Valuable Beginner Tips!

•young people (under 20) don't be afraid to eat a little extra fat (between 10 - 20%, probably-ish)

•get fats from fruits (avo is best from experience) rather than nuts & seeds

•surround yourself with fruit that you love!

• don't be afraid of overreating! (eat as much as you desire, that's the beauty)

•eat enough! Dont end up one of those people who decides veganism made them sick, emaciated and tired all the time - that was you under relating cause you're not used to the light caloric density of whole plant-based carbohydrate. (ideally fruit)

•if you're craving salt, eat greens. As many greens as you desire (try fruit-based dressings, no oil)

•it's not an all or nothing thing. Almost all raw foodists eat cooked sometimes. (not naming specific people, but I have heard from close friends of some big raw names, that they occasionally eat cooked; a few others like durian rider & Fredric patenaud are open about it. (i personally drink pasteurized not-from-concentrate oj, and will have marinara sauce sometimes) you do eat some cooked it's ok, just keep it high raw, always keep it vegan (although if you don't think you can do that even, then obviously mostly vegan is better than not at all), and try to keep cooked foods whole and carb-rich as much as you can.

•do what is right for you! Every step in the right direction is better than where you started, if you don't think your ready for something, that's fine. Don't push yourself and end up giving up and going back to SAD.

•educate yourself! Watch earthings, read 80-10-10 - if you know exactly why youre doing this, you'll obviously be more likely to stick with it.

•try smoothies! I'm personally not a big fan, but I know lots of people love smoothies and it enables them to get lots more fruit in, and even positively share part of this diet with those around them, and that's excellent.

•start paying attention to just how you feel after eating things, emotionally, mentally and physically. Rather than following diet dogma, listen to your body. As your body becomes more accustomed to a whole food, raw, plant-based diet, your body will become better and better at sending you signals - and it'll get more and more natural for you to pick up on them.

Want Long, Healthy, Happy Hair?!

Strong, fast-growing, healthy, natural hair? Who doesn't want that?! My friend and I were talking this morning, and she said something about wishing she had pretty, long, curly hair like me. Well, the curly part's natural. But I have a few theories on how my hair came to be described by the other two adjectives.

My hair naturally grows really slowly. I had it cut super short in 5th grade, and have been trying to grow it out since then. Up until very recently, there was virtually no change. To illustrate this to you, I have included some photos from the past 5 years.

First of all, this photo up here ^ is of me, summer of 5th grade, very shortly after getting my hair cut short.

In this picture, taken 3 years later, summer after 7th grade, you can see my hair has grown a little. It's also gotten curly...so I guess that might have something to do with the lack of difference.

However... Over a year later, in the beggining of 9th grade, you can see my hair has barely lengthened at all. This is just under a year after I became vegan, by the way.

In this photo, taken at the beginning of this year (10th grade), you can see again that my hair has grown *a little*. In this photo, I have been gourmet (high fat) raw vegan for just under a year. I was still using conventional shampoo at this time, as well.

And finally! (This is wierd.) Only about half a year after that last photo was taken, my hair finally looks so much longer! Doesn't it?! And I think it just looks so much healthier and shinier, too. I haven't washed my hair with conventional shampoo since 2011. Zero products in my hair, no styling. Totally natural. Oh... also, barely any makeup. Just a teeny bit of mascara..

So what do I think caused this rapid change? Well, first, maybe my diet. A month after the 4th photo was taken, I became fruitarian. However, I think a better explanation would be the shampoo I have been using, honestly. Shampoo strips your hair of its natural oils, causing it to be thinner, duller, harder to manage, and break more often. Baking soda effectively (and cheaply...it's so much less expensive than commertial concoctions!) cleans your hair without doing any of this!

For more information about this awesome, simple method of washing your hair, visit my previous post on baking soda 'shampoo'. The first few paragraphs describe why and how I arrived at the decision to use baking soda shampoo. If you want to skip right to the recipe, it's in the 3rd/2nd to last paragraphs.

I seriously recommend you try this. I really can't think of any reason not to!