30 Day Raw Food Challenge

It was around Christmas time when I noticed my clothing getting tight again. Just after I started looking at photo's taken on the day. I looked as bad as I felt. I had lost about 20kg before my wedding and now that it was over, the weight was creeping back on again. After gaining 10kg I decided that I need to put a stop to my yo-yo dieting and look at a more permanent solution.

I've been wanting to go raw for a long time now and am equipped with the knowledge. I know that the path I am currently on only leads to obesity, disease, lethargy, depression and misery. So why do I keep going back to it. The new year seemed like a good time to start.

I decided that I needed to make a short term goal so that it didn't seem to daunting. So I created my own 30 day challenge. I read somewhere that if you do something for 30 days, it becomes a habit. And I was desperate to remove my old habits and replace them with healthy ones. No more coffee, chocolate, take-away, processed foods, dairy, meat, bread, pasta etc.

The first thing I did was planned what I was going to eat that week and shop for my ingredients. It was expensive at first because I didn't have a lot of raw staples in my cupboard like nuts, seeds, oils, powders, spices, superfoods etc. But this is an investment into my health and I'm worth it.

It's day 12 now and I'm finding it way easier than I imagined. I have no cravings for bad foods, am loving the new foods and find it quick and easy, as long as I'm prepared.

A lot of people ask me where I find the time, the truth is, this is the quickest and easiest way to prepare food. For breakfast on most days I have a smoothie, this takes a couple of minutes to prepare. For lunch I have a salad with lots of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, avocado, sprouts, capsicum, celery, carrot etc. The dressing is simple made up of olive oil, lemon juice and cracked pepper. For dinner I make my own zucchini noodles and blend up a quick tomato based or alfredo sauce (raw of course). There's no time spent stirring, roasting, cooking etc. Everything is instantly ready to consume. I'm actually saving time in the kitchen. I snack on fruit regularly as well. No prep needed there.

Of course you can spend more time in the kitchen preparing recipes etc if you want. There are some complex recipes out there and if I feel like it, I might do one a week. I occasionally make raw desserts as well, but I actually haven't felt like eating many sweets with all the fruits I am consuming.

So at day 12... I can honestly say that I don't want to go back to eating like I was before. I'm feeling empowered with knowledge and am looking forward to receiving the health benefits of a raw food diet. Bring on health, vitality and a kick ass body, yeah!