22 January, 2011

A new year. . . I’ve been avoiding you.

That’s not true.

Yes is it.

It’s really taken me this long to get back to normal from the holiday season. I spent most of the month of December working/traveling/eating food I wouldn't even think of eating any other day of the year. What a joyous time! I have no pictures.

Long before we decided we were finally going to get married, I had taken up a crusade of health. When the end comes, I know I will not be one of the strong so I know I must be one of the fast to survive. Heloooo treadmill. I know, I know, but it’s wintertime and I’m a beginner so cut me some slack. Then I found this website posted on a friend’s Facebook page. So I’m about to start that as well. In 2 months, if I work hard, I should be able to do everything this program says I can. I will be a beast. rawr.

On the nutrition front, I’m heading in a new direction as well, mostly for amusement and love of the scientific process. Today is the first post in a series called “Miss Crow goes raw(ish) for a while to see if all the crazy stuff people say is true”. I’ll need to come up with a better title soon but that’s good for now.

So, yeah, people DO say all kinds of crazy things about the benefits of a raw food diet:

  • excellent detoxification
  • Increased energy
  • Improved skin appearance
  • Better digestion
  • Weight loss
  • Reduced risk of heart disease
  • euphoria
  • relieves PMS/PMT
  • cures cancer

ummm. . . . Now, I’m skeptical of anything that says I can cure cancer, especially when there’s only some sketchy science backing it up but, hey, it’s a free country, you can say what you want as long as you have a disclaimer stating that it may or may not be true. (scientists have studied that eating fruits and veggies protect from free radicals and also seems to change how blood supplies are directed to pre-cancerous areas, but “cure”? I don’t know.)

However, even if half of the stuff they say comes half-way true It’s worth the experiment. I’m ready for clear skin and weight loss. Increased energy, YES! Euphoria may take some getting used to.

The only other thing that freaks me out it all the talk of “purity”. It makes them seem a little cultish. I asked Mr. Crow last night if I freaked out and got really new-agey after eating a bunch of green smoothies if he’d still love me. He said “yes”. Whew!

So, I’ve been easing myself into it for a while now by eating about 40-50% raw on most days in the forms of salads, crudité, and whatnot. Today is day one of 75% or greater. For breakfast I had a green smoothie, upon which I am totally sold:

3 clementines, peeled and split up
1 fuji apple, cored and chunked
1 kiwi, peeled and chunked
5 big leaved of romaine, washed and torn
brita water

I put the fruit in the blender and pureed it. Then I added some water and the romaine and pureed it again. It mostly tasted of apple with a romaine aftertaste which was surprisingly fresh and definitely not offensive. I’ll be going to the store today to pick up some baby spinach and kale for the rest of the week.

I’m also heading to the library to pick up some raw “cookbooks”. Can you really call it a cookbook if there’s no cooking in it? I wish the library had delivery. I REALLY don’t want to go outside in the cold.

Okay now for the science part. (Some of this is going to be somewhat subjective since I’m not going to sit and count every little blemish that’s working it’s way through my skin but I’m a sociologist so I’m okay with that.) Mood and Energy numbers are on a scale from 1-10:

mood: 4
energy: 5
hours of sleep: 10
Appx% of raw food consumed yesterday: 30%
notes: Craving noodles. Curse you wheat.

Tomorrow I’ll be back to document again.

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