Why go RAW?

I wanted to do a special post here and tell my readers about my decision to become a raw vegan. What swayed me.

1. I wanted to make a change for the environment. Livestock are responsible for 18% of the greenhouse gasses that cause climate change. I have never wanted to drive, majoratively for the sake of reducing my carbon footprint, and I have known of this fact for much of my life. It has been a large source of my guilt and unhappiness.
2. Meat is a murdered animal. There is absolutely no getting around that fact. Between avocadoes, nuts, seeds, olive oil, and leady greens I see no reason to get my protein, iron or anything else from a nonrenewable source.
3. Dairy and eggs? Even crueler than meat. Cows are forcibly impregnated (raped), babies are taken off their mothers without being able to bond or nurse, and the cows are killed anyway. Hens spend their lives in cages.
4. Cow's milk DECREASES bone density, contrary to popular belief. In tribal societies where it is not consumed, they do not suffer osteopourosis.
5. Raw foods=I know what's going into my meals, all of the time. I do not buy anything with preservatives. We are soy free, gluten free, and preservative-free. There is this saying I heard once, something about how if your grandparents wouldn't know what it is, don't eat it-for the most part, that makes a lot of sense to me. Chemicals begone!
6. I have lived with an unhealthy relationship with food for almost half of my life. I have fallen in and out of disordered eating from the time I became a teenager. Those days are behind me. There is nothing to feel guilty about when the food you eat is dense in nutrients. Everything I eat is vital to my health and wellbeing. No empty calories, no "junk".
7. I have more or less spent 4 years of my life bedridden when I became the victim of an "adverse reaction" to Gardasil. Yes. I am a grown-up Gardasil girl. I am now walking several times a week, doing my own grocery shopping, cooking, doing light housework, lugging my kid around all the time (instead of just playing with him on the bed/floor) I am still heavily fatigued and feel a lot of pain, but I am no longer stiff or weak. I am 50% of what I used to be and that is a VERY, VERY DRASTIC IMPROVEMENT! I do not know whether I will ever be 100%, but I know that I owe this tremendous recovery to raw foods and getting rid of toxic garbage (including chemical laden cleaning products, ect) from my life.
8. What could be more loving than the gift of good health to one's family?
9. I wanted to do something for myself, and this is, I feel, the kindest, most loving thing you can do for your body, your mind, your soul. Alleviating the guilt, and replacing it with vital nutrition.

We are not 100% raw, I should admit, it is more like 85%. We do eat rye/linseed bread (wheat & gluten free) and some wholegrain pasta, and I like to make potato wedges on my George Foreman grill. We have no oven however, and as aforementioned, I check the ingredient labels on EVERYTHING-no preservatives, no chemicals, no JUNK.