- spinach
- papaya
- cherries
- blueberries
- raspberries
I'll have a salad later, most likely.

I love pixel art, I thought I'd share some that I found with you all.

Colourful!!

3 bananas, blueberries
plum,

Salad--romaine, iceberg, 1/2 tomato, some red bell pepper, dressing

plum

1/2 large maradol papaya, large cherimoya----and I am full!

Read the Honiball book, enjoyed it. Am third way thru 8-1-1...enjoying very much. My salad dressings have way too much fat in them! Along with avos and olives. I plan to increase fruit and decrease fat.

Elakti

HEY GUYS.
1 green smoothie (kale, banana, peach, green apple,)
1 peach
1 banana
1 bowl of oats w/honey
1 mini raw pizza
1 coconut meat
1 slice of raw pumpkin pie
a couple pieces of apple and a couple strawberries at a Tony's party
Feeling good. I drank a lot of water which made me feel great. My body image is starting to shift a bit. I'm stopping seeing myself as so huge and starting to like my body more.

xoxo,
Starfruit

Cute little foodie people, rawfrancois! Glad to see you're doing so well.

And you too Starfruit. You deserve to feel good, since you've been doing so well sticking to raw!

Today I had: bananas, oranges, lychees, about 15 macadamia nuts, 1/4 cup sprouted brown sesame seeds, 1/4 cup sprouted hulled sunflower seeds

Exercise: 1 hour yoga, 50 minutes aerobics with weights

Hey Myst...glad the concert was good they are all awesome so i was jealous haha......keep it up!!!!
and good for you 6 days!! way to go!!!!!!
xoxo

Hey Khale...well good for you getting through the bump of the cycle and comfort food blankies ..that is aweosme and quite the accomplishment..so yay you!! keep that up!!! you are doing great!
xoxo

Hey Rawfrancois...those little guys are cute!!! i saved a few of them to my pictures on my computer in case i want to use them later haha...thanks for that!! so bright and cheerful
xoxo

Hey SUncloud..oh it was you that posted about the lychees before i remember now...haha i went out and bought some oh i didn't like them..they tasted funny like i shouldn't be eating them haha...but i wish i could send this big bag of them your way !! i knwo you like them and i don't like to waste ....have a wonderful day!! and keep up the good work you are doing well!!!

and my other two lovelies...elakti and starfruit your love notes are in your journals

Today was a good day...had our monthly raw potluck..it was good...we are changing organizer..and i can't do it cuz i am moving so i will stay the assistant...but we got the person to take over so that is good!!!
hmm had a pretty good day overall..feeling good..and like starfruit i am starting to accept my body and come to terms..and hopefully acceptance and healing with allow my body to reshape and mold into what i really desire


hmm well here is what i ate today
1 head of kale
1/2 cup of guac
1 cup of raw kelp salad (kelp lemon juice and garlic)
1 raw life force energy bar
1 slice of orange bell pepper
1 celery cracker ( all celery and bell pepper dehydrated soo yummy...you use mostly veggies so it isn't loaded with carbs and kcals..and it is light and airy)
2 bites of kale salads (2 different salads)
2 tbsp of thai salad
1 cup of spring mix organic leafy greens
1/4 cup of baby carrots
1 cup of watermelon

hmm well i had a great day and so glad i am able to post right now and sign off haha..so frustrating when you can't figur out computers you know??

well take care everyone and have a fabulous day!
love always
earthangel
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Much peace and love!!!
EarthAngel
Xoxo

Good Morning! and Welcome to Day 1 of Week 5!

The number 5 is a revolutionary number and so this may be a good week to tweak your diet in some way or to play with fruits and vegetables that are new to you or to begin some other health related activity that you've been putting off.

I want to gently turn my awareness to my breathing as often as it occurs to me to do so during this week. Eckhart Tolle said in one of his books that if people would do this that in one year more psycho-spiritual gains would be made than would have been accomplished in a dozen or more spiritual workshops and lectures combined.

There is a short list of authors I want to read next on the subject of health and healing: Dr. Robert Leichtman, Dr. Richard Bach (the flower essence guy) and Torkom Saraydarian...are any of you familiar w/ these men? None of these particular authors deal specifically w/ nutrition but focus more on mental/emotional factors and I think its good to remember that food is only one part of the whole health paradigm.

I also want to eat very simply this week: less fat, more fruit, more mono-meals and lots of liquids. We'll see how it goes.

I'm short on time this morning, but as always, its so good to see all of you. I woke up feeling a tad low-spirited this morning, but coming here and reading the posts that you all faithfully produce has lifted my spirits. thank you all for that.

I miss pakd4fun. I know she had to go out of town this weekend. Hopefully we'll hear from her today.

eat wild; be free

khale

Happy week 5 everyone!!!! i hope everyone has a great start of their day...i am just getting to sleep it is 6:15 am here..so i am going to get a few hours of sleep in....then gym...then work have a great day!!! yay for all of us making it to week 5...you can do it..
love earthangel
xoxoxoxoooxo

Much peace and love!!!
EarthAngel
Xoxo

Have been mono eating lovely sweet little banitos all weekend mmm

Now back to my juice fasting

Banana mad!!.. not sure they are good for a long mono stint though...anyone have any experience??

As always this thread is inspiring

Thank you to all esp khale

Raw_dancer xxx

Hi rawdanceruk,

What are banitos?

I eat a lot of apple bananas just about everyday and often eat just bananas for a meal, and especially for a snack.

I think in the past Bryan's recommended monoing with just bananas. I would just add that you probably shouldn't force yourself to keep going with it longer than it feels comfortable for you.

If you start getting really hungry for something else, that's when it might be time to go ahead and eat something else.

xxx back to you!

Cheers suncloud for the reply!

Banitos are those teeny tiny baby bananas, about 1.5inch at the most, so sweet and wonderful tasting.

I had a hand of those on saturday and sunday..omm they are wonderful!!

Yeah I am fluctuating between very simple eating and just juice at the moment, have to find something that feels comfortable

x Raw_dancer

Earthlangel,

Thanks for thinking of me with the lychees! Sorry they tasted weird to you. If they tasted like you shouldn't be eating them, you were probably right!

I'm wondering if the ones you ate were fresh. A fresh lychee is pink to bright red or dark red, and has a very sweet juicy flavor - not at all weird, more like a sweet grape. If they're brown, they're really old.

Or if they were picked too green, they would taste tart instead of sweet.

hey yo

What a day! Worked. Picked up extra work for the summer, and then helped a friend move. But through it all I remained happily raw...

I ran into the hfs on the way in and bought a kombucha
and a raw revolution bar (which I saved for in case)

then later had a banana, then the revolution bar, then later a papaya (small, red fleshed ones)

and thats all! all day! I just realized it.

then home now and I just had a perfect mangoe chunked with a perfect avocado...drizzled with umeboshi plum vinegar and (couldn't resist) one turn of the peppercorn mill. this was delicious. then three cured olives and a date.

I may have a banana or another piece of fruit a bit later, but I'm good.

This was really a good day. And more so because I started out on shakey ground this morning and still did what needed doing. I persevered. I think I'll pat myself on the back...

See you guys tomorrow,

khale

Addition to last night: banana, 2 oranges, 1/2 melon

Today b/f: 2 bananas, honey mango, cherimoya, rib celery
Salad: romaine, iceberg, whole tomato, bits red bell pepper, with avocado mooshed over it to serve purpose of dressing also.

grapes, bananas, 3 oranges
1/2 galia melon

Later -- more fruit

Love the Graham book. Am trying for more fruit, less fat. Will see how I feel. Last eve. I was craving avocados, wanted so badly, but resisted and ate more fruit. This book is super. I love Natural Hygiene most of all, it makes the most beautiful sense; and Graham really clears up so much about the fat issue. I am feeling a renewed excitement from reading this book, and his clarification of the percentages to eat of our natural food is so very helpful and clear.

I need to go to the store again for more fruit!

It was interesting for me to learn about my fatty fatty dressings with avocado and olives in salads....whew! I started last eve curtailing the fat, and I am finding it isn't easy. I am craving it. I really had a good think about why I enjoyed this soupy creamy salads I was indulging in. I will miss these dressings for awhile. I'll see how it goes. I hope well, because I do believe he is right about all this. I must try to be aprox 80-10-10 and see for myself.

I'm pretty sure I have lost another pound or 2, haven't checked.
Elakti

Hey Khale, If you don't mind, I'll pat you on the back too! Pat, Pat, Pat.

Sounds like you're enjoying yourself and doing good Elakti. All right!

Today I had intended to water fast, but I had too much to do, so I ended up eating just fruit. I felt kind of funny for a while, and I really prefer water fasting unless I don't feel good to begin with. Now I feel OK though.

I had bananas, an orange, lychees, and a white sapote.

Later I'll try to do the aerobics with weights.



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 06/12/2007 03:07AM by suncloud.

114 lbs i lost 2.5 lbs this week so I am very happy with that.
SO far
bowl of soaked oats w/agave
1 green smoothie (kale, blackberries, apple, banana)
so the rest of the day I had
1 banana
1 bowl of cabbage w/olive oil and sea salt wow this was so yummy oh and i added some cayanne
Than at my raw foods class
1 bowl of veggie soup
1 mini raw pizza
some rejuvelac (I'm going to start making this stuff. It's so good. )
then we sampled a little mango lassi and hazelenut milk
I have had a really good day. Lot's of postive free energy. Class was great. It really makes me happy being there with so many people who believe in this. ANd my teacher is just radiant. She went around the room and listened to peoples food diary's and then assesed what she that they should be doing better to help them. She is so great. Anywyas she said i need more protein so I"m going to eat more sprouts and nuts i think but she said i had a great variety of things and that i'm mostly doing well.
Khale: You are doing wonderfully! Yes for pats ont he back!!!
Suncloud: thanks :-D

xoxo,
Starfruit

Hey raw dancer..yes you can do mono bananas for a while...but like suncloud says..you should always listen to your body..and do what it is telling you!!!
good luck
xoxo

Suncloud..hmm no problem...yeah they were more brown..and had a bitter odd taste..i didn't taste anything similar to a sweet grape haha...i hope to find them fresh sooN!! they sound so lovely...thank you
xoxo

Khale...oh how sweet to help your friend move...good job today..ooh a perfect cubed mango sounds so yummy and it is 2.15 in the morning haha...
oh well tomorrow i am going to have lots of mangos for breakfast or watermelon not sure yet haha
xoxo

hmm well here is what i had to eat today:
1 cup of watermelon
1 cup of raw kelp salad (raw kelp with lemon juice and sprinkle of dulce)
4 collard green leaves
1/2 cup of green papaya into noodles with
1/4 cup of guac
and used in rolls...
1 portabello mushroom cap
1 banana
that is about it...

i froze some bananas 2 things of them to make banana ice cream for me and the brother cuz he loves banana ice cream ( he got it at cold stone the other day when we went) so i thought he might like this healthier version!!

have a wonderful night everyone
sweet dreams
and best wishes on your tuesday
take care

love always
earthangel
xoxoxxooxoxoxxo

Much peace and love!!!
EarthAngel
Xoxo

Elakti: If there is one thing in this world that I love it's an inspiring book. Most people seem to get really excited reading 80/10/10, and for this reason, if for no other, I really want to read it. But in my experience, too much fat and fatty dishes in the diet speaks for itself. I don't really need Graham to tell me that this is not so good. My concern for you is that you'll set your sights too high too soon and experience failure that will discourage you. But that may be what this 5th week is all about: going for broke and letting the chips fall where they may.

Thanks everyone for the pats on the back! I added a small, bumpy, home-grown cucumber and three more olives before hitting the sack last night. I feel great this morning; a little empty, but great. I have a large cantaloupe fragrancing the kitchen that I think I'll make some milk from and then chunk the rest to take with me to munch on throughout the morning. I dearly LOVE the simplicity in all this!

Starfruit: your uncooking class sounds like a lot of fun. maybe one day I can do that for people locally. there is NOTHING remotely like that here. At my favored hfs, the employees order in pizza for lunch! I'm sure that there must be a few people in this town eating raw, but I haven't located them yet. There is a woman I know from way back that mutual friends said ate raw, but when I contacted her she was only eating around 80%. Pakd4fun is the only person I know in this state gone raw.

suncloud: why a water fast? I mean, any particular reason you feel a need to water fast right now? just curious. I've got a juice fast on my mind as it happens, but with fathers day this coming weekend (that should be a challenge!) it probably won't happen for a while yet.

Well geeez, the time is flying and I've got people to do and things to see.

I hope you all have a rawk n roll kinda day!

luv, K

I made it through 7 days 90-95% RAW!! But... well I worked all night again, its my moon time, I have a headache, horrible toothaches and a bad cough..can someone shoot me please??? LOL On a positive note, it's great to be RAW!! I think i am starting to detox..it is to be expected. I wish i had more time to relax..only 2 more days.
Blessings to all!

coffee w/ maple syrup (ive only had coffee for the past 2 days now)
bananna
mixed nuts
salad with romaine & spinach, red onion,cucumber,tomato,flax seed 1/2 avocado & my own dressing
1/2 cantalope & red grapes

2 stalks celery & (hummus)not raw

Im feeling sick and i think im needing something heavier so i ate some hummus.. if anyone else has any suggestions please let me know. But my teeth are ACHING badly

Ola Amigos. (is that spelled right? ha ha.)

I had a long weekend that started Thursday. We had lots of fun. Pool party, visit to the beach, going out in Galveston. Whew!! Today we are going to a water park and to storytime at the library. It wears me out thinking about it.

I decided last week to cheat and eat cooked. I couldn't shake the cravings and I didn't want to try any more. I have changed my diet in the past and have quit coffee, cigarettes and meat and each time I did it by weaning myself. It took me two years to completely quit eating animals. I realize we are all different and there is no one right way to make changes in ourselves. I never thought I had an eating disorder but if I can't quit eating something cold turkey, then I guess I do have a problem, don't I? I have to know my limitations. I feel myself being doomed to fail if I don't try to take it more slowly. I know myself and I know I was pushing too hard.

I would like to stay on this thread, even though I am planning to have a cooked meal now and then, because you guys remind me of my goal of 100%.

Let me know what you think about me staying in the group.

I hope you are not too disappointed in me. I am not at all in myself. I feel I am eating better than anyone I know, aside from you guys, so how could I be so bad. When you feel down on yourself all you have to do to feel better is compare yourself to the masses and then you realize how great you are . Ha hA!

Someone asked me for the stuffed pepper recipe and I can't find or remember who it was. If you still want it I will PM you if you remind me of who you are.

Everyone is doing so great. I am so proud af all you guys.

Your friend in raw,
pakd4fun

Checking in for the day

Had a relaxed day

Drunk 1litre pineapple/ orange juice

2 apples

2 green banana

I am all done for today!

Hi Khale,

The reason I wanted to do a water fast yesterday is just that I kind of like the idea of doing a total once-a-week cleanout on a regular basis. I've done that before and it really feels good, especially combined with the raw food diet.

Hope you have a rawk n roll kind of day too!

Pakdforfun,

Nice to see you back, and glad you had so much fun!

IMO you don't have an eating disorder just because you're not quitting cooked food cold turkey. Unless maybe EVERYONE has an eating disorder, because I've never heard of anyone being able to instantaneously quit eating cooked food.

As far as I'm concerned, I think it's great that you still want to be on this thread, and that your goal is still 100% raw. I'm proud of you for knowing yourself well enough to know what steps are the best steps for YOU to take, and then having the courage to take them. "Know thyself" as the saying goes. Good for you!

It took me a VERY long time to go 100% raw. In my case, the journey there was just as important.



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 06/12/2007 08:57PM by suncloud.

Hi Suncloud: I've never known how to do a fast but now I'm curious and very interested. From Sunday late evening until today around 2PM I only drank water and a little ACV. I did not get hungry but I was still sort of constipated. (in the first couple of weeks I had BM's all day long) So this afternoon I decided to have some watermelon, then a salad and would you believe I craved pasta so I had some penne with tomato sauce and salad. Why would I do this?

My question is, when you fast once a week do you have any special things or symptoms happening? I think that my situation stems from this: when I was on a SAD diet I really naturally preferred vegetables and salads although I would eat whatever I felt like whenever. I would often go all day and into the next day without eating because I just wasn't hungry. So, do you think that, for me, I need a longer detox? Feeling constipated for the last few weeks is really foreign to me. On occasion I did have a sudden very lose BM or once a perfect one. I'm usually very regular and never have a problem (although on SAD there were MANY occasions when I would eat and run to the bathroom).

I love learning to eat this way and don't want to give up. However, I don't know what to do about the constipated feeling. My husband's B'Day is tomorrow and his daughter is very excited about taking us out to eat. There's no way we could say no and this area is very sparse on raw food restaurants (most only open until 4PM) so we will just wing it and try to eat as healthy as possible. I'm not going to get crazy over it.

By the way, re: the constipation I've tried just fruit, just tons of greens -- it doesn't seem to matter. I'm ready to harvest my beautiful wheatgrass and juice it so maybe that will make a difference.

Sorry for the long post.

I think and read about everyone on our 7 Weeks All Raw board all the time. I wish everyone a wonderful day and evening. Right now I'm going thru a lot of personal trauma so I'm not quite "with it" here. I want everyone to know that I'm cheering for your success and think about you all the time. This IS a wonderful thread. And I hope Khale extends it far beyond the 7 weeks.

THX and love to ALL!!!

Joan

2 oranges, 2 champagne mangos, grapes, banana

salad w/ .5 avocado ---romaine, iceberg, whole tomato, 1/4 cucumber

cherries, 2 apricots

It is 6:00 now and I will eat dinner....will be fruit probably.

This book is definitely super. I strongly agree with Natural Hygiene and this book has clarified so much in such a practical and explicit way. I thought I was not eating so much fat, but---like almost everyone who finally dials in to what he is saying---I did not realise just how much fat was in my salads. Basically, I need to accentuate fruit and decrease this fat that I wasn't aware of (for some reason, I didn't realise oil is 100% fat...hello!). My food is pretty simple (except for these fatty dressings I would make, mostly with a LOT of tahini) . Fruit and salads. The avocados, the olives. I am not really a nut eater, I rarely eat them. Then I usually eat only a few. (Sometimes I sprinkled a few walnuts or pine nuts on the already fatty salad!) I don't eat any dehydrated foods or "mombo akombo" recipes. I thought I was doing really well. After reading the book, I see where I can improve greatly, just by simply increasing the amounts of fruit and decreasing the fat in my salads. Yes, bingo, that's what it's about. There will be no difficulty in getting rid of oil, as I had just recently used some oily dressings...and didn't like too much (altho I was adjusting!) as it felt like...well, hot oil on my stomach. I can tweak my tahini dressing and not use everyday. I will work on it, at pace that is comfortable. It really isn't that drastic a change for me and I can go slowly, as I get more used to more fruit consumption. (and wean a bit from the lovely avos!)

I am very excited---almost like first discovering rawfoods! Natural Hygiene: Bingo! I felt so lucky to zoom in on it 4 years ago. 8-1-1: such practical here-is-the-right-way to do raw. And I know it is right. It is the simplicity, the good sense...all so well explained. It holds the keys to success with rawfoods. I believe so...just have to put it to the test for myself. Same fruit, but more of it, same greens, less fat. I can do it. I am thrilled.
Elakti

Wow, I so love this thread. So much passion, so much trying to do exactly the right thing for where they are in this pursuit of eating raw. For myself, it is continuing with me trying to be 100% raw. Every time I think I will eat cooked, I don't because I remember all of you. I live in a house with three adult children and my husband. One of my daughters has a body building boyfriend. He eats really clean although not raw. I think he is the only one who really supports me. I do have to cook every night for everyone else so that is difficult. But usually I am not tempted. They are all used to having the "wacky mother" who is trying some new thing. I hope that what I am instilling in them is a desire to be the best they can be when it comes to there health and be committed to a healthy life style.
Today I had
Coffee
Juice of apple, ginger, lemon, beet and cucumber
raw revolution bar
nori sheet with avocado
Tangerine
watermelon
salad of romaine, lettuce, mango, orange, avocado, walnuts, red onion, really delicious.
Elakti, it sounds like you are "pumped". I love reading a book that inspires me and keeps me going. Good luck.

Hey guys. Well crazy day. My plans seemed to be foiled all day long argh one of those. All though I did enjoy some time in a down pour of rain running hehe. So much fun. I was going to go to the gym this mornign but my train didn't come for 20 mindutes and then i didn't have time before the therapist so i just didn't go which stunk and instead walked to therapy boo. Than the consulatation people were running late but didn't bother to tell me and by the time they could do it i had to work so that was really frustrating becuase i planned my day around that. Anyway i felt good about eating todya. I did a lot of gorcery shopping a lot of money's owrht but now i feel well stocked. My mom comes tomorrow. Wahoo!I've been waking up with very joyful energy lately. I love it. Little things make me giggle and I am in awe of the world once again.
I ate:
brk: 2 bowls of oats w/agave cinamon and nutmeg
lnch: 1 green smoothie (kale, baby papaya, peach, apple, banana)
1/2 cup of sprouts
later: 1 slice of coconut cream pie
6 oz of marinated leafy greens
1 oz wheat grass
i was craving something fermetned the whole tiem at work so when i got home i had some really great raw saurkraut
then i realized i hadn't had enough fat today so i went to have an avacado but they weren't ripe yet so i had 3 flax crackers and little bit of raw choclate w.goji's
i don't usually et this late at night but i got a little dizzy
khale: oh you so should start a class. That would be wonderful .Yes i love this class and i was expecting it to be like 4 people but it its 15 it's so cool how many people showed!
pakd4fun: of course you are still welcome silly! Listening to your body is the most important thign and i'm glad you are oding that xoxo

xoxo,
Starfruit

Hey everyone had a great day..very emotional...but good..had some personal issues going on....

everyone sounds like they are doing great!!! yay.....
pakd4fun..keep it up...if you feel good with alitle cooked then you eat it
love ya all!!!!

here is my food for the day:
1 1/2 cup of watermelon
1 cup of carrots with some mustard seed and water mixed
1 raw bar it was only 128 kcals i love it haha
1 zucchini chopped up
1 collard green leaft
2 slices raw nori
2 slices of cucumber
2 1/2 cups of sprouts alfalfa and sunflower green

i might have a big salad in a little while but i am pretty full right now!!!
i also froze some bananas last night so i might make ice cream..you never know will let you know though haha

take care have a great night and fabulous day
lots of love
ME
xoxoxooxo

Much peace and love!!!
EarthAngel
Xoxo

Hi all!

To Miss Joan,

Sorry to hear you're going through some personal trauma. Hope everything's better soon.

There's a lot of reasons that a person can get constipated. If I were to take just one guess though, I'd say it might be that right now your cleaner diet may be allowing your body to spend some energy clearing out old toxic stuff that's been stored in there and putting much of it into your digestive system to be flushed out. But that stuff can sometimes get stuck inside if there's a lot of it. The old stuff usually has gobs of mucous with it keeping it stuck together, and the combination needs to be broken up and washed on out.

Sticking with the raw diet (along with plenty of exercise, like walking) will gradually help do that, and if you're not always able to stay raw, cooked vegetables are the next best thing. Cooked grains or meat foods can get stuck together with the rest of the old stuff in there and cause more problems.

Sometimes, if you haven't been eating much meat or grains, then if you do, they can create a kind of semi-fever condition that will signal your body to let loose, and then you might get the runs. But that's not a particularly healthy condition.

In other words, this constipation thing might be part of a transition period for you until your body has cleaned out a little more of the SAD and can flow more freely again.

Definitely drink plenty of water and try to avoid putting more Sad stuff in there when you can.

Fasting once a week can be really cleansing, but I think the hardest part can be when you break the fast. I break a fast on fruit. When I first break it, I'm not really hungry, and the fruit doesn't always even taste that good. But after a couple of hours, I am HUNGRY. That's when I really have to be careful not to eat everything in sight! It's good to make sure to have plenty to do that day besides eat, because it can be hard not to eat too much. I'm better at it now, but it definitely takes practice, and knowing what to expect.

That might be what happened to you. If you want to fast again, try making sure you have plenty of your favorite cleansing raw foods around. Try to stay away from anything dried or dehydrated like dates and such, and stay away from nuts or seeds or nutbutters at least until you've had one good @#$%&. A little avocado some time after you break fast is usually OK. If your fast was good, that first @#$%& might be pretty stinky and mucousy. Definitely you want that out before you eat something that might get stuck in it and cause it to stay inside any longer than necessary.

(I hope that wasn't too graphic)

I'm a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to fasting, so if I do anything besides water when I fast, it will be a bit of fresh lemon juice mixed with water, rather than apple cider vinegar (acv). The lemon will help break up the toxic material all stuck together with mucous that's gathering in your system from the fast.

It's very important to make sure not to eat SAD stuff the day following a fast. That's because of all the junk your body has worked up out of your cells and put into your digestive system, with big plans on moving it all out as soon as it can. Your body is hoping you'll put in a lot of raw fruit or vegetables to help grab hold of all that old sticky mucously toxic SAD stuff and rinse it on out. But if you put Sad stuff in instead, or even nuts or dehydrated raw foods, all the new stuff will stick together with all the old, and that can create a lot of blockage in your digestive system.

A couple of times I've gone through phases when I fasted once a week regularly. I really liked the way it made me feel, but it wasn't particularly easy all the time. Especially at night, it could be hard to sleep. Afterwards though, I could really see the benefits. It was kind of like getting a new set of batteries, or winding up a clock every week. And I'd be surprisingly more flexible in my yoga.

Yoga is really good for constipation. Especially if you're breathing correctly, you'll help stimulate all your body functions. I recommend "Light on Yoga" by BKS Iyengar. His lessons are at the back of the book, starting with the easier poses, and gradually moving on.

There are a lot of good books on fasting. My favorites are probably "Rational Fasting", by Arnold Ehret, and "The Miracle of Fasting", by Paul Bragg.

The only other thing I'd suggest is that although fasting can be really good, it's also good not to get too hung up on it. If you try to fast and can't do it on that day, don't try again for at least another week. You can really throw yourself out of kilter if you try day after day to fast, but it's not working out for you. At least that's been my experience. I like to pick one day a week to do it, and if I can't, then oh well, I can try again next week.

Well, Miss Joan, talk about long posts!

Today I had: bananas, an orange, lychees, 1/2 small jackfruit, plums, strawberries, 1/4 cup sprouted brown sesame seeds, 1/4 cup sprouted hulled sunflower seeds

Exercise: 1 hour yoga, ran 3 miles, walked 1 mile, 50 minutes aerobics with weights

Yesterday, after posting my foods, I also ate 3 tomatoes and 3 cucumbers. I was hungry all day yesterday because I just ate fruit. I'm usually a lot less hungry having only water than having only fruit. But for me I think an occasional fruit-only day is the next best thing.

I feel kind of funny posting anything so long as this, but I guess it won't be the first time! Here goes.

so mesmerized by rawfrancois' computer pixle artwork of the kiwi's and strawberries etc.

wow... i'm dazzled

Good morning everyone.

I overslept this morning (was up way later than usual last night) and so I'm pressed for time. There is so much here that I want to respond to but I don't want to feel under the gun as I'm doing so. I only want to say that difficulties are to be expected in any challenge and especially a raw challenge because this really is a very difficult transition to make. I'm proud of everyone here and of myself and want to encourage everyone to set their goals in sight and hold on.

I'll be back as soon as I can (I'm still helping with my friends move - we are down to clean-up of the old house now and are starting to wrap up) with more to share.

Hang tough everyone,

khale

Just a quick update.. I am having serious detox issues..well at least I hope that is what this is. i have chest congestion and BAD toothaches.. I cannot eat anything without great pain. I might do a lemonade fast for a few days as soon as i get paid.
I am a smoker, and planning on quitting as soon as this last pack is finished. I have got to for my health, I want to be around for my children. I am sure some of you might be appalled that im a smoker and eating raw lol. well ive gotta start somewhere! I have done fasting before and have quit smoking twice for 9 months cold turkey. I know i have the will, and the need. I am afraid I am trying to do all of this too fast, but i think its necessary at this point. I have noone else to talk to about eating raw ect, so I really appreciate this place immensely. Thank you all again for being!

Tiffany (Myst)