Raw Mom, Cooked Dad

As I write this, we are just an hour away from the official kick off of our Raw Mom Summit and whooooooa, what a ride! Amazing to have over 5000 people sign up in about a week and a half. We’re thrilled with the support and enthusiasm that we’ve received and know that this is juuuuust the start of what is to come. It’s not too late to tell people about it. Better catch some of the action, than none at all!!

If you’re here and you’re ready for the ride, then get your seat belt on, Darlin’, cuz it’s only going to get better from here. Shannon and I have been giggling and soaking up our Sisterhood all day today by planning the next big adventure. For now, we’ll have to keep some of it hush, hush, but what we can tell you about, is our upcoming book, Raw Mom, Cooked Dad! I’m bursting with enthusiasm about this book and so looking forward to sharing it with you.

I was finally catching up on the Diva blog this afternoon and wrote some of my thoughts about this book andhow I feel about it. While the book is designed to offer a lot of support to people who are trying to make it work on the raw food diet in a cooked food family, it addresses everything from attitude and emotional environments to how to make knock-out lasagna better than Mama Mia’s family favorite!

So, taken from the diva blog, here are a few of my thoughts on the subject:

Raw Mom, Cooked Dad

This is a book I’ve been working on with Shannon Leone. It’s nearing completion and not a moment too soon. I’ve been so challenged and fascinated with my new relationship with Mr. Right these days, that the timing could not have been more perfect for me to be writing this book. If a cooked dad could be cooked, this guy’s barbqued, Baby! Meaty lasagna, wheaty bread and blue cheese. It’s almost surreal to watch myself in relationship to this person. I mean, I would have expected, insisted, suspected… something! that I fall in love with someone who eats the way I do and who understands and values the same nutritional principles I do. But we’re virtually speaking foreign tongues when it comes to food and it CHALLENGES ME SOOOOOO MUCH.

I love it.

I’ve only ever wanted to do the things that make the world a better place. I’ve only ever wanted to find a way to get this message out to the world in a way that is approachable, accessible and friendly. I laughed so hard the other day when he explained that he was proud of himself for accepting me as I am–weird and highly unusual. I laughed because I thought I was the one being tolerant and accepting!!!

It’s like relearning I’m being forced to relearn this whole lifestyle all over again. I watch my food-obsessed circuits play themselves while he sits smiling and wolfing down meaty lasagna telling me about the time he was soooo sick with a hangover and this meaty lasagna made him feel so much better, this food is practically therapeutic for him! I heard him justify the therapeutic value of “protein” and “calcium” and all the other hearty nutrients in food that I would consider unsuitable for human consumption.

I sit with a half-dazed look on my eyes while thoughts spit themselves out on the sidewalk of my mind:

“Doesn’t he KNOW the amount of carcingens in that thing?”

“Doesn’t he KNOW what that DOES to a person, to eat that way?”

“What about the animals!?!”

“What about the hydrogenated fats and opiate receptors in the brain?”

Doesn’t he GET IT that this food is killing him??!!!

At it is at precisely that moment that I am forced to take a few steps back from my own head and examine the carcinogenic nature of my thought processes.

Oprah touches the lives of millions of people every day. Does anyone reeeeally care that she eats chicken fingers at night? If I had a dollar for all the hours I’ve protested against the consumption of animals, I’d buy myself a book on nonviolent communication. The annihilation of chicken fingers won’t make the world a better place before honesty, truth and integrity does.

I don’t know how to teach people to care for the planet, to love and respect animal life until we empower and lift them up enough to value and respect their own life. I think, sometimes, we’ve got it backwards around here. We’re shouting out in the name of environmental awareness and frowning at fast food, but what if…

What if we all spent a bit more time validating the good we see in the world instead of complaining about what’s wrong with it?

What if we all spent a bit more time telling the truth (with love and respect) about how we feel and what we think, even if we’re afraid it might hurt to do so?

What if we kept less secrets and talked behind backs less so we could sit and exchange eye contact with mutual respect and admiration?

Without divulging too much of my own personal relationship goofups, I admit that I’ve tempted to date destiny in the form of a few raw food gurus a time or two with little success. To find myself crazy in love with the prosciutto-eating King of Sandwiches (as he likes to call myself), well, you can imagine my cerebral circuitry has been doing quite a marvelous dance of discovery these days.

I’m challenged to see the world in a different way.

I’m challenged to accept the idea that there’s more to life than what meets the eye. I always knew it, believed it to be true and now am being forced to PROVE IT!

So, until someone would like to measure the carcinogens in anger, hostility, hatred, ignorance, dishonesty and disgust, then I’m not convinced “raw food” is the answer to all our ills. Until someone can convince me that my thoughts are not responsible for the way I perceive my life and how I live it, then I’m putting more attention on love and affection than meaty lasagna.

As you can see, I’m pretty passionate and super excited about this book coming out and will be talking a lot more about it. Stay tuned, Snuggle puff! And let me know what YOU think about Raw Mom, Cooked Dad and surviving on raw food in a cooked food world. Now’s your chance, as I’m finishing up this manuscript, to get us to address some of the questions, concerns and thoughts you might have on this subject.

Awaiting your display of love and affection in the form of 1s and 0s in the comment box below, my deeear!

Hugs,

Tera