Coming Clean with Raw Foods
Thank you for checking out my blog. My intention is to share from the heart about what’s going on in my life. Since the major focus in my personal life now is on nutrition I will continue along this thread.
What a relief for me to ‘come clean’ and confess that I did not teach about nutrition and eyesight because I was not ‘walking the walk.’ My diet was very poor and I had struggled for several years to change my eating behavior.
A lot has happened since March 17th when I wrote my last blog. I would have never admitted that I was a drug abuser. Some of my favorite drugs were caffeine and sucrose. I got most of my caffeine from coffee and most of my sucrose from eating white sugar.
I was advised to take one thing at a time and make a positive change. So I choose caffeine. And I am happy to report that I had my last cup of coffee on March 5th, 2008. Tomorrow will be the one month anniversary of my victory over caffeine and I will celebrate by having a green smoothie with some freshly cut wheat grass.
Speaking of wheatgrass, I went back to a Raw Food Potluck hosted by Gabrielle and Thomas Chavez, and Thomas recommended Randall Fitzgerald’s book, ‘The Hundred-Year Lie’ (the subtitle is: ‘How to Protect Yourself from the Chemicals That are Destroying Your Health’).
I got the book and read that two ounces of wheatgrass juice is said to be nutritionally equivalent to consuming nearly three pounds of fresh vegetables and 103 vitamins and minerals. Wheatgrass contains nature’s richest source of chlorophyll and acts as a potent immune system booster, body-organ cleanser and toxins neutralizer. I am lucky that my clear vision alumni student, Leeta Dover, helped me get a ‘Green Star’ juicer which will easily juice wheatgrass.
I would say that with fresh (mostly organic) green smoothies coupled with salads and raw food snacks, I now have about a 60% Raw Food diet. And I am gradually adding more and more fruits, nuts and seeds everyday.
A friend loaned me several of the Botenko’s DVDs and CDs and I am taking a crash course in Going Raw. In her book, ‘The Raw Food Gourmet,’ Gabrielle Chavez suggests that a vital ingredient to successfully changing one’s diet is to find the support of other like-minded folks who are also willing to ‘go against the mainstream’ and think outside the box.
So I began looking for a Raw Food Potluck closer to home where I may be more consistent in attendance and get the support and encouragement which will make this trek much easier. I also realize that we can share information and recipes that will insure interest and help make this radical change fun and enjoyable. Garry Renschler, a nutritionist at the Clark County Family YMCA has agreed to co-sponsor a ‘Raw Food Potluck’ at the ‘Y,’ and I have posted a notice on the Portland Raw Fooder’s Blog: rawportland@yahoogroups.com
If you live in the Orchards area, or in nearby Portland, please consider joining our group. Let me know by clicking Contact Us.
There is a lot more going on with me and my nutrition behavior changes but I am about blogged out for now.
More soon.
–Gene Younger