Answers to Frequently Asked Questions:

Topics:

Raw Food Diet Support
Valerie’s Transition Plan
Valerie’s thoughts on Food Addiction
Valerie’s thoughts about the Raw Food Diet
Valerie’s thoughts on Motivation & Temptation
Valerie’s Book Recommendations
About the Blog Photos
Raw Weight Loss
Calories and Water
Exercise
Storing Leafy Greens
Storing Green Smoothies
Rolaids and Supplements
Helpful Tips
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Raw Food Diet Support:

I am not a raw food coach and I have little advice to offer beyond sharing my own experiences which can be found in my blog. I’ve never suggested that anyone else try to live on green smoothies, but I do think eating mostly low fat raw foods is optimal and drinking green smoothies is a great way to do that.

If you are looking for support and information I would go to the Raw Food Talk Forum & search their website. Almost any raw food question that you can think of has been asked and answered repeatedly. There are a number of raw food coaches that post on the forum and if you ask, I’m sure you could get recommendations for raw food coaches. I have repeatedly seen posts from people looking for raw food buddies if that is something that interests you.

If you are interested in a more intimate support group, the Raw Food Lifestyle Forum is a very friendly group attempting to follow a low fat raw food diet. The smaller group size allows folks to get to know one another a little better.
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Valerie’s Transition Plan:

I went 100% raw for the first time in September 2006 and I lasted 30 days. Then while away from home one day I broke raw by grabbing some fast food at Taco Time. I spent the next several months trying unsuccessfully to get back to 100% raw. Usually by lunchtime I had eaten something “bad” and I’d decide to start fresh the next day which meant I should go ahead and enjoy my “last meal” that evening. I know a lot of you are familiar with “last meal” syndrome. However, I did start drinking green smoothies during this time and found they put a damper on my appetite.

After having made and broken my New Year’s resolution to go back to 100% raw I decided I needed to do something different so I came up with the following plan which I stuck to. I don’t think I could have gone straight from SAD food to living on green smoothies. So here is the plan that I came up with.

About the second week of January I started having a green smoothie instead of my usual breakfast. I didn’t allow myself to eat any other food except green smoothies until noon. After noon I could eat whatever sad food I wanted.

Four days later I moved the time back to 1:00 pm. Only green smoothies before 1pm & anything I wanted after 1 pm.

Four days later I moved it to 2 pm. and 4 days after that I moved it to 3pm until I was all the way to 6 pm. Only green smoothies until 6pm, anything I wanted after 6.

Then I worked on the other end, nothing between 10pm and bedtime. 4 days later I made it nothing between 9pm and bedtime. 4 days after that it was nothing after 8pm.

So by this time we’re around the second week in February, and it’s been a little challenging, but looking forward to eating anything I want between 6pm and 8pm made it bearable.

Then the hard part started. I started counting calories. Green smoothies during the day, maximum 1200 calories between 6pm & 8pm. Four days later I took it down to 1000 calories between 6pm & 8pm with unlimited green smoothies during the day. I had this all planned on a calendar so that on my 45th birthday, March 5th, I would be eating nothing but green smoothies. On February 27th I was down to just 400 calories a day between 6pm & 8pm in addition to my smoothies. And I was using those calories for some really sad foods, but on March 1st I switched to 100% raw and used my 400 calories, and then 200 calories on Lara bars. Since March 5th I’ve only had green smoothies.
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Valerie’s Thoughts on Food Addiction:

Based on my personal experience and on reading books like ‘The Pleasure Trap’ by Douglas J. Lisle, Ph.D. & Alan Goldhamer, D.C., I have come to believe that food addiction is very similar to the addiction we experience with other substances such as nicotine.

Let me share a brief excerpt from the book, 'The Pleasure Trap'.

From page 81 of the paperback:

"Many authorities assume that weight management is 'psychological.' It is often stated that one must learn to set the fork down between each bit of food or remain calm so as not to eat for 'emotional' reasons. However, the evidence strongly suggests that subtle psychological mechanisms are not the key to weight management. Rats will maintain ideal weight under all sorts of stressful conditions, if eating a healthy rat chow. However, if bread and chocolate are available as desired, the average rat will increase its body weight in fat by 49 percent within just sixty days."

VW: I don’t believe people overeat because they are trying to fill some emotional need or because of some childhood trauma. Just like I don’t believe people continue to smoke cigarettes because they are trying to fill some emotional need or because of some childhood trauma.

I have used both cigarettes and food to deal with stress. I quit a 3 ½ pack a day cigarette habit in the year 2000. But just because we turn to food, cigarettes, drugs, or alcohol when we are emotionally stressed out, doesn’t mean that these things are not physically addictive. These are all physical addictions.

I believe much of what is labeled as detox by the raw food community is actually withdrawal symptoms from foods. The tricky part about food addiction is that unlike cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs, you can’t give up food altogether. So what do you do? I believe we should avoid the most addictive foods which, surprise surprise, usually turn out to be the least healthy foods.

So how do you know which are the most addictive foods? It’s easy. It’s the ones you have a hard time giving up. I had a hard time giving up butter, cheese, eggs, cake, cookies, bread, & pasta. I could easily give up apples, celery, mango, lettuce, spinach, or bananas. That tells me which of these foods is addictive.

I think the hard part about conquering any addiction is that it’s counterintuitive. There is an element of faith involved. You know that using your drug of choice will provide you with immediate relief of your withdrawal symptoms. You have to believe that resisting the urge to use will eventually lead to a lessening of those withdrawal symptoms.
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Valerie’s thoughts on a raw food diet:

I think the benefits of a low fat vegan diet have been and continue to be documented scientifically as shown in the work of John McDougall, M.D., T. Colin Campbell, PhD, and others. I don’t believe we currently have a convincing body of scientific evidence to support a raw food diet. In particular, there is no population in the world who exclusively eats a raw food diet for their entire life so we are unable to compare the incidence of disease in raw food eating population verses a cooked food eating population.

It appears to me that much of the argument in favor of eating raw foods is based on speculation and theories, not proof.

I don’t believe cooked food is poison. I believe the ability of humans to cook food has enabled our species to successfully populate the planet (if you measure success as survival, growth, and reproduction).

Based on the information currently available, it appears to me that fresh raw food is optimal as it has the highest quantity and quality of nutrients and enzymes. That’s why I want to follow a raw food diet.

Do I think everyone should follow a 100% raw food diet? I’m not sure. I do think that everyone should follow a low fat vegan diet for their personal health and the health of the planet. But the production of potatoes, rice, and other grains allow us to successfully feed large populations on this planet. I’m not sure it’s environmentally feasible for the entire population of the planet to switch to a fruit based diet. I think it may use considerably more resources in terms of production, transportation, and storage. I don’t know this for sure and I would be interested in reading the work of anyone who is investigating this topic.

One thing is for sure. You will be healthier if you do most of your grocery shopping from the produce isle and skip the meat, dairy, soda, & cookie isle of the supermarket.
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Valerie’s Thoughts on Motivation & Temptation:

I’ve been asked what motivates me to keep drinking green smoothies.

My answer: Fear and Desperation.

I’ve been asked how I deal with temptations.

My answer: I have fewer temptations then most people. I spend most of my time at home. Other then ingredients for green smoothies there is almost no other food in my house. My partner Mary will leave fruit or veggies in the house for herself, but if she wants to eat anything else she only buys enough for one meal, she fixes it for herself and cleans it up for herself and there are no leftovers sitting around to tempt me. Usually a meal for her would be something minimal like a Lean Cuisine TV dinner or a can of soup. I believe she has some snack items hidden out in the garage or in the car which is just fine with me. She does eat out a couple of times a week and she keeps other food at the office where she works part time.
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Valerie’s Book Recommendations:

I haven’t really liked most of the raw food books I’ve read so I’m not going to recommend them. I would have to say there were five books that eventually bought me to the place where I started the green smoothie experiment.

‘Diet for a New America’ by John Robbins. I read this book back in the late 1980’s and caused me to understand, for the first time, the environmental impact of the meat and dairy industry.

‘The McDougall Program: 12 Days to Dynamic Health’ by John A. McDougall, M.D. I first read this book in the early 1990’s. From this book I learned about the health benefits of following a low fat vegan health diet.

‘The China Study’ by T. Colin Campbell, PhD. I read this book shortly after it was released in 2006 and it reinforced for me the benefits of eating a low fat vegan diet.

‘Green For Life’ by Victoria Boutenko . This book is the inspiration for the green smoothie experiment. I’ve always known that greens were healthy but I’ve never liked eating them unless I covered them with dressings that had unhealthy fats, sugar, salt, and/or artificial sweeteners, flavorings, and preservatives. Green smoothies gave me a wonderful way to enjoy the benefits of greens.

‘The Pleasure Trap’ by D. Lisle, Ph.D. & A. Goldhamer, D.C. This book helped me to understand that it is the unnaturally rich nature of modern food that is the cause of our obesity epidemic. It’s not because people have suddenly become weak willed gluttons.

‘The Places that Scare You’ by Pema Chodron: This book opened up for me the possibility of my becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable. Changing your diet is uncomfortable. For many years I was looking for the secret of losing weight painlessly. This book got me to try sitting with my discomfort instead of trying to make it go away.

New Book Recommendation as of 05/27/07: I just completed Victoria Boutenko’s recently revised book “12 Steps to Raw Foods”. I never read the original version so I can’t compare the two books but I highly recommend this book. It would take some time to detail all of the ways Victoria’s communication style resonates with me. I only feel like I “learned” one new thing from the book and that was about AGEs, advanced glycoxidation end products. I found it a more compelling reason to eat raw foods then the enzyme theory and I plan to do some additional research on the topic from other sources. For me, the rest of the book was a kind of reminder or a reinforcement of what I already knew either because I’d read it elsewhere or because I just “knew” it. Victoria says in her book, “I would like to inspire you to become and stay a living example.” I find her work to be very inspirational and I hope one day to be the example she had in mind.
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About the Blog Photos:

Most of the photos on my blog are licensed under Creative Commons. The Flickr website has a large collection of Creative Commons photos that you may copy, distribute, and display non-commercially provided that you attribute the originator of the photo. That’s why you’ll see names under most of the photos on the blog. The names are linked to the Flickr photo collections of the photographers.
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Raw Weight Loss:

Q: Do you attribute your weight loss to raw foods or to green smoothies.
A: I do not attribute my weight loss to raw foods or to smoothies. I attribute my weight loss to low calories. I think I could achieve the same weight loss results eating 600-800 calories per day of any kind of food. I wanted to choose the most nutritious food possible so that I could live on 600-800 calories per day for an extended period of time without irreversibly damaging my health. I believe green smoothies are one of the most nutritious foods you can eat.
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Calories and Water:

Q: How did you determine how much water to drink daily and how many calories to eat daily?
A: My goal was to lose weight as quickly as I could without making myself sick (losing my hair/teeth etc.) I read that the average calorie consumption of someone who has had stomach bypass surgery was about 600-800 calories per day. I wanted to lose weight as fast as someone who had the surgery, without actually having the surgery. That’s how I decided on the number of calories. I thought a lot about the water in the early weeks. Here are links to my posts on the topic.
How Much Water per Day?
The Water in Food
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Exercise:
Q. How did you select the exercise that you do?
A. The neck stretches are the only exercise I’ve done in recent years because if I don’t do them I get neck and shoulder pain that keeps me awake at night. I think it’s from fibromyalgia.

The second biggest source of pain that limits my mobility is back pain. I have been told that strengthening my core muscles will reduce back pain. That’s why I started doing crunches. I want to be able to stand up longer and walk further.

I started the bike because I already owned the bike and I wanted to burn some calories to lose weight faster. Riding the bike doesn’t hurt my back as much as standing or walking would.

I’d have to say that my exercise choices are primarily dictated by pain and convenience. Additionally, I find it extremely difficult to get onto the floor and get back up off the floor so that eliminates a lot of exercise. (Imagine trying to get off the floor with two people strapped to your body)

A lot of exercise equipment is not built to support or withstand someone of my size, which is another limitation. In the future I see myself experimenting with all kinds of exercise. Yoga, Thi Chi, Pilates, water aerobics, various kinds of resistance training, etc. After I get under 300 pounds I think a lot of exercise possibilities will open up for me.
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Storing Leafy Greens:

Q: How do you store your greens?
A: Right now I’m buying greens once or twice per week. For the unwashed loose greens I’ve had success with several different methods. First of all, I found that if, at a very minimum, you remove the greens (or most any produce) from the plastic store bag, wrap it in a paper towel, and then put it back into the plastic store bag, you can increase how long it will stay fresh in the fridge. I’ve also experimented with the Evert-Fresh bags and found they work better then a plain plastic bag and when combined with a paper towel will keep produce fresh for a surprisingly long period of time. I generally wash and spin dry my greens before packing them into these Evert-Fresh bags. I actually like the micro fiber salad dryer bags better then spin drying my greens and putting them into the plastic bags because it’s faster. I generally wash all my greens at once which can be 4-8 pounds. My salad spinner will only hold about ½ pound of greens so I have to repeatedly fill, spin, dump, and refill it when I wash greens. I simply find it easier to throw dripping wet greens into the mesh bags and skip the spinning process. But it is kind of weird to have these huge wet pillow cases filled with greens in my fridge.
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Storing Green Smoothies:

Q. How are you storing your smoothies once blended? In quart glass jars? Do you not worry about the loss of enzymes if you do not drink right away?

A. While fresh is always best, I believe Victoria Boutenko when she tells us that green smoothies will keep for several days in the refrigerator. I do three quarts (enough for 24 hours) at one time for the sake of convenience. I store them in a plastic mug. Here is a link to a post about the containers that I use.
The Best Smoothie Mug
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Rolaids and Supplements:

Q: Why do you take Rolaids and why don’t you use any other supplements?

A. I continue take Rolaids, to address my ongoing acid reflux problem which has much improved but not completed healed yet.

I’m avoiding the use of supplements for a couple of reasons. First, I don’t want to skew the results of my experiment. If I start taking a supplement to aid in weight loss or to relieve some of the uncomfortable symptoms that I’m having then I won’t be able to accurately report what it’s like to live on nothing but green smoothies. It would also raise questions about whether my results were due to green smoothies or due to the supplements.

Additionally, I dislike the idea of getting nutrition out of little bottles. I feel like the supplement industry is trying to convince people there is something missing in their diets because they want to make a sale. I would like to demonstrate that whole raw foods that are commonly available can provide you with optimal nutrition. No one makes any money by conveying that message.
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Helpful Tips:

Q: Do you have any tips for someone starting out?

A: Be nice to yourself. If it doesn’t go smoothly please be as kind to yourself as you would be to someone you loved most dearly.
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