GOALS: Restated

1. Discover which diets have a significant impact on how I feel: emotionally, physically, and overall.
1. What is this impact?
2. Why might this diet have this impact?
3. Would I want to incorporate this into a life-style nutrition plan?
4. How successful was I at following the best practices of that diet?
2. Learn about nutrition and discover new meals/snacks to incorporate into daily living.
1. What would be helpful to know no matter what nutrition plan I end up choosing?
2. What new foods or food combinations are delicious and nutritious?

RAW: Cheating

Ok, so I did end up cheating. I was feeling weak and I didn't need to get worse to learn my lessons. I definitely ate many things that were cooked, and even some gluten and highly processed foods. Some of the cave in was mental (the gluten and highly processed), but in the end I knew my body needed the physical nutrients, even if the foods themselves weren't as "clean" as raw.

This isn't to say that eating raw will make you weak, or that an athlete can't do it. The foods I was eating simply weren't right. I could have done more research, spend more time cooking, and do a better job of having proper foods on hand for consumption at the right times.

Once I had burst the cheating seal, I was looking to use up as much of the raw food as I had purchased so that the big spending wouldn't go to waste. I was able to eat most of the fruit, about half the veggies (should have eaten more), and most of the nuts. Thanks to green bags, my veggies are still fresh almost 2 weeks later.

What's my conclusion about eating raw? It does give me a great clean feeling. I felt light and energetic throughout the day. I felt mentally and emotionally clear. However, something was drastically missing from my diet because I had little physical power and endurance. I also developed a deep cough in the middle of this week which later turned into a pretty solid flu. I like the benefits, but would likely not go 100% so as to avoid the downsides (at least until I discover a way directly address the lacking nutrition). Oh and I would also need to do a lot more research to find a cheaper way to eat raw. That was by far the most expensive week.

RAW: Iron and Grezzos

I was this close to bailing on this diet plan this morning (holds up a sprouted lentil bean).

I did some pushups and pullups this morning and felt really weak after the first few. On the bike ride to work, I enjoyed the implied race with two other cyclists heading in my direction. However, 2/3 of the way there, I had to pull off and practically stop because my heart was racing. Usually, my legs hurt, then my breathing will be really quick, but my heart rate doesn't usually stop me. I felt weak and, not dizzy, but in that direction.

I ate a lot of fruit and such today, but it didn't quite do it. Granted, I didn't have an après-déjeuner dip in energy and I do feel "clean". But not strong. Hmmm... The point of this is to learn what will work...

Then I went to Grezzos  in the North End, a raw vegan restaurant. The waitress was excited to help me fix this feeling of lack of power; she was knowledgeable about the common nutrients I might be missing, and how certain dishes could help replenish these.

I enjoyed sampling four different plates (splitting them with Phuong - thanks for joining!), from appetizers to entrées to desserts. The "gnocchi" was interesting and delicious, garnished with pea sprouts. The "burger" was healthy, filling, and tasty, but I probably wouldn't order it again. The seaweed salad, outstanding and very flavorful. Pardon the expression, but the crème de la crème, was the chocolate "brownie" dessert. Cocoa drizzled on top of an ice-cream-like scoop that was cooling a square of rich nut-buttery brownie. I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for a really healthy meal at a reasonable price. But really, you don't have to be a health-nut to really enjoy the food!

Yay to saving the diet experiment!

I might have an iron supplement this week just to make sure I get enough to keep it up for the rest of the time.

RAW

That dessert was delicious! Of course, first things first, breakfast then the rest of the day...

I managed to eat well all day today. I'll admit, I am eating some bread, but it's Whole Rye bread that is gluten free and dense as a brick. For breakfast I had a fruit, water, and protein shake smoothie, which lasted me until about 11am. I then had some almonds and water until lunch. A squirt or two of honey also helped.


I brought a duplicate salad to what I had yesterday and with some bread and honey, I felt satiated.  For snack, I had a very un-ripe pear (still delicious) and another squirt or two of honey.

I was lucky enough to have quite a few pieces of sashimi for dinner -- yay to the perks of working late!

On the way home, I got a few more raw essentials from Stop and Shop to play around with. Some dates are now soaking in water so I have something to play around with tomorrow night. I think I'll use the food processor and make a paste out of them. Why does this sound so excitingly appetizing to me? Probably because there's not much truly raw "paste" that's available for purchase.

The lentils have sprouted while I was at work and after rinsing them, I moved them to an airtight container in the fridge.

Back to the dessert now... I had heard Tahini was raw and found some while shopping tonight. Curious, I opened it up and licked the lid. Tasted kind of like a bitter version of peanut butter -- something you would use for flavoring more than substance. Looking at my assortment of other raw foods, I noticed a banana that needed to be eaten quite soon. So, I mashed the banana with a pour of Tahini, added a small dump of cocoa (think chocolate without the sugar - again, bitter), and a dose of honey. Mixed this all together and dipped my brick bread in it. Delicious! I will definitely do this again! Quick and easy, healthy and cheap.

It's finding recipes like this that make all this experimentation worthwhile: improving the quality of health through expanding my nutrition knowledge and variety of beneficial foods.

RAW

I am concerned about getting enough food and nutrients this week. I've been reading a few books and talking to people.

I hiked up to Whole Foods in the pouring rain this morning to spend $90 on organic raw food. If I get a chance I'll post the receipt.

My lunch salad today was actually really great: spinach, slices of lemon, avocado, almonds, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, and honey. I felt full, but still had a sweet tooth, so I took two hits of honey straight from the bottle. This lasted me about 6 hours, which is impressive for a meal!

Today I germinated lentil seeds and am letting them sprout overnight. Hopefully these guys'll be delicious tomorrow... The oats that I soaked today turned out to taste like soggy cardboard. Ugh.

For dinner I had a fruit and water smoothie with protein powder. Surprisingly filling. Followed by a snack of sprouted bread topped with an avocado and honey.

I have a craving for something crunchy tonight and wonder what I can do to get that fix this week.

Overall, feeling pretty good. I'm not really missing the grains and gluten aside from the convenience and affordability of them. My stomach's feeling good and I would probably have energy if I had slept well last night.

VEGAN

I'm surviving! I'm not starving!

Although it did take a rather long and extensive trip to the grocery store (preceded by some good research) I have been able to keep to my goals and not wither away in the process. I want to particularly thank Marina for taking the time to relay to me some of the specific nutritional challenges I would face and how I could overcome them. I also want to shout out a thanks to Marcy, Andie, and Zoe for their tips as well!

She stressed that I should be getting enough protein, and I "whey"ed in that I didn't want to overdose on soy because of the estrogen and the GMOs. So we figured that beans, nuts, and nut butter would suffice if taken in addition to a moderate amount of soy. Apparently B12 will be a difficult vitamin to come by since it's most common source is in fortified cereals (which is not what my organic cereal is). Marina also suggested that I eat certain foods in combination in order to get the most nutritional value from them: eating citrus with spinach helps unlock it's true potential!

I'm also relying on my chia seeds to help keep me energized during a run. On the whole I've had enough energy for doing things and haven't felt weak... but I have had a few occasions where I feel a little bit light headed when going from lying down to standing up. I would guess that this is due to low iron. What can I do to get iron aside from red meat or pills?

I learned that dried prunes should not be consumed in the quantity that my hunger recommended. Bad idea.

VEGETARIAN

I didn't notice a significant difference in my energy levels this week compared to last - I also didn't have to significantly modify my eating habits. No pain, no gain, right?

I took advantage of vegetarianism week to enjoy the highly processed goods to help distinguish the variable of not having meat - and enjoy the process. I may have enjoyed Saturday's brunch a bit too much (waffles, syrup, home-made whipped cream, fruit, chocolate croissants, mimosas) to the point where its effects will still be felt for a few days into veganism week.

I didn't necessarily feel any healthier or "cleaner" this week.

1 Why did you decide to log your diet?
   Logging it allows me to see what I actually consume as opposed to what I think I consume. First step to making any worthy change (or knowing if any is needed) is being conscious of what is actually going on.

2 How long did you do it?

   2 weeks prior to diet start, then 1 week per diet

3 Did you use a website and if so which one?

   Google docs. Web-accessible from anywhere. Downloadable to OpenOffice format for offline use.

4 What did you find out (that maybe you did not expect)?

   Is that a contradiction?

5 What were positives and negatives?

   Pos: information
   Neg: forgetting to record stuff, taking time away from else

6 Did you analyze it and change things?

   Not there yet.

7 Did you also keep an activity log and what were connections with exercise?

   Yes

8 More comments on the experience?

    I procrastinated doing it because I knew it would be a change and a bit of work. Go figure.

Avoid Highly Processed Foods

Initially I was going to avoid packaged foods, but quickly realized that I would be eating only fruits and veggies since everything else comes in a "package" these days.

So, I'm almost done with week 1 of this diet and I'm not feeling lethargic at all after meals which is good. However, I have noticed that I have gotten out of bed in the morning so quickly that I almost fainted, 3 times in the past 2 weeks. I haven't necessarily been good about eating a consistent dinner, so that might have more of an affect than anything else. I entered the week with a substantial sleep deficit from the weekend and this probably affected the rest of the week.

Due to evening social events, I was not able to get out to the gym or for a proper run, so I can't really compare how my this diet affects my physical power and stamina. I did get in a few early morning exercises, but nothing substantial - just enough to get my heart rate up and a 5 minute muscle burn.

My stomach handled the food well all week with the only exceptions being when I "cheated" on the diet. A Jiffy peanut butter (the best convenience store option) sandwich threw my stomach for loops. In addition, 90% of a Trader Joe's flatbread fresh pesto pizza also had a similar effect. Another night I had some peanut butter - organic molasses - right before bed and woke up with a grumpy stomach. So, I guess I learned that peanut butter should not be overdone.


It may also be important to note that although I didn't cut out alcohol completely, I did restrict my consumption to only the beverages that were "clean" and simple. For example, I passed on having beer and instead had a single malt scotch. I could have had some wine, but felt it best to keep overall alcohol intake to a minimum.

I wonder if it would have helped to have some red meat during last week? Perhaps my iron was low. When I had taken iron in the past, due to it showing up low on tests, it significantly improved my max power, exertion stamina, and overall energy. How can I balance this, considering the next 3 weeks are meat-free?

I do think that avoiding the heavily processed foods has made it clear that they negatively affect my energy level and upset my stomach, when consumed in large quantities. There were times during this week when I did cheat a little bit, and didn't have any big problems  - like the 2 slices of pizza  between lunch and dinner. I think that having a full stomach from a healthy meal helps to moderate the effects of "bad foods". Proportional quantity seems to be the key here.

It is interesting to note that whereas I had the belief that homemade goods are significantly better for digestion than packaged goods, I came to realize this is not always the case. The homemade blueberry bread almost immediately caused some stomach rumbling. Clif products seemed to be fantastic.

EASE OF IMPLEMENTATION
I didn't have too much trouble avoiding the highly processed foods. I could generally find food that worked at most locations and didn't have to specifically bring my own.

OVERALL
What worked:
I did notice a not feeling food-fatigue after meals and in general I felt a bit cleaner.

What didn't:
Through no fault of the diet, I suffered exhaustion from a general lack of sleep, hunger from just simply not fixing a proper dinner, and a bit of grumpiness from a lack of exercise.

Take away:
Although I did enjoy my favorite shortbread cookies for snack today, I will certainly be conscious of the amount of these items that I consume. I imagine that having eaten clean for a week would help to reduce the cumulative effect of these items and allow some flexibility before feeling affected. However, if I were to continue this diet for an extended period, I would imagine that I would become more sensitive to processed foods on those rare occasions.

Research

I went to the library to find some books about nutrition so that I can enter this nutrition experiment with the proper knowldege. Most of the books in the nutrition section were focused on dieting for weight loss. This is problematic because i don't want to be on a nutrition deficit. I want to make sure that I'm getting enough of the right nutrients during this trial of exclusion.

The first book that spoke to me was all about the Glycemic Index - a measure of the way your body will react to the sugar you absorb from foods. The GI of each item is based on how much sugar it contains and how quickly your body absorbs it. Your body produces insulin to ferry around the sugars in your system. Maintaining consistent insulin levels will help maintain a consistent energy level. The Glycemic Load is a measure of the overall insulin response your body will have to a mix of foods based on quantity and combination of individual elements. Since high spikes in insulin are followed by deep valleys, it is recommended to consume low to medium GI foods.

As you would imagine, pastries have a high GI and vegetables have a low GI. However there are many foods that have surprisingly high or low GIs, sweetened fruit juices and angel food cake, respectively. Fiber, both soluble and insoluble, have a GI of 0 and therefore help lower the overall GL of a meal.

This book also talks about the importance of carbs and separates the good carbs from the bad carbs.

It also talks about cholesterol, LDL and HDL. Cholesterol is like a courier for fat in your body. As it brings the fat from A to B, sometimes it leaves a mess along the way. A lot of low density lipoprotein is bad for your system is a very sloppy courier and can lead to clogged arteries. However, high density lipoprotein is healthy because as it travels, it helps to clean up the route. You want a combined cholesterol under 200, with between 40-60 HDL and under 120 LDL.

Fats, saturated, unsaturated, and trans. Good fats are those that are liquid at room temperature - oils. Bad fats are those that are solid at room temperature - butters and meat fat. Trans fats are just terrible - they are engineered to be tasty (creamy), but as a result are processed in harmful ways in your body.