”crazy raw vegan, suit-wearing professional, fun-loving adventurist, sporadic community volunteer, happy bum wiggler…”
That’s me in a nutshell. The nut looks something like this…
crazy raw vegan… my journey to raw foods was a long and winding one. About eight years ago, I accepted the fact that I simply can’t digest red meat. I had been ignoring the aches, pains and ahem, gas, for years because I loved red meat! After acceptance, I was on and off the red meat. I’d go without for ages, then collapse under the pressure of the Sunday afternoon steak in the beer garden in the summer sun. I’d feel sick, I’d go without, and collapse again. During this time, my mum got me on to Eat Right For Your Blood Type (note – I don’t recommend this!), and it said that as a Type A I should be eating fish and tofu instead. This seemed to work for me, but it also said that cheese wasn’t optimal for Type A’s and I had a (huge) problem with this… I was addicted to cheese! Like red meat though, cheese and other dairy products gave me all sorts of intestinal issues that I desperately ignored to satisfy the almost constant need for the thick, creamy, tastiness of CHEESE - goats cheese, blue cheese, sharp cheddar, creamy brie and buttery camembert. And organic fetta marinated in marvellous magical herbs and olive oil definitely has to be good for me right?? Eeek.
Fast forward two years and I moved to London. A new scene = a new me. I turned up claiming that I was a vegetarian, and that was that. I ate bread. I ate pasta. I ate cheese. I’m a slow learner. Then, I learnt that the run-of-the-mill cheese is not actually vegetarian – it contains rennet, which is “extracted from the inner musoca of the fourth stomach chamber of young, unweaned calves”! That stopped that pretty quickly… until I discovered a source of vegetarian cheese just down the road… whoops, but an addiction is an addiction. It did, however stop me from ordering cheesy dishes out, which reduced my cheese intake a lot as who actually cooks in London??
Fast forward another two years and I moved to Boston. A new scene = a new me. I turned up claiming that I was a raw vegan. What?? Well, I had been ignoring the fact that a vegan diet was going to be the most agreeable diet for me for years. Something had to give – I was sick and tired of being sick and tired and feeling plain ordinary. I had met raw vegans in London who were positively glowing and decided that I wanted in on the action! I bought a whole lot of books, a dehydrator, a blender, a food processor, heaps of mason jars and some good knives and I was a raw vegan… with a crazy blog :)
Three years on, things have continued to evolve, as all good things do. When I started my crazyrawvegan journey, the destination was 100% raw perfection. After about 18 months, I started taking detours into cooked vegan foods, whether to be social, or to deal with the cold winters, or simply because I felt like it. But I couldn’t see these detours as taking the scenic route – I saw them as dead-end roads. Guilt, self-loathing and proper craziness ensued…
Having realized it was indeed crazy behavior, I started to embrace a balance that worked for me. It’s harder because I can’t explain myself in a single sentence; instead it goes something like… “I’m whole-foods / plant-based vegan, high raw, gluten-free, (mostly) soy-free, low fat, low sugar… I juice a lot and love green smoothies; but some days I eat a box of vegan cookies…”
Motto: don’t worry about putting yourself in a diet box to make other peoples life easier: find what works for you. Make the best decision you can every time you sit down to eat, treat yourself occasionally, and love your body.
suit-wearing professional… I work in the financial district. I have work lunches and functions. I live in a condo. I’m not in an alternative community of understanding vegans, so my emerging lifestyles sometimes feels at odds with my environment – I only just ordered my first vegan handbag but I don’t know what I’d do without my UGG boots! Life became very hypocritical very quickly and I’m still adjusting.
fun-loving adventurist… I love new places, I love traveling (especially in Europe, except they’re terrible at vegan food!) I love exploring. I ski and snowboard, I scuba dive and I love hiking.
sporadic community volunteer… I did a lot of committed volunteer work in university and miss it! I do random events through work but want to find something more meaningful… and some day I might actually get my ass to Africa.
happy bum wiggler… when I’m happy, I wiggle my bum. Simple.
I hope you all find health and happiness, in whatever form it takes.
Sara xx
August 11th, 2011 at 19:08
[...] my friend Sara. She’s a raw food blogger and her most recent tag line is: “crazy raw vegan, suit-wearing professional, fun-loving [...]
August 18th, 2011 at 01:33
Hi I cant open the recipes for mains, savoury etc as the tabs at the top of the page are not clickabel, only the breadkfast tab is working for me. thanks a lot
August 18th, 2011 at 06:55
Thanks for the feedback! I have put in a query to wordpress to see if I can fix them. In the meantime, you should be able to use any of those menus in the search bar I added last night. Have a great day!
August 31st, 2011 at 21:00
crazy lady with a fun story! love it. I am a raw vegan, and gluten free – not sure if that’s typical of those who are raw vegan, but I find it absolutely necessary as gluten has posed a problem for millions, and many don’t even know it’s the source of their health issues. Are you gluten free? And what does a woman like yourself do exactly in the financial district? curious how you went from restaurants to finance? :)
August 31st, 2011 at 21:56
Hi Kristin! Great to hear from you :)
I am gluten free – I think that’s inherent in raw, sprouted foods but would love to confirm that somehow…? I’ve never been diagnosed as gluten intolerant but I know it doesn’t agree with me. I do strategy and planning for a finance company… long story but it involved a cement ceiling in hospitality that inspired me to go back to university, then on to consulting, from Australia to London to Boston and an ever-evolving role in a big company. Life has a funny way of twisting and turning – I would never have envisioned me doing what I’m doing!
Maybe one day I’ll open the raw vegan cafe I dream about though…
August 31st, 2011 at 21:12
I love your ‘about’ page, it describes pretty perfectly how I feel about eating raw/high vegetarian road. It is a ‘long and winding one’ for sure. Since you love traveling (I do to), have you ever been to Wicklow Ireland? They have a raw restaurant which I had no idea was there until we had booked and left our hostel and then subsequently stumbled upon it. How’s that for beautiful fate? Glad Mimi shared your site on FB, hence my presence here – I’ll have to stop by again. Thanks!
August 31st, 2011 at 21:17
You sound like me!! I lovvvve Europe… just got back a month ago from a week and a half whirlwind tour. It is NOT my last.
I too work in a professional corporate environment, where my “radical” views about animal rights and not using styrofoam in the cafe are viewed as weird. Not to mention we are tempted nearly everyday by someone bringing bagels or cake for everyone to enjoy.
I recently found out I am gluten intolerant, but with all kinds of crazy symptoms happening for 4 years, I have been on and off the raw vegan diet. It is the only thing that seems to help me when I am really sick and can’t figure out why.
SO… all that said… now I’m back on the bandwagon. I just discovered Mimi Kirk, and she has inspired me to go raw again. I just saw your recipe posted on her page, which led me here. I love finding new delicious recipes like the ones you have posted. So good to see someone with a similar story!
Keep on keepin’ on. :)
November 4th, 2011 at 15:05
[...] professional photographer, a domestic goddess, a federal agent, several scientists, and a Vegan from Australia. In the event of an emergency, I feel we have our bases pretty much covered, don’t [...]
January 31st, 2012 at 10:38
I didn’t know you had a blog! I am so excited to follow this. I am starting to take myself off of cheese (the last thing, really). I have so much to learn about eating Vegan. For example, the 80/10/10 you spoke about in your most recent post about the green smoothie.
Thanks for putting yourself out there and sharing all of this!
May 10th, 2012 at 12:09
Hi There!
I wanted to write to you and inquire if you’d be interested in
becoming one of our featured chef’s on Raw Food Recipes. We’d love to
add some of your content and provide links to your blog and other
information for people. Please let me know and i hope you are having a
beautiful day today!
http://www.rawfoodrecipes.com/
https://www.facebook.com/rawveganrecipes
In Gratitude,
Anna
May 12th, 2012 at 13:02
Every day is a beautiful day Anna!
I’m honored, thank you for reaching out. Of course I’d love to support your site… let me know what you need from me – email is crazyrawvegan@gmail.com if that’s easier.
xx