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After eating too much rice on holiday I decided it was time for a raw vegan detox. I discovered a number of benefits after my days eating raw.
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Why I did it? [spacer height=”20px”]
I have done a raw food detox in the past and felt great from it but never blogged about it. After being on holiday for nearly three weeks and enjoying eating any food I wanted to, was great (obviously still vegan). However, As I came to the end of the holiday I realised how much rice I had eaten. I honestly think I had about 5 kg of rice in the first week. It was madness. I love rice but this was literally what came with every meal. The one meal I thought would be rice free would be breakfast. Wrong! Coffee and rice does not go too well believe it or not. So I decided that I wanted to do a detox of some sort when I got home for a few days. I have heard of a few detox diets such as juicing and liquids only. For myself these two types of detox would not work because I like eating food. The thought i of not eating for a few days is a struggle itself, never mind actually doing it. I hear that people feel great from doing this but it’s not for me. Doing something you know you will completely hate is not worthwhile in my opinion because it will just make you unhappy and no one wants that. So I decided to do something I have tried and tested before. I set a certain amount of days that I wanted to do it for which was five days and this is ironic because if you read our blogs anyway you will know that we love the number 5 for some strange reason. Everything we do seems to be in five. Quite funny actually as it isn’t intended. Right back to the blog. The reason I set it to this many days was because I was going to my favourite vegan restaurant on the weekend and wasn’t missing out on eating there. Also it is longer than I have done before as I only done it for three days before. If you decide to give something like this a go yourself set a goal of how long your going to do it for rather than “just see how it goes” because you will fail at the first hurdle. [spacer height=”20px”]
What did I eat?
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Now I know this is what your all wondering. It’s bad enough going vegan with comments from people like “what do you even eat” and “do you only eat broccoli”. So going completely raw is even more of a mystery. I set my calories higher than what I would normally eat. From the research I have done it is suggested that you raise your calories when going on a raw food diet. So my calories to maintain my weight with my current exercise programme is 2600. I decided to up my calories and set it at 3500. This is quite a lot of food I know and even more so when following a rice food diet. I set it at this so I wouldn’t go hungry as from previous experience when I have done this before I set it at 3000 calories and was hungry throughout the day. So the food…I will give you an example of one of the days that I did. I used my fitness pal to track all my food to make sure that I was getting all my calories. If you are going to try this raw food detox I recommend you track everything you eat as well.[spacer height=”20px”]
1 litre of coconut water 188 Cals
7 bananas- 756 Cals
50g kale- 16 Cals
Raw hemp protein powder- 222 Cals
300g Medjoul dates- 804 Cals
3 clementines- 105 Cals
1 pear- 100 Cals
150g blueberries- 86 Cals
1 tomato- 25 Cals
3 teaspoon coconut oil- 118 Cals
10g wheatgrass- 26 Cals
2 avocados- 380 Cals
2 apples- 176 Cals
125 raspberries- 104 Cals
65 mixed almonds- 407 Cals
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So a lot of food. The first thing that will stick out to you is that there will be a tonne of sugar on this detox. I agree and it is one thing that concerned me. However, I chose to ignore all my concerns about it and just go with the flow to see how I felt. The only thing I added in was raw hemp protein just to get a little bit of added protein. It is up you if you want to do this yourself or just leave it out. If you are going to add some form of protein powder then its best to opt for a raw kind such as Sunwarrior. [spacer height=”20px”]
Benefits of eating raw?
- Avoid all food intolerances – Some of the main food intolerances are dairy, wheat (gluten), soy, and eggs. However, when eating a raw vegan diet you cut out all the foods containing these completely. A vegan diet is usually known for being a healthier lifestyle but there a loads of foods out there that can be vegan and unhealthy such as Oreos and ice cream. So lets not kid ourselves and think just because we are vegan that we are healthy. Even a vegan such as myself when not following the raw detox I eat a lot of grains and some soy, as soy is in a lot of food that you wouldn’t think it would be in. That’s why I think it is beneficial for everyone to do a form of detoxing every once in a while to cut out everything. [spacer height=”20px”]
- Feeling great – Obviously this will be different for everyone but for myself when I did the detox I felt amazing. At first it is a bit of a shock to the system especially if you have routine such as having oats for breakfast or a morning coffee. On day one when you first wake up and have several bananas its a bit weird. For some of you it might be ok as you might do this already but for myself I like having a big smoothie with oats and nut butters in. The smoothie still contain a lot of raw food but does have quite a bit in that isn’t raw so the transition was weird at first. Eliminating these foods make you feel great after you get over the shock and once you have got into your head that you’re raw for a certain amount of days is does get easier.
- Digestion is better – I don’t know about you but after certain foods such as wheat I always feel bloated. Foods like wheat and dairy are hard to digest that’s why we feel bloated. However, on a raw food diet I never once felt bloated. Even after eating eight bananas in one sitting. I felt completely fine. I also thought upping my calories over my usual amount that I would feel bloated all the time. I was the complete opposite. If anyone has any digestion issues I recommend trying this for at least a few days to see how you feel. [spacer height=”20px”]
Negatives of eating raw?[spacer height=”20px”]
- Cost – The cost of eating the average vegan diet is not expensive at all although people who are not vegan are famous for saying that “it must cost you a fortune to eat like that”. Wrong. However, to eat completely raw for only five days for my detox cost me about £30 more than what I would normally spend. I tried to buy as much organic fruit and vegetables to get the most out the detox as I could. I simply could not afford to buy all the foods on the detox organic. If you can afford to buy everything organic then great, do so. If you cannot then do what I did and try to buy as much as you can afford to.
- Headaches – About two days in I was suffering mild headaches which I suspect is down to cutting out the caffeine from my coffee. I would imagine that everyone would have different reactions to the detox but do not let it put you off. My body felt great it was just the headaches that were the only negative symptom that I had.
- Can feel like you’re on a diet – I know that you are following a detox which is similar to a diet in some ways. The foods that you can eat are quite limited and you find yourself eating a lot of the same foods.I hate the thought of not being able to eat something that I want. It can feel like this but I just kept saying to myself it is only for a few days. Do what I did and reward yourself after your detox and go to your favourite restaurant or eat your preferred foods. That way you have something to look forward to. [spacer height=”20px”]
Verdict
I am pleased that I did the detox and the timing for me was perfect as I had just come off a holiday. The choice in detox for me was right as well. As much as I have heard great things about other detoxes such as, juicing, I don’t think these are for me. I like the act of eating so I think picking the right detox has to be suitable for you otherwise you will hate it. There are people out there who follow a completely raw vegan diet full time and I have a a lot of respect for them. It takes discipline to go vegan never mind completely raw vegan. So to summarise, going raw full time isn’t for me. However, I will be doing a few days a month fully raw just to cleanse the body. I recommend everyone try this diet a see what they think of it and let me know how you got on.
By Ant
