Friday, March 23, 2012

My Raw Vegan Husband

Sarma's Favorite Green Shake, Sarma's photo too

My husband Marc doesn’t have it easy. For today, I’ll stick to the food part but trust me it goes far beyond that. In terms of food, I’m sure there are weekends he wished we didn’t have to lug the giant, non-wheeling (the stainless steel didn’t come with wheels!) cooler into the car. Maybe he had hoped that life would have less lettuce, more gluten or that he wasn’t asked if everything was organic. Despite my tendencies, Marc maintains a fairly “normal” diet. He loves his beer, bread and coffee and on many nights from the kitchen I hear something resembling “Daaaad you ate all the cookies. “  Marc’s a fit guy plays hockey, skis in the winter, cycles and plays tennis and golf in the summer. There are marathons and triathlons but still…lots of beer and cookies.

We leave for vacation tomorrow. A client recently enjoyed the “not just juice cleanse” from One Lucky Duck the takeout outpost for one of my favorite restaurants Pure Food and Wine. I’ve done many of the popular cleanses before but I thought this one might work for Marc. There are two versions and one wasn’t necessarily geared at weight loss but it’s raw, vegan and very different from the way he typically eats. Marc looked at the sample menus and decided to give it a try (have to say I was shocked, the guy previously wouldn’t drink a green juice). This past Saturday, I looked over at Marc. It was our last ski weekend and we were out at a local restaurant. In front of my man was a festive green, St Patrick’s-themed Bud Light and a Patron on the rocks. “What?” he said in reaction to my eye rolling, “I have to get it in while I can”.

Monday was the first day. For solidarity, I signed myself up for “Shine” and Marc for “Glow”.  At 7am I realized Marc was still in bed, I think he was fearful of his coffeelessness. I’ll admit I wasn’t looking forward to a caffeine free workweek so I made us a cup of coffee to split. The kids, home on spring break, woke up and my older son asked for BACON. I made bacon (organic, nitrite free) and waited for our first delivery, it was delayed and Marc left for work without food. Later, my son and I delivered his first bag of food to his office and he reached in and grabbed his Blue Sunset smoothie.
I know, he looks thrilled
 He enjoyed it; even my eight year old enjoyed it. Later in the day, after his taco salad I received an email “I could eat like this forever.”

On one hand I agreed, everything we were eating was fantastic. On the other hand I couldn’t believe Marc was eating this food without a complaint.  He had cut out dairy, meat, fish, coffee, refined sugar, most grains and was drinking green juices, eating shoebox-sized salads and enjoying himself. I am still split as to whether this is a male thing or a testament to the fact that if food is interesting and satisfying, change is quite manageable.

We weren’t hungry at all this week. Some of my favorite items were the Swan Juice (cucumber, spinach, dandelion, grapefruit, tarragon, spearmint and yuzu), a Spicy Sesame Salad and chocolate pudding. Marc loved the taco salad, the tortilla wraps (give him Mexican-y and he’s happy) and the Mallomar.  There were some really funny moments too.  On Day 2, I saw dinner was  “Portabella and Hempseed Burger”. Marc hates mushrooms. I hid the menu card and placed the slider-sized meal on the table. Marc ate the delicious concoction with pickled pink onions.
This is a salad plate so you get a sense of the portion.

 He then asked what he had eaten. On Wednesday, Marc realized he had plans to go to the Ranger game with two colleagues. First, he rushed home for his Brazil Nut Crusted Sea Vegetable Croquettes. He met the guys at steak house at the Garden and had seltzer.  They had steak, creamed spinach- the works and gave him such a hard time for his cleanse. One day I left some greens over from my lunch. I had saved them in case dinner was sparse. At 10:30pm Marc eyed the greens and pulled them out “this is delicious” he declared. He had come a long way from the cookies.

Sarma, the owner of One Lucky Duck has two great cookbooks. When you read through the recipes you realize how involved raw food is. There’s soaking and dehydrating and many steps but it was a real treat having the deliveries this week.
Have you experimented with raw food? Ever done a cleanse? Do you think food changes are different for men versus women?

25 comments:

  1. I'm so impressed your hubby did this!! Nick would never go for it (although I have heard him claim to want to stop eating all dairy and meat several times lately....only to realize that that means no more Subway).
    I've never done a cleanse and never particularly want to, but who knows, maybe one day!!

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  2. Trust me gina, I wouldn't have thought this was Marc's thing but he likes a challenge. I think "cleanse" can mean many things. I am not a fan of anything that leaves me cranky or hungry but I love the idea of nothing sub bar coming into my body and tons (tons) of good stuff. I'm actually sorry to have it end.

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  3. Wow I am impressed Marc! Esp. the ranger game situation. Would love to do this cleanse, think 5 days is a good length of time. How has it gone for you? Have a friend doing a clean eating cleanse w her boyfriend... well WAS doing it w him, bc he quit, so yes i think food changes are a bit different for men- probably a big reason is their friends/ coworkers etc aren't as supportive.

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    1. It was great/easy such a treat. I think men's friends may joke but the changes are actually often easier for them to make partially because they think less about them.

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  4. wow Marc. I agree, i think it was a challenge for him and guys definitely like challenges. But, maybe you have a lot to do with it too. Your active lifestyle, your profession? Adam would NEVER in a million years do a cleanse. It's just not his thing and a food challenge isn't at all interesting to him : ) I, however, might consider this!

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    1. The thing is Shari, this isn't a cleanse in the juicing/fasting sense. So, it was more about eating super healthy. Marc (maybe like Adam?) already has lots of healthy food in his life so this wasn't that far to go. Plus, Marc liked not having to think about lunch or locating food because it was all prepared.

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    2. Slaytons do like a good challenge though. Are you commenting from the Canyon?

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  5. Love it =) What a trooper! I think I could get Michael to do a cleanse. But it would have to be all planned out and he would have to see a menu like your hubby!!

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    1. There were actually some NYC restaurant critics who did this one and OLD sent me their posts. I think once Marc saw granola, lasagna (even though not his kind) and "sushi" he was fine.

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  6. Love it! Your husband was so on board! That's great! It goes to show that raw food can taste amazing!
    I would love to do something like this. I bet you feel just great after that week.

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    1. We both feel great, zerp bloat, good energy. Five days was needed to really go from feeling low to getting the benefit.

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  7. I've never done it, but I would if I had all the food prepared and delivered. That would be nice - I think I'd eat anything they sent if I could do nothing. Think of the free time!! Did it free up your time?

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    1. My fear Caron was that food would lose something being delivered and sitting a bit (overnight) but a testament to this food, it was great. It did free up some time and mental energy but I actually missed cooking and food shopping (did so a little for kids but they had a good amount of easy food (pastas and soups) this week.

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  8. How cool; good for him! I think it's definitely a testament to the fact that raw food PREPARED RIGHT (keywords) can be satisfying and delicious to even the unlikeliest of eaters.

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    1. Amber, I couldn't agree more. Great flavor and texture is universal and any regime can be tasty or awful.

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  9. FYI - I did NOT give up my coffee when I did this :) Marc is a much much better person than I.

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    1. he didn't either but cut way down and no milk.

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  10. My husband has come a long way with food but he would never do this. I am impressed!

    I, on the other hand, would love a delivery service that had everything ready for me. The less I have to think about cooking/eating the easier my life is!

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    1. It certainly was convenient, oh give Ali some credit- you never know.

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  11. Great that you both enjoyed it!

    My husband has come a long way with food, and I know he would be up for this. I have several raw food cookbooks, but many of the recipes (especially the "interesting" ones) are very involved. I hope to spend more time making raw recipes in the summer when I teach less.

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    1. If you make anything good, you have to let me know. I wish raw wasn't so involved. I too will have more time this summer to try though.

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  12. Wow-I checked out the menu and it all looks good to me. My husband eats healthy for the most part, and pretty much loves everything I cook for him, including the veggies and salads, and even the nights there is no meat. Left to his own devices though, i think he would be eating mac and cheese out of a box, and beer for dinner every night. I think he could do this for a week, and so could I, but I would have to keep in my coffee. It would be very refreshing and liberating have someone cook for me for the entire week :-). Like yours, my husbands friend would absolutely give him a hard time for doing a cleanse!

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    1. Your husband sounds like Marc, one say out and he comes over to me at pool with a beer and a mojito, I say "who are those for?" "For me."

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  13. I loved Pure Food and Wine and I agree, they make raw and vegan taste divine. I would totally love to do this cleanse (and I am generally anti-cleanse) as it looks healthy and sustainable. I bet it's spendy and I doubt they deliver to Astoria...or Belgium. Yesterday I was on the anti-cleanse. Champagne and Belgian chocolate! Now I need me some Sarma food. Eating vegan, gluten-free and meat free today and tomorrow though! I still can't be bothered to give up the caffeine. Does it really have that much of an impact?

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    1. It was totally spendy but I can justify in many ways especially when I think of it as a work expense. The anti cleanse, love it cameo. Cleansing Belgian style (fries/chocolate). We didn't give up caffeine just cut way back. I don't think it needs to be cut out just seems wrong to caff up wazoo when everything is so clean.

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