I have gone back and forth on living foods, veganism or RVAF type diets, to just plane SAD. I at least now WANT it to be true. I am in a state of misery, its no fun living were I am now. My in law is Very food centered, her life revolves around having us do her shopping, help with food preparation, and clean up afterwards. I have to watch them eat horrible stuff, meanwhile not saying anything to disturb their state of 'happiness'.

I guess I only have to watch for myself, but is its difficult getting back with her criticisms even if i make minor changes to improve my health. So far I am working on reducing fat, and watching the animal products, mostly by minimizing them. i still have some, but they are taking the back seat for the most part. The high cholestrol was a wake up call.

But today i am thinking I wish and want to be raw, and hope that being raw vegan is the healthiest. That is what I want to eventually go towards, just because it seems the healthiest, and the happiest. I am starting to feel like cooking and fancy food preparation is a waste of time, and very unhealthy. My thoughts for now. I don't know what to call my current state, its sad going towards healthier I guess.

Lots of emotions are associated with food as well as with change, I think it's completely reasonable to feel a shift in more than one area.
If you want to you can try to transition slowly. Still eat with your family if keeping that harmony is important to you but take a very small portion of the foods that you wish to avoid and fill your plate with vegetables, make sure you always have a salad at every meal. Choose snacks that reflect this new food ideal, fruit, veggies, nuts and seeds. Make a small change and then another small change and then another until you have slowly incorporated so many changes that your life is completely different! And remember to focus on all the good things that you are doing, the positives in your life and all your progress instead of where you are not yet. You'll get there eventually and in the meantime there is a world of enjoyment waiting in the moments.

Hi Mislu. I have also been all over the map diet wise. I went on my first diet in kindergarten for goodness sakes and a macrobiotic diet at age 17. I've always looked to food for health but have never felt good so I have just kept searching. I see great potential with a raw diet. Initially I was about ready to cry in confusion due to all of the unbalanced info and contradicting opinions and advice I was given. what has helped was this very community. It seems quite kind and logical and informative and it has helped me sort things out. So it sounds like you need support more than anything?

februarygirl

Support, information. But as you said there is a lot of contradictions everywhere. The thing for me now is not so much nutrition, but everything else! These don't necessarily conflict, but I am wondering why people accept things as they are?

I saw a dried out turkey leg with a very strange color at the grocery store the other day, wrapped in some fancy packaging. I thought to myself "are they serious"?

I'm discovering there is a difference in believing that those things are necessary, and wanting them to be necessary. After seeing that gross turkey leg I am thinking why would anyone want it to be necessary?

My partner has been telling me the misery of cooking for years. He has never been 'into' it. I never understood until I lived here. The conventional cooking lifestyle, well it stinks! Such misery scrubbing baked on grease, gross cooking pots, handling wet chicken flesh. She thinks she is trying to teach me, but I thought I was just doing a chore as a favor. I am still not completely sold, but I would rather do with less cooking, and more simple styles if its needed at all.

I just got my blood cholestrol done again, its down 10 points! which is great, as it was high. its not the whole break down, but just the total cholestrol, which i am told is an incomplete picture. However, its still high enough that the ratio of HDL to LDL is off.

I cleaned out some of my clutter in my room last night, looking for a record of these tests I hade with cholestrol. I found it it was 241 in january. Just taking it again a few days ago it was 230. An improvement, but I still need to do way more.

I am taking A&P 2, and we are covering the heart and blood vessels. I took my blood pressure last night, and it was a bit high. I was rather freaking out, and didn't sleep well. I can say that I'm not at peace concerning any of this. My partner is also thinking that I am over reacting and tells me stuff like "You have it under control" And I just say 'under control'? its 230 still, doesn't sound under control.

I think he is just afraid I won't want to do the usual things we used to like to do, or eat the things we usually do. I don't get it, he doesn't have any obvious signs like high cholestrol. Actually his was 190, and it went down to 180. I don't really know if his is really ideal either.

I don't know what my blood pressure is officially. I took it on this little machine battery powered one, like 138/91. I understand those can have inaccurate readings. So, I will have to go get a manual one from a nurse or doctor.

Thank you Coco and February girl,

I am phasing out animal foods, and substituting vegan alternatives where ever possible. I feel so much more alive, especially in the morning, which usually takes me hours to really feel awake.

Some family members are taking notice, commenting on my food, "healthy" which is positive. I didn't say anything, as she said it like it was a death sentence, which its not. But I don't want to explain that its really "necessary" or "essential" as well as enjoyable.

She then told me that she had some chocolate chip cookies saved for me. I didn't say anything. but I think I will put them in the kids cookie jar. There is one thing in the fridge downstairs which i now regret buying. I won't mention, but its a particulary bad non-vegan item. I don't know what to do with it yet. I hat to through things out, but I don't really want to eat it now.

It does sound like you could use support. You're in the right place for that.

What I did when I started to eat more raw food, I did one step at a time. I started with fruit smoothies in the morning and ate a raw food lunch. Then at dinner, I either ate a large salad which wasn't vegan at the time or cooked meal. It took me a couple of months before I told my husband what I was doing. I was also going through a lot of emotional problems which I've mostly overcome since being on my raw food journey/recovery. For me this journey meant recovery from co-dependence, depression, etc. Not only has it helped me physically, it has helped me mentally.

Welcome and best of luck.

Mona
[labuscadora801.blogspot.com]

The road to recovery is always under construction.

There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy.

Mona,
That is amazing! I was going to comment about something similiar to what you brought up. I physically feel better, but I am so amazed that I feel like its much easier to deal with other peoples crap! Especially my inlaw, who often feels very crabby, even before she had her fall. Shes still a "pain in the neck" sometimes. (she literally has a broken vertebrae) But Its much, much easier to see that shes in pain, and need more assistance.

My partner has a theory that she subconsiously created the fall to have people wait on her more now. I thought that was weird. Maybe its true, maybe its not. Who is to say.

Emotional stuff is something interesting to comment on. Since her husbands death, she has really upped the intake of hazard foods. After a break up with someone years ago, I really upped my intake of crap, I was really shocked at how close to death I felt. So, there is a connection between how one feels and how one takes care of oneself. Of course once you get a positive feed that usually takes significantly helps get one out of the cycle.

Thank you for welcoming me Mona.

Hope you can get started eating better. for me I start to feeel more in control when I am eating raw. I hope to get back on track. I know how I felt when eating a clean raw diet. I read and hear what many of the leaders are saying or selling concerning the raw food but I feel everyone has there opinion and I guess I am going to get mine concerning raw foods. I need to reduce my weight and I also have very high blood presure. I hope you will be sucessful with your raw change. I know when I changed a while back people around me saw and started eating raw foods. Some how I fell off the raw wagon but I want to make the change once again. Lets do this together o.k.?
Pam

Pampam,
I am with you. I have come to the conclusion that I just want something that works, and not to meet some ideal that someone has written about. Which may be entirely true, or maybe not. The ultimate thing is that your are going in the right direction, feeling better, more confidient.

I can tell you that I feel better rested in the morning, and when I study i feel like I can focus more and am less likely to nod off. This is only after about a month of changes. I do have tendancy to really obscess about diet, health issues. but I am trying really hard not too over think it. I know it can be difficult at times, but I am convienced that eventually it will become second nature for me, and for you two.

yes, we can both do this! I am convienced of that!

Mislu, what will be your strategy? Or what are you doing now?

Are you going to college?

what changes have you made in a month? I hear you about obsessing about diet but I think it's best to obsess about food rather than illness.

check out my plan on my diary page

Have a great week

Pam

I am taking an A & P class leading up to a program in radiography. I am phasing out animal foods, cutting the fat, avoiding refined food like the plague. I used to think a little is ok, but I am find that a little eventually can become a lot.

So, that is my plan for now just to make smaller changes. i think in the past i tried to make major changes and that was just too much to adjust to.

I have lost weight, just going by how much easier my clothes are to get into. I took my blood pressure, a few days ago it was pretty high, but yesterday it was ideal. I think there are daily fluctuations, but that one reading was way off.
thank you, have a great week also!

Today I broke away a little bit from optimal plans, but it did reveal something surprising to me. I substituted a vegetarian burger for a regular burger at a certain burger joint. Just over a month ago I had a regular meat burger, and this was actually way more filling! I found that a little odd, as I thought that heavy protein and fat would have been more filling.

My partner was surprised, as I usually finish it and want more. The french fries weren't appealing without ketchup. That was a surprise to me. I usually associate them with ketchup,that actually being the best part. Interesting since that is actually quite sweet and contains some amount of fruit, although its overly cooked and processed with extra sugar, salt etc... So that was interesting to say the least! So, even though it was a fast food meal, I still saved a lot of fat and calories going with a vegetarian choice. I also requested a whole grain bun.

Well, at least at home I get veggies and fruit and try to center around that as much as possible and reasonable.

My partner and I have been thinking vegan and going mostly vegan for the last few weeks. I think its turning out to be something good. The rest of the family doesn't quite understand, but seems to be surprisingly supportive. We have been pretty much keeping it to ourselves, but today we offered his mother to try a vegan hotdog. She turned it down, which is ok. We probably won't do that again. She now wants us to get a 'real hotdog' from a vending cart don't the street! Not quite the effect we wanted!!

Being a shining example will have the best effect. Make 'em want to know your secret!


My favorite raw vegan

Well, she already wants my food! I guess I am just too selfish. the moment I came home with a mango as a special treat she wants me to share it with everyone. She never requests it on her shopping list, saying they are too expensive, but she doesn't mind wanting some of mine! I humored her and gave her some, but I am just thinking what the? Why can't she add them to her shopping list?