30 days_the beginning of Raw Food

Jan. 22, 2009

It's been almost 30 days now since I started my new lifestyle. I'm going to stop saying diet because it has such a bad cogitation. Diet is a four letter word. We're forever on one and then were off one. It's a vicious cycle.

A couple of weeks ago I felt like I wasn't loosing weight fast enough so I decided to up the ante. I got into eating "raw" living foods. I started eating less and less cooked foods and started making myself eat more raw food, salads, veggies, fruit, nuts and seeds. I haven't gone 100% raw yet, I still eat some cooked foods, but if I do, its all natural, organic, whole wheat choices.

I've been reading a lot on the Internet about the benefits of eating raw. Benefits like, weight loss, clearer skin, looking younger, improved memory, better concentration, more energy and much , much more. So I decided to do it myself. I mean what can be more natural and normal than eating close to the earth and close to the way God intended for us? God has given us a wonderful abundance of foods to choose from, why eat anything else? Here's a quote I got from the Raw Divas website,

"Why not trust the Creator of human life with food as well? Why not recognize the laws of nature instead of looking for a way to go against them? To process food is an arrogant notion - we seem to be saying that God’s menu needs improvement."

Sorry divas, I can't remember which one of you said this.

Most of the food in the grocery store that we consume is overly processed, filled with preservatives, dyes and carp that we shouldn't have in our bodies and that we were not intended to ever eat. We humans mess everything up. In our selfish need to make things faster and easier, we have stripped our foods of vital life giving properties! We desperately need the minerals, vitamins and enzymes that we get from raw uncooked food, it is vital for our health and life! Again from the Raw Divas website:

"Human beings cannot create life and yet we assume that we can manufacture better foodstuffs".

Every since I started eating more raw food I've felt really good, and I've had more energy. I look better (haha...can I say that about myself?), and people have started commenting that I've lost weight. I don't have a scale, but I can see and feel the difference in my clothes, and I know that I've lost weight. praise the Lord. Thank you Jesus for helping me to find this new way (or should I say, old way) of eating and living.


Okay, so I've discovered another trigger that makes me want to eat bad foods.

I got mad at my husband the other day, I mean really mad. I was frustrated and boy did I want to eat. I wanted to shove every fattening thing into my mouth that I could find, it was really hard not to, but I resisted. I popped some popcorn (okay, not a raw food), and I ate that instead (again, another victory).

I went to Souplantation the other day and the muffins looked awfully good. But again I didn't eat any...I took one bit of a piece of Indian grain bread, but I didn't want it after that and I pushed it aside and I didn't eat it.

I've been really hungry the last couple of days. I haven't cheated, it's not that. But it might have something to do with the fact that my period lasted 8 days and on the 9th day I was still having cramps. I definitely think my hormones affect my appetite and the way I feel.

I'm eating about 50% raw now. A couple of years ago I went on a "diet" and I ate almost all fruits and veggies. I lost weight and everyone said I looked so fresh and my hair was even shiny. (Note: that diet didn't stick, if it did I would have been writing about it by now!) I didn't realize back then that I was eating raw, but I was. Now I know why I looked and felt so much better.

My goal is for 75-100% raw. I need to start getting recipes so that I can start making more interesting dishes. If I get variety in my diet, I think I'll be more successful. I just bought Carol Alt's book, "Eating in the Raw". I read the entire thing. There aren't a lot of recipes in it, but it's a start. There are tons of recipes on the Internet though, so no worries there.