The Raw Bombshell

Snack Attack Machines

Ok, I'm on a rant today! 

I took the children swimming, a lovely healthy experience I'm sure you'd agree.  An activity that builds up an appetite and makes you somewhat hungry.  Now not being prepared, (tut tut! hey? - the amount I go on about being prepared to everyone else, its kind of ironic) I had the kids nipping round my ankles with their cute little faces proclaiming great starvation. 

My protest of I have nothing to eat fell on deaf ears as there loomed the great big snack machines. This is were I get so annoyed.  Obviously, it takes a hard woman to resist their childrens pleas and I'm not that hard! So out comes my purse and we go to get a snack but what I want to know is why oh why do they not have anything healthy in these machines?  There they are in a HEALTH PLACE filled with chocolates and crisps.  It drives me mad.  Surely to goodness there has to be some power to be that gets the stupidity of junk food in a fitness centre?  It really cannot take a lot of brain power to work out that crisps and chocolate are not the best choice for promoting health?  What with an obesity crisis looming and government encouraging everyone to get healthy - huh?  It's kinda a mixed message that gets sent out, would you not agree.

And I'm afraid to say, I bought the kids a bag of crisps. Shame on me, I know.  And this is when I get angry as I've bought into pester power that's encouraged by the great multinational food corporations.  If I can succumb really how is anyone meant to succeed on a quest for great health?  I have knowledge and willpower to stop me from eating junk but that takes alot of work. 

Note to self - take fruit for kids next time we're swimming! 

What Support?

Have you ever noticed when you embark down a road that has forked off from everyone else you can suddenly look up and feel very very lonely?  There you stand with no one around to cheer you along and you at once feel lost?  Has this feeling ever happened to you whilst embarking along your raw food journey?

When a decision has been made to take control of your health and change your current way of eating, it sounds, at first, such a simple thing to do.  Hey, its only food we're talking about!  But along the way something happens.  People feel they are allowed in to mock your good intentions, to laugh at the way you eat, to discredit your strides forward and it's at times like this when you look up and realise you're not walking the same path as your friends.  This often becomes a struggle in your head about what to do. Do you stay true to your hearts desire of change or do you give up and carry along with your friends? 

I've walked the alternative path all my adult life and it can often be a struggle having to constantly be put into a postion of defending my reasoning why I live my life - from years of vegetarianism, to punk rock, to environmentalism, to sub-culture, to protesting, to attachment parenting, to raw food.  Always along the path I choose to walk I have had to encounter people ready to attack my views.  At first I always jumped up and got very defensive and tried to make people see my point of view, to agree with me and to convert people to my way of thinking.  Now, as I'm older and wiser I realise the futility in such a response.  I now listen to a point of view and will only talk about my point if I feel it's to someone truely interested in what I have to say.  I believe in actions speak louder than words and I'm now in a place where I can attract people that have their ears, eyes and hearts open to change and are willing to accept the alternative, which in this case, is an alternative to health; eating raw food gives you exceptional health.  

If this means walking a separate path to my friends so be it but the amazing thing about paths is that they always cross!  And I've found it often doesn't matter that my food choices are different to my friends, I'm not on a mission to convert them.  And as our paths often cross I find I can enjoy their company by just being me.  But when I'm on the raw food path I then find it invaluable to go and seek some new friends and confidantes that hold my hand along this journey and it's on those occasions I'm truely grateful for the raw food community that has sprung up around the world.  And now I find myself in that position of offering back the support, of helping others along find their path. 

So where are you on your raw food journey?  Are you at ease with the transition from cooked to raw? Have you put your hand out to reach for support and encouragement whilst you change your lifestyle? One thing, I have to say,whatever you do make sure you do it with fun and happiness.

Nuts, nuts, nuts

Last night, on a group coaching call I'm involved with, the subject of nuts came up and specifically how people are drawn to them.  It appears that the majority of people, myself included are at the moment eating what we feel are too many.  Now the main observation that came about is that nuts are being eaten as we are after that dense, heavy feel that is not there in greens, fruits and vegetables.  It's that transition as we move away from the cooked foods and into the raw foods; the requirement for something a little more substanial as that is what we are used to on a standard cooked diet.  I'm completely with this philosophy as I've fed people new to raw the heavier raw gourmet foods and they have expressed that it feels like the 'missing link' for want of a better expression! 

Then of course, we have the clinging onto nuts and stuffing them into our faces as we need to slow down the detox bought about by eating purer foods.  This is a valid reason, as the emotions detoxed when we eat are a surprising side effect to the physical detox symptoms we are expecting.  Having to face your emotions in a raw state is at times a challenge and the easiest way to deal with them is to attempt to stuff them back down by reaching for the denser foods ie nuts. 

So nuts get a bad name in the raw world as much as in the cooked world who tell us not to eat too many nuts as they are fattening.  Poor old nuts!  If only they weren't so damn tasty....

However, there is something not congruent within me at the moment with these philosophy's as to why I'm eating more nuts than normal.  I'm a great believer in inuitive eating and as I've embarked on a raw journey it's become easier to take note of my eating habits. My body has always naturally craved greens, something for which I'm thankful for, but that green smoothie breakfast is just not doing it for me at the moment.  Whereas, the nut mylk porridge with fruit is heaven sent.  This is what my body is telling me to have.  Now to me, its no coincidence that here in the UK, its pretty cold, dark and miserable out there and my body is wanting denser foods.  To me, this is my body's way of fueling itself for the long winter ahead.  Even in the cooked world, winter is a time for denser foods in the UK, so it's no surprise to me then that my body is wanting to do the same even though I'm eating raw.  The big question though is, do I fight this urge and ignore my bodies plea for a denser start to the day and keep up the green smoothies or just go with the flow?  Its's a tough call but I will keep a note of the amount of nuts I'm eating and see if I'm really being excessive with them.