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| via fruitsbenefits.com |
If
you’ve been following this blog, you will know that I have spent the last two
months working a fairly restrictive elimination diet. (You can find more information on the specifics of that
journey here,
here,
here
and here.) My goal in doing so was to actively
foster an improved state of health.
It has been such an informative, inspiring and surprising journey. My body has gone through numerous
cycles of detoxifying healings, and is continuing to do so. You can read (or re-read) about some of
that here. I have been experiencing a renewed and
stronger connection to my body since instating these changes in my life. In fact, I am much more able to receive
– and to honour - the messages that my body is sending me. The surprising piece of this process is
learning what
my body is asking of me.
I
first began to take notice of a real shift in my mind-body conversation when I
realized that the longer I abstained physically from certain foods, the less
powerful my emotional bonds to those foods became. Prime examples:
Coffee, booze, ice cream.
These things have long held a strong Romantic association for me.
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| via browndresswithwhitedots.tumblr.com |
The sweetness of a quiet morning curled
up with a rich, bitter cup of coffee.
Coffee became symbolic of the luxury of simple, uninterrupted downtime
with my Self.
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| via dailymail.co.uk |
Communal imbibing of
wine or cocktails with friends.
This experience validated my sense of community and belonging, the deep
need for connection with others.
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| via flickr.com |
The rich, delicious comfort of a thick spoonful of gelato on a balmy,
wistful evening. Ice cream has
often provided feelings of comfort during moments of melancholy, or reward for
some kind of accomplishment. These
are just some of the food associations that have long driven my dietary
choices.
This
is how my relationship with food has been as long as I can remember it: emotionally driven. Suddenly removing these emotionally
linked foods from my diet has helped to break the enchantments of the
psychological connections as well.
Suddenly, my body is less swayed by my mind. Instead of feeding my emotional hunger, I am finding it much
more enjoyable to feed my physical hunger. And feeding my physical hunger makes me feel better. It gives me more energy in the morning,
so that I am much more likely to enjoy my quiet morning in meditation or
exercising or even enjoying a hot cup of herbal tea which gives my body natural
healing medicine making my time with my Self much more fulfilling and
luxurious. It allows me to be less
brain fuzzy and more present in my interactions with friends so that I am able
to spend more quality time having real exchanges with people rather than
forging superficial relationships around food and drink. It allows me to find comfort in the
elemental sensations of the balmy evening – the breeze on my skin, the scent on
the breeze, the way the moonlight caresses the blossoms on the branch – without
the awful after-effects of digestive discomfort. And, as a result, I am finding new, healthier ways of
rewarding myself for accomplishments.
(I plan to post more about that in future.) Plus … it’s a heckuva lot easier on the old pocketbook! Maintaining coffee, booze, and ice
cream habits can be expensive!
The
second time I became aware that big changes were afoot in my body was one
unassuming day at work. I ate a
handful of dry roasted mixed nuts only to find my taste for them had completely
diminished. Anyone in my family
can tell you that I have long been a fan of dry roasted mixed nuts. My dad and I used to gobble them by the
handful and would sometimes polish off a couple large canisters in one
sitting. So, you might imagine my
surprise when I discovered my taste buds were breaking up with roasted
nuts. Suddenly, eating these
cooked and salted nuts ceased tasting like warm delicious treats, and now
tasted like edible death. Strange,
but true. It was like each nut was
a little decaying carcass with no life, no energy, and I was using it to try to
nourish my body. What used to seem
so natural and delicious and even healthy, suddenly seemed completely
absurd. How could I expect to have
this deadened, cooked and salt-laden food provide living energy for my
body? I had never really considered
the implications of using dead organic matter to fuel my living body. And, strangely, I am still only
wrapping my head around the notion.
I am someone who spends many, many hours pondering food and health and
natural living, and I have never once before now even considered that eating dead things might
not be the best way to keep my living body functioning optimally. Food for thought, most definitely.
Even
after that singular realization, I stayed true to the diet I’d laid out for
myself for the month. During that
time, as is often the case, I was doing a fair bit of general internet
searching on health/wellness and natural living. I found myself drawn to more and more sites powered by
proponents of a low fat, high carbohydrate, raw vegan lifestyle. I was not searching specifically for
this kind of information, nor was diet the primary focus of these sites. But as I kept reading and researching,
some of the dietary information was making good sense to me. What was even more interesting, was
that I could feel my body responding to the information at the cellular
level. (Yep, I know that’s a
really New Age-y thing to say, but it’s the only way I know how to describe
what I felt.)
As
my body seemed to be responding to these ideas, I began to actively seek out
more information on this way of eating.
My brain was continuing to resist the notion of limiting fats and
restricting meats, but my body seemed to be almost yearning for it. So, I decided to bridge the gap and
commit to a compromise: I will be
transitioning to a one month experiment on a low fat, high carb, raw vegan
diet, and I’ll see how my body responds to it.
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| via fullyraw.com |
I
am currently practicing a “raw until 4” regimen, where I eat mostly or only
fruits until 4pm. After 4pm, I
allow myself to have cooked foods, but opt for lighter cooking methods like
steaming or light sautéing or gentle baking, along with big leafy
vegetable-rich salads. My goal is
to ease myself to a completely raw situation by April 15, and to maintain it
for one month. Then, I’ll reassess
at the end of the month and see how I feel.
While
I’ve only been doing this for about a week, so far I’m feeling great. My body
is continuing to detoxify itself, and I’m feeling lighter and clearer
already. I finally purchased a Vitamix blender,
which should help exponentially in making juices, smoothies, soups and
sauces. It should be arriving in a
couple days. (Special thanks to my
mom and dad for their birthday generosity, which allowed me to make that
purchase!)
There
are many different ways of eating raw and vegan. I am choosing to follow the 80/10/10 version
pioneered by Dr. Douglas Graham. I find Kristina Carrillo-Bucaram’s
website, fullyraw.com, lays everything out in a way that really makes
sense to me and makes the information accessible and non-threatening for
newbies like myself. The FAQ page,
especially, has been really useful for me. If you would like more information on what this way of
eating actually is, I would suggest spending some time perusing her site.
I
would love to know if any of you have experimented with this style of raw vegan
eating. Please feel encouraged to
share your experiences in the comments section below. Also, if any of you are interested in joining me for this
experiment, comment or message me.
Experiments are more fun with more people!
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| via fullyraw.com |
I
hope you are all enjoying your own journeys to health and vitality. May this gorgeous Spring season
rejuvenate and invigorate you!
Namaste,
melanie
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