Sometimes correcting a problem is best with baby steps. Week four was all about learning from week three, correcting our mistakes and building on that learning process. Although, when we compensated for the lack of proteins in our diet, we overshot by a long ways and didn’t exactly follow the rules of the road from the book Live Right 4 Your Type.
Have you ever eaten something you thought was just so amazingly tasty and healthy for you by most standards, only to end up sitting on the porcelain shrine a few hours later bargaining your soul to the universe if the cramps would just go away? All the while thinking to yourself, “I don’t understand, everything I ate recently was good for me, right?” In our case, this happened by not eating right for our blood type and deciding to add cashews in great abundance to all the recipes of the week. Basically the principals of eating for your blood type are as follows; “By matching your dietary protein sources to your blood type physiology you can cut down on the level of unabsorbed proteins left in the digestive tract and their toxic byproducts” (pg. 98, Live Right 4 Your Type). Our bodies weren’t agreeing with what we were giving it, although completely organic, raw and vegan the cashews were actually causing us more problems than benefits.
After realizing our cashewy mistake early in the week, we dropped a few of the meals from our diet and happily fed them to coworkers who would later go on to brag to their peers about how they ate the best raw organic vegan cheesecake in the world (I don’t know if they actually bragged, but I’d like to think they did.) Not only was it gratifying to share the yumminess with peeps, but we also lost some of the overwhelmingly soapy aftertaste the cashews provided in some of the recipes. This was an extreme plus for me as I had been beyond paranoid the entire week after watching the documentary The Beautiful Truth and learning of Max Gerson’s death by poisoning.
Inspired by this extraordinary documentary, we decided to experiment more in the world of juicing in conjunction with making our own rejuvelac. I don’t know if it’s the little kid in me, but I see juicing as tremendious amounts of fun. You put in an entire stalk of celery and out comes one cup of this lime green liquid that looks like some kind of gak from the days of Nickelodeon. In all seriousness, we learned that juicing is far more beneficial to your health than buying any kind of store bought juice because the FDA requires food processors to pasteurize all liquids, which kills most of the beautiful nutrients. On top of all of this we learned juicing is a great way of saving your investment on produce when items become too ripe towards the end of the week.
Finally, week 4 brought me to a weight I haven’t been at since the days of training for a marathon. The astonishment that in just four short weeks I had lost over 15 pounds was delightful. Everyday, going to work brought excitement. I joyfully ran into the shipping department and jumped on the scale to see the progress I had made. The satisfaction I got from knowing that I was dropping pounds while others in the office were trying everything under the sun to lose weight was incredible. So much so that I am almost at the point of convincing another person to give raw organic vegan-ness a try. I never want to be a preacher. But, honestly, what better way is there to enjoy something even further than seeing similar positive changes being made by others around you?
Liz
April 13, 2009
This is so great! I just completed a 5 day raw vegan detox and it felt great. But I was feeling the hunger by the end of it.
I’m inspired by your progress.
Aside from feeling good about the weight loss, how do you feel emotionally, mentally, physically?
Lukas Volk
April 15, 2009
hey liz, glad you enjoyed the article.
aside from the great feeling of weight loss, my emotional state is amazingly clear and focused for the majority. i have more energy than i’ve had in a very long time. this is especially apparent to me since taking on a few extra projects that require a near 20 more hours in my work week. not that working 20 more hours is something i encourage people to do, but it is a way i am able to measure the extra amount of energy i have.
stay tuned for week 5 as i discuss a bit more of the stresses that come along with the diet 🙂
thanks for reading! keep living the good life.
vicki
April 17, 2009
i just completed day 7. me and liz decided to start our raw vegan-ness on or near the same day! your articles are encouraging. i always hope to have more produce options in missouri, but now i can see i just have to sit down and read a raw recipe book and start planning meals. im a bit overwhelmed because all ive been living on is bananas, salads and seeds. but if you can do it, so can i. ive already lost 3 lbs.!