Amanda's Raw Food Adventure
How I discovered the power of raw living foods.
I discovered the healing power of raw living food while on a quest to cure myself of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (I.B.S.).
I've been mostly vegetarian since my early twenties, and back in 2001, at the age of 31, I became pregnant with my lovely son Joe (now six!). During the pregnancy I had a lot of gas and bloating, and eating dairy products would have me running to the toilet - so no more pizza for me! We (my husband Dave and I) were getting a local organic veggie box every week, so I was eating lots of healthy veggies. However I was also eating way too much sugar and refined carbohydrates. I've always had a sweet tooth, and was very fond of chocolate, cakes, and biscuits.
Healing with Juice Fasting
In a search for a cure for my embarrassing and sometimes painful problem - and in a quest to be able to enjoy pizza and cake again - I googled Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I discovered that I had the classic symptoms (oh those nasty symptoms) of a Candida overgrowth, and read up on different diets to treat Candida. Being pregnant at the time I didn't want to restrict my diet too much, but I cut out refined sugars and most dairy products which definitely helped. I became fascinated with the concept of food as medicine and did a lot of research into healthy eating. I am fascinated by the ability raw food diets to heal the body, and particularly interested in healing powers of juice fasting.
In the summer of 2003 I did a 10 day long juice fast, with bentonite clay and psyllium shakes, which successfully cleared out the Candida overgrowth, but left my body ravenously hungry. I ate a lot of full fat organic yogurt after the fast. I was that hungry I ate two tubs of full fat yogurt for pudding each day for a week or so. These days I rarely eat dairy products - preferring lovely creamy nut milks and smoothies.
My First Attempt to Eat More Raw
After the juice fast, spurred on by the health benefits of a raw food diet, I decided to eat most of my food raw. I ate whole fruit, fresh vegetable juices, crunchy salads, lots of sprouts, raw pies, and banana ice-cream. All good healthy food, but for me there was a problem. I had a mouth full of mercury amalgam fillings - 14 in total (eek!), a legacy from my bad eating habits - and as I happily chomped on my raw carrots the mercury became unstable and I got horrible yellow saliva and painful mouth ulcers.
So next stop was the dentist. I found someone on the approved list of practitioners, and booked myself in for a course of treatment to remove all the mercury amalgam fillings from my mouth. This took a few weeks, and rather a lot of money, but had to be done. Mercury is one of the most toxic substances on the planet, and mercury fillings have been totally banned in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. I took some supplements afterwards to hopefully remove the mercury from my body, and learned about the benefits of wheatgrass juice, and green smoothies.
My Raw Food Adventure Continues...
Since then I have been happily experimenting with raw foods. I like to eat simply and enjoy juices, whole fruit, smoothies, raw puddings, and beautiful salads. If I'm hungry, especially when the weather is cold I may also eat a whole grains, cooked pulses, organic free range eggs, and steamed or baked vegetables. And I still like a little bit of chocolate now and then!
I love to grow my own food, and go foraging for wild edible plants. For information on how to grow vegetables visit small-farm-permaculture-and-sustainable-living.com.
I've learnt how to grow wheatgrass and sunflower sprouts. The sunflower sprouts are delicious, and we often eat them straight from the windowsill. The wheat grass is definitely more of an acquired taste - but just think how much good it's doing. Joe sometimes chews on the wheat grass like it's chewing gum!
Return from the healing power of raw foods to About Amanda
