My Mum is now a vegan. The same Mum who for the last 2 years has been incredibly concerned about my health on a vegan diet and has implored me to eat some eggs... she is really excited and happy and I am so thrilled for her. Her enthusiasm has re-ignited my own. I've been really lackadaisical with raw foods lately - eating my raw foods, sure, but also snacking on cooked foods here and there. Today I loved my brazil nut milk for dinner (I didn't have almonds so Brazil nut milk it was) but also snacked on my son's leftover spring vegetable tagine. On the one hand I'm proud that a 'cheating' indulgence for me is now one of the healthiest cooked foods I can make, but on the other hand I feel I need to re-commit to a raw diet and examine how serious I am about it really in the long term.
It was ethical reasons that first made me vegan. I didn't really want to be a vegan - I loved cheese and yoghurt, eggs and meat. But I was interested in finding out where my food came from and how it was produced, and the more I learned the less I could eat animal foods at all. My new knowledge ruined them for me! I need a similar knowledge to make eating cooked foods unreconcilable wiht my conscience. As the glow of fresh excitement wears off and the novelty of raw veganism fades I need ethical motivation.
So far the one strong ethical reason I can think of for raw cuisine is that ossil suels are not being burned to cook my dinner. I need more inspiration!
I do want this raw thing to be a forever thing and I want the glow and aliveness that it promises. So I am determined to continue and not get bored and keep finding new recipes and making a new 'normal'.
i hear yah! in the beginning i was so enthusiastic about being raw vegan, and then realized how much of an ego identity trip it was taking me on .. i wanted to BE a RAW VEGAN because it sounded so awesome. at the end of the day though, the raw movement is very new and there are few people out there (that we know of anyways) that have thrived life long on a raw vegan diet. so instead of trying to find ethical reasons for the diet, maybe you could focus on how it makes you feel. if a 100% raw diet makes you feel radiant, alive and energized, then go for it. if you feel like a 80 % raw vegan diet makes you feel exactly the same, then it doesnt matter.. many raw foodists preach about the longevity benefits but do you notice that most of them are so young? i think this lifestyle is definitely in the experimental phases .. and the claim that raw veganism is the "natural" way to eat is not really a significant claim (in my mind anyways) because although our ancestors may have possibly eaten as raw vegans, the type of food (wild) that they ate and HOW they ate, and their mentality about food in general was probably very very different than our hybridized farmed vegetables and fruits. the point of this comment is, that we dont know the ideal way to eat and so letting go of negative emotions about guilt and "messing up" could lend you energy elsewhere .. (this is a message to me as much as to you ;) by the way) because i often feel these things too. but .. its just food. and .. its just life. insert cliche but totally appropriate quote here. "dont take it so seriously - no one makes it out alive" do what feels good lady! much love namaste!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFV0TVG8P8I&feature=related
ReplyDeletelove this video by fellow raw fooder ka sundance
Wow lovely comments zz offie, thanks! You make some gret points. Yes I'm definitely prey to the ego thing - gee being a raw vegan makes me feel special! I read somewhere from one doctor that he thinks raw veganism works not because the foos are necessarily raw but because the diet automatically excludes all the modern foods that can hurt us... his views resonated with me and his ideas seemes to make sense. Raw cuisine makes it really easy to stop eating bad food!
ReplyDeleteI think I get bummed about my cooked snacks partly because I paid to do this cleanse and now I'm hnot doing it properly... but you've made me think about that, adn that I'm doing it 'properly' for me at this point.
Take care!
Mich xx