Raw Food Journal Entry 6

April 20, 2011

These past few days I haven’t bothered to write down everything because it’s been pretty consistent, with no major new things to record. Just eatin’ my fruits and veggies!

Yesterday was fantastic because Wege had a salad of avocado and spinach. I might have over-done it on the avocado (I should watch my fat intake–don’t want to over-do it) but it was delicious!

I have had some cooked food, of course. I found out the beets I’ve been eating were actually cooked–sounds like it’s the “only” way to do it, sort of like potatoes . . . darn it! They’re still delicious, and I’m sure I’ll continue to eat them. They have lots of iron.

Read more

Raw Food Journal 5: Racing Raw

April 16, 2011

I ran the 1500m and the 800m today. My races were pitiful to say the least.

I felt drained. I don’t think it’s from the food–I’ve gotten very little sleep throughout the week, I stood for hours in the cold Thursday night at the high school track meet, I’ve been stressed with projects and homework, and I’ve increased my mileage quickly on top of cross training.

It was cold, windy, and rainy outside—nothing too surprising for spring in Michigan. But the weather reflected my mood and my day–which was just as miserable as my eating habits.

Read more

Raw Food Journal Entries 3 & 4

April 14, 2011

I think this was my best raw food day yet.

Breakfast: I tried out the flax seeds for the first time! I felt proud of myself when I used the coffee grinder to grind them. What an amazing tool. Shows how advanced I am in my food preparation skills….

I created my own “recipe” by grinding two tablespoons of flaxseeds and sprinkling that over two mashed bananas. Ta-da! Raw oatmeal. I completed the meal with a raw food bar, a pear, apple, orange, and two plums. I love these breakfasts because they seem to be a little different each morning.

Read more

Raw Food Journal Entry 2

April 12, 2011

Mood: This diet is new, so it’s exciting for me!

Breakfast: 4 plums, banana, orange, Raw organic fiber bar, Larabar

Today is the day I can test what the raw food will do for my stomach during the workout. We have a 12x400m workout on the track and a few weeks ago my stomach felt queasy on my normal diet. That day I ended up jogging slowly back to campus because I felt so sick to my stomach. This only led to major bathroom issues upon returning to the fitness center. I hope this is not a result of fiber, because this raw food diet has even more fiber. I hope it’s more of a result of eating wheat or diary or something because now I’ve taken those food groups out.

Read more

Raw Food Journal Entry 1, Spring 2011

April 11, 2011

The journey to a raw food diet has officially begun.

I visited Jill (a raw-foodist runner) Saturday night at the Health Harvest store where she works. It’s like a holistic health store that sells organic produce, sprouted grains breads, herbal medicines, and many raw food items.

Jill had me try a piece of her raw food pie, which tasted delicious—I am amazed with this food. It’s fun having a healthy dessert and not feeling bad about eating it. Basically it consists of a sweet mango filling, slices of kiwi and blueberries on top, and an almond-date-coconut crust. I tried to eat it slowly to savor every bite but I’ll admit that when I was done I wanted more.

Read more

It Begins

April 1, 2011

Rachael,

Normally I don’t have too much to say about what you are doing. Radically changing your diet doesn’t sound good to me. Why fix what isn’t broke? You are mentally and physically super. You are a college champion in your freshman year running. Did you accomplish all the things you have on a poor diet? One of your emails mentioned how much you like and how well you run on banana, peanut butter, & oatmeal. You have been very successful as a student, musician, and athlete.

I have been strong & healthy all my life. I am not going to make such a radical change in what I fuel my body and mind. I just would like you to try the diet this summer or after graduation or never. Give it some thought. Do you want to fix what is not broken? You are so special. I hope you don’t mind me giving you my opinion. And that is all it is – my opinion. Have a good, healthy, productive day.

-Dave

This was no April Fools joke. I was about to start a diet of only raw food.

I felt as if I had come to my breaking point. How could I continue eating the way I was eating for the past year? Everyone seemed to admire my speed and the way I ate. I was racing the best times of my life. But I was sick of what I was doing to my body. I hated the strict food routine I was in.

Read more

Rachael Before Rawchael

Trigger warning: eating disorder behaviors mentioned.

Eating disorders don’t just include losing hair, feeling hungry, or suffering dizzy spells. Eating disorders–the obsession with food, with perfecting the day with food–consumes all of your mental space, making it difficult to engage in LIFE.

This was a typical day for me when my restrictive eating disorder took over:

7am: Wake up—you must wake up early so that your food schedule is correct, so that you are tired enough to fall asleep early later tonight to avoid eating at night.
Weigh yourself after going to the bathroom. The scale is hidden and since everyone is still asleep you are able to weigh yourself without anyone seeing you. If they found you doing this—or even found your scale—you would feel ashamed. You pretend weight doesn’t matter, but you know that the number determines your mood for the day.

Read more

On Your Mark . . .

I cannot say starting this blog is easy, but something within prompts me to share what I’ve been hiding for too long. Something tells me I need to look back at my food log from more than a year ago when I began a raw food diet. By doing this, perhaps I will discover what happened along the way that led me to where I am now. Maybe I can see why I was in denial about my poor relationship with food.

I did not start the raw food diet just for better “health.” I wanted weight loss. After a year of restricting calories, I wanted to continue to lose weight. After dropping X pounds in a matter of months during my senior year of high school, I was satisfied at first. But once I correlated the low weight to success in my first year of college racing track and cross country, I wanted more. I was determined to drop more weight each year to run faster.

Read more