I was Feaful about Going on 100% Raw Food Diet

Dear Tonya:
I received your book Quantum Eating six months ago. Between then and now, I've often referred to it during moments of struggle--the struggle being to go 100% raw or not. I've been a little easy on myself and decided that 'adding' more raw instead of eliminating all cooked (although, plant based) was the best way for me to alleviate this feeling of self-imposed pressure.

Although my experiment hasn't been that long, I can feel a noticeable difference in how I feel. I started out macrobiotic, faithfully, four years ago and that lasted for about one year. Then I broadened my diet by including more fresh juices, some manna bread, less grain (brown rice, millet, barley, etc.) and more fruit.

Recently, since reading your book, I've cut out all grain and to my surprise, I haven't had a craving for it and when I think of grains like brown rice, I can feel a subtle reaction come from my stomach. I know that sounds weird but it's almost as if I can hear it say, 'you don't need it. . .'

In the morning, I reach for fruit or I have fresh juice (carrot, celery, beet, kale, etc.). At lunch, a green smoothie or salad, nuts/seeds. At dinner, a large salad. The earlier I stop eating (before 7pm), the happier I am in the morning. I have never experienced this kind of joy at the prospect of continuing on with raw foods. It has taken some time to UNLEARN many of the ideas I've adopted over the years.

To my surprise, I haven't reached for the chlorella/spirulina tablets, the vitamin d supplement or the wholefood vitamin/mineral supplement either. These supplements are recommended by many raw foodists. . . But, there is a simplicity with raw foods that intuitively tells me that these other products are not needed, at least for me, at this point. I never thought that could be. I always felt that I needed outside sources to 'complete' me or keep me healthy.

After reading your book, I can feel the freedom one experiences from letting go and trusting the abundance of life--fresh fruit, vegetables, and greens-- out here in the world.

There is a sparkle in my eye that caught me by surprise when I looked at myself in the mirror this morning. I have to chuckle because I did a double take. I am not my former self.

I had actually been afraid of raw food for soooo long (again, due to other theories related to health and well being that I had internalized and followed). Macrobiotics produced many of the changes I experience today but raw food is 'refining' me. Where I used to feel fear, there is now joy. Where I felt there was lack, there is now abundance. Where I felt there was 'restriction' there is now simplicity and freedom. I don't know how else to explain it.

The thought occurred to me yesterday as I was fussing around with clothes and earrings, 'raw food' is not damaging to the body. Like a mantra, I repeated it to myself and then it dawned on me just how fearful I had been about consuming 'too much' of it. Dogma is never a good thing.