Raw Food, My Story

I have been riding the roller coaster of eating disorders since I was 13. By then I was bigger than any of my sisters or friends. I wanted to be just like all of the them so I started dieting and it went downhill from there. I went from every hair brained diet known to man then eventually ended up both anorexic and bulimic. By 17 I weighed 110 lbs on a 5' 6" body. Mind you people start to bug me about being to thin when I hit 130 lbs. 

Eventually I started to become more interested in good nutrition, the kind where your food feeds you health and vitality. I became a walking nutrition dictionary. If you needed to know anything about any health food you just had to ask me. The funny thing is, I wasn't applying all of this wonderful info into my everyday life. I am an all or nothing kind of person, it has to be 100% perfect! Perfectly planned and perfectly executed. 

My first real stab at becoming more healthy was when I was 20 or so. I started my journey by becoming a vegan and was vegan for two years. As time passed I became what I call, a "french fry" vegan. You know eating food just because it was vegan and not necessarily because it was good for me. This angle was not working so I stumbled back into the "typical" American diet.

Fast forward 10 years, I was miserable, irritable, pudgy, and tired. I was still working out everyday but with no results. This made me feel like a hamster on a wheel, spinning around forever and getting no where fast. I figured it must have something to do with my Hashimoto's disease or my missing gallbladder. Off I went to my doctor and than an endocrinologist hoping they could tell me why I was so miserable. Nothing. The endocrinologist all-knowing advice was to go check out Weight Watchers. Weight Watchers? That was the long awaited answer I had been looking for? I don't think so!

In my desire for an answer I started searching high and low on the internet for answers. The Raw food lifestyle kept coming up in searches but it was not what I wanted to see. With a husband and 3 young boys in tow I knew it wouldn't work. Too much time, too much money and too much structure. I kept searching and searching and Raw just kept popping up. After awhile I started softening to the idea. I wanted to prepare to talk to my husband about it so I sorted all my info and sat down with him. I told him I couldn't live like this anymore, things needed to change. He knew I had been feeling yucky so he promised I could go Raw and he wouldn't hassle me....... too badly:) Now he's not an unreasonable person but he has been with me through many of my eating disorders so I think he was thinking it would be another one of "those".

Here I am at 32 starting week 2 of my Raw Adventure and I'm feeling great! I would have to say that Day 2 sticks out in my mind as being the hardest. I had an awful headache, I was cranky and I was tired. The funny thing is that on that day my mind was whispering, "You need to eat junk food, this Raw thing is crazy". Of course, when I had these little whisperings, I knew that eating crud was NOT the answer but my mind was wrestling with it big time. Would the coffee and Cadbury chocolate eggs have made my headache go away, probably. Would it have made me feel better physically, uhh no!

The hardest part for me is that I am still surrounded by all of this junk food. My husband and kids are not Raw so I still make them their meals but it's getting easier. Granted I don't feed them poorly. They all eat lots of fruits, vegetables, salads and chicken but there are a few indiscretions still lying around from Easter. The good thing is that I can slowly start incorporating healthier foods into their diets so that we can all feel this good together!

Okay, so here is what I have typically been eating:

6:30 a.m.- Water with the juice of one lemon

6:45- Vegetable juice with an apple thrown in for good measure:) see below

9:30- Smoothie made with sub-acid fruits and hemp protein powder.

12:30- Nori rolls with carrots, sprouts, avocado, spinach and Raw ginger dressing, yum!

3:30- Pure Bar

6:30- Kale Salad w/ bell pepper, sprouts, carrots, broccoli and Raw ginger dressing

7:30- sometimes I eat a yummy Snackaroon from The Raw Food World (click on link at right)

I hope you all follow you're own journey to health and well-being, it's a long road but so worth it! Remember, these are my thoughts and conclusions and in no way suggest that anyone else has to come to the same conclusion I have. I hope that in the end we all find our niche' when it comes to living a healthy, happy, full life:)

Nicole