semi-raw diet

No, not this one…

I made sure to have an ultra starchy last supper before going on my 7 day high-raw diet. Thin linguine with vegetarian meatless meatballs in Classico roasted garlic tomato sauce and (over)grilled shrimp cocktail:

I still enjoyed the shrimp even though they were overcooked.

Of course I had to have a small mountain of grated cheese on the last pasta I’ll have for a week.

Obviously not much planning went into this last supper, lol. But it was still tasty and hit the spot.

Raw Diet Day One – July 11th

Breakfast started with overnight (raw) oats in sheep’s milk plain yogurt. I’m still keeping some grains in during this trial, only they’ll be raw or sprouted, and in far less quantity than usual.

• 1 small container plain sheep’s milk yogurt (140 cal) mixed with 1/2 cup Quaker rolled oats (150 cal) and 1 TBSP chia seeds. I made them the night before and let them sit in the fridge until the morning.
• Toppings: 1 very ripe medium banana, ~1/4 cup fresh blueberries, ~TBSP raw slivered almonds, ~TBSP raw pumpkin seeds, a few raw cashews, and a heaping teaspoon of New York state raw honey

Yummy and filling. I didn’t notice much difference in sheep’s milk yogurt compared to cow’s milk; it was a little tangier, though. I decided to keep an unofficial journal of how I feel after eating certain foods, and about an hour after this, I had the worst heartburn for about 1-2 hours. My best guess would be the banana, but I’m not sure. Could have been the yogurt, or anything else! So many variables.

That kept me satisfied for about 4-5 hours, then I had a Raw Revolution food bar (260 cal) made with cocoa, dates, cashews, and a couple of other raw ingredients. It was SO delicious! Tasted like a brownie. Yum! My cousin Tricia came over for a visit around noon, so Dustin and I made homemade Italian ice in the Cuisinart ice cream maker + VitaMix while we chatted with her. We cut up an entire mini seedless watermelon and pureed it in our Vita-Mix with 1/3 cup of sugar. While Dustin played with that, I ate the remaining watermelon out of its rind. It was warm, but I was hungry, so it tasted pretty good. Then my stomach started burrrrrrrrrrrning and bloating. Ok, so far I had an adverse reaction to watermelon and possibly the fruit involved in breakfast. Wonderful.

After Tricia left, my mother and I went to Shop Rite for some much-needed fresh produce. Can’t be on a vegetarian raw diet without a nice assortment of raw fruits and veggies!! We were stuck in traffic that was NYC bound for about an hour; it usually only takes 20 minutes to get to Middletown. Ugh! Anyway, by the time we got to the store, I was pretty hungry again. Not good. All I could smell throughout the store was the intoxicating rotisserie chicken aroma. Aaaaaaaaaaaaah! haha I resisted and filled up the cart with a rainbow of fresh produce. I was pleased that most of it was local, too! Yay!

By the time we got home, I was ready to gnaw my arm off. I quickly put away the groceries and started on dinner: A great big salad with raw milk cheddar cheese, a Golden Delicious apple, and Buffalo mushrooms

Buffalo mushrooms? Say whaaa? Yeah, this was brilliant! Dustin was eating chicken wings and they smelled soooo good, even though they usually repulse me, so I must have been pretty dang hungry, lol. I decided to drizzle Dave’s Gourmet hot sauce over some raw mushrooms. Of course hot sauce isn’t a raw food, but that’s part of my 10-20% that’s not going to be. It worked like a charm. Zapped that craving right in the bud. Mushrooms are pretty meaty, so it actually worked out very well. I’ll definitely do this again.

I went crazy with the salad dressing… 2 vinegars (not considered raw), loooooooooots of cold pressed organic extra virgin olive oil, and a drizzle of raw honey. Fab-uuuuuuuuu-lous!

• The salad: bed of mixed spring greens, sliced cucumber, grape tomatoes, a generous piece of raw milk cheddar cheese, raw mushroom slices, about 2 TBSP EVOO, a drizzle of fig infused white balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, and a drizzle of honey.
• Sides: Golden Delicious apple and raw mushrooms drizzled with Dave’s Gourmet hot sauce

Absolutely delicious! LOVED the raw milk cheddar cheese! OMG, I could have eaten the whole 6oz block, lol. It was creamy and a little smoky. YUM! I also loved the assortment of vinegars + EVOO all over the salad. I was full and satisfied after this, but had room for a little dessert in the form of raw cacao nibs. Just half a handful-ish.

Raw Diet Day One Menu

• Overnight oats: 1/2 cup Quaker rolled oats, 1 container sheep’s milk plain yogurt, TBSP chia seeds, 1 banana, 1/4 cup fresh blueberries, TBSP raw pumpkin seeds, TBSP slivered almonds, a few raw cashews, and a heaping teaspoon of raw honey
• Raw Revolution food bar – chocolate, nuts, and fruit
• About half a cup of watermelon
• 5 or 6 green grapes
• Salad: mixed leafy greens, grape tomatoes, raw mushrooms, raw milk cheddar cheese, fig infused white balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, cold pressed organic EVOO, drizzle of raw honey
• Raw mushrooms with Dave’s Gourmet hot sauce
• Small handful of raw cacao nibs
• Woke up hungry in the middle of the night: piece of raw milk cheddar cheese, 2 raw Brazil nuts, drop of raw honey on nut

I’m not keeping track of calories, whatever it is, it is. Raw food isn’t digested or absorbed the same way that cooked foods are, so we’ll see how the scale behaves by the end of the week. The main thing I don’t like about this diet is that it FEELS like a diet. You know the type that you used to dread when you thought about losing weight? Well, that’s how it feels to me when I’m hungry in between snacks and meals. I’ve had hunger pangs for the past 24 hours that I haven’t had in the longest time and I don’t like it, LOL. I keep telling myself to just eat if I’m hungry, that’s what I’m supposed to do, but it’s hard to adjust to. I’m not going to ignore my hunger signals, though. For instance, before I started writing this post, I had a handful of raw cashews. You’d think that would tide me over for awhile, but I’m actually still ravenous. I noticed it all throughout the day yesterday, too. I’ll eat and I feel hungry while I am eating. Don’t get me wrong, the salad and overnight oats fill me up, but not to the same level of satisfaction I get from other foods, despite the amount of volume involved. Being hungry also gives me a headache and makes me irritable, so I definitely have to find a way to better satiate my tummy. I haven’t noticed any remarkable changes in my stomach problems, either. I have the usual discomfort, but I don’t know if that’s a mix of hunger + other issues, or what. However, I did wake up feeling like my stomach was slightly less hostile this morning, but I don’t know if I can attribute that to simply being empty (less food to digest) or if I successfully eliminated something that causes it. I’m not sure, lots of testing will be needed.

It’s been about 45 minutes since I ate the cashews and, I’m hungry, but my stomach also burns; feels bloated, and all of the other usual daily symptoms. I feel pretty weak today, too. As if I had an exhausting workout yesterday, but I didn’t. I’m going to have some cottage cheese, fruit, and a food bar now. We’ll see how the rest of the day goes. I’m not completely miserable eating like this, just hungrier and still experiencing my tummy woes. But it’s only been a day, so I haven’t come to any official conclusions yet.

Ok, I’m starved! Be back later… unless I pass out from starvation, lol. I’m a little theatrical when I’m hungry!

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Tagged as: fruit, high raw diet, local, nuts, overnight oats, pumpkin seeds, raw cacao nibs, raw diet, raw diet experiment, raw food, raw foodist, raw honey, raw milk cheddar cheese, salad, semi-raw diet, sheep's milk yogurt, veggies

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