Hello,
I'm a 19 year old computer technician, been vegetarian since I was like 2, vegan for about 8 months now, and I've failed to go raw a few times. It was never really about health as I was overweight until recent years, mainly out of a love for all earth's creatures. I feel I easily am able to break my addiction to processed and cooked foods, but feel I am ignorant to a degree where I am unable to healthily stick to a raw diet. The longest I've eating consistently 100% raw has only been two weeks. My diet consists of probably 85% fruit, 10% vegetables, and 5% nuts and seeds... but that is a rough estimate. I recently quit smoking marijuana, as I was what most would consider a heavy user. I don't drink very often. I exercise almost daily, I am 6'3 and 180 lbs and I am currently training for 26.2 mile marathon in October. Today I came down with a cold, the first I've had in about a year, and it's is discouraging me. I now do not feel well after eating most cooked foods either but I am unsure if it is a mind effect or true, and as much as I LOVE fruit I do not believe it is enough to sustain.

Are there similar experiences? How did you learn about a variety of foods needed to sustain a healthy existence? I consider myself to have willpower in most cases but am currently going through somewhat heavy withdrawals from not smoking marijuana, I think my body is purging itself as it has been about 10 days since I've eaten cooked food, and I've come down with this cold which is not helping.

I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking for, I guess input or advice from others who have experienced similar situations. I have never really known any vegetarians or vegans, which makes it difficult to some degree to communicate and I am not very comfortable discussing my eating habits with others, as many are quick to judge and quicker to explain why I am wrong. What I would like to accomplished is a balanced raw vegan diet, but many of the foods recommended seem to require extremely exotic ingredients. I live near two large health food stores, I know it can be accomplished!

Are there basic utensils used such as dehydrators, food processors, blenders?
What are some staple foods of a raw vegan diet? (Besides fruit!)

Sorry for rambling on, any advice or input is appreciated!

: ) Matt

As a raw athlete you'll want to check out the 80-10-10 diet, a book by Dr Graham available on his website at [www.foodnsport.com].

As for fancy equipment, you really don't need any, but there are some handy tools. For me, I use my food processor and blender a lot, though nowadays its mostly the food processor.

For me, right now, my staples are watermelon, figs, tomatoes, cucumbers. At other times I eat a lot of lettuce and celery, but it seems that cucumbers are providing me with whatever it was that lettuce and celery used to give me.

Matt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hello,
> I'm a 19 year old computer technician, been
> vegetarian since I was like 2, vegan for about 8
> months now, and I've failed to go raw a few times.

so you succeeded in learning something about raw...


> It was never really about health as I was
> overweight until recent years, mainly out of a
> love for all earth's creatures. I feel I easily am
> able to break my addiction to processed and cooked
> foods, but feel I am ignorant to a degree where I
> am unable to healthily stick to a raw diet. The
> longest I've eating consistently 100% raw has only
> been two weeks.

don't worry so much about achieving 100% so that it causes psychic stress.


> Today I came down with a cold, the first
> I've had in about a year, and it's is discouraging
> me.

try to accept what is.

there's nothing that could be more encouraging than a cold.
your body is doing what it needs to do perfectly.


simply find and eat fruit and veggies that you enjoy and hang in there...

use a blender if you find that helps, but keep it simple.

Hi Matt,
You need to find a sustainable way to transition, imo. What you did before was obviously NOT sustainable, most likely because it represented too great a change for you. I disagree with Bryan here because I think going to a program like Doug Graham's 80-10-10 would be more of the same. Most people find it impossible to go from a conventional diet to an optimal one quickly. Even Dr. Graham didn't do that. Before getting to a consistently low fat/high fruit diet (optimal), most of us have to go through a protracted period of *either* eating anywhere from small to large percentages of less-than-optimal raw foods (nuts, seeds, dried fruit, fancy recipes & combinations) OR switching back and forth from cooked to raw, which is the path that you're on currently. I chose the former, and ate nuts and other sources of fat for 3 years until I was able to slowly wean myself down to a reasonable level of fat consumption. I recommend this method to others, as it is easier psychologically because backsliding can be controlled. Also, even though the body can have a hard time processing so much fat, it can be argued that this way is gentler on the body than the alternative, which basically involves allowing the body to clean out for weeks or months at a time (by eating only raw food) and then subjecting it to a wild cooked food binge just when the membranes that allow nutrients AND harmful substances into the bloodstream are getting more permeable. This is why raw fooders going back and forth feel sick if they occasionally eat the unhealthful foods that they used to eat everyday without symptoms.

However, regardless of which way you transition, you needn't beat yourself up for indulging your addictions from time to time. It's all part of the process. I can't say the same for drinking alcohol and smoking pot, tho. These need to be abandoned yesterday. Think about the sludge that accumulates in your smoking apparatus (if you use a pipe) -- the more of that stuff you allow to build up in your body, the more difficult your healing will be. It will have to come out, and that will not be pleasant. Not as unpleasant as having it stay where it is, as this means even more suffering in the future, but unpleasant nonetheless.

Your symptoms are a consequence of all the bad habits you used to indulge, including drinking and eating cooked food. Please understand that a cold is only a bad thing if you've made no improvements in your diet recently. If you HAVE done that, it is GOOD. In fact, everything that happens after dietary improvement is GOOD, even if it feels bad. The exception to that is what raw fooders sometimes experience when they get stuck in one spot and fail to make further improvements to their diets as healing proceeds. It's always a good idea when you come down with a symptom to review what you've been eating and identify possible mistakes. That's for later on, though. You are too new to concern yourself with anything except learning how to keep yourself satisfied with raw foods instead of cooked ones. That's #1. If you don't find a way to satisfy yourself on raw foods, it will be a long road full of bumps and potholes.

In the beginning you will make mistakes but the analogy I use is that going raw is like getting lost in a friendly neighborhood. You're not going to drive over a cliff if you make a wrong turn; the worst thing that will happen is you'll have to take some friendly directing from one of the residents. There is generally a lot of fear-inducing talk on these raw discussion boards but the fact of the matter is that you had much more to fear when you were eating the way you did previously. And chances are you weren't fearful at all. There is nothing to fear in going raw.

You are doing the right thing. You are learning and asking questions, and making a huge effort to be kind to your body. Give yourself a break. Please visit my website, which is loaded with information that I think would be helpful to you, including an essay which explains cold symptoms and a very detailed accounting of my own ongoing transition (now in its 7th year). These are on the page called "Philosophy and Other Articles". I hope you feel better soon.

Warm wishes,
Nora
www.RawSchool.com