Goodness. It's been a whole year. There's a story in there, but it'll take a while to tell and right now is not the time to tell it. It's complicated, it spins out in all directions and I've tried to tame it, but it's unwieldy. I'll have to spend time organising my thoughts before I post them here.
So for now, this stands as an introduction to the food diary I'll be posting for reference for when I'm somewhere along the path and need to remind myself.
The regime:
For the past few days I've added in extra fruit, swapped cooked dinner for raw and tried very hard (succeeded so far!) to avoid snacks.
For the next few weeks I'm on a high-raw regime, loose enough that it doesn't restrict me and make it feel too hard to stick to, but with some guidelines to keep me on the straight and narrow.
Daily intake:
fresh juice
green smoothie
whole fruit
raw lunch and raw dinner
Treats: coffee with non-dairy milk, dried fruit/nuts to snack on, glass of wine with dinner.
Restrictions: No wheat. Minimal dairy.
Allowances: comfort food and cooked food, such as baked sweet potato or homemade soup, couple of times a week at most.
Upgrade: replace meals with green smoothies.
I intend to "upgrade" after a week perhaps, then again a week or so later, until I've cut right back, got all wheat, dairy and coffee out of my system.
Why blog?
One of the reasons I've written this down and put it out there is to have some accountability. I've tried to take on this regime several times in the past few months and it's failed. I've had one too many treats and allowed the cooked food on my plate to take over the raw. I've looked at the juicer and the thought of cleaning it afterwards makes me turn away from making juice. I've got home to a fridge of uninspiring vegetables and preferred to cook them with some olive oil and garlic. Whatever my hidden reasons (and reams has already been written on why we fail to stick to a raw diet) it's just no good. I can't keep doing this. So, written down, in a dusty corner of the Internet, is my commitment. You can call me on it.
Why bother?
I'm at my best on a raw diet. Eating cooked food - and a generally healthier diet than most - I get ill frequently. Then I get fed up of being ill. Then I do this, go back to raw food. Seems like a never-ending cycle. My dream is to stick to a mostly raw diet for a year, because I think if I can make it through winter, family crises and holidays then I've got past most of the hurdles. And if I can do it for a whole year, I can do it for many years. And the thought of being slim, fit, healthy, glowing, full of energy - which is what I would achieve after a year on raw food - is such a huge shining light of a goal.
