Getting There

Anyone who has tried to go raw knows it is not an overnight process for most of us. There are those out there who have done it and have maintained for long periods of time, but they tend to be the exception rather than the rule. The rest of us try to learn from them and struggle and fail repeatedly before we find our wings and really fly. Even then, there's no guarantee that we won't crash land into the couch with a potato chip bag in our hands tomorrow!

I have been thinking about the process of going raw and have come to some conclusions of my own that seem to have gotten me to Day 17. I want to write down what I have learned now in case I am the one who needs the flight plan tomorrow!

My journey began 22 years ago when I went raw for certain meals out of the day for about 2 weeks. I wasn't sure I could ever maintain a raw vegan diet, so I promptly went back to eating SAD. But the incredible feeling I got from eating just one or two raw meals a day stuck in my memory. I always knew it was the ultimate health plan. Two years ago I went raw for a week with the help of a soy protein powder. Health issues that had plagued me for decades disappeared in 6 days! Again, I was thrilled with the results but knew I couldn't maintain it. I had serious food addictions to coffee, bread, sugar, etc. Over time, I learned to kick the sugar almost completely. (I was and still am the only member of my blood relatives who is not a diabetic.) But the obsession with grain products and caffeine continued unchecked. I had been a vegan back in the early 70s, but never saw it as a permanent way of life for myself. I still was not ready to give up a lot of the foods I loved. My husband and I loved to go on dates to Ruth's Chris Steak House for seared ahi tuna appetizers and the porterhouse for two, all accompanied by a nice bottle of merlot. We had such fun times. How could I give all that up? Or the Saturday afternoons in Starbucks, he with a cafe mocha, I with my hazelnut latte. Our romantic life centered around bad food choices that were costing me big time. He is ten years younger than me, and my health was deteriorating at a much faster pace.

After a series of life events that left me in the poorest health I had ever experienced (see blog entry "Swamp Fever" 12/02/2008), I concluded that my health had to be my #1 priority. People in 12 step recovery programs will tell you that you need to hit rock bottom before you can start to recover. I was there. It was a matter of life or death...choose! For those of you thinking that you haven't hit rock bottom, hopefully this will help raise your bottom. Do nothing about your health and you will die. Sooner rather than later. It is a fact.

After reading "Skinny Bitch" in a weekend, I immediately gave up meat, eggs, most dairy products, caffeine, sugar and alcohol. I ate a vegan diet, but not raw. With the exception of cheese, I have maintained that for almost 6 months now. I began to eat more and more raw foods and began to feel considerably better. In November of last year I did a 30 day raw program that was far from perfect. After 2 weeks I knew that I wanted to go 100% raw for life. But again, I was not able to maintain it.

I also began to realize that my cheating with bread, nacho chips and cheese was really sabotaging my efforts to go raw. I moved grains and dairy products into the food addictions category and realized that there was no "just a bite" that wouldn't hurt me. Those foods were the final frontier for me. I knew that eating those foods was like being an alcoholic...once I started, it was an all out binge. I even experienced a type of hangover from them too. I would feel miserable all the next day after eating those foods.

So on January 31st of this year, after a disappointing experience with a raw group, I realized that this was something I had to do on my own. No one was going to help me take charge of my own health. I had to be responsible for myself. No one knew my body, my addictions, my lifestyle better than me. I was the best authority on putting together a plan for me that there was. So that is exactly what I did. I wrote out a plan that took into account my eating habits and my addictions. It is one that I was able to write out based on the knowledge I have learned about myself over the years. My plan has been my saviour now for 17 days. It is working. I am feeling incredibly energetic and happy. The benefits are continueing to mount and I am beginning to see this as a permanent way of living my life.

If one other person sees this and is motivated to go raw for even one more day, it is worth everything to me. If there is one person who realizes that they are the one to take charge of their health and writes out their own personal plan, my purpose is fulfilled. I wish someone would have told me 22 years ago that I would have to be the one to decide to stay raw. No book, no person, no doctor, no one could have done this for me.

Today I ate:
Breakfast: Green smoothie with a mango, an orange, 2 bananas, and kale
Lunch: Butternut Squash Soup and a few power balls.
Supper: Large salad with arugula, spinach, fennel, red bell pepper, red onion, olives, capers, basil, lemon juice, olive oil and Celtic sea salt.