At the end of July, M and I did a raw food
challenge. The idea was simple. Eat only raw fruits and veggies and some nuts
and seeds (and hot tea and mate) for 10 days.
M had been talking about trying this style diet
for a while, however I was skeptical. While I know a few different people who
eat an all-raw, mostly fruit-based diet, the only ones I know who seem to do
well on this style of eating, are all ultra-endurance athletes. In fact, a
friend once called me when she was struggling with her 80-10-10 style raw food
diet. While initially she had good results, after over a year of fully raw,
mostly fruit, she was feeling lethargic, starting to gain weight, and was
having some negative health results as well.
For those of you who don’t know, 80-10-10 referrers
to the macro nutrient rations. 80% of total calories come from unrefined
carbohydrates, 10% from protein, and 10% from fat. I always tell my clients
never to worry about counting calories or to worry about getting specific
amounts of protein or carbohydrates. In my opinion, this always makes eating
way to difficult and rarely ends with positive, long lasting results.
However, after listening to Garth Davis, M.D. talk
about how he was planning on trying a 21 day raw diet on the RRP a month ago, I
finally agreed to try the challenge with M. As such, we ordered 1 case of bananas, 1 case of large pears, 1 case of navel oranges and a case of mangos. Because we have a small refrigerator, we decided we would buy greens as needed (essentially ever day).
Fruit is one of the healthiest food
sources on the planet, with antioxidants, anti-inflammatory properties,
improved arterial function, reduced cancer risks and believe it or not, better
control of blood sugar in patients with Type 2 diabetes.
According to a Harvard Health Letter about chronic
hand pain, fruit is beneficial [to human health] in almost any amount. Then I
found a paper published in Metabolism where
they placed people a 20 servings of fruit a day diet (roughly 200g/d of
fructose) with no adverse effects (and possible benefits actually) to body
weight, blood pressure, insulin or lipid levels after three months. Further
more there was a 38-point drop in their LDL cholesterol.
M and I agreed to start with a 10-day challenge.
We did large fruit and veggie smoothies just about every day for breakfast
(roughly 300-600 calories), snacked on different fruits and some raw nuts and
seeds throughout the day, then had large salads for lunch and dinner with dried
fruit and different dressings that we made.
After the first few days I didn’t notice any real
different in how I felt. I felt great eating a whole food, plant based, high
starch diet, and I felt just as good on the mostly fruit meals. However, I did
feel bored. I also missed the flavors of spiced grains and legumes. Perhaps one
of the reasons I felt this way, was because we did the challenge in the middle
of winter. While Buenos Aires winters are actually quite mild, on cooler rainy
days, I can say with certainty, I wanted the comfort of a warm meal.
By day 6, while I still felt fine, I noticed I was
starting to loose some weight. Just a pound or two, however as someone who is
already very svelte, even a few pounds is noticeable and weight-loss is
actually the opposite of my current goal. As such, on day 8 I ate a large
serving of steamed potatoes and finished the remain two days following a
Raw-till-4 plan.
M had an easier time with the challenge. She
really never had any cravings during her entire challenge. In fact, she
reported that she felt lighter; again she also experienced some weight-loss.
But most importantly to her, she never suffered from any migraines while doing
the challenge.
She has been under a tremendous amount of stress from
work and has been working incredibly long shits – multiple 24 hours shifts each
week. Often when her stress builds up and she has a shift where she doesn’t get
enough sleep, that triggers a migraine the following day. While she says that
her migraines became less frequent after going whole-food, plant based vegan
two years ago, the attacks never completely disappeared until she went raw.
In fact, she was feeling so good after 10 days;
she decided to continue the fully raw diet for an additional 7 days. Finally, after
17 days, she returned to eating cooked foods. She is still feeling great and
hasn’t reported any migraines. I believe the primary reason she returned to cooked
foods was because the weather took a turn for the worst, and after 5 straight
days of cold rain, she was ready for a hot meal.
Both M and I enjoyed the challenge and we both are committing to eat more raw foods. We both already eat a lot of fruit in a normal day, but we want to increase our consumption of uncooked veggies. We have been eating a large salad before enjoying our cooked lunch and dinner.
So what did I learn? Well for starters, I don't plan on putting any patients on this style diet. While the health benefits in the short term are certainly positive, I just didn't believe it was all that practical. Food prep actually took longer. If you don't understand what I mean, think about the time consumption of tossing a few potatoes into the oven verses peeling 10 oranges. It was also significantly more expensive. I would guess we spent more than double our usual amount.
That said, it was fun to be creative with our foods. We enjoyed the time together in the kitchen, and M especially enjoyed searching for new salads, dressings, and smoothie recipes.
So what did I learn? Well for starters, I don't plan on putting any patients on this style diet. While the health benefits in the short term are certainly positive, I just didn't believe it was all that practical. Food prep actually took longer. If you don't understand what I mean, think about the time consumption of tossing a few potatoes into the oven verses peeling 10 oranges. It was also significantly more expensive. I would guess we spent more than double our usual amount.
That said, it was fun to be creative with our foods. We enjoyed the time together in the kitchen, and M especially enjoyed searching for new salads, dressings, and smoothie recipes.
While we made a lot of different dishes, this Raw Korean Cabbage Bowl was my favorite creation during the week. One I will definitely be making again. It was inspired by the last meal M and I shared in New York before
moving to Buenos Aires, which was at the beautiful vegan Korean restaurant, Hangawi. This dish was inspired by those flavors.
Raw Korean Cabbage Bowl
2.5 cups red cabbage – shredded
2 cups white cabbage – shredded
2 large carrots – shredded
½ bunch swiss chard or spinach – sliced
1 green onion – diced
1 cup mushrooms – chopped
½ avocado
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon turmeric
¼ teaspoon gritty sea salt (optional)
½ lemon – juiced
½ inch lemon peel – zested
Shred both cabbages and carrots. Place them into a
large bowl (I did a cast iron pan to increase the flavor) Toss spices and lemon
juice and zest and massage with your hands for 2-3 minutes until the cabbage
and carrots begin to soften.
Now slice the swiss chard into 1 inch ribbons. Add
to the bowl with the cabbage and carrots and massage again so the swiss chard
becomes a bright green color. Now add the diced onion and mushrooms.
Sweet & Sour Ginger Mustard Dressing
1 inch of ginger
2 teaspoons mustard (preferably stone ground)
1.5 lemons juiced
2.5 teaspoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 tablespoons currants or raisins
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ cup water
Blend all ingredients until smooth. Let cool in
the fridge for at least 30 minutes before serving.
When serving, pour the dressing onto the cabbage bowl and mix well. As an additional option, toss avocado on top and serve with a side of kimichi.
***
D J Jenkins, et al. “Effect of a very-high-fiber
vegetable, fruit, and nut diet on serum lipids and colonic function.”
Metabolism. 2001; Apr 50: 494-503.
Top 5
ways to reduce crippling hand pain. Harvard Health Letter. 2013; 38(9):4.
As always the information presented in this blog is for educational purposes only. It should not be considered as specific medical, nutritional, lifestyle, or other health-related advice.
