Switching Gears...Nutritionally

Going primal was an eye opening experience.  I had to give up eating all grains and beans to make it work.  The easy part was eating meat.  It's very convenient to cook up a bird and eat it for the rest of the week.  The hard part was adjusting to hunger timing.  At first I thought I was giving up a great source of energy by giving up bread, but after I got through the initial week, I realized that the bread was using more energy than it was giving.  Bread is filling, and by using it as a staple, I measure hunger by how full my stomach is.  When I cut bread out of the diet equation, I had to use my energy level to determine my hunger.  The body processes meat, vegetables, and fruit much faster than grains and beans.  Also, when I eat primal, I can access the energy from food more readily.

When the Primal Blueprint worked for me, I thought that meant that vegetarian/vegan was not the answer.  Lately, I have been reading some about the raw food diet (since Steve Pavlina keeps talking about it on google+).  The parts I like about primal eating are also the strengths of the raw food diet: no grains and no beans--just lots of fruit and vegetables.  The thing that really intrigues me about the raw food diet is how it provides constant energy.  Ultimately, the holy grail I am searching for is a more steady energy flow that doesn't interfere with my ability work and live.

The down side to eating primal is I need lots of sleep.  Naps just don't cut it.  When I sleep, I'm out like a light for hours on end.  This would be fine if I could keep my energy and attention up all day, but after lunch, I get extremely tired.  While I may be awake, my attention span is shot.  I have been thinking lately about trying polyphasic sleep again since spring is here.  Polyphasic sleep is an excellent way to stretch out a season.  I tried polyphasic sleep last fall, but I had problems with dehydration which is exacerbated by the cold of winter.  One of the benefits of the raw food diet is that it would allow me to not need as much sleep.  In fact when reading about Pavlina's success with polyphasic sleep, he attributed a big chunk of sustainable energy to eating raw.

I realize that going raw means giving up meat and essentially becoming vegan, but I really can't put much stock in the vegan opposition until I've tried raw for myself.  I have talked about raising chickens and rabbits for food in previous posts, but I haven't invested in livestock yet.  So it seems there's no time like the present to try going meatless.  I can still get a garden rabbit to help improve my garden's soil.  I think the raw food diet is worth a shot because organic, ethically raised meat is extremely expensive, whether I raise it myself or buy it from someone else.