The Speer Family Goes Raw Day 7: The Exit Interview

Today is the last day of our raw food experiment.  Honestly, I am very glad.  I learned that I like a lot of raw food, but I do not like to eat exclusively raw food, even with tons of homemade bread!  Shawn, however, loved the diet.  See lots more about that in our exit interview.

Today, I had naan with raw raspberry jam for breakfast.  By the time we got home from church, I was starving!!  I had two walnut pate and raw marinara sandwiches and my smoothie, and I still felt like I was starving.  I ate some bread with raw apple salad dressing.  Although the food was delicious, I felt like I just couldn't get full.  We had to leave to go to the birthday party, so I took a banana to eat in the car. 

I wanted to be full at the party so I wouldn't be tempted by pizza and cake.  I successfully just ate carrots there.  When I got home I was really hungry again.  I had prepared these marinated vegetables the night before.  I thought I might make a pizza out of naan, the Asian almond "peanut" sauce, and the chopped veggies. 

 

 It was so, so good!  Shawn and I finished that tiny pizza in no time.  I was really sad that I'd used up all the Asian sauce so I couldn't make another one.  I can't wait to try a pizza made with my usual peanut sauce and raw veggies.

Half a pizza did not fill us up, so I made us sandwiches with the veggies and the raw marinara.  I learned that I can eat raw broccoli in a sandwich, and they were actually pretty good, but I don't think that's an experiment I need to repeat.  Broccoli pizza - yes, broccoli sandwich - no.

Exit Interview:

What did you like the best?  

Cheryl:  The chocolate avocado icing!  And my small green smoothie.  I really liked trying recipes that were very different from things I usually prepare and being pleasantly surprised by many of the results.

Shawn:  The Not Tuna Salad.  I’ll continue to eat this and the Walnut Pate for lunch and snack.  I’m not sure how long, if ever, it will take to get old.

What was the worst part? 

Cheryl:  Washing and rewashing and rewashing the blender and food processor multiple times per day.  I was also surprised by how stressful I found this experiment to be. 

I learned that I'm not a big fan of homemade nut milks; I'll gladly stick with dairy.

Shawn: Prep time.  I didn't do much to help with making the foods, so I want to clarify what I mean by prep time.  If, for example, we ran out of not tuna salad, you just don’t open a package and a jar of something, mix it together and have what you want.  You have to soak the nuts pretty much overnight and when they are ready, it takes longer to make the raw food in general.   I think we’ll have various nuts and seeds soaking constantly so that they are on hand to make something from them. 

What surprised you?

Cheryl:  There were many recipes that I looked at and did not think I'd like, but that I tried just for the sake of the experiment.  I was surprised to really like green smoothies, raw applesauce, raw tomato soup and raw marinara sauce to name a few.  

I was really surprised how much work this week was.  It was even more work than I expected.

Shawn: How most of the foods that were nut based did not taste like it.

What food did you miss the most?

Cheryl: Cheese! And milk in my coffee.  After one trial of cashew milk in my coffee, I stuck with tea for the week.

Shawn: Meat…Any variety thereof.

What is one thing you learned?

Cheryl: When Shawn said he wanted to do a week of raw food, I didn't really know anything at all about what I might be eating, besides the obvious.  I learned that there are way more things you can do with nuts, avocados and dates than I ever expected!  

Shawn: I really like the raw food diet.  Most people, me included, think of raw diets as salads and veggie trays.  It is far from it.   I don’t think that I would have lasted long if all we ate were salads and veggie trays. 

What change do you think you might keep up with after this week?

Cheryl: I really do like having a small green smoothie each day. I'd like to make chocolate avocado icing quite frequently.  I'd like to have more raw dinners, especially in the summer.  Serving lettuce wraps with dips is a fun alternative to salads.  I'm actually really looking forward to revisiting my raw food cookbook at the peak of garden season.  It will be wonderful to have so many things to make that do not require cooking.    

Additionally, I really liked my little rolls with walnut pate and raw marinara sauce.  I think they are as good as pepperoni rolls.  I wonder if I can convince anyone else of that.

Shawn:  I want to still have raw foods for breakfast, lunch and snacking.  I may allow for fish in my lunches, but dinner will be wide open.   

Trends we observed:

Money:  

Cheryl: All these nuts are really expensive!  I spent at least $75 in nuts!!  I did, however, buy several pounds more nuts than I ended up needing for the week.  It's a good thing Shawn liked the nut spreads, I can continue to make them to use up these nuts!  If it weren't for the nuts, I would say raw food would be equal in price to our regular eating habits.  In the summer, when I have plenty of homegrown produce, it would be even cheaper of course.

Shawn: Nuts cost a lot

Weight:

Cheryl: I lost 1 pound.  This is exactly what I lost when we did our week of Unpackaged.  I'm pretty sure this week that the 1 lb I lost was mainly due to the fact I wasn't feeding myself half of what snacks the kids were eating or finishing up what they didn't eat.

Shawn: Lost a few pounds

Effect on kids:  

Cheryl: We did not make the kids eat only raw food, but they did eat a lot of raw food.  Paul was surprised by how many things he did like, like the raw apple crisp and of course the icing.  Joy loves smoothies!  I did not always make separate meals for Shawn and me and the kids, but sometimes I did.  Sometimes our meals overlapped, for example they might have raw veggies and chicken nuggets while we had raw veggies and dip.  I do not like eating separate meals from the kids.  Overlapping meals are ok, but I really like for us to eat the same things together for the most part.    

Shawn: None

Stress level:

Cheryl:  I expected this week to be a lot of work, but I did not expect to be as stressed out and cranky I was.  Making fresh bread for our family each night is enough night time food prep work for me.  I felt like I was constantly making stuff to the detriment of spending time with the kids and I certainly ignored the housework; this place is a wreck!  I am thrilled about all the new things I learned, but I'm really, really glad this week is over.

Shawn: Same

In Conclusion

I am extraordinarily grateful to Jennifer Cornbleet for her awesome book, Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 People.  All but a couple of the recipes I used throughout the week came from this book.  I'm also very pleased she responded to my email and allowed me to post her recipes on the blog.  

Thanks so much to all those who followed our progress this week and to those (especially Jamie Stanko and Lin Mossgrove) who shared recipes and raw food ideas.  I have really enjoyed the conversations I've had with our friends about our experiment.