Louise, 40, is the editor of FruityLou.com and the Danish website, RaskPaaRaw.dk. She broadcasts tips and tricks for a raw vegan lifestyle on her YouTube channel, Fruity Louise. She is also the organizer of the international Danish Fresh Food Festival in Denmark and the woman behind the Danish raw food forum 801010Denmark. She has been leading a low-fat raw food diet since 2009. Connect with Louise on Facebook and Instagram.
Brian’s note: I began 10 sentences with targeted words, presented in boldface below, that serve as conversation starters and asked Louise to complete the thoughts in this condensed “interview.”
Anxiety attacks were a daily part of my life for nine years before I started this diet. I had tried everything from happy pills, psychiatrists and a school for phobias, but none of it worked. When I first changed my diet, I removed all dairy, refined sugar, wheat, chemicals, additives and colorings, and in a little less than a month, I had no more attacks. It was simply amazing, and I was astonished.
I suffered from nine years of anxiety attacks, damaged liver (high liver count, fatty liver, yellow skin and gallstone attacks) and severely low hormone production (like a pensioner and I couldn’t have children at the time). I had adrenal fatigue to the degree that I could hardly leave my bed, severe cell and DNA damage to a degree that a doctor told me that I would have cancer if I didn’t do something radical, cysts on my ovaries and then a lot of little things such as gout, candida, herpes, infections, brain fog, loss of short-term memory, sleeping problems, etc.
My experience with the medical establishment was absolutely horrible. Basically, they didn’t have anything but pills to offer me and no hope for relief at all. My doctor actually started to think that I was a hypochondriac and asked if my disease wasn’t just caused by a bit of stress, which of course made me furious. I had nowhere to go but to research online and try to help myself because nobody else could.
I found out about a low-fat raw food diet from a girl on an Internet group that I had created for Danes with adrenal fatigue. First, I thought it was a crazy vegetable diet that couldn’t do any difference, but she kept talking about it, and some of it started to make sense. Therefore, I read some more and watched a lot of videos, and suddenly it clicked. Why is it that we heat our food at all? It is so illogical. I decided to give it a try, and I thought I could always go back, and now four-and-a-half years later, it was the best choice I have ever made. Today, I’m cured and still eat a low-fat raw vegan diet primarily consisting of fruit—and I love it!
Green smoothies are an absolute must for me. I drink them every day, and I find that they are the easiest way to get a lot of greens. I even wrote an e-book in Danish about them that I will hopefully translate into English one day. Blend up fruit with water and any kind of greens that you like and get as much in as you possibly can every day. It’s amazing!
My raw food transition took me about two weeks, and, first, I removed all fat from my diet. After two weeks, without fat, I slowly started to eat more and more fruit, and I got more calories from fruit. In the beginning, I experienced a lot of detox, and I felt really, really bad for quite a long time, but slowly I started to see a lot of improvements, and I knew that I was on the right track. From then on, I didn’t look back. I kept going with it.
A raw food diet has made me into the person I was before I got ill and has literally given me my life back. I’m happy now, with way more energy, a way more healthy body and the ability to do the things I love like traveling and dancing. Had I not changed my diet, I wouldn’t be here today probably.
The fruit that I like the most are probably mangos and, especially, honey mangos from Pakistan. They are so sweet and amazing, and I could live off them, I think.
I am spreading the word about raw food because I feel that it’s my duty to give other people the same chance that I had. If I hadn’t met that girl online I would probably still be in bed with the outlook of cancer and chronic fatigue. I simply feel that I owe it to the world to pay something back.
Ballroom dancing on a raw food diet works really well because it gives me the energy and flexibility that I need. Ballroom dancing is a great way to get fit because you practice both muscle strength, cardio, flexibility, coordination and balance at the same time, and then it is also just really a lot of fun. I find that I am still, at the age of 40, improving and, at the moment, I’m probably in the top five in the “Above 35s” group in Denmark. It makes me smile, and I’m so thankful I have the ability to do what I love.
Watch Louise in Action in a Popular Video
Discover Louise’s Top 5 Tips for getting your health back!
Hungry for more? Check out Louise’s Green Banana Smoothie with Fresh Basil and Thyme recipe!
