I recently received this letter from Mindy of Los Angeles.
Her story mirrors mine in many ways -
the constant feelings of hunger and the deep sugar cravings,
the highly-absorbed dogmas of veganism and raw,
and the strength to leave a few "...'s" at the end of her
story to make it known that this is an ongoing experiment,
and to not let her mind and heart become too rigid.
Here is what she had to say.
Ah yes, I just tried your suggestions out this weekend- wow, the dulse, avo and raw egg yolk was amazing, so rich and soul-satisfying. And kefir, very nice with blackberries and raspberries- i didn't even need to add honey, or other sugar/sweetener. At first before trying, I'd been cautious, almost scared I might have a bad reaction and my body would reject it. I remember distinctly these thoughts, "Mucus!! Acid-forming!! Milk is for baby cows, it's completely unnatural! It ferments and putrefies and decomposes in your body! You'll smell foul!" But no, I felt fine, actually a lot more grounded than ever, and realized I'd been letting strong vegan dogma and propaganda prevent me from achieving fine health. I won't discredit veganism because I do consider it a great cleansing regimen, which I greatly benefited from. But, as a raw vegan, I'd turned to way too much sugar for much of my energy needs, and that ultimately backfired on me. I was way too spacey, constantly thirsty, had excessive urination (probably because my body was trying to eliminate the excess sugars flowing through my bloodstream.) At that point, I was scared it might be a symptom of diabetes, because never-ending thirst is one of the main indicators.
well I've been reading up on the subject for a bit, and some of it came from readings of weston price. I too agree it's odd there has not been a single civilization that has thrived on veganism/ vegetarianism.
For the longest time, I refused to take in any dairy products because I would be reminded of the negative images of factory farming, and the horrific abuses inflicted onto chickens, pigs, cows etc. Not only that, but there are the environmental concerns of the hormones and chemicals fed to these animals that leach into our water/food supply through their waste, which is most likely not properly utilized through organic biodynamic farming.
I've come to see that there ARE small, local organic farms out there doing the right thing, raising these animals the natural way that is beneficial to their health, our's, and especially, that of the earth. Raising animals humanely CAN be done, as I've seen. I just hate that Gov. Schwarzenneger has banned raw milk here in California. **Is this true??**
It's too dichotomous to advocate complete veganism nor all-out meat-eating. I don't think it should be an either-or situation, because each individual's bodies reacts differently to any diet.
I'm interested on what you've had to say on eating for your ancestral background. Being of Korean descent, I'm well-aware that it wasn't feasible for my ancestors to be eating fresh fruit and vegetables throughout the year- that's why we fermented our surplus cabbage and made kimchi, so we could eat through the winter! Would you have any knowledge or info/ links on this subject? I'd love to know the protein/carb/fat ratios of different populations.
Erewhon.. I remember the first time I went, I was still a SAD eater. I got apple chips! Haha, little did I know it would be my raw-vegan haven several years later.. Man, that place is magical, I could easily spend over an hour or two just checking out their whole selection of goodies
That baby-sardine bit was interesting, thanks for putting that on the radar!
I just have one issue though. Ever since I got into raw, I've never been able to feel fulfilled. Raw dogma teaches you that all raw food is good, anything else is BAD. so i came to gorge on raw food all the time, because it's "good" and thus there was no limit on it. Now i have the problem of never knowing what is a good-size portion. Raw has kind of messed me up in terms of eating enough or too much. Any way to get back? I'm hoping more exercise will help regulate my eating patterns, so I can let my body naturally dictate when I should eat and so on.
Lots of love and positive vibrations to you Anthony!
-Mindy
I always found exercise to take my appetite away somehow.
An early morning workout would leave me satisfied
with just a simple liter of lemon water,
only becoming hungry later on.
As for the ancestral diet, I know Dr Hal Huggins works on
this, and as long as we head towards low sugar,
things will definitely look up.
No one in nature is eating all that fruit. NO ONE.
Fruit is WAY overpreached in our circles (IMO).
SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR. Too much...sorry.
My mind is so much steadier now that I eat the way I do.
Sure...there are losses with a fattier diet (that Ive noticed).
I sleep longer. I miss waking up totally alert after 4-5 hours.
But now, my mind rarely thinks about my next meal,
and I can simply eat to live, instead of living to eat.
Around 2 years into raw, I was still constantly
doing the roller-coaster of purity and binging.
This was a really bad cycle that gave me low self-esteem
and messed with my career and social life.
Im not saying that eating butter or cream or yolks
will fix your cravings or alleviate the feelings of hunger,
but they have really seemed to work for me.
Long term...who knows? I like the results of the people
studied by Weston Price, but those lucky souls also
had clean air, a strongly-knit community, and many other
life-giving attributes.
I dont ASSume that I have it all figured out.
Ive been at this for over 5 years now, so I am still a young pup.
I feel though as if Im getting closer to what works,
but things can (and always do) change.
The only thing I will recommend is to expose yourself to all
sorts of ideas, because when I buried myself in raw vegan books
and movies, it was obviously a narrow (VERY NARROW) viewpoint.
Eat what you want, and chances are you wont have the same
eating style in 5 years anyways, so don't take it as if
this is the final step that you need to take.
Try your best to see it as a never-ending journey.
Keep the student mentality, and you will always continue to learn more.
I want to add in more green juice again and take out even more sugar,
but this will all happen when its supposed to.
Im not dumpster-diving my leafy greens like I was from 2004-08'
so Im not juicing $20 worth of leafy greens like before.
Happy days...64 oz of green juice a day! Missing that :(
Her story mirrors mine in many ways -
the constant feelings of hunger and the deep sugar cravings,
the highly-absorbed dogmas of veganism and raw,
and the strength to leave a few "...'s" at the end of her
story to make it known that this is an ongoing experiment,
and to not let her mind and heart become too rigid.
Here is what she had to say.
Ah yes, I just tried your suggestions out this weekend- wow, the dulse, avo and raw egg yolk was amazing, so rich and soul-satisfying. And kefir, very nice with blackberries and raspberries- i didn't even need to add honey, or other sugar/sweetener. At first before trying, I'd been cautious, almost scared I might have a bad reaction and my body would reject it. I remember distinctly these thoughts, "Mucus!! Acid-forming!! Milk is for baby cows, it's completely unnatural! It ferments and putrefies and decomposes in your body! You'll smell foul!" But no, I felt fine, actually a lot more grounded than ever, and realized I'd been letting strong vegan dogma and propaganda prevent me from achieving fine health. I won't discredit veganism because I do consider it a great cleansing regimen, which I greatly benefited from. But, as a raw vegan, I'd turned to way too much sugar for much of my energy needs, and that ultimately backfired on me. I was way too spacey, constantly thirsty, had excessive urination (probably because my body was trying to eliminate the excess sugars flowing through my bloodstream.) At that point, I was scared it might be a symptom of diabetes, because never-ending thirst is one of the main indicators.
well I've been reading up on the subject for a bit, and some of it came from readings of weston price. I too agree it's odd there has not been a single civilization that has thrived on veganism/ vegetarianism.
For the longest time, I refused to take in any dairy products because I would be reminded of the negative images of factory farming, and the horrific abuses inflicted onto chickens, pigs, cows etc. Not only that, but there are the environmental concerns of the hormones and chemicals fed to these animals that leach into our water/food supply through their waste, which is most likely not properly utilized through organic biodynamic farming.
I've come to see that there ARE small, local organic farms out there doing the right thing, raising these animals the natural way that is beneficial to their health, our's, and especially, that of the earth. Raising animals humanely CAN be done, as I've seen. I just hate that Gov. Schwarzenneger has banned raw milk here in California. **Is this true??**
It's too dichotomous to advocate complete veganism nor all-out meat-eating. I don't think it should be an either-or situation, because each individual's bodies reacts differently to any diet.
I'm interested on what you've had to say on eating for your ancestral background. Being of Korean descent, I'm well-aware that it wasn't feasible for my ancestors to be eating fresh fruit and vegetables throughout the year- that's why we fermented our surplus cabbage and made kimchi, so we could eat through the winter! Would you have any knowledge or info/ links on this subject? I'd love to know the protein/carb/fat ratios of different populations.
Erewhon.. I remember the first time I went, I was still a SAD eater. I got apple chips! Haha, little did I know it would be my raw-vegan haven several years later.. Man, that place is magical, I could easily spend over an hour or two just checking out their whole selection of goodies
That baby-sardine bit was interesting, thanks for putting that on the radar!
I just have one issue though. Ever since I got into raw, I've never been able to feel fulfilled. Raw dogma teaches you that all raw food is good, anything else is BAD. so i came to gorge on raw food all the time, because it's "good" and thus there was no limit on it. Now i have the problem of never knowing what is a good-size portion. Raw has kind of messed me up in terms of eating enough or too much. Any way to get back? I'm hoping more exercise will help regulate my eating patterns, so I can let my body naturally dictate when I should eat and so on.
Lots of love and positive vibrations to you Anthony!
-Mindy
I always found exercise to take my appetite away somehow.
An early morning workout would leave me satisfied
with just a simple liter of lemon water,
only becoming hungry later on.
As for the ancestral diet, I know Dr Hal Huggins works on
this, and as long as we head towards low sugar,
things will definitely look up.
No one in nature is eating all that fruit. NO ONE.
Fruit is WAY overpreached in our circles (IMO).
SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR. Too much...sorry.
My mind is so much steadier now that I eat the way I do.
Sure...there are losses with a fattier diet (that Ive noticed).
I sleep longer. I miss waking up totally alert after 4-5 hours.
But now, my mind rarely thinks about my next meal,
and I can simply eat to live, instead of living to eat.
Around 2 years into raw, I was still constantly
doing the roller-coaster of purity and binging.
This was a really bad cycle that gave me low self-esteem
and messed with my career and social life.
Im not saying that eating butter or cream or yolks
will fix your cravings or alleviate the feelings of hunger,
but they have really seemed to work for me.
Long term...who knows? I like the results of the people
studied by Weston Price, but those lucky souls also
had clean air, a strongly-knit community, and many other
life-giving attributes.
I dont ASSume that I have it all figured out.
Ive been at this for over 5 years now, so I am still a young pup.
I feel though as if Im getting closer to what works,
but things can (and always do) change.
The only thing I will recommend is to expose yourself to all
sorts of ideas, because when I buried myself in raw vegan books
and movies, it was obviously a narrow (VERY NARROW) viewpoint.
Eat what you want, and chances are you wont have the same
eating style in 5 years anyways, so don't take it as if
this is the final step that you need to take.
Try your best to see it as a never-ending journey.
Keep the student mentality, and you will always continue to learn more.
I want to add in more green juice again and take out even more sugar,
but this will all happen when its supposed to.
Im not dumpster-diving my leafy greens like I was from 2004-08'
so Im not juicing $20 worth of leafy greens like before.
Happy days...64 oz of green juice a day! Missing that :(
