'Raw-food diet has changed my life
St Catherine woman excited about nearly 50-pound weight loss
Not wanting to suffer the same fate as her diabetic father, who died after being bedridden for 10 years, Stacia Davidson decided to change her eating habits and became a vegetarian in 2019.
At just 5 feet 6 inches, at her heaviest she weighed 185 pounds, which, according to body mass index charts, is overweight. She also admits that she suffered from painful periods. The switch in diet has paid dividends as she has lost 45 pounds to date. Motivated by not only her much smaller waistline and other benefits, Davidson then decided to ring in her 40th birthday in 2020 by eating only raw foods for 40 days. She started in July, her birthday is in August, but what started as a personal challenge has morphed into something more.
“On my 40th birthday, I decided ded to go ‘raw’, which includes fresh fruits and vegetables and nuts. I made a post on social media that I was going to do it for 40 days. It was really supposed to just be a birthday thing, but at the end of it, persons were giving only positive feedback about weight loss and other health benefits, and persons were asking when I was going to do another challenge,” she said. That interest spurred her to conceptualise Raw Food Challenge JA, which promotes healthy living and the benefits of weight loss. The ‘movement’ has a WhatsApp group in which members can talk about their experiences and give updates on their progress.
Davidson, who is a content creator as well as a lifestyle and travel blogger, said that she and about 50 other h persons embarked b kd on another 21-day raw food challenge last May, and the results were again remarkable. Now 42, the St Catherine woman said that she has the same waistline she did at 16. In addition to the weight loss, the diet change has also helped ease her pain. She is delighted that the 21-day raw food challenge has made a positive impact in the lives of many women. She told THE STAR that women have been healed from conditions such as endometriosis, painful periods, infertility, polycystic ovary syndrome, chronic indigestion and obesity.
“We had one in June [2021] and then it became a monthly challenge until January. I then started doing a lot of research, and I learned from the feedback form that I had sent out to the members,” she said. Davidson said she then went to Panama, where she studied under the tutelage of raw food guru Dr Aris LaTham. On March 1, Davidson said she and others will embark on a six- month raw food challenge and this, she believes, will be a life-changing experience.
“The aim is to slowly ease as many people as possible into the lifestyle. There are a lot of benefits from eating raw, which includes a toned body, longer life, and just a string of other improvements,” she said.