Group A
Most of my friends and family that are into raw food do not eat exclusively raw, (they're
more like 60% - 80%). One of the interesting thing about
this majority is that every year their diet gets a lot healthier. Every year they find themselves eat more
organic, less processed, fresh, local, seasonal, hormone free foods, (yes some of them
still eat meat occasionally). They have their good days and their bad
days, but over all the amount of yo-yoing in their diet is pretty
minimal. On top of that, they absolutely love the joy of making food,
are comfortable around the kitchen and are fairly well educated about
ingredients.
Group B
Contrast that with my other group of friends and
family who go from eating almost all processed foods to wanting to be
mostly raw overnight. They're not fans of the kitchen, they
mostly eat out and although they are interested in eating healthy, they
aren't very educated about food as a whole. These friends of mine are
usually really excited to "go raw", (a lot of them go exclusively raw
over night), but after sometime, when the high of doing something
different wears off, they fall back into a yo-yo pattern. Either their
food is really healthy or really unhealthy. The yo-yoing usually gets
so hard to maintain that after about 6 months of ups and downs, its back to mostly processed foods with a side of guilt.
Cooking Better
One of biggest differences between Group A and Group B, that we have yet to talk about on this blog, is that A has access
to a tool that B doesn't - cooking better. Both groups get cravings and
both groups have challenges eating healthy, but Group A's choices end
up creating momentum that can be built upon. Even though they are
eating cooked food, their choices are much healthier. It isn't uncommon
for Group A to eat a fresh made cooked meal with a fresh made raw
side salad. Group B, on the other hand, tends to turn to the most addictive
and highly processed cooked foods out there and intern throws their
entire momentum off.
It sucks to be in Group B, but honestly the only way out of it is
getting your hands dirty and your mind healthy. Getting in the kitchen and
developing a passion around food is key, but so is getting in the
library and developing a passion around learning about health.
A personal anecdote
Growing up I hated making food and
I hated making fresh food even more, (microwaving was an ordeal in
itself). But that all changed once I decided to go vegan, (mostly for
animal rights concerns). For the first time in my life I was in a
position, especially because I was at college, where if I didn't make
food for myself then I would go hungry. Learning how to cook and
developing a passion for food was excellent training for my eventual
shift to raw.
When I first heard about this thing called "raw food" it rang truer
than true to my ears. I made a choice that night that this was
something I wanted to do. Although I had never felt better in my life,
about seven months into eating exclusively raw I started to get HUGE
cravings out of no where. Luckily I had a great mentor who told me that if I really feel like eating something, then I should eat it. He told me to accept my cravings,
watch them, and then consciously eat the food that I craved. In my
case, I just wanted hot food so I ate what I use to eat as a vegan: a
good amount baked yams, steamed vegetables and home made vegetable
soup, (as well as my raw stuff).
After a month or so the cravings just disappeared on their own. Because my body didn't feel denied and mentally I let go of "needing to be raw", a certain sense of freedom and enjoyment developed around food.
Although it wasn't the most crucial part (mentality surpasses all), knowing how to cook better foods was definitely a key tool in finding health abundance.
Funny, isn't it? Who ever thought WLIR would be talking about winning through cooking! You gotta love it.
Name: Elvis R.
Name: Allison P., author of 
