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How did you first hear about raw foods?

My first contact with the raw food concept was a book called Green For Life. How did you first hear about the raw vegan food diet?

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  • I heard about it about 2 years ago and it didn't really interest me as I was not even a vegan. However, I did start moving closer to reducing my meat intake with the craziness in the meat industry and learning more about what they do to the animals after a scare I had about 6 years ago. I was switching jobs and given my two weeks notice when we had a blood drive.

    I hadn't given blood in ages, so I was surprised by the thick questionare booklet they give you and was happy to have answered no to the crazy questions like, have you have been paid to have sex? Are you a black man from Africa? Have you ever slept with a black man from Africa? Have you ever shared a needle? Have you ever been overseas? -a yeah so I raised my hand and said that I had lived in Germany for 2 years. They told me that although the ban was going to be up at the end of the year, as of right now I couldn't give blood. WHAT? WHY? Because I might have been exposed to Mad Cow Disease. I had vaguely heard about that, but never looked into it until this happened. Feeding dead sick ground up cows to COWS? If you get MCD, the only thing they can do for you is pump you of with morphine until you overdose. WTF!

    After doing more research, they feed meat to chickens, eggs are contaminated, etc. So I trended to start buying organic meat at Whole Foods and local farmers, but that sheet is expensive, so I started to eat more veggies and vegan meals and moving to as much unprocessed foods. This summer I had a cancer reoccurance and gained a lot of weight and started looking in to diet as it pertains to health and this seemed like the next natural progression. I just want the best foods for my body.

    I am not completely raw, nor completely vegan right now. My goal for this month is to use up the meat, canned goods, etc. I have by having a cooked meal at lunch, but do the other meals raw. I plan to go completely mostly raw and completely vegan by the first of the year until I reach my goal weight. So far I am loving it and hope that I can continue on afterward. I am just getting into the hang of it and doing meal planning on fitday.com is helping me calm my fears that I might not get a balanced plan, but they have a marvelous nutrition calculator. The meal planning on there is also helping me understand what I need to buy so I don't let the veggies rot by over buying and what I need to modify to make sure that I am getting as close to the RDA as possible.

  • My mom found me a book at the library called raw energy and it had me taken at the start. I love the whole concept because I've always been interested in nutrition and I had already stopped eating red meat, cheese, and dairy purely for healthy benefits. My boyfriend, who ate at McDonald's a year and a half ago, has gone vegan, completely just by me leading by example and being excited about all the new raw recipes I could try.

  • When I was 15 or 16 I read an article in Self Magazine that outlined a raw vegan diet. They made it sound like it would lead to starvation and require hours upon hours of food prep. Needless to say I laughed it off and moved on. I didn't think about it at all for about 5 years! However, for some strange reason it popped back into my head one day while talking to a nutritionist about my disordered eating patterns. At the time of the conversation I told her it was a good example of extremism and Orthorexia, however...as soon as I got back home I spent hours upon hours upon hours upon hours doing research. I'm not sure if I got up from my seat much at all during the next week, because I was feverishly devouring any and all info I could find on raw veganism.

    I always wonder how that little article about raw foods managed to pop back into my head after so long and such little consideration...but it came back to me at the right time, when I was finally ready for it.

  • Haha! Lovely experiences you all got! Felt great listening to you all. Thanks for replying :)

  • RawEverythingRawEverything Raw Newbie

    Years ago on this site:

    http://www.rawtimes.com/anopsy1.html

    2 years ago it all fell in place and I started it, Now I still eat raw only no greens and very little fruit, they don't do any good for me. But it changed my life and I know much better how my body reacts to different foods. I wish I discovered it 20 years ago.

  • superfood2superfood2 Raw Newbie

    I don't remember. I'd like to say while walking through the produce section, but probably not. :p

  • powerliferpowerlifer Raw Newbie

    Ohh it was ages back in an old health book cant remember the name something like prescription to nutritional healing.

    It had a part about juicing so that led me onto raw food.

     

  • swayzeswayze Raw Newbie

    It was back in 2007 and I was fed up with my cooked vegan diet that wasn't giving me the results I wanted. Somehow while surfing the web I came across raw foods. I tried it and it didn't work for me.

    Then I discovered high fruit, low fat raw on a vegan bodybuilding forum and so here I am. :)

    Swayze

     

  • FrannieGreenFrannieGreen Raw Newbie

    Hello everyone,

    I was doing alot of research regarding menopause, bloating, gaining weight, hormones and such.....I ran across blogs and misc. information about raw vegan style of eating.

    After much reading I tried raw for 1 week, then a 2nd week, which then turned into 4 months (this was about 1 1/2 yrs ago or so).

    Before I knew it....I had lost 20 lbs (a big surprise! and bonus). I felt light. Bloating gone.

    Clear head, softer skin.

    At about 8 months raw, I reintroduced a few items back into my eggs, salmon, yogurt and such. I suppose I am about 90% raw.

    thats about it in a nut shell.

    Frannie

    GulayG1rl
  • Thanks all :)

    Congrats to you, Frannie! :)

  • GulayG1rlGulayG1rl Raw Jr. Superstar

    I first heard about the raw diet in 2005 in the Philippines from a gal who was a fellow volunteer at a books for children in poor communities. Her family members were getting sickly and they stopped this cycle when they started eating raw. She gave me a taste of some of her raw desserts. I thought they were yummy, but expensive.

    I was already vegetarian at the time, but I didn't give it a second thought. I also considered myself very healthy at the time and I thought my diet didn't need any more tweaking.

    Like swayze, I never experienced the promised health benefits of what the cooked vegan diet had to offer. I knew something was missing, but I didn't know what. I attended a raw food seminar in 2008 and decided to go full on raw because I wanted the health benefits. But I had no support - the people who taught the course were cooked vegetarians themselves who only turned to raw foods for 2-weeks-at-a-time detoxing. I settled for being cooked vegan and took supplements. In 2010, I found I had a few health problems that needed to be addressed immediately. I already had food allergies at the time. I prayerfully considered going raw, and fortunately, got support I needed from raw family members. My coworkers are nice about it too.

    I've been raw for about a month now and I am enjoying it! I feel more energetic and my skin is improving. I am not liking getting too thin though, but I was told it was temporary, since my body is getting rid of its toxins.

  • M42M42

    Hello everyone,

    Interesting, possibly this topic can tell us something about how we can inspire others to try this diet?

    I first read about it while reading Steve Pavlina's blog ( http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/12/raw-foods/ ). I think Steve is a very inspiring (raw vegan) person and I certainly recommend his blog, especially earlier work, it remains and will remain relevant.

    I read the China Study and Green for Life and some information online to get started with the diet, and let's of course not forget this forum!

    I wasn't experiencing serious health problems (only eczema, which is more like 'very annoying' than 'serious' for me) and my weight was acceptable. I mostly wanted to have more energy than I did on the 'standard' Dutch diet.

    Not very inspiring, hope it helps anyway,

    Mark

  • Lovely!

    I heard about this website thegardendiet. com and very satisfied with it! I'm planning to adopt this soon. Whats your take on this folks?

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