Harmonious's Blog
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RAW-iversary and Thanksgiving
- Posted on 11.29.08
This year was my first Thanksgiving as a full on raw vegan! As the only raw foodist in my family, I made whipped "potatoes", mushroom gravy, lemon-garlic bisque, and cranberry relish. All raw vegan recipes. The picture representing this blog is the raw pecan pie that I made for dessert. My dad LOVES pecan pie! It’s his favorite. The pie turned out so good that he didn’t even notice that it was raw. My sister’s boyfriend enjoys making baked goods and treats so he can be picky when it comes to food. He tasted my raw pecan pie and he said it was “damn delicious.” That’s right, DAMN DELICIOUS!
Last year was a much different experience when I took a few bites of turkey and I was ready for a nap. Right before Thanksgiving 2007, I started on the raw journey and noticing how emotional states relate to what I eat. As a former victim of the Standard American Diet (S.A.D.), guilt and negative self-talk would result after eating a meal. This of course transfers into the rest of my life. I was unhappy, constantly stressed out, low energy, overweight, low self esteem, my skin kept breaking out with acne, and I got sick every month.
"How you do anything is how you do EVERYTHING"
When I started to take action, I haven't even heard about raw foods or the lifestyle. All I wanted to do was incorporate more fruits and veggies in my diet. While searching for recipes I kept stumbling upon these raw food websites. What I was learning made sense and suddenly, everything clicked:
-Foods that are hard to digest and settle in the body create health problems. Maybe that’s why I was always sick and had low energy levels.
-Foods that are cooked or overprocessed by heat are dead, killing the enzymes and nutrients. Maybe that’s why I overate and never felt nourished or fulfilled after a meal.
-Treatment of animals in the farms before they are slaughtered for consumption experience high levels of stress and fear. Maybe that’s why I always felt guilty after I ate, stressed at work, and afraid to take chances and live my life.
It was a gradual transition for the first two months eating dominantly raw and slowly incorporating more and more. In January 2008 I anchored the new lifestyle challenging myself to be fully raw for 30 days. Since then, I’ve never looked back. I love having energy, feeling healthy, clear skin, and dropping excess weight (at least 40 lbs.). It’s a creative way of life because I get to play with my food figuring out how to use only fresh, organic, and uncooked ingredients to make a meal. My emotions tend to be more loving and positive, creating a sense of inner peace. Preparing my food with that state of mind transfers back to myself and others I feed. And if I don’t prepare my own food, I feel good knowing that my raw meal was created by another individual with loving intentions – that’s just the nature of the raw food lifestyle.
Quick shoutout to one of my favorite raw restaurants Café Gratitude in San Fransicsco! All of their menu items are titled as a positive affirmation. If you order “I Am Deserving”, they serve it to you confirming your affirmation “Harmonie, you are deserving!” Everyone would benefit from such a loving environment, even if you’re not a raw foodist.
Taking better care of my internal environment began to translate to my external environment cleansing myself of everything that no longer served me. This included possessions, relationships, and unfulfilling job. Like my new diet, I was determined to find a loving and positive world. I was determined to find change! Which brings me to today. So far my steps towards change has been successful. Now working for Causecast, I get to educate myself and others about the issues that are important to me as a raw foodist: environment, health, animal rights, the food industry, a non-toxic lifestyle, etc. As I continue to raise awareness I hope that my loving intentions and positive meditations on will bring itself into manifestation.
Raw Pecan Pie: http://tinyurl.com/6b7fjy
(I substituted the almonds for brazil nuts.)
Related causes: Health
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