Week One Summary

Made it. Seven days! A whole week! Feels good to look back and know that I stuck with it.

The first day, (See "Day One") was a difficult day, especially physically. Interestingly, the physical aches and pains that were so "in my face" at the time cleared up almost over night. It turns out, the physical challenge morphed into a psychological one.

Every Dunkin Donuts, Harveys and McDonalds sign seems bigger and brighter than I remember them. Even though I rarely frequent these places, they seem to jump out of the background and wave at me, inviting me to come in for a bite, or a cup of coffee.

Food is a very powerful symbol of so many social gatherings and connections:

• be it a babe nursing at their mother´s breast,
• a family picnic with hot dogs and piping hot corn on the cob,
• a birthday party with cake and ice cream,
• pizza with the office staff on a Friday afternoon,
• a cold brewski with the boys after the game,
• a cup of coffee with a good friend,
• celebrating a special event with a steak dinner and all the trimmings,
• chicken noodle soup when you´re not feeling your best.

Food, especially home-cooked food, is paired with comfort, good times, friendships, celebrations and so on.

Eating raw means that a lot of the time, I´m eating on my own, or watching others eat all those foods that are associated with the good times mentioned above. I feel left out and alone. (Thankfully my sister is accompanying me, but she doesn´t always eat at the same time.)

I still feel hungry from time to time, but that is remedied easily enough. The psychological withdrawl from cooked food and all it stands for has -and continues to be- the biggest challenge.

Baseline Stats

Today, I took my measurements.
Chest     40 inches
Waist     37 inches

The Chest-to-Waist ratio should be a minimum of 1.0. At 1.08 I´m doing OK, but like most guys my age, it would be nice to move a couple of inches from my waist to my chest. A chest measurement of 42 and a waist of 35 would give me a much better ratio of 1.20.

I also picked up an electronic scale to keep track of my progress. Four days into my program here´s where I´m at:
Weight            157.2 lbs.
(A drop of about 6 pounds since I left Edmonton 10 days ago.)

Body Fat          35.7 lbs.
(Tracking body fat in pounds makes it easier to see one´s progress.)

BMI                    22.6    
(Body Mass Index)

Body Fat           24.6%

Water                56.5%

Bone Mass         6.6%  (On the very low end of the range for my age.)

All of these values fall within the normal range (for my age group) according to the information provided by Weight Watchers. It appears I´m normal. 

Not everyone would agree, but here´s proof that I am. (smile)

Day One

Well here it is. Day One of a 3 to 6 month program dedicated to eating only raw food. I´ve spent the last week, getting ready, eating healthier, eating more raw food than I normally would.

At the close of the first day it´s been a good news, bad news kinda day. The good news is that the food has been all organic, raw and tasty. Unfortunately, it already feels boring -tasty but boring. I miss the condiments, I miss the coffee (see previous post), I miss whatever everybody else is eating. Stuff I wouldn´t normally eat, looks soooo inviting.

I´ve started taking the drops the naturopath prescribed to assist in the cleansing. The bad news is that they taste awful. Worse yet, I feel awful. I feel lousy like I´ve go the flu, my body aches, my head feels like it´s in a fog, I´m thinking this is the first day. How am I going to hang in there for another 179?

Tim Hortons

Over the years, I´ve gotten into the habit of setting Sunday afternoons aside for reading and reflection. I head out looking for a coffee shop where I can grab a cuppa joe and read the paper or a favourite book.

This Sunday afternoon while exploring my new neighborhood here in Montreal,  I came across an old friend -a Tim Hortons (TH). Long before Starbucks and the whole upscale coffee scene, THs was a familiar hangout, a place I could get out of my room and cram for an exam, or meet a friend for coffee and a chat.

Tim and I go way back. Over the years, I´ve stopped in at a Tim Hortons in the majority of Edmonton´s 83 stores, and in every major city in every province, except Newfoundland.

Today, I set up shop with a newspaper and a couple of books. I order my usual -medium coffee with two creams and an oatmeal, raisin cookie. Ahhh, the good life.... As I sit down to my weekly ritual I realize this staple in my diet is about to disappear. Gone forever! I´m surprised at how strong my reaction is.

A cuppa coffee and the newspaper are permanently paired in my mind. Like Pavlov, when I buy the paper, I can imagine the smell of a freshly brewed cup of coffee; when I buy a coffee, I start looking for the paper to read. What will I do without my daily "fix"?

I know they have herbal teas, but I can´t bear to look today....

How about you? I´d be interested in your experience or story around letting go of a favourite food.

Carrot Juice

I should note that my kitchen skills are pretty much limited to coming up with a, more or less, soft-boiled egg.

Keeping that in mind, my sister and I juiced a large quantity of carrots today. Whew! We juiced enough for 3 days, the maximum suggested best before date given the machine we are using. (More on types of juicers in another posting.)

By the time we washed the carrots, diced, juiced and stored them, washed up the machine and cleaned up the mess, I was ready for a nap. Thankfully, some rejuvenating carrot juice showed up to keep me going!

It´s still early on in the process, so we were short on the suggested 80% greens. In addition, the carrots were unfortunately a tad on the bitter side. Adding apples certainly helped, but it was still a bitter cup to swallow. Hopefully, the next batch will be more palatable.

The next juicing session is 3 days away. I´ll drink to that!

Getting Started

Last night my sister, Suzanne, picked me up at the Montreal airport. This morning I had an appointment with her naturopath. Nice guy. Likes to keeps things simple which works for me. In a nutshell, here´s what he had to say:

1. Our bodies are the result of eons of evolution. Trust that it knows what to do to heal.
2. Disease thrives in an acidic environment. Therefore the diet will focus on alkalinizing foods.
3. Healing preceeds curing, therefore,
4. Elimination of toxins is critical. The first two months will focus on cleaning out the body.

He explained the protocol I will be following for the next 8 weeks:

• A diet consisting of 100% raw, ripe, fresh, organic fruits and vegetables.
• Two, 10-ounce glasses of juice each day, consisting of 20% carrots, 80% greens.
• A cleansing drink before breakfast and bedtime. Consists of: 2 oz. of apple juice, 6 oz. of water, 1 tsp. Bio-Flo One, 3 tbsp of Chloroforce, 1 tablet of Bio-Flo Two.
• A set of herbal extracts taken three times daily to assist endocrine, renal, digestive and lymph function as well as Essiac tea and a parasitic cleanser.
• A lemon and/or grape juice fast for a minimum of three consecutive days (to a maximum of 10) at least once a month. Drink as much as you want.(Google Master Cleanse for details.)
• Ensure that your bowels are working well. A colonic or colema may be required from time to time to ensure that toxins are being eliminated properly.
• Read ¨Dr. Jensen´s Guide to Better Bowel Care: a complete program for tissue cleansing through bowel management.¨

To this I will be adding BarleyMax, a certified, organic, whole-food concentrate made from the juice of young barley grass and alfalfa. (Three times daily.) (Ref. www.hacres.com) It really does taste like grass! but I´m hoping it will grow on me -the taste, not the grass.

It does feel a bit overwhelming, so I´m giving myself a few days to stock up and ramp up. My plan is to ¨go live¨ on Monday, November 2nd.

Disclaimer

The information in this blog is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Neither is it to be construed as medical advice or intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional.

It is a sharing of knowledge and information solely from the experience and opinions of the author. You are encouraged to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional.