This interview is with SmilingRawDancer on December 20th, 2007. I know her from rawfoodtalk. She was kind enough to be my first interview! Thanks!

Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I’m a college student in California. Pre-raw I craved all foods, all the time. Despite the fact that to others I was a "healthy eater," I was overloading on Splenda, low-carb candy, powdered milk, fat-free egg replacers and non-nutritious items. I rarely ate vegetables except iceberg lettuce, and was well on my way to being an obese health food eater. As I became raw, I learned more and more about vegetables, preparation, how to cut various items, and realized how little real food I ate pre-raw. Now people in the grocery store talk to me ALL THE TIME, and ask me questions about the huge amounts of bananas and Thai coconuts I buy.

Are you male or female?
Female

What is your age?
19

How long have you been eating RAW?
Since early summer, 2006.

How did you learn about RAW?
I happened across it while desperate to find some truth about health. It was God’s gift to me.

What does eating RAW to you mean?
It means everything. It means eating REAL food, avoiding illness, being a good example to others, and saving animals and the environment.

Why did you choose to eat RAW and why do you continue to do so?
It just made sense, and the food is SO yummy…I don’t think I could stop if I wanted to!

How did you transition from SAD to RAW?
Cold turkey. I just made the decision, went out and bought some romaine, mushrooms, tomatoes, apples, bananas, ACV and walnuts…the rest is history.

Are you a vegetarian or vegan? Why? How does that effect your RAW lifestyle?
I’m a Vegan, I found that Alissa’s method made the MOST sense. There are just so many nasties involved in raw dairy. Cows milk is meant for cow babies. It doesn’t affect my raw lifestyle, really, except that I don’t eat dairy or anything that comes from an animal.

What benefits have you personally noticed from eating RAW?
Initially I lost about 20 pounds, but since then I’ve had the stamina to run, bike…live my life. I don’t get sick often, I don’t take antacids or Ibprofrin, I no longer have severe toe infections, and my eyesight has gotten a bit better too.

What is your favorite RAW food or recipe?
I LOVE young coconuts, so anything involving those. Raw desserts are just awesome.

What advice do you have for others looking into eating RAW?
Just do it. It’s not hard. Just shop at the produce department, buy frozen fruit, and begin researching…don’t view it as an ALL OR NOTHING situation. Sometimes you have to ease into something as you acquire more knowledge about it.

Is there anything else you would like our readers to know about eating RAW?
It really is easy. People like to make things complicated, but picking up an apple, or making banana ice cream is simple, and inexpensive. And you DON’T have to eat organic to be raw, do what you can.

Do you have a blog or website you would like to share?
I have a raw twitter, www.twitter.com/missraw

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Going Vegan and Raw seemed to be too much for me, so I am going vegetarian and only eating raw dairy. So, if I eat out, I guess I’ll be eating Vegan, b/c I will not eat dairy from any dairy factory farm. Awful! I will only be eating raw milk, cheese and cream from farms I know. This will take more work, but it’s worth it to me. I will write another post on this soon. That is why this is a journey. I have to find what’s right for me.

I Am What I Eat:

-Green Smoothie with an orange, clementine, banana, spinach and carrots!

-An o. red apple

-A bowl of sprouted sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, cut up tomato, cut up avocado and topped with Bragg’s dressing

-A bowl of sprouted sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, fenugreek sprouts,cut up tomato and Bragg’s dressing to top it off

-Cut up o. apple, slices of raw cheese (had this snack twice today).

-Raw Crackers, apple cinnamon from Kathy’s Krakers in Utah

-Dried o. mangoes

-Synergy Kombucha

I felt great all day and having the apple/cheese snacks and seed snacks helped a lot with hunger.

Did I Exercise Today?

No. OK, I decided to walk outside in the mornings and the weather decides to finally get cold. I have to figure this out! Maybe yoga from home for now? Help!

Overall and Tomorrow’s Goals:

I feel great. I like how I’m eating. I’m proud of myself for being flexible. Instead of thinking "oh, now that I want cheese, so I should throw it all out the window", I am accepting what I am feeling. I’m making good food choices and allowing myself to enjoy those good foods. I just need to keep up what I’m already doing and get some exercise!

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When I stared this process a few weeks ago, I went from making better choices again, to vegetarian, then vegan and now am thinking about raw foods. I think raw foodists are amazing. It is such a simple way to eat and live. It’s just a matter of undoing the way we have become accustomed to cooking our food. It just takes knowing how to prepare foods differently and having some helpful tools in the kitchen. This is one of the main things that has been swirling around in my brain the last few days. What I have decided is that I am not ready or wanting to go 100% raw. However, I do want to incorporate more raw foods into my diet. I have found some great raw food websites and forums. (I’ll add links on our home page.) By diving into their way of life, I am learning how to eat fruits, veggies, sprouts, etc in a new way.

I have to say that I feel empowered. If we just take that chance to try something new, against the norm or that we are afraid of, we will reap the benefits. If you are thinking, that’s not for me, I will crave or miss this food, but my family won’t eat like this with me…don’t let it stop you. You deserve to be happy, to have an abundance of energy and to feel good. Take that step and let everything else fall into place. You can make the decision, then find ways to deal with things as they come up. If you "slip up", don’t use that as an excuse to give up or binge. So what!!! Move on!!! I know that since deciding to make this change, my taste buds are jumping with joy. Now that I am staying away from processed and fake ingredients, I am enjoying the real taste of real food! I feel like I have double the energy even though I am still being woken up throughout the night by 3 small children. I can feel my body changing. My bowels are more regular ( I know…too much info, but important!) and my organs are most likely functioning better.

See, we all have to do what works for us. We all have different likes and dislikes, lifestyles, values, backgrounds and families! With food though, there are things that we should just simply avoid and other things that are great for us. That is one of the main reasons we are doing this website. To bring information, but keep an open mind to the diversity we enjoy as a human race. Things are not black and white, there is a big area of gray. It is my goal to embrace and support one another towards happiness and health, whatever that entails for each of you.

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Also, I realized that while my children can be vegan at home, when we are out I may be a little more relaxed and let them eat a vegetarian diet. No meat still, but won’t panic if they have a little bite or serving of let’s say a Coconut Cake from The Dish (a joint I love here). I might be slightly jealous, but hey, that’s OK. My family was wonderful in supporting my food choices right now and I appreciate them very much.

Now, moving on to Monday night, my sister wanted me to meet up w/her for dessert. Great. Well, I told her the dessert was all her because I’m not eating it. No problem. We get there and I order a vegetarian soup. I’m doing awesome! Then, my daughter gets a chocolate chip Heath crunch cookie. It was HUGE. Am I eating any? NO! At least that’s what I’m telling myself as I put it in my mouth and chew while thinking, "Oh, this is so good".

I was wondering after I had a few bits why I ate it. It obviously has milk, butter and eggs in it. I do not want to eat those right now, so why did I? It’s totally fine to have treats when losing weight (I did last time I had a large weight loss), but this wouldn’t have been a treat I would have picked. I’m trying to say it wasn’t a premeditated treat, but more of a heat of the moment treat. As I pondered it, I decided it was to test boundaries. I think I needed to see how I felt emotionally and physically after eating it.

Do you want to know? I did not feel good. First of all I started feeling mucousy and gross, and I wished I hadn’t eaten the dairy. I’m not against dairy and you don’t have to stop eating it to lose weight. I just personally am experimenting with not eating it right now. I like to explore with food and different ways of eating to keep things interesting on my weight loss journey’s. For me, if I were to eat dairy again, I only want it from farms I know, where the milk and cheese is raw, and when I can make butter from raw cream (this is a whole other post by the way). So, I tested that boundary and now I know I don’t want to do it again. Man, it’s like I’m a 2 year old testing my limits!

I think for now I just need to eat at home as much as possible. The food we make is so delicious and we save money! It really is better!

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I Am What I Eat:

Today was a snacking kind of day.

-Breakfast was an o. orange and o. clementine, H2O

-Snacked on: shelled edamame beans, 1/2 tortilla, 1/2 o. apple, few bites of apple sauce, o. air-popped popcorn with o. coconut oil and sea salt.

-Synergy Kombucha

-Dinner was a yummy tofu dish. I used tempeh, which I have never had before. I stir fried garlic cloves, onion, and tempeh in o. soy sauce and o. coconut oil, then added o. carrots and o. bok choy and a homemade sauce. The sauce was o. soy sauce, o. toasted sesame oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, and Chinese five spice. All served over steamed brown rice. YUMMY!

Did I Exercise?

Nope. It rained all day. Bummer.

Overall and Tomorrow’s Goals.

I feel fabuloso and I am going to eat great tomorrow and rest because it is the Sabbath!

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Anywho, here it is:

-Organic carrots, loose-3
-Organic bok choy
-2 bunches bananas
-A box of organic clementines
-Organic celery-1 bunch
-5 organic red potatoes
-1 bunch organic radish
-10 organic red apples
-5 organic green apples
-Organic whole wheat tortillas (Whole Foods brand)
-Organic banana chips
-2 lbs. organic popcorn kernels
-4 lbs. organic brown rice
-A mozzarella vegan cheese*
-Silk Soy plain soy milk
-2 Silk Soy vanilla soy milk
-A Mango Synergy Kombucha
-2 Strawberry Synergy Kombuchas
-3 Organic extra firm tofu (Whole Foods brand)
-6 bags Whole Foods frozen edamame (shelled and unshelled)
-A bag of organic frozen spinach leaves
-A bag of super sweet organic corn (My oldest is currently using it as an icepack)
-A box of Amy’s California veggie burgers
-2 cans organic black beans
-2 can organic kidney beans
-2 cans organic pinto beans
-1 large organic Tamari wheat free soy sauce
-A big bag of shelled peanuts
-1 bag pita chips, sea salt
-A jar of organic extra virgin coconut oil
-1 water

The total bill was $118.86. We’ll probably spend another $20 this week for fruit and a few other things. Not bad for mostly organic. The most expensive was the coconut oil and the packaged foods like the veggie burgers. Everything else was cheap. We have enough rice and soy milk, coconut oil, popcorn, etc. for 2 weeks, so we won’t need those next week! It’ll be something else though!

The Mozzarella Vegan Cheese

OK, I don’t like it, but my daughter was so happy to have home made pizza today (tortilla with marinara sauce and cheese). I don’t think it’s worth it, but for her I will probably get it once in a while. It didn’t melt well, but she didn’t seem to mind!

I want to learn how to cook for from scratch and start growing some things in a little kitchen garden. This should save us money and we’ll know exactly what we are eating!

Happy Shopping!

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What did I eat today? Well last night I went to the store to get some fresh produce and rice and a few other things. While I was there I took my time looking through what I call the "tofu section" of Whole Foods. I wanted to see what products were available and if they were vegetarian or truly vegan. It was nice to take the time as I only had the baby with me. Anyways, I got our normal organic tofu (the Whole Foods brand) and decided to finally try tempeh. I have no idea what I’m doing, but isn’t that the fun in it? I also did give into some Vegan chocolate chip cookies. I don’t want to stock up on and indulge in what I have seen referred to as "vegan junk food", but I think it will be nice to have one little treat in the house at a time.

I am what I eat:

-An organic banana and an organic orange (foods with peels I’m not as concerned about organic if I can’t afford them, but they were priced well last night)

-About 45 minutes later I was still hungry so I ate 2 slices of Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin bread with organic roasted (won’t get roasted again, but I’m going to use it up) peanut butter.

-I drank a lot of water this morning. I need to drink a lot in the AM, b/c I love to sip on iced teas and Kombucha. I will tend to do that and have no water. Not good.

-Decaf Green Tea

-Lunch was an Amy’s California Veggieburger cut up and dipped in organic ketchup and mustard. Organic edamame beans tossed in sea salt and cayenne pepper.

-A small bowl of air popped popcorn with a little organic extra virgin coconut oil and sea salt on top!

-4 vegan chocolate cookies. Hey, they were freakin’ good and the kids loved them too!

-An organic red delicious apple and a handful of organic baby carrots, water

-Dinner was simple pasta. An organic pasta sauce with added basil, oregano and sea salt. Served on white pasta. I know, I know. We are using it up before we buy the good stuff.

-Uugghhh…I got the munchies. So, I indulged in a (large) handful of organic Winne the Pooh cookies from Costco and dipped them in organic vanilla rice milk then ate some more air popped popcorn with 2 tbsp. of olive oil and sea salt

-Synergy Kombucha

Did I Exercise Today?

Yep. I walked a mile to the park with the babe in a sling and the toddlers in the jogger. Interesting, but I did it! Brandon picked us up b/c it got late.

Overall

I feel great about what I ate today. I can already in 2 days feel the difference w/no meat products. Less bloating and gas and a better mood. Pretty cool

Tomorrow’s Goals

Eat a better balanced dinner and afterwards have some green tea or Kombucha, then brush teeth. This should keep me from munching away on calories and food I do not need!

Also, take 5-10 minutes to myself to meditate.

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So, new Goals to add to my other goals.
No meat or diary, but a healthy vegan diet consisting of a lot of H2O, Kombucha, decaf green tea (brewed at home), organic fruits, veggies, lentils, grains and of course non-GMO soy! I will lose this 85 pounds and feel on top of the world.

What’s great about this book is they break down products they know don’t have any hidden crappy ingredients. Check out these awesome ladies here for more info on their book. I just have to give them a huge shout out (that sounds so old school) b/c they give info in such an "in your face" way that will have people reading info they may not have sought out before!

Thanks Ladies!
Your Fellow (soon to be Skinny) Bitch,
January

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Geez. Ok, I’m going to give a rundown of what I am and am not eating. I mean let’s get to the point, right? This is not a "diet", but it really is a lifestyle change. Does that sound cliche? It seems a lot of people are now saying that. It’s true though. When you are someone who overeats or eats crap b/c you can’t deal w/well, your crap, you can NOT diet! You really do have to make little changes for a lifetime. Diets come and go, but when you get obsessed with only wanting clean food in your body so you can be healthy, that’s when weight will come off and stay off!

Things I am eating right now:

-As much organic as possible

-Fresh fruits and veggies (veggies is always the hardest for me)

-Little meat and when I do eat it, I know where it came from and it better have been a happy cow or chicken!

-Rice…ok, I LOVE white rice, but I’m going to do the switch to brown. I guess stripped rice isn’t going to do me any good.

-Beans

-Other whole wheat grains like couscous

-Food For Life sprouted bread products

-Peanut and Almond Butters (not roasted, nothing roasted actually)

-Homemade Hummus (the pictures above)

-Olive oil

-Coconut Oil

-Spices of course

-The occasional treat…and I make it count. Get the best of whatever it is you are craving or want!

To Drink?

-Raw Kombucha

-Decaf Green Tea or other homemade herbal organic decaf teas

-H20

-Maybe the occasional homemade juice or one from the store

That’s it. No other "juices" or sodas. They are evil…diet or not!

What I’m cutting out:

-Sugar…damn that sucks

-White Foods

-Anything that would have any of the following in it: artificial or natural flavors, colorings, msg in any hidden form including yeast extract, aspartame, etc.

-Very little eating out and when I do it has to be at a place that I know what is in the food

Really, that sums it up

Examples of meals:

-Breakfast is fruit. A fruit smoothie or raw fruit. That is the best way for me to start the day. Healthy and easily digested.

-For a midmorning snack maybe a Food for Life english muffin with peanut butter?

-Lunch will be something probably with rice, b/c I just love rice right now. Yummy. Maybe plain with just soy sauce? Or how about some tuna salad with good whole wheat crackers. That’s good too! If you like salad, then a big salad would be good w/and Aunt Annie’s salad dressing and veggies! (but I just haven’t been in the mood lately).

-Afternoon snack around here would be fruit or air popped organic popcorn with olive oil and salt. The kids and I love it!

-Dinners might be like tonight. I had rice and black beans with 2 sunny side eggs on top, or chili, pasta, fried rice, homemade soup, sliced tofu "fried" up in olive oil and served w/rice. This is where I try to get my veggies.

-Throughout the day I’ll sip on one of the drinks I mentioned above!

You get the point, right? Now let’s see how I do cutting out that sugar I gave into way too much with those severe pregnancy cravings!

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