End of Challenge!

After seven days I had some nuts last night because someone else ate my specially bought avocado!

These things happen. Thats one of the most difficult things when trying to stay on a raw diet is when someone else eats your dinner! They say, "How can a avocado be the main part of your dinner?" The trouble is that if you eat someone's potato they have still got everything else, imagine all the things a roast dinner has!

Thats why I suggest always making sure you are well stocked so you don't head for the bread bin instead.

Sofia

Raw energy

I can't believe how much energy I've had today, and still have even though I've had an intensive gym session. I definitely feel much fitter and slimmer than I did last year! I've also been studying hard at my diploma, yet I have loads of mental energy :-)

The power of raw foods, eh? Isn't it great! I certainly felt the benefits on the treadmill today, what a powerful rush of bliss! 

  Its been six day now with no overt fat and I haven't missed it, but I did buy a mini avocado for friday, when my challenge officially ends. I believe I shall savour it much more than usual!

Who's willing to take the challenge?! I'm convinced you'll feel better if you skip the fat for a while and replace it with green smoothies and fruit instead!

Sofia

Day Five

Hello once more,

If you have been following so far you will know that I've spent the last five days with no overt fat in my diet. I've noticed that my digestion has improved and recently I'm starting to need less sleep!

To help me on my journey of starting a career of helping others I've just started a diploma course in Life Coaching.

Who knows, maybe you will be my first client!

Sofia

Day four on low fat Raw

Yes its already been another day! It has been very easy, especially thanks to the figs I bought today :-)

I was amazed today when a friend of mine (who is usually quite irritating) argued for me by saying that if I made him and his friends a raw meal or even the raw birthday cake I had described that they would probably all really enjoy it and that it would be a nice break from cooked food!

As usually people can find the idea of a cake made from fruit and nuts strange and dull (which it isn't!) I felt quite grateful to my friend, who has shown an open minded side to himself.

To nice surprises,

Sofia

Low low fat Raw day three

Today has been an interesting day. I have managed to keep my mind off my stomach all day thanks to the fact I've started a new career! 

I must admit eating no overt fat has been much easier than I expected. The days are flying by and I feel totally satisfied with my pear, mango and tomato green salad. In fact, I'm positively stuffed!

Being someone who is recovering from a problem with binge eating I finally feel that I have made some major breakthroughs recently. In the future I hope to write an ebook to help anyone else out there use a raw diet to overcome similar problems, so watch this blog!

Sofia

My journey Part 2

To complete the story on how I on how I found raw food:

After a year or so of being vegan, I came across a website about 'Beautiful on Raw'. It was there I discovered raw food and I then decided to but a book called 'Eating without heating' by the Boutenkos. After doing research online I knew as the days went by that there was no escaping from this, I was destined to go raw, just as I knew when I turned vegetarian. I looked at some recipes online and plucked up the courage to tell my mum.

She flipped.

We had a massive arguement. She did not understand why I had a problem with cooked food. And rightly so, she knew nothing about it. As it generally is with ignorance, she wouldn't listen either. I remember her crying: 'What about sandwiches?!' To which I replied: 'I've seen a recipe for raw bread'.

(Thats flax seed type stuff by the way, although at the time I only knew of using lettuce leaves in place of bread). However, she wouldn't let me explain, and thinking I meant raw wheat she stormed out my room.

When she calmed down I finally told her more and over the coming days she began to listen. Thank God for my recipe book (which also had the Boutenko kid's story in it) which helped.

Soon we started making recipes and I began to educate her more about it as I learnt more. Some time later I discovered how to do the diet correctly, after fallen off the wagon a couple of times. Even then I came of it after six months due to a severe depressive episode where I became suicidal.

Thankfully I recovered and have recently discovered the trick to staying 100% raw, happily.
There is more to my story, which I shall reveal in a later blog.

Thats all for now,

Sofia

Raw food and family

Day two with no overt fat! When I made the challenge I completely forgot that I was going to a family get together, full of sceptics might I add. Questions like 'where do you get your protein?' abound!

So, I just had a large plate full of fruit instead of my usual fatty salad that I thought my family would find more impressive. But no, compliments came in thick and fast for the fruit! Everybody loves the look of fruit (no suprise, it is our natural food!).

There was a rather tense conversation at the dinner table about vegetarianism. Some people are not that bright let me tell you. You say you're vegan and then they ask you if you eat pork!

So many people ask me if I eat bread after I tell them I don't eat any cooked food is laughable. Some times you have to laugh at it otherwise you'll cry instead!

Anyway, I did okay and luckly my mum fended them off. My uncle complained that vegetarian restaurants don't give a meat option! Well obviously! Thats because its specialist and made for people who don't want meat on the premises, let alone in the menu! Thats like going to a church and asking them where their statue of Mohammed is!

Anyway, enough of my ranting. At least people are quite impressed to see that I haven't died yet, that I've lost weight and yes, I have plently of energy thank you very much!

Top tip: don't argue about your food choices to friends or relatives, just lead by example.

Wishing you a merry social life,

Sofia

How does he do it?

In this blog I will dicuss the great fruit debate! You owe it to yourself to read this:
http://www.veganforce.com/?L=blogs.blog&id=759

Great raw food resource

Hello again!

I know for a fact that I've only managed to succeed with raw food because of a few individuals out there who have made it their mission to help other start their own journey. One of these people is Roger Haeske. 

There is a lot of misinformation about raw food out there, confusing some at best and harming others at worst. But as they say, there are a few gems out there. If you want to learn how to do raw right then you could do a lot worse than visiting this website:

http://rogerhaeske.com/

Trust me on this one, do yourself some good!

Sofia

Low fat Raw Day One and About Me

Hello again!

Today is my first day with no overt fats and its going well so far! I ran out of food today which is a big no no if you want to stay raw successfully, especially if you live with other cooked-foodists like me.

Anyway, after I had a mango crisis at the local farm shop I returned home feeling a bit blue. Still, I did get to eat quite a few dried figs (a current fad of mine) though miraculously I managed not to eat the whole bag! Thats a big deal with me, someone who finds it very difficult to leave any food on my plate :-)

So, I promised to reveal how I stumbled on this 'whole raw food thing' so I will.

I suppose it all started when I was very young. One of my earliest memories was when I was just a little girl and my mum was taking me home from school. I told her I wanted to be a vegetarian, and as she used to be one herself (unknown to me at the time) she was supportive. However, once she explained to me that that meant I could no longer each sausages, burgers and bacon I was so shocked in innocence that these foods came from animals that I decided that it was simply impossible to eat anything as a vegetarian (how wrong I was!) and soon gave up the idea.

Several years later, when I was nine, I became convinced over a period of a few days that the universe was trying to tell me something. It seemed that whatever I watched or heard about had something to do with vegetarianism. Watching a short documentary on TV, I learnt of the way animals are treated and killed, including the shocking fact that many never see daylight until they are taken to the slaughterhouse. On the way home from school I told my mum that I knew I just had to be a vegetarian, I couldn't ignore these signs. This time I meant it and she was supportive.

I had been trying it out for a week and had my last meat meal with my Dad and my two older brothers at KFC. My Dad being from the south of Italy lectured me on how "humans need meat!" and that I would surely suffer if I went veggie. My brothers agreed. Still, I knew at least that what they said was complete tosh. However in my ignorance, after being told I'd become white as a sheet I exclaimed, "No! Thats vegans! Thats really unhealthy, I'll never do that!"

How ironic that just a couple of years later,  I would find the link between the dairy and meet industry and learn the facts about veganism. I converted, this time not with the full support of my mother who just couldn't understand what was wrong with eggs.

Thats the end of part one folks, my story seems a bit like the Arabian Nights in length so I tell you the rest tomorrow!

My First Post

Well, I've been playing around with raw-foodism for a while (a couple of years now) but I think its time to take it up a notch and tell anyone who cares about how its impacted my life.

Its something I'm passionate about, and I have learnt (rather painfully) that if people want to know about it they'll come to you. Thats what this blog is for. Roger Haeske gave me the idea!

Sooo, why not kick start my blog with a challenge??

How about spending a week with no overt fats? Doesn't sound hard does it? But for a busy compulsive eater? It is!

Anyway, in my next blog I'll tell you a little more about myself and how my journey started...