I was born in Los Angeles, California. I had a pretty good childhood and life in general and ate the Standard American Diet (SAD) for my first 23 years. When I was about 21 years old, I got pretty obsessed with my body and weight and started eating a very low fat and low calorie diet. Just about everything in my kitchen was fat free or sugar free FAKE food. A year later, I got down to 90 pounds and some weird chemistry took place in my body and I found myself with insomnia for about 3 months. I got very depressed and went on all sorts of meds for sleep and depression. My weight dropped to about 86 lbs. I looked sickly thin and I was very unhappy. I realized that if I ate food I could stay awake and functional throughout the day. Before I knew it, I developed a VERY unhealthy relationship with food and was binging on anything and everything all the time. I could not do anything or go anywhere without food. I gained weight and felt powerless over food and my emotions. I depressed, brain-fogged, unhappy with my body and life, and enrolled in a 12 step program.
Rockets of desire were launching that entire time. I WANT TO BE HEALTHY. I WANT A SLIM, HEALTHY BODY, I WANT A HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD, I WANT PURPOSE FOR MY LIFE.
This was all mostly post-college. After I regained a solid footing over my dance with uncontrolled eating and emotions, I came across a healthy lifestyle book that changed my life. I learned that the root of all known disease was basically toxicity and that I was taking in quite a heavy load of toxins from the meat and dairy I was still eating (although it was all white meat, skim milk, cottage cheese, etc.). Also, I learned that detoxing, such as fasting, was crucial to optimal health. I went vegan overnight and soon found myself going to the farmers market every week, eating only fruit for breakfast, making big organic salads with homemade salad dressings for lunches, and eating beans, grains, and steamed veggies for dinner. I also incorporated a one day juice fast into my weekly regime. My health soared; I felt great. I was still having some trouble sleeping at night though and was still on my depression meds. I wanted to be off of everything.
I started to read articles on raw/living food nutrition and found them intriguing. I started playing with raw food recipes and found that I really liked them. In 2006, my company, relocated me as part of a rotational training program to Chicago. It was a wonderful thing–I wanted to move here. I guess I was a real city girl living by the beach this entire time (although I do get the best of both worlds at Chicago’s North Avenue Beach ;). I found Karyn’s Fresh Corner and fell in love with the gourmet raw foods and how good they made me feel. I really wanted independence from the remaining medications I was on AND I wanted to meet some like-minded people interested in raw foods and healthy living so I enrolled in her September Detox class.
That class was the beginning of ALLOWING my body, mind, and spirit to begin RECEIVING all of those desires I had previously called out for. After that month-long program, I decided to stay “raw” and was able to wean myself off of ALL allopathic medications!
That was 3 years ago and I have been enjoying my raw food journey tremendously. I have embraced all of the trials and successes, health transformations, shifts in consciousness, and downloads of purpose. I LOVE Chicago (I still play “the tourist” at times), all of my new and wonderful friends, my new lifestyle, and my new and continuously evolving desires. I have not become a hippie-I still work for a major oil company, love going out and staying out late, drinking the occasional glasses of wine, and using shampoo and deodorant :) I just love how my health is now though. I love how I question everything, and how I now have a very healthy relationship with food and the planet. I feel more connected with others and with my emotions, and I feel like eating foods with a higher vibration to them allow ME to reach higher vibrations and thus manifest things easier and faster (OKAY-I am quite into the metaphysical stuff too now).
I have found that I have been able to successfully live a healthy “raw vegan” lifestyle in the city and I think that I really have something there. I am not about to let the diet hold me down from living a normal life and I don’t think it’s about that at all. I don’t think there has to be a trade-off between health and my (or your) idea of fun and I don’t believe in depriving yourself of anything in order to attain your goals. In fact, I think that it’s important (and necessary) to feel good the whole time. I think that being able to eat this way while living the lifestyle you want to live brings the highest self-esteem and sense of empowerment one can attain.
What I’m up to now:
- I am very involved in local Chicago “meetup” groups such as the The Chicago Young + New In Town (or Not) Meetup, and the Chicago RAW food Community!!!. This is how I met the majority of people I know! The meetup events are opportunities for me to hang out with friends and meet new people, network and learn from others. Also, as an assistant organizer in both Groups, I get to plan and organize meetups.
- Created my own meetup group to bring young (under 35) and raw people together. It’s the Chicago Young and Raw group. Join us if you can!
- I taught a 8 week class course on “How to Go and Stay ‘Raw’ in the City.” It was all about the nuts and bolt of how to live this lifestyle in a fun, healthy, and sustainable way. I loved doing this and assured me I was on the right path in pursuing raw foods nutrition as a career and means of living. I loved my students and hearing their feedback on how their week went after the class prior and what ideas they received that they were really going to run with in the week to come.
- I am currently working on a raw food lifestyle how-to DVD. Check out www.rawfooddvd.com in the upcoming months.
- I promote raw foods and a raw foods income-opportunity via the website:
www.eatsuperfoods.com
Loading ...
Recent Comments