Hi! OK, so I'm starting out on this raw lifestyle. I've been trying for about a month and a half, but I seem to be getting stuck and going back to cooked foods. I just thought that if I kept records and set goals somewhere that is concrete and not just in my head I would more easily reach my goals. I like keeping records of how I'm doing and hopefully this will keep me motivated. Thank you all for your support and just reading.

I already eat fruit for breakfast
For lunch, normally more fruit, sometimes a salad that has ranch dressing
Dinner...salad; with ranch dressing again

I think my goal for this week will be to eliminate Ranch Dressing

Hi! well, so far so good, no ranch dressing and today instead of a salad for lunch I brought a pear. I don't seem to be that hungry lately, which is kind of normal for me as I rarely actually feel hungry.

This morning I ate a banana, I LOVE bananas, they are one of my favorite fruits, besides pears. Basically they are all I eat, these two fruits, but I love them! I also eat strawberries and blueberries. There isn't much variety for me sometimes, but thats ok, I am enjoying what I am eating so its all good to me.

I wonder if I should be eating avocados and nuts and things like that? I just don't have much of a desire to eat them, they don't look appetizing in the least bit.

Well, since I have some time, I guess I can explain my reasons for starting this new lifestyle and a little bit of my background. I'm 18 years old and about to go to college next year (WOOT!) and I can't wait. I'm just waiting until the day I recieve my diploma and summer begins . A few years ago I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease and I was put on all kinds of medications, told not to eat salads (my favorite food) and to eat a very bland diet for a long time. At first I embraced these medications which gave me relief, but as I did research (I'm very interested in the medical field and chemistry) I realized how bad these medications were for me; i.e. sideeffects. With these medications however I still felt the symptoms of my disease. Over time, I had cut out red meat completely, not really consiously but just because I didn't like it. Finally, my cousin got me to look up natural remedies for Crohn's and I found David Klien's website for the self-healing of crohn's and colitis. (this was just a few months ago, a time when my crohn's could be said to be mostly 'under control') so I ordered the book. I couldn't wait for the book, I wanted to get started right away. Immediatly I incorporated more fruits and veggies in my diet and started having more energy and felt better than I have in a long time. After reading this book, and doing more research on my own, I have come to the conclusion that this is the best way for me to live. Your digestive system goes through sooo much to digest what we put into it and put it to work in our bodies. So far, even with some cooked foods almost everyday, I am feeling great. I firmly believe that I need this to become a happier, better feeling, person. I know that this is a lifestyle and not just a diet that I will eventually come off of, in the end I would like to be 100% raw, but till then, I understand that it takes babysteps, but I'm willing to take the time.

As of right now, I am a vegitarian , the hardest part of becoming vegan is cheese i love cheese, but so far I haven't had any since Monday of this week I guess that will be a goal of mine as well at least for a little while...no cheese or ranch dressing.

au revoir!

Hey!
this weekend i did pretty ok, still having a hard time with dairy and pasta but i still eat my raw breakfasts and raw lunches...at least im feeling better than before

So today i realized that my 2nd dan black belt test is in eight weeks, boy, i freaked. since its the end of my senior year i just keep getting busier and busier, finals, ap tests, grad parties, prom, and just the anticipation of getting out. But i keep forgetting about this test and i need to train...sometimes i wish i could put 36 hours in a day so i could get everything i want to get done done and i wouldnt have to worry about it. so hopefully i will begin running for endurance this week...i dont really like running, but its what i need to do. im basically ready for my test i just need to get up my endurance and do some calistethics (sp?)

goal: run and no cheese

thanks!

au revoir!

Hi!

I've enjoyed reading your post. I too have chrones disease and found this lifestyle to be sooo beneficial. Keep us posted on your progress! You can do it.

Hey!
Thanks Lizard! I'm glad to hear that this has worked out for you! It gives me motivation to keep going with this. Sometimes it can be really hard today to not eat those 'comfort foods' when you get the urge. But each time I don't give in and eat some fruit, I feel wayyyyy better than if I were to have that ice cream or mac and cheese.

It's only wednesday and I'm ready for this week to be over. Although my raw food consumption is up to about 75 to 80% so far this week . I'm just very stressed with school, its almost over though so I don't have to worry too much.

One thing I am worried about is keeping up this lifestyle in college. The college I'm going to next year has vegan and vegitarian options which is great!, but they are often cooked. They have a salad bar but a limited selection of fruit. It seems that lately I eat mostly fruit which is good and I eat salad for dinner. I would really like to find a dressing that is raw, but doesnt have vinegar or oil, or really anything fermented...they make my tummy hurt .

Well I haven't started the running yet, but last night I did go to karate and had an awesome work out. I worked on knife defenses with a guy twice my weight and 6'3! Its awesome being able to throw around a guy that size...it gives me confidence but he did get to throw me around back...so I'm in a little bit of pain for today. It's ok though, its that good, "I had an amazing workout" kind of pain.

Time to go

Au revoir!

Hey!

It's Friday!!! WEEEEE!! I'm soo excited for this weekend. After school I have karate and then I'm hanging out with some friends. But tomorrow is going to be a day spent in rest and relaxation, thank goodness. Hopefully the weather outside will be nice and warm .

Yesterday I didn't do so well with my eating, I was having a particularly bad day and was very stressed and caved into that food that I used to turn to for 'comfort.' But the funny thing is that it didn't taste as good or give me the 'comfort' I used to get. So I think that means my body has gotten used to not being poisoned with such things anymore and that makes me happy and next time I will go straight for the salads. I do love salads, they have been my favorite food for years! My doctors always looked at me like I was crazy when they found that out, I mean come on a kid who loves salads? whos heard of that? haha

I wish everyone a happy weekend!

Au revoir!

hey all...

this week has been an interesting one, im still struggling with the dairy thing and still looking for a good salad dressing.

still stressed and worried, but i graduate june 6 and then its summer, with even more food temptations and all that stuff. hopefully i can do this.

im sorry this is so pessimistic today, im not normally like this, im very tired and need sleep, but my head wont stop thinking long enough to do that.

tomorrow is a new day...it is what i make of it

au revoir!

You can do it. Just stay focused and remember why you are chosing to "live" this way. I too stuggle with the same thing. I find it helps if I sit quietly everyday and just be silent and still. Try not to think of anything, just let the silence embrace you. Sometimes I think I get pessemstic and discouraged because life is so busy and full of noise. This constant motion distracts me from my true goal, to be healthy and live life to its fullest. Just a thought.

I might have a good salad dressing for you. I got a jar of the brown mustard at a health store and took a splach of braggs vineger and added something sweet, You can use agave or honey. I mixed it up I was surprised that it was so tasty. You can blend some nuts and mix spice and vineger and make a dressing that is similar to ranch. There are some recipes on this site for dressings as well.
I also read of creating a quiet environment when eating and haveing a meditative thoughts while eating. It sounded different but I find I rush way to much and that is not so good for our digestion
Best of luck to you

Thanks Lizard! I think I will try that and see how it goes. I have a feeling this may work really well for me. They teach meditation at karate, but we never really go that in depth into it. This book I read called Eat, Pray, Love was about this woman's year long adventure to find herself and to seek a higher power ('god'-like image). This woman actually went through this experience and she went very in depth into it and what happened. Its very interesting, I just need to find the time.

Thank you pampam! I will try those. I'm just a little precautious about using braggs, it doesnt seem like a natural food, more processed than anything, thats why I haven't tried it yet.

What you said about living life to the fullest...what does that mean exactly Lizard? There seem to be so many differnt views on what living life to the fullest means. For some it is drinking, partying, and taking risks, at least thats the way it seems for most people of my age group anyway. I too want to take risks, but not those kinds, I would prefer to try bungee jumping or sky diving...natural adrehnaline (sp?) I don't like that teens drink and party as much as they do, it just seems kind of rediculous...to do something that would disorientate you so much you cant even remember what you did the next day...ending up sick and in bed. I do not wish to offend anyone, but why do people do that? It seems there are much better ways to live life than forgetting what you did the night before and hanging over a toilet bowl or a trash can the next day.

Slowly this week is getting better, much better from last week. I do need to buy fruit, my mom and sister have eaten all of mine I just dont have much of an appetite at the moment...I wonder why? Right now there are so many thoughts going through my head it seems like there is a race on the audubon, they are all moving so quickly and never stopping. I ask a question and immediately forget what it was. I'm afraid that all of these thoughts will run into each other and have a giant 'thought pile-up' like in a giant car wreck. Sorry for the analogy, but honestly, thats how my head feels, one giant audubon highway with everyone speeding as much as they can and driving as recklessly as they can. soon it will all be cleared up I'm sure, but it will take time. I will definitely try the meditation thing...just sitting in stillness...boy that would be sooooo nice.

sorry for the long post

Tomorrow is friday, woot!

Au revoir!

Hey all! and Happy Mothers Day!

Hmm...i dont really know how to start this one off today...

I have a cold...a cold my sister gave me, and I dont know what to do about it. This is the first time I've been sick since I have started embracing this lifestyle. So far I have just laid around in bed drinking water...and a cookie, and a nutrition bar... cookies are one of my favorite foods, so i guess mom was thinking she was helping me? anyway...self-control did not prevail, and i ate it. OH well...ill have a salad later, we are doing a pique-nique in our living room since the weather isnt so good and watching '27 Dresses'

my sister and i got mom tangerine colored roses and pretty smelling candles for mothers day...she said they were her most favorite flowers she had ever received im glad we made her happy

au revoir

hey,
im simply not hungry right now, its very rare that i am hungry, and i find this strange. im afraid not to eat because my family and friends will worry. so i eat anyway...i feel gross and over full. but it seems that i could go days on end without eating and only drinking water. this seems so complicated. im very confused. to eat or not to eat? that is the question.

i know that everyone talks about listening to your body, but how is that possible when everyone around you looks worried that you dont eat lunch or dinner b/c you are already skinny. im not trying to brag, but seriously, im not trying to lose weight, but when i dont eat they all tell me that i have to eat so i do. i wish people understood, especially my doctors.

lizard, how did you get your doctors to go along with this lifestyle?

Hey Tea937,

Well, I haven't been to a doctor in about a year or so for this. I found them to be very discouraging and a waste of time. They just want to throw you on drugs and experiment with you. I hate that more than anything, it makes me feel very inhuman.

I know exactly how you feel with the whole "hunger' issue. I rarely get hungry. I eat to satisify my family and friends and then feel awlful afterwords. They worry too, because they think I'm too thin. I try to explain things, but they don't understand how horribly uncomfortable I am after I eat. So, I know how you feel. We just have to try our hardest to not care what other people think and to just put the healthiest qualities foods in our bodies. I keep telling myself, its not about quantity, yes quality. They may never understand (and hopefully don't cause how could they without having it?) and we just have to accept that and know that the healthier we get, chrones will dissapear from our lives!

I'm so glad to talk to you on this forum. It's nice to have someone else that understands. Thank you for your postings.

Lizard

Thank you so much Lizard! I really truely appreciate what you have told me. Reading that and rereading it has helped alot. It's great to know that someone knows how I'm feeling, even though they aren't really the best circumstances in the world.

So, honestly, lately, I haven't been doing so good. I do wonderfully in the morning and during the day, but once I get home, jeez, the stress just settles and there I am eating junk... It seems though that the stress may soon be gone, although, when is a person not stressed? I just need to learn to deal with it better. That will be my goal over this summer. I think stress is my main problem. I stress and don't deal with it, it makes me tired and weak, and then I give in. Yes, learning to control how I deal with stress will be my goal before I go to college.

Tomorrow is prom! haha I'm very excited, but at the same time...the food? I wish that food didn't take up so much of our lives. People go out to eat for fun, there is always food everywhere we go. If food wasn't such the centerpiece for everything this may be easier. But if it were easy it wouldnt be worth it.

Still eating lots of bananas and pears
Not so much on the exercise lately, I've had a cold...due to lack of sleep
It's getting easier to resist temptations...chocolate...havent had any in weeks!

Au Revoir!

Wow, I havent written here in a while

basically...I binged...badly. I'm trying to get back to where I was...it all has to start somewhere right? I just have to become inspired and keep saying that this is really what I want, because it is.

I really want to be healthy and happy and eat and do things for myself that are only good. It takes one step at a time, slow and work up to it. I'm a teenager still...I'll be around people who eat junk all the time. I'm going to college with cafeteria food and late night microwaved snacks surrounding me...but I need to persevere and know that this is for me, not anyone else.

It's just very hard with no one right here...like telling me that what I am doing is right. My mom is ok with it...but still wants to cook for me, buys food that tempts me, even when i ask her not to...and I'm the only person in my house who ate that food in the first place.

This forum is a great support though...I need to keep coming back here, it gives me inspiration and shows me that i can do this

au revoir

Hey just wanted to drop in

I too am an EX crohns sufferer, now been in remission for 16 months, medication free

start fresh, dont worry about the slip ups

have you looked into 8-1-1? that helped my crohns a lot, simple mono eating.

All the best

x

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Raw since March 2007

http://rawveganlondoner.blogspot.com/

Hey!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. It's been a very busy summer. I am doing ok, one raw meal a day...breakfast and i just try and eat lots of fruits and veggies with the other meals.

I start college in the fall which means that this will become an even bigger challenge...but im ready for it

Au Revoir.

P.S. I am starting a new med tomorrow called Humira for any other crohns people out there. its a self injection t-cell blocker just like remicade. i dont want to take it, but my mom will refuse to let me not take it because it will result in a flare. i have retreated from the argument for now...but i just have to find a way for her to understand it soon.

Hey! so its been a while I suppose.

Well my summer went by very fast and for the most part it was pretty amazing! Towards the end I was very stressed out and went to the junk food vegetarian side of everything. I felt horrible the whole time and that prolly made everything worse.

Now I'm in college, and it feels amazing! This place feels more like a home than my actual home. I love it here, I'm happy, I'm healthy and I'm feeling great! What is interesting is that I am having an easier time being raw here at college than when I am at home. At home I always had my sister and mom's junk food around to eat. We had fruit too...but there was still the other food. Up here I have fully stocked my little microfridge with fruits of all kinds...mostly whatever i can find when i go to wegmans. I dont go to breakfast in the mornings because its all pancakes and eggs. Instead I eat a fruit or make a smoothie in a tiny blender I brought with me. For lunch I normally eat more fruit or a veggie burger or a salad. Dinner however is where it gets harder to find things to eat. I know that i need the greens...but my only source is the salad bar...which is great...but its getting old. So i resort to pasta some nights. I eat more fruit than anything else though...it just tastes SOOOO GOOOD! I'm worried though that I'm not getting everything I need to stay healthy by eating so much fruit.

So obviously, as you can tell...I'm not fully raw...or vegan. I am trying...but I feel like for me to become vegan i would have to go fully raw and vegan at the exact same time. It just seems sooo hard to do. This campus is really vegetarian friendly which is great...but not so vegan friendly. Like they have salad bars at all the dining halls, but not the best fruit selection or anything more than salads. Right now...about two meals a day are raw/vegan. So I guess I'm about 75% raw/vegan.

I joined the vegetarian club on campus...and they said they help people become vegan, if they want...but for me it has to be all or nothing from this point on.

I keep wondering what I should eat here instead of just salads, and I hope im getting all the nutrients i need.

Thank you for reading...

Au revoir.

Hey Hey,

So nothing new has really happened, I'm still eating like I have been since I got here...but I feel like I'm getting a cold. I don't want to take medicine for it because I don't like medicine. I don't know what I should do to stop this cold from getting worse. I don't really have the time to deal with a cold. I will stress too much and it will just become worse than it already is.

au revoir

Hey,

Last week was horrible, I was sick, my Crohn's began to act up, I was dizzy, nauseous, lightheaded, and in pain alll week. I went to health center, had tons of tests done only to find out that i was fine, apparently. I think it just has something to do with what I am eating...or not eating. Maybe I don't have enough protein in my diet, or it could be that I haven't been following my plan. It's just so hard to eat raw when all i do is eat the same thing every day. It gets so boring. So I go for the pasta...or the veggie burger. And I have just recently done some research on foods that 'inflame' and pasta is one of them...along with bread and all of that. So now my choices are even lower, which is good, but I just have no clue what I can eat other than salad, which I love, but there is no variety, and fruit. I bought almonds and some other sort of nut a few days ago because I think part of my problem is protein intake. I don't know, im just babbeling. I guess you could say im in a food rut and it is frustrating. I'm off to work out now.

au revoir

Maybe you could get a raw foods recipe book.There are some really good ones out there. Or check your library if you cannot afford to buy one. Or look up recipes on the Internet. I make a lot of soups with avos and miso as my base and add whatever is in the house. Good luck!

I went through a food rut. Sometimes it takes so much preperation and I just dont want to do it. I am so use to everything right now.

Here is a good recipe:

I took some dehydrated tomatoes and soaked them I got some spices and a garlic The kind of spices you use for spagetti. I blended it together and it tasted thick and rich like spagetti sauce. Oh I also put some green and red peppers in the sauce to blend. I then took some zuccini and grated it and chopped up some tomatoes and peppers real fine. I put the sauce over the grated zuccini and it really tasted good. It was such a great change. I still had some sauce the next day and made a salad with it.

Another thing I like is making my own salsa I eat the salsa as salad dressing or as a dip with some vegies.

I really like green smoothies as well I blend some frozen banana and strawberrie with spinach or kale and yum it is so quick and good.

I sometimes have popcorn as a snack when nothing else seems to work but I don't like to do that oftain.

Best of luck eating raw