About Me

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Northamptonshire, United Kingdom
My name is Peace Ravenwood and I am a Living Foods educator and experimenter, founder of the School of Living Foods and Alchemy Elixir Cafe ~ based in Northamptonshire UK. I love sharing the gifts and benefits of a life rich in raw foods, and also love spending as much time as possible outside in the garden, growing lots of fresh organic produce to use in the recipes. Wild foraging is also a passion of mine, one which I am constantly learning more about. My life is dedicated to learning and sharing every aspect of life in the raw, from seed ~ stomach ~ spirituality and sensuality. My other loves are of spending time with loved ones Anthony and our tribe of furry companions, reading, researching, writing and a little radical rebellion...my aim here to you is to walk with you while we change our world, one meal at a time Inlakesh Peace xxx

Friday 6 December 2013

"Go Fruit Yourself" ~ Yes it is all change for me!

I am LOVE-ing the title of this post - thank you Freelee Banana Girl for coining the phrase for us all to share!

This has come at last, the realisation that not all has been a happy ship for me this last year or so, and I am rejoicing that I am finally coming to realise that calorie restriction and eating high fat foods to boost the restricted calories just HAS NOT worked end of.

I have had a HUGE amount of support and encouragement from dear friends Nichola Fruityroots Sherlock, Em Smedley, Lynn Bunny Paws and all the beautiful Goddesses in the group Raw Till 4 on Facebook since I began this NEW chapter of life and living all things fruity - thank you so much ladies, I know my hand and heart will reach out to you often as the journey continues.

In my life quest to be the best I can be at 46 years in this mortal body, I have tried so hard with raw and living foods, giving my whole being to sharing the love of foods that are 'better' than all the cooked and fake foods we are deluged with on a minute by minute basis.  I was just not resonating with the facts that fruit is Queen of all the foods and as such she ought to be our first and foremost food source, not a tiny end thought as I have been doing for over 18 months, being led to think that fruit was going to stop me releasing weight and stop me healing my body!
NOTHING I have done has brought me the results I sought, no matter how hard I 'tried'  the only thing that did work was juice fasting, but that cannot be sustained by myself, with deep seated ED and a love of actually chewing yummy foods - I wonder who out there feels the same?  Yeah, sure, if I went on a swanky retreat and paid $£$£$£$ for a month somewhere nice and sunny and was fed fresh green juice every day, I would LOVE that, sadly this is not reality, being a little frugal faery.

So, it is with GLEE that I embark on the HCLFRV way of being (High Carb Low Fat Raw Vegan).

Now, at this stage I have been transitioning into eating more fruit, steadily for just 2 weeks now, aiming to increase the amount my shrunken, malnourished stomach can cope with as the weeks go by.  At this stage I am not 100% Raw, it is bloody cold here in the UK and potatoes are SO lush AND part of the Raw Till 4 meal plans - the main rule is we are RAW till 4pm so it is all about the FRUIT, some greens if we want them, either all blended into smoothies, or enjoyed as mono meals - all the papaya you can eat if you like!
After 4pm we can either stay Raw, or, as I am at the moment, have a cooked carb meal - aiming for about 1kg in total - I am not there yet - that is a mean feat for me to eat!  I get in about 700g of mixed veggies, slowly increasing it so it is always a mix of veggies to even up the taste etc.

I have just ordered a CrockPot slow cooker to make winter cooking a breeze - this will arrive either tomorrow or Monday!  I have to add in here, that we have NO COOKER in our house, so reliant on a camping stove for warm meals - the slow cooker will make this so much easier to create warming stews, casseroles and curries without going outside in the freezing cold and hoping the wind doesn't blow out the gas whilst you are having a pee!!

We chose not to buy another oven when we moved into this cottage - it would have gotten used far too much - and our desire is to be as raw as we can be - so, the freezer sits in its place, with our EVA water filter system on top, next to our SWAN tea urn which is on constant brew with Chaga tea.

Today for me is Day 5 of the RT4 plan and it is the 1st day of not eating any salt or added oils as fats in my cooked dinner - this is HUGE for me and has been the toughest change so far.  I am hoping that in a couple more days I will wonder why I ever added them in the first place, as my taste buds return to full function.

What does a typical day for me look like?  Well, this is an example of where I am at just now, with changes to come.

I wake up and drink as much water as I can before having some Chaga Tea
around 9am I have my first banana and mixed fruit smoothie - making about 44oz - which is all I can manage to eat at the moment.

I drink tea through the day.

sometimes I will make another smoothie or eat some fruit, just one kind, as much as I like.

Afternoon I make another 44oz smoothie, adding in some greens this time.

Dinner is currently either steamed quinoa with spices and herbs plus some form of veggies OR a huge plate of potatoes and veggies - I am aiming for more stews as soon as the CrocPot arrives!

In all my carbed up calorie intake is coming in around 2000 each day - working on getting it up to 2500 minimum to be able to re-set all the damage my body has been loaded with, and then the weight will release far more easily.

I am exercising each day too, with 2 brisk dog walks of 45 - 60 minutes each and I work on the CrazyFit vibration machine 2-3 times a day too - I hope this will bring about more fitness and more healing.

More to come soon xxx

Love and Faery Dust
Peace xxx