Friday, January 15, 2010

Post number one!! Welcome to my life!



Welcome... Ok, now is the time for me to come clean, I am very very poor at introductions. Once I get started and rolling, I can write up a storm, its just the getting started and the getting rolling part I have a hard time with. Today, I had my first day of yoga teacher training. It was a long day, nine hours to be exact. It was good, and kinda hard. I think that it will be a good thing for me, I just need to get adjusted. How did I get all the way to yoga teacher training you may ask? And what does that have to do with being a frutarian, or a cook? AH! Well I am so glad that you asked. I will tell you. I have had a stomach ache my whole life. (I promise that this is tieing things together, not just a random side note, bare with me) I also developed a poor habit of eating my feelings. By the time grade eight rolled around, I was about thirty pounds over weight and spending 3/4 of my time on the couch, with a stomach ache or a head ache or a chest cough, and also my trusty BOX of cookies. Digestive were my fav, just in case you are wondering. So then, in grade nine, I went on the high protein diet, and I lost twenty pounds, and I started working out. So I was feeling better, but the stomach aches persisted. I was eating better, but I was still dealing with a bit of over eating. I would be really good for a few days, with only meat and veggies, and then I would break down and eat 1/2 a loaf of banana bread with a fork, standing at the counter in a dark kitchen. It was around this time that I really got into baking and cooking. I was trying to make "lower carb, healthier" versions of the baked carbs I craved so much. Then in grade eleven, I came across the raw foods diet. I asked my mom if I could go on it, and she said now, I was a Type O blood type, and they need meat. At this time I was on a steady stream of protein bars and rice flour cookies. I wanted to be a vegetarian, but that was a no go. The grade elven blood drive came along around this time, only to reveal that I was a blood type Ae!! I went vegan overnight. The stomach aches were persistent and consistent, and I was finding it harder and harder to keep living a semi-normal life. In the summer I read a book called "raw foods real world" and I was done eating cooked food. This went along just fine for me until half way through grade twelve. I graduated early and jetted of to New Zealand for YWAM (Youth With A Mission) Long story short, It was very very hard, and I was made to feel VERY bad about my diet. The following year I plummeted into anorexia, and bottomed out at around 84 pounds. I also got a job at a little ready made meal market called Plate It Up! And it was fantastic! I was permanently in love with cooking, and grappling with an eating disorder to recover from. I spent the next year of my life TOTALLY miserable, gaining weight, off and on eating cooked food and just generally hating my life. And just like the first time, about eight months ago, I decided I would commit to raw foods, once and for all. I had familial permission, so long as I was eating enough, they did not care what it was I was eating. And thus, a happy compromise. There was one two month incident where I incorporated copious amounts of protein powder, as I was told this was of vital importance in my diet. I swelled like a balloon, and my skin turned yellow, so that was a short lived experiment. Being back on raw foods was a God send after those months of plight. My stomach aches dissipated, I had renewed energy, and I was actually enjoying my food again. Bu there was still a Small glitch in the works. I had transitioned to an 80/10/10 lifestyle, but was still spending allot of my time making substitution recipes for my friends and family. By this, I mean raw desserts. I had been making three desserts a week since I had gotten back from my trip to New Zealand in 2007. And while I would never actually sit down to a piece of anything I made, I still ate just enough of the batter of whatever I was making to feel ill. There was a special place in my over indulging heart for dates. It was time for yet another transition. So here we are. I have been fully raw for the last eight months, yet still indulging in heavy, fatty desserts. Now, I am dessert free. I will be eating simply, mono fruit days, with the occasional zucchini pasta with tomato. (Both are botanical a fruit, and there fore, REALLY easy on my digestion) I have always gravitated towards this simple way of eating, yet I just had to many addictions in my way before. Now, I feel free. I feel that not having to make the raw desserts any more was the last thing I needed to reach my hearts and bodies desire for ease. Now, here is the kicker. Whilst I was ill, I started to get really heavy into yoga. Yoga may seem like just a series of postures, a form of working out, (hum, mysterious that an anorexic would be drawn to that...) But in reality it is a practice of connecting with the body. To stop all the delusion of physical punishment as being something other than what it really is, destruction of the temple I am blessed by God to have. So through this time, I have decided that I want to take this path of yoga deeper, and become a teacher. So that is what I will be doing one weekend a month, for the next six months. And my day job... I am a cook! That is right. I have no desire what so ever to eat any cooked food, but I still love to prepare it. So, I am the fruitarian cook. I will be documenting my journey as a contraryan here, on this blog. I will post my meals, maybe my work outs, event of the day, photos and what ever else I feel has merit. And that is that! So please join me, as I venture to see what it is like for a young frutarian yogi, in a world of smoke and fire!

4 comments:

  1. What a wonderful introduction post for your blog! I commend you for being so open and honest about what you have gone through to get to this point in your life. It speaks of great courage. I myself can relate to some of your ordeals on a personal level, though I have been unable to share them with other s as of yet. I am looking forward to reading your posts. Good luck! :-)

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  2. Nice job, Alyssa! ♥ Thank you for letting me know about this. I wish you the best. And your page is beautiful. ;)

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  3. Hey Rawaholic! I know, it is much easier to show the world a scar,than an open wound. Just remember that others are struggling with what you are, you are not alone, and sharing will let others know that they are not alone. Thank you for your comment!

    Jules, I am so glad you are here! I hope I can keep you interested! I had my first weekend of yoga teacher training this weekend!

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  4. Hey there stranger, I'm so glad I found this so I can keep in touch more and hear what's going on! I miss you,
    -Ashley

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