Here is what I've experienced after the first third of my 30 day experiment.
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| Juicing the healthy way! A typical breakfast. |
-caffeine headaches last about 2-3 days, after the third day everything just started getting clearer
-energy is great, I get about 4-5 hours sleep a night and honestly I am waking up at 3am during the week without much of a problem
-energy and strength during workouts is great
-sleep is good, I feel pretty well rested when I wake up
-skin / complexion is clear
-eyes are clear
-recovery post workout is improved, I don't experience much fatigue either, endurance is good
-greater mental clarity
-better focus during work, writing and reading
One of the things that I am really liking is raw foods taste amazing and are very satisfying. I am never hungry. I don't experience any reflux like when I was eating a lot of meat.
Based on a lot of the things I've read particularly the work of Dr. Max Gersen, who's raw juicing and vegan approach to nutrition has successfully helped many people survive horrible bouts with cancer, and Dr. Gabriel Cousens, who has helped numerous type 2 and a handful of type 1 diabetics go completely off ALL insulin and oral meds, raw nutrition is definitely beneficial in healing disease. One of the things I plan to do is get my annual physical toward the end of this month, I can't wait to compare my lab work to my last physical when I was a 225 lb hardcore carnivore!
Raw foods are very easy to prepare as well. Just chop some things up, blend some things up, whatever, prep time is basically but in half.
This past week I have experimented with some of the "transitional" raw foods, some of which require preparation in the dehydrator.
I've made some raw sweet bread, raw flax chip, raw oatmeal, raw banana crepes, raw pad Thai, raw macaroni and cheese and raw cheese cake and it all tastes amazing. It's pretty crazy to eat some of the stuff and think that it is 100% healthy.
My Omega 8006 juicer and my Vitamix blender are the rockstars of my kitchen. While the dehydrated and "transition" raw vegan foods are awesome for some flavor and variety, nothing beats loading up on raw fruits and veggies and the juicer and the vitamix make it super easy. Through the vitamix alone I get anywhere from about 10-20 servings of green veggies and fruits daily-the blender is awesome because you are getting 100% solid food nutrition as it utilizes the entire fruit and vegetable-, plus the juicer adds in the highly concentrated micro-nutrients from fruits and veggies. Between the juice in the morning and the 1-2 blended green smoothies I am getting about 64-96 oz. of super high quality raw veggie and fruit nutrition daily on top of the raw fruits and veggies I eat.
One of the benefits to the blended drinks and juices are that they ensure the extraction of the good stuff in the greens, the chlorophyll, that's locked up in the cellulose. When you eat raw green veggies you really have to chew them up well to break down the cell walls to unlock all the good stuff in the greens (think about cows and horses grazing, all they do is chew). The blender and juicer take care of that for you and ensure you're getting access to all of the health promoting and healing nutrients in the veggies.
Even after my 30 days of 100% raw are up, I plan to be tighter with my nutrition. Prior to this I was about 60-80% raw vegan and 20-40% cooked vegetarian foods for my daily nutrition. I hope to maintain closer to 80-90% raw vegan after this month is up. Travelling will be the hardest, but Lisa is eating more raw now and enjoying it so that will make it easy.
Training has been good as well. Basically I am practicing Taiji and Qigong daily with three classes at my Shaolin School. I'm weight training with conditioning 2-4 days per week, and doing a LOT of mobility, stretching and Indian club work.
Overall I feel much healthier and more fit than ever. Granted due to the fact I've lost about 40 pounds since last September my strength dropped as expected with that much weight loss, but I have begun building it back even though I am still losing weight. Also - contrary to everything I've ever heard non-vegans say about this type of diet, my muscle has not vanished and my bones are not brittle. Body-fat has disappeared pretty quickly though. I guess I am getting a sufficient amount of protein as I have not turned into Captain Atrophy yet. The funny thing about training and vegan nutrition is that no-one talks about real plant-based vegan foods. Everything I read on the internet is usually something to the extent of "vegan nutrition is bad for training, all that fake meat, soy based crap is poison." Um. Yeah. It is. It's hysterical to me that following a vegetarian or vegan diet means loading up on processed soy. Where is the "vege" in vegetarian?!?! It's raw fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds. Anyone I've talked to who is raw vegan, vegan, etc. who trains hard stays away from processed soy like the plague. If you decide to try this nutrition - do your research first. Eat real plant based foods, not processed crap. See video below.
Quick - someone tell these guys to eat some meat or get on the anabolics before they atrophy!
I'm definitely looking forward to what is in store for the next 20 days of this experiment - but raw will continue to be the majority of my nutrition lifestyle for the remainder of my days in this human experience.
Stay Strong and Healthy!
Scott
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