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Starting Fresh

Hello lovely raw foodies,

Tomorrow is my fresh start to a 100 % raw diet. I have been vegan for a long time, but i have many toxins that i know need to be set free from inside of me. Since nobody in my world thinks that an all raw lifestyle is healthy i would love support and comments from everyone on this site. I live in a dorm room so i do not have any special appliances...this means i get to eat food in its most natural state :). If anyone has any tips that will help me get through my first week/month i would very much appreciate it. I will keep you guys updated, this will help me feel like i have some friends to talk to since my other friends would laugh in my face if i told them i only ate raw.

Thank you

love and peace

Anna

Comments

  • pixxpixx Raw Master

    Congratulations, and best of luck, on your fresh start!! :~)

    My tip would be: Make sure you keep your calories up to whatever level you need to maintain a healthy body. Maintaining enough calories will help ward off cravings. If you don't already know about these two sites, you'll likely find them helpful:

    For figuring out how many calories you need to maintain your body at complete rest (no activity):

    http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

    And to see if your typical day's intake is meeting those needs (you only need to do this for a couple days to get the idea if you are meeting it well, and the free online version is adequate.):

    http://www.fitday.com

    :~)

  • Thank you Pixx, those are both wonderful sites and that is interesting about the calorie/craving thing. I never put the two together but it makes sense.

  • Anna-

    I am in the same boat, girl! I'm not in the dorms again this year but I'm in an apartment with 6 roommates so it kind of feels like the same thing. I am as well trying to stay as raw as I can without telling people (they found it weird enough when I transitioned to vegan)...I just don't feel like explaining it to them plus my family would absolutely freak and my mom would probably force-feed me cottage cheese and yogurt. So just so you know I'm here with you! We can do this!!!

    As far as tips...I'm just starting out myself but I'm finding that it's important to not see this as depriving you body of certain foods but releasing it from the chains of your addiction to cooked food. Also there's a GREAT website that also has support and programs to follow if that helps you at all: http://www.therawdivas.com/

    Good luck :)

  • hee hee...if you think six roommates are a lot, try 30+. At first people were always asking about my food and giving me weird looks, but they're pretty used to it by now :) . Good luck! I hope your dorm cafeterias have good salad bars!

  • iluvlife- im glad we are in this together, we should keep in touch so that we can talk to each other about our raw adventure and stay motivated..it is so funny whenever i eat saurkraut my roomategets so mad. She thinks it smells like shit and leaves whenever i eat it. Where do you go to school?

  • I got to UW Madison but yeah I totally understand about the funny smells. My roommates just automatically associate me with weird food right now and shake their heads in wonder whenever I say "No thanks" to some of the homemade cookies their moms send them in care packages. Haha whatever I guess it's better to be known as the "weird healthy one" rather than the "eats at Mcdonalds everyday one." *shudder*

    Where do you go?

    Parsley- holy cow! 30 roommates??? That's insane, do you live in a Greek house or something? That's awesome though that you are able to keep up raw in that situation! It's definitely inspiration for the rest of us. The living-with-other-people phase of life (college and immediately afterward) I feel like is one of the most difficult times to start going raw so it's nice to know other people are able to do it as well :)

  • oh nice, i go to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. I know what you mean about the cookies though! my friends always get care packages with homebaked goods and im over in the corner eating a delicious banana with raw almond butter saying how good it tastes and they say yeah sureee whatever makes you feel better about not eating cookies...i just laugh.

  • zinfandelzinfandel Raw Newbie

    After you have been raw for a while and you start to reap the amazing benefits, you can spin it as a cool new diet. Because that's what it is! It really is great that your doing this and part of a community, hopefully it will rub off on some of them.

    My unsolicited advice is to try to keep the fats lower and keep the fruit up. I always feel the most health benefits when I am eating high fruit. :) Also, checking out 'food combining' on google is useful.

  • This is such a great post! I'm in the same situation...................i'm a poor college student lol and i'm transitioning to be raw but its really weird with roommates and friends; right now i live pretty much by myself so its easy to not bring attention to my eating habits but in a few months i'm moving into a house with 5 other girls and i just don't know how i'm going to handle that situation, right now i just say im vegan...

    anabanana or iluvlife: you should def email me if you want to talk michelle.shekari@temple.edu

    i know it would be great to have someone to talk to through all of this!

  • SuasoriaSuasoria Raw Newbie

    Snacks, snacks, snacks! When people around you are chowing down micro popcorn and cheetos, it's good to have trail mixes, sunflower seeds, grapes, raisins, etc. around.

  • That is a good idea...I have been sprouting lentils and buckwheat groats in my dorm room. I put some raw agave and cinnamon with raw lentils in a baggy and carry them around...a very satisfying snack.

  • one of my favorite things that doesn't require a blender or anything is a mashed up banana with a chopped apple, some rasins, cinnamon, and if you want honey or agave and sometimes i'll put some dried coconut on it as well. Then stir it all up its so good!

  • yummmm sounds like my breakfast tomorrow morning. Thank you. There are so many wonderful things that can be done without a blender, food processor, dehydrater, etc. People forget how wonderful food can be in its most simple states.

  • iluvlife - No I don't live in a Greek house! I live in a student cooperative. The more people we can cram in our house, the cheaper the rent and the more food we can buy! It's been pretty nice since we have a lot of expensive equipment I couldn't buy for myself, such as a Vita-Mix blender. I am moving out soon because of some issues that have arisen (with 30 people you can't expect them not to), but I sure will miss the Vita-Mix!

    My very favorite is chia banana pudding. The recipe is here:

    http://rawtoddleralex.blogspot.com/2008_11_01_archive.html.

    This is probably my favorite raw blog so far. The recipe is really simple; just mash up a banana with a fork, add sesame seeds, vanilla, cinnamon, chia seeds, and water! The chia absorb the water and make it really pudding-like. It's totally easy to make in my room when I don't feel like facing my house mates with my non-sustainable, non-local (although fair trade and organic!) bananas.

  • Well I have been 100% raw for 6 days now. It was not as hard as i anticipated it to be. The only thing is that Im afraid my roomate will think i have an eating disorder or something and if i tell her i am on a raw diet she will tell me it is unhealthy and then laugh in my face. I believe what im doing is right for me at this time in my life, but i dont know how to explain this to her. Anyways, i feel really great...no wieght loss yet, but hopefully soon.

  • SuasoriaSuasoria Raw Newbie

    As I keep mentioning to other people who want to lose weight, worry first about increasing the amount of healthy foods you're eating. Pack in the fruits and greens and veggies and drink lots of water. Then when you feel comfortable that feeding yourself is not a struggle, you can think about weight loss. As long as people like your roommate see you eating, they probably won't leap to the conclusion of eating disorder.

    It took me WAY too long to learn that I don't have to speak to people about my diet, answer intrusive questions about where I get my protein, etc. I don't even have to attempt to educate them or refer them to a book. I don

  • Thank you for your advice, it is wonderful.

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