Carlsbad
12-17-2007, 04:08 PM
Ok, I'll start with the annoying. I've lost almost 50 pounds since May (10 before going raw), and people are really starting to notice (no, that's not the annoying thing). Lots of people have been coming up to me at church to ask if I've lost weight, and what I'm doing. I usually just say, "oh, I've just been trying to eat more fruits and veggies." Perfectly true, but not the whole story. Well, on Sunday, one lady was really pushing me to know how much I had lost and what I'd been doing. I caved and told her I only eat raw vegan food. She immediately asked, where do you get your protein, so I said, the same place gorillas do (good-natured chuckle) and explained that fruits and veggies have enough protein to sustain us. She then asked where I got my calcium, and I said, again fruits and veggies, especially greens. So then she said, well, you must have to be really careful to get enough variety. Her tone implied that there was no way I was getting enough nutrients from my diet. Now, I know that the raw food thing is new to people, and it can be hard to understand if you don't know all the stuff with the China Study and the fact that the dairy farmer's fund xy and z, but variety?! Are you kidding me?! When I ate SAD, I ate the same 5-10 things over and over all the time, and very few of those things were fruits or vegetables, and even fewer weren't fried. Since I started eating raw, I don't think I've had the same "menu" twice! And she wants to lecture me about variety?! Argh! I've been stewing about it ever since. So I've decided that the next time someone picks at my diet when they don't know what they're talking about, I'm going to say, with horror in my voice, "Gosh, where do you get your antioxidants?" I just get angry when someone feels like they can criticize my choices, especially when they don't know anything about it. Grrr.
But now on to the much better thing! Yesterday I was at my parents' house with my sister and brother-in-law and their three kids (ages 6,4, and 1). For lunch, everyone had this huge spread of pancakes with syrup, bacon, eggs with cheese cooked in bacon grease AND butter, and english muffins with butter and jam (even as I write that it makes me queasy!). I had a bowl of sunflower seeds (they're my current favorite thing) and a bottle of kombucha. After lunch, I got up from the table to check on my nieces, and I ended up running and wrestling and playing with them for about an hour. We were playing horse, so I went running through the house with the six-year-old on my back, and we ran into the family room. Everyone else was collapsed on the sofas, and half of them were asleep. Everybody kept saying, oh, I ate too much, and groaning while they sat half comatose, even an hour after the meal, and here I was running through the house with a 45 pound kid on my back. I always think that I haven't gotten the huge energy boost that you read about with raw (I still need a lot of sleep), but six months ago I would have been passed out on the sofa with the rest of my family. Instead, I was up and moving and had just spent an hour giggling and playing with my beloved nieces. How flippin cool is that?!
I feel so blessed to have found a lifestyle that gives me health, happiness, and the energy to make the most of the time I have on this earth. I would trade a big ol' greasy plate of food for an hour of memory-making with my nieces any day of the week. It really made me think--people are literally poisoning themselves with cooked food, yet they keep eating it. I'm so grateful that I got out of the matrix! :D
But now on to the much better thing! Yesterday I was at my parents' house with my sister and brother-in-law and their three kids (ages 6,4, and 1). For lunch, everyone had this huge spread of pancakes with syrup, bacon, eggs with cheese cooked in bacon grease AND butter, and english muffins with butter and jam (even as I write that it makes me queasy!). I had a bowl of sunflower seeds (they're my current favorite thing) and a bottle of kombucha. After lunch, I got up from the table to check on my nieces, and I ended up running and wrestling and playing with them for about an hour. We were playing horse, so I went running through the house with the six-year-old on my back, and we ran into the family room. Everyone else was collapsed on the sofas, and half of them were asleep. Everybody kept saying, oh, I ate too much, and groaning while they sat half comatose, even an hour after the meal, and here I was running through the house with a 45 pound kid on my back. I always think that I haven't gotten the huge energy boost that you read about with raw (I still need a lot of sleep), but six months ago I would have been passed out on the sofa with the rest of my family. Instead, I was up and moving and had just spent an hour giggling and playing with my beloved nieces. How flippin cool is that?!
I feel so blessed to have found a lifestyle that gives me health, happiness, and the energy to make the most of the time I have on this earth. I would trade a big ol' greasy plate of food for an hour of memory-making with my nieces any day of the week. It really made me think--people are literally poisoning themselves with cooked food, yet they keep eating it. I'm so grateful that I got out of the matrix! :D