Happiness is following the Raw Food Diet!

Ok, I was trying to hold off and wait just a little longer before writing this article but I just can't contain myself any longer. I have been on the Raw Food Diet for the past 4 days and I have to tell you this diet is REVOLUTIONARY. I am not exaggerating! I never thought I could last more than a day on such a restrictive regime but it's been 4 days and I feel GREAT! For those of you who don't know what this diet consists of I'll list it here (It's that short).

You only eat RAW food.

Pretty much that is it!

Now if you just let this sink in a bit I'm quite sure you will think I'm totally insane because hey I would have thought that too. So this diet pretty much consists of fruits, vegetables, nuts, olive oil and if you can get it (which I can't so I don't eat it) raw milk products. Yup, that's it, as porky pigs says THAT'S ALL FOLKS! And if someone would have told me that I would even try a diet like this I would have laughed in their face.

So, what brought me to such deprivation? Well, I started doing these juice fasts (see my other article about Fasting and Prayer) and when I did these juice fasts I started noticing that I felt wonderful, happy and calm. I had more energy, I looked better and I slept better. I started to think if eating crap makes me feel awful then maybe eating really healthy food makes you feel great. So doing these fasts made me start to research other diets and I just stumbled upon the Raw Food Diet. I started the first day drinking a fruit smoothie, then for dinner I had a salad that consisted of lettuce, tomato, onion, kalamata olives, avocado, cashews, carrots and cucumber. I used a salad dressing of cold pressed virgin olive oil with lemon juice and herbs (like parsley, oregano ..whatever I had). The salad was delicious and huge and I ate it all and was totally full. So the second day I also had another smoothie for lunch but went out for dinner to a vegetarian restaurant that had two items that were raw on the menu. I had Autumn Sweet Potato Rolls that consisted of coconut noodles, jicama, carrot, red and yellow pepper, scallion, avocado, and almond ginger dipping sauce for an appetizer (it was fabulous) and Zucchini Linguini which consisted of spinach-walnut pesto, cherry and roma tomatoes, kalamata olives and pine nut cheese. Of course a glass of Sauvignon Blanc added to the meal (wine is raw baby! :) Yesterday I had the same thing I had on the first day but instead of a fruit smoothie I had a carrot smoothie with pineapple, celery, coconut water and orange juice ...again delicious. I had a salad for dinner and some macadamia nuts for desert. Today I had a fruit smoothie for lunch and a delicious spinach salad for dinner. The spinach salad had ½ box of fresh spinach, pine nuts, raisins, red onion, grape tomato and carrots and the dressing was wonderful too, it consisted of cold pressed extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic and honey. It was huge, delicious and I ate the whole thing. Then I had 2 organic, raw macaroons that were out of this world (I got these from the health food store around the corner).

Now as far as weight goes I don't know if I've lost weight. I think I have because my clothes are looser. But as far as my energy level goes it has shot through the roof. Today I got up 3 hours earlier than normal without feeling tired and my mood ...well it's like someone has given me a happy pill. Can you hear it in my words?

So, the long and the short of it is, this diet sure seems like the real deal. Sure it's restrictive but once you are on it all your cravings disappear. I can smell a pizza cooking and enjoy the smell (oh I forgot to tell you that your senses are heightened too) and not want to eat it....DO YOU KNOW HOW AMAZING THAT IS? DO YOU? I DON'T THINK YOU DO!

So, for what it's worth this diet has my full attention and enthusiasm. That's not to say that I will never eat cooked food again (who can say that?). Furthermore, I don't think that it would be healthy to be 100% raw for life, however I do think that for short periods of time that eating raw is a healthy thing especially if you can obtain home-grown foods. Also, some foods are actually toxic when eaten raw, foods like legumes which are very good for you you. So I definitely think that going raw for a short term is healthy but in the long run cooked food has it's benefits as well. In any case I would definitely recommend it on a short term basis.

Bon Apetit

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