Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview - Michele Martinez

In this raw food vegan diet interview Michele Martinez discusses how she overcame endometriosis and regained ideal health with a low fat raw vegan diet.

I first came across Michele on popular low fat raw vegan forum 30 bananas a day. She then set up her own forum Raw Natural Hygiene. Having read about how she overcame health challenges on a low fat vegan diet over the past couple of years, I am thrilled to now interview Michele for Loving It Raw in August 2011.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele - Can you tell us about yourself? Age, where you live, occupation, single or attached etc?

I’m 42, live in Boise, Idaho, USA, in sales, and been married for 19 years.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele -Can you tell us about your dietary progression, i.e. was it from vegetarian to vegan to raw?

I went vegetarian when I was 17 in high school. I developed endometriosis at age 29 (I think I had it before then, but this is when it got really bad) and went vegan in my early 30’s. I was still eating “junk food vegan” such as tofu ice cream, soy burgers, etc. I always ate fruit for breakfast due to reading Fit for Life as a teenager, but never even heard of somebody doing that all day every day until reading The 80/10/10 Dietby Dr Douglas Graham. I had a brief foray into high fat raw gourmet that didn’t last long and then went raw low-fat vegan.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele - What led you to veganism?

Both John Robbins (which I learned about from Tony Robbin’s book) and Dr. John McDougall convinced me that vegan was the best thing for my endometriosis. I was a total dairy addict, but realized that it was causing my illness and I needed to give it up. I have learned so much since then, but there wasn’t as much information back then about the cruelty that dairy cows suffer and how bad dairy is for us. If I realized then what I know now, I would have given it up so much sooner.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele - What led you to becoming raw?

I remember doing a week of nothing but raw fruits and vegetables back when I was a teenager and felt great. I had lots of energy, good digestion and got a lot of compliments. When I learned that there were people doing this all the time, a light bulb kinda clicked when I remembered back to that week and wanted to feel that way all the time.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele - How long have you been following a low fat raw vegan diet?

Off and on about 2 years now.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele - How did you find the transition to a raw diet? Did you struggle with any aspects of it?

Once I knew what I was doing and had some recipes, I transitioned pretty easily. I think people need to know to buy enough food in advance so it’s ripe when you need to eat it. Also, having enough recipes so you don’t get bored. That is a pitfall of mine. I get sick of the same thing over and over again.

I was including rice and beans and some Indian food, but I was having problems with allergies this spring and didn’t feel my best so I stopped eating those and am 100% raw now. I love eating this way and love the results.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele - What benefits have you experienced from the raw food diet?

When I am 100% raw, my skin is very clear and I don’t have to wear any face make-up. My digestion and elimination are great. I sleep less. Arthritic symptoms go away. Since going raw, the allergies have completely cleared up. With my endometriosis I have been able to avoid surgery and don’t use any medications. Some days I have to ease up on exercise, but I feel glad that I’ve managed it well.

I never get sick. The only time I’ve gotten sick with a cold this entire time was when I cheated and had French fries. Ugh. That taught me a lesson that I won’t forget anytime soon. Raw foods love you back. Cooked foods are false friends. Lesson learned.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele - What do you eat in a typical day?

I eat lots of banana/spinach smoothies, a mushroom/jicama slaw (recipe on my site) with iceburg lettuce as taco shells which I love, spiralized cucumber noodles with mango marinara sauce with sliced cherry tomatoes on top….tomato/celery/basil soup…I am always open to new ideas…

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele - How much exercise do you do on a regular day?

I have been trying to ride my bike to the bank or store instead of take the car. On weekends, I try to go on leisurely bike rides near the river. Today I went on a bike ride for 1.5 hours that was wonderful. I take it as I can. Some days I rest if I need it. After years of being in the fitness industry, I got kinda burnt out with “having” to exercise. So now, I do what feels good. I will be getting back into running soon.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele - Has your athletic performance and recovery improved as a result of vegan raw foods?

Yes. One thing that I’ve noticed is when I am 100% raw, my flexibility is noticeably better. When I stretch, there is no resistance or pain. Wild. On cooked vegan, I feel stiff and tight.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele - Do you tend to keep track of how many calories you eat per day? If so, roughly how many calories do you eat on a daily basis?

Not really. Occasionally I put my intake in Cronometer just to make sure I’m getting all the nutrients I need. I did this the other day and it came to about 2000 cals.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele - Was there ever a time in your life where you restricted calories for weight loss? If so, how different is your lifestyle now compared to then?

I have never been a calorie counter. I hate numbers. Seriously. That is such a pain in the you-know-what. I’ve always just tried to eat healthy. I’ve always had too big an appetite to calorie restrict. I’ve always liked the McDougall and 80/10/10 approaches that let you eat as much as you want.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele - Did you ever have any excess weight? If so, when/how did this resolve?

Well, I’ve never been “heavy” but I’ve had my times when I’ve been 5-10 lbs heavier than at my thinnest. Even 100% raw, too many fats or dense foods can cause weight issues. I stick to high water content fruits and eat to satiation.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele - Some woman are afraid that if they eat a high carb/low fat diet with unrestricted calories, that they will become fat. What would you say to these women?

I would tell them to try it and to eat for health, not just weight. Look, when we start working out, we gain weight in muscle tissue and denser bones while we are losing inches. I own a scale, but rarely use it. The number does not matter to me. How my clothes fit and what I see in the mirror and how I feel tell me all I need to know.

When you see a fit woman, you don’t think “I want to weight what she weighs.” You think “I want to LOOK like her”. So, in the end, weight really doesn’t matter.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele - Do you think a raw food diet enables us to reverse or limit the signs of aging?

Big time. I am an example of it. I was talked into eating non-vegan for a brief period of time from a fitness model when I was eating cooked vegan and looked and felt horrible. I noticeably aged very quickly. I intuitively knew I could reverse it going vegan and raw and it worked. Lillian Muller wrote a book on looking great over 40 and I’ve met her in person and she is the youngest looking 60 year old I’ve ever met. She has been high-fruit for 30 years and looks sensational.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele -Do you feel that a low fat raw food diet enables you to look your best?

Absolutely. I’ve been able to eliminate rosacea being 100% raw and people think I’m a lot younger.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele -Do you feel there are spiritual benefits to a raw food diet and lifestyle?

It feels good knowing that no life was harmed by your food. It feels good knowing that your diet helps the planet and you can compost your food scraps and build healthy soil. I think food is a step in clearing out the gunk so we can work on spirituality, but I don’t think raw food will make a non-spiritual person, spiritual. There’s more than just food involved in that, but food can definitely compliment whatever spiritual practice one participates in.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele -What are your thoughts on emotional eating?

People use food to fill a void, entertain themselves, and numb out pain.

Food does not solve our problems.. They are waiting for us when we stop eating. Problems need to be confronted and dealt with head-on with workable solutions. Emotional eating is just a habit and like any other habit can be broken.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele - Are there any foods or aspects of a less healthful lifestyle that you miss? If so, how do you deal with this?

Not really. There are substitutes for virtually anything. If I ever feel tempted or “deprived” I sit down and try to remember that I’m only remembering the good times and not the bad. Whatever that food may have tasted like, it kicked me to the curb physically in how my body processed it. In the end, it wasn’t a good experience if you take into account the whole process from beginning (eating it) to the end (eliminating it). The only good part is the eating it. Raw food is good the entire process. It tastes good and processes good. That’s what I want all the time.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele - Do you ever make compromises with your food choices, i.e. while traveling or during winter etc? If so, what kind of compromises and what effects do these have on you?

Not anymore. In winter, I bundle up. While traveling, I bring my own food. When you are raw, you must plan ahead. You can’t expect to find what you need. I have had my entire back seat of my car filled with fruit and I brought a case of bananas with me that I ate the entire time for a road trip that lasted 2.5 weeks. I am very committed to eating this way because any compromises I pay for. It’s just not worth it.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele - What inspires you to continue in a raw lifestyle?

At first, it was to not be in pain and to feel better. Now, it’s because I love what it does for me. It enables me to get on with my life and have a high quality of life. The colors and tastes of fruits are so beautiful that the browns and beiges of cooked food are so blah in comparison.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele - What inspired you to start your website?

When I read Harvey Diamond’s book Fit for Life and Living Health years ago, he covered very important topics such as sleep, emotional poise and getting out in nature and how they all contributed as much to our health as what we put inside our mouths. Health is about energy management. Raw food requires very little digestive energy so it frees up energy in the body to cleanse. However, we can sap that energy by staying up late, arguing with people, living a stressful life, and we need to address all of that. I wanted to create a place that didn’t just address weight loss or exercise, but broadened the picture to include all that affects wellness.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele - Do you take any supplements? Why or why not?

Never. I used to be a distributor for Nature’s Sunshine and took tons of herbs and spent lots of money on vitamins. In the end, they did nothing and I saw no difference. Now, I eat more greens, which I feel are the powerhouse of foods, and have noticed a huge difference in how I look and feel. And, what I’ve taken OUT that was depleting my body of nutrients has made a huge difference.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele - What would you say is the best thing about eating raw foods?

Feeling empowered. You are totally in control of how you look and feel. You are not a victim of illness or aging. You control the quality of your health by what you choose to put into your mouth. That’s huge to me.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele -What do you think is the most challenging aspect of this lifestyle?

Detox symptoms, social pressure and keeping enough food on hand always. You have to stay on top of it constantly.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele - How do you find socializing on a raw diet? Do you go to restaurants, or socialize around food?

I rarely go to restaurants, but if I do, I eat a salad and make sure to eat before hand or afterwards. Some restaurants like Sizzler, have watermelon so I’ll pile that on my plate if we go there. If I am invited over, I bring something and again, eat before hand. If I have someone over, I cook them a vegan meal and make myself something and make sure to make enough if they want to try some. I am trying to move away from socializing around food and try to create situations where I can enjoy their company and conversation without that coming up.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele - How do you feel about the raw food movement as a whole?

There’s lots of confusion and lots of conflicting advice and lots of people trying to make a name for themselves and they don’t always have the public’s best interests at heart. I can feel for people who are new trying to make sense of it all, not knowing who to believe and follow.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele - What would you say is the biggest factor in your success?

My endometriosis has been a blessing in that I HAVE to eat this way. Sure, I can go and have the surgery, but I’ve talked to women who have done it and it hasn’t always helped. Besides, I am not of the “take a pill” mentality and surgery can fit into that as well. I am very anti-surgery unless absolutely needed and prefer to figure out what I’ve done to create the situation and see if I can reverse it. So I would have to say steely determination.

If you look at some of the people you’ve interviewed on your site, most have had to do this or else. Kathleen Leonard’s daughter had arthritis, Andrew Perlot had his intestinal problems….most who are really successful had some serious challenges while eating cooked food that raw food resolved.

I feel for people who are not ill, and cooked food isn’t bothering them yet who are just trying to eat healthier. I applaud them, but they need to understand that cooked food is hurting them, it just hasn’t caught up with them yet.

Sometimes I wish we were like cars and we can lift up our hoods and take a look inside. We’d see the cholesterol building up in our arteries. We’d see our livers being damaged. But, unfortunately, we can’t, so in this case we can be in denial until we first get symptoms. By that time, it’s been developing for a long while.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele - What do you think is the biggest challenge most people have with sticking with a raw food diet long term?

Well, the nice thing about habits, is that when you are new, they work against you. But, as with any habit, there comes a time when habits start working FOR you. So it does get easier and you get kinda into a groove with the lifestyle.

However, I think the biggest obstacle is FEAR and I‘ve seen people derailed by this and have been affected by the fear thinking myself that others have expressed. People are so afraid of not getting enough nutrients and they start to doubt. They panic and go back to cooked food, which makes no sense since how would a food that’s had the life killed out of it, be better than its raw counterpart? Why are humans the only species that cooks their food and they’re the only ones with all this cancer, heart disease and diabetes?

We need to keep a cool head when we hear all this fear talk and reason things out. It takes enormous courage to be a trail-blazer and raw fooders are definitely trail blazers.

We have a few examples, though, like Anne Osborne, to look at and realize that it’s not going to kill us.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele - What advice would you give to someone just starting out with raw foods?

Get a lot of good recipes, prepare for some serious detox the first couple of weeks, buy enough food, get enough rest and read all you can. Knowledge is power. Don’t worry what people think about what you are doing.

Seriously. That’s the advantage of being over 40. I have witnessed the aging of those who were young and beautiful and it finally caught up with them and it hasn’t with me. Stick to your guns. You are doing the right thing.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele - Do you tend to just take it day by day or do you think you'll be on a raw food diet for life?

I’m a lifer.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele -Do you think a raw food diet would be good for everyone?

Absolutely. One must get enough greens, enough rest and emotional poise, though. It’s not just about the food.

Raw Food Vegan Diet Interview: Michele - Is there anything else you’d like to tell us?

There is a significant aging population out there that is running into some serious health challenges that modern medicine hasn’t helped them with. I have found that raw foods rejuvenated my body and can do the same for everyone if they give it a chance. Thanks for the interview Alison. Your website is great.

Thanks to Michele for this great interview! Definitely check out her website, she is doing some wonderful stuff!

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