Keep it simple

Most of us were raised eating complete meals. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks were the little things like fruit, nuts, chips, that we ate in between or if a meal was late. As recently as three years ago, I insisted that I was a "meal person", and couldn't feel satisfied by grazing. I always marveled at the people I met at festivals and camping trips who could eat trail mix and celery all day and not feel the need to sit down and have a big burrito for dinner like I did. I weighed 40 lbs. more then, and those people were always at a perfect weight.

New Years Day brunch I shared with a friend

Like many of you, I tried dieting to lose weight, many times. What always killed it was the hunger and anxiety of feeling like I was starving myself. I tried my first diet at age 12 when my mother told me I was fat. Now, I wasn't fat by any standards but her own, and she was anorexic. But I decided she must be right because she was my mom, so I decided I was only going to eat salad until I got thin. This lasted one day, until we got to my grandma's house and we had spaghetti for dinner. I couldn't resist that urge to fill myself, perhaps learned from my father's binge eating and insistence that we eat everything on our plates whether we wanted it or not. Imagine the confusion of these unhealthy messages about food: "you're fat, don't eat so much", and "eat everything on your plate, we paid good money for it". No wonder I ended up with an eating disorder in college and to this day worry about my weight every single day.

Going raw helped me to heal those negative messages about eating. After trying a low-carb diet once and losing enough weight that I actually didn't feel right (125 lbs is not a healthy weight for me at 5'8" and a strong, well-muscled build), I learned that many people reach their ideal weight on a raw diet because they are finally eating food the way nature intended it. My first month on 100% raw, I felt the need to eat constantly, but because I was eating only nuts, fruit and vegetables, there was no reason why I had to limit myself. I discovered that the myths about fat were untrue, that I could eat cashew butter and avocados every day and still lose weight, and that it was the bread, pasta and starchy potatoes that made it so hard to lose weight in the past. Also, my metabolism has always been somewhat slow, and eating those large meals with long periods of inactivity afterward made it even slower. Letting myself eat whenever I was hungry, but only eating what I needed to feel satisfied, not only felt right but caused me to lose 20 lbs. in 5 weeks. I adopted a practice of having a conversation with my cravings, asking them what they really wanted. Was it comfort? Hunger for a memory, nostalgia of something I used to eat as a child? Or did I need protein? Listening carefully and answered only to the cravings for true nourishment totally transformed the way I feed myself. No longer did I need to sit down and have a large meal to feel satisfied. I felt amazing and so grateful for everything the earth provided for me to nourish my cells and help me do the work I've come here to do.

Some days I feel like snacking all day. I notice that this corresponds with the times when I have nervous energy and don't feel like I'm accomplishing much. I literally distract myself by making another snack. Other days, I don't think about eating until I feel a true need for it, and then it doesn't take much more than a piece of fruit or a smoothie to satisfy that need. I have let go of the "shoulds" of eating and just respond to what IS. The only time I start craving something like a full meal is when I've let myself overeat or eat something that has upset my blood sugar. It took me over three years to fine-tune my body and mind this way, but it has been worth the wait. I have a lot more energy available for other things now that feeding myself is simple. It's very inexpensive, too.

If you wish to include fish in your raw diet, try making ceviche.

A raw and living foods diet is a commitment to a complete lifestyle overhaul. However, you can begin with making a smaller commitment to simply detoxing and getting in touch with your body's true nutritional needs. Even if you don't stay raw through the winter or year-round, you will have addressed the root causes of eating disorders, dysfunctional ideas about food, and discovered which foods give you more or less energy. I highly encourage anyone to at least give it a try and see what changes. I had to gently remind myself during the first few weeks that cheesecake wasn't going to vanish from planet earth just because I wasn't going to eat it for a few months. After I had established a new diet plan for myself, I was able to safely sample favorite foods in very small amounts, which actually gave me a much deeper appreciation for the artful, sensory experiences that food can provide. It also taught me how to make a scrumptious cheesecake out of fruit and nuts that is every bit as delicious as the cheese and egg concoction that did nothing good for my body. I am not missing out on anything. My life is rich and exciting and vibrant. Macaroni and cheese is a very strange substance once you avoid it for a few years and learn to eat what makes you thrive instead of what slows you down and dulls you.

Please do contact me if you would like more information about my raw coaching services. I have several options depending on how far you wish to go and how much you want to participate in creating a new life for yourself. I also offer catering services including consulting for chefs who wish to add gourmet raw items to their menu. This is a great time of year to go raw, for life.