Where are you at on your raw food journey?

[Maverick]

I am a believer in how the body heals itself if fed properly, but I am still on my own journey of figuring out the balance just yet, so I was wondering where you are on your raw food journey?

[meganthevegan]

I consider myself raw even though I've had a few days in the last two months where I've ate a bite or two of cooked. And you know it's never like you remember it!

[Ariannah]

Like everyone else so far, I answered 100%...

I have modified it a lot to mostly fresh greens and fresh fruit, limited nuts. Supplements are maca and msm. Occasionally wheat grass if I've run out of fresh greens.

I am convinced this is the natural diet of human beings and can't begin to tell you all the benefits I've seen when I treat my body the way it is meant to be treated.

On a side note - I bought a size smaller jeans today!!! Only a month after having bought my previous "size smaller". And the fit is perfect. It's actually looser than I thought it would fit (but smaller would render me unable to breathe...), so pretty soon (perhaps by next month or the end of the month) I'm going to have to buy one size down. I'm going to have lots of clothing to donate to the charity pickup :)

Ariannah
Happy first day to all who are in the challenge!!

[Shona]

Currently, I am working on 75% raw/25% cooked vegan. The percentages vary depending on the weather, how hungry I am, and how busy how I am.

I think the biggest stumbling block for me is that I am an emotional eater. To me, food is comfort and love, something that is always there when I need it. I am completely aware of this, yet seem unable to move past it. I have no problem getting started with healthy raw foods, but the minute I get upset or depressed, I fall into a downward spiral of cooked - and often junky - foods that is very hard to get out of.

I guess it's good that I understand why I eat the way I do. I just wish I could be more motivated to stay on track. Especially because I know how good I feel, physically and emotionally, when I do so.

Shona :)

[LNdolls]

100% day 12 for me... and am joining the 90 day challenge til the end of the year.
Best,
LN

[Angelina]

I'm a 100% newbie; I believe Friday was my three week mark....only at a bit of cooked the first week (family party!!); actually besides a few minor issues, its been great and I really can't imagine going back to cooked (but before I was barely cooked!!) I find for me the key is to be 100% (or I'll crave) and to also look at this like a lifestyle, I don't plan to count the days I'm raw but rather take each day as it is and if I do slip up to just get back on immediately.

[VeggieMel]

I'm about 90% raw, and I'm also about 90% vegan. Restaurants and parties account for the 10%s. I sometimes give into the temptation of dairy when it's right out in front of me at a party or something. Also, on rare occassions I'll eat a little sushi.

[SamuelWilson]

100% raw, no alcohol or SAD medicine. I do not even take an aspirin when I have a head ache (which is rare anymore). Even when I make hummingbird nectar to put in the bottles that are hanging outside to feed the hummingbirds, I won't even taste it. When I say 100%, I mean 100%.

Recently, I was offered some lemonade at a fashion trunk show. The person was like "this is fresh made with real lemons". I refused and glad I did. I later found out it was sweetened with sugar and not with apples. If I am at a hotel that can not make my salad dressing per my specifications, I will eat the salad with squeezed lemon juice. If they do not have celtic sea salt or the real salt mined from old salt beds that is natural, I will not eat salt, I will just do without. If I find out that an ingredient in my cabinets, refridgerator, etc. is not 100% raw, I throw it out. I do not put it in the garbage can, I take it outside and dump it out so that it is gone forever and I can't get it back.

[Helen Of Tennessee]

There wasn't a spot where I could vote, so I put 75% Raw, 25% cooked Vegan.

I'm 75% raw, but my cooked isn't always vegan. I don't eat meat, but I do occasionally get bread sticks (that has butter on them - not Vegan), and other "junk" foods like that. I'm working on trying to get 100% but that 25% is a tough one for me to overcome. I know it's all mental and I'm working on it. I've been stuck there for a few years now. Grains are my biggest problem - pasta, breads, etc. Crackers are now GONE out of my diet and I'm working on pasta - I rarely get pasta now and once it is totally gone, I'll work on the breads. Phew!!!! Grains are a whole lot harder to get off of then meat was; took me 1 1/2 years to wean off of meat and have been off for 3 1/2 years now.

<>< Helen of Tennessee

[sport]

Helen
Regarding grains and bread, I fully understand where you are coming from on this. I have the same problem but am totally aware of the fact that wheat is the worst of the grains for your health so decided to give up wheat. That removed the temptation of all the nicer breads but still left me feeling that I could have bread if I wanted to. Most of the time I did not want to as the other breads are not very nice. I dont feel deprived because I can have some if I want to, I just dont want to.
Wheat is really bad for you. Wheat is really bad for you. Wheat is really bad for you. Wheat is really bad for you. Wheat is really bad for you. Wheat is really bad for you.
Now. Did that help.

[Helen Of Tennessee]

Hi Sport,

:p Ya, I know wheat is really bad for me :D But it sure does taste good . . . makes my joints and head hurt but apparently not enough to make me just stop. But I am weaning off. I'm going to conquer this!!!!

Thanks for the encouragement!!!!

Wheat is bad. Wheat is bad. Wheat is bad.

<>< Helen of Tennessee

[MAK]

Helen,
My advice is to substitute wheat with buckwheat. It does not have gluten. You can use kasha (slightly roasted in the hot air under the relatively low temp) to soak in the warm distilled water (you will have to play with ratio) and ready to eat. Do some reading on buckwheat and how it is good for you.
Buckwheat is a low GI >grain> (actually it is not a grai, but rather flower seed). Instead of grain pasta eat ocassionally (I do not) soba noodles.
You are right - it is all mental. I quit grain foods at once, except kasha.
That go for my 5% (not a bad 5% ,-)))).

[Angelina]

Mak, about the Kasha, how do you get it? bulk at a Health food store?? And please to avoid confusion, we're not talking about Kashi, the grain pilaf stuff sold in a box by the makers of go lean?? I had battled with terrible wheat allergies for years, finally cutting it out 90% of the time about 13 years ago, so to hear about this Kasha stuff, a dream come true. What can be done with it? dehydrated breads? stuffings? breakfast cereals? Thanks much.

[Pailani]

I voted "other." I don't know what my percent is, it's probably 75-90 percent raw, and the 10-25 percent isn't always vegan.

One thing that's happened since I started this is that my stomach aches, which were a daily thing, have gone away. I haven't had a stomach ache in months. The novelty of being able to enjoy a few foods now is hard to resist. As long as I stay away from wheat and dairy, I seem to be able to enjoy everything else. So I find that I slip up some evenings on things like rice, chips and salmon. Yet it still seems like what I'm doing is working, I feel better than I have in a long, long time.

[Maverick]

Helen,
My advice is to substitute wheat with buckwheat. It does not have gluten. You can use kasha (slightly roasted in the hot air under the relatively low temp) to soak in the warm distilled water (you will have to play with ratio) and ready to eat. Do some reading on buckwheat and how it is good for you.
Buckwheat is a low GI >grain> (actually it is not a grai, but rather flower seed). Instead of grain pasta eat ocassionally (I do not) soba noodles.
You are right - it is all mental. I quit grain foods at once, except kasha.
That go for my 5% (not a bad 5% ,-)))).

MAK, thanks for passing along the information. I have been looking for some alternatives to wheat just recently for my dad.

[sweetgoddess]

I am at an incredible place in my raw journey. I started in January, so thats 9 months. However I took almost a 2 month break back in May when I moved.
I have healed from so many things during this time.

It seems I have moved to a new level. Cooked food isnt even a thought. Its a real joy to eat raw, living food. I feel so fantastic and have changed so much since January.

It is interesting, when I am out, at the store, restaurants etc......i dont even see the dead food anymore. I never thought this would have been possible for me back in May, but it seems persistence got me there.

Now it is just such a passion and joy to eat and create and share live foods.

Such a blessing~

[rawpriestess]

Hi all,

I'm 100% raw BABY!!!, I love that.

So, I start each day as if it were my first day of raw, with all the joy and excitement for something new and fun.

You see, raw food is the most beautiful, tasty food on the planet, and if you don't think so, then come on over to my house for dinner, and I'll walk you through the gardens, you can pick your own food, eat it standing right there, or I'll take you inside, and make you a gourmet meal to knock your sox off.

[Rawkinlocs]

100% raw...no chip-slips for day 10 now! Feeling good, but not getting too cocky :o Just thankful and grateful each day that I nourish my body with live foods and not dead foods.

[Dragggon]

I voted 75% raw and 25% cooked vegan, but actually the 25% that I have cooked is half meat items and the veggies I do cook are only lightly saute'd if that, or a baked potato now and then.

And I am a true conneseur of sweets and baked goods.

I make alot of raw desserts, but also make some cooked occasionally, although not recentely. HUMMMM

[Poppy]

100% raw for five months. I quit all cooked food Day One. Gabriel Cousins, Alissa, David Wolfe and others keep me inspired. Logically and intuitively I know that 100% raw is healthiest for me and I've experienced such wonderful results that I know my diet revolution is working. It's remarkable, really. Everyone I know, even skeptics, are literally in awe of the changes I've undergone. My weight has dropped, my facial structure is improved, my skin is smooth and radiant, my eyes are bright. I'm simply more youthful, just like the people in Alissa's before and after pictures. Plus, I don't have depression; rather, all through the day periods of bliss overtake me. I can only describe it as divine! (I think my little cells are so clean and happy they are remembering every happy day and moment of my magical life!)

I'm new on this forum so I want to say hello to everyone and here's to your radiant health!

[tglasco4]

I still use bulgar wheat but other than that its all raw. I am feeling so good. My body is toning so well. My mind is so clear. I am seeing much more out of the bible than ever in my life. God has blessed me with this lifestyle and I intend to continue to share the blessing (by His Grace) with as many as he gives me strength to share with. My family has grown so much from the experience also. My children are so aware of eating their raw foods and their skin is glowing and healthy. All this and yet, I know I am still growing and learning and developing. Its simply, a very beautiful thing.

Peace.

Todd

[swiddweas]

one hundre persent for me,too.

Five Months ago when I began 100 percent raw I weighed fifty-plus pounds more then I do now and if it werent for my clothes gradually feeling looser and looser, I wouln't have noticed that I was loosing weight because I was not denying myslef anything and I am never hungry for very long, so, my weight loss almost went unnoticed because I don't have a scale to keep track. It is just disappering. I feel as though I am cheating at weight loss because there is no depravation or hunger involved.

I thought of donating my clothing, but since my clothing is so pretty and not the run of the mill type dresses ( they are all long vintage custom made dresses) and were not cheap, I am having the good fortune of having them altered four or five sizes down and I am overjoyed at the idea of stilll being able to wear these beautiful dresses at a much smaller size. I can feell comfortable staying on this way of eating because I know these favorite dresses can be still further altered as i loose more.