This is the the story of Mike and Jen Laur’s journey to raw veganism — a bio of sorts! Written by Mike Laur.

If two separate evolutions of the same person could meet at a point when both were of strong opinions and polarized viewpoints, filled with an array of morals and ethical debates, what would be the outcome? Would it be an explosion of words or an understanding handshake?

What would my and my wife Jennifer’s younger selves say to the new and improved raw vegan couple of today if we all met over dinner? Would they enjoy our raw vegan lasagna and the refined sugar free desserts? Would Jen and I shake our head in disgust at the roast beef and the golden brown turkey?

Growth is inevitable in our lives, our cells completely change about every 7 years, and change is automatic regardless of the will we place on ourselves. But it is through moral obligations, the process of accumulating knowledge, and a spiritual awakening and clarity through diet that we can arrive at a landscape of graciousness and an overall connectedness to the life that constantly moves around us. This is where we hope to be and it is through our journey that we get closer and closer to that revered destination. Every evolution and choice makes a difference.

But if the old Michael and Jennifer met us now we would certainly be greeted with ignorance, close-mindedness and rolling eyes. And we know this because we reacted similarly to others who were where we currently are.

“You mean you don’t eat potatoes or meat!?” old Mike would say.

“How do you two get any protein?” old Jen would ask with disbelief.

“Unbelievable…you realize we are at the top of the food chain, a lion would eat us if he had the chance. And what about tradition, what do you eat at Christmas? Carrots??!” Mike would sneer. And Jen, salivating, cries, “And beef and cheese tastes soooooooo good.”

We would reply it was “through the process of de-conditioning and education that we evolved to greater health and happier souls.” And maybe the sneers and rolling eyes would still come. And we would understand, we were there not so many years ago.

As a child I hated vegetables. My body was a carnivore’s temple and I worshiped it with blood drenched meat and sleep inducing carbs. The thought of ingesting raw fruity produce and gack inducing greens made me want to throw up my well done rump roast. Forget wine, let’s turn water into gravy. And Jennifer, well, she grew up on a farm with cows (translation: fresh beef). Let’s just say on our first dinner date I had veggie tacos while she ate 1 pound of beef. 1 POUND!! I was horrified and impressed.

My own path was a righteous coronary one until I hit a wall at the age of 23. The wall was a short film called Meet Your Meat, and the bricks and mortar were made with images and stories of factory farming and slaughterhouses. I never connected the dots before, I always looked at the food on my plate as simply food, neatly packaged and appropriately flavored, no pain, no cruelty. But in that short 15 minutes I broke that disconnect and linked horrifying farm to pristine plate and it disturbed me beyond belief. In fact it broke my heart and it changed my life. It also left my mother and father wonderfully bewildered.

“You eat vegetables now?” they said.

Now, as I’m not a doctor, I can’t say the overdosing on meat products gave Jen health complications (fatigue, sore muscles) and gastrointestinal problems (IBS), but it sure wasn’t helping. As such Jen’s journey began as a health orientated one, but through countless doctor visits she was eventually told, “You’ll just have to learn to live with it.” Well she didn’t want to and by eliminating meat and incorporating more raw veggies and fruit into her diet she eliminated her ill health almost immediately. Wow! Hippocrates was on to something!

Within the last 8 years we both have made many changes both individually and together. From unhealthy obsessive meat connoisseurs to unhealthy vegetarians, newly improved vegans to healthy raw foodists, we have shed skin and grown stronger. There have been many slip-ups and roadblocks along the way but ultimately our lives have become filled with self awareness and passion for our beliefs, as opposed to the learned narrow-mindedness we once harbored. We look better, we lost the weight we didn’t want and more importantly we have more energy and vitality than we have ever had before.

Everyone has their own path, I judge myself and no one else for the choices they believe to be the truth. We can only offer our life experiences and hope others will use that to their advantage, and maybe like Jen and I, a new path can be carved. The dream is to ultimately see the horse eventually drink the water, not just stand in front if it.

As raw foodists who come as close to vegan as possible (we do use bee products), we hope to use this blog to share insights, information, and recipes as well as offer to those who are also on the same path as us, support that they are not the only ones trying to make a difference.

Now, how would we respond to our old shells?

“Nope, we eat raw veggies, fruits, nuts and seeds. All organic. Why are you looking at us like we’re crazy?!”

“Protein? Easy…we get it from everything just mentioned….plus there’s spirulina, marine phytoplankton, hempseeds and countless others…no, no, no…you can’t get high from hempseeds, nice try though.”

“You’re right, we are at the top of the food chain, but it certainly doesn’t give us the right to destroy everything below us. Plus the higher the food chain the higher the toxins….do yourself a favour, eat lower. In response to tradition, well, female genital circumcision is a tradition in Nigeria. Many see that practice as unethical. Tradition doesn’t always equal moral and ethical correctness.”

“Do you know what else tastes good? Raw vegan pad Thai, dairy free vanilla ice cream with cacao chips, green smoothies, raw truffles, raw falafel and hummus wraps, raw pizza, nut based ‘mozzarella cheese’ and portabello mushroom burgers with veggie pate, the list is endless. What was yours again? Just meat and potatoes?”

On that note, I hear Jen’s Raw Caesar Salad calling my name. Until next time!

Mr. and Mrs. Raw

Michael currently works in an advertising company, but with tasty food, proper nutrition and amazing health constantly on his mind his goal has him enrolling in the Natural Nutrition program at the Canadian College for Natural Nutrition next fall. He is constantly inspired by the likes of Victoria Bountenko and David Wolfe.

His wife Jennifer works at Organic Abundance, an organic grocery store in Toronto and is lucky enough to spend all day talking about organic food, looking at organic  food and eating organic food!!