Just discovered this simplest of "treats": sweet potatoes, eaten raw, of course. Now, I had always just assumed that it wouldn't taste or digest well eaten in its raw state; I would just toss it in with the cruciferous veggies that I would normally steam.

Well, I was wrong- so tasty and sweet on its own... a new favorite!

For me it was corn. As long as it's really fresh, picked within a day, usually, it's way better raw than cooked on the cob. The season for corn where I am isn't very long, but it is lovely. My favorite thing is to buy a cob at the farmers market on Saturday and eat it as my first food of the day while I do my week's shopping. I sometimes get jealous looks or comments from people who think they have to take their corn home and cook it before they can enjoy it.

Yes, fresh corn is another one! Yum.

Funny how liberating it is to just think "outside the produce box" once in awhile...

I keep discovering "favorite" new things. My "outside the produce box" discovery yesterday was pumpkin. I peeled it and put it in my food processor with some tahini, lemon juice, pumpkin seeds, cumin and just enough water for it to blend.

Raw pumpkin! Who'd've thunk it? Cheap and tasty. And the consistency was perfect for stuffing. Savory... kind of nutty...

(I ate it on red bell pepper strips and will have the rest on celery sticks with some green onion slices on top.)

My favorite discovery around raw food is that it opened my mind to question a lot more other things. A lot of people just assume that cooking is natural, ok, or even healthy, just because of the number of people that practice it. So, if this habit that most take for 'normal' isn't optimal, what other things are overlooked? what other things are less than optimal?

I have had some experiences that appear uncommon to a lot of other people. I have shared them with some others, who immediately dismissed them as stress or imagination. It left me to doubt my experiences, and wonder if there was something wrong with me. Now I just accept the possibility that my experience is correct, its just that maybe others aren't as keen in perception or just don't experience those things. It doesn't mean they weren't real.

Mislu,

Yes, exactly-- this was actually the thought that was behind my "discovery." The idea that so many things are done just because "that's the way it's always been done," without opening up to other possibilities. I mean, it is such a deadening practice, to go through life like that, and I know so many people who do so...

Raw food changes things, I believe, over the long term, as one becomes more tuned into one's own body and body/mind connection. It seems the more I move into raw, the more clarity I am able to manifest in terms of just moving through life.

I understand when you talk about questioning yourself. Funny-- the main issue that is becoming my main focus these days seems to be one of overcoming self-doubt. I can feel when it starts to creep into my consciousness, and it does not make me feel very good. Remnants from past conditioning and experiences, for sure! (Shakespeare had a quote about the problem with self-doubt, but I am forgetting it at the moment...).

Your decision to just accept the validity of your own experience is inspiring and, well, makes absolute sense. If we do not trust ourselves, and our own internal guide, or instincts, than who do we trust?

Another admirer of raw sweet potato here.

Seaweed juice.

It's a favorite because it's so mineral rich, and googling "seaweed juice"
brought up a colorful story or two like a street vendor who supports a
family by selling drinks made with it.

raw asparagus is amazing

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Dehydrated squash chips.
Sweet as sugar.

Vinny

Buddhistforlife,

"The idea that so many things are done just because "that's the way it's always been done," without opening up to other possibilities. I mean, it is such a deadening practice, to go through life like that, and I know so many people who do so... "

Amazingly enough there is actually at least one personality where that is a major theme, if you believe in psychology.

"Low Openness
Difficulty adapting to social or personal change; low tolerance or understanding of different points of view or lifestyles; emotional blandness and inability to understand and verbalize own feelings; alexythymia; constricted range of interests; insensitivity to art and beauty; excessive conformity to authority."

[www.ptypes.com]

The part that you can appreciate from such an individual is predictability, even if it seems bland or uninspired. They also tend to fit into to social norms, so they tend not to attract too much criticism for being 'different', in their mind this is a bad thing. To an extent this is true, because sometimes being outside of social norms can cause prejudice, distrust, misunderstandings. The problem is that everyone will get some of that anyways no matter what! Also, its exactly those things which are 'different' about a person makes them so interesting. So other people might not see them as 'outstanding' or notable for anything.

I'm actually very open, perhaps too open, if one could be. My main challenge that I work on now is finding evidence to support new ideas that I evaluate, rather than immediately giving something new a try.

Mislu,

Wow! It's amazing to me how things are catalogued. To me Low Openness is just not having been brought up right, as my grandparents would say . . .

They taste good!

If you have been raw for any length of time,there is nothing more nauseating than a fast food burger,a food SAD eaters say is wonderful.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/11/2010 06:01PM by eaglefly.

Tamukha,
Well, that is part of the pathological description. The wonderful part about the webpage is that it also describes ways in which each type are functional. The interesting thing is that the 'devoted' type at some point may actively seek out new experiences, and explore different lifestyles, having gotten bored with excessive comformity. And maybe not, maybe the individual is perfectly fine with limited options.
[www.ptypes.com]

Mislu,

That ptypes website is interesting. Have you ever heard of the enneagram? It's an ancient system based on the wisdom of the Sufis (among others) geared towards self-understanding. It's really fascinating, with many layers of knowledge and wisdom.

Here is the website: [www.enneagraminstitute.com]

By the way, your willingness to be open, "...perhaps too open" is rare!

Buddhistforlife,
Its rare? well, its taken me awhile. I used to never be able to think outside of the box. I now live in a small town where thinking inside a box is strictly enforced.(by pain of death) Its just soooo strange to me now. I previously lived in a very open minded community, I miss it so much! I am planning on escape in april. I hope is successful. There also isn't as much diversity as I am used to. It really hampers open thinking, and most people who live here actually like that. Newcomers with new ideas make them very uncomfortable.

On the food side of things, there is a vegetarian juice bar here, I like to go to it. But its been having trouble keeping operating the last few years. Its just a small stand inside of a community coop. Even that has only salads as completely raw food.

There are a few 'ethnic' restaurants in town. For the most part the menus there serve hamburgers, spaghetti & meatballs, meat and potatoes, because nobody really wants ethnic foods. They may have one or two modified dishes that are actually made up for americans, its just too weird. And nobody thinks anything of it. Also wonder bread, mac & cheese, instant cup-of soup, raman noodles are considered 'healthy' here. Oh yeah, hotdogs without mayo is also on the 'health' list.

"Shakespeare had a quote about the problem with self-doubt, but I am forgetting it at the moment...

Hamlet had doubts--


Sarah Bernhardt as Hamlet

Isabella had self-doubts
"Our doubts are traitors"

I'm full of doubts and self-doubts which is a real tragedy

Yes, thank you, loeve- and here is the full quote:

"Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt."
Shakespeare

I suppose it's not a bad idea to have a modicum of doubt. It's when it becomes an ingrained habit that one might be concerned...

bfl,
I am discovering that perhaps I am not as open as I think. But I do believe I am still more open and most, especially here.

Open-ness was part of Shakespeare's character, Isabella. Her initial self-doubt was overcome with the help of Lucio's "Our doubts are traitors..." remark meant to encourage her.