After a while, I had to come to terms with the fact that I was doing this wrong. Or at least something wrong. All of the tales of glowing skin and higher energy were not coming true for me. Instead of having energy to ride the mountain for hours, I started getting dizzy on the stairs. As far as glowing younger skin, mine was all the wrong kinds of glowing and young. Think “13 year old who only eats pizza and is having a rough time with puberty” young skin. Not good.
So I had to remember – why did I do this? Was it to say I went a month eating mostly raw fruits and vegetables? Most decidedly not. Was it to feel and be healthier so my body would be less reactive to certain trigger foods? Yes- most certainly! So I had to listen to my body which was telling me I was doing it wrong:
Signs you are doing it wrong:
- you get dizzy on the stairs
- you have a melt down and cry to your partner about wanting to eat a sweet potato but not wanting to cheat on your self-imposed rules
- you are irritable
- your skin looks horrible
- your digestive track is angry and getting progressively worse (aka the opposite of what is supposed to happen)
- you’re not sleeping well
Now these all sound bad, but it hasn’t been bad the whole time. The first two weeks went pretty well. It was the third week when I started to lose my energy. I Imagine if I had included more foods from the beginning (avocados, nuts, seeds) then I could have continued longer on raw vegan. However, based on my personal experience, I did not want to include nuts and seeds due to their possible inflammatory nature and the fact that I had been eating a lot of these prior to the cleanse.
So I eventually listened to my body and figured that something had to change. I didn’t want to stop the program and am still hopeful I can relieve some food intolerances. Instead, I decided to accelerate the program, jumping straight past week 4 to week 5 which includes sweet potato and fresh fish. After I bought, baked and ate a sweet potato, eyes still puffy from the aforementioned breakdown, I felt incredibly better. The chemical signals in my body seemed to calm down and sing with joy. I was instantly happier and calmer. I slept well that night and woke up feeling better than I had all week and ready to crush it on the slopes.
It seems to have been a good choice. Look out for the updated schedule on what foods will be added back in over the next few weeks.