My Story
When I first stumbled onto Raw Foods on the internet in 2006, it seemed like an impossible idea. Being curious by nature, I probed and researched before deciding to experiment on myself. Even only for a few days, I could feel that something was changing inside my body, and the experience was phenomenal.
Living purely on fruits and raw vegetables, i started needing lesser sleep and getting a lot more energy. My mind became sharp and focused like never before, and the world seemed different. Day after day I woke up on lesser sleep and higher energy!
But everybody thought I’d gone insane when I told friends about it! I stood out like a sore thumb, social situations turned out extremely bad and people frowned upon my diet disapprovingly. People viewed me as a weirdo at best, and a lunatic at worst!
Raw food just started nibbling at the Western countries then, and Singapore was definitely not a great place to introduce new ideas yet! With so much new found energy, nobody could match my pace and I grew bored, lonely, even scared, and eventually gave up.
Turning raw was an uphill task. I scrambled feebly onto raw after every backslide, only to find myself back in the comfort of cooked foods too soon. Somehow, thank God, I made enough progress through months of research, perseverance, trials and errors, that I slowly found my path back to raw again. It was really difficult because I was all alone here and my nearest “raw buddy” was an Australian living in Canada! There wasn’t even a shadow of any raw foodist in Asia then.
But still, it wasn’t complete until I finally took a month off and flew to Boston. After 3 flights, 2 days of being in the air, 1 shuttle bus, and a 2 hour car ride, I reached Kittery, Maine - the place where I received training. There, I experienced the biggest transformation of my lifetime.
I had access to gourmet raw food everyday, world-class trainers on both raw food preparation AND personal development. Everyday was packed with training on raw food preparation, terminology and character development to qualify as a living foods teacher. I opted for both chef and teacher certification, and boy, I didn’t know that there were in fact, more learning for teacher than chef certification!
We were told in class that being a live foods chef is one thing, and being a live foods teacher, is another.
Honestly, having been in banking for the whole of my working career, being a teacher was the last thing on my mind then! I only wanted to satisfy my curiosity and learn to prepare raw gourmet for myself. But then remembering how tough it was to stick to raw in Singapore, I thought it would be cool if I could be a teacher and coach myself!
That was, I classify as, the best decision ever made for my life. My learning curve was exponential, coupled with the fabulous raw gourmet food which was available all day long, made that period the most unbelievable time of my life. I felt like I was reborn!.
Ever since then, I had never felt the same. With all that skills and knowledge, nothing can stop me on my raw pursuit!
I can write a glacier of stuff just on the benefits I have from eating raw! Well perhaps, just in this context we shall talk about something familiar? 
The most obvious ones include weight loss, my skin became firmer and clearer, I look even younger now than I did 10 years ago! Oh yes, and my favorite one - my white hairs started to disappear!
Sticking to raw in Singapore, alone and “misunderstood” by many, is no easy feat. Even today, it is still not easy. But I managed to cope fine and kept it up with support from my American classmates, perseverance and hard work. I dived into extensive research and distant learning, to keep updated with the latest raw food news, and more importantly to keep my fire alive.The more I learn, the more I felt compelled to share. And because I love my country, I wanted to reach out to fellow Singaporeans.
At the same time, I was modifying recipes to local tastes because I got bored with the Western dishes. And eventually, I started creating raw versions of local dishes like “Ba Cho Mee”, “Glutinous Rice” and “Ondeh Ondeh” which wowed friends and family!
As I gritted my teeth pushed on in my journey alone, miracles started to happen. One by one, loved ones started to show interest and tried for themselves. Then more miracles happened! They started to notice how much better they look & feel and became more interested. That motivated me big time man!
What started out as hobby and passion, propelled me onto a new mission in life. It is now a life-long objective to make available training, skills and support to every learner, which will enable him/her to sustain on a raw food lifestyle for as long as they wish to!
So what kind of person am I and what kind of life do I lead now? To sum it all up, all I can say is:
When I’m not jumping for joy, I’m usually happy for no reason I continue to be amazed by the wonders of Mother Earth, the magic of our ecosystems, and the delicate connections in between. Never did a day passed without a new discovery about myself, my potential and creativity. My mantra now is to learn, grow and share!
Check out my raw transformations here :
