How Much?

Exercise: Bodyweights
Food: Green Smoothie - spinach, mango and coconut, 5 small bananas, salad of green leaves (watercress, rocket and spinach) tomatoes and cucumber with pesto dressing. Ate at 1pm as I had meeting 11.30-1. Brought the bananas in because I knew I was going out in the evening. Smoothie at restaurant, later at home mango and coconut pudding, and five small bananas, and a little juice from the pineapple I juiced and put in the freezer, as the fruit was getting quite ripe.

Went to see 'Shibboleth' also know as the 'Crack' at the Tate Modern. Bought some pistachios and cashews (sold loose) on the way. Met friend at the Tate and perused the crack. I could right a thesis on the conversations that could be developed around it. One is the fine line between eating what we want and eating what benefits us. What we find (though not necessarily immediately) when eating raw, is that if we cross over the crack, eating what benefits us becomes eating what we want and vice versa.

After that went to the in-house restaurant, I said I wasn't eating as I had my salad at 4pm and had just had some nuts about 6pm. So friend ordered soup and I skimmed the menu and saw seasonal fruit smoothie. Asked if it was fresh no yoghurt etc. And waiter concurred, so I ordered. It was mandarin and guava, it was lovely, fragrant and tasty. But small. Served in a whisky tumbler glass, what's that about?

I have a pretty good idea of how much food to buy to get me through the week. It looks something like this about 8 bunches of bananas, 10 mangos, 1 bag of Spinach, 5 bags of mixed baby leaves, 1.5 boxes of pomodorino tomatoes (my favourite, delicious smell and taste), 2 cucumbers, 3 avocados (if using), a couple of pineapples (if 2for1 and then would reduce mangos), pineapples could be substituted by melons or oranges or berries. I may tweak things, but I know this amount will get me through. I have some nuts in the freezer and sometimes buy some on lunchbreak as snack. It's a great feeling. it's like when you are learning a new language and something kicks in, and you don't have to think about your words, they just come.

Anyone For Dessert?

Exercise: Bodyweights
Food: Green smoothie - mango, spinach, shredded coconut (scrummy), baby leaves (rocket, watercress and spinach), one lara bar (apple pie), some pistachios, later one banana, mango and coconut pudding, some almonds

New green smoothie, lovely bright green and thick, tasted yummy. And then at home tried out just mango and coconut, it was a gorgeous yellow and delicious, better than custard. It was thick, even with water, will try without next time. I added some raw honey because the mangos though juicy, were not the sweetest on the block. Hurrah another one for the collection.

I didn't take any bananas in today. Think the smoothie is enough now to take me through to the salad. Then can have the bananas later at home if I need them. Less load to carry. I'll see how I go.

Is It The Food That Is The Problem?

Exercise: Bodyweight exercises
Food: 12 noon, Six large bananas, 1pm pineapple and spinach green smoothie, two Lara bars, 4pm big green salad with tomatoes and cucumber (herby dressing), 7.30pm some pistachios, then plate of salad leaves mixed with grated carrot plus a couple of tiny potatoes, fruit salad, later at home porridge (banana and coconut)

Went to an evening event today that included dinner. They were serving mixed leaves as the side salad. I asked if I could just have salad, in an easy confident way, and offering no justifications. And the guy serving happily complied, asked for a couple of potatoes too. The leaves were shot through with carrot, and I popped some dressing on top. The salad was fresh and yummy. The potatoes were okay tasted like potato, a little flat. Think this is because I'm used to eating vibrant foods now. But I honestly preferred the salad and didn't feel I wanted more potato or anything else. And that felt good, and affirming.

I think with raw it is not so much the food that is an issue, because really you can eat all you like, and there is enough to choose from, you can do gourmet etc. And people do tend to see results fairly quickly. But I think it is more the social aspect particularly when you are not quite ready to 'come out', you're still establishing yourself and growing deep roots. So it is a case of avoid social gatherings for a while, or be prepared to ask for what you want, and answer questions that may arise. There are many ways to get round this

- I'm on a health kick right now for 60 days solid
- I'm vegan
- I had a huge lunch
- Or you can focus on the benefits, ie. I need less sleep when I eat this which is great as I really need the extra time
- Or if you want to eat some cooked go with that
- Or put cooked stuff on your plate but just leave it there. This may not work if you are battling cravings. You may end up hoovering the lot which is not great if that was not your intention.
- If possible go along with another 'rawie' or 'veggie' so the spotlight is not completely on you

I had a woo woo moment yesterday thinking is this how I'll eat now for the rest of my life? Wrong question, will I do all it takes to stay on the path to optimum health.... yes.

Be Alive

Exercise: Yoga
Food: Six bananas, green smoothie - spinach and mango, green salad with pomodorino tomatoes and cucumber (and herby dressing), a couple of lara bars, and some almonds and pistachios

I keep mentioning these Lara bars, find out more here http://www.larabar.com/

Found this quote:

"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."
Howard Thurman

How true is that. And see what Lara has done, by following her heart she is helping people make healthier choices. I am passionate about wholeness and health.

What makes you come alive? None of us is perfect but we should be passionate and purposeful.

Porridge?

Exercise: Dancing
Food: 7 over ripe bananas, mango, spinach and goji berry smoothie, green salad with pomodorino tomatoes, cucumber and coriander and lime dressing, couple of Lara raw bars (apple pie, and pecan pie), 'porridge' a few almonds just before bed and was doing so well before that, hadn't eaten since 9.30pm and going to bed around 1am. Tomorrow is another day .. Still eating from 12 noon but still working on a good 'end of eating' time.

Devised a great recipe that tastes just like porridge, how cool is that just as we are moving into winter. It's so simple just two ingredients and some water. Take three very ripe bananas (lots of brown spots) and two full tablespoons (or more) of sundried, raw shredded coconut and put in Blendtech (or whatever you have) and blend to whatever smoothness or choppiness you want. Even when smooth it's still 'bitty' due to the coconut, and you can thicken it up with more banana if you like your porridge solid. It tasted divine and looked like porridge, pour into a little round bowl and adorn with berries or anything else you fancy. Or just go au naturel. Great for 'cookies' wanting to add some more healthful fare to their diet, and simple and nutritious for children too. If you add more water you get a 'milky' smoothie. Two for the price of one. A word of warning though, I wanted some more but spotty bananas were finished. Used a couple of yellow ones with no green bits but tasted 'green' to me. Just so you know.

I know there are recipes for nut based porridge but they will be quite rich for a lot of us for regular consumption, plus they don't necessarily look like porridge. Minor aside. I got my coconut from Wholefoods in New York, but sure it wouldn't be hard to get hold of - try supermarkets, speciality food shops, health food stores, and the good old Internet.

Flexible Goal-Setting

Exercise: Resting
Food: Water fast

After zooming around New York, plus all the other exciting stuff I've been doing over the past few weeks I've taken some time yesterday and today to dig deep spiritually. There are things that I need to do, but I don't want to lose sight of who I am called to be.

Right, I've decided that I'm going to introduce a new exercise programme, because the weather is not conducive to my running at the moment. I'll keep running on the weekends as much as I can. I'm learning the importance of asking myself what I'm really aiming for when I set a goal. One of my goals was to run outside everyday, and I have successfully achieved this until recently. I was getting a bit frustrated at being thwarted by the weather. So I had a think about the reasons behind that goal, and they are to get fresh air, start the day doing something life-enhancing, keeping physically fit. So in order to keep those elements, I'm going tweak my physical fitness activities, get fresh air every lunchtime (more, plus run at weekends), and start the day with prayer. Win, win.

Same thing with eating raw, work out your 'why' first. The 'how' will be different for different people and will change as your life changes. For example some people will start of eating partially raw or raw gourmet i.e. eating their previous cooked food menu but in raw form, but later on they may find their body doesn't like that anymore and their health may be impeded, or that they want to spend less time in the kitchen, or find that it is not an easy cuisine to travel with, so in that case remembering their 'why', they may then decide to eat gourmet or cooked at weekends or special occasions only, and begin to introduce simpler raw eating strategies to motor them towards their 'why'. Win, win.

Abundance vs Scarcity

Exercise: Lots of walking today
Food: 7 large very ripe bananas, Green salad with tomatoes and cucumber (coriander dressing), and a few lara bars which are raw bars of 2 to 5 ingredients mainly dates and a nut e.g. cashew cookie (dates and cashews), pecan pie (dates, almonds, pecans) etc. The Lara bars are a great way to introduce raw food to 'cookies' because they are in a familiar context i.e. packaged.

I was reading an email from the raw divas today. I love their stuff and their infectious way of being. I was thinking this week about how there is no scarcity, but our limiting beliefs are keeping us in bondage to scarcity lifestyles. And this was what the email was about. It's the same with eating raw, you may get asked whether you miss cooked food. Which is scarcity thinking in action i.e. you're missing out. When really you are eating raw because of abundant thinking i.e. better health, more time, deeper relationships, authentic living.. if this isn't the case for you, your joy will be diminished. Spend time increasing your 'why' for raw and your scarcity thinking will decrease and your abundance thinking will increase.

Back To Simplicity

Exercise: Up and down escalalators, push ups
Food: 7 very ripe large bananas, smoothie with mango, goji berries, cacao, banana and spinach, salad of baby greens, cucumber and pomodorino tomatoes, coriander dressing. Four Lara bars

I bought the goji half-price on special as a treat to add to my smoothies, gives a glorious colour. I bought the cacao nibs ages ago and decided I need to use them up. So putting in my smoothie. Tasted great for me, but probably wierd to someone else ;0 Like my food simple now, but do enjoy experimenting. Don't know that I'm bothered about the whole raw chocolate thing. I'm not knocking it, I see it being fine for the occasional indulgence but not really the point of eating raw if you know what I mean. Karen Knowler carries an excellent article on this on her blog of the same name, and I have also seen an informative article by raw teacher, Paul Nison. It all comes down to the 'why' we choose to do anything.

No avocado for a while because I'm sure my fat quotient went up at the raw food restaurants (plus am eating Lara bars), as most of the desserts epecially are based on nuts, ground, chopped, or creamed for 'ice cream'. The creativity at these restaurants is quite simply amazing. And they are great for a treat, or even more frequently if you are wise about the meals you choose.

In Pure Food and Wine, I started off with a sea vegetable salad with grated carrot and a sesame vinegrette. It was lovely although a tad vinegary. Just needed a touch. My main was 'ravioli' with a pesto sauce. Very innovative but too rich for me. Before eating I had a 'mighty amazon' smoothie made with acai berries and banana. This tastes chocolaty in the way I think chocolaty should taste. And had another one for dessert. Hmm you heard right another one. The ambience in the restaurant was spot on, very sophisticated and would make a great date space. Pricey though and we didn't have wine.

At caravan of dreams I had a delicious spinach and coconut raw soup. I loved this and hope to recreate it at home. I brought some raw sundried coconut back from Wholefoods. My main was a salad of leaves, avocado, sea vegetables, cucumber, baby tomatoes and a Thai dressing. Very yummy. For dessert I had berry cheese cake which was fab and beautifully presented. And made with fresh fruit and nuts. I had an acai smoothie here too made with coconut water. This was my favourite restaurant. The waiter was extremely helpful. The venue has a hippyish feel in a welcoming earthy way. It also serves cooked vegan fare.

At Qintessence also in the East Village, the atmosphere is very cosy. It is a tiny affair. The waitress was great. My starter was dips and chips, one was raw guacamole with flaxseed chips, and raw salsa with raw corn chips (dehydrated at a low temp to preserve vitality). Had a carob smoothie but tasted powdery. My main was a sea vegetable salad with a sesame sauce. The sea vegetables had been soaked. They were very soft with no trace of salt. No other vegetables involved. For dessert I had pecan pie with nut ice cream but it was rich so I didn't eat any of the crushed walnuts on top.

So to summarise Pure Food and Wine, beautifuly presented raw gourmet cuisine, high end restaurant with prices to match. Very helpful staff. (Flatiron/Gramercy)

Caravan of dreams, fantastic salads, best desserts, great staff, real and earthy, brilliant prices. Would recommend everytime. (East Village)

Qunitessence, cute local restaurant, get a lot of one to one attention, lots of gourmet dishes like Indian Thali and pasta with marinara sauce. (East Village)

Buena Noche

A Bite of The Big Apple

Exercise: Walking for England
Food: Miscallaneous, bananas, fruit smoothies, raw food restaurant fare (salads, soups, puddings, 'pasta'), Lara raw fruit and nut bars

I have been in New York for the past five days. And got to road test three out of the myriad of raw food restaurants there. Worked out great that our hotel was only ten minute walk away from pure food and wine. I'll go into detail later on the dishes I sampled. It is so easy to eat raw in New York city, there is a salad bar on practically every corner and most delis have fruit. Then there is the phenomenon that is Wholefoods. Right now I need to get to get to bed as I arrived back this morning, and haven't slept properly in 24hrs. I went out this evening and mentioned that fact. And my friend said wow you look so perky how do you do it? There is nothing like hard evidence to spur you to keep doing what you are doing, or to help you decide to stop what you are doing.

Banofee Pudding

Exercise: pushups and running up and down escalators
Food: 12 small bananas, mango, apple and spinach green smoothie, a few pistachios, salad - baby greens, avocado and tomato with coriander dressing. Banana and date smoothie. Had a bit of the orange juice I've squeezed for tomorrow. And found that I have three more tupperware boxes of almonds in the freezer, so picked a bit at those.

Now if you are someone who loves supersweet things, and gets mega craving for sugary stuff. You should try this. I got it into my head to blend some bananas (5) and some dates (125g) to see if it would be toffee-like. It was very sweet and very rich nutritionally. Tasted what I think Banoffee would taste like. It made one glass, imagine 5 bananas in one glass. Way too sweet for me so I added some water, and could have done with some ice cubes. Over ripe bananas are enough sweet for me. However this recipe would make a very rich dessert ideal for cooked foodie friends, if done to a thick consistency and put in fridge to chill. Or add water or coconut milk (Dr Martins raw) to a more liquidy consistency for a high energy smoothie. Or shock horror you could actually add some alcohol, for a raw creamy cocktail better than the out of the bottle stuff.

Sweet dreams.

Keep it Simple?

Exercise: Push ups
Food: 14 small bananas, pineapple and spinach juice, mango, apple and spinach smoothie (3 mangos, handful of spinach and 2 pink ladies), a small handful of raw pistachios, salad - baby leaves, baby spinach, tomatoes and avocado with coriander and lime dressing. Had juice at noon followed seven kids bananas, then had the smoothie around 2pm, pistachios around 4pm followed by the salad. In evening had rest of juice and seven more small bananas.


On the whole I like to eat simply, it fits with my lifestyle and I spend minimal time in the kitchen. However I do want to experiment more with gourmet raw vegan fare. Mainly so I can offer up guests food that they can deal with while introducing them to raw. I don't think many will be able to cope with a meal of seven bananas straight up...intellectually or physically.

As with most things in life the surer you are about a vision of something the more you will continue to prune what needs pruning in order to get you there as fast as you can. It's the same with eating raw as we go along the road to optimum health we find we are eating simpler meals, and certain things begin to drop off the menu, food and otherwise. I think those that come to raw through eating vegetarian, particularly vegan, (ie high fruit and veg versus grains/beans, not high grain and processed products versus fruit and veg) have an easier ride. Their bodies are already detoxing but at a slower rate. They are also used to abandoning an attachments to different foods. So they are mentally more attuned, and can use this knowledge to keep going when starting to eat 100% raw.

Rampant omnivores may well struggle and are the ones who would most likely want to immerse themselves in raw gourmet. See useful links opposite for details of classes and recipes.

While those who eat raw due to health reasons, may feel cheated, like they had no choice in the matter. The ability to 'choose', is a powerful gift with consequences of which when used well can bring unsurpassed joy, or a whole other range of things. But funnily enough I prefer unsurpassed joy.

Are you an honest person?

Exercise: Push ups
Food: Canteloupe milk, 9 bananas, a few pistcahios, a few dates, salad of chopped cucumber, tomatoes and avocado. Herbal tea with raw honey.

Tough questioning (in a loving way) can really help to tease out the real deal of an issue. In fact this is what coaches do, in whatever subject or discipline they operate. We can choose to relate and exist on a very shallow foundation. Or we can be searchers who respond to the truth we find within the boundaries of God's love.

Some questions:

-Why do you eat raw? (fill in survey opposite)
- Or why do you want to eat raw?
- Are you following the Joneses?
- Is eating this way ringing true for you?
- Do you care about your health?
-If you find more truth on nutrition matters, would you act on it?
- Do you believe what others tell you without testing it?
- Have you read lots of books and websites on raw?
- Have you seen a picture of someone who eats raw, and inspires you to carry on?
- Do you have someone/people to support you on your adventure?
- If you did not have this support, would you still be able to forge head?
- What dreams did we have as children?

I could write more... but I won't because I need some shut-eye.

Be Prepared

Fri: Water fast
Sat: 11 very ripe bananas, salad of cherry tomatoes, celery, lettuce, spring onion and avocado, dates, pistachios, another salad of beetroot, carrot, lettuce and cucumber, and rest of the avocado, balsamic and olive oil dressing
Exercise: 4hrs of dancing non-stop
Sun: Water fast

Went away for the weekend as part of a course. So needed to plan ahead re my eating requirements. I'd been before so I knew there was a Marks and Spencer store nearby with a great range of salads, and a health shop too where I could gets nuts and dates if I wanted. Arrived on Friday evening and no meal provided ie expected to arrive after eating dinner so no problemo plus I was fasting. On Sat I had taken a whole load of bananas down with me, heavy but worth it. They were very ripe and just delicious. I was able to nip out in the coffee break on the Saturday to get a salad for lunch and an avocado. In the afternoon free time slot bought another salad to have with the other half of the avocado. And also bought some raw pistachios and dates from across the health shop on the other side of town. Broke my fast at 12 noon with the bananas. And had more bananas in the evening. The evening entertainment involved a disco so got a great workout too. Plus we were on the seafront. I had a great seaview from my room, and went for a lovely wander to inhale the crisp air.

So getting the food was very easy. Next challenge takingin my own food to the dining room and being 'different'. My strategy was to just to get on with it. Just pull out my salad and cut up my avocado like it was the most normal thing in the world. And that was exactly the response I got. At the first meal one of the other diners simply said, "oh you've got an M&S salad they're great". Next meal I got "you're really healthy, how come?" And I said "oh eating like this helps me be more me, and do what I need to do". He then told me he had become pescatarian because his girlfriend was a vegetarian. Another friend there decided not to have the dinner because she didn't want more 'meat, potato and two veg' fare. So went and bought a sandwhich, some oj and admittedly some brownies. But the point is people all around us are changing as best they can with what they know to make better choices for health. Exciting.

Get Into Your Lab

Exercise: Bodyweight exercises
Food: 7 bananas, canteloupe 'milk', salad - cucumber, avocado, pomodorino tomatoes and herby dressing, dates and some almonds.

Canteloupe milk is canteloupe melon whizzed up in my Blendtech blender with some water. It looks and tastes like milkshake. Strange but true. The almonds are finished now, and I want to take a break from nuts. Although again digestion and elimination today excellent, which I put down to a combo of things waiting until noon to eat, eating simply with distinct gaps between 'meals' and by no means the least, regular fasting. So today I had bananas at noon, 'milk' at 2pm, salad at 4pm, dates at 7pm and almonds (very late at 10 pm) and I will probably go to bed at 1am. I have been sleeping very well but haven't got up to run which I miss. I think leaving out the nuts will help me still sleep well, but also able to bound out of bed for a run. And next week I'll restart the experiment of not eating after 5pm.

The upshot of this is it is good to experiment, and test things. It keeps things exciting, and helps one find the right 'flow'. You know where everything just fits and seems effortless and so enjoyable. Found another great website www.rawfoodexplained.com

I think I am going to start a separate fasting blog. I've done quite a few now and would love to share what I've learnt to date. Fasting is the most underrated spiritual discipline and health promotion tool ever. And quite frankly that is a complete and utter travesty.

Why Do you Do This?

Exercise: Bodyweight exercises
Food: 7 bananas, orange and apple juice, salad- baby greens, pomodorino tomatoes, avocado with coriander and lime dressing/sesame citrus dressing, 250g dates, some almonds

Got home late could have not eaten the almonds but did. But about six hours from my last meal. And will be up for a couple of hours. Today the digestion and elimination were very good despite the almonds eaten rather late. So eating them on an empty stomach helps plus remember I'm not eating until noon. That is making a difference no doubt and is becoming a habit which is great.

The timetable for eating seems to be falling into a pattern bananas 12noon, smoothie or juice at 2pm, salad 4/5pm. I have a lot of evening commitments so sometimes get some dates, or nibble on almonds when I do finally get in. But if I were to go straight home then potentially I would have maybe fruit pudding, or canteloupe milk, other fruit or smoothie around 7pm and that would be it.

I have fifty reasons why I do this, (actually more than fifty now). Here are a few,

- Mental alertness
-Intuitively drawn to it
- Spiritual clarity
- Investing in my health
- Brings more simplicity into my life
- This is one of God's original blessings to us (Gen 1:29)
- Have loads of energy
- Need less sleep
- I like being different/pioneering/visionary
- I'm a truth seeker
- I like adventure
- It brings me more freedom
- Intellectually it makes a lot of sense
- Emotionally it makes a lot of sense
- I see the benefits
- It helps my fasting
- I can inspire others
- It's an outworking of my purpose
- Enhances the enjoyment of exercise
- It fits with the vision of how I want to live my life
- It 'increases' my time
- It helps to clean my internal environment
- I love looking at my kitchen full of fresh fruit and veg..everywhere
- My body tissue is clean and elastic
- Great use of my food budget
- I'm changing my world/the world
- I can live consciously and passionately
- I radiate health and well-being
- I look and feel great
- It benefits, me, others, the earth
- It shows that I am open to, and can change
- It helps me pursue other worthwhile goals

Enough for you? There are loads more.

Sleep 101

Exercise: Yoga
Food: 6 bananas, celery and mango smoothie, salad - baby leaves, avocado, pomodorino tomatoes with french dressing, some almonds.

I think I had about 3 hours sleep last night. I woke up okay but not completely refreshed, which in the main part was because I was nibbling on almonds up until I went to bed. I knew this wasn't a great decision to make but did it anyway. But it's good I learnt more. So basically my body was digesting them all night. Began to feel sleepy during the day but functioning very well. I noticed that when I am eating very low fat raw, basically the above without the almonds (I only use half a small avocado in my salads) I can sleep for four hours and I wake up refreshed and don't feel sleepy at all during the day. And I feel even better the next morning if the previous day had been productive on many levels ie used my time wisely. So lessons for me.
1. Don't eat up to the wire
2. Keep it low fat as much as possible
3. Living purposefully improves quality of sleep regardless of length of sleep

I may revise my no eating after 7pm because at the moment it does not seem to fit because of my many evening engagements. So maybe I will just stop eating after my late afternoon salad and see how I go. It's just a more easily recognisable cut off point in my current schedule. The reason I will try this is not to deny myself, but I actually don't feel hungry after that. But if in my experiment I feel the need to have something then I will.

Many people who eat raw (whatever amount) find their need for sleep decreases but it varies in amount, in fact for some it increases. I think this is linked to the state of your health when you start, how raw you go which is linked to how much cleansing will be taking place, plus your own unique sleep needs. I find I need more sleep particularly when doing extended fasting and I just go with it. It's not a competition, it's an ADVENTURE.

The Riper The Better

Exercise: Dancing
Food: 6 bananas, strawberry, mango and celery green smoothie, salad-baby leaves, avocado, pomodorino tomatoes and tomato dressing, some dates and a few almonds

The smoothie wasn't great, needed more mango, and the mango that was in it wasn't ripe enough. I've gotten used to having my fruit very ripe but it takes a few days to get there. The fast really cleared out my tummy.

Very ripe mangos are great for smoothies. So are very ripe bananas, but I love to eat them just as they are. I still marvel at this because those who know me, knew that as far as bananas were concerned in the past, I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. My reality is continually being rearranged.

That's why I always say keep an open mind, you don't have to do anything. But there is something about keeping an open mind that can catapault you into another dimension. One minute you're there and suddenly you're here, and you hardly know how. It's like a ripening of you.

Like Peas in a Pod

Exercise: Run
Food: None - water fast

My tummy is now perfectly fine. Fasting and eating raw definitely go together. Fasting certainly helped me transition to raw much more easily that maybe I would have done. It help brings focus plus of course the physical cleansing. And eating raw makes fasting much easier and more enjoyable. Because biologically appropriate foods are regularly being consumed the side effects normally associated with fasting are eliminated or reduced greatly (depending on the condition of your health to start with). I don't have any headaches or weakness. I know it's only a day but that would floor many, including myself not that long ago. If you do fast as part of your lifestyle and you eat cooked I would encourage you to break your fast with raw foods and aim to eat only raw for at least a week afterwards. This will allow you to better feel the effects of fasting and help your body adjust to solids. And you never know it may be the start of something new.

And if you eat raw (however much), I would encourage you to try fasting, water or juice(maybe starting off with missing an evening meal if you are a complete newbie) to help you on your raw journey and give your body time to do some healing work. This can all be done with the support of a competent medical or health practitioner. A couple of sites to check out are www.freedomyou.com and www.fasting.com

Fasting and eating raw, like two peas in a pod.

Topsy Turvy Tummy

Exercise: Run
Food: Almonds, strawberry/spinach/pineapple smoothie, 5 small fairtrade bananas, strawberries blended with almond milk, herbal tea with raw honey

Had such a lovely sleep, could have stayed in bed all day, but didn't. I bought a load of fruit from Sainsbury's last night but the bananas and the mangos need to ripen more. So at noon had some almonds. Then remembered a bit later that I had some green smoothie left from yesterday and had that. So far so good. Went for a run about 3pm, still good. Had shower, then popped out to get some apples and pick up dry-cleaning, not so good, tummy is twisting and turning. Came home, and had the bananas I'd just bought. They were just on the cusp of ripe but tasted less so because I'm so used to brown spots now, lots of them. Tummy still twisty. Think it was due to not enough of a gap between the almonds and the smoothie combined with the run. A case of trapped air. Settled down now. Finished off almond milk by blending with strawberries. Too be honest didn't taste that grand, but then again I wasn't exactly hungry, just didn't want the 'milk' to spend another day in the fridge.

Today I'm again mulling over the need for courage to live a purposeful life. It is absolutely essential. Courage is feeling the fear and doing it anyway because of a deep conviction to be congruent, authentic and passionate. This came up because I was thinking that the attachment to cooked food is the greatest addiction that ever was. It's quite something, and add to that the fact that we need to eat.

Without courage there can be no happiness. Courage to be, courage to love, courage to seek God, courage to eat raw, courage to be vulnerable, courage to change.

Lies, Damned, Lies

Exercise: Pushups, general running around and up and down stairs
Food: 6 bananas, strawberry, pineapple and spinach green smoothie. Wasn't sure if it would work but it did. Salad - cucumber, tomato and avocado, with coriander dressing. Drink at bar orange and pineapple juice, and yes freshly squeezed too, woo hoo. Chomped on some almonds more than I wanted or needed even but hey ho.

I'm really getting on with this eating at noon thing. My body definitely appreciates it. And my very ripe bananas just taste so scrummy. I feel like I have to pinch myself. Because it is sooooo different from what I see in my day to day life now. At work there is just a constant stream of sugar and caffeine passing through, but more heart-breaking are the messages attached to it. 'I'm not worthy', 'I'll find love in this slice of cake', 'I'll go out and buy doughnuts, and then everyone will like me', 'I'll have some coffee for energy'. Once upon a time I bathed in that stream, one way or the other. Lies, damned lies.

But there is hope, I just have to look in the mirror to know that. And that's why I love writing this blog, it's like a black and white version of a new reality. And that's why I get excited when I find more lovely people doing this raw ride in their own unique way. I got a sweet message from the raw divas, check them out, the site is vibrant, sassy and real. www.therawdivas.com

Simply In Awe

Exercise: Run
Food: 8 bananas, spinach and orange juice, salad-baby greens, tomato and avocado with tomato and pesto dressing, some pistachios and cashews

Today is a very short post. I'm simply in awe of the Creator of the Universe. Simply in awe.