I TRY to keep my body as clean as I can so it can function to the best of its ability without being slowed down processing a whole load of rubbish.... however I am not an angel and I do fall off my wagon. They way I see it though, if I can be fantastically healthy 99% of the time, then the 1% of bad foods won't do too much harm.
Daily Life
Firstly, I have been a vegetarian since the age of 12. I then got to the stage of bordeline veganism, trying to eat as much raw food as I could and I pretty much cook everything from scratch so I knew what is in it and I could avoid all the additives, preservatives etc.
I ate raw food all day until tea time (the majority of the time) and then had a healthy cooked meal in the evenings. I had fruit/melon for breakfast and mid-morning snacks, salad or raw veggies for my lunch and homemade soups/curries/chilli etc for tea. I didn't have dairy or egg in my daily diet, using dairy-free alternatives when cooking. When we ate out I asked for something vegetarian and non-dairy, and usually chefs are pretty good if you let them know in advance!
From March 2011 I decided to commit more fully to the raw vegan lifestyle after lurching between bingeing and fasting, swayed by cravings for non-foods and preservatives. I read '80/10/10' by Dr Doug Graham and found that it was pretty much telling me the conclusion I had already reached by myself.
So now my diet revolves around fresh fruit with some additional greens. Eating the large volume required to get adequate calories is challenging, but I've never had trouble overeating in the past!! I'll be blogging the results, and will be honest about the slipups! I'm planning on a 28 day trial where there will be no deviation from the plan. Once it's part of my everyday life, I know there will be the occasional times where I need to eat out in company, at which point I'll order vegan food - cooked or not.
Race Day / Long Runs
This is REALLY trial and error - a real work in progress:
Date-o-rade - made by blending dates with water
Bananas
Dates
Smoothies - banana, date and any other fruit (frozen overnight to keep it cool on the run!)
