(all pics from chelle goes raw fb or instagram)

I learned about FarmerChelle when she started posting her “What I Ate Today” photo collages in the raw vegan facebook group where I go to for all my raw vegan inspiration these days: Vegan Fruitarians. (Make sure to read the pinned post if u join).

Her photos were so incredibly beautiful and artistic, I had to know more. I checked out her instagram and her fb page and learned I was looking at a very interesting person.

Blessed with an amazingly good artistic eye, she seemed to live on an idyllic farm in Australia with her many homeschooled kids, where they crafted, gardened, raised animals, baked pies and cookies, picked flowers, went on fun outings etc….then one day she went raw seemingly overnight and her insta was filled with beautiful fruit and raw creations. There’s a story there! She seemed to be picking tons of her own food from her own gardens…what a dream. I had to interview her.

I wondered why she had gone raw. It turns out she has healed type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, lost 88 pounds at the time I interviewed her, cured her anxiety, sleep apnea, hypothyrodism and a ton of other issues. On her FB page she writes:

Here is how it happened for me (over 17 months so far). I started with going vegetarian first and ate raw till 4 and my body felt much better… my next step was to ditch all the dairy. I noticed I felt so much better…. Then I went off all grains…this is when most of the pain left my body. I stayed raw till 4 though…Then around 9 months ago I went fully raw. This is when I felt AMAZING… like I cannot even put it into words but kinda like I was zoobing on some astro level, like I am untouchable from things cause happiness and energy are zoobing through my veins.

Check out her inspiring fb page with more tips from her journey at Chelle Goes Raw. And follow her awesome instagram too if so inclined at FarmerChelle.

Please enjoy:

10 Questions for Farmer Chelle

1. Could you please say a little about yourself to get us started whatever comes to mind is perfect.

I am a mum of 7. 6 living, one in heaven. 5 of our 6 children have fragile x syndrome 4 (all the boys are also autistic).

I have a wonderful hubby. We have been friends for 23 years, been together 21 years, still madly in love.

We live on a small farm in country Victoria, Australia. We came here to raise animals and to grow organic fruits and vegetables. I love swimming, crafting, sewing, and gardening.

2. When did you first move to the farm, and how did you decide to become a farmer? Was it a big change from your life before?

We moved to this farm in 2008. It was a massive change in lifestyle. We moved from the city with a shop 10 minutes walk up the road to the country where we have to drive an hour to do the groceries.

3. On your instagram there is a sudden shift when overnight it seems you went fruity! How did you find out about raw food and how did you decide to go raw vegan?

I belong to a group of online women. We have been together for over 15 years now from all over the world. We found each other through our shared views on parenting. Most of them are vegan or vegetarian.

I was having a lot of pain in my body and they had been saying for sometime that I should get off dairy. I decided to go vegetarian (I had been vegetarian years prior before I was married) but the pain did not decrease. So I finally went off dairy.

While searching online for different dairy free recipes and looking into why dairy is bad for the body I found people eating raw foods and having success in healing their bodies. So I started transitioning into more raw foods. I started losing weight (88 lbs so far) and the pain started leaving my body.

4. According to insta, you were paleo and low carb before. How do you feel on raw vegan versus paleo? What was your experience doing paleo?

I was low carb/paleo for a while. In the beginning I lost a bit of weight, but I was still in alot of pain. Being fruity is worlds apart in how I feel. I feel alive and so much less pain (not all my issues are fixed yet) but I have only been doing this for 15 months so my body needs time to heal. Everyday I wake up I feel happy and alive and full of energy. I am 48 but I feel 20 years younger.

5. You are a mom of 7. So cool. How did the rest of your family react to your going raw vegan? Were they accepting of you? Did any of them get interested in it too?

 

My family has not been as supportive as I would like. They are meat eaters. They raise what they eat. It’s not always easy being in amongst all that meat and other parts of farm life. I can not believe I used to eat that way, it just seems so foreign now. Small changes are happening, but I am not holding my breath. But you know sometimes it only takes 1 person to show you a different way, so who knows, right?

6. How amazing is it to be able to pick your own produce right out of the garden. Do you think it makes a big difference being able to pick your fruits and vegetables right off the vine? They probably taste so much better.

In my dreaming of coming to live here, I had this imagining of me being able to walk out into my yard with a basket and being able to pick what ever I wanted to eat. That dream is a reality now. It’s awesome and yes, the food is amazing, and knowing that I picked it minutes before eating is wonderful.

7. On your instagram bio, you mention you are a fan of unschooling and natural child birth? Me too. How were your experiences with those things? 

My oldest son went to school for a short time. I never wanted him to go, it broke my heart. I had never heard of homeschooling till I met this lady. She had 7 daughters and 1 son. I asked why they where not in school and she told me all about homeschooling.

I was sold right then and there. I took the teaching lessons that were required and I have never looked back. It’s been 24 yrs now.

Unschooling has developed more over the years. Before it was all text books and it needs to be like school but at home, but as time went on I realized that I needed to be more flexible to my children’s needs and help them follow their natural calling. I see myself as more of a facilitator than a teacher.

I had my first child at 18. I went into labor, went to the hospital and did what I was told. I felt through the whole experience that I was just a number, not a person who mattered. I ended up having/being given an epidural and forcep delivery. I never felt I needed either. I found out the doctor was going away on holidays and wanted me done with. My son was born with health issues that doctor kept bringing back to the possiblity being a forcep delivery.

Birthing is big business these days. Women are told what and how it will be. I feel like we women need to take back our bodies and rights and birth in a way that makes us comfortable and safe.

8. Your photos are incredibly beautiful. How do you make them look so beautiful and have you always been artistic?

I have always been artsy/crafty. I sew, paint, draw, take photos, decorate the house. I use vintique, frame magic and rhonna designs for photo editing.

9. How has going raw changed your life (if it has)?

It’s been an amazing change for me. Here are some of the things that have changed for me:

Obese. I have so far lost 40kilo (88lbs) over 12 months.

I had sleep apnea because of being so over weight that has totally GONE.

Fibromyalgia, loss of bladder control, sleep apnea, hand and arm numbness and tingling all GONE.

T2 Diabetes. My blood sugars were at 17(306). They should sit around 5(90). The meds where no longer working. They were going to put me on a pump. The diabetes is now in full remission. This morning my base bs were 4.7(85).

OsteoArthritis/Osteoporosis. I have Osteoporosis in mypelvis and cervical spine and spondylosis. I have had a lot of pain and issues with movement. Eating Raw Vegan and doing Yoga has taken away 80% of that pain.

Hypothyroidism. I have had thyroid issues for years. I had half of my thyroid removed in 2004. The hair on my legs did not grow but after 10 months eating raw vegan my hair started growing back, also on my eyebrows too.

Also from my thyroid issues, I had adrenal fatigue and I found it hard to lose weight. Eating Raw vegan has helped so much because I am nourishing my body with real food and not having to over work my body to digest all that meat so my body can heal itself.

I am a Fragile X Carrier which has a few issues with anxiety. I have noticed since being raw Vegan that a lot of the anxiety is GONE.

10. Do you have any tips, tricks, recommendations or encouragement for those wanting to try raw vegan?

Accept that you will trip up and eat things that you know are not optimal, but just keeping going back to Raw Vegan.

Plan out the week’s food and buy only what you need, so you do not have things in the house you don’t want to be eating. Find an online support group and ask all the questions you can.

Thank you so much FarmerChelle.

 

Hi guys,

Today I got a really nice comment from a commenter and since I ended up writing such a long response, I thought I would put it on the blog for all to see. A special Q and A edition. If you have any other questions, comment below and I will try to answer them for you. Thank you all for reading and commenting, I love hearing from you.

Hi again, first of all I would like to thank you for your inspirational and interesting blog! I really love reading your posts. Yes, you are probably right in that I do not eat enough fruit when I try to follow the Raw until 4 or 80/10/10diet because on most days I fall off the wagon. I would really love to be able to follow the diet because I love to eat raw fruit and veggies and I feel amazing when I do. My biggest cravings are bread and dairy… On most days I drink around 3 litres of water with a little lemon in which gives me a lot of energy. The sad thing is that I have some extra pounds that I would like to shed and I think about this a lot! Why do I obsess so much over my fuller figure and yet I can’t take the right course of action in terms of my diet, it’s such a mystery to me. I used to be a lot slimmer due to the fact that I restricted my calorie intake but over the years I have grown tired of always being hungry, always depriving myself and never being able to eat the same dinner as my husband. So I can really relate to your posts on your weight struggles, thanks again for sharing.

Hi Sofie,
Thank you for commenting. I am so glad you relate to my ramblings about weight loss. I think about it a lot too. It is such an important subject for some women who have struggled with their weight. It takes up so much energy trying to solve the riddle of how to lose weight. I have hired this really amazing health coach who is helping me with my desire to lose the rest of my weight. She has given me a lot of support and insight into both how to lose weight and why weight isn’t the most important thing. Her name is Anthea Falkiner in case you want a coach too. It really helps. Anyway, bread and dairy are SO hard to give up. I tried to be vegan for around 5 years it seemed before I made the switch. I was even vegan for a year until I ate cheese and became addicted again. Then one day it seemed so simple to go vegan. I think it was because I read this book called The Lucky Ones by Jenny Brown who is the founder of the woodstock farm animal sanctuary. In the back she explains in clear detail what goes on in the dairy industry. I had never read it all laid out like that before. After I read the book I really desired to go vegan in a new way. I think knowing the truth about dairy really helps in giving it up. I myself did not fully understand it until i saw some videos of cows running after their children and crying etc. :((((

But another big piece is knowing what foods to replace dairy with. Like you can’t just eat some raw veggies during the day without being starving and going crazy by dinnertime and not having any control. It’s not your fault at all–i have the exact same problem. And so would everyone. If you don’t literally fill up with enough calories from fruit (raw vegetables have such minimal calories they honestly barely count) during the day, you won’t have any control. And you will definitely crave dairy and bread. So the trick is to eat enough fruit during the day that you feel full. It is harder than it seems. You have to have a ton of ripe fruit that you would enjoy eating always at hand. But if you master that, then it is easy! You won’t have any cravings at all, cause you will feel full.

Also another thing my coach told me is don’t try to go fully raw. I was always thinking well if I go fully raw I will definitely lose all my weight in a flash, and it is kind of true. When I was raw in january I lost a shocking amount of weight. But I wasn’t happy restricting myself to only raw foods. My coach said, going 100% raw should be something you want to do because you KNOW you feel better eating that way. She told me to do it gradually. Like just notice how good you feel when you eat raw and notice how you may not feel as optimal when you eat bread and dairy. I know for me it is true, that when I eat a lot of bread it is a very different feeling then when I eat a lot of fruit. So now I am really happy I no longer feel the need to force myself to go 100% raw. Instead I am just going to gradually move towards it if that’s what makes me feel the best.

Another really important thing she told me about weight loss was…being 100% raw or 80/10/10 JUST to lose weight isn’t enough. Eventually you will fall off it. You have to do it because it makes you feel so good that you feel you are better able to fulfill your purpose in life. Like you have the energy to be productive and achieve your goals. She was like weight loss isn’t what really makes us happy. What makes us happy is being able to do what we feel we are meant to do in life. And if raw foods gives you the clarity and energy to achieve that, then great…but weight loss by itself isn’t a good goal.

I totally get what she is saying cause just cause you lose weight doesn’t mean you will be happy. What really makes us happy is doing what we dream of doing and achieving our purpose or purposes in life. I have been so thin (in high school) and still thought I was fat. Thinness doesn’t make us happy.

But at the same time, I just dream of having this perfect flat stomach and looking amazing in all my clothes. I dream of people just handing me a huge trophy as soon as they see me, like, “congratulations for being the hottest person who ever lived!” lol. I totally understand why people want to be thin. Especially having been overlooked and teased for being the fat kid in my early life.

at the woodstock fruit festival when I asked doug graham about weight loss he was like just “eat fruits and vegetables and you will be ok”. I knew he was right because the only way I’ve ever managed to lose weight was by doing that.

two other thoughts that may be helpful (but you might already know): Have you read The Starch Solution or Maximum Weight Loss by john mcdougall? Some people like potato strong and high carb hannah have managed to achieve very easy weight loss eating starches and in a way I think it is a lot easier than raw till 4 because you can have such a wide variety of normal foods just without oil. It’s also good for raw till 4 dinners. But good to know the principles. you can have pizza, burritos, etc etc etc just healthy versions.

Another thing is just stick it out longterm! I have been at it 2.5 years i believe and very very gradually i have slimmed down.

One final thing, is do you track your calories with cronometer? It is very crucial I think. Cause if you don’t you may not even realize that you have only eaten like 300 calories all day.

Sorry this was so long, but I hope it helps!! And thanks again for the encrouagement and support.