Day 4 - update

I won't lie. I had my doubts about this for the first three days. I felt down and weak. Small pimples made a short lived visit, but they are clearing out as fast as they came. I was sleepy and groggy most of day 2 and day 3. No workout!!

My detox symptoms were not as bad as most people because I have been vegan for more than 6 months now. Even then, I ate salad every day. Well almost. Green Apple-beet-celery-spinach-kale-carrot-ginger juice was a part of every morning routine.

I made this divine smoothie yesterday. 1/4th cantaloupe + ground flaxseeds + almond milk + 1 medium date. mmmmm... If you think it was high calorie stuff, the answer is it does not matter. Not when you are eating raw 24*7. As it is, getting enough calories on a raw food diet is the challenge, not watching calories :)

At the end of day 3 and since this morning (day 4), I am feeling great! The grogginess is all gone. An hour of cardio has done wonders. I feel more confident this morning than I did same time yesterday.

Raw food challenge day 1

I scoffed at the idea when I read about it a while back. I changed my eating style in a big way in September of 2011. Unrefined plant based foods with absolutely no animal products. Dairy, Eggs, meat. (i have never eaten meat anyway). I lost 20 pounds in this time, even though I was eating junk on weekends. Stuff like samosa, chaat, chips, a cookie sometimes (it has egg I know.), a piece of cake at birthday parties.
But on most weekdays, it was fruit, sometimes oatmeal for breakfast. Huge salad followed by some dal-rice for lunch, steamed vegetables with soup and beans for dinner. I made pizza whenever the craving hit. No cheese, only vegetable pizza with herbs and spices. Yummy.

I guess, it was a natural progression when I started thinking of going raw, at least for a few days.

I started this morning and failed right away. Gobbling up about 7/8 Ritz crackers (low sodium). Just finished up with my breakfast smoothie - spinach, lettuce, 1 banana, 1/4th cantaloupe, ground flaxseed and cinnamon. it was, well, palatable.

I will be doing about 80% raw. It will be hard to last on 100% raw, psychologically that is. I might still eat some rice-dal at lunch, beans at dinner. I will try not to dig in the Ritz box again :) Will update progress every day.

No milk moustache

Here's the thing. I have been dairy-free for 6 months now. No milk, butter, cream, cheese, yogurt, buttermilk, Most Indian desserts, Icecream. Yes, you heard it! IceCream too. Since October of 2011. Never even turned to look at the icecream isle in the supermarket.
I read Dr Joel Fuhrman's 'Eat to live', followed his nutritional approach in principle, straying a lot, but within plant products. One or two instances of eating milk products have not been pleasant. A small serving of kheer (rice pudding made with milk) one day gave me the worst migraine I ever had. It was hard to connect the dots, but another incident sealed in the conclusion. (pretty bad headache after some hot chocolate).

There have been many physiological changes which I will (hopefully) talk about on this blog.

But till then, Yeah! to 6 months free of animal products.