I am going to list my top five favorite foods, um addictions, of the past:
5. Cheese pizza
4. Fresh bakery bread
3. Mochas with dark chocolate
2. Buttered movie theater popcorn
1. Fudgy brownies!!!
These foods yielded a brain high for about a half hour, then I would begin to feel lethargic, bloated, weighed down and craving something to pick me back up. In 2005, I started to research foods that would provide my body with nutrition and a sense of well being. I read 'Raw Food/Real World' by Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis and 'Naked Chocolate: The Astonishing Truth About the World's Greatest Food' by David Wolfe and Shazzie. These two books taught me a lot about the importance of eating raw foods, including fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and a lot of something called "superfoods". These superfoods included a lot of exotic powdered or dried berries, herbs, seeds, fruits, sea vegetables, etc. I found myself making a lot of raw dessert with nuts, cacao powder, agave nectar, lucuma powder, mesquite powder, goji berry powder, etc. These products were only available online and were very expensive. I made lots of nut-heavy raw foods, like raw brownies, cookies, and savory pates. I also used a lot of olive oil, coconut oil, hemp oil....you name it!! I enjoyed the taste of these foods, but they yielded the same icky weighed down feeling as the cooked food. I was on this diet for 7 months, so I gave it a good go.
I was disheartened by the fact that I couldn't make healthy desserts that made me feel good, too! I looked forward to that rush of energy when I ate something sweet and I still got it with the raw desserts, but I still crashed. I went right back to my baked brownies and mochas.
I kept my eyes out for a diet that offered nutrition, energy, simplicity, and that was based in whole foods. Through YouTube searches, I discovered 'The 80/10/10 Diet' by Dr. Douglas Graham. This lifestyle consisted of eating 80% carbohydrates, primarily from fresh, whole, ripe organic fruit, 10% protein, primarily from leafy organic greens, and 10% fat from soft fruits (such as avocado and coconut flesh, nuts and seeds). This seemed to offer everything I was looking for in a healthy diet. I had never been a huge fan of fruit, but I was willing to try it. The lifestyle also involved getting plenty of sleep, lots of water, and making sure that the fruit is fully ripe so that the starches convert to sugars for ease of digestion.
Within a week, I began to notice physical and emotional changes. I felt a "lift" in my body and felt lighter. My digestion was better, from processing my food to elimination. I no longer felt that icky feeling after eating heavy meals, even though I was eating a lot more food in weight. My mood was happier and my skin was clearing. My hair was shinier and my eyes were brighter. I found that eating foods in their whole, natural state brought an awareness to nature that I never had before. I felt as though I was nourishing my body and it was loving me back!
This lifestyle can be challenging socially in that it is easy to feel isolated around friends and family who may not understand or agree with your diet. My advice to you it to not preach your lifestyle to your loved ones, but to simply explain that you are doing what feels right for your body.
Access to an abundance of fresh, ripe, organic fruit can also be challenging. Please see my "Lifestyle Advice" page for recommendations on how to access an abundance of fruit. I also discuss my FRUIT WINS and FRUIT CHALLENGES on my blog to open conversation and support my fellow fruit munchers!
I feel so good on this lifestyle that I want to share my experience and create a community of friends who can share their journeys. My wish is to help others learn how to bring whole, living foods into their diet, while listening intuitively to their individual needs.
WELCOME TO LIFE!!!
good for you traci!
ReplyDelete-Jack, RMCS
Thanks, Jack! :)
ReplyDelete