I weighed 250 after the birth of my last baby. It was not a happy place to be. I put a question out to Whoever-it-Is-That-Listens and within a couple of weeks was a member of the American Natural Hygiene Society. I bought up all the back issues of their magazine, and also subscribed. (Much more manageable subscription, one magazine a month!) The weight came off in about 9 months.(125 pounds) I kept if off for about 4 years. (I haven't gained it all back, but my lifestyle did change and so did my body and my eating habits. I gained back 20 pounds through weight lifting, cooked foods and looser standards.) My husband couldn't deal with the weight loss and with my feeding everyone a diet that "cost so much money", and with a lot of other things, quite frankly. He left the country and I was left with very little income, 4 children, (3 under 6) and some heavy decisions to make. We took the all American way of dealing with problems in a marriage. When he came back a year later, I filed for a divorce. It is now almost 10 years since the ANHS experience. I have been a vegetarian most of that time, with the exception of about a year when I tried going back to flesh and dairy and eggs. It just didn't work. I am back to vegan and happy with the choice. When I decided to do some new research on what was current in the field of raw eating, I decided to do a search on the web. What an amazing amount of information there is! I am totally amazed by all the new stuff there is out there! The only familiar face was that of Doug Graham, down in Marathon. Everything else was new and different. I was thinking of subscribing to the magazine, "Living Nutrition" but I have gotten side-tracked. What I really would like, (and I have sent a similar message to Bob Avery. He also responded to my cry of desperation. Do you two both monitor the list?) is someone who would like to mentor me without swamping me with tons of information. The list is just too full of opinions. It is not what I am interested in at the present. What is the digest all about? I have not ever looked into one. Oh, I eat about 80-95% raw, depending on the day. I live on the coast of Maine. I have specific questions about dehydrating, extended hiking and kayaking menus and probably other questions that will come up now and again. Is your life extremely busy and complex? Who are you? What state are you in? I begin to see why people like the internet so much. It is late, I am off to bed. Thank you for your concern and your aid. Do you wear shining armor too? Debra
Please don't forget to sign the guestbook when you leave!