COLLECTING INFORMATION

I have this horrible habit of buying books. It seems I could spend hours and hundreds of dollars at my local bookstore. Sadly ours closed years ago and I now check the library before buying online. I happened to be in the nutrition section when I ran across this book “Detox your world: Quick and Lasting Results for a Beautiful Mind, Body, and Spirit” by Shazzie. Yes, no last name, just Shazzie.

Sadly, I have been noticing I am looking more my age lately so I thought to give this book a try. With children in tow, it is pretty hard to give a book the good once over before checking it out, so I went with my gut and brought it home. I am sure happy I did, I am really enjoying this book!

I personally think it is amazing how things turn up in your life at the precise moment you need them. It didn’t even occur to me to think this book had anything to do with eating raw. I put it out there that I wanted to start learning more about this lifestyle and…BAM… this book comes along.

Glenn Harrold, author of “Sleep Well Every Night and Lose Weight Now!” commented, “For anyone starting out on a raw food or detox journey, this book should be a first read.” I couldn’t agree more. Shazzie has brought a few interesting facts to my attention and I thought it good to share:

·         Being raw does not mean never eating cooked food again. She recommends starting slow and gradually incorporating the raw lifestyle into your everyday diet. Make subtle changes at first and work up to making it 75% of your intake. While 100% is ideal, it isn’t for everyone.

·         This diet causes you to naturally lose weight. As you replace 75% of your diet with natural, plant-based meals, your body is able to process this food faster and your weight begins to gravitate to a more healthy number.

·         Yo-yo detoxing is bad for your health. The gradual detox works best because you are more likely to remain living this lifestyle than by jumping back to your normal eating habits once you have lost the weight. Detoxing and retoxing shocks your body, and not in a good way. It can leave you in a worse state than when you started. Do it once and stick with it is the plan.

·         Eating raw gives you energy. Not going to lie, this attracts me more than anything else. I am exhausted. Raising a two-year-old and a baby really takes it out of me. I find we are eating out more and feeling less energetic than ever. Stuff just piles up around my house and I am constantly apologizing for clutter. More energy would give me more time and who couldn’t use more time??

So far this diet seems to speak to me on a molecular level. Every part of me craves it. Thankfully my husband Jason is sold on the idea as well. I am so excited about the possibilities!

FILLING UP WITH A NEW FUEL

Diet. Got to love that word…Diet. Love it so much, let’s say it again…DIET! Okay, I actually hate that word. Well, hate is a strong word, let’s just say I avoid the word. You see, I love to eat. A lot. I love the smell of food, the taste of food… basically, I love food! Diet means no more food. So, I don’t diet. But lately I have lots of problems with food. It hurts my tummy, it hurts my baby, in some way shape or another, it hurts my family.

So my love hate relationship with food ends below my hips. I am lucky in that, I tend to gain and lose weight proportionally. That is once my body has packed the weight onto my upper thighs…sigh. I have small hips, small waist, and large legs. It is like I have an hour glass figure with a speed bump at the end. I think they are referred to as saddlebags. I guess that is fitting since I grew up in the country.

Well, I want to take off those saddlebags. Now, I am not trying to be skinny, just toned and happy. While I know exercise plays an important part, diet has more to do with it than anything else. There is that diet word again. This time I mean it in a good way – fuel. I love that word…fuel. That word screams power and I LOVE power! Vrrmmm, hear my engines rumble…

This new lifestyle: raw eating. Now, I know what you are thinking…raw?? What is that?!? To be honest, I don’t exactly know for sure. I just know that I want a change and raw sounds interesting. I don’t have a solid plan, nor do I have a time frame. I just want to experiment and use this blog to document my progress.

Check back and see what happens.