Growing Roots, Growing Wings

 May 21, 2025

Here I am in front of the Sydney Harbor Bridge
Sept 11, 2011

Our raw foods group didn’t begin as a social gathering.

It began as a search for healing.

In 2009, after becoming seriously ill, I began looking for answers beyond what conventional medicine was offering me. That search led me to Dr. John Fielder in Australia, a natural hygienist and teacher with a strict but deeply rooted philosophy of healing through food, rest, sun, and natural living.

I met up with him in Houston in 2010 and began to study closely with him. His visits, the lectures I organized, and the community that began to form around those ideas eventually gave birth to our Raw Foods Group in 2011.

For years, it felt like we had discovered something powerful—a way of connecting with food, and each other, that felt nourishing on every level.

But over time, my path shifted. In 2020, I made the personal decision to take medication for my health. That decision ended my working relationship with Dr. Fielder, whose belief system allowed no room for compromise.

That moment was painful—but it was also clarifying.

I had grown. I had learned to embrace nuance, science, and flexibility. I still believe in the power of plants. I still love preparing beautiful food and sharing it with others. But I also believe that we deserve the full toolbox—nature and medicine, experience and evidence.

And now I find myself in a tender place. I still host the group that formed from those early days. I love the joy people find in it. I respect the traditions they hold. But I also hear the same talking points I once repeated, and I know in my bones that my truth has moved.

Silence is not the same as agreement. And evolution is not betrayal.

So I keep showing up—offering what I can, holding space for what was, and gently planting seeds for what might be.

Maybe that’s the most nourishing thing of all.

Still Curious. Still Growing, Still Grateful.

by Janis @ Simple Raw and Natural