Alcohol and Raw DO NOT Mix!

*Disclaimer*

I'm aware that alcohol is not raw. = )

Saturday night was going to be so much fun. I had two bachelorette parties to go to from 6pm through the rest of the night and I was ready to party! That's what I thought anyway. The night started out with dinner and bowling at a really neat place that had a full restaurant and in the bowling area there were leather couches to sit on instead of the lousy chairs bowling alleys usually have. After 9pm there are no minors allowed which means there are servers who come to your lane and serve you like you're in a restaurant the whole night. That was fun. I had a couple drinks, bowled horrible as always, but it's fun so it doesn't matter. We were then off to a bar where we would mingle with friends for awhile and wait for the next bachelorette to arrive. I had one more drink which was fine. I was now at a point where normally I could maybe drink two more in the past and been drunk but still functional. A couple of minutes later I felt extremely drunk and didn't have much control over myself. I knew it was a big problem when I suddenly found myself hugging the toilet at the bar. EWWW! My mom was there as well and found me in the bathroom and was nice enough to take me home although I'm sure she would have loved to had stayed. By the time I got home the alcohol had kicked in so much that when I opened the car door I fell out! I'm sure you can imagine where this all went from there but I'll tell you, it wasn't fun! I spent Sunday feeling horrible and not sure if I was sore from bowling, throwing up or what. Moral of the story is, although I don't drink much as it is, I used to be able to keep up with those around me and that isn't the case any longer. I'm going to have to remember that if I drink at all I should have maybe two and leave it at that because it is going to catch up with me faster than I know it. Another learning experience I guess.

Will and I at a Wedding 8/16

21lbs...GONE!

I feel so great! I have now lost 21lbs. I had lost 16lbs and when I got sick I lost 5lbs more for a total of 21lbs. I knew that I was going to gain weight back, that's what always happens when I loose weight while being sick. I decided not to weigh my self for a week to see what would happen and to not discourage myself. About 3 days ago I weighed myself and I had lost 20lbs all together. So between losing and gaining after being sick I was happy about the 20lbs lost. Today I weight again, and I'm down the 21lbs officially. Although this is a lifestyle change and I do not have to try to loose the weight other than keeping myself from eating foods that are not raw, it is a huge positive for me right now. I did have weight to loose and to have done this so quickly shows my body really did have some unwanted weight.

I have not been using any shampoo. I did shampoo my scalp on Friday 8/15 because on Saturday I was going my cousin’s graduation, graduation party and a wedding that night. My scalp was getting very waxy and I didn't want to go to these big events looking like I don't take showers haha! I have continued other than that day not to use shampoo but I have been washing with conditioner, maybe I will try to cut that own to a couple times a week and slowly stop that even. Slow steps.

My face is clearing up a lot, I love it! The thought of cooked food is not even intriguing to me anymore, my stomach always hurts afterward and it isn't worth it. I have been known to have a bite of a friend’s french fry on occasion, not often though. I think I'm doing pretty darn good!

I had been drinking a lot of water, I'm still trying to drink a lot but with all the fruit I'm eating I know that I'm getting all the water my body really needs. I know I can always use more so I'm trying to continue working on that. My new goal has been not to eat after 7pm. I've done this the last two days and it is working fine so far. It is kind of hard not to grab some fruit while watching TV. I didn't realize how much of a little snacker I am. It's not like I'm hungry that late if I've eaten earlier.

I love eating this way and I feel so grateful to know the people I do and have them in my life. I hear so often that people don't want to talk about the way that they eat because they are told that they need to eat "normal" and that they aren't getting enough nutrients. I don't make a point to talk about it but everyone it has come up to has been very supportive and are nice about trying to find places that I can eat too when we go out. I think more than anything it has opened others eyes to this healthy lifestyle and especially at work there are more people trying to eat more fruits and veggies. I love the support; it makes it so much easier to keep going.

Feeling Much Better

I am feeling much better after Monday and Tuesday feeling horrible! I threw up 13 times Tuesday night losing 5lbs, not fun. I must have caught some kind of a bug after all. As of today, Thursday I have not gained any of the weight that I lost back, although I've not been eating as much because my stomach just wasn't quite ready. I'm wondering if I will keep it off because a lot of “stuff” was coming from my intestines (a nice way of putting it) and maybe I needed to be cleared out there anyway. I don't expect to keep it off although I think I deserve some kind of reward from being that sick. We'll see. I'll update next week on that.

Today is day 4 of "No Poo". My hair was getting pretty greasy and waxy feeling so I did cave in and wash with conditioner which worked quite well. I used some of the techniques from the book, "Curly Girl" by Lorraine Massey, which I bought last night. Of course I wanted to see more of my hairs potential so I used a little bit of gel to help the natural wave learn to do its thing. I guess this is cheating from the whole idea of not using any product but we'll see how it goes. Maybe I'll find a gel that has more natural ingredients in it and wash with lemon next time. It's all an experiment so I guess I have to try different things right? So far I do like my hair better without shampoo.

Has your hair turned more wavy/curly since not using shampoo? Do you use anything on your hair?

I'm Back!

I've continued to eat high raw since my last post. I have been 100% raw other than a couple of slips ups when I may have had a bite of something and this has been seldom.

For 3 days at the end of March I had cooked food. I was in a wedding party for a close friend and between the rehearsal dinner, wedding and reception I had cooked food. This did not settle so well. It is amazing how much my body doesn't like cooked food anymore. My body doesn't like the cooked food so much that I had not felt well after having cooked food then on August 1st I was feeling okay. I was up on the stage during the wedding and right when the minister says "I now pronounce you..." I passed out. Thank goodness I've passed out in the past so I knew the symptoms and what was happening so I had the chance to sit down as gracefully as I could while seeing completely black. Surprisingly, not many people noticed. Although passing out wasn't really what I had planned for the wedding it actually was a good thing it happened. It answered some questions for me.

I used to pass out if I hadn't eaten, and sometimes even if I had. I've had many blood tests done and I've always been told there's nothing wrong with me. Kind of funny how when I've been eating raw I haven't felt the urge to pass out once, I have had nothing but energy and felt great. For me, the passing out must have something to do with the cooked food. All this time my body has been trying to tell me something and I had no idea. Hopefully now that I'm back to raw after the 3 days I won’t have that problem again.

Today I haven't been feeling well, I've had wonderful things coming out both ends (TMI, I know). I made some cashew cheese which tasted great but while I was eating it I wasn't feeling quite right so I through it out. I was starting to feel better until in the middle of the night I threw up and at 4:30pm today I still have something coming out the other end. Not much substance though, haven't eaten much today, haven't felt like it. Do you think it really could have been the cashews? I guess I've only had them probably 3 times before in other recipes but in smaller amounts. I don't know what the deal is. I don't feel like I have the flu.

Here are some things I've noticed since eating raw:

- I have more energy.

- My face clears up a lot until I eat a bite of something cooked.

- My sinuses have felt clearer than EVER.

- I prefer to eat fruit over veggies although I'm much more open and curious about other foods that there is no way I would have cared about before.

- I LOVE to hear about peoples gardens. (I also have my own)

- I find myself wanting to find other ways to improve myself.

- If I ever get full I never feel the nasty I want to crawl in a ditch and not come out kind of stomach ache, it is more just the feeling of being full and that I should stop eating. I LOVE not feeling horribly full all of the sudden.

- I've lost 16lbs and I haven't had to try other than sticking with the raw food.



I've read a lot about "No Poo" and today I've tried it for the first time. So far:

- Not greasy.

- Lots of wave and not much frizz. (My hair was very wavy/curly as a baby and over the years have turned to a large frizzy afro style hair that HAS to be straightened to go in public.)

I've read quite I bit and I'm sure that I will experience some nasty greasy days; I can make it through it. My hair tends to be greasy naturally and today I seemed to get away with it feeling washed, we'll see.

My new goal is to post at least once a week. Even if nobody else reads this I need a way to track my progress and so far I haven't done so well with the tracking. I really do need something to look back on and remind me of why I am doing this and what my progress has been over time.