Gradual Transition. Gradual.

[Poncho]

Okay, so since I began this journey, I have come to realize that almost everything us modern day humans swear by is basic supplementation. Supplementation for the deficits we face due to the foods we eat and the miserable lives we lead.

Mostly everything we do is not actually necessary, we just need take the time to fix the roots right.
It's so freeing... you know, being free from more and more of this crazy supplementation every day.
I dont even buy shaving cream anymore,
I switched to a simple recipe of aloe gel and vitamin e oil...
my skin loves it and doesn't even need lotion anymore.

I've honestly been switching EVERYTHING.

I use such a questionable example like 'shaving cream' to emphasize that I am just a normal girl that lives an apparently normal life.
Just because you're going super natural, doesn't mean you have to give up things that you have grown to love.
I love shaving, it doesn't hurt me, so why would I stop?
I don't want to.
But shaving cream is poisonous, so I found an alternative.

I want to reassure everyone out there that there is a healthy way of doing everything you could possibly need to do.
I was turned off of the whole 'natural' kind of way, because in my experience, it had always been kind of suggested that if you're natural, you're gonna be hairy and not wear makeup. Like if I was natural, it meant I had to look like I came out of the woods. I also wouldn't be able to eat tasty things, because tasty things are man made and not natural.

Wrong. That mentality is all twisted up.
It's 2013 guys, of course we make shit.
We're naturally inventors.

I make my makeup out of cacao powder and activated charcoal.
I make the most delicious desserts out of raw honey and ground raw cashews.

My overall health is RAPIDLY increasing.

People drink alcohol at any opportunity that arises, generally.
I just smoke weed instead.
The release is needed, in my opinion.
Everyone just calms down and social stuff is more fun.

I guess if everyone was raw paleo and healthy, we wouldn't need the release and social help.
We would just go run through the woods and stuff, I LOVE doing that kind of thing.
It's soooo much better than sitting around 'releasing' your mind.
But mostly everyone is slowly dying on the american diet, and they don't know how to have fun, so they stick to their substances.
When hanging around them, it's best to release your mind as well. Thats what I think.
People are too sad, if you don't release your mind, you won't have any fun with them.

There's a better way to do it all.
I think people should stop being such extremists and expecting people to go from typical modern life right back to plant and animal eating cave people.
It's too quick. It turns people off.
People generally need to be eased into things.

Help others transition into the raw paleo lifestyle.

Don't scare them by saying "Okay eat exactly like this or we will hate you and you will die, and stop doing EVERYTHING you have been taught to do by everyone throughout your entire life."

People don't respond well to that shit.

I have been exposed to the natural kind of way my entire life, it seemed so rule-filled and restrictive, I always veered away from it.
It turned me off.
Then, once I got hopelessly sick, I just toughed it out and listened to these crazy extremists.
I took the time to sift through their rantings, and find out how to get myself on the right track.

People need to be helped onto the right track, then they will begin their journey to true health.

I'm becoming more and more extreme, but it had to be gradual.
First I figured I would eat mostly raw,
then within a few days I was 100% raw and not cheating with anything,
Then from there it was one thing after the next.
I came here today to discuss grooming. I got a little deep into thought I guess haha

I stopped washing my hair, thats insanity for me but the gradual transition to health made it easy.
I also stopped brushing my hair.
I've noticed that my hair looks the best it's looked since before my accident, pretty cool.

I wanted to discuss other useless things we do because society told us to.

And no, not 'wearing makeup', because that makes people feel good about themselves.
If my wiping some raw cacao powder over my eyelids to make myself feel pretty offends you somehow, why don't you get a life?

To me, the point of the whole raw paleo idea is for people to live healthy lives and enjoy life again.
If I enjoy life more with a few simple man-made ideas like daily grooming and healthy raw treats.... why would you not want me to have them?
It's weird.
We don't need to be so extreme, we just need to be truly healthy.
The human body is incredible, if you're on this forum, hopefully you've seen how we can literally poison our bodies for an entire life time. literally 80 years. And still make it to 80 years.

If you think that your raw paleo body can't handle a raw organic chocolate bar, thats your loss. Thats YOU insulting the incredible body you have been given.

This is not an all or nothing kind of diet.
That's because it isn't a diet, it's a way of life.
The variations are never-ending.
The healthier I get, the more hardcore into this I go.

Help people transition, maybe even try to make it seem appealing to them?
Because it is very appealing, and everyone should know.

[tests]

I completely agree. Too bad i cannot smoke marijuana though... It makes me incredibly paranoid

[Poncho]

I can't anymore either, haha. But it served me well.

[bookittyrun]

it's nice to hear someone who isn't trying to prove anything to anyone, other than themself.  self contentment with everything, whether through course of mental/physical release, down to personal hygiene and grooming, is the start to pure inner beauty.  loss of ego tends to bring enlightenment, without having to prove it to, or convince anyone else, whether using scare tactics or belittling others to achieve it.

a refreshing read.     

i only stopped poking smot, because i stopped getting stoned.  even my psychiatrist was on board with my "medicinal" approach to using it to slow down my brain and thought process.  it worked for what i needed it to do.  as much as i feel sobriety sucks (because let's face it, life is shitty when you can see it clearly), reefer started causing more ill effect on my lungs than positive effect for my mind.  cooking weed had little effect, too, and i didn't want my digestive tract to look like my lungs most likely do.  alcohol was a problem for me when younger, and once identified, i was able to stop that, too.  herb never had an addictive hold, it was nature's way of offering sanity and healing.  i now try to focus on having more of a "serene state of mind" and peaceful soul, to conquer daily misery.

live life how you'd like, in any way you'd like.  it's your life, after all.  and if you don't pass judgement, you needn't fear judgement.     

[Poncho]

Glad you liked my ramblings, haha.
I always hope that at least a few people will be able to understand what I'm getting at.

I am actually at a point now, after analyzing the fuck out of every single aspect of life, that I feel like I will eventually be part of it again.
On this journey to health, after finding raw paleo, I started becoming more and more aware of how sick everyone was.
Of how wrong everything was in the world.
Of how stupid we were.

I hated it all, everything and everyone.
I basically exiled myself.
Then after looking so deeply into everything, and finding every fault that I could (OH, there were MANY),
I was finding myself feeling a sense of... ease?

Since I knew and understood so much, so much more than most people do,
I was able to begin looking past it.

I saw the horrible flaws in people, the deeper you look, the more flaws you'll find.
I found so many, in each person.
I got very depressed, I had lost faith in humanity haha.
Then I had a long conversation with my family, about a family conflict that was going on.
I realized something incredible:
They TRULY cared. They were invested fully in finding a solution to this problem.

ALMOST everyone has good inside them.

Everyone is just lost.
Everyone is just sick.

I, myself, was sick and angry and miserable (throughout the first 2.5 years of my recovery)
I felt isolated, like I couldn't even go out for dinner with people because I couldnt eat what they served.
I couldn't do anything. The world was useless to me.
The more I learned about my health, the more that was true.

Then, after finding marijuana, raw paleo, a great naturopath, and a nice house of my own, I feel real again.

I started seeing the potential in everything everywhere, I regained hope.
I felt such a strong sense of purpose and comfort when I realized that I know whats best for people, I know the way, I can teach them.
If I can't teach them, I cannot blame them,
I clearly just need better methods of teaching.

See, the world is a giant network of people right.
And it is scientifically proven that we are all connected, on a very real level.
If you exist here, and live to serve yourself, in doing that you are actually doing the opposite.

From what I make of it, you must get yourself in perfect condition (mentally and physically), and then live your life serving the planet.
I don't mean by going to your job and following the set of rigid rules society lays out for you.
I mean by teaching others, by helping others reach health, it will be hard.
But in doing this, I believe you can reach fulfilling happiness.

I don't believe that in my lifetime I will see a happy planet earth, no.
But I am just a number, right?
Just one of the billion people. I'm just going to spend my life helping.
There is already so much literature out there, people are beginning to understand.
And I'm just one of them.
So are you, embrace it.

Read 'The Art of Non-Conformity', by Chris Guillebeau. I was recently introduced to this book, and it really confirmed what I had been thinking about life. Certain thoughts, not all, but as I said its all just a start.

I had been thinking of a bunch of the controversial things written in this book,
I felt alone, no one liked my ideas.
I felt a little crazy, then my aunt showed me this book.

I realized how people all over the world, who have lived very different lives, are all catching on to the same problems in our world. People are starting to realize.

I'm 20 now, and quite a few people have talked to me about raw paleo.
I have told many adults about it, and the ones that take the most interest so far are professionals of some kind.
They are VERY interested, and wish to learn more.
They had never heard of it in their lives, but I have. And I'm 20.
I hope that gives you some idea of how people are catching on.

Have faith in the world, and know that all you can do is help change it.
It's beginning to consider going in the right direction, help it!
Otherwise, what are you even doing?

[bookittyrun]

"From what I make of it, you must get yourself in perfect condition (mentally and physically), and then live your life serving the planet."

well said.

from my own perspective...  during the time i was "finding myself", the one contemplative question i had to address was (as i'm sure most folk do during this stage of maturing), "what is the meaning of life?"...  i came to the conclusion that there is no "meaning of life".  to define "meaning" requires an emotional type response, something that cannot be solidified due to everyone reacting differently to what holds "meaning" to them...  kind of like the proverbial "what is temperance" question posed by that old guy in a robe.  i then started to look at it a little differently, and decided it was best to reword the question to, "what is the purpose of life".  suddenly, an answer came very clearly.  to "co-exist".  we are all here, every form of life, on this planet, to maintain and preserve the mother, to support nature in a way that makes it good for everyone and everything, without selfish gain, and without disregard to anyone/anything.  it requires selflessness and an attitude of personal well being, these things must come first, before we can live with the "others" who should also have a vested interest in the same objective.  china would always catch a lot of flack regarding the concept of "zero population", however, in their defense, i submit the lemming:  an animal smart enough to recognize the importance of being able to maintain the species through an act of "mass suicide".  surely, issues like overpopulation, and excessive exploitation of life sustaining components such as raw materials and natural resources, will only cause harm to not just ourselves as a human species, but to the delicate balance of nature in general.  having the vision and foresight to see beyond our own personal existence takes maturity, and acting in a manner that allows for future sustenance and growth requires that same level of maturity.

you're reaching the point of being responsible.  nice to know...  best wishes on your endeavor to better yourself, and your surroundings!