Bye-bye Raw?

People have been asking me what's on the menu for my breakfast tomorrow, the first official meal outside the confines of this raw experiment.

Answer: Probably a greens-and-fruit smoothie.

You can read more in tomorrow's paper about what exactly the three of us plan to do, post-raw. But I'll just say this much. I wasn't looking at this challenge as, well a challenge. It wasn't an experiment of deprivation with the reward dangling at the end of 30 days to pig out. In fact, it didn't feel very depriving at all. I came to this month of raw out of curiosity, and to see if I could dust off some good health habits that had fallen to the wayside. I had a slow, frustrating start. But standing on this side of 30 days, I'd say mission accomplished.

One of the coolest things about this process, though, has been the response. I've heard from a good number of people who've said reading along has made them reflect on their own dietary choices, and think a little harder about what they're putting into their mouths and onto the table for their families. It doesn't have to be a question of 100 percent raw or nothing. Cutting back on sugar and packaged foods, putting out more fresh fruits and vegetables, scaling back on caffeine. Even my mother, come to find out, has been inspired to make green smoothies her breakfast and lunch staple. (We'll set aside the fact she has some strange combinations. Romaine lettuce, fruit and...red bell peppers?)

All these little steps that people have told me they're making can add up to big changes. I fully believe that.

Last weekend, I finally had a chance to watch an advance review copy of "Raw for 30 Days", the documentary film that, in part, inspired our experiment.  (None of us, however, came into this trying to treat a major health issue). The movie's new title is "Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days" and it's set to premiere at the Newport International Film Festival in Rhode Island in June. It's a provocative film and worthwhile viewing for anyone exploring the connection between food and illness. Hopefully it'll spark an important conversation about the way we look at health and medicine in this country.

So am I going 100 percent raw? I won't answer that right now. But the question is, if I do, do you think my editors will let me change my byline to Courant Raw Staff Writer?

Thank you and goodnight

Today is the last day of our 30-day raw-food diet.

First, to all my colleagues who predicted I'd quit halfway through, thbbbbbbbt!

Seriously, though, I've learned a lot over the past month. Raw food is more than just twigs and berries, for one thing. In fact, it can be delicious, and was especially so Sunday night when we three went to Pure Food and Wine in New York.

But it wasn't cheap. The diet as a whole isn't cheap. Raw foodists say the food bills normalize once you get a better sense of what, and how much, you'll be eating. But the diet just really isn't for me.

As I said at the outset, I like cooked food. Giving up meat and dairy (and bread and so on) for 30 days was definitely an interesting experiment in getting by. But I did it. Eventually, I even gave up coffee, though that was mostly because I ran out of beans before I had a chance to buy more. (And no, I don't feel more energetic or alert.)

I'll be incorporating all those things back into my diet, though I'll be much more watchful about how I do it. Making most of my meals at home, from natural ingredients, let me know exactly what I was eating, and I like that enough to not forswear it just for the sake of a cheeseburger. Well, not every day, at least.

Wining and Dining

One of my main sticking points with raw has been this air of rigidity that swirls in certain circles. Even if you think you're doing a heckuva job eating 100 % raw, there's someone eager to point out that well, actually, those almonds you're eating aren't really raw, and you should be careful about how much fruit you're eating, and you shouldn't be drinking water with your meals, or eating fruit with your salad, and it sounds like you're getting too much salt -- no, not enough - no, too much salt in your diet.

It can be paralyzing, this constant correcting. My first two weeks I had this sense that no matter how thoughtfully I went about my food choices, I somehow was still doing raw wrong. When you get these bits of discouragement coming at you from different directions, you just want to throw your hands up at the impossibility of it all. I can understand the enthusiasm people might have to share what's worked for them, but it can be counterproductive in what should be the real goal : to encourage people on the path to making healthier choices and give them reason to keep going. Otherwise, it just becomes about being able to wear the "100% raw" label. And who exactly is keeping score?

Which is why our celebration dinner at Pure Food and Wine in New York on Sunday was so refreshing. Forget the fact that the meal, from appetizer to dessert, was absolutely delicious, with each innovative dish presented like a little piece of artwork. But there was no sense of raw vs. cooked judgment around the dinner tables. About 14 or so people, all at their own levels of commitment to raw foods, came along with our raw coach, Glen.

I particularly liked something that Frank Giglio said. A local raw food chef with an inspiring story, he just came back from a 10-month apprenticeship at The Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center in Arizona and is training for a 100-mile endurance run this summer. (That's not a typo. 100 miles. Non-stop. Fueled by raw foods. Really).

There are so many raw food gurus out there, he said, each with a different take. He suggested people not get so caught up in all their various "rules", but to take in all the information and try things on for size. What fits, keep. What doesn't, toss. Trust your intuition. He told a great story that bordered on parable about his friend, a vegan-raw foodist who lives out in the wild somewhere. She had been weak and underweight, and started having recurrent dreams about eggs -- not part of a vegan diet. When she woke one morning to find a chicken had laid an egg on her bed, she figured it was as clear a sign as any. Veganism aside, she started adding raw eggs to her smoothies. Sure enough, her strength and energy came back.

My intuition tells me pretty strongly that I can skip that raw egg idea entirely. But now I'm wondering what to make of the weird dream that I had last night. I'll tell you if anything strange shows up on my bed tomorrow morning.

******

If you can't stand the heat...

...sneaking a peek in the kitchen at Pure Food and Wine.

I had these asparagus and avocado nori rolls for an appetizer. (No, not sushi!) The rice, I'm told, is made from a jicama base.

My main dish, a flavorful saag paneer with "rice."

The flourless chocolate cake that Cindy and I had. She declared it "the best dessert I've ever had."

Charmed, I'm Sure

This started out as the hardest weekend of all.  So close to the finish line, yet still too far to go.

I'm ready to be finished.  So ready.  During my trip to the market this weekend, I found myself stuffing my cart with goodies for my family. A horseradish cheddar.  Marinated olives.  Steaming, creamy lentil and coconut Thai soup. Then it hit me. These weren't foods my family wanted. These were foods I wanted.

I bought it all anyway. I made them eat it. 

That was Saturday. Sunday was better.

Great actually. First I got to meet Joann's delightful sister, Donna, our guest blogger, who was kind enough to walk me around the city with Joann for several hours before our dinner at Pure Food and Wine in New York   -- 14 "raw foodies" hooking up for a gourmet meal.  Everyone was charming and the food was fabulous.  We had three courses, and I had my first glass of wine in more than six weeks. I had a mushroom and white asparagus appetizer; white corn tamales with raw cacao mole, marinated mushrooms, salsa verde and avocado as my entree; and the flourless chocolate cake for dessert. The first two courses were tasty, but the dessert was outrageous. In my limited experience, raw desserts are by far the best of the magic that raw food chefs are able to create.  (I even caught one member of our party, who shall remain nameless, licking his dish.)

I can't possibly remember everyone's name, but Joann, Eric and I sat with Glen Colello, Lisa Storch and  Frank Giglio, a really nice guy aptly named because of his honest and direct answers to my questions (although the mother in me is a little freaked out by his goal to run 100 miles in under 30 hours.)

It was refreshing to hear from him that each person has to to search for what works for her, that trying to live someone else's rigid dogma is a sure way to fail.  He's been eating raw for a while now, and I gathered that he's eating really high on the scale, very few nuts and fats. But he's not grossed out by the smells of grilling food, and it did my mother's heart good to hear him say how fondly he remembers the food from his childhood. His understanding of the world's temptations was comforting and went a long way toward easing some the of the guilt I'm feeling about certain things I plan to eat after Tuesday. (Hey, that's tomorrow!)

We didn't get home until 1:30 in the morning, so I'm running on about 4 hours of sleep today.  In my pre-raw life, I would have dragged myself out of bed and been dragging myself around the rest of the day, counting the hours until bedtime. But I feel good. Good enough, in fact, that I'm going to the gym tonight.  Not bad for the old gal in the group.