Being a woman of extremes, I didn't just cut back, I cut out. I stopped opening my reader and popping into goneraw or giveittomeraw to see what was going on in the online Raw community. With the move from Southern California to Atlanta, Georgia, I lost real world access to Raw folks as well. (Yes, I'm sure there are some here in the city, but certainly not as much as there was back in the land of sunshine.) Not long after I isolated myself from the Raw world, I drifted away from Raw foods. It happened slowly at first, and gradually my reliance on real foods in their natural state decreased.
I never stopped eating Raw foods. I love them, and I want to feed my family what's best for them, but I went from eating mostly Raw all the time, to eating some Raw some of the time. Consequences, not surprisingly, quickly followed--weight gain, my face breaking out in response to wheat being added back into my diet, overall diminished energy and reduced productivity. Bummer!
So putting aside my usual excuses (not enough money, not enough time), I returned to Raw. Rawfoodrehab has been my support system, and I'm back to visiting a few blogs and thumbing through my Raw food cookbooks. The excess weight is dropping away and other problems are resolving themselves.
How do you stay Raw for Life? Don't try to do it by yourself. While Raw isn't a religion, it is a lifestyle, and any lifestyle is easier to maintain when you surround yourself with people who support it.
