60 days Raw

I am Fat Elvis

Something creepy started happening this past year.  Every time I stared into a mirror, the Fat Elvis version of myself would be staring back.

Puffy faced, toxic, dejected, and not taking care of himself; we needed to talk.  After a lot of angry soul-wrangling I knew only radical change could put a stop to the heavy drinking, eating, and depression that had become my existence.

I decided to start with how I ate…

Raw Food Solution

For me change came in the form of eating only raw foods for 60 days.

During November & December of 2009 I ate only raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and sweeteners (raw honey & organic agave).  The first week was HELL! But slowly things not only got better, soon I was feeling tremendous and was pulsating with energy.

Day One

Day 30 or so

Right around Day 60--Just before I injured myself

I stopped drinking alcohol & caffeine cold-turkey, and replaced terrifying eating habits with much healthier ones.  In the process I lost over 33 pounds and my raw foods transformation even caught the eye of a local reporter who interviewed me for a feature article!

For those 60 days I only had one simple goal–eat 100% raw nutrient rich foods.  That was as much as I could bite off during that first phase of change, so I exercised very little during those two months.

Now What?

I will continue to include mostly raw foods in my diet, while experimenting with small amounts of healthy cooked foods a few times per week.

 

But the next phase for me is to challenge myself physically.  It’s the dawn of 2010 and I want to do something beyond a typical New Year’s resolution.  Which is why I’ve decided to undertake a new personal challenge:  90 straight days of exercise!

Feb 2011 UPDATE

I wish I could report that I completed the 90 day fitness challenge and stayed raw–but I didn’t.  As of today I’m pretty much back to where I was back in October of 2009; which is fat, lethargic, dehydrated, and unhappy with myself.

Why didn’t I stick to raw, or at the very least a healthier lifestyle?

I think it’s a combo of things.  Soon after I finished my 60 days raw and began my 90 straight days of exercise, I injured myself during a strenuous yoga session.  I could feel the protrusion of an inguinal hernia–my right testicle was painful and swollen–suddenly I was on my back and totally derailed.

Unfortunately, under duress I went back to my old ways (I caved like a ramshackle silver mine) and allowed myself to get back on the booze and coffee. On reflection, I believe these two substances are the main culprits in any unbalance I experience, and I will be writing a lot about this in the months to come.

So what now?

I am currently readying myself for another go at raw.  My life has returned to a physical hell.  And the fact that I degraded so quickly is kinda scary to me.  It is time to face this again and I’m considering a couple different options…

When I did 60 days raw  about a year ago I ate the high fat version of a raw diet (lots of nuts, seeds, avocados, and cold-pressed oils) that most associate with the raw food lifestyle.  Since then I’ve been doing extensive reading about other ways to do raw, and am seriously considering a trial period following what is called LFRV (low-fat-raw-vegan).  An example is the 80-10-10 diet as outlined by Dr. Doug Graham.  The low fat version of raw is a diet high in fresh fruit and greens with little raw fat.  Obviously, any change at this point can only benefit me.

Maybe in the coming months I’ll be able to present some of those exciting and embarrassing shirtless before and afters now that I am giving this another go!