I am a 42 year old mom of three (one adult son, two pre-teens). Happily married, loving God and life and I am also incredible HUGE. Somehow (yeah right) the pounds just kept sneaking onto my body over the years (hmm, possibly all the burgers/fries/candy).

I now weigh in at a whopping 265 pounds. I am only 5'5 and the last time I checked I am not getting any younger. I am sick of the tired/sluggish/crabby feelings I have each day. The almost constant cravings for sweets and junk food has taken over my life.

When I started taking "inventory" I discovered that one of my trigger to run for junk food is when my kids are fighting or their is some sort of friction. Hmmm..good thing to know.

I started on Raw foods just about a week ago and lost 6 pounds in that week. I can't say that I feel totally awesome yet because I got stuck with a cold or even might be a cleansing I am going through. I have trouble sleeping and I am somewhat in a fog.

I do know that for many many years I have fueled my body with dead,horrible food and that my body will need time to heal and get rid of the toxins.

I am commited to helping my body with that process and I am looking forward to the day I can start reaping the rewards for feeding myself with good foods, not dead food.

Ready to go for a ride....a ride to a beautiful new life. !

Hugs
Sinti

Welcome Sinti:

The raw journey is a challenging one, but oh, so worth it. I am also a mom - four teens and I know how hard it can be to juggle everyone's eating styles. All my family is pretty much SAD, although two of my daughters won't eat red meat, and then everyone has various odds and ends they won't touch (one won't eat mushrooms, another won't eat onions and so on.) I have found that the simpler I eat myself, the easier it is for me. (If I have to fuss over complicated raw recipes, I end up not interested in making everyone else a lot of things to eat). Don't worry if you slip up once in a while. I transitioned for about three years before I finally hit my 100% raw goal.

I've just started an organized exercise committment to myself. I find that I do have extra energy now that I am raw, and what better way to burn it off than by getting myself back into better shape. And I certainly sleep better when I go to bed tired at night. (One of my hardest things to give up was coffee, and it's amazing how much better I sleep now).

So good luck, and keep posting. You will find great support on this forum. I know I have.

Sapphire

Hey Sinti! About 10 min. ago I wrote down on a pad of paper, big and bold:

"I am going places. I am doing great things."

I love your mantra as well: "Ready to go for a ride..." how about a ride THROUGH a beautiful new life instead of TO {some distant ideal future}? What a beautiful new life we have before us NOW in this moment of clarity.

Enjoy your ride and all the best to your family too.

Duo

Thank you both for the encouraging replies. I truly appreciate them

Yes, I love the idea of going for a ride through a beautiful new life, very cool!

Hugs
Sinti

I too have a weight issue. I always seemed to feel a need to eat when eating cooked foods. I would have a full meal deal at the fast food place and a few hours later find myself hungry again. I also lacked any control concerning how many chips or cookies I did eat. I started eating raw foods last year and I weighed over 360 pounds. I felt awful and could not do much because my feet hurt I was killing myself slowly by eating. I went completely raw and in five monthes I lost more than 100 pounds. I did go back to eating cooked foods last winter and gained back about 60 pounds of what I lost. I was haveing a hard time getting myself back to eating raw, I went on a water fast but shortly after resumed eating cooked foods then I went on a master cleanse fast for 16 days and transitioned to eating raw foods and have been going good. I really had a lot of emotional issues I feel I delt with during the master cleanse. I now eat less foods and feel so much better. I have been loseing lots of weight once again. While eating raw the weight just falls off and you don't have to count calories you can eat all you want just don't cook it.

I have to cook for the family as well and they eat their pizza and chips in front of me. I think pizza is the hardest food to resist. I tell myself that maybe later I will have a pizza but for now I am wanting to lose this weight and feel better. I look at eating raw like an experiment on myself. I don't fudge on eating anything cooked. My 11 yr old had a birthday and I made a cake but did not even lick the frosting from the spoon. I don't feel deprived though, I feel so good I don't want to lose that feeling by taking a lick of anything cooked.

Hope the things I write to you are encourageing
Pam

You guys are amazing! Pam, Sinti, Duo, Sapphire... Its great to see such support and having the guts in the first place to change your lives, and move forward. This is NOT easy in the USA today, surrounded by temptations, peer pressure, family, and a not great environment... I just found this web site accidentally this morning while searching for answers to a client's question about juices. As a Kinesiologist maybe I can throw in a few helpful tips, especially to Sinti just starting out (Congratulaions on that decision!!)

That's great feedback from Duo about going THROUGH a beautiful new life.. it's important to have a clear, well defined "destination" when going on a journey!.. or even cut to the chase and bring it right into the present.."I am now enoying my beautiful new life and I ...." - add an action to it - something you would be doing if you had your goal... :-) even if the action is just wearing size 10 clothes, if that's what your weight goal is. The "ride" part is nice though as long as it's not a roller coaster! - because it conjures up visions of a beautiful enlightening journey... With goal setting it's important to be specific and in the now. I'm well trained in this with Kinesiology because in every session we establish a goal.. Like with yours Duo - "I am going great places, I am doing great things".. Maybe you can define WHERE you are going and what you are doing exactly.. What would you be doing if you already had your goal? Know what I mean? If any of you want to toss in some goal ideas I'help you with them to get the wording right on.

It is SO not easy to get/stay slim and healthy on the SAD. I'm pretty slim but (5'5", 125 pounds) and I have to avoid all those cookies and baked goods or I'd be right up there. If I eat something I shouldn't I usually feel lousey afterwards so that's the easiest deterrent. If I'm travelling in the USA and have to do the SAD, I can feel it immediately in my mood, before in my body. It's so unbelievably not good. I've done the Master cleanser at least 25 times, ususally 10 days and have a "fishaterian" diet. Raw foods and fresh made juices (except orange) are a very important part of it, but some foods like certain vegetables for me are fine lightly steamed. (But if you can do it raw, great!!) Pam mentioned pizza - yes it's the refined carbs (sugar, wheat) and cow's milk products that are literaly the killers. And that tomatoe paste - pure acid, which also feeds candida yeast. Clients who come to me usually have a yeast problem in the digestive tract which is fed by the sugars/carbs and certain foods. The yeast causes sugar cravings and weight gain. (Look what happens when you add a little sugar in warm water to raise yeasted dough!)

BUT something most people don't realise is that hig tech - radiation and EMF frequencies (cell phones, computers, LED displays in clocks, phones, thermostats and other devices , microwaves, etc.) also put the body into stress and cause the adrenals to produce cortisol - which is candida food. (Pregnancy also causes yeast proliferation because the immune system shuts down to protect the fetus.) This is one of the reasons we crave these kinds of sugars more today than ever - there's a huge environmental stress load. Another culprit is the high chemical exposure in the USA - even the high chlorine in water..just having a shower we breath in loads of it. I'm Canadian but live in Europe and am often in the USA. USA is the worst for chlorine. In Europe, there are laws against this and also limits on the legal amount of EMF and radiation exposure (from cell towers, high tension wires, radar, etc.) in some countries.

I work a lot with candida and there are a few things you can take which will help to erradicate it. If you can add this to your programme it should also help you deal with the stressful kinds of situations Sinti that cause your cravings. (any kind of stress - physical, environmental or emotional, causes the adrenals to produce cortisol). It's the yeast that's getting the food - not you.
1. Oil of oregano (typically 4 drops in juice 2 x day),
2. Flax seed oil (4 caps/day)
3. calcium/magnesium supplemnent because it creates an alcaline environment. But good calcium is almost impossible to find - most is garbage. One of the best sources of natural calcium is soaked sunflower seeds... just soak them in a glass jar and they start to "activate" after 4 hours or so. You'll see they start to swell as they absorb the water. Keep them in the fridge up to 5 days, changing the water daily. 2 T 2 x day is a great source of natural calcium and other minerals.
4. Zinc if you have high exposure to computers or are prone to thyroid issues.
(zinc citrate - typically 30mg)

It's now November and these postings were in Sept. - how are you doing now with your programmes, Sinti and Pam?
Karen

Thank-you for the encouragement, karon99. Check out my diary on here, "needing a fresh start" I have kept the diary since starting this raw food journey, it tells of my ups and downs. Right now I am doing real well, I have been juice fasting and working on some emotion issues that make me feel like eating cooked foods. I am feeling real positive lately.