Post Raw Beginnings

What happens when the newness of Raw wears off? This letter was originally posted by me on RawFoodTalk, on 1/25/2005

I have noticed that the longer I have been raw (and it is going on 2 years,) the less I obsess. It gets bad if I try and do 100% 100% of the time, but only because socially somtimes that is difficult. Sometimes I can’t find really raw nuts or raw veggies in restaurants. But that doesn’t mean I drop the diet and go back to eating pizza or something. I can’t, or my health issues come back to haunt me. It is my life I am feeding, so I do my best.

As many have said, my success has come thru eating simply/ In the beginning I did a lot of recipes, and here and there I will be inspired again to do so. Like right now, I am working on my husband, to help him eat more raw. So I am doing pizza in the dehydrator and stuff. Like I have written, mOstly I just grab produce and eat it, making simple salads and smoothies and such. When I do recipes, that is usually when my mind is on it, say like now when I am on a challenge.

It also gets obsessive if I try and do low fat raw, or any other highly picky way of eating raw. Come to think of it, the best times are when I don’t think about it, I just “DO” it. (This is reiterating somethng Alissa Cohen has often emphasized.)

I think that what a lot of newbies have said, that often new things can be all-consuming is right. It is simply the way my mind works. On the other hand, I have been involved in natural health since 1997, and only now have I REALLY found a job which allows me to apply my interest in earnest. And, sometimes my thoughts are filled with things to do to keep my body clean and healthy, and it never gets boring or old. I love posting online, or working with clients, especially new ones who are just learning, because newbies, are just that, they are new and excited, and have that zeal, and it is contagious! I think that it is all about finding your niche. And I think raw is that way too.

Like Alissa Cohen says in her book, Living on Live Food, I agree that every body has a different constitution, so your version of raw might not work for me, and mine might not work for you. I say it is all about listening to the cues your body gives you…As long as all your systems are firing right, that works. When we have been eaing badly for years, and have exteme addictions, that won’t work of course…that is why we need a time of transition & adaptation. And if that comes across as obsessive, let the man who lives in a glass house throw the first stone…lol I think i got that proverb a bit mixed up, but you know what I mean!

I think the obsession wears off, and life goes on. And you keep eating raw. It only becomes a “disorder” if your obsession becomes unhealthy…Id say read on the beyondveg website if one suspects their mindset has become neurotic or something. That website goes thru the pitfalls of fringe diets. Personally, I have kept raw for nearly 2 years, [and high raw for 6] and I think that it is due to my not obsessing about perfection of all raw, no fruit, all fruit, no oils, high fat, all juices no juices, etc. But you can’t apply this to someone who only stopped eating cholesterol laden pizza and cheeseburgers only a few weeks ago. ( That is paraphrasing Alissa Cohen.) You can’t assume things when you are only a little ways in. On the other hand, I am only a few years in, so maybe I too am a newbie, and so take my thoughts with that in mind too….

I keep waiting for the day when it will all just fall together, and I am sure that day will come. But even still, it is nice having a support system. SO that is why journaling &  being part of an online forum is nice.

Cassy.