Eat Food. Not too Much. Mostly Plants.

Its hard to believe that I've been at this now for 9 days, and that I haven't had solid food in 10. I never would have imagined I could have even made it half this time before I started, and it feels to me like I could go on for quite some time more if I felt like it. However, I think the detoxification is mostly done. Tomorrow marks the last day of the juice fast, and I will start coming off of the fast over the following 3 days, slowly adding more and more solid foods into my diet until I reach a 100% raw diet for the next 8.

I've been perusing some blogs/websites/online resources looking for raw recipes, and have found a couple of very good ones.

http://rawon10.blogspot.com/
http://www.fromsadtoraw.com/RawRecipes.htm
http://www.goneraw.com
http://www.giveittomeraw.com

As you know if you've been reading subsequent blog posts, the type of diet that I want to be partaking in when I'm done has gone back and forth several times. I'm still not sure. My primary focus in all of this was to begin eating healthier -- becoming more cognizant of what I take into my body in both amount and content. I want to ensure that the food I am eating is nutritious, healthy, and full of solid beneficial calories, not empty and wasteful calories.

That's what lead me to the 'Raw' diet and lifestyle. I love that the food is uncooked so all the beneficial enzymes are present in it. I love that there is a focus on raw organic fruits and vegetables. What I don't like about it is the cost and the lack of availability during the winter months. I also have absolutely no desire to become vegan -- I like meat. I hunt, I fish, and not just for the outdoor experience. There is nothing better than sitting down with your family and partaking in a Elk Roast, or a Salmon Fillet that you killed, butchered, and cooked. It's a satisfying feeling -- and one I'm not particularly willing to give up.

So I thought, I'll go 3/4 raw or 50% Raw, that way I can still partake in meat or dairy (in moderation) if I feel like it, and just make sure that the fruits and vegetables that I take in are raw.

Then I got to thinking... really, what I'm philosophizing over here is semantics. There is a quote by Michael Pollan on the cover of his book, In Defense of Food that sums up my maintenance diet strategy succinctly.

"Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants."

That's it. The wonderful beauty of simplicity. As I thought about it, that summed up my entire viewpoint on the matter. Really, my concept of a 'raw' food diet, was more a concept of a 'real food' diet.

The things we should stuff in our craw should be REAL food, not the 'edible food like substances' pimped in the aisles of our grocery stores. REAL FOOD! We should avoid the food that have been processed, artificially dyed, mixed with 30 different chemicals that hardly anyone knows what they are. We should be looking at it from a standpoint of family farm food. Fresh raw fruits and vegetables, farm fresh eggs from your own chickens, grass fed meats and wild game.

In addition, we should control the portions of the real food that we do eat. There's no sense sitting down at a meal and downing a 32 ounce Prime Rib. No that's not a typo, I've done it. 32 ounces in a single sitting. WITH the mashed potatoes, vegetables and roll. It was uncomfortable, but achieved. Seriously? That should have been 4-8 different meals. Portion control...

Lastly, what we eat should be mostly plants. What I thought I was talking about with my 'raw' food diet, actually was more of a mostly vegetarian diet -- increasing my intake of fruits and vegetables, most of which should be raw organic fruits and vegetables purchased from local farms or grown myself. Meat should not be the centerpiece of a meal. It should be used in moderation and as a compliment to the remainder of the meal.

We have become so reliant in the United States on CAFO's, Monoculture, GMO's, and the like -- we've failed to realize what we're even putting in our faces anymore. It's not food. It's engineered, made in a lab. It's got to stop. The sad part, is that its priced affordable for folks to eat. It's encouraged on Oregon Trail and food stamps, in fact the Organic Produce is priced so much higher than other comparable, yet pesticide laced fruits and vegetables, that many skip right over it. Why? Because the agricultural companies would go bankrupt and go under if everyone started buying from local family farms. Then those large agricultural corporations couldn't support political candidates that keep their farms alive by making laws that support them. It's time to go back to the basics folks. THAT'S what I want to do when this 21 day RAW experience is over. Get back to basics.

Eat Food. Not too Much. Mostly Plants. Rant over. Out.