Erynne
02-12-2010, 10:51 PM
All right... if you can stick with it through this entire post until I get to the questions at the end, you truly deserve a pat on the back.
My husband and I have wanted to go raw for a couple years, but we've never been able to make it. We've gone as high as 85% raw, but never crossed into the 100% raw way of life.
Lately, I have felt a real push to move into 100% raw. I have Systemic Lupus, a heart murmur, and a synovial cyst on my lower lumbar spine that puts pressure on my sciatic nerve in my left hip/leg. He is hearing impaired, has recurring chest pains and depression, and gets migraines and headaches almost daily. We both have very poor eyes and a lot of sleep problems. And we are now parents to a wonderful 10-month-old son who is beginning to explore the world of food (we are doing baby-led weaning, so he doesn't get purees... he eats what we eat, or rather plays with it and tastes it; amazingly, his favorite food so far has been raw cucumber with a little olive oil and vinegar dressing).
We have every reason in the world to go 100%... but there are problems.
Problem #1: We live in an "extended family" situation. My husband, the baby, and I make up one family unit, my brother and his wife make up a second family unit, and my mother makes up the third family unit. We all share a kitchen space in the house, which means that there's no way to clear out all the junk and cooked food... because we'd be pissing off three other people who spent their money on that food!
Problem #2: Due in part to me wanting to be a mother full-time for our son and due in part to the job market being rather depressed so I can't find any part-time jobs, my husband is the only one working. While my mother doesn't mind occasionally helping us buy groceries, she might get a little sniffy if we stopped eating a lot of cooked foods (more if I stopped cooking those foods and sharing meals with her) and started asking for help on a lot of raw things. I don't know if we could afford all the ins and outs of a 100% raw diet on just his salary, without resorting to eating not enough food (and since our son still nurses for 99% of his nutrition, I need food to produce milk). We HAVE joined a local food co-op... and we are planning on frequenting the farmer's markets once the growing season is well underway. I'm hoping those will help somewhat with the cost of live foods. And I'm used to turning down foods for health reasons... my son is allergic to dairy proteins, and since he's nursing, that means I can't have any. I haven't been allowed to have dairy products for roughly seven months, except for the occasional slip-up and total will cave-in.
So... help! What recommendations do you have for living in a house where not only will there be lots of cooked foods available, they will be encouraged for us to eat and be merry? And how do you stretch your budget to make your raw life possible?
- E
My husband and I have wanted to go raw for a couple years, but we've never been able to make it. We've gone as high as 85% raw, but never crossed into the 100% raw way of life.
Lately, I have felt a real push to move into 100% raw. I have Systemic Lupus, a heart murmur, and a synovial cyst on my lower lumbar spine that puts pressure on my sciatic nerve in my left hip/leg. He is hearing impaired, has recurring chest pains and depression, and gets migraines and headaches almost daily. We both have very poor eyes and a lot of sleep problems. And we are now parents to a wonderful 10-month-old son who is beginning to explore the world of food (we are doing baby-led weaning, so he doesn't get purees... he eats what we eat, or rather plays with it and tastes it; amazingly, his favorite food so far has been raw cucumber with a little olive oil and vinegar dressing).
We have every reason in the world to go 100%... but there are problems.
Problem #1: We live in an "extended family" situation. My husband, the baby, and I make up one family unit, my brother and his wife make up a second family unit, and my mother makes up the third family unit. We all share a kitchen space in the house, which means that there's no way to clear out all the junk and cooked food... because we'd be pissing off three other people who spent their money on that food!
Problem #2: Due in part to me wanting to be a mother full-time for our son and due in part to the job market being rather depressed so I can't find any part-time jobs, my husband is the only one working. While my mother doesn't mind occasionally helping us buy groceries, she might get a little sniffy if we stopped eating a lot of cooked foods (more if I stopped cooking those foods and sharing meals with her) and started asking for help on a lot of raw things. I don't know if we could afford all the ins and outs of a 100% raw diet on just his salary, without resorting to eating not enough food (and since our son still nurses for 99% of his nutrition, I need food to produce milk). We HAVE joined a local food co-op... and we are planning on frequenting the farmer's markets once the growing season is well underway. I'm hoping those will help somewhat with the cost of live foods. And I'm used to turning down foods for health reasons... my son is allergic to dairy proteins, and since he's nursing, that means I can't have any. I haven't been allowed to have dairy products for roughly seven months, except for the occasional slip-up and total will cave-in.
So... help! What recommendations do you have for living in a house where not only will there be lots of cooked foods available, they will be encouraged for us to eat and be merry? And how do you stretch your budget to make your raw life possible?
- E