Having a great morning! (oops, it's afternoon already. Shows you how late we got up, LOL)
My son & I watched Raw: The Living Food Diet by Jonathan Schniedman last night (the documentary part, not the recipe part) that we got out from the library, and it just reaffirmed for me the many reasons why I have chosen to go raw, and will continue to stay raw. (And watching it with my son was a very non-preachy way of having him understand why I eat this way and the many benefits available to one on a raw food diet). To get a perspective of how popular the raw living foods lifestyle is becoming - there are 2 copies of this DVD in our library system, and 43 requests for it!!
First, is for reasons bigger than me - eating raw connects me to the Earth, to Spirit, to everyone and everything around me - the interconnectedness I feel on a raw foods living diet is unbelievable. I feel (very strongly) that eating raw is one way of "putting your money where your mouth is" (LOL) - it is one very loud way of speaking up for a better world - eating raw takes less natural resources than the SAD. It is, imo, better for the environment. No packaging necessary, and you can compost everything you make. I am not in a position to work with a NGO overseas doing peace-making work; so when it came down to sitting with the question, "how can *I* make the world a better place?", living raw foods was the answer. We all eat about 1,000 meals a year... when I choose to eat raw foods (or at least vegetarian or vegan cooked meals), I am taking a stand for what I believe in. If it takes 16 lbs of grain to make 1 lb of meat, then for every raw meal I eat, I am freeing up enough food resources to feed 7 other people globally. That makes me feel good about what I'm choosing to eat. Raw food is not about a LACK or restriction in my diet. It is a celebration of abundance, of the many MANY foods that are available from the Earth... I haven't even TRIED all the fruits, vegetables, nuts or seeds that we are blessed with!! There are so many options on a raw food diet. It's all about abundance. :)
Second, for health reasons. I'm healthier on raw foods. My weight has stabilized at a personally-healthy place (which is, incidentally, 75 lbs lighter than I was 3 yrs ago) and along with that weight loss has come many benefits of good health - low cholesterol levels, perfect blood pressure readings, regular blood sugar levels, and other indicators of good health. When I eat foods that are live and raw, I use the enzymes in that food to help digest the food, not requiring metabolic enzymes in my body to leave their very important tasks throughout the body to come and assist in digestion. Not to mention that over flu season I rarely get even a sniffle, and when I do, I recover VERY quickly. My body has regulated itself; with regular exercise and raw foods, I know that, for example, my reproductive cycle is as it should be: cyclic, regular, and aligned with the Earth. My sleep cycle, too, has aligned itself with the Earth - I go to sleep earlier and wake with the birds, generally; and it's seasonal - I sleep a little more in the winter and a little less in the summer. My skin glows, literally radiant from the inside out. This is beauty at its best. Healthy. Healthy. Healthy.
Third, I choose raw for mental clarity. Eating raw, my mind is clear. You know how you feel after you eat a big SAD dinner - like turkey dinner, for example? That after-meal sluggishness that overtakes you? Never happens with raw food. I can eat as much as I want and never get that awful so-full-I-need-to-undo-my-belt kinda feeling. I feel full, but I'm not bursting. My thinking is very clear... I don't know how to explain this, other than there isn't a feeling of fogginess in my thoughts, and I feel very aligned with my intuition.
Fourth, for spiritual reasons. I'd hazard a guess that many people who go raw are caught unaware by the spiritual aspect of going raw. If we realize that we are light beings, then we can understand how raw food is natural, it is sunlight captured by the food, and you are then eating the light energy directly... if that sounds far-off for you, think about how good a fresh apple tastes from the tree, as opposed to baked apple crisp. Why do you think we need to add the sugar and flavours like cinnamon to apple crisp or pie? Because we've baked the flavour (and enzymes) out of the fresh raw apple! The freshness, crispness of a fresh apple is unsurpassed in flavour and energy. After eating an apple, you're ready to go, your body is recharged and energetic. After eating apple crisp, you're sluggish and your body is working overtime trying to digest something that lacks its own enzymes.
I could go on, but you get my point. If you're struggling with going raw or the whole idea of raw, living foods, try this - how about just adding: a glass of water first thing each morning, a piece of fresh fruit before (or for) breakfast, a small salad or some kind of raw vegetable(s) before your lunch and dinner. Start small. You don't have to necessarily go 100% raw overnight; in fact, many raw foodists advise against that. Just try adding these aspects into your regular diet for 30 days, then maybe up it a bit the next month - have one meal a week meatless, and then slowly build up to where you're having most meals without meat. Eventually you may find yourself having a raw meal here and there, to having most meals raw. Try incorporating more whole foods like whole cooked grains rather than white flour or white sugar that is so common. As time goes on, you'll be surprised at how far you've come.
Personally, I went from the SAD to a 100% vegan diet overnight nearly 3 yrs ago, and then nearly a year ago went to a very high raw diet overnight. However, having been vegan (a mostly whole-foods vegan at that), I think my body had done a lot of detoxing and cleansing already, which made the transition easier. I can see how my body has transformed so very much over the past 3 yrs... I'm now going through a detoxing at a level where I'm beginning to clear from my cells' memories resentments and emotional attachments that I never felt able to handle (and fwiw, as I've mentioned lately, it's really uncomfortable going through detox, but I'm sticking with it, although at moments lately I've felt overwhelmed with sadness and a (how can I describe it...) chasm of darkness and depression. It's been really, really challenging, and detox is not something I've spent a lot of time reading about or learning about, amidst the abundance of literature and information out there about the many many positive benefits of raw foodism. The funny part (to me) is that raw food is about releasing the toxins of the previous SAD diet. It's not the raw food that is depressing or sad; the cooked foods contributed to it... I would eat SAD foods to deaden my emotions, to hide from dealing with reality in so many ways... my cells have just "become what I ate", and now on raw foods, I'm starting to release them, to cleanse them, at this VERY deep level. Amazing.
I am so committed to the raw food lifestyle; I can't imagine having the burger, fries and soda that I used to think I enjoyed so much. I love that each time I put food into my body, it is nourishing my physical body, as well as kind to the environment, and it is a very profound spiritual moment of honouring my Self. It is like a bell ringing, calling me to mindful awareness of what a wonderful gift this moment and life is. When people say raw food is about living "the Truth", I know exactly what they are getting at.
Go forth and enjoy the Raw-ness!
Enthusiastically,
~n~
My son & I watched Raw: The Living Food Diet by Jonathan Schniedman last night (the documentary part, not the recipe part) that we got out from the library, and it just reaffirmed for me the many reasons why I have chosen to go raw, and will continue to stay raw. (And watching it with my son was a very non-preachy way of having him understand why I eat this way and the many benefits available to one on a raw food diet). To get a perspective of how popular the raw living foods lifestyle is becoming - there are 2 copies of this DVD in our library system, and 43 requests for it!!
First, is for reasons bigger than me - eating raw connects me to the Earth, to Spirit, to everyone and everything around me - the interconnectedness I feel on a raw foods living diet is unbelievable. I feel (very strongly) that eating raw is one way of "putting your money where your mouth is" (LOL) - it is one very loud way of speaking up for a better world - eating raw takes less natural resources than the SAD. It is, imo, better for the environment. No packaging necessary, and you can compost everything you make. I am not in a position to work with a NGO overseas doing peace-making work; so when it came down to sitting with the question, "how can *I* make the world a better place?", living raw foods was the answer. We all eat about 1,000 meals a year... when I choose to eat raw foods (or at least vegetarian or vegan cooked meals), I am taking a stand for what I believe in. If it takes 16 lbs of grain to make 1 lb of meat, then for every raw meal I eat, I am freeing up enough food resources to feed 7 other people globally. That makes me feel good about what I'm choosing to eat. Raw food is not about a LACK or restriction in my diet. It is a celebration of abundance, of the many MANY foods that are available from the Earth... I haven't even TRIED all the fruits, vegetables, nuts or seeds that we are blessed with!! There are so many options on a raw food diet. It's all about abundance. :)
Second, for health reasons. I'm healthier on raw foods. My weight has stabilized at a personally-healthy place (which is, incidentally, 75 lbs lighter than I was 3 yrs ago) and along with that weight loss has come many benefits of good health - low cholesterol levels, perfect blood pressure readings, regular blood sugar levels, and other indicators of good health. When I eat foods that are live and raw, I use the enzymes in that food to help digest the food, not requiring metabolic enzymes in my body to leave their very important tasks throughout the body to come and assist in digestion. Not to mention that over flu season I rarely get even a sniffle, and when I do, I recover VERY quickly. My body has regulated itself; with regular exercise and raw foods, I know that, for example, my reproductive cycle is as it should be: cyclic, regular, and aligned with the Earth. My sleep cycle, too, has aligned itself with the Earth - I go to sleep earlier and wake with the birds, generally; and it's seasonal - I sleep a little more in the winter and a little less in the summer. My skin glows, literally radiant from the inside out. This is beauty at its best. Healthy. Healthy. Healthy.
Third, I choose raw for mental clarity. Eating raw, my mind is clear. You know how you feel after you eat a big SAD dinner - like turkey dinner, for example? That after-meal sluggishness that overtakes you? Never happens with raw food. I can eat as much as I want and never get that awful so-full-I-need-to-undo-my-belt kinda feeling. I feel full, but I'm not bursting. My thinking is very clear... I don't know how to explain this, other than there isn't a feeling of fogginess in my thoughts, and I feel very aligned with my intuition.
Fourth, for spiritual reasons. I'd hazard a guess that many people who go raw are caught unaware by the spiritual aspect of going raw. If we realize that we are light beings, then we can understand how raw food is natural, it is sunlight captured by the food, and you are then eating the light energy directly... if that sounds far-off for you, think about how good a fresh apple tastes from the tree, as opposed to baked apple crisp. Why do you think we need to add the sugar and flavours like cinnamon to apple crisp or pie? Because we've baked the flavour (and enzymes) out of the fresh raw apple! The freshness, crispness of a fresh apple is unsurpassed in flavour and energy. After eating an apple, you're ready to go, your body is recharged and energetic. After eating apple crisp, you're sluggish and your body is working overtime trying to digest something that lacks its own enzymes.
I could go on, but you get my point. If you're struggling with going raw or the whole idea of raw, living foods, try this - how about just adding: a glass of water first thing each morning, a piece of fresh fruit before (or for) breakfast, a small salad or some kind of raw vegetable(s) before your lunch and dinner. Start small. You don't have to necessarily go 100% raw overnight; in fact, many raw foodists advise against that. Just try adding these aspects into your regular diet for 30 days, then maybe up it a bit the next month - have one meal a week meatless, and then slowly build up to where you're having most meals without meat. Eventually you may find yourself having a raw meal here and there, to having most meals raw. Try incorporating more whole foods like whole cooked grains rather than white flour or white sugar that is so common. As time goes on, you'll be surprised at how far you've come.
Personally, I went from the SAD to a 100% vegan diet overnight nearly 3 yrs ago, and then nearly a year ago went to a very high raw diet overnight. However, having been vegan (a mostly whole-foods vegan at that), I think my body had done a lot of detoxing and cleansing already, which made the transition easier. I can see how my body has transformed so very much over the past 3 yrs... I'm now going through a detoxing at a level where I'm beginning to clear from my cells' memories resentments and emotional attachments that I never felt able to handle (and fwiw, as I've mentioned lately, it's really uncomfortable going through detox, but I'm sticking with it, although at moments lately I've felt overwhelmed with sadness and a (how can I describe it...) chasm of darkness and depression. It's been really, really challenging, and detox is not something I've spent a lot of time reading about or learning about, amidst the abundance of literature and information out there about the many many positive benefits of raw foodism. The funny part (to me) is that raw food is about releasing the toxins of the previous SAD diet. It's not the raw food that is depressing or sad; the cooked foods contributed to it... I would eat SAD foods to deaden my emotions, to hide from dealing with reality in so many ways... my cells have just "become what I ate", and now on raw foods, I'm starting to release them, to cleanse them, at this VERY deep level. Amazing.
I am so committed to the raw food lifestyle; I can't imagine having the burger, fries and soda that I used to think I enjoyed so much. I love that each time I put food into my body, it is nourishing my physical body, as well as kind to the environment, and it is a very profound spiritual moment of honouring my Self. It is like a bell ringing, calling me to mindful awareness of what a wonderful gift this moment and life is. When people say raw food is about living "the Truth", I know exactly what they are getting at.
Go forth and enjoy the Raw-ness!
Enthusiastically,
~n~
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