Did you watch Earthlings or see another DVD?

Did you meet someone?

Was it a book?

What is your reason/motivation/inspiration??

How did you learn how to make raw meals aside from green or fruit salads??

Good question.
For me ,I always had the gut feeling that the only thing we should be eating were the living foods of the earth,meaning only raw fruits and veggies.
People wise its been Paul Nison and Dan McDonald who have inspired me most.
My motivation is to hopefully avoid all of the common diseases,and to better my emotional health.
I fully believe its the greens that can do the most good.In fact,it wasnt till I started making leafy green juice every morning,about 8 months ago, that I finally pulled out of a very long term depression and beer addiction.
Vinny

Hey, good for you Vin!

Definitely, my major inspiration was Arnold Ehret. Although I no longer agree with everything he had to say, he gave me a brand new insight into keeping the body clean and energized. I read his books and Back to Eden by Jethro Kloss, and then I tried my first juice and herb tea fast. Wow! Pretty amazing!

I think that was in 1973. So how did I learn to make raw meals aside from green or fruit salads? Well, I never really did learn much besides eating fruits and salads, except I learned how to sprout (Survival Into the Twentieth Century), how to make raw Essene Bread (Essene Gospel of Peace), and how to make a nori roll (someone on this forum, but I forgot who).

Usually though, I just eat fruit, and/or some nuts or seeds, or celery sticks, a carrot, etc. I like keeping it simple, except I do like a nori roll or two (these days stuffed with cucumber, grated carrot, red bell pepper, and mung bean sprouts, w/lemon juice).

Me gut--I'd been a regular vegetarian for a decade and a half until I went in this direction. As far as raw "media" is concerned, I stumbled upon Shazzie's [now defunct] blog and read the whole thing in one weekend. After that, I started seeking out more raw foodist "personalities" to get an idea of the diverse range of raw lifestyles and experiences, and that's what brought me here. I love this place, btw

I never felt good eating meat,so after stop drinking coffee that was the hardest thing for me I found that I could do anything,so I stop meat. After that I found
Victoria Boutemko's book 12 steps to raw food and got hooked.

The very first hook was Mimi Kirk, who at 70 years old could pass for a late 40's. She put her youthful looks down to green smoothies.

So I looked into green smoothies and found Ms Boutenko.. and at this point I never wanted to go beyond the realm of smoothies. But I read more and more and came across David Wolfe's sunfood diet success book.. and WOW.. Houston we have lift off...that was 2 years ago almost, then checked out various other long time RF'ists, and my study of nutrition continues to this day.

I'm more or less 80/10/10 now, but thank each of the great teachers I have been lucky enough to find along the way, which includes all the good folks on this forum.

My first inspiration was this site! I knew that my diet was making me ill and wanted to be healthy. I Googled raw food and this was the first site I tried. Like Tamukha I read and read and read. Whenever I saw a link to another site I checked it out too, including raw food recipe sites. Everyone here inspires me. Thank you all!


My favorite raw vegan

I think one of the first people who majorly influenced me was Tonya Kay... I found videos of her dancing and what not and then linked to videos of her talking about being a raw vegan. I could relate to her struggle with depression in the past and skin issues as well, so it got my mind working.

Essene Gospel of Peace + Juliano!!!

Began reading sunfood diet success system by David Wolfe and Conscious eating by Gabriel Cousens. Then somehow stumbled into Douglas Grahams teachings.

Irritable bowel. During that time I stumbled upon a job managing the retail aspect of an indoor organic sprout farm and living foods resource centre affiliated with Hippocrates, I read every book on the shelf and went 100% raw overnight.
I guess the biggest influences were Brian Clement and Viktorus Kulvinskas. Working at the shop I got to meet many of the book writers and attend lectures and really enjoyed Gabriel Cousins as well.

Totally on my own through meditation, with the help of some psychotropic substances. A few friends had had good experiences and recommended it, of course, but it was at a consciousness level that I really came into it.

I'm not 100 % raw but after fasting for 10 days I craved salads more than anything so I started eating a much higher % raw.

Raw feels like it has more energy, more complete nutrients, and it costs less. When I'm raw I have zero health complaints and so much energy, I'm a nuclear reactor. Also, my friends are all in awe of me, thinking I'm undertaking some Herculean task of sacrifice by eating this way. If only they knew how much easier it was.

RB

Form follows focus.

allthoughtswork.wordpress.com

My family was way into health and nutrition, but really only from a very conventional perspective. They did try to eat only whole foods, and avoid sugar and too many articificial ingredients.

In my teen years I figured that cooking was a form of food processing, and perhaps should be eliminated. I had never heard of anyone eating only uncooked foods, and I tried it. The experiment was rather short lived, as I ate mostly carrots, which were of low quality. I didn't think to try and eat mostly fruit.

Some 20 years later, I moved into an apartment where the landlady required that I don't cook at all in my apartment. She suggested just eating sandwhiches. I did that for awhile, but later I tried eating everythnig uncooked. I looked for information, there were some books at a local bookstore. However, those made everything sound so complex. More complex than a regular cooked lifestyle.

So, again it was rather short lived. A year later I got into it again, and did it off and on for about a year. It wasn't until i found webpages like these that I found out that simple can be easier and better. Nutrition really isn't all that complex, unless you have poor quality food, or your eating a lot of cooked stuff or refined foods.

I would say that living foods has been the best inspiration, mostly for the network of supporting people, and the general good 'vibes' that are here.

I've been vegetarian for almost 20 years, and about 8 years ago I just started craving fresh juices. That led to somehow stumbling upon this site, which led to alot of reading. I think I've read all of the major raw food books, and was most inspired by Victoria Boutenco's 12 Steps to Raw. Over the years, although I've always felt better eating raw, I've swayed back into some bad habits... but I always seem to come back to what feels best: organic, raw foods.

I feel like this time around, I've made a more significant shift in consciousness, and I think I'm building (or at least I hope I am) some solid good habits.

And....my most recent inspiration is Mimi Kirk. I'm 51 and want to look as good as she does as I add on the years.