I just finished my 30 day raw trial. Boy did I learn a lot. I am so glad I did a 30 day raw trial. There’s no way I could have predicted the results I got without trying it for myself to see.
Weight Loss
I started the trial on December 2 at 198.6 pounds and on January 1 I weighed 192.0 pounds for a net loss of 6.6 pounds. Not too bad. Considering I didn’t count calories or fat grams, it’s clear that just being raw was enough for me to lose weight. Although I did expect to lose closer to 10-15 pounds, I shouldn’t have become attached to that expectation. I should have simply kept myself open to how my body wanted to react. Everyone is different. I could have continued to modify the diet, but my desire was to add some cooked vegan food back into my diet.
Cooked Food Back in the Belly
I had an apple for breakfast around 10:30am. At 11:30am I made some black bean vegetable soup and had about a cup of it instead of the two cups I put in my bowl. It tasted okay but it didn’t have the intense flavor I was expecting. That was interesting and unexpected. I really expected it to taste amazing.
We took the kids to see a movie and got them a small popcorn to share. Even though I could have had some, I just didn’t want it. I figured it would taste good, but I just didn’t want to put it in my body. Didn’t seem nourishing to me. Steve brought some raw nuts to the movies and I didn’t want any of those either. I was craving nothing. Wanting nothing. When we got home I cut up my butternut squash and roasted the pieces with oil, salt and pepper. It tasted okay but not nearly as exciting as it was when I was eating it before my trial. What gives? As I type this the squash is sitting like a lump of greasy coal in my gut. I really hope nothing untoward happens to me digestively speaking.
Tonight for dinner I’m going to have a banana strawberry shake, which is something I’m actually looking forward to. My intention at this point is to remain mostly raw. Steve has cautioned me that staying “mostly” raw is harder than it sounds, as you can start to eat cooked food by default and before you know it, you’re 20% raw instead of your intended 80%. I’ll have to see what happens and remain vigilant.
Will I Lose the Benefits of Raw?
I really hope I won’t lose the benefits I gained from being raw. The increased intuition, the radiant skin, and the scale headed downward were the three main benefits. My main goal continues to be weight loss and better health, so if I see myself trending the opposite direction I may go right back to 100% raw. I was definitely getting used to it and starting to find some wonderful things to eat.
I can see myself doing another 30 day trial in the future, or perhaps I’ll just naturally segue into raw full time. There’s one thing I know for sure: raw ain’t so tough and it ain’t so bad. If you had asked me about going raw at the beginning of 2008, when Steve was doing his 80-10-10 experiment, I would have been extremely resistant to the idea. There’s no way I could imagine myself wanting or succeeding on the raw food diet. It’s only through a trial that you can see the actual results.
If anything significant happens while I transition away from 100% raw, I’ll report on it. Hopefully nothing bad will happen to me, but if it does I’ll be happy to share the gory details. 🙂
Thanks again to everyone who sent me support and encouragement. And a big thank you to the raw food community for setting a good example and making it easier on us newbies by sharing stories, information, and recipes. You’re quite the trailblazers.
