papiyonmov
03-29-2009, 08:39 AM
Hi! My story...
I've been vegetarian for about 15 years and decided to go vegan, mmm, not sure, I think about 6 months ago...been wanting to for a long time due to chronic sinus issues and I just generally have known it'd be better overall but thought it would be "too hard". How could I possibly live without cheese?? No eggs ever again?? Ce n'est pa possible! But then I finally ripped off that band-aid and found it was SO not a big deal. What a relief! Can't believe I put it off for that long! Then raw...I've been intrigued with it ever since Juliano's RAW book came out. It sounded wonderful, alive, alluring...but some ingredients looked difficult to find and prep looked ridiculously long. So I just drooled over the pix and eventually, to the bookshelf it went, destined to become dusty. But then somehow it came back into my life. Wish I could remember exactly how! It might have been due to joining a local Vegan Meetup group (which was a big help in getting me to finally commit to Vegan, just going to a potluck w/other families and seeing how do-able it was) which had occasional posts from a local raw foodies. Hear and there I'd hear other little things (like the farmer from whom I get my CSA box mentioning something about raw foodists). Then somebody posted about the Rawkathon in the fall. I signed up, watched as many of the videos as I could, and was totally inspired!!! I'm entirely in the "crush/dating" phase right now where I feel excited and smitten with raw foods and just want immerse myself and hear more, try every recipe, read every article, read every book, talk w/as many people I can about it. I decided to phase it in and just keep upping my raw all the time in a comfortable way. Yesterday I was 99% (and felt great!!) but I've been more like averaging about 65%. I'm looking forward to being 95 or 100 every day, but am enjoying the changes I'm making so far. My biggest challenge right now is increasing my water intake. My achilles heel. I've just had a terrible life-long habit of not drinking much water and I WILL change this! Once I get that habit changed, I will feel like I can conquer anything!
It's funny how I used to think vegan would be too hard and now I laugh at that thought! Vegan is a piece of cake, compared to raw! Raw is so much more disciplined yet the benefits so great, that I don't feel like I'm giving up much -- it's like raw food is more about the gains, not the losses which of course makes the transition a million times easier.
I do have local raw honey right now, so I'm more like a "beegan" (got that from another on this forum, very cute!)
My husband (mostly vegan) is curious about raw and desperate to lose weight, and has been eating anything raw I make -- he's just afraid he'll feel deprived. My 2 kids are mostly vegan at home and their raw is on the rise too, S.A.D. at school though so on my list is to transition to making them raw lunches too. Summer might be a good time to do that since I'll have to make lunches anyway for their daycare and can slowly phase in even more raw. I'm really happy about the raw they eat now and their attitudes about it, so I'll be handling that carefully, not going too fast or pressuring them.
So far I am LOVING the increased energy I'm getting -- unbelievable!! And my general moods and happiness going up -- awesome!
I am not loving the explosion of acne, but it gives me even more incentive to keep up the water intake and hope that I am getting some icky toxins out of my body.
Overall, I'm grateful for what I've learned so far and am feeling very happy about having finally embarked on this raw journey -- excited about improving my health, my family's, excited about the foods, just really having a blast with raw foods so far!
I'm looking forward to sharing and growing with you all here, on this forum.
Thanks in advance!
I've been vegetarian for about 15 years and decided to go vegan, mmm, not sure, I think about 6 months ago...been wanting to for a long time due to chronic sinus issues and I just generally have known it'd be better overall but thought it would be "too hard". How could I possibly live without cheese?? No eggs ever again?? Ce n'est pa possible! But then I finally ripped off that band-aid and found it was SO not a big deal. What a relief! Can't believe I put it off for that long! Then raw...I've been intrigued with it ever since Juliano's RAW book came out. It sounded wonderful, alive, alluring...but some ingredients looked difficult to find and prep looked ridiculously long. So I just drooled over the pix and eventually, to the bookshelf it went, destined to become dusty. But then somehow it came back into my life. Wish I could remember exactly how! It might have been due to joining a local Vegan Meetup group (which was a big help in getting me to finally commit to Vegan, just going to a potluck w/other families and seeing how do-able it was) which had occasional posts from a local raw foodies. Hear and there I'd hear other little things (like the farmer from whom I get my CSA box mentioning something about raw foodists). Then somebody posted about the Rawkathon in the fall. I signed up, watched as many of the videos as I could, and was totally inspired!!! I'm entirely in the "crush/dating" phase right now where I feel excited and smitten with raw foods and just want immerse myself and hear more, try every recipe, read every article, read every book, talk w/as many people I can about it. I decided to phase it in and just keep upping my raw all the time in a comfortable way. Yesterday I was 99% (and felt great!!) but I've been more like averaging about 65%. I'm looking forward to being 95 or 100 every day, but am enjoying the changes I'm making so far. My biggest challenge right now is increasing my water intake. My achilles heel. I've just had a terrible life-long habit of not drinking much water and I WILL change this! Once I get that habit changed, I will feel like I can conquer anything!
It's funny how I used to think vegan would be too hard and now I laugh at that thought! Vegan is a piece of cake, compared to raw! Raw is so much more disciplined yet the benefits so great, that I don't feel like I'm giving up much -- it's like raw food is more about the gains, not the losses which of course makes the transition a million times easier.
I do have local raw honey right now, so I'm more like a "beegan" (got that from another on this forum, very cute!)
My husband (mostly vegan) is curious about raw and desperate to lose weight, and has been eating anything raw I make -- he's just afraid he'll feel deprived. My 2 kids are mostly vegan at home and their raw is on the rise too, S.A.D. at school though so on my list is to transition to making them raw lunches too. Summer might be a good time to do that since I'll have to make lunches anyway for their daycare and can slowly phase in even more raw. I'm really happy about the raw they eat now and their attitudes about it, so I'll be handling that carefully, not going too fast or pressuring them.
So far I am LOVING the increased energy I'm getting -- unbelievable!! And my general moods and happiness going up -- awesome!
I am not loving the explosion of acne, but it gives me even more incentive to keep up the water intake and hope that I am getting some icky toxins out of my body.
Overall, I'm grateful for what I've learned so far and am feeling very happy about having finally embarked on this raw journey -- excited about improving my health, my family's, excited about the foods, just really having a blast with raw foods so far!
I'm looking forward to sharing and growing with you all here, on this forum.
Thanks in advance!