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This will probably be one of those ‘food for thought’ posts… I don’t have anything to ask, necessarily, but my mind has been rambling on about this…
I have been having a lot of thoughts about fear and its relation to raw food in my world. I think a lot of it has to do with the recent onslaught of information about eating disorders, particularly orthorexia. I really questioned myself, “Why do I eat raw food? What is the deep, deep reason?”
I realized that in a lot of ways, eating raw food keeps some of my fears at bay. I started eating raw food after my brother died from cancer. I think this is because I was scared of having cancer (would I be able to cope with the same pain that my brother lived with?) and I thought that raw food was the best prevention. I also realized that I like the feeling of control that I have with raw food. When I’m eating raw, every bit of food entering my body is identifiable. I know that it is natural and healthy for me.
But in other ways, raw food is fear-provoking for me… I am scared of what other people will think of me for raising my daughter to eat raw food. I am scared of losing weight. I am scared of feeling isolated and lonely. I am scared that eating raw food maybe isn’t the best thing for my body.
I also sometimes use raw food as a distraction from things that I am fearful of. I can’t paint today (I’m an artist) because I have to dehydrate, soak, process, blend and plan meal after meal after meal.
When it comes down to it, though, I realized that although there is fear associated with eating raw food; ultimately my decision to be a vegan raw foodist isn’t because of fear. It’s just because life is too short. I want to eat raw food and be vegan because I love it, it makes me happy. It just feels right.
It’s so easy for me to get off center and let the fears take over, but I’m trying to stay balanced. Living differently from most people can be so difficult sometimes. I once heard a phrase that makes sense to me though, it’s “the people with the most fear are the bravest” I believe that it’s true.
Anyway, I’ll leave this with something I learned from Victoria Boutenko recently. I had the opportunity to hear her speak at a raw retreat in Oregon a few weeks ago, and although I don’t remember exactly what she said, she said something like this: “what is it about raw food that draws people in? why do people change so much when they eat raw food? It’s not just a physical change, it’s a spiritual change… what is it? ..... It’s fear. When you eat raw food the fear starts to disappear. You realize that you can depend on yourself. You aren’t afraid of losing your house anymore, because you realize that if that happened you could just walk to where it was warmer and then sleep outside. You aren’t afraid of not having money anymore, because you know that you will always have enough to eat; there will always be dandelions (I loved it when she said that); you aren’t afraid of not having health insurance, because you know that your health will always be good if you are eating raw food. When you eat raw food, the fear starts to disappear. And then you have time to be yourself.”
Ahhh, I’m not quite there yet. But, someday :)
Comments
Thank-you. You just helped me see that exact boundary to progress for someone i know.
Yay, glad to help out :)
Jellibi, izhpt,people like you two are people that I would like to join me on my myspace website, because I have a lot of friends and family that need to hear the positive aspects of eating raw foods. I am in no way trying to divert all the attenton to myself, or away from gone raw. On the contrary, I tell people about this site all the time…if they’ll listen. But gone raw is a site where people come who are SEEKING I am trying to LEAD people to greener pastures who might be curious but don’t know how to get started and myspace is a good tool that I use to do so. So, if you have a myspace account already, or would like to open one, I’d love to be myspace friends. Here’s m site:
http://www.myspace.com/from_ms_to_healing
Jellibi – thanks for posting this!
thanks for listening!
that’s such a great topic for thought. That all totally resonates with me.
jellibi What a wonderfully brave & articulate post.
I’m terribly sorry about the loss of your brother.
It is also admirable that you are raising your daughter on raw food.
You sound like a terrific role model.
Thank you for sharing your experience, thoughts, and insight. :)
Yes, Yes, Yes! Thank you for this. For me, raw food is about health on a cellular and spiritual level. My body IS my food. My spirit IS my thoughts. Beautiful, life-filled foods and thoughts are the way to physical and spiritual health.
Thanks for the affirmation!
jellibi—not sure how long you’ve been doing this, but i know what you mean! last year when i went raw i would stay up at night worrying about what i was going to make for dinner. it was all so new and challenging. now it seems like the easiest, most logical thing in the world, and i can’t imagine a day when i thought otherwise.
it’s also about challenge isn’t it, expanding our horizons… we push ourselves a little past our comfort zone and we start to feel very far from home, the familiar. but soon THAT becomes familiar. no limits. =)
Oh, thank you for your support, everyone :) I started eating raw food in June, so this is very new to me. I have been going up and down trying to figure things out the last couple of weeks—school has started back up for my daughter and being thrown back into the “real world” has us in a limbo. Green smoothies and salads were so easy in the summer, but now I’m trying to incorporate raw living into school lunches, hurried dinners after my daughter’s sports activities, etc.- not to mention judgment from parents of my daughter’s friends. It’s not as easy as when we were home together over the summer :) I’ll figure it out though…
Kendra, I would love to be myspace friends. I’ll send you a request.
Thank you again to everyone who replied. You are all wonderful and appreciated :)
Jellibi… very very very important post. Deep thinking, great articulation. I can sit here and listen and relate in ways. If you ever want to talk about/discuss the fear aspect – please feel free to email me: JohnnyRighini@FindDesireNotDemise.com
This post REALLY made me think about how I got into raw foods in search of balance and fear of refeeding my body again with hospital food and SAD food. I was just writing a response to a salt post and talked abouthow I overcame the fear of salt by using pink sea salt. Your post made me realize how many food fears I have worked on and just because I came into it with fear doesn’t mean I have come out of fear while living on a raw food diet… I have been able to step out of so much fear because of the raw food diet – the nourishment and nutrition, the spirituality and gratitude. This is a lot to think about, a lot to absorb so I will end this here and thank you so much for this post.
ANd right now I am so grateful for raw food and it’s amazing, miraculous healing properties and energy. I am going to have a nice dinner tonight, without fear invited to join me.