@Chuck: Yes, please learn from our mistakes! (:

@JoVE: The pleasure of eating was definitely a sticking point for me. But interestingly, after going back to cooked foods, they weren’t the TASTE EXPLOSION that I was expecting. Hmm…

@Nick: Thanks, we’ll keep you posted. (:

@Emma: That sounds yummy and doable (if we invested in a juicer). We went with the RevitaLive meal plan, but it sounds like we would have been better off with something more like Steve Pavlina’s “all bananas all the time” meal plan. (:

@Leonie: That is awesome! Compiling that folder of recipes sounds like a very important preparation step that we completely skipped. And I eagerly await your Cupcake Dissertation. (:

@Duff: Perhaps so. I’m curious to learn more about that sort of thing; for instance some omnivores report getting ill when they try to go vegetarian. I wonder…

@Oliver: Yeah, we had a couple of meals at The Daily Juice, Austin’s raw food restaurant, and they were incredible! I didn’t notice any effects other than yumminess, but the yumminess was enough. Also, we had been vegan for 3 months before starting the raw experiment.

And yeah, definitely the thing about childhood issues and securities around food. I stopped eating salt when I had to watch my blood pressure before my surgery last year, and you wouldn’t BELIEVE the crap it triggered to force myself not to eat foods I wanted to eat, and to eat foods that didn’t taste right because I didn’t add any salt. *shudder* I’m very, very attached to my comfort foods!

I have zero interest in a raw food diet for myself. I like cooking too much, and hate cleaning up…I’d never eat if I had so much clean-up and none of the cooking to make it worthwhile! Also, the one time I ate a meal at a raw food cafe…well, it was amazing, I got seriously high on it. Which was awesome…for like, a couple hours, but I was so euphoric I don’t think I could have functioned on a normal plane if I were in that state around the clock. It was INTENSE.

Perhaps it’s time to give up the notion that there is any correct diet that will get you into health heaven and turn inward, listen to our stomachs and tongues and hearts and mindfully eat whatever we are drawn to eating that day.

Thank you for your deep honesty and sharing :)

What I’ve learned… is that there is about 40% of raw food recipes I just cannot do. It just doesn’t feel like “real food” to me. Yark. Blerk. I compiled instead a folder of recipes that I love love love, and build my menu from that.

And I don’t really push myself to do 100% raw…
I am currently researching cupcakes and will continue eating them until my Great Cupcake Taste-test Thesis is complete.

*snorkle*

I plan on going on it again soon. But the first few days is the hardest. I beleive the cravings and tiredness are part of the detox effect, and as your body detoxes from certain foods the craving will subside.

Also I think you guys are making it too complicated by trying to make all of those raw food recipes. Those should probably be reserved as treats. Just focus on fruits, and salads, green smoothies and juices.

My favorite breakfast was bananas, blueberries, and raspberries, throw in a green smoothie, with banana and spinach, and you will almost be too full to eat your spinach salad, with red peppers, mushrooms, raw olives, walnuts, and whatever other vegetables you like. Then for a snack have some raw chips (purchased from Whole Foods) with some avocado dip. Then juice a pineapple, or have some raw corn, you can blend it with chives and lukewarm water to make a soup, or just eat it raw off of the cob. Then have another green smoothie before bed. My point is just eat what you like and make it as simple as possible, in a hurry grab 3 bananas and some clementines, if the fruit is too sour drizzle on some raw agave.

Different people have different body chemistry, but I think you may have been over complicating the raw diet. Plus if you aren’t enjoying what you are eating don’t eat it and find something you like. Good luck.

It was courageous of you to stick the experiment for as long despite the poor results. I’m inspired!

Good luck on future food experimentation.

Here is something that stuck out for me though. Your dislike of the food seemed to be about a whole range of things — taste, texture, etc. And yet the advice you quoted “They say “If it doesn’t taste great, add berries, agave, or raw honey,” ” seems to assume that tasting good is all about tasting sweet

I LOVE food. I love the variety. It isn’T just sweetness. It’s textural variety. And spices. and all kinds of things. Sometimes, I think certain food things get focused on a very narrow version of health and discount the pleasure of eating. They treat food as fuel. Instead of the wonderful sensory experience that it can be. I wonder if that is part of the problem for you.