I've been thinking a lot lately about raw food, like I do every day. After all, it's something that I would like to incorporate my life into, and I plan on becoming a certified nutritionist and fitness trainer in the near future, so I'm nit picking through opinions and theories for most of my day, which seems to always lead me back to what Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson explain as "your own path" --non-traditionalism. I guess it would be funny to say I agree with that, and that would be in a way, following their rule of following your own path (oh hell, just ignore that part, it could go on forever) but I'll save that thought for later. AS I had posted in the title, I'm interested as to how everyone who comes by this board found out about raw food? It can be detailed, not detailed, you know whatever floats your boat, I'm just curious. Personally, the subject had come up only a few times before, since I'm a vegan, I was still exploring diet. I had just ignored it and never really thought about it, until i saw a show on E! about diets and how energetic this one dude was about his Raw food. I laughed, of course, but not in a mocking manner at all, I was totally curious as to what it meant, truly (which I know now, is not simple at all). I ordered Juliano's Uncook book and had it for a while but my local whole foods had like, NONE of the ingredients (they do now though, go figure). Eventually I discovered dr. doug graham and this really cool fruit diet (I never stuck with raw gourmet, in fact i've only made three or four things out of it); and green for life came up, and I tried the fruit thing, but realized it was more complicated then just eating fruit(I lost energy - but I feel it wasn't a detox completely, other mental things were going on and also I wasn't getting enough protein). And now I'm still learning about food combining and interested in what I feel best with. It's so cool what you discover along the way, mentally and physically --Of course I skipped a lot of jibblets in between this little story, or point of view, whatever you call it.

It looks intimidating doesn't it. A long paragraph. Well, share your story so I can read it.

-Chloe


p.s. forgot to mention another big influence, TIM VAN ORDEN! HE's the man - I want to see this guy go to the olympics; check him OUT below.

www.runningraw.com



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/2008 03:46PM by iLIVE.

I think it's good for your skin and health to be a raw foodist. I probably wouldn't have heard of raw foodism had I not been a vegan first, though.

I realize I've been circling back to raw foods since I was a young child. My folks were raw but in the 60's they were threatened by CPS or whatever it was called back then regarding what they were feeding me - this still happens by the way. Anyway, I've always loved fruits and vegetables in their raw state.

My transition:

raw foods (1-5 years old) -----> SAD (5+) ---> vegetarian (teens) ---> vegan (20's) ----> serious junk food vegetarian (30's) ----> SAD (mid 30's) ----> strict vegan (late 30's) ----> horrendous motor vehicle accident/bodily trauma (early 40's) ----> 2 year recovery/drugs/pain/junk food ----> fasting, partially raw/cooked vegan (mid 40's/intense healing) ----> 100% raw (1.5 years to date)

It's a journey and and there is no other way I choose to eat. I learn something daily about eating raw foods and about myself, It's exciting stuff and my body is thriving. There is so much more to do and see and feel in this life. A major accident is what brought me back to raw and feeling blessed, alive and healthy is what keeps me raw. I would have it no other way.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/2008 05:56PM by rawangel.

I did a lot of research online.....and learned about what cooking did to food.....and had been changing my diet to mostly fresh fruits and vegetables......a couple of years before I heard about the 'raw food diet'. Heh...heh. It was great to, then, see/hear the experiences of those who were 'struggling' to transition to the diet that I had been practicing for several years. I could, then, also share my experiences and perhaps help some one else.

-The information is out there....if you want it. It's not that hard to KNOW what is right. It's harder to get over one's self to do something small towards it.

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

Great question Chloe.

I found raw food while glancing at the Vegetarian cookbook section in a book store. I bought Raw Food Real World that day, then ordered Alissa Cohen's book and a dehydrator. I read Alissa's book and was INSPIRED!! Cleaned out all my cupboards of Vegan canned and processed goods... and went raw! Over 2 years ago! I've read so many books on raw, nutrition and raw uncooking now. I've tried so many different styles of eating raw, including a lengthy juice feast My diet is always evolving. Almost instantly I knew I wanted to help turn on others to raw foods, I mean what better way to turn people into healthy, vibrant vegans, and help the planet and the animals! Raw has taken over my life, and I wanted it that way! I am now writing raw uncook books, and planning a move to the first raw vegan village being built in Ojai, California!!

Sunflower
Raw Food Chef and Writer
Comfortably Raw
[www.comfortablyraw.com]

i had been a SAD eater for many years and a few years ago i just kept getting this "feeling" that i needed to go vegetarian. eating meat just didn`t intuitively feel right but i ignored the feeling for a couple years. it didn`t go away so i thought...hmmmm this isn`t just mind chatter, there must be something to it. so i embarked on researching vegetarianism which led me to this site. last summer i incorporated high raw into my life and i love it
patty

One day in late July'07 I googled "raw food forum" to go check out what I knew was a better way to eat then the cooked food I was eating at the time. Alissa's RFT site came up and I clicked on that and got totally engrossed in reading some of the threads. I was hooked. I joined the "RAWgust" 30 day challenge and went all fresh raw on August 1, 07 and after completing the challenge I continued on for ten and 1/2 months. In the middle of June this year I yielded to a slight craving for a Mexi Veggie Wrap on a restaurant menu instead of a salad and WHAM I slipped off the path and down the slippery slope of cooked food and fell off a cliff. I have been struggling ever since to get back to all raw but to this day I eat some cooked food everyday. I can only say that my experience has taught me to watch out for that first mis-step as its a Doosie. I have experienced amazing changes in my physical and mental health since going raw and I am committed to staying raw and continuing to enjoy the benefits this lifestyle provides.

Hey EZ rider, I had a similar experience after being raw for a year, gave in to cooked food once while traveling, and it took me a couple months to get back to all raw. I think what helped me in the end was setting a date to go back fully raw, and sticking with it (o:
Good luck to you, and congrats on your first nearly year raw!

Sunflower
Raw Food Chef and Writer
Comfortably Raw
[www.comfortablyraw.com]

My dog helped me find it.

I was researching canine raw food diet when I wasn't explicit enough in the search criteria. I selected Search for all the words, instead of Search for the exact phrase.

flash

Haha, I especially like flash's story. I hope more people keep posting, it's great to hear about all of these stories.

I was SADly toxic (pun intended) prior to attending the Optimum Health Institute of San Diego. After their three week program I was totally detoxed, 100% raw and an expert in sprouting techniques. I really felt half my age when I left there. I attribute it totally to the raw/fermented food diet, wheatgrass shots/enemas and exercise.

I was a coffee addicted,almost 3 gallons a day. I had migrane headache everyday for many years.When I decided to quit coffee and felt amazing,I decided to stop everything that was bad for me. I found The Raw Family's book 12 steps to raw food and I felt in love with the life sytle.That was in 1999 and now I'm a 100% raw.Took me some years of in and out,but now I feel that I'm in the right path.
I read everything about raw food and that helps me a lot.This site too,is a real support for me.I love evrybody here.Thank you guys.

Quote

RawSun Wrote:

I think what helped me in the end was setting a date to go back fully raw, and sticking with it

I am starting all raw today August 1, 08. Its the my one year anniversary of my going raw and I am joining the RAWgust again and going to start in again going for the 100% fresh raw. One day at a time. Thanks for your response. ;-)

Great question; great posts!

I first heard about the raw food diet in the early 80's while browsing through some books at my local health food store in Napa, Ca. Before that, I practically lived in fruit trees and gardens as a kid -- those were my favorite places. I tried going all raw in the 80's after reading N. W. Walker's and Kulvinska's books. I did it off and on for a couple of years, but every time I would go 100% for any length of time, I would get pregnant and start craving steak and milk (this happened twice in a year and a half). Every once in a while over the years I would try it, but not knowing anyone else who ate like this, coupled with the energy it gave me which I did not understand and was a little afraid of, made it difficult to stick with it. Four years ago, someone was doing a demo at my local health food store (in Chico, Ca) and I tried this delicious food, went home, googled raw foods, and found and started reading forums and blogs. I started increasing my raw food intake, but didn't go 100% as I was pregnant again. I have been steadily increasing my raw food intake since then, and this year committed to going as close to 100% as possible. Some weeks I am at 100%, some at 70, but I keep trying to raise my percentage every week. I don't have a lot of will power, but I am not giving up, because I feel so good when I eat all raw, and because I think raw foods are one of the keys to sustaining ourselves and our planet. I have learned to love the energy that raw foods give me. When I eat all raw for any length if time, I am more sensitive (in a good way) and am full of energy. Sometimes I don't quite know what to do with myself when I feel this way, so I need to learn how to channel this energy effectively. (I think this energy issue is more a brain issue than a body issue, because I am ADHD and have other personal issues to work on.)

Anyway, that's my schpiel. I love raw foods, love not having to cook, love the freshness and flavors and the way I feel on raw foods.

Ill health brought me to look at a RV diet about five years ago.

I have had several attempts at Rv.
First, I tried gourmet. I loved to cook, so preparing complicated recipes and placing them in the dehydrator helped with transitional habit breaking.
I ate lots of dehydrated foods. It didnt suit me.

I then tried the wheatgrass, sprouting/low fruit approach. I didnt like it, but it did suit me a little better than gourmet. I could not see myself eating this way for the rest of my life.

I then found 811. I started moving towards it.
I dont record my intake, i just eat what i want, when i want.
I know that if i start to record, i will obsess about it, so i dont go there!

I have never felt so free and happy!

Long story short. I turned to a friend and said that we all should eat like gorillas. This was while I still ate meat and fast food. I had been having a lot of GI distress. I made transitions to vegetarian, then vegan, then vegan with lots of raw salads but I had not gone all the way to raw.

My boss at work was having a lot of joint issues. She was also following the Atkin's Diet. I thought she was having an acid build up since this is what causes gout. They had already done a bunch of tests and had no answers. I told her to give up Atkin's diet and eat like a gorilla. After a couple of weeks she finally did give up Atkin's and began to eat a lot of salad and some fruit. She began to feel better within a week. How could I not follow my own advice. Quite easy actually. I resisted for a couple of years ... I'm a potato and soup junkie. I eventually made the plunge. It has helped me lose 40 lbs of unwanted fat, decreased my own joint pain, and I have become more flexible. Oh! my gi distress is pretty much not there any more. Salad is my best friend! Well next to my wife it is

Good luck to those getting there, and kudos to those sticking with it!

Hi EZ Rider,

You know you can do it again. You did it before! Your past success can lead you there!! All the best this month.

Sunflower
Raw Food Chef and Writer
Comfortably Raw
[www.comfortablyraw.com]

Quote

RawSun Wrote:

All the best this month.

Thanks. I'm all fresh raw so far. ;-)

i was a vegetarian since the age of 19, and i guess my first introduction to raw foods was when a vegan friend of mine dragged me to a raw potluck about 4 years ago... i remember thinking at the time that these people were total quacks, and all they seemed to eat was dates and chocolate! (there wasn't a salad in the joint... it was mostly raw desserts).

then in july of last year i did an 11 day master cleanse, after which i spontaneously started eating only raw fruits and vegetables. i didn't want to put anything else into my hard won newly-scrubbed digestive system! i got online to see if this was a sustainable diet for humans, and voila! 1 year raw and loving it.

like EZ, i found it easy to maintain "purity" for many months after first beginning with raw foods. now i find i struggle with cooked food "cheats". i don't eat cooked food every day, but i do slip up more than i would like to. i am a mom and i prepare cooked vegan food my daughter -- that can be challenging! but i am just accepting that this is part of the transition process for me. i fully identify as a raw foodist, and i trust that taking it day by day will eventually lead me to my dietary goals -- (1) to eat to live, not live to eat, and (2) to eat the most optimal diet for human beings -- raw unadulterated fruits and vegetables!

It was 1976 when I discovered raw food. I was already searching for a way to be healthier and more vital, when a friend loaned me one of Arnold Ehret's books. That was it-- I think I read the thing through in a few hours, and started immediately trying to adopt a raw food diet.

Sharrhan:


[www.facebook.com]

For me,I always had a gut feeling,even since my teens,that eating the "foods of the earth"(meaning basically raw) was the best way to eat.
I lean toward this way of eating to keep a multitude of health issues under control.

Brian



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/2008 06:08PM by Raw1228.

I worked at a co-op and one day a guy came in and challenged me to go two weeks raw when he saw me popping some charcoal tabs for my digestion. I told him he was nuts, but the little seed was planted and decided to sprout about two years later.

what a great thread!

I remember the first day I heard about "living foods" was at a Whole Life Expo (something like that) in LA. There was a booth of African American women, dressed in flowing robes and headdresses of orange and yellow. They had glowing skin and sculpted cheekbones and seemed to move with a serenity that stood out. I ordered these 'burgers' and some other salad stuff and it was yummy and odd at the same time (never had dehydrated stuff like that.) I think this was in 2000 maybe. I never realized what I was eating and went to a few more veg festivals and was exposed to it and gradually started looking up websites. This one and Shazzies are what initially educated me.

I was in a book store looking for a good cookbook (I loved to cook). I would shop for a cookbook once every few months. So right there on the shelf I saw a white book titled "Skinny Bitch" I couldn't believe that there would be a book by that name, I skimmed through the book and bought it, as it made me laugh very much! I read it in a few hours and instantly became a Vegan. Than 2 months later, I read into raw foods, and bought my first raw food book "12 Steps to Raw Foods" That book alone, convinced me to become all raw! I started late with raw foods, at 40 years old, before than I was eating everything in sight, I didn't care what I put into my mouth! I was even a pack a day smoker!

April 2007, I quit everything, became a raw vegan, and the detox was extremely hard on me, but I knew that something GREAT was going to happen to me, and it did!

Great story deegarry!!

I was sick and one of my kids was sick. I was getting tested for cancer, which seemed like silly protocal to me. My niece told me a bout raw and I remember having met a raw foodist a few years before and running across it online while doing other research. I guess the third time was the charm. After a month we were so much better, I knew we found an answer to our health issues.

my mama is a super duper healthy hippy and we were raised veggie for a long time, extra special tofu and bean sprout expereiments that gave me a taste for unusual foods etc.
in my 20's i pursued a job at an indoor organic sprout farm and living foods resource center where i read my first few raw books. at first i was like "ALL raw?! phew, that's so crazy!" but after one book i was converted. i went 100% the next day and after 2 months did a 7 day fast followed by a colonic and presto chango, some serious GI problems i had magically disappeared! the doctor told me it had nothing to do with what i was eating, that fasting was useless and probably dangerous and that people need to eat meat and dairy to stay alive. as if i needed that last little push from an "expert" who so obviously didn't have a clue... that was the moment it solidified for me and i took full control of my own health.

deegarry@yahoo.com Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
So right there on the
> shelf I saw a white book titled "Skinny Bitch"

that`s the book i bought and turned it on to my girlfriend and she went vegee! did you ever get skinny bitch in the kitch?
patty

Foe myself, I saw this thing on TV that Demi Moore followed a raw food program and I googled it. Then I saw sooooo much online. The first thing that made me try was Victoria Boutenko (I Thank God every day for her articles)and how her family was so sick and got better. Thats all. (I am a vegetarian from birth, but always had dairy) From the next day, I stopped milk, and stopped all cooked foods for breakfast, lunch and snack. I ate a somewhat large cooked dinner. But after six months, I started eating a very small cooked dinner like at 4:00 pm and now, I finally quit rice and feel so much better.

Take care
A Iyer

What a great thread! Thank you to everyone for sharing.

My story: I got tired of being tired! I've always felt better when eating more fresh, unprocessed fruits and vegetables. I love this food!


Lee

[www.dhamma.org]

"May all beings be happy."