26 days of living raw
26 days of living raw
Full immersion in my chef training
When I set out to undertake the challenge of living raw for 26 days, I wasn’t exactly sure what it would mean for me, but I was certain I wanted to do it. I was heading to culinary school in Fort Bragg, California to obtain my Associate Chef and Instructor certification in raw food and pastry arts. I felt if I planned to teach plant-based cuisine with integrity and my education credentials included raw in the title, I needed to speak from some personal experience.
When I started school September 2, 2017 at Living Light Culinary Institute, I had been living a plant-based diet for almost eight years—becoming cleaner and incorporating aspects of raw, as time went on. I was sprouting, I made kefir and used my dehydrator on a fairly regular basis.
Within the first couple of days at school the foundational principles of raw food became clearer – it is living food. It is about eating the rainbow, with a lot of leafy greens, sprouting all your seeds and nuts, fermenting vegetables and cheeses and using a dehydrator to dehydrate and warm your food to a temperature no higher than 118 ° F.
What changed in my diet when I went fully raw was no more cooked grains, beans or legumes, no traditional bread, so I became gluten free and absolutely no refined sugars or bad fats. Examples of sugars used in raw food include dates, maple syrup and coconut nectar. Examples of fats are coconut and nut creams and avocado. I even gave up my green tea, because I wanted to eliminate the caffeine.
What made it relatively easy for me was being around beautifully prepared, delicious food. Our school day started at 8:45 a.m. with a shot of wheat grass or E3 Live and a smoothie or juice, as well as celery.
The celery promotes chewing which starts the digestion process, the smoothie is a mixture of fruit and greens and the shot is E3 Live, similar to wheat grass. A concentrated boost of nutrition.
When I got to school I had already been up for a couple of hours because I enjoyed going for 30-45-minute walk, so I started my day with a bowl of sprouted buckwheat granola, almond milk and fruit, usually a banana.
For the last decade or more, lunch has been my largest meal of the day, so I kept the same routine while going raw. The buffet lunch at 1:00 p.m. was always a rainbow of colours anchored with a large bowl of greens. Each colour brings different nutrients needed for good health, so variety is important. There was also always sprouts (peas, sunflower seeds, mung beans) and living sauerkraut. It is important you receive a small amount of fermented food everyday to keep your digestion running smoothly. There was a new dressing every day and toppings such as seasoned seeds and dulce— sea vegetables are an excellent source of iodine among other valuable nutrients difficult to find in other foods.
Lunch was also an opportunity to test our student creations, from carrot burgers, to quiche to corn tostadas.
Tostada with fresh guacamole, Mexican rice made with cabbage instead of rice, flax crackers and sprouts with spirulina dressing.
The woman behind the amazing spread is Ruthie. She affectionately refers to herself as the lunch lady. She pours her heart into the preparation of the food and it shows. We all eat with our eyes first and when it is displayed with such care you can’t help but want to dive in.
During school we sometimes ended our day with gastronomy, which meant tasting one of our class creations and then taking a portion home for dinner. If that didn’t happen, I would have a light snack of fruit or nuts.
We did make sweets and during pastry arts we sometimes created three a day. I chose to taste them, not eat whole pieces. Although they are made with healthier ingredients than traditional deserts, they are meant as occasional treats or celebration foods.
Raw mudslide pie has a chocolate cookie crust, a solid chocolate layer with a vanilla and nut butter cream filling with swirls of chocolate ganache. Although it is made with healthier fats and sugars it is still a treat.
Results
The first few days I did experience a dull headache, which I attribute to eliminating my daily green tea. If I was hungry between meals I had a few nuts or seeds, or a piece of fruit. The need for those snacks seemed to decline as the days passed. I think I figured out how much I needed to eat at mealtime to sustain me. My digestion felt pretty good. I was a little looser than normal on some days, but my schedule remained regular. I slept well and had good energy, even with the school days being long and a lot to learn.
I have suffered from migraines since my teens and have had little success eliminating them from my life. I know my triggers are stress, lack of sleep and/or letting my blood sugar drop. It would have been a lot to expect going raw for a few weeks to be the cure. Mid-way through the month I received shocking and sad news about the passing of a friend. That combined with being away from my support system manifested in two days of headaches.
Plant-based and in particular following raw principles is proven to reduce inflammation in your body because the foods are alkalinizing. Long-term, I am curious if it would have an impact.
I did lose weight. I had been hanging on to a few stubborn pounds that this new routine was able to help me shake free. In total, I lost 3 pounds. My blood pressure and cholesterol were both extremely good prior to going raw and that did not change.
Going forward
In the coming months I will try to determine what percentage of my diet will be raw, living foods. Right now, I am thinking 75% is probably reasonable. I have already started growing my own wheat grass, I will increase my leafy greens consumption through juicing and smoothies and thanks to the new food preparation techniques I learned during my chef training I plan to significantly increase the number of meals we eat that are fully raw.
Living Light Culinary Institute is expanding its curriculum in 2018 to include some cooked food, including sprouted beans, legumes and grains. The foundational principles will be the same, but there is science showing some foods are actually better for us slightly steamed or cooked. The books Becoming Vegan and Becoming Raw are excellent reference guides for plant-based nutrition. Both authors, Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina are acclaimed for their work analyzing the science and developed the curriculum for the vegan and raw nutrition courses at Living Light.
Continuous learning is important to me. I know my diet will continue to evolve, but right now, plant-based with a high portion of raw feels right for me. I think it is important to have an open mind, life is a journey.
From left - Me and my classmate Laure Brumier on graduation day from our raw chef program. Laure and I were class partners throughout the training. See her inspiring story under People making a mark.
