Today was good physically, although my energy felt a little lower than usual. I haven’t had any special feelings of euphoria for a few days now. For the most part, I’m feeling about the same as I did before this trial, at least physically.

The psychological aspects of this diet seem to be going downhill. I’m feeling more and more annoyed with having to eat so much food every day. Now that the novelty has worn off, I look at the mountain of food I have to eat each day and feel totally turned off. But when I don’t eat enough calories, I don’t feel as good.

I’m not craving cooked food so much as I’d like to just stop eating such large quantities of food every day. I can barely stand to look at another piece of fruit.

I almost feel like I have to turn eating into a second career to make this diet work long-term. That actually seems to happen to many long-term raw foodists. If I didn’t have a career in personal development already, I’d probably consider this diet even more burdensome.

Dry Skin

My dry skin problem is getting worse. The top surface of all of my fingers looks very dried out, and the skin on my hands is beginning to look more wrinkled. My hands look like they’ve aged a good 10 years. The skin has cracked to the point of bleeding in 5 different places, and the oldest of these now have small scabs. I’ve been using moisturizer for the past few days, but it doesn’t seem to have made any difference. The cold desert air probably doesn’t help. Lately the humidity has been around 30-40%.

Today I noticed that the skin on my forehead is beginning to dry out and flake off too, as if I had a sunburn. The skin on my scalp is starting to peel too, and I even saw some dandruff. I never had dandruff problems before this trial. My hair is dirty blond, so it doesn’t really show, but still…

Whenever I exercise and start to sweat, I continue to experience intense itchiness all over my body. It’s rather annoying to be on the elliptical machine and suddenly feel the need to scratch myself everywhere. Some readers suggested this could be due to dry skin. I agree. I started using a dry skin brush this morning to hopefully scrape off some of the dead skin, so I’ll see if this helps.

These could be temporary symptoms, or they could signal long-term problems with this diet. I didn’t have any skin problems before starting this trial.

Feeling cold

For the past few days, I’ve been feeling very cold again. It’s 72.5 degrees in my office right now, and I’m wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, but it feels uncomfortably cold to me. I think 80 degrees would feel like normal room temperature. My body temp is 98.2.

My hands and feet are especially cold, pretty much all the time I’m out of bed. My hands are cold enough that if I touch Erin’s bare skin on her neck or back, she’ll jump like I just put ice on her. Even with shoes and socks on, my feet feel chilled. I’d love to soak them in hot water just to warm them up.

The coldness in my hands and feet is a little concerning to me. Coldness in the extremities can indicate poor circulation. Also, a common vitamin B12 deficiency symptom is numbness or tingling in the hands and feet. I don’t have any numbness or tingling or any other B12 deficiency symptoms that I know of. It’s unlikely I’d have a deficiency problem after just 3 weeks, since B12 stores can last for years, and I regularly ate B12-fortified foods before this trial. Nevertheless, I’m keeping a close eye out for other potential symptoms. I think I can manage 8 more days.

Weight Loss

My weight went up 0.2 pounds to 178.4. Net weight loss is 7.6 pounds in 21 days.

Breakfast

green smoothie: 4 bananas (524g), spinach (110g), raspberries (134g), 1 cup water 

561 calories, 3g fat, 140g carb, 11g protein

Lunch

1. salad: mixed greens (178g), cucumber (74g)
2. dressing: grape tomatoes (82g), raw tahini (50g), lime juice (14g)
3. fresh juice made from carrots, apple, celery, ginger, lime (15 fl oz)

515 calories, 26g fat, 65g carb, 16g protein

Afternoon Snack

green smoothie: 3 bananas (310g), spinach (84g), blueberries (168g), 1 cup water

379 calories, 1g fat, 93g carb, 6g protein

Dinner

1. green smoothie: 3 bananas (442g), kale (74g), blueberries (146g), 1 cup water
2. 3 tangelos (340g)
3. Asian pear (220g)

767 calories, 3g fat, 194g carb, 13g protein

This smoothie came out way too thick for some reason. I could turn the Vitamix container sideways, and it wouldn’t even move at first.

Evening Snack

1. 3 bananas (250g)
2. blueberries (266g)
3. blackberries (186g)

454 calories, 3g fat, 114g carb, 7g protein

Daily Summary

2677 calories, 36g fat, 605g carb, 53g protein

461mg sodium, 105g fiber, 323g sugar

11% of calories from fat, 7% from protein, 82% from carbs

After more than 3 weeks on this diet, eating this way is still not easy. It’s taking a lot of self-discipline for me to keep pushing through the resistance I’m feeling. Going vegetarian and then vegan was an absolute breeze. I find this raw food trial more challenging than adapting to polyphasic sleep.

I estimate that by the end of this 30-day trial, I’ll have eaten about 400 bananas.

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© 2008 by Steve Pavlina. If you find these ideas helpful, please leave a donation for Steve so you can enjoy the spirit of giving too.

Today was good physically, although my energy felt a little lower than usual. I haven’t had any special feelings of euphoria for a few days now. For the most part, I’m feeling about the same as I did before this trial, at least physically.

The psychological aspects of this diet seem to be going downhill. I’m feeling more and more annoyed with having to eat so much food every day. Now that the novelty has worn off, I look at the mountain of food I have to eat each day and feel totally turned off. But when I don’t eat enough calories, I don’t feel as good.

I’m not craving cooked food so much as I’d like to just stop eating such large quantities of food every day. I can barely stand to look at another piece of fruit.

I almost feel like I have to turn eating into a second career to make this diet work long-term. That actually seems to happen to many long-term raw foodists. If I didn’t have a career in personal development already, I’d probably consider this diet even more burdensome.

Dry Skin

My dry skin problem is getting worse. The top surface of all of my fingers looks very dried out, and the skin on my hands is beginning to look more wrinkled. My hands look like they’ve aged a good 10 years. The skin has cracked to the point of bleeding in 5 different places, and the oldest of these now have small scabs. I’ve been using moisturizer for the past few days, but it doesn’t seem to have made any difference. The cold desert air probably doesn’t help. Lately the humidity has been around 30-40%.

Today I noticed that the skin on my forehead is beginning to dry out and flake off too, as if I had a sunburn. The skin on my scalp is starting to peel too, and I even saw some dandruff. I never had dandruff problems before this trial. My hair is dirty blond, so it doesn’t really show, but still…

Whenever I exercise and start to sweat, I continue to experience intense itchiness all over my body. It’s rather annoying to be on the elliptical machine and suddenly feel the need to scratch myself everywhere. Some readers suggested this could be due to dry skin. I agree. I started using a dry skin brush this morning to hopefully scrape off some of the dead skin, so I’ll see if this helps.

These could be temporary symptoms, or they could signal long-term problems with this diet. I didn’t have any skin problems before starting this trial.

Feeling cold

For the past few days, I’ve been feeling very cold again. It’s 72.5 degrees in my office right now, and I’m wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, but it feels uncomfortably cold to me. I think 80 degrees would feel like normal room temperature. My body temp is 98.2.

My hands and feet are especially cold, pretty much all the time I’m out of bed. My hands are cold enough that if I touch Erin’s bare skin on her neck or back, she’ll jump like I just put ice on her. Even with shoes and socks on, my feet feel chilled. I’d love to soak them in hot water just to warm them up.

The coldness in my hands and feet is a little concerning to me. Coldness in the extremities can indicate poor circulation. Also, a common vitamin B12 deficiency symptom is numbness or tingling in the hands and feet. I don’t have any numbness or tingling or any other B12 deficiency symptoms that I know of. It’s unlikely I’d have a deficiency problem after just 3 weeks, since B12 stores can last for years, and I regularly ate B12-fortified foods before this trial. Nevertheless, I’m keeping a close eye out for other potential symptoms. I think I can manage 8 more days.

Weight Loss

My weight went up 0.2 pounds to 178.4. Net weight loss is 7.6 pounds in 21 days.

Breakfast

green smoothie: 4 bananas (524g), spinach (110g), raspberries (134g), 1 cup water 

561 calories, 3g fat, 140g carb, 11g protein

Lunch

1. salad: mixed greens (178g), cucumber (74g)
2. dressing: grape tomatoes (82g), raw tahini (50g), lime juice (14g)
3. fresh juice made from carrots, apple, celery, ginger, lime (15 fl oz)

515 calories, 26g fat, 65g carb, 16g protein

Afternoon Snack

green smoothie: 3 bananas (310g), spinach (84g), blueberries (168g), 1 cup water

379 calories, 1g fat, 93g carb, 6g protein

Dinner

1. green smoothie: 3 bananas (442g), kale (74g), blueberries (146g), 1 cup water
2. 3 tangelos (340g)
3. Asian pear (220g)

767 calories, 3g fat, 194g carb, 13g protein

This smoothie came out way too thick for some reason. I could turn the Vitamix container sideways, and it wouldn’t even move at first.

Evening Snack

1. 3 bananas (250g)
2. blueberries (266g)
3. blackberries (186g)

454 calories, 3g fat, 114g carb, 7g protein

Daily Summary

2677 calories, 36g fat, 605g carb, 53g protein

461mg sodium, 105g fiber, 323g sugar

11% of calories from fat, 7% from protein, 82% from carbs

After more than 3 weeks on this diet, eating this way is still not easy. It’s taking a lot of self-discipline for me to keep pushing through the resistance I’m feeling. Going vegetarian and then vegan was an absolute breeze. I find this raw food trial more challenging than adapting to polyphasic sleep.

I estimate that by the end of this 30-day trial, I’ll have eaten about 400 bananas.

---

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© 2008 by Steve Pavlina. If you find these ideas helpful, please leave a donation for Steve so you can enjoy the spirit of giving too.

Today was good energy-wise. I don’t seem to be having any more issues related to detox or adaptation. I feel at least as good as I did before this trial.

I was more motivated to eat fresh fruit today vs. yesterday, so it was better than just going through the motions. I especially enjoyed the watermelon for breakfast.

I felt strangely sad for most of the day, but I didn’t resist it, so it didn’t cause me distress. I wasn’t sad about anything in particular. It was like sadness just decided to pay me a visit today. Sometimes it feels good to be sad for a day or two, since there’s a hidden joy behind every sadness if you know where to look.

I attended a Toastmasters workshop this evening delivered by pro speaker Judi Moreo. My club, Powerhouse Pros, puts on these workshops once per quarter for Las Vegas Toastmasters. Lately we’ve been getting around 60-65 people attending them. I did one on blogging in January 2006, which was well received, and I’m scheduled to deliver the next one in April on content creation. These workshops serve as a good recruiting mechanism for our club, which is among the strongest ones in Las Vegas. I’ve met a lot of fascinating people through this club and made some great friends too.

Weight Loss

My weight dropped 0.6 pounds to 178.2. Net weight loss is 7.8 pounds in 20 days.

Breakfast

1-1/2 small watermelons (1168g)

350 calories, 2g fat, 88g carb, 7g protein

Morning Snack

4 bananas (448g)

399 calories, 2g fat, 102g carb, 5g protein

Lunch

1. salad: mixed greens (208g), grape tomatoes (136g), cucumber (72g), avocado (92g), lime juice (22g)
2. 2 carrots (112g)
3. okra (58g)

320 calories, 15g fat, 46g carb, 9g protein

Afternoon Snack

1. 2 bananas (228g)
2. blueberries (242g)

341 calories, 2g fat, 87g carb, 4g protein

Dinner

green smoothie: 3 bananas (286g), spinach (80g), blueberries (150g), 1 cup water

348 calories, 1g fat, 85g carb, 5g protein

Evening Snack

1. 1/2 small watermelon (422g)
2. Asian pear (232g)

224 calories, 1g fat, 57g carb, 4g protein

Daily Summary

1982 calories, 22g fat, 465g carb, 35g protein

260mg sodium, 71g fiber, 277g sugar

9% of calories from fat, 6% from protein, 85% from carbs

I have the hang of this diet in terms of the daily habit of feeding myself, but my motivation to continue this way long-term is very weak, maybe a 2 on a scale of 1-10. I’m getting really sick of eating so much fruit, fruit, and more fruit. By the end of the month, I’ll probably have eaten more fruit than most people do in a year. I’d love to enjoy more compact meals now and then.

I could easily eat another 4-5 bananas right now if I wanted to, and I am feeling slightly hungry, but I’m just not motivated to eat any more food today. I feel like I’ve eaten enough for 2-3 days already. I’m feeling a little burned out on the whole concept of eating.

Some people suggested eating different kinds of fruit to mix things up. I doubt that would help. I’m bored from eating virtually nothing but wet food around the clock, most of it sweet. It doesn’t matter what kind it is.

I’m glad that I made it through 3 weeks so far. Only 9 days to go… and at this point I can’t wait to get to the end.

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© 2008 by Steve Pavlina. If you find these ideas helpful, please leave a donation for Steve so you can enjoy the spirit of giving too.

Something very strange happened today. I was nearly out of produce, probably not even enough to last the rest of the day, so I definitely had to shop today. After a simple breakfast, Erin and the kids and I piled into the car to do our usual weekly shop. I turned the key to start the car and – dead battery. The headlights weren’t left on overnight or anything like that, and the headlights have an auto shutoff feature anyway. The car is only 21 months old and seemed to be working fine the previous day.

At this point I’m thinking, “Oh great… did I manifest this as a way of sabotaging my raw trial after what I wrote at the end of yesterday’s entry?”

Anyway… we get a jump start and a new car battery and do a big shop, but I felt differently about it this time. As I’m putting various fruits and vegetables into the shopping cart, it somehow seems wrong to me. On my previous shop, I was attracted to the vibrant, living energy of the produce. But on this shop I sense nothing but an empty void. Everything I buy feels lifeless and hollow. I feel no attraction to it at all.

Could I have been the one who was putting the energy there in the first place? Was I assigning some quality to that produce as a result of my assumptions and expectations?

When we got home, I made a smoothie. It felt like I was downing empty calories. I couldn’t perceive the life energy that should have been there. It filled my stomach but provided no satisfaction. It was just empty matter.

My physical and mental energy levels were fine the whole day — no problems there at all. But some kind of non-physical energy seemed to be stuck at zero the whole day and wouldn’t budge.

I stuck to the diet, but it seemed a pointless exercise. I was merely going through the motions. Whatever energy I was putting into this way of eating seems to have gone somewhere else.

I don’t know whether to label this a good day or bad day, so I won’t label it as either.

I didn’t have any greens today, partly because I ran out before the shop. I’ll be sure to include some tomorrow.

Weight Loss

My weight went back up 0.4 pounds to 178.8. Net weight loss is 7.2 pounds in 19 days.

Breakfast

4 Fuji apples (764g)

397 calories, 1g fat, 106g carb, 2g protein

Lunch

1. 2 mangos (402g)
2. 2 clementines (200g)
3. 2 tangelos (198g)

449 calories, 2g fat, 116g carb, 6g protein

There are 4 clementines in the photo, but after eating 2 of them, I swapped in 2 tangelos for the other 2 clementines.

Afternoon Snack

1. raw walnuts (28g)
2. smoothie: 3 bananas (358g), coconut water (375 ml), ice

574 calories, 20g fat, 100g carb, 11g protein

Most of the fat was from the walnuts. The coconut water (which I got directly from a coconut) had less than a gram of fat. That’s just an average figure for coconut water, since coconut water can vary in its fat content based on the age of the coconut.

Dinner

1 small watermelon (880g)

264 calories, 1g fat, 66g carb, 5g protein

It tasted good but still seemed lifeless somehow.

Evening Snack

1. okra (50g)
2. cucumber (72g)
3. 2 bananas (258g)

256 calories, 1g fat, 65g carb, 4g protein

Daily Summary

1940 calories, 25g fat, 453g carb, 28g protein

439mg sodium, 61g fiber, 318g sugar

11% of calories from fat, 5% from protein, 84% from carbs

I feel like Charlie Brown. Good grief! This experiment took a weird turn in the past 24 hours.

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© 2008 by Steve Pavlina. If you find these ideas helpful, please leave a donation for Steve so you can enjoy the spirit of giving too.