Hi Theresa, I can really only tell you how I prepare for these sort of times.
There are a couple of rules I "try" to stick by
1. eat before you go out; I try to have a large green smoothie with flax seed (or my new favourite chia) to fill you up, a full belly normally means you make better choices.
2. if you are at home and "feel" like something make sure you have some raw brownies in the fridge (or you can pop one in your bag for emergency)
3. if you do eat cooked, ENJOY IT!! life goes on, you can do better next time.

Please remember you are making HUGE changes to your life(style) just take baby steps and you will be fine.

Oh, how embarrasing, it's 30 days tomorrow , lol, I just checked on the calendar...

That sounds really nice eve, I might try something like that soon.

Day 3. I had some detox symptoms today - woke up all clogged up and headachey, but it cleared through the morning. I am still eating a lot - just really hungry all the time - and the last 2 times I've been all raw I wasn't like this, but I was eating a lot of fruit those times - not now, I only use green apples and pears in my smoothies. I didn't realise fruit was so satiating - do other people find that?

I've also been very cold in the mornings, hence the black coffee to warm me up. I had about 6 flax/buckwheat crackers (slightly larger than a jatz), some plain, some with avocado and mung sprouts, then my vegetable juice, 2 handfuls of brazil nuts, a green smoothie, and guacamole with more sprouts on a bed of lettuce. Also 3 herb teas.

Jen, I like the way you keep it real. Raw food seems to be a rapidly evolving lifestyle, and we can only learn more by being truthful about how it affects us, in different ways at different times (and we're all individual).
Love to all.

Oh Help...

Weekends are always the hardest for me- does everyone else find that too? Today I had the inlaws over- lovely couple, just lovely, although MIL loves to bake for the fam, so they brought a buttercake for morning tea, and white bread rolls for lunch. And I had cake and rolls with them, just to be sociable and look thankful. Must work on that.

Other than that, things are rawling along nicely, although my coffee habit is causing much trouble atm. Must remember to just see the addiction, see the craving and it just disappears by itself after a while. While I KNOW that, actually applying it is much harder!

Eve- you are doing so well! So nice that you don't beat yourself up over the lattes. A question: Do you think all the meditative yoga and sitting meditation that you are doing are helping you be calm and equanimous with things? I'm finding it really difficult at the moment to do my yoga practice because I seem to have too much energy to focus properly. Any ideas? You seem to be doing 100% or close to it so easily!! Yay!:yahh:

Kebbster- Don't you just love it when hubby tells you you look awful! NOT! Good work with your MIL- getting her onto green smoothies 

Angefish- Day 3 was bad for me too- you should start to feel really lots better soon- good on you! I couldn't do raw if not for lots of fruit- maybe that's why I'm jumping around the place with all this extra silly energy- maybe too much fruit?? I have read somewhere on the forum about candida- can't remember exactly where, but whoever it was was saying fruit is ok for candida, and to have less fat.

Waterberry- Hi, nice to meet you. I'm right with you on the 80% and soups for dinner- it's been really cold here lately too.

Lulu - LOL on the 30 days!

Californiaglee- Yup, I know what you mean about overdrive- I seem to be like a ping pong ball atm, bumping around the house all over the place. I find eating nuts ground me, but I can't eat them all day, can I?

I can't believe I'm now complaining about having TOO much energy!! A few short weeks ago I was surviving on coffee and chocolate for energy! Wow, what a change. I used to have a problem in the early afternoon of low energy, and it's just GONE! hooray! And I no longer need a "nanna nap" with my 3yo. It's a bit strange really, I feel like I need to do some serious running or something. I've been afraid to start any training because my 3yo has always been a terrible sleeper- I've wanted to conserve energy. I need to trust that this extra energy I'm feeling is enough to fuel both "proper" exercise AND night wake-ups.

My exercise has been mainly housework and playing. I play and play until I can't run, climb, jump, skip any more- to exhaustion. I find this is great for fitness!

Anyway, enough rambling- sorry this is so long!

Happy sailing everyone!!

Hi Everybody!

Day 33 today for me and still going strong. It not easy though, tonight will be 2C and seeing the frost in the morning makes me wanna reach for....... well you know!

Hi Miss Rawfairylady, Ohh yes weekends are a lot harder all these unexpected things that can happen. I normally make some seedpate or other yummy things so I can have some of mine (and they can have some too ofcourse) and try do some damagecontrol.

Your question fairy: I only do maybe 1 or 2 classes of meditative yoga all my other classes are hot, just to give you an idea; you burn the same amount of calories in a 11/2 hour class as you do 40 minutes running so it is pretty intense. Definately gets the hard rate going.. The other output of energy goes to running after 6 year old twinboys and running a business 

Lulu: congratulations on your halfway mark, we celebrated twice!! I read your journal and saw you are doing really well.

Kebbster: I have been feeling the same today, tired and sort of flu symptons bleh! Detox is horrible but I am trying to focus on the positive my body is healing and cleaning and I also know that tomorrow will be better. Just keep drinking heaps of water.

Better go and soak some sunflower seeds for my pate...mmm

Good day Beautifuls,

I have wanted to post here but for some reason wanted to give myself a little mental space of separation to nurture my new found commitment to eating all raw.  I had some soymilk and was thinking about eating other lightly cooked things until I realized (again!) that it would be May 1 the next day, and I wanted to do a full month of raw.  So, I am.  I had my first dream last night of eating chocolate and loads of European pastries (got back from Austria and Prague 1.5 months ago, so I had a few treats), so maybe this was detox, or maybe the new raw food bars I got on sale had brown rice protein that I overlooked, so the grains came back.  I am hoping it's more the first thing?  Anyway, I didn't overeat on calories and actually found those raw food bars helpful (although too tasty!) because of the nutrition label that made me conscious of all the fat and calories.  I also went to the gym both days and did around 40 minutes cardio and also weights.  I will go back today.

I made a big salad reminscent of potato salad--chopped jicama (don't know if you guys get it there) with some avo, lemon and apple cider vinegar, bit salt, cumin, dill, and green onion that I found growing in my compost area.  The strength of the onion as well as the harder veggie made me feel almost more hungry afterward--do you find harder-to-digest-things do that to you?  The salt of course was a bit addictive too, but I added loads of organic spinach to it all to balance me out more.  I've also been eating less dried fruit and feel I'm getting more used to all raw again--yay!  Lot's of green smoothies with org. collards and bananas, and keeping as positive as possible toward myself in my life that's not easy right now.  I FINALLY lost at least a pound, but it is probably mostly water and waste, but I do see some muscle definition in my stomach, so that is keeping me more motivated to work out and have good posture.

Awesome progress lulu, waterberry, eve, berrybliss (good you listened to your body and ate kindly), kebbster (glad your family is supportive--that makes such a big difference!  And you are enduring your body's way of healing), and good to see you here Ange for these days!  Too bad about your cold weather!!  I actually did all raw during a cold winter here, so I know it's not impossible, and I did have warm tea (which I'm sure are raw with just the herb) and showers every night! 

Rawfairy, it seems you and I are similar with our energy!  No, eating all nuts isn't the greatest idea, but if I could lose weight while doing so, I'd reconsider that statement!!  I just know that the bread thing makes it impossible for me to stick to raw, but I totally understand the position of blending in with others due to being a bit ungrounded and maybe too nice to other people.  Cake is hard to say no to also.  I also eat more raw food when my mind is so active.  Maybe we just have lots of energy and haven't known what to do with it before, so it actually tired us out because it wasn't put in a most effective place (especially in ourselves due to giving it out so much)?  That's what I can say for myself, but this diet does help give more where I am not as groggy from lack of sleep or too much exercise.  It's just believing in myself to keep at it, and I really want to this month and hopefully more, although I still feel nervous about making such a statement because I don't ever want to get down on myself. 

I got my Excalibur 4-tray dehydrator today, although it feels like a green smoothie and non-dehydrated day to me.  I made sure to get the smallest dehydrator for myself so that I won't make too much of that type of food.

Love,
Theresa 

Hi everyone...

I am feeling crap at the moment. My sis is depressed, my man and I have not been getting along, my pre-teen is hormonal, my 2 year old is being full-on and the other two fight every night and sooo ARGH I ate some yuck stuff today.

I had two vego sausages and a vego sausage roll. And YUK. They make me feel YUK. I feel heavy, even dirty! I feel like I have dirtied myself on the inside! I ate a big plate of salad too, the salad that I made, and everyone esle ate it too and then is was all gone and I was still hungry. So I felt crap and hungry and ate what was available.

Ugh....need to work on these feelings of mine. Need to work out how not to get so overwhelmed with other peoples feelings.

Another day, another lesson learned. Had to sit there listening to women in my family bitching about themselves and their weight, meanwhile they eat crap 90% of the time.

Lots of love to you all....hope your journey is teaching you gently, PEACE!
Beau