sâmbătă, 30 octombrie 2010

Food – the ultimate source of happiness


I wasn’t aware of my potential of being happy until I changed my diet to a 100% raw.
We live in a society that got used to a very poor state of health. Getting sick is a normal, acceptable thing. Feeling depressed, angry, sad, tired are all considered usual things and getting an incurable disease and dying is expected any time after a certain age.

I don't think ilnesses, overweight, being tired, being helpless when you are old, being depressed and blured all the time are normal. Do you?

I never approved of that and considered vibrant health as a natural, normal state so I started my research when I was about 24 years old. The first book I ever read about nutrition talked about eating all things raw but it seemed too extreme for me at that time and I thought I could never do it although I accepted and kept in mind that it was the best diet ever.

Than, my boyfriend got sick and we stopped eating fried stuff and we started eating more and more salads. When I gained a few extra pounds, searching for a weight loss diet, I found a natural product called “detoxifying tincture from elder flowers” and in the prospect it said I should eat at least 70% raw and no animal protein so I cut off all meats, dairy and eggs and ate as much raw as I could. I started eating a lot of fruits and salads and drinking more water. And it felt great. I lost all the excess weight along with the cellulite, I felt so energized, I had beautiful skin, clear mind. Ever since that time I stopped eating meat but I got back to my old cooked diet after a few months. I felt great and put on no weight for 2 years. But in time, my diet got kind of junkie and the negative effects piled up again. I ate a lot of cakes and dairy, pizza, ice cream. I got depressed, tired and unsatisfied with my life.

I knew, I could feel it in my heart that something was missing, that there must be more from life than this. So I began searching, reading and experimenting. I quit my job because I couldn’t stand the idea that I am selling away my own precious life.

After reading “The China Study” I stopped eating dairy and eggs and I really felt the difference. I read a lot of books about healing through diets or fasting and the idea that we should be eating raw foods appeared again and again. At one point we met at the grocery market a 70 years old man that was eating only raw, looked 55 and felt even younger. I was more and more convinced that it can be done and after finding a forum of raw people, here in Romania, I finally decided to go 100% raw.

I started on November 16, 2009.
At that time I was about 60 kg, coming down from being 68 kg in the summer of 2009. It was very hard for me to loose the 8 kg (from 68 to 60) because I was trying to eat less but still eating cooked and kind of junkie.
But as soon as I got 100% raw I lost 2 kg in the first 2 days. I lost all the extra weight in about 2 months. Eating as much as I wanted, whenever I was hungry, eating raw cakes and sweets all the time.

In a few months my whole perspective of life was changed. I had all this energy, I was no longer depressed and sad, my life started having meaning, I felt clear, alive and super excited to exist. It was a long and special journey for me and it still is.

Raw food was the thing that started my journey and I will always be thankful for knowing about such a powerful tool.

During this year I ate lots of fruits, vegetables, greens, nuts, seeds, cold pressed oils, cacao, honey, sea salt and many raw condiments and super foods. I made all kinds of recipes. I wouldn’t have ever believed that you can prepare so many delicious meals. Especially the raw deserts :) They are unbelievable!!!

Did you know you can make crackers, pates, cakes and cookies, guacamole, soup and even pizza all raw and even more tasty than the cooked ones?

During this year I wasn’t raw all of the time. I was 100% raw for the first 4-5 months and then I got really caught up with the problems I had at home, my father being very sick and all that and I wasn’t able to be 100% raw. Also the emotional detox that is triggered along with the physical one is pretty hard to take if you are not prepared to deal with all your negative emotions and fears. So, I felt so desperate sometimes that the only thing that could calm me were very dense foods. So I ate bread, some steamed vegetables, beans or rice and other light cooked foods that my mother prepared in the house. It wasn’t such a bad thing to do, but my obsession about eating healthy at that time made it seem so.

This was another pretty big lesson for me along the way, because I wanted to be 100% raw and couldn’t accept any thing less and because I couldn’t be 100% raw, I was blaming myself and feeling miserable. But in time, I learned to make peace with my self, I accepted that everything takes time and patience and all things happen at the right time. And the most important thing is to be happy with everything you do. When I finally let go of it, it was a natural, easy and pleasant change. I believe now that any thing that becomes an obsession, even about a healthy habit, is not good.

In my opinion, any thing that feels too restrictive, complicated or difficult to do won't last on the long term.

People that eat normal food (like a lot of meat, eggs and dairy, fried potatoes or pizzas) sometimes laugh at me telling me that they don’t want to live forever, but I believe that living is more than what they experience. I want to really be alive, light, clear, energized and happy all the time. I proved myself it is possible and once I felt like that I could never settle for less.

From all that I read, from what I’ve experienced myself and from all the people I’ve read about and heard about and talked to I can absolutely say that raw food is the best food for us and it can totally transform every aspect of your life. We have an immense potential and living fruits and vegetables can unleash that potential and turn us in the super beings that we are meant to be.

I believe with all my heart that we are meant to be happy, peaceful, clear, energetic, compassionate and healthy all our lives. And when I say healthy I mean no illness what so ever. No colds, no headaches, no childhood illnesses, no depression, no negativity.

Just vibrant health!


All the food presented in the pictures is raw :)
If you want more information about raw foods let me know. I’ll be happy to share more :)

In the mean time here are some useful links:

Raw for life
Raw Reform
Romania Raw Forum
Victoria Boutenko
La vie en raw.z
Food matters
Simply raw