The death of my mother from breast cancer when she was only 33 and I was six, had a devastating impact on our family. Rather than accept the allopathic view that I was at high risk of developing the same disease, I decided to find out everything I could about breast cancer. My research uncovered four areas of concern implicated in its development:

1. A high animal fat and animal protein diet;
2. Not using our breasts for what they were intended;
3. Mammograms (a safer alternative is thermal imaging) and
4. The direct and indirect ingestion of unnatural hormones.  

 Consequently I have mostly avoided the implicated foods and unnatural hormones, I do not attend for breast screening and I breastfed my daughter for four years. This latter is in accordance with the guidelines of the leading authority on the subject, La Leche League.  They advise that the child gives up when she is ready, rather than the mother.

Many years ago I read a book called Creative Visualisation by Shakti Gawain. I used exercises from it to exorcise myself of the influence of my dire childhood and wicked step mother and to achieve the many material benefits that are now part of my life.  Methods similar to Gawain’s have recently become popularised as Universal or Cosmic Ordering. I had been overweight as long as I can remember apart from brief spells when I starved myself on low calorie diets. Also, I had long dreamed of finding an effective method of dealing with eating disorders and sharing this with others. In 2002 I returned to Gawain’s method of focussing intent in order to achieve change. I wanted to become slimmer, fitter and healthier. To do this I knew I would have to, at last, exorcise from my mind the connection between thinness and serious illness that had become fixed in me as a child.  One of the things I found helpful was to put a photograph of my own face onto a magazine picture of a slender and healthy looking yoga practitioner in order to focus on the body I wanted.

When we are absolutely clear about what we want and determined that we will achieve it, the Universe answers almost immediately and not always in a way that we expect. Very soon the Universe responded by introducing me to raw food. A friend gave me a leaflet for a Buddhist Retreat Centre in Glastonbury where, coincidentally, they served only raw organic vegan food. When we are offered such opportunities by the Universe we need to accept them. I booked a weekend retreat and to my complete surprise, the variety, texture and flavours of the raw food held me spellbound. We were presented with a table covered in diverse dishes: guacamole, greens, coleslaw and a main dish, for example: lasagne or sunflower and sun-dried tomato pate; and some heavenly dressings. Breakfast was delicious muesli with hemp milk, fruit and a superfood smoothy.

Being so impressed by raw food and the buzz of health that surrounded its practitioners, on my return home I ordered some recipe books, got together with the local raw food group and booked the first food prep course the Universe sent me. It was in the Spanish Alpujarran Mountains (see Resources) and could not have been better. I immersed myself in becoming what is known as a raw fooder. My transition to a wholly raw diet was gradual but I soon noticed, to my surprise, that I had dropped a dress size and then another and finally another, all within the space of about nine months. I lost around three stone.  I have always jogged, as my creaky knees will attest, but as part of my pact to become fit, slim and healthy, I had begun going to the gym two or three times a week to boost my metabolism. But, I had not expected such an impressive change, nor one which maintains itself so easily. Other dramatic improvements were revealed in tests done routinely at the gym: percentage of body fat decreased dramatically, resting heart rate decreased and peak flow (lung function) increased. My blood pressure had always been fine and remained 121/76 which is at the better end of the normal range. I cancelled the gym after a year but have continued jogging or walking briskly every day and my weight has remained constant. In summer 2006 (two and a half years after becoming a raw fooder) my total cholesterol was 4.03, a good result is 5 or below. Top nutritionalist Patrick Holford’s is 4.9 and fats specialist Udo Erazmus is 4.10-4.65. My HDL or “good” cholesterol was 1.76 (desirable is 1.2 or above).

Before the radiant health that arrived with raw food I had had difficulties with menopausal symptoms, mostly hot flushes, night sweats and insomnia. These symptoms are an expected corollary of the peri-menopausal period that most women in the West begin to experience in their mid forties. In some Eastern countries there is no word for hot flushes. Some scholars argue that this may be more to do with the status of women in the East, but having seen the conclusions of The China Study (see below) and from my own experience, I believe that diet has a powerful impact. I noticed that if, when transitioning, I remained raw, I was symptom free and if I ate cooked I’d have a hot flush shortly afterwards followed by night sweats. There was an inevitable one to one correlation.

Although my menopausal symptoms disappeared I did have other niggling problems for some time and I know now that these were related to the increase in toxins in my blood as my body released these from the stores of fat it was breaking down. It was only when I began regularly drinking green juices (alkalising my system) that these symptoms fully cleared.

Once I began reading more about raw food eating, I discovered that significant and lasting loss of excess fat, even for the morbidly obese, is an almost invariable side-effect of becoming a raw fooder. I also discovered the science behind why this natural way of eating results in radiant health, greater energy and vitality, a look and sense of rejuvenation and elevated mood. In this booklet and subsequently in my book, I propose to share this information with you.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story. Please see Before and After Pictures which attest to the change that a raw diet made to my weight and shape.