Has your husband/wife/significant other ‘gone raw’ lately?
Do you think they’ve lost their mind?
Are you concerned they might force you to be raw?
What on Earth are they doing?
Or have you recently started eating a raw plant based diet and are struggling with wanting your husband/wife/significant other to share your journey?
How will you cope?
That’s what happened to us. Jennie went raw and this is Bill’s story.
The idea for this article came to me after I recently met someone who was relatively new to the Raw Food world. He said that has been feeling great on a Raw Vegan Diet but he also said that his wife did not understand and was not interested in it at all. He was having a difficult time and had chosen to buy his own food and prepare his own meals separately from the family.
This reminded me of my confusion surrounding Raw Food when I was first introduced to it and got me thinking that there have to be plenty of others out there who are going through the same thing with their partners. Perhaps you have gotten into Raw Vegan Foods recently and have an un-supportive partner, or maybe your partner is a Raw Foodist and you feel that it is not right for you at this stage. Whatever your story is, hopefully me sharing mine with you will help your life to move a little smoother through this period.
TIP 1: READ MY STORY
Growing up, I never ate vegetables or much fruit. I just did not like them and my parents never forced me to eat them. As an adult I started eating more vegetables with my meat at dinner time, but I was still a junk food junkie and a massive consumer of grain products. When Jennie first started eating a Raw Food Diet, I was still eating a Standard Australian Diet and a meat eater. I had always felt a little guilty about eating meat though and did eat a lot of vegetarian dishes at the time. These were still mainly grain based but I was also eating more fruit by that stage.
When I first started hearing about Raw Foods, I thought it was pretty weird and that there was no way that I could ever get interested in them. When my wife Jennie first made me a green smoothie, I thought, ‘What is this? It looks horrible!’ To my surprise though, I actually liked it. I was not a fan of salads at that stage as all of the salads that I had tasted in the past were made with cheese and large chunks of vegetables that I did not like. The only salads that I used to eat were ones with lots of egg in them.
I then began to try more of the salads that Jennie was making and found out that salads could be enjoyable if they were made with foods that I liked. These included more leafy greens. The more Jennie experimented with Raw Foods, the more Raw dishes I found that I liked. I began having smoothies more often and swapped my toast and coffee breakfasts for chocolate smoothies. This evolved over time into superfood smoothies and then into green smoothies which I currently have for breakfast each day.
A big moment for me was when I attended my first Raw Food picnic. It was also Jennies first Raw Food picnic so I went along with the kids for some moral support. What I discovered there was Gourmet Raw Foods. There were all sorts of yummy salads and other dishes, but the Raw Vegan Desserts blew me away. I can remember thinking “I can’t believe something that tastes this good can be healthy for me!”
I do not indulge very often in Gourmet Raw Foods and Desserts these days, but I acknowledge their place in a Raw Food Diet as a great introductory phase in which people can become immersed in the lifestyle of eating raw. Products like cacao and agave cop a bit of flak at times, but for me, without them, I don’t think I would have begun this journey.
I always tried to be supportive of Jennie on her Raw Food journey even if I did not think it was right for me in the beginning (It was initially hard to see a way past my addictive habits). She also never tried to push me into it as she did not think that I had any interest in eating healthy. I am a quiet sort of person who does not express feelings easily so I did not seem very enthusiastic about it and did not jump right into it, but I could definitely see the benefits in eating Raw and it made sense to me.
TIP 2: BECOME AWARE OF YOUR PARTNER’S PERSONALITY TYPE
If you are finding it difficult getting your partner into this crazy Raw Food thing, or if your partner has recently thrown themselves into this lifestyle and you are having trouble understanding why, then my advice is to just take a step back, have a think about their personality type and whether they show interest straight away in other areas of life too. Do they jump into things all the time straight away? Or do they take their time to study how others are going before committing themselves to something new?
I first became aware of the different types of personalities in people after reading “Personality Plus” by Florence Littauer. This has really helped me in the years since to understand why people act differently to me. According to Florence, there are four dominant types of personality: sanguine, choleric, melancholy, and phlegmatic. Each personality type has its own distinctive strengths and weaknesses. Which ones do and your partner fall into?
TIP 3: DO IT AT YOUR OWN PACE
Do not feel pressured to change your eating habits 100% straight away as this can cause massive amounts of stress on your body. More even than the unhealthy foods that you may have eaten in the past. If your partner has changed their diet overnight, then that does not mean that you have to as well.
You need to be relaxed about eating Raw Foods in order to get the most benefits from them. Gradually over time I became more involved in eating this way as I incorporated more Raw Foods into my diet and gave up other addictive foods. I would probably not have done this myself without the leadership from Jennie, but I would not have gone this way had she tried to push me into it either. I just watched and learned from her and others and took it at my own pace. I believe that we all need to follow our own path to good health by listening to our own bodies and by doing it at our own pace. Everyone is different. I am still not 100% Raw all of the time, perhaps I never will be and am not pressuring myself to be 100%, but I have found a balance which I feel works for me and I am happy with that.
TIP 4: ALWAYS BE POSITIVE AND SUPPORTIVE
If you are the one in the relationship who is changing your diet first, always remember to keep being positive about the changes that you can see happening in your own life as a result of the dietary change and continue to be a good role model for your partner and family. Please share this article with your partner too if they are not all that keen on Raw foods at this point in time as it may help them to feel better about their current position on this path.
If you are the partner of someone who is getting into Raw Foods and you are not all that interested right now, please let your partner follow their own path to good health and encourage them as much as possible. In time you may want to follow them at your own pace. I can honestly say that I feel better now than ever before. I thought that I felt alright beforehand and that I never got sick, but now I feel a better kind of alright and I know that I was sick before even though I thought I was normal at the time.
TIP 5: ENJOY YOURSELF
Take time out to relax, incorporating other healthy practices such as exercise and yoga into your life as well and you will find it much easier to get into eating better foods. Being healthy is not just about changing your diet and eating good, it is about being fit and at peace as well.
I wish you all a fantastic journey on this Raw Food path. It is a path full of ups and downs but the view is definitely worth it from the lookouts along the way.
Awesome Health And Peace To You All
Bill
