Hi to all!!      After feeling my way around the Forum, and already discovering SO many valuable gems of information, I've decided to get active and introduce myself to this wonderful community!

I manifested my desire to become raw on August 21, after skirting around it for quite some time, and am feeling FANTASTIC!!!  Began a 2 week detox that day, and apart from the very rugged first few days (withdrawal from caffeine and sugar causing the most havoc no doubt), am just feeling better every day. Most surprisingly, so far there've been no cravings...and for someone who has a history of bingeing, yoyo dieting (in the ignorance of past years) and SUCH an addiction to cooked food, it really is astounding! Maybe I'm in a "honeymoon" phase, but I think it could also be because I decided to go 100% raw. Am being vigilant as I'm finding things I either thought were raw, or hadn't even actually thought about, are in fact not, anyway, am just feeling my way, and with the help of this site and the many other resources out there, it's going to be an exciting adventure!

From the little I've seen, there are at least a few people from Perth which is great, and I'll hopefully catch up with them at a picnic or whatever. I've moved south, and although there are a couple of health food stores, I'm really going to miss just being able to go to an organic shop/market etc. ('specially after reading you can now find young Thai coconuts around the place!!!! I felt like heading straight up there to get some, but will continue my search for them down here 'till my next trip!)
I wonder if there's anyone else out there living in a regional area of W A (or eslewhere)? maybe we can share some of the challenges that arise for R F'ies who are a little isolated?

Hey cloud 9, welcome to the forum!!

The next picnic in Perth should be Sunday the 17th Sept, according to the trend of the last few picnics, if you happen to be up here in Perth then we would love to meet you!   x  x

cloud 9,awesome name,cos that's what you are on raw vegan foods hey!! welcome welcome,and well done on such a great successful transition,you are amongst the lovely raw folks of perth,enjoy...

absolute pleasure cloud9,how's things going today for you,how are you feeling with raw?

thanks alot 21 carrotgurl, we have an affinity already, as I LUUUV carrots!!!! 

RawGreenNeet, I'm feeling great, thanks for asking...coming up with alternatives to salads is a bit of a challenge at the moment...have a couple of books which have been a huge help (Raw food made easy for 1 or 2 & Alissa Cohen's book) - I think it's just that stage of getting familiar with "throwing things together" which I keep reading gets easy after a while, plus it's been freezing here, and it feels like you could warm up with something really hot, and i've been looking a bit longingly at all my herbal teas and wondering if you could make one with warm water, and if it'd just taste terrible...also, I've had absurdly cold hands & feet for a long time, and they seem to have become worse. I actually read that Alissa C had the same thing, and that after being raw for a while (maybe a couple of years?) she had a much greater tolerance to the cold...maybe I should ask about this in the general discussion part (I'm still trying to navigate my way around the forum!) Am also looking forward to reading people's experiences of becoming raw in the journaling part and in the wonderful ebook which I've downloaded but only had time to glance at. I'm wondering what your experience was, what made you decide it was for you, and how long ago that was...(you probably have many posts describing these things & I'm sure I'll be able to find them sooner or later if you don't feel like putting it down again here!)

Thanks again for making me feel welcome. It's a pretty small town I've moved to, and I'd be surprised if there are any other R F'ies here, 'though you never know, do you?!!  I just know that without this site, I'd really feel like I was embarking on this alone, but thanks to people like you I know I'm in great company, and I KNOW that although it may well be difficult at times, this is definitely and absolutely the path I want to be on!!!

Excellent suggestions, thanks very much Arwen. It's funny, I have some organic ginger sitting on the bench that I hadn't got around to using yet! I'll add it to whatever I make tonight...and yes, the idea of taking food out of the fridge makes a lot of sense, I just need to get into the habit of remembering to do it early enough!   

I notice in some books, they recommend warming soup gently on the stove, or pre-heating the oven (to less than 200 degrees), turning it off, and sitting your food in there for 15 minutes. do you do this at all? Seems a bit tricky as far as working out what temperature is being reached, 'specially if using the stove. I think I'll leave it 'till my dehydrator arrives, so I can be sure of how much heat the food's being exposed to...