Aicandoit
02-12-2006, 07:04 PM
Dear List Members,
(I posted the following message under raw food discussion. But, after that, I realized that this place might be better given the content of my message. Please help read below. Thank you very much. Sorry for double-posting.)
Greetings to you all! Thank you so much for everyones contribution to make this list live and everyone's faith in raw-food to make our life healthier, simpler, and happier.
My name is Ai Zhang, originally, coming from Beijing, the capital city of China. I am writing this post for two things.
First, I want to introduce myself to the list and share my story of what attracted me to raw. Second, I am asking for your help about a research project on raw-food lifestyle and the positive changes that going-raw has brought into an individuals life, both physically and mentally.
I will try to make a long story short. Please bear with me if I am not. :)
Let me begin with what attracted me to raw food lifestyle. I have always been interested in health issues. Originally, I came from Beijing, the capital city of China. Besides in temples, China in general is a place where vegetarian is a very foreign practice. Therefore, not-eating-meat made me look abnormal. Anyway, I trusted body more than anything else. Most of the time after a big lunch or dinner, I just felt sick and lack of the energy to do what I wanted to do. As a result, despite of being treated as that-girl-never-eat, I am completely in love with fruits and vegetables. They made me feel good, and my skin, my body, and my energy level were the best testimony. However, at that time, I didnt know the reason why food had such an impact on my physicality and mentality. Being laughed at as odd, I felt kind of down.
However, things started to change after I came to the US. America is country infused with freedom and much less conformity than that of China. Still interested in health, I came across the living-foods.com and then was introduced many other web sites. Spending hours browsing at various web sites, I was amazed by the amount of information available. That moment transformed my life. Things that puzzled me for a long time started to make sense! I immediately purchased Alissa Cohens book Living on Live food. The book is very informative and a great resource for beginners. Although I am still not 100% raw, I love raw-food lifestyle. Right now, I am 70% raw. Apart from fresh vegetables, fruits, and nuts, the cooked food that I eat is boiled beans. Normally, I mix all sorts of beans (kidney bean, chickpea, read bean, etc.) and soak them overnight, and then boil them. I love the taste. One more thing (probably not good for me) that I eat and cannot give up eating is salted crackers (I love the crunchy texture of it) and sometimes animal crackers (probably not good for me either). Actually, I am thinking of purchasing a dehydrator to make my own flax cracker, but the cost is really high. After all, I am still a poor PhD student. Anyway, in general, I am much more in peace with food and everything in life. I have a better awareness of my senses and my body. This is great!
Now, let me go back to the project that I mentioned to you. As I said, originally, I came from Beijing/China. I came to the US in fall 2003 to pursue my higher education and to explore more into life. Graduated in May 2005, I got my MA degree in Communication from Syracuse University. Because I loved what I had been doing, I decided to go for a doctoral degree. Thats where I am right now. I am a 1st year Ph.D. student at
University of Marylands Communication Department majoring in Public Relations. Because of my interest in raw food and my faith in raw-food lifestyle, I want to help publicize the philosophy of this new way of living and continue the mission to make our life healthier, simpler, and happier. People need this philosophy, especially as life has become crazier, busier, and more stressful. My research paper aims to eventually get published and therefore should help enhance publics awareness of health issues and the positive changes that raw-food lifestyles make available.
The project that I am doing is to examine the relationship between food/health and many other facets in peoples life such as family, career, self-image etc.. To complete this project, I will be doing interviews and participant observation. This is where I need your help. I wonder if anyone you happy to live in Maryland area (around University of Maryland) and would love to talk to me in person to share your personal and (un)successful stories of raw-food-living. Please do contact me. And if any one
of you happen to be part of a raw-food type organization, I would love to volunteer and contribute my knowledge background in public relations to making your organization an even more successful place. The advisor guiding me doing this research is a renowned
Professor in the field of Public Relations. Her expertise in public relations and
relationship-management between an organization and its publics will be a great benefit to your organizations long-term wellbeing as well.
All participants information will be kept confidential and anonymous. In addition, this research project is not about these people per se, but the positive changes that raw-food lifestyle has brought into their life, and therefore generate insights into the relationship between food and life.
Finally, the link below is a brief biography of me posted at the Communication Departments web site at University of Maryland. My student ID is 108684805.
Please help refer to the following link if you have any doubt.
http://www.comm.umd.edu/people/students/azhang.htm
Thank you so much for your time. I will be looking forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
Ai Zhang
Communication Department
University of Maryland
(I posted the following message under raw food discussion. But, after that, I realized that this place might be better given the content of my message. Please help read below. Thank you very much. Sorry for double-posting.)
Greetings to you all! Thank you so much for everyones contribution to make this list live and everyone's faith in raw-food to make our life healthier, simpler, and happier.
My name is Ai Zhang, originally, coming from Beijing, the capital city of China. I am writing this post for two things.
First, I want to introduce myself to the list and share my story of what attracted me to raw. Second, I am asking for your help about a research project on raw-food lifestyle and the positive changes that going-raw has brought into an individuals life, both physically and mentally.
I will try to make a long story short. Please bear with me if I am not. :)
Let me begin with what attracted me to raw food lifestyle. I have always been interested in health issues. Originally, I came from Beijing, the capital city of China. Besides in temples, China in general is a place where vegetarian is a very foreign practice. Therefore, not-eating-meat made me look abnormal. Anyway, I trusted body more than anything else. Most of the time after a big lunch or dinner, I just felt sick and lack of the energy to do what I wanted to do. As a result, despite of being treated as that-girl-never-eat, I am completely in love with fruits and vegetables. They made me feel good, and my skin, my body, and my energy level were the best testimony. However, at that time, I didnt know the reason why food had such an impact on my physicality and mentality. Being laughed at as odd, I felt kind of down.
However, things started to change after I came to the US. America is country infused with freedom and much less conformity than that of China. Still interested in health, I came across the living-foods.com and then was introduced many other web sites. Spending hours browsing at various web sites, I was amazed by the amount of information available. That moment transformed my life. Things that puzzled me for a long time started to make sense! I immediately purchased Alissa Cohens book Living on Live food. The book is very informative and a great resource for beginners. Although I am still not 100% raw, I love raw-food lifestyle. Right now, I am 70% raw. Apart from fresh vegetables, fruits, and nuts, the cooked food that I eat is boiled beans. Normally, I mix all sorts of beans (kidney bean, chickpea, read bean, etc.) and soak them overnight, and then boil them. I love the taste. One more thing (probably not good for me) that I eat and cannot give up eating is salted crackers (I love the crunchy texture of it) and sometimes animal crackers (probably not good for me either). Actually, I am thinking of purchasing a dehydrator to make my own flax cracker, but the cost is really high. After all, I am still a poor PhD student. Anyway, in general, I am much more in peace with food and everything in life. I have a better awareness of my senses and my body. This is great!
Now, let me go back to the project that I mentioned to you. As I said, originally, I came from Beijing/China. I came to the US in fall 2003 to pursue my higher education and to explore more into life. Graduated in May 2005, I got my MA degree in Communication from Syracuse University. Because I loved what I had been doing, I decided to go for a doctoral degree. Thats where I am right now. I am a 1st year Ph.D. student at
University of Marylands Communication Department majoring in Public Relations. Because of my interest in raw food and my faith in raw-food lifestyle, I want to help publicize the philosophy of this new way of living and continue the mission to make our life healthier, simpler, and happier. People need this philosophy, especially as life has become crazier, busier, and more stressful. My research paper aims to eventually get published and therefore should help enhance publics awareness of health issues and the positive changes that raw-food lifestyles make available.
The project that I am doing is to examine the relationship between food/health and many other facets in peoples life such as family, career, self-image etc.. To complete this project, I will be doing interviews and participant observation. This is where I need your help. I wonder if anyone you happy to live in Maryland area (around University of Maryland) and would love to talk to me in person to share your personal and (un)successful stories of raw-food-living. Please do contact me. And if any one
of you happen to be part of a raw-food type organization, I would love to volunteer and contribute my knowledge background in public relations to making your organization an even more successful place. The advisor guiding me doing this research is a renowned
Professor in the field of Public Relations. Her expertise in public relations and
relationship-management between an organization and its publics will be a great benefit to your organizations long-term wellbeing as well.
All participants information will be kept confidential and anonymous. In addition, this research project is not about these people per se, but the positive changes that raw-food lifestyle has brought into their life, and therefore generate insights into the relationship between food and life.
Finally, the link below is a brief biography of me posted at the Communication Departments web site at University of Maryland. My student ID is 108684805.
Please help refer to the following link if you have any doubt.
http://www.comm.umd.edu/people/students/azhang.htm
Thank you so much for your time. I will be looking forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
Ai Zhang
Communication Department
University of Maryland