Confession

[sarahfae]

I drink tea.



Gasp! It seems like such a raw food cliche, but I don't care!

Lately the sunshine has been so daunting in my back yard. So what do I do about it? Make oodles of sun tea!
I've taken to going home for lunches instead of sitting in my car --- I like this new routine much better. I get to visit with the furry-babies, enjoy my lunch while moving around, sprawl out on a blanket in our back yard and stretch in the sun light...and enjoy a mason jar full of sun tea. Today's flavor is Jasmine/Green tea...last weeks was Darjeeling/Mint. Yum.

This afternoon I've been recruited by a friend to do hair and make-up for a play that her teenager's charter school is putting on. I miss doing theater make-up...this is gonna be fun -- plus I'm one of those weird people that really enjoys the company of teenagers!

Comments

[crescentmuse.livejournal.com]

Tea is perfect. I can't live without it. That and coffee but we wont talk about that... ;-P

Yum sun tea...

[sarahfae.livejournal.com]

oh good! i'm glad i'm not alone :) --- never have been a coffee drinker though. i have an awful reaction to coffee beans...it's just awful!

[fusis.livejournal.com]

Tea is so good for you! So who cares? :) It kind of seems like tea could fit in a raw diet...? I mean, green tea really isn't supposed to be boiled. I don't know all the tenants of a strict raw diet though.

I miss picking wild mint from my neighbors' yards around Eureka. Perfect for summer teas.

So, what made you go raw and not just vegan? Were you already vegan when you went raw? I have some food/nutrition research heroes (who are vegan, but support raw food as well, as it's all about the plants), and I wonder if you have any as well.

[sarahfae.livejournal.com]

i love fresh mint! i'm gonna try to plant some very soon.

i initially went vegitarian when i was 12, and somewhere around the age of 21 went full vegan, mainly because i discovered that i was allergic to dairy. it was a super easy transition. but oh boy did i learn fast you can be just as unhealthy on a vegan diet as you can on any other.

a little over four years ago i started suffering from reallyreally bad stomach pains and even worse bowl symtoms - to the point of being laid up for days and crying a lot. i took matters into my own hands and did a lot of research on what i thought it could be...
lo' and behold i discovered that i was gluten intollerant.

things started looking up after cutting wheat and gluten out of my diet, but i still didn't quite feel "right" with my body.

my "quest" for better health really truly took off about a year after the discovery of my gluten allergy - and i seemed to develope a seriously strong desire to live a good healthy lifestyle, because i learned when doing this properly the results were SO positive and touched SO many ares of my life. i started to get excited.......

and that's when i discovered "raw food"!
this was a little over 1 year ago today.

i'll admit, when i first started eating raw food (last year) i jumped in really quickly, and got in way over my head due to the lack of information. i rebounded to cooked food and gained a bunch of weight, lost a ton of motivation to do anything, and really hated myself towards the end of 2008.

once i started running in the beginning of february (this year) i gained a new perspective, and really started to see the whole concept of raw foods being a possability again. but i knew i had to do it differently than before. so far it's been really rewarding, mainly because i had a lot more information at hand, a steady work-out regimin, and *slowly* omitted starch and carbs from my diet instead of cutting them all out at once.

i don't know if all of this makes total sense (i'm not always the best at explaining things), but i do know that i've looked at my weaknesses when it comes to not being able to commit to a raw food lifestyle, and thus far have found VERY successful solutions that have helped keep me in line.

D asked me the other day: "how long do you plan on eating like this?"
and i told him: "forever."
he said: "Wow!"
and i clarified by telling him that i don't HAVE to eat a 100% raw food diet all of the time, but i have every intention of keeping raw as a majority of my daily food intake.
i just can't see why i should end such a wonderful thing! :)

sorry to be so long-winded!!

i don't really have any food/nutrition heros (or at least off the top of my head), i still feel so knew to all of this... but i'd love to hear who yours are!

[fusis.livejournal.com]

don't be sorry - i love long answers!

this is interesting! it's strange because i think a lot of people are allergic to dairy and just don't care. but a gluten allergy sounds pretty serious!

it's so hard to eat differently, it's not strange at all that when you first tried it, you weren't successful. mistakes are so important to any change!

does D mind the lifestyle? i imagine it's so not so strange for him working in the natural foods store. i've felt really lucky that Greg is on board with me in all this -- he really is the one who pushed into veganism (but whole grain, whole food, low sugar veganism) after i got the ball rolling. the ball rolled for about a year before i got him to read a few books from the library that piqued his interest. the most effective read was The China Study, which was the most significant study on cancer to date that showed that cancer was geographically specific and related solely to diet and the amount of meat consumed. so that's one of our heroes, T. Colin Campbell.

the other is John Robbins, who stood to inherit the Baskin-Robbins corporation, but gave it up for a vegan lifestyle and in the late 80's wrote a book that raised awareness about veganism and why people shouldn't be eating meat and dairy, etc. he's written a lot of great books since.

from your perspective, i guess you don't need any reinforcement about not eating meat/dairy, but it's a bit newer for me, and i get a lot of flack from people i know in the midwest. er, maybe i make some flack too... i like to talk about things!

anyway, thanks for the story. i had been curious :)

[sarahfae.livejournal.com]

awesome! thanks for the resources. i'll be looking into both of the people you mentioned --- actually i already am! :)

[ladyjaneinlace.livejournal.com]

Have you had African Honeybush tea? That's my favorite - naturally caffeine-free, plus it has a wonderful sweet taste all its own. I don't use sweetener in it at all.

You should try it!

[dolmadez.livejournal.com]

I love sun tea! I "made" a big glass pitcher last week of pomegranate-acai green tea. With a touch of agave nectar, it was perfect.