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Nora's raw transformation story In 1990, while working as an academic assistant at a naturopathic college, I came across a very old, tattered book in the library called Toxemia Explained by John Tilden. I was astounded to find that its contents contradicted everything I had been taught about healing and disease. It claimed that there are no "cures", and that medicine and remedies of any sort only make sickness worse. Further, it also identified one single, mostly self-inflicted cause for all disease: "toxemia". Everyday I was surrounded by very educated people who believed otherwise. How could they all be wrong? I was fascinated, but not enough to abandon my cooked vegan diet or my keen interest in "alternative medicine". Ten years later, I was once again exposed to some of those same ideas when I read Nature's First Law. Although some of the claims in the book seemed exaggerated, I just knew somehow that they were based on truth. It all made so much sense to me that I immediately resolved to adopt a living foods diet. My own "transition" was very short -- within two weeks of reading Nature's First Law, I had gone from a cooked vegan diet to 100% raw. During those first two weeks, I decided that I would eat all raw except for baked potatoes or popcorn if I needed something cooked. It amazed me that by the beginning of the third week I just didn't need those foods anymore. During the first few months of being raw, I gave myself permission to eat as much as I wanted, as long as it was RAW. After dieting for weight management my entire adult life, it was liberating to be able to eat with abandon. I experimented with different recipes until I found 7 or 8 that I really loved. I rotated these, adding new ones along the way. I bought tons of food, which was tough on my budget. But, I reasoned, this was money I wouldn't have to spend on doctors, health insurance, prescriptions, herbs or vitamins! I also ate staples that had been in my diet for a long time, like sweet, frozen banana smoothies with almond milk base and big salads. When I ate these things, I felt satisfied and "normal," and I could forget about the radical change I was making to my life. I discovered things like macadamia/strawberry "yogurt" that I dipped apple slices in. I made spicy sunflower seed dip for celery and carrot sticks. I made thick, delicious salad dressings with seeds and nuts. I always had dates, raisins and nuts with me, and snacked almost continually. No matter how much food I ate, I stillfelt "hungry". I was later to learn that these feelings weren't hunger at all, but the symptoms of cleansing that my diet change had initiated. It takes many, many years to overcome the habit of eating when you feel those symptoms. When your stomach aches, I found out, it's like a sprained ankle that only needs rest. Real hunger is quite a different sensation, not an unpleasant one, similar to mild thirst. In the beginning, however, I didn't worry about eating in response to feelings of weakness, dizziness, irritation or that growly desperation for food. I knew if I tried to deprive myself, it would be difficult to stay raw. That's why I recommend now that although a goal of eating low fat or smaller quantities are appropriate for later on, it should not be of concern to the new raw fooder. When my body began to regain its vitality, it started signaling my dietary mistakes. So, I began to learn a bit more about proper food combining and applied it to my diet. I had to start eating fruit and nuts separately, which meant I couldn't make my beloved smoothies with almond milk anymore. I just started making them with young coconuts instead. Eventually I didn't even like the way this combination made me feel either, so I stopped having smoothies altogether for awhile. I was amazed that when I made this decision, I didn't feel deprived. I just went without one day, then two, and then the next time I wanted one I thought about how they made me feel, and had something else instead. I juiced greens a lot in the first year as well, a practice which I eventually abandoned. I experimented with eating one food at a time, and didn't like it at first. I'd have trouble deciding which ONE food I wanted to eat and no matter what I chose, I'd end up wanting the other thing, and was usually unable to resist having both in the end. It gets a lot easier to do this, and feels more natural. These changes come about slowly and naturally. Anyone who has had trouble with the idea of eating only one food at a time should not feel discouraged. These are things that most new raw fooders experience. Don't push yourself, but experiment with it. The more you do it, the more comfortable it will feel. Eventually you won't want to eat more than one or two foods at the same time. As with all the changes I've had to make, this one was a lot easier in reality than it had been in my imagination. Everyone has a different experience when transitioning to a living foods diet. That's because each of our bodies has its own way of healing, adjusting and regaining balance. It is helpful for people wanting to make changes to their diet to know what others have experienced, in order to prepare themselves for the possibilities. So, I'll share some of my experiences. I felt pretty sick during the first few weeks. I was lethargic, weak, lightheaded, drowsy (especially in the evening), mildly depressed and irritable. I had many ups and downs during this period but by the end of the second month I was having many days when I felt good. After 5 months of being 100% raw, I had my first of 3 major cleansing events, which felt like the "flu". I was nauseous, had diarrhea and was extremely weak and faint if I attempted to stand up for more than a couple minutes. The worst of it lasted about a week. I was so ignorant about what was happening in my body that I didn't even realize that I should not have continued eating. I had no appetite, so I ate very little, but I was still laboring under the idea that food gives us "strength" and was afraid that doing without it would make me feel even weaker. If I had fasted on water only, I have no doubt that the "crisis" would have been over in a couple days at most. Within two weeks of getting over that, I started noticing weight loss even though I hadn't changed anything in my diet. Up until that point, I hadn't lost an ounce of weight. Although it was a source of bitter disappointment for me, I had been forced to accept that weight loss might not happen at all. I wanted to be slim, but it was more important to me to be healthy, so I resolved to stay raw even if I didn't lose weight. By month 8, I had lost all of the extra 30 pounds I had gained since my teens. Over the next year my weight loss slowed down and I've been sitting at 117 pounds (I'm 5'8") for about the last 8 months. Nora before Nora after I did have some very difficult and trying times during my first year of being raw. Our bodies use the same mechanisms to heal and find balance when we are getting healthier as they do when we are sick and getting sicker. That is, if you've had menstrual cramps your whole life, or headaches, acne or cold sores, etc., you'll most likely experience more of the same while you are healing as old stored toxins re-enter your bloodstream on their way out of your body. The symptoms we experience are sometimes called "retracing". Even beyond my first year, I had extremely painful menstrual cramps, recurring 'yeast infections', and a constant crop of cold sores appearing on my lips and nose. It wasn't until late in my second year of being raw that my periods got easier and I stopped getting cold sores altogether. Now, my periods are usually light and cramps are mild or nonexistent. I expect this will continue to improve as my body gets healthier. I had the second of my "healing crises" at about 18 months. This one wasn't as severe as the first, and brought different symptoms. I had the sorest, rawest throat I've ever experienced, and felt too weak to even get out of bed. It only lasted a few days, because while I didn't fast completely I only had citrus and juices. Six months later, just a month before my 2-year raw anniversary, I had the most acute cleansing event to date: High fever, body aches, chills, cough, weakness, sinus and chest congestion. I ate very lightly, again only citrus and juices, and it took two weeks to pass. About 3 weeks after the beginning of my symptoms, however, I felt the best I've ever felt in my life! To me, this was evidence that my body had been doing some serious housecleaning. For a full six weeks after that point, I continued to feel like I was walking on air. Words can't describe the joy I felt just from being alive. Realizing that our bodies heal in cycles or plateaus, I knew that with the last healing event I had moved to a new level of health. Inevitably, when we get to the end of a healing cycle, our bodies signal our dietary mistakes with the vitality it as regained, which means we might not feel very well. Sometimes this means acute symptoms, and sometimes just mild discomfort or low energy. Our bodies sometimes take the opportunity to direct extra energy to healing, which means we might not have a lot available for other activities. If we cooperate with our bodies, however, and allow them to do their work, we are always rewarded with improved health. Through the law of vital adjustment, our bodies can tolerate a great deal of abuse. Most people don't realize how they've made their own bodies tolerant of their lifestyle mistakes -- mistakes that ultimately make them sick and threaten their lives. I wanted to do the opposite - to increase my body's sensitivity. I wanted my body to tell me when I had done something that was harmful to it. In this way, I could learn to cooperate with it. If I listen to my body and continue to refine and simplify my diet, I can be assured of moving to the next level. Eventually, we reach a place of optimal health where cleansing is accomplished via the "normal" eliminative channels and does not cause discomfort. Healing is a very slow process which requires great patience and trust in nature. Now, after 3 years of being 100% raw, I have experienced such radical changes in my physical and emotional health that I'm beginning to understand what it must be like to have the level of health that all beings on earth are supposed to enjoy, but that few humans can even conceive of. What I'm experiencing right now is not perfect health. But I've seen enough to know what perfection IS, and to know that it is worth striving for, no matter how much I have to segregate myself from a culture that seeks comfort and entertainment from eating. I have to smile when someone tells me that the sacrifices I'm making for my health are too great. It's true that being raw and vegan is socially challenging, and I'd be lying if I said there's nothing about the cooked life that I'll miss. But when I think about that, and compare it to what I'd have to give up if I went back to my old way of life, it only deepens my resolve to stay raw forever. The symptoms I previously experienced that I had come to believe were a natural part of aging -- like back ache, indigestion, angina, joint pain and middle-age spread -- are gone. And although I wasn't afflicted with any diseases before I went raw, I now realize the fear of it pervaded my life on a daily basis. I thought about breast cancer especially, fearing that it would take me as it had my grandmother when she was the age I'm at now. Now when I think about cancer, it's to lament all the ignorance and unnecessary fear that surrounds it. It is not mysterious, nor is it the vicious and vile killer we are brainwashed to believe it is. Its causes are simple and can be understood by anyone. This knowledge alone has brought me a freedom I hadn't expected. No more breast self-exams, nor the guilt I felt for not performing them with the recommended frequency, not to mention uncomfortable pap smears and other so-called "preventative" medical procedures. The notion that disease is an unavoidable part of life is so universally accepted in our culture that people don't even realize what THEY are sacrificing in order to eat "normally". As a result, all of the physical and emotional dysfunction that we experience individually and as a culture has come to be thought of as normal and natural. There are many, many health issues that would signal distress to any human living a truly natural life, but that we accept as normal aspects of the human experience: Monthly female bleeding, painful childbirth, childhood sickness, baldness, tooth decay, depression, deteriorating vision/hearing, death being preceded by 10 years of "assisted living", and many more. Learning about natural life can lead to some truly amazing revelations about the unnatural and inhumane nature of modern civilized life. Finding raw food and Natural Hygiene can signal the end of your health troubles and the beginning of a glorious new joy-filled life. However, there is a great need for health-seekers to think critically and independently as they approach new ideas. Just because a book advocates raw food, doesn't mean everything the author has to say should be taken to heart. The raw food movement, like the rest of the world, is awash in confusion and misconception regarding health. When one decides to seek REAL health, there is as much to UN-learn as there is to learn. Deeply-held myths die hard even among raw foodists. What has helped me the most in being able to discern truth from nonsense is learning the unchanging, nature-based principles of Natural Hygiene. Natural Hygiene is the idea that all living things are self-regenerating, self-repairing, self-sustaining, and are designed through millions of years of infinite wisdom that resides in their every cell to attain and maintain optimum health. All we need to do is avoid the habits that destroy health and provide the requisites that build it. Natural Hygiene also teaches us what's going on in our bodies when we might otherwise be confused and confounded by ongoing symptoms. It is a lot easier to be patient with your body if you understand what's happening inside it. I now use the information I have gathered throughout my transition process to guide other aspiring raw fooders to success. It is not necessary to have a lot of knowledge before transitioning. Many people make the mistake of over-researching raw food on a conceptual level, and become fearful of plunging in because of stories they hear from others about "detox". I recommend getting making changes right away if the concept of eating raw food makes sense to you, but using the time during the transition process to LEARN about your body so that the signals it will be sending you can be understood and heeded. What separates successful raw fooders from those who fail is the willingness to seek out and take in new information, while discarding old ideas about health that don't serve them. Regaining the vitality and vigor you once knew as a young person is not only possible, it is inevitable with the right conditions. But, healing and recovery from a lifetime of abusive living is a process of experimentation, listening to your body, learning from others and abandoning old habits and ideas. The patience and trust that will be required of you will eventually be rewarded with optimal health. Nora Lenz (Please feel free to email me!) Seattle, Washington, USA Shazzie says... Nora proves something which I talk about a lot. Many people say "If raw's that simple, why are there so many different books on it?". Well, like Nora illustrates, we all are touched by different ways of communication. Fit for Life has helped millions of people improve their health, but Nora, like me, needed the hard-hitting Nature's First Law: The Raw Food Diet book to slap her in the face before she actually took action. Knowledge is a great thing, but add emotion to the pot and you have a firework of a recipe called "take control of your life now"! If you want to add your story and before and after pictures to this section, please email them (no bigger than 200k each please) to us with your name, the dates of the photos and your age when the photos were taken. If you would like me to include a URL to your site, or any other information, please let me know. If you want to change your life for the better, buy Shazzie's detox delights -- it contains the recipes I used to transform myself from a struggling caterpillar into a butterfly with magic slippers!

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