What Are You Passionate About?

I read this message on my VegSource board, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I can remember thinking those same thoughts, and feeling those same feelings, at various points in my raw journey. I remember trying to explain to my mom that I felt more spiritual when picking fruit from trees that I planted than I did when I went to the synagogue to pray. In fact, more connected to spirit than at any other time.

Today, I don’t agree with every statement below, and a few, I disagree with. Some, I would express differently than the author. We all mature. Our feelings change, as does our perspective.

How many of the following thoughts and feelings have you had? How many can you add to the list? (By all means tell us, if you can add anything.) For me, there is no going back. It would be like sending a postcard instead of an email, or having a rotary phone instead of digital. Raw food, the 80/10/10 style, works better for me than any other style of eating I have ever tried. I work it because it works. What’s your reason?

Why am I a (low-fat) raw vegan?

  • Because it’s clean,
  • Because it’s easy,
  • Because I feel like it,
  • Because it’s different,
  • Because it’s what we’re all designed for,
  • Because it’s fun,
  • Because it’s cheap,
  • Because I breathe,
  • Because I feel more human,
  • Because I stand out,
  • Because it gives me a spring in my step,
  • Because I become one big smile,
  • Because I want to explore my emotions,
  • Because nothing can fully describe it,
  • Because I want others to know what it’s like,
  • Because I’m breaking out of the ball and chains,
  • Because the planet’s creatures are dying,
  • Because we need to make it,
  • Because life becomes fruitful joy,
  • Because it’s the path to end all suffering,
  • Because it solves every problem,
  • Because my feelings become palpable,
  • Because health matters so much,
  • Because it’s the way forward,
  • Because animals are for patting,
  • Because there is this energy called Love,
  • Because I choose to love myself,
  • Because life’s too short otherwise,
  • Because peace sprinkles into me,
  • Because the sun radiates through the day,
  • Because it’s so sweet,
  • Because I want mine to be a fairytale existence,
  • Because Doug is almost too human for this world,
  • Because truth shatters conceptual, dogmatic baggage,
  • Because good always outlasts evil,
  • Because it’s a rainbow after the storm,
  • Because dew glistens on leaves,
  • Because it’s worth it,
  • Because I know too much now,
  • Because my cells sing,
  • Because the destruction must stop,
  • Because aspirations for a better world come forth,
  • Because it’s one great, big miracle,
  • Because I am!
  • Because black-and-white needs colour,
  • Because birds fly,
  • Because an Intelligence is working through me,
  • Because it’s something worth fighting for,
  • Because everybody wants it,
  • Because a new Earth is arising,
  • Because I’m unleashing divine energy,
  • Because this is our challenge,
  • Because I am an unswerving force for good,
  • Because it is sane and conscious,
  • Because nothing else matters,
  • Because it’s like nothing else,
  • Because it’s the diamond in the rough,
  • Because I’m not looking back,
  • Because 811 is just so much fun,
  • Because it’s one of the causes of health,
  • Because it’s species-specific,
  • Because of the science behind it,
  • Because, have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue-corn moon?
  • Because I care to,
  • Because Mother Nature never broke the heart that loved her,
  • Because the TALON (Truth And Laws Of Nature) has me in its grip,
  • Because thrashing myself when playing has never been more fun,
  • Because it’s invigorating,
  • Because you do make friends with salad,
  • Because something’s happening that I can’t explain exactly,
  • Because life is meant to be peachy,
  • Because life’s boring when you’re sick,
  • Because my convictions are more solid than my abs,
  • Because the results go beyond anything you could hope for or expect,
  • Because I’m no longer sleeping food off,
  • Because I used to think it would never work but now I’m a zealot,
  • Because it’s like a magic carpet ride,
  • Because it’s a whole new world,
  • Because there’s no turning back now,
  • Because I wish to see the Earth as a Garden of Eden,
  • Because it’s the way it’s supposed to be,
  • Because the ripple is creating waves,
  • Because the trickle is becoming a rushing stream,
  • Because of the syrupy smell in full bloom,
  • Because cute critters dwell amongst the trees,
  • Because the Universe is thanking me,
  • Because there’s more to it than you think,
  • Because it goes to the core of who we are,
  • Because I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired,
  • Because it’s the path less travelled, yet whose wear is just as much,
  • Because it is not flawed,
  • Because it is time,
  • Because there are no dead-ends,
  • Because it works,
  • Because it’s as if my life depends on it,
  • Because that’s just the kinda guy I am,
  • Because there’s something almost sexy about the whole idea,
  • Because I like being healthy,
  • Because everyone smells funny now,
  • Because poetry wasn’t something I could do before,
  • Because people waste their time thinking about silly things,
  • Because my moral imperative is telling me to,
  • Because yes, prof. of political science, humans are emotional,
  • Because, people still get sick these days?
  • Because I couldn’t imagine it any other way,
  • Because it’s ultra-conservative,
  • Because it’s one less incongruence in my life,
  • Because I’m doing something worth talking about,
  • Because people are catching on,
  • Because it makes me really, truly happy…

Why am I a (low-fat) raw vegan? That’s a silly question. Once you’ve been doing it long enough, the question is: WHY NOT?

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About Dr. Doug Graham

Dr. Douglas Graham, a lifetime athlete and raw fooder since 1978, is an advisor to world-class and motivated athletes and trainers from around the globe. He has worked professionally with top performers from almost every sport and every field of entertainment, including such notables as tennis legend Martina Navratilova, NBA pro basketball players Ronnie Grandison and Michael Porter Jr., track Olympic sprinter Doug Dickinson, pro women's soccer player Callie Withers, championship bodybuilder Kenneth G. Williams, Chicken Soup for the Soul coauthor Mark Victor Hansen, and actress Demi Moore. As owner of a fasting retreat in the Florida Keys for ten years, Dr. Graham personally supervised thousands of fasts. He was in private practice as a chiropractor for twenty years, before retiring to focus on his writing and speaking. Dr. Graham is the author of many books on health and raw food including The 80/10/10 Diet, The High Energy Diet Recipe Guide, Nutrition and Athletic Performance, Grain Damage, Prevention and Care of Athletic Injuries, and his latest, Perpetual Health 365. He has shared his strategies for success with audiences at more than 4,000 presentations worldwide. Recognized as one of the fathers of the modern raw movement, Dr. Graham is the only lecturer to have attended and given keynote presentations at all of the major raw events in the world for each of the last eight years. Dr. Graham has served on the board of governors of the International Association of Professional Natural Hygienists and the board of directors of the American Natural Hygiene Society. He is on the board of advisors of Voice for a Viable Future, Living Light Films, Vegetarian Union of North America, and EarthSave International and serves as nutrition advisor for the magazine Exercise, For Men Only. Dr. Graham is the raw foods and fitness advisor for The801010Forum.com. He taught the Health Educator program at Hippocrates Institute, served as the "source authority" for Harmonious Living, and authors a column for the magazines Get Fresh! and Vibrance (previously known as Living Nutrition). Dr. Graham is the creator of "Simply Delicious" cuisine and director of Health and Fitness Week, which provides Olympic-class training and nutrition for people of all fitness levels in beautiful settings around the world. He will inspire, motivate, educate, and entertain you like no one else in the health movement can.