I have a head-cold. The kind where your throat itches, your nose is simultaneously runny and stuffy, and you head vacillates between feeling empty and like it's about to explode.

(Oh the joys of Summer changing to Fall in 7 days... IN AUGUST... that was a short battle!!!)

Additionally, like most other mere mortals, my rawfoodness also comes and goes.

(My conviction and belief in its benefits and abilities to bring health have not wavered for 5 years, however.... just sayin'.)

Now, you might be asking yourself, "What is the point here?"
I will tell you.

Naturally, as I lay in bed not really sick enough to be considered sick sick but not really well enough to do anything else, and while going back and forth from the mind numbing internet and my books (you can see which stage I am at right now), I find myself asking myself, "Now, would you be sick if you had actually stuck with raw?"

That answer is debatable.

(The fact that my immune system would be stronger is not a question, but we all know that food is not the only factor in health, albeit significant.)

In any case, the sister question to the question myself#1 is asking myself#2 (because, you know, I am different than all myself(s)), is this, "Now, would you be feeling so crappy about everything else if you had kept eating raw?"

This answer is not debatable.
The answer is "NO."

Well DAMN! This was totally avoidable!

But seriously.

So, being sick, in a contemplative mood, and hungry (awesome combination), and frankly being tea-d out, I decided to make lunch.

What to make... what to make.
I have no energy (as you can clearly see), so I prepared a kiwi, some grapes and smeared an avocado on some whole-wheat crackers (sorry guys, I know... gross... but, percentage wise this raw meal fits within the guidelines of this forum...), topped with tomatoes and curry powder.

I retire to my bed and my book and begin to chow down. And what do I notice?

What do I not taste? The cracker.
What do I taste? Everything else.

Hmmmm..... and here, after this ridiculous and entertaining (if not to anyone but me, myself#1 and myself #2) diatribe is my observation:



The only foods I can taste when I am sick are raw foods.



This is interesting for a couple of reasons:

1) I am not supposed to be able to taste anything right now, including all the other food I have eaten this week (thanks for the pasta honey... I just said it was delicious, but couldn't really tell... Love you.).

2) For many new raw-foodists, raw foods initially seem bland and flavorless compared to the cooked foods to which they are accustomed (for which this situation is the complete opposite observation).

3) By complete accident, I successfully confirmed my suspicion that the other food I've been eating (even though it is really healthy and meets European purity standards...gotta love Germany) is contributing to me feeling like crap.



Now, it is the obvious conclusion, and doesn't need to be reiterated to the choir here, that raw foods are just better.
No dogma attached. No cult mentality. No purism or judgment or any of that.

Just simply that, when you don't cook it, it stays alive.
When it stays alive, your body gets more benefit.
When it is not dead, you are not ingesting something dead.

So, as my body is trying to recover from this little intruder who decided to take up residence in my sinuses, I can now, with an even better conscience than before, not worry about wasting all that awesome fruit on eating it when I can't taste anything.

No more of this, "Well, I'll just eat the oats because I can't taste anything anyway" Mentality!

I CAN taste the raw foods! And they WILL make me better, more quickly.




Ah, the things we observe when we can just lay in bed being "sick."

"With life as short as a half taken breath, don't plant anything but love."- Rumi

This was very interesting, Nyaz--thanks!

interesting observation, I had the same experience the last time I got sick (and the only time I have been sick since I started juicing) only food I could really taste and enjoy happened to be raw... I had a bad head cold, or at least felt like it, anybody know what raw foods are like for you while you have the flu or something similar?

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Maybe it's a biological thing. When you're sick, foods that are bad (don't contribute to your health) don't taste right or like anything at all, thus you might abstain from eating altogether for that period, which allows your body to work on healing. Since you said you can taste raw food when you're sick, you will continue to eat them and heal your body faster, so you can eat and recover instead of just not eating and letting the cold run its course. I've found that juicing is very important for immune system health.

I managed to wiave getting chickenpox all my life im 23 now, and caught it from a kid my mum looks after. My sister also managed to catch it but isnt raw vegan just normal SAD diet.

The differences in me and my sisters healing time was crazy, i only caught a mild bout of it whilst hers was full blown and still hasnt fully healed. Mines was gone in less than a week. Do note i take alot of herbs also such as adaptogens and any supplementary herbs that i wish. But i feel my raw diet was the key to faster healing along with the herbs.