school project about raw. need help...

[rawproject]

Hi,

I am required to research a subculture for my anthropology class, and have chosen to delve into raw foods. I am going to spend 10 days eating only raw foods, and am also interviewing the raw foodists I know. However, I dont' know many, and would like your help in filling out a questionnaire. The answers will help me give an accurate account of the raw-food lifestyle, as well as helping to educate me. If you would like to help me out, please answer the following 8 questions, and email the answers back to rawproject at care2.com, or post them in a reply.
Thanks so much!

1. Why have you chosen to eat all/mostly raw foods?
2. How long have you been eating this way?
3. Do you consider yourself to be part of the vegan culture, or something completely separate?
4. Do your friends and family eat raw with you? Do they support you, or nag you about your diet?
5. Do you feel that your raw-food lifestyle plays into your politics, religion, and social beliefs? How about your job?
6. What do you eat in a typical day? (I am not asking for a food journal here. Just tell me if you prefer to eat mostly fruits, mostly vegetables, if you take supplements, if you ??re into food combining, etc)
7. Are you part of any other ??subculture? ?? This includes macrobiotics, punk, hippie, liberal, Jewish, etc.
8. Anything else you would like to add about what raw foods means to you?

**this has also been posted at rawfoodsupport. if you answered there already, there is no need to post again. thanks!!!

[misscashew]

Hi! I think it's great that you're delving into raw food. Just a word of advice, though. I don't know what your current diet is, but when you switch to 100% raw, your body starts going through a massive detox. Sometimes it will start immediately, sometimes it takes quite a few days. So 10 days into it, you may be experiencing nausea, odd eliminations, even headaches. Don't let that turn you off of raw! I'm slowly incorporating raw into my life, and even with a 50/50 diet, I still experience the detox symptoms.

Good luck!

[zoe]

Hi,
1. I chose to eat raw foods because I became convinced that it was the most natural and joyful way to eat.
2.I have been eating raw for 1 1/2 years.
3. I feel that this is something separate from the vegan culture. I was vegan for 14 years and didn't experience much 'culture'!
Vegans in britain who i have met are into it for animal rights reasons. not health reasons, thats a big difference.
4. My husband is a raw foodist too, my best friend came to stay for a few days and became a raw foodist immediately, which she still is very happily aswell. She wasn't even vegetarian before and she felt so good on the food I gave her, she went straight to raw overnight and hasn't looked back since.
5. since becoming raw i have become far less apathetic about what matters to me. i find myself unable to sit on the sidelines, and i am moved to speak out and act for what i believe in. I've not been like this before.
6. I don't take supplements. I eat a big green salad, a green drink - kale and apple is good, a few dates, a satsuma or three, some nori rolls with cucumber, and raw tahini in it. I make a reciepe every week or so, like lasagna, or pizza. I also like to eat pesto with hiziki 'pasta'. I have found that I need to have a balance of leafy greens, sweet fruits and plant fats/nuts. As i read in David Wolfe's Sunfood Success Systems. Leafy greens are the key thing, they stop cravings, balance your blood acid/alkilinity, and make me feel so good and calm.
7. I wouldn't say that i was a part of anything other than the human race, i guess that makes me a hippie then!
8. Raw foodism is a way of healing the planet person by person, so that we're all returned to the state that nature intended us to be. It becomes more apparent to me every day as I become healthier and happier. And for the first time in my life, I'm actually truly enjoying my food.
From Zoe.

I am required to research a subculture for my anthropology class, and have chosen to delve into raw foods. I am going to spend 10 days eating only raw foods, and am also interviewing the raw foodists I know. However, I dont' know many, and would like your help in filling out a questionnaire. The answers will help me give an accurate account of the raw-food lifestyle, as well as helping to educate me. If you would like to help me out, please answer the following 8 questions, and email the answers back to rawproject at care2.com, or post them in a reply.
Thanks so much!

1. Why have you chosen to eat all/mostly raw foods?
2. How long have you been eating this way?
3. Do you consider yourself to be part of the vegan culture, or something completely separate?
4. Do your friends and family eat raw with you? Do they support you, or nag you about your diet?
5. Do you feel that your raw-food lifestyle plays into your politics, religion, and social beliefs? How about your job?
6. What do you eat in a typical day? (I am not asking for a food journal here. Just tell me if you prefer to eat mostly fruits, mostly vegetables, if you take supplements, if you ??re into food combining, etc)
7. Are you part of any other ??subculture? ?? This includes macrobiotics, punk, hippie, liberal, Jewish, etc.
8. Anything else you would like to add about what raw foods means to you?

**this has also been posted at rawfoodsupport. if you answered there already, there is no need to post again. thanks!!![/quote]

[rawproject]

thanks, zoe! that's really helpful! i'm on day 2 of my "experiment" right now, though it's really not that different from how i normally eat.
...any more responses to my survey thing would be great...

thanks!

[buttermilkfreelovecult]

1. Why have you chosen to eat all/mostly raw foods?
I've suffered from anorexia,binge eating, bulemia and depression since I was twelve and it wasn't until recently that I started eating raw food that I've began to begin to get myself under control.

2. How long have you been eating this way?
3 months

3. Do you consider yourself to be part of the vegan culture, or something completely separate?
No not really.

4. Do your friends and family eat raw with you? Do they support you, or nag you about your diet?
My friends/family don't really care.

5. Do you feel that your raw-food lifestyle plays into your politics, religion, and social beliefs? How about your job?
Actually I think my social beliefs, and religion are what turns me on to raw food. I'm a buddhist and I believe that we as people should try to reduce ourselves to as simple a state as possible.

6. What do you eat in a typical day? (I am not asking for a food journal here. Just tell me if you prefer to eat mostly fruits, mostly vegetables, if you take supplements, if you're into food combining, etc)
I eat mostly fruits and greens. I try to practice food combining as much as possible.

7. Are you part of any other subculture?? This includes macrobiotics, punk, hippie, liberal, Jewish, etc.
Jewish is a subculture? I guess that I live a kinda neo-beatnik, pseudo gypsy life.

8. Anything else you would like to add about what raw foods means to you?
Learning as much a possible is great but you shouldn't waste your money buying expensive books and programs when all you have to do is what in your opinion feels right. Raw food isn't something you should jump right into, raw should be something that to strive to become little by little. Sweet things with sugar and carbs are very tempting but even people on a SAD arn't suppose to be eating these things in quantity. Instead of making lists of all the things you won't eat, make lists of all the things you will. And as you feel ready you can cross of things you're ready to give up. I don't eat all raw maybe 80-90% most of the time and I don't feel that there's anything wrong with that.
And If it comes down to the choice between cheating on one small thing and giving up altogether, it's better to go with the lesser of the two evils.

[emma]

1. Why have you chosen to eat all/mostly raw foods?
for my health and for my skin
2. How long have you been eating this way?
for fiveyears on and off
3. Do you consider yourself to be part of the vegan culture, or something completely separate?
definitely something separate, I didn't give up meat for ethical reasons and sometimes I find Vegans really forceful and dishonest
4. Do your friends and family eat raw with you? Do they support you, or nag you about your diet?
They eat with me when they want to, they certainly don't nag me, they are very supportive

5. Do you feel that your raw-food lifestyle plays into your politics, religion, and social beliefs? How about your job?
No, when you strip the glamour away from raw food, all it is, is incorporating fresh food into your diet - not that life changing really!

6. What do you eat in a typical day? (I am not asking for a food journal here. Just tell me if you prefer to eat mostly fruits, mostly vegetables, if you take supplements, if you ??re into food combining, etc)
I have wheatgrass in the morning followed by a juice, a salad or flax crackers for lunch, then either a big kale & avocado salad for dinner or something nutty like a dip or a spread

7. Are you part of any other ??subculture? ?? This includes macrobiotics, punk, hippie, liberal, Jewish, etc.
No, none!

8. Anything else you would like to add about what raw foods means to you?
I have worked with raw food for 4 years and it really is just about incorporating more fresh fruit & veg into your diet in a more platable way than just grabbing an apple on the go...people who dig deeper can become totally obsessed and can damage their health through stress rather than diet.

[oldmanfromnh@yahoo.com]

1. Why have you chosen to eat all/mostly raw foods?
An article long ago by a phycist/musician from Switzerland made sense along with 2 books out of South Africa in the 1980ies about raw eating and the diseases it cured. These all made sense. The Swiss article emphasized that if it tasted good and smelled good, the body needed it; the next day the same food could taste ??bad ?? and smell ??bad ?? which meant that the body did not need it.
2. How long have you been eating this way?
Since around 1990
3. Do you consider yourself to be part of the vegan culture, or something completely separate?
First I cut out red meats, then all meats and luckily I read the right book at the right time ?? the most important factor in vegetarianism is the fact that the body has a 10 year reserve of B vitamins. Usually vegetarians have no problems until around this point; so much success and then problems. They are puzzled. One must supplement the B vitamins when starting vegetarianism to avoid problems. That I did. I ??ve been vegetarian since around early 1980ies. I never did go complete vegan.
4. Do your friends and family eat raw with you? Do they support you, or nag you about your diet?
My wife wants nothing to do with raw eating. My sister caters to my needs when she hosts a family outing, etc. My mother was the one who ??cooked ?? me back to health, she has long since departed this earth. My wife is the one who feels nagged. I ??m immune to remarks because the results speak so loudly.
5. Do you feel that your raw-food lifestyle plays into your politics, religion, and social beliefs? How about your job?
Any major change plays into ??everything ?? although mostly when it comes time to ??eat. ?? I have always gotten along well with people, so it is no different with a diet change. I ??ve been at it long enough to merely point out the results (not seen a doctor in 35 years). At first I avoided problems by saying that my doctor placed me on a strict diet (I never mentioned that I was my own doctor), and no one questioned whom the doctor was.
6. What do you eat in a typical day? (I am not asking for a food journal here. Just tell me if you prefer to eat mostly fruits, mostly vegetables, if you take supplements, if you ??re into food combining, etc)
In desperation a couple of years I lived mostly on apples (freely available), thinking it wouldn ??t harm me if not too long. Later I took Dr. Shook ??s course in herbology. He went through the herbal families. The last chapter: ??I ??ve saved this herb for the last because it contains all the elements that we have studied: the apple. ?? Ever since then I ??ve included it heavily in my diet, partly because I live in apple country. About 80% apples + vegetables. Supplements: Brewer ??s Yeast, kelp granules/powder, cayenne pepper, Celtic Sea Salt, virgin olive oil/flax oil/cod liver oil (alternating).
7. Are you part of any other ??subculture? ?? This includes macrobiotics, punk, hippie, liberal, Jewish, etc.
If independent thinking, having a tough hide, and being hard headed/cantankerous is a subculture ?? yes.
8. Anything else you would like to add about what raw foods means to you?
The more I study and learn, the more convinced I am that all of life ??s problems are simple. Although we have been doing it wrong so long that the abnormal (wrong) is considered correct, and those who do it correct are in such an infinitesimally small percentage of mankind that we are automatically condemned as doing it wrong.
This might sound strange from a man, but the books I read out of Africa stated that if a woman ate a raw diet she would not have the monthly menses. I believe that to be true. Using that as a starting point, that means that mankind has been eating wrongly since somewhere around the 3rd or 4th book of the Old Testament. And Toby (the Canadian) stated that the story of Adam and Eve had been changed, the original was: Do not cook your food (not the thou shalt not eat of the tree . . .). So, we have been doing it wrong since the beginning of Genesis! Although, from experience, I ??d advise anyone promoting raw eating to not use this last ??gem. ??
BTW I ??m 75 years old. If you observe nature, the animals live to be 5 to 8 times their age of maturity. Age of maturity in man is considered to be 25; that means that except for accidents, childbirth problems, etc. we should live to be 125 to 200 years old. A little quick math will quickly add up to how much our lives have been shortened by not eating raw.
Philip N. Ledoux
oldmanfromnh @ yahoo . com