Raw Corn Salad

Today I tried raw corn for the first time. I was amazed at how delicious it was, I'm not sure why we even wasted time cooking it before. My meat eating fiancé even bragged on how tasty it was. I fixed a delicious salad with the corn which included: 3 ears of corn cut off the stalk Half a head of iceberg lettuce 1 red bell pepper 1 yellow bell pepper 1 orange tomato 1 red tomato 1 jalapeño 1/2 half a red onion A few cloves of garlic 1 and 1/2 avocado This salad served 3 people and was incredible. I am excited to see what other creations I can use raw corn in. I incourage you to try this easy, delicous raw salad.

When I started this I imagined I would have many horrible cravings for cooked food. I thought beans and rice (my favorite cooked food) would be floating around in my head taunting me with what I can't have. Instead, I have no desire for the heavy feeling of cooked food and my tastes have shifted to raw. My cravings are for tomatoes of every variety, and delicious salads filled with red and yellow bell peppers.

So what is the problem? Nuts. I love them. I could eat my weight in them. I'm afraid I could be the only person in the world who could manage to gain weight eating raw food due to my addiction. Almonds, walnuts, Brazil nuts, peanuts (though technically not a nut, but a legume), I love them all.   I have learned than most nuts we buy in the United States are actually not raw because they have been pasteurized. During pasteurization the nuts are heated above the acceptable temperature of 118 degrees, therefore killing any living enzymes that the nut had to offer us. Because of this I have sought out raw nuts at my local health food store.  Cashews and Almonds specifically are currently required to be pasteurized and may take a bit of a search to find truly raw. While raw nuts do not taste the same as cooked nuts, in the case of almonds, I have discovered I like them even more than before, adding fuel to my desire for nuts.

 Nuts are easy, nuts are fast, they do not need to be cut up or peeled. Sometimes I believe I reach for nuts so often because of this reason. Even though I do believe that nuts are a healthy part of a raw diet, I think I need to watch my nut intake as to not let it get out of control.  I think that nuts should be a small part of a raw diet and that it would be best to reach most often for a fruit or vegetable. If I over do it with nuts they seem to irritate my stomach which is one thing that raw food has otherwise allowed me to avoid. After all nearly every raw food article I have read says that we should limit nuts and seeds to a small part of the diet.

If you are like me and experience fibromyalgia pain on a nearly daily basis then you are probably to a point where you will try nearly anything. Today is day 10 on my raw food journey, and while I am still experiencing pain I have been impressed with what has changed. I feel more alert and my senses are heightened. I have experienced very little stomach issues compared with my usual diet. For these reasons I believe this diet can do something, and I have read the stories of many others who claim their pain dissipated on a raw food diet. Follow me on my journey through the raw food diet with fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis pain.

This morning I awoke and something was different, I could smell everything around me. Everything around me. I was shocked! Do I really want to smell everything around me? Some things don't smell good after all.  I had awoken with a heightened sense of smell!

 Today is actually the 8th day into my raw foods diet, and while my pain continues I have seen some other improvements, one being heightened smell, and no I'm not pregnant for those who are wondering. I also feel more alert, and my stomach doesn't hurt as it does about 75% of the time. Reduced stomach pain alone is reason to continue. Something is happening, my body is changing. There is hope.

For the last 8 days I have eaten at least 95% raw food. I must admit I have still eaten black olives and vegan pesto on my vegetables one night, but other than that all raw. Amazingly enough my cravings have already shifted towards raw food. I was already a vegan, but a cooked vegan, a cooked vegan who could have never imagined switching to a diet of all raw food. A cooked food vegan who loved her cooked food and the process of cooking. Already I feel that I could stick to this, but what will I fix for dinner? So far I have survived on salads, fresh fruit, and nuts. That may last for 8 days, but eventually I am going to have to make a meal. I look at spiralizers online confused on which one to buy. Pictures of zucchini pasta are so appetizing, maybe that's the place to start. Off I go to find something to eat.

Pain. Life for me is literally a pain, a pain in the knee, a pain in the hip, better yet make that both hips or both knees for that matter. All of my life I have experienced some degree of pain and was diagnosed around the age of 20 with Fibromyalgia. Before that they called it Juvenile Arthritis, and most recently Rheumatoid Arthritis. About a month and a half ago I went to the doctor for an adjustment and we discussed the worst, Rheumatoid Arthritis. He believed that I likely have Rheumatoid Arthritis and wished to run the tests. Being against the medical establishment, as I am for reasons we will later discuss, I of course refused. Instead I went home and at first tried to ignore the inevitable only to experience pain that would make it impossible to make it through a full day of work. Only a month and a half later it is impossible to ignore, bumps are beginning to form on my hands and my joints are often swollen and hot to the touch. I am only 27! I am determined to find relief, natural relief. Through my research I have stumbled upon raw foods and people who claim to have cured disease and improved their eyesight through the raw food diet. I must find out for myself and invite you to join me on this journey.