Upping Your Raw for The Holidays

I rarely get much writing done in December. This year I completely ruled out writing the next chapter of my book during this busy month. On top of decorating, shopping, wrapping, and other holiday tasks—not to mention my husband’s birthday the week before Christmas—my father-in-law died in November and his memorial was scheduled for December 10th. This meant not only an out-of-town trip, but also an unexpected visitor: grief.  I wanted to comfort my husband. Listen. Prepare food. I told him I’d take care of all our holiday needs, and was determined to make the season as warm and bright as possible. Under the circumstances, I was certain I’d have neither the time nor mental space to write my chapter. Plus I wanted to review old journal entries and scan the diet and nutrition books I’d read seven years ago prior to going raw. I told my writing coach not to expect my chapter until the end of January.

One Saturday evening, I reclined in my comfy Relax-the-Back chair beside a pile of books. I read for a couple hours. At midnight, I picked up my laptop. The opening of the chapter trickled, and then poured out. I couldn’t stop writing. When I finally looked at the clock it was 4:00 a.m. Yikes, I thought. I’m going to be toast tomorrow. I’d planned to do our east coast Christmas shopping that Sunday. Hopefully I could sleep in, and get it done in the afternoon. I didn’t get to sleep until five a.m., and awakened at eight. I got up and wrote more, and then my daughter needed to be picked up from a sleepover.

I went from one thing to the next: the pick up, church, lunch, the sprint store, and the mall—after having decided to eat raw all day, which I hoped would sustain me. I’d become lazy with my diet lately and had been eating cooked foods. But the previous night’s reading had inspired me. I made myself a kale smoothie for breakfast, ate a raw veggie burger at Sun Café, and nibbled goji berries at the mall. To my amazement, I got all our Christmas shopping done and didn’t feel tired. I kept taking everything one step at a time. When at church my daughter asked, “Can we go out to lunch?” I said, “We’ll see how I feel after the service.” When at lunch she asked, “Can we go to the Sprint store and look at the iphone 4S?” I said, “Let’s see how I feel after we eat.” I kept expecting fatigue to grab me by my sweater and slam my back against the wall. But it never did.

I wouldn’t recommend three hour’s sleep as a healthy lifestyle choice, but raw food is premium fuel. By Monday evening, I’d completed my shopping, wrapped twenty gifts, shipped packages, started working on Christmas cards—and never felt the hours of sleep I’d missed. That might not have been such a big deal twenty-five years ago, but today it feels like a miracle. No doubt in my mind: raw food energizes. Try it. Up your raw food intake today. Go for greens, sprouts, and super foods, such as goji berries, which not only nourish more than any other foods on the planet, but also eliminate sugar cravings. Eating fewer cookies and more salad this holiday season is a gift you may want to add to your list. Who knows what you might be able to accomplish that perhaps you thought impossible.