Did you know that for nearly 15 years I lived my life as a vegan raw foodie?

I’ve also received training and certifications from 3 prestigious raw food culinary schools, and I trained under a well-known raw food coach for years.

As much as I love raw food, and as much as I still incorporate all I’ve learned about preparing food in this unique and delicious way, I believe subscribing to one way of eating – raw, paleo, keto, or otherwise – creates a lot of problems that are difficult to see at first.

When you decide to go vegan, or paleo, or raw (or whatever it is), it’s much more than a simple dietary shift. It’s a lifestyle shift. And because eating in a particular way has these ripple effects throughout your life, it’s inevitable that you will create an identity around that way of eating.

People don’t say “I eat vegan”, or “I eat raw foods”. They say, “I’m vegan”, or “I’m paleo”. It becomes an identity that differentiates you from others because you eat and live in a particular way.

It’s from this place of identifying yourself according to how you eat that problems begin to creep in.

Please remember that your body is always changing and ever evolving. Your body’s needs change over time – because your life’s circumstances and requirements change, too.

As a menstruating woman, your nutritional needs shift throughout the month. If you choose to have children, or breastfeed, or train for a marathon, or live a sedentary life until your 60’s when you take up swing dancing as a hobby… your nutritional needs will shift as your body does.

But when you subscribe to a particular way of eating, you might not actually listen to your body. It might become more important to uphold the diet and the identity you’ve created in association with that diet.

Your body might start asking for something in the form of a persistent craving. But if that craving isn’t on the YES foods list for the diet you are following, will you allow yourself to have it? It’s all too easy to start overriding and denying your body’s requests, which can create significant problems on many levels.

Guilt. Shame. Possibly nutritional or macro-nutrient deficiencies.

Even health issues that can be a result of maintaining a particular diet when the body needs something outside of that diet’s allowances – all because you’ve declared you’re vegan, or keto, or raw.

I wrote about my own experience with this more than 4 years ago. As a vegan raw foodist, I fought HARD to override my body’s request for animal protein for months and months.

But when I finally gave my body what it was asking for, I felt GOOD! My body relaxed. My overall health and vitality improved. And I realized how depriving my body of something it was screaming for was yet another example of me not listening to my body.

I think it’s time we set aside this unhealthy pattern of always ignoring and denying what our bodies are saying. Isn’t it time we started listening to and honoring our bodies, instead?

Specific diets like paleo, or raw, or keto, or even vegan – these are wonderful ways to eat for set periods of time. They might allow your body to cleanse or heal in some way that is not possible if you ate the way you did before.

I believe what we really need to do is discover your body’s unique needs at this time in your life, and to then learn how to allow your diet to evolve with you. Because as your body changes, it’s needs will change, too.

Instead of subscribing to a particular diet or way of eating, can you stay in touch with what your body needs, today? Next week? Next year?

Learning to choose foods that are in alignment with the phase of life you are in, now – a building or healing phase, or a cleansing phase, or another – is one of the keys to creating a body that is as vibrant, beautiful, and powerful as it can possibly be.

If you’d like some customized help on how to do exactly this, let’s have a no-pressure chat. Simply go here to set up a conversation with me, and I will help you discover what your unique body needs, today.

Lots of love,

Alicia

PS: When it comes to eating, there are general guidelines that I follow:

1. I eat in a way that supports my unique body and constitution
2. I have a clear picture of the macro-nutrient balance that works best for me at this time in my life, and I eat accordingly
3. I eat a lot of colorful fruits and veggies each and every day
4. I get plenty of fresh leafy greens into my diet daily

If you want to learn what will work best for your body, set up a conversation with me today!