Hey Dani, How can you say 'I'm not gorgeous?' Even in the teensy weeny photo you shine out, and your gorgeousness is very evident in the warmth and generosity of your words. Thanks for the info. I don't have the 80.10.10 book as yet. Green for Life is my current support and it's challenging for me to eat that much fruit and not eat animal protein.  Lots of animal protein and very little fruit have been the 'rules' for so long, I freak out every now and then and eat animal protein. I've been hypothyroid for many years and would dearly love to give the thyroid tabs the flick. I'm being careful not to have too much of the brassica family cos I believe they can further suppress thyroid function.

It was very useful for me to read your 'statistics'. I get a bit tied to my body composition - weight, muscle, fat etc. Even though I've gained weight, a few people have commented on how much weight I've lost! So I guess I just better stop whinging and go and make another gs.

Thanks PrincesssBee too, great to know you're doing so well.

Your photos are awesome and very inspiring. Interesting that you don't do mega quantities of exercise, and you've had such a change in body composition.

I wanna be a weight loss success story! This has been eluding me during the 3 months of being raw, that's why I had to retreat into my cave to figure out why I lost a few kilos, then began to gain again aaaaaaaagh! To top it off some of my chronic health probs reared their ugly heads again. I went right off the rails over Easter, eating toasted cheese sangers, hot cross buns, french vanilla slices! Now I've got the gs thing working for me and I've stopped eating nuts and seeds, the excess baggage will transform into muscle and vitality.

Any tips or ideas from you slender gorgeous people would be welcome.

Hello you gorgeous people! I'm newly out of my cave where I've been brooding for some weeks. One of the first things I've done is to log on to this forum. It's so lovely to find you all here and some newbies as well. (he he very cheeky of me, I'm just a newbie myself)  Patricia, you are beautiful, I love your new photo and Sweet Gorgeous Green Goddess, what a fab idea for you to help folks let their Light shine. While I was in my cave I asked for a blender so I could have another go at Green Smoothies. I have been converted, I lurv em and soon I'm going to go on a gs cleanse. Having done lots more reading and am beginning to get an idea of what works for me. I'm also feeling a bit more confident about the protein thing. Every health care professional I see nags me about protein.

hugs to all of you

More fascinating reading, more to think about. So my knickers don't get totally knotted while I work this out, and so I'm not a pain in the butt asking more questions, I'm gonna retreat to my cave for a few days to think about all this and work out what's right for me. Just wanted to say the HUGE-EST THANKS to you generous goddesses and gods for sharing your experience, your insights and some of your big hearts. Thanks princessbee for the offer of being a buddy, you're a sweetie, maybe when I come out of my cave.

Thanks a lot Jen and Ivan, I agree with your comments. The only fruit I freeze is banana, and yes, blessing and gratitude for what mother earth gives us is a part of conscious eating/living.

Thanks GorgeousGreenGoddess for your encouragement. Very reassured to read your comment about muscle not melting away in the blink of an eye. I'm not gonna go near no scales, no siree. After living in this body (temple) all my life, I reckon I can figure out for myself how the renovations are going. I've had some very bad experiences with measuring machines including the super duper very expensivo ones.

Hope your having a bewdiful day!

I make my own skin goo and even before I joined the other goddesses here at Raw Pleasure, I'm told my skin looked pretty good.  It's positively fab now - I was told a couple of days ago I look 10 years younger! It's really easy and fun to make. Here's the recipe.

10 grams vegetable emulsifying wax
10 grams cocoa butter (or beeswax) - leave this out if you have young skin, or a skin that likes a lighter cream
40 grams oil (whatever you like, change it seasonally - coconut, sweet almond, avocado, olive etc) I'm currently using sweet almond and avo, makes it a beautiful pale green, just like a green smoothie, NOT 
4,000 IU Vitamin E
20 drops Triguard (this is a grapefruit seed and tea tree extract, fab preservative, not essentail, I've only just found this and my creams have kept well in the fridge with just the Vit E)
200 - 250 ml pure water

Everything must be sparklearkling clean. In a metal bowl, heat the emulsifying wax, oils and any other waxes/butter you are using till the waxes melt - doesn't take much. Remove from heat, pierce the Vit E caps and add to the mix. Now the magic bit, beating all the time with a whisk, add your water DROP BY DROP. It's a bit like making mayo, if you add the water too fast you have a big mess. It will begin to emulsify, goes a bit nasty looking, keep beating, add a bit more water, and it will suddenly go 'gloop' and turn into a thickish cream. Continue adding water until you have the consistency you like. Add the  Triguard now.  Add more than 250 ml if you want a lotion. If you want to add essential oils, add them now. Store in clean, preferably dark glass jars in the fridge.

Supplies
The oils are easy to buy from any HFS. I buy my stuff from Ron Guba (Essential Therapeutics)  in Melbourne. He is such an ethical, knowlegeable man and has luscious products, including skin care. Here's a link to his web site http://www.essentialtherapeutics.com.au/

Hope this is of use.

I know that cooking food causes chi (life force, bio plasma) to leave in a hurry. Wondering if the same happens when raw food is frozen. Freezing retains nutrients, enzymes, but does it retain the subtle energies? I think perhaps not.

I checked my weight at the gym today and was surprised (disappointed) to see that in the 4 kg I've lost, only 300 grams was fat. I don't accept these figures as accurate. When I assess my progress in performance terms, I see that where I could only do 4 or 5 reps with no weights at all, I now do 25 with light/medium weights, no trouble at all.  In Yoga, postures I couldn't hold at all I can now sustain for the full time, in Spin classes I don't have to bale out when it gets tough etc.

Just to be sure I'm getting enough protein I'm doing the fitday thing, seem to be getting between 30 and 40g per day, fats sometimes too high. It may be that on the days where most of what I ate went straight through without stopping to be digested or absorbed or when I was too nauseated to eat I lost a bit of muscle, but I reckon as my vitality and core strength improves I'll built a bit of muscle and rid some more of the baggage called fat.

I think I might stay away from the scales, they bring me down, not my weight. The wheels of my wagon are a bit wobbly today.

Shining light? Nah! I've realised I don't like smoothies, and I don't enjoy a lot of different ingredients together. I prefer the crunch of a lettuce, the flavour pop of a gorgeous grape and the velvet of an avo one at a time. The ghastly concoction I swallowed yesterday was made more 'orrible because I didn't want to waste any of my beautiful fruit in it. I understand though the gs is a way of packing the nutrients in, so I'm going to experiment with a green sauce or even a green paste, so I can still enjoy my luscious fruit and munchy crunchy vegies.

I'm learning soooooooooo much from you wise souls. Little gems like Sheryl's comments about the structured water in lettuce. To me it's always been a filler with negligible nutrients.

Aw gee thanks RGG, mwah right back at yer! I had a go at a gs this morning, spurred on by your words and after reading that fantastico article about comfrey on Isabells web site added this to the mixture. Dunno about green smoothie, I'd call it Ghastly Slime, or Gagging Something-awful-to-get-it-down. Will have to rejig me recipe, because althought it wasn't a taste sensation, I've had sooooooooo much energy today, almost wired, watch out Spin class this arvo! I'm learning so much and lovin'it, THANKS, THANKS, THANKS all of you. Thanks Dani for your reply too.

D'uh, I'm still a few beats behind you, what is g and gs? Pllllloiz exploin! Is is Greens and GreenSweets? Thanks RawGG for your story, I just read it, very brave and generous of you and yes, you are a Shining Light.Today I ate some flax seeds crackers I made and they are scrummy! I'm realising that after a lifetime of diets most of which I've been hungry most of the time, that I don't have to be hungry anymore, just fill up the blender with GS  and drink up big. Yee Ha!

You are awesome Durian Rider, I've read lots of your posts, most thought provoking and inspirational. THANKS. I had a bit of a giggle, well really I did LOL, at your fruit consumption and some of the folk who do the 80:10:10 thaing. My mind boggles. Since going raw I've had no hypo's at all, my blood glucose levels have been the most stable ever. I'm just a bit nervous about flying in the face of all the rules and regs I've followed for years, all the must do's and never do's.

What do you mean by added fat? Oils? Nuts? Avos? I don't use oils at all, nuts sparingly, about half an avo a day, though after RawJenNaturopath set me straight, I'm lashin' out with the avo's a bit.

When's the Channel 9 thing going to air?

Well wishes to you

Thanks Sheryl, I thought I was going barmy