Hi everyone

I am a raw-newbie Kiwi who has been trialling a high-raw diet for the last 3/4 weeks. My inspiration is Leslie Kenton, whose book "Raw Energy" I bought second-hand last year.

My aim is to be about 70 - 80% raw, with some 100% raw days thrown in. My reasons for deciding to embark on this journey is because of bouts of exhaustion which are not due to any anaemia or B-12 deficiency (have since found to be related to spinal tension/pinched nerves). I have found that a high-raw diet is the best one for me - and really notice a difference when I slack off (how about sleeping in and having only 15 mins to get ready for work after eating sandwiches for dinner?!) 

The kind of raw food diet that mostly appeals to me is a simple one - fruit for brekkie, mixed salad with seeds and nuts for lunch, raw vegetables for a snack, and nut/seed milk or coconut/banana milk for a boost after work, and miso soup with vegetables and a piece of wholegrain toast or beans on toast with a mixed salad for dinner (am already a 90% vegetarian). I'm not so interested in the things that take 24 hours to dehydrate (partly because my dehydrator isn't very good), but because I like things closer to their natural form.

I'm hoping to become inspired from talking to and sharing ideas with this lovely raw community - hopefully there are some Rawbies (?) from New Zealand floating around somewhere?

Thanks everyone, I look forward to participating in the forums. 

-Michelle

Hi Jill

I'm currently based in Hamilton after moving here nearly three years ago. I knew that Leslie Kenton was living in New Zealand, but didn't know where.

I would love to read some of Leslie's later books about the raw-food food-combining diet, but I already have some knowledge of this and stick to it pretty well. It would be nice to have some more recipes to go by though!

Wow, you're living in Turkey - what's it like? Do you miss New Zealand or are you pretty happy over there?

Thanks for the website, I will go and check it out. A 90-day challenge sounds good, I imagine that after that amount of time you wouldn't want to touch cooked food anyway.

I'm afraid I had a carb-binge the other day, I had been 100% raw for a couple of days, then I noticed at work my heart started racing and I felt really weak. I stocked up on carbs which really helped settle me down, as I realised that my raw-food diet had included plenty of nuts, seeds, a little bit of fruit, and salad, but hardly any carbs. I don't think the apple and glass of juice was enough to keep me going, so I'm currently looking in my book as to what I can substitute for bread, etc. when I can't get organic bananas.

Anyway thanks for replying, it's nice to know N.Z. isn't completely behind the times! :D

-Michelle