How did you start eating raw? - Page 2 - Raw Food Chat

Val · 04-06-2006

Misty Ruby,

How wonderful for your sister! I agree about being lucky. I do feel so lucky to have traveled the road I have, because it has led me to becoming raw. It surprises me how many people are in the dark about health and nutrition (but I do not judge because that what me for so many years). Sometimes I wonder what's so special about me that the truth has finally made its way into my life and not others. All I can say is "I have seen the light" and it looks healthy! It is my hope that everyone else will too!

Rawish · 04-06-2006

I've been eating bout 75% percent raw for several months now, but have have been eating salads almost daily for as long as I can remember. Hard to say bye to that last 25%, especially meats and cheese.

-Ish

apple · 04-06-2006

my raw story starts out with juliano's uncook book. i was at a bookstore looking at some vegan cookbooks when i saw his book. it looked soooo interesting! my boyfriend at the time was with me. he got it for me for mother's day last year. i mostly just looked at the recipes in awe. that got the idea started in my head, but i wasn't motivated enough. then my friend and i read nature's first law last september and went raw cold turkey! that lasted a couple weeks (we were both detoxing a bit, but he got really sick one day and freaked out, so we decided to go a little slower). i've been transitioning since. i'm very close to being 100%. i definitely feel as though i've stumbled across a treasure, finding this knowledge. its been really exciting, frustrating at times, but totally worth it!

shanshan · 04-07-2006

Hello All,
I have been a vegetarian since I was a baby my mom said - never was able to swallow/digest animal meat and byproducts. Being born and raised up here in Canada, a hot meal was the only way to eat (and to heat) and of course the old meat and potatoes. I was labelled a picky eater till I was a teen, then labelled vegetarian. I remember always researching cookbooks for healthy foods to nourish me and not irritate my many allergies and severe asthma. A wonderful chinese doctor cured most of my allergies and reduced my asthma to occasional attacks with only 4 sessions of acupuncture. The more I learned about food, the less I ate. I was frustrated, still prone to sickness from years of suppressing my immune system with my asthma meds (classic).
When I became a Natural Health Practitioner, I worked in the clinic where they had a Dr. Gabriel Cousens book and Dr. Norman Walker's books that I devoured! It finally made sense to me. I started going on mini raw food diets, then fasting, then raw food, then 'normal' foods. I would always feel fantastic during the fast, but once I ate 'normal' food, all my symptoms came back.
I've slowly realized that raw foods had to be more of a permanent fixture in my diet, not just prepping for a 30day fast. I have included about a 75% raw diet now since Feb. of this year. I've noticed a huge improvement in my energy level - and I need all the energy I can get to chase around my two little boys. People at work think I look not a day over 25 (I'm 33!). I've got my boys eating about 50% raw, but its hard up here in Canada. Organic produce isn't as abundant as I would assume in California, and other Eco-friendly States. So, I am limited...and I admit a nice hot soup is fantastic on a cold winter day (which we have alot of).
So, thats me in a very large nutshell (walnut or brazil?).
I know I'll be meeting some wonderful, supportive people on this chat - and thanks Alex for putting this together!
Reiki Blessings to All,
Shanshan

Azura Skye · 04-08-2006

Hi I am new here - and it's a lovely active forum! yay!

Im currently on day three of about 95% raw, its probably a 100% but I don't like to be too strict and have a one track mentality, I like room to move.

It's going really well, probably because I'm doing a lot of research and have been thinking about it for a while. The reason I am eating raw is that I will have surgery in the coming year, and I want my body to be at its best. I want to recover and to be strong and healthy, so I don't have a traumatic time. So I though, I need to build up my health.

I have been vegetarian for 12 years, and vegan on and off for about 3 years. I guess raw was always in the back of my mind with out me really knowing about it, I knew natural state foods held more nutrients, but I decided to ignore my common sense.

Eating raw has opened up a new world of food for me. Everything is new and exciting again, and I never feel deprived because my kitchen is busting with healthy, nutrient dense foods that I will have a lot of fun experimenting with my food!

Val · 04-09-2006

Welcome Azura Skye, it's great to have you on board!

ATOMBOMB · 04-09-2006

my wife got me into it
good stuff

Azura Skye · 04-09-2006

thank you Val - I'm excited to be here!

24 Carrots · 04-12-2006

Very first I heard of raw was from my brother, who lost a huge amount of weight and looked great and had been living at the Hippocrates Health Institute in San Diego (this was about 1982). But I always had sibling rivalry with my brother and was not open to getting turned onto anything directly from him. (My loss!!!!)

Then I happened on and purchased a book I got called "Light Eating for Survival," a raw recipe book by M. Aciardo (sp) with a foreward by Viktoras Kulvinskas which I found at the first-ever Whole Foods Market in Austin, Texas, also in 1982. I looked at it as a fascination but needed to learn a lot more before I got truly interested. (Besides, my boyfriend told someone in front of me that I bought the book for HIM as a gift, and I didn't have the heart to tell him I got it for ME, and let him have it, haha.)

Consciousness of the fact that raw eating even EXISTED was only from the two above sources and my awareness of this "marinated for the next few years, during which time I became a NUT about vitamins and for a while was taking vitamins out of about 30 bottles a day (per the "Vitamin Bible") until I noticed it really didn't seem to do me any good and I dropped the practice.

Then in 1984-85 I picked up another book at that same original Whole Foods Market, (they had a great book section obviously!), called "The Colon Health Handbook" by Robert Gray. I zeroed in on this book because Edgar Cayce ("The Sleeping Prophet") used to talk about how incredibly important the colon was, and I didn't even know WHAT a colon was -- so I bought the book. That book explained the effects of foods on the colon. By the time I finished that little handbook I knew (1) what a colon is, (2) what internal cleansing is, (3) what detox is, (4) how awesome raw food is for the health of the colon, and (5) how detrimental cooked food is to the health of the colon.

My first dabblings in eating raw were, then, in early 1985 -- as well as my first colon herbal cleanse (including enemas!).

That was over 20 years ago and it's taking me a while to get and stay ALL raw, but hey, I'm getting there, I'm getting there, haha! I always WAS a "slow bloomer"...!

P.S. About fall 1991 or '92 I started collecting raw books like CRAZY. Soon I started my own small press publication, "Eat It Raw!" which I sold through the "Factsheet Five" for a dollar a copy. I also started "The Live Food Society" in Austin, Texas, and we started having guest speakers (but never paying them and never charging -- and often having potlucks). There weren't as many raw books back then, but there were a bunch! I was morbidly obese before I went raw -- about 310-320 lbs. (exact weight no known because I was too freaked out about my size to weight myself at the height of it) -- and within 2 years lost over 120 lbs. on a mostly 90%-99% raw diet. When I showed people photos of my before and after they thought I was joking and that the before picture was my mother!!

I backslid since then -- long story, but I hope to write a book to help others that have such a serious addiction to non-foods that are passed off as food in our society. Having been through such deep ups and downs I hope I will be able to help others! Right now I have re-lost 50 lbs. of the weight I regained over a period of 6-7 years, but that 50 lb. loss has been sustained for 4 years so I know I'm on the strong track, and my goal is to lose another 100 lbs. within the next 1-2 years.