I cut up the night before (and cleaning up).  Overall, I am probably spending between 60-90 minutes a day in prepping food each day.  I am also shopping 2-3 times a week right now, which I had planned on ahead of time.  Not knowing what I will be able to eat, and the limited amount of time that fresh food lasts, I would think two times a week is to be expected.

I am over a third way through the challenge, and while the cravings are still pretty high, I can see myself getting through this still.