Raw Vegan for Health

Exercise Blog

2008-05-26T18:54:00.002-06:00

As promised, here is the link to my new Exercise blog.
http://wii-fit-n2-health.blogspot.com/

My diet is still high raw, but I allow some cooked food. As mentioned in my previous post, I may actively post to this blog again if needed, but for now putting my focus into this blog is not giving me much benefit.

Final Post?

2008-05-22T11:56:00.003-06:00

For now, I am going to stop posting this blog. I am sticking to a high raw diet, I am not stopping that.

This time when I have been going back to raw and eating healthier, my focus has shifted. It is not about the diet for me anymore really. I was able to quickly get back into a groove of eating 2 raw meals a day in the form of a fruit smoothie at breakfast and either a green smoothie or salad at lunch.

My goal this time was to make this easy and not try to limit myself. Everyone knows when you make a diet or anything for that matter a restrictive sort of thing that eventually you will give up. This is what happened to me last year. I knew it would happen even. I even stated in some of my original posts that if I could do a large weight loss in a short amount of time it would pay off, and I was OK with that. After having been through that though, I want this time of eating healthy to be different and just be part of normal life for me.

So, with that in mind, I feel that keeping up this blog with my day to day activities eating this way was simply a part of the problem with being to obsessive about it, and in a way contributed to making the diet restrictive. I had to keep track of everything I was eating. I had to post, effectively reminding myself of any times I had non raw or vegan foods, and then it would be there forever to remind me. Last year, this blog was helpful in that I wanted to be reminded, and I needed something to help keep me on track. This year, I know I can eat very healthy and keep myself 70% or higher raw vegan each day with no problems. I just have to allow myself to make it part of my normal life and not focus on it. I also have to allow myself to have non-raw or vegan foods on occasions without feeling guilty, or going over it again after the fact.

So this is the last post. At least for now. Maybe if later on I find that this tracking of my food intake will be necessary or helpful I will revive it. I will leave it online though. I hope someone may find some helpful information here on changing their life and health for the better through raw vegan foods. This experience has definitely had a lasting impact on my life, and this impact is definitely for the better.

As for progress towards weight loss goals, I may start an exercise related blog that tracks this information. Honestly, at this point, the biggest thing in this blog I saw worthy of continuing was tracking my weight and waist size. I just need to change the context of it in order to help me the most is all. I will update this post with a link to the new blog if/when I create it.

Best wishes,

Chris Baker

Daily Update - 5/15

2008-05-15T11:52:00.005-06:00

I was high raw today!

I switched to organic frozen blueberries today. There was a very big difference in flavor in my fruit smoothie this morning. The organic blueberries added a LOT more flavor than the conventional ones I had been buying in bulk from Sam's Club. They are also much smaller, but what they lack in size, they make up for in flavor.

For dinner we went to Jason's Deli. I picked up a vegetarian dish called Fresco Garden Pasta. It is bow tie pasta tossed in olive oil and topped with herb-roasted tomatoes, grilled portabello mushroom, artichoke hearts and a sprinkling of asiago cheese.

Food Journal
Breakfast: Fruit Smoothie (bananas, pear, strawberries, blueberries, flax seed, almonds)
Lunch: Green Smoothie (spinach, escarole, red lettuce, parsley, bananas, apple, flax seed)
Dinner: Fresco Garden Pasta

Daily Update - 5/14

2008-05-14T08:15:00.004-06:00

I was high raw today!

For dinner tonight I had Indian, which was of course cooked. It was kinda heavy and difficult to digest actually.

Food Journal
Breakfast: Fruit Smoothie (bananas, pear, strawberries, blueberries, flax seed)
Lunch: Green Smoothie (spinach, red lettuce, escarole, parsley, bananas, apple, flax seed)
Dinner: Vegetable Korma with Spinach Pakoras

Daily Update - 5/13

2008-05-13T16:56:00.002-06:00

I was high raw today!

Lunch was out again, this time Jason's Deli. I got one of their salads that is like a Waldorf salad except with balsamic vinaigrette instead of mayo.

For dinner, I was in a bit of a rush and whipped up something relatively quick. I took some asparagus spears and splashed them with apple cider vinegar, olive oil and herbamare seasoning. I quickly marinated some portabello slices and made up some nut cheese sauce. I built fajitas with some unbaked sprouted grain tortillas (Ezekiel brand), and ate the asparagus spears straight up.

Food Journal
Breakfast: Fruit Smoothie (bananas, pear, strawberries, blueberries, almonds, flax seed)
Lunch: Salad (field greens, apple, dried cranberries, raisins, walnut, balsamic vinaigrette)
Dinner: Asparagus, Fajitas (Marinated Portabello Slices, Nacho Cheesy Sauce, Ezekiel Sprouted Grain Tortillas)

Daily Update - 5/12

2008-05-12T20:14:00.002-06:00

I was high raw today!

The salad I had at lunch was from a restaurant called Carrabba's. It is an Italian Grille chain. I can't remember the salads name unfortunately, but it was absolutely delicious. It was not all raw, there were 3 thin slices of grilled eggplant, 4 marinated artichoke hearts, and 4 slices of roasted red pepper on it. Also, there was a medallion of goat cheese on top, about a couple tablespoons worth that was crusted with chopped hazelnut. They used an olive oil based dressing, it may have literally just been olive oil, I didn't taste much else. The flavors of all these items together was truly great. One of the best salads I have had in a long time.

Food Journal
Breakfast: Fruit Smoothie (bananas, apple, strawberries, blueberries, flax seeds, almonds)
Lunch: Salad (greens, grilled eggplant, roasted red pepper, artichoke hearts, hazelnut crusted goat cheese medallion)
Dinner: Salad (red lettuce, romaine, herb mix, spinach, apple, raisins, Snowdrops Ranch Dressing)

Weekly Update 5/5 - 5/11

2008-05-12T06:26:00.003-06:00

This is my new weekly format. I am no longer tracking what percentage of raw I am.

Weight (in pounds): 280
Waist (in inches): 46.5

This week I lost 10 pounds and .5 inches from my waist. Since going raw again in May, I have lost 10 pounds and .5 inches.

This week I cleared out what seemed like a long lasting cold or allergies. I still have a cough once in a while indoors. I noticed this while in the checkout lane of a store after a person got in line behind me with a bunch of flowers, and then in a particular room in my house I cough in there so there is something in that room that needs to be cleared out.

I also started feeling a lot more energetic later this week until the weekend. It is easier to eat all raw during the week than on the wekend, so I am curious to see what will happen this week.

Daily Update - 5/11

2008-05-11T18:50:00.002-06:00

I was high raw today!

Today's food was almost an exact repeat of yesterday! But first....

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!!

For lunch, my wife picked a place she and a friend of hers found a couple months ago. They swear they are the best burgers on the planet. They had no options for me to eat, at all. Since I have been hearing about these burgers forever, I got one. I agree it was a very good burger. I guess I'll have to be more raw during the week! Hey, it's Mother's Day, not My Day, and I wasn't going to bring anybodies spirits down by not eating.

For Mother's Day dinner, my wife wanted the margaritas again from that Mexican place we went to last night. So I had the same salad as last night!

Food Journal
Breakfast: Fruit Smoothie (bananas, pear, strawberries, blueberries, flax seed, almonds, coconut butter)
Lunch: Cheeseburger, French Fries
Dinner: Salad

Daily Update - 5/10

2008-05-10T18:04:00.002-06:00

I was high raw today!

Those who have read my blog last year may remember that Saturdays and Sundays usually involved eating out quite a bit. This weekend was no different.

For lunch we went to Steak and Shake. They have some salad options, but at the same time one of their salads made me sick once because it was not fresh once. Also, a couple months ago while I was off my diet, I saw them pull a bag of greens out of a cooler to grab something behind them and saw some browning in that bag. Because of that, I was not interested in gambling with their salad. Their regular food has never given anybody any problems though, so I decided to let this meal be one of my exceptions. The bad part is that there are no vegetarian options on their menu that are anywhere near healthy. I decided to get a burger, which comes with 2 sides, and I picked french fries and chili.

Within minutes after eating my stomach was already upset, and I have only been getting back towards raw for 5 days! My wife has the same things I did and she had no problems. I had some mild stomach upset was all, and was tired the whole afternoon.

For dinner we have been going to this Mexican restaurant on Saturdays regularly for years now. They have an excellent salad option. It is the Chicken Tortilla Salad, but I order it special. I ask to sub the Chicken with Avocado and leave off the tortilla strips. It comes with a lime-honey-vinaigrette dressing. They also serve fresh chopped salsa and I toss some of that one there as well. So in the end it is fresh mixed greens, spinach, onion, avocado, fresh salsa, lime, honey, and vinaigrette. It is a very good tasting salad.

I already feel better and more energetic after dinner. That lunch really brought me down. I'm not beating myself up though, I am making allowances for bad food choices so long as they don't exceed about 2/week. hopefully next time I make an exception I can find a healthier choice. One thing is for sure, I am going to look at that menu harder next time for better options. Maybe just fries and/or onion rings next time? I don't want to have to take Lara Bars or anything like that when going there, or simply not eat. That sucks.

Food Journal
Breakfast: Fruit Smoothie (bananas, pear, strawberries, blueberries, almonds, flax seeds)
Lunch: Cheeseburger, French Fries, Chili
Dinner: Salad

Daily Update - 5/9

2008-05-09T19:52:00.002-06:00

I was high raw today!

I am starting to feel more alert and energetic.

For dinner we went to Jason's Deli and I had the Salad Bar. They have a nice salad bar with many organic ingredients. I think the best part is the option for field greens as opposed to the regular lettuce mix.

The kids had some ice cream tonight, so I made myself a chocolate smoothie with less water and more ice. It was a nice treat!

Food Journal
Breakfast: Fruit Smoothie (bananas, pear, strawberries, blueberries, almonds, flax seed)
Lunch: Green Smoothie (romaine, red lettuce, spinach, parsley, bananas, apple, almonds, flax seed)
Dinner: Salad (lettuce, field greens, spinach, broccoli, cucumber, olive, raisins, walnuts, olive oil, balsamic vinegar)
Snack: Chocolate Smoothie (bananas, date, cacao nibs, almonds, cashews, coconut butter)

Leaving Raw, and Returning

2008-05-09T06:36:00.002-06:00

Sometime around late August/early September in 2007 I started having cooked beans and rice again. At the time this seemed perfectly OK to me since I had been learning a lot about the benefits of certain non-raw foods when incorporated into a raw diet. Living foods is an example of this. I had really missed beans and grains. Breads and crackers were really missed and I had not found a raw alternative I enjoyed yet that seemed worth the cost and effort.

I started getting sprouted grain tortillas to make wraps with and this was very good. I was very happy with this and felt this was definitely going to help keep me raw. Then I started eating hummus and refried beans (vegan kind) again as I felt these were never really reproduced very well in raw variations either.

I was very happy allowing myself to have basically whole cooked beans or bean purees as long as they were made in a healthy fashion sticking to being vegan, and using raw ingredients where I could. I could not believe it could be unhealthy in any way.

I don't know what went wrong. I don't know if all this other stuff that was non-raw opened up a mountain of cravings, or clouded my judgement, or what. What I do know is that I slowly stared allowing myself to eat cooked vegetables again. Over the next several weeks I was enjoying regular cooked vegan dishes again and still eating raw for at least 1 or 2 meals a day. Over time I even let myself start to slide back into being vegetarian and allowing some dairy, then egg. A few weeks later seafood came back into my diet. By the time I had totally unwound out of my diet mid-winter, I was right back to eating regular SAD food at least 2 meals a day, but keeping my raw fruit smoothie for breakfast. As Spring rolled around, I even started skipping this morning smoothie on occasion.

I gained back all of my weight, I was back to weighing 290 again although I did not look as fat as I did the first time I weighed 290. My waist did not shoot back to 52 inches, it only went back to 47 inches. I did not get back any pre-diabetic symptoms. My allergies made a very minor comeback, but nothing major. I was just a little sensitive sometimes, but no major problems. My blood pressure is still good. I have not tested my cholesterol.

So overall I was much healthier this time at 290 than the last time at 290, and I can give 100% credit for that to going vegetarian, vegan and raw. While I did try to include exercise at points in my diet last year, I never committed or stuck with it for more than a few days. Maybe those few periods of exercise helped, but the overwhelming majority of these benefits had to have been from the diet I am certain.

I knew I had slipped from raw, but was happy at first trying to live happily vegan or vegetarian with raw stuff included and see how that went. Honestly, it never went that well. I started gaining weight immediately after allowing grains and beans back into my diet. This weight gain increased at an even faster rate as I let more and more non-raw back into my diet. I stopped weighing myself because I could see the day to day changes int he mirror. I was definitely packing it on. I think I wanted to believe this was temporary and I could find a diet of moderation on cooked foods that would work for me. It never worked. As time went on, this is why I started allowing meats back into my diet, it seemed like ti did not matter.

I don't know why I didn't stop this progression earlier. I think I didn't want to. I think I was tired of raw, tired of not being able to eat good food when going out, tired of spending extra money to eat particular raw foods, etc.

Finally, in April I decided I had to get myself back on track. I started by making more vegetarian/vegan choices, and picking the healthy options off of menus when eating out. I did not start counting calories or anything, I did not have the time for it. When I was raw I did not have to do this and that was liberating. People should not have to do this to themselves, and I was not going to. This still did not work, I did not lose any weight or feel any better. Finally in early May I decided I needed to really bump my raw diet back up to get things working again. Honestly, that seems to be what worked the best last time.

So this last week I have been restocking on essentials and eating raw again. I am already noticing a difference in the mirror, but will not weigh myself until the end of the week. I went to the doctors on Monday to get my arm checked out (tendonitis), and I weighed 290 at that time, right where I last weighed myself a couple weeks before that. What I thought were my allergies are now acting like a cold and my body seems to be aggressively fighting it and winning. I got over the worst of it the other day. Now it's just when I wake up in the morning my nose is stopped up and I have to cough up some junk from my lungs (yuck).

I don't know WHAT the heck I was thinking or doing all those months. I'm thinking correctly again now though.

Daily Update - 5/8

2008-05-08T21:03:00.004-06:00

I was high raw today!

Lunch was out at Ruby Tuesday today. They have an OK salad bar, better than many places for selection. For dinner, I was rushed so I made another salad (hey it's fast). Lots of salad today.

Food Journal
Breakfast: Fruit Smoothie (bananas, pear, strawberries, blueberries, almonds, flax seed, coconut butter)
Snack: Lara Bar (cocoa mole)
Lunch: Salad (romaine, spinach, broccoli, zucchini, tomatoes, carrots, vinegar and oil)
Dinner: Salad (herb mix, spinach, carrots, celery, Snowdrops Ranch Dressing)

Daily Update - 5/7

2008-05-07T06:42:00.009-06:00

I was high raw today!

Wow! What a wild day. I have had something like a cold or something the last several days. At first I thought it was just allergies because it was all sinuses and sneezing, but then it started moving into my throat, then my lungs. I started feeling better yesterday, but coughed a lot last night making me think it had gotten worse. I woke up feeling a lot better today though, but after breakfast, WHAM, I got a killer sinus headache and my whole body ached. I was thirsty, and soon after starting to drink water I began urinating every 15 to 20 minutes, and this kept up for about 3 hours. After about 3 trips seemingly back to back to go to the bathroom was when I really started paying attention to that. I kept drinking water, and kept on urinating. As this progressed, I got to feeling better, and when it was all done, my headache, body aches, stuffy sinuses and frequent urination all dissipated at the same time. It is so bizarre, I can't remember ever having anything like this happen before. It is like my body attacked whatever it was really aggressively during that short period, and used the water to pass it out of my system.

So here I am feeling better and my wife asked what my lunch plans were. She wanted to go to this little hole-in-the-wall chili joint that is only open for just a few hours each week, and is never open whenever she wants to go. She passed by earlier, saw it was open, and wanted to go. Knowing I would have no food choices there, I figured I could go and eat nothing, or go and enjoy one of the rare times we get to go eat there. I chose to eat the chili. It is good chili. It is far from my raw intentions, but my whole reasons explained yesterday were to allow for an occasion like this every so often. so long as it does not happen every 2 or 3 days, then I am happy with it. I am still feeling better, so whatever I kicked was bad enough that I am not feeling down from eating chili. That's nice, because that spell this morning was ROUGH!

Food Journal
Breakfast: Fruit Smoothie (bananas, pear, strawberries, blueberries, flax seed, almonds)
Lunch: Chili
Dinner: Salad (herb mix, spinach, carrots, apple, Snowdrops Ranch Dressing)

Daily Update - 5/6

2008-05-06T19:06:00.002-06:00

I was high raw today!

Food Journal
Breakfast: Fruit Smoothie (bananas, pear, strawberries, blueberries, flax seed, almonds)
Lunch: Green Smoothie (romaine, red lettuce, spinach, parsley, bananas, apple, cashews)
Dinner: Salad (romaine, red lettuce, spinach, herb mix, sundried tomatoes, olives, Marinated Portabello Chunks, Snowdrops Ranch Dressing)

My new plan...

2008-05-06T18:59:00.002-06:00

I've had a couple days to start eating right again, and have been thinking a lot about what I want to do. I have decided that what I was doing originally was pretty much right. In fact, making these foods again makes me realize I was being ridiculous giving it up for whatever excuse I could come up with at the time (convenience, cravings, it can't be UNhealthy, etc). There was absolutely no good reason for me to slowly switch back to my old unhealthy diet except for maybe being tired. I think I was tired of worrying about how raw I was. I was tired of having no good food to choose from when socializing. I was tired of pushing myself as hard as I was. I meant to push hard, I knew it could mean I could give up, and I did. I am back though.

I am no longer going to track my raw percentage, and will no longer strive to be 100% raw 100% of the time. Instead I am going to try and be high-raw, that's it. This does not mean I am going to plan for cooked food in my diet. This just means if I wind up having cooked food at some point I have already planned for it and will make it a healthy choice. This will be much easier. Also, if I find myself somewhere in a social setting where there are no good choices, I can eat whatever is the best choice I can find and still be on track. The day to day focus will be keeping my diet high-raw so I can not spiral back into a lot of bad food after making one of these more unhealthy choices.

I was also considering reducing the frequency of my blogging. I have decided I am not going to do this. I will still track my daily food intake. I will not calculate my raw percentage though, but I will say I was high raw on days where I was. As long as 2 meals were raw I will call that a high raw day. If I was not high raw, I simply will not say I was high raw and just list what I did eat that day.

Leaving out the percentages will save some time when doing weekly and monthly reports. I was really going overboard on some of that data I think. I will begin tracking my weekly weight and waist size again, although I have not yet remeasured to get a baseline yet. I'll just wait for Sunday to collect that, like I did before, and simply go on from there.

As I poke around this blog more, I'll probably even do a little reorganizing in order to incorporate both the old and new ways of doing things here. I look forward to more blogging and feedback!

Getting back on track...

2008-05-05T15:57:00.003-06:00

It's been a long time since I posted because I basically stopped with everything I was doing. First I allowed some cooked beans and grains, including some breads back into my diet. After a few weeks, I even started having occasional egg and dairy. A few weeks more and I was allowing myself occasional seafood and chicken, and eventually started eating other meats as well. At first I focused on keeping my meals high in healthy foods with some bad stuff, but after a while it got to where I was eating really one healthy meal a day (fruit smoothie for breakfast) and then mostly standard cooked food for the rest of my meals. Recently, I have found I am skipping even the fruit smoothies in the morning more and more frequently.

It took me 6 months to lose all the wieght and gain all of the health benefits I realized by going vegetarian, then raw. Likewise, in 6 months time from of regression, I gained back all of my weight, but I am not as big around as before however. I think the extra weight is added muscle from the exercising I was doing, and from generally being a lot more active than I was before I ever started dieting, even still being somewhat active today. My health is still far better than it was the last time I weighed 290 pounds however, yet this will probably change if I don't get back on track. I still have no pre-diabetic symptoms or allergies, which were the biggest things I noticed went away going vegetarian then raw. I made a list here of what strange things went away, it will be interesting to see what ones have come back.

Today I have decided this regression has to stop. I need to rethink what I am doing and get back on track. I am not decided yet what track that will be though. I truly feel that I will aspire to be high raw, but I do not know if I want to stretch this whole 100% raw ting anymore. I honestly felt so liberated when I quit being all raw that I am not sure it is smart to jump right back down that path. At this point I'm not even sure if I will be 100% vegan, but am certainly very open to that possibility.

I'm also unsure how much detailed blogging I am going to do this time around. This is because it really did take a lot of time each day to track all that I tracked. While I know that the data was helpful to me, and perhaps to others, I am just not sure if spending so much time focused like I was on eating right and posting about it was healthy. There was also a relief from having to post each day when I stopped eating right. I think that shows I need to rethink what I am doing in that sense.

One thing is for certain, I have had no health benefits from switching back at any phase. When I started allowing cooked beans, grains and breads, I immediately started gaining back weight, and at each phase where I allowed more and more foods in, the weight gain became more pronounced. I was still basically dieting and trying to eat a diet in moderation as this regression started out, yet I was unable to maintain weight. I was not overeating or stuffing myself. I am not sure what I did wrong, it still seems hard for me to fully accept that beans, grains and breads can not be part of a healthy diet where I can lose weight. I may have simply done something wrong.

Starting out towards a high-raw target with smart cooked choices is how I am going to start, and see what happens from there.

Weekly Update 9/3-9/9

2007-09-10T07:55:00.000-06:00

Number of weeks reported: 23

Statistics listed in format: This Week / Last Week / Overall

Weight (in pounds): 235 / 236 / 55 total pounds lost
Waist (in inches): 41.5 / 41.5 / 10.5 total inches lost

Pre-Diabetic Symptoms: Night sweats one night early in the week
Allergy Symptoms: None
Other Symptoms: None

I did not keep track of my raw level this week. I had a tooth extracted this week and was on some rather strong pain medication. I was not really tracking anything except trying to keep up on the medication. I had to take an antibiotic, so that may throw my digestive system out of whack.

I ate rather well this week though. I kept it to fruit smoothies and green smoothies, with some occasional pureed beans (I made pinto beans). Yesterday was my first attempt at anything approaching solid food, and even that was just a sandwich.

In all I lost a pound, so this week wasn't too bad at all really. I can't really compare how I feel this week to last because of the whole tooth issue and all of the medications. I think I'm doing OK though.

Daily Update - 9/4

2007-09-05T06:05:00.000-06:00

Today I was 99% raw.

The only non-raw thing I had today was the rice paper used in the Spring Rolls. No big deal, but I guess I won't call myself 100% raw today in fairness.

Food Journal
Breakfast: Fruit Smoothie
Lunch: Green Smoothie
Dinner: Spring Rolls

Spring Rolls

2007-09-05T06:03:00.000-06:00

I made these so they do not require dipping sauce. All of the flavors desired from the dipping sauce are already in the rolls. I really like these. If you want a dipping sauce, one can be made pretty easily with a small amount of almond butter, nama shoyu, lime juice and agave nectar, and then thinned with water.

Makes about 6

2 leaves lettuce
1 to 2 sprigs fresh Basil (depending on size)
fresh Mint (equal amount as Basil)
fresh Cilantro (equal amount as Basil)
1 to 2 cloves Garlic, minced
1 Portabello Mushroom
1/4 cup Cashew pieces
1 tsp Nama Shoyu
1 tsp Olive Oil
juice of 1/4 Lime
Grapes (I used black grapes)
6 sheets Rice Paper

I like to scrape out the gills from the mushroom to remove that "dirty" taste. This is optional if you like that taste. Dice the mushroom and add to a bowl or small ziploc bag with the cashew pieces. Add the nama shoyu, olive oil and lime juice to the mushroom/cashew mixture and let marinate about 30 minutes. Drain before using.

Chop lettuce, mint, basil and cilantro and toss with garlic. Set aside in bowl.

To prepare, soak a piece of rice paper in warm water for a few seconds and then transfer to clean working surface. Lay 3 to 4 grapes in the center and then spread a spoonful of the cashew/mushroom mixture alongside the grapes. Then top with a good amount of the greens. Bring the two ends (lengthwise) together towards the center. Grab one remaining end and roll tightly to form the Spring Roll.

Weekly Update - 8/27-9/2

2007-09-04T06:11:00.003-06:00

Number of weeks reported: 22

Statistics listed in format: This Week / Last Week / Overall

Weekly Raw Percentage: 57% / 90% / 93%
Weight (in pounds): 236 / 227 / 54 total pounds lost
Waist (in inches): 41.5 / 41 / 10.5 total inches lost
Days 100% Raw: 0 / 4 / 124
Days 90-99% Raw: 0 / 1 / 2
Days 80-89%Raw: 1 / 0 / 2
Days 70-79% Raw: 2 / 2 / 21
Days 69% or Less Raw: 4 / 0 / 6

Pre-Diabetic Symptoms: Night sweats (mild, but noticeable)
Allergy Symptoms: None
Other Symptoms: Stomach was not very happy after the burger on Sunday.

I actually took my weight and waist measurements a day late. The holiday weekend put me out of schedule. All of the other data was through Sunday however and did not include Monday.

Wow, I gained a LOT of weight back this week, most from just the weekend alone! I weighed myself Saturday morning for the end of August and in the 3 days since then I have gained 6 pounds! I am actually up 12 pounds from my low of 224 recorded on 8/20. That is a 12 pound gain in just 15 days. If only I could lose weight as quick as I can gain it!

Since I am posting this on Tuesday, I may as well tell you how I felt last night (Monday night) after eating that fried chicken skin. I felt awful most of the night. My stomach and bowels were all sorts of messed up. I got up several times to go to the restroom. I have had night sweats the last two nights. Not a lot of sweating, but still there. It was a real wake up call.

So looking back at this week, and the end of the month report, I can see that I rapidly gained back weight from my food choices. All of my food choices up until this weekend were vegetarian in nature though, and for the most part vegan. A couple items had some cheese, but not much. From those items I gained back 6 pounds in 12 days. Then this weekend happened with a whole bunch of bad stuff in it and I gained 6 pounds in just 3 days!!!

BLECH!!!

Daily Update - 9/3

2007-09-04T06:11:00.002-06:00

Today I was 50% raw.

Today my body was not too happy from the recent food choices, I think particularly that burger from yesterday. I started off pretty good with breakfast and lunch, and then was intending on sticking to just a bean burrito from that local place (I can't seem to get my fill of these). The rest of the family decided to get KFC. My youngest pulled off the crispy from the outside of his chicken because he didn't want to eat his chicken and decided it was more fun to dissect it. I don't know why I did it, but I grabbed that crispy skin and put it in my mouth and started eating it! It happened pretty quick, just like I described. It was amazingly greasy of course, and packed with fried chicken flavor. It was both hideous and tasty simultaneously. I knew I would regret that move.

Again tonight I look larger around my waist. When I pointed it out to my wife she said even she could discern it.

Food Journal
Breakfast: Fruit Smoothie
Lunch: Spring Rolls
Dinner: Bean Burrito, crispy bits from a KFC chicken (why did I do that???)

Daily Update - 9/2

2007-09-04T06:11:00.001-06:00

Today I was 30% raw.

Well, today I let myself get something really unwise and I wound up eating a cheeseburger from Stean and Shake with some fries. It was tasty, but afterwards my stomach felt a little uneasy.

Later tonight, I noticed my waist was starting to look larger.

Food Journal
Breakfast: Fruit Smoothie
Lunch: Cheeseburger with Fries
Dinner: Bean Burrito

Daily Update - 9/1

2007-09-04T06:11:00.000-06:00

Today I was 50% raw.

For lunch today I was really craving some Spring Rolls, so I picked up some stuff to make them. They really hit the spot! Except for the Rice Paper, these could be made totally raw. I also used some rice noodles which are not raw, but more like the rolls I was craving.

For dinner we went out to our normal Saturday night Mexican place again. I didn't order raw again tonight, but went with the Chile Rellenos. Boy did I regret that! They came out LOADED with cheese. They normally come with some cheese inside, but never copious amounts like this. There was probably a good pound of cheese in each Chile. It was just plain wrong. I pulled a huge amount of cheese out of them. Had I not pulled it out of there, I'm not sure I would have ever noticed there was a chile in there!!! Honestly, even if I wasn't on this diet and was back at my original SAD ways, that would have been too much cheese. The whole reason to get a Chile Relleno (in my opinion) is to enjoy the chile.

Food Journal
Breakfast: Fruit Smoothie
Lunch: Spring Rolls
Dinner: Chile Rellenos with Black Beans

Monthly Report for August

2007-09-04T06:10:00.000-06:00

Number of Months Recorded: 5

All stats listed in format: This Month / Prior Month / Overall

Monthly Raw Percentage: 88% / 100% / 94%
Weight (in pounds): 230 / 226 / 60 total pounds lost
Waist (in inches): 41 / 41 / 11 total inches lost
Days 100% Raw: 20 / 31 / 124
Days 90-99%+ Raw: 1 / 0 / 2
Days 80-89%+ Raw: 1 / 0 / 2
Days 70-79%+ Raw: 6 / 0 / 21
Days 69% or Less Raw: 3 / 0 / 4
Most Consecutive Days 100% Raw: 11 / 31 / 48
Most consecutive Days under 100% Raw: 8 / 0 / 8

Pre-Diabetic Symptoms: None
Allergy Symptoms: None
Other Symptoms: None

At my current rate of losing 60 pounds in 7 months, I would hit my target weight of 190 pounds in January of next year. If my waist size keeps reducing at the same rate my waist size would be 34 inches at that time. That was the waist size I was hoping to be able to achieve, and it looks like it was not an unreasonable goal since the waist and weight targets are not lining up with the data.

I let myself slip here at the end of the month quite a bit. It's a good thing I went back over the months posts because I incorrectly posted that I was 100% raw on 8/23 when I was not. I even put in the post the non-raw foods I ate, but the percentage at the top of the post was wrong for whatever reason.

It was on that same date that I have at this point basically stopped being 100% raw. I have not had a 100% raw day since then. I have gone out of the way to have some raw each day still, I am not trying to give up on raw at all. I'm just trying to see how I manage trying to allow some cooked food into my diet after the extended period I have been high raw to 100% raw.

So after that, I have posted a gain of 4 pounds for the month, and no change in my waist size. I feel OK however. I am not bursting with as much energy as before, but I do not feel down. I do not feel any other issues either right now, so I must not be eating too badly I guess.

Daily Update - 8/31

2007-09-04T06:09:00.000-06:00

Today I was 70% raw.

Well, heres a first for my blog. I'm catching up on my posts since I didn't post over the weekend, and I can;t for the life of me remember what I ate for dinner Friday night! I'm pretty sure it was something cooked, I don't think I pulled a 100% raw day on Friday. So I'm just going to count this as a 70% day since I don't know what else to do.

Food Journal
Breakfast: Fruit Smoothie
Lunch: Salad
Dinner: I honestly can't remember