Raw Fruit Fast - Final Update

My raw fruit fast came to a premature end at noon on Monday, less than 24 hours from the original completion time. I was fine Sunday after my 10.4km run but when I got on the ice an hour later for hockey, I just wasn't right.

I had nothing in the tank and my heart was pounding. Not only that, my head was pretty spacy. It reminded me too much of the feeling I get when I donate blood. We only had one sub per side and got a good hour and half of hockey in - dreamlike conditions for me - but I was going off more than my share of the time. By this morning, I was getting light-headed from just standing up and my resting pulse was higher than normal.

I still received very positive results as far as weight loss, dropping four pounds in two days. This has put me in second place for the biggest loser contest at work... Also gone is the stomach bloat that I was living with for the past little while. I forgot to mention yesterday that on my run last night, my pace was the fastest since November despite the fact that I thought I was dogging it.

However, the lesson learned is that this might be a great fast to take on when you know you're going to be fairly inactive for a few days. I do see the benefit of even going just one day raw. In fact, I think it would be a good plan to do this once per week.

I must mention that what I had for lunch today was spectacular. Quiznos pulls off a great veggie sub. Most restaurants think that what will satisfy a veg custumer is sliced veggies on a bun. Quiznos steps it up a notch by putting guacamole on it. They also 'get it' when you ask for 'no cheese'. Those at Subway look at you like you're the strangest being when you exclude the cheese.

So what did I learn out of all this? Going raw is good. However, for me, going raw is not a full-time gig. I remember reading a bit of Tony Robbins' wisdom that you should start your day off with fresh fruit and try and go as long as you can before breaking. Not a bad idea. If you can eat just fruit until lunch, I think the health benefits will kick ass.

One other thing which is certainly worth noting. I wrote yesterday that I kept hydrated for pretty much 36 hours on fruit alone. This came severely to and end this morning. I just couldn't catch up by eating fruit alone and found myself quite dehydrated.

Raw Fruit Fast - Halfway Update

Well, I’m halfway through raw fruit 3-day fast. My weight was down 2 pounds today. I’ve been eating a variety of fruits and don’t really feel any hunger or weakness. What I have noticed, and had read that it would happen, is that have hardly drank any water. I had, in total, one glass of water since yesterday and most of that was before my 10km run tonight.

I still have hockey and will be, obviously, taking a water bottle on the bench. I have shown zero signs of dehydration, so far. The only thing that seems to be negative is a dull headache that seems to be following me around. I read that that would be one of the symptoms of raw fruit fasting, as well.

I do believe on Tuesday, after 10am, I will revert back to a plain old vegan diet with cooked veggies for at least one day. It’s more of an economic situation than anything else. I have a fridge full of veggies that will be past the point of eating raw and will need to be cooked or wasted.

I have a completely new fascination with raw avocado. I love the stuff cooked or raw and mixed with umpteen other veggies. On its own, avocado is just damn delicious.

Raw Fruit Fasting - First Attempt

At 10:00am, Saturday morning, January 16, I ate my final cooked meal for a few days. I ate a hardy mix of beans, rice, potato and tomato sauce. My last drink of green tea went down the hatch as well and by 10:30, my raw fruit fast had begun.

I was originally going to just do it for the day on Sunday. I changed my mind and decided to start today and end Monday morning. After doing some more reading on the subject this morning, I decided to extend the fast until Tuesday morning. Three days is the recommended length of time for someone trying this for the first time.

I woke up this morning weighing 178 pounds. At 4:00pm, that weight had been maintained. What has amounted to a beans, rice and potato diet over the last few weeks has left my stomach feeling like a beach ball and sounding like a bongo. I’m hoping that this is one other thing that will change over the next few days.

I stopped at the grocery store after work and an arena visit. I stocked up on Granny Smith apples, Red Delicious apples, Red pears, Bosc pears, Avocados, Pineapple, Cantaloupe, Coconut and Navel oranges. It only cost $23 including tax and I was pretty much able to fill the fridge. It still amazes me how relatively inexpensive a vegan diet is. Yet, I still get the comment all the time that it must cost so much to have a diet like mine.

Looking ahead to Tuesday, if all goes well (and I know it will) I plan to continue on raw but with veggies added in. I would like to go right around and back to Saturday morning. I’m so curious of what the physical and mental effects will be. There are so many conflicting opinions of a raw diet and I guess you only really know if you try it how it’s going to work for you.

On Tuesday, I do plan on re-starting my green tea habit, so I won’t be totally raw! I will continue to run and play hockey as usual. Actually, I hope to run a lot more than I have been. The running gods have finally blessed Orangeville with a prolonged winter warm spell with temps hovering just above the freezing mark. This has allowed for the roads and sidewalks to rid themselves of most of the snow and ice.

On a totally unrelated note...

Can you believe that a grown woman gave my 13 year old son the finger today at hockey?! This woman does have a history in town of being quite a bitch. It was at the hockey rink and her son’s team was playing against my son’s. Apparently my son looked through the glass along the boards to see this lovely lady giving him the middle finger!

Even less related...

If anyone out there is interested in OHL hockey or hockey in general, I’ve launched a new blog that follows graduates of the world’s greatest junior league as they make their way through the professional ranks around the world. It’s long been an obsession of mine and partly due to my horoscope in a cheesy movie magazine, the site was born January 11. OHL Alumni Central will hopefully be a hit but hopefully will never take me away from writing on this lovely blog. After all, what would the 3 or so readers do???

You may want to check out these earlier posts:

August 2009 Personal Challenges
Follow My Running At RunningAhead.com
Associated Content Article – Weight Loss Strategy That Works