About me
This page is being updated!
Both Chris and I have been vegetarians for many years. I became vegetarian when I was 10 years old, with my school friends dismissing it as a fad that I would be over within days. My Mum says that I was always compassionate, never eating fish because they were quite obviously dead animals but it took me until 10 y/o to associate cows and sheep with beef and mutton. Most people think I ‘turned’ Chris vegetarian when we started dating, but it actually came as a surprise to me that after a couple of months of dating he chose to go Vegetarian for himself.
We had been wanting to go vegan for years, but thought it was ‘too hard’ - making sure processed foods did not contain any animal ingredients, or trying to find restaurants that would serve us a vegan dish. I hadn’t eaten eggs for years, and had naturally been moving away from cheese as it made me sick physically (an intolerance-like reaction) and mentally as I became more educated about the dairy industry. I was majorly addicted to caffeine and drank tea with milk, although it also made me sick (intolerance again).
I had been looking for a diet that was not a diet but a lifestyle for a long time. Going vegan was a fantastic option, as it would cut out all the things that I would excuse as being vegetarian - such as cake. I knew that not only the food was bad for me, but the food came from a background of cruelty to animals, food ’science’ and marketing to convince me that those things didn’t matter.
I had over 80kgs to lose, and I knew that as a Vegan I would still succumb to fast food so to marry my ethics and weight loss requirements, I began to read up about raw foods.
Chris on the other hand had discovered raw food at, of all places, a photography conference. Two well known Australian photographers had delivered a presentation on spirituality, raw food and photography, and Chris was absolutely taken by it. For Christmas 2006, I bought him an Ezidry Dehydrator and a Raw Food cookbook and we started experimenting, although it took 6 months (six very stressful months, with a wedding and house relocation) before we took the plunge and became 100% raw.
Serendipitously, once we had moved house and made the decision to go raw, we started seeing raw foods mentioned everywhere! In particular, an ad in Perth’s holistic newspaper Nova advertising a Raw Food Weekend Retreat stood out and I knew it was just the thing we needed to get started. I contacted Karen immediately, and that weekend we had cleaned out our cupboards of everything except herbs and spices and went raw! We didn’t know about any % of rawness, but reflecting back we went from Vegetarian to 100% Raw Vegan - literally overnight.
I started my blog, In The Raw, after that weekend and used it as a place to reflect on what we are going through, the recipes we are experimenting with, and to also extend my skills in food writing and photography. As we have researched more into raw, organic produce and become more conscious of the origins of our food, the site has expanded to collate information on shopping for raw produce in Perth.
After about 6 months of being 100% raw, Chris had lost 20kgs of his already slim frame, detoxing from all the bad food we used to eat and getting ‘healthy’ fat on his body (i.e. being of normal weight). To maintain his weight, and for the convenience of his fairly hectic life, he considers himself vegan. I have found that being 100% raw vegan is the only weight loss solution that has worked for me, and even though I am still overweight the amount of energy and clarity I have is startling. It has really become apparent to me over the last few months as I’ve consumed more cooked foods than raw, where my weight loss has stagnated and I’m incredibly tired and cannot think clearly - and my minerals and vitamins are all of normal levels. Despite this, I still consider myself raw in mind and the more I know I am raw vegan, the more I will believe it. Alissa Cohen’s Living on Live Food has been an incredible influence on this philosophy and whenever I am down or regret eating that bit of cooked food, I look to her book for advice:
“When you have an image that is filled with love, that is always happy, that is always successful, then that image will attract realities to support it. It will consume success to keep itself alive. Not only is the negative image limiting, but the positive image is expanding” - Living on Live Foods p. 128.
My day job is in educational technology, encompassing web design and systems administration. Until recently Chris has been in the same field however he has just changed completely and is now a professional photographer and a manager at Big Belly Bus Catering - who have an excellent vegan menu (they catered my vegan wedding) and are open to discuss alternative menus. I’m also studying a Master’s degree, researching around the topics of the modern green/environmental movement, organic and local foods and the representation of vegans in popular culture.
During the day, we both work in I.T. in the education sphere. You can read more about my interests in e-learning, culture and technology at waxlyrical.net. You can contact us via the form here.
Our home is graced by the presence of my beautiful cat, Kimmie, who enjoys spending time in the spring sunshine.
