Sunday, April 12, 2009

I've Lost My Damn Mind.

So, I mentioned earlier that I had a big announcement for the day. I have decided to do something I've never done before, and I'm a little nervous. If any of you guys have succeeded, tried, failed or otherwise done what I'm about to do, I would love to hear your experiences.

I'm doing a five-day Raw Food Cleanse.

Now, it's supposed to be seven days but I'm going with five the first go-round. I figure if I make the goal a teenie bit smaller, I'll be less disappointed in myself if I don't go for 7 days and only make it for 5. :)



So let me tell you a bit about it:

I got the information from perusing Fertile Healthy's blog and clicking on her mention of the Green Smoothie Blog. There, I read about the Raw Divas and went to their website.

Now, I know when you go to the Raw Divas website it LOOKS like a typical "diet sale" website and that they might be trying to hook you into paying a crapload of money for diet tips you don't need. But, this detox program information is TOTALLY FREE. I signed up for it, and started getting some e-mails right away. They send you preparation e-mails, and are with you every step of the way.

Being that it's a free program, I'm going to share some (not all) of the information here and encourage you to sign up if you think it's something you'd enjoy doing. I'm also going to document my progress with it through the next week here on my trusty ole blog.

All the tools they give you are so awesome. There's a forum where you can share your experience, ask questions and get tips. There's a comprehensive e-book with all the info on the detox. There is a food and fitness journal for the detox as well as a detox tracker you can put on your fridge.

Now, I guess I should back up for any of you who don't know what a "Raw" lifestyle is. Raw Eating is exactly that. Eating foods that are raw and straight from nature's garden. That includes fruits and veggies. No store bought juices, no bread, eggs, cheese, milk, meat, or processed foods of any kind. For me that also means no coffee or soda, which will be REALLY difficult. It should also mean no cigarettes but I don't have the strength to give up everything. I'd actually probably have a heart attack if I tried. :)

So! It begins with a 24-hour fast on Monday night at 6pm until 6pm Tuesday evening. Then, Tuesday evening I will break into my eating with a mono-fruit meal (one type of fruit, as much as I feel I need.) Then, will continue the next 4 days with just raw, delicious, crunchy fruits and veggies. It'll include fruit, veggies, salads, smoothies and raw soups. The salads can't have oil, vinegar, dressing or any of that. I can make dressings with fruits and veggies blended up, or do fresh fruit sliced on top of the lettuce and veggies.

SO. I'm nervous and really hoping I can do it. I think it would be awesome to really feel "clean" inside my body and refresh myself with a nice, crisp, crunchy, juicy, healthy few days of eating.

Oh, and lotsa water.

So! That's the big, (long winded) announcement. I'll keep you guys posted on what I'm eating. I also wanted to try out some fun "Rawcipies" to make it a little more fun and interesting.

Also... I'm not really thinking of doing a Raw Lifestyle after this (I'd probably get really bored) but THIS gives me reason to give it a second thought. (Click the link there for a bunch of before and afters of people who "Go Raw."

This is a before and after with Jo Thomas. Her story is on the link above, and you can visit her blog here.



Or this girl, Angela Stokes, who is my favorite raw foodist, who is beautiful and I think from New Zealand ('cause she's got my favorite accent, EVER, just like Missy Higgins...) She lost 105 lbs in her first year of being RAW.




Visit her blog/website here.


It's not the first time I've considered the Raw Lifestyle... I just don't know that I could do it full time.

The Sunny Raw Kitchen
talked in a recent blog post about how much she and her husband typically go through in fresh produce a WEEK:


* 35 lbs apples
* 25 lbs oranges
* 15 lbs bananas
* 8 lbs lemons and limes
* 5 lbs of fruits (depending on what's available)
* 20 lbs carrots
* 4 lbs celery
* 2 or 3 lbs lettuce
* 3 lbs greens (spinach, kale, swiss chard, etc.)
* 3 lbs tomatoes
* 3 lbs avocados
* 2 lbs beets

Plus all the other odds and ends, such as peppers, cucumbers, zucchinis, cauliflower, broccoli, green onions, fresh herbs, sprouts, etc...


WOW.

~Jenn

6 comments:

Unknown said...

WOW! I don't think I could do something like that. I know it is very healthy for you but I think Id miss my meat, coffee, wine, cooked anything...lol
You gotta blog and tell us all of the details how your doing. I will be sure to tune in :)

:) GOOD LUCK TO YA!!
tj

Crystal said...

I don't think I could do this either. Maybe for a day or two but that's it. You have to let us know how it is going. I'm really interested in it.

Good luck!

Andrew said...

Congrats. Raw food does really work. Check out my improvements: http://www.raw-food-health.net/rawfoodhealth.html

Nathalie Lussier said...

Congratulations on committing to a 5 day detox on raw foods. You really are going to get the benefits, and you're doing your body a great service!

Raw foods work, they can change your life too! :)

All the best of luck during your detox,
Nathalie
http://www.rawfoodswitch.com

Carlos said...

dude! that's aggressive, good luck can't wait to see how it works out...

Hanlie said...

I can't believed I missed this (had no internet after our move and am just now catching up...)!!!!

I've long ago decided that I'll probably never be 100% raw or 100% vegan, but I do make sure that I eat a LOT of raw food and that my cooked food is whole and healthy!