About

About Me

I’m a twenty something living in Manhattan. I’ve been eating a high raw, all vegan diet for over two years, and I’ve never felt better.

I’m a Certified Clinical Nutritionist (C.C.N.), and I work with clients locally and remotely. If you’re interested in a consultation or counseling, please check the “Counseling” tab.

About the Blog

I want Choosing Raw to be an open, honest, and welcoming forum for people of all backgrounds to discuss vegan nutrition, body image, and health. Whether you’re seriously considering a plant-based diet, or you’re simply curious about the lifestyle, I hope I can provide answers and inspiration. I want to create a bridge between the vegan and non-vegan communities, introducing readers to each other and starting fun, provocative conversations.

Most of all, I want Choosing Raw to be a place that inspires women to feel empowered and proud of their dietary choices. I want to discourage the social pressures and cultural norms we so often attach to food, and celebrate our ownership of our bodies and our right to nourish ourselves as we see fit. Enjoy!

The Way I Eat

My way of eating is simple: I’m a vegan, and I eat a lot of raw foods. Beyond that, I try to eat digestible food in digestible combinations, and I avoid processed food as assiduously as possible. I eat lots of raw and cooked veggies, sea veggies, nuts, seeds, whole grains, legumes, and root vegetables. I eat soy products on occasion–typically tempeh or edamame.

I’m nowhere near “100% raw” and don’t aspire to be: my goal is to get a wide array of nutrients from as many delicious, plant-based sources as I can, and to stress my digestive system as little as possible by combining food properly (to read more about food combining, see Digestive Health 101). I don’t believe that a 100% diet is optimal for most people, either from a psychological or dietetic standpoint, but I do believe that most people can experience tremendous health benefits from adding more raw food to their diets. The title of my blog, then, is not meant to suggest raw foodism as it’s traditionally meant, but rather a lifestyle that 1) encourages us to live as naturally as we can, eschewing processed food and toxins, and 2) encourages us all to incorporate more raw foods and recipes into our routines.

I don’t count calories, food groups, grams of protein, or the like. This is totally alien to my way of eating, and I believe that it’s counterproductive to most people’s goals when they approach a raw or vegan diet. I don’t believe in a competitive approach to eating or in deprivation.

I encourage a healthy appetite! While I think it’s true that most Americans have lost touch with their hunger signals—and think that overeating is a lousy idea regardless of how cleanly you eat—I don’t believe in portion control at the expense of the body’s needs.

A Word about Moderation

Most bloggers like to share the motto of “everything in moderation.” I don’t. There are certain foods (processed foods, artificial sweeteners, cow’s milk dairy, and red meat) that I simply don’t believe have an advisable place in one’s diet–even a moderate place. There are other foods and beverages (chocolate, vegan or raw dessert foods, the occasional sip of coffee), that I think are acceptable in moderation. But I distinguish between the two, and I don’t believe that moderation extends to everything.

“Everything in moderation” works for many people, and I respect that. The goal of this blog is not to force a vegan lifestyle on anyone. My goal is to offer people honest information and a personal testimony about the realities of vegan and raw foods. Some of you might be interested in trying veganism out, and others won’t. That is totally OK! With food, as with all things, we all choose our own path.

My journey

I grew up in a Greek family (I’m half Greek) where lamb and cheese were the order of the day. I had a hard working (and spectacular) single mother who didn’t always have time to prepare meals from scratch. While she did her best to emphasize produce and healthy home cooking, I remember some processed foods, too: ready to defrost stir fries, noodle or rice mixes, packaged cold cuts, puddings, and desserts, and Lean Cuisine.

I can’t remember a time when the mainstream diet—especially meat—felt right to me. I believe that many girls who become susceptible to eating disorders feel disconnected from the prescribed way of eating in their lives; this was definitely true of me. And needless to say, when I tried to eat more healthily without an informed perspective, I quickly became obsessive and restrictive. This is when I was about twelve. For six years to come, I would struggle with restrictive eating and body dysmorphia. I managed to recover in my late teens (I’m 27 now), but I was left with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and a very sensitive digestive system. After my recovery, I started to take a plant-based diet more seriously. I, like many other women, found that eating plant-based food contributed immensely to my healing process. For the first time, I ate, cooked, and studied nutrition with a sense of enthusiasm and confidence. Exploring a cruelty free, eco-friendly, and body-friendly way of life made me proud to say, for the first time in a while, “I’m hungry,” and “I love to eat.

My formal switch to veganism–I was eating nearly 100% vegan for most of my college years, but with the errant yogurt or piece of cheese thrown in–happened about four years ago, when a very special GI encouraged me to forgo dairy completely as a means of healing my IBS. It made a world of difference. A year later, I began researching raw foods and cleansing. I was dubious about many (OK, most) of the claims, but I figured it was worth a shot, if only because I thought it might help me fine tune my digestive health.

Within two weeks of eating more raw foods, I had twice as much energy, more even-keeled moods, and better digestion. It was an adjustment to eat less cooked food than I had before, but not a hard one: in fact, I was so focused on the new foods I was enjoying that my fondness for hot food at every meal diminished. Fast.

Since I started eating more raw foods, I’ve seen my IBS disappear. I’ve stopped having seasonal allergies. I no longer have menstrual cramps. I respond to stress less acutely than before, and I’ve deepened my yoga practice.

People who become entranced with raw foods are often prone to extremism. It’s perfectly normal to be zealous about raw when you start out; certainly, I had a raw honeymoon phase, too! But I remain firm in my belief that raw foods should be a part of a healthy vegan diet, and not all of it: obsessing about whether or not you’re eating 100% raw is unhealthy and counterproductive. The point of this lifestyle should be joy, and freedom: if you’re miserably trying to be perfect, you’re missing the point.

When people ask me how raw I am, I say that I’m very raw, most of the time. Days or weeks might easily pass when I eat close to 90% raw; days and weeks also pass when I eat closer to 50% raw. At all times, I eat all vegan, and as minimally processed and well combined as possible. This is what works for me. There are some who take the raw lifestyle much more seriously, and I respect them. I also respect those of you who don’t have any interest in eating raw, or vegan, but do have a great interest in eating raw or vegan once in a while. Welcome. I hope you’ll enjoy reading.