Mid December of 2010, I made this video:
See the difference in my body? It's freaking incredible.
Yesterday I went for a two-hour walk with my husband, and this morning we walked to the grocery store and then carried the groceries home. When a moved here (not even a year ago), I couldn't walk half way to the grocery store without being in a lot of pain. My sides would get stitches. My head would get dizzy. I'd get gas pains. Etc. Now, I can walk the entire way there, walk back carrying things and still have energy to put groceries away.
It's amazing.
Life is so wonderful when you finally have energy to live it!
Andy Pope wrote me this response after I sent him to this page:
"My thoughts are very positive tonight. I do not consider myself a raw foodist as of yet, although I am considering becoming one. Maybe half of my diet is raw. I rarely pay attention to diet. I do consider myself healthy, yes. I consider myself healthy because I feel healthy, I have good genes and excellent vital signs, I exercise regularly and vigorously, and I rarely if ever fall ill. I have not had the flu since January of 2001. I also have never gotten a flu shot. I would like to see more reader's comments on this blog, and yes, I will be back. No, this is not too many questions. (You know me.) As an addendum, I must add that I do not consider myself particularly *mentally* healthy, as I am an extremely mercurial person, prone to moods and what-not. Perhaps a raw food diet can address that aspect of health as well. Thank you for letting me share."
Hi Raederle. Great documentation of your raw food and exercies. Did you attend any raw food support groups or raw food meetups? How did you keep up your motivation?
ReplyDeleteThanks and have a happy and healthy New Year!
James,
ReplyDeleteThat's an excellent question!
I discovered the raw food diet through raw food potlucks. I was struggling both emotionally, physically and financially and I was very open to trying something new in my life. I didn't know anything about what "raw food" was when I first attended a potluck. I was so clueless -- I brought a few apples.
I never thought when I first went to one of those groups that I would be a raw foodist. I just loved all the new foods. I was surprised by a few things -- everybody looked healthy, everyone at the meeting was happy and smiling, nobody was particularly negative, and there was so much intelligent conversation. I was completely blown away by what great company it was.
I went back to another potluck and then another and another because I loved the company and the food, but slowly a change began to happen. I started to want my life to be like the lives of these new people I was meeting. I wanted my daily meals to look like the meals I was having at these potlucks.
I discovered raw food at the potlucks in Buffalo, New York. After I moved in Walnut Creek, California in April 2010 I joined the meetup.com groups for raw food in this area and met new people. Again, lots of new recipes, lots of new ideas, healthy great people. I was convinced. I started trying to incorporate the new recipes I learned into my day to day life.
I've had serious digestive issues, as I talk about on the part of my site called "My Story" and I've been overweight, I had constant burps, headaches, dizziness, etc, and I was getting sick for weeks at a time since I've been a small child. The amount of time I've spent in bed being sick in my life so far is more than many people who die of old age have in their entire life. It was absurd.
Through diet changes before I discovered the raw diet I made progress, but until I switched to a 99% raw food diet (and I really mean 99% literally), on September 3rd 2011, I couldn't honestly say that I was a "healthy" person. Progress isn't enough. I need success. And with the raw diet, I've found it.
I don't need more motivation anymore. At first, my husband's support and the raw potlucks were needed to keep me interested in "making the switch" but now my own results are my motivation. I see my arms and stomach starting to look toned instead of fat and I know there is no way I'll ever go back. I see that I get so much more done now because I don't lose time being sick, tired, depressed or "not in the mood" to accomplish things.
Thanks for the great question. I'm going to actually revise this comment and add more to it and make it into a blog entry I believe. :D
Merry 2011
~ Raederle
I'm not really into a complete raw food diet. But with this great article and your long comment above, I might as well make the change.
ReplyDelete