Motivational Documentaries

Before I move on, I wanted to take some time to talk about the documentaries that helped motivate us to make these changes in our life.  The first one we watched was "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead."  This film was created by a man named Joe Cross and it goes through his personal journey for weight loss and better health.  He documents a 60 day juice fast and highlights the many benefits of not only juicing, but also eating healthy.  The film is absolutely inspiring and I highly recommend that people watch it.  After the first time I saw it, I was motivated to do my own 3 day juice fast.  Sadly, I quit the fast after day 2.  This was due to a lack of knowledge and the smell of my moms grilled cheese sandwiches.

The other videos also detail the benefits of living in such a way as to promote health and wellbeing.  They reveal the truth about the food industry and evils that surround their motives.  If anyone is interested in not only learning about how to live a more abundant life but also finding the truth about what is in our food today, then the videos I have posted on the right hand side of the page are for you.

They are:

1. Fat Sick and Nearly Dead.
2. Food Matters.
3. Food Inc.
4. Forks Over Knives.

Hungry for Change is also a very good film if you would like to look that up as well.  I could not find a listing for it to post on my blog but you can find it in an online search for sure.

Our First Week.

Background

I didn't just wake up one morning and decide to introduce this new lifestyle into my life. I was gradually introduced to it over a period of years.  My wife had grown up eating very healthy due to a disease called 3-methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase deficiency or 3MCC for short and she had always talked with me about how good she felt when her body was getting the right nutrients while we were dating.  I would listen and often object when the subject of eating meat was brought up.  I had been raised on the standard american diet and like any SAD representative, would scoff at the idea of anything to the contrary.

I have always instinctively known that the diet I was pursuing along with most of the people around me was wrong.  Growing up, my weight fluctuated up and down depending on my activity level involving sports.  I have never been "in shape" though and have always had some sort of belly flab hanging from my gut.  Along with my instincts, I have harbored a desire for better health.

With this background and my wife's patient but perseverant attitude toward educating me, we began to incorporate healthier foods into our daily routines.  We also watched documentary films about health which greatly caught my interest and piqued my curiosity to learn more.  As I learned more, I also read peoples personal experiences which helped motivate and inspire me (which has also lead me to create a blog of my own).  I began to not only desire the health benefits of eating raw living foods, but I also began to crave the deeper spiritual benefits.  I was amazed to see how blind I was about the effects of eating and our spirituality, especially since the scriptures I have had since childhood explain and relate them.

So with my new found knowledge and motivation, my wife and I chose to start eating raw living foods.

It Begins

Our first day was exciting.  We made a trip to the local farmers market and purchased a large amount of vegetables that we could make into salads and also juice.  This was the first time I had ever been to a farmers market and the atmosphere was very friendly and down to earth.  There was a local blue grass band setting up for a small concert, different smells of bread, and pastries wafted past my nose and people were chatting to each other as they went from booth to booth.  I think the novelty of it all was what really allowed me to have fun.


After our trip to the farmers market, we went and hit up our local warehouse superstore for the rest of the fruits that are not yet in season locally.  We both have concerns about buying here because of the GMO potential but right now we are just doing our best as we figure everything out.


Other than making the purchases the rest of the day was uneventful.  We made a juice from beets, apples, carrots, lemon, kale, and cucumber to get everything started.  This was the first time in my life that I had seen so much fresh food in a kitchen that I had to take a few moments and soak it all in.  I also weighed myself at 191.6 pounds and then took some pictures that I will upload later to document my before and after.


My wife began detoxing on the second day and I didn't see any detox symptoms until about the third day.  When the detox began, my nose got really runny and it felt like I had just caught a cold.  My head was also in a fog along with a headache and I found it very hard to concentrate.  I ended up leaving early from work because I found it unbearable to just sit at my desk not being able to focus.  When I got home it felt like I was getting a fever so I just went to bed.  When I woke up I noticed that most of the symptoms had left but I still had the runny nose and achy feelings for a few days.  Along with this, I also notice intermittent episodes of diarrhea.  These periodic bowel movements were actually quite refreshing and it felt like each time they happened my body was a bit cleaner.  I don't want to be too graphic but it does help to know what to expect so I'll just tell you that sometimes they smelled really bad.  I imagine it was the stench of all the putrefied meat that has been sitting in my colon for who knows how long.


The rest of the week passed without too much trouble other than the detox symptoms that I described.  We ate a good balance of fruits and vegetables.  We didn't keep track of calories or even begin to do so until the fourth week because we simply didn't know that could be an issue so we just ate until we were filled and then ate whenever we felt hungry.  I have read where people have complained about being hungry but that was and has not been an issue for us.  After keeping track of calories for a few days now, it isn't as easy as you might think to get enough calories let alone overeat because of the amount of food needed to fulfill your daily amount. 


That's it for our first week.  I wish I had more details for you but I failed to keep a journal for the first three weeks so all I have is my memory to go off of.  As I get this site updated I will be sure to post more accurate and up to date information along with food recipes that we try out.  Also, if anyone wants to know more about something specific, just leave me a comment and I will be sure to elaborate.

Introduction

I've decided to start this blog due to the lack of personal experiences I have been able to find on the internet concerning the raw food lifestyle.  My wife and I have been eating 100% raw fruits and vegetables for about 3 weeks now and we have already seen some wonderful results. So, in the coming days I will be posting our experiences up to this point and I will also be keeping track of our progress so that anybody who wants to, can become more familiar with the experiences and benefits that eating raw living foods can provide.

As we learn and grow, I will be sure to post the things that we have done well and those things that we have made mistakes on as well.  This will be to not only give you an idea of what to expect if you chose to follow this way of life but it will also hopefully help you to not make the same mistakes we do.  I really don't expect to or want to make any mistakes but I do know that many people have tried and failed to make this diet a part of their life.

The reasons why I believe so many people have failed in their pursuit to make this diet their lifestyle are not few but they have all had some underlying themes.  The biggest I have seen while perusing through blogs and forums has been a lack of education.  There simply seems to be a vast amount of sources that tend to motivate and inspire but they usually lack enough educational resources to keep someone from reverting back to what I call a poisonous lifestyle.  I call it poisonous because we truly feed our bodies poisons when we choose to eat processed and preserved dead foods.

So there you have it.  I hope you find this blog enjoyable and informative as it progresses.