Changes.

This past week has been insane! The amount of reading I've done and the resulting wisdom and clarity I've gained has been absolutely unreal. This will be my less-than-adequate attempt to describe what has happened in my life this past week.

First of all, I did a ton of research about the Raw Food Lifestyle, and not only were my suspicions about it's nutritious, life-giving, nourishing benefits absolutely correct, it goes even beyond that! In addition to the reading I've done (online articles, blogs of raw foodies, magazine articles) I watched two documentaries on this incredible lifestyle choice and it's enormous health benefits. One such documentary, called Simply Raw, about a group of six diabetics, two of them Type I, four of them Type II, chronicled a one-month lifestyle overhaul. These six people went to a place called the Tree of Life Healing Centre and started a month of 100% raw eating. Within days all except one of them were off their medication and soon enough they were living without insulin shots - a dream for most diabetics. All of them lost significant amounts of weight, found themselves having more energy and feeling like brand-new people. All because of what they chose to put in their mouths. I seriously recommend watching this movie as it will change your perspective about food completely. Here's the link: http://www.novamov.com/video/49aae4406d96f

The other documentary is called Food Matters and is about the health industry, drug industry, raw food and it's immense health benefits, and vitamin therapy. It's an eye-opening movie about the way we are taught to approach sickness, disease and health, and our tendency as a society to use drugs to treat symptoms of sickness and disease instead of using food to treat the causes of sickness and disease, and it's ability to prevent them in the first place. Here's the link:
http://megavideo.com/?v=2TAZNZLA

Now, you may be wondering what form this research has taken in terms of change in my own life. Well, 3 days ago I began eating about 70% raw. Besides raw foods I also ate corn on the cob en masse (a cooked food I doubt I will ever be able to live without!) and some whole grain foods. I've continued eating some whole grain foods mostly because I don't know enough yet about sprouted grains to nourish myself. Once I do though, you can bet I will.

The first day was hard, but not in terms of eating the food. I enjoy fruits a lot, but vegetables not so much and nuts and seeds not so much, but because I knew the life-giving qualities of these foods, it wasn't hard to make the change. The difficult part was not eating things that I have always considered very healthy foods, like whole wheat pasta, peanut butter, granola, etc. I have always thought eating meat and dairy is unhealthy (knowledge that I have made a habit of ignoring for most of my life because meat and dairy is yummy) so cutting those out wasn't hard.

The second day was hard because although the raw foods and huge amounts of water were already making me feel lighter and more energized, the toxins leaving my body were making me feel a bit grumpy and gave me a headache. This, I know, is what happens when your body is undergoing a detoxing process. Although it feels crappy, it's the body's way of silently cheering, of taking a great sigh of relief.

Today is day three, and I feel INCREDIBLE!!! I feel energized, vibrant and full of life! As soon as I woke up I felt cheerful, optimistic and ready for a wonderful day! I didn't think I would feel so great so fast, but lo and behold, I feel better than I've felt in months. This is already proving that education, not medication, is the way to feel better. Now that I've read about and experienced for myself the incredible difference living, raw food can make in the way I feel, I realize what a joyful, life-affirming choice it is to go raw.

Now for my drug rant...

Go to a hospital and look around. What you are looking at is the failure of medicine. Less than 6% of physician graduates have any formal training in nutrition. Doesn't that seem crazy to you? How about the fact that it's illegal in North America to treat cancer with nutrition? ILLEGAL. So we pump people full of drugs that don't work, and are suprised when they die...I know I'm repeating myself here, but doesn't that seem crazy to you? Medicine is a bandage, not a cure. If all we do is treat symptoms instead of the root cause of a problem, we will never heal. It's time we all realize this and stop popping pills at the first sign of discomfort instead of asking ourselves why we're feeling the way we're feeling. Doctors should be prescribing nutrition and exercise, not drugs. As far as the drug industry is concerned, the perfect drug is one that doesn't cure you, but one that you will have to continue taking over a long period of time. The drug industry is an industry, and the main goal of any industry is to make money. See where I'm going with this? If we continue giving our body drugs, we're not promoting health, we're promoting drugs.

As I've learned in the last little while, if you want to know how to live and nourish yourself in the best possible way, you have to dig. You have to really look for the information. How pathetic is that? But the information is out there. You are the only person who has the power to make choices that will allow yourself to live longer, live healthier and live vibrantly.

I obviously need to stick with this to find out what raw foods will mean for my long-term health, but I've read enough testimonies, seen enough videos and felt enough of a change in my life in just three days that I am sure the results are going to be amazing.

Stay tuned. :)