+Raw Diet: Days 5-7+

So, the raw diet cleanse is over, thank goodness. It was a tough seven days, but I made it through with minimal cheating - even Kristi was highly impressed. On Day 4, I started having some pretty major back pain that I couldn't determine the source of. I was afraid that just a few days on the raw diet were already messing with me somehow, but as it turns out, I think it was a product of my less-than-ergonomic desk setup at work. After some tweaks on Kristi's massage table and a few more to my workspace, my back is feeling much better - but it took four days to accomplish that! I'm just glad that the raw diet isn't to blame.

I did lose several pounds in just a few days on this diet, but a word to the wise: like any other diet where you cut out food groups (Atkins, South Beach, the cabbage soup or grapefruit fasts), as soon as you reintroduce those foods back into your life, chances are you'll gain all the weight back. Since this was an experiment and not a weight loss program, I'm okay with that, but please just remember that this is a fact of "crash" diets.

Eating raw is a lifestyle, and in order to be sustainable, it's necessary to keep all the food groups incorporated in that lifestyle. As a seven-day cleanse, I had no problem sticking to it, but to live 100% raw forever wouldn't be possible for me, and I don't think it's sustainable for many Americans. Eating raw can be expensive, it requires extensive planning, and the sense of deprivation is huge.

What did I eat Days 5-7?

Day Five
Breakfast - cubed cantaloupe and decaf tea
Lunch - none
Snack - raw walnuts
Dinner - none

Day Six
Breakfast - apple
Lunch - none
Snack - raw almonds
Dinner - half portion each steamed edamame and seaweed salad at Sakura

Day Seven
Breakfast - none
Lunch - apple
Snack - raw almonds
Dinner - *non-raw* - cheeseburger at Friendly's

It looks like I ate really poorly on this diet, but please keep in mind that all three of these days I was in pretty major pain due to the muscle strain on my back and therefore had very little appetite. I promise that I'm back to my normal routine of eating fruits and veggies, supplementing with some cooked foods. In the next three weeks, I'll be trying to keep as much of my diet raw as possible while continuing to balance my meals.