Not labelling ourselves

[Amii]

I know a lot of us get stick for being raw vegan but has anyone here tried saying that they "just eat whatever they want"?

That's what a SAD eater does. They eat anything they want. And we don't give them attitude about it but think about how if they called themselves "transfat and refined sugar eaters"; surely if a SAD eater labelled themselves that, anyone would freak out and be like OMG but transfats are widely known to be godawful for your health and refined sugar is just as worse and no wonder you have diabetes and are 50 lbs overweight etc etc..

It's all in the label. If someone eats refined sugar, transfats, aspartame, etc, they are said to be eating "normally". Only when they individually list what they're eating do we recognise how unhealthy it is. It's all about semantics I think.

So why do we have to label ourselves as raw vegans? Is it a smug, superiority-pride thing? I have never identified myself as a raw vegan. If someone asks me "why do you eat nothing but bananas" I say to them "why do you eat nothing but pasta? because you want to eat pasta right now. And right now I'm loving them bananas, I eat whatever I want"

If there's no suggestion of restrictions then people don't seem to freak out and nosey their way into it as much. Think about people who change their diet for health reasons. People who cut out refined sugar because it gives them headaches, they don't get this crap for not eating sugar do they?

Isn't it surely best to just claim that you eat what you want and there's nothing else to it, without highlighting that all you want to eat is raw food?

[lovenlife]

Amen to this. No labels. No superiority just simply a different way. If one is setting themselves up as a superior eater by the tag they wear on their shirt, it will isoalte them and they wont have the share factor.

I make no big deal how I eat. Others do but I dont. I ask others, if we are at a gathering and they start to draw attention to me, I ask them to not fuss.

Life is so not about the food. Life is glorious life and what I eat is a small part of the whole.

I prefer to be labelled as a person of love, joy, compassion, strength, beauty and LOVE <3 and so much more.

[mcster]

Just like calling the 20th century drug pushing industry "conventional/traditional medicine" while calling the centuries-old naturopathic approach "alternative medicine". The reason this happens is because conventional medicine has a board very well funded by the drug companies while the other doesn't.

Growing up, I never liked talking about my vegetarian diet. I just didn't know how to handle the questions intelligently. But now I'm starting to like talking about my new weird diet when people ask. How I look and feel is self evident and the logic behind it is very simple to convey. I don't see it as a superiority thing. If anything, the one's with the superiority attitude have always been the traditionalists.

I say let your freak flag fly! :woot:

[sport]

I say let your freak flag fly! :woot:
Mine has been flying for 50 years and will fly for another 50.
I like this idea. I eat "whatever I want"

[lovenlife]

Just like calling the 20th century drug pushing industry "conventional/traditional medicine" while calling the centuries-old naturopathic approach "alternative medicine". The reason this happens is because conventional medicine has a board very well funded by the drug companies while the other doesn't.

Growing up, I never liked talking about my vegetarian diet. I just didn't know how to handle the questions intelligently. But now I'm starting to like talking about my new weird diet when people ask. How I look and feel is self evident and the logic behind it is very simple to convey. I don't see it as a superiority thing. If anything, the one's with the superiority attitude have always been the traditionalists.

I say let your freak flag fly! :woot:

LOVE IT! Awesome!

[lovenlife]

Mine has been flying for 50 years and will fly for another 50.
I like this idea. I eat "whatever I want"

Rawk on sista.

[SunshineMN]

My SO says she's going to say "I eat natural food." when asked about it. :)

[Aleesha Sattva]

i have taken on the label your liquid-consuming non-fibre friend since my friends tease me that i can't call what i do fasting anymore since i fast more than i eat. LOL but i loooove talking about raw foods and if putting a label on what i'm doing makes for a conversation then all i have to say is YES YES YES!!!

cause every single person i talk to about raw live foods is one more person who's aware it exists. 20 years ago if a woman hadn't said to me, "i'm thinking of homeschooling my kids but my hubby doesn't agree with my choice." i never would have had a conversation with her when i found out homeschooling was legal and my child would have stayed in school instead of being homeschooled within days of this conversation!

i loooooooooove communication! *looks at her 12,000+ postings and her online magazine and sees how obvious that probably is to others*

[Mrs. Papaya]

I think it's fabulous, fabulous if someone is proud to announce they are raw in order to educate others or at least start a conversation.

That's not for all of us, though, so I love the idea of "no labels." I've been (cooked) vegan for years and sometimes it is exhausting having to explain and defend my choices to the closed-minded, skeptical people who more likely wanted to poke fun at and/or try to find holes/inconsistencies in my eating philosophies rather than learn anything.

Since I've been doing this raw experiment I have probably told a grand total of like 6-8 people in my life. I'd say almost all of them think I am crazy. It's not that I care what they think, but I also don't want to deal with it. I just want to live my life, eat what I want, and be happy!

[Eva]

You know, this is a good point! Only thing is... try telling people at a barbeque with only rice, beans and meat on a stick. Sometimes the label, or at least the explanation, simply helps others to understand.

I often bring my own food to barbeques UNCUT and then chop up the salad or whatever there in the kitchen with the hostess. BUT in other situations, they want to have something prepared for me.

AND in still other situations, the way they do it here, for many anyways, is friends pay to split the cost of food, so they don't want to leave me out and buy whatever I request.

Without clarifying which foods are and are not on the list, I might get myself in a pickle. Or a sausage. ;)

BUUUUUUUT, I totally agree what you are saying in theory. :) I *do* just eat what I want. I see meat and think ::vomit:: or pasta and think ::booooring:: but a yummy papaya mango strawberry salad or whatever, NOW we're talking!
:eat