Congratulations on your purchase of land - that is a very exciting project you have ahead of you and many years of enjoyment.  Its so wonderful you'll be able to enjoy all that beautiful fruit and vegie garden.

Look forward to hearing about your gardening adventures a bit more.  Can i ask where in Australia you are located?  We would love to do something similar - but not right now, all about timing.

Hi Savvy

This may not be relevant at all....., but some other reasons for not being able to loose weight include Candida; even on a low fat very high raw diet (not 100% raw) according to my chiropractor who used kinesiology on me - i still had some candida, although i do have a problem with weight.

For candida try some anti-fungal herbs or try taking Mineral Miracle supplement (MMS) available from mmsaustralia.com.au- that seemed to do the trick in my case.

Hi Meg.  Look forward to sharing in your journey and reading your posts.

Welcome back and congratulations with your little one; oh aren't little ones just angels!

Hi RGG.  Love your new journal and posts and yes do pls keep posting your daily food intake and exercise.  Great to hear that your body is healing so well on raw vegan. 

After reading your posts I've started also started making green juice, although i put in a bit more fruit than you do so my 3 little ones will drink it; well must say they love it.  Today i made it with 2 smaller bunches celery, 3 large cucumbers, 3 large handfuls kale, juice 1/2 lemon and 5 apples and there was barely any left for me after my kids had their fill!  So i figure i will need to double the quantities from now on just so my husband and i get some!!  Lucky i get most of my vegies from the wholesaler otherwise juicing for 5 would be unaffordable!!

I am having some problems with my teeth on this diet i have to admit - I'm raw vegan close to 100% raw most days with the odd bit of cooked vegan fare.  I eat loads of greens and lots of green smoothies and green soups and am low fat (close to 80/10/10).  Is anyone else experiencing these problems?

Yes I feel well, but I'd like to keep my teeth for a while yet.

Has anyone done any research on why a lot of raw vegans get these problems while indigeneous societies who had a fair bit of animal offal and dairy never brushed their teeth and did not have any cavities (eg Australian aborigines before white man)

What are others doing that is working for them/ reversing their teeth problems?

Hi Erthmum.  Congratulations on buba number 3.  Wishing you a wonderful pregnancy and birth, particularly given you are going for a free birth.  I would love to have had more choices when I birthed my twins (i.e a homebirth) and look forward to reading how everything goes.  xx

I've been told by my chiropractor/nutritionist that candida thrives on malnutrition and this only needs to be slight. 
I have also struggled with candida (showing up as Exzema) although i don't have much coating of the tongue or anything like that in the morning.  In my case i'm told that the lead toxicity which is in my body was also causing the candida, since lead toxicity results in enzymes being killed off and hence malabsoprtion and hence a vicious cycle.  In addition to the 80/10/10, it might be worthwhile getting a hair analysis done which would tell you whether you have any heavy metal toxicity or other issues that may need addressing. 

While i truly enjoy a 80/10/10 type raw diet, I think the social/ family aspect is the greatest challenge on this diet, particularly when most people of absolutely no idea really about nutrition and even if they do, don't really have much interest in being raw.  I try not to make a big deal out of it and have at times eaten some of the cooked food when out with friends.  Most of the time I just eat ahead and usually just order a very large salad and fruit for dessert (most restaurants will have something like this). 

I have over the last week started taking this mineral supplement called MMS - www.miraclemineral.org which appears to have helped my exzema, although it is not all gone yet.  It is perfectly safe and meant to kill any pathogen, fungi, bacteria etc in your body and will not attack any good bacteria.  You have to work up to a full doze day by day, so I am not there yet.  You can order this mineral from distributors in Australia and there is a free book on the website link above. 

Many thanks Sheryl, I will give the zucchini chips a go tomorrow 

Sheryl, Karenlovesraw - can I ask whether you need to do anything to the zucchini or sweet potato before you dehydrate them.  I tried the sweet potato once and they came out really tough and hard to chew - did i just dehydrate them for too long?

Hi Em.. Many thanks for your guidance on getting kids to eat more greens - I really like the idea of using them to wrap fruit, had not done that one before and also having more pot plants around with easily accessible greens. 

Luckily one thing my kids (particularly the two little ones) do like is their daily vegie juice to which i try to add as many greens as i think will be palatable plus it usually has some celery sticks in it as well as carrots and cucumber.

I have been encouraging them to eat a green "popsicle" every day after reading one of your earlier posts; my eldest girl's little friends (3 - 4years old) usually ask for seconds of these; they are also popular with my husband!

As for myself, I have had some trouble with my gums/ teeth despite eating lots of greens and wild greens and very little nuts/ dried fruit.  This may be exacerbated by the fact I'm still breastfeeding two little ones.  Despite believing vegan is best I've just started adding egg yolk and a little raw goats cheese to my diet to see if that will improve things for now - I read about this on Dr Bass's website (www.drbass.com), perhaps you've come across it before.   

Great to hear that you are feeling well and balanced.  I'm really enjoying reading about your progress and that of your little girl as well.

By the way could I ask what balance of fruit/ vegies/ nuts/ greens your kids now have?  Struggling to get mine to eat enough greens.

Harley I would like to know your view on this article provided on Dr Bass website about 3 generation of hygienists.

www.drbass.com/freedownload/files/drbass04.pdf

In particular he states that raw goats cheese and egg yolk are required for optimum health over the long term. 

I don't think what Harley is advocating here is binge eating - just eating enough calories to satisfy your body's needs.  He is particularly active, so he obviously needs much more calories and hence much more fruit than the rest of us.  You need about 6 kiwi fruit or 3 - 4 bananas to get the same calorie density as one mars bar which weighs less than 100g - so it depends on how you look at things. 

I see binge eating as eating much more than your body's needs in caloric terms.

Eating greens, vegies, nuts, etc are obviously also important to get your minerals but they don't provide the same caloric density and you would have to eat a lot of them to satisfy your body's caloric needs. 

I never count calories and haven't done this since I was a teenager which was over 15 years ago, although I have an idea about the caloric density of foods.  So wouldn't know how many calories I eat in a day. I never deprive myself of food of go hungry.  I just eat until I'm full and satisfied and only eat healthy low fat foods (even when I was eating mostly cooked). 

How many indigenous cultures counted or worried about calories, etc? 

Just wanted to ask you how long had you been raw before your eyes changed to blue and was it on 100% raw?  I believe that's a sign that you body had detoxed/ healed?

Hi KittyK

Although I certainly value your views and input Durianrider, I agree with KittyK that moving for food supply, particularly when you have a family is not the most practical of solutions for most of us, nor is living a nomadic lifestyle (no is it what some of us wish for).   

I have 3 little kids, husband and me and these are some of the ways I have managed to reduce my food bill:

* I shop at the organic wholesalers, mainly Back to Eden on a Monday as they have a "retail section" where you can buy smaller quantities of boxes they want to get rid of which is usually mostly high quality, so I can get 1 or 2kg of various vegies in season plus I mostly get my fruit in bulk boxes.  I don't have an ABN number.
* A certified organic farmer on the Central Coast who comes down to the Flemington markets on Fridays prepares a box of greens (which I pre-order) for me.  This box is then picked by a courier (only costs me $7/box with Fastway couriers to my house) and delivered to my place (once a week)
* I also ask non certified organic farmers at my local farmers market whether they spray or not and how they grow their produce.  Generally they are quite happy to chat about this and if you look them straight in the eye you will generally know if they are telling you the truth.  A number of old fashioned farmers don't find a need to spray etc which is actually more expensive for them if it is uncessary.  This way you can get the benefit of 'real' food without paying the certified 'organic' premium.  I know there are a couple of such farmers at the Frenchs Forest markets in Sydney
* I used to be part of a co-op near me which organised bi-monthly deliveries (this has since increased to once a week).  see Sydney Organic Buyers group (http://groups.msn.com/SydneyOrganicBuyersGroup/buyersgrouproles.msnw)
They advertised their existence through various fairs, word of mouth etc.  Although I no longer have a need to be part of this co-op, this is a great idea and one way to advertise it may be through any sustainable initiatives your local council may have.  You may be surprised that there are a bunch of other people in your area also interested in this idea.   
*another idea may be to find out if there are any local farmers nearer to you who don't spray and would be willing to prepare a box for you which you could pick up or be delivered as in my case via courier. 
*lastly, we also have a small garden which has weeds growing in it (edible) and in which my husband has planted various greens and vegies (only a small contribution but it all helps plus its fun too for the kids)

Hope that is helpful