All of a sudden, things are different in the barn. Totally different. Something that I have taken as a given for 40+ years: that fruits and vegetables are but a necessary adjunct to the finer things on one’s plate (pasta, meats, dairy, etc.) has been shattered in an instant. For the past five days, not a single animal product has passed between my lips. Nor has any food I’ve eaten been cooked.

I blame two women for this change.

This one.

And this one.

For some time, Robbi has been wanting to try a raw food diet, intrigued by the apparent benefits to mental and physical health. Since I am the one who prepares 94 percent of Robbi’s meals, my buy-in is pretty much essential for any dietary scheme. But Robbi seemed so eager to give it a try that I decided to take the plunge, too.

We’re using the above book, which offers a simple, straightforward, and comprehensive 15-day diet. The ingredients are attainable. The recipes are straightforward. And the food prep is not time-consuming. In other words, it seemed like something we could manage.

Though we are suddenly in possession of an array of food products I’ve never before heard of, let alone purchased. Raw maca! Barley grass juice powder! Nutritional yeast!

I’ve also spent more time getting to know the nuances of the produce section than ever before in my life. Suddenly the fridge is like a jungle. I feel like I need a machete.

The other thing the diet pretty much requires is a high-powered blender, fast enough to break down the foods at a cellular level, which is, apparently, how to unlock the otherwise inaccessible nutrients. Fortunately, we happen to have one.

We started last Tuesday and, as of this moment, have 5 and a half of 15 days under our belts. The first three days were nothing but smoothies made from fruits and nuts and coconut oil. By the afternoon of the first day, I felt patently stupid. I was in a fog, desparate for a cheeseburger. But this was predicted in the book, and it passed. By the end of the second day, I felt much better. I still had a profound desire to chew something, but I can’t say I was particularly hungry. By the end of the third day, I was pretty tired of smoothies, but I had lost five pounds and felt great.

When we finally got the chance to have a salad on day four, it was like manna. And the salad was delicious. And not just, I contend, because I hadn’t eaten solid food in four days, but because the recipes are actually delicious. While I’m pretty sure I’m not going to keep on eating 100% raw when this 15 days is over, I’m absolutely going to incorporate some of these salads, soups, and smoothies into my diet here forward.

Because they are easy to make and delicious and because, just five days in, I feel so much better. I feel much more energetic throughout the day and, for the past few nights, have not felt utterly depleted by day’s end. I’ve lost a bunch of weight already. We don’t have a scale, so I’m not sure how much exactly, but the shorts that haven’t fit in a couple of years are now a little bit too lose on me.

And, perhaps the greatest thing about the diet: it calls for rampant consumption of kimchee! Finally, I have a reason to consume my favorite food in the name of supporting Robbi on her weirdo diet! It is a win, win, win!

There has been the occasional Vitamix malfunction.

And the majority of my meals are still of the drinkable variety, but this thing is really working for us. I’m pretty sure we’re going to make it for the next nine days.

Granted, it’s much easier doing this diet while working from home. It basically calls for three “meals” and three “snacks” a day, and so it’s nice to be able to just wander into the other room and make a shake or throw together a salad when we get hungry. Tomorrow will be the first real test of juggling the logistics, as I have a business trip and so have to take my meals with me.

Here they are, ready for the trip across the bridge.

And lest you worry, we have given the kids a pass on this diet. They continue to eat the same old processed food products with impunity. Though August may have been somewhat influenced by his parents’ strange eating of late.

Behold his off-script request for spaghetti toppings the other night.

It may not be raw, but it’s certainly inspired.

We will keep you in the loop as things continue. But the early returns are two thumbs up.