"Before and After" pictures
Luke's story
Gosia's story:
After one year of eating raw foods, I am addicted to them. Eating this way makes me feel so good that I do not want to stop. I compare my experience to banging one’s head against the wall. Only when one stops, they notice the difference. Eating cooked food was like banging my head against the wall. When I stopped, I experienced so many positive changes in the way I felt and looked, that at first I could not believe my luck. How is it possible that eating the way that by most of the society is considered to be freaky could make me feel so good? In time I came to realize that this freaky way of eating was in fact the most natural one! This took a lot of shifting in the belief system that I constructed during the 40 years of my existence.
For the first 25 years of my life I was an omnivore eating mostly cooked foods. Then, I discovered the macrobiotic diet. At that moment, I was overweight, constipated, unable to control my eating habits, bordering on bulimia and totally unhappy about the way I looked and felt. After a few months of following basic macrobiotic rules, I lost all the excess weight and felt great. Constipation was gone, my skin was clear and I thought that I found my ideal diet. My transition to the macrobiotic diet coincided with me becoming vegetarian. I lost the desire for eating meat. I continued to eat dairy and eggs, though. Once, I did a cleansing diet, which consisted of only salads, for about two weeks. I felt great, but it did not occur to me that I could live like this forever. For the next 15 years I strongly believed that wholemeal cooked grains should be at least 50% of the daily food intake. I followed this rule and vegetarianism, with one exception, a couple of years in Greece, before I rented a room and had a chance to prepare my own meals.
Gradually, I shifted away from the strict macrobiotic diet. 10 years ago I migrated to Australia with my 3-year-old son Odys. In Australia I befriended an Indian woman and learned some cooking from her. I bought a wok, a rice cooker, a pressure cooker and various spices. The Indian way of cooking became my favourite. I continued eating wholemeal grains. For example, I used brown rice only. This was my macrobiotic influence. Interestingly, over the years, somehow I lost the desire to eat eggs and dairy and my diet was getting closer to veganism, without me even knowing about that. In fact, I thought that veganism was too extreme!
5 years ago, my dearest Luke moved in and by the end of the year we got married. Julia was born the following year. At the end of my pregnancy I felt totally exhausted. I felt and looked awful. This was despite eating “healthy” vegetarian meals. I believed that the way I ate was important for the health of my baby, and so I was doing my best and avoided things that I knew were bad. My favourite dining place at that time was a vegan restaurant at a market, where we used to go every week. I remember going there 2 weeks prior to the birth and feeling awful. 3 years later I still did not feel my best. I hoped that this would change in time, but I seemed to have reached a point after which there was no further improvement. This was despite the fact that I was commuting to work on my bike every day.
Then, I learned about the raw food diet. I actually had heard about the raw food diet before, but thought it was too weird and not in line with what I believed. This time, I read a story about Demi Moore and got interested in her diet. I know I know, an interest in media is not the greatest thing, but this time it led me to something good, didn’t it? I decided to try. Two weeks before my 40th birthday, I started eating lots of raw fruit and veggies. On that day, I looked at myself in the mirror with a hope that what I saw there, would change. After only two weeks, I could not believe what I saw! I was definitely noticing a remarkable transformation. That old looking, tired woman disappeared, I looked noticeably better, and that was just the beginning! My birthday was a happy birthday, indeed.
Since then, many more changes occurred. I observed an improvement in my eyesight; a cloud that I used to feel in my eyes has gone. When I brush my teeth (these day with water only), there is hardly any junk there. There used to be heaps of that before. My dentist has noticed that my gums are in a better shape. My skin has a glow that it never had before (during my macrobiotic phase it was rather pale and matte). I do not feel lethargic during the day anymore. In the past I had to rely on coffees to keep me going at work and I don’t need that now. Exercise seems to have a much better effect on me now than before. My legs have lost that jelly-like look and I have begun to see some muscles there. My weight has shifted from 54 kg to 49 kg. My face looks much younger than a year ago and is not puffy anymore. My eyes are open and clear, my skin is clearer too. I stopped wearing foundation, because I don’t need it anymore! I believe that it will take perhaps another year or two before I observe the full benefits of this new lifestyle. My body is still transforming, so I am at the beginning of my raw journey really. I am turning away from cooked foods completely. This is because each experience of eating cooked foods brings these familiar unpleasant symptoms that I used to experience in the past. Why continue banging my head against the wall?
My transformation has affected the rest of my family, naturally. Luke has started eating raw foods a few months after me. My children, although not completely raw, are eating far more raw fruit and veggies than before and I do not buy them sweets anymore. Instead, I make raw cookies, ice-ream and pudding, which they love. Yesterday Julia asked me “Mum, I am hungry”. When I asked what it was that she wanted, “Grapes” was the answer. I am so happy about that. I do not want to force my children into my own belief system. I do talk to them a lot about healthy foods and junk foods, so they know very well what’s good for them and what’s not. However, the ultimate choice is theirs. I am happy to see that their taste is changing in a positive way. I am happy to see them choosing fruit over junk food spontaneously. The change in our eating patterns is reflected in the change of our expenditure. We used to spend about $100-$150 in the supermarket, a lot of it on processed foods, and about $50 in the market on fruit and veggies. These days it is the other way around!
There is a lot of debate amongst raw foodists about which way of eating raw foods is the best. Personally, I prefer a diet that includes a fair amount of fruit. I have found myself drawn to the concepts within the natural hygiene, but I am not there yet. As I said, I am at the beginning of my raw journey and have heaps to learn yet. I will write an update in a year or two and let you know about new things that I will have learned. I hope that my story has touched you in some positive way and I wish you all the best, wherever you are in your life!
Love,
Gosia.
(2004)
Luke's story