Hello all,

48 year old english woman living in France,I weigh 64.1 kg, 5ft 6 inches

Day 1

Here's my 3rd go ( 3 x 1 month 90% previous raw experiences)

I'm trying to lift peri-menopausal fatigue. I've been having extreme tiredness and other symptoms for nearly 2 years.

As alternative medication I'm on a smear of testosterone cream, wild yam cream and a touch of DHEA during the day.Night time is dong quai and calcium for sleeping plus a tab of progesterone cream. On and off supplements are vitamin E, Dr Wilson's Adrenal support, iron, B6 and I did have some others but I've run out!

I've recently experiences another dip in energy and the hot flashes are back. Last year I cut out grains for 6 months and had no flashes.

Currently I eat a cooked veggies and meat once or twice a week. A bit of chocolate and cheese. My french boyfriend adores cooking and makes excellent food. We eat healthily! Once or twice a month popcorn and pizza We have a glass of wince or two at weekends. Super moderate and usually organic from his fathers garden. This won't be eay. But I'm on a mission for energy.!

Today was a banana and spinach smoothie,(7 bananas and 400g spinach) 2 oranges, 6 apples, 12 dates, 1/2 cup almond milk, and for dinner courgette spaghetti anf raw marinara sauce, handful of walnuts.

I've not got much money either! Currently unemployed. I really want to get to a month though... at least.

Wish me luck.

Day 2

I woke up with clearer thinking for the first time in a long time. I had a day of energy at least for me. We had the first day of sunshine in about 6 months anf’d i went to the lake in shorts and t. This am I took my daily walk in the fields ( 40 mins) and this evening I went for a 25 min run with my Had glimmers of inexplicable happiness and really my morale has lifted considerably since yesterday as fear was taking root at lack of income. Today did some completion process work and ran errands in the morning. I had a satisfying day of eating but I’m nervous about detox symptoms to come.

Day 3

Following on from last night, day 2

I started to experience some mild detox symotms last night. I was at the cinema last night texting you from my mobile so excuse the spelling errors!

Last night I was starting to feel weird and then an earache set in. It wasn't as severe as I usually experience, as always get earache/ migraines following flights. (Flew back from the UK last sunday 3 days ago). I was at the cinema watching the new Steven Spielberg. Gosh I didn't enjoy it, it was so fast paced and the noise and action was just total visual stimulation and the story not my cup of tea. No varation in the rythmn, no emotion. My bf really liked it, so each to their own. I was sitting through most of it with my finger stuck in my left ear to suppress the pain. Yes, I did go out for 15 mins.

Anyways, here's what I ate yesterday. 9 squeezed oranges. Spinach and banana smoothie. 400 g and 10 small bananas. Pint of water with chia and a squeezed lemon. Tablespoon lucuma. 4 apples, 10 dates and a banana. A lettuce with tahini and mushroom/orange dressing and a few flax seed crackers. A banana when I got in from the cine. 2274 calories.

Day 3

Woke up feeling fine, no earache and brain buzzing with thoughts.Awake at 6.20 am. A welcome change from the no thoughts state. Vived dreams (dreamed of being going for an inteview as an air hostess for Air Canada!)Up 2x in the night to pee. Oh, just for interest went for number 2's 4 or 5 times yesterday). Eliminating lots!.Starting to notice smells more, the fresh air is so beautiful! My armpits, less so...

Keep you posted. My bf is demonstrating a bit of interest as he likes to try the food I'm eating. I'm clearly in a better frame of mind than monday so for that he's pleased. He asked me if I was hungry on the diet. I'm never hungry on this, told him so.

It's of interest to note I'm still smoking 1 or 2 cigarettes a day. For the rest I'm vaping (started 2 weeks ago) maybe 3 times a day after meals...on 3 mg. Seemed more gross than usual.

Im hoping to get more energy so I can start having hopes and dreams again, then goals to fulfil them. I'lltell you what they are. I want to be a psychotherapist incorporating the completion process to assist with ptsd. I want to perform and sing acoustic guitar. I want to go and help at a sanctuary for chimps. I want to paint and do portraits.I want to travel to exotic places. If I could do these things I would be really empowered and happy. I know that raw food would be my backbone to achieving these dreams.

Bf has a great idea last night, we'll airbnb his apartment as he lives with me now for a little income for me.

Day 3 continued

I went for a 40 min walk in the fields, an hour sunbathing and an hour electric bike ride.It was so beautiful, it is so gorgeous around here.

I didn't eat much today...I wasn't hungry in the evening and managed half my salad. Ran low on spinach too so had half the usual amount. Clocked in at around 1350 cals, maybe a bit more. Raw Lissa says she has 2400 cals a day as a kind of guidleline for me but I don't really know how much I should be eating. Chronometer says 1400 cals to lose a pound a week. I'm going to aim for 2000. I'm a little worried about detox effects interfering with eating enough and also pyshcoligically ending up more skinny than I've been since 14 years old. Cross it when it comes.

Today had 14 orange juices, spinach and banana smoothie and I did more snacking... flax crackers and my first tomato of the year with a shake of salt, evening salad with a tannyraw dressing. Getting through my small pot of tahini rapidly.

If anyone has any advice regarding this please let me know? Thanks. I don't want to get too skinny. I mean I know I could lose some. Mainly puff. Anyway if I have energy that's the main thing and already I feel more energetic and my thoughts are more interesting to me, I'm more interested in things. That's huge already.

It's easy to get excited about the changes. I had again a headache last night but really it was maneageable. Wasn't reaching for the nurofen like on the last 2 occasions. Hope it stays like that. Migraines are so ...ugh

Yesterday I was pricked by a flying insect while out running. During my unusually heavy nap this afternoon I dreamed I was stung by a huge red and black mosquito. It was really unpleasant. WHen I woke the spot where I had been stung the day before was red and the surrounding area inflamed. It was bizarre to have a reaction a day later when at the time I felt it but had none. Retracing?

I am so pleased to hear my thoughts again. They had become so numb. I worked on the completion process while I was in the sun and discovered the root of my hopelessness emotion. I mean I'd always known it cognitively and subconsciously but to feel the emotion, relate it to the event was to more fully integrate it. Cool stuff. to say the least. I find knockon effects of this after the process where subtle shifts in my sense of power are occurring.

Thanks for reading.

Day 4

All good and on track. 50 min walk in the fields and an evening hour in the sun with bf. Woke at 4am raring to go so got up and blitzed the kitchen. Had a herbal sleepy tea and a calcium magnesium tablet, so when I went to sleep again at 5:20, I slept until nearly 10am.

Ate around 1700 cals ...

A little lethargic but not by my usual standards. Clocked up 100 euros so far in food this week and it’s only Thursday ! Yiked. It’s fascinating food planning. No siesta today , super vivid long dreams last night, nothing pleasant though. Detox. Got super chatty with bf tonight telling him about completion process after tea. He’s eating pasta, tom sauce and peas and I’m with my salad. But so far so easy. Imagined a sausage today...came from nowhere. Weird.

Excuse the spelling errors, tapping away on iPhone.

Night all!

Day 5

Woke up at 7am a little groggy and this didn't go as the day went on.

Not sure what happened today but my stomach rebelled. Fortunately not too much as these upsets can trigger migraine. It really wasn't so bad and I took a licorice and fennel tea to help with the bloating. It gave instant relief. It still continued somewat and I'm not hungry tonight. Munching dates getting my cals up.

When I took my 45 min walk in the fields a lady was mushroom picking. She had found morelles! 5! We had hunted at the weekend to no avail. Hope we have time tomorrow to hunt. If not definitely Sunday.

We went for a bike ride this evening, Eric had the VTT, I the electric but we swapped as I wasn't confident with the terrain. It has to be said I was absolutely useless with no confidence this evening. SO worried about losing my balance and getting off at slopes to push. I have never been like this! It was quite astounding for me as I'm fairly brave with sporty stuff.

I'm going to say detox. It's resolved me to keep on track. As of now, no temptations or cravings. Fine so far when bf cooks his evening meal.

I just snacked on 23 dates. Must have needed them. Couldn't finish my smoothie today, I wonder if the 17 juiced oranges was pushing the envelope this morning.
I also had some pulp. I think it could have been.

I am having a read cabbage and lime and lucuma salad this evening. It was so delicious when I made it up this lunch time. Not so hungry now.

I didn't have a siesta today... 2 days running. Normally it's essential.. hmm could this be a sign of things to come? Hope so.

Day 6

So here I am on Day 6 and I'm doing well in that the detox symptoms are managable.
I am tired of smoothies so had a romaine lettuce and bananas for lunch and tomatos sliced on flax seed crackers with pepper and a little salt. So good.Orange juice this am was delicious but I am not sure how many I juiced. Maybe 9. Yes 9.
Tea was the red cabbage coleslaw wrapped in lettuce.

Got in from the lake and had 15 dates and two oranges.

Had a little dance during teatime listening to summer hits 1995. Felt good. Feel good.

I am sore,my back and knees. Eyesight seems to be more focused tonight. All good.

Day 7

Posting for yesterday

All going well!

Wonderful greek salad in the evening courtesy of fullyraw Kristina.

We went for an hour and a half hike in the evening it was superb, really fun, saw a marsh pond full of large toads, little fish and newts. They were so cute.

There was still some some snow up there so hiked down chucking a few snowballs at each other.


The view was magnificent and it was wonderful to be in a t shirt up there,it like summer, but the air was cooling so it was refreshing at the same time.It's only 20 mins from bf's apartment so it was just a lovely sunday evening treat.

It has me inspired to to up hikes again!

I had a spnianch and banana smoothie for lunch with walnuts and some red cabbage slaw left over.

9 oranges juiced for breakfast. Delicious.

I'm now 62.3g so have lost, what...2 kg in a week. Pleased because it's not so much.

I really am not getting the detox symptoms I feared.COuld it because I'm vaping?

My inspirations are the older set of raw foodists in my age group,Tanny for her upbeat energy. She feels like a friend in the room. Jack for his matter of factness and nice voice. Kristina well, she caters a little for the younger set, I find her voice a little, well it's not for me. SHe has good information though.

I discovered raw food scotland recently for interesting posts.

Tonight I felt somehow...stronger in my arms when I'm getting up out of bed for example.

Thanks for your interest in my little journey!

Day 8

Just a quickie as it’s late and I’m tapping on my iPhone in bed to say, all is going well.

A fluctuating day between lethargy and energy . Strange. I woke up at 3am last night and there was an alienatic bizarre noise from outside, a loud electronic screeching. It only seemed to have disturbed a barking dog and myself. Took me a while to get back to sleep.

Smells seem more acute.

Brisker walking ( a dog nipped me on the calf today ) and energy this evening too.

All in all really pleased with how it is going.

Day 9

This is going very well.

I went on a two and a half hour hike today by the lake. Well, it was flat.

I feel great, the usual tight foggy head sensation has half disappeared.

Crikey!

Up at 6.30am and raring to go. How will I fare this weekend at my boyfriends'Dad's with BBQ and full on good organic traditional eating... wild pig, organic potatos, salads...

Preparation, preparation... I just don;t want to give up what I have just rediscovered.

Thank for sharing your experience
What diet plan are you following?

>I just snacked on 23 dates. Must have needed them. Couldn't finish my smoothie today, I wonder if the 17 juiced oranges was pushing the envelope this morning.

Are you more into a fruit based diet and doing fine with so much fruit sugar?

Hi there,

Good question.

Yes I guess I'm following 80 10 10 more fruit based. I'm trying to increase my leafy greens but bloating and getting full up is a bit of an issue. The dates are really to up my calories so I don't lose weight all in a rush. I'm doing what seems to work for me at the moment. I really only have fruit in the mornings.
Here's my formula for the moment.
Mason jar of water with lemon and chia to start the day.
Then, a huge jar of 9 juiced oranges.
Lunch is a kale or spinach smoothie. Just switched to kale for a different intake.
I snack on dates, apples or bananas for convenience if hungry and then in the evenings I have a large salad, as much as I can eat. I also eat at this point my fats.
I've started to have a tablespoon of cider vinegar before lunch and dinner to assist with digestion and I've also been having my flax crackers daily and handful of walnuts after dinner. I have Tannys' e-books so I've been influenced by her approach which is working very well for me.

I also take as supplements, spirulina, B12. I alternate days with vitamin e and fish oil (yeas I know, but I don't want to risk craving salmon day 25 plus which has been my previous experience).To that I add smears of natural hormone gels as peri-menopause hit me so hard with a variety of symptoms. Oh and dong quai and calcium and magnesium supplements for sleeping well and regulating my hormones.

I've only lost 2 kg on purpose really. Not eating much fat during the day works for me to manage the sugar intake.

There's been good improvement so far. The wonderful burst of sun we'eve had this last week has boosted me too, as I'm sure everyone out there.

What's your approach? Sprouts and fermentation seems to be the way to go for temperate climates.

Day 10 ... I'm briefly posting for yesterday as I went on a 5 hour mountain hike which was well .... truly wonderful but very fatiguing. I was concerned about how it would go food-wise up in the mountains. I stopped for a large mouthful of dates for energy and had a smoothie and flax crackers with cherry toms for lunch. I struggled a little more than needed and was more fatigued at night as unfortunately the water supply I'd taken had gotten mildewed.(The plastic sack). I learned a lot on that hike by super keen experts who filtrated water from a fresh water supply for me. I'd like to post you a few pics at some point if you are all interested. The french alps are spectacular. I haven't had the energy previously to profit from what s on my doorstep!!

Peace and love :-)

Hi there, just to add briefly that 17 juiced oranges was way too much. The dates, usually I snack on 7-10. 23 is too much. But yes, we learn and we change it up to suit. My fatigue has been bordering on chronic.

The year before last I had to have 2 MMR boosters and another jab in order to work back in the UK in a hospital placement. I shortly after experienced a stressful encounter at the new job with hostile and judgemental colleagues. Got it all righted but it took a toll. Massive flu a few weeks after that and I only took a week off but felt weak for months. In fact I never really recovered. Plus I was flying back to France to see my sons twice a week. I was exhausted plus dealing with new peri-menopause symptoms. WHen I returned to France and began a new placement I was so fatigued I could barely interact and sometimes neede to sleep on the office floor in the afternoons. A stair flight would leave me breathless and needing to rest. I knew at this point something was seriously wrong and I had to change. I couldn't imagine how I could continue to live like that. I vowed I'd become raw vegan but here I am a good year later at the point where I'm doing it again.

I've fought to get back my health to where I am currently. I've lost a fair bit of weight and my bf and I lived on organic vegetable soups last winter and I cut out bread.

That's a quicky summary of my health journey in the last few years! I hope it was interesting for you!

Day 11

Very tired today following yesterdays' hike! Had to go back to sleep around 11am and woke around 1pm.

I had a change from orange juice and instead ate a banana and apple porridge with cinnamon and ginger. Lunch was two mason jars of kale/ romaine and banana smoothies and tea was a salad with a mock caesar dressing (which was delicious).

Didn't count the cals. Wiped out today. Phew!

Day 13

Going strong, felt great yesterday comparative to prior to this adventure. I was almost having thoughts at normal speed. Brain fog and poor concentration, word finding and memory have all been affected by the peri-menopausal descent.

I literally just had one small bit of potato and egg. I prefered my salad. If there’s time I much prefer a salad and fruit separate to a smoothie.

I’ve started a new breakfast ... fruit and celery porridge . It is stabilizing and amazing and I’m feeling more satisfied than after my orange juice. Had a super kale salad last night. I’ve started putting in olive oil more for convenience as tahini is ok but I’m not wild.

More alert, eyes seem stronger and brighter. I’ve suffered from dry eyes for years and already they aren’t sore all the time ... are more lubricated.

Hi all,

Day 15!

Ok I slipped up at at the weekend. I had a 'paleo' type slip.

Still felt great though, made such a big difference not to drink or add in any other slip ups. A mouthful taster of potato...

Wild vinegared asparagus this weekend. Jeez it's tasteless, had a bit cooked, it was much better, but then I think it's a grass or something.

I'm at 61.9 kg today. Lost a bit over 2 kg.

I'll check in here from time to time from now on, for a few reasons.

Bye for now


Suzie x

Day 22

A quick update.

It's still going really well and I'm finding it ... easy!

I'm high raw, that is I have decided to add in a meat meal and an egg at the weekends.

I am not liking smoothies so I have a massive salad night and lunchtime and fruit breakfast with generally low fat dressings (tahini, cashews,flax,chia...)

I have lost about half a stone and feel energetic and clear headed.I had some massive eliminations last week. Sludge. Knew you'd love that! sorry

I notice I am more cheerful and the quality of my sleep is deep and restorative.

Lots of things to clear up still.Lots.

I guess I am not experiencing proper detox because I am vaping. It's on the list.

I want to go longer than a month because I don't want to lose this wonderful beginning.

Please don't give me grief for the occasional meat eating at this stage. We all gotta start somewhere!

Peace and thanks for reading!

Well today is day

30 !!!! Of my month experience on raw food.

Here’s the summary.

Today I weigh 60.6 kg...having lost thereaboits 4 kg. I’ve lost mainly off my legs as I’ve done a ton of walking ... and sadly the boobs area .. of course the yum is not so bloated bulging and some days positively looking respectably low curve/ flat. Upper arms and under the chin worst areas ... shifted a wee bit.

Energy levels ... if I want to be the 100 I briefly experienced my first time raw, I would say as of today ... energy levels starting at 30 .. I’ve increased to 55. Still tired.

Mental and brain fog. If I was at 40 when I first started I’m now at 65

Mood ... low at 30 ... now 65 ... I focused on this regime to combat the starting low grade son due to being without a job. Withini 3 days the shift had happened.

Slip ups... can’t say they have been numerous. I have had meat at 8 meals and pasta once. 4 slip ups came from this weekend away in Paris. We stayed with Eric’s niece who apparently Eric told about my diet but she obviously hadn’t understood and had gone to great effort to bake a banana cake and cook us spaghetti bolognaise. The pasta I found so unpleasant, so glutinous and tasteless and the sauce was concentrated in flavor and unpleasant. The banana cake, well seriously just give me a banana instead, waste of time if you ask me. Eric loved it. Anyway just a reflection on what cooked food tasted like . Other slip ups at Paris were the restaurants... we travelled to go specially to a raw food restaurant for Sunday brunch, but, it was closed for a private party! Hence up the road we went to a trendy vegan restaurant instead which was very good! Even Eric sang its praises! Otherwise the nieces wanted sushi so I had sushi which wasn’t super quality and the rice... I could have left that. Then yesterday a brassserir at Beagues to see the beautiful old hospices .. had creviche d’espladon with pickled vegetables. I make no apology... with a good white bourgignon it was excellent

So no guilt and no apologies...

So ... detox symptoms... sometimes a touch of dizziness and I broke out with a big spot. Nothing major but the vaping takes car of that and. Orin a good way. Plan for severage in place ... also it will be of interest for some of you perhaps to know that if I vape I will garanteed have a hot flash 5 mins after.

What else?

Concerns about my boyfriend accepting this adventure.. he’s just taken it on board and like the wonderful kind boyfriend he is just is happy with what makes es me happy, and this definitely makes me happy. As a side note the intimate side has jumped from an ok 40 to a slamming 70.



On a final note during this time I have had some more interviews and I have finally a firm job offer in Switzerland after 8 months of unemployment . The job is perfect for me and the people seem great to work with.

There is no doubt in my mind that this diet is working very well for me and this way of eating very easy. I need an area to continue my posts. I’ll going to start a blog called Raw in the Alps. I’ll let you know when it’s up and keep you posted on my progress from time to time.

Thankyou for reading ... I hope it’s proved interesting!

Hi

Update.

These days I’m over at Facebook the 80/10/10 group... I get good feedback and support.

Well I have stopped the meat and alcohol as it caused me infections.

Still vaping though I felt better when I stopped for a week.

I am now at 57.3 kg.

My slip ups have been very few this month. I’m more and more convinced by this lifestyle after 3.5 months on it and plan on fewer and fewer slip ups in the future.

Well I still have the slip ups and largely I don't feel any better than the 55% I estimated. I attribute this to slip ups and vaping. Today I stop the vaping. I've been experiencing nausea for the last 10 days and an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach. Coughing a lot after vaping and it seems really harsh. Wake up with chemical taste in mouth, and finally not experiencing taste as strongly as I should. It's harder to quit the first day, than cigarettes, but after that, from my last experience easier. The last two days I didn't vape til 6pm. I expect to improve.

Anyway this is my last post here. I'm continuing fully raw for a year, 80/10/10 or as close as as I don'thave the time to scrutinise on chronometer I just do as I see others doing and suceeding. I supplement with B12 and D.

I regularly post on the 80/10/10 facebook forum.