Weekly Summary: Week Four on Raw Foods by drpr Blog entry

Blog: Raw Odyssey
by drpr

Weekly Summary: Week Four on Raw Foods

Three more pounds gone! Also, changes in my experience with depression since starting raw

Date: 1/29/2006 11:07:26 AM ( 18 y ) ... viewed 2288 times

NOTES

I cut down on hummus and saw an immediate improvement in that pesky intestinal problem I've been dealing with. I'm sad because I really like hummus! But I feel better without its side effects.

I ate more fats than I planned this this week

I visited a great raw food restaurant and found raw nori and nama shoyu, plus "bread" that really is raw.

I got a bunch of culinary toys: a blender, a citrus juicer, a spiral slicer, a digital scale and a dehydrator. I love all of them, but I still want to eat as many whole, fresh foods as possible. The dehydrator while help me with school because it'll be nice to take dried fruits with me. I will also start making smoothies with the blender.

Although I haven't experienced what people call detox, don't feel closer to nature or more spiritual, and don't have any new "electric" feelings inside me from going raw, I can say that my depressive mood has lifted.

A Word about Depression
If any of you has ever been depressed, you might have had experiences like mine. I created something like a groove in my brain - this worn down path I kept automatically treading that was full of negative thoughts and imagery. I used to think about death- my own, my loved ones... I would think up all sorts of sad and terrible things that could happen to me. I imagined failing at school or on the job. I had my "favorite" little depression fantasies that I'd go over again and again before I went to sleep at night and in the morning when I woke up. Those negative thoughts went around and around and I was used to them and thought they were normal. (When I met with a therapist I learned otherwise).

Interestingly, since going raw, I notice that thinking those old thoughts no longer give me any of that - I don't know the word... comfort? That "comfortable" feeling you get when you go over the same thoughts over and over. They might be sad thoughts, but they are YOUR thoughts and you're used to them. But lately I find it more difficult to think those old thoughts. They don't do much for me anymore. This past week I actually made the effort to sustain my negative thinking and I couldn't do it- it felt foreign! All I can say is that it seems that my depression has lifted and that when my mind tries to drift back to that negative thinking, it finds no satisfaction because those thoughts are not needed any longer. If "needed" is the right word. Does anyone know what I mean? Not being depressed opens my mind up to new possibilities, like maybe I will reach my weight and fitness goals! Maybe I will succeed this time! Hey, maybe that's a form of detox- I'm detoxing my mind!! Without medication!

Here is the summary for this week:

NUTRIENTS

Fat ranges from............ approx 45 to 85 grams

Protein...........................approx 35 to 55 gms

Calcium.........................approx 0% to 800% RDA

Magnesium....................approx 39% to 165% RDA

Folate............................approx25% to 175% RDA

Carbs............................approx 100g to 220g

Cholesterol....................approx 0 mg to 60 mg

Potassium.....................approx 1000 mg to 4000 mg

Calories.........................887 to 1589

B12 ...............................5.83% to 100%

Iron...............................approx 0% to 200%