So What is This Thing with Raw Food?

I started hearing about the concept of raw food quite a few years ago. I was just starting to realise how the food I’m putting into my body affects my health, and the idea of eating a lot of fresh vegetables and fruit, unheated – made sense to me. Surely that is the way we as a human race were originally intended to eat, long before we mastered the secrets of controlling fire (to cook food with) or perfected the art of creating good enough weapons (that allowed us to hunt). So I thought back then, that eating a lot of fresh veggies and fruit as part of my conventional standard diet is as far as it gets.

What made me switch to a diet that consists entirely of raw fruit and veggies?

 

Ever since I can remember, the biggest health issue I was battling with, was digestive related. Prolonged constipation followed by episodes of severe diarrhoea. Pain in my tummy that was so extreme that I had to bite into something while I was in the toilet… Should I mention horrible smelly gas? The kind of gas I couldn’t keep inside of me and was usually released at the most inconvenient times, when people are around… Recalling all this now almost makes me cringe with pain again! Doctors labelled all these symptoms under the “Irritable Bowel” syndrome: basically saying, there is no cure, it’s all stress related, there’s nothing we can do to help you, here’s some pills to take the pain away and learn to live with it, blah blah blah...

About 10 years ago, a friend suggested I should try omitting dairy products from my diet. So I did. The symptoms got a hell-of-a-lot better, however still far from perfect.

Gradually I gravitated towards a vegan based diet. To start with, I ate a lot of crappy-vegan food alongside some raw food. Then continued the shift into a more wholesome-healthy-unprocessed-vegan-gluten-free diet.

During my learning curve I came across with – mainly via internet nutrition-related forums – people that would eat only raw food and nothing else. Back then, this idea was far from appealing. I mean, I love my bread! And cakes, and ice creams, and soups, and stews, and pasta with dressings, and and and… it might only be an addiction to the food I was brought up with, however, I was not ready to give all that up. No way! Not to mention the social implications of a completely unconventional diet. How do you go out to dinner with friends? How do you join family gatherings that evolve around food? How do you refuse grandma’s special treats that she’s preparing especially for you???  It is, by far, an extreme way to relate to food and I would not have any of it!

Or would I?

About 6 months ago I started experiencing the worst digestion aches I have ever had. After meals, I got a feeling that my entire upper body is completely BLOCKED. There’s no other way for me to describe it. As if something needs to be released and there’s no way out. The sensation was so overwhelming that I could not sit or stand up straight - the only way I could face it is by laying down. It was especially disturbing at work, where I just had to take VERY long breaks after lunch time and lie down on the couch, colleagues are stopping by to see if I’m OK, and I am almost in tears of tremendous un-easiness throughout my body, whispering: “Yes… I just need to relax a little bit…”

So this prompt me to experiment with raw food.

By now I already heard quite a lot about raw food and the theory behind it. More than anything, I was fascinated by stories about people healing themselves with raw foods.

Healing of cancer, diabetes, chronic fatigue, thyroid problems, heart diseases, obesity, you name it! Fatal diseases, some irreversible conditions according to western conventional medicine practitioners, completely healed, never to return – when a raw diet is applied.

So it was time for me to try.

I decided to eat only raw food for just one week and see what happens.

The severe tummy pain was not experienced during that week. My digestion was also very good – quite regular and pretty effortless.

And the social aspect that I was fearing of didn’t bother me at all.

At the end of that week I did eat a small portion of cooked food, and I realised it didn’t feel too good yet: as if my tummy was politely confused with what I put in it.

And since it was so easy for me, I decided to try just one more week with my raw food experiment.

This second week of experimentation is lasting to this day.

Every now and then I do eat a bit of cooked food. At the beginning it was something like once a week. Lately it hasn’t happened that often. In fact, I can’t remember when was the last time I ate cooked food.

And what’s the verdict?

Physically, my tummy has never felt better.

My digestion is easy, flowing, moving. Beautiful!

In saying that, I did experience some of the discomfort in the tummy just recently however it was not nearly as bad as it was before I moved into raw food and it only happened once so I still don’t know what to relate this to.

Mentally, I do feel much clearer than I ever did. I am more focused and alert, more in tune with my own path and more dedicated towards all those things that are really important to me. As if eating this vibrant food makes me cut the less important crap off my life.

And at this stage I’m enjoying this food so much, I keep learning and improving and experimenting.

But don't call me a "Raw Foodist" please! I might feel like eating cooked food tomorrow, who knows?

So what’s your raw food story? What brought you in to it? How did it affect your life? What are the main difficulties? What are the benefits? Please do tell!

Here are a few inspirational people who are sharing their raw food journey:

Philip McCluskey

Audrey Walker

Sergei Boutenko

Comments

[oksy]

beautiful video. thanks for sharing x

[Rusty]

Hi there, I just wanted to say that i stopped in your cafe at Taste Organic last Sunday while I was riding my bike. I saw the sign that there was a raw food cafe so I came in. To be honest I don't really know exactly what raw food is all about and when my banana smoothie came out with a tinge of green I was a bit worried. Thanks for explaining that the smoothie contained Kale and how healthy it was. Thanks also for all the information and free tastings. I learnt a lot and the smoothie was tasty too. Thanks!