Hi Beau & Theresa,

Awww I can feel where you are coming from, my day was also filled with frustration and arguments, I am just so crabby and short-tempered at the moment. I am not very good at dealing with the cold either and it's freezing in NZ. I see my family eating carbage the whole day and then I get even more frustrated and start my inner-dialogue of "why am I doing this raw-thing, can't I just eat normal food like everybody else, why am I doing this to myself...?"

So I talked to my hubby and he was happy for me to go to a yoga class (I was impossible to be around anyway) when I came back I felt heaps better. We had a teacher I had never met before and she was amazing beautiful dialogue and I just felt really safe and loved around her,(don't know if that sounds strange...) I also got lots of cuddles from one of my friends there without even telling her what was going on so I felt a little better after I left.

I really really tried to be more positive, made pancakes for everybody (served with apologies for hubby) and played some games but later in the afternoon my boys started fighting, they could not get out during the day cause it was so cold and everything went downhill again.

I am very happy I did not get back to eating cooked BUT started crocheting a scarf, it's almost finished YAY!

Well tomorrow is another day full of adventure, our sewagepipe has broken on Friday afternoon so we are having the workmen back again,they were already here on Saturday thank god it is outside so we have dry feet and cannot smell anything. I am afraid the bill will be huge for the repairs...

Hi everyone, good to hear from you all (even if things aren't going great for some of us). I must say Calif and Beau, stop beating yourselves up!! If there's stuff going on and you feel emotionally stretched - just do your best. The fact that we're even here means we're committed to a better lifestyle - off the charts better. I think it was Eve's or Lulu's suggestion to have some pate or other specially prepared raw food on hand - but I know it's difficult to plan ahead when it comes to other people...
By contrast, my situation right now is very cloistered - I'm pretty much cut off from mainstream society, living with my father and brother after losing 'everything' last year when a new job didn't work out (but I wasn't sorry to see any of it go). They're both pretty mellow people and I can eat what I like without getting strange looks. My dad was into raw food about 10 years ago in a full on way after watching my mum go through the medical profession and specialists and private hospitals and they just washed their hands of her in the end. Now he's 50% microwaved and 50% raw...I've tried talking to him about microwave ovens but it just caused fights so I backed down. My brother drinks the green smoothies and salads dad makes him, and I'm working on the rest of his diet, but it's a fine balancing act between introducing new ideas and just getting people's backs up. For now I'm focusing on myself.
The last couple of days I've still been all raw food-wise but have not yet let go of the black coffee in the mornings. However, I started doing EFT on this issue, and tapped on the feelings underlying this addiction (anxiety, not feeling good enough), and finally, it worked. Yesterday my hot drinks quota plummeted, and today was the same, but I have yet to let go...completely. I also noticed I was a bit more relaxed around food today as well.
Overall, no change, really - still eating a LOT, ate way too much fat yesterday and paid for it this morning, and while yesterday I had a good day - energetic, happy - today I was back to feeling like I had the flu. I only managed a halfhearted run today, skipping the workout through lack of energy.
RFL and Theresa, I really wish I had your over supply of energy!! I'm sure it will come, and I'm not minimising the issues it causes you.
It's so good to have this forum to come to - thanks all of you for sharing.
All the best, Ange

Hi you guys,

Thanks for the kindness.  I was really upset with myself until I thought about it more today and realized that these experiences have put more information to the table with which to see more of my struggle and figure out how to be stronger next time.  I gave that boy my last satiating raw food bar, so I would have eaten that instead of went to the store like a dork.  I now will use my new dehydrator and make sprouted buckwheat cookies with some fruit and few nuts to have on hand for that more satisfying mixture at night before bed, and I will measure out the quantities to know how many calories and fat grams are in them to keep my mindfulness.  This is what I have to do for now, and I think that's a good idea.  Your suggestions helped me to think of this also.

I ate little fruit in the day today and had a great run, which I didn't think I could do just yet because of my faster heart rate in general.  I'm learning to relax more into my body when I jog, and I had less tension/pain today.  I jogged for a full 20 minutes straight, which is HUGE for me, and I walked and jogged a bit more after that.  Then was a raw food potluck in the park, and the foods were healthier than usual, which was nice.  I ate 2 filling plates worth!  Then was tennis afterward, and then my friend took me to a shaved grass/bush heap on the street, and a huge, cut-up kumquat tree was in all of that.  I scored over 5 kgs. of milder tasting kumquats that would have cost me $70 at the organic shop, and mine probably taste better!!  These will be a good treat for me now.

Thanks for the hug and positive support, and Eve, I commend you for doing this diet amidst the family and household with which you live.  You are strong regardless of your cooked dealings because that question of "why am I doing this diet when no one else is around me" is exactly what I have had, but I also live alone and am not surrounded by your reminder.  It is so easy to just want to fit in and say f*%^ off in the attitude of the world that doesn't care.  But, WE care, and that is the inspiration.

xo Theresa   

Hi Everyone,
Had a wonderful day here today - it was so nice I dropped my plans and went for a bike ride to an abandoned pine plantation to find wattle gum - a bushfood I'm obsessed with at the moment.
On the raw front I'm still eating a lot, but expect this to settle down with time, and still can't let go of that one cup of black coffee in the mornings, even though overall my hot drinks fixation is way down. Will keep working on it, but it's not a big deal.
Today I had: vegetable juice (the base is usually a whole large cucumber), 8 dehydrated crackers, some with avo and sprouts (they're about the size of my palm - small), 2 servings of pepitas with sml amt raisins, 10 brazils, simple salad, green smoothie (which always has soaked flaxseeds in it), black coffee, cup of licorice tea, and wattle gum...
I also found another one of my hairs reverting to natural colour - ie grey on tip and dark at the base. I've found a hair like this recently, but couldn't believe my eyes. When I started adding in more raw foods I stopped dyeing my hair to see what would happen with the grey, which I have real trouble accepting but in my family it's genetic (Mediterranean ancestry). Maybe that's a copout?
Theresa - glad you're going a bit better now. Planning ahead seems to make all the difference with being raw.
Eve - I forgot to mention - you seem to have gotten our cold weather - sympathise.
Raw Fairy Lady - EFT stands for Emotional Freedom Technique, an energy healing thingy, check it out at www.emofree.com. It's very good - my hot drinks fixation is on shaky ground, still have to work on that morning coffee.
Waterberry - Your brain has obviously gone into hiding, what with all those assignments and upcoming exams. I'm sure it'll turn up once all your exams are over. I found it hard eating well at uni, it's quite a juggling act.
Everyone else, hope you're well.
Bye for now, much love, Ange

Morning everyone, it seems everyone has little challenges at the moment, we'll get through them together hey.

I don't feel as good as usual this morning, queasy in the stomache for some reason so I'm sipping on pineapple and baby spinach smoothie at the moment but it's hard to get down, MUST BE DETOX... I keep saying this don't I, lol.  Got a house that looks like a bomb hit it so that's what I'll be working on today, cleaning, lol.

Keep signing in everyone and keep the boat afloat, day 33 for me.

Hello Lovelies 

It has been a long time since I've dropped in! I am off the challenge for now. I made it to Day 32 or 33, not sure, when I had a big flip-out and realised there was so much more to my health challenges than just food. So rather than focusing on being 100% raw I am focusing on my overall health, which involves transitioning to a maintainable 100% HEALTHY raw diet. I made a grounded, wise (I believe!) decision on this as I had become extremely one-track-minded in regards to health. I almost stayed in a depressing situation just to be around more fruit! I realised I was being ridiculous lol.

Anyway I am happy with my choice.

Best of luck to all - I do not have net at the moment so cannot be here much

Really hope everyone is at a happy place on their raw journey and encountering smooth but bouncy fun waters xoxoxox

All the very best with your health Jungle, I wish you well on your journey.

Day 34 for me now and still 100% and feel great again today, yay , keep looking around the kitchen for something today, not sure what it is but I want to eat something and I just haven't got it??? I know it doesn't make much sense but that's me I guess 

Today I've had cacao smoothie, about 10oz, half pineapple blended up with some water, four sunflower crackers with tomatoe, about 10oz blueberry and banana smoothie and a small mandarin.  Dinner will probably be garden salad with guocamole.

My eyes seem to be bugging out today, you know like I've hit the coffee too hard, lol, take care everyone and keep popping in, bye now.