RawReform

Going Native in Costa Rica...

wow...the end of January already and I now have fewer than 20 days of juice feasting left...eeeeeeeeek...I feel a bit anxious about re-entering the world of solids to be honest...it feels so easy to me to be on liquids like this - the boundaries are so clear - and I have concerns about things getting messier and more complicated for me once I eat solids again - I like this feeling of light, clean energy...I feel good that there will be a 'feast breaking protocol' for me to follow though, so that I have some structure to guide myself with as I wean off of juice...

A friend has been visiting for the last week or so here in Costa Rica and it's been fun to explore different juice recipes and ideas with him - we have been doing the 92-day juice feast simultaneously - him up in Washington State though in the US (very cold in winter, unlike Costa Rica) - he likes very hot food, so I've been getting some serious shots of chili pepper and so on in my juices - it's fun, after making juice by myself for so many weeks, to play with flavours with someone else...we hadn't seen each other for a few months when he arrived and he said I seemed much smaller and 'sleeker' than before juice feasting - I have indeed lost somewhere in the region of 15-18lbs during this feast and feel much lighter and healthier...
We've been proving to ourselves that juicing 'on the road' while travelling very light is also possible...we went to visit healing mud baths in the North, carrying only a bare minimum of luggage and survived very well and happily, on mainly fresh orange juice and coconut water...I enjoy trying out different challenges like that...I've been learning better how to use the local buses too, to show my friend around and enjoying flexing my Spanish language muscles more, as he speaks little Spanish, so...overall, it's been a great time of exploration this last week or so for me ;)

Lately I've been enjoying:

sugar cane sticks - my favourite juicy treat
simpler juice combinations
the fading of my pancreas pains
a steadier, more consistent flow of energy
fewer sugar imbalances
beautiful films like 'Little Miss Sunshine' and 'The Masai Princess'
my peculiar body odour of a few weeks back diminishing

Hurray for Juice Feasting :) I look forward to enjoying the last few weeks of this amazing adventure...

All love,
Angela. xxx

January update - just where DO I get my protein...? ;)

Well, day 63 of juice feasting for me as I write this and life...is...amazing...
I keep marvelling at just how functional I am for someone who has not eaten for over 2 months...lol...
I am feeling great and going strong - feeling somewhat alarmed that there is less than a month left for me of this juicy journey in fact...

The last couple of weeks have seen a flurry of activity for me, including a great online radio interview with Sally Jessy Raphael, which produced waves of controversy and feedback, mostly around the all-pervasive 'where do you get your protein from' query of those un-accustomed to living raw...listen in for yourself here...

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6501742535334801864&pr=goog-sl

The pancreas pain I had been dealing with a few weeks back seems to have more or less completely receded with my move over to much less sweet juices - mainly greens, coconut water and watermelon juice these days...I have also moved through some bizarre cleansing symptoms in my mouth of raised bumps and green film on my tongue, plus an open lesion at the side of my mouth...

I held my first juice feasting demo in Costa Rica a few weeks back, at a beautiful yoga studio, which was great fun, passing the message on to others interested in health...plus I moved house in the middle of January too, to the other side of San Jose where I'm currently living - I am feeling delighted to be renting my own little place for the first time in my life :)
I've been working out where to get my veg and go jogging etc over here in a new neighbourhood and loving it - it feels much quieter, greener and cleaner here, with wider streets and more people walking about, rather than driving...

I was also delighted to realise recently how liberating this juicing experience is for me in the fact that

it frees me from thinking about food...

...almost completely. That is something I do not feel I have experienced in my life as an adult. As an obese overeater (21 stone at my biggest), my mind was more or less nearly always ‘in the food’ – if I wasn’t actually eating, I was thinking about food and when I would next eat and what I would have and so on…SO much of my time and brain space and energy went into things related to food…life was lived for me literally like a series of opportunities to eat…What I experience now is that juice feasting frees me from that whole pattern. Now, on just juice, I feel SO liberated from all that.  It’s so simple. No obsessing. This is a revelation for me…I have unconsciously moved into a space where I have SO much more time, energy and space in my life to use on more constructive things than thinking about food…I am truly grateful for that…I can also feel pretty much secure that my body is getting all that it needs, as my intake is so nutrient dense, I feel and look vibrant and I simply don’t crave anything…wow…what a blessing…

So, onwards I go with 29 days of juicing left...CHEERS :)
all blessings,
Angela. xxx

92 day juice feast...

On 20 November 2006 I started a 92-day juice FEAST in Costa Rica. Not fast…FEAST :) This is a new concept in cleansing, which ensures the feaster gets all their daily calories (e.g. around 1500/day for an average woman) directly from freshly-made raw juices.

Usually when fasting, many people become low in energy and feel weak, on this juice feast my life goes on with as much energy and creativity as usual…

My main reason for doing this is that even after four and a half years having raw food lifestyle, I felt I'd reached a 'plateau' with my detoxing. I’ve lost around 12 stone since going raw, reversing morbid obesity, but still have old toxins and strange fat deposits to clear that weren't shifting with a raw lifestyle alone.

I felt I wanted to take it to the next level. Then David Rain of www.nutrientdensenutrition.com told me about juice feasts. I was dubious at first, but listened and it started to make sense. I decided to take the leap and clear out all the old clutter once and for all - any parasites lurking, old toxins, liver complaints etc...so...here I am...46 days in as I write and loving it :)

So far I’ve lost around 15lbs, experienced incredible releases of old matter from my colon and seen my skin become more radiant. I seem to be healing old pancreas issues too, which I’m delighted about.

I’ve been blogging my adventures at http://rawreform.blogspot.com and along with a readership that grows daily, this blog is attracting much media interest. I have an interview lined up on Sally Jesse Raphael’s radio show in a few days, in New York, along with another planned feature for Current TV and interest from various magazines.

I’m delighted to be able to share this message of healing and wish everyone a vibrant and joyous 2007 :)