My recovery: high raw trial

Hey everyone! My name's Lizbeth. Feel free to take whatever derivative nicknames you want from that ;)

My story is a long and complex one, so I'll keep the details under wraps. I'm a 17 year old girl from Australia in my last year of high school, and I've suffered from disordered eating for four years now. Last year, I was vegan - but I began my recovery journey in September and come December I had been advised to start re-introducing animal products into my diet so that I could start to see all food as "on-limits" and so that I could let go of having food rules for the sake of having food rules - if you know what I mean? So for this year, I've been eating dairy, eggs, honey, meat, basically everything. And it's not that I don't enjoy these foods, but it seems that they don't really enjoy me. Because of the abuse I've put my body through, I tend to get incredibly bloated with intense acid reflux after eating anything at all, but more so when I consume cooked meats, dairy, refined sugars and processed foods. I'm a food blogger and have been for a year now (though I changed blogs a few times so never got a substantial following) so I've been exposed to the raw lifestyle for some time. I've always been curious about it, frankly, and since I am trying harder than ever to let go of my dependency on processed "diet" foods and behaviours like counting calories as well as trying to reduce the horrid bloatmonster/reflux... I figured, now is as good a time as any to give a high-raw lifestyle a try.

I say "high" raw and "try" because I am still wary of putting rules in place just so they're there, or just to fit a particular label. Ideally I would like to eat only foods that I enjoy and make me feel good before, during, and after consumption. Basically, the next six days are about determining whether a high-raw diet fits my lifestyle and my body! I've always been an avid lover of raw fruit and veggies, dried fruit is one of my favourite treats, and nut butters pretty much make my life... so I feel like this could be a very good thing for me :)

So, this week I'll aim to be 80% raw at the lowest. However, if it doesn't work out for me as a sustainable diet, I'll lower the percentage to around 30%, or perhaps just do one or two "raw days" per week, or maybe one "raw week" per month.

This morning I did a BIG grocery shop. I bought tons of fresh fruit and veggies, including coconuts, and I also bought raw buckwheat groats, raw almonds and cashews, a pistachio Larabar, and snap-dried banana. I've started soaking 1 c. almonds to make some fresh almond milk, and I just finished making raw pepita & almond butter which I tried on a banana... yum! I can tell I'm going to like this a lot!

I'm excited to try a whole bunch of raw food recipes. I don't have a dehydrator but have heard a low oven works just as well - anyone with experiences in this matter?

I have a coffee grinder, a food processor/blender, and a juicer. I've planned out a few meals for the next six days... mostly from choosingraw.com/recipes. I love Gena's blog! Does anyone have any basic, go-to or staple raw meals, snacks or recipes to recommend?

I'm really looking forward to exploring a high-raw diet and getting to know you all! However this trial works out, I plan to stick around!

xx

Lizbeth

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