raw veganism

Deep Vegan Thoughts

Recently some people have been really annoying me about veganism.

I messaged someone on okcupid and he was like:

“I have to be honest. I don’t think I can date a vegan. Sorry.”

Ha.

Hope he thinks back on that when his kids are in history class one day studying animal exploitation as a shameful and horrifying piece of world history and everyone is vegan by law.

Sometimes it feels I have created a little bubble for myself on the internet. I subscribe to so many awesome vegan people. But the outside world still acts shocked when you say you are vegan. It’s sort of offputting. I feel like…doesn’t everybody get it by now?

No they don’t. There are still so many people to convince.

So many people who think they NEED meat to thrive.

I took a class the other day with one of my pole dance heroes.

She was like, You have lost weight.  I told her excitedly I had changed my diet. I was like “It’s called fruitarianism. Have you heard of it?”

She hadn’t, and when I told her it was only fruit and vegetables, she started telling me how bad that was and how I would never put on muscle and I needed protein.

I got kind of flustered, because I didn’t want to argue with her, yet I was annoyed. I was way stronger than before and yet she was telling me it was a terrible diet.

What should I do? Go back to my old diet and be stuck in my progress like I was?

She told me she used to be vegan too but once she needed to become a professional athlete she stopped and started eating meat again…for protein.

Protein.

The protein myth is so huge.

The problem is she IS the professional, incredibly fit athlete and I’m not. But I know there are a lot of incredible fruitarian and vegan athletes out there who made incredible progress in their fitness goals once they became vegan and then fruitarian. For example, Mike Arnstein, the Fruitarian who started WINNING marathons (like first place) once he became fruitarian. Serena Williams hasn’t lost a major tournament since she became a raw vegan.

Mike Arnstein, The Fruitarian

I’ve read so many articles and books explaining the research about protein, which shows we need far less than most people have been led to believe we do. But of course everyone knows we need protein.

Good job, marketers!

I know eating fresh fruits and vegetables has made the biggest improvements in my health so far over anything I have tried. I was eating a ton of cheese and yogurt and beans and common “protein” sources for years.

I’m getting so much stronger.

It is frustrating though when everyone tells you it’s terrible, even though it’s working.

I think it’s one of those things where nobody cares about your diet until you start winning marathons like Mike Arnstein, The Fruitarian on youtube, or looking like Freelea the Banana Girl or losing 100 pounds like Melissa, Get Your Fruit On.

This is working for me like nothing else ever has.

As for ethical veganism, sometimes I feel I have lost  touch with normal life. Is there really an animal holocaust going on?

Sometimes I need to double check that what I’ve seen is real.

I go to Toronto Pig Save’s Facebook and look at their photographs of pigs in the trucks and look into their eyes.

Those pigs are all dead now. Murdered. Cattle cars…still in use. It’s the holocaust out there for animals. It’s a war against them that they can’t fight.

If people would simply look at a Toronto Pig Save video, those same meat eaters would be shaking in their boots.

The problem is no one wants to look. I couldn’t even look at their last video which went viral. The caption said the pigs were screaming in the trucks.

I have heard pigs screaming once, and it was enough. It shakes you. It reminded me of a part in one of my favorite book’s The Princess Bride where the count says “Do you hear that? That is the sound of ultimate suffering.”

It’s in the movie too. But of course the scream although haunting is not the sound of ultimate suffering. That sound is something you could only hear if you listened to someone actually, in real life, experiencing ultimate suffering.

The pigs who were witnessing, hearing and smelling their friends be murdered and boiled alive….they understood ultimate suffering.

this was the mildest of pig slaughterhouse images I could find. Google image pig slaughterhouse.

Veganism is so not what people think it is.

It saddens me that people don’t truly get it.

WHY?

I think it is because they haven’t seen it with their own eyes.

But further, that they don’t understand that animals are like them in that they are conscious, have lives and families, suffer, understand, have personalities, and feel horror at being murdered.

I have heard there is this island in the bahamas where pigs live free. It’s called Pig Island.

They swim in the clear blue waters and hang out on the beach.

They have big ears that look like wings. They chill with their families. It’s an uninhabited island so no one bothers them. But I think you can visit.

Paradise.

The lucky ones.

 

 

My Non Leather Raw Vegan Life

Hello.

Raw Vegan person speaking.

rawvegan

I have been a raw vegan now for 10 days. I thought I would share with you what it is like if any of you have ever considered giving it a shot.

First of all, raw vegan means you don’t eat anything that is cooked, or heated over 118 degrees, or at all, and vegan meaning no animal products.

Basically that leaves you with fruits and vegetables and nuts.

There are two kinds of raw vegans: High Fat Raw Vegans, otherwise known as “gourmet raw” vegans who make a lot of delicious fancy raw foods like burgers and pizzas made from nuts and Low Fat Raw Vegans who basically only eat fruits and salads and barely any nuts and avocados.

(Low Fat Raw Vegan is definitely the way to go.)

A few months ago when I was first learning about raw foods I did a one week high fat raw vegan trial with my then b/f. It was very diificult! We were quite hungry, but we made it. I kind of liked it–I lost weight and my skin looked great, but I was definitely glad to be eating cooked food again when the week was over.

I continued reading about raw foods though, until one day BAM.

I cam across the blog of this guy Jeff Sanders who was a raw vegan. He recommended this book 80/10/10 saying it was basically the be all and end all book on health.

Being the amazon addict I am, I immediately ordered it with one click.

The book was fascinating. It explained that humans are not omnivores as we all think and are taught in school.

In fact, we are frugivores.

The author does this really cool thought experiment…imagine a landscape…There are wheat fields waving in the breeze, cows grazing in the distance, fruit trees with ripe fruit in the forest, fish in the ocean, seaweed washed up on shore, potatoes and other roots in the ground, vegetables in the undergrowth.

What do you naturally gravitate towards?

Do you start salivating when you look at the animals…no. What about the hard tasteless grains of wheat, or the slimy chewy seaweed. What about the raw potatoes covered in dirt. NO. It is the fruit trees that we naturally gravitate towards. Fruit is THE food for humans. Squirrels have nuts. Birds have beaks for grains. We are designed for fruits and tender leafy greens.

He goes into far more detail and explains the science behind the diet.

Basically I came away from the book thinking…Wow! Duh! Why didn’t I ever think of this before. It makes so much sense that the highest quality vitamins and nutrients aren’t found in a dried up powdered vitamin pill, but fresh fruit and vegetables.

I started researching and watching youtube videos of  the devotees of this so called 80/10/10 diet (stands for 80 percent carbs, 10% fat and protein).

freelee, before and after 80/10/10

They all literally RADIATIED health. They all had stories of how raw foods had cured their horrible diseases, increased their fitness to olympian levels, how they had lost 40 pounds of weight, and achieved pre-adolescent energy levels, mental focus, and extreme joy at being alive.

Roger Haeske, raw vegan

Basically it was like the fountain of youth, the magic pill all the ads on tv are selling.

Except there was one catch. It wasn’t a magic pill. You had to basically give up all the foods you know and love.

And instead eat….FRUITS?? VEGETABLES??? SALADS WITH NO DRESSING???

I decided to give it a one week shot. Just to see if these people were on to something. What was the harm.

I was excited about it because I had been eating fruit for breakfast and lunch for a week or so, and it had made my skin look great and basically cured my horrible cramps. So I was like, OK…I wonder what would happen if I went all the way! If it did this much good in so short a time…let me give this a shot.

Well!

It is now Day 10. No longer a one week trial.

Days 1-7 were a whirlwind of learning and researching and buying these fruit lovers e-books. I was feeling good, and intrigued, and happy…but I couldn’t tell if it was due to what I was doing or the diet.

Suddenly on Day 8 something amazing started happening.

I was walking to the subway and I felt this surge of energy. I was speedwalking and all of a sudden I felt so good I felt like running!

I was running and it felt effortless, like I was floating on air, I wasn’t breathing heavily, I could just run.

It was like those scenes in movies where a person is swimming underwater and they can just breathe!

I got on the subway to my dance class, filled with this secret glee. Could I have found it? Could this be working? Could this be as good as they say it is?

It was like in a movie where everyone thinks this person is crazy, but it turns out they’re not.

Oh yes! You will have your fair share of detractors. FAR MORE than you have being a vegan or vegetarian. People can’t fathom the idea of raw foods.

In my dance class, I felt soooooo good. Like I just wanted to roll around on the ground. I noticed I was a lot stronger too. It was a miracle. I could do the whole ab work out when before I definitely could not.

The next day I went to dance class and I felt even stronger! I could do this move that is super hard that I had never come close to before!

Even thinking about it now fills me with disbelief. I could also do 10 pushups when I couldn’t do 1 before.

It fills me with a feeling of …..HOPE. honestly, hope and optimism and happiness.

I’m continuing!! I can’t wait to see what else happens.

I highly recommend anyone interested just GOES FOR IT and gives it a shot. HOWEVER. This is almost like a skill that needs to be learned. There is a LOT to know and learn before you can do this succesfully. Here are some basic tips.

1. Most importantly, buy the book 80/10/10 by Dr. Doug Graham and read about the rationale behind this way of eating. It will open your eyes. OK. It will probably seem really extreme to you at first like it did to me. He recommends eating all raw fruits and vegetables….I was like HE’s INSANE!! But it takes a while to get used to the idea.

2. Ok, next, you got to get a vitamix! They are the best and you will use it all the time I assure you.

3. Watch youtube videos of Low Fat Raw Vegans like Freelee and Durianrider and Melissa and Tinyfruitlover and fullyrawkristina –some of my faves. Watch the stories of their transformations and have someone tell you to your face how it changed their lives. This is what really motivated me.

raw vegan, before and after

4. Next try eating only fruit for breakfast or just adding in a ton more fruit to your diet. That’s how I started. When that becomes normal, do a 1 week trial of fruit for breakfast and lunch. I did this and my cramps were gone. It’s awesome!!

5. If you are ready to do it….join the Banana Girl Diet Challenge on facebook where they explain how to do a 30 day trial of this way of eating with a meal plan—the meal plan consists of breakfast and lunch of fruit and a fruit meal for dinner followed by a large salad with a fruit based dressing. You can post your diary there and get support. It’s a great resource.

6. If you are really ready to go for it, buy Roger Haeske’s recipe for savory veggie stews. They will save your life! Instead of eating extremely bland salads…he has a secret recipe for a blended salad that is actually REALLY good and you will look forward to eating. It will get in a ton of veggies and greens for you!

7. Finally, very important, download the cronometer app and log all your calories. Make sure you are at very minimum getting 2000 calories a day. This is a lot more difficult than it seems. The more calories you can get in from fruits and vegetables the better you’ll feel. It’s really fun to use this app which tells you all the vitamins and minerals and percentages of fat, protein and carbs you are getting. I love using it!!

If you do this—-I think like me…good things will happen.

I have gotten rid of my cramps, achieved the look of an inner glow, and best of all, drastically increased my fitness in the first 10 days.

Let me know if you guys have any questions–or if you try it, let me know how it goes. I would LOVE to hear about it.

Have you ever considered going raw? Does this sound insane to you?