Todd's Raw Journey:
2004

E-mail: tglasco4 at yahoo dot com
(not a clickable link to avoid spammers)

Well, today is the first day of me journaling here. I hope that this will help someone who reads it in their journey to great health.I have just completed my third month of raw. Many people may read my journal entries and become bored. Thats because I seek to do the same thing consistently. I have found that this is one of the keys to being successful in whatever endeavor I seek to undertake. Also, as far as exercise, after having been into fitness for over 30 years, I find consistency is what helps keep me progressing. As Michelle likes to say often, its all about progress. So let me begin.

Today was a typical Sunday. Got up late (even a little later than usual for me, about 9am), spent about an hour or so talking to my wife. It was very humid here today. I really don't like humidity, give me 10 degree weather and a warm house rather than 85 degrees with 90 percent humidity and no a/c. I was able to do 3 sets of 80 pushups giving myself 6 minutes rest between sets. Then I had breakfast.

Breakfast:

32oz of fruit smoothie. 1 apple, 2 bananas. about 4oz of what I call walnut mix (crushed walnuts, teaspoon of raw honey, heaping teaspoon of raw almond butter all mixed together) and I sliced up a 3rd banana into it. Delicious!

Returned some phone calls and emails. Then went on a 4 mile walk with my wife. Its very hilly in this part of New Hampshire so this is always a great workout. I do lunges during the walk (5 sets 24 reps each today) so I really get great benefit.

I still have dinner to eat. But I am not very hungry (probably due to the heat). I have one more set of pushups to do (I do 4 sets 3 times per week) and that will probably be done later. I have to go to the store and pick up some more fruit (I will probably have that for dinner). So I will continue the post then.

Dinner:

64oz of fruit smoothie (3 peaches, 2 bananas, 1 nectarine, 2 handfuls of red grapes, 1 handful of blueberries, 2 dried medjool dates, 1 can of doles chunk pineapple in its own juice).

Did 1 more set of 80 pushups.

Showered, called it a night.

August 2, 2004

I was asked to give a little of my background and how I became raw. Ok, so here it is. I was a lacto-ovo vegetarian from 1986 until 1998. It started as part of my religion, my beliefs include the idea that spirituality and physical health are related. That its just as important to obey the laws that govern good health as it is to obey moral laws. Having said that, for those 14 years I was a terrible example of a vegetarian. I not only ate mostly cooked food, I ate very little in the way of raw vegetables and fruit at all and I did not drink anywhere near 8 glasses of water per day. As a result, even though I worked out pretty regularly, I always carried excess weight. I would get a cold almost every winter, sometimes bad colds that knocked me off my feet. Aside from that, I was a sugar junkie. Fruit pies and cookies were my drug of choice. When I was in my late teens and early 20s, I was in terrific shape. I could eat those things and still feel and look good. But as I got into my late 20s and early 30s it started to show on me. In the early 90s, I got into sales as a way of controling my own destiny and a path to financial freedom. But it was very difficult, at this time I worked 80 hour weeks regularly and exercised very little. In January 1999, one day I came out of the shower and looked at myself naked in the full length mirror we had in the bathroom. I couldn't believe my eyes! I couldnt believe how fat I had become. My wife had started calling me her "buddha" and I just shrugged it off. But there was no way I could shrug off what I saw in the mirror that day. My weight had ballooned from 185 at age 23 in 1984 to 235 15 years later. And here I was a vegetarian!

I was so angry that I let myself go like that. I had always prided myself on my fitness, now it was gone. I decided I would start running. I got my sneakers and sweats on, stretched and thought I would do a mile to start. I couldnt even jog a good half a mile. Also, everytime I would buy gasoline at a convenience store I would buy at least 2 if not 4 drakes apple pies. I would console myself by telling myself it was fruit and I would wash it down with either apple juice or orange juice. I wanted to stop, but as crazy as it sounds, I could not. Fig newtons were also just as big an addiction. I could eat 2 sleeves in just a few minutes with no problem. Now I was desperate. I would do anything to my body back and gain the vigor I once had. I decided I would try and replace sweets with meat. I theorized that I would go back on the flesh food until I overcame the sweet tooth and then drop the flesh as well.

I also decided I would walk and jog every day until I was able to run 3 miles. So I started this plan in February 1999. It worked very well for a while. 8 months later I was jogging the 3 miles and my weight dropped from 235 to 215. I felt better than I had in years. I also felt guilty because I knew what the flesh was doing to my body. I knew that I was beginning to get hooked on that as well and I knew that I didnt know what I was going to do because I wasnt going to stop eating meat as I had planned. Then in October, 1999 I heard an evangelist preach who talked about the benefits of the vegan diet. I had never ever been a vegan. I had studied things about it and was convinced it was the healthiest of lifestyles. I was also convinced that I had no power to do it. Now here is something really crazy. Here I was a christian, and up until that time I never thought to do what christians are supposed to do when confronted with lack of power. Pray! LOL. I had never prayed for God to help me in all of this. I had never asked for victory over my appetite which had gone crazy. Now in October of 1999 I did. Guess what? I became a vegan that same month. Stopped sweets, meat and all dairy products right away. But one thing that I was to learn; its about a journey. I would learn that I would appreciate excellent health and victory over appetite because of the journey; and little did I know that the journey was just beginning. I continued to jog the 3 miles per day and now I added weights to my routine. One of the things I had always been guilty of and am just now learning not to do was to over do. For many years I lifted too heavy weights, did way to many calistenics in too short of a time and would end up overtraining and stopping or hurting myself in some way. Well, I did it again. By December 2000 I was running 5 miles per day and lifting heavy weights after each run. I was also eating mostly cooked food although not as much in the area of sweets (no candy or soda and pies only at thanksgiving or christmas). At this time I weighed about 210. In December 2000 I felt a tweak in my shoulder blade after I ran and started lifting. I ignored it (which is how I handle most pain for better or worse). About 3am I felt the sharpest pain in my back and down my arm I had ever felt. I was almost to the point of tears. I couldnt lay down. It felt like a knife was poking out my back from the inside. The pain shot all the way down my left arm into my left hand. The only thing I could do was stand up and lean against a wall corner. When I drove I had to keep my left arm up or it would hurt very badly. I couldnt do anything now. Not run, walk or lift. As it turned out, it was a great blessing in disguise (isn't that the way most blessing are?). I bought a heating pad and slept on our love seat sitting up with it on my back. It took about 2 months before it went away. I never went to a doctor about it (by the way, I don't trust hospitals or doctors, its just the way I am). When the pain was finally gone my back was very weak. I think I must have really messed up a nerve back there, because I couldnt do one pushup, not one. Nor could I do a dumbell press with anything other than a 5 pound weight. So i decided that I would scale back my whole routine. I cut my running back to 3 miles. I was able to do dumbell arm curls so thats what I did with 20 pound weights and that was my workout for the next 8 months. At this time (March 2001) I had a crisis in my life. I needed to hear from God about it. I wanted to make sure I heard His voice and not my own thoughts so I decided to eat just fruit and drink just water to make sure my head was clear. This was my first foray into raw. I never heard of anyone eating all raw and my intend was purely spiritual. I fully intended to feel very weak and become emaciated. But I didn't care. I really needed an answer and I wanted to make sure I heard it loud and clear. My wife and my friends really thought I had gone off the deep end. "Just fruit?", they would all say, "you are going to starve yourself to death!". But I didn't care, thats how important this crisis was to me. In the first few weeks I was getting bloated alot. I was eliminating like crazy. Then a strange thing happened. After about 8 weeks of eating just fruit all of the sudden I felt this tremendous surge of energy. The only way to describe it was when I was about 20 I dropped acid once and the rush felt like I was a supersonic jet about to take off. Now I don't think anyone should drop acid of course, but this was sort of how it felt on the fruit diet. Except it was controlled. I felt powerful and full of life and energy. It used to take me about 33 minutes to run the 3 miles. 8 weeks after I started this diet, I was running it in less than 26 minutes. Sometimes 24 minutes. I wasnt jogging anymore, I was running the 3 miles and attacking the weights with vigor. My weight went down to 190. I have never felt better in my entire life. Then in November, 2001, I got the answer to my prayer. My crisis was over and I experienced what could only be described as a miraculous deliverance. As dumb as it may seem, when I was delivered, I stopped to raw diet. After all, I really had only been doing it for spiritual reasons and now I had gotten the answer I wanted so I stopped. My weight started climbing back up slowly until I got to about 215 again. I knew what had happened. I wanted to go back to raw. But my wife and friends insisted that it would be fanatical and dangerous. In 2003, I invited some naturalpathic doctors who are friends of mine to do a health program at my church. They asked if it would be alright if they brought a friend of theirs that I didn't know. I said sure. The man they brought gave a presentation that would change my life. He spoke of the raw diet. He was a raw foodist. I had never met anyone else who did it. I didn't even know there was a raw foodist category of people. When that weekend was over I wanted to go raw. But again I let my wife and friends talk me out of it. But the difference this time is that I made a pact with my wife that I wouldnt go raw as long as all of us in the household at raw food before we partook of any cooked food. She and the rest of the family agreed. This past winter was the first one in my memory that no one in our house caught a cold. My wife was the first to say it was due to our increase in raw foods. Before we ate breakfast I would make large fruit salads for everyone (there are 5 of us). Before dinner I would make large veggies salads and everyone would eat that first.

In the meantime I invited that same man to come back again in April of this year. He did and when he finished I did a some research into raw. Thats when I found sites like this one and thegardendiet.com I decided I was going to go raw for good. This time I made no announcement. I just did it. After about a week or so my daughter asked, "daddy are you going raw?",I said, "Yes baby I am, but you don't have to". Now it was official. After my first week, decided to do the OJ fast that thegardendiet recommends as a kick start to my raw lifestyle. I purchased 2 cases of organic valencias and went on a 14 day OJ diet. It was tough for about 3 days but after that it was wonderful! I actually felt like I could live on the stuff by itself. My 2 weeks raw picture is at the end of that diet. I really prayed and thought and planned this out this time. I decided that there were 3 items that are cooked that I would continue to use until I naturally didn't feel the need anymore. They are roasted sunflower seeds, roasted pistachios. and ezekiel bread made into zwieback (a term from Back to Eden for well toasted bread). I eat the bread maybe 2 or 3 times per week. The sunflower seeds and pistachios are for days when business keeps me on the road and away from home. Like tomorrow will. I will usually combined something like roasted and salted sunflower seeds with raisons, dried date pieces and chopped walnuts. With about 7 or 8 pieces of whole fruit, this can hold me for an entire day. Well thats my raw story. Sorry for the long post. Now here is how today went.

Breakfast:
1 apple, 2 bananas, 32oz of fruit smoothie. 6oz of walnut mix.

dinner:
Very large green salad, topped with raw tabouli and raw almond pate.

24 oz of spring water.

I couldnt sleep last night, alot on my mind, I was up until 2am. At about 12:30 I ate 2 slices of zwieback that my daughter had made for me.

exercise:
1x18/2x16 chins. ...2x28/1x24 lunges with 25lb dumbells...3x21 dumbell curls with 25 lbs dumbells.

Tomorrow is a 16 hour day...fruit and nuts here I come!

August 3, 2004

Today was a very busy day. A 16 hour marathon. The good thing is that I knew it was coming so I could plan for it. Being prepared is a key to being victorious against obstacles that tend to take us off the path. I woke up at about 5:45am. I prayed as I would normally do. Then did 3x80 pushups. I knew I wouldn't have time to do my normal Tuesday workout, so I planned to try to squeeze in 2 sets of pushups, I was glad I was able to do 3. Usually, on days like this, I either pack alot of fruit and take a bag of nut mix with me or I pack some fruit and plan on stopping somewhere where I can make a large salad for myself. Today I decided to do the fruit and nut thing since I would be so busy I wouldnt have time to stop and I could eat while driving.

There is no breakfast-lunch-dinner situation on days like this. I graze throughout the day.

I had 2 bananas and 1 apple before I left the house. I drank maybe 6 oz of water.
I left the house at about 7am.

Throughout the day I had 4 bananas, 2 peaches, 4 mission figs (was the first time I ate them as whole fruit and not dried, it was okay but not the best fruit I ever had).

I drank about 32 oz of water. It was a very hot and humid day. In the 90s with about 90 percent humidity. My car has no a/c. I drove around 400 or 500 miles today. I got back home a little after midnight. Took a shower and hit the sack.

August 4, 2004

Today was almost back to normal. I got up around 7:30am. I did my normal Wednesday workout. I added a long walk to it today. Then I had a breakfast that has been my staple this summer. Felt really energetic this morning despite the continued humidity. The raw diet really makes me feel great. I really don't ever get truly tempted to go back to cooked because I don't want to lose this light, energetic feeling I have. I miss the taste of cooked food at times, but I remember how it made me feel compared to now and I don't ever want that again.Today's intake was:

Breakfast
2 bananas, 1 apples, handful of black grapes. 40oz of fruit smoothie.

dinner:
2 large green salads topped with olive oil and sea salt.

later:
32oz of OJ

Exercise:
1x18, 2x16 chins...3x21 dumbell curls..3x28 lunges with dumbells..4mile walk (included another 3x24 lunges during the walk).

Pretty good day. The walk really made it great because I haven't been having alot of time to walk as much as I would like. My wife and I are in a little groove with it now so maybe we can continue to do it at least 3 or 4 days a week.

Hope you all have a blessed day.

August 5, 2004 Developing Patience

Fairly busy today. Got up this morning to get to the office for a morning appointment. Wanted to work out, but my wife wanted to talk. We usually talk in the morning for between 30 minutes to an hour, but this morning it was more like 2 hours. I think she just needed that today so I went with it. I just had time to do one set of pushups with the intent of doing the rest of my Thursday workout when I got home. Well it didn't quite work out that way (no pun intended). As far as intake, it was definitely a fruit and nut day........which I didn't mind.

Breakfast:
16oz of fruit smoothie, 2 bananas, 1 apple about 6oz of walnut mix (crushed walnuts, a little raw honey and a heaping teaspoon of raw almond butter), mixed with another banana.

Lunch:
32oz of fruit smoothie with one banana and one apple.

After lunch I had one appointment with a 72 year old couple at 4 pm. I do investments and this couple attended a seminar I did last night. They came in and proceeded to talk to me about every member of their family for 2 hours. At the end I asked, "So, what was it about your investments you wanted to discuss?". They said, "Nothing, we just liked you and wanted to talk"......Don't get me wrong, I love to talk to people, but what a complete waste of a man's time! When they left my office it was 6:30pm. I had not eaten since 11 am. I was starved. I thought I would get home (an hours drive from my office), eat and workout.

I got home at a little after 8pm

I had some more walnut mix, 1 apple, 1 banana and 45oz of fruit smoothie. That hit the spot. But now I am feeling a little tired. Its 10:20pm. So, no exercise today. I figured maybe I needed an extra day off this week. Maybe not. But regardless I am definitely working out tomorrow.

Have a nice day everyone.

August 6, 2004

Today was a usual Friday. Very busy. I am usually off on Fridays and I use the day to do errands in preparation for our Sabbath. I spent about 45 minutes with my wife this morning and then did my workout. Today I did my Thursday workout because I didn't do it yesterday. Afterwards, I had breakfast, then it was off to the errand business. My intake was as follows:

Breakfast:
2 apples, 56oz of fruit smoothie (strawberries, grapes, peaches, medjool dates, pineapple, cantalope).

dinner/lunch
green salad with almond pate topped with olive oil and sea salt. I took ezekiel bread wraps and put the salad mix into them. Ate 3 of those. I also made a mix of walnuts with sunflower seeds and some granola (not raw). Ate a couple of handfuls of that.

exercise:
4x80 pushups/ 2x50,1x60 squats with dumbells preceded by 1x65 squats as a warmup.

Today was a whirlwind, as many days are, but I am feeling great. I am not losing any weight at all, but I am not focusing on that. My focus is on higher levels of health and fitness. I figure as I grow in the raw lifestyle, the weight will take care of itself.

Peace and Blessings.

August 7, 2004

This has been a busy week. Its ending on a busy note. Friday I traveled to CT to attend a weekend evangelistic series. I am to teach Saturday before the sermon begins. I spent the night at a friends house and my family arrived Saturday morning. I knew this was coming and of course, prepared accordingly. I brought alot of fruit with me. My friends had a very good blender (a kitchen aid). So I ate well at their house. I didnt expect to be able to exercise today (which is why I wanted to make sure I did during the week) and I didn't really. I did take a nice leisurely walk (a little less than a mile) with my wife and children in a park. That was very nice. I cherish every moment like that because my children are growing up so fast. My intake was as follows:

Breakfast (about 8am):
2 bananas, 1 apple, 42oz of fruit smoothie.

lunch/dinner (about 3:30pm)
green salad, zucchini/carrot mix (shredded zucchini and carrots seasoned with garlic, olive oil and sea salt), almond pate, raw tabouli. I took a little of each of these items and put them in a ezekiel bread wrap (3x).

We ate in the park at a picnic table. It was a beautiful day. After we ate we took the stroll.

Got home pretty late (10:30pm). I felt like I should eat something. Probably because I had eaten 7 hours earlier. But I wasn't hungry at all and its not healthy to eat late at night. So I just showered and hit the sack.

Peace.

August 8, 2004

Well, I am overdue on my monthly picture. I will go get the camera today and will probably have one posted by weeks end. Haven't gone digital yet, but I expect to soon. Today was a typical Sunday, which is good because life has been moving very a-typically lately. I got up and spent about 2 hrs with my wife. It seemed like a nice day so I wanted to do something outdoors with my family. At first I mentioned to my wife that I wanted to take my son for a bike ride, then she said I should include my daughter who may feel left out, then I said lets all go. So we ended up walking our 4 mile route while the kids road ahead of us. My intake was:

2 apples, 1 banana, 48oz of fruit smoothie. 4 handfuls of raw pistachios.

Someone asked regarding the amount of fruit smoothie I consume, to be honest, I am just craving the stuff now. Its a way to get more of the fruit I crave into my body. Usually I am all set with between 16 and 32oz. But not now, so I am just going with it.

Dinner:
Pretty much the same as yesterday. I have been trying to eat the ezekiel bread wraps my wife bought so they dont go to waste. So I had

green salad, raw tabouli and sunflower seeds (they were roasted and salted) all placed in ezekiel bread wrap (3x). Then I had all that in a large bowl of salad, guess I was hungry .

Exercise:
3x80 pushups/1x65 squats (warmup) 2x50, 1x60 squats with dumbells. 4 mile walk.

Peace.

August 9, 2004

Today was a pretty good Monday. Got up and spent time with my wife. Had some drama over the phone from my 24 yr old in Minneasota. Folks, trust me on this, raise your kids right or it will come back to haunt you. I prayed over him this morning and thanked the Lord He gave me 3 more chances with my other children. Then went about my day. My intake was:

Breakfast:
2 apples, 1 banana, 32oz of fruit smoothie, about 6oz of walnut mix.

Dinner:
2 large bowls of green salad with shredded carrots, sunflower seeds and raw tabouli, topped with olive oil and sea salt.

Exercise:
1x18, 2x16 chin-ups/3x28 lunges with dumbells/3x21 dumbell curls.

Had a good day at the office. Made a little money. Can't ask for monday to be much better than that.

Peace.

August 10, 2004

Today was a good day food wise. I am pretty much meeting my goal of being consistent (by God's grace). Had a good day workout wise as well. Again, consistency is the goal. I have heard that once you do something for 30 days it becomes a habit, well I think this lifestyle and routine is now a habit. Looking ahead I expect to have to make adjustments as the weather gets colder and the wonderful varieties of fresh fruit are limited. My plan is to do a master cleanse sometime within the next 30 days. Then begin to make use of more sprouts as the Fall begins and I head into winter. I plan to use hot water with fresh lemon and honey for warm mornings and evenings. I always get plenty of apples and bananas year round so I don't think fruit will be a problem. Anyways, back to today.

Breakfast:
2 bananas, 2 apples, 16oz of fruit smoothie.

Lunch:
2 apples, 3 bananas, 32oz of fruit smoothie.

dinner:
2 large bowls of green salad, raw tabouli and almond pate topped with sunflower seeds, olive oil and sea salt.

Exercise:
2x80 pushups/4 mile walk with 7x24 lunges in the morning..2x80 pushups after dinner.

Thats it.

Peace.

October 5, 2004

October 6, 2004

October 7, 2004

October 15, 2004

October 16, 2004

October 17, 2004

October 18, 2004

October 19, 2004

October 20, 2004

October 22, 2004

October 23, 2004

October 24, 2004

October 25, 2004

October 26, 2004Good Detox

Tuesday.

October 27, 2004

October 28, 2004

October 29, 2004

October 30, 2004

Saturday. Raw and wet today. Very nice day nonetheless. Very high spiritual feast at church  as well as for the body at home.  I ate all fruit and nuts today. Just in the mood for that. I did eat 2 slices of zwieback, LOL. Not all raw, but definitely all good. Since I knew I was going to be juice fasting starting Sunday, I tried to prepare myself accordingly. My intake was:

Breakfast:

2 bananas, 1 pear. 32oz of OJ

Lunch:

chopped up 3 pears, 2 and 1/2 bananas in a bowl with some almond butter (not raw), and topped with crushed walnuts and raisons. Delicious. also 2 slices of zweiback.

dinner:

32oz of OJ.

Exercise: none (day off).