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sean

The 7 day raw transition challenge

The 7 day raw transition challenge  

8 members have voted

  1. 1. Are you up for the challenge?

    • Yes, let's do it!
      3
    • Nahh, not now.
      2
    • Uhh, yeah, how about never?
      3


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Yoda has inserted the "leap from 99% to 100% raw" meme created by the evil evil Mrs. Boutenko into my mind and it won't be shaken loose until I see if these claims are true for myself. I really want to give a completely raw diet the "Pavlina 30 day challenge" but I am pretty sure I would crash and burn. So I sketched a transitional menu which I'll take through a 7 day challenge to start with. From there I can decide to tweak, backtrack for a bit if need be, or add another 7 days, even up the ante if I'm feeling brave.

 

Ok, here's the tentative menu, still up for revision:

raw / steamed veggies, raw fruit

raw eggs, fish, milk

raw honey

raw nuts

brown rice

tea

 

I was thinking it'd be really cool if we got a few more people involved in the challenge at the same time. We could report on our experiences and act as a little support group for each other. I'm mostly thinking of Cam here, I think he will especially need the support if he can it in himself to join in. :lol:

 

What do you think? You up for the challenge? Any thoughts on the menu?

 

Sean

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Interesting. Can the fish can be 'cooked' cerviche style in room temperature lime juice?

 

 

Michael

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Interesting. Can the fish can be 'cooked' cerviche style in room temperature lime juice?

Michael

I don't see why not, sure. You considering in?

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I've been contemplating doing this again for the last couple of weeks.

There's nothing like it in the world. Amazing sustainable constant energy ... vibrant lucidity ... fun too

 

You can count me in.

 

I must say though ... I have a hard time doing this without rice. That and bread are the only things I allow when going raw. So it's really something like 95%. Good enough.

And I'm excited because I just found an amish (actually it's more like Mennonite) slaughterhouse down the road not far from my home. Fresh beef and chicken, here I come !! Plus fresh egg farms abound here. Been diggin' the farmer's markets in-season, too. Plus fresh juicing is an excellent between eating solution.

There's nothing like perfect timing, guys !!

 

I'll post some excellent recipes & such tomorrow.

But for now I'll start on some sprouting. Mung & Alfalfa.

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Sorry man, I had to go with naaa , not now. I just ate dinner with my Dad and ate Gormeh Sabzi(persian rice with chunks of beef and stuff) in front of him(I usually eat veggie with him out of respect for his ways). I have no desire to do 100% raw but support your experiments(though doubtful it will last..sorry, dude).

 

Cam

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I have done my 1 year raw cost trial... not again or at least not yet...

 

who of you can dissolve an intellectual obstacle I have...

 

even most of the so-called "modern Taoists", especially those practicing some sort of Chinese medicine, seem to place importance on cooking or better warming food for consumption, as raw food is said to be too Yin and thereby in the ling run depleting the body...

 

one more thing: in order for a raw food diet to be truly successful, as far as my experience shows, you need to have absolutely tasty stuff... the usual supermarket raw food won'T make your senses happy... and while I know that again these "modern Taoists" would emphasize eating local food, I personally believe that we are still to a large part bound genetically to tropic fruits that include Durian and Cempedak among others...

 

nevertheless: may you enjoy the trial B)

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Sunshine, what did your diet look like when you were raw?

 

Sean, as everyone has different dietary needs, desires, theories, etc let's open it up to more people and call it the 7 day ideal diet challenge where everyone challenges themselves to follow an ideal diet that they've not yet really tried. So it can be an Atkins challenge for somebody to a vegan raw thing for somebody else and anywhere in between.

 

I'm in and starting the clock right now. I'll be 100% fruit and veggie, and that's it. Which is a change from my recent platform of 70% fruit/veggies 30% beans, rice, croutons, and Olive Garden salad dressing. (they sell it separately). I bet I can do this no problem and loose 5lbs while I'm at it, but I'll opt out if it I find it too challenging. The hardest part will be dismissing the salad dressing!

 

Hmmm... just the thought of that makes me miss the salad dressing even more. But I'm carrying about 14lbs of spare salad dressing on me at all times, so somehow I'll manage.

 

14lbs is like 14 boxes of Land-o-Lakes butter... that should suffice for 7 days.

 

I've been loosing weight nicely on my vegan diet, but I'm just impatient to get it the bleep off me. Also, I'm very curious as to the psychological effect of being 100% raw vegan. In my 1-2 day trials, it has been good for iaming.

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omg my discipline is an absolute joke. But I'll do it!

 

--with one exception-- I will be including beef jerky. otherwise I would go insane. other than that.. nuts... fruits... vegetables.

 

It's only seven days, right? ;)

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I'm definitely in for 7 days, but I have to start Monday b/c tomorrow is my birthday, and I'm going to my mom's for dinner (she is an INCREDIBLE cook). I'm doing just the veggies, fruits, & nuts. I don't think I can handle raw eggs/fish . . . yuck.

Hey, I was looking for a good detox too, but there are a thousand websites w/ a thousand different detoxes. I don't know why I want to do it. . . just feel like I should. Any good advice? Does eating like this for a week count?

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I don't think I can manage this right now. But I'm definately interested in people's recipes and experiences with this. I'm deciding right now to make 3 completely raw meals of my own this week (not including the fruit I ate for breakfast) as this is what I can be sure to succeed at.

 

If I could cook rice this would be a lot easier...

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I'm in, still have the kids home. If I'm going to do it, might as well be this Monday. Could use more veggies in the house though.

 

Michael

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Could use more veggies in the house though.

 

 

The whole thing lives or dies on what you have lying around the kitchen. I try to keep a good supply of grapes in the house and raisins in the car as fallbacks.

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Sunshine, what did your diet look like when you were raw?

 

 

Yoda. I've been doing the so called instincto diet... the founder "claiming" that we, like animals, have a natural instinct to choose the right product our body needs from a variety of available foods by smell (& salivating)... at that time I had the chance to have access to proper raw fish (tuna was great & dried mackerel was delicious), raw eggs from many different types of birds (those of goose were WONDERFUL)... I could choose from about 25 types of dates, dried figgs... purely raw cashews, macadamias, pecans, pistache... many tropic fruits most of us hardly ever have heard about...

 

had I had to stick to the usual bio-store variancy I would have dropped immediately... this way I really enjoyed a the patisserie of nature

 

Harry

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I think Yoda has a great idea and I want to update the terms of the challenge.

 

Basically let's each do our own 7 day challenge. Pick a dietary change that you think will be good for you, that you are attracted to AND is not too huge of a vibrational leap for you so that you do 7 days without trauma. Think challenging but FUN, like a good workout. So if you were hesitant to join in because of the diet I suggested, just ignore that, that's just what I am going to do. Think up your own.

 

I think it would be a great idea if, when we start the challenge, we could all post the criteria we chose for our diets in our signatures, so it's easy to see what we are all going through. What do ya think?

 

Glad to hear you are in TwoTrees!

 

Cam, come on dude, join the party. Doesn't have to be drastic, just pick a small challenge. We don't want you on the shitter for 7 days. :D

 

Sunshine, you too. I'm sure you can pick a challenge. Maybe, for seven days pay close attention to your instincts before you eat anything to refine your relationship with your instincts. BTW - The problem I see with instinctual theories is that our bodies, minds and emotions have gotten so out of whack from being raised on so many refined foods so our body sends us signals that aren't necessarily "true". In the same way a smoker's body craves a cigarette.

 

Yoda, looks like you are way ahead of the pack in terms of already being closest to pure raw. Shame there is not money involved in the challenge. :)

 

Tripledots, awesome. The 7 day raw + beef jerky challenge. Sounds like a plan.

 

turtle, thelerner, glad you guys are both in. Let's see how fast we can agree on the terms. Maybe we will start it even later then Monday.

 

lotusbud, why can't you cook rice? Anyway, preparing 3 fully raw meals in one week are great terms for this challenge. Let us know how it goes. B)

 

 

Sean

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Sunshine, you too. I'm sure you can pick a challenge. Maybe, for seven days pay close attention to your instincts before you eat anything to refine your relationship with your instincts. BTW - The problem I see with instinctual theories is that our bodies, minds and emotions have gotten so out of whack from being raised on so many refined foods so our body sends us signals that aren't necessarily "true". In the same way a smoker's body craves a cigarette.

Sean

 

Yeah. But over a course of a year my instincts were pretty good... regarding the challegge: My challenge currenty keeps to be not eating meat... I am doing well so far, but this is the challenge I am facing now...

 

maybe one time in the future when solved the intellectual difficulties I metnioned above (TCM view and raw diet view)

 

nevertheless: I am curious what you will have to report :)

 

Harry

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I just realized that this weekend I'm being a best man at a pal's wedding with important drinking responsibilities... But I was 99% raw for the last two days, so that'll be 7 by the time I need to perform "rational retoxification" (got that spiffy phrase from Daniel Reid). Sadly, I fell off the 100% mark... I always throw in croutons on my salads.

 

The cool thing about being 99% raw is that I don't get hungry at all after the first day so it's easy to transition to a water fast if I feel like it or just eat one meal.

 

Victoria Boutenko says that her son will go off on an all day skiing trip and just pack two oranges to keep his energy up, while all his pals need to snack throughout the day.

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Hi,

I tried several times in the past.

Thinghs went so good for several days but at a certain point cooked food attracted me MADLY.

I dont' know the reason of that.My record is only 5 day for 100% raw!

It's probably only a psychological problem.

 

Since I live practically in the country of a small city ,I have access to some bio organic foods that we produce in this season:grapes,almonds,pears,apples,blackberries,figs,tomatoes,hazel-nut,cucumber,honey.

My family has a small hens rearing. I can have raw eggs,but my mother CONSTRICT me to cook them!

(she thinks it's dangerous to eat them raw..and probably it's true)

 

 

I am also a passionate homebrewer.I love unfiltered and unpastorized beer: simply wonderful!!!

When you drink homemade beer you'll never come back to industrial or mainstream beer.

Unfortunately I drink *at least* 1/2 liter per day! I must face the reality: it's a vice.

I have to give up drinking so much...

 

My direct experience and feeling with raw food:

it's damn easily digestible! When I instead eat cooked food I feel a bit heavy

and tired immediately after the meal(but people think it's normal)

I suffer less the high temperature when it's hot like summer.

The mental focus is better by far.

Physical strenght is the same.

 

Now I have to fix the main problem: After a while I re-fall in cooked food.

 

just my couple of cents

Edited by Gigi

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Well I got impatient and started my 7 day challenge today. Actually more like Sunday afternoon. Feel free to join in and report your progress in this thread if you'd like.

 

I think it must be psychosomatic, but I had a great deal of trouble getting out of bed today. Kind of like how when I used to smoke I could easily go a full day without smoking because I knew I could have one at any time, but but when I would try to quit, that first day or four seemed like torture.

 

I did a blended shake in the morning, steamed veggies w/ brown rice in the afternoon then snacked on fruits and nuts the rest of the evening. I am pretty fucking hungry and kind of cranky at the moment. Day one and I am already thinking about a nice burrito. <_<

 

I walked through Chinatown in the afternoon and picked up a giant ugly ass Durian fruit though that I'm looking forward to hacking pieces off of and putting in my shake in the morning.

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I had wanted to start it yesterday. But had few fruits or veggies in the pantry. Kids had 1 hour of school. Then several kids came over.

 

So raw diet can wait. Ofcourse, if not now when? LATER, MAYBE NEXT WEEK. if not me, then who? YOU OTHER GUYS.

 

Ciao

 

Michael

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my boyfriend is muslim, and ramadan is coming up-- so while he is fasting, i'll be doing the raw diet. its my little way of offering support to him and doing my thing at the same time. I'm sure I'll be grouchy as hell the 1st few days, but at least i have a couple of weeks to ween myself off the sugar, fats, etc..... first. I'm also allowing myself one fully cooked, meat included meal on the weekends.

I'm interested to see how much weight I'll drop with almost a month of this :blink:

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I've pretty much flamed out on my day 4. Three days has often been my limit in the fasting and extreme change department. It's great how much participation there is! Good luck all!

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I had started as soon as I agreed to a new diet.

I wentgrocery shopping at my local commissary.. (about 20 min in another town...) and realized how unrealistic a raw diet is for me.perhaps it might have worked, but the number of foods I would belimited to would be ridiculous, stressful, possibly even counter-productive.... (even with the beef jerky...)

So... I had decided on a new diet.. one I have tried before, but stopped because I wasjust going hungry a little too often.

it's a simple, no-preservative, no additive diet. "100% natural" kind of foods...I guess my unconcious also decided I would not eat any red meats...

 

I almost cheated today for lunch. I am working at a new health clinic now, and lunch options are limited to the on-post dining facility, (which sucks OMG,) and burger king. ...so I went offpost to a local chinese food joint... they were filled to capacity, though, so I didn't get a chance to ruin my running.

 

I doubt I will ever notice any kind of benefit.. it will probably be too subtle to notice. But I think I will be proud and pleased to continue a no-preservative, no-additive diet.... until I forget =)

you know, you can eat chips and salsa on this diet =) if I can get "100% natural" salsa at my local PX, I'm sure anyone can get it almost anywhere in the states =)

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Yoda, just take it down a notch. Slow and steady wins the race. :P

 

But I think I will be proud and pleased to continue a no-preservative, no-additive diet.

When I started shopping at Whole Foods groceries is really one of the key things that kickstarted my spiral toward better nutrition. Going all natural, organic is a great step.

 

Ok, so has anyone here ever cut open a Durian fruit? All I can say is WTF? I felt like I was in a science fiction movie and was performing surgery on an alien creature. It's the white meat I sort of expected but there are pockets of the most disgusting smelling yellow ... the only word I can think of is intenstines. It was quite a shock. You're not supposed to eat this yellow shit are you? I just cut out pieces of the white fruit, washed off the nasty yellow gooo and threw it in my blender. My finger still smell pretty gross. :blink:

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Ok, so has anyone here ever cut open a Durian fruit? All I can say is WTF? I felt like I was in a science fiction movie and was performing surgery on an alien creature. It's the white meat I sort of expected but there are pockets of the most disgusting smelling yellow ... the only word I can think of is intenstines. It was quite a shock. You're not supposed to eat this yellow shit are you? I just cut out pieces of the white fruit, washed off the nasty yellow gooo and threw it in my blender. My finger still smell pretty gross. :blink:

 

:o:lol::blink:

 

Oh Sean! You really made my day. This is the most hilarious durian story I've ever heard. Wait till I tell my parents about it! This is the price you paid for not consulting the "Wise Owl" before your encounter with the King of Fruits.

 

On opening the Durian Fruit

1. Locate the apex (i.e. opposite the stem) of the Durian Fruit.

2. Stab a heavy knife into the navel of the apex.

3. Crank and crack the fruit open by turning the knife (in place) in the navel.

4. The fruit will split into multiple compartments longitudinally from the stem to the apex along its natural "fault" lines.

5. Each compartment houses a row of yellow buttery sacks.

 

Important: The yellow goo in the sack is Durian!!! You're supposed to eat it! The white fibrous compartments that houses the yellow goo, well ... it is just the packaging. I think you might be the first human in history who actually ate it. BTW, I will be more than happy to eat the yellow goo for you if you can FedEx that to me the next day :P

 

If you're still having trouble with opening the fruit, you can easily view live demos along Jackson Street (China Town) in San Francisco esp. in Sept/Oct.

 

Durian is indeed very rich. When I was little, I used to eat durian as a meal by itself. TCM-wise, Durian is warming, rich and very tonifying. We like to balance it out with mangosteen, the Queen of Fruits. Mangosteen is cooling, sweet and fluid replenishing.

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OMG, LOL! I am such a silly roundeye. :lol:

 

I think I expected the edible part of the fruit to be white because when Cam was out here he and Lezlie got Durian shakes at a Vietnamese restaraunt and they were very white. I don't know if I am going to be able to stomach the yellow buttery sacks, Owl. Dear God. *shuddering* Maybe if I throw it in a shake with a bunch of other things. How do people usually eat Durian Owl? In a bowl with a spoon or something?

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