...Another Door Opens

Well, I'm back. I'd completely given up all Raw hope for a while, but I'm still getting a fair amount of folks asking me questions related to Raw and Living foods so, hey, why not? I moved to Asheville NC last week. By far one of the most beautiful places I've seen in my 32 years. I will confess, I've only been eating slightly more than 50 percent Raw. I'm still Vegan and always will be, but sort of fell off the Raw wagon for a bit.
I've also been struggling with old demons such as nicotine and coffee. The nicotine is an especially cruel beast. I'm from R.J. Reynolds' hometown of Winston-Salem, the epicenter of cigarettes; and most recently, and not coincidentally, cancer research. So if you're a 100 percent Raw purist, good for you but I'm not. I have my weaknesses.
Fair warning: I make no apologies for myself or the world of which I'm a part. I'm at times judgmental and harshly critical of the injustices I encounter on a daily basis. I offer more observations than solutions so there's room for my own improvement as well. I am not exempt. I do my best to consider all sides but there are some things in this world that our unforgivable. One of which being that our food supply is mostly in the hands of a corrupt, greedy system that is on one hand, using catastrophic farming practices, and on the other making a mockery of foods' mineral and nutrient content. Even organics are being compromised. There's also an agricultural renaissance taking place from the ground up. This is very good news indeed. It's a constant battle and hard to tell who's winning at times.
We all make a choice with our meals. We can choose processed, unhealthy, nutrient-deficient food or make a better choice. So many factors exist in these choices. Raw and Living Foods are one of the simplest and most natural ways to fuel our body. There's plenty of proof to show that Man lived longer before he started cooking his food. Raw food digests itself with its own enzymatic content, which is destroyed during the heating process and makes our bodies work harder. Eating can connect us with the Earth, or alienate us  further from Her. I'm going to make an effort to get back to my 75 to 80 percent Raw lifestyle and phase out the addictive poisons I sometimes allow into my body. Each step can be a step in the right direction. I'm going to take a few steps into the kitchen and get to work. Here's to gradual dietary improvements, angry rants, and my sub par writing abilities. Until next time...

One Door Closes...

I've been a little sidetracked lately. As I've said before, I'm not the best blogger in the world and never claimed to be. My Raw food has become condensed down to simple meals and snacking. Humans were built to be nomadic foragers not necessarily agriculturists. For millions of years before the explosion of totalitarian agriculture, we lived a simpler existence. I'm roughly eating seventy five percent Raw and cooking around 4 meals a week. It feels like a proper balance. I've had no choice but to shop at Whole Foods here in Winston-Salem. There are a few farmers markets around but not as convenient while also working six days a week and also not geared towards Raw food. Sure I can buy produce but where are the Raw vendors?
I'm ready to get to Venice, start hitting up the Santa Monica farmers market, and taking some classes at Planet Raw. I've decided to go out there for a month and see what happens. More than likely I'll be home soon but I have to try. Life is all about choices. We make choices everyday without even realizing that we do so.
Another choice I need to make is whether or not to continue this blog. I've said all I can say and this runs the risk of feeling like a chore. I never have a plan on what to write about when I start typing. I just let it come out, in the moment. There are far too many other things happening in my life of a much more timely nature than my diet. I hope you've gotten something positive out of this blog as was my intention. I'll let it stand as it is, full of mistakes, as a record of my journey into the Raw and Living Foods lifestyle. I'll also let myself stand as I am, full of mistakes, on my journey through life and my eternal search for broadening my horizons and growing into something better. I wish you well, dear reader.

Compassion

As I walk around, lending my shoulder, I feel a sense of grief. I absorb all I can and redistribute it via text and voice. I watch people eating things they should never eat and I take it. What's one to do at such an urgent point in our existence? Venting works for a while but it doesn't really help anyone. I'm leaving for Los Angeles next month to pursue something Raw and Vegan. Whatever falls into place, falls into place. As hard as it is to leave my home, it's time for change. The eternal struggle keeps me alive. All I see around is decay and disintegration. Maybe it's just the way I perceive it. It's not good or bad, it simply is.
If you want to feel alive, it's so simple: Eat a plant-based diet that IS alive. Live in defiance of our culture and actually get healthy. Health doesn't only mean skinny or fat, pretty or ugly. We made those terms up to define ourselves. Being one of five billion species, we really ought to find our place in the world. Life feeds on life, not death. The murder of sentient beings is unforgivable and everyone inherently knows that.
Compassion becomes us on so many levels. If I ramble on and on about Raw and Living Foods lifestyle change that's just my contribution to the greater whole. With all due respect, where is yours? How can we pull it all together and save ourselves before it's too late? I know most of you reading this already do your part. I ask you to pass this on if you truly want to be the be the change you want to see in this world. My green smoothie awaits...

Hungry Yet?

So, apparently there's quite a few Raw bloggers out there. I subscribe to a few but it usually all runs together. The internet's all grown up now. Seems like only yesterday I was looking at green text with a Dos operating system. My, how time flies. Food's all grown up too. Not too long ago, organic was organic and you could trust the farmers. Well, those days are close to over. Planting seeds, of all kind, has become quite a hot-button issue.
It's not really my place to constantly criticize the commercial agriculture machine. I'm a big boy and I understand that everyone's out to make a buck, well not everyone, but most people. If conspiracy theorists are right about all this doom and gloom, will you know how to get food when the shit goes down? If ATMs aren't functioning and all the food is rotting in supermarkets, do you have a plan? I'll be the first to admit that I don't have a clue. When I was on a plane last month and mid-flight they "ran out of food," I was the only one on board with an avocado and a tomato. Guess who ate guacamole while children behind me cried? I wish I'd had 300 avocados and 300 tomatoes. It was pretty grim to say the least. We're the only culture that grows food, locks it up, and then makes ourselves work to buy it back from ourselves. Daniel Quinn clearly pointed this out but why don't more people question this hypocrisy? It's as if we've given up. Just imagine for a second that all resources were shared. Totalitarian agriculture works for Monsanto and no one else. Tom Vilsack is a chicken hawk and people are beginning to see that. Special interests and revolving doors in D.C. are literally making us sick to our stomachs.
I've been searching for something lately. I'm hungry in a way that I cannot even begin to describe. Hungry for the truth. The raw truth, however unsettling it may be, is out there. It's also inside. All I ever really wanted from this blog was to publicly acknowledge all the bullshit that goes on in my head. If people get something out of it, great. If you write this off as mental fodder, great. It's not about me all the time, it's really about you. There are thinkers, and then there are doers. What are we going to do about it? When are we going to realize that the Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth? Don't give up, no matter what. As a great band once said, choose your Heaven or be content to live in Hell.

Struggling in the Raw

Staying Raw has been a struggle. Trying to figure out how often, if ever, to eat a cooked Vegan meal has been a real challenge. My life is in a bit of a transition right now. I'm trying my best to get out to CA to do something different with my life. Plans change, and mine change a lot. That's the nature of impermanence. This blog has been my therapy. I can bang away on the keyboard and get it all out. And by out, I mean for the whole world to see. Holding back is not in my nature.
Clearly, being a Raw Foodist is difficult. It's simple, yet not at all normal in mainstream society. I think people want to be healthier, but don't know how. A multitude of distractions make for unthoughtful meal choices. Everyone's trying, in their own way, but it's easy to get down on yourself. Maybe some people truly don't care. It's easy to give up and surrender to the standard american diet. That's a real shame though.
I've always wanted nothing more than to help people. I give myself away every moment of the day. It's not money I'm after, it's happiness. That starts with a Raw foods diet. Our current system is leading us away from all the wisdom we once had. For example, my generation's grandparents knew how to grow food and be self-sustained. What a sad state of affairs we're in today when companies like Monsanto feel they can patent seeds. You cannot patent life. Our government is more corrupt now, than at any other time in our history. Look at what the World bank and the U.N. do around the world. This is a global resource war and our food is a major factor. Money HAS to be taken out of the equation, in a Venus Project sort of way.
The Essene tribe was Raw. Jesus of Nazareth was a member, maybe you've heard of him. The Buddha was Raw as was Leonardo Da Vinci. Not bad company if you ask me. Those were some pretty good teachers and artists. The Raw Truth by Jeremy Safron is such a great source, which is where I learned that bit of information. There's a great line in there that says "The truth doesn't need to be proven." Here here.