It turned out that my camera really WAS only malfunctioning due to battery related problems, so now it is working just fine again, yay! And since we all love food porn, that's what you get first.
I think this is just the most gorgeous salad I have ever eaten. It looks so bright and colourful and alive!! If you're interested, it is dandelion greens, corn, tomato, carrot, celery, parsley and the tiniest avocado I've ever seen, with orange juice squeezed over as 'dressing.' Mmmm I want another one right now. (I think I know what I'm having for dinner!)
This picture is not great, I don't think it caught the true vibrancy of the fruit, but I wanted to show you a little portion of what I hauled home from the organic growers market. In addition to this fruit I got loads of bananas and a whole tray of persimmons (YUMMMMMMMMM!!!)And also there was celery, kale, silverbeet, rainbow chard, parsley, sweet corn, a cucumber... I think that's it.
Now, onto 'sharing my secrets' and answering the questions all you wonderful people left me:
From Erica -
I am curious, are you still 100% raw? How long has it been now? I slipped off the wagon for awhile but now am back up to only one cooked item per day (unless I'm at a social function).
AND
I realised last night I am also curious about your experience with the "raw high", if you have/had it, and also if you feel connected to the universe/get messages from it, as they say happens when you're 100%?
My Response - I (very excitedly!) celebrated my 1 year raw anniversary just last week. For the first few months of that I still ate dried fruits that were probably dried above a 'raw' temperature, as well as eating not 'truly raw' cashews, but aside from that I have been 100% raw the whole time. Oh and I don't eat those things anymore.
REgarding the raw high... I'm not sure. I am happy pretty much all day everyday and that is still, even now, a bit foreign to me because I suffered depression for about 4 years before going raw thanks to harassment at school etc. So yes, I think I do get the raw high, but I don't feel connected to the universe. I am not religious or spiritual at all so maybe some people would say that is because I'm not open to communicating with the universe, but whatever.
From Anne -
I haven't been reading your blog for very long, so this might be redundant:
How do your parents feel about you being raw?
My response - No question is redundant here. I don't know whether I've talked about this much on my blog or not, actually. Anyway, I have absolutely fantastic, amazing, incredible parents. I love them more than I could put into words. They always support me 100% in what I do and I appreciate that so much. After I went vegan age 15, my mum decided she wanted to go vegetarian - due to food intolerances she had already given up dairy years earlier so is now almost totally vegan. Last year I became the official family chef, cooking for my parents 5 nights a week, and my dad happily eats whatever I cook, which is always vegan or vegetarian. Just recently he has started eating an imitation ham product (instead of the real dead pig kind) in his lunch rolls, so now he only eats meat twice a week instead of 14(!!) times, yay! And also, he now usually gets a vegetarian option if he eats out somewhere, which I think is excellent.
So, in summary, my parents have no issues whatsoever with me being raw!
From Bazu -
Here's my question for you, since I'm food obsessed: what are your biggest food cravings? What "naughty" food is your downfall?
My Response - I think I am very fortunate, as lots of people who go raw struggle with lots of cooked food cravings but in a whole year of raw I haven't craved a single specific cooked meal. I tend to crave texture more than taste - the texture of plain tofu always really did it for me, kinda soft and squidgy (I know I know, I'm weird!) and a few times I've really missed that, but I found mushrooms (which I used to hate) really did it for me there. I don't really crave anything other than fruit now!!
Hmm... 'naughty' food... what's that? :-) Ahhh, the beauty of being raw. There are no naughty foods! Nothing I eat is a 'downfall.' It is all fabulous, delicious and amazing, I can eat it all day long and never suffer a thing for it! Yay!
From Melissa -
hi
ive been reading your blog for a while now and always loved your recipes...
i always felt like i could relate to you because i was anorexic for years and am just starting to feel better (mentally) since the last 6 months (up 25 lbs yay...used to be 80lbs at 5'8...)
i am vegan and although i dont eat all raw, i still eat raw as much as possible...
one day i decided to go 100% raw... the reason why i stopped eating raw wasnt because i didnt like it or didnt feel good but because part of my recovery was recognizing where i had lied to myself... i then realized that i had only become raw as a way to (subconsciously) be able to refuse more food and/or control yet another aspect of my life (or try to...)
Is that how you became raw?
Now, i would like to be more raw (at least 75%) but im scared that i would be doing it for the wrong reasons again... any suggestions???
My Response - Thankyou for sharing so much about your recovery journey Melissa! I can totally see how raw would be an easy way to refuse more food and thus fall back into the anorexic cycle. I went vegan while I was in the midst of my disorder and while it was 100% motivated by my compassion for animals and NOT by a desire to turn down food, it did make it a heck of a lot easier! Thankfully, finding raw was like an awakening for me - I suddenly felt that I could connect myself back to nature, however, in nature I knew I would not feel the way I did as an anorexic. Suddenly, after 3 years, it was gone. By 'it' I mean that feeling of worthlessness that meant I had to starve myself in order to be anything special. I'm not saying I recovered overnight - it still took months and months before I let go of all the old obsessions, but the most important change in mindset was almost instantaneous. That is unfortunate in a way, because it means I can't really offer much to people like yourself in terms of a way to overcome those feelings, since mine kind of overcame themselves. All I can say is to keep working on it - wake up every day and tell yourself you ARE worth it, you CAN do it. And if you feel you can make it to 75% raw without becoming more ill again, do it - I promise you, after a few weeks you will feel like a new person!
If there is anything else you think I can offer to help with, please, just ask!
Thanks to everyone for your questions, if anyone has more don't hesitate to ask!
Have a smashing day!
posted by Freedom @ 11:22 am
11 Comments:
Wow, Freedom, that salad looks fantastic! And congradulations of staying 100% raw for a whole year. And congrats on recovering from your eating disorder! I have been struggling with an eating disorder myself for the past 3 years. At my lowest weight I was 87lbs (39.5kg) at 5'4". Although I have put some of the weight back on since then (now 103-105lbs (about47-48kgs)), I am constantly going back and forth between wanting to lose it again and wanting to get healthy and be normal, and I have yet to get my period back. And I am scared to death to tell my parents the truth. Have you ever confronted your parents about your disorder, or did you just handle it on your own like I have been trying to do? I really would like to just get healthy again, but I can't let go of my fear of putting on more weight.
What a fantastic post. It was wonderful to learn more about you. You're very lucky to have such a happy, stablw home life and such "with-it" parents. When I read your blog, I always feel a bit more health conscious.
Honestly, I could never go 100% raw, but I do eat about 30-40% raw on a good day, mostly in the forms of fruits and salads. I did buy a mandoline and spiral slicer which has made my life so much fun. Here are some raw dishes I made recently:
http://urbanvegan.blogspot.com/2007/07/raw-pasta.html
http://urbanvegan.blogspot.com/2007/06/raw-foods-50.html (You would like this book)
Thank you for sharing, Freedom! Coincidentally, my camera just had battery issues (had to send it in to get fixed), and I just had a dandelion salad. Do you find that the baby dandelion greens don't taste as strongly bitter like the big leaves do? I do, but I don't know if it's "just me", or not.
thank you for your response...in my case i think i was best to wait until i got better before going raw since back then, i couldnt tell if i was going raw for health reasons or if it was my eating disorders making a decision for me...your blog is FANTASTIC! keep it up!
Cherry - honestly, you just have to kinda throw yourself into "normal eating" no matter how scary it is, if you cant stop counting your calories and being obsessed with what you eat, then get help from a treatment centre. I weighed 80lbs at 5'8 for almost a year, and ive been slowly gaining but it's been so hard and the hardest is realizing that because of these disorders, ill never be able to have kids and i now have heart problems etc. once u put on the weight it wont be as scary, the scary part is accually eating and "letting go"; just eating until ur full (wich was really hard for me because i was also bulimic)dont be afraid to ask for help, you'll thank yourself later! good luck!
Hi!
As always a great entry.
I appreciated your honesty about your eating disorder and your relationship with food and going raw.
I wrote an entry just a couple of weeks ago on my blog and anorexia
www.avocadogirl.wordpress.com
I would appreciate your views on this matter as i feel Raw is a way forward in educating people with disorders about food, rather than focussing on bulking out the calories.
You really are a star.
love, love
emxxx
I love your blog. I have been thinking about going raw, but do not know where to start. If you have any suggestion it would be of great help. What do it eat beside fruits and veggies...please help me understand so I can make this a new part of my life. Thank you.
I'd like some advice please. I'm already vegan and trying to transition into more raw foods. I like most fruits (except melons), many veggies, and I love apples, bananas, and avocados. I'm in the US, so some things like durians aren't available to me. I'm also trying to lose weight. Can you recommend a good starter un-cookbook? I have a food processor and blender, but no dehydrator. Also, I don't really like soups and smoothies. What good things can you recommend?
Sorry to everyone that it has taken me so long to get back to you on here!
Cherry - Thankyou, thankyou and thankyou. That's great that you have put weight on, I just weighed myself recently to find that I have gained another 2.5kg, now up to about 38.5 (from my lowest at 31!)
As I think I've mentioned before, I almost overcame the mental side of my disorder overnight - it was truly amazing and I feel so fortunate that it happened that way. Unfortunately, it means I don't know what to say to help you. My parents didn't find out until about 4 months after i went raw and was really over my disorder - now we are very open about it, but I effectively came through it alone. I don't know your parents so my best advice is to do what feels right. But support is always good. I used to feel exactly like you do, torn between wanting to put on weight but still be thin and 'special.' Just keep thinking positive and remember to look around you at the amazing world - I learned the other day that anorexia kills more people than any other mental illness. That thought really bought home the seriousness of the illness I had, and so many people (including you) have, and made me so happy that I am over it now. The world is a beautiful place!
Hugs,
Freedom
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