I recently completed a 3 day juice fast by BluePrint Cleanse and while there were extreme hunger pangs at times, there were also moments of beautiful clarity and a powerful, natural high. That high has been addicting and since coming off the cleanse I’m definitely eating healthier and trying to hold on to a sliver of that feeling.  But I wasn’t nearly as effected by this natural high as Susan O’Brien, who I met during my recent Yoga for Foodies tour stop in Dallas. Susan tried the Master Cleanse (one of the many types of juice fasts) several years ago and was so deeply impacted by the high, that she switched to a raw food diet and started a company, Hail Merry.

Susan explained that when we cook food, we kill its living enzymes which aid in digestion. Without these enzymes, our body has to use lots of energy toward digestion that could be used for other purposes.  In other words, people that eat raw food feel higher than people that don’t. Hmmmm

Susan’s mission is to make raw food more accessible. While so much of what’s raw is green, brown and odd looking, her products include macaroons made with organic expeller pressed coconut oil, shredded coconut, almond flour, pure maple syrup, organic Mexican vanilla & sea salt…or Grawnola made with fresh squeezed orange juice, organic apples, cranberries, pecans, and flax seeds.

If you, like me, have a problem with feeling completely exhausted after eating, Susan recommends just eating 50% raw food and watch your body undergo an amazing transformation. She explained, “There are people who will go months and months without eating anything raw in their entire diet except the lettuce on a hamburger.”

Therein lies the debate. Is the buzz of cold beers and a hamburger nearly as good as the high that comes from raw food? Might be worth the experiment.