Not new to raw, but re"raw"ing - Raw Food Chat

passionforliving · 07-29-2006

Hi, after taking more than a year "off" to deal with some very emotional and traumatic family issues, I am trying to reconnect with the raw world. One of the leaders of the raw community was not supportive during my time of trouble, (NOT the raw guru) and I was forced out. During my time away, I have remained approximately 80% raw. I am very much "into" this lifestyle - former living foods teacher/coach/author. I continue to write and research in the field. I took the time necessary to heal emotionally - so as to no longer be offensive to others with my pain. But I am now ready to jump back in with both feet. I hope that I can once again be of service to this community.

greenbunny · 07-30-2006

So sorry to hear about your troubles and even sorrier to hear that you were unsupported. I too took time off from raw because of stressful longterm moving trauma. After hurricanes in 2004 in Florida decided to move but do to unscrupulous contractors and a bad real estate market after they kept us there past the peak was unable to move into new house we bought for over year. Stuff in storage, sleeping on floor with none of my live food appliances nor the ability to deal with getting what was needed. I always was thinking - I'm just about to move - just get through this wee, or month. A year and a half later my health and teeth have suffered terribly - but finally sold house and am in new home (Austin Texas). Lots of things to get done here but at least on the down side of the mountain. Live foods takes effort and isn't easy while in big transition. Food is closer and more available here in the city - and besides - I no longer have a choice. I HAVE to be raw again. I can't postpone anymore. So I'm back too. If you ever have to go off again you can count on one person to support you. Emotional detox is just as much a part of the process as any other kind of detox. Hope you're on the other side of the mountain too.

greenbunny

passionforliving · 08-01-2006

Thank you, green bunny, that was the kindest, and most supportive note I've gotten. You are correct that emotional detox is part of the process. Why don't more people "get" that?!

greenbunny · 08-02-2006

Yeah, I've known lots of people who lost weight, felt great and even were more emotionally stable just feel obligated internally to go off of live foods in order to go through some difficult emotions. Money and food are big karmic learning tools. I think we go up to the point that something big has to be brought up and then we have to do what's necessary to allow for the release.

I also have a clear memory almost 20 years ago of a friend from Puerto Rico that lived near Wigmore there saying to me that he would never do raw because everyone he met that was raw was so emotional and sensitive. Maybe it was that particular diet or place, but interesting all the same.

Before our contractor bully situation I was 100% raw and loving it, but I couldn't handle all the intense negativity when raw that I was being confronted with. I was so sensitive and it was like dealing with evil incarnate. I needed to deaden myself somewhat to what was happening to me. Granted, if I were more evolved or perhaps had more perspective or was free of such intense karma - well, yeah, then I could have handled it. But I wasn't, like many other times in the last two decades, up to it - but I keep getting back on the horse that threw me and hope that I will have a longer stretch riding this time.

When most people hear that I don't eat meat or dairy or any sweeteners or processed fat they are in awe and ask what on earth I do eat. So I try not to be too hard on myself considering. When I say I eat only raw food their eyes just glass over for the most part unable to even conceive of it. Just coming back to it again and again is in itself an accomplishment as far as I'm concerned.

My main reason for eating raw is health and spiritual evolution. If raw isn't right at a certain period it goes against my entire reason for eating that way to force it. I'd rather stay true to my purpose rather than follow some idea or rule about something. I eat raw against all the rules of the society in which I live - why on earth would I succumb to rules of the "idea" of a raw "lifestyle" or a fringe community. I am free to choose what I feel is right for me to eat at any given moment. No rules except my inner guidance. At the moment my mind, body and spirit are craving raw with tremendous might and no evil in sight, so I'm hoping for a good ride.

Well, that's my little rant.

Blessings,
Greenbunny

The Vej · 08-02-2006

That's cool greenbunny. I don't understand what spirituality is. Is it like religion and all that stuff? I don't get all that emotional anymore when I'm stressed or anything because I step back and look at the big picture. What ??s going on and what do I have to do is how I try to function then emotions don ??t get involved. I understand the more intense love and happiness but the spiritual part of it confuses me. Many raw food books talk about spirituality all the time but what if someone isn't the same religion? Couldn't they get more customers if they left that part alone and let people believe what they want to believe? "No rules except my inner guidance" that's cool. I think maybe that's what spirituality is.

greenbunny · 08-03-2006

Hey Vej:The reason I use the word ??spirituality ?? is because it doesn ??t relate to any particular religion as I understand it. The idea of spirituality to me is individual. Each of us has our own particular way of communing with what some call ??the all ?? or ??pure love ?? or what some people call ??the source ?? or what you called ??the big picture ??. When I ??m on live foods I feel cleaner, a clearer channel for universal energy. I feel more attuned, open, ready and blissful. To me that has nothing to do with religion but everything to do with Spirit. I feel like I can perceive things clearer from a more broad place and find resources within. I don ??t know if that is what anyone else would call spirituality or even if what I wrote does justice to the experience ?? words can be so limiting and confusing when it comes to such things. I imagine that what you call happiness, love and seeing the big picture is very close if not the same to what I call Spirituality.

The Vej · 08-03-2006

Oh ok. So I wouldn't use that as a strong point when convincing a SAD junkie because they'll think we're full of poop and tell us we have no facts because you can't measure it. Because when I started the diet I thought all of you were goof balls claiming that you are more spiritual but I still don't bring that up as an argument or purchase books that use that as a strong point of their topic. What is a unit of spirituality? I bet I have 2 gallons more of spirituality than I used to! lol I agree with you but it's just not a scientific measurable fact so I'll put it away in my mind with the enzyme debate lol.

greenbunny · 08-04-2006

Vej, I wasn't trying to get anyone to buy a book or to eat raw. I was talking about myself and the reasons that I personally eat this way hoping to find others that might relate to it somehow. I really don't care if you think I'm a fruitcake because obviously you are not someone that I'm going to consider a candidate for my support system.

The Vej · 08-04-2006

I know, I'm just being a dork I didn't mean you! lol I meant that hypothetically. Whoa I was just trying to be humorous, yeah I support you and I agree with you too. So my second attempt to be funny failed again. I don't think you're a fruitcake, that was before I tried the diet. lol I was just being skeptical and analyzing what I was reading. You never said you had a book, I wasn't directing that at you. It was suppose to be taken lightly. It was about the majority of the books and articles I ??ve read. Anyway, that ??s the big picture. lol