I've been coming to this community frequently lately. It is quite kind and informative. It is the very best raw forum I have found. I have had a lot of my questions answered and I find very reasonable advice. I like that a lot! I was getting very overwhelmed by the divided schools of thought and the push to purchase superfoods, but not this one, or that one....
I'm going to just blog a bit here I guess for my own expression. Sometimes I want to ask questions or connect with people here but not about anything specific so I think that if I journal here a bit maybe I can express some of that energy.
I am 40. I went on a restricted macrobiotic diet at age 16 due to some health issues. I've since gravitated toward alternative medicine and healthy eating. A year ago I became a vegeterian and have consumed very little dairy, only a bit of cheese here and there. I had hoped for much better results and although my skin cleared up beautifully, my fatigue only increased to a level where I really thought I was becoming disabled. I would wake up hard, be ok for a few hours, and then just crash. I could barely function or get through my day. My kids would start coming home from school and I would force myself to provide dinner and give them attention, dragging all the while, and sometimes absolutely have to lie down again after dinner. It was very depressing. I am not a couch potatoe. I have ambitions and desire to do many things and love to be busy and productive and up. It was beginning to affect my family. They were becoming frustrated.
A month ago I decided to learn about a raw diet and started out by having green smoothies for breakfast. After two weeks of feeling awful I learned that I cannot handle nuts or raw granolas and began having a second smoothie for my lunch and having only raw fruits and veggies until dinner. My whole world changed! I havnt needed a nap in two weeks, I am productive, and I am not depressed. I need to begin working on my evening meal and eliminating evening snacking. I have not had sugar in a month. Amazing! I'm very excited to see what I can accomplish in the next month and am really hoping to drop 10 lbs. This is so encouraging!

februarygirl

Good for you!

A couple things I do for energy (my kids wear me out too!) is take B12 and D3 supplements and regularly have my iron levels checked out. There is a great supplement called Moringa (dried and ground leaves of the moringa tree) that is very high in all sorts of nutrients that I am thinking of adding to our smoothies.
And getting enough physical exercise. As funny as this sounds, instead of wearing you out it actually gives you More energy!

Ty! Yes excersise is on my list too! I am not a lover of it as it has always worn me out but I think now I can at least start by getting a walk in every day. Thanks for your kind words

februarygirl

Well, I am definitely refining my diet. Still craving crackers or pretzels but it's emotional cravings and something I need to find a replacement for. As coco said getting away from the t.v. in the evening will help. I don't watch much t.v. except after my kids go to bed I love to have a glass of wine and watch HGTV or Burn Notice with my husband.
Anyhoo, my aughter has had a fever, some virus for a few days, and then my son came down with it along with a kidney infection. His doc squeezed him in yesterday but we were there for 3 hours. I felt so bad for the sick kids having to be in a waiting room that long. My blood sugar got a bit low so that caused a slight crash but not as bad as it used to. I am much more stable in that way. I should have brought some grapes or something with me. My bad.
Something I really need to work on is somehow working through that kind of stress without it affecting me physically. It stated the ay before with the possible kidney infection and by the time it was over I was spent and spent a large part of the day tired and grumpy, even though I took an hour long nap. My son has very serious health issues and anytime something flares up or doctors are involved it puts me in a near coma.
So my fatigue is lifting beautifully as a result of my raw food diet and I'm sure the rest will come. It's awesome to have some relief so that I can address some of the non food related issues, such as stress mgtm. and exercise.

februarygirl

Perhaps you and your honey could try some other activity at night? Not being cheeky here . For a while friends and I have been getting together for cards and board games and we have Such a great time! If he's willing to try doing an activity like that with you some night to break up your tv routine it might make it easier for you to change that habit. I just read an interesting study about how the blue light from TV (and full spectrum bulbs but especially TV) delays melatonin production which interferes with the body's ability to get to and stay asleep. That light makes the body want to wake up, like the light of the sky, so getting snacky then makes sense to me. Candle light would certainly be more relaxing!

As for those crunchy snacks, do you have or can you get a dehydrator? I bought a refurbished unit from excalibur and while it was not cheap exactly it did fit into the budget because it was cheaper than brand new . It's great for making crackers and kale chips, there are tons of recipes online for these and they are a terrific savory replacement for chips, popcorn and crackers. You can make energy bars with them too and that's a great thing to always have in your purse for those unexpected trips to the doctor etc .

It does take a bit of planning to keep healthy when you're on the go or even just living a busy life with kids and a spouse. This is true if you're raw or even just trying to clean up your diet. Once you get the hang of it though it becomes second nature. It's like learning to take a diaper bag with you when you have a new baby. It doesn't take too long before you would never, ever forget your essential!

You sound like you're doing great. Remember to feel good about all the positive changes you're making instead of focusing on the things you haven't gotten to yet. It's a process and it's good to enjoy the steps, your increasing feelings of health and vitality and all the things you learn as you go along. The stuff you aren't doing yet will come, be in the moment and really enjoy the things you're already doing now and it will stay a good experience that you want to keep on with .

My husband would be very much interested in the more "cheeky" suggestions! Yes, a dehydrator would be wonderful, but first a v mix. Maybe in a couple of months And you are right about planning. It can make or break a day. Thank you for the encouragement I am very proud of the fact that I am off sugar and eating the raw foods that I am. It's good to reflect on that. I am very optimistic about the coming months.

februarygirl

While I love my vitamix and use it nearly daily I can honestly say that a good dehydrator makes transition so much easier, especially for kids and people who like crunchy snacks! Bread, crackers, cookies, fruit leather, soaked and dried nuts and seeds, dried fruit, veggie chips for dip, etc. I had a blender from the thrift store for years that served me very well, it was only when I wanted to make fancier recipes, sauces, dips etc that a vitamix became my goal. It does make a very smooth smoothie but a regular blender can easily handle baby spinach and fruit .

That "cheeky" activity would be better for both of your health! No TV, burns calories and gives a great cardio workout, creates endorphins and feelings of love and well being, encourages great sleep, etc etc etc. I say go for it .

I havnt even looked at dehydrators. Is there anything I should know?

februarygirl

If you take a look at discount juicers (the site owned by the person responsible for this forum, John Kohler) I'm pretty sure there is a comparison chart. He favours one the sell with a front door you can see through but that is the only part about it that's better than the excalibur as far as I can tell. That's the brand that I have and I bought a refurbished unit directly from them. It comes with a factory warranty and it was in perfect condition when I got it. I just got it so have to set it up and use it but am really looking forward to it. This is the only way I'm going to get the kids to eat raw, like all kids they love bread and crackers and crispy stuff!

thanks coco!

februarygirl

Feeling really good.....my days are more productive. I can push myself through if I get tired when I was falling further and further behind last month. I am getting through stressful situations better too. My tolerance is higher. I am craving raw foods and making some simple yet delicious recipes that are so satisfying. The whites of my eyes are glaringly white! Produce choices are awful...going to check out Aldi. Yesterday my caffeine consumption was minimal yet I could not sleep at all it was weird, not like me. Like I had a late cup o Joe but I didn't .

februarygirl

This week....no food after 7 pm and off to bed at 11....ooops.....some days I wait too long to eat because I don't want to crash. I need to tell myself to eat some fruit or veggies to keep my blood sugar up. this sets me up for a good evening. Shared my raw balls at work. They liked them! Made it to the gym today. Great progress!

februarygirl

That draws my attention to what a produce snob I've become in the past few weeks! The other day I did something I NEVER would have done before: I threw out 3 avocados because they tasted like steroids. They had no flavor and the texture was off somehow.
I threw out bad "raw" pecans last week too because I knew when i ate them that something was not right about them.
I turn my nose up at all kinds of fruit I would have eaten before because now I know that if the subtlties of the flavor aren't right, I won't be able to enjoy the food. I go for the small weird looking fruits and vegetables... avocados that look like themsleves, not like theyre trying to be some idealized, airbrushed avocado with a perfect figure and perfect skin like the ones they see on TV and in the magazines.

If I bought a bad avocado in the before days, in the long-long-ago, number one i never would have noticed it was bad, and number two, I would have eaten it anyways because I paid too much for it to throw it out. Now its just part of what happens when you shop for produce sometimes. I think that's pretty cool.

I wish I had some awesome story to share, but I come from a completely opposite history. I ate meat and gravy before I came to raw food, and though I get tired and sick sometimes eating cooked, I'm sort of a powerhouse with a hardy constitution. My problems are more in line with my family's tendency toward diabetes and heart/circulatory disease. Yang kinds of symptoms. Red face, anger, emotional extremes, sprained things, headaches, broken blood vessels, phantom aches and pains. Overdoing things.

What I think is so neat about going raw is that it normalizes and optimizes the health of people from all walks of life. Its kind of mysterious and magical how a big person goes raw and loses, and a small person goes raw and gains. And everyone gets healthy!!!

I guess I have a few exercise tips as someone who has gone head-to-head with obesity, depression, and that kind of resulting apathy and fatigue:

1)I know that during any given 48-hour period, there will be at ONE fleeting moment where I could really go for some exercise. The key for me is to recognize that moment and act on it immediately. Sometimes I dont feel like exercising. But as soon as I define myself as someone who is too ________ to exercise, I am ignoring that sometimes I *do* want to go for a jog or play soccer or watch Twilight for the 500th time on my stair stepper. Or just walk.

When I do that, get into the habit of classifying myself as someone who tends not to exercise, I then tend to pass over and ignore those small windows where I kind of want to get up and move for no reason in particular. If I miss my five minute or 30 second window of opportunity where I WANT to go-go-go, and I sit there and wait for it to pass, it will pass, and I will still be stittng there much like before, kind of doing nothing in particular. Kind of like how you'll get sleepy in one of those melatonin waves and if you ride out that wave and stay awake, the sleepiness will pass... same thing with exercise. If you want to move, but you just sit there and *watch* yourself want to move, and you don't act on that urge, the urge will pass, so I kind of think of it as like you gotta get it while the gettins good. And then NOT JUDGE yourself when you just sit there tired, because you go with it when its time to go with it, and sit there when its time to sit there.

I have to remind myself sometimes that doing "nothing", or being sedentary, is a neural route thats so well worn into my circuitry that I have to kick the whole thought patterns surrounding exercise and how I approach it right out of that groove, and I have do do it over and over again until new neural routes are routine for me. Just like with raw food. I *still* make the exact same route in the supermarket even though now I only buy from produce, water, and bulk now. I still wander the frozen aisles, the bread aisles, the meat aisles, the canned foods and the boxed foods. It's just a brain-habit. A residual effect of all those years of cooked foods. Like a ghost in the deli, staring at the prepackaged hoagies as though they might hold an answer. I digress...

I have to be ready to act when those moments come over me where I WANT to act. And those are the best moments to begin to exercise, because theyre natural moments for you to exercise. Theyre times your BODY chooses. Those small moments are my CUE to get up and move.

2)The other thing I do that keeps me moving is dance. I can't do it when anyone else is around. But when I'm the only one home, I know that if I really should exercise, and I'm too bored or tired to begin, I turn on my favorite music, and just wait for it to work on me. It only takes a few minutes of sitting there listening to Hollertronix before i cant just *sit there* and listen to Hollertronix. Infectious grooves are infectious. Catchy tunes are catching. Plus, music brings joy to your body, and dancing is a great way for me to send the message to my body that it's play-time, time for fun, time to do whatever you want. Jump up and down or flap my arms like a chicken, or spin around in circles till im dizzy and fall over. For that time, I am not telling my body what to do. I'm not making it sit or stand, or lay there, or do 50 situps. It gets the chance to tell me what it wants to do, and I just follow along.

3)I also have a young son, and I make sports dates with him on the weekend. Soccer or football or whatever. I commit to him, that means I can't back out later. At home, he can think of all sorts of things for me to do that give me a great workout, haha! And when I got my son into physical fitness, and told him why its important for people to exercise, then *he* started helping *me* out! My son makes me jog with him to school and shoot hoops and practice my marital arts, because he knows its good for people to do, and he wants to see me do well as much as I want to see him do well. Sometimes he will tell me: "Mom, we need to do our training." How can I say no? If I'm too tired to play, I still get up and put in at least a 20 minute effort, and that's all I need to feel a sense of accomplishment.

4)Then, finally, sometimes I tell myself for no reason: "I move around a lot. I have lots of extra energy." It might not be true at the time. But If I assert that every now and then confidently to myself as part of my inner monologue, just sort of drop it in there matter-of-factly, all my cells and tissues hear that, and they say, "Wow, I do? I guess I do! I better get with this program!" And it does have a positive effect for me to do this. It helps me begin the process of defining myself as a person who likes to move and get exercise. Then I start doing exercising at random moments just because "that's the kind of person I am." Just this evening, I jogged to the store and back, that's a mile.

If I went back in time, and told my 25 year old self that I would be jogging to the store and back for no reason whatsoever except just to feel good, I would have told myself I was full of it.

Anyways. Thank you for sharing and for letting me share. I think it's quite a feat to get SAD eaters to like raw concoctions, because I notice that the flavors I like now are so intense that it puts them off to eat things and taste things that are so earthy and powerfully subtle. I've fed people raw meals and had that person be so SAD-ded out that they can't *feel* the food sparkling inside their tummies because theyre so sick that the good food they ate hardly made a dent. Like a Cadillac driving over a stick, its like "what was that. Oh well" and the awesomeness of the raw message doesn't get through and I feel like I failed the movement, you know? Also I'm not the best cook. I know what *I* like, but I also recognize that the food I like is weird. The only food I've ever made that was a hit at work was slicing up a pineapple or two and leaving them out on my desk, haha!

Namaste, I'll be happy to hear more as you get well!
Sue

BTW, Sorry for the long post. Fruit makes me bubbly and babbly and chatty, and right now I have some of that Raw-somnia that's going around!!

Alright...what the hay?????? Three days of feeling cloudy. I was so hopeful. Not sure what gives.

februarygirl

ugh! so tired I could cry. I dont know what is going on.

februarygirl

Detox? Take it easy. Whatever your body is asking you for it needs...

Yes, probably. Taking it easy would be nice, wouldn't it? lol!

februarygirl

I hear you sister. I finally was forced to take some time to myself today to go to the chiropractor. I put my neck out, today was the soonest I could get it, it's a day off school for my son so I couldn't take them both with me for the initial appointment with a new chiro. I had to get a babysitter. Best 2 1/2 hours I've spent in a LONG TIME! All about me. And a walk outside in the fresh crisp air without anybody pulling on me or whining or throwing snow or being a pain in the butt!
Now it's back to the same old though...

Take it as easy as you can.

Ha! Well I hope you are feeling better. Neck or back pain is a BUMMER for a mom.

februarygirl

Februarygirl,

Congrats on feeling better.

As far as exercise is concerned, I always recommend starting small. Twenty minutes of cardio daily to start. Then start alternating days of cardio with strength training or sculpting with light weights. In time you can increase to 30 minutes of cardio and strength still alternating the two. In time, you can increase cardio to 45 minutes and keep your strength training at 30 minutes. You will know when it is time to increase your time and your weights. Once it is too easy, increase the intensity and overload the weights a little more.

Starting small keeps you from experiencing "workout dread" which is why most people quit exercise.

Yes, I need to start incorporating excercise. Consistently. Definitely moving forward and figuring things out. Time to kick it up a notch

februarygirl

just logging this for my own journaling purpose...I started my "raw food trial" January 1st and have learned so much. I've found hidden food allergies and recognized many of my symptoms as being reactions. I've broken my sugar addiction which resulted in some more awful symptoms, therefore great improvements as well. I've learned that I am anemic and have low cortisol and other low numbers indicating adrenal fatigue and treating that with great results. I've switched to armour thyroid which has a better conversion for tt4 to t3, hopefully blood work will prove that to be true in my case. I've learned abouit 80/10/10 and am striving to live accoring to the concept of it, although falling short...still some work to do on that, but I think it really agrees with me. Hopefully once I achieve it to the fullest extent I will lose some weght. I have a good 10-15 lbs. so not too bad, but I wont feel good about myself until I drop it.

februarygirl