High Raw Diet - Week 2

Last week on this high raw diet I was having detox symptoms and feeling tired at times but found out that taking an enema really helped to feel energetic and well again. I got a good suggestion from a reader in the comments section of last week to look more into alkaline foods and lymph cleansing, and I agree, those are two topics that I haven't completely embraced yet. I know green juices are very alkaline so I am doing quite well drinking those every day.

Monday, 1st April 2013 - High Raw Diet - Day 8

Easter Monday, day off work.

I woke up at 10.30am feeling well after sleeping 8.5h.

Breakfast:
Glass of Innocent Smoothie (pasteurized)
Large smoothie: 2 apples, 1 tbps maca, flax seeds, 3 dates , broccoli sprouts, 1.5 cups frozen mixed berries, dried seabuckthorn berry, goji berries, spinach leaves, ashwaghanda powder. (Powerful smoothie in terms of ingredients but not very nice tasting...)

Took a hot bath, followed by a skin brush and a cold shower. All in an attempt to move the lymph. Started feeling a bit tired again afterwards. Maybe when the lymph moves - and you're on a cleansing diet at the same time anyway - the toxins start moving and trying to come out.

Late lunch:
Raw, dehydrated sweet potato cakes (had maple syrup in them) with marinated mushroom and cashew-nut sauce, and lettuce, broccoli sprouts, and mashed ripe plantain with salt and pepper on the side.

This dish has potential but this time the flavours were too intense. The potato cakes were too sweet and the mushroom sauce was too 'mushroomy'. Raw mushrooms have a different taste from cooked mushrooms - but with some tweaks this could be a nice dish.

Snacks through the day:
Grapefruit juice (pasteurized)
Green juice: grapefruit, lemon, apple, ginger, coriander, celery, red pepper.
Innocent smoothie
SAF raw crackers with hummus
Water

11.30pm - felt quite good today. Slightly nervous and anxious, perhaps because the holiday is ending or perhaps because of detox... Not too tired now, just a little. Gonna do the trauma release exercises now and then sleep with the grounding sheets in the bed :)

Seems like the energy levels may be rising!

Evening drink: CocoVita coconut water (pasteurised) with raw blueberry juice mixed in.

Went to bed at midnight.

Tuesday, 2nd April 2013 - High Raw Diet - Day 9

Woke up at 7.30am, a little tired today, only slept properly until 6am when alarm clock rang. 6 hours is not enough sleep for me...

Breakfast:
Lemon water
Smoothie: Mixed berries, an apple, goji berries, 1 teasp maca, little MSM, 4 lettuce leaves, broccoli and mustard sprouts, water.

Snacks at work:
Tropical fruit juice (pasteurised)
Berry smoothie (pasteurised)
Tap water

Lunch:
Raw sweet potato cakes, home-made raw vegan pesto, home-made mushroom pate, broccoli and mustard sprouts.
Small 'Innocent' smoothie

Dinner:
Green juice made of: bunch of Romaine lettuce, one lemon with white rind, ginger, pinch of turmeric.
Glass of coconut water (pasteurised).

I was feeling very tired at work after lunch time but otherwise ok. Throatache is completely gone by now. I started taking the adrenal glandulars today instead of the Thyro-Complex. The Endo-Dren adrenal glandular supplement has in it: adrenal glandular and liver glandular concentrate. My eyes are not puffy anymore so not worried about the iodine in Thyro-Complex but last time the Endo-Dren gave me more energy so I'm moving back to that. It has 100mg adrenal glandular concentrate whereas the Thyro-Complex only has 30mg.

• "Our bodies don't run on calories, we are electrical beings." Alkalinity is important.
• Follow an alkaline diet for two weeks and you will be able to see clear results. Drink good quality alkaline water and eat lots of greens and green juices.
• We don't need fibre, grains are not beneficial, even wholegrains (I'm not sure if I agree with this although it definitely applies to gluten grains).
• Good healthy, raw plant oils every day is important. Robert Young recommends 2-3 ounces per day which translates to 50+ml! That seems way too high, however.
• Green juices build strong blood.

I remember reading somewhere that the electrons you get from grounding alkalise you as well.

[See also: Alkaline Acid Foods - Clearing Out Confusion]

The interview got me inspired and I'm going to try to drink a live green juice every morning and evening now. I may not find the time for it but will try.

10pm: Feeling hungry but don't want to start making any more food! Maybe a little hunger is good anyway, at least for weight loss if nothing else. I will see how I feel tomorrow, if I feel weak it means I'm not nourishing myself enough and I should make more effort to eat dinner...

11pm: Just out of bath, brushed my skin to move the lymph, heading to sleep now. I've got the same funny thirsty feeling as I often have, which doesn't get helped by drinking water... [Later note: I think this thirst was due to dehydration from eating too much sugar and carbs - this got a lot worse later and it is linked to sugar and carbohydrate intolerance.]

Day 10 - High Raw Diet - Wednesday

Woke up quite late, at 7.30am, but not feeling too tired, feeling quite well. Nose quite blocked now, however, and puffy eyes. Will stop taking Thyro-complex for now. Last time when I quit dairy I remember reaping benefits of that in about two weeks time so hopefully nasal congestion will go by then. I don't cough nearly as much as usual these days, however, which is good is probably because the food is easier to digest. The dehydrated potato cakes and SAF raw crackers seem to make me cough, however. [Update: The potato cakes had syrup in them - sugar is very dehydrating and thus causes congestion - and the dry crackers were possibly too dry and difficult to digest without plenty of water being drunk with them...]

Breakfast:
Freshly squeezed juice of one pink grapefruit.
Green juice: whole bunch of spinach, one lemon, little ginger.

AM snacks: Tropical fruit juice , banana, zeolite clay with water.

Lunch:
Rocket, baby spinach, lettuce, cherry tomato, red pepper salad from Marks & Spencers with avocado and hummus added. No dressing, I forgot to take some in the morning...

PM snack: Berry smoothie from Marks & Spencers, tap water with salt.

7.30pm: Just got back from work. I've been feeling well today, energies have been keeping up, except straight after eating the salad I got tired for about 10 minutes, then the tiredness disappeared again.

I still have had no hot drinks at all, no caffeine, no dairy, no gluten and all the nuts I've eaten have been soaked to remove enzyme inhibitors and to make them easier to digest.

I found Jameth Sheridan on YouTube today and he makes a lot of sense. He may be my new favourite raw food "guru"! He is the owner of HealthForce Nutritionals. Many things he says make so much sense and coincide with my beliefs. He talks about why fruitarianism is not sustainable long term, how raw food on its own is not enough, and how there should be a healthy balance and moderation in everything. He is a huge advocate of whole, organic, vegan, living and wild foods, however, but cautions against some fanaticism in the raw food movement.

This is quite an interesting talk on You Tube with Jameth Sheridan:



Dinner at 9pm:
Coconut water (CocoVita, not raw)
Green juice: lettuce, celery, lemon
Courgette 'angel-hair' pasta with tomato marinara (cherry tomatoes, dates , olive oil, lemon juice, water, cayenne pepper, Jordanian thyme, salt, pepper)

I'm feeling good and it is easy to eat raw but at the same time I'm planning my first cheat day for Friday, as I promised myself at the beginning of this trial that I would get one cheat day per week.

Day 11 - High Raw Diet Diary - Thursday

Woke up at 8am, felt a little tired this morning. My eyes are puffy again and I still have a blocked nose. Note that I didn't used to have puffy eyes before I started the thyroid glandulars and the gluten free diet (before this raw food diet). I've stopped the thyroid glandulars for now and replaced them with adrenal glandulars, however.

[Note that gluten free ready foods, such as bread, are usually full of sugar.]

Breakfast:
Green juice: lettuce, courgette, apple, lemon

AM snack:
Banana, SAF cracker with hummus

Lunch:
I went out for lunch with a friend so didn't worry about what I ate (one of my rules for this diet - I can eat anything when I go out with people or dinner party etc.) So I ate:
A mix of salads, with cooked green beans, other beans, smoked mackerel, different types of green lettuce, beetroot (cooked), olives, cherry tomatoes, etc. Dressing that looked like honey and mustard maybe, one piece of white bread with butter, ice water, one piece of feta cheese.

On a positive note my friend commented that I looked healthier than before! I actually agree I look healthier, but I have also been on the sunbed quite a few times recently so that will have a big effect. But I still think that I have lost some weight, even though it doesn't show on the scales yet... My chin looks less fat and my face looks better (skinnier). Belly is still there though.

PM snacks: none, tap water.

Dinner:
Vegetable juice: half a red cabbage, one broccoli, one kohlrabi.

I'm feeling well again, detox has probably slowed down because of what I ate for lunch but it doesn't matter because this is a long-term plan that I can hopefully stick for many months and longer. In any case, tomorrow will be the cheat day of this week.

Bed time: 9pm. I'm feeling tired and as if I have some catching up to do with not enough sleep this week. I know, many of you are probably thinking that I've slept so much this week but that's how I've been for quite a few years... unless I get 10 hours of sleep per night I don't feel fully rested. Of course I almost never get 10 hours but less than 8 hours really affects me. Hopefully this will change with this diet and with building up my adrenal glands...
I think most of my work mates go to sleep around midnight and wake up maybe at seven or later, drinking coffee to wake up, to get through the day, and eating biscuits, sweets, or chocolate cake through the afternoon to keep stimulating their brain and adrenal glands.

What I'm doing seems initially harder but when I do finally get my body and mind into a high level of health and energy, I believe that I won't need stimulants anymore. That's what they say at least. The natural energy will come from within. I hope that will be the case. The raw food diet certainly is known as a high energy diet so I think I have some good times to look forward to. But of course I have to deal with the adrenals first since I found that imbalance.

Day 12 - High Raw Diet Diary - Friday - Cheat Day

Woke up naturally at 4.20am and wasn't tired. But went back to sleep anyway. Finally got out of bed at 7.30am. Still feel a bit sleepy. Maybe I slept too much and if I got up at 4 or 6, I would feel fresh now. I had some nightmares tonight and I wonder why: 1) Is it mental detox 2) Sign of low vibrations or 3) Because of the dairy and/or fish I ate yesterday? I used to think nightmares were normal but then many people I know have noticed that cheese gives them nightmares and the homeopath I used to see years ago thought that nightmares were a sign of energy imbalances. I also feel like I tend to get more nightmares if I sleep too much. I should learn to get out of bed when my eyes first open.

Anyway, today will be my cheat day and I can eat anything I like. I will try to 'minimise harm' however and have my green juice in the morning and eat reasonably healthy still.

Breakfast:

Smoothie: Banana, orange juice , goji berries, kiwi, strawberry, blackcurrents, maple syrup , cashew/ coconut cream. All raw except maple syrup.
Vitamineral greens and hemp protein powder.
Croissant with cheese (not raw!).

AM snacks: banana, redbush tea.

Lunch: Sushi from Itsu: white boiled sushi rice , raw salmon, nori rolls with avocado etc., green baby leaves, fresh coriander (cilantro), beetroot, soya sauce, wasabi, pickled ginger, salad dressing with fish sauce etc. I tried to pick out all the bits of carrot from the salad since I have a food intolerance to it.

In the afternoon I started feeling weak again. I haven't felt this since I started on the raw food diet. My muscles aching in a similar way they ache when you are very tired. But the difference is I'm not very tired. In fact I'm not tired at all. Is this the nervous system weakness Dr. Morse talks about, i.e. a chronic fatigue symptom, and does it get brought on by white rice/ white flour products (croissant) in my case? [Update: Yes, I get this from sugar and carbohydrates - it is a feeling of low blood sugar.]

I'm kind of a little bit unhappy that I am eating all these things today, because I can notice that they don't make me feel good. Perhaps the raw fish is not too bad but the white rice and the white flour in the pastries is. But I tell myself I should just eat whatever for one day because it will keep this diet going for a longer time and prevent cravings. So I'll just enjoy myself today and don't feel guilty...

My food delivery came today, I ordered a huge amount of food from the internet, as it is cheaper than shopping at Wholefoods etc. I got all different kinds of nuts, goji berries (wolfberries), reishi mushroom, liquorice powder, marshmallow root powder for my hair, neem shampoo (SLS free), many complex carb grains: amaranth, millet, quinoa; angelica essential oil (calms down central nervous system), mango butter for skin cream, jasmine flowers (for tea), vanilla beans, burdock root powder, and a few other exotic things I still have to figure out what to do with. So exciting though to have cupboards full of amazing herbs and foods that I can start trying now...

I keep feeling quite worn down and tired at work, especially after meetings where I have to concentrate. I'm considering getting a grounded mousemat to at least reduce the stress from electrical equipment although it won't help the wifi and the processed, air-conditioned air. I wonder if they would let me install the grounded mousemat at my desk, maybe they'd be suspicious that it will somehow become dangerous with all other electronics surrounding it?

PM snacks:
Two rice cakes with dark chocolate on top (gluten and dairy free, not raw).
Apricot pastry (not raw!)
Redbush tea

Dinner (planned):
Green juice
Salmon, potatoes, boiled broccoli and cauliflower, butter (not raw).
Four beers (not raw).
Lots of tap water before bed.
I ended up going to the pub in the end... Went to bed at about midnight.

Day 13 - High Raw Diet Diary - Saturday - Back on the Diet

Woke up at 7am to drink lemon water. My weight today was a little less: 59kg - maybe because of dehydration. I had a lot of phlegm in my throat from the dairy the day before. [Update: The beer, pastries and sugar all cause phlegm very strongly partly because they are dehydrating.]

Got out of bed at 10.30am, feeling tired from the beers last night. Not proper hangover, just a worn-out feeling.

Breakfast:
Juice of a pink grapefruit, half a banana.

Didn't eat anything for a long time because I went to the bank and made some phone calls etc.

AM Snacks:
A bottle of apple and strawberry juice (pasteurised)
Two raw SAF crackers (beetroot) with hummus and home-made raw pesto.

Late lunch:
A cup of cooked amaranth with leftover raw mushroom-cashew sauce and an avocado. The mushroom sauce tasted pretty horrible, maybe mushrooms are not that good eaten raw or maybe I need to learn to make a better sauce.

8.20pm: Still feeling tired from the alcohol - and tempted to drink more! But drinking a lot of grapefruit juice and eating a raw pizza will help the cravings. I took a nap during the day as well which made me feel a lot better.

Dinner:
Well, I was going to have raw pizza for dinner, I had all the ingredients ready including dehydrated flaxseed and tomato pizza bases..... until I realized that the bases I made last weekend and left on the kitchen top covered with a fabric cloth only.... were moldy! I hadn't dehydrated them dry enough, and also should have stored them in an airtight container since the old house we live in gets quite damp in the winter months. So when you do make dehydrated food, make sure to store it properly! Even freezer could work, as long as you remember to take the crackers out to melt before dinner time.

I ended up making raw sundried tomato marinara for dinner again, with courgette (zucchini) pasta. I used dry sundried tomatoes, not the ones stored in oil.I don't eat sunflower oil anymore because it is extremely toxic.
Grapefruit juice (pasteurised, from concentrate).

10pm and I'm tired again, ready for bed now...

Day 14 - High Raw Diet Diary - Saturday

Breakfast:
Woke up at about 10.30am and had green juice for breakfast, ingredients: romaine lettuce, celery, lemon. I also had 2x SAF raw crackers with hummus, home-made raw pesto sauce, and red pepper.

AM snack: Fresh mint tea at Chatsworth Road Market.

Lunch:
One boiled sweet potato with fresh tomato, raw cashew and coconut cream [ has maple syrup ], raw pesto.

Dinner:
4x Raw apple pancakes, dehydrated, with cashew vanilla cream and raw raspberry jam (made of raspberries and dates ).
I was going to make raw pizza, had new dehydrated tomato-and-flax pizza bases ready but I felt too full after the 'pancakes' and I didn't feel like I needed any more food.

I still feel quite phlegmy today, still recovering from the dairy products on Friday I guess. I also feel a little weak now after doing lots of work in the house and preparing food for the week in the kitchen. Maybe it is lack of salt again...

[Update: This is blood-sugar low, I am very familiar with the feeling now.]

The trauma release exercises always wear me out a bit, as well.

It was a nice sunny day today, at last the snowing has stopped! It is very unusually cold in London for this time of the year.

11.30pm:
Vitamineral greens and hemp protein powder, sleep...

Best Books on the High Raw Diet

• Heal Thyself for Health and Longevity by Queen Afua
View on Amazon UK
View on Amazon USA
• Eat for Health: Lose Weight, Keep It Off, Look Younger, Live Longer; Never Diet Again! by Dr. Joel Fuhrman
View on Amazon USA
• Raw Freedom: Combining the Best of Raw with Healthy Cooked Foods for the Ultimate Diet by Frederic Patenaude
View on Amazon USA

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