Soooo... if you had to choose 5 things that have helped/enlightened/inspired you - that you'd probably never have discovered without going raw, What would they be?

i.e.

A book
A person
A movie
A specific topic i.e. B12 or digestive health
A fruit or vegetable you discovered for the first time
Your blender? Your dehydrator? Your sprouter? Spirulina? Wheatgrass?

I think for me, it'd be:

The awesomeness of ripe bananas
Shazzie
Freelee
Wheatgrass
Running and fitness

My top 3:

1. The amount of energy and mental clarity (I think I may have been essentially a braindead robot running on autopilot for the past decade or so)

2. The clearer skin (no more acne!)

3. My blender!

It started for me in 1990. I wasn't raw back then, but I had a book, Laurel's Kitchen, which provided complete (well, back then it was pretty complete) nutrient info for all their recipes along with a nutrition guide.

I pored over all this info with great interest, and I wondered why they recommended so many servings of whole grains when whole grains were obviously so nutrient sparse compared to vegetables.

So I started eating more vegetables. I was kind of famous in my circles for being the one who ate so healthily. I also ate unlimited fruit at the time.

I was on vegsource.com one day rooting around and read William Harris MD's thing about raw. He had a chart showing that plant foods highest nutrient density were the ones that could be eaten raw.

Hmm. I thought.

About that time I was reading the archives of the CRsociety (they are really pushing the envelope and read everything that is published--very cutting edge stuff) and I saw that the posters whom I most respected were taking in a very large percentage of their calories from raw vegetables. Also Roy Walford had a super salad recipe in his book and he was famous for saying "The salad is the main dish."

So I gradually increased the amount of raw in my diet. It was around 2000 when I went very high raw.

I like to see what other people are doing but I never forgot my roots of aiming for high nutrient density, high exposure to a variety of protective phytochemicals, and disease-proofing.

I can't say any guru inspired me. They generally fail to impress. But some of the people who post here and elsewhere do.

Juliano's raw book. 3 years as a fruitarian. The raw vegans I met . Cacao. SPROUTS.

For me it is
1, Norman Walker and his books
2. Ann Wigmore
3. Indoor gardening and the beautiful living greens welcoming me every day and the realization that I will be eating life not death
4. This forum where I learn so much from others



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/2015 03:29AM by RawPracticalist.

1. Omega 8006 juice

2. Excalibur dehydrator

3. book: Raw Food - Real World by Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis

4. living-foods.com ( I think it was 1998 when I first found this site. Back then, I had dial-up and I'd read a book while I waited for the page to load.)

5. 14 cup Cuisinart Food Processor

but, but


I'm not sure how I can leave out my new Christmas gift - the Soyabella nut milk maker. This thing's a treat!

My sexy vitamin too and my loving cuisinart.

<<<Soooo... if you had to choose 5 things that have helped/enlightened/inspired you - that you'd probably never have discovered without going raw, What would they be?>>>

That's a really great question bluespixie!

1) If it were not for Raw Food, I would have never discovered the Powerful Healing Benefits of Juice Fasting and I would have never realized that most people have a very good reason for acting the fool or for doing all of the stupid things they do because most people have a HUGE amount of CRAP in their intestines.

2) If it were not for Raw Food, I would have never realized how the world works, which partially explains why most people don't know about Raw Food and as a result, I now know that everyone does NOT have good in them because ~4% of the population are PSYCHOPATHS!

3) If it were not for Raw Food, I would have never realized that there is another level of existence out there that most people do NOT even know exists and as a result, our Species is not even coming close to living up to our potential.

4) If it were not for Raw Food, I would have never realized that everything in our Society revolves around the Original Sin, which is Cooking our Food, and everything in our Society revolves around the Original Sin because most of us are Addicted to and are in Love with the Original Sin and everything in our Society revolves around the Original Sin because the Rulers of the World could not rule over us if we were not Cooking our Food, which, once again, partially explains why most people don't know about Raw Food.

5) If it were not for Raw Food, I would have never discovered how to use my Gift and as a result, my life has a purpose and I have something to be passionate about.

Indeed, I am a very lucky man and I owe all of that to Raw Food. I now understand what Confucius meant when he said, "Life is really simple, but men insist on making it complicated." Once we understand that the Unwise Use of Fire is the Root of all EVIL, Life becomes very simple. If we have to COOK something to Eat it, WE WERE NOT MEANT TO EAT IT and if we do, it's like opening Pandora's Box.

Here is part of an older post of mine that I wrote 14 years ago that illustrates my point and I'll include this post in its entirety in my "IS COOKED FOOD A POISON???" Thread since I have already posted a response to my post by a college professor who confirmed by beliefs.

[www.rawfoodsupport.com]
The Connection Between FIRE and Our Suffering
John Rose (---.HSTN.splitrock.net)
Date: 01-15-01 14:04

...

The ancient Sumerians, the creators of the first civilization, told a myth about its origins. It was, they said, a devil’s bargain -- it offered the noblest ideals of humanity, but it also brought violence, greed and destruction. All this is civilization, the Sumerian God of Wisdom told humanity, and if you wish its benefits, you must take all its qualities and once taken, you cannot give them back. It is for you to use them with restraint and with wisdom.

Does the origin of civilization refer to the discovery of FIRE? Is it fire that we must use with restraint and with wisdom?

...

The Greek poet Hesiod writes about Zeus talking to Prometheus, son of Iapetos, who had stolen FIRE from Zeus..."Son of Iapetos, there is none craftier than you, and you rejoice at tricking my wits and stealing the fire which will be a CURSE to you and to the generations that follow. The price for the stolen fire will be a "GIFT of EVIL" to charm the hearts of all men as they hug their own doom."

Zeus swore to be revenged, so he made a great "EVIL" for men...Pandora, which means the "GIFT" for all. The gods presented Pandora with a box into which each had put something harmful, and forbade her ever to open it. One day she lifted the lid and out flew plagues innumerable, sorrow and mischief.

Not only did Prometheus steal FIRE for men, but he also arranged that they should get the best part of any animal sacrifice and the gods the worst. As a result, only fat and bones were burned to the gods upon their alters. Men kept the good meat for themselves.

So what is the moral of this story? Is meat and FIRE the cause of plagues, sorrow and mischief? Does this story serve as a warning for all who read it?

...

[www.rawfoodsupport.com]

Peace and Love.......John

1. Incredibly fast digestion.
2. My blender.
3. Raw carob.
4. My spiralizer.
5. Cauliflower.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

arugula Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>>
> I was on vegsource.com one day rooting around and
> read William Harris MD's thing about raw. He had a
> chart showing that plant foods highest nutrient
> density were the ones that could be eaten raw.

Dr. William Harris, cool. I love him.

Favorite things I discovered due to raw vegan lifestyle:

My husband (who is not raw, but fanatically vegan), Hawaii, gardening and growing fruit trees, the flavors of exotic fruits, luscious salads, and biochemistry (so amazing).

Only two names need to be said for inspiring me to go raw. Ann Wigmore and Viktoras Kulvinskas. Reading all their books was all l ever needed. I think Ann and Vik are my biggest inspirations ever when growing up, they made me dream the biggest dreams. They were almost like God's to me...complete and utter heros (don't like using that description these days, but that is how l felt at the time). My love for them will never die, they were meant to come into my life and change my world. Ann Wigmore has always been the person l have always wanted to most meet, and it is sad that l will never have that opportunity. When l heard she had died l was pretty devastated.

www.thesproutarian.com