Hello all!

I`ve been subscribed to this list since 1995 (under the name of veg-raw). In
the beginning I read all the articles and devoured all the information
available on raw in Internet - it wasn`t much at that time. I`m amazed at
the information flood on raw today! Well, as the number of posts started to
increase and new raw lists appeared I couldn`t keep up with all that stuff.
So, more and more often I found myself staring at the screen - dazed -
mixing up lists (I`m still unable to arrange different lists in different
mailboxes :)) and trying to clear up all the new abbreviations for me (like:
RAF =3D Royal Air Force :)). Little by little I reluctantly gave up a couple
of lists. I must admit I haven`t read much recently. In 1995 and 1996,
partly due to Internet, I had my longest 100 % raw (vegan) period so far.=20

I`ve been interested in raw food diet from the teenage when I read a couple
of Christine Nolfi`s booklets. This was the start of my love to raw/living
vegetarian food diet and way of living, and, the start of enthusiasm for
health in general. I worked hard to attain my ideals regarding diet and
exercise which were verging on the extreme. I sought perfection. I felt
guilty about putting =94wrong food=94 into my mouth. At times I craved junk=
 food
and gorged on it. I guess I was close to have an eating disorder. Don`t get
me wrong - the raw diet wasn`t guilty of my problems.

I`ve been pondering why I wanted to believe living food was omnipotent.
There was a time I naively believed all raw vegan diet would solve problems,
make people better, stop wars ... Maybe I wanted to have a perfect control
of my life by eating correctly but the opposite happened: food started to
control over me. There came a time I was so sick of thinking eating that I
didn`t want to follow posting lists. One of my Internet acquintance (a
lacto-veggie) said all the raw foodists (those eating predominantly raw
foods) he`s met were quite tight - and severe to themselves. I found myself
in his utterance.

Now, my ideals have changed in the course of the journey, developed in a
healthier direction and I`m less tight today. I know I`ll be a raw food
enthusiast for the rest of my life (one of my many dreams is to become a
living food trainer one day!). I`m a gourmet, too. I`ll enjoy delicious food
and good health. I`m learning to enjoy life in general. :-)

I`d be interested to know if some of you have gotten similar kinds of
thoughts/experiences
and any kind of comments are welcome.

Love,
Tiina