5kgs Darling!

It's important to me that you understand that while I am looking forward to weight loss as a Raw Foodist, it is not my underlying reason for the lifestyle change. A large part, but not the only reason. Now that we understand that I have more serious and more important and more noble reasons than mere weight loss, let me say that I have lost 5 kgs IN MY FIRST WEEK!!!!!  Ta ra ta ra ta ra! And I've never felt better! Today is the 8th day of me being a 100% Raw Foodist and having felt that my clothes were no longer shrinking, I jumped on the scale. I promptly got off and checked the dials, shook it, bashed it against the bath and this time stepped slowly and cautiously onto it. The scale, she doesn't lie baby! 5kgs down! If that is not sufficient motivation and encouragement to change to Raw, I don't know what is.
But let me tell you about some of the other health benefits I have started experiencing. Firstly my relationship with food is changing. Those of you with deeply ingrained weight problems will know exactly what I am speaking about when I say I no longer feel guilty about eating. This is a huge benefit and it all ties in with loving ourselves - another blog post for another day.
My knee joints have been agonisingly sore for many months now - to the extent that I would go up a flight of stairs sideways. Just so that I did not have to bend my knees. I am now bending my knees pain free! We have a short flight of stairs from our front door to the area where we park the car and I am now climbing up and down those stairs easily, painlessly and fast. I know that it sounds like a huge benefit for a short space of time but that is what Raw Food does. Once your body realises that this is the way it is going to be, the effects are fast and furious and nothing short of miraculous!
I'm moving out of that 'sleep all day' phase and the energy is now kicking in. My brain is firing faster than it has in ages and all of a sudden I don't have enough things to do.
I find that I am expressing myself more eloquently to my children and I am managing whole days without screaming at them!
My complexion... I'm not too sure what to say here. I have taken a photo now - this morning - and will take another one in a few months time and then post the two of them for comparitive purposes. But I have lost wrinkles. Yes, I know you don't believe me - I wouldn't believe me either if I was reading this - which is why I've taken the pics. I've read that even grey hair reverts to its natural colour after awhile so I've taken pics of the grey as well. Imagine how amazing that would be!
It's not as difficult to change to Raw as you might think it would be - you can read my blog Raw Delights  - it will give you more information about the food that I am eating.
The secret is to ensure that you have Raw Snack Food close by.

Most importantly, the results so far are that I'm feeling great, feeling gorgeous, collecting heaps of energy, losing wrinkles and 5kgs in the first week darling!    

Sleep, baby, sleep.

Did I mention that initially when you start eating raw food you might find yourself wanting to sleep a lot? No, I mean really. While this can be a little bit worrying - I mean hello what happened to the energy levels? - it is actually a very good sign.
On a day to day basis while we are eating processed foods and dead flesh, we are actually poisoning ourselves. But our bodies are such magnificent things, that they just deal with it. We keep shoveling it in and our bodies just carry on, like little worker ants, and keep trying to combat the toxins and the poisins. And of course, when our bodies realise that they are unable to move the sludge through our systems fast enough, they start packing it away.
What do you do when you see a cockroach or some other creepy crawly? I am unable to kill them - the thought of hearing that 'crunch' causes gooseflesh to run - but also will not have them running loose in my home. So what do I do? I find a bottle or a pot and I trap them. And I keep them there until someone more suitably qualified to deal with pests comes along. This is exactly what our bodies do.
Those toxins and chemicals all get packed away in fat. Our bodies surround them with fat and put them on our hips and across our bellies in an attempt to keep us safe.
Stress of course plays a huge role in all of this, because when we experience stress our digestive system actually shuts down because our bodies go into full fight or flight mode, but that is a topic for another time.
Can you imagine what it must be like for our bodies when we start eating raw food? You must keep in mind that your body is the biggest workaholic you will ever come across and never, ever takes a break. I imagine that on the first day of raw food, all our little worker cells are busy gossiping like mad with each other.
"Can it be? Did you see that? OMW that was a carrot!" and so on. I imagine that the moment your body is over the shock of your new eating regime, it gets down to some serious work.
(Ask any new raw foodist about the second day runny tummy.) It gets rid of all the sludge that has been backed up for days, weeks, months and ... gosh I hope not so long back! And then, round about day 3 or 4, your body realises it has got time on it's hands. Because it's such a workaholic, it immediately starts fixing, repairing and healing. It fetches those pockets of fat surrounded toxins and throws them out. It has time to start working on those muscles and joints that have been aching. Those cells that have been riddled with all sorts of horrible things get a good scrubbing and a polish. All of these repairs, healing if you like, is exhausting. For you and your body.
So when you hit that I can't stay awake stage, do the sensible thing and go and sleep. Spread out, close the curtains, make sure you're warm and take the phone off the hook. Close your eyes and let your body do what it does best.
Wake me up for supper.