Hello beautiful people :),

I have been high carb vegan for about 8 months now, on and off raw. I just wanted to share my personal experiences and ask a few questions, because this cooked compared to raw thing has me asking a few.

I love beans, mostly just black, occasionally kidney, i love raw nori seaweed sheets (usually soaked lemon water in my salads) and i love sweet potatoes. I have created a multitude of strange recipes based around these, from what i call a japanito (sushi/burrito roll of beans, sweet potato, lemon juice, and other possibilities), to simple mashed sweet potato.

These foods have been calling to me on and off since the beginning. I usually go a month or two raw, feel fantastic, but experience a deep need for something else, i'll call it a craving, though i am confused if a craving is mental or physical (or both). I saw somewhere that all foods we consume stay in our bloodstreams for 6 months, and we will experience a desire for them until theyre flushed out.

Anyways, i fall off the raw wagon, with deep regret and fear, for a a day, feel terrible, almost like an intense fever, and feel tired for a 1-5 days, which bothers me, because i like to move. A few times, i told myself, "no, im just being paranoid, youre making too big a deal out of this, the stress will be more of a problem then the actual food", having a strong foundation and research base on the mind-body connection, placebo effects. Lo and behold, with this mindstate, i gorge down a bowl of delicious black beans smeared with lemon juice, mashed with sweet potato, and stirred with a seaweed/snow pea sauce i created sometime back, and feel fine/almost fine afterwards. This gets me going, and i go on like this for a week, until i start feeling crappy again, possibly from the stress and doubt, or from the cooked food. I dont care what anybody says, it seems that everytime i eat cooked food, i get bloated immediately or after some time. Someone took a photo of me after a few japanito nights and i look terrible, yet a week or two after of only eating raw, i was golden (almost literally, my skin looked golden-healthy, at least in comparison).

Something to consider is that I was born jaundiced, so my liver has a very hard time filtering things from my body, which results in fatigue, eczema, horrible self-image, and intense depressions. I used to drink a lot as well, which made it worse, until one day i drank half a bottle of wine and my right arm got so filled with puss, i couldn't move it for two weeks. The jaundice is said to have no known cure, though im sure a healthy diet over a long period will do wonders.

I have taken all the precautions; eat fruit before, not after, don't eat too late, drink lots of water (maybe not enough), sleep plenty (maybe not enough), exercise (half hour strength exercise every day or two, bike up a mountain one to three times every day or two, occasional run, occasional box, occasional hot yoga), though my exercise seems to drop sufficiently when im eating cooked, it seems to make me feel heavier and unmotivated.

I have heard all kinds of things by now, being the knowledge-junkie that i am, and as any decent debater knows, there are equally good arguments for most opposing points of view. So here are some opinions i've heard; "Ultimately, raw food is by far the best, and since you have particularly intense sensivity, the difference is obvious for you" This answer calls to me as truth, but i have a problem with dogma (which it isnt really, but feels that way when you have the love i do for beans, and stress is the cause of 99% of disease, if not all), and it makes me sad, simply because i love big hearty meals that make me feel like a big strong mammal, and taste amazing.

From a different perspective: "The foods you are used to are the ones you will have the best result with; people who have a regular diet of the same foods are the longest living and healthiest people. On Dr. Oz he says the more beans you eat, the easier it is to digest because you cultivate a particular stomach bacteria which aids in their digestion" Of course i like this one, and it seems about right to me; i know plenty of people who do fine on mostly SAD diets, but its only the ones who eat the same things regularly and have never stressed much about their diets and health, though of course I'm not considering that. At the same time, this could all be true, yet not make me feel as good as when im 100% raw.

Another: "Mind over matter, stress is the problem, fear is the mind-killer: many succesful businessmen and entrepreneurs, etc, die shortly after retirement, even though they seemed healthy and on the ball while they still feel that they were needed and in the flow, despite poor diet and smoking. Placebo is no longer deniable in modern medicine, though it is not very well understood." This one is very tricky, because i have experienced over and over that my mentality has a major role in my health, even my weight, but there are many little things to consider, such as the idea that the simpler the diet, the less there is to consider, to worry about, so as soon as a mindful person takes on a risk, the problem is amplified, though it would be there nonetheless. Some people seem to simply be completely unaware of the total effect of food on them on all levels, so they may feel terrible, but blame it on some petty thing on the outside. The above argument can go both ways. On one hand, i could power through, ward off the doubt, fight for my minor vices and feel rewarded by them, or avoid the doubt altogether and go for gold, forget about the lesser vices and make room for new, unknown, and greater pleasures.

I think i answered my own question, but I'm going to post this anyways, for the simple sake of sharing thoughts and hopefully helping someone organize their own. I would love some feedback or conversation on this, I'm open to any opinion, and i love friendly debating, constructive criticism, and brainstorming together to reach new insights.

So much love to all,

Oliver (Shrikantha)