Real Raw

I have a tendency to think of days that I manage to eat 100% raw (or very near it) as being “on the wagon.” In other words I’m managing to stay with my commitment to eating raw, in the face of sometimes overwhelming pressure to do otherwise. Which leads me to wonder where the phrase “on the wagon” — or, it’s opposite cousin, “off the wagon,” — comes from.

Apparently, there are many stories about the origin of the saying, but the most reasonable explanation dates from the early 20th century, when the Temperance Movement was in full swing. To say someone was “on the wagon,” was to say that they were on the water-wagon, implying that they were drinking water and abstaining from alcohol. (Horse-drawn water wagons used to spray the dirt roads in the summer to keep the dust down.)

My online dictionary widget defines the word temperance as “moderation or self-restraint, especially in eating and drinking.” I don’t like to think of my efforts as abstinence or even self-restraint. That seems kind of negative. It’s not about using my self discipline to not eat cooked food, as much as it is to focus on eating the healthiest, uncompromised food available.

Hmm…

Still, I have those days where it’s cold out, and I want something hot to warm my bones, or I’m tired and don’t really feel like preparing two separate meals (one for my family and one for me), when I’m most apt to give in to convenience and peer pressure. Then I’ll eat whatever’s easiest. But I don’t always feel good about it afterwards. Contrast that with when I consciously decide to have a cooked meal after two or three days of eating 100% raw — because I want to. Then I feel fine about it. It’s all a matter of attitude.

Eating raw requires changing the way I think about and approach food. Sometimes, when I’m standing with the refrigerator doors open, grazing for snacks, all I have to do to stay on track is ask, “What will feel good?” Then I find myself reaching for the fruits and vegetables, instead of a piece of bread.

Oh, and speaking of snacks … remind me to tell you sometime about the “Fig Nuttin’s” I made (another Raw Revolution recipe). I have to hide them from my 14-year old son.