What led you to being Raw Vegan?

[karenisraw]

I was just wondering how other people were led or arrived at being a raw vegan? My arrival has been a journey for sure and I was wondering what other people's stories are.

[CAdreamer]

My very healthy husband's 2nd bout with cancer...go figure. It seems he's done everything right, but it got him twice, and they aren't remote related. Since this one is medically deemed 'incurable', we decided to go raw.

[rawpriestess]

I believe that going raw was a natural progression of my spirituality.

I have been a psychic and ordained minister for years, and I meditate, do yoga, organic garden, am a nudist, nature lover etc.

I love the wilderness, don't care for cities or cars or modern conveniences, have always made my own mayo, ketchup, food etc, no pacakages, grew my own spices.

So, 10 years ago, during a meditation, I had a vision, and I went immediately vegetarian, never wanted meat again, then didn't eat eggs for 7 years, and struggled with giving up dairy, it has been my biggest challenge.

then 5 years ago, I was at a vegetarian cooking class, and someone mentioned they were taking a raw cooking class, so I went, and it was Victoria Boutenko and family, I signed up for her 5 week class, and I've been about 70% raw ever since, 100% off and on at different times in my life.

I feel it was a natural progression, through stages for me.

That is one reason, I do not push it on anyone, it must be a natural progression, or it loses it's true meaning.

My thoughts only, I can't prove any of this. LOL

[karenisraw]

It was pretty much spiritual for me too. I have visions and and such too.

The "big guy" led me here pretty much.

[DrPr]

I've been concerned about my health, and past attempts at weight loss, which all involved variations of SAD (Standard American Diet) had all worked at helping me to lose the weight but not in keeping it off. I thought I'd try a vegetarian diet and found that this has prevented me from overeating- but the raw cheeses I ate did provoke them. So I've been eating a vegan diet and finding that it works well. I don't know that I'll stay vegan, but I like what I'm experiencing thus far.

[Kitty]

I started trying out the ph miracle way of eating. Then after reading and discovering that he wanted me to eat mostly raw food I did a search online for recipes. Came across storm's sight and decided this was more for me!

[dreamrawalwz]

I had many food allergies, depression, bi-polar, and an eating disorder I wanted to recover from and I must say that raw is doing the trick.

[Angelina]

I would say I've always ate healthy and as unprocessed as possible; cutting out red meat entirely (at about the age of 5 when I refused it!!), in the past few years I cut way back chicken and relied on fish. Everyone always thought I had such an extreme diet ~ which to them it seemed. Guess I arrived at Raw to completely gain control over food allergies and now apparently candida.

[noodle]

it was an accident..I was actually doing research on depo provera, bc I had taken it and felt really depressed and tired and I got on this site called dyingtogetwell.com and this woman who had taken dp for years had gotten really sick and had cured herself using raw food

[TA]

I began researching raw food a few years ago to help with chronic nerve pain resulting from a nasty spinal injury. I have arthritis and neuropathy (and possibly fibromyalgia)...and all have improved immensely on raw foods to the point that I now enjoy pain free days. I am elated!

This is my second attempt at living 100% raw and so far I've been successful at staying 100%. DH, my biggest supporter, joined me in living foods after seeing the improvement and the gentle weight loss. Besides, he really likes the food!

Tricia

[MelissaB]

I got tired of getting sick after eating meat or dairy products. Didn't matter what it was I was always sick. I tried going vegan with a lot of soy products. I didn't like eating so much processed food and cooked vegetables were totally undesirable to me. So I started eating more whole fresh fruits and veggies. I found out about raw when looking at vegetarian cook books at Barnes and Nobel. I've been atleast 75% raw for about 1 1/2 years.

[rawfigure]

I was introduced to the Raw/Living Food by my twin sister. She was trying to improve her vitality/energy through a Detox Diet and she stumbled onto The Raw Food Detox Diet. She talked about it quite abit and continued on it longterm and I decided to give it a try 4 months ago.

I had been competing in Figure/Bodybuilding for 6 years. During that time I went through the extremes of dieting and weight fluctuation of 10-15 pds during a competition phase, going from normal to times of very low bodyfat, then regaining weight between shows. This totally screwed up my metabolism. Also the extreme high protein diet messed my digestive system to the point I could no longer digest my protein meals, thus sluggish digestion and low cal dieting to keep from gaining weight !!

It is the BEST thing I ever did in regards to my DIET. I feel like a new Women.

[Sillybloss]

Trying to recover from many chronic ailments, among them: candida, depression, chronic fatigue, eczema, chronic sinusitis, zero immune system. All the above were causing me to lead a really crummy life. Who wouldn't want to change that!

[kayla]

Sometime a bit after Christmas, I was tired of just plain feeling fat and was looking for an alternative eating program, googled fruitarianism because I am just crazy about fruits...but, I just don't truly feel right about cutting veggies out altogether even though I'm not a huge fan anyways. Somewhere along the way I stumbled upon raw food diet and had never really heard much about it before other than on celebrity tv shows which made it sound just plain weird. Makes a lot of sense to me and helps me control cravings, which makes me feel good about myself.

I haven't been doing it for long, but I am not one to gradually do things in life, so I jumped in head first, straight to 100%. One day I was eating pizza and cheesecake and the next I was eating strawberry smoothies, spinach, and clementines.

[Ariannah]

My journey culminated from an eclectic mixture of experiences.

A few years ago, I had been a long-time fairly unhealthy cooked vegan (with some stints of vegetarian cooking if I was a guest at a friends house) for over 15 or so years. I was also recovering from various long term eating-disordered behaviour (although the two stereotypically have something to do with each other, it was not the case for me, that's just the way our family ate growing up).

I then, a few years ago, had an epiphany that I should stop eating gluten and dairy altogether, but especially gluten. So for a few years that led me to a low-carbish type of diet which included meat for the first time in years. I ate lots of meat and salad, meat and salad. I found myself enjoying the salads far more than the meat, which I was trying to ignore how disgusting it (the meat) was and just eat it anyway.

Around this time I was researching changes for my autistic daughter, and an acquaintance said "Oh, I just use enzymes for my daughter and her autistic behaviours are almost gone", so I did more searches about that. I also had started my daughter on digestive enzymes with good results. Somewhere along the way, I had stumbled onto a few raw pages about how healthy it was to eat raw and I just suddenly in the summer of '05 I, leapt into it before I had heard of any recipes or "how-to's" or anything. The only words going through my head were "raw vegan" which translated in my mind to "the produce section". My style was just to take home produce and eat it, "as-is" and I found myself really enjoying it. I found myself liberated from the restrictions of meat and salad. I could eat anything I wanted! I ate apples, papayas, slices of fresh pineapple, Medjool dates, oranges, (notice all the fruit? haha) celery, avocadoes, cucumbers, if it was in the produce section it was mine!

Since coming to the forums here, I've enjoyed experimenting with recipes, but most of the time I go with simple, less fuss. I do go through periods where I'll eat date nut torte or angel hair zucchini, but most of the time I just am in take home and eat mode.

Raw fits me best, and I can't see myself eating cooked food again. If I do happen to do it, I won't be surprised if I feel the way I used to feel, lethargic, gassy, and just lazy.

[Salsify]

I saw something on TV, somebody making a green smoothie from mango and kale. It was middle of November on a Friday, but I am not sure if it was Alissa. I thought I'd try to be raw for a weekend. That was over 2 month ago.

I was really motivated to do it because I'm getting so sick and tired of all the additives, preservatives, pestizides, herbizides, radiation, gen-manipulation, empty calories and what not in SAD foods. The more I read about all that, the more it disgusts me. I mean, it REALLY disgusts me. I was vegetarian before that for about a year and about 15 lbs overweight.

I was 100% raw for most of the time, but lately I am about 95%, because now I struggle and give in to cravings sometimes. I feel like a drug addict needing the fix and feel guilty afterwards. Maybe I am in the danger zone because I already reached my goal of looking good in a bikini again. I guess now I really need to stress the health factor in my mind and make sure not to take the smooth skin, bright eyes, sharp mind and high energy for granted.

[choleblack]

I tried raw twice before going on my current raw journey. I originally learned about raw while looking for uncooked, allergy free cookies to make for a La Leche League cookie exchange. I was always the "weird" food one in the group anyway. I remember feeling really good for the short periods I was able to stick with raw. I also remember the weight loss & the fact that my ever persent "gut" would deflate while eating raw.

I started this journey with hopes of fixing my hypothyroid problem that my Dr. doesn't think is abnormal "enough" to warrent medication. Yet I was still feeling like crap & very symptomatic. I still don't feel 100% even eating raw but I'm still working hard to stick with raw with the hope that it does something eventually. At least I'm not gaining weight the way I was on a very low cal. sad diet. Now if I could just get some of that energy everyone talks about.

Chole

[lavendarJ]

I cannot say that I am truly raw yet or actively living the life. Right now, I am doing a master cleanse (day 20, weight loss now at 16 pounds)...The progression for me gradually....My mother and father have worked hard all of their lives and we were not financially blessed but blessed in so many other ways...anyway...they brought us up with the mentality of eating all your food and appreciating everything...We grew up on the soul food, the meat and potatoes food, those heavy fried foods and bad combinations ....
it started with me losing an interest in pork...I still ate all the other crap but I just didn't want pork anymore, then I stopped eating beef, I always had terrible indigestion with it and once I stopped eating it, the indigestion stopped...Slowly, I just started eliminating certain foods little by little even while eating all the other crap (cakes, chips)...then I got tired of gaining and losing weight and decided last year, I really need to hold myself accountable and stop swaying back and forth and becoming comforable with phrases like the "battle of the bulge" when it should not be a battle in the first place, I found out that it is very comfortable unfortunately to get used to being in a battle but at some point, we have got to win the battle and move on and not just spend a whole lifetime stuck in the battle.....
I became interested in the raw way of living because of Queen Afua's Heal Thyself for health and longevity book that I first came across and was inspired by back in 1999 ( www.queenafua.com ) The book was so powerfully healing for me regarding my issues with chronic constipation and fibroids and it is a guide that helps to explain the natural progression to what everyone calls raw living. Earlier this month, I was playing around on the computer and I found this website and I was like "wow" this is the site I think I've been looking for. It was a great experience. I am hoping to fully embrace raw living soon after my cleansing process. I have never lived 100% raw purposely. I guess another thing I noticed once I started eating to live (cut out the processed foods, starches, etc.) was that a great percentage of my eating style (atleast 75%-90% was raw). At one point, I was a juicing fool, but I think I kinda burned out on juicing somewhat. Now, my main goal is to welcome and embrace eating to live as a continuum and not just something that I do for a period of time. It is very hard on my conscious when I choose to back slide and eat something I have full knowledge of as being unhealthy and unnatural for me... sorry for talking so much guys, I just love this site so much and think it will be a inspirational and supportive resource for me (the family thinks I am doing something weird...my poor mom, she probably wonders is my daughter ever going to get married, she thinks my being different is probably the hold up...but that's a story for another day)

[karenisraw]

Lavender,

My story is so much like yours. I too was tired of the fight. I too eliminated this, then that untill I eventually became pretty much a vegeterian, I had some spiritual things happen as well, . I too feel like the "weird" one but the funny thing is that even though family and friends are not raw, now they are eating whole wheat pasta and more veggies, drinking smoothies and buyng more healthy, just from being around me and talking to me.

I am lucky because my doctor is trying to build a Eco Raw Living community in Minneapolis that people can go to to get together and socialize together. He said "You have a home here to come to if you like" regarding the restraunt, clinic and lectures.

Lavender,

you also have all of us here too.

sincerely,

Karen Ramsell
:p :p :p :p :p

[MoniDew]

My story is backwards from most.

I was in the process of becoming a certified nutritionist, when one of my requirements was to do a couple of practicums. During a practicum, you take a person under your wing for a couple of months, take their history, etc. and devise a diet for them to treat their condition. Then you monitor their progress, adjust your protocol etc. and document this entire process. You write about all of the research you did, how you devised the plan, how the person responded, a major project, about 100 pages.

One of the people I chose to do was suffering from metastatic cancer(s.) I immediately began to search for a diet plan that could reverse cancer and stumbled upon raw.

The wealth of research that was available FLOORED me! I had no idea that much information was available, and that their was a true dietary CURE for cancer!! I was ecstatic! Like I had just won the lottery! I documented the research thoroughly and sent it of to my school. The staff passed my paper around, (normally one person grades the paper,) and I received a 100%, the first time in the school's history. Usually you are given many points which must be defended or clarified - any of you who have done master's or doctoral thesis know this. But I had been so thorough that they required nothing more of me.

Needless to say, I've been a nutritionist, raw foodist, living foods specialist, and cancer therapist ever since!

HAHA!

[RawMagnolia]

This is a great question... and I've loved reading everyone's posts!

For me... I read "fit for life" early on in my highschool years, and it really clicked with me. I tried it and it didn't last long. I keep coming back to it... hopefully it sticks this time.

But I developed a low thyroid function in my late highschool years, and have been "tired ever since". I'm 31 now... so it's almost half of my lifetime... and I just want to feel alive and awake and healthy, and like I wanna move my body. So it's also for health reasons.

Sandra

[lily]

I've been vegetarian most of my life and almost completely vegan for a few years, eating high raw in any case. But then I stumbled on Shazza's site on the internet when i was researching low-carb slimming, found out about the raw way of life, and wanted to try it for myself.

Shazza's (and other people's) inspired me -- and though I've been a bit 'on' and 'off' ever since, every time I go off I come back again within a day. As Alissa says, the raw diet really won't let you go once you've tried it. My aim is to be 100 per cent raw, and I am a lot of the time, but not yet absolutely consistently.

lily

[lodestar]

Three years ago this May is the anniversary of my mother's death. She looked the picture of health, but her diet was SAD. She was 67 and it only took five months for esophagus cancer to put her down. I'll never forget going to the hospital and seeing how thirsty she was (after the very unsuccessful surgery) her little tongue dried up like a ball of leather because she was not allowed to drink anything...only swab her mouth down with water every few hours. I'd help her walk up and down the hospital corridors and she'd stop in front of the Coke machine...longing for what she referred to as "mother's milk." She was a kick! Hey, it was an agonizing death although she was a trooper and never complained. So that is a huge motivation for me to make a change. I've made several attempts, but this time I can just feel it...I've been done with cooked food for 27 days and there's no going back for me. It's easy and I'm happy.
So, it's not death that I'm afraid of...but I want to go out knowing that I have honored this amazing stewardship of my body. I don't deserve anything less than the peace that comes with feeding body and soul properly. That dear friends is my new joy.

[druid]

I believe that going raw was a natural progression of my spirituality.

I have been a psychic and ordained minister for years, and I meditate, do yoga, organic garden, am a nudist, nature lover etc.

I love the wilderness, don't care for cities or cars or modern conveniences, have always made my own mayo, ketchup, food etc, no pacakages, grew my own spices.

So, 10 years ago, during a meditation, I had a vision, and I went immediately vegetarian, never wanted meat again, then didn't eat eggs for 7 years, and struggled with giving up dairy, it has been my biggest challenge.

then 5 years ago, I was at a vegetarian cooking class, and someone mentioned they were taking a raw cooking class, so I went, and it was Victoria Boutenko and family, I signed up for her 5 week class, and I've been about 70% raw ever since, 100% off and on at different times in my life.

I feel it was a natural progression, through stages for me.

That is one reason, I do not push it on anyone, it must be a natural progression, or it loses it's true meaning.

My thoughts only, I can't prove any of this. LOL


a modern convience is a computer :d also printing. How would the book or knowledge of raw be spread? :D