i live in a group home for young HIVers where no one is raw let alone even vegetarian. most i think are probably on meds and the majority eat junk foods all day, and the meals that are served are heavy with meat and oily cooked stuff everyday. the most "healthy" thing they'd consider eating is cheerios for breakfast, a peanutbutter jelly sandwich, or one of those Boost (so called nutritional) shakes. i rarely even see anyone eating an apple or orange.
I get a lot of strange looks and questions when using the blender as i make a good deal of smoothies....one person likes to tease "time for your baby food again" "don't you chew anything"...etc..

But this morning as I was makin a banana green smoothie, one kid got interested in what i was makin so i asked if he would like to try some. he said it looked scary but interesting and so he tried a small glass.... shortly thereafter, he asked me for some more. He asked me a couple questions about eating raw, which i tried to answer as best i could. I also told him how people have cured their own chronic illnesses -cancer, diabetes, etc. from going raw, and he seemed surprised by that and said he was going to research it more and think about eating like that. interestingly enough, he wants to study to be a doctor.... hopefully he will look into it more and will make the right choices in his life but i feel good that i was able to plant the seed.

have any of you had similar encounters or actually helped someone transition to raw?

Great story. Very positive. I feel I've been able to touch at least a few folks...and provide a good example to some. So that's good! No big hail mary conversions however....but I don't really expect that. I think food is much more of an 'energetic' expression of where we are....and not always as amenable to major changes as folks would like to think.

Keep it up! A quiet apple eater (or smoothie drinker) is one of the most powerful statements you are ever going to make!

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

davidzanemason Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> .....A quiet apple eater (or smoothie
> drinker) is one of the most powerful statements
> you are ever going to make!
That's good advice!! Be an Example without Preaching.
Your Appearance says it all. Shhhh....Mums the Word....WY

iamwhatiam,

This is a really heartening post. You are doing good work merely by existing. Keep it up!

thanks, i'm not really all that an articulate of a speaker or good at offering detailed scientific explantions for things (it's really hard for me to put my thoughts into words when speaking to people) so teaching by example is the easiest best thing i can do, i think.

but i do feel bad because i find myself more or less judging everyone around me when it comes to the raw lifestyle. when i walk down a grocery isle or see someone eating outside a cafe i cannot help but glance at what is in their cart or on their plate and almost think that i am "better" than them in a way or when i am eating raw around other people who are not, i feel proud. i hate it. i know that's a very unkind and unhealthy mindset/attitude to have and i want to change that. living raw for me is about health, energy, consciousness, love, compassion, wholeness..... anyone else ever have these same feelings/thoughts?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/2009 06:21AM by iamwhatiam.

iamwhatiam

Quote

anyone else ever have these same feelings/thoughts?

yes, One time in particular stands out in my mind. I was in line at a grocery store and the lady in front of me had a bunch of ground beef in her cart. The checker asked the woman if she wanted to go back and exchange the reg ground beef for the lean ground beef because the better beef was on sale for less then the regular. She said no because she liked the taste of the regular so much better. I remember thinking how sad to be addicted to fat like that when its that kind of "sticky" fat that is so bad about coating the insulin and plugging the insulin receptor sites. She looked like a good candidate for diabetes as she was very overweight. Sometimes thoughts like that just happen.

I find that the same kind of thinking that might lead to to think I am "better than" also leads to me think that I am "less than". This kind of thinking is painful for me, so when I find myself doing it, I just let it go. Both "better than" and "less than" make me feel separate from everything.

Bravo for your encouragement to that person.
I eat my raw way and hope it encourages others as well.
But most folks I have in my life are healthy eaters anyway.

Vinny

bryan:

<< I find that the same kind of thinking that might lead to to think I am "better than" also leads to me think that I am "less than". This kind of thinking is painful for me, so when I find myself doing it, I just let it go. Both "better than" and "less than" make me feel separate from everything.>>

beautiful