Hello everybody

[Silvia]

Hi everybody.
I'm Silvia from Bologna, Italy. I'm 28.
I received Alissa's book in October, I read it fast (my English is not so good ), found it very interesting but I was not able to start raw diet.
I still live with my parents and my brother and when I come home from work or College, meals are ready and I like our traditional cooking so much... Everytime I sit at table I forget vegetables and eat bread and meat and pizza and whatever is there. So, I put raw aside, thinking it's impossible for me following it.
But recently I discovered food I usually eat is not so good, so tasty... its smell is quite disgusting, sometimes even its flavour... And after every meal I feel good psycologically (filling up my stomach is filling up my heart) but sick phisically. I'm fat, lazy and unhappy, even depressed; my skin is old and signed; my nights never resting... And my nervous allergy is becoming more serious.
I thought it could be only a psycological problem (depression hits the whole body) but when I read some posts of this forum and Alissa's book with more attention, I found out my body is poisoned. And I discovered I'm afraid too: afraid of changes, afraid of challanges; afraid of failing; afraid of not being supported and being alone.
This is the reason I decided to sign me up in this forum: to find a "new family" who understands my problem and doesn't think unusual things, like a raw diet, are abnormal; a "family" to talk to and to ask for help when I need it; a "family" to exchange opinions about food and life. A "family" full of friends.
Hoping my words are clear enough (I told you, my English is not so good and I haven't a dictionary by hand), I tell you goodbye. For now. :D
Have a nice day.
Silvia

[PhoeniX]

Welcome to the forum Silvia,

It can be really difficult to switch to raw when you do not have control over the cooking in your house! Every journey starts with a first step. Glad you are here.

[Crystl-jade]

Hello there !

[lavendarJ]

Just wanted to say hello. I think all the concerns, doubts and fears that you have are normal. I feel the same way because I am the only one in my family who even attempts to embrace a healthier path of living. Its easy to get comfortable in a pattern of living even when we know it is not what we want. Sometimes that fear will cause us to talk ourselves out of doing something that we should be doing. I don't know if you can afford it financially, but you may have to start buying your own meals and just ease your way into it little by little. Your family might just think your going through a "phase" but sometimes instead of trying to make people understand you just have to do what my uncle always says...he always says "I can show you better than I can tell you"....Family pressures are hard, take it slow...my mom just looks at me sometimes like something is wrong with me, you know I should be married with at least 4 children by now, I know she is pondering where she went wrong with me; I am the most different one of all her children. But anyway back to you...like phoenix said, you took the first step by buying the book so celebrate that cause knowledge is powerful :D . Now this is just my opinion but I believe that once we come into knowledge about something a internal change takes place. I really do. Even before I started desiring to eat raw, I was changing because I had developed a desire to eat healthy...years ago it started by cutting out pork and beef, then it was certain processed foods, then, I became interested in food combining....what I am trying to say is that once I attained this knowledge, I was accountable. So don't worry, you have the knowledge within you, you've already read the book. Simply, start planning and thinking of what your capabilities are in terms of the healthy foods you can afford and have access to. You already have the knowledge, this site as a tremendous support source, and the desire.....when it is time, you will know.

[michigan roman]

hi silvia , your english is fine , its about %95 perfect . i wish i was bilingual . its funny seeing you talk about (not funny but familiar) the kitchen full of pizza , bread etc because it was like i could actually smell my ma's or grandma's spaghetti sauce from days gone by simmering on the stove . it made me realize how hard it was to change . i craved the heavy breads , pastas , grains , potatoes and meats . the only way i stuck to my beliefs to become a vegan for the past 13 years , then a raw foodist past 6 months was originally the book fresh vegetable and fruit juices by n.w. walker (in which he explains the problems of eating cooked deenzymed foods , along with explaining the benefits of living on raw plant matter) and then for the past several months allisas site here full of pleasant people and good advice . just keep going to the top of page search icon and typing in your topics to find many valuable opinions . also for me i became a vegan for ethical reasons because i decided that maybe in our past humans had to prey upon and leach off of other creatures to survive but now we dont and its time we evolved into non predatory / non parasitic higher life forms . and i'll also say another thing that helped me is fasting , you if never have must do . its not that you have to go a real long time like over 5 days , it can just be 2 or 3 days to help shrink your stomach from being used to all the heavy stuff . but you have to do it many times , like 2 day fast , then 7 days later 2 day , then 10 days later 3 day , you get the picture - you work up to not being a slave to food anymore by shrinking your stomach down from its oversized and too big state . then the raw foods start to become filling . and my best filling meal is ground into bb sized bits nuts, seeds and dry fruit that i sprinkle with cinnamon and add cut up fruit like bananas or strawberrys to . and this is what i say to my family and friends when they worry about me eating raw , " what did people eat before they discovered fire and made cooking utensils ? if they needed cooked food to healthfully survive they would have gone extinct and we wouldnt be here , raw plant matter is logically our original diet ." . sorry for the long lecture you didnt request . now heres a little latin for me to work on my bilingual powers = S.P.Q.R. = the senate and people of rome . thats about the extent of my latin so your light years ahead of me . take care , franco :)

[Silvia]

Thank you for your welcome and support.
I read your suggestions with interest and I think I'm going to follow some. My financial indipendence is not great but when I'm at College I usually lunch there and they have some salads: they are not so rich but they're better than hamburgers, pizza or sandwiches. So, this is really one step more I made in my journey :)
I like your uncle's sentence, lavendarJ. And you're right: sometimes it's difficult make people understand. Now I remember a sentence I read on Alissa's book... wait a minute... I want to report it right... "You must be the change you want to see in the world. - Gandhi". Of course, my goal is not changing the world (not now, at least! :D ) but maybe the place where I live both outside (my parent's house) and inside (me).
Well, we will see.
Thank you again. Have a nice day.
Silvia

Ps: Franco, don't worry: if we talk about latin (Roman language), our knowledge is quite the same! ;)