A Month in the Raw

Posted by the Other Erin

As the end of the month is upon us, I would like to congratulate the other rawhides on their completion of their 100%, 90%, 50%, etc. raw experiment.  You all are a fabulous bunch and I admire your commitments, your curiosities, and your ability to admit to oopses or to recognize when something was not right with your health.  A big thanks to Beck for leading the journey.

I still have one day left to finish out my 2 week trial of being raw-ish.  I know that I am the least raw-experienced of the bunch, but even so, I have definitely formed some thoughts on this experience.

I realize what I am about to say is strange coming from a vegetarian but I believe that (except for medical reasons) having rules for what you ”can” and “can not” eat is an unhealthy way to live, even if you are eating healthy foods.  As a vegetarian, I don’t want to eat meat, but at any point I can, should I choose.  In terms of temptation, my being a vegetarian is easy because I don’t have a taste for meat.  If I ever do want to eat meat again, I will.  This is the same for my recent change to eating foods without high fructose corn syrup.  I don’t want to eat those foods, so I wont.  However, when faced with the prospect of real maple syrup versus the childhood-memory-inducing, wonderful, sugary goodness of Mrs. Butterworth’s*, I’ll keep choosing Mrs. Butterworth because I can – I don’t want rules in my dietary life.  (This way of thinking happens to do away with ”temptation”, by the way.  But it also makes moderation a necessity.)

I know that the raw experiment was just that, an experiment.   And because it was an experiment and a new lifestyle, all of us had and followed rules.  Throughout my own raw experience and while reading the blogs, I noticed a lot of “can” / “can nots” and new rules taking shape.  Again, it was an experiment, so it was to be expected.  But, I know that I will not allow that thinking to inform the future choices I make regarding my diet and I can only hope that others will consider this, too, as they are forming their final thoughts.

So the big question:  How will this experiment affect my future eating habits?  I’m not going to give you a percentage of how raw I will be in the future.  I can’t honestly say that I will turn any one of my meals in the day over to raw.  I will, however, being enjoying more mostly-raw salads with dinner. And my snacking will most likely change. I’ve been wanting to make more of an effort of having fruit around and have enjoyed the opportunity to do that while I was raw without having the distraction of other standard foods.  So, more fruit…and more nuts for snacks.  All in all, I’m glad I tried it, but I’m also glad to be done.  Even if it was just 2 weeks.

*Yes, Mom, I know we didn’t use Mrs. Butterworth’s, but I didn’t think “generic Meijer brand pancake topping” had quite the same ring to it.