Raw Food Forums

Hello everyone,

I've been umming and ahhing about whether I'm going to start a journal but I've decided I'm justing going to do it, so here I am.

I've been juice feasting for 48 hours now. Was too nervous to start a journal before this - I didn't want to fall off the wagon too publicly, but now I figure if it doesn't all go to plan you guys will be understanding. I'm busting to talk about the fasting experiences I'm having and I could really do with the support as well.

I've got to admit, Berry Bliss has been a big inspiration for fasting. I wonder how many other people you've inspired- heaps I bet. I've been loitering around the forum but not yet ready to post so I've gleaned all sorts of motivations and ideas for you guys, whether you were aware of it or not  :laugh:

A bit about me: I'm a mum to two beautiful girls - 3 years and 5 months. I found about about raw when I was 18 (I'm now 25) and have made random attempts at it over the years, sometimes 100%, often far from it. On the whole though it's been a gradual trend of increase in raw in my life (and my husbands, he's pretty good about going along with me). My husband went overseas for work for 6 weeks in the middle of August and while he was gone I found it a lot easier to be raw (not so exciting going out for dinner just with the kids). I also bought an Oscar juicer and I'm sooooo in love. I'm very excited to find people here who share my passion for fruit and veggies. My friends just don't get it when I want to rave about the deliciousness of green smoothies.

So, I got my juicer and I've been gradually increasing my juice intake until I just felt called to fast. Bit scared, never made it past 1 day before, but here I am and going well. I'm having GS as well, by the way.

All these exciting detox things are happening to me and I defiantly need a place to ramble on, I don't think my husband is as enthralled by my detox symptoms as I am and I haven't told anyone else I'm fasting.

So let me tell you...  :laugh:

We went out for a big brunch (all you can eat South Indian  :rolleyes:) on Sunday and it really was all I could eat. The rest of the day I just wanted to juice and decided to just follow when my body was hungry. Boy, I didn't realise it would be so hard. I really wasn't hungry but somehow or other I'd find myself heading for the kitchen. I stayed on juice but it really required concentration. My brain was constantly trying to trick me into eating. I'd think to myself, 'I'm not hungry, this is a good think to not eat if I'm not hungry' and the thought would immediately be followed up by something like, 'It's good I'm trying to take care of myself, I should have a GS, that would make me feel great'. 10 seconds later, 'Heeey, tricky brain- I'm not hungry'. Such a food habit, even if it's healthy food.

So for the first half of yesterday (first full day) I felt great. Really peaceful, I realised the inner monologue was a lot quieter and the world was a lot more peaceful without so much constant babble in my head. It was like meditating but it didn't have to work at it, it just was. Felt great.

My thumb started to hurt in the middle of the morning. About a month ago I was putting up a new sun shade tent thing for my daughter and I got a splinter of fiberglass in my thumb. It really hurt for a few days but I couldn't see it so I figured it would work it self out eventually. Well, I guess it's still in there! My thumbs been hurting and I can feel a little lump under the skin - imagine if I wasn't detoxing, I could have wandered around with fiberglass in my thumb for years. What else is in me? Yuk to think about, but also exciting that it all might start coming out.

I went to the organic shop with the girls and we got heaps of fruit and veggies, yum! Later, I was playing with my daughter and she handed me a teddy. I just wanted to sit and cuddle that teddy! My sense of touch was really heightened and my hands were really sensitive to the fabric of the bear. Was really weird but good. I've heard about people experiencing things like this when fasting but I thought you'd have to be  doing it for a lot longer to feel more than you just have the flu.

I don't feel like I have the flu, by the way. When I first went cold turkey raw I was really sick for at least a week. I don't have that now, just more distinct 'detox' symptoms. Yesterday afternoon I started to feel fuzzy, my tongue went white and I thought, here it comes. Didn't feel like the flu though. My tongue felt 5 times too big for my mouth and trying to talk or move was like wading through treacle. Was very weird but so obviously detox it reassured me, sometimes the flu can just be the flu  :rolleyes:

Had been so fine all day, not hungry and no cravings but when my husband came home from work and said he was going to go out and get chicken and chips I was weak at the knees. Over an hour I came up so many reasons why I should break my fast until my husband said he wasn't going to have dinner if it was going to make things harder for me. Then I was mad at him because I really wanted those chips :laugh: but I had a GS and then I knew I could get through the evening without eating and thanked him rofl. Detox was still really intense, I felt like I was on another planet so I had a little bit of avocado (I'm breastfeeding so I'm trying to keep my fats up) and the effect was instant - I felt better.

Today I'm still white tongued but not feeling as crap, felling pretty good but keep having to make food for my daughter and the cravings are hard. Trying to read up on fasting though and it's helpful to read supportive encouraging articles. I don't know how long I'll fast for, bit scared it could all go to pieces at any moment but I'm trying. 30 days seems insane so I tell myself even one day is good. Then maybe two days will be ok, and we'll see where I end up. I'm not going to feel a failure when I break my fast, even if it's early, but I have promised myself that if I feel like breaking it I will drink a GS and wait an hour or so (or overnight) and then see how I feel.

Weird detox symptom of the moment (I was going to say of the day but I'm sure I'll come back with more  rofl): I had a lip piercing which I took out about 6 years ago. There was a tiny scar but you would have to look to know it was there. I just looked in the mirror and I've got a hole in my lip! It looks like the piercing was only taken out yesterday. I guess it needed to heal differently. Very excited about all this healing!

So that's what I'm up to. I promise to update even if I fall off the wagon. The juice fasting isn't the be all and end all for me, although I would like to do it. I just feel ready to move into a new stage of health (and make some friends who understand). Any suggestions or advice for juice feasting enthusiastically welcomed. 

Hi Aliceyesterday (who are you today?!).  Sorry...that was lame.

I have no advice or suggestions but just wanted to welcome you here and say congratulations on taking the first step to start writing and share your story.  I have to agree with you that BB is a huge inspiration (I'm her very proud big sister!).

No matter what you do, be proud of your achievements; they are the successes in your life and the little bumps along the way are an inevitable part of the journey.  Just keep focussing on your success and the outcome and you'll get there (I think this is a bit of self talk, as I'm just trying to get through day 2 of raw....which should be my 9th month, or my 2nd, or however many times I've had to start over!).

All th every best and I look forward to reading about your success.

Love the photo!  Very adorable.

Love,

swami xx

Hi aliceyesterday, welcome to the forum and congratulations on all those amazing detox benefits u are experiencing, just awesome! My friend and I are also doing a waterfast/gsfeast, it's day 2 on water and I'm definitely feeling it, i can relate to your experiences :-)

Keep up the great strength, if u need extra inspiration to keep u on track there is a great website www.freedomyou.com that has helped myself and many others during their fasting adventures.

Enjoy!! lovefreelea xo

Welcome aboard Alice!

xoxox

Hi Swami, FreeleaRaw and Kelly,

Thanks for taking the time to write in my journal and keep me motivated  :laugh:

Swami, thanks for the encouragement and for reminding me to stay positive. Every raw meal I have is a cooked meal I didn't have, right? So every day of juice feasting, even if I only make one (again) gives my body a break it wouldn't have otherwise had. So whatever happens I've done well (hopefully as long as I don't break my fast on chips  :laugh:). Maybe I'll even end up with the fiberglass out of my thumb ;) Good luck on day two raw again. I bet you feel good though, hey?

Hey FreeleaRaw, good luck with your fast. I can imagine a water fast would be very intense. I must have hit on the right website by accident, I've been reading up on freedomeyou all morning. I bet its easier doing it with a friend. I'm hoping that I can get my husband to fast with me in the summer. I think it would be easier when you've got someone to talk to about it and support each other.

I don't know how long I'll go just juice, it might only be a few days as amazing as 30 days sounds. I might break it with raw and stick to raw for a while to detox more slowly and then have another juice feast over the summer. Maybe I can do one juice day a week. I think a few people on here do that. Anyone? How have you found it?

I don't mind the detox taking longer if I alternate short fasts and mostly raw, knowing myself I'll have less chance of rebounding. Are short fasts worth it? They must be worth something, hey?

Well, I was seriously thinking I was going to break my fast this afternoon. I was wandering around thinking, 'I miss food. Being raw is enough for now, why am I doing this? I miss food'. Actually my main reason for doing it is to break (or at least dent) my attachment to food which will go a long way to detoxing myself emotionally but you can't tell me that when all I can think about is pizza. Not even raw pizza! I was seriously worried that I'd bitten off more than I could chew (see, food is on my brain- even in my metaphors) by doing a fast. That I was setting myself up for a fall, feeling like I was being denied, and that I would swing really hard back against it. This is not unusual, I've learned to be very gentle with myself and take baby steps or it all comes crashing down. I make progress and it usually sticks when I go slowly with myself, was I jeopardising this by trying to do a fast?  :rolleyes:

It's ok folks, vanity saves the day! I stuck to my deal of having a GS and waiting before breaking my fast and decided I should just get out of the house while I waited. I took the girls for a swim. I still wasn't hungry (still not hungry at all, I'm quite astonished actually) when I got back so I thought I'd leave it go a little longer. When my husband got back from work I went to have a shower (yucky pool water). I was just about to jump in the shower when I caught sight of myself in the full length mirror and thought, 'Oh!'. All my thoughts of breaking my fast today disappeared. My tummy is flatter! I've still got 5kgs or so to go until I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight but ideally I'd rather be 10kgs less than I am now. Getting back into my jeans isn't a huge deal at the moment, I know I'll get there in the end and it wasn't a major reason for my fast, but gee it was nice to see a change! :yahh:

So I think I'll stick to my fast for the rest of the night. We'll see, I might break it tomorrow.

I think the fiberglass came out of my thumb by the way, it doesn't hurt anymore. Maybe it came out when I was at the pool because it was still hurting before I left. So if I achieve nothing else, at least my thumb is fiberglass free (probably)  :ohyeah:.

hey Alice
welcome! im glad u started a journal! who cares if u "fall of the wagon" u should have seen my journal at the start.. it went something like this
"hi everyone im fasting"
"ok not fasting anymore i couldnt take it and pigged out"
'well im gona try juice feasting"
"oh no, just fell off the wagon big time"
"im gona eat 100% raw for 10 days - i can do this!"
"i didnt even make it thru one day"
haha i tried so many differnt things im sure everyone got sick of my little plans. oh well, so long as I get there in the end. hehe there's nothing like the mirror for inspiration is there?
your doing so great. YOU've LASTED 2 DAYS!!!!!!!! thats fantastic! keep it up

 

Hi Aliceyesterday and welcome to the forum. Congratulations on your success so far, your doing great! Keep posting and let us know how you are doing.
hugs OM

Congratulations Alice, that's fantastic about 2 days, and about the flat tummy, and the unsore thumb :yahh:

I'm so pleased for you :)

I love the way you write, has me smiling constantly as I read.  Well I've been raw since the last day of Jan this year and didn't think I'd ever fast because of all my food and deprivation issues, but reading BBs journal I am actually starting to consider it.  *Starting to consider* mind LOL

All the best as you continue, and I'm very proud of you already!!!

Love
May

Hi Aliceyesterday,

I'm another newbie on day 2 of a juice fast. Well actually day 1 coz yesterday I did a 24hr water fast. I can completely relate to the constant food thoughts. I feel like I'm going fine then all I can do is think about food, but I just throw down some water and try and find something to do.

I just got my juicer today, its an Oscar too. (chrome, oh so sparkly and shiny!) I just love it, so much so I made fresh pasta for my husband and kids tonight and put it through 'oscar' to churn out fetticini.

Anyway I just wanted to say hi, and offer some encouragement. Isn't this forum great!!!

yummymummy
xxx

Hi everyone,

Thanks for visiting my journal.
Rstar, I'm glad you said that, sounds a lot like me  :laugh:

Yummymummy: good luck with your fast. how much do you love your juicer?! I'm so obsessed, one of my friends just bought one last week after all my raving about it. I haven't tried to make pasta yet but I've done icecream (a lot!) sooooo good. Frozen banana, pineapple and blueberry is a huge hit with my 3 year old.

Thanks for the welcome and the hugs, Organic mama. Nice that there are so many mums here. Great for the kids too!

Hi May, would you believe my thumb is sore again? I guess it will have to wait until summer. I'm glad I made you smile. Since I can't claim the fiberglass coming out anymore, I'll take 'made may smile' as a positive thing that came of my fast  :laugh:

So I broke my fast the very night I said I wouldn't  rofl. Felt fine though, felt right. I got up yesterday and had another day of just juice and then dinner with the family in the evening. I'm actually really enjoying not having to think about food or my next meal. Its such a break to just wander through my day not eating anything. There is usually a real sense of concern there, you know - 'We've got to out, should we eat before or when we get back? Should I eat out or take something with me? What if I get hungry?'. Its nice to be able to do whatever whenever and just have my drink bottle.

That said, if I am only going to have one meal a day in should be in the morning but I really enjoy sharing a meal with my husband and kids, its our coming together time now that he's working full time. Thats what was making the fast hard. It wasn't really anything else but being really sad to miss out on that sharing time. I guess its because this job is only new and usually he worked at home (and he only just got back from 6 weeks overseas). I miss him and so I found it hard shutting myself away because I didn't want to eat with him. I think maybe I'll try again over the summer when we're more used to this new routine.

My brother is a monk in Thailand and he is only allowed to eat before 12pm everyday. After 12 he can have juice, tea or water (or dairy free chocolate strangely enough  rofl) He's been having one meal a day for a few years now. I guess being that clean all the time would really help with the constant meditation (and there is definitely no pizza delivery in a Thai forest to tempt him ;))

Oh my goodness, I've just finished reading Victoria Boutenko's book '12 Steps to raw foods'. Such a good book. I feel so much more empowered now that she's explained the addictiveness of cooked foods. Now I understand why it's not easy to stay raw! Very inspired!  :yahh:

Was soooo looking forward to all the yummy summer fruits but it looks like I'm have a double winter this year! We were expecting to head up to Sydney for the summer with my husbands job but it looks like it's going to be the U.S.
Please, anyone... what are your tips for eating raw in a snowy winter?? I have enough trouble with the Melbourne winter. Oh, I'm going to miss those mangos..... :(

Hi Alice.  Nice to catch up your journal, which I haven't visited again since you first wrote.

I'm fascinated to hear that your brother's a monk in Thailand, and laughed a bit at the dairy free chocolate allowance!  How strange!!  Hope you send him lots of Tropical Source chocolate...vegan and yummy.

Snowy winters...oooh, it's hard!!!  OK, I should clarify.  I tried to go raw in the middle of a European winter and found it hard, but in all reality, it could have been the middle of summer and I would have found it hard.  I had not prepared myself to go raw and was doing it for the wrong reasons.  I think if you are close to being raw before you go to the US, it will be the way you are used to living and you'll just keep doing it.  Also, houses in the the US are better prepared for winter than our Australian houses in terms of warmth, and I think if you're cosy in your home then preparing a raw meal is not difficult...it's not like you're eating cold food and feeling cold as well, in which case it would be hard.  Food supplies may be more difficult during the winter months (such as no mangoes etc.) but there'll be other great foods you can eat, and if it all gets too much, you can jump on a plane and head to somewhere tropical for a cheap, warm weekend away!  How exciting for you...I've only recently stopped clicking on those ads for green cards when they flash on my screen...I've always wanted to spend some time living in the US. 

I have "12 Steps To Raw" from the library at the moment.  It will be my third time reading it, but I like surrounding myself with raw books to keep me focused,  and her explanation of food addiction is so interesting.

Wishing you well,

swami xxx 

welcome to you..

loved hearing about your brother...

have been doing alot of reading of late,esp on frugal eating and fasting=longevity and fountain of youth and best health possible...

Hi RGG...I've been reading a bit on the same recently too, where various studies have shown that limiting food intake increases lifespan by so much etc. and how regular fasting as well as only eating to about 75% capacity is a good way to improve our health and longevity.  I haven't tried either yet, but it's all going in!

Love,

swami xxx

hey Swami,last year i water fasted every week for 24 hours..and completely rested,and had such great results....have started that again...and noticed a very positive turn in my well being..

give it a whirl,highly recommend it...

Well, I was 100% raw all day today and it was nice. This 12 steps book really helped me find my head space. I didn't find it hard at all today even though I've been having trouble staying even vaguely raw for ages.

The whole family is eating raw at the moment and that certainly makes it easier. I'm not tempted by my husbands food and I don't feel like I'm not sharing a meal with the family because we're all just eating what makes us feel good and it's not the same thing but its all together and its all raw. I think the book really tipped my husband over to committing properly to raw. I'm treading carefully because if I try to get him to talk about it it will scare him off, he doesn't want to be pinned down but he has been eating raw and talking about how he was looking at cooked food and completely not interested. It's so much easier when the whole family is doing it. Hooray!

Swami and RawGreenGoddess, I've also heard/read about longevity and sparse eating. We work our systems so hard eating all the food we do. I think I read of one of the fasting websites that one way to detox is just to eat less, I guess your body doesn't have to work as hard. Unfortunately, for my brother he doesn't get to choose the food he eats. He's 24 now and he's been preparing to be a monk since he was about 16. He was a vegan all through his teenage years but he was the most unhealthy vegan I've ever met ;) When he finished school and went to live at the Vipassana center he was eating healthy vegan cooked but once he had his first overseas trip and was living in monasteries in India, Thailand and Burma he stopped being vegan. Last time he came home he  was as thinner than I've ever seen him but his skin, which used to be really bad, had cleaned up and he looked healthy. He has no choice about what he eats in Thailand because he goes out with his begging bowl and eats what he is given. He said that because he is a western monk often the Thais want to be kind to him and give him a taste of home so he gets MacDonalds in his begging bowl  :crazy:
So even though he's eating a full on cooked/crap food diet, he's only eating it once a day and looks healthier than he did when he was vegan.

Hey neet, I agree with both of these, I actually water fast each weekend now, so many health benefits, and you feel amazing come the begining of the week.

Hello Swami sis, nice to see you here too>

Aliceyesterday, hope you are well today...keep us informed.

Love BB
XXX

oh...we posted at the same time...well done on a 100% raw day, that book is very inspiring.

Love BB'
XXX

I just got Victoria Boutenko's 'Green for Life' in the mail today and I've had my head buried in it all day. I tell you what, really investing myself in raw and buying books has made the biggest difference this time around. I'm on day 4 100% and I'm finding it really easy. I've been varying degrees of raw and went for 3 weeks 100% last year but actually getting books this time around and reading and learning and learning is making the hugest difference.

I'm so much more educated than I was and it's so much easier to go/be raw with a really solid grounding of why I'm being raw, stops me from being tempted by cooked because I feel so empowered instead of just denied. In the past I knew there were so many good reasons to eat raw but it was more like I 'should' be doing it for my health and for my family and because it made so much sense and because I couldn't justify eating cooked. Even then though, I missed my favourite foods and I think a lot of me, perversely, wanted to rebel against what I 'should' be doing that was stopping me from having any fun. I still loved fruits and veggies and felt great but I hadn't really addressed the other reasons I ate cooked food - comfort, boredom, entertainment, mood change and I expected raw food to fill these roles, just as cooked had. Raw food is pure and clean, it's exactly what my body needs but it's not a cover all/bury all the way cooked food is. Now that I'm untangling a lot of my emotional attachment to food and addressing those needs properly, instead of just hiding in food, raw is soooo easy and fantastic.

I'm adventuring into weeds at the moment. I'm getting so brave, most of what I've eaten today has come out of the garden (and trust me, its a very neglected garden - lots of weeds  :mellow:). Sooo yummy and green, I'm loving it! :yahh: :yahh: Yummm, raw!  :yahh:

Hi Aliceyesterday

Your last post resonated with me so much...it was as though you were channelling my thoughts!!  I am in the same position as you; the "shoulds", the feeling of deprivation, the emotional attachments to cooked food...it's easy to find excuses not to stay raw when you've had a lifetime of cooked food, and I think because food is, for most of us, a necessity, it's not something that we can just give up like other addictions.

I am also educating myself; I have raw books all over my bed and on my coffee green smoothie table.  The education helps me so much.  The book I got out two days ago is David Wolfe's "The Sunfood Diet Success System", which I'm finding so interesting.  He talks about the karmic nature of food and how what we eat effects us on a karmic level, which I had only thought of before in terms of those who eat animals, but never related it to the plant kingdom.  There's a lot of information and I haven't read enough to tell you much about it, but I'm really enjoying his insight and a slightly different perspective to some of the other raw books I've read.

Go the weeds!!!

All the best to you and your raw family.

Love,

swami xxxx

Glad to know it's not just me, Swami  :laugh:. Thanks for mentioning another book for me to look into once I get though this one. I can't get enough books at the moments, it's making such a huge difference.

I downloaded a raw cooking demonstration movie by Sergei Boutenko the other day and my 3 year old and I just made the yummiest 'thumb prints' from the movie. Soooo good, I've already demolished one plate full  :yahh: We adapted the recipe a little for the ingredients we had.

(http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee136/aliceyesterday/October2007076.jpg)

(http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee136/aliceyesterday/rawyums.jpg)

I'm interested to observe my 5 month old. Already my 3 year old says greens are 'yucky' and she has always had a pretty healthy diet - lots of raw fruit and veggies, but I've never pushed greens because I thought she didn't like them because she couldn't grind them and she'd eat them when she's older. This time around I'm going to puree greens (or chew them myself) for my baby now that I know more about greens. Funny though, she's not on solids yet but yesterday when I collected all my weeds together on the bench to make a green smoothie she was practically leaping out of my arms to get at the greens and shoving them in her mouth. She couldn't chew them and wasn't swallowing but she really wanted them. Later that evening she was crying in the car on the way home from the organic shop and I realised she was upset because the carrot tops were hanging out of the bag near her and she couldn't reach them. I passed her some to hold and she was so happy. Instincts, hey? My baby is drawn to greens.

That's a sweet dish by the way. I was just looking at the picture and realised it isn't obvious at all what sort of food it is. The base is made with whizzed up nuts (cashews, almonds and brazil nuts) and dried fruit (dates, dried apple) until dough like and then shaped into 'thumb print' bowls. In that is a 'cream'- blended dried fruit (mango, dates and sultanas) and water. I've put a blueberry in each of them and a stick of rainbow chard stem and they're sitting on spinach leaves. yuuuuummmmm, so good.

They look DELICIOUS! Yummy!

how gorguss is your little girl and the raw treaties..yummm!

HI Aliceyesterday, I've just caught up on your journal. Thanks for your detailed posting. It's a great read to see your raw life unfolding.

Your daughter is gorgeous and those thumbprints look like coming to Melbourne for... Yummmm!

xoxoxox

Hi everyone,

I got a PM asking what my 3 year old eats and I wrote a reply but I'm going to post it here too in hopes that I can lure some more parents into giving me some more tips about what their kids eat. Always good to have more ideas/support. Recipes/ideas, please  :laugh:

Here it is:

My three year old has been on and off raw, pretty much when I am on and off. She has had long periods of raw though and I've managed to find some things that she loves to eat so I can tell you those and maybe your little ones might like them too. If you find any good things that your kids like, let me know. It's always good to have new ways of presenting food for her to try.

Things my daughter loves:

She LOVES fruit 'icecream'. I freeze things like watermelon, banana, blueberries, pineapple, apple, orange etc and then I put it through the puree part of my juicer. I've also tried this in the blender when my juicer was broken (as little water as you can get away with) and it works well too. Another way we've tried is blending pineapple and avocado together and then freezing it (you can do it in those icy pole mold things). The avocado makes it sooo creamy.

I make my own 'bliss balls': spirilina powder, tahini, chopped up dates all rolled in tiny balls and then rolled in coconut. I freeze these too and they're so good but can be eaten not frozen too.

A little bit of beetroot in a smoothie makes it pink and that can be fun. If food is a nice colour she tends to be more interested and it's so easy to add a bit of beetroot etc to a salad dressing in the blender etc to make colourful food.

I get Essene bread from the health food shop, the sprout bread. She like that with tahini on it or avocado or mashed banana.

I make raw hummus by sprouting chick peas and blending them with tahini, water, garlic, salt and maybe some spices. She likes this with carrot sticks or even just with a spoon.

She's a big fan of fresh fruit so I just cut up big plates of fruit and let her help herself to what she likes. Strawberries, blueberries, watermelon, cantelope are huge hits, frozen chunks too.

She's not so keen on salads but is happy to eat the individual bits so I often just put random chopped up bits of veggie out for her.

When we go out somewhere for the day a packed lunch will usually be a couple of apples, a couple of carrots, a container of nuts, dried fruit and sprouts, maybe a container of chopped up oranges or something.

Her tastes have changed a lot, things come in and out. When she first started on solids at about 10 months I gave her paw paw because that is supposed to be a really good starter but she didn't like it. We used to just let her pick off our plates what ever she was interested in, i never made her purees or anything. I just made available lots of soft fruits she could squish up herself with her hands or her gums and she helped herself to whatever she fancied and played with it or ate it. She's still breastfed so I've never worried she wasn't getting enough nutrients. When she was around 18 months old she was right into Essene bread and hummus, heavier stuff, but now she doesn't want it at all and is mainly eating fruits and smoothies.

I've always found if I let her choose whatever she wants she's much happier than if I make a general meal for the family and hope that she eats it. I've noticed big differences in my daughter when she's on raw, she's a lot calmer and we can talk about things more easily instead of her having meltdowns. It's like she's got a little bit more strength to deal with this confusing world.

Green smoothies: My daughter isn't so keen on them but she's getting there as I'm trying to make them more interesting for her (pretty glass, pretty colour, straw, something like coconut sprinkled on top and a strawberry for a garnish ;)). She also been helping me pick edible weeds in the garden for the smoothies and that makes her feel a lots more involved and interested in the process, she's proud of what she helped make. The more I involve her in the preparation of food the keener she is to eat it.