Living Food Journey

I am always interested to find out how and why people get involved in the living foods lifestyle. Some start eating raw to cure a scary disease; some find it to be the ideal way to finally shed unwanted pounds for good; others simply yearn for more profound levels of health and find the concept of living foods to shine with common sense. Today I thought I would share my raw story with you.

Partly due to my high metabolism, I grew up thinking I could get away with eating anything I wanted. I had pancakes with butter and sugar for breakfast, macaroni and cheese for lunch, some type of meat and white bread or pasta for dinner, and frequently a great deal of ice cream for dessert. I occasionally had fruit, but vegetables were mostly limited to the iceberg lettuce in a Caesar salad or the tomato sauce on my cheese pizza.

Fortunately, my body did not put up with this terrible treatment for long. By the time I was thirteen years old I was battling numerous health ailments, including hypoglycemia, PCOS, frequent migraines, severe joint pain, chronic fatigue, depression, hormonal imbalances, chronic digestion difficulties, etc. I was also getting bronchitis and strep throat several times a year. It pains me now to think about how many antibiotics I took during those years, contributing to full body Candida issues as well.

For years I was shuffled between doctors who all told me there was nothing they could do AND that what I ate would make no real difference. One doctor even told me that I should not exercise as he had a theory that I had a virus in my muscles. This meandering around in helplessness started to get old, so I decided to finally take my health into my own hands.

I read several books on alternative medicine and nutrition. Over time I started to make little changes to my diet, adding more healthy whole foods and avoiding the highly processed “food” I had eaten freely before. I noticed that my body had more energy and got sick less often. Even so, I still experienced most of the same health ailments as before, just to a lesser degree.

During the autumn of 2007, I found myself losing my appetite for the foods I had always enjoyed. I remember standing in a kitchen with a full pantry, famished, and unable to find anything I wanted to eat. This was strange for me, as I had always had a rather ravenous appetite. Animal products had also started to be unappetizing to me, both for taste and due to a gnawing concern for the ethical implications of eating animals.

After about a week of barely picking at food, I decided to wander aimlessly around the local health food market in hopes of finding something to fill my aching stomach. As I listlessly rolled my cart around, something incredible happened: the raw foods section jumped out at me as though it was glowing in Technicolor amidst an otherwise bleak and gray background. As though in a dream, I picked up a prepared raw sunburger meal, purchased it, walked out to my car and inhaled the entire thing (decorative lettuce leaf and all) immediately. I felt alive for the first time in awhile. A week later, when I finally realized my body was craving only raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, I felt a huge weight lift off of my shoulders. Without so much as a last cooked meal, I became immediately 100% raw overnight. It was only then that I did the research to find out why it is such a healthy way to live.

I would not necessarily suggest that anyone else make such a drastic and immediate change in diet. My main point is simply to listen to your body; it will tell you what it truly craves if you give it the space to speak.

Jonathan Safron Foer

I have enjoyed Jonathan Safron Foer as a novelist immensely. His most recent book, "Eating Animals", proves that his gift for writing extends into the world of nonfiction. I will provide more information soon as to the numerous health benefits of avoiding animal protein, but this book is an excellent source from which to learn about the ethical repercussions of consuming meat, dairy and eggs. It is extremely well-researched, entertaining, enlightening, and shocking - though truthfully the facts speak so strongly for themselves he could have simply listed them in bullet form and have made just as convincing an argument.

Here is a link to his interview on the Ellen show:

http://ellen.warnerbros.com/videos/?autoplay=true&mediaKey=fc107a39-47dc-469c-93de-d428a86a332a

Here is a link to his website:

http://www.eatinganimals.com/

Ellen DeGeneres

For those of you who think a vegan lifestyle is only for crazy ignorant hippies, check out how dedicated Ellen DeGeneres is to promoting cruelty-free living:

http://ellen.warnerbros.com/thoughts/

and

http://ellen.warnerbros.com/thoughts/why-go-vegan.php

Days 6 - 14 Yoga Challenge

I have come to the mat every day. I promised myself I would and so I have. Most of the past week, however, I have done little more than a few sun salutations.

Maybe my feeling hormonal and physically drained inspired this lull. Perhaps it was lack of motivation due to being unemployed and bored. Regardless, this week has been less than shining in the yoga category.

Tonight, at 10:30PM, I decided this aimless moping was enough. No more watching reruns and movies. No more overeating nut date cookies (well... maybe just not quite so many).

I lit a candle, dimmed the lights, and went to the mat. As I was still respecting my cycle and it was late at night, my practice did not contain any strenuous or inverted poses. It was beautiful. Once again I was floored by the strength in Mountain pose. Despite my less than herculean efforts in the past week, I am more centered and flexible than I was before. There is a core of peace and power growing in side me. I am looking forward to seeing where it goes.

Chocolate Banana Maca Smoothie

I felt like a pick-me-up today, so I threw cacao, bananas, hemp seeds, coconut butter, a couple dates and maca into my vitamix. My delightful drink is topped with chopped pecans and goji berries.

Bronwyn's Zucchini Mushroom Soup

Right before we filmed our second Vibrant Maine video this evening, we had a lovely raw vegan potluck at Bronwyn's apartment. The star of the meal was undeniably this beautiful and delicious Zucchini Mushroom Soup that Bronwyn made. Isn't it gorgeous? It was even yummier than it looked. :-)

Day 5 Yoga Challenge

Today I spent an hour doing the Sparrowe/Walden Sequence for Premenstrual Syndrome, for hopefully obvious reasons. I was a little skeptical going into it, as the poses all seem too easy. I feared boredom and feeling like I was wasting my time, but I could not have been more wrong. This may have been the most transformational practice I have done yet.

“Heart of the Rainforest” played again and I felt the urge to light a couple candles sprinkled with lavender essential oil. Three sun salutations began my practice and then I launched into the sequence. Most of the poses included some form of supportive bolster while lying relaxed on the mat. Though there were only ten poses, you are meant to remain in each for several minutes.

There was something incredibly moving about respecting PMS in this way. My entire menstruating life I have been told over and over again how annoying women are during this time – how we overreact, sulk, lose our tempers and are quick to cry. This time of our cycle is treated with less respect even than menstruation itself, which I suspect only serves to perpetuate the imbalances that promote all “annoying” PMS symptoms. Christiane Northrup writes in her book, “Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom” that the time just preceding menstruation is a time of reflective introspection. It is a time to respect our “shadow side”, confront difficult questions, and treat our bodies, minds and souls with loving care. How would our cycles be different if we truly respected the different states we enter as our hormone levels change?

For me, the week before my period can have both negative and positive effects on me – but it is always intense. The darkest moments are coupled with the most transcendent and loving revelations. There is nothing neutral about this time. How could I channel this intensity if I consistently respected it in all areas of my life? What if I gave myself the space and time to be still? What if I allowed the darker thoughts and emotions to emerge? I have spent so much time trying to immediately dismiss the negative energies alive in me that I don’t give them the chance to be heard. Perhaps the turmoil associated with this part of the menstrual cycle is there to inspire us to listen to what the darkness has to say, so we can let go of old patterns and go with open eyes into whatever direction is healthiest for us.