[!summary] Challenge Eat only raw uncooked vegetables for a month

From October 16th to November 21st (2023), I ate only raw uncooked vegetables. In reality I also had to eat some chicken, cooked potatoes and beans. This was the farthest and hardest challenge I have ever endured, and the journey was interesting.

Goals

My main motivation was to see how far I could push myself to do something unnecessarily difficult. I wanted to strengthen my willpower and control over my desire for food. I also wanted to maximize the effect of food pleasure achieved when coming off the diet, as well as simply observing the effects of a vegetable only diet on the human body.

Previous Attempts

I have tried this diet twice before. 1st year, I only ate greens for a week. This caused insane carb deficit and hunger pain, and coming off the diet, I ate an ohill tatertot that made me cry. 2nd year I went salad only for about 3-4wks and lost 10lbs. I didn’t eat any meat and was mostly eating greens since I was on the meal plan. I came off the diet slowly because I was shocked at my weight loss and didn’t want to quit so started including soups and rice until I eventually was back to normal. No dopamine spike.

Journey

The first couple days were easy and adrenaline was high. I still had plenty of energy from the carb rich nutrients I had eaten days before. I weighed myself at ==169.7 lbs==. Pushing into the first week, I started to get hunger pains from being deprived of carbs and normal nutrients. I started including chicken because I had previously tried this diet my 2nd year and lost weight and muscle and I didn’t want to repeat this. After week 2 I stopped eating chicken. Moving into week 3, I started getting light headed. My blood pressure was down to 100s / 60s (usually 120s / 80s) which was very good. I decided to add beans and potatoes, both of which required cooking and substantial increase in flavor. Even though the potatoes were much less carb rich than I realized, it was enough to keep me going. I also added general male supplement / vitamin pill and fish oil pill. At this point I was very content with the diet. I no longer got hunger pains and honestly felt normal. I was not consuming as much volume of vegetables as I did last year, but also didn’t have the appetite for it. Something about big raw chucks of broccoli just isn’t appealing, even when you’re hungry. In the 5th week I started to get temptations about other food. I felt like I was coming around, likely since I knew I was so close to being done, and longed to be back to normal. Finally, November 20th I weighed myself at ==149.4 lbs==.

Return

So I quit the diet on Tuesday, November 21st around noon to a bite of sea salt caramel chocolate. To my surprise it really tasted exactly how I expected it to taste. No extreme physiological reaction or mental breakdown. That day I continued to consume more normal foods, especially really high fat foods like nuts, candy, and shrimp. I immediately felt the effects of being malnourished for too long. My stomach was extremely bloated after eating a relatively small amount of food and I had repugnant gas because my bowels were incredibly sensitive to the new quantities of fat I was consuming. At dinner I stuffed myself on tzatziki, naan, and salmon getting even more bloated and feeling horrible going to bed. Wednesday I bloated myself early on eggs, toast, candy, and snacks. Then for dinner we went out for mexican and I ate my dish as well as Margo’s and some of Mom’s. Got pretty bloated again (but chimichangas are fire). Thursday was Thanksgiving so I tried to restrain myself mid day (with only moderate success) and then went absolutely to town eating tons of Mac and Cheese, ham, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, salad, everything. Then for dinner I had a slice of pumpkin and apple pie, ice cream, and a frozen banana with whipped cream. Painfully bloated to the max I have ever been and eating all that dairy (plus a glass of milk) was really giving me troubles. Also gave me a massive food coma and I was ready to die. Friday I ate a lot still and we went out for Bojangles and I had half of the 12 piece family sized chicken box, two biscuits, cajun beans, and coleslaw. Finally Saturday I had a big egg plate for breakfast and lots of snacks and whatnot, skipped lunch, and had a chinese buffet for dinner. For one last go of it I absolutely destroyed the buffet getting about 5-6 plates full of the most fatty fried chickens and doughs, seafood, sushi, crab rangoons, etc. Overall, I came back very hard, and definitely paid for it.

Results

On diet, the main sequence was essentially:

  • 1-3 days: Feel good, adrenaline, previous nutrients
  • 1st week: Hunger pains, lack of carbs, hardest mentally
  • 2wk+: Low carb, tired, normalized, lower appetite, stable. It seems that in general it takes the brain about two weeks to do anything (diet, sleep, etc). Some effects I noticed in the low carb malnutrition state were:
  • Tired - generally less energy to do anything social or physical
  • Heat - craving of warmth at all costs, almost cold blooded, temperature is actually perceived differently, 40F feels like 20F!
  • Carb Sensitive - potatoes, beans, corn tasted amazing
  • Low Appetite - the expectation of bad food reduced appetite
  • Strong Teeth - able to eat rough chewy foods like carrots and broccoli much better than before Effects I noticed from returning from the diet
  • Stomach Shrinkage - only able to consume fractions of normal state (or unable to break down normal foods as effectively)
  • Weight Loss - lost 20lbs and lowest all time body fat. Full six pack (not perfectly defined but as close as I’ll even get). Hollow elbows, skinny neck and cheeks, hollow eye sockets with cheek bones protruding causing lines under eyes. Thin wrists.
  • Taste Normalization - High pleasure food quickly normalized and month of dietary taste deprivation dissolved.
  • Craving - food at forefront of concertation and obsessive tendencies toward most unhealthy foods, even when out and about at stores or in the middle of an activity. All food seemed desirable, even things I would normally never want, such as Goodwill gummies in checkout line.
  • Weight Gain - added weight very fast on extreme bloat diet, reversing weeks of malnutrition in the worst way possible. Lost of six pack in one week.
  • Dairy - going without dairy for even a month can lead to difficulties picking it back up

Takeaways

  1. To maximize deprivation and returning dopamine spike, I should increase the potency of the diet (eg greens only) but shorted the timespan to a week (definitely no more than two), since any longer will lead to weight loss, tiredness, and no additional deprivation.
  2. Carbs are the most important part of your diet for raw energy.
  3. A carrot a day (every morning) is perfect.
  4. Beans are awesome, especially with meat since they absorb cholesterol (get low sodium)
  5. All canned food is bad (high sodium)
  6. Small potatoes are a great snack (just put them in the toaster oven Bake for 15min)
  7. Hot peppers are slight and good to keep up tolerance
  8. Vegetables are great for low sodium diet
  9. Too much calorie deficit shrinks stomach
  10. Weight loss, appetite, diet can be reversed very quickly
  11. Plums (or any high fiber food) may sweep food through without body being able to process it