We're almost to the end of the festive season days, a.k.a holidays. I'm not doing too bad. I'm having 32 oz of green smoothie every morning for the past week so far, in it I mix collard greens and kale, a banana, an apple, and a medjool date, along with water and ice and blend.
During the day I've been having mostly bananas and oranges. The local produce wholesale store I found got in some organic oranges from I don't know where. I didn't question it. I got a box for 18 dollars so I wasn't crying at all :).
I haven't been able to force all raw yet. We're hoping to start tomorrow with 30 days 100% for my wife and myself but I'm going to have to do some raw sandwiches or something and I haven't found a "bread" recipe I can make with readily available supplies. I like the look of the "bread" I see on Ani Phyo's book we have but I didn't see any affordable, realistic "bread" recipes in the book that we could do so I'm guessing it's probably some exotic recipe that only people out west can affordably make :(.
Warning: a bit of venting for the next 3 paragraphs. skip them if you don't like negative posts.
We ordered a dehydrator, against my better judgement, which put us so tight on funds that I'm actually scheduling trips to the post office 5 miles down the road to save fuel and make sure we keep enough money until internet sales start picking up. If the road wasn't so dangerous with speed demons I'd ride a bike to the PO or even walk occasionally.
I live in the boonies and we still see a dead animal on the road at least 4 times a week due to all the speed demons using the road as a cut through between cities. Speed limit is 55 and they whip around curves doing 70 and more sometimes.
One of our dogs went into an epileptic seizure that lasted essentially all night (long after the vet gave her injections to stop it) and now we have a 320 dollar vet bill to wade through; a far cry from the 150 he quoted me over the phone for everything. On top of all that I find this week that not everyone in a forum I visit obeys the rules and almost no one in the admin division cares. A person posted a link to a "gossip" column with pornographic content with no warning about the link being inappropriate or what it contained. Like an idiot I clicked on it to figure out what the person was talking about while my children were in the room and we're all exposed to some unnecessary smut and then my wife has to explain to everyone that not all people consider modesty to be necessary, etc. Man did I get the 3rd degree for that one even after I proved to her it was an innocent mistake on my part.
Ok enough venting.
Hopefully tomorrow but definitely some time soon we're going to start the 30 day raw. When we start I'll post a notice then start blogging daily intake, etc.
Flanny
31 December 2007
13 December 2007
Emotional Highs and Lows
The past couple of weeks have been very busy and an emotional roller coaster.
Our house came with only 2 wood stoves for heat and we found that one was worthless when we tried to move it and the side "opened up", a huge crack in the stove that ran from bottom left to top right corners in one side.
We've been trying to find a way to afford a heat pump. The options were to either save up for one, which would take us til at least April of 08, or get credit at lowes or home depot, where we could be interest and payment free for 6 months to a year, and just have it paid off by April. We haven't had credit cards in over 6 years so we were relunctant to get one now. Turns out it wasn't even an option. We broke down and applied at both stores and were denied by both stores. Essentially we don't have enough credit history since we haven't had credit cards, etc. for so long.
So we had to come up with some affordable heating options. We tried oil filled electric heat "radiators" in each room but those turned out to be worthless in this old house. One wood stove wasn't giving us enough heat circulation. We were getting discouraged and frustrated. Then we were blessed by a nice couple in the Monroe institute near Nellysford. They GAVE us a "clean burning" (non-catalytic) wood stove that had been sitting in their garage for several years. The top plate had warped from over burning and needed repaired. It cost $60.00 to heat and weld the top plate back into proper position, $30.00 in fuel to go get the stove. So for $90.00 we got a stove equivalent to a $600.00 new wood stove. Now we have to try to find affordable insurance as the local insurance companies want over $1500.00 a year until we can get a heat pump put in, then we can get insurance for about $370.00 a year.
During the process of trying to make sure our house will be heated during the winter, our chimney started leaking in the upstairs bedroom in over 12 spots. There was no way the leaks could be simply "tucked". The options were to rebuild the entire chimney or find a liner. Both of which would be just as expensive as the other, but one would save some time.
After doing some searching I found 16 ft of chimney liner for $35.00! The chimney I was repairing services 2 stoves so I had to put in a tee. The whole process required me to open the chimney on the first floor and do some mason work when I was finished. The process took several days but now we have a leak free chimney :). The extra parts cost about $70.00 but we still were able to stay around $100.00. I'll have to check the tee monthly for soot/creosote but we have the smoke going OUT of the house now and not into :D.
All these labor intensive projects popping up and with my cronic problems, lumbar spine, left shoulder and left knee, I've been hard pressed to get things done. I've been popping ibuprofen and acetaminophen like crazy along with using heating oils and cold packs. The boys are getting frustrated with my asking them to do things that I could normally do in limited amounts but can no longer due because I'm hurting so bad that I'm hobbling around like a one armed paraplegic.
We're still getting settled and trying to make places for the different boxes, etc. so I haven't gotten my ebay sales back up and running like I want, plus we had to use the shed I was going to have as a work shop for storage so now I have to find a work space to get things ready for sales. So we've essentially got only one source of income, my wife's sales, which will drop drastically after the holidays. That's making things stressful.
We also found out that the autopay method for the loan we took out on the car to pay for the house wasn't "auto paying" and we owe from October through December. The funds have been subtracting but not being applied to the loan and now we have to find out why and where the money's gone.
Then in the middle of all this, one of the forum members on one of the forums I've been visiting for raw food support and ideas decides to leave over an altercation. It wouldn't be so bad but she's one of the members who's contributions have been highly valuable and she's been very kind and supportive even when others were critical of my weaknesses and failures. Thankfully, she's responded to a note I sent to her and will still be around on other forums I visit, hopefully, and might even continue on that forum as well.
And on top of it all everyone in the house has suddenly contracted a stomach illness that traps gas and causes nausea. It seems to be lasting about 5 days. Hopefully everyone is on the upswing now.
Like I said earlier, an emotional roller coaster, a big drop, a big rise, a big drop, a big rise. Whew!
Fortunately things are rolling along and getting done in the midst of all this. I'm having a difficult time setting things up to successfully start the next 100% attempt though. I do have several online resources and am getting ready to order several pounds of fresh medjool dates for this coming month. I've found a local source for kale, collard, and mustard, greens. I may have a source for raw, in shell almonds. I may have to break down and use fruits and veggies from the non-organic suppliers just to keep 100% raw. I might also have the supplies to make a "hot box" and plates to put on the top of one of the wood stoves for dehydrating.
Plus we should have a hot water heater some time next week for the price of plumbing the house I'll be removing it from (probably $15.00 in parts, and coaxing the boys to do the grunt work ;) ). We're looking for an electric stove for the children's cooked portion of their meals (the one that came with the house doesn't work) but they're moving to more fresh fruits by the nature of us having to use the wood stove to cook on so I'm not complaining :). I'm trying to positively encourage them to go raw without requiring it.
The immediate projects on the house are to insulate the upstairs walls, then insulate the downstairs walls. Upstairs we will use the existing wood facing, but downstairs we're discussing replacing the facing with drywall so that may have to wait for me to start making money on a consistent basis. I'm hoping to get ebay sales going soon so I can start affording these projects. Plus I want to try to save up enough money to dig out under the house and put in a basement next year. Even if I can get a crawl space foundation that will be better than how it's setting on field stone with trailer skirting right now.
I'm thankful to God we don't have a mortgage payment and my VA disability check covers the car loan we took out to pay for the house. We don't have the VA money to pay other bills with but at least the car loan is (will be when they straighten out the computers) taken care of without other worries. I read all these foreclosures taking place and realize just how blessed we are. Our house is old and cold but it's paid for and has enough water resources and land to provide for a nice garden or two without having to remove any trees or other plants.
I'm also planning on trying to salvage the materials to build a small green house with a solar heating option for winter. I've designed some plans to make a large solar heat exchange out of old roofing tin and other supplies I should be able to get from the local junk yard based off a solar dehydrator I saw online. It will be interesting to see how well it works once I get the green house built. I'm considering digging into the hillside and placing just the roof above ground along with the heat exchange. This will provide for natural insulation and afford a full day's sun as well. I also have some spare extra large mirrors I'll use to reflect the sun into the green house during morning and late evening hours.
This post just goes to show that you don't have to be going through detox to experience an emotional roller coaster :). Just being poor and trying to live day to day is emotional enough ;).
Flanny
Our house came with only 2 wood stoves for heat and we found that one was worthless when we tried to move it and the side "opened up", a huge crack in the stove that ran from bottom left to top right corners in one side.
We've been trying to find a way to afford a heat pump. The options were to either save up for one, which would take us til at least April of 08, or get credit at lowes or home depot, where we could be interest and payment free for 6 months to a year, and just have it paid off by April. We haven't had credit cards in over 6 years so we were relunctant to get one now. Turns out it wasn't even an option. We broke down and applied at both stores and were denied by both stores. Essentially we don't have enough credit history since we haven't had credit cards, etc. for so long.
So we had to come up with some affordable heating options. We tried oil filled electric heat "radiators" in each room but those turned out to be worthless in this old house. One wood stove wasn't giving us enough heat circulation. We were getting discouraged and frustrated. Then we were blessed by a nice couple in the Monroe institute near Nellysford. They GAVE us a "clean burning" (non-catalytic) wood stove that had been sitting in their garage for several years. The top plate had warped from over burning and needed repaired. It cost $60.00 to heat and weld the top plate back into proper position, $30.00 in fuel to go get the stove. So for $90.00 we got a stove equivalent to a $600.00 new wood stove. Now we have to try to find affordable insurance as the local insurance companies want over $1500.00 a year until we can get a heat pump put in, then we can get insurance for about $370.00 a year.
During the process of trying to make sure our house will be heated during the winter, our chimney started leaking in the upstairs bedroom in over 12 spots. There was no way the leaks could be simply "tucked". The options were to rebuild the entire chimney or find a liner. Both of which would be just as expensive as the other, but one would save some time.
After doing some searching I found 16 ft of chimney liner for $35.00! The chimney I was repairing services 2 stoves so I had to put in a tee. The whole process required me to open the chimney on the first floor and do some mason work when I was finished. The process took several days but now we have a leak free chimney :). The extra parts cost about $70.00 but we still were able to stay around $100.00. I'll have to check the tee monthly for soot/creosote but we have the smoke going OUT of the house now and not into :D.
All these labor intensive projects popping up and with my cronic problems, lumbar spine, left shoulder and left knee, I've been hard pressed to get things done. I've been popping ibuprofen and acetaminophen like crazy along with using heating oils and cold packs. The boys are getting frustrated with my asking them to do things that I could normally do in limited amounts but can no longer due because I'm hurting so bad that I'm hobbling around like a one armed paraplegic.
We're still getting settled and trying to make places for the different boxes, etc. so I haven't gotten my ebay sales back up and running like I want, plus we had to use the shed I was going to have as a work shop for storage so now I have to find a work space to get things ready for sales. So we've essentially got only one source of income, my wife's sales, which will drop drastically after the holidays. That's making things stressful.
We also found out that the autopay method for the loan we took out on the car to pay for the house wasn't "auto paying" and we owe from October through December. The funds have been subtracting but not being applied to the loan and now we have to find out why and where the money's gone.
Then in the middle of all this, one of the forum members on one of the forums I've been visiting for raw food support and ideas decides to leave over an altercation. It wouldn't be so bad but she's one of the members who's contributions have been highly valuable and she's been very kind and supportive even when others were critical of my weaknesses and failures. Thankfully, she's responded to a note I sent to her and will still be around on other forums I visit, hopefully, and might even continue on that forum as well.
And on top of it all everyone in the house has suddenly contracted a stomach illness that traps gas and causes nausea. It seems to be lasting about 5 days. Hopefully everyone is on the upswing now.
Like I said earlier, an emotional roller coaster, a big drop, a big rise, a big drop, a big rise. Whew!
Fortunately things are rolling along and getting done in the midst of all this. I'm having a difficult time setting things up to successfully start the next 100% attempt though. I do have several online resources and am getting ready to order several pounds of fresh medjool dates for this coming month. I've found a local source for kale, collard, and mustard, greens. I may have a source for raw, in shell almonds. I may have to break down and use fruits and veggies from the non-organic suppliers just to keep 100% raw. I might also have the supplies to make a "hot box" and plates to put on the top of one of the wood stoves for dehydrating.
Plus we should have a hot water heater some time next week for the price of plumbing the house I'll be removing it from (probably $15.00 in parts, and coaxing the boys to do the grunt work ;) ). We're looking for an electric stove for the children's cooked portion of their meals (the one that came with the house doesn't work) but they're moving to more fresh fruits by the nature of us having to use the wood stove to cook on so I'm not complaining :). I'm trying to positively encourage them to go raw without requiring it.
The immediate projects on the house are to insulate the upstairs walls, then insulate the downstairs walls. Upstairs we will use the existing wood facing, but downstairs we're discussing replacing the facing with drywall so that may have to wait for me to start making money on a consistent basis. I'm hoping to get ebay sales going soon so I can start affording these projects. Plus I want to try to save up enough money to dig out under the house and put in a basement next year. Even if I can get a crawl space foundation that will be better than how it's setting on field stone with trailer skirting right now.
I'm thankful to God we don't have a mortgage payment and my VA disability check covers the car loan we took out to pay for the house. We don't have the VA money to pay other bills with but at least the car loan is (will be when they straighten out the computers) taken care of without other worries. I read all these foreclosures taking place and realize just how blessed we are. Our house is old and cold but it's paid for and has enough water resources and land to provide for a nice garden or two without having to remove any trees or other plants.
I'm also planning on trying to salvage the materials to build a small green house with a solar heating option for winter. I've designed some plans to make a large solar heat exchange out of old roofing tin and other supplies I should be able to get from the local junk yard based off a solar dehydrator I saw online. It will be interesting to see how well it works once I get the green house built. I'm considering digging into the hillside and placing just the roof above ground along with the heat exchange. This will provide for natural insulation and afford a full day's sun as well. I also have some spare extra large mirrors I'll use to reflect the sun into the green house during morning and late evening hours.
This post just goes to show that you don't have to be going through detox to experience an emotional roller coaster :). Just being poor and trying to live day to day is emotional enough ;).
Flanny
30 November 2007
Another possible attempt at 100% raw
This morning my wife and I were talking. She's considering going raw with me and wonders if it would be possible to do by the new year. We've thought about this and I'm of the school of thought we should write down our weaknesses and cravings and find alternatives to help us during the craving periods. Her big craving is sweets. Sun dried stevia and medjool dates should help cover most of those cravings. Mine are fats and proteins with occasional cravings in sweets but not too much. I can take care of the fat cravings with avocados for the most part. In my non-raw so far I've been using vegatable oils and legumes to help curb the protein/fat cravings but if I go 100% raw again the legumes and oils will be out the window.
I'm incorporating oil pulling so I hope that will have some benefits and reduce cravings. We haven't set a date for it yet and we're not going to be requiring the children to be raw but we will be removing much of the unhealthy candy, and some unhealthy proteins/fats as well but theirs won't be instantaneous like ours. Theirs will be a gradual stepdown into healthier eating. The immediate stop for them will be all fast foods. Thankfully that stuff is smelling toxic to me every time they bring it into the house.
One if the forums I've joined had a thread in the past about a place online to order medjool dates and other things by the crate so I'm trying to find that to help. The local stores here are very sparse in their offerings and the farm markets are closing down for winter season. The stores are offering organic mainstreams such as grapes, bananas, tomatoes, so that will be a major blessing.
If/when we try this I'll start posting more frequently with daily dietary intakes for both of us. It will be interesting how it goes when the children try to go for fast food and I "forbid" it :p. We'll see what hits the fan so to speak.
Flanny
I'm incorporating oil pulling so I hope that will have some benefits and reduce cravings. We haven't set a date for it yet and we're not going to be requiring the children to be raw but we will be removing much of the unhealthy candy, and some unhealthy proteins/fats as well but theirs won't be instantaneous like ours. Theirs will be a gradual stepdown into healthier eating. The immediate stop for them will be all fast foods. Thankfully that stuff is smelling toxic to me every time they bring it into the house.
One if the forums I've joined had a thread in the past about a place online to order medjool dates and other things by the crate so I'm trying to find that to help. The local stores here are very sparse in their offerings and the farm markets are closing down for winter season. The stores are offering organic mainstreams such as grapes, bananas, tomatoes, so that will be a major blessing.
If/when we try this I'll start posting more frequently with daily dietary intakes for both of us. It will be interesting how it goes when the children try to go for fast food and I "forbid" it :p. We'll see what hits the fan so to speak.
Flanny
24 November 2007
Over loaded caboose, blown tires
The Thursday before Thanksgiving arrives and we suddenly have to drive back to our previous town of residence to complete some paperwork related to my father-in-law's estate. We took the opportunity to rent a moving van and get our things from storage.
Two things concerned me in my efforts to be healthy. 1) The town has no organic raw of worth 2) Thanksgiving was coming up and we expected to be back the Wednesday before thanksgiving, not giving me any time to prep so that I'm not stuck in an awkward situation.
Turns out my concerns were unwarranted. I packed enough that the trip there and our stay there wasn't an issue for me. Additionally all the unexpected happenstance ended up making our trip completely different than we anticipated.
We knew we'd have to downsize our belongings to affordably move everything. We did our business Friday then used Saturday and Sunday to sort through our belongings and donate some furniture and other items. The donation center turned away 2 perfectly good couches and other cloth covered furniture due to "health regulations". There were no tears, rips, or stains and yet they wouldn't take "any cloth furniture" This put us in an unexpected bind because we suddenly had things we needed to dispose of and the local landfills were all closed. Thus the weekend was spent trying to find "takers" for our excess furniture.
After we finally had the furniture situation resolved we picked up the moving van on Monday and started to pack. We found that the storage facility must have had leaks because many of our boxes were damp and falling apart. Thus we had to repack some things. To make a long story short we spent 2 1/2 days loading the van, and found out we still had too much stuff so I had to part with some of my tools and other things. For the tools and related the storage facility took them and said they'd check with their employees and other patrons to see if anyone wanted them. This hopefully keeps them out of the landfill.
I had planned on leaving Monday evening but we didn't get started until Wednesday afternoon. Finally on the road I expected a safe trip back but not even 30 miles from start a tire blows out and comes completely off the rim. Fortunately there was a trailer store near the spot and I bought a replacement tire/rim assembly along with a 2nd for a spare in case it happened again. After changing the tire we drove 10 miles to the next rest area and decided to unload extra weight. I made the ultimate sacrifice and gave up my entire olympic weight set, totalling 1500 lbs. The rest area attendant had a brother who came up and took the entire set off my hands (who would to turn down free exercise equipment that can be sold for a huge chunk of change?). I studied the remaining contents of the trailer and estimated the total weight and came up less than the allowed "payload" package. Since my wife and I had been up over 60 hours with no sleep, literally, and since the unpacking and repacking of the trailer took us into 8:00 p.m. we got a room at econo-lodge in Kent and fell asleep almost immediately.
The next morning we took off, expecting to make good time, and we did for a while but a little over half way back to our new home the other tire on the trailer blew out. It didn't fly off the rim but the rim was still messed up. My first thought was that I had underestimated my weights. After using the spare we went to a wal-mart parking lot and took the heavy items off the trailer and put them in the van and took light items from the van and put them in the trailer. The rest of the trip went relatively smoothly and we made it back safely, thank God.
After thinking about things I realize that the second blow out wasn't just because we had the trailer at the maximum limits. It was also from being weakened by the previously overloaded conditions, along with all the pot holes and poorly managed "construction spots" on the road causing the weight to bounce up and down excessively on the tire.
This of course turned my mind to my weight and health issue. Thankfully our bodies are built with the ability to heal and recover from most damaging situations. However, much like those tires, our bodies have limits. the ligaments, tendons, cartilage, muscles, bones, etc. are all built with specific abilities. We may be able to "tweak" our bodies natural limites and abilities through diet and exercise, but each component can handle only so much. How many of our joint and muscle problems are brought on by obesity and poor diet? Loading the moving van this week reminded me just how many problems I have. the heels and balls of my feet felt as if they'd been beaten with a jack hammer when I was done. My lower back is crying out in extreme pain, my left knee is having these "attacks" where suddenly I feel as if someone is sticking a red hot skewer right through the joint.
I've no doubt all this is because of both the excess weight I've carried around and the poor eating habits I've had. I'll have to moderate myself until I regain my health and skinny self. This got me to thinking though. Many people lose weight extremely fast and then expect to be able to jump right into full contact sports, rock climbing, running, etc. and then get discouraged when they suddenly find themselves sidelined over and over again from injuries.
Our society does not accept the reality that as a fat man my muscles and joints are already damaged, thus the physical activity I do to lose weight has to accomodate that. Additionally, If I can every go 100% healthy raw vegan, I'll lose a lot of weight really fast. While I'll look really good and healthy fairly quickly, it will take a long time for my joints, muscles, etc. to recouperate. Thus my exercising and physical activity will have to accomodate the healing.
Much like the first tire on my trailer blew out because of being over weight. My body has problems in the joints, etc. Additionally, much like the 2nd tire blew out from being weakened by the previously "obese" trailer, coupled with expecting the tire to immediately work at it's original maximum capacity under less than ideal road conditions, so my body will be weakened even after the weight is off.
Thankfully my body has mechanisms to recouperate. I may never lift weights like I did when I was 15 or run like I did when I was 19 but I can still lead a happy healthy life IF I change my eating habits, lose the weight, AND follow an activity regiment that encourages my body to recover from all the years of having an overloaded caboose.
Comments/thoughts welcome.
Flanny
Two things concerned me in my efforts to be healthy. 1) The town has no organic raw of worth 2) Thanksgiving was coming up and we expected to be back the Wednesday before thanksgiving, not giving me any time to prep so that I'm not stuck in an awkward situation.
Turns out my concerns were unwarranted. I packed enough that the trip there and our stay there wasn't an issue for me. Additionally all the unexpected happenstance ended up making our trip completely different than we anticipated.
We knew we'd have to downsize our belongings to affordably move everything. We did our business Friday then used Saturday and Sunday to sort through our belongings and donate some furniture and other items. The donation center turned away 2 perfectly good couches and other cloth covered furniture due to "health regulations". There were no tears, rips, or stains and yet they wouldn't take "any cloth furniture" This put us in an unexpected bind because we suddenly had things we needed to dispose of and the local landfills were all closed. Thus the weekend was spent trying to find "takers" for our excess furniture.
After we finally had the furniture situation resolved we picked up the moving van on Monday and started to pack. We found that the storage facility must have had leaks because many of our boxes were damp and falling apart. Thus we had to repack some things. To make a long story short we spent 2 1/2 days loading the van, and found out we still had too much stuff so I had to part with some of my tools and other things. For the tools and related the storage facility took them and said they'd check with their employees and other patrons to see if anyone wanted them. This hopefully keeps them out of the landfill.
I had planned on leaving Monday evening but we didn't get started until Wednesday afternoon. Finally on the road I expected a safe trip back but not even 30 miles from start a tire blows out and comes completely off the rim. Fortunately there was a trailer store near the spot and I bought a replacement tire/rim assembly along with a 2nd for a spare in case it happened again. After changing the tire we drove 10 miles to the next rest area and decided to unload extra weight. I made the ultimate sacrifice and gave up my entire olympic weight set, totalling 1500 lbs. The rest area attendant had a brother who came up and took the entire set off my hands (who would to turn down free exercise equipment that can be sold for a huge chunk of change?). I studied the remaining contents of the trailer and estimated the total weight and came up less than the allowed "payload" package. Since my wife and I had been up over 60 hours with no sleep, literally, and since the unpacking and repacking of the trailer took us into 8:00 p.m. we got a room at econo-lodge in Kent and fell asleep almost immediately.
The next morning we took off, expecting to make good time, and we did for a while but a little over half way back to our new home the other tire on the trailer blew out. It didn't fly off the rim but the rim was still messed up. My first thought was that I had underestimated my weights. After using the spare we went to a wal-mart parking lot and took the heavy items off the trailer and put them in the van and took light items from the van and put them in the trailer. The rest of the trip went relatively smoothly and we made it back safely, thank God.
After thinking about things I realize that the second blow out wasn't just because we had the trailer at the maximum limits. It was also from being weakened by the previously overloaded conditions, along with all the pot holes and poorly managed "construction spots" on the road causing the weight to bounce up and down excessively on the tire.
This of course turned my mind to my weight and health issue. Thankfully our bodies are built with the ability to heal and recover from most damaging situations. However, much like those tires, our bodies have limits. the ligaments, tendons, cartilage, muscles, bones, etc. are all built with specific abilities. We may be able to "tweak" our bodies natural limites and abilities through diet and exercise, but each component can handle only so much. How many of our joint and muscle problems are brought on by obesity and poor diet? Loading the moving van this week reminded me just how many problems I have. the heels and balls of my feet felt as if they'd been beaten with a jack hammer when I was done. My lower back is crying out in extreme pain, my left knee is having these "attacks" where suddenly I feel as if someone is sticking a red hot skewer right through the joint.
I've no doubt all this is because of both the excess weight I've carried around and the poor eating habits I've had. I'll have to moderate myself until I regain my health and skinny self. This got me to thinking though. Many people lose weight extremely fast and then expect to be able to jump right into full contact sports, rock climbing, running, etc. and then get discouraged when they suddenly find themselves sidelined over and over again from injuries.
Our society does not accept the reality that as a fat man my muscles and joints are already damaged, thus the physical activity I do to lose weight has to accomodate that. Additionally, If I can every go 100% healthy raw vegan, I'll lose a lot of weight really fast. While I'll look really good and healthy fairly quickly, it will take a long time for my joints, muscles, etc. to recouperate. Thus my exercising and physical activity will have to accomodate the healing.
Much like the first tire on my trailer blew out because of being over weight. My body has problems in the joints, etc. Additionally, much like the 2nd tire blew out from being weakened by the previously "obese" trailer, coupled with expecting the tire to immediately work at it's original maximum capacity under less than ideal road conditions, so my body will be weakened even after the weight is off.
Thankfully my body has mechanisms to recouperate. I may never lift weights like I did when I was 15 or run like I did when I was 19 but I can still lead a happy healthy life IF I change my eating habits, lose the weight, AND follow an activity regiment that encourages my body to recover from all the years of having an overloaded caboose.
Comments/thoughts welcome.
Flanny
06 November 2007
Fasting and working
I've been struggling with my non-raw and diverticulosis. The trouble is I like spicy foods and foods that aren't good for me of course. I've been doing well with much of what I do eat but I still like to throw in the jalapeño peppers, sauteed to perfection in olive or soy oil, with onions, garlic, and a bit of red chilis and sometimes other seasonings.
Needless to say my bowel issue doesn't like it too well. I'm trying to find a healthy way to get completely off the foods. When food is one of the few pleasures in life one has it's difficult to just drop the things one thinks is enjoyable, regardless of the pain afterwards.
On the plus side, the sun dried stevia leaves are helping tremendously. It's curbing the desire for sweet tasting foods and for fatty foods. I notice the difference when I go a few days without using the stevia. I don't know how the white extract or the liquid extract would fair as I'm trying to put myself into "acceptable alternatives". Sun dried is acceptable in a lot of the raw foods circles and since stevia is primarily a sweetener with no real nutritional loss or gain otherwise I figure it's ok to put a little stevia in my green smoothies :).
Anyway back to the title. Since I've been having some upset in the digestive region I decided to try to fast a bit with just water. I went great for the first few hours. Trouble arose because I was working hard manual labor wise. I started getting weak, then woozy, then almost passed out. I gave in and ate a few bananas and felt better almost immediately.
I wanted to fast a while as they say the best way to allow a muscle to heal is to let it rest and I figure my colon is one big muscle so I wanted to allow it some rest. I'll have to schedule a fast when I'm not going to have to do so much work.
I've decided that once I get used to where all the farm markets and such are around here that will provide my needs I'll set up a schedule for moving to 100% raw. I think the green smoothies are starting to help reduce some cravings, but not all.
Well the moral of today's story is, don't fast if you've got a heavy load of manual labor to do.
:)
Edit:
PS I'm trying to set up my blog to allow people to subscribe through feedblitz but it looks like I've got a few things to figure out. Please forgive and please be patient. Thanks.
Needless to say my bowel issue doesn't like it too well. I'm trying to find a healthy way to get completely off the foods. When food is one of the few pleasures in life one has it's difficult to just drop the things one thinks is enjoyable, regardless of the pain afterwards.
On the plus side, the sun dried stevia leaves are helping tremendously. It's curbing the desire for sweet tasting foods and for fatty foods. I notice the difference when I go a few days without using the stevia. I don't know how the white extract or the liquid extract would fair as I'm trying to put myself into "acceptable alternatives". Sun dried is acceptable in a lot of the raw foods circles and since stevia is primarily a sweetener with no real nutritional loss or gain otherwise I figure it's ok to put a little stevia in my green smoothies :).
Anyway back to the title. Since I've been having some upset in the digestive region I decided to try to fast a bit with just water. I went great for the first few hours. Trouble arose because I was working hard manual labor wise. I started getting weak, then woozy, then almost passed out. I gave in and ate a few bananas and felt better almost immediately.
I wanted to fast a while as they say the best way to allow a muscle to heal is to let it rest and I figure my colon is one big muscle so I wanted to allow it some rest. I'll have to schedule a fast when I'm not going to have to do so much work.
I've decided that once I get used to where all the farm markets and such are around here that will provide my needs I'll set up a schedule for moving to 100% raw. I think the green smoothies are starting to help reduce some cravings, but not all.
Well the moral of today's story is, don't fast if you've got a heavy load of manual labor to do.
:)
Edit:
PS I'm trying to set up my blog to allow people to subscribe through feedblitz but it looks like I've got a few things to figure out. Please forgive and please be patient. Thanks.
29 October 2007
raw, water, and the Big Red Jugglefest
This weekend I took my oldest son to the Big Red Jugglefest in Ithaca, NY @ Cornell University. It was a good experience with a VERY long drive there and back :p.
The interesting thing when I travel is always how to stay raw, or at least the largest percentage possible. When one is not worried about organic it's rather simple to just run into most any grocery and grab a few bananas or other chemically ripenend fruits and veggies (strawberries are heavy with chemicals in most stores it seems). Unfortunately the chemicals are just as bad, if not worse, than the processed foods and animal fats. For Ithaca, NY there's a really quick and convenient solution:
Green Star cooperative Market sells a wide variety of good foods and has a fairly nice selection of organics. They're a bit on the expensive side but if you're willing to mono-food for your stay you can get bananas and a few other organic fruits competitively priced against their chemically treated counter parts in the s.a.d. grocery marts.
I drank "purified" water. I was cheap and bought a case of Sam's purified water. I've heard the arguments about distilled or heated waters not being raw even after they cool but personally I'm not the type to get hung up on a nonsensical rule as the doctrine of all raw. While avoiding foods heated over 110 degrees Fahrenheit is a very good rule as certain nutrients get destroyed over specific temperatures, water in essence is one chemical that our bodies need. There may possibly be others but I'm not into that right now ;) Some people claim that water is a mineral but It seems the popular consensus is it's a naturally occuring chemical essential to all life. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water
This may seem contradictory to Raw foods but really it isn't. The efforts to stay organic is to avoid unnecessary and dangerous chemicals. Organic cannot avoid water, and by that very fact is inclusive of water. The term "chemical free" is just a general classification meaning someone has taken steps to avoid pesticides and other dangerous products/chemicals.
Water can carry chemicals and even lifeforms. Purification procedures may or may not heat the water. Regardless I have no problems with that as I probably don't want the life forms that may be living in the water. I'm not worried about the religious aspects of killing amoeba or bacteria as my Christian faith doesn't classify this as sin. The only other concerns would be health. Drinking purified water doesn't harm my body in any fashion and may only be void of possible extra minerals that were removed via the purification process.
I have not seen any articles or research that indicate "raw" or "unfiltered" water is better for us than purified. On the contrary I have seen several articles on the need to filter our waters lest our own bodies become the filter. By the very nature of a filter this means we absorb all the sludge and gunk our bodies don't need from the unfiltered water.
I'm not sure whether Sam's uses heating, filtering, or both but unless someone share's valid information with me that the process they use is bad, I'll rely on the cost effectiveness of their water until then.
Concerning the Juggling festival it was awesome with a star studded line up for the show. There was Cate Emily, Peter Irish, Jonglisimo, Vova Galchenko, Matt Hall, Joe Showers, Nicholas Flair, and Marcus Monroe.
Cate Emily's acrobatics and juggling were as always completely impeccable and awe inspiring. Peter Irish's juggling 6 balls, 3 with his feet, and 3 with his hands is something everyone should see if they get the chance. Jonglisimo, the Austrian duo of brothers holding the world record for club passing was just spectacular. These two fellows are fantastic. Of course Volva Galchenko's performance was excellent. I was just as impressed by his background video as I was by his smooth performance. Matt Hall is the master of all diabolo and proved it once again. Joe showers presented a fantastic, entertaining, and even humorous show with awesome recovery and great finale. Marcus Monroe combined skill and humor to keep the audience entertained and riveted.
The jugging workshops were great. They had workshops presented by Matt Hall, Jonglisimo, Vova Galchenko, Matt Hall, Sean Bleu, Glen Luke, and more, covering diabolo techniques and tricks, ball spinning, club passing, solo club techniques, acrobatics, show presentation and more. Overall it was a great experience.
The only drawback to the entire experience (besides the long drive there and back) was the lodging. Typically with juggling conventions there are places people can stay with other jugglers called "crash space". This is intended for people who can't find affordable motels or can't find someone to split motel fees with them, etc. The big drawback to the Big Red festival is that it's primarily college life environment and thus the only crash space is college apartment type settings. With this past weekend being "parent's weekend" there were no local hotels at affordable rates. This isn't good for folks who don't fit into such a setting, and it wasn't good for us.
We ended up getting a discounted motel rate in Horseheads, almost an hour away. So not only did we have the long drive to and from the festival, we had a long drive each evening and morning. One thing I didn't think of and should have: state and federal parks. There are several state parks in the Ithaca area that have cabins, etc. A group from Philadelphia got a cabin and 5 of them shared 1 cabin. The grand total was a hundred dollars for 2 nights. Split between 5 people that's 10 bucks a night for close proximity lodging per person. That's not a bad price at all. Next time I'll be more diligent.
We're back home now and I have lots of work to do. I'm finding that it's not too difficult for general travels to find affordable food sources during fall/winter seasons. I'm sure there aren't places everywhere but once we get better settled here I'll be able to take more things with me on short notice.
I'm still trying to determine the ramp down to get to 100% raw and haven't come up with a solution that seems feasible yet. I'll be sure to post it as soon as I do, and of course I'll post my progress along the way.
Flanny
The interesting thing when I travel is always how to stay raw, or at least the largest percentage possible. When one is not worried about organic it's rather simple to just run into most any grocery and grab a few bananas or other chemically ripenend fruits and veggies (strawberries are heavy with chemicals in most stores it seems). Unfortunately the chemicals are just as bad, if not worse, than the processed foods and animal fats. For Ithaca, NY there's a really quick and convenient solution:
Green Star cooperative Market sells a wide variety of good foods and has a fairly nice selection of organics. They're a bit on the expensive side but if you're willing to mono-food for your stay you can get bananas and a few other organic fruits competitively priced against their chemically treated counter parts in the s.a.d. grocery marts.
I drank "purified" water. I was cheap and bought a case of Sam's purified water. I've heard the arguments about distilled or heated waters not being raw even after they cool but personally I'm not the type to get hung up on a nonsensical rule as the doctrine of all raw. While avoiding foods heated over 110 degrees Fahrenheit is a very good rule as certain nutrients get destroyed over specific temperatures, water in essence is one chemical that our bodies need. There may possibly be others but I'm not into that right now ;) Some people claim that water is a mineral but It seems the popular consensus is it's a naturally occuring chemical essential to all life. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water
This may seem contradictory to Raw foods but really it isn't. The efforts to stay organic is to avoid unnecessary and dangerous chemicals. Organic cannot avoid water, and by that very fact is inclusive of water. The term "chemical free" is just a general classification meaning someone has taken steps to avoid pesticides and other dangerous products/chemicals.
Water can carry chemicals and even lifeforms. Purification procedures may or may not heat the water. Regardless I have no problems with that as I probably don't want the life forms that may be living in the water. I'm not worried about the religious aspects of killing amoeba or bacteria as my Christian faith doesn't classify this as sin. The only other concerns would be health. Drinking purified water doesn't harm my body in any fashion and may only be void of possible extra minerals that were removed via the purification process.
I have not seen any articles or research that indicate "raw" or "unfiltered" water is better for us than purified. On the contrary I have seen several articles on the need to filter our waters lest our own bodies become the filter. By the very nature of a filter this means we absorb all the sludge and gunk our bodies don't need from the unfiltered water.
I'm not sure whether Sam's uses heating, filtering, or both but unless someone share's valid information with me that the process they use is bad, I'll rely on the cost effectiveness of their water until then.
Concerning the Juggling festival it was awesome with a star studded line up for the show. There was Cate Emily, Peter Irish, Jonglisimo, Vova Galchenko, Matt Hall, Joe Showers, Nicholas Flair, and Marcus Monroe.
Cate Emily's acrobatics and juggling were as always completely impeccable and awe inspiring. Peter Irish's juggling 6 balls, 3 with his feet, and 3 with his hands is something everyone should see if they get the chance. Jonglisimo, the Austrian duo of brothers holding the world record for club passing was just spectacular. These two fellows are fantastic. Of course Volva Galchenko's performance was excellent. I was just as impressed by his background video as I was by his smooth performance. Matt Hall is the master of all diabolo and proved it once again. Joe showers presented a fantastic, entertaining, and even humorous show with awesome recovery and great finale. Marcus Monroe combined skill and humor to keep the audience entertained and riveted.
The jugging workshops were great. They had workshops presented by Matt Hall, Jonglisimo, Vova Galchenko, Matt Hall, Sean Bleu, Glen Luke, and more, covering diabolo techniques and tricks, ball spinning, club passing, solo club techniques, acrobatics, show presentation and more. Overall it was a great experience.
The only drawback to the entire experience (besides the long drive there and back) was the lodging. Typically with juggling conventions there are places people can stay with other jugglers called "crash space". This is intended for people who can't find affordable motels or can't find someone to split motel fees with them, etc. The big drawback to the Big Red festival is that it's primarily college life environment and thus the only crash space is college apartment type settings. With this past weekend being "parent's weekend" there were no local hotels at affordable rates. This isn't good for folks who don't fit into such a setting, and it wasn't good for us.
We ended up getting a discounted motel rate in Horseheads, almost an hour away. So not only did we have the long drive to and from the festival, we had a long drive each evening and morning. One thing I didn't think of and should have: state and federal parks. There are several state parks in the Ithaca area that have cabins, etc. A group from Philadelphia got a cabin and 5 of them shared 1 cabin. The grand total was a hundred dollars for 2 nights. Split between 5 people that's 10 bucks a night for close proximity lodging per person. That's not a bad price at all. Next time I'll be more diligent.
We're back home now and I have lots of work to do. I'm finding that it's not too difficult for general travels to find affordable food sources during fall/winter seasons. I'm sure there aren't places everywhere but once we get better settled here I'll be able to take more things with me on short notice.
I'm still trying to determine the ramp down to get to 100% raw and haven't come up with a solution that seems feasible yet. I'll be sure to post it as soon as I do, and of course I'll post my progress along the way.
Flanny
21 October 2007
A Septic System teaching me about Raw
Whether you're raw, vegan, or s.a.d., a proper place to store the waste is essential. My experience with this led me to some interesting observations about raw and non-raw which I'll extrapolate on in a few minutes.
Shortly after closing on the house, the toilet started backing up but working several hours after it backed up. We initially thought it was the septic tank needing pumped. I had tried locating the septic tank during "inspection" but they had given us only 10 calender days to do testing and none of the local companies could work with us during the allotted time. The owner had come out one morning and tried to locate the septic but didn't succeed and had covered hole number 3 of 4 that he had dug. We thought that odd but didn't get suspicious.
He had mentioned that hole #3 was the last place he uncovered the pipe so I decided to clean it back out and start my search for the septic there. What I found was a broken pipe. So now I'm struggling in the lesson of forgiveness.
I decided it would be easier to uncover the full 10 ft section and replace that rather than splicing. Once I got the 10ft section cut, the backed up sewage caught and transferred to the tank (I discovered the tank during the digging process so that was a blessing) I noticed roots hanging down in the pipe coming from the house to the part that had the clog in it. I decided it would be better in the long run to replace the entire pipe from house to tank so I had to uncover an additional 32 ft of pipe. After digging a grand total of 14ft long, 3ft deep, 2.5ft wide all by hand and through the pain of diverticulitis I decided to get a ditch witch and finish the rest by machine.
The ditch witch did the rest of the line in 2 hours and then I had to take time for my stomach to recouperate from the mechanical beast. That was when I drove to ATL to pick up the juggling friend. Yesterday I was back at it and now the pipe is completely uncovered. Here's a few pictures of new house and "the project" (Click each picture to enlarge) :
Hopefully I'll have the new pipe in today, we'll see. I noticed some very interesting things concerning diet, energy, etc. while doing the digging.
1) When I'm eating raw 2 things are happening. I'm hungrier the more active I am, BUT I'm getting a LOT more done, with less rest in between.
2) When I do the non-raw (healthy, no high-fructose garbage, etc) I'm not as hungry during the work and go longer without food BUT I'm winded MUCH faster and I have to rest longer and I get less done during the same amount of time of working.
While I've heard variations of this in the past the one thing I haven't heard or understood until now is that the actual work per minute while working is increased while doing pure raw. This is rather exciting and yet another incentive to continue my quest in becoming 100% Raw foods.
I'll be sure to share more as I continue my journey.
Flanny
Shortly after closing on the house, the toilet started backing up but working several hours after it backed up. We initially thought it was the septic tank needing pumped. I had tried locating the septic tank during "inspection" but they had given us only 10 calender days to do testing and none of the local companies could work with us during the allotted time. The owner had come out one morning and tried to locate the septic but didn't succeed and had covered hole number 3 of 4 that he had dug. We thought that odd but didn't get suspicious.
He had mentioned that hole #3 was the last place he uncovered the pipe so I decided to clean it back out and start my search for the septic there. What I found was a broken pipe. So now I'm struggling in the lesson of forgiveness.
I decided it would be easier to uncover the full 10 ft section and replace that rather than splicing. Once I got the 10ft section cut, the backed up sewage caught and transferred to the tank (I discovered the tank during the digging process so that was a blessing) I noticed roots hanging down in the pipe coming from the house to the part that had the clog in it. I decided it would be better in the long run to replace the entire pipe from house to tank so I had to uncover an additional 32 ft of pipe. After digging a grand total of 14ft long, 3ft deep, 2.5ft wide all by hand and through the pain of diverticulitis I decided to get a ditch witch and finish the rest by machine.
The ditch witch did the rest of the line in 2 hours and then I had to take time for my stomach to recouperate from the mechanical beast. That was when I drove to ATL to pick up the juggling friend. Yesterday I was back at it and now the pipe is completely uncovered. Here's a few pictures of new house and "the project" (Click each picture to enlarge) :
Hopefully I'll have the new pipe in today, we'll see. I noticed some very interesting things concerning diet, energy, etc. while doing the digging.
1) When I'm eating raw 2 things are happening. I'm hungrier the more active I am, BUT I'm getting a LOT more done, with less rest in between.
2) When I do the non-raw (healthy, no high-fructose garbage, etc) I'm not as hungry during the work and go longer without food BUT I'm winded MUCH faster and I have to rest longer and I get less done during the same amount of time of working.
While I've heard variations of this in the past the one thing I haven't heard or understood until now is that the actual work per minute while working is increased while doing pure raw. This is rather exciting and yet another incentive to continue my quest in becoming 100% Raw foods.
I'll be sure to share more as I continue my journey.
Flanny
19 October 2007
More raw incentive
Yesterday I drove 6.5 hours to the other side of ATL GA to pick up a fellow who had previously undergone surgery to replace 2 valves and repair 3 inches of his aorta. Any time they do surgery on the aorta it's a big deal.
This fellow was very active for years in his life but never followed any health maintenance plan. Much like most Americans his diet consisted largely of fast foods or easy access foods. Much of what is on the S.A.D.
During the trip we spoke of his ordeal and He felt that by following low sodium recommendations he was doing well. Yet he added over 12 tsp of mayo to his sandwich when we stopped for dinner. I drove him up towards Charlottsville VA to some friends' house where he will hopefully spend a few weeks in rest and recuperation. I didn't preach to him but what I saw was where I will be heading if I don't get my act together and improve my health and eating. Unless he makes drastic changes to his diet, which I'm hoping we can discuss civilly in the next week or two, I can't see him surviving another 10 years. I did share my (pale by comparison) heath issues related to long term bad eating and how I was trying to change to 100% raw foods but I didn't press it too much. Sadly, most dietitians will encourage a diet that isn't really that healthy for him and call it a good diet.
For those of you who pray please pray for this gentleman as losing him would be a great loss to the juggling profession and his friends. I pray his eyes are opened to the needs of the stewardship of his body.
This is yet another blunt example of what can happen to us all.
This fellow was very active for years in his life but never followed any health maintenance plan. Much like most Americans his diet consisted largely of fast foods or easy access foods. Much of what is on the S.A.D.
During the trip we spoke of his ordeal and He felt that by following low sodium recommendations he was doing well. Yet he added over 12 tsp of mayo to his sandwich when we stopped for dinner. I drove him up towards Charlottsville VA to some friends' house where he will hopefully spend a few weeks in rest and recuperation. I didn't preach to him but what I saw was where I will be heading if I don't get my act together and improve my health and eating. Unless he makes drastic changes to his diet, which I'm hoping we can discuss civilly in the next week or two, I can't see him surviving another 10 years. I did share my (pale by comparison) heath issues related to long term bad eating and how I was trying to change to 100% raw foods but I didn't press it too much. Sadly, most dietitians will encourage a diet that isn't really that healthy for him and call it a good diet.
For those of you who pray please pray for this gentleman as losing him would be a great loss to the juggling profession and his friends. I pray his eyes are opened to the needs of the stewardship of his body.
This is yet another blunt example of what can happen to us all.
15 October 2007
diverticulosa
For those of you who don't know. I broke down and went to the Dr. My side was miserable. turns out I have an infection brought about by diverticulosa (sp?). Basically I have the outpouching going on and it has caused an infection to start in my system. The infection comes from the non-raw portions of the food I've been eating most likely (I'm just guessing).
I was pleasantly surprised at the Dr. being pro raw, especially considering this was a gov't funded hospital system. Essentially he said medicines might help short term but the long term solution was dietary change with a heavy focus on high fiber fresh fruits and vegatables.
He said the problems I have shouldn't show up in a healthy man of my age and it shows him I started eating wrong from childhood. I shared my aspirations of going 100% rv with him and he actually encouraged me to continue with "proper nutritional wisdom".
I bought peaches, pears, celery, carrots, and a lot of other high fiber raw foods and have them in stock. I haven't eaten too much of them over the past few days but I am getting better. I'm thinking I should have taken the anti-biotic route but I am seeing improvement so I'll stick to the raw high fibers to push stuff through.
warning: Gross talk ahead
One nice thing that happened today was an increase in both output and its consistency. I haven't been eating much over the past several days and yet I unloaded as if I had been on a LONG journey collecting more and more along the way. I'm guessing the infection caused a type of "impaction" that is starting to let up. It's a slow road I know but it looks like I'm heading in the proper direction.
Some fun news. I've signed up on:
http://www.rawfreedomcommunity.info/forum/forum.php under
My nickname there is "Flanny". I'm hoping to get going there once I'm feeling better and can check my stuff daily. I also visit http://www.rawfoodsupport.com under the nick of "FUD". I try not to post there too much as a moderator there decided to have a heyday with the username. Evidently "FUD" is linked to some negative marketing campaign in the 80's. I still post questions there though because other people are pretty knowledgeable about a lot of stuff.
If any of you want to email me but can't do it here you can reach me at either of these places and I set it up to accept emails from users on the raw freedom community website (I haven't figured out how to set it up so that you can email me from here without publicly posting my email of course ;).
Thanks for all your support and well wishes. I'm still trying to determine the best route to take in advancing this transition but I need to do something soon though so stay tuned and I'll post it once I have it all determined :)
Flanny
I was pleasantly surprised at the Dr. being pro raw, especially considering this was a gov't funded hospital system. Essentially he said medicines might help short term but the long term solution was dietary change with a heavy focus on high fiber fresh fruits and vegatables.
He said the problems I have shouldn't show up in a healthy man of my age and it shows him I started eating wrong from childhood. I shared my aspirations of going 100% rv with him and he actually encouraged me to continue with "proper nutritional wisdom".
I bought peaches, pears, celery, carrots, and a lot of other high fiber raw foods and have them in stock. I haven't eaten too much of them over the past few days but I am getting better. I'm thinking I should have taken the anti-biotic route but I am seeing improvement so I'll stick to the raw high fibers to push stuff through.
warning: Gross talk ahead
One nice thing that happened today was an increase in both output and its consistency. I haven't been eating much over the past several days and yet I unloaded as if I had been on a LONG journey collecting more and more along the way. I'm guessing the infection caused a type of "impaction" that is starting to let up. It's a slow road I know but it looks like I'm heading in the proper direction.
Some fun news. I've signed up on:
http://www.rawfreedomcommunity.info/forum/forum.php under
My nickname there is "Flanny". I'm hoping to get going there once I'm feeling better and can check my stuff daily. I also visit http://www.rawfoodsupport.com under the nick of "FUD". I try not to post there too much as a moderator there decided to have a heyday with the username. Evidently "FUD" is linked to some negative marketing campaign in the 80's. I still post questions there though because other people are pretty knowledgeable about a lot of stuff.
If any of you want to email me but can't do it here you can reach me at either of these places and I set it up to accept emails from users on the raw freedom community website (I haven't figured out how to set it up so that you can email me from here without publicly posting my email of course ;).
Thanks for all your support and well wishes. I'm still trying to determine the best route to take in advancing this transition but I need to do something soon though so stay tuned and I'll post it once I have it all determined :)
Flanny
10 October 2007
Another reminder why S.A.D. is, well sad
Warning: gross talk ahead.
Two days ago I bought some organic, all vegetable refried beans to use in my 30% that's not raw. I ate just a cup of them. Yesterday I was uncomfortable in my left side, right above my hip and extending into the midsection with excessive gas and low stool output compared to usual. Today I'm in pain and only having water come out in stool and constantly feel the need to do #2. I'm contemplating trying a couple days on that raw lemon and pepper drink thing if I can find it online to see if that helps. I know it flushes the system. I'm just worried it might be too rough on the system. We'll get it figured out I hope. On to good news.
Today we are officially the proud owners of a really old farmhouse, barn, and outbuildings on surrounding 4.643 acres! YES! I am so glad this thing is finally in writing :).
Now, once my bowels start acting properly again, I can get about living life again, by the grace of God. :).
I still haven't determined a regular blogging schedule as I want to be able to post a real plan for getting back on track with this transition. Thanks to everyone for your prayers and well wishes.
Flanny
Two days ago I bought some organic, all vegetable refried beans to use in my 30% that's not raw. I ate just a cup of them. Yesterday I was uncomfortable in my left side, right above my hip and extending into the midsection with excessive gas and low stool output compared to usual. Today I'm in pain and only having water come out in stool and constantly feel the need to do #2. I'm contemplating trying a couple days on that raw lemon and pepper drink thing if I can find it online to see if that helps. I know it flushes the system. I'm just worried it might be too rough on the system. We'll get it figured out I hope. On to good news.
Today we are officially the proud owners of a really old farmhouse, barn, and outbuildings on surrounding 4.643 acres! YES! I am so glad this thing is finally in writing :).
Now, once my bowels start acting properly again, I can get about living life again, by the grace of God. :).
I still haven't determined a regular blogging schedule as I want to be able to post a real plan for getting back on track with this transition. Thanks to everyone for your prayers and well wishes.
Flanny
08 October 2007
I'm BACK!!!!!
Hello all. It's been a while since I've had any kind of regular internet access. I've been having friends check emails etc. for me. For those of you who don't know I've been "camping" for about 6 months now I believe it's been while looking for land/house/etc. I haven't been able to do raw as much as I've wanted and I've failed quite a few times. However I am still trying and I am still doing the vegan friendly foods :).
Now the good news!!!! :). We finally have a place to call our own! YES! Thank you all for your well wishes, your prayers, and thoughts of concern for our well being. I do believe we have been blessed by you. We finally found an old farm house just off the blue ridge parkway in Virginia on 4.6 acres, complete with a barn, spring house, root cellar, storage sheds and even an old out-house. Can you believe it? We do have in door plumbing though so we won't freeze our tooshies doing midnight winter "compost" deposits :p.
The house has a lot of work to be done on it but everyone is SOO happy with it. I'm especially happy because there's a farmers market just a couple miles down the road and the root cellar looks to be the kind that I can store carrots, etc. in long term. I know living foods are the best but I do like to have food that can last at least a week so I don't have to shop daily. The root cellar gives me a place that fruits and veggies will "stay" longer.
Now that I'm back I will be getting back into the swing of working towards the 100% RV lifestyle. I haven't been able to stay more than 70% these past few months. I will have to build a garage/storage building so I can move our stuff out of storage and over here and still keep it out of the house while I renovate and remodel :). I'm happy on several fronts though because now we have phone and internet and I can get back to building up my online business also.
The next few weeks will be busy busy busy! I'm hoping to find some pen pals who will want to write/chat online a couple times a week so I can have the support system to make this transition to 100%. I don't know how long it will take but I WILL succeed, By the Grace of God of course :).
The broken bones are healing up nicely but causing occasional aches. I have lost girth but don't have a scale to stand on yet. I'm just glad to be back where I have a means to interact with others who are taking on this lifestyle as well.
Please please please let me know if you read this and if you know of any places for raw fooders to chat. I still have the one website book marked but the few times I was able to get online access to post questions with them no one answered my questions so I guess I wasn't giving enough of a full time presence for their liking. I don't know. I still want to chat with other raw fooders and I still want to give and receive support.
I'll try to figure out a regular blogging schedule and post it in my next post.
Thanks for reading :) I hope to hear from as many of you as possible.
Flanny
Now the good news!!!! :). We finally have a place to call our own! YES! Thank you all for your well wishes, your prayers, and thoughts of concern for our well being. I do believe we have been blessed by you. We finally found an old farm house just off the blue ridge parkway in Virginia on 4.6 acres, complete with a barn, spring house, root cellar, storage sheds and even an old out-house. Can you believe it? We do have in door plumbing though so we won't freeze our tooshies doing midnight winter "compost" deposits :p.
The house has a lot of work to be done on it but everyone is SOO happy with it. I'm especially happy because there's a farmers market just a couple miles down the road and the root cellar looks to be the kind that I can store carrots, etc. in long term. I know living foods are the best but I do like to have food that can last at least a week so I don't have to shop daily. The root cellar gives me a place that fruits and veggies will "stay" longer.
Now that I'm back I will be getting back into the swing of working towards the 100% RV lifestyle. I haven't been able to stay more than 70% these past few months. I will have to build a garage/storage building so I can move our stuff out of storage and over here and still keep it out of the house while I renovate and remodel :). I'm happy on several fronts though because now we have phone and internet and I can get back to building up my online business also.
The next few weeks will be busy busy busy! I'm hoping to find some pen pals who will want to write/chat online a couple times a week so I can have the support system to make this transition to 100%. I don't know how long it will take but I WILL succeed, By the Grace of God of course :).
The broken bones are healing up nicely but causing occasional aches. I have lost girth but don't have a scale to stand on yet. I'm just glad to be back where I have a means to interact with others who are taking on this lifestyle as well.
Please please please let me know if you read this and if you know of any places for raw fooders to chat. I still have the one website book marked but the few times I was able to get online access to post questions with them no one answered my questions so I guess I wasn't giving enough of a full time presence for their liking. I don't know. I still want to chat with other raw fooders and I still want to give and receive support.
I'll try to figure out a regular blogging schedule and post it in my next post.
Thanks for reading :) I hope to hear from as many of you as possible.
Flanny
09 July 2007
Update on 09 July 2007
Hello all.
Hello to all who've posted here and are being such a great support to me. Thanks for your comments. I am very grateful for your support.
It's been a while since I've had good internet access. I don't even have regular phone access. Evidently Cingular (now the new AT&T) doesn't have as great a service area as they want us to believe.
I've been having friends check emails for me and snail mail me the important ones, etc.
Ok on to the nitty gritty. What have I been doing these past seven or so weeks? Juggling in the mountains! I've even improved my club routine and almost qualified 3 balls in each hand (separately)! For you serious numbers jugglers I'm sure that's a joke but for me it's an accomplishment.
On the down side I fractured my right knee, broke a bone in the right hand, and bruised the right collar bone (long story, happened just before the road trip and we found out after we started the trip) but I'm starting to get to where I can walk ok again. I'm supposed to have a brace on the right hand but it seems to hurt worse with the brace so I've been icing it several times a day and continuing to juggle.
We're in Virginia now, still in the mountains and still without internet and still juggling ;). I JUST got a library card at the county library (big deal there since I didn't have an in state license and I'm over 17) so I can quickly make posts on their system (they don't have wireless access).
I haven't been able to access the calorie calculator so I don't know what percentages have been what but here's what I've been doing. Generally fresh fruit for breakfast, a big salad for lunch and then very small portions of beans and some type of starch for dinner, usually wild rice (sun dried, unprocessed). Recently I added green smoothies for breakfast. It's a very simple recipe. I stuff the blender not quite 1/2 full with kale (literally stuffed tight), add a banana and a peach, water and ice. It makes about half a blender full. Peaches are in season here so I'm able to buy 1/2 a bushel for 9 bucks. Blackberries and raspberries are ripening also so I've been picking those as I can. The leg makes it a bit tough but I get through ok. Blueberries are starting to turn also.
Current weight is 270. Not a lot of loss but considering my current physical activity level outside of juggling I'm not surprised. I wouldn't be surprised if I haven't been getting the percentage raw that I want either. I'm programming a calorie counter I can use off line but I'm having trouble finding all the nutritional info I need for the database. (I'll have to cut this short so I can get some info on it)
I did get "Combat Conditioning" by Matt Furey. As soon as my leg and hand can handle it I'm going to start the exercises. I'm really pleased with the book. He didn't spend several chapters trying to sell his book or the ideas in it. He took 1 and 3/4 pages to tell his life story, 2 pages to address questions that were raised after the first edition of his book and then right into the exercises. He explains them clearly and concisely with plenty of pictures for visuals. After all the exercises are provided he then maps out sample work out routines and explains them. He doesn't get really heavy into arguing over diets, etc. He basically says to stay away from starchy or white foods (I'm distilling it here of course). I don't have to worry about clashing philosophies. It's simply an exercise book designed to increase strength, agility, and overall fitness.
I better go now. I want to post on one board to say hi to folks and then look up some nutritional info on different foods for my offline calculator. I'll try to get by the library frequently now that I have a card.
Hello to all who've posted here and are being such a great support to me. Thanks for your comments. I am very grateful for your support.
It's been a while since I've had good internet access. I don't even have regular phone access. Evidently Cingular (now the new AT&T) doesn't have as great a service area as they want us to believe.
I've been having friends check emails for me and snail mail me the important ones, etc.
Ok on to the nitty gritty. What have I been doing these past seven or so weeks? Juggling in the mountains! I've even improved my club routine and almost qualified 3 balls in each hand (separately)! For you serious numbers jugglers I'm sure that's a joke but for me it's an accomplishment.
On the down side I fractured my right knee, broke a bone in the right hand, and bruised the right collar bone (long story, happened just before the road trip and we found out after we started the trip) but I'm starting to get to where I can walk ok again. I'm supposed to have a brace on the right hand but it seems to hurt worse with the brace so I've been icing it several times a day and continuing to juggle.
We're in Virginia now, still in the mountains and still without internet and still juggling ;). I JUST got a library card at the county library (big deal there since I didn't have an in state license and I'm over 17) so I can quickly make posts on their system (they don't have wireless access).
I haven't been able to access the calorie calculator so I don't know what percentages have been what but here's what I've been doing. Generally fresh fruit for breakfast, a big salad for lunch and then very small portions of beans and some type of starch for dinner, usually wild rice (sun dried, unprocessed). Recently I added green smoothies for breakfast. It's a very simple recipe. I stuff the blender not quite 1/2 full with kale (literally stuffed tight), add a banana and a peach, water and ice. It makes about half a blender full. Peaches are in season here so I'm able to buy 1/2 a bushel for 9 bucks. Blackberries and raspberries are ripening also so I've been picking those as I can. The leg makes it a bit tough but I get through ok. Blueberries are starting to turn also.
Current weight is 270. Not a lot of loss but considering my current physical activity level outside of juggling I'm not surprised. I wouldn't be surprised if I haven't been getting the percentage raw that I want either. I'm programming a calorie counter I can use off line but I'm having trouble finding all the nutritional info I need for the database. (I'll have to cut this short so I can get some info on it)
I did get "Combat Conditioning" by Matt Furey. As soon as my leg and hand can handle it I'm going to start the exercises. I'm really pleased with the book. He didn't spend several chapters trying to sell his book or the ideas in it. He took 1 and 3/4 pages to tell his life story, 2 pages to address questions that were raised after the first edition of his book and then right into the exercises. He explains them clearly and concisely with plenty of pictures for visuals. After all the exercises are provided he then maps out sample work out routines and explains them. He doesn't get really heavy into arguing over diets, etc. He basically says to stay away from starchy or white foods (I'm distilling it here of course). I don't have to worry about clashing philosophies. It's simply an exercise book designed to increase strength, agility, and overall fitness.
I better go now. I want to post on one board to say hi to folks and then look up some nutritional info on different foods for my offline calculator. I'll try to get by the library frequently now that I have a card.
26 May 2007
week 2 on the road
Week 2 on the road. Making life interesting. The good news is we found a campground that doesn't charge per person AND it has wifi. The bad news is they only like pets with no vocal chords. We're big into rescuing abandoned domesticated animals and currently have 4 rescued dogs and 2 rescued cats. The two newest additions haven't learned not to bark every time the wind blows yet and I'm not into using shock collars to teach. I prefer a more tedious approach that takes longer but doesn't cause harm or distress to the animal. Unfortunately this campground doesn't understand so we'll probably be moving after memorial day weekend.
I'm sitting outside right now getting ready to practice juggling and thought I'd try the wifi. Linux and madwifi rock. We got the trailer set up late last night and I had been up 2 days straight with more un expected trailer repairs and then drove to this camp ground. God bless the wife. She kept me in conversation to keep me from falling asleep at the wheel. I got the trailer leveled last night and fell asleep under the awning. I woke up this morning, covered with a sleeping bag and grass patterns indented on my face.
Yesterday we tried a family breakfast at Shoney's They charged full buffet price just to get access to the fruit bar. I'm sure it wasn't organic but it wasn't cooked. The family was disappointed so I think we're staying away from restaurants for a while. I used some beans and rice again this week and gained 6lbs by the next morning. The water weight must be correlating with the cooked foods. Even small amounts of veggies cause water weight to get packed on. I purged the water weight with 3 full bunches of celery and several trips to the rest room. I didn't even lose a full pound this week if the scale is accurate. Today I'm going to view the local farm markets so I have my options mapped out. I have to visit stores daily in order to get fresh fruits and raw veggies. I think I'm going to try another 10 to 14 days pure raw again to see if it causes any more weight loss. I'm going to coordinate it with the local markets and my food options and make sure I have enough calories to keep me going. I'll post more after today once I get my plan written out.
I'm sitting outside right now getting ready to practice juggling and thought I'd try the wifi. Linux and madwifi rock. We got the trailer set up late last night and I had been up 2 days straight with more un expected trailer repairs and then drove to this camp ground. God bless the wife. She kept me in conversation to keep me from falling asleep at the wheel. I got the trailer leveled last night and fell asleep under the awning. I woke up this morning, covered with a sleeping bag and grass patterns indented on my face.
Yesterday we tried a family breakfast at Shoney's They charged full buffet price just to get access to the fruit bar. I'm sure it wasn't organic but it wasn't cooked. The family was disappointed so I think we're staying away from restaurants for a while. I used some beans and rice again this week and gained 6lbs by the next morning. The water weight must be correlating with the cooked foods. Even small amounts of veggies cause water weight to get packed on. I purged the water weight with 3 full bunches of celery and several trips to the rest room. I didn't even lose a full pound this week if the scale is accurate. Today I'm going to view the local farm markets so I have my options mapped out. I have to visit stores daily in order to get fresh fruits and raw veggies. I think I'm going to try another 10 to 14 days pure raw again to see if it causes any more weight loss. I'm going to coordinate it with the local markets and my food options and make sure I have enough calories to keep me going. I'll post more after today once I get my plan written out.
20 May 2007
One more week gone
Wow what a week. We thought we were going to get a good start on the house/hunting/vacation. My wife has a temp downloading all the juggling eq orders and giving them to us via phone and she's been busy making juggling stuff all wee.k. I've had a few phone calls for straight razor restorations and sharpenings I'm going to go ahead and accept. Plus I'm going to start roadside and in mall juggling shows for "donations". The current local stores are receptive to allowing it as long as I don't do fire.
Our plan was to start in the adirondack mountains then cruise down to the blue ridge and then the smokies and eventually wonder over to the Rockies, etc. We figured about a month or two collecting realty books and checking out houses while spending a week or 2 at state parks in areas that really strike our fancy.
We got started out ok but then the fridge went out on the RV, almost 1400 to replace and a 2 day delay. Fortunately the RV place we found was able to get one without too much hassle. Then we were on our way again. Or so we thought. Traveling down the road, suddenly there's a monstrous grinding noise coming from the front passenger tire. We stop at a shop, 4 bearings, and a seal with other parts suffering heat damage. There went another 600 bucks and 3 days while waiting on the parts to come from out of state. I'm going to get a repair manual and check to see what might need to be serviced on the rear tires. I'm beginning to think the shop back home never did the checks I paid them for.
Suddenly all the money we've got in reserve is dwindling and I'm worried. Thankfully the Juggling EQ orders are pouring in almost faster than we can get them done. I'm glad we kept out all the gear. makes for cramped riding in the van but at least we have a means for making money. I should be able to rake in 50 to 100 bucks an evening, some times more, for doing street performances. Some people find it humorous to watch a fat man juggling. I kept out the unicycle too so I'll start practicing that. That should pull a few laughs
Speaking of fat. I've actually been hitting the bananas and avocados pretty heavy this week. It's hard smelling french fries, pastries, and chips in the van while trying to be good. The smell of burgers and chicken have actually been turning my stomach. Maybe there's hope for me yet. I kept a diary of daily foods and will be inputting them into fitday as soon as I can. We have only one laptop and everyone wants to check email and send notes to friends so I'm having to try to hurry here. I'm sure I hit well over 2000 calories every day though. Probably close to 3000 if not over. It will be interesting to see.
278. I lost 1 whole pound this week. I'm going to check local book stores for some body weight fitness training exercise books, probably just break down and get the combat conditioning. I don't have to read his philosophies to take advantage of his exercise techniques. I'll be glad when we start staying in an area that will give me some good hiking options. I've designed a "beer belly halter" that should take the weight of my gut off my back. I just need to find some 2 inch or 3 inch webbing and then I'll sew it up and try it out. That will hopefully help me do some serious hiking and exercising. Once I get it sewn I'll try to take some pictures of it. Maybe someone else can benefit from it.
I'll have to get off the pc now. Family members are clamoring for internet time. I'll try to post again as soon as I can. Hopefully I'll be able to put this past weeks food intake online before too long.
Our plan was to start in the adirondack mountains then cruise down to the blue ridge and then the smokies and eventually wonder over to the Rockies, etc. We figured about a month or two collecting realty books and checking out houses while spending a week or 2 at state parks in areas that really strike our fancy.
We got started out ok but then the fridge went out on the RV, almost 1400 to replace and a 2 day delay. Fortunately the RV place we found was able to get one without too much hassle. Then we were on our way again. Or so we thought. Traveling down the road, suddenly there's a monstrous grinding noise coming from the front passenger tire. We stop at a shop, 4 bearings, and a seal with other parts suffering heat damage. There went another 600 bucks and 3 days while waiting on the parts to come from out of state. I'm going to get a repair manual and check to see what might need to be serviced on the rear tires. I'm beginning to think the shop back home never did the checks I paid them for.
Suddenly all the money we've got in reserve is dwindling and I'm worried. Thankfully the Juggling EQ orders are pouring in almost faster than we can get them done. I'm glad we kept out all the gear. makes for cramped riding in the van but at least we have a means for making money. I should be able to rake in 50 to 100 bucks an evening, some times more, for doing street performances. Some people find it humorous to watch a fat man juggling. I kept out the unicycle too so I'll start practicing that. That should pull a few laughs
Speaking of fat. I've actually been hitting the bananas and avocados pretty heavy this week. It's hard smelling french fries, pastries, and chips in the van while trying to be good. The smell of burgers and chicken have actually been turning my stomach. Maybe there's hope for me yet. I kept a diary of daily foods and will be inputting them into fitday as soon as I can. We have only one laptop and everyone wants to check email and send notes to friends so I'm having to try to hurry here. I'm sure I hit well over 2000 calories every day though. Probably close to 3000 if not over. It will be interesting to see.
278. I lost 1 whole pound this week. I'm going to check local book stores for some body weight fitness training exercise books, probably just break down and get the combat conditioning. I don't have to read his philosophies to take advantage of his exercise techniques. I'll be glad when we start staying in an area that will give me some good hiking options. I've designed a "beer belly halter" that should take the weight of my gut off my back. I just need to find some 2 inch or 3 inch webbing and then I'll sew it up and try it out. That will hopefully help me do some serious hiking and exercising. Once I get it sewn I'll try to take some pictures of it. Maybe someone else can benefit from it.
I'll have to get off the pc now. Family members are clamoring for internet time. I'll try to post again as soon as I can. Hopefully I'll be able to put this past weeks food intake online before too long.
10 May 2007
Day 14
Weee! We're actually getting done with the house. Unfortunately that means no regular internet soon. To be safe I weighed in tonight. I'll post that here tonight. No pictures though, I think I'm going to post pictures once a month from now on ;). Especially since the weight loss will be much less per week during the transitioning phase I'm trying. Also I'm planning out a vigorous workout schedule. Well, it will be vigorous for me ;). I'm hoping that the workout will cause some toning effects. We'll see what happens.
Today was a hectic day, I've been steam cleaning carpents, prepping the camper trailer for travel, running to different stores, and trying to get juggling in on top of it all. I still haven't done even 1/4 the work my wife did today. God bless her I don't know how she keeps going in all this.
In the midst of all this I found that the fridge in the camper isn't working. Now I have to take it in to a service center and sit while they diagnose it. With all this steam cleaning we're sleeping in the camper so the house can set undisturbed and allow the carpet to dry. I'll probably be packing the computer up tomorrow and breaking out the lap top. I don't know what time the phone company is going to cut service but both phone and internet will be out when they do.
This weekend at least, I'll likely not be posting daily, unless I can get to a library or some other place with free wireless. I was going to buy access through a major truck stop chain for a month but I found that none of the chains that offer internet are in the areas that I'll be driving. I'll be certain to log as often as possible and at the very least once a week. I'll post weekly updates on Friday or there abouts ( depending on when and how I get internet access). House hunting is going to be fun. What's going to be even more interesting is how the family has it planned for me to grill out and I've sworn off animal products. We'll see how that goes over.
Intake for today (click to enlarge):
Still not good calaries but better. I'm going to start borrowing some smoothie recipes from Valerie Winters blog site and incorporating those into my morning routine. Hopefully that will help.
Ok weight for this week? 279. 4 Only 6 lbs. What's funny is that I lost 4 lbs during the weekend, but after I switched to a transition plan and had the vegan burro the weight loss slowed.
I should also mention that the same day I had a vegan burro I had experienced an allergy attack earlier in the day and took allergy meds and albuterol. I got really thirsty and by the end of the day I had packed on some water weight. I took it off by eating a lot of celery but it makes me wonder what effects common meds have on water retention. The goal is to give up my meds eventually but this allergy attack was pretty bad.
Ok, I'll plan on posting by Friday of next week. Hopefully I can report some good weight loss. I'm not going to sugar coat things though if I screw up or if I don't get into a really good transition diet and it shows on the weight I'll report that then re-evaluate my plan. After all, this is for me. I'm just hoping to give someone else encouragement through it all.
Take care.
Today was a hectic day, I've been steam cleaning carpents, prepping the camper trailer for travel, running to different stores, and trying to get juggling in on top of it all. I still haven't done even 1/4 the work my wife did today. God bless her I don't know how she keeps going in all this.
In the midst of all this I found that the fridge in the camper isn't working. Now I have to take it in to a service center and sit while they diagnose it. With all this steam cleaning we're sleeping in the camper so the house can set undisturbed and allow the carpet to dry. I'll probably be packing the computer up tomorrow and breaking out the lap top. I don't know what time the phone company is going to cut service but both phone and internet will be out when they do.
This weekend at least, I'll likely not be posting daily, unless I can get to a library or some other place with free wireless. I was going to buy access through a major truck stop chain for a month but I found that none of the chains that offer internet are in the areas that I'll be driving. I'll be certain to log as often as possible and at the very least once a week. I'll post weekly updates on Friday or there abouts ( depending on when and how I get internet access). House hunting is going to be fun. What's going to be even more interesting is how the family has it planned for me to grill out and I've sworn off animal products. We'll see how that goes over.
Intake for today (click to enlarge):
Still not good calaries but better. I'm going to start borrowing some smoothie recipes from Valerie Winters blog site and incorporating those into my morning routine. Hopefully that will help.
Ok weight for this week? 279. 4 Only 6 lbs. What's funny is that I lost 4 lbs during the weekend, but after I switched to a transition plan and had the vegan burro the weight loss slowed.
I should also mention that the same day I had a vegan burro I had experienced an allergy attack earlier in the day and took allergy meds and albuterol. I got really thirsty and by the end of the day I had packed on some water weight. I took it off by eating a lot of celery but it makes me wonder what effects common meds have on water retention. The goal is to give up my meds eventually but this allergy attack was pretty bad.
Ok, I'll plan on posting by Friday of next week. Hopefully I can report some good weight loss. I'm not going to sugar coat things though if I screw up or if I don't get into a really good transition diet and it shows on the weight I'll report that then re-evaluate my plan. After all, this is for me. I'm just hoping to give someone else encouragement through it all.
Take care.
09 May 2007
Day 13
Today I felt much better. I was able to enjoy the fruit and benefit from its energy. I bought a couple watermelons from the store, one sugar baby and one large melon. They're supposedly organic but I don't see how this early in the season. Maybe they came from some place with a warmer climate. All I know is they were delicious :).
I'm getting into the Fit for Life book atm and think I'll switch back and forth between that and "eat to live" in order to keep myself from skipping too much. I'm going to be doing some reading after I finish this post.
Today was a good day, a busy one but good. I didn't feel weak all day. I started the day with a smoothie. I'm being lazy and not customizing the smoothie for fit day so I itemized the ingredients on the chart. I had several smoothies today so don't be surprised at the ingredients quantities. I also ate watermelon and grapes. I was busy steam cleaning carpets today so that plus the juggling should count for some exercise I think ;).
I'm trying to find some good exercise books. I like the idea of using one's body weight for exercises and the best book for that on the market is supposedly "combat conditioning". The trouble is that it's geared toward martial arts, boxing, etc. and I'm not much into aggressive things. I posted on the one board requesting info on exercise books but no responses yet. The one website I originally looked at that is by a fruitarian didn't have any actual exercises that I could find on there, just a forum to post what you do, no real program. That was kind of discouraging because the owner of the site obviously trains extensively.
The one thing I didn't like today was that thoughts of how I could "cheat" on the diet kept popping into my head. I kept telling myself. "This is for me, why is it desirable to cheat myself? I wouldn't cheat someone else, why am I going to cheat myself?" I'm not doing this for you guys or even my wife, though I'm sure she would appreciate it if I lost all this weight and became more like the day we got married, I'm doing it so I can enjoy life. I do hope all of you benefit from reading my posts about my journey but if I cheat, no one loses but me. How stupid is that? Cheating on my transition would be ludicrous. I got perfect satisfaction from the vegan friendly foods I incorporated and I expect a greater flexibility once I start implimenting ideas from the two books I'm currently reading. This will enable me to do well while on the road house hunting. Remember everyone, when you cheat, you're the one who loses. Thankfully I'm doing good though. No real cravings, just unhealthy ideas for when the cravings hit. I plan to keep that from happening though.
We're finally making headway on the house. I think we actually might be completely packed and ready to leave by sometime this weekend. It's a good thing too because one of the neigbors wants to buy it and fix it up.
Then we get the fun of looking for a new home to fix up for ourselves. Then I can get back to selling things full time on ebay and making a decent living again. :)
Daily intake (click to enlarge):
Still not up to where I like but better than previous. Partly because I was so busy today I didn't get a chance to eat properly, that's no excuse though I have GOT to do better so I don't get into a weakened state again like I did before. It's just hard to get the calories up when there's so few choices of high calorie foods
I don't know if I'll do 100% raw tomorrow or not. I'm waiting to see if I get any ideas from the books this early into them. If I get to the point where I start having cravings I can always make another burro I suppose.
See you tomorrow.
I'm getting into the Fit for Life book atm and think I'll switch back and forth between that and "eat to live" in order to keep myself from skipping too much. I'm going to be doing some reading after I finish this post.
Today was a good day, a busy one but good. I didn't feel weak all day. I started the day with a smoothie. I'm being lazy and not customizing the smoothie for fit day so I itemized the ingredients on the chart. I had several smoothies today so don't be surprised at the ingredients quantities. I also ate watermelon and grapes. I was busy steam cleaning carpets today so that plus the juggling should count for some exercise I think ;).
I'm trying to find some good exercise books. I like the idea of using one's body weight for exercises and the best book for that on the market is supposedly "combat conditioning". The trouble is that it's geared toward martial arts, boxing, etc. and I'm not much into aggressive things. I posted on the one board requesting info on exercise books but no responses yet. The one website I originally looked at that is by a fruitarian didn't have any actual exercises that I could find on there, just a forum to post what you do, no real program. That was kind of discouraging because the owner of the site obviously trains extensively.
The one thing I didn't like today was that thoughts of how I could "cheat" on the diet kept popping into my head. I kept telling myself. "This is for me, why is it desirable to cheat myself? I wouldn't cheat someone else, why am I going to cheat myself?" I'm not doing this for you guys or even my wife, though I'm sure she would appreciate it if I lost all this weight and became more like the day we got married, I'm doing it so I can enjoy life. I do hope all of you benefit from reading my posts about my journey but if I cheat, no one loses but me. How stupid is that? Cheating on my transition would be ludicrous. I got perfect satisfaction from the vegan friendly foods I incorporated and I expect a greater flexibility once I start implimenting ideas from the two books I'm currently reading. This will enable me to do well while on the road house hunting. Remember everyone, when you cheat, you're the one who loses. Thankfully I'm doing good though. No real cravings, just unhealthy ideas for when the cravings hit. I plan to keep that from happening though.
We're finally making headway on the house. I think we actually might be completely packed and ready to leave by sometime this weekend. It's a good thing too because one of the neigbors wants to buy it and fix it up.
Then we get the fun of looking for a new home to fix up for ourselves. Then I can get back to selling things full time on ebay and making a decent living again. :)
Daily intake (click to enlarge):
Still not up to where I like but better than previous. Partly because I was so busy today I didn't get a chance to eat properly, that's no excuse though I have GOT to do better so I don't get into a weakened state again like I did before. It's just hard to get the calories up when there's so few choices of high calorie foods
I don't know if I'll do 100% raw tomorrow or not. I'm waiting to see if I get any ideas from the books this early into them. If I get to the point where I start having cravings I can always make another burro I suppose.
See you tomorrow.
08 May 2007
Day 12
Hello everyone, My name is Flanny and I'm addicted to cooked foods. (everyone in unison now) "HI FLANNY".
Wow, today has been an interesting day. I picked up "Fit for Life" and "Eat to Live" from the library today. I'm going to read "Fit for Life" first. I may change them up and read one then the other little bits at a time but currently I'm going to try to get through one book first, then the other.
I changed my plan and decided to do a transition into raw and made my own burro. Homemade raw salsa, rice, beans with a smidge of olive oil, jalapeño. It made a world of difference. I feel bad for not doing 100% raw but I want to back down to a level that's not getting me tired of the fruits I need to eat. I feel good enough to do all raw tomorrow. I'm hoping it will carry me through the next day as well. I was really able to eat more raw calories today. Nothing made me sick. The little bit of change made a world of difference. I'm not good at transitioning so I'm hoping I can get some decent support from the support site(s) I've found. I've currently got a membership on only one, waiting on the admins on another board to approve my membership on another. And that brings me back to my opening line.
The board I'm on seems to have a fair number of people who are on some type of spiritual or emotional journey. It's more than just getting healthy and stopping a dependency on animal products for them. These few folks seem to think Everything has a hidden meaning and every non-positive thing is a symptom or sign of something else.
So, what's my "hidden" meaning behind my journey into raw and my detox and all that? Pretty simple and uninspiring. I'm addicted to cooked foods. Period. People don't like to admit that cooked foods are addictive. People don't like it when they see stories of bad detox reactions or negative experiences while converting to raw foods. Unfortunately not every single story is happy and sweet. Not everyone has had a perfect life that prevented them from ingesting all the harmful perservatives, chemicals, toxins, and poisons that are perfectly acceptable in the SAD field of nutrition. Some have more toxins than others. Some will have harsher detoxes than others.
For me, I'm addicted to cooked foods. I've loved preparing them, serving them, and eating them for years now and I'm trying to kick the habit. I'm not going to gloss over my experiences, and my experiences don't reflect any deep, hidden issues other than an addictive personality trying to kick a bad habit that happens to be cooked foods. I need a support system in place to help me kick cooked foods like alcholics and drug addicts have when kicking the habit. One that will let me share my feelings and experiences, both negative and positive.
I do hope anyone reading this who has similar issues with cooked foods can receive encouragement in knowing, You're not alone.
Here's my intake for the day, including the non-raw (click to enlarge):
I'm particularly pleased with the increase of raw foods today. Even though I had a non-raw Item, I was able to ENJOY eating all the other stuff again. I didn't want to customize my burro as a food so I just listed all the ingredients separately. I forgot the salsa ingredients though I just realized. The tomato, onion, extra jalapeño, and lemon are probably an extra 50 to 100 calories at least.
I'm sure the types of foods I include to reduce the detox will change as I continue reading these books. Reading a book is difficult for me so the going will likely be slow. My new plan is to take a few weeks and then start slowly ramping up the percentages of raw while tightening the variety and quantity of non-raw. Once I get to 100% raw I'll set a goal of a week. then 2 more weeks, then a month, etc. Slowly building up my goals as my resolve strengthens.
See you tomorrow.
Wow, today has been an interesting day. I picked up "Fit for Life" and "Eat to Live" from the library today. I'm going to read "Fit for Life" first. I may change them up and read one then the other little bits at a time but currently I'm going to try to get through one book first, then the other.
I changed my plan and decided to do a transition into raw and made my own burro. Homemade raw salsa, rice, beans with a smidge of olive oil, jalapeño. It made a world of difference. I feel bad for not doing 100% raw but I want to back down to a level that's not getting me tired of the fruits I need to eat. I feel good enough to do all raw tomorrow. I'm hoping it will carry me through the next day as well. I was really able to eat more raw calories today. Nothing made me sick. The little bit of change made a world of difference. I'm not good at transitioning so I'm hoping I can get some decent support from the support site(s) I've found. I've currently got a membership on only one, waiting on the admins on another board to approve my membership on another. And that brings me back to my opening line.
The board I'm on seems to have a fair number of people who are on some type of spiritual or emotional journey. It's more than just getting healthy and stopping a dependency on animal products for them. These few folks seem to think Everything has a hidden meaning and every non-positive thing is a symptom or sign of something else.
So, what's my "hidden" meaning behind my journey into raw and my detox and all that? Pretty simple and uninspiring. I'm addicted to cooked foods. Period. People don't like to admit that cooked foods are addictive. People don't like it when they see stories of bad detox reactions or negative experiences while converting to raw foods. Unfortunately not every single story is happy and sweet. Not everyone has had a perfect life that prevented them from ingesting all the harmful perservatives, chemicals, toxins, and poisons that are perfectly acceptable in the SAD field of nutrition. Some have more toxins than others. Some will have harsher detoxes than others.
For me, I'm addicted to cooked foods. I've loved preparing them, serving them, and eating them for years now and I'm trying to kick the habit. I'm not going to gloss over my experiences, and my experiences don't reflect any deep, hidden issues other than an addictive personality trying to kick a bad habit that happens to be cooked foods. I need a support system in place to help me kick cooked foods like alcholics and drug addicts have when kicking the habit. One that will let me share my feelings and experiences, both negative and positive.
I do hope anyone reading this who has similar issues with cooked foods can receive encouragement in knowing, You're not alone.
Here's my intake for the day, including the non-raw (click to enlarge):
I'm particularly pleased with the increase of raw foods today. Even though I had a non-raw Item, I was able to ENJOY eating all the other stuff again. I didn't want to customize my burro as a food so I just listed all the ingredients separately. I forgot the salsa ingredients though I just realized. The tomato, onion, extra jalapeño, and lemon are probably an extra 50 to 100 calories at least.
I'm sure the types of foods I include to reduce the detox will change as I continue reading these books. Reading a book is difficult for me so the going will likely be slow. My new plan is to take a few weeks and then start slowly ramping up the percentages of raw while tightening the variety and quantity of non-raw. Once I get to 100% raw I'll set a goal of a week. then 2 more weeks, then a month, etc. Slowly building up my goals as my resolve strengthens.
See you tomorrow.
07 May 2007
Day 11
Today has been a real doozy. I'm feeling like I'm failing. Every time I try to eat some fruit I feel like I'm going to puke. The foods that normally help with the cravings aren't even palatable right now. I haven't even made 500 calories and it's the end of the day. \
I've been reading another bloggers blog and I think I may follow her lead and drop to something like 80% raw or possibly even 75% and start working my way up from there. I've already changed the title of the blog to "going raw for health" in the event that I change my plan. I'm going to ask the other blogger what her plan is and see if it sounds like something I can use for an example. I've already lost way too much weight to quit but I'm going nuts. I may icorporate simple grains or find a recipe for veggie burgers that I can do myself that won't be (too) unhealthy (hah, healthy cooked food, now there's an oxymoron). Whatever I do I want to keep it vegan based and stay away from any potential animal products.
If I do this I expect my weight loss slow up dramatically. I expect the detox to either slow down or stop. Especially if any of the foods I incorporate have preservatives. I'm going to try to avoid anything too processed so hopefully that won't be an issue. I want to do this for health though and not just weight loss. Also, if I take this approach it will open up some options while we're moving and don't have as many resources available to us.
Here's today's daily intake (click to enlarge):
Like I said it's pathetic. I can't guarantee I won't eat something else but I don't have rice in the house atm and all our legumes are packed with the other foods and would be a pain to get out. I'm not too keen on the gagging reflex so if I do eat something else I may have to break down and get something healthy vegan from the store to fix. I just hope I can do properly and stay way from oils as well. I'm not forcing myself to though just yet if I do this.
On an unrelated note, I almost feel sorry for that moderator that gave me such a hard time on that board. I can't believe how many emails and messages I've gotten where people have a poor opinion of him. Evidently a lot of people think he's got some serious issues. I'll have to start praying for him. I feel badly now about the whole incident.
I'll let you know tomorrow what I decide to do and how.
edit:
I reserved "fit for life" and "eat to live" online from the local library. I'm going tomorrow to pick them up.
I forgot to add that I was having very bad diarrhea all day today. Hopefully that will clear up soon.
I've been reading another bloggers blog and I think I may follow her lead and drop to something like 80% raw or possibly even 75% and start working my way up from there. I've already changed the title of the blog to "going raw for health" in the event that I change my plan. I'm going to ask the other blogger what her plan is and see if it sounds like something I can use for an example. I've already lost way too much weight to quit but I'm going nuts. I may icorporate simple grains or find a recipe for veggie burgers that I can do myself that won't be (too) unhealthy (hah, healthy cooked food, now there's an oxymoron). Whatever I do I want to keep it vegan based and stay away from any potential animal products.
If I do this I expect my weight loss slow up dramatically. I expect the detox to either slow down or stop. Especially if any of the foods I incorporate have preservatives. I'm going to try to avoid anything too processed so hopefully that won't be an issue. I want to do this for health though and not just weight loss. Also, if I take this approach it will open up some options while we're moving and don't have as many resources available to us.
Here's today's daily intake (click to enlarge):
Like I said it's pathetic. I can't guarantee I won't eat something else but I don't have rice in the house atm and all our legumes are packed with the other foods and would be a pain to get out. I'm not too keen on the gagging reflex so if I do eat something else I may have to break down and get something healthy vegan from the store to fix. I just hope I can do properly and stay way from oils as well. I'm not forcing myself to though just yet if I do this.
On an unrelated note, I almost feel sorry for that moderator that gave me such a hard time on that board. I can't believe how many emails and messages I've gotten where people have a poor opinion of him. Evidently a lot of people think he's got some serious issues. I'll have to start praying for him. I feel badly now about the whole incident.
I'll let you know tomorrow what I decide to do and how.
edit:
I reserved "fit for life" and "eat to live" online from the local library. I'm going tomorrow to pick them up.
I forgot to add that I was having very bad diarrhea all day today. Hopefully that will clear up soon.
06 May 2007
Day 10
This is a late post but I figured I'd better get this in here before I went to bed. We went out tonight. Man I hated that, sitting there eating food I took with me while everyone else had all the stuff that drove me crazy. I survived though. I didn't get as much food in today because I was really busy so when we went out I took some brazil nuts with me. High in fat but at least it helped keep the cravings from smelling the smells down to a tolerable level. I can't do that again anytime soon though. Going out to neighbors was even more bearable than going out to a public place. At least at the neighbors the cooking aromas stopped after a while. In a public place it's cooking constantly and the aromas never fade.
I think part of my problem is that for the past 6 years life has thrown a lot of curve balls this way and one of the few pleasures I had was cooking and eating. I enjoy the cooking part as much as the eating. The creativity process has always been awesome in my mind. That's why this change is excessively hard for me. I'm "giving up" two pleasures when I don't really have that many to begin with. I truly want to continue this though because my family is taking notice of the difference already. I've never gotten these results with so little physical effort before.
Daily intake (click to enlarge):
It wasn't much and most of the calories came from the brazil nuts (high fats unfortunately) but at least its raw and it got me through another day. The local store has been out of bagged oranges for a while now. I need to get some more and force myself to eat some. I'm getting burned out on all the foods available to me. It's like eating card board no matter what I do. My body is craving cooked foods and won't give up.
Physically the difference is amazing. I'm still dropping large amounts of weight (won't say what until the weigh in next friday though :p). Today while putting things in storage I rested slightly more frequently but substantially less amounts of time per rest so I ended up resting less over all. As soon as we were done loading boxes into storage, within minutes I was fine. Not even winded.
I've been abstaining from allergy meds and asthma meds also. I've had a few episodes when the cat gets near where my eyes watered up or I sneezed several times but nothing like the allergy symptoms I've had in the past. There's also been a couple times my lungs started threatening to need an inhaler but I waited them out and the attack never progressed. no major wheezing just the very beginning stages and it quit after a while.
My heart rate is down and my blood pressure is good. I used to suffer all day long with IBS symptoms and with this the only time I had any bowel spasms was when I ate that onion and garlic straight. Even then it just flushed stuff out of my system and within minutes I was fine. Usually I'm suffering for quite a bit.
There are benefits. I've just got to hang on to that and keep going. I'm obsessing over food though. I think I've posted it before. Food has been my drug and this is one major withdrawal :p.
See you tomorrow.
I think part of my problem is that for the past 6 years life has thrown a lot of curve balls this way and one of the few pleasures I had was cooking and eating. I enjoy the cooking part as much as the eating. The creativity process has always been awesome in my mind. That's why this change is excessively hard for me. I'm "giving up" two pleasures when I don't really have that many to begin with. I truly want to continue this though because my family is taking notice of the difference already. I've never gotten these results with so little physical effort before.
Daily intake (click to enlarge):
It wasn't much and most of the calories came from the brazil nuts (high fats unfortunately) but at least its raw and it got me through another day. The local store has been out of bagged oranges for a while now. I need to get some more and force myself to eat some. I'm getting burned out on all the foods available to me. It's like eating card board no matter what I do. My body is craving cooked foods and won't give up.
Physically the difference is amazing. I'm still dropping large amounts of weight (won't say what until the weigh in next friday though :p). Today while putting things in storage I rested slightly more frequently but substantially less amounts of time per rest so I ended up resting less over all. As soon as we were done loading boxes into storage, within minutes I was fine. Not even winded.
I've been abstaining from allergy meds and asthma meds also. I've had a few episodes when the cat gets near where my eyes watered up or I sneezed several times but nothing like the allergy symptoms I've had in the past. There's also been a couple times my lungs started threatening to need an inhaler but I waited them out and the attack never progressed. no major wheezing just the very beginning stages and it quit after a while.
My heart rate is down and my blood pressure is good. I used to suffer all day long with IBS symptoms and with this the only time I had any bowel spasms was when I ate that onion and garlic straight. Even then it just flushed stuff out of my system and within minutes I was fine. Usually I'm suffering for quite a bit.
There are benefits. I've just got to hang on to that and keep going. I'm obsessing over food though. I think I've posted it before. Food has been my drug and this is one major withdrawal :p.
See you tomorrow.
05 May 2007
Day 9
Finally at the end of Day 9. Some things are getting better some things are being bad. The bitter taste in my mouth is less. Now I have a burned sensation. As if my tongue is on the better side of healing from a burn but still tender. My eyes are feeling fevered also, as if heat or something is exuding from them. Plus I've been having a waxy feeling/taste in my mouth in addition to the bitter. I haven't been able to get my calories up without relying too much on bananas or high fats. I'm getting discouraged. I can't get myself to eat oranges at the moment. I try them but they don't taste good so I don't finish them.
I soaked some sunflower seeds last night for a pate in case the cravings got bad today. They did. I started out in the morning ok but by the end of the day I was going nuts. I drove over to the sister-in-law's today and delivered a bunch of stuff to them so there was several hours with no food. I immediately cracked some raw brazil nuts and scarfed them down. I don't like doing that because most nuts are really high in fat and I want to keep my fat intake low, but the fat helps curb the cravings to a more manageable level
I'm feeling like I've been on a fast for a week and my body wants to break it. Unfortunately none of the fruits or foods I'm eating on the diet is giving my body that refreshing feeling of having broken the fast as I'm eating them.
When I would fast before going raw I could wolf down apple sauce from the can and feel refreshed in minutes. Of course that has refined sugar in it also.
Physical activity was limited again today. I did get more jugging sessions in. The shoulder screams while I'm doing it but is fine very quickly afterwards.
My hearing doesn't seem to be improving, like some people claim but my sense of smell has become extremely sensitive. I smelled chemicals on strawberries at the store. It was wild. I was smelling them to see how fresh they smelled and I could actually smell a chemical compound on them. I went over to the organic section and sniffed the strawberries there and didn't get the smell, but those smelled old.
Here's my daily intake, again, pretty low. I seem to keep hitting it close to the 1k a day mark. I've really got to find a tasty way to get that up higher, at the very least to 1500 per day, so I'm not wanting to revert back to the meats.
I feel the need to post my beliefs in life here as it pertains to the lifestyle I'm trying to adapt to. Personally, I think we should all step away from animal products because of the health ramifications. As the current dominant species on the planet I feel we're responsible for the rest of the planet, including keeping populations of other animals up as needed, and down as needed. I believe in the conservation and preservation of the earth. I don't think any single animal is more important than the whole.
When it comes to individual survival, however. I am like most. If I have to choose between another animal and myself, and I have the ability to enforce that choice, I will be the one to survive. I would not give my life for a chicken, or bear, or dog. If I'm forced into survival mode I won't starve myself just because there's a lack of non-animal foods around if I have animal resources.
I know this offends many. I'm sorry it does but I'm not here to please the unpleasable or to conform to the intolerant. I think the jainist semi-monk I knew said it best. If I feel guilty for taking the life of the banana I can apologize to it and thank it for providing me sustenance. Likewise, if I feel guilty for using an animal for sustenance out of necessity. If I were in the wilderness snow with a hungry mountain lion. I know he'd resort to me if he had to. I have no problems returning the sentiment, except perhaps stomaching the bad taste.
However, I'm not in survival mode so I don't have to depend on the lifeforce of a 5 sense organism for my existence. I can adequately and properly sustain myself on the beautiful energy provided by one sense organisms such as fruit, veggies, etc.
Well that's my detox rant for the day. I hope someone is feeling comfort knowing they are not the only ones that experience this kind of turmoil on detox and transition. I know I made it unusually hard for myself by choosing to go cold turkey but I've never succeeded in "sliding into" any change of habits. Something this major is no exception.
God bless and see you tomorrow.
I soaked some sunflower seeds last night for a pate in case the cravings got bad today. They did. I started out in the morning ok but by the end of the day I was going nuts. I drove over to the sister-in-law's today and delivered a bunch of stuff to them so there was several hours with no food. I immediately cracked some raw brazil nuts and scarfed them down. I don't like doing that because most nuts are really high in fat and I want to keep my fat intake low, but the fat helps curb the cravings to a more manageable level
I'm feeling like I've been on a fast for a week and my body wants to break it. Unfortunately none of the fruits or foods I'm eating on the diet is giving my body that refreshing feeling of having broken the fast as I'm eating them.
When I would fast before going raw I could wolf down apple sauce from the can and feel refreshed in minutes. Of course that has refined sugar in it also.
Physical activity was limited again today. I did get more jugging sessions in. The shoulder screams while I'm doing it but is fine very quickly afterwards.
My hearing doesn't seem to be improving, like some people claim but my sense of smell has become extremely sensitive. I smelled chemicals on strawberries at the store. It was wild. I was smelling them to see how fresh they smelled and I could actually smell a chemical compound on them. I went over to the organic section and sniffed the strawberries there and didn't get the smell, but those smelled old.
Here's my daily intake, again, pretty low. I seem to keep hitting it close to the 1k a day mark. I've really got to find a tasty way to get that up higher, at the very least to 1500 per day, so I'm not wanting to revert back to the meats.
I feel the need to post my beliefs in life here as it pertains to the lifestyle I'm trying to adapt to. Personally, I think we should all step away from animal products because of the health ramifications. As the current dominant species on the planet I feel we're responsible for the rest of the planet, including keeping populations of other animals up as needed, and down as needed. I believe in the conservation and preservation of the earth. I don't think any single animal is more important than the whole.
When it comes to individual survival, however. I am like most. If I have to choose between another animal and myself, and I have the ability to enforce that choice, I will be the one to survive. I would not give my life for a chicken, or bear, or dog. If I'm forced into survival mode I won't starve myself just because there's a lack of non-animal foods around if I have animal resources.
I know this offends many. I'm sorry it does but I'm not here to please the unpleasable or to conform to the intolerant. I think the jainist semi-monk I knew said it best. If I feel guilty for taking the life of the banana I can apologize to it and thank it for providing me sustenance. Likewise, if I feel guilty for using an animal for sustenance out of necessity. If I were in the wilderness snow with a hungry mountain lion. I know he'd resort to me if he had to. I have no problems returning the sentiment, except perhaps stomaching the bad taste.
However, I'm not in survival mode so I don't have to depend on the lifeforce of a 5 sense organism for my existence. I can adequately and properly sustain myself on the beautiful energy provided by one sense organisms such as fruit, veggies, etc.
Well that's my detox rant for the day. I hope someone is feeling comfort knowing they are not the only ones that experience this kind of turmoil on detox and transition. I know I made it unusually hard for myself by choosing to go cold turkey but I've never succeeded in "sliding into" any change of habits. Something this major is no exception.
God bless and see you tomorrow.
04 May 2007
Day 8
Today is weigh day. Before I go into it all I have to say that much if it is likely water weight. Especially considering my low physical activity this week. I'm sure you'll be surprised. I'll posts the pics here in a sec with weights, etc. But first my post and vent on the days events:
Man talk about a bad day. I haven't felt like eating all day and have had to prompt myself to nibble here and there. Then I read this article about how a vegan family was convicted in the death of their infant child because they only fed him soy milk. That really depressed me and I felt the need to discuss it so I went to the main raw food support site that I visit and posted about how cases like this give such good life practices a bad name. I gave a warning that I am pro breast feeding which might offend some people who think that the vegan lifestyle is anti-breast feeding but man did I get slammed. Some guy, who's apparently (now I know) a moderator on the site decided my post was not good for the board. That wasn't a problem and didn't bother me but 1) he did it publicly while slamming my name with some derogatory acronym. Had I known the existence of this acronym before I'd have chosen a different user name. I sent him a PM about it and he didn't respond so I posted publicly and he continued his attack of me, and even compared the use of my name to fecal matter. That really got me upset. Then he goes on about how vegans don't have to tolerate non-vegans on that board if they don't want to, so basically what he was doing as far as I can see is venting his dislike for me because I posted a request for info on non-vegan raw food support forums so that I could express my frustrations at my cravings without offending anyone at the forum. I didn't realize that not being a vegan in philosophy was offense enough at that forum and he had put me on his personal black list already.
Another poster felt I was being melodramatic so I guess I'm not allowed to react to personal attacks on that forum. It's really discouraging. I found that group looking up "raw food support groups" and didn't realize initially that it was a vegan only board. Based on the posts I saw on the board after I found that out I assumed that there were both Vegan and non-vegan raw foodists there but thought I'd post a message asking for websites for other support groups to post non-vegan cravings on so that I wouldn't offend the vegans. Was that a mistake! This guy seems to be holding it against me! I've signed up for one other raw food board that someone else gave me but I still haven't heard back on my membership yet so I currently don't have any other place to go to try to get support and this guy obviously doesn't like me because I'm not a professed vegan. I just don't know why they didn't call it "raw vegan" support instead of "raw food" support. It's not "raw food" support. They don't like ANYTHING that isn't "vegan". I thought breastfeeding would be something vegans consider to be natural and therefore acceptable to the vegan philosophy but I guess not. I really get disgusted at all this "intolerance". Vegans have preached kindness and tolerance to me all my life and yet don't seem to practice it.
I feel really discouraged because of it all. I told my wife I should probably find a lifestyle that won't condemn me for not blindly buying into their philosophical views right off the bat. She said I was probably overly emotional due to the detox. She's probably right. It doesn't help that a "support" group is being so intolerant about it though. Where's the support in that? What's even more discouraging is that this fellow seems to be pretty knowledgable about the 80/10/10 info and practices and COULD have been a major support had he not chosen to be such a jerk.
Well that's my "poor me" for today :p. Sorry for boring you with my boring whines. No cheese here though. I'm giving up animal products. ;).
HOKAY on to the fun stuff :). Here's my daily intake. I had to force myself though. I really haven't felt like eating AT ALL. I probably should have taken a day off from eating the way I feel.
It's not much, I know. I probably shouldn't have eaten the raw pistachios last night without soaking them. Major mistake I think.
Physical activity, loading the trailer to take things to storage and 2 more juggling sessions. The shoulder is still screaming but not as bad as it was.
Ok and NOW the big question. WEIGHT! How much did I lose this week. Like I said, don't be shocked. I think much of it is water weight. starting weight 305.8 lbs. Weight after week 1 was 285.2 lbs. I lost 20 lbs! can you believe it? Even though I know it's probably a lot of water weight I'm still stoked. I hope I can continue to lose at least 3 to 5 lbs a week while incorporating good physical activity.
I'm going to post before and after with my shirt on. I was going to post some starting shots and week one shots of my bare stomach (face smudged out) but I'm still not comfortable with that. I have them available for those who ask and I feel comfortable sharing. Right now that would be primarily those who've responded to my blog and also the blogs I'm following because I don't get the impression from reading their blogs that I need to worry about anything with them. :). There's a few folks from the support group I'd share with also:
Left is start right is week 1. What you can notice on the first set of pics (rather disgusting) is how the fat is starting to droop and hang down more. It's loosening up and thinning out. On the Right you can see how my stomach was distended like a basket ball and how it's starting to "deflate". This is a good thing but now I'll have to wear my pants over my pot belly as most my t-shirts won't cover the droop. The bad thing in these pictures is that I didn't turn properly in the second set of pics on the start photo so you can't get a really good comparison of how my stomach went down.
I do promise you though in the bare belly shots you can see a noticeable difference! the edges of the stomach are less, the pooch is slightly higher up. Looking at them make me realize there is hope for me and give me courage to continue.
I'm going to go now. I don't feel AS depressed as when I started this but I feel better. I wish I had a sponsor I could call and vent to. Even if this IS detox messing with my emotions I'd like someone who would be a REAL support group.
Ah well, It will get better soon, it always does. See you tomorrow.
Man talk about a bad day. I haven't felt like eating all day and have had to prompt myself to nibble here and there. Then I read this article about how a vegan family was convicted in the death of their infant child because they only fed him soy milk. That really depressed me and I felt the need to discuss it so I went to the main raw food support site that I visit and posted about how cases like this give such good life practices a bad name. I gave a warning that I am pro breast feeding which might offend some people who think that the vegan lifestyle is anti-breast feeding but man did I get slammed. Some guy, who's apparently (now I know) a moderator on the site decided my post was not good for the board. That wasn't a problem and didn't bother me but 1) he did it publicly while slamming my name with some derogatory acronym. Had I known the existence of this acronym before I'd have chosen a different user name. I sent him a PM about it and he didn't respond so I posted publicly and he continued his attack of me, and even compared the use of my name to fecal matter. That really got me upset. Then he goes on about how vegans don't have to tolerate non-vegans on that board if they don't want to, so basically what he was doing as far as I can see is venting his dislike for me because I posted a request for info on non-vegan raw food support forums so that I could express my frustrations at my cravings without offending anyone at the forum. I didn't realize that not being a vegan in philosophy was offense enough at that forum and he had put me on his personal black list already.
Another poster felt I was being melodramatic so I guess I'm not allowed to react to personal attacks on that forum. It's really discouraging. I found that group looking up "raw food support groups" and didn't realize initially that it was a vegan only board. Based on the posts I saw on the board after I found that out I assumed that there were both Vegan and non-vegan raw foodists there but thought I'd post a message asking for websites for other support groups to post non-vegan cravings on so that I wouldn't offend the vegans. Was that a mistake! This guy seems to be holding it against me! I've signed up for one other raw food board that someone else gave me but I still haven't heard back on my membership yet so I currently don't have any other place to go to try to get support and this guy obviously doesn't like me because I'm not a professed vegan. I just don't know why they didn't call it "raw vegan" support instead of "raw food" support. It's not "raw food" support. They don't like ANYTHING that isn't "vegan". I thought breastfeeding would be something vegans consider to be natural and therefore acceptable to the vegan philosophy but I guess not. I really get disgusted at all this "intolerance". Vegans have preached kindness and tolerance to me all my life and yet don't seem to practice it.
I feel really discouraged because of it all. I told my wife I should probably find a lifestyle that won't condemn me for not blindly buying into their philosophical views right off the bat. She said I was probably overly emotional due to the detox. She's probably right. It doesn't help that a "support" group is being so intolerant about it though. Where's the support in that? What's even more discouraging is that this fellow seems to be pretty knowledgable about the 80/10/10 info and practices and COULD have been a major support had he not chosen to be such a jerk.
Well that's my "poor me" for today :p. Sorry for boring you with my boring whines. No cheese here though. I'm giving up animal products. ;).
HOKAY on to the fun stuff :). Here's my daily intake. I had to force myself though. I really haven't felt like eating AT ALL. I probably should have taken a day off from eating the way I feel.It's not much, I know. I probably shouldn't have eaten the raw pistachios last night without soaking them. Major mistake I think.
Physical activity, loading the trailer to take things to storage and 2 more juggling sessions. The shoulder is still screaming but not as bad as it was.
Ok and NOW the big question. WEIGHT! How much did I lose this week. Like I said, don't be shocked. I think much of it is water weight. starting weight 305.8 lbs. Weight after week 1 was 285.2 lbs. I lost 20 lbs! can you believe it? Even though I know it's probably a lot of water weight I'm still stoked. I hope I can continue to lose at least 3 to 5 lbs a week while incorporating good physical activity.
I'm going to post before and after with my shirt on. I was going to post some starting shots and week one shots of my bare stomach (face smudged out) but I'm still not comfortable with that. I have them available for those who ask and I feel comfortable sharing. Right now that would be primarily those who've responded to my blog and also the blogs I'm following because I don't get the impression from reading their blogs that I need to worry about anything with them. :). There's a few folks from the support group I'd share with also:
Left is start right is week 1. What you can notice on the first set of pics (rather disgusting) is how the fat is starting to droop and hang down more. It's loosening up and thinning out. On the Right you can see how my stomach was distended like a basket ball and how it's starting to "deflate". This is a good thing but now I'll have to wear my pants over my pot belly as most my t-shirts won't cover the droop. The bad thing in these pictures is that I didn't turn properly in the second set of pics on the start photo so you can't get a really good comparison of how my stomach went down.I do promise you though in the bare belly shots you can see a noticeable difference! the edges of the stomach are less, the pooch is slightly higher up. Looking at them make me realize there is hope for me and give me courage to continue.
I'm going to go now. I don't feel AS depressed as when I started this but I feel better. I wish I had a sponsor I could call and vent to. Even if this IS detox messing with my emotions I'd like someone who would be a REAL support group.
Ah well, It will get better soon, it always does. See you tomorrow.
03 May 2007
Day 7
Wow talk about an odd day! Today started out good. I wasn't hungry but I had 2 oranges because I knew things would likely be hectic. They were. I got a service call in the middle of all my running around and didn't get back to eat until after 5:00. I still wasn't that hungry. Then I felt the urge to purge (BM). Within minutes of a massive reduction in colon contents I was starving. I started eating but within minutes I was craving burgers, pizza, bbq chicken, Cod, Haddock, fettuchini and everything bad for my body. It was really wild. I felt like a bottom feeding scavenger fish, only able to think of eating.
I had made the decision to try to avoid raw nuts as long as possible because I want to eventually stay as close to "living" foods as possible, fresh off the plant or as soon there after as possible. Nuts generally don't provide much opportunity for that as they have to dry out first, sort of a dying out in preparation for a rebirth.
After the cravings set in I decided to make the long haul to Trader Joe's and Wild Oate's and see what exotic fruits I could find. No durian of course, the closest they had to variety was some humongous papaya. I shopped some of the local stores and we found raw pistachios, raw brazil nuts, raw sunflower seeds, etc. After checking to make sure none of them were pasteurized or heated during any process of getting them from the plant to the bag I bought a few and decided I'll try to make a nut pate and a nut dressing. It's going to be interesting because I've only been using lemons and not vinegar. I should see if I can find some fresh lime. I forgot that at the store. Trader Joe's is honestly marking their almonds as "pasteurized" and not raw. I'm grateful for that. I hope the FDA doesn't try to screw us out of any other raw foods.
At the store I also bought some blackberries, strawberries, green onions, kale, and other raw items that looked tasty. (a few bulbs of garlic of course. I ate the blackberries on the way home. I managed to get a few pistachios done and eaten. I know I was supposed to soak them first to open up the nutrients but I wanted something meaty and that was the closest I could come on short notice. I'm soaking a few pistachios, brazil nuts, and sunflower seeds atm. I want to make small quantities of a paste and roll them in the greens with green onions and tomatoes and see how that tastes. I may use some portabella caps and make a "sandwich" if the pate taste good. sunflower seed pate usually tastes pretty good. I got some button shrooms too I'm soaking and will add into the nut pate as an experiment.
I don't want to go to dehydrated foods or too much gourmet stuff just to keep the legalism of raw. I want to do this for health so I need to stay as close to living foods as possible. I may need to break down and do some gourmet raw foods until the cravings drop down to a less insane level. I think I'm going to try some sprouts soon though. After I get this move going in a good direction. I might try some buckwheat in a jar though since that's fairly easy.
Physical activity:
I managed to do two 15 minute sessions of juggling. My shoulder screamed in agony but I was able to get it done. The shoulder doesn't have any residual pain so maybe it was just from me babying it so much for so long. Plus I had all the walking I did for the service call and shopping but today was mostly a sitting day unfortunately. I'll try to be a hard worker tomorrow.
Here's my dietary intake (click the pic):
Much less than yesterday but still not as bad as other days. Once I figure out the calories per table spoon of these nut pastes I'm contemplating maybe I'll be able to get my calories up a little more a couple days a week. At least until I find proper fruits to fill the gaps.
TOMORROW IS WEIGH DAY. I think you'll be surprised. I'll post pics also. See you tomorrow :).
I had made the decision to try to avoid raw nuts as long as possible because I want to eventually stay as close to "living" foods as possible, fresh off the plant or as soon there after as possible. Nuts generally don't provide much opportunity for that as they have to dry out first, sort of a dying out in preparation for a rebirth.
After the cravings set in I decided to make the long haul to Trader Joe's and Wild Oate's and see what exotic fruits I could find. No durian of course, the closest they had to variety was some humongous papaya. I shopped some of the local stores and we found raw pistachios, raw brazil nuts, raw sunflower seeds, etc. After checking to make sure none of them were pasteurized or heated during any process of getting them from the plant to the bag I bought a few and decided I'll try to make a nut pate and a nut dressing. It's going to be interesting because I've only been using lemons and not vinegar. I should see if I can find some fresh lime. I forgot that at the store. Trader Joe's is honestly marking their almonds as "pasteurized" and not raw. I'm grateful for that. I hope the FDA doesn't try to screw us out of any other raw foods.
At the store I also bought some blackberries, strawberries, green onions, kale, and other raw items that looked tasty. (a few bulbs of garlic of course. I ate the blackberries on the way home. I managed to get a few pistachios done and eaten. I know I was supposed to soak them first to open up the nutrients but I wanted something meaty and that was the closest I could come on short notice. I'm soaking a few pistachios, brazil nuts, and sunflower seeds atm. I want to make small quantities of a paste and roll them in the greens with green onions and tomatoes and see how that tastes. I may use some portabella caps and make a "sandwich" if the pate taste good. sunflower seed pate usually tastes pretty good. I got some button shrooms too I'm soaking and will add into the nut pate as an experiment.
I don't want to go to dehydrated foods or too much gourmet stuff just to keep the legalism of raw. I want to do this for health so I need to stay as close to living foods as possible. I may need to break down and do some gourmet raw foods until the cravings drop down to a less insane level. I think I'm going to try some sprouts soon though. After I get this move going in a good direction. I might try some buckwheat in a jar though since that's fairly easy.
Physical activity:
I managed to do two 15 minute sessions of juggling. My shoulder screamed in agony but I was able to get it done. The shoulder doesn't have any residual pain so maybe it was just from me babying it so much for so long. Plus I had all the walking I did for the service call and shopping but today was mostly a sitting day unfortunately. I'll try to be a hard worker tomorrow.
Here's my dietary intake (click the pic):
Much less than yesterday but still not as bad as other days. Once I figure out the calories per table spoon of these nut pastes I'm contemplating maybe I'll be able to get my calories up a little more a couple days a week. At least until I find proper fruits to fill the gaps.
TOMORROW IS WEIGH DAY. I think you'll be surprised. I'll post pics also. See you tomorrow :).
02 May 2007
Day 6
Hurray! I made it through the night! AND THE NEXT DAY JUST ABOUT TOO WOOHOO! Last night was horrible. I was hungry. My stomach was cramping. I felt like a druggie on cold turkey withdrawal! The Guacamole helped a lot. I didn't eat all of it so I finished it off today, it was still pretty green though starting to discolor some but still better than letting it waste. I added last night's splurge onto today's calories so the actual day time intake shown in the pic is off by about 300 calories or so. Click the pic to see the big image.
This morning I ate several oranges and then went to the store for fresh bananas and ate several of those. It was a good thing too. I spent over half the day at the garage waiting on them to finish my oil change and tire rotation. When I got there they told me an hour so I decided to wait. 4 hours later they were still "finishing up". If I had my jack and tools I'd have done it myself for about 1/3 the cost. As soon as I got out of the garage I ate a couple more bananas then for supper I finished up the guacamole with a large helping of broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower. Then I wolfed down a few dates and drank a couple glasses of water. After about an hour I felt pretty good. Calorie intake for the day light hours would probably be more around 1700 calories. Still low but much better than it has been and I'm actually "satisfied". Not stuffed but "satisfied". Then again, when I'd eat pizzas and burgers I could wolf down 4 double whoppers, a large fry, and a coke, or a 16" supreme extra meat, with garlic dipping sauce and a large coke. That actually sounds pretty disgusting now.
Emotionally I felt pretty stable today. Not too much irritation. The fevered sensation is still in my mouth but not quite as bad. The metalic bitter taste is still there but less. Physically I wasn't as tired as I have been the past few days and after dinner felt quite energetic. Physical activity was limited to driving around and then walking to the shops and shopping while waiting on the car. several hours of shop walk.
I think I'm going to do a big breakfast of bananas, oranges, and dates, and then spend tomorrow working hard and have a moderate lunch. I'll probably have to get more avocados though for guacamole, some peppers and onion too, and maybe a fresh bulb of garlic. The garlic has been calling my name all week for some reason. I don't have to worry about the family getting too close though. Garlic breath works wonders for maintaining your space ;). A bit too well, they won't even give me a hug :*(. Ah well. It will settle down eventually.
I hate ear plugs but I'm thinking of putting them in again. I don't know why I've been sleeping extra light on this diet. The smallest sound has been waking me, even through the ear plugs some times. and I'm hard of hearing.
One thing I noticed today was my sense of smell becoming more sensitive. At the store I could smell the window cleaner over 20 feet away. At home I smelled a new "citrus" air freshener within seconds of it being opened and I was in the next room. I could even smell the guacamole rather strong within seconds after opening it and guacamole usually doesn't have much of an aroma unless I accidentally get a pepper up your nose.
Currently I'm doing well and not as nuts as last night. The family had the same food for dinner my son cooked late last night and it actually smelled somewhat "rancid" to me as it was cooking. Not pleasant at all and almost repugnant.
That's day 6. I'll be back with more tomorrow. Day after tomorrow is weigh in time and time to post a couple pics. I'll look for the same shirt and take them in that just to see if there's any noticable difference with all that water weight gone.
This morning I ate several oranges and then went to the store for fresh bananas and ate several of those. It was a good thing too. I spent over half the day at the garage waiting on them to finish my oil change and tire rotation. When I got there they told me an hour so I decided to wait. 4 hours later they were still "finishing up". If I had my jack and tools I'd have done it myself for about 1/3 the cost. As soon as I got out of the garage I ate a couple more bananas then for supper I finished up the guacamole with a large helping of broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower. Then I wolfed down a few dates and drank a couple glasses of water. After about an hour I felt pretty good. Calorie intake for the day light hours would probably be more around 1700 calories. Still low but much better than it has been and I'm actually "satisfied". Not stuffed but "satisfied". Then again, when I'd eat pizzas and burgers I could wolf down 4 double whoppers, a large fry, and a coke, or a 16" supreme extra meat, with garlic dipping sauce and a large coke. That actually sounds pretty disgusting now.
Emotionally I felt pretty stable today. Not too much irritation. The fevered sensation is still in my mouth but not quite as bad. The metalic bitter taste is still there but less. Physically I wasn't as tired as I have been the past few days and after dinner felt quite energetic. Physical activity was limited to driving around and then walking to the shops and shopping while waiting on the car. several hours of shop walk.
I think I'm going to do a big breakfast of bananas, oranges, and dates, and then spend tomorrow working hard and have a moderate lunch. I'll probably have to get more avocados though for guacamole, some peppers and onion too, and maybe a fresh bulb of garlic. The garlic has been calling my name all week for some reason. I don't have to worry about the family getting too close though. Garlic breath works wonders for maintaining your space ;). A bit too well, they won't even give me a hug :*(. Ah well. It will settle down eventually.
I hate ear plugs but I'm thinking of putting them in again. I don't know why I've been sleeping extra light on this diet. The smallest sound has been waking me, even through the ear plugs some times. and I'm hard of hearing.
One thing I noticed today was my sense of smell becoming more sensitive. At the store I could smell the window cleaner over 20 feet away. At home I smelled a new "citrus" air freshener within seconds of it being opened and I was in the next room. I could even smell the guacamole rather strong within seconds after opening it and guacamole usually doesn't have much of an aroma unless I accidentally get a pepper up your nose.
Currently I'm doing well and not as nuts as last night. The family had the same food for dinner my son cooked late last night and it actually smelled somewhat "rancid" to me as it was cooking. Not pleasant at all and almost repugnant.
That's day 6. I'll be back with more tomorrow. Day after tomorrow is weigh in time and time to post a couple pics. I'll look for the same shirt and take them in that just to see if there's any noticable difference with all that water weight gone.
01 May 2007
Day 5
Today was a hectic day. I was busy trying to get my Linux notebook finished when I got several calls for computer service. Nice problem to have for a change. Unfortunately I allowed it to keep me from eating most of the day. I had 2 oranges and a medjool date in the a.m. but then didn't eat again until well into the afternoon. Talk about feeling crappy. I felt like I was someone's waste excrement fresh out of a tumultuous bowel spasm.
Enough bad graphics. Physically I felt pretty bad all day. That dull persisting headache is still going on. It will be interesting to see how long it lasts. The bitter taste hasn't been strong. Food flavers over power it but it's still there when I'm not eating anything. My mouth feels fevered also, hard to explain.
Here's a snapshot of today's daily intake. I'm not doing too well adding calories to help fight the hunger. I'm trying not to eat too many bananas or dates but I just may have to overload on the bananas. fresh oranges are hard to come by atm. I'd like to get a 50 lb bag of GOOD oranges and just chow down in the morning so I can have some sustenance in me to start the day right.
Emotionally I felt fine for most of the day, but during one service call I did notice I was getting irritated at the constant interruptions the customers' employees were causing. Normally I can handle this pretty well but I felt it reflecting in my voice. I'll have to watch that.
I keep putting off my trip though and I know I need to get ready for that. I'll start prepping the car for that tomorrow I guess. I'll also have to start researching "trip foods" to see what will keep all day in a car and be easy to locate once I'm at my destination.
I feel good right now though. I have my notebook ready for the trip now, completely windows free and totally wireless. Thank God for such blessings.
EDIT:
My son decided to cook late at night and the smells have driven me crazy. I'm sitting up right now trying to suppress the urge to cook some rice and veggies and oil them down.
I made gaucamole and ate a half cup of that with veggies and 3 more medjool dates. The cravings are better but still pretty bad. I'm actually having stomach cramps right now that remind me of withdrawal pains. If I make it through tonight I'm going to eat all the oranges I have left in the a.m. and go buy a large bunch of bananas and just eat heavy calories tomorrow. I'm not going to concern myself with balancing the calories like I've been trying to do. I'm just going to get fresh raw foods into my system in a caloric overload until I'm satisfied and not hungry. That's my plan anyways. I'll post tomorrow whether or not it worked.
Enough bad graphics. Physically I felt pretty bad all day. That dull persisting headache is still going on. It will be interesting to see how long it lasts. The bitter taste hasn't been strong. Food flavers over power it but it's still there when I'm not eating anything. My mouth feels fevered also, hard to explain.
Here's a snapshot of today's daily intake. I'm not doing too well adding calories to help fight the hunger. I'm trying not to eat too many bananas or dates but I just may have to overload on the bananas. fresh oranges are hard to come by atm. I'd like to get a 50 lb bag of GOOD oranges and just chow down in the morning so I can have some sustenance in me to start the day right.
Emotionally I felt fine for most of the day, but during one service call I did notice I was getting irritated at the constant interruptions the customers' employees were causing. Normally I can handle this pretty well but I felt it reflecting in my voice. I'll have to watch that.I keep putting off my trip though and I know I need to get ready for that. I'll start prepping the car for that tomorrow I guess. I'll also have to start researching "trip foods" to see what will keep all day in a car and be easy to locate once I'm at my destination.
I feel good right now though. I have my notebook ready for the trip now, completely windows free and totally wireless. Thank God for such blessings.
EDIT:
My son decided to cook late at night and the smells have driven me crazy. I'm sitting up right now trying to suppress the urge to cook some rice and veggies and oil them down.
I made gaucamole and ate a half cup of that with veggies and 3 more medjool dates. The cravings are better but still pretty bad. I'm actually having stomach cramps right now that remind me of withdrawal pains. If I make it through tonight I'm going to eat all the oranges I have left in the a.m. and go buy a large bunch of bananas and just eat heavy calories tomorrow. I'm not going to concern myself with balancing the calories like I've been trying to do. I'm just going to get fresh raw foods into my system in a caloric overload until I'm satisfied and not hungry. That's my plan anyways. I'll post tomorrow whether or not it worked.
30 April 2007
Day 4
Today is day 4. Physical activity was limited to picking up branches and limbs that fell from the trees during the wind storm so we could mow the yard, then of course sitting in front of a computer all day trying to do repairs.
The day started off bad to begin with. Didn't get to bed until after 1 a.m. due to working on the drivers for linux. I got the network card working, now I have to get the usb video camera to recognize as a storage device so I can transfer files from the video hd to the pc.
To make things worse the dog decided to serenade the house at 5:30. I didn't get her settled down until after 6. Then couldn't fall back asleep so I put in ear plugs and had a fitful nap for a couple more hours. I should have just stayed awake. I'm always better off to stay awake. I'm not sure if the dull headache is from the fitful sleep or the detox headaches or both.
Down to the nitty gritty. Emotionally I was tired and cranky all day (go figure ;). The interesting development is that we had to go out and have dinner at someone else's house. I packed a raw dinner and apologized while I was there. They were gracious about it. I was good. I didn't eat any of the cooked food. God knows I wanted to. They had this really beautiful looking cooked veggie rice dish with mushrooms, celery, broccoli, onions, grated carrots, and parsley in a "silk" sauce (lactose intolerance there) topped with soy sprouts and vegan "cheese" and baked to what looked like perfection. Even with my fare my cooked cravings were killing me. I resisted though. I'm emotionally drained from the mental battle but I over came! I won't be ready for another one of those experiences for a while though.
I can see from this dinner how so many can choose to "transition" into raw and at the very least use gourmet raw foods to do it with. If I thought I could get over the gourmet "raw" crutches I'd start making some flax crackers and sunflower seed pate. Unfortunately I'd get dependent on them and just have another problem to deal with in the long run.
Daily intake as listed below. Click to see the enlarged picture.
I've really got to find some larger fare for satisfaction and calories I'm relying too much on the dates to bump my calories up for the day. Our fruit section in this area is pretty much limited to oranges, apples, (currently) strawberries, grapefruit, withered kiwi, and different variants of the grapefruit with fancy names. I'd like to find a durian. I've heard those things are delicious but I can't find any around here at all.
I can't wait to get this move over and get into a new house so I can get my blenders out and try some green smoothies with fruit in them to see if they are as filling and satisfying as I've read.
I've got to get up early tomorrow to finish a network setup at a local company and then start planning my trip down south to look at houses again. This trip is going to be very interesting. Hopefully it won't be as bad as having to sit in a house full of cooked food smelling the aroma of the cooking and sitting there smiling while everyone else is digging into such sinfully tempting pots of misery. I truly am a food addict. I pray to God this lifestyle change delivers me. I'm tired of being miserable. I want to live and experience life!
The day started off bad to begin with. Didn't get to bed until after 1 a.m. due to working on the drivers for linux. I got the network card working, now I have to get the usb video camera to recognize as a storage device so I can transfer files from the video hd to the pc.
To make things worse the dog decided to serenade the house at 5:30. I didn't get her settled down until after 6. Then couldn't fall back asleep so I put in ear plugs and had a fitful nap for a couple more hours. I should have just stayed awake. I'm always better off to stay awake. I'm not sure if the dull headache is from the fitful sleep or the detox headaches or both.
Down to the nitty gritty. Emotionally I was tired and cranky all day (go figure ;). The interesting development is that we had to go out and have dinner at someone else's house. I packed a raw dinner and apologized while I was there. They were gracious about it. I was good. I didn't eat any of the cooked food. God knows I wanted to. They had this really beautiful looking cooked veggie rice dish with mushrooms, celery, broccoli, onions, grated carrots, and parsley in a "silk" sauce (lactose intolerance there) topped with soy sprouts and vegan "cheese" and baked to what looked like perfection. Even with my fare my cooked cravings were killing me. I resisted though. I'm emotionally drained from the mental battle but I over came! I won't be ready for another one of those experiences for a while though.
I can see from this dinner how so many can choose to "transition" into raw and at the very least use gourmet raw foods to do it with. If I thought I could get over the gourmet "raw" crutches I'd start making some flax crackers and sunflower seed pate. Unfortunately I'd get dependent on them and just have another problem to deal with in the long run.
Daily intake as listed below. Click to see the enlarged picture.
I've really got to find some larger fare for satisfaction and calories I'm relying too much on the dates to bump my calories up for the day. Our fruit section in this area is pretty much limited to oranges, apples, (currently) strawberries, grapefruit, withered kiwi, and different variants of the grapefruit with fancy names. I'd like to find a durian. I've heard those things are delicious but I can't find any around here at all.I can't wait to get this move over and get into a new house so I can get my blenders out and try some green smoothies with fruit in them to see if they are as filling and satisfying as I've read.
I've got to get up early tomorrow to finish a network setup at a local company and then start planning my trip down south to look at houses again. This trip is going to be very interesting. Hopefully it won't be as bad as having to sit in a house full of cooked food smelling the aroma of the cooking and sitting there smiling while everyone else is digging into such sinfully tempting pots of misery. I truly am a food addict. I pray to God this lifestyle change delivers me. I'm tired of being miserable. I want to live and experience life!
29 April 2007
Day 3
Thanks to all of you for your support and comments. It really helps me want to try harder when I know others are reading this. Thanks for letting me know about the account limitations EarthAngel. I'll try to get that removed so that anyone can post. I've gotten some really good support and advise from the rawfoodsupport group site.
Today was another "sedentary" day. I had to run to the market for some bananas and avacados, and then to the electronics store to pick up yet another wireless card to try with linux. I think they're getting tired of me buying one then returning it and exchanging it for another ;). Oh well.
According to fitday calculator I did better today. I managed to get in 1147 calories. You can click on the spotty pic below for an enlarged version which should be more readable. It has a breakdown of what I ate. I think using the calculator is great. It's helping me carefully get my calories up and I am noticing a major difference this time around. I have the mild headaches I experienced the last time but I'm not having as much stomach discomfort as last time. I must have really been depriving myself bigtime the first time around.
I had a tough time averaging out the nutritional facts on the homemade guacamole but I managed and now I don't have to again ;). I used an avocado, jalapeño pepper onion, lemon, and fresh garlic for the dip and creamed it really smooth. My son was using the camera for a juggling video so I couldn't take a pic before eating dinner :(. Sorry.
Today I actually felt quite chipper. I still have the bitter, metallic taste in my mouth but not as prominent as yesterday. Last night I woke up fewer times but still went a lot each time. I can't believe I'm still losing water weight but that's what it looks like. I won't say how many pounds I'm down yet because I'm sure it's mostly water weight but it's really ridiculous that I've lost this much weight in 3 days. Especially considering I drink over a gallon of water daily.
I'm already starting to sleep a little better each night aside from the bathroom breaks. I don't seem to be waking up as much as I usually do. Last time I tried this it took 4 weeks for the good sleep to take place. Maybe my body is better conditioned since I tried this once before. I'm feeling more rested upon waking also. and I'm waking up at 7 hours in stead of 9. Again this took several weeks the first time I tried this before this benefit happened.
I think tomorrow I may add some more fresh garlic into the food some how. I seem to be craving it. Maybe I'll try EarthAngel's suggestion on soaking the mushroom caps in fresh squeezed lemon and mince some garlic over them a few minutes before eating. Garlic breath won't hurt me none :).
I may have to head out of town tomorrow or Tuesday so this will pose an interesting problem. I'm only a few days into this and will have to maintain this on the road. A bit early for my liking but if it happens we'll deal with it as we get to it. I will probably take some bananas and grapes for the road with some dates to give me calories and then find a farmer's market when I get there. I'll keep you posted.
I didn't mention when I started this, it was in the middle of a full blown cold. With my asthma I was taking prednisone prior to starting the diet. I probably shouldn't have quit it cold turkey but hey I figured I was doing this cold turkey and that meant cold turkey ;). I seem to be recovering ok from the cold though. The sudden change in diet doesn't seem to have diminshed my immune system. Thank God for that.
Time to finish up the linux thing and hit the sack.
Today was another "sedentary" day. I had to run to the market for some bananas and avacados, and then to the electronics store to pick up yet another wireless card to try with linux. I think they're getting tired of me buying one then returning it and exchanging it for another ;). Oh well.
According to fitday calculator I did better today. I managed to get in 1147 calories. You can click on the spotty pic below for an enlarged version which should be more readable. It has a breakdown of what I ate. I think using the calculator is great. It's helping me carefully get my calories up and I am noticing a major difference this time around. I have the mild headaches I experienced the last time but I'm not having as much stomach discomfort as last time. I must have really been depriving myself bigtime the first time around.
I had a tough time averaging out the nutritional facts on the homemade guacamole but I managed and now I don't have to again ;). I used an avocado, jalapeño pepper onion, lemon, and fresh garlic for the dip and creamed it really smooth. My son was using the camera for a juggling video so I couldn't take a pic before eating dinner :(. Sorry.
Today I actually felt quite chipper. I still have the bitter, metallic taste in my mouth but not as prominent as yesterday. Last night I woke up fewer times but still went a lot each time. I can't believe I'm still losing water weight but that's what it looks like. I won't say how many pounds I'm down yet because I'm sure it's mostly water weight but it's really ridiculous that I've lost this much weight in 3 days. Especially considering I drink over a gallon of water daily.
I'm already starting to sleep a little better each night aside from the bathroom breaks. I don't seem to be waking up as much as I usually do. Last time I tried this it took 4 weeks for the good sleep to take place. Maybe my body is better conditioned since I tried this once before. I'm feeling more rested upon waking also. and I'm waking up at 7 hours in stead of 9. Again this took several weeks the first time I tried this before this benefit happened.
I think tomorrow I may add some more fresh garlic into the food some how. I seem to be craving it. Maybe I'll try EarthAngel's suggestion on soaking the mushroom caps in fresh squeezed lemon and mince some garlic over them a few minutes before eating. Garlic breath won't hurt me none :).
I may have to head out of town tomorrow or Tuesday so this will pose an interesting problem. I'm only a few days into this and will have to maintain this on the road. A bit early for my liking but if it happens we'll deal with it as we get to it. I will probably take some bananas and grapes for the road with some dates to give me calories and then find a farmer's market when I get there. I'll keep you posted.
I didn't mention when I started this, it was in the middle of a full blown cold. With my asthma I was taking prednisone prior to starting the diet. I probably shouldn't have quit it cold turkey but hey I figured I was doing this cold turkey and that meant cold turkey ;). I seem to be recovering ok from the cold though. The sudden change in diet doesn't seem to have diminshed my immune system. Thank God for that.
Time to finish up the linux thing and hit the sack.
28 April 2007
Day 2
Today I just nibbled most the day until dinner. I spent the entire day being sedentary trying to get Linux loaded on my laptop and get the wpc54g v 1.2 linksys wireless card working. I've reloaded the thing 5 times already.
Ok for dinner I had a really nice plate laid out:
Sorry for the blur, I was in a hurry to eat it ;). It WAS a thing of beauty though. The corn is raw, everything is "chemical free" save the dates. They're "organic". I was bad and lightly salted everything except the dates with sea salt. Lotsa "raw" folks use it so I figure I'll use it for a cheat until I get past the jonezin for SAD foods, or 60 days, whichever comes first ;).
Here's a list of what I ate all day long:
Oranges 3
strawberries 6
Tomatoes 6
Mushrooms 6 oz
Corn 1
Carrots 12 oz
Medjool Dates 6
Total Calories 898, Fat 6g Carb 222g, Prot 20g, All raw foods. Probably not the 811 scale but close. I tried to upload a pic of the breakdown from fitday.com but this system shrinks it horribly beyond reading capacity. I had to custom load the medjool date info from another nutrition website. Most of the calories came from the dates. Since they're so expensive and small I'll need to find some better alternatives for getting my calories in a fashion that will leave me feeling satisfied. The portabella caps were supposed to taste "meaty" but tasted rather earthy to me. The dinner meal was satisfying all in all and quite tasty for the most part.
I read some interesting things about green smothies so I may try to incorporate some of that into my daily routine once I am moved into the new house. I just found out that we have Victoria Boutenko's books but they're all in storage for the move.
Today I started that bitter taste in my mouth. all the water tastes bitter and everything I eat has a bitter twang to it. The one time I managed to go beyond 2 weeks before this taste didn't start until the end of week 3 and lasted about 7 days. We'll see how long it lasts this time.
Last night I woke up every hour and a half urinating heavily each time (I made it to the rest room first :p ). I checked this a.m. on the scale. A LOT of water weight gone. Last time the water weight didn't drop so fast. I'm not counting that weigh in. I'll weight til next friday to post a valid weight.
Emotionally I felt clingly. I wanted hugs and kisses all day. My wife is probably beyond sick of me. She hasn't complained though.
Another cool site I read today was fruitarianfitness.com I'm trying to find the workout guide on that site as he advocates all natural workouts. Things you can do with your body and body weight without having to have fancy machines. Once I get moved I'm definitely starting the 90 day challenge on that. That dude is buff. I don't want that level of muscle but that level of definition would be nice. Maybe I'll be able to get back to juggling full time.
I'm going to go check out www.rawfoodsupport.com and then hit the sack I guess.
Ok for dinner I had a really nice plate laid out:
Sorry for the blur, I was in a hurry to eat it ;). It WAS a thing of beauty though. The corn is raw, everything is "chemical free" save the dates. They're "organic". I was bad and lightly salted everything except the dates with sea salt. Lotsa "raw" folks use it so I figure I'll use it for a cheat until I get past the jonezin for SAD foods, or 60 days, whichever comes first ;).Here's a list of what I ate all day long:
Oranges 3
strawberries 6
Tomatoes 6
Mushrooms 6 oz
Corn 1
Carrots 12 oz
Medjool Dates 6
Total Calories 898, Fat 6g Carb 222g, Prot 20g, All raw foods. Probably not the 811 scale but close. I tried to upload a pic of the breakdown from fitday.com but this system shrinks it horribly beyond reading capacity. I had to custom load the medjool date info from another nutrition website. Most of the calories came from the dates. Since they're so expensive and small I'll need to find some better alternatives for getting my calories in a fashion that will leave me feeling satisfied. The portabella caps were supposed to taste "meaty" but tasted rather earthy to me. The dinner meal was satisfying all in all and quite tasty for the most part.
I read some interesting things about green smothies so I may try to incorporate some of that into my daily routine once I am moved into the new house. I just found out that we have Victoria Boutenko's books but they're all in storage for the move.
Today I started that bitter taste in my mouth. all the water tastes bitter and everything I eat has a bitter twang to it. The one time I managed to go beyond 2 weeks before this taste didn't start until the end of week 3 and lasted about 7 days. We'll see how long it lasts this time.
Last night I woke up every hour and a half urinating heavily each time (I made it to the rest room first :p ). I checked this a.m. on the scale. A LOT of water weight gone. Last time the water weight didn't drop so fast. I'm not counting that weigh in. I'll weight til next friday to post a valid weight.
Emotionally I felt clingly. I wanted hugs and kisses all day. My wife is probably beyond sick of me. She hasn't complained though.
Another cool site I read today was fruitarianfitness.com I'm trying to find the workout guide on that site as he advocates all natural workouts. Things you can do with your body and body weight without having to have fancy machines. Once I get moved I'm definitely starting the 90 day challenge on that. That dude is buff. I don't want that level of muscle but that level of definition would be nice. Maybe I'll be able to get back to juggling full time.
I'm going to go check out www.rawfoodsupport.com and then hit the sack I guess.
27 April 2007
Day 1
For day 1 I tried to do something a bit different this time around. I decided to "fast" as long as I could, intake of water only. My hope was to make it until a.m. on day 2. that didn't happen. The family made chicken sandwiches and the smell of the fried chicken drove me to dispair. Here's my food intake today (didn't start until 6:10 pm)
10 oz carrots, chemical free
3 small vine ripe tomatoes, chemical free
3 strawberries, chemical free
1 orange, chemical free
Chemical free is a classification I guess that's given to places who's soil hasn't been verified to be free of chemicals and pesticides for the number of years required to obtain the organic certification, but the farmers are using only natural fertilizers and no chemicals or pesticides. One step below organic and easier on my pocket book. Besides, locally all the "organic" items are usually wilted and virtually dead by the time they get through the shipping horrors.
I probably drank close to a gallon of water today, trying to keep my stomach from gurgling too much.
I felt the stomach pangs of not eating cooked foods, even when I was eating such delicious fruits. I'm not doing too bad today though. Emotionally my spirits are upbeat and positive. I've had to take care to stay out of the kitchen so I don't reach for something without thinking about it though. I expect that to be a problem for several months. I did find a "retreat" that looks to be affordable. I may try to set up time at the retreat to help get on the right track. I've sent an email requesting info.
I'll head to bed now and see what tomorrow brings.
10 oz carrots, chemical free
3 small vine ripe tomatoes, chemical free
3 strawberries, chemical free
1 orange, chemical free
Chemical free is a classification I guess that's given to places who's soil hasn't been verified to be free of chemicals and pesticides for the number of years required to obtain the organic certification, but the farmers are using only natural fertilizers and no chemicals or pesticides. One step below organic and easier on my pocket book. Besides, locally all the "organic" items are usually wilted and virtually dead by the time they get through the shipping horrors.
I probably drank close to a gallon of water today, trying to keep my stomach from gurgling too much.
I felt the stomach pangs of not eating cooked foods, even when I was eating such delicious fruits. I'm not doing too bad today though. Emotionally my spirits are upbeat and positive. I've had to take care to stay out of the kitchen so I don't reach for something without thinking about it though. I expect that to be a problem for several months. I did find a "retreat" that looks to be affordable. I may try to set up time at the retreat to help get on the right track. I've sent an email requesting info.
I'll head to bed now and see what tomorrow brings.
26 April 2007
Day Zero
Tomorrow I try again. I'm hoping this public blog will help me keep myself accountable. Trying to go raw when my entire family knows how to cook and cooks often isn't easy. It doesn't help that everyone else is as skinny as a rail and I'm Mr. Blimp. Official weigh in at 305. I'll weigh every Friday after this week. I'll be posting my daily dietary intake, feelings, physical activities. etc. Here's some pictures of my fat self. I'll post pics weekly with the weights probably. We'll see how things go.
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