How I naturally gravitated to 80/10/10... without ever having read the book!

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Comment by Diana on February 24, 2009 at 2:47pm

"it seems to me that the healthiest looking raw foodists i have seen pics of (in general-i think there are perhaps total exceptions to this rule and i could be way off)".
Thanks, Natasha Danielle, for that statement. I was vilified in a post a few weeks ago for daring to make a connection between "being healthy" and "looking healthy". I was actually called "absurd" for making such a connection, so it's nice to know that others do make a connection between being healthy, feeling healthy and looking healthy!

Comment by Toucan on February 24, 2009 at 12:32pm

I gravitated toward 811rv and then with a little fear of fruit (I had cancer a couple years ago), I started asking questions about it and finally read the book. At the time, I felt frustrated by some of the ardent followers responses to my questions and even more disillusioned after reading in 'the book' that cooked food eventually leads to AIDS and other such claims and I let that sort of derail me(again), assuming the rest of the science was probably about the same. Like many, I guess I was looking for ‘the key, the holy grail of raw’ and again, it wasn’t there. (I know, you gasp with surprise:).

Then, I listened to the truth about your food lecture series by Dr. Tel-Oren and finally someone presented the actual science I was looking for in a balanced way – for free. I like Dr. T's approach to a very simple realistic eating plan and I appreciate his biochemistry lessons to back it up. I’ve been waiting for a positive post on here to share this but I don’t want to steer the conversation completely away so yes, I gravitated in that direction before reading the book and in retrospect, I wish I’d saved my pennies and just stayed with the fact that we felt pretty darn good eating a high fruit and green diet.

But… this whole life is about balance and there is no right or wrong - only opportunities for introspection and learning. I learned a lot during this part of my journey and it basically illuminated my entire raw journey for me, because it was tightly packaged within a couple months – I saw lots of patterns repeating, lots of looking outside myself for answers and lots of time spent in my head and not in my life.

I’ve never been a big fan of math – I guess I don’t believe there is only one right answer - and if my diet involves doing math, it doesn’t work for me. In retrospect, I think that veering off course is generally a big lesson in our bodies knowing what they need more than our brains do. I no longer think that anyone has the exact diet that is right for me and I finally learned that this is so much more complex than just the food I’m eating. Phew:)

Comment by lynnivere on February 24, 2009 at 11:00am

Brilliant!

Comment by 1 Raw Girl on February 24, 2009 at 10:14am

Hug yourself...mistakes are absolutely wonderful...if they dont kill us they really can make us stronger...if we love ourselves and let it!

Comment by Camille on February 24, 2009 at 6:34am

Thanks for this post, I need all the inspiration I can get! :)
Every time I felt better on raw, I veered off course too. I guess there must be something about forgetting what it was like before... Then there is regret, but also, thankfully, the chance to start all over again! :D

Comment by Rosalinda on February 24, 2009 at 2:48am

i naturally gravitated around 811 too!! since that was the only way i could run for hours and have energy all day long =D

Comment by Martbook on February 23, 2009 at 10:57pm

Olivia, You may have "veered off course" but there are no mistakes in life. We all do exactly as we need at any given time. You will learn from this. Self judgement is far more harmful than a mouthful or two of cooked food. There is no good or bad in this world. It all just is.

Comment by jodykwik on February 23, 2009 at 9:18pm

Yes absolutely, Olivia...although not entirely un-prompted in my case. In the eighties I read Fit for Life by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond, a book that ventured in a bit to Natural Hygiene. So after that, whenever I felt bad, or just wanted to train in a better way, I'd always steer back to having a lot of fruit. And it made sense because I always felt better immediately even if the rest of my diet wasn't that clean. I'd been transitioning to going 100% raw before making the jump last november...and immediately I began eating fruit at least untill noon time, now usually for am and noon time meals....or thereabouts. My digestion and general energy levels thrive that way. It's not exactly 80-10-10 as a ratio yet I'm sure...but I am gravitating that way, and I was doing it before I even read Dr. Graham's book.

Comment by Hani on February 23, 2009 at 9:12pm

Thanks Olivia for sharing that. I wish all the people in here present their stories in this rational way. About me, after trying many vegetarian diets I finally settled on 811rv.
You Tube was my source for information about this lifestyle. I listened first to David Wolfe. He was very convincing to me. So I followed all what he said including the nonsense about the goodness of his oily smoothies and mushrooms. I wasn’t feeling well though and I contributed that to detoxification. But after hearing Doug Graham I knew I was in the wrong direction. All what he said echoed very well with my science and instinct.
Can you describe more the journey that led you to low fat raw vegan diet?