I just wanted to introduce myself here. I've lurked for years, and had another login name, but seem to have forgotten it!

Anywho...I will have 3 years raw on November 1st and it's been an amazing journey. Learned so much about my body, healed from fibro, depression, acne, chronic fatigue...and learned that I can't eat nuts and avocado's all day either!

Hope to be posting here more often, I LOVED the article by Tera Warner posted here. I have found that every guru may think their way is the only way, but I had to find MY WAY. I'm still finding it, in fact!

Thanks for having me!

Inspiring. Can you tell us more about your way?

Heehee, WELL...I'll tell you how I find works best for me and then I can tell you that I don't always follow that path! LOL!

I can't eat tons of nuts and avocados. I've tried and tried over the years to find a way to include them, and I can, if I don't wish to lose any weight. I can't lose weight tho, only maintain. I'm not obese, I hold my weight well, but I have 20-30 pounds I could lose.

I go through periods where I'm fine eating totally mono, salad, fruit, & smoothies and then periods where I don't care as long as it's raw and I eat too many recipes or too many avo's. It seems to go in cycles and for me, going with the flow has worked best for me. Trying to listen to my body, but not beating myself up if I eat something that isn't *optimal*. It's a process for me, but no matter which way I eat to maintain or lose weight, the other health benefits have been astounding.

On the occasions that I have slipped and eaten cooked food, my body has let me know that ALL my ailments come right back with no mercy! That has helped me stay on my path.

I've really grown spiritually being raw too, my greatest awareness coming on the times I have fasted. I always feel so clear-headed when juice fasting!

So I guess my way would just be keeping it simple, not stressing too much, and looking at being a raw vegan as a journey that is ever changing!

ah...now I sound all wonky! Oh well!

Karen

You are a Karen too? Cool.

Yeah, after 3 months I have decided to give up on nuts (except for rare social occasions) because they don't work for me either. But I have Type 1 Diabetes and I have to take insulin when I eat them, just like I have to do with Omega 3 supplements so I don't take those either. I am switching to avocados (1/2 to 1 a day) for my fat and that seems to be working better, although a blood test years ago said I was sensitive to them. So, my question is, when you are eating perfectly for you, is there any kind of fat that you can include that works well for you (in small amounts I assume)?

IN SMALL AMOUNTS would be the key words there! LOL! I can have avocado's and cold pressed olive oil in small amounts, just on my salads. My issues in the past have been that I like to use a whole avocado (there were periods I used TWO!) every single time I eat salad...which is usually twice a day. So, as you can see, 2-4 avo's a day didn't work for me. LOL. I can have 1 a day now or none and a little olive oil on my salads and that is optimal for me.

Hi Treehugger
I'm in my 5th year of raw and I feel smashing!!! I usually include in my dinner some mori wraps with all possible veggies, nuts and avocados and a large salad with hemp seeds. This has really improved my nutrition intake because you can make so many different kind of variations. The only problem is that I need to make sure I don't combine wrong kind of foods together which may slow the ingestion down. I also work out almost every day in my gym and my weight is mostly stable and my muscles are really enjoying this.
Cheers,
MH