When I arrived in California from New York in 1973, I had just given up meat except fish along with a diet which I had thought was healthy: the standard "healthfood" assortment of bread, muffins and various items like fertile eggs, cheese, pasta, etc. I ate in this manner thinking that I was eating superior to most (and I was), but even though my health had improved from my meat eating days, I spent 24 years suffering from constant stomach and digestive problems, and worse, I went through a cycle of brutal migraine headaches two or three times each year, which would render me incapacitated for as long as one week. It was the most relentless pain which nothing could relieve.

I met David Klein at the Berkeley and Marin farmers markets in 1997. We chatted and became friends. I revealed that I suffered from migraines and David said he was into the raw food style of eating, which seemed very strange to me. I thought to myself, "How boring, and why so radical?"

David then related his personal story of triumph over illness and said to me in a very off hand way one day, "You know, Malcolm, if you stopped drinking coffee and eating fish, you would probably get rid of your migraines." I guess the timing was right, since I had just had another headache and was so depressed by the years of pain that I though, "Hell, I can give up coffee, pasta, bread and fish if it could rid me of this awful pain." So, in January of 1998 I "transitioned" towards a totally raw diet by eliminating all of the cooked foods in my diet except steamed vegetables, brown rice and some vegetable soup. I ate this way for three months and took a trip to Maui during the first week in March thinking, "Oh boy, I can't wait to eat all that exotic fish in Maui." You see, after three months without fish I thought it would be a treat to have it again. I had fish my first night and it tasted so very un-special...so downright "pedestrian", so unexciting, that I never had it again on that trip.

My second day in Maui I discovered Loving Foods restaurant in Paia. It was the turning point for me. Loving Foods was the first raw food restaurant I had ever encountered, and it was in the tropics which made it exotic! I ate there every day, and the tastes were otherworldly. I still miss the fresh coconut milk with ginger.

While I was eating at Loving Foods I read "Nature's First Law: The Raw Food Diet", and knew that when I returned to California I was going totally raw. That was one year ago...and guess what? David was right. I have not had one migraine headache again.

What David did not mention was that there would be many other beneficial spinoffs from my raw diet, such as the loss of my paunch and love handles, a greater feeling of well-being, and more energy. I marvel at how I no longer feel like a helpless victim of the migraines. My other favorite spinoffs of the raw food diet are:

• the freedom and simplicity in eating.
• being in charge of when and where I eat
• no more piles of dirty dishes
• feeling more in tune with the other creatures who eat the natural way, and best of all
• the new power I have in being a healthy individual. I feel like I can do anything I desire--I no longer feel limited by the the ill health of my past.

This journey was not without its moments of doubt, however. I am 57 and a lifelong habit of eating a certain way is not changed without a very big dose of will power. But, if you you really want to change your health, you can do it. I am a living example. I will still consume something which I know is not healthful for me during a special occasion or a party, but the resulting ill feelings tell me that if I really want to celebrate, I should steer clear of the foods which I know to be harmful.

Thanks David--you planted the seed on this one, and I am grateful!

Editor's note: You are welcome Malcolm! It has been wonderful to witness your transformation. In several ways, it has been like watching a repeat of my own journey to health. Good bye suffering --welcome to the joys of living in a healthy body!

Back to the Sample Articles Index page