Day 1 - 4 Body, Mind and Spirit Challenge

My husband, who eats a very healthy diet anyway that includes a lot of raw food has decided to do "10 days raw".. Today is his 3rd day..

I am going do a small blog on his journey. As a 100% raw fooder who has never struggled with this way of eating it is interesting to see the challenges others have with changes in their diet and how it affects more than just their cravings...but other things as well.. it certainly is a journey.

Day1
He started on Wednesday which went well up until afternoon tea.. this usually consisted of home-made bread with raw honey.. This was replaced with a Chocolate Banana nutmylk shake and some raw chocolate cake that was in the fridge.
Dinner was also a success with Zucchini/carrot pasta Alfredo with sun dried tomatoes and avocado with chilli and coriander(cilantro). His mood that evening was great, upbeat, energetic and quite happy.. more than usual. it was great!.. but only day 1.

Day 2
Up early for his usual morning beach run and swim with our 12yr old, then some meditation by himself whilst Jordi comes home to get ready for school. I tried something different for breaky.. cut banana,Choci-Jo and strawberries with almond nutmylk.. He did not like the running mylk. I usually do up more bircher muesli type breakfast using ground nut/seeds, fresh fruit, coconut and dried fruits blended a little with a sprinkle of one of the Kitz Granolas. Morning tea was banana flan & choc cake - both raw! He really missed his usual home-made guacamole with Kitz Crackers but for some reason I thought there was still some in the fridge. He had Engine Keeping at the Fire Station all afternoon.. he is also a Fireman and regular training is part of the job. He arrived home at 5pm starving with a bad headache. Now this was unusual. He had his banana strawberry nutmylk shake and some Kitzbarswhich seem to take away the hunger but the headache remained.. he then lay on the lounge under a blanket.. and it wasn't even cold.. Hmm looks like a bit of a detox happening here. He ate some of his dinner which was a Carrot & Avocado Bisque with Vegie sushi. Lay down again after dinner under his blanket and was asleep by 8pm.

Day 3
A great start to the day.. up early and down to the beach. Arrived home ready for a great day ahead.. Enjoyed his breaky of lightly blended pineapple, apple, orange, banana, walnuts, sunnies, Pepita's, figs, dates, sultanas, coconut, ground vanilla bean and cinnamon with strawberries.. with an Orange and Pineapple Green smoothie chaser. Guacamole and crackers for morning tea, salad for lunch with chopped up Cajun Active Almonds a chocolate smoothie for after his gym workout and an extra Raw bircher muesli for if he needed it.. My great fried who visited me this arvo commented that he seemed really genuinely happy, talkative and in a great mood. She is very intuitive. :)
I also thought mood all day was great, energy seemed great.. all good. Dinner he prepared himself with our daughter.. well it wasn't vegan but it was raw.. they had sashimi salmon. Craig made his into roll ups with lettuce, tomato, avocado, mushroom etc. He seemed to enjoy it which was great.
After dinner I spotted a hint of guilt.. and proceeded to coax out of him that he had had a coffee during the day with his mate at the coffee shop.. :( O Well it is his journey and he justified it by saying if that's the worse thing he does then it's all OK! I feel he was a little disappointed with himself so I tried not to judge. Sometime we have to do these things to realise that we really don't want to do them again. .. so lets see what tomorrow brings.

Fridays Fare

Day 4
Well things didn't go to plan last night.. the TITANS lost! But there's consilation, at least, they don't have to play the Bulldogs to get into the final next week. Phew!
And then this morning after discussion abouth the whole raw thing and if he really wanted to do it?, was he doing it for the right reason? and the negitive situation it was causing between us because I was left to prepare all of his meals with no imput from him at all.. As I eat a very simple raw food diet as you tend to do after 4yrs I was trying to make him things I thought he would like, well it seams I was getting them wrong. Then after much discussion about what to have for breakfast as he got out some bought yoghurt I explained that it's not raw.. then he said he didn't know if he'd continue so we made Honey Vanilla Yoghurt out of some fresh home-made yoghurt I had made with raw honey and raw vanilla powder. Half way through breakfast with the new yoghurt it it he got the shock of his life when I said the yoghurt was not raw! :(.. Like my dear frined said.. 'Trail & Error'.
Well he has moved on from that with the rest of the day being raw. We talked about the reasons for doing this. What for and why.. he felt he would just re-tox after it, and he already eats healthy anyway. My thoughts where that with the grease, fuel and chemicals he works with and has to smell in his car it was great for him to do a detox to let his system regenerate and recuperate and regain some strength. Then back to healthy cooked food, with a high degree of raw.
I personally really want him to experience the high you get from being raw, the energy, the happiness, sense of calm and positiveness.. it's just amazing to me, So good that I can't bring myself to do anything else. To me it's just all to easy and anything else would take all of that away, I actually feel deprived if I can't have my raw food. Inside I allow myself to eat what ever I want... I'm not anything, not raw, not vegan, not vegatarian even, just ME! So I am trying my hardest not to sound judgmental or make him feel that he has to do this. I want him to enjoy it, without the enjoyment it's just not worth it.
Will update later how the rest of the day goes. Tonight is another favourite. home-made Pizza!! Will tell you how it goes. Also got a loaf of bread in the oven for Jordi.. that's another of Craig's fav's.. so another test of will power and determination. xx
Well after a little walk, some soccor practice with Jordi and a good talk.. Craig has never had to restrict his eating in any way.. not for weight or health so this is a real challenge for him. I explained that it was giving him insight into how others feel when trying to do this for both of those reasons and why it is so hard. He was making all the same excuses they do.. all of a sudden the important reason he started it wesn't important anymore.. Isn't that what yo-yo dieters say to themselves everytime they break their diet! and Craig was always very critical of them.
The afternoon headache was setting in again, we had some shopping to do and tolorance was not good. Then to top it all off when we got home the bread machine had just finished a fresh.. hot! loaf of bread..:) But guess what he made a warm.. not hot cup of green tea and had some Raw banana cake. So I picked that he was going to try to stick with it so I made up a Raw Pizza on a Kitz Pizza Base and put it into one of the dehydrators so that it would be perfect for dinner... 2hrs!

He ate the whole thing except 2 peices.. said he enjoyed it and was really happy and contect after his meal. Then for supper .. more warm black green tea and fresh dates! Wow.. well done I say.. he's hoped back on the horse big time.