There was a time when I was staunchly insistently upon only eating living uncooked vegan foods, turning up my nose at every other cooked or processed stuffs. There were also times when I innocently told people over lunch that what they are eating is gonna kill them.

This was way back in 2006 when I first discovered the marvelous effects of Live Foods. Although this was a gesture arising out from a deep passion to share, because I care, but unfortunately the approach was totally off, and I ended up creating a lot tension, stress, and even displeasure both towards myself and the Science of Live Foods.

Did it stop my friends from eating what they had been eating? No.

Did they believe what I shared and use it to benefit themselves in any way? No.

Did they hate me and avoid my company as much as possible? Yes big time!

Most people do not like to be told that their they are killing themselves with their forks and knives, especially in front of their food. Even if its a fact that those charred burnt fat dripping off their bacon will clot arteries, stick to the thighs as cellulite and/or form cancerous cells within hours, nobody wants to hear them.

And I have went far enough into the jungle to know that this route is not the best. This leads to Nowhere at best, and to gates of Separation and War at worst.

You see, it is no different from Religions, Cultural Differences, Races etc. Eating and believing in Raw Foods is just an individual’s choice of lifestyle. And every living breathing human has a freedom of choice.

This morning a long time friend who took my coaching class 2 years back called me, and shared about her journey these 2 years on raw foods, all in Philippines by herself. She shared her sob story of being ridiculed, mocked and attacked whenever she tried to force her husband and kids to eat her food.

I asked her the following questions:

Do you have a right to eat Live Foods? Of course yes!

Do you have a right to force your loved ones or friends to eat Live Foods? Gosh, NO!

Is it right to withhold love from your family when they refused to eat what you are eating? I seriously don’t think so! Man, that sounds a bit like emotional blackmail?

What you do have - is your own right to determine where you stand, in terms of your personal health goals and the ways you want to achieve them. Just like nobody is responsible for your own happiness except yourself, you hold the throne on which your health goals sit.

And you DO have a choice in determining your choice of social company - now this is a greyish area where you need to exercise both clarity and love in making decisions. Love and bonding is important, as to how much extent of give-and-take, that has to depend on the relationship and how supportive it is to your personal growth.

Maintaining clarity and your own alignment with your Divine Self is of utmost importance. It is in fact, the most important ingredient if you wish to have meaningful and lasting interactions to any other loved ones or friends.

Though I won’t say I’ve completely mastered the art of living Naturally in an Unnatural world, I would say I’ve gone further than most people, made many more mistakes, and also found many less painful ways. Like they always say, mistakes are precious because then they point us to the solutions.

We’ve got to remember that as much as it is difficult for us, it is equally difficult for them too. When we switch to a different way of eating, be it raw foods, or vegan or simply just healthy foods, our friends and loved ones are going to feel left out, jealous (because they could secretly wishing for the determination too!), fearful of losing our love etc.

Imagine if you have been communicating with your friends in English all the time, and suddenly you started talking in French, they would have to get used to both the new you, and the way they relate to you.

While there are no hard and fast rules, it is good to remind ourselves to be open and honest as much as possible. Gosh! If only everyone can be open and honest about their feelings, it would be a huge global relief!

There will be much lesser unnecessary grievances, time and energy can be spent to create the real valuable qualities in life - like Love and Laughter. Share to your friends genuinely and gently that this way of eating supports you in your new health goals, or to new acquaintances - say your doctor advises this way of healthy eating. (And you know some of the greatest doctors Dr D. Graham, Dr G. Cousens, Dr Fred Bisci have written famous books on Living Foods Science, and also led practices healing numerous people!)

But sharing does not mean imposing, forcing, coercing or judging. We are free to share what we do, what we feel, but what others do with their lives, remains their rights. Like Mother Teresa, it would be liberating to look towards “Pro-Peace” campaigns instead of “Anti-Violence” campaigns.

Focus on the good stuffs - more live foods, more green smoothies, more raw organic choc

And we find we have less time for what we don’t want. And then automatically, Universe will start sending us what we WANT!

Cheers to Light and Clarity, with a dose of Love…
Linda Loo

Tags: low fat recipes, raw food diet, raw food recipes, raw food testimonials