What eating style were you JUST before going raw?

[unchatquitue]

I see many more vegans/vegetarians going raw than I see SAD eaters starting raw. I am curious about your eating habits just before going raw and I am sure others are too, so don't hesitate and share!

[blizzardfrisbee]

I was SAD eater until March this year--then went vegetarian Beginning of August I went 100% raw.

[Katie P]

I went raw after doing a 21 day cleanse beginning 1/1/09. Before that I wasn't a vegan/ vegetarian/ anything! haha. I ate "healthy" SAD things.....like salad with grilled chicken/ whole wheat pita bread & hummus/ fish & steamed veggies/ roasted nuts/ occasional splurges of icecream or desserts/ omelets/ cereal EVERY once in a while/ oatmeal/ deli sandwhiches w/ cheese (organic & hormone free meat & dairy).....that was typical for me!

I love that I just all the sudden was like......i don't wanna eat that anymore! My body really told me what to do!

[JCB44]

Sad eater, any thing and every thing.

[unchatquitue]

Wow, I thought most of you were vegetarians or vegans before!

[green jeanie]

all meat and a lttle veggies.....prescribed by my vegetarian naturopath to fight chronic gut infections.

raw is the only thing that helped.......gave me my life back in fact!!!

[RawKnitster]

Standard American Diet all the way.

[kjduf]

SAD all the way

[Aleesha Sattva]

as much junk food as my fat little fingers could shove in my mouth... hence... why i was 300 pounds.

[TaupeRawMan]

Whole-food, no-salt, no-oil, no-sugar vegan for decades.

[pegbord]

Low carb, high protein and high fat . . . lots of eggs and cheese - topped with extra butter, salads with heavy dressing, cooked no-starch veggies topped with lots of butter, full fat greek yogurt and berries, fish/beef/chicken . . . you guessed it . . . topped with extra butter and/or coconut oil. . . . still love the coconut oil :)

Raw now for 6 weeks (except past 4 days - ahem, don't want to go there!)

[unchatquitue]

Interesting! I see one vegan though!

TaupeRawMan Whole-food, no-salt, no-oil, no-sugar vegan for decades.
Rawman, did you see a big difference between vegan and raw vegan?

[Conscious Midwife]

craptastic flexatarian

[RawTorahKeeper]

SAD for years, then March 2010 when I decided to change my life, I began eating 'healthy SAD'. I did incorporate more fruits and veggies in my diet, but was still eating turkey, chicken, organic / hormone free cheese / lunchmeat, whole wheat bread, that sort of thing. Sometime in July 2010 I read about the raw vegan lifestyle, and I've been sold since. Now I'm passionate about what a raw vegan diet can do for a body. I've got my hubby sold on it, my best friend and her family and a bunch of Facebook friends. :D

[Katie P]

I'm lovin' this thread!!!! :)
We all have had different walks in life

[sport]

I was vegan for 4 years and prior to that I had been veg for about 30 years. I was probably never a SAD eater.

[k8sl8]

I have "done" everything in terms of diet EXCEPT vegetarian. I was SAD all the way til I started doing Natalia Roses' whole food version about 2 months before raw. Started RAW because my daughter researched it and thought I might like it... The rest is history.

[love4life]

being mexican american (and living so close to the border) i ate mostly authentic mexican foods. that means lots of meat....tacos, enchiladas (but not like ur thinking), mole, menudo, lots of corn and flour tortillas....being american i also ate lots of pizza, chicken strips and the normal fast foods that most of us have been addicted to.
then one day i read about the raw foods diet and started the following monday. today marks 2 months since then. i could not be happier!

[unchatquitue]

craptastic flexatarian ... haha that was funny! :)

[Shels]

I don't even know... Spent a few years cutting out the majority of bread and cutting back on "white" foods (flour, sugar, rice), went vegetarian for a few months, and then once I got rid of processed and packaged things I was practically raw. :p I've always gravitated towards whole foods.

[DawnD]

We did the Zone Diet for a couple years and used Sunrider Foods as supplements to our diet. Sunrider has powdered products that are processed below 118 degrees so we were adding alot of raw to our diets without even knowing it. When those products became too expensive I dredged up Carol Alts first book ( that I had for years) about raw and announced to my hubby that we were doing this now! I could have been raw 4 years ago. Boo Hoo... We also ate conventional produce and mostly organic meat.

[loofah]

I became a vegetarian about a year ago but rarely ate dairy so more vegan. Started really RAW'ing it up just recently.

[Kalehua]

Before going raw, I was a vegetarian for around 17 years. Ate way too much processed and frozen foods. Things like pasta, pizza, cheese, boca burgers, soda, cereal, and bread made up the majority of what I would consume.

At that time, I just didn't want anything to do with fruits and veggies. But now, they are what my body desires.

Its amazing how much better things taste after going raw.

[Basenjimamma]

I was a neurotic standard swedish dieter..meaning I ate everything, just not as much/none of the junkfood as SADers..until a year ago, then I did RAW until dinner, a la another writer, previously mentioned..today I have been raw since FEB 15th of this year..until today..fell off the turnip truck and had some chips..why I have no clue..but I climbed back ino the truck and I am RAW again..:):D. See you tomorrow.

[Pking]

Straight meat eater and mostly cooked food before going raw. Not only SAD diet but also SFE (Southern Fried Everything) diet.

[ArcturusXIV]

Seafood diet. I see food, I eat it.

[terry brown]

I had gotten the point of being all vegan , no wheat, no sugar. Raw was the next logical step.
I had been a Vegetarian for about 20 years and a vegan many of those years before going all raw vegan.

[Katie P]

Seafood diet. I see food, I eat it.

BAAAAAHAHAHAHA!!! that's hilarious!!! I love it :)

[ArcturusXIV]

BAAAAAHAHAHAHA!!! that's hilarious!!! I love it :)

Of course, the point being that antifreeze tastes great also, we just don't eat it!! You might trick a one-trick pony once, but one trick is all he gets before he's dead.

[klomasius]

SADish vegan for about 7 years before raw, 2 years veg before that. I was starting to get more into healthy options, less processed wholefoods, brown bread, more organic before going raw. But I still had huge bowls of pasta and ate a lot of bread.

[betty boop]

SAD all the way, hardly any vegetables, salads, fruit. I would buy a head of lettuce maybe once every month or two and it would always go bad before I finished it, same thing with fruit.

I am still shocked when I think about how I used to eat and how much my diet has changed.

[Katie P]

I remember in my college days...before I went SAD healthy, it was ALL about saving calories, so that meant:
diet cokes out the wazzu! gum of course b/c it satisfied hunger (a little bit). Then there was the "healthy life low calorie bread", fat free cheese, & spray "butter" which had no calories, so what the heck I was eating, I'd rather not even know!!!!!!
OOOOHHHH, & I can't forget the sugar free jello with sugar free whip cream.

Gosh, writing all this makes me very proud of how my body is. It could be soooo much worse LOL

[k8sl8]

I remember in my college days...before I went SAD healthy, it was ALL about saving calories, so that meant:
diet cokes out the wazzu! gum of course b/c it satisfied hunger (a little bit). Then there was the "healthy life low calorie bread", fat free cheese, & spray "butter" which had no calories, so what the heck I was eating, I'd rather not even know!!!!!!
OOOOHHHH, & I can't forget the sugar free jello with sugar free whip cream.

Gosh, writing all this makes me very proud of how my body is. It could be soooo much worse LOL

LOL. You forgot fat-free, sugar-free cool whip!! A staple of low cal life.

[PunkRotten]

I was a SAD eater my whole life. But late last year I started to eat healthier foods. Switched to all whole grain breads, crackers, pasta etc. I started eating more salads and fruits, more veggies. I rarely ate sweet foods like cake and ice cream. I drank only water and sometimes juice. But since August of this year I decided to try the raw food diet. I like it alot better.

I take it one day at a time. I am not 100% raw, more like 50% to 75% on most days. Some days I am 100%. But the thing is if I am 50% or 75% I don't consider it a failure. I'm still new to Raw and have lots to learn. Alot of the time I make mistakes is mostly from lack of knowledge. But I figure any percent of raw is better than nothing.

[green jeanie]

you know my favorite thing is that i was always a "no" eater

no wheat
no dairy
no sugar

no meat....no fruit....no no no no no

now i am a YES eater!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i eat whatever i want RAW

YES!!!

[k8sl8]

you know my favorite thing is that i was always a "no" eater

no wheat
no dairy
no sugar

no meat....no fruit....no no no no no

now i am a YES eater!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i eat whatever i want RAW

YES!!!

Wow. How freeing is that??

[gritsnla]

I'm with PunkRotten - just doing a partial raw right now 50% to 75%. In the beginning ('07) I went full out from SAD and loved it. Then slipped and now back trying to get going a little higher. I'll get there.

I love reading everyone's experiences.

[Juniper44]

For years I ate everything but then I decided to go on a "diet". A diet for me was basically lettuce, tomatoes and chicken. (No dark leafy greens) But I have to say going on a diet made me realize that I like the taste of a naked potato compare to a grease drenched french fries. So I began to eat more veggies but never let go of the sweets. Salads and cola, cookies, candy bars and cakes. Even when most of my diet was organic and raw I'd never let go of the sweets and fruit was not good enough. Now, I don't know how I'm going to make it through the winter without a watermelon.

[Amarynth]

SAD almost half of my life. Spent a childhood with a parent who wasn't the greatest cook....her idea of a gourmet dinner was hamburger helper, or sandwiches with gobs of potato and macaroni salad. :/ I taught myself how to cook and yet continued on with the unhealthy eating I grew up with. Sweets...ring dings and twinkies were my favorite all time food. Brownies, ice cream...if it was chocolate I was stuffing it into my mouth. Now I went from that horrible SAD diet to 100% RAW since January...and I'm never, ever going back. :)

[Katie P]

SAD almost half of my life. Spent a childhood with a parent who wasn't the greatest cook....her idea of a gourmet dinner was hamburger helper, or sandwiches with gobs of potato and macaroni salad. :/ I taught myself how to cook and yet continued on with the unhealthy eating I grew up with. Sweets...ring dings and twinkies were my favorite all time food. Brownies, ice cream...if it was chocolate I was stuffing it into my mouth. Now I went from that horrible SAD diet to 100% RAW since January...and I'm never, ever going back. :)

PREACH IT SISTA!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

That's awesome :)

[MelanieBear]

Organic, whole foods/home-cooked vegetarian and mostly vegan (I did occasionally have cheese....still miss the taste of it.)

I should probably say that I don't eat 100% raw food (I think it's kind of crazy to claim to be 100% anything in this world, and I also believe that 100% raw diets are too cold for many constitutions in many climates) but that I am nearly vegan. I do continue to use bee products and would consider the addition of other animal products as medicinal foods for rare situations if they could be obtained in an ethical manner and were the best therapeutic option for myself or my client.