The Journeyman’s Tools: An Evolving Perspective on the Raw Vegan Diet

by Lisa Marie Lindenschmidt

I’ve been getting a lot of criticism for moving from one set of dietary restrictions to another. Many of my friends are experiencing the same thing. Many of them mothers trying to make better decisions for their children.

I began this column from the perspective of a mother raising a child in a raw vegan household. But I didn’t start there. None of us, I would wager, did. Those of us who find themselves on the raw vegan path did so because we were already researching, already exploring better ways to feed our families, to live lightly on this earth, and to be karmically responsible. Our quest led us, most likely, from vegetarianism to raw veganism. We pursued this path because doing so changed who we were. We could feel our bodies lighten. We could see old wounds healing. Some of us even experienced moments of bliss.

But for some of us, the raw vegan lifestyle was merely a period of cleansing. For me, I was allowed, probably for the first time, to really connect with the parts of me that were fragile and neglected. I was able to let go of all the monkey mind chatter, all the internal mantras, and to see food for what it really was. This intense cleansing gave me permission to identify all the addictions I’d created around what I was calling “foods” and redefine my relationship with the Divine.

Yeah, a raw vegan lifestyle did that for me. So why would I want to move away from it and start exploring other dietary choices? Why not stay in this supposed Eden?

Everything in my life is a tool. It has its time, its place, its purpose. In the Pagan tradition, whatever it is – a bowl, a belief, a friend – lets you know when the relationship with it is at an end. If your bowl breaks, then your relationship with that bowl is at an end. When a belief you have starts butting up against new information you may be gathering, it’s time to re-evaluate that belief. When a friend begins to walk a different path than you, it is right and necessary to question whether or not maintaining that friendship is the healthiest choice for you. There’s no big emotional response needed here, no need for bemoaning our losses or clinging onto things gone. Our lives gift us with what we need when we need it.

When I began exploring the raw vegan lifestyle, I began making monumental changes. I lost almost 50 pounds, rekindled and redefined my relationship with food, quit a job that wasn’t serving me anymore, and unraveled some emotional baggage that had been plaguing me for years. I also befriended some amazing people in this community that, ironically, dropped in my life when some others were on their way out. Everything has its time, its place, its purpose.

But raw veganism isn’t the path; it is on the path. After redefining my relationship to food, I began researching how my food choices were affecting the planet. Most of what I was eating on a raw vegan diet was produced in other countries. And though it was organic, it still took a lot of fossil fuel to get it to my front door. So what was available locally? How would these local foods affect my health? How would consuming these local foods affect my environment?

Everyone’s answers to these questions will be different because they will be defined by your own set of experiences. The key here though is to remember that: your journey is your journey. Your particular set of health issues is yours, your needs are yours, your understanding of your place and purpose on this Earth is yours.

And where you are now? It’s just a stop on the path.

Lisa Marie Lindenschmidt is a raw foods chef and teacher and owner of Rite Food and Company (www.ritefoodandcompany.com), which offers workshops on intentional and joyful eating. Lisa Marie and her homeschooled daughter, Mo, record a weekly podcast – called Sweet Peas Podcast – chronicling their raw foods journey together.