Tuesday, January 27, 2015

From the Depths of Disappoinment *Fully Raw*

Summer of 2012 - The girls and I embarked on our first juice fast. I think we lasted nine days.

February 2013 - We ate bowls and bowls of raw greens - straight - no chaser (that's when I dropped 30lbs in 40 days). We would last about a week before we binged at Pappadeaux, Subway or WhatEVERburger. Then we'd go right back to all greens.

Summer 2013 - I attempted fully raw for 10 days - but it wasn't a true fully raw because I proudly boasted I was fully raw plus chips - found it funny, actually. Oh, the struggle.

Spring 2014 - I completed a 20 day juice fast. The goal was 100 days but my detox symptoms overwhelmed me and I tapped out (check out my youtube videos; I was cute - lol!)

*Intermittently: Too many 3 day fasts to count*

Lessons:
1. Each time I quit, I regretted it. As soon as I ate something off the fast - whether it was a juice fast or a raw foods fast, I had the feeling that I could have kept going.

2. My body needs at least 30 days of raw foods for a basic healing. I choose not to battle with asthma as a runner, so I'm using raw foods as my first line of defense. Goal 60 days.

3. Keep it simply raw. Don't over complicate it. If I don't have time to make a smoothie, grab a few bananas. A salad can be a few cucumbers with avocado dressing.

4. Keep guzzling. Dehydration is at the seat of most diseases - especially those plagued with mucus. One gallon a day or bust.

5. Exercise really does take a back seat to diet. As much as I've run and busted my butt in the gym, without pairing that work with a disciplined diet, all my efforts are in vain. I am now the smallest I have been on this journey I started in 2013, and I owe it all to my commitment to raw foods - no cheating.

When the sun sets this evening, if I shall I rise tomorrow, I will be in unconquered territory. I have never made it to 21 days without "cheating" on any fast I've attempted. I could view all those previous attempts as failures, but I won't. They really were lessons. The Lisa before you today is the Lisa built by said "failures." I am the compilation of all the disappointments each binge brought. I am her, yet I am stronger. I am the fat girl who decided she no longer wanted to live a life of disease and misery so she committed to DO THE RESEARCH: I read Eat to Live, My Beef with Meat, Whole, The China Study, The Starch Solution, Eat and Run; I lived on the words of Dr. Furhman, Dr. Esselstyn, Rip Esselstyn, Dr. McDougall, Dr. Colin T. Campell, Rich Roll; I watched video, after video, after informational video (check out nutritionfacts.org with Dr. McGreger).

Today, I am she who has risen from depths of disappointment to take this wellness journey by the horns and blaze a new path. I'll leave you with the words of beloved poet Eve Merriam, "Of all my atom parts, I am the sum. And out of my blood and my brain, I make my interior weather, my own sun and rain. Imprint my mark upon the world. Whatever I shall become."

Fully Raw. Day 20.

Love y'all,
Lisa
 

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