Happy New Year!!

It is the new year...well in two days it will be. I always start the new year off with a fast/feast. This time around I will not be putting a number of days on this fast/feast. We will just see what the body tells me and I don't want to be disappointed if I don't make it to X amount of days.
I received a notice on my door that my apartment complex has changed fitness gyms. This is a bummer as the old gym was less than a mile from the apartment and five minutes away from work. I was able to attend the gym during my lunch break. This new gym is to far. So I will be going to my sisters fitness center at her apartment complex. My sister and I will be training for a 5k run......this ought to be loads of fun.
School will be starting up again eight or so days. I must say it was nice to have the break.
I am off to make my list of nice fruits and veggies to grab at the store to start my juicing.

In Health
Michele

OkRAW slaw

I'm sitting here munching on a very good simple recipe by Storm from the Garden diet.com
it is very good and I am enjoying it very much.
Okra, corn, avacodo and honey.
I had a good Thanksgiving. To be honest I was not 100% raw but it could have been alot worse. I'm not beating myself up for it because if I do I will feel guilty and spiral out of control.
I've notice the past few weeks I have not been drinking water like I should. So I am on a mission to reprogram myself to drink at least a gallon a day. I'm wearing a path from my office to the bathroom down the hall in the carpet.

I hope all is well with everyone.

Michele

Treadmill

Well I did it!! I finally got my butt on a treadmill. I finally started (for the 500th time) a Body For Life Challenge. I will be doing this challenge raw vegan of course. I found out my gym is very empty around 2 and 3 in the afternoon. So I took lunch around that time. I have this issue with crowded gyms. I feel everyone is looking at me. I know this is not the case. People could care less but I still have the paranoia.
This morning I did upper body work out at home with free weights. I almost cried when I saw the shoulder exercises. I'm not very fond of them. After class tonight I will finish the work out for triceps and biceps.

Joy Joy

Woozah!!!!

Okay I totally forgot that raw cacao nibs have caffeine and is a natural stimulant. So I blend quite a few to make a powder for my green smoothie.
Head to work and swig down my first jar....holy moly!!! I was ready to pull my hair out. I could not sit still. Needless to say I got very little sleep last night.
I am so making another batch this morning!! LOL


I made a decision to hide my weight scale. That is one object that can send me into a spiral of depression for the whole day. I have this bad habit of hopping on it first thing in the morning. I am a little upset by the numbers this morning but I will try not to let it affect my day. I'm going to hide it in the back of my closet.

My mom is going to be my exercise partner. I am excited about that. Exercise will help me tremendously in this journey. Even though I dread the treadmill and elliptical once I get on there and have a good workout I feel a whole lot better.
So we will see how it goes.

M-

Mikey Likes it! He Likes it!

Went shopping and loaded up on leafy greens for green smoothies. I feel I need more green smoothies in my life :)
I made one with kale, spinach and banana. I leave the kitchen for two seconds I come back to find this:


Kodak moment! Could not let that one get away. Drinking it right out of the vitamix! You can't get any better than that. :)
I am glad he likes it. I have been trying to get Steven to eat more greens. He has not yet found a salad dressing that he likes. So this is perfect.

Got Green Smoothie?




Yesterday I had:

1 Liter of Green Smoothie
1 Lara Bar
Way to much Creamy Portabello Bisque (Ani Phyo)

I can swim in that soup I love it so much.

I am off to study Pre-Algebra...joy..joy!!

Michele

Mushroom Soup and Fish Fry

Last Friday my place of employment had their annual fish fry. Thousands of people showed up for a free fish plate. I stood all day serving fish and hush puppies to people. While my other co-workers serve cole slaw, potato salad and tarter sauce. We had 2 stations going and it was non stop. I will be honest the fish did smell good but I had no desire for any. I guess I'm not at that stage yet where cooked food smell does not appeal to me.
During my break I had Ani Phyo's mushroom soup....that recipe is awesome!! I love it. I think I'm going to make it at the next raw pot luck we have. my son who loves Campbell's mushroom soup did not like it. He does like the marinated mushrooms though just not the Brazil nut soup.
I usually eat pretty small during the day with juice, fruit and a few veggies and then have a salad when I get home. I think I am going to switch that up. My weight has went up just a little. I think I need to eat my salad during the day and eat small in the evenings before I go to bed whether it be a green smoothie or some fruit.
We will see how that goes.

Michele

Steven's Raw Lunch

My son Steven

I wanted to post this video of my son making his fave raw snack of Almond Butter, Agave and Bananas. It so cute. He had a little trouble pronouncing a few words...hey who could sat "transitioning" at 9 years old :)

Juice Day

Today is juice day! I will be having carrot juice. I will be jucing at least twice a week. Today is going to be a good day. I purchased Angela Stokes e-books how to go raw for weight loss and the physical changes when raw. I am excited to read them. I wanted to read her story. As I have said before she is a very sweet woman.
I missed the Raw Spirit Fest this year....so sad. Schall Adams was there as a demo coach. I am going to make plans to go next year.



In Health,

Michele

Done

I have decided to quit my juice feast after 40+ days. I am just exhausted. I was not drinking enough juice. It was hard to get it all down. So the lack of juice I was really tired.
I am proud that I have lasted as long as I did. Now it's back to eating at least 80% raw and getting on the treadmill.

Michele

Dreams

It's funny the dreams I've been having lately. The past few nights I've dream that I ate cooked and junk food and ruined my fast. I always wake up freakin out until I realize that I did not ruin my fast. I went to the library and checked out a few raw books. I need to refresh my knowledge My son Steven has been eating an 80% raw lunch. We just need to work on breakfast, snacks and dinner.
I did purchase to jars of raw almond butter. It was on sale for 12.79. You can't beat that with a stick for raw almond butter. He likes the AB with agave and bananas. He will have that as part of his lunch.
I just realized it has been 29 days...wow. I'm going strong. 63 more days to go.

Michele
Start Weight-231.4
Current Weight- 208.4
Goal Weight- 140.0

Time flies when your having fun.

It is day 18. Time is flying by it seems like. It is already day 18. I was telling my mom yesterday this fast/feast seems more pleasant than my last fast. I've figured out why it's the green juices. My last fasts I have always drunk store brought juices. They did not fill me up. I seem to always be hungry. It is so much better to juice your own juices while fasting.
I went to bed at 1:30 last night I was watching a DVD of the TV series "24". I woke up at 6am. Just wide awake......okay I know thats suppose to happen with fasting. You need less and less sleep, you have more energy, etc. I laid there until I went back to sleep. Like hell I was getting up at 6am.
You know it's amazing what God will do for you. He does give you your hearts desire. He is a wonderful and awesome God. I've been eyeing this new cell phone for me and my mom. Everywhere I looked it was $250.00 dollars or more. I only budgeted about 29 dollars for it because I thought if I renew my contract with Sprint I could get it for that price. Well no it was for new customers only. I looked around for days for this phone at a cheaper price. I finally went to Best Buy. My mother and I walked out of Best Buy with two new Razer phones free!! I was so happy.
I'm going to work on my english paper and make more juice.
Starting Weight 231.4 (08/23/07)
Current Weight 213.0 (09/09/07)

Michele

12th day

I did have broth yesterday. I think that is the reason for my pound weight gain. Technically broth is not allowed on juice feasting but I wanted some. I am feeling okay. I had to stay up late last night to study. I will be doing that this evening as well. I think I am going to do a salt water flush today.
M

8 Day

It's my 8th day on my juice feast. Just 84 more days to go. So far so good. I am having a hard time getting in a gallon of juice a day. I seem to only get a bout a liter and a liter and a half on good days. I just can't drink all that juice right now. Maybe later in this journey I will be able to drink a gallon. I took my first Cascara Sagrada herb caps (herbal stimulant) last night while I had a break in pre-algebra and as of this morning it still has not work. I hope it doesn't decide to work while I am at work.
. I do have a lot on my plate with my son's new school which is a 30 minute drive, my schooling in the evenings. I seem to be holding up pretty well.
Starting Weight- 231.4
Current Weight- 220.0


In Health,
M

89 more to go!!!!

Well I did it!!!
I started a 92 day juice/feast fast.
Why you may ask.
I need to do this. I was spiraling out of control with my eating and drinking habits again. I've come such a long way since January 2005 with finding raw, becoming a raw teacher, losing weight, not drinking alcohol to spiral back down that black hole again.
I needed this journey. I knew I needed to do this. I fought it for weeks. I joined Weight Watchers hoping that would help of course it did not. I fought and fought. I rationalize I would just eat mostly raw and count points with Weight Watchers that was a disaster.
I woke up one morning and turned on the radio to hear a pastor talk about fasting. He said there five reasons you should go on a fast. I had four reasons.

1- Super Calamity
Which thank God this has not happen to me.
2- Major Decision, God's Will
My desire when my lease is up in this apartment in 7 months is to purchase a home. I need to find my purpose according to God's will. I would like to work for my self and go to school during the day so I can be with my son. I need to find that skill and passion to help me achieve work at home success.
3- Spiritual warfare, breakthrough
I want to have a closer relationship with God.
4-Increase Intercessory effectiveness
I want to be able to pray on behalf of my family and friends.
5-Personal repentance, deliverance.
I need deliverance from food addiction and the desire for alcohol.

Those are are the reasons. I had a birthday 6 days ago. I am so grateful to see another year. I think of all the people who were not bless to see their next birthday and I decided I will not see another year of this misery. I owe it to God who has blessed me thus far and is waiting patiently for me to see the light, I owe it to myself, my son who deserves a bless and happy mother.


I read Angela Stokes Juice feasting book. You can check out her website at http://www.rawreform.com/
She is such a sweet woman. She had returned my emails and told me to go forth with this journey. She told me I can do this and I will be fine in school.






I am off to dry skin brush, drink my wonderful green juice of kale, cucumber, spinach,parsley, celery and apple.

In health.

Michele

School

I started school yesterday. I am taking night classes at a local community college. Pre-algebra...sheesh!
For the past week I have been eating all raw. I made a wonderful tomatoe soup that a friend of mine gave me the recipe. I've been eating pretty much just fruits, salads and tomatoe soup.
My weight.....I don't want to talk about it. I feel in my spirit I am being led to a place that will have a major impact on my yo yo dieting anmd many other things. I have not decided if I want to start this journey as I just started school and my son Steven will be attending a new school this year. I have to really pray on it and see if I am willing to start this journey inspite of all the activites I have going on now in my life.
Once I start this journey I will post what it is. I want to make sure I am mentally able to do this.
Time to go study pre-algebra.

M

Weight Watchers

I went to Payless this past Saturday and met this girl who lost 85 pounds in a year doing Weight Watchers. Well.....I went and joined yesterday. I had to do something. I am just not sticking to anything. I hope and pray I can stick to this. I think the meetings will help. I am going to set my goal weight to be 160 pounds and once I reach that weight I will start training hard for my first competiton.
I have 29 points I have to eat everyday. So far I ate 23 points. It is 9pm. I have to find 6 more points to eat. Maybe I will have another Smart One meal.
I am going to change the name of my blog since I am not 100% raw at the moment. I have to figure out a name.
My weight has went up again. I declare it comes back on so fast!! I want to delete this blog but I think I need to keep it as a reminder of the struggle I am having with this weight loss. When I do achieve my desire weight I think the blog will be good to keep to see how far I have come.
Maybe someone else will read it that is going through the same thing and see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I just hope I see my light soon.

M

Doing okay

I have been eating okay this week. I only exercised once. I am planning on getting a elliptical(sp?) machine so I can do cardio first thing in the morning.
I received a email from Schall (http://www.thehealingmeal.com/) it made me feel better. She said you do not need to be 100% raw to achieve the benefits. I need to hear that right now as I am at the moment struggling staying raw. I am not going to beat myself over it. I am so glad that I found the raw lifestyle.
I have been eating 5-6 small meals a day. Lately it's been:
M1- 1/2 cup Oatmeal, egg whites or protein shake.
M2- 1 apple with 1/2 cup of low fat cottage cheese
M3- Chicken breast, 1 cup of veggies and 1/2 cup of brown rice
M4- Protein shake and apple
M5- Salad
M6- Protein shake

I know I can achieve the results I want with an all raw diet but it will take me longer. I am to inpatient. I believe one day I will return to at least 75-80% raw. Right now I want to lose weight, leanout and build my body.
Since I will be exercising 6 days a week. I have decided to try some supplements. My friend Brenda is giving me samples of some products she distributes. Preburn a pre-work out powder and Afterburn. When I get these I will let you know how they do. I am on a mission. I need to achieve this body by August 2008.

M

Body For Life

I am starting my first Body for Life challenge tomorrow. I will do two 12 week challenges. Since my son last day of school is this friday I am going to start going to the gym in the evenings. That way I will not have to worry about him doing homework and being in bed at a decent hour. The gym childcare is open until 8pm. So I will most likely go from 7-8 after Steven's Tae Kwon Do classes.

I will be taking my before photos tonight or tommorrow night. I will take photos every two weeks to document my success. As I might have mentioned before I did give my mom my scale. I am going to go by inches and how my clothes feel. I do have an idea of how much I weight. After my first challenge I will weigh myself. I do know I have gained back weight after my Master Cleasne. I just refuse to get back on the scale. If I do it will put me into a deep depression.

I am excited to see how my body will transform.

Michele

MC over

I lasted 31 days on the MC. My weight went down to 201. I gave my mother my scale after the cleanse so I will not weigh myself.
Now I am going to start exercising. I am going to use the BFL exercise for now and tweak it as I need to. I really want to fo figure competitions. I have had that desire for years now. I never got off my lazy butt to exercise. Well I am going to now. I will be 33 in August. By next August at 34 I want to be able to compete. Can it get done in 15 months? Can I go from 200 pounds to a compete figure? We shall see.

Michele

Day 27

Just 13 more days to go and I am done with the MC. I am really happy I did this. I did the SWF this morning. It seems I still have a lot of cleansing to do. I need to make sure I do the flushes and teas every day. That will be my goal these next thirteen days.

M

Day 21

It has been really hard now to stay true to the MC. I am on day 21...but the last few days to be honest I have snuck food in my mouth chewed it up to taste it and then spit it out. I don't know what is wrong with me. Why would I sabotoge myself when I am doing so good. I need to drink more lemonade and water. I have to continue to rid myself of the junk food, cook food addictions. I am drinking my senna tea now. I do need to pray for strength to continue. I feel on the verge of tears. It does seem so hard.

Michele

Juice Feast

I was really tired yesterday. I went to bed at 5:30 in the evening. I woke up today at 6:15am. I was really tired. I feel really good today. I feel very alert. After church today I will work on getting my apartment together., do some yoga, clean my car out.
After my 40 day MC I will embark on a 20 day juice feast. My last juice fast I mostly drunk bottles juices from the grocery store. This time I am going to pull out the Jack Lalane and start jucing all my veggies. I am thinking of purchasing Angela's Stokes e-book on juice feasting. I am also going to purchase Green for Life.
I am very excited about this. I feel I am coming to terms with my body. I will know longer abuse it like I have in the past. This is going to be a great summer. I am going to transition my son Steven to at least 50% raw. I am going to find a good green drink that he will enjoy so he can have one everyday. Life is great!

Michele

Funny how the mind works.

When I was raw I was craving cooked food. It seem such a struggle the last month or so to stay raw. I always end up back on cooked food, drinking alcohol and junk food. Now that I am doing the master cleanse my mind keeps wondering to all the delicious raw foods not cooked foods but raw. I am craving my tahini salad dressing with a huge salad.
After this cleanse I feel I will enjoy raw more and stick to it like I should. I think I got it this time around. I really can't afford mentally and physicially not to get it.
This morning like an idoit I stepped on the scale. Major disappointment. I gain back almost 2 pounds..WTF!! I think I have a clue why. I need to do my SWF and senna more often. I need to drink more lemonade and more water and I need to become active. I haven't done the yoga dvd since the first time. I will try this weekend. I really need to go walking it's suppose to be really nice this weekend.

Michele

Day 10 of Master Cleanse

All is well here. I have not been taking my senna tea or my SWF. I really need to work on that. I am glad I have made it to 10 days. Last night I had real bad hunger pains almost most to the point of nausea. I had to drink some water I had by the bed. I was to lazy to get up to go to the fridge and drink lemonade.I did a yoga tape for the first time yesterday. I lasted about 7 minutes. It is really hard. I'm not giving up though. I will do it agian today.
M

Day 7

All is well. I am heating up some spring water for my SWF. I do need to go out today and buy some more gallons of spring water. I took senna tea yesterday and it worked in less than 2 hours. That surprised me. It usually takes about 8 hours to work. I am down to 219.4lbs. I really need to force myself to drink more of the lemonade because I am very tired.
I hate the way my breath smells. It is the detox. I can't wait until that is over. Well I'm about to go drink my SWF. Uck!

M

Day 5

Just 35 more days to go woohoo!!
I made another gallon of my lemonade. The gallon I made monday lasted until Thursday. I put less syrup this time and a little more cayenne pepper...boy what a kick that pepper has. I have not been able to do the SWF except once. I will do one tomorrow morning. I still haven't done yoga. I am going to go throught some boxes I have in my living room from moving and make room to do my yoga. I am excited about that. I have notice that I do not drink as much lemonade. I mostly drink it at work and when I get home I have a habit of not drinking anything. I really need to work on that. Now that the weekend is coming up I am sure I will be drinking more.
I will work on a video when I get my camera back. I am lending it to a friend who is going to the Bahamas. I want her to take pics of the Anna Nicole sites...I know..I know...but I really want to see it. :)

In health,
M

Day 3 of Master Cleanse

I am a little irritable today. It seems like everyone and everything is getting on my nerves. It does not help that it’s raining today. I had intense hunger pains earlier to the point of actually hearing my stomach growl. It’s my fault for not drinking anything when I got home last night. I had no liquids at all when I got home around 7:30pm. I just did not feel like drinking anything. I was to lazy to make my tea. I need to really get my gallon of water in everyday. I stayed up way to late last night watching “The Workout” on the Bravo channel. I just did not feel sleepy. I should have been unpacking my apartment.
I am down 2 pounds.
I need to go to bed early tonight so I can get up to do my salt water flush and yoga. That will be my goal tonight.

M

Day 2 of Master Cleanse

I am on day 2 of my 40 day Master Cleanse. I am a little tired but that is to be expected.
This fast I must say it is different than my juice fast I have done in the past. I am looking forward to all the great things I have read about the Master Cleanse. Google Master Cleanse to learn more. I have to get to work will post later.

Michele

One lazy chick!!

Boy I am one lazy chick! It has been forever since I posted. I have got to do better.
My 40 day fast only lasted about 21 days. I decided to fast at least 7 days every quarter.
I have been very inspired reading Angela Stokes blog about her 90 day juice feast. I would love to do something like that. Of course with a 9-5 and the hustle with city life it's just not gonna happen. Maybe when Steven and I are able to visit exotic places and I can relax my body, mind and spirit I will attempt one...well at least a 40 day.
I have been really depressed lately with where I stay. I will be moving out next month. My son and I are really looking forward to the change. I am going to get rid of a ton of stuff. I am such a hoarder. So we will be starting over fresh next month.
I am more adament now in trying to get my son to at least 80% raw. With this move no junk food will enter our new apartment.
With this new apartment I get a free gym membership of a gym up the street. I am excited about that. I am going to buckle down with my fitness.
When I move into my new apartment I will be posting more and will be posting videos of me and my son's journey.

Michele

Day 7

All is well here. I am down 12 pounds. I feel pretty good. I am helping my son work on his science project about popcorn. We have to count how many kernels different brands of popcorn leave un popped. It is tough to count the popcorn and not want to lick my fingers. I am getting through it.
I am about to go and drink some senna tea. Hope everyone is having a great new year!

M