Ok, it’s day 2. I’ve packed a great lunch again… baby carrots, 2 oranges, raw cashews, a few prunes, and a few bananas. (By the way, I’m a big time banana horder… I usually buy about 8-10 pounds a week, and I just snack on them and do a variety of other things with them. I use them for raw smoothies in the morning, I make raw ice cream with them, or I’ll dehydrate them as a snack… best place to pick them up locally for us is Wegmans @ 49 cents a pound). So, what am I referring to as the upcoming storm?
Well, in the past I was a big time coffee drinker, and over the thanksgiving holiday, I caved in a drank about a cup a day. Now, I don’t entirely poo-poo on coffee drinkers, because studies have shown there are a few health benefits to having a cup a day… most notably for men, lower rates of prostate cancer (and us brothers are most affected by prostate cancer… if you haven’t had an exam yet, put away your pride and get one). Here are a few other benefits from the huff. Also, if you do drink coffee, I have a 2 word limit when it comes to ordering a coffee from starbucks… if you have to say anything more than grande coffee or tall pike, you shouldn’t get it. Everything else is just sugar, layered with sugar, layered with coffee, and another layer of sugar. And espressos are for people who are seemingly bored with everything in life, so don’t do that either. (honestly I have a whole theory on how Starbucks is ruining the American economy in general, but I’ll elaborate another day)
But, when I’m going raw, I’m going raw, baby! If it didn’t come from the ground, or if there are any type of unnatural preservatives in my food, I’m not going to ingest it during my raw fasting time. With that said, your body on day 2-3 starts to go into a bit of a shock from the withdrawal of the bad foods you’ve been feeding yourself, but also from the additive ingredients you may find in other items you may have been consuming, like coffee or soda. (Speaking of soda, I haven’t had a soda in about 15 years… just too much sugar and overall bad for your health… it’s even more insulting when soda companies put the word “diet” on a label… THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS DIET SODA!!! Crap is crap, regardless of what butt it came from… You should be drinking water regularly or juicing during a raw food diet. Sugar is bad, but an artificial sweetener is pure chemicals. Way worse…
Right now, I can feel a headache coming on from the lack of coffee. It’s starting from the back of my head, and it’s slowly making it’s way to a point on my forehead, and it’ll sit there for a few hours, making me regret changing my dietary habits yet again. But I’ve done this before. The first time I went raw, on day 3 I was actually sweating like a drug addict going through withdrawal and I really didn’t think I was going to be able to make it through the day without a sip of caffeine. But I held on, and I did it, and in the end it felt like my body had experienced a biological rebirth… and that’s when I knew I was doing the right thing.
Bravo i am going to brave these elements in my attempt toward my eventual Vegan Goal …ONe day at a time, thank you 😀
You’re inspiring me! Thanks for your blog!
Keep going. It gets easier. I juced 24days
Wow. 24 days is pretty impressive. That may be my next venture… I do a have a breville that needs a good workout.
Congrats on your decision. Tried it once and need to get back on raw.
I know what you are going through with the coffee withdrawal. Been there too and swore I’d never go back on coffee.
I did find on one of my withdrawals that I was drinking a lot of green tea and never had the headaches that one time I did withdrawal. That may help if you are willing to go that route. I know there is some caffeine in green tea, but not nearly as much and maybe helpful in getting you over the hump.
Just a thought.
Wishing you the best.
Thanks for the well wishes! When I’ve gone on raw food for only a few days, I can literally smell caffeine in drinks, and most of the green teas I’ve tried tend to have caffeine in them.
Thanks for sharing part of your journey. Try Teechino for your coffee cravings. It is a herbal coffee substitute. I used it to break my caffeine addiction but broke down and went back to coffee after I ran out. Make sure you drink plenty. Is it wrong to get your caffeine from green tea? Green tea has also helped me cut down on my coffee addiction. Good luck on your raw food fast. I am working toward eating more raw foods as well. 🙂
http://www.teechino.com/
Teechino… hmmm, I’ve never heard of that. I’ll give it a shot. Thanks!
Congrats,
eating raw is challenging, and you have to be strong mainly becuase we are bombarded by food options even healthy ones that have cooked or proteins. I eat a mostly raw diet and then when I do have cooked I try to make it very high quality, local, organic, thoughtfully made. It’s expensive but so worth it. One of the hardest things after the social aspect is eating enough calories, I tend to under eat and that is a trap, other than nuts and seeds and oils, most raw plant based food is very low in calories, good luck! Glad you are blogging about it.
Dea