Mr Green goes high raw ready for summer
Mr Green has adopted a high raw diet (about 50 – 60% at the moment). He’s a feast or famine kinda guy and has gone overnight from meat and two veg, coffee and alcohol to lots of fresh fruit, salads and little else.
He’s still having his large cup of strong coffee (with soya milk and honey) first thing in the morning, but after that it’s fruit juices and water for the day alongside a few calories of the green stuff.
I admire his willpower. I have similar will power, (which is probably why Little Miss Green managed to move a six foot fencing panel down the garden yesterday) but no desire to go high raw. I understand why people find the idea attractive, but I lose weight easily and, well, I just like warm food. Without much padding around me, it’s hard for me to maintain my body weight and temperature without a warm breakfast. Raw food appeals to me for a few days in the summer and then the novelty wears thin.
Mr Green did this diet a couple of years ago and the changes within him were amazing. Usually I have to roll him out of bed at 9am. I’m an early bird, so it’s not problem for me to get up and do some writing, find some space to meditate or even clean the house a little bit. Actually, I quite revere that space and solitude in my day. On the raw diet, however, Mr Green was waking, refreshed and raring to go at 6am throughout the summer.
He lost weight, which, to be honest, was no bad thing. But at one point we were a bit concerned that he need not lose anymore. Thankfully, his body started to regulate itself once we upped the calories a little, and he evened out. At that stage I was giving him more avocados and seeds, which provided him with more calories and fat.
Most of all was a change in his mood. He was much more easy going, more patient, more tolerant and clearly more happy. He noticed an ability to focus and he simply felt ‘lighter’ mind, body and spirit.
You wouldn’t believe the amount of emotion behind diets. Start talking about them in the public arena and it’s as emotive as politics or religion. Perfect strangers, if they overheard him talking about his food choices felt it ok to ridicule or criticise him. Others were more supportive, genuinely interested and encouraging.
It’s interesting how a lifetime of habit, messages and the values of society shape us. The most common question was ‘Where do you get your energy from if you’re not eating cooked food?’ The reality is that it takes an enormous amount of energy to process cooked food. You only have to look at the fact that you lose your appetite when you are ill to know this.
The body, in a state of disease will do all it can to preserve energy, and one of the simplest things is to put you off your food. You need that energy to heal, not waste it on processing a pile of cooked toxins!
Yesterday was wonderful in that nature is beginning to support his diet – he was able to gather fresh fennel, mint and lemon balm from the garden to add to his salad. Such simple things that bring such joy. There are young nettles around and dandelion leaves too – I love how Mother Nature provides all that we need to stay healthy and nurtured. Nettles and dandelion leaves are perfect for an inner spring clean and detox.
Have you ever made a radical diet change? What have your experiences been?