Art's Raw Journey: 
July 2008

Email: gastrawnome at gmail dot com
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30 Day Challenge - Day 1

Starting weight for this challenge: 218.5 lbs. and 29% bodyfat

Basically, we're doing a "VeganPlus" challenge.. mostly vegan except we're allowed fish and eggs. We get one treat day a week when we can eat anything we want (or, spread over 3 meals.. so.. Friday night, Saturday lunch and dinner). Annie has to try 2 new recipes per week. And one day per week must be all-raw. I picked Tuesdays.

So that was today. We basically winged it. I had a green smoothie (peaches, strawberries, water and spinach... I'm also going to try a 30 day green smoothie challenge as well.. 1 green smoothie per day, in the morning).

For lunch I had a banana smoothie (3 ripe bananas, water, maca, agave, cinnamon, raw hemp protein) and a raw bar. Later I had a few olives, and finished up with strawberries. Drank some water as well.

Tomorrow I have an early appt. with an orthopedist. Amazingly, I have not had ANY pain since Friday night.. just the numb right calf.. I hardly notice it anymore, but will inquire about it. Praise God for His mercy!

Tomorrow night Annie's making vegan Mac n Cheez.. can't wait!

We're hosting a BBQ on Friday, that'll be our "treat day" for this week.

Yesterday, we had Indian food for lunch.. it was delicious, but I didn't feel so great the rest of the day. Generally, I've been feeling lousy.. low energy.. except, of course, for today, where I felt pretty darn good. :)

Based on how I've been feeling lately (pretty lousy), I've decided to increase my intake of raw foods.

Today was a start. Tuesdays are our raw days, but I decided I needed a head start. I want to start somewhere.. so I'm aiming for 70% raw foods per week. Here's how I figure it.. I eat roughly 20 meals per week (I don't usually eat breakfast Sunday mornings before church). Each meal of the 20 is 5% of my intake for the week. If I have one day all raw, and eat 6 cooked meals for dinner the other nights (vegan or otherwise), and I'm eating raw breakfasts and raw lunches.. that's 14 meals x 5 = 70%. A good start. I'm not going to jump in at 100% because I've tried that before and failed. Miserably. 

Last night, a good friend of mine said something really interesting to me. Interesting, and yet, disturbing. He's known me a little less than a year. We attend the same cell group (bible study). He said he noticed that when I talk about starting the latest diet, or habit, it doesn't last longer than about 2 weeks. Over the past year, I've tried South Beach (vegetarian style), an abs diet, various vegetarian/vegan approaches, and raw foods one or two times. And probably a few more I can't recall right now.

My wife made a commitment to an exercise program and stuck with it, no matter what, no ifs, ands, or buts, for an entire month. And now it's a habit. She still does it, nearly everyday. Before, she HATED exercise, loathed it, despised it. Now if she misses a day, she feels out of it. Now she actually looks forward to it, doesn't feel complete without it. Am I proud of her? Definitely. She has my deepest admiration.

They say it takes 3 weeks to make something into a habit. So, if according to my friend, I last 2 weeks at the most (before discovering the "next greatest thing").. no wonder nothing sticks.

Hearing him say that, though.. it hurts.. in a way.. but it helps even more. To hear something like that from someone.. makes me realize.. this person sees me from an outside perspective.. in a way I don't or can't see myself. I want to "prove him wrong".. and myself wrong as well. I want to persist and develop a habit.. a good habit.. a healthy habit.

So, this morning I had a green smoothie for breakfast (2 plums, 1 banana, some ground flax, some hemp protein, some "Green Vibrance", and some baby spinach.) It was surprisingly good. For lunch I noshed on strawberries, olives, and sugar snap peas. Dinner was a raw soup.. tomato, cucumber, kale, spinach, lettuce, carrot juice, and olives in the blender.

Three meals. 15%. Tomorrow is an all raw day, so that'll be 30%. I want to be consistent with the 70%. At least 70% per week. I want to give it a chance. See how I feel. I don't care about the weight coming off (though it will) so much as how I will feel.

I want to give the 70% 3 weeks. I want this to become a habit. A lifestyle. After 3 weeks, I may want to replace a cooked meal with another raw meal. But for right now, my goal is 3 weeks. Today was day one.

It was not without temptations. I went to the store; we were nearly out of fruit. I passed the fried chicken on the hot bar. "Not worth it", I told myself. I passed the desserts, the soda. Not worth it. Not worth the heartburn, the sugar spike followed by the crash, the just generally feeling lousy. Not worth replacing a raw meal with a piece of fried chicken. Not worth the 5%. Instead, I bought pineapple, watermelon, organic apples and bananas. An avocado. Sugar snap peas. 2 containers of heavenly ripe organic strawberries. Some tomatoes.

My wife formed an exercise habit. I can do it with raw foods. Exercise comes later.. or maybe during.. we'll see.

Tomorrow is my first day of physical therapy.. so, ha, there's my first day of exercise right there. Built in. For at least 3 weeks, maybe 4.

I got a new raw book today.. "Fresh - The Ultimate Live-Food Cookbook" by Sergei and Valya Boutenko. New inspirations.

Also, my weight this morning was 219.5 lbs. A gain of one pound since last Monday.