30 Days of Raw Food

Cindy on YouTube with Catch A Healthy Habit Cafe

Hartford Courant raw foodie Cindy Kuse chats with Glen Colello of Catch A Healthy Habit Cafe in this video on YouTube.

'Raw Power' indeed

Done properly, eating raw food isn't just part of your life, it becomes your life.

During the past 30 days, I've learned definitively I don't have the time or, frankly, the interest it takes to live at such a high raw threshold: Soaking and sprouting seeds or nuts before I can eat them, sorting through the reams of advice and counter-advice, monitoring the minute details of my digestive process. It's just not for me.

That's not all I learned, however, when I gave up meat and dairy products and anything cooked above 118 degrees.  And though I was initially determined not to, I even gave up coffee (mostly because I ran out of beans before I had a chance to buy more).

With those things off limits, I found myself necessarily paying closer attention to the food I've been eating. Because I've prepared much of it myself, I know what ingredients comprise pretty much everything I have ingested, and that's surprisingly empowering. It's also what I'll take with me as I return to a more inclusive diet.

There are parts of the raw-food diet I'll keep. Salads of sprouts and dark, leafy greens, for example, and breakfast smoothies, along with certain dishes that were delicious. I'll be eating more fruits and vegetables and way less processed food.

I also plan on eating meat and cheese and bread, and by the time you read this, I will have already brewed myself a hot cup of dark-roast coffee.

I doubt the level of raw food in my diet will qualify for what raw foodists call "high raw," but that's OK: Henceforth, I don't mind getting most of my "Raw Power" from Iggy & the Stooges.

Spicing things up

The beauty of a fantasy is that it can change at will.
Instead of that lonely tropical island I longed for, I am now on a yacht, sailing warm, calm seas. I am still alone.
Well, almost alone.
There is a chef on board — a culinary master with unimaginable skills. She knows Thai. She knows Indian, Mexican, Cajun, Asian, Caribbean. And, yes, she knows raw.
Tropical green smoothies for breakfast. Luscious salads for lunch. And endless, eclectic delights for dinner.
With so many choices in the world, and so little time to enjoy them, why would I settle for just one option?
After 30 days of eating exclusively raw foods, I am hungry for variety. That doesn’t mean I won’t carry a lot with me from this experiment. My eating habits definitely have changed permanently. I’m not willing to forgo the extra energy I feel or to regain the small amount of weight I have lost, which makes exercising so much easier.
And although this is a healthful way to eat, it’s not the only healthful way, and I don’t see my life taking me down an exclusively raw path — mostly because of its limitations, but also because I am just not an extremist in anything I do.
So I won’t be sad to leave this experiment behind, but I won’t be going back to SAD, either.
I envision eating salads, smoothies and chia seeds daily. Soaked nuts, almond butter and almond milk are here to stay. Raw agave and honey will be my sweetener of choice. Processed foods are mostly part of my past. But I will be eating dinner with my family and dining out with my friends in moderation. My choices on those occasions will no doubt include more raw, but not exclusively.
What I won’t miss? The monotony. Green juices. Multiple trips to Whole Foods. Thinking today about what I’m having for tomorrow’s dinner. And my bathroom.
Will I ever eat exclusively raw again?
Only if my yacht sinks, my chef drowns and I end up stranded on that island after all.

A New Balance In Post-Raw Diet

Yesterday's paper carried essays from the three of us explaining what we plan to do, post-raw. Here's what I wrote. Be sure to check back on the blog in two weeks, and then in a month, to see how we're doing.

There's a perception that this month of going raw has been about deprivation, that a celebration of burgers and fries awaited at the end. But for me, that would be beside the point of going raw in the first place. And it's not at all how I've been looking at this challenge.

I wanted to give raw food a go to quiet the frenetic pace I had found myself in -- eating on the run, chewing on sugary sweets, slapping meals together without much thought. I felt tired and burned out, and I hoped a living-foods lifestyle would be the pick-me-up I needed.

None of us came to raw to tackle a major health problem, as a lot of people suffering from chronic illness or obesity do. And that's where you'll hear a lot of the stories of staggering transformations, of people vibing big-time on raw.

Still, it's fair to say I saw my own tangible shifts. Did I find the raw bliss I envisioned? No. Do I feel better, lighter and more alert? Without question. I no longer rely on a java jolt to wake me in the mornings, and I don't have the afternoon slumps that drew me to the office coffeepot for another cup. I've learned there's a lot more variety and pleasure in eating raw than I expected. And I've found a balance that keeps me energized enough to sweat through my evening spinning classes.

Am I going 100 percent raw? I don't see that in my permanent future. But I see it for today, tomorrow and probably next week. I figure, I'm in a raw groove and feeling good, so I might as well stick with it until I decide it's not working for me. Why fix what ain't broke?

Still, rigid rules aren't my bag. So I'm certain I'll find my way to the coffeepot and an order of grilled salmon soon enough. I enjoy those things too much to swear off them for life.

But for now, I'm keeping as high a raw diet as is practical in the daily grind and seeing where it takes me.

Hello, Freedom

People keep congratulating us -- like we've done something special.

But people set challenges for themselves all the time, diet or otherwise. They succeed. They fail. They try again.

But they don't do it with hundreds of people watching.

So on this evening, during the last few hours of our little experiment, that's what I'm looking forward to most. Not breakfast, but the choice to choose what I eat without it being so public -- the choice to fail or succeed without letting anyone else down.

Don't get me wrong. I've truly enjoyed most of this, but I'm not sure I could have done it without the pressure of everyone watching.

So I don't feel that I have done anything that challenging or special. The people who are conquering real challenges are the raw foodists who are constantly bombarded with the memory and smells of cooked foods but resist eating them because they believe it is what is best for mind and body.

So I'm happy to be out of the public eye, but I'm willing to let you know what I'm eating for breakfast on the first day of my new semi-raw life:

One piece of sprouted-grain toast with organic butter and raw honey, chia seed and almond milk pudding and organic freshly squeezed oj.

The rest of the day is for my eyes only.

Bye-bye Raw?

People have been asking me what's on the menu for my breakfast tomorrow, the first official meal outside the confines of this raw experiment.

Answer: Probably a greens-and-fruit smoothie.

You can read more in tomorrow's paper about what exactly the three of us plan to do, post-raw. But I'll just say this much. I wasn't looking at this challenge as, well a challenge. It wasn't an experiment of deprivation with the reward dangling at the end of 30 days to pig out. In fact, it didn't feel very depriving at all. I came to this month of raw out of curiosity, and to see if I could dust off some good health habits that had fallen to the wayside. I had a slow, frustrating start. But standing on this side of 30 days, I'd say mission accomplished.

One of the coolest things about this process, though, has been the response. I've heard from a good number of people who've said reading along has made them reflect on their own dietary choices, and think a little harder about what they're putting into their mouths and onto the table for their families. It doesn't have to be a question of 100 percent raw or nothing. Cutting back on sugar and packaged foods, putting out more fresh fruits and vegetables, scaling back on caffeine. Even my mother, come to find out, has been inspired to make green smoothies her breakfast and lunch staple. (We'll set aside the fact she has some strange combinations. Romaine lettuce, fruit and...red bell peppers?)

All these little steps that people have told me they're making can add up to big changes. I fully believe that.

Last weekend, I finally had a chance to watch an advance review copy of "Raw for 30 Days", the documentary film that, in part, inspired our experiment.  (None of us, however, came into this trying to treat a major health issue). The movie's new title is "Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days" and it's set to premiere at the Newport International Film Festival in Rhode Island in June. It's a provocative film and worthwhile viewing for anyone exploring the connection between food and illness. Hopefully it'll spark an important conversation about the way we look at health and medicine in this country.

So am I going 100 percent raw? I won't answer that right now. But the question is, if I do, do you think my editors will let me change my byline to Courant Raw Staff Writer?

Thank you and goodnight

Today is the last day of our 30-day raw-food diet.

First, to all my colleagues who predicted I'd quit halfway through, thbbbbbbbt!

Seriously, though, I've learned a lot over the past month. Raw food is more than just twigs and berries, for one thing. In fact, it can be delicious, and was especially so Sunday night when we three went to Pure Food and Wine in New York.

But it wasn't cheap. The diet as a whole isn't cheap. Raw foodists say the food bills normalize once you get a better sense of what, and how much, you'll be eating. But the diet just really isn't for me.

As I said at the outset, I like cooked food. Giving up meat and dairy (and bread and so on) for 30 days was definitely an interesting experiment in getting by. But I did it. Eventually, I even gave up coffee, though that was mostly because I ran out of beans before I had a chance to buy more. (And no, I don't feel more energetic or alert.)

I'll be incorporating all those things back into my diet, though I'll be much more watchful about how I do it. Making most of my meals at home, from natural ingredients, let me know exactly what I was eating, and I like that enough to not forswear it just for the sake of a cheeseburger. Well, not every day, at least.

Wining and Dining

One of my main sticking points with raw has been this air of rigidity that swirls in certain circles. Even if you think you're doing a heckuva job eating 100 % raw, there's someone eager to point out that well, actually, those almonds you're eating aren't really raw, and you should be careful about how much fruit you're eating, and you shouldn't be drinking water with your meals, or eating fruit with your salad, and it sounds like you're getting too much salt -- no, not enough - no, too much salt in your diet.

It can be paralyzing, this constant correcting. My first two weeks I had this sense that no matter how thoughtfully I went about my food choices, I somehow was still doing raw wrong. When you get these bits of discouragement coming at you from different directions, you just want to throw your hands up at the impossibility of it all. I can understand the enthusiasm people might have to share what's worked for them, but it can be counterproductive in what should be the real goal : to encourage people on the path to making healthier choices and give them reason to keep going. Otherwise, it just becomes about being able to wear the "100% raw" label. And who exactly is keeping score?

Which is why our celebration dinner at Pure Food and Wine in New York on Sunday was so refreshing. Forget the fact that the meal, from appetizer to dessert, was absolutely delicious, with each innovative dish presented like a little piece of artwork. But there was no sense of raw vs. cooked judgment around the dinner tables. About 14 or so people, all at their own levels of commitment to raw foods, came along with our raw coach, Glen.

I particularly liked something that Frank Giglio said. A local raw food chef with an inspiring story, he just came back from a 10-month apprenticeship at The Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center in Arizona and is training for a 100-mile endurance run this summer. (That's not a typo. 100 miles. Non-stop. Fueled by raw foods. Really).

There are so many raw food gurus out there, he said, each with a different take. He suggested people not get so caught up in all their various "rules", but to take in all the information and try things on for size. What fits, keep. What doesn't, toss. Trust your intuition. He told a great story that bordered on parable about his friend, a vegan-raw foodist who lives out in the wild somewhere. She had been weak and underweight, and started having recurrent dreams about eggs -- not part of a vegan diet. When she woke one morning to find a chicken had laid an egg on her bed, she figured it was as clear a sign as any. Veganism aside, she started adding raw eggs to her smoothies. Sure enough, her strength and energy came back.

My intuition tells me pretty strongly that I can skip that raw egg idea entirely. But now I'm wondering what to make of the weird dream that I had last night. I'll tell you if anything strange shows up on my bed tomorrow morning.

******

If you can't stand the heat...

...sneaking a peek in the kitchen at Pure Food and Wine.

I had these asparagus and avocado nori rolls for an appetizer. (No, not sushi!) The rice, I'm told, is made from a jicama base.

My main dish, a flavorful saag paneer with "rice."

The flourless chocolate cake that Cindy and I had. She declared it "the best dessert I've ever had."

Charmed, I'm Sure

This started out as the hardest weekend of all.  So close to the finish line, yet still too far to go.

I'm ready to be finished.  So ready.  During my trip to the market this weekend, I found myself stuffing my cart with goodies for my family. A horseradish cheddar.  Marinated olives.  Steaming, creamy lentil and coconut Thai soup. Then it hit me. These weren't foods my family wanted. These were foods I wanted.

I bought it all anyway. I made them eat it. 

That was Saturday. Sunday was better.

Great actually. First I got to meet Joann's delightful sister, Donna, our guest blogger, who was kind enough to walk me around the city with Joann for several hours before our dinner at Pure Food and Wine in New York   -- 14 "raw foodies" hooking up for a gourmet meal.  Everyone was charming and the food was fabulous.  We had three courses, and I had my first glass of wine in more than six weeks. I had a mushroom and white asparagus appetizer; white corn tamales with raw cacao mole, marinated mushrooms, salsa verde and avocado as my entree; and the flourless chocolate cake for dessert. The first two courses were tasty, but the dessert was outrageous. In my limited experience, raw desserts are by far the best of the magic that raw food chefs are able to create.  (I even caught one member of our party, who shall remain nameless, licking his dish.)

I can't possibly remember everyone's name, but Joann, Eric and I sat with Glen Colello, Lisa Storch and  Frank Giglio, a really nice guy aptly named because of his honest and direct answers to my questions (although the mother in me is a little freaked out by his goal to run 100 miles in under 30 hours.)

It was refreshing to hear from him that each person has to to search for what works for her, that trying to live someone else's rigid dogma is a sure way to fail.  He's been eating raw for a while now, and I gathered that he's eating really high on the scale, very few nuts and fats. But he's not grossed out by the smells of grilling food, and it did my mother's heart good to hear him say how fondly he remembers the food from his childhood. His understanding of the world's temptations was comforting and went a long way toward easing some the of the guilt I'm feeling about certain things I plan to eat after Tuesday. (Hey, that's tomorrow!)

We didn't get home until 1:30 in the morning, so I'm running on about 4 hours of sleep today.  In my pre-raw life, I would have dragged myself out of bed and been dragging myself around the rest of the day, counting the hours until bedtime. But I feel good. Good enough, in fact, that I'm going to the gym tonight.  Not bad for the old gal in the group.

28 Days and Celebrating

Four weeks ago today, the three of us were getting set to dive into this uncooked lifestyle, not at all knowing what to expect. Would we be cranky and hungry? Would we take to it with raw abandon? Would Cindy and Eric still be my friends at the end of week one?

We know the answers to some of those questions. But it ain't over yet. We still have a few days left. Still, our trio is celebrating the end of this monthlong experiment tonight, dining with our raw coach Glen Colello at Pure Food and Wine, considered one of the top raw gourmet restaurants in New York. It should be a great time. The menu is so enticing, with such creative-sounding dishes. I can't wait to check it all out, and raise a glass (of young coconut water) to toast my raw compadres.