Raw Food vs. Connection to Others

[dominick]

Hey all. Over the last year I've come a long way in my nutrition, to the point where I'm very close to espousing a 100% raw, vegan diet. I definitely see the health benefits of such a diet and I have seen noticeable increases in my energy levels and mental clarity. After periods of being all, or almost all, raw I literally feel my life moving to another level.

Here's my challenge (and opportunity I guess):

When I'm raw I tend to feel increasingly disconnected from the world around me. Part of it is knowing that so much of food and drink is social and 99% of the places to eat and drink aren't really set up with raw foodists in mind. I know that you can find raw food almost anywhere but the fact of the matter is that the raw options are so abysmal in most places that you'd rather just stay home.

Compounding the fact is that I think there's something emotional binding about "breaking bread together". Some of my most memorable eating experiences revolve around sharing food with others and if you're in a group of people that's not raw, sharing their food just isn't an option.

I know many people in the raw food community and it seems like most of them either bond up to other raw foodies and that's there community or are relatively isolated socially (eating most of their meals at home, etc.). I live a life as an entrepreneur where I get a lot of benefit from being out and socializing with many different types of folks and this just doesn't seem conducive to the raw food lifestyle. I plan to pursue a career in politics in the future as well and I think people connect through food (witness Barack and Hillary at the Iowa State Fair during the caucuses).

So I'm in a quandary. Stick to the diet that I know is best for me individually and also best from a planetary perspective. Or compromise knowing that I'm doing so consciously to form stronger bonds with the people around me.

Thoughts?

[liverpool footballer]

Share The Carrot Sticks

[Savage]

My experience is that being a raw foodist makes it so much EASIER for me to connect with people.

First off, there's something about this diet that makes me feel more energetically open than ever. I enjoy a much more consistent sense of oneness, much like I wrote about in the article Soulful Relationships. This makes socializing very easy because I just don't feel the same blocks I used to. I can walk up to a group of strangers and engage them in conversation because I don't feel like they're strangers. I got this mentally, but now I'm feeling it emotionally too.

Secondly, since my diet often becomes a piece of conversation when I share a meal with others, there's an immediate opportunity to connect right there. I get to share something of who I am.

Yesterday I went to lunch with 5 other people from Blog World Expo. I was the only raw foodist of course. I ordered a garden salad with olives and avocado. And of course we talked about raw foods for a few minutes. I don't try to convert anyone though. I just share my experiences to the degree that people are curious. In many ways being a raw foodist is a great conversation starter. People are often a little curious about how it's even possible to eat like this.

[Bruce Achterberg]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

First off, there's something about this diet that makes me feel more energetically open than ever. I enjoy a much more consistent sense of oneness

I'm about 50% raw foodist at the moment, and I've fully been noticing this, too.

It's startling. It doesn't last *all* the time (i.e. if I'm tired, it fades; if I'm around significant negative reinforcement, I lose my sense of connection. Not my sense of awareness, though, which is a new thing. Makes it much easier to maintain composure and positivity when it was previously difficult or not something I could do at all), but yep, it happening at all is what’s surprising to me, but yet it feels totally natural, like I’m completely zen about it without any effort on my part.

And this was something I’ve been starting to notice without Steve even mentioning it. I’ve just gradually noticed things. First, I took responsibility for my inner world, and that started to show externally. Then, I just started feeling oneness with everything. Then, this new world of energy showed up. It’s like my previous experiences with energy, but if I pay attention, it’s “always on” now. Reading people when I’m in this state is *ridiculously* easy.

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

Yesterday I went to lunch with 5 other people from Blog World Expo. I was the only raw foodist of course. I ordered a garden salad with olives and avocado. And of course we talked about raw foods for a few minutes. I don't try to convert anyone though. I just share my experiences to the degree that people are curious. In many ways being a raw foodist is a great conversation starter. People are often a little curious about how it's even possible to eat like this.

One thing I've noticed is that people seem less resistant to me now than they did when I was vegan. It's subtle, but it's there. I still don't eat animal products, but I don't really consider myself vegan anymore; I let that paradigm go. Now I'm just happy embracing health. It's not about avoiding something or a sense of lack or difference; it's just about what's healthy and intelligent.

It's as if I let go of the internal baggage I had around veganism, and as a result, so did everyone else. Raw foodist just seems to be less about you, and more about what just feels natural and what leaves you feeling good, not depleted.

And on top of this, reality is literally becoming a mirror for my state of consciousness, but it's synergistically feeding back into itself all the time.

As Steve says, it really is one thing to get it mentally, because I understood the concept of oneness before. It's quite another to feel it, and to be able to relate to your physical body as yours, but also see it as 'yours' as well, as if your physical body is part of something larger--a bigger body that you just suddenly happen to become aware of.

Connection to others in a meaningful way is becoming ridiculously easy for me, but it doesn't feel like it's "me" doing it at all. Super-hard to describe, yet the experiential aspect of it just seems normal and intuitive.

Amusingly, the people who I do have trouble connecting with seem to represent my 50% not-raw side. But then, I've already begin to let them go.

I'm certain that this is the direction to head in.