Another convert....

[gastrawnome]

Hi, I'm Art, from central NJ.. I've been raw for about a month now (though I've been raw before, too). But, this isn't about me, really. It's about my girlfriend.

Her name is Ann. I met her on Craigslist.com. It was a little over a month before we met, and well, we just clicked. Big time. For our first date.. I made her dinner. (Raw, of course!) She had been diagnosed with Celiac disease (after being misdiagnosed for so many years), and so she had altered her diet in February, basically cutting out wheat, sugar, flour, etc. She started feeling better. She felt like a fog had lifted from her brain. She was preparing her own meals.. basically cooked meat and vegetables.

So, I started telling her about the benefits of a raw food diet. At first, she was amused, then she was interested. Our first weekend together, she was 100% raw (2 days). Already she said she felt differently. I loaned her Alissa's book. She was amazed at how vibrant Alissa looked. She read the whole book in about 3 days. Now she wants a food processor, blender, dehydrator, etc.

I saw her apartment for the first time last night. Her refrigerator was full of fruits and veggies. I asked her where her prepared meals were. "I threw them out," she replied. She didn't want the temptation around. She had a cooked meal earlier in the week and ended up needing a 2 hour nap. She felt such a vast difference from eating raw that she wanted to keep it going!

I am so blessed. God really knows the desires of our hearts, without us having to let Him know. I had been desiring someone who was at least supportive of my dietary choices. God gifts me with someone who wants to go raw, within a week of us meeting in person!

We'll watch Alissa's DVD's tonight. I'm taking her to a raw food restaurant tonight, as well. www.downtoearthnj.com


--Art

[Rawkinlocs]

Hey Art!

I just wanted to say that I sometimes follow your journal on FromSadToRaw and it's VERY inspiring...you're doing SO well with your raw eating! Also, congrats on the "new convert"! :) That's truly a blessing. Many blessings to the both of you.

[veggie]

That's incredible, Art! Thanks for sharing such a truly divine story! God certainly does know the desires of our hearts! Blessings to you both!

[rawpriestess]

Dear Art,

Congratulations, on meeting such a vivacious young woman.

You and her, seem destined to be together and help each other, how perfectly marveous.

[swingbolder]

Hi Art,

I remember your journal from sadtoraw too. How wonderful that you've found somebody to share your food with. You guys can support each other, that's such a great thing! Welcome to the board.

[gastrawnome]

Thank you, all, for the support and encouragement!

My girlfriend posted something today, in her blog. With her permission, I am reprinting it here. It inspired me. Hopefully it will inspire you as well.
_________________________________

Raw is the nickname for my boyfriend and I promised I'd explain why I call him that, so here goes: he eats a raw food diet. This means he eats nothing cooked and no meat, sort of a hard core vegan if you will. He eats every variety of veggies and fruits, some nuts and seeds and olive oil and mushrooms (wait, are mushrooms veggies?).

Along with this, he happens to be a very good cook, well,*uncook as it were. He's made me some yummy treats, some from recipes and some from his own creation; for instance there's this dessert he made up he calls Goop and, my goodness, its better than any sweet cake or ice cream I've had and it's all 100% raw, organic and healthy. He's shared with me some other recipes in raw uncook books for everything from "burgers" to "chocolate cake" made with raw veggies, nuts, fruits and using nothing more than a food processor and/or a dehydrator. I haven't tasted these things yet, but they look amazing and the raw recipes he has made for me have been delicious.

This is nothing short of a miracle for me! I am, usually, a very picky eater-before I met Raw I had never had mushrooms or avocado before-just because I didn't think it looked good. Now I've had both and liked the former, not yet sure about the latter. He's got me trying*new stuff frequently and I've only not liked one thing-some type of mushroom, I forget what its called.

Since I've been on my no sugar/wheat/flour and no processed foods diet (except for diet Dr. Pepper) since January and have felt so much better, I thought I'd give this a try. After all, I've always been into nature and the environment and living close to the earth; I've flirted with being a vegetarian before and have never really liked meat, don't even like handling raw meat. I've read the books on the damage large scale animal farming does to the land and the damage the drugs they pump into the animals does to us to make me, at least be curious about, Raw's kind of eating.

So, I tried it for the weekend I spent with him. For 2 1/2 days I was 100% raw. My allergies diminished and my skin looked a little clearer. Since then, I've been about 80% raw, eating most meals raw; for the past 7 days of all my meals I've had 3 cooked ones-all the rest have been raw.

I feel so good eating this way and I don't mean physically, at least not only physically. I feel close to God this way, eating the food the way He grew it and presented it to us in the Garden; I feel sensuous and earthy and in touch with all my senses; I feel pure and light and free-I know this is sounding corny and dumb but I can't think of another way to express it-it's a "being part of the circle of life" feeling.

Eating this way I am responding to*my body's needs. There are no rules, except, only eat raw food. I can eat what I want, when I want. If I want to have 5 oranges for breakfast, then I do (I haven't wanted that!); if I want a bowl of lettuce, nuts and olives for dinner, I have that. I eat when I'm hungry and when I'm not, I don't. Sounds simple, but after years of trying every diet out there after I got sick with the CD, but before I was diagnosed, the idea of eating that naturally is novel to me.

There are so many diets out there that have RULES and they threaten if you don't follow them you will GAIN WEIGHT AND DIE. You all know what I'm talking about: eat x number of fat grams or carb grams or protein grams; eat every 3 hours; eat this combination of foods; weigh and measure everything, you can only have 1 teaspoon of this and 1 cup of that; substitute this for that; always eat breakfast; eat x amount even if you are not hungry; don't eat potatoes!; don't eat red meat!; make sure you eat fish! and on and on and on.

What happens with those? You forget a rule or break a rule and then have to "start over." Of course, before you start over-the next day of course-you treat yourself to all the bad foods you are "NOT ALLOWED" on the diet. Then maybe you start over the next day; maybe you wait a week; maybe you go out and buy the next, newest diet fad that will save you-but you are still following other's rules. With the raw food way of eating, I am following* God's and my body's rules: eat the food the way God*made it in the amounts and variety I want when I'm hungry. Simple.

I'm finding that over the past 7 days of eating like this I'm less hungry-last night I had cucumbers (about 1 1/2) for dinner and was very satisfied, I had had a big salad with lots of stuff in it for lunch and just wasn't that hungry. This morning I had some fresh pineapple for breakfast; a salad made with different kinds of lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, olives, mushrooms, nuts and olive oil for lunch and ...who knows what I'll do for dinner!

This way of eating feels so nurturing to me, so caring, something wonderful I'm doing to take care of my body. The other thing about it is, it feels like a journey; whereas other diets felt like a destination. As I said above, when you broke a rule you were "off" the diet and had to start from scratch again; this is not like that, I'm on this journey to raw and each day that I'm on it, even if just a little bit, is still steps forward...and that is so...amazingly freeing to me. I'm not a "failure" like on other diets; I'm on a journey. Again, sounds simple but feels profound...at least to me. I don't have to be tied to rigid rules, I don't give up or start over every few days, I stay on the journey which means, miracles of miracles, I'm always moving forward. Amen!

Now I'm not promising I'll stay raw forever; I'm not promising I'll have 100% raw days, but I know I'm going to aim for at least 80-90% raw days; I'm not promising that I won't indulge in holiday treats once in awhile or won't enjoy a local food on vacation; I'm just promising that I'm going to give this a try and that it feels amazing so far-I'm not doing this out of some obligation-but rather because I want to, I'm just promising to stay on the journey, and for now, that's enough.
___________________________

--Art
aka "Raw"

[veggie]

Wow! How encouraging, Art! Thanks for sharing that with us, and thank her too. Sounds like an amazing woman!