Day 101 – Changes In Pespective and Attitude

A co-worker asked me the other day if eating nothing but raw fruits and vegetables every day ever gets boring. To me, that’s a simple question with a complicated answer.

So if you’re in a hurry, here’s the quick answer: it depends. You can now get back to whatever it was that you were doing (and if you weren’t doing anything, Dr. Graham’s 80/10/10 raw food book is worth “doing”!).

Still with me? Good. This isn’t going to be a short answer, but please read through to the end to see how I now think about such things. My attitude towards food has changed — perhaps permanently — because of the new perspective that’s been shown to me.

There are probably 15-20 aisles filled with food and various other products at my local grocery store. Of those aisles, only one is usually of interest to me: the produce aisle. So out of all of the food in the store, only 5 to 10 percent of that food is of interest to me. That leaves 90 to 95 percent of the food to appeal to somebody else because if it didn’t appeal to enough people to make it profitable to produce, then it would disappear and some other substance would appear in its place.

So why do we “need” all of that other “food” if I’m OK with, at most, 10% of the store’s contents? I think it’s because, when it comes to food, we only think with our taste buds, eyes, and nose. We usually don’t stop to consider the effect that all of that “stuff” will have on our bodies. We’re also susceptible to good advertising. After 100 days of nothing but raw food (yesterday was Day 100!), my perspective is slowly changing. I no longer live to eat; I eat to live (although I do enjoy eating).

To help you see how I think, let me give an example that most people readily understand. Would you put diesel fuel in your gasoline engine car because you liked an ad you saw on television? Of course not! If you did that, then you’d be facing an expensive repair bill so that your car would do what it’s designed to do — mainly, run. So why do we put “anything and everything” in our mouth when we know that it’s not good for us? Instead of ingesting the food that we know we need, we usually eat stuff simply because it looks good to us and appeals to our senses. We then buy it, cook it, and enjoy the smell and taste.

But what happens after that? What happens after the plate is empty and there’s nothing left to please the tongue?

Please take a moment to honestly answer that question.

Incidentally, most people never give that question a second thought. However, now that I have 100 days of nothing but raw foods under my belt (with a couple of experimental exceptions), I do think about such things. It’s no longer just about “taste” for me (although the food I do eat tastes great. Wish you could try these cherry tomatoes I’m eating right now… Superb!).

As you put together a longer string of successful all raw food days, your body and mindset start changing. First comes the detox, then weight loss, better energy, and improved health. And as these things come, you WILL start to look at food a lot differently. Hey, you’ve come a LONG way and made a lot of progress on the road to optimum living — so why would you want to “backslide” (if I can borrow a term from the church I attended as a child)? Why would I want to put over 60 pounds back on my body that melted away like ice in the desert when I started eating right? Why would I want to go back to the time where walking the dog was a chore?

So yes, from the eyes / nose / tongue perspective alone, nothing but raw fruits and vegetables can get mighty boring. But between the time you start this diet and the time it gets “boring”, your perspective begins to change your attitude. I no longer look on it as “boring” — I look at where I was and where I am now and KNOW that I’m doing the best thing possible for me, my family, and those who depend on me. Is doing everything I can to be available for those that matter to me “boring”? Saying that it is would be extremely short-sighted of me.

Last night the others who work with me decided to fire up the grill and cook some hamburgers. As I watched my co-worker eat that blackened piece of ground dead cow (that got to that form through a process that wastes huge amounts of water, causes a ridiculous amount of pollution, and wastes precious energy and other natural resources), I realized that there’s absolutely no way that I’d eat one of those. I’d sooner eat a hockey puck (but only if it were raw… ).

And later, one of my other co-workers asked me if I had gotten my share of the burnt offering. I told him that while I appreciated the thought, my strict diet (I’ve given up on trying to explain it to people unless they ask and seem open to listening) doesn’t allow it. He went on to explain that although he was diabetic, he did allow himself to eat these things on occasion.

What? If your body is already breaking down because of the crap you’ve piled into it, why would you do more of the same? If you kept getting hit by cars, wouldn’t you get out of the street? And if that stuff is doing THAT to your body, wouldn’t you want to stop eating it? And what makes you think that I would want to inject it into mine? Do you really think that I want to go back to having a huge gut and be on the verge of all sorts of ailments that are related to eating improperly?

While raw foods may be “boring” from the eyes / nose / tongue perspective, I’m excited by what it’s doing to me once it gets past my tongue and I swallow it. Think past the tongue to the tons of other benefits that natural raw foods bring. And you can also think about all of those things that you’re missing… like illness, disease, lethargy, being overweight…

And if you’re struggling with an all raw food diet, just stick with it (but make sure you’re following the RIGHT raw food diet first. 80/10/10 is the only way to go) and focus on the GOOD things that are happening to you. Then, when you want to go back to cooked foods, focus on what’s happened to you since you made the switch — then decide if you want to go back to the way you were before. Do you really want to destroy the progress and gains that you’ve made? Are you willing to give up your new-found lifestyle for the sake of a chemically altered substance that your body is going to have to fight to get even some nutrition from (that’s what happens when you apply heat to something, and that’s what happens when you cook stuff) before it struggles to eliminate the toxins (without complete success)? Do you really want to put all of that junk back in your body?

Not me. I’ll stick with boring.

Smacznego,
Tom

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