Raw Food Update: Menu Plan

Tomorrow it starts!

Of course I was planning on having my menu all worked out early enough to run it past the community on a raw food forum, but work kinda filled up my days and I’ve had to settle for searching for one already made.  I have only some small modifications, to adjust for what’s available down here in semi-regional NSW.

Oh and I’ve got my first sponsor already!  Remember I’m trying to raise funds & awareness for the Queensland Flood Victims, and the monies will go to the Premiers Disaster Relief Appeal – feel free to donate directly and just post your pledge in the comments, otherwise any donations received this month through the paypal button to the right will be included, unless you tell me not to in the ‘comments’ field.

Menu Planning

This menu plan came via the “We Like it Raw” blog, and it’s from David Wolfe’s “Sun Food Diet Success System” (must get that book).  I’m posting my modified version below.  It starts on the Monday, so I was just going to move everything a day forward, but he’s done the stuff I’ll need to do fresh juices for etc on the weekend.  Then I thought I could just start with Sunday’s menu, but that includes dulse (a kind of sea-vegetable) and I’m still trying to find a source for that.  So, I’m leaving it mostly as is (gives me a week to find it, or work out an alternative) and including a different plan for the first Sunday based on Steve Pavlina’s last raw food trial.  It’ll be interesting to have that day of greens first/fruits last to compare the rest of the week to.  I also like that there’s a breakfast free day on the Sunday.

Raw Protein

The first question everyone asks is about where I’ll be getting my protein from.  Well, the short answer is nuts, seeds, sprouts & superfoods like spirulina.  I plan on posting up the nutritional count of what I actually have at the end of each day, so you’ll be able to see where it comes from.  I know the current ‘wisdom’ is that you need about 25% protein, but having started reading “The China Study” I’m no longer nearly so worried about it as I was, and I’ll be targeting a much lower percentage.  (Did you know that you grow heaps on mother’s milk which is only 2% protein?)  In fact, I did live quite healthily for many years growing up without any protein source except my veg plus dairy.  I used to think the lack of protein was why I put on weight, but now I wonder if it wasn’t the dairy side.  In any case I’ll find out one way or the other over the next 30 days.

The Menu Plan: Week 1

Pre-diet baselines

The blood test came back during the week, and it seems my cholesterol has already started dropping with the changes I’ve been making to my diet since I accidentally gave up coffee.  Copies of the full test are with both the doctor and the naturopath that are monitoring me this month.

Before:

In the summary, most of my blood levels were normal, with the exception of the Cholesterol which is already heading south.  My weight, obviously, is high, but I’ve been working on that since age 7 when I was put on my first diet, so I’m not going to be excessively hoping for miracle results here.  Anything downwards, obviously, would be great.  I should note that I do have a fairly high levels of muscle mass, so even if I had NO fat on me, I’d still come in above the normal weight.  I have a scale that measures hydration, bmi, muscle mass etc so I’ll check and post on those weekly.

Final Preparations

Today’s plan of attack: package, toss or give away everything that I’m not going to be having in the fridge.  I’ll leave the freezer alone since I hopefully won’t be using it.  I’m clearing a shelf in the pantry for allowed items, and I was half thinking of putting some kind of cover over the front of the other shelves – but when the bf comes to visit he’ll want to have his coffee/sugar etc so I’ll save that for if the cravings etc get too desperate.

Put away any appliances I won’t be using – the coffee maker’s already up on top of the cupboard, it’s about to be joined by the toaster. I’ll leave the kettle out for him.  The set of saucepans I have hanging are going away in a cupboard too.  Then I get to dig out the juicer and blender, and they’ll get prominent placing on the space I’ve freed up.  I don’t own a dehydrator, which is the other major piece of raw-prep equipment.  Although the bf thinks I won’t be spending a lot of time on preparation (”What’s going to take any time in: go to fridge, take out veggie, eat veggie”) I think I’ll be putting together quite a few salads, so I’ll have to work out how long I need to leave for meal prep as I go along.  I’m also going to have to pack up my hand juicer to bring in to work for dressing my salads with fresh lemons/oranges (it’s one of those plastic types – found one on ebay to show you).

Shopping list: from the quantities here, I think I’m going to have to do at least 2 shops this week!  I’m heading out today and pick up a stack of fruit & veggies for my first few days, up to Thursday at least.  Then I’ll head for the nuts & seeds section so I can start some sprouts.  I only have a few jars, so I’ll possibly need to get more, but that can wait til Thursday too.

Tonight, we’re having a nice meal together from the local Indian Restaurant, since it was that part of the raw diet that got most objections from him.  So, this weekend he’ll get to do that, before he gives up that aspect of our relationship for the next 4.  I’m also getting him to take a before photo which I’ll post up tomorrow.

Oh, and since I’ll be reporting on what I’ve had during the day, my posts are going to be shifting time-wise a bit.  You’ll still be able to get them delivered via the rss feed, if you’re signed up, and I’ll be using the twitter notification to mention when each report goes up, so if you follow me on twitter you’ll get notice there too (and probably the occasional short comment on what’s happening if things come up as the day progresses)

See you later!

Tagged as: 30 day trial, Premiers Disaster Recovery Appeal, Queensland Flood Victims, Raw foodism, self-discipline