Raw Food Journal Entry 1, Spring 2011

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.

Luckily Jill also had me try her green smoothie (bananas, spinach, kale, water, ice), her almond milk, and an electrolyte drink she makes for her runs. She seemed surprised by how excited I was about the drinks! But how could I not be? They tasted delicious. It almost seemed like she was nervous that I wouldn’t like them. I felt amazed at how good they were though, wow! It makes me excited to make my own green smoothies soon.

It’s nice to know that Jill is on this diet as a runner. The only thing that makes me nervous is not knowing the calories in any of these but I guess if you’re sticking to all raw food it doesn’t really matter…maybe it’s time to just break away from that. It’s hard because I’m just so confident with what I’ve been doing the past year to help me lose weight and this is raw food thing such a big change.

I left the store uncertain about my decision to start raw food. Is this expensive? Will my parents understand? Am I biting off more than I can chew? The loads of new information are endless. I thought I knew so much about this diet, but there’s definitely more that goes into it. I have so much research to do.

After a night of tossing and turning I spent the majority of Sunday doing research. I should’ve hit the books for school, but if I’m going to get started on the diet I need the essential facts to make sure I’m getting the right nutrients, especially for running. I don’t want to make any mistakes.

I had a spectacular 11-mile run Sunday morning and came back to swig the rest of Jill’s almond milk. I had a lunch of salad and two cups of fresh fruit. Afterwards I didn’t feel tired–hopefully a result of the healthy, uncooked eating? Or maybe it was just because I was so pumped up from being able to run 11 miles that morning! I had a knee injury all last month so this is a quick comeback for me.

Dinner consisted of 3 large salads with salsa (the salsa wasn’t raw, but I’m not 100% raw) and two plates of raw broccoli with salsa. There was no fruit at the cafeteria, which made me frustrated.

I came back to the dorm to check on the almonds I attempted to soak for four hours (apparently soaking nuts and seeds “awakens” the life within them and makes them easier for the body to digest). As I ate the almonds I checked online and realized that these almonds had to be labeled “raw,” which they weren’t. They were simply from Costco, which meant they were pasteurized. I have to order raw ones from California.

This diet is going to be more complicated than I thought, but I’m learning a lot. Whether I go completely raw or not, at least I’m gaining more knowledge about food. Even if I don’t completely stick with it, I will take away some of what I learned (like eating more raw vegetables) and incorporate it the best I can.

I ate another Larabar (pretty close to being raw—just a delicious combination of dates and nuts in a bar) and I dug into the stash of peanut butter I had.

I got my fruit after church. During the social they have a stash of fruit waiting for those who refuse the vast array of desserts. I wrapped up five oranges in my sweatshirt for the next morning. How ironic, stealing oranges from church….

Order your copy of Running in Silence: My Drive for Perfection and the Eating Disorder That Fed It here.

1 reply
  1. Giovana Barreto
    Giovana Barreto says:

    Honestly, I’m impressed with how quickly and eagerly you dove into the science of it all. You talked to someone who’s had experience with this type of dieting and I believed how excited you were about starting this new food adventure. I can tell it wasn’t just because it was a new project but because you wanted so desperately for this to be the solution. I wanted this raw food thing to be your path to finally being satisfied with yourself.

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