Jan. 5, day 5

BREAKFAST:
The usual taboule salad. I think having a breakfast with fat and protein is helpful for me in abating hunger. I had pomegranate juice + orange juice along with the breakfast. Around 2 I had a banana. I’ve had 16 oz of water and am about to drink 16 more oz.

Someone asked me what I weighed this morning. I found that I’ve now lost 13 lbs.

I had some eyewatering and sneezing this morning, but less than usual. I’ve maintained the better mood or better outlook on life that I noticed I’d developed after starting raw foods. I would love to feel more alert and have more energy and stamina by the time classes start later in the month.

LUNCH (5:45 pm) : I had a lunch of - you guessed it!! But there is a twist. My girlfriend (the one who lost 150 lbs through a gastric bypass diet) has been very supportive and surprised me with a Whole Foods purchase of raw hummus, raw taboule, raw flax seed crackers, raw trail mix, three types of sprouted beans, wild rice, a papaya and mango. Oh- and some sea salt! I am eating the new hummus and taboule, which I topped with the crunch flaxseed crackers . The crackers are VERY crunchy. They look like flax seeds stuck together, really. They have a nutty taste with a “burnt” finish that isn’t really as bad as it sounds. The hummus didn’t taste too good at first bite, but when I told myself that not everything has to have garlic in it, I realized that it actually was good to taste hummus without overpowering flavorings. The taboule is tasty- as taboule usually is. Can you ruin taboule?

DINNER: 10:15 pm -I made guacamole using a small avocado and am eating it with a couple of flaxseed crackers. I can’t really taste the crackers over the guacamole because I use a lot of coriander, cilantro, scallions and garlic to spice it up. This is one of the best meals I’ve had this first week of raw eating.

I don’t know why I’m hungry so late. I guess I’m just not hungry at the times I’ve been used to eating. But wait- I was generally never hungry when I ate last year. I just ate to eat. Now that I seem to be eating only when I’m hungry, I find that I’m not getting as hungry as often as I thought I would. I had told myself that I wouldn’t eat past 7pm because I have read numerous times that this is too close to bedtime, when you burn fewer calories. But my hunger and eating patterns mean that by 7pm I still don’t have all my calories in. Since I’m not eating a lot of calories per meal, I don’t think I need to worry about eating right before bed, at least as far as calorie-burning goes.

Overall today was a good raw day. I wasn’t sick of eating taboule today, and I didn’t feel sick like yesterday. I tried a new food (the flax), which was great. I still have the diarrhea, but not as bad, and without the terrible stomach pain I had yesterday.