introduction & help

[Guest guest]

Dear List Members,

Greetings to you all! Thank you so much for

everyone¡¯s contribution to make this list alive and

everyone's faith in raw-food to make our life

healthier, simpler, and happier.

 

My name is Ai Zhang, originally, coming from Beijing,

the capital city of China. I am writing this post for

two things.

 

First, I want to introduce myself to the list and

share my story of what attracted me to raw. Second, I

am asking for your help about a research project on

raw-food lifestyle and the positive changes that

going-raw has brought into an individual¡¯s life, both

physically and mentally.

 

I will try to make a long story short. Please bear

with me if I am not.

 

Let me begin with what attracted me to raw food

lifestyle. I have always been interested in health

issues. Originally, I came from Beijing, the capital

city of China. Besides in temples, China in general is

a place where vegetarian is a very foreign practice.

Therefore, not-eating-meat made me look abnormal.

Anyway, I trusted body more than anything else. Most

of the time after a big lunch or dinner, I just felt

sick and lack of the energy to do what I wanted to do.

As a result, despite of being treated as

that-girl-never-eat, I am completely in love with

fruits and vegetables. They made me feel good, and my

skin, my body, and my energy level were the best

testimony. However, at that time, I didn¡¯t know the

reason why food had such an impact on my physicality

and mentality. Being laughed at as odd, I felt kind of

down.

 

However, things started to change after I came to the

US. America is country infused with freedom and much

less conformity than that of China. Still interested

in health, I came across the living-foods.com and then

was introduced many other web sites. Spending hours

browsing at various web sites, I was amazed by the

amount of information available. That moment

transformed my life. Things that puzzled me for a long

time started to make sense! I immediately purchased

Alissa Cohen¡¯s book ¡°Living on Live food.¡± The book

is very informative and a great resource for

beginners. Although I am still not 100% raw, I love

raw-food lifestyle. Right now, I am 70% raw. Apart

from fresh vegetables, fruits, and nuts, the cooked

food that I eat is boiled beans. Normally, I mix all

sorts of beans (kidney bean, chickpea, read bean,

etc.) and soak them overnight, and then boil them. I

love the taste. One more thing (probably not good for

me) that I eat and cannot give up eating is salted

crackers (I love the crunchy texture of it) and

sometimes animal crackers (probably not good for me

either). Actually, I am thinking of purchasing a

dehydrator to make my own flax cracker, but the cost

is really high. After all, I am still a poor PhD

student. Anyway, in general, I am much more in peace

with food and everything in life. I have a better

awareness of my senses and my body. This is great!

 

Now, let me go back to the project that I mentioned to

you. As I said, originally, I came from Beijing/China.

I came to the US in fall 2003 to pursue my higher

education and to explore more into life. Graduated in

May 2005, I got my MA degree in Communication from

Syracuse University. Because I loved what I had been

doing, I decided to go for a doctoral degree. That¡¯s

where I am right now. I am a 1st year Ph.D. student at

University of Maryland¡¯s Communication Department

majoring in Public Relations. Because of my interest

in raw food and my faith in raw-food lifestyle, I want

to help publicize the philosophy of this new way of

living and continue the mission to make our life

healthier, simpler, and happier. People need this

philosophy, especially as life has become crazier,

busier, and more stressful. My research paper aims to

eventually get published and therefore should help

enhance public¡¯s awareness of health issues and the

positive changes that raw-food lifestyles make

available.

 

The project that I am doing is to examine the

relationship between food/health and many other facets

in people¡¯s life such as family, career, self-image

etc.. To complete this project, I will be doing

interviews and participant observation. This is where

I need your help. I wonder if anyone you happy to live

in Maryland area (around University of Maryland) and

would love to talk to me in person to share your

personal and (un)successful stories of

raw-food-living. Please do contact me. And if any one

of you happen to be part of a raw-food type

organization, I would love to volunteer and contribute

my knowledge background in public relations to making

your organization an even more successful place. The

advisor guiding me doing this research is a renowned

Professor in the field of Public Relations. Her

expertise in public relations and

relationship-management between an organization and

its publics will be a great benefit to your

organization¡¯s long-term wellbeing as well.

 

All participants¡¯ information will be kept

confidential and anonymous. In addition, this research

project is not about these people per se, but the

positive changes that raw-food lifestyle has brought

into their life, and therefore generate insights into

the relationship between food and life.

 

Finally, the link below is a brief biography of me

posted at the Communication Department¡¯s web site at

University of Maryland. My student ID is 108684805.

Please help refer to the following link if you have

any doubt.

 

http://www.comm.umd.edu/people/students/azhang.htm

 

 

Thank you so much for your time. I will be looking

forward to hearing from you.

 

Best regards,

 

Ai Zhang

Communication Department

University of Maryland

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

thanks for writing ai, i enjoyed reading a little about yourself.

good luck with the project, if you don't already know you could post

on www.rawfood.com (the community forum) and maybe find some people

there too. they seem to have a lot of participants everyday on that

forum.

[Guest guest]

Hello Allison! Nice to meet your aquaintance! Do you perhaps have a relative

named Jessica Zhang ...Hong Zhang who is mezzo soprano for Singapore

Philharmonic????

I realise there are Many people in Bejiing but just on a very long

shot??????

She is my piano instructor who I just love to pieces!!! You see I am hearing

impaired and she with the patience of a saint taught me!!!! I will never be of

her caliber due to the hearing loss but I can play a pretty good piano when I

practice hard for it!!! Again nice to meet you!!!

 

 

Kristine

-

Allison Zhang

rawfood

Sunday, February 12, 2006 7:31 PM

[Raw Food] introduction & help

 

 

Dear List Members,

Greetings to you all! Thank you so much for

everyone¡¯s contribution to make this list alive and

everyone's faith in raw-food to make our life

healthier, simpler, and happier.

 

My name is Ai Zhang, originally, coming from Beijing,

the capital city of China. I am writing this post for

two things.

 

First, I want to introduce myself to the list and

share my story of what attracted me to raw. Second, I

am asking for your help about a research project on

raw-food lifestyle and the positive changes that

going-raw has brought into an individual¡¯s life, both

physically and mentally.

 

I will try to make a long story short. Please bear

with me if I am not.

 

Let me begin with what attracted me to raw food

lifestyle. I have always been interested in health

issues. Originally, I came from Beijing, the capital

city of China. Besides in temples, China in general is

a place where vegetarian is a very foreign practice.

Therefore, not-eating-meat made me look abnormal.

Anyway, I trusted body more than anything else. Most

of the time after a big lunch or dinner, I just felt

sick and lack of the energy to do what I wanted to do.

As a result, despite of being treated as

that-girl-never-eat, I am completely in love with

fruits and vegetables. They made me feel good, and my

skin, my body, and my energy level were the best

testimony. However, at that time, I didn¡¯t know the

reason why food had such an impact on my physicality

and mentality. Being laughed at as odd, I felt kind of

down.

 

However, things started to change after I came to the

US. America is country infused with freedom and much

less conformity than that of China. Still interested

in health, I came across the living-foods.com and then

was introduced many other web sites. Spending hours

browsing at various web sites, I was amazed by the

amount of information available. That moment

transformed my life. Things that puzzled me for a long

time started to make sense! I immediately purchased

Alissa Cohen¡¯s book ¡°Living on Live food.¡± The book

is very informative and a great resource for

beginners. Although I am still not 100% raw, I love

raw-food lifestyle. Right now, I am 70% raw. Apart

from fresh vegetables, fruits, and nuts, the cooked

food that I eat is boiled beans. Normally, I mix all

sorts of beans (kidney bean, chickpea, read bean,

etc.) and soak them overnight, and then boil them. I

love the taste. One more thing (probably not good for

me) that I eat and cannot give up eating is salted

crackers (I love the crunchy texture of it) and

sometimes animal crackers (probably not good for me

either). Actually, I am thinking of purchasing a

dehydrator to make my own flax cracker, but the cost

is really high. After all, I am still a poor PhD

student. Anyway, in general, I am much more in peace

with food and everything in life. I have a better

awareness of my senses and my body. This is great!

 

Now, let me go back to the project that I mentioned to

you. As I said, originally, I came from Beijing/China.

I came to the US in fall 2003 to pursue my higher

education and to explore more into life. Graduated in

May 2005, I got my MA degree in Communication from

Syracuse University. Because I loved what I had been

doing, I decided to go for a doctoral degree. That¡¯s

where I am right now. I am a 1st year Ph.D. student at

University of Maryland¡¯s Communication Department

majoring in Public Relations. Because of my interest

in raw food and my faith in raw-food lifestyle, I want

to help publicize the philosophy of this new way of

living and continue the mission to make our life

healthier, simpler, and happier. People need this

philosophy, especially as life has become crazier,

busier, and more stressful. My research paper aims to

eventually get published and therefore should help

enhance public¡¯s awareness of health issues and the

positive changes that raw-food lifestyles make

available.

 

The project that I am doing is to examine the

relationship between food/health and many other facets

in people¡¯s life such as family, career, self-image

etc.. To complete this project, I will be doing

interviews and participant observation. This is where

I need your help. I wonder if anyone you happy to live

in Maryland area (around University of Maryland) and

would love to talk to me in person to share your

personal and (un)successful stories of

raw-food-living. Please do contact me. And if any one

of you happen to be part of a raw-food type

organization, I would love to volunteer and contribute

my knowledge background in public relations to making

your organization an even more successful place. The

advisor guiding me doing this research is a renowned

Professor in the field of Public Relations. Her

expertise in public relations and

relationship-management between an organization and

its publics will be a great benefit to your

organization¡¯s long-term wellbeing as well.

 

All participants¡¯ information will be kept

confidential and anonymous. In addition, this research

project is not about these people per se, but the

positive changes that raw-food lifestyle has brought

into their life, and therefore generate insights into

the relationship between food and life.

 

Finally, the link below is a brief biography of me

posted at the Communication Department¡¯s web site at

University of Maryland. My student ID is 108684805.

Please help refer to the following link if you have

any doubt.

 

http://www.comm.umd.edu/people/students/azhang.htm

 

 

Thank you so much for your time. I will be looking

forward to hearing from you.

 

Best regards,

 

Ai Zhang

Communication Department

University of Maryland