RawReform

Back in the solid world...

Well, well, well, here we are then… 3 weeks have passed since the end of my epic 92 day Juice Feast and it’s been quite some time of transformation and adventure…
I broke the feast in the recommended way, following the protocol of incorporating first soaked dried prunes, then juicy fruits, then salads, over the course of 6 days…this REALLY helped me to keep in a great space about my food intake as I eased myself back into solids…it felt like a huge step to me and I was so grateful that I had this protocol to follow…
A few days after breaking the feast I published a new ebook – ‘A Juice Feaster’s Handbook’ – which explains all the basics of this amazing healing tool, to help others incorporate this into their lives and schedules too…it was a great joy to get this book out there and available for people to access, as there have been sooooo many questions over the last few months from my blog – http://rawreform.blogspot.com - and this booklet is now there to answer all those FAQs…there has been a great response to this new book and lots of people report feeling inspired to juice more or start Juice Feasts themselves… :) Great stuff…
For the first week after breaking the Juice Feast, my daily intake tended to consist of 2 fruit meals, which were mono-meals – just one fruit at a time (esp watermelon – yummmmmmmmm ;) -  2 juices and one simple salad, with perhaps 5 or 6 different ingredients. This felt amazing to me – so simple and delightful – my body was running on super-efficient and clean fuel and I love that feeling…my taste buds were so sensitive at this point and I could instantly feel as soon as my body had had enough of something – I felt extremely ‘clean’ and am enjoying taking my time to chew everything thoroughly – ‘fletcherising’…it felt peculiar to get used to feeling heavier again after eating and I was cautious to make sure that each meal felt like it was fully digested before eating again…it was fun too to just pick foods up and eat them at mealtimes, rather than juicing first – that felt very liberating ;)
I left Costa Rica at the start of March, after 4 months of enjoying the beautiful sunshine, juicy fruits and lush greenery…it had been a wonderful experience and a GREAT place to juice, but was time to get back to the USA for more (solid) raw food explorations…I returned to California and felt kind of like I was walking into ‘The Lion’s Den’ in terms of challenges around food…it doesn’t get more ‘raw food central’ than LA and here I was, re-entering not just LA, but the biggest natural food expo of the year, just about 2 weeks after breaking a 3 month Juice Feast…yep…it was not the easiest of transitions to arrange for myself, but…I survived… ;) lol…my food intake rapidly became much more complicated, as I’d anticipated, but it felt ok and after lots of sampling of new products at the expo, I took a step backwards again towards more simplicity…wow…it’s amazing how quickly things CAN change if I allow that to happen…especially here in LA where the amount of raw food restaurants and producers, farmers’ markets, health food stores and so on is so enormous…there is soooo much to explore, but what I really want to choose for this body is simplicity and not feeling weighed down/messed up by complicated food combos…When I left the States back in November to go to Costa Rica, the main intention that was in me was to Juice Feast and take wonderful care of my own health and well-being for some months – which is what I have been doing – and it feels really great to have done that and now be back in the US again, feeling much healthier and cleaner…
One of the strangest side-effects I’ve noticed since breaking the Feast is that I have started setting off car alarms...lol...not on purpose you understand...it seems as if my energy field has become bigger or more powerful or something, as I literally rarely take a walk anywhere these days without setting off alarms as I walk along the street...it's quite bizarre and I find it very interesting...
It’s all a great adventure and I am thoroughly enjoying the ride ;) Hope you are too…
All blessings,
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