Tag Archive for: running

Raw Food Journal Entry 25: Something’s Not Quite Right

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June 13, 2011

I went to Emily’s house for a “camping” trip with my cross country teammates this past weekend. I made sure to get in plenty of greens in multiple green smoothies before leaving.

For supper I ate raw vegetables and some salad with salsa. Later that night I ate fruit and then indulged in the s’mores and cupcakes; I felt like I went out of control with that. I hate how I can’t enjoy everyone’s company when all that is going through my head is sugar sugar sugar. How can everyone else be so oblivious to the food? Why do I have to be so focused on it all the time? Why does it seem like I am the only one focused on these cravings and terrible desires for more and more?

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Raw Food Journal Entry 18: Breakfast of Champions: Rawchael Competes at Nationals

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May 29, 2011

Track nationals was quite the experience! I was able to eat fruit every morning from the cafeteria (and lots of it at that—about twelve small bananas with some apples for breakfast each morning). The competitors’ reactions to my plates of fruit were priceless. It was comforting with my teammate Rachel there though because she is supportive of me with this raw food stuff. She makes me feel better about eating in front of people, even if it feels weird.

I had no bathroom issues/gas/digestion problems whatsoever for this entire experience! I think my body is getting use to this diet. I feel like I’m finally feeling good and adjusting.

I ate many colorful, leafy salads for lunch and dinner with fruit here and there. I also added nuts/seeds or avocado. I ate dates before my races, which worked out wonderfully.

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Raw Food Journal Entry 6

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April 20, 2011

These past few days I haven’t bothered to write down everything because it’s been pretty consistent, with no major new things to record. Just eatin’ my fruits and veggies!

Yesterday was fantastic because Wege had a salad of avocado and spinach. I might have over-done it on the avocado (I should watch my fat intake–don’t want to over-do it) but it was delicious!

I have had some cooked food, of course. I found out the beets I’ve been eating were actually cooked–sounds like it’s the “only” way to do it, sort of like potatoes . . . darn it! They’re still delicious, and I’m sure I’ll continue to eat them. They have lots of iron.

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Raw Food Journal Entries 3 & 4

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April 14, 2011

I think this was my best raw food day yet.

Breakfast: I tried out the flax seeds for the first time! I felt proud of myself when I used the coffee grinder to grind them. What an amazing tool. Shows how advanced I am in my food preparation skills….

I created my own “recipe” by grinding two tablespoons of flaxseeds and sprinkling that over two mashed bananas. Ta-da! Raw oatmeal. I completed the meal with a raw food bar, a pear, apple, orange, and two plums. I love these breakfasts because they seem to be a little different each morning.

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Raw Food Journal Entry 2

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April 12, 2011

Mood: This diet is new, so it’s exciting for me!

Breakfast: 4 plums, banana, orange, Raw organic fiber bar, Larabar

Today is the day I can test what the raw food will do for my stomach during the workout. We have a 12x400m workout on the track and a few weeks ago my stomach felt queasy on my normal diet. That day I ended up jogging slowly back to campus because I felt so sick to my stomach. This only led to major bathroom issues upon returning to the fitness center. I hope this is not a result of fiber, because this raw food diet has even more fiber. I hope it’s more of a result of eating wheat or diary or something because now I’ve taken those food groups out.

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Raw Food Journal Entry 1, Spring 2011

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April 11, 2011

The journey to a raw food diet has officially begun.

I visited Jill (a raw-foodist runner) Saturday night at the Health Harvest store where she works. It’s like a holistic health store that sells organic produce, sprouted grains breads, herbal medicines, and many raw food items.

Jill had me try a piece of her raw food pie, which tasted delicious—I am amazed with this food. It’s fun having a healthy dessert and not feeling bad about eating it. Basically it consists of a sweet mango filling, slices of kiwi and blueberries on top, and an almond-date-coconut crust. I tried to eat it slowly to savor every bite but I’ll admit that when I was done I wanted more.

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It Begins

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April 1, 2011

Rachael,

Normally I don’t have too much to say about what you are doing. Radically changing your diet doesn’t sound good to me. Why fix what isn’t broke? You are mentally and physically super. You are a college champion in your freshman year running. Did you accomplish all the things you have on a poor diet? One of your emails mentioned how much you like and how well you run on banana, peanut butter, & oatmeal. You have been very successful as a student, musician, and athlete.

I have been strong & healthy all my life. I am not going to make such a radical change in what I fuel my body and mind. I just would like you to try the diet this summer or after graduation or never. Give it some thought. Do you want to fix what is not broken? You are so special. I hope you don’t mind me giving you my opinion. And that is all it is – my opinion. Have a good, healthy, productive day.

-Dave

This was no April Fools joke. I was about to start a diet of only raw food.

I felt as if I had come to my breaking point. How could I continue eating the way I was eating for the past year? Everyone seemed to admire my speed and the way I ate. I was racing the best times of my life. But I was sick of what I was doing to my body. I hated the strict food routine I was in.

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Rachael Before Rawchael

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Trigger warning: eating disorder behaviors mentioned.

Eating disorders don’t just include losing hair, feeling hungry, or suffering dizzy spells. Eating disorders–the obsession with food, with perfecting the day with food–consumes all of your mental space, making it difficult to engage in LIFE.

This was a typical day for me when my restrictive eating disorder took over:

7am: Wake up—you must wake up early so that your food schedule is correct, so that you are tired enough to fall asleep early later tonight to avoid eating at night.
Weigh yourself after going to the bathroom. The scale is hidden and since everyone is still asleep you are able to weigh yourself without anyone seeing you. If they found you doing this—or even found your scale—you would feel ashamed. You pretend weight doesn’t matter, but you know that the number determines your mood for the day.

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On Your Mark . . .

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I cannot say starting this blog is easy, but something within prompts me to share what I’ve been hiding for too long. Something tells me I need to look back at my food log from more than a year ago when I began a raw food diet. By doing this, perhaps I will discover what happened along the way that led me to where I am now. Maybe I can see why I was in denial about my poor relationship with food.

I did not start the raw food diet just for better “health.” I wanted weight loss. After a year of restricting calories, I wanted to continue to lose weight. After dropping X pounds in a matter of months during my senior year of high school, I was satisfied at first. But once I correlated the low weight to success in my first year of college racing track and cross country, I wanted more. I was determined to drop more weight each year to run faster.

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