Live love fruit was founded, and is currently owned, by Carly Fraser. It was created as a way to help spread the word about the benefits of fruit and vegetables and to promote a high raw, plant-based lifestyle. Using accumulated knowledge over her 10 year journey, and own personal experience, Carly has inspired and motivated thousands of individuals to critically think about what they put in their bodies and to move towards a mind-set that helps them increase their consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables.
Carly has taken her life-long passion of helping others and combined it with her passion for eating whole, raw foods, as a means to teach people to become more aware of the foods they eat. Concerned by the high degree of sickness and disease, Carly wanted to combat this by educating the public on how real, whole foods can help heal, and even cure some of the most debilitating diseases.
Education
Carly holds her Bachelor of Science Honours Degree in Neuroscience from the University of Winnipeg. Throughout her education, she learned how the body utilizes and processes food energy, as well as the psychology of food addiction, and how people turn comfort foods into items used to cover up underlying issues in their life. She enjoys reading, and learning about the body, food processing mechanisms and has a keen interest in detox, and how the foods we eat can either help us, or destroy us.
In her second last year of University, Carly worked as a student research assistant at the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Manitoba (CHFM). Here she learned different research techniques and evaluated the role of different microRNA’s in lung cells. She continued working at CHFM for five years, while also working as a laboratory technician in the Pathology Deparment at the University of Manitoba (where she focused on graft-versus-host disease in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT)).
During this time, Carly also worked part-time, and then full-time, as a research assistant with the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Manitoba, based out of St. Boniface Hospital. She was involved in working closely with cardiac surgery patients to determine their level of frailty and cardiac-surgery-associated acute kidney injury (CSA-AKI). This involved collecting samples from patients while they were in surgery, monitoring their medical records, and performing a series of tests on patients to determine how frail they were.
Carly has since been published in two studies relating to the work mentioned above. The first study, named “Prenatal microRNA miR-200b Therapy Improves Nitrofen-induced Pulmonary Hypoplasia Associated With Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia” was work performed out of CHFM, while the second study, named “The impact of frailty on functional survival in patients 1Â year after cardiac surgery” was performed out of St. Boniface Hospital.
Once the grants and studies were completed, Carly decided to dedicate all of her attention and work towards her soul passion: Live Love Fruit.
Carly’s Weight Loss Story
I would like to share my story with the amazing community of Live Love Fruit, and assure you that no matter where you are in your journey to become healthy and vibrant, that you can go that extra step any place, any time. No two individuals will have the same experience, we are all different, and must find what makes us feeling 100% optimal. I found this connection with raw foods and learning to live a stress free life to be exactly what I needed to experience life to its fullest!
I chose to get rid of my destructive eating habits and instead choose the path of health and enlightenment. By doing so, I have allowed my body to heal and cure lingering issues that suppressed my body from experiencing life. Many people are shocked or surprised with how I eat (especially coming from a province that bases a large majority of the food focus on meat and dairy), and they ask me where I get my protein or if I am getting the right vitamins and minerals.
Of course, the answer to these questions are yes, I am getting enough protein (since amino acids make a protein, and the best source of amino acids are from fruit and vegetables), and I have increased vitamin and mineral consumption by choosing to eat this way. In fact, when I used to eat the standard american diet, I was largely vitamin and mineral deficient!
I went through three stages until I finally resonated with raw foods. When I started on my journey I had no knowledge of raw foods, or that it was a way of eating. I was also 14, and that was around 2003 (raw foods hadn’t really “taken over” at that time).
Exercise
My weight loss journey began with exercise, and it started with around 10 minutes of walking every day for about 2 months. Then I started to incorporate short bursts of running for one minute at a time. This, in itself, was enough to get me to start shedding the pounds, however my diet remained the same. I still ate pizza, fast food, sugary drinks, chips, and the like. I soon had a steady regime of running for 20-30 minutes a day. However, my energy levels were low and the scale was no longer budging. Then I began to educate myself on proper eating, and started to include more fresh fruit and vegetables. However, I still ate meat, dairy, eggs, and junk food every now and then. One day I decided to stop eating meat all together, once I did that the weight seemed to shed instantly.
Vegetarianism
When I went vegetarian I lost weight extremely quickly. I tracked all my calories, ate low-fat cheeses and portioned out my meals appropriately. By this time I was on the verge of turning 16 years old, and I wasn’t too keen on how to allocate proper nutrients to ensure I was getting everything my body needed. Suffice to say, my weight dropped to 118lbs, the lowest I had ever been. For my height and bone structure, this weight was verging on the line of anorexia. I was eating very few calories and was extremely nutrient deficient. My body was so confused, and my intestines were not properly absorbing the nutrients I was giving it. My iron levels were consistently low, and I was always on iron supplements.
I decided to increase the amount of calories I consumed, and this helped a lot, however I still was consistently tired and devoid of energy. While I felt better than when I used to eat meat,something was missing. I now like to call that “missing” feeling the life energy force. It meant I got sick all the time, took naps and never wanted to exercise. I was always bloated and constipated, which, might I add, is a very uncomfortable feeling!
For three years I remained vegetarian, until one day I decided to stop eating eggs and dairy, or in other words, turned to veganism.
Veganism
This was a major change in my life! Getting rid of animal products helped me get rid of my bloat and relieve some of my constipation. Along with some fruit and vegetables, I ate a lot of processed foods and vegan soy products. (fake meats, cheeses, etc.) Going vegan definitely increased my energy, but the processed vegan foods prevented me from feeling that vibrating life force within. Eventually, I began baking my own breads and making my own soups, eating lots of legumes, quinoa, vegetables and fruit.
I then started watching videos by Dan McDonald or the “liferegenerator” on YouTube. I was around 21 when Dan convinced me to go raw. Not personally, but through his videos, he helped me make the choice to go raw. So I decided to go forth and do it, because what did I have to lose? Absolutely nothing! In fact, I gained my life back.
Raw Veganism
Deciding to become a raw vegan was, I think, one of the best life choices I have made thus far (aside from educating people through Live Love Fruit of course!). I had never experienced an energy so strong. There were no more naps, I could exercise any time of day, and for however long as I wanted. I got rid of my irritable bowel syndrome through educating myself on proper food combining techniques. Also, I eliminated my almond and coconut allergy. I am currently working on getting rid of my pistachio and cashew allergy, and my skin has never felt softer.
Now I regularly eat as much fresh, ripe, juicy fruit as I please. I consume plenty organic green juices and massive salads filled with avocado, lettuces and sprouts.
I have experimented with juice feasting, as well as water fasting. Which in themselves I believe are excellent ways to connect to yourself and allow the body to take a break, detox, and experience complete zen. Through raw foods and cleansing the body, I can say that I have transformed into a new person. So much more happier, grounded, peaceful, and know how to deal with stress as it comes my way. I would never choose any other way of living.
Still, I wonder to this day what it would be like if I was still overweight. The experience in itself was so painful, not only to my emotional well-being, but to my body, mind and spirit. I know what it’s like to feel completely helpless, and how to take that first step to transforming your life. It is hard to recognize that the very foods we are eating, whether we think they are healthy for us or simply because they are addicting, are the foods that are hurting us most.
Through this journey I discovered passion and purpose in life, which is why I decided to create Live Love Fruit. I enjoy helping others heal themselves, lose weight, learn to love more, and to integrate raw foods into their lives. When you re-build your relationship with food, you re-build your relationship with yourself. This is something I discovered through an incredibly long journey with myself. I hope you have enjoyed learning more about Live Love Fruit and how it came to be.