“Where do you get required nutrients and vitamins?”

“How do you deal with the bacteria and germs?”

I have lost count of how many such questions which came up over the years. The first thing that came into peoples’ minds when they hear about eating raw, is to think of 100 reasons why it is impossible and not good. In fact, this is human nature. Every human mind has the same characteristic - it is our natural tendency to reject what is unknown and unfamiliar.

What we don’t know - we usually fear and resist.

Our mind is made up of 2 simple compartments - Conscious and Subconscious. The Conscious mind is the “awake” mind, in other words, this is the mind which we are constantly aware of. It is also what we think are our thoughts.

This Conscious mind is a receptor to our 5 sense - sight, smell, taste, hear and touch. It is also stimulated and can be programmed via these 5 stimuli. We can say that, we have been programmed from young in accordance with a specific set of beliefs and values.

The Conscious mind feeds the Subconscious mind with ideas and suggestions. The difference between the Conscious and Subconscious is that the latter does not reason or discern between right/wrong, good/bad etc. And the Conscious mind has logic and reasoning.

But this Conscious mind also has programming based on the “configuration” given from birth. They come from parents, cultures, schools, media etc.

These set of beliefs and values are not from ourselves, they may not be entirely true, and most of the time they are not supportive of the most dynamic way we want to live our lives.

One of the common reasons why raw foods are challenging to maintain is because of our programming. The Subconscious mind is already deeply ingrained from young that we should eat cooked foods because that was how our parents brought us up, and how they were brought up.

From birth, we are fed milk powders, then cooked baby foods, and when we can chew, most of us are “forced” to start eating cooked grains, cooked flesh etc, and we are programmed to think that this is the natural way to eat.

Remember we used to think that once upon a time the Earth is flat? At that time, all other conflicting theories are ridiculed, torn down and rejected. And yet, now even a 5 yr old child knows that the Earth is not flat.

No matter how much logical sense raw foods make, it received ridicules and doubts in the initial phase because it is totally unconventional and foreign to what was our programming.

And what is the result of this? Raw foods is made tougher in 2 ways - 1) Struggling to rid ourselves of the nagging fear that we may indeed be “missing out nutrients” or “eating bacteria/germs” and so on… 2) Dealing with the unsupportive programmings from external stimuli - loved ones, friends and media.

(And then there is the emotional factor about how cooked foods relate to us in the form of love eg. we smell mum’s cooking and we think of love. But that is another topic altogether which we will cover in another article.)

And so, regardless of what magical feelings we sense from our body from raw foods, it is an uphill-task because the odds are against it. And not to mention that we abuse our body for so many years on processed junk and cooked foods, it may take some time before benefits start showing.

Once you understands this theory, and recognize it arising in your life, you are already on a winning streak - against your own programming.

You see, the natural intelligence inside your own body does not lie. It’s just like being true to your own heart - the heart never lies. As long as a certain food does you good, YOU WILL KNOW, provided you tune in to your feelings and moods.

And by recognizing it, you are being aware. Awareness is powerful - it is like turning the lights on. When you shine light on darkness, everything becomes clear.

Take action today and start feeling for yourself. Nobody besides yourself shall be dictating what you eat and how you live your life. You are the master of your house and you have the ability to decide. Take that control seat now and have an awesome ride!

(C) Copyright 2008-2010, Linda Loo

Tags: raw food diet, raw food health, low fat recipies, raw food testimonials