Lisa Viger - Easy Affordable Raw: How to Go Raw on $10 a Day

For Jessica, Michael, Alexandria, Ledger, and Carter. I love you.

2014 Quarry Books

Text 2014 Lisa Viger

First published in the USA in 2014

by Quarry Books, a member of

Quarto Publishing Group, USA Inc.

100 Cummings Center

Suite 406-L

Beverly, MA 01915-6101

www.quarrybooks.com

Visit www.QuarrySPOON.com and help us celebrate food and culture one spoonful at a time!

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

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Digital edition published in 2014

Digital edition: 978-1-62788-041-1
Softcover edition: 978-1-59253-929-1

Library of Congress

Cataloging-in-Publication Data available

Cover and book design by Laura McFadden

Photography by Lisa Viger

The information in this book is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to replace the advice of a physician or medical practitioner. Please see your health care provider before beginning any new health program.

How to go raw on $10 a day
by the author of the blog Raw on $10 a Day (or Less)

LISA VIGER

by Penni Shelton

I began my journey with healing foods nearly a decade ago when I found myself at the end of my rope physically, mentally, and spiritually. Lifelong battles with irritable bowel syndrome, allergies, asthma, chronic fatigue, headaches, PMS, eczema, weight, and post-traumatic stress had taken their toll on me. After having not found true wellness or recovery through the best efforts of Western medicine, I began to explore other healing modalities to see if there could be some relief outside of my well-meaning doctors office walls.

It was a long road of discovery, but I eventually stumbled upon the very simple and common-sense teachings of raw food, and how eating a diet rich in real food could begin to bring a persons body into balance, better health, renewed energy, and authentic wholeness. With nothing to lose, I jumped into this new way of eating with both feet.

Within a very short period of time, my symptoms began to lessen and ultimately fade away. My skin began to clear, as did my mind. My energy began to return, and my breathing became effortless. The mucus that lined my digestive and respiratory tract began to expel, and the body fat began to gently release as I enjoyed eating a very simple diet of fruits, vegetables, and some nuts, seeds, and sprouts. How could it be that a simple change in my diet could yield such impressive results in such a short period of time?

One of the things I learned is that the diet I had grown up on wasnt real food at all. As a matter of fact, the foods and drinks that had comforted me since early childhood had actually created many of the health conditions I was suffering from. Sure the hamburgers, french fries, and sodas tasted pretty good, but they were also heavily laced with addictive chemicals, hydrogenated oils, pesticides, antibiotics, hormones, and other flavor-enhancing additives that were being created in high-tech laboratories, far away from the farmlands of our grandparents. Fast food has become a scary industrial commodity that is no longer serving us as a culture. Crops grown with genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), microwave ovens, Styrofoam containers, and the pain and suffering of innocent animals: The list goes on and on, and there is nothing sustainable or life-giving to any of it.

My passion for real food and getting back to our roots with eating is something that author Lisa Viger and I very much share. In my time as a health educator and wellness advocate, Ive been bombarded by critics who say that eating a diet rich in raw and living foods is elitist and too expensive for ordinary people and that its just a trend for hip foodies and crunchy bohemians. I have an altogether different perspective on it, because I believe that eating in this way is the oldest diet on the planet, and a return to real food for the mainstream eater is necessary and long overdue to help save our health and that of this planet.

I first heard about raw foods about ten years ago in an online forum. The idea was to eat foods just as they were. What a brilliant and radical concept.

At the time, I was living in complete opposition to that ideal. I was overweight and living on restaurant food much of the time. I drank soft drinks almost every day, and I smoked cigarettes. My cholesterol was high, I had chronic sinus problems, I used antibiotics and pain relievers often, I had digestive issues, and I just didnt feel well most of the time.

I wasnt even forty years old, and in every way possible, I was a health disaster. To make matters worse, I was spending a small fortune to be that unhealthy. Had I continued that way, it would have cost even more in medical bills. And who can put a price on lost health?

I was so fresh-food challenged that when I first heard about raw foods, all of the food in my house was in cans or packagesexcept a head of cabbage and some potatoes. Then I became aware of the possibility of change, and I knew I could take a different course.

One of the first things I did was quit smoking. The health benefits from that have been enormous, and there are financial benefits, too. I save about $3,000 ( 1,790) each year on cigarettes. Plus, I will probably eliminate lots of health care costs down the road.