This is a brief history of my health journey. There is a lot more to share, however please enjoy this snippet of my life below for now.
Throughout my life I experienced debilitating digestive pains. I remember as a child feeling hungry, eating something and having to lay down because the pain in my abdomen was so bad. This pain and other similar discomforts in my digestive tract continued to be a part of my life without any answers until I started working at a health food store. This is when I realized people intentionally omitted dairy products to avoid pain. With some experimenting I realized a large part of my problem was the consumption of cow's milk. I was able to pinpoint "ahhh, this pain I'm experiencing is the one I experience when I've eaten dairy earlier in the day." This was the beginning of my exploration of the internal workings of my body. The beginning of my realizing that my feelings were related to the food I was eating.
Around the time I discovered dairy was hurting my digestion I started learning about veganism. It began as a compassion thing. I saw videos of animals in slaughterhouses and how eggs were farmed and I started to see how dangerous meat was to my psyche. I didn't like eating an animal that had gone through such torture, so I slowly started cutting it out. By this time I knew full well that dairy would cause me problems, but I had not discovered that other foods too could be the culprit for my digestive pains.
Throughout the years I kept experimenting. Gluten free became a fad and I experimented with that a bit, but I still experienced stomach pains even without gluten or dairy and looking back, something still wasn't quite right. If I wasn't careful, such as if I was in a stressful situation, didn't eat for awhile, ate too fast, or ate something not simple I would get digestive pains. I remember feeling frustrated because I had to be so cautious with the food I ate, and even then I still experienced pains.
I don't remember quite where I heard it but in some of my researching I found that one should consume fruit in the morning in order to create the optimal environment for the day's food consumption. I remember reading something to the extent of "the fruit creates an alcohol-like substance in the stomach which makes it easy to digest other food throughout the day." I don't know if this information is exactly, scientific, but I remember thinking "boom. This is it." A light bulb went off in my head and I started doing more experimenting.
I started making smoothies in the morning with my immersion blender and later on, magic bullet. I was watching a lot of girls on YouTube make smoothies and I felt inspired by their lifestyle. These smoothies were a life-saver for me. I no longer turned to eggs and toast which I realized were significantly less life-giving to my digestion. Eating smoothies every day in the morning was a must for me. My digestion was much more smooth and I began to feel a lot better in my body, experiencing less pain throughout the day. At the time I thought I had found the key to feeling amazing all the time but still something wasn't quite right.
I was working downtown at a clothing store and I remember going to get a sandwich from the nearby shop. I picked out something that I thought was simple and wouldn't cause me pain. I had a smoothie in the morning so I was ready to go. I ate the sandwich and once again, a few hours later I was experiencing this digestive pain I was so familiar with. Once I experienced that pain I remember feeling so frustrated. I thought to myself "I can't eat anything anymore". Even looking back now I start to feel emotional because it had been such a taxing journey and I felt so tired. I felt I couldn't eat any food without experiencing some type of pain. I felt defeated and hopeless. Not even morning smoothies could save me.
Right around this time is when I discovered raw veganism. Through my research I found various people on YouTube into the lifestyle and I began experimenting with recipes they suggested. I remember feeling inspired to make a particular recipe by this woman I enjoyed following. I bought the ingredients and put them together, sitting out in the sun on my porch to eat it. I finished the entire bowl and was in awe at how amazing I felt. I had just eaten a significantly large bowl of food with various ingredients and I was full, yet I felt very light and free. I felt more different than I ever had before after eating such a large meal. I couldn't believe it. I began getting very excited and from that point I poured myself into learning about raw veganism.
That research let me to fruitarianism which made complete sense. No other health "fad" had caught my interest before. It was the perfect diet. Everything about it seemed complete and whole to me. There really isn't any other way to describe how I felt when I discovered it other than it just made sense.
This is when I began learning about fasting, about how the body cleans itself and exactly how harmful most foods are to our digestive tract. I was ecstatic to have discovered such things. I finally found it. The holy grail of feeling good. I now knew what to do to make myself feel amazing. I now had all of the answers, I just had to execute them.
I am still learning about how to eat good and experience the most optimal health I am capable of achieving. Each day I wake up is a new opportunity to learn and explore my body through this new understanding of health. I feel much more confident in my journey because of this lifestyle. It has taken me years to discover what allows my body to feel best and through the fruit diet I feel I have a solid compass to guide me. While I am still experimenting and discovering new things in regards to health, I am no longer fumbling around looking for something solid to follow. I found it through fruit. And it brings tears to my eyes knowing that I know how to feel good. Although I do occasionally still have doubts, as I find it difficult to find quality fruit, and as I learn other various things about nutrition, I don't feel as confused and lost as I once did.
I'm so grateful for this amazing food given to us. Fruit has completely changed my life in the most incredible ways. Thank you for reading.
