(90-Day Detox) Day 35: The Only Way Out Is Through! Part 1

Okay, lovebuttons. I know this is a late night post, but there was a parents’ meeting and a meeting with my new landlord and a hot date (and I do mean HOT date) with my pores at yoga!

I just HAVE to tell you what happened to me yesterday as I was walking and smiling and strutting my happy green stuff in the street. I was coming out of somewhere… oh! Having bought my groceries at the health food store. I was pushing the jogging stroller, loaded with fruits and veg, and I walked past a couple of men who were Italiano and chatting away…

…I smiled and just walked right past. When I was about 3 stores down, one of them yelled out at me at the top of his lungs,

“YOU ARE BEEEEAAAUTIFUL!!!”

*gush*

It’s that special? I felt happy the whole day for that one! Just another example of how you can make someone feel so good, when you’re brave enough to say what you think when you think it. That just made my day!

Today was pretty great, too. I did two great things for myself today:

• I RELEASED a project I had been ify about. I’d been thinkin’,. wonderin’, tryin’ waiting to see if and how I would make something happen and today I said,

“NO!”

In the nicest way possible, of course.

Here’s what became my affirmation for the day:

I CHOOSE to prioritize the projects and people that GIVE me strength and that excite and empower me and I RELEASE the rest to the wind.

Eventhough having released this project meant losing some significant opportunities, I just had to go with my GUT and not my brain and SET IT FREE.

So I did and I’m sure I’ll be really glad about it eventually.;-) It did hurt a bit, because there are always costs involved (emotional as much as financial) when letting go of something, but you know what they say about doors and stuff…

…you have to close one door before you can let another open.

So, here’s to promising possibilities with projects and believe that inspire me to be the best I can be and have the most positive impact on the world.

• The other thing I did for myself was I prioritized ME! I went to my yoga class even though I was heavily tempted to come here and do my late blog duties. I let the guilt go for the late blog post and just sweat myself to bliss by going to yoga!!

So overall, I’m feeling empowered. Voila today’s themesong:

CLICK HERE, LADIES!!

I’ll be putting up the announcement very soon for our teleseminar with Michael tomorrow! Remember, this is going to be YOUR opportunity to ask questions, so once that announcement is up, you better start sending me all your questions and concerns. ASK ANYTHING!!! He really said we could ask ANYTHING, so let’s do it!

You can leave you name out if you’d like it to be anonymous. That’s totallly fine. On the call, just so you know, I won’t say something like,

“Umm… Michael, Stacey in Winnipeg, wants to know if poop should sink or float and why?”

Love you, Stacey.

Okay, here’s another reminder that FRIDAY is my rescheduled date night with Brian Johnson. PLEASE, you do NOT want to miss that call, it’s going to be AMAZING and I’m so looking forward to it! There are more things up the pipes, but I think we’ve got enough to worry about for now.

It’s time for some emergency support, but since this is getting long and juuust in case you’ve been waiting for my post, I’m going to continue it and put the rest up in another post. I have A LOT to say and so I may as well keep it going. A sequel.

Stay tuned and in the meantime, check out Annie Lennox and Aretha Franklin on that theme song I told you to start up!

Our March Break Cleanse Extravaganza!

Last post I told you we had already begun our March Break cleanse.  I left off telling you for some added motivation I was heading to the big city to take in the sites while we all continued our intention to do a cleanse.  My reasoning is that even though we eat a very high-raw regime while at home, because the kids are in school and socializing with friends and attending birthday parties, etc., it isn’t always as ideal as I would like. 

So, every school holiday, we take several days to wind down, to re-connect, and tune-in to each other, and ourselves.  Using food is a great tool to help this process along.  And this year, after the usual yoga sessions, tubing, hikes, bike rides and visits with friends, we all thought it would be so fun to take a trip 1 hour south to the city to round out our little holiday with some cultural stimulation to go with our cleanse.

I like to occasionally do little water or green juice fasts and in the Spring and Autumn longer ones, but with children, that isn’t really necessary or practical.  So instead, what we do is have days where I only serve fresh fruit, green juices, green smoothies, and big salads.  This way, the kids aren’t really hungry, and they are getting great nutrition, plus, a little rest from the nuts and mixed combinations of usual raw gourmet fare like raw burgers or nori rolls, etc.

We completed our 3 days at home just doing juices, smoothies and bitter salads (arugula, radicchio, dandelion greens with avocado) and the morning of our trip, we all juiced and packed enough green juice (dandelion, romaine, cucumber, celery and apple) and salad for the whole day.  On the 5^th day, we ate fresh mangosteen and coconut and drank coconut water plus our usual lemon-ginger water.  For a late lunch at 4pm, we headed over to our fave raw restaurant- LIVE!  Ohhhhh, I just love Jennifer Italiano’s food!  To be perfectly honest, I am reeeeeeeallt picky!  Yet, I have enjoyed everything I have ever tried at her foodbar.  My kids were so hungry by the time we got there because we had been to the museum for 5 hours looking at dinosaurs and ancient Egyptian exhibits, and the smells were so tantalizing!  Jennifer also offers a few healthy cooked food options like brown rice dishes, and my boys nearly caved and went for those- but I firmly reminded them that we were still on our cleanse and they really had to choose something raw.  One chose the large mixed green with kale salad and a ginger garlic dressing, and the other chose a veggie wrap with a dehydrated burrito that was a dark red color.  My husband had a wrap and I had a salad.  And we all had desserts- Ok, that was NOT on the cleanse menu LOL!

We all wished we had ordered about double that amount of food as everything tasted sooooooo good!  But actually, by the time we were finished, we were full and satisfied.  We had an Art Gala of 300 International artists to attend at 6, so off we went very happy indeed!  We must have all been radiating a lot of joy, because when we attended the gala which was PACKED with people, just as we were standing in one of the lines to pay, my husband was tapped on the shoulder and a gentleman handed him FREE TICKETS for our whole family!  We couldn’t believe our good fortune!  I looked around in the crowd and found this man walking with a woman, and realised she was the lady I had assisted in the parking lot several minutes before…it was all so sweet!  I even bumped into several people I hadn’t seen in ages, and a client who had attended 2 of my raw recipe workshops with her husband.

When we returned to our hotel room at 9:30, we had all worked up quite the appetite…so although this isn’t the best idea because of how late it was, we broke open one of our DURIAN and had a little feast!

(Our young photographer Liam shot this little vid of us all feasting away: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eZoRQ5VWwc )

I find when one is raw, going with the flow and meeting your body’s needs and desires is healthier than constantly stifling them…

The next day we visited a Raw Market Fair at super Sprouts and saw our dear friend Wayne Gendel from foreverheathy.net who had a booth there, a little raw waldorf girl who was selling her wonderful poetry books for $3, and Groovinda from Aum My Goddess- she has the coolest clothing line made of hemp and cotton original designs- and several other raw friends and had a wonderful time!  We nibbled on bags of sunflower sprouts and green juices served there until the kids got bored about 3 hours in. After more fun going to the HUGE super health food store THE BIG CARROT and buying some raw honey and organic apples and bee pollen and nori sheets (my kids LOVE to nibble on them) we headed back to the hotel around 8 for a salt-water swim.  Our 3 day holiday and 6 day cleanse was fun, refreshing and a wonderful bonding experience that my family all really enjoyed.  Bless!

How to Mika a Fuschia Smoothie!

It’s finally here!
Mika’s Diva TV début! We actually recorded this last summer, but just now finally got to editing it. Brace yourselves, Ladies. JimboSunshine Gilker and I are getting ready for a video roll out, and it starts today!

Love and hugs!

P.S.
I used to be able to convince her to put greens in hers, too, but as you’ll see, she’s got her own fuscia agendas these days.

(90-Day Detox) Day 37: Back In Action With Gusto!

Good morning, my little Sparkle Puff of delight! I sure appreciate all the kind words people send me and encouragement to rest. I am feeling much better and I got a lot of sleep, so thanks!

I also used the opportunity of being “tucked away” to move forward on the detox announcement that we’re supposed to be putting together this week and I am SOOOOOO excited. I can hardly wait to show it to you and to kick-start the next stage of deep tissue detox for those of us who will be carrying through with that level of intensity in this program.

Okay, prepare for a mega-update.There’s a lot to say and a day in the bed feels like I’ve missed a week of action.

First of all, I’m going to make a little confession, here and it’s just slightly uncomfortable. My brother would squirm in disgust if I said this in front of him, and quite frankly a lot of other people I know would, too, but I still want to tell you what happened for me, because, well…

…I guess that’s just the way I am. I put it all out there, with the hope that it might help you, too.

So, here it is:

Yesterday when I wasn’t feeling well, I realized there was something toxic brewing inside. It must have come in through the seaweed salad I ate, because I remember reacting to it almost immediately. That or the green vegetables, I’m not sure. Maybe a bug slipped in through my celery juice. I don’t know, but it sure didn’t feel comfortable.

I spent a lot of time hugging the toilet bowl, but that didn’t seem to do the trick. Nothing would come out and I’m just not good at “forcing” that particular issue. So I waited and allowed things to move through a bit. When I was sure they’d moved “further down the track” then I did…

…an enema!

Yup! The “Big E” as Jimmy likes to call it.

Now, maybe it’s no coincidence that this week we have our special guest with Michael Perrine where he’s going to tell us “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Poop, But Where Too Afraid to Ask.” I am the one who gets to put myself out there and ask the rosy-cheek questions. (I can take it. ) Anyway, I know it’s a subject of controversy and the reason I’m bringing it up is because for a long time I advised people against it. For a long time I just regurgitated what people told me about it.

I used all the excuses that “it’s not natural”. We’re just “not supposed to” do that kind of thing. It’s the exit door, not the entrance, blah, blah, blah.

I heard fear tactics like “I know someone who did an enema and never took another natural bowel movement again!”

I’m sorry, I’m not totally convinced about that one, and fear-mongering isn’t my style. The next time someone tells me something like this I’m going to ask WHO, WHERE and How do I get in touch to ask them a few questions myself.

Fortunately for me, my commitment to base my truth on experience over indoctrination has allowed me to expand my horizons. That and the realization that there’s very little about how we live that is natural these days, so “natural” doesn’t serve as justification not to do something anymore.

It’s not “natural” to wear clothes, but if I tell the police that when I’m walking nude in the street, I’ll still get arrested.

I don’t look out my window and find seaweed, chard or pineapples growing. If I had to live “naturally”, I’d have died a very loooong time ago. So this isn’t just about being “natural”. It’s also about doing what makes sense TO YOU, given your conditions and situation in life and then having the courage to try things and find out for yourself what works.

As much as I would have loved to have given birth to my son “naturally” I’m quite certain either he or I would have died on the table if science hadn’t been there to help us out. I’m all for nature and natural living, but I think science and the “unnatural” world has its valuable contributions to society, and the fact that you’re even reading this in the first place is proof of that.

I’ve lived in the jungle before and tried to lead a “natural” life and those of you who know me closely, know it didn’t work out so well for me. I’m okay with walls, with internet and YES! even high heels and lip gloss. There’s nothing natural about these things and I’m okay with that.

I want to feel good. I want to live a fulfilling life and make the world a better place. I want to learn, grow and share (love you, Fred!) and do whatever I can to make things work in my life and in the lives of those around me. So that’s why I’m coming out of the colonic closet to say that experience has now shown me that flushing the intestinal tract with water is far, far, far more comfortable than suffering with toxicity and constipation.

I am a believer!

Now, granted, I don’t know everything about it, perhaps there are risks, things I should be concerned about. But there are risks to constipation, too, and risks to worrying about the risks of constipation. And where I do not know all the story, I can seek answers and THAT is why Michael is coming this week on Thursday to answer our questions.

I encourage you to visit his site and check out some of his resources. (and eh hem, you can check HIM out while you’re at it.;-)) I think you’ll be more than impressed with this character and I do hope you’ll join us on Thursday for the scoop on poop and much, much more.

(Just couldn’t resist, sorry!)

Now, that’s all out of the way, what other juicy things do I have to share?

I suppose that’s quite a sufficient update, except for the fact that I forgot to mention, my date with Brian Johnson has been reschedule for THIS Friday at 9pm EST. I’ll make that call available again and change the links on the original announcement. Anyway, just pencil that one in your calendar, because it’s going to be inspiring.

I’ve been observing some things and I’m very excited about pushing a few buttons with him to ask him some questions about how he does it all.

A Really Neat Thing Is That…

…because the power went out at Brian’s place, his friend Daniel Aaron dropped me an email to let me know Brian couldn’t make it to the call. Turns out Daniel is *hold your britches, my dear* an expert on “the joys of the all aphrodisiac diet” and much, much more. He runs a yoga training center in Bali and I’ve so enjoyed my connection with him and was SO, SOOOO inspired by some of the things he’s doing that I’ve decided I’m moving to Bali!!

Okay, just kidding, but I know some of you wouldn’t put an extreme move like that past me. Nor should you.;-) He he…

Seriously, though. He’s going to be our teleseminar guest next week and you know, I’m SUPER excited about this. And while I might not be moving to Bali YET, I am wheeling and dealing with some close friends about the idea of doing a retreat there. We’re torn between Bali and Hawaii. Anyway, we’ll keep you posted, but that’s for later in the summer.

Here’s a quote from Daniel’s website that got me thinking in a BIG way. I loved it:

“Work does not kill you, food does. God does not kill you, food does. Food is your first and last enemy. If you take in more than you can handle, it takes all of your energy to digest it.”
( Yogi Bhajan )

I’m not going to show you his website yet, and dont you go googling his name either. Just busy yourself with checking out Michael Perrine and hang on to your shorts for that super inspirational call with Brian, and then I’ll show you all the juicy stuff Daniel has to offer.

*aaaaaaahhh…*

Guess the silence had gotten to me, huh? I seem to have purged a prolific expression of my thoughts for one day and so I will leave you with a few of your own thoughts, well, the thoughts of program participants like yourself that take the time send me their thoughts, expressions and appreciation. But before you get started, why don’t you click this link and get the musical soundtrack to this part started up:

What You Have to Say About Things

Tera,

I meant to write this yesterday (Saturday, end of GSC) but it just didn’t happen!  I did indeed make it to the finish line of the 7 day Green Smoothie Challenge and I feel great!  I feel more centered physically and emotionally.  Not noticing many detox symptoms either, but I was eating mostly raw before the challenge.  But this was a great way to really focus on the greens and I have been telling people how it cuts down on most all cravings, amazingly! But it does make sense if greens are one of the most nutrient dense foods available.

I have discovered during this challenge how much I enjoy collards and mixed baby greens in my smoothies and have really increased the green part of the fruit:greens ratio!  Thanks so much for offering these challenge!  I am now signed up for the 7 day free detox, printed out the materials and organized them into a binder notebook and excited to get started!  My focus will be on cutting down on oils and using fats a little less!  And drinking plenty of water of course!  By the way, yesterday I spent a whole 45 mintues with my Omega juicer, juicing the heck out of some veggies that needed to be used and made nearly a whole quart of pure veggie juice, including a whole handful of parsley!

With much green goodness thanks,

Jennie

I love this lady, she just hits me up with doozies all the time and yet insists she has nothing to say to the world. Check out this one:

This has most definitely been a week from Hell, but I never once wavered about how I was nourishing myself.  No wine, no pizza, no pills, no Hershey’s (or even Trader Joe’s 85%) chocolate.  I just kept on doing what you taught me to do…and it worked!

It worked because it’s the right thing to do, to eat like this.  To listen to our bodies and provide the things it really needs.  My son spent time in Nepal, in the Peace Corps. One thing that impressed him is that the people where he was stationed have no word for “want,” but several words for “need.”

I think, as a country, we’d be a lot better off if we did, bought, ate, lived more of what we need and MUCH less of what we want.

It’s time to make juice, and later a smoothie…and probably another one tonight.  I’m loving the simplicity of them and feel no need for fancier meals.  I’m grounded and at peace, and you showed me the way.

Thanks again, love.
S

Now, this is pure love and enthusiasm in 1s and 0s. ENJOY!!

Hi Again Tera,

Well, I’m on a Diva inspired roll here!

I’m reading Leslie Kenton and Cherie Calbom and
I am SO ready for the Deep Tissue Detox.
Bring it on Sistah!!

I love the Gradient concept.
I realize that that is just what I’ve been doing on my raw food/optimum health journey BUT
instead of patting myself on the back for all the progress I’ve made, I was beating myself up for
not being “good enough”!

So, for my fellow travelers on this journey….
When I started “going raw” about a year and a half ago, I couldn’t imagine how I was ever going to
“give up” cookies, ice cream, candy….
Then a few months into it, I was rarely eating those foods but couldn’t imagine how I was ever going to
“give up” crackers, chips, bread….
Then a more few months into it, I was rarely eating those foods but couldn’t imagine how I was ever going to “give up” cheese, yogurt, kefir
Hmmm…..me thinks there’s a pattern emerging here )

Now…although I do occasionally partake of a less than optimal food choice, most of the time the foods I eat are raw, living and plant based.
Now…although I do occasionally crave a less than optimal food choice, most of the time I crave “weird” things like kale or parsley (REALLY…. I DO!!)

This morning, while reading over the last few days of Tera’s blog posts, I had an A-HA moment:
I wasn’t “giving up” anything, I was “letting go” of those things (food, possessions, habits, relationships) that no longer served me. Wow! How liberating. Yeah, I’ve got a way to go on this journey but wow, I sure have come a long long way in a very short time.

Thanks Tera
Thanks Diva Friends!

Oh … I have to share another recipe.
Here’s what I made last night for dinner.

I’ve named it my “Diva Inspired Detox Salad”
(Sorry about the lack of measurements …. my food preparation tends to be more art than science)

INGREDIENTS
Large handful of sunflower sprouts
Large handful of arugula
Small handful of dulse
2-3 stalks of bok choy
1-2 green apples (granny smith)
Sprinkling of raisins
Drizzle of cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
Lemon juice (I used a half slice cut maybe about 1/4″ thick)
Fresh ground pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:
Place the sprouts, arugula, dulse and bok choy leaves in a bowl & cut into small pieces (I use a pair of kitchen scissors and cut everything pretty fine)
Dice the bok choy stalks and toss ‘em in
Chop/dice the green apples and toss ‘em in (I include everything – core, seeds – just not the stem)
Sprinkle on the raisins
Drizzle on the olive oil
Squeeze on the lemon juice
Grind on the pepper
(Do a little dance while you’re doing all this — so much fun!)
Toss and enjoy!

Bright blessings,
Karyn

And with that, my lovelies… I’m on my way to purge what little bacteria might still be wriggling about in a sesssion of (you guessed it) HOT YOGA!!! Mmmmhmmm…Love you!

YOU!! What are you going to do to make this day the best day ever? And what do you think off all this chatter-whacking I’ve just done! My goodness gracious!!! Look forward to hearing from you…

P.S.

DON’T wait on the world to change! Get up and change it yourself!

P.P.S

Jimmy wants me to do a bulleted list to that he can do a cool new trick on the blog. Here’s a list of all the things I can do to make this day (here’s to you Wolfie) the BEST DAY EVER:

• Go to hot yoga
• Buy a whole bunch of greens and load up on fresh fruit and veggies
• Do my hair and get myself some new, styling yoga pants
• Snuggle my muffins with 1000 kisses
• Have a phone conversation with someone who inspires me
• Pee. No, really. I have to go pee, now!!! Byeeeee! Love you!!

Rawvolutionarily Different: Healing Diabeties and More with Green Smoothies and Raw Foods (Green Smoothie Guest Post by Naturopath and Living Foods Coach Pamela Reilly)

Hello! My name is Pamela Reilly. I’m a Naturopath and Living Foods Life Coach who lives in Indianapolis and who has experienced truly miraculous healing from raw foods. I want to thank Tami so much for inviting me to be a guest blogger! I consider it a privilege and an honor to be able to share information on this amazing blog.

I am currently in the process of allowing my body to heal from 42 years of having Diabetes. My posts therefore focus on using raw foods to reverse or control Diabetes. Today’s post shares the special challenges folks with Diabetes face when they go raw, and my second post will share nutritional information about foods known to lower blood sugars along with recipes for delicious Green Smoothies made without fruit.

I’ve “played” with raw foods since 2005, going through periods of high and low rawness. Late last year I decided it was time to get serious. I went 100% raw, vegan on January 1. The difference between being 25-75% raw with few restrictions and 100% raw, vegan with restrictions related to my Diabetes has been incredible.

Please note that I typically avoid the use of the word “diabetic” because I never want to define someone by their disease. To save space, however, I do refer to my friends with Diabetes as “raw diabetics” in these posts. For those of you unfamiliar with Diabetes, it is an illness where a person’s body is unable to turn glucose (a simple sugar) into energy. This inability is either caused because the person’s body stops producing insulin (Type 1) or because the person’s body stops using the insulin produced by the body (Type 2). I chose not to devote much time to explaining diabetes in these posts. Please feel free to contact me if you’d like additional information.

I switched to raw foods because I was determined to reverse 42 years of Diabetes and associated complications. I had experienced healing from many health issues using nutritional support and other natural remedies, but Diabetes and a dead Thyroid gland remained a constant battle. Raw foods allowed my body to completely regenerate my Thyroid gland so that I no longer need any medication. Raw foods also reduced my insulin needs from 70 units per day down to 7-10 units, and that amount continues to drop. You can read more about my healing journey at my blog: Rawvolutionary Healing and in another recent guest blog post at:  Pamela Reilly’s Rawvolutionary Healing.

My biggest passion is teaching about and coaching others in the living foods lifestyle. Diabetics face some very specific challenges when they go raw, but have few resources to help them get over the bumps. The focus of my life is providing practical tips and encouragement to raw diabetics. Perhaps the most obvious challenge faced by raw diabetics is that they experience dramatic changes in how they control their blood sugars after they go raw. Most experience dramatic drops in blood sugar levels and insulin needs, which is a good thing, but many also experience periods where their blood sugars drastically drop and rise for no apparent reason. These extreme fluctuations are exacerbated by the detoxification process. The fluctuations wreak havoc with the raw diabetic’s emotional outlook, energy levels, and
overall feeling of well being.

It is incredibly frustrating to do everything right but have their blood sugar control actually worsen. The emotional side of going raw for a diabetic is a much larger issue than it is for most raw foodists. The interviews I’m doing show that some diabetics experience far more emotional upheaval related to physical changes created by raw foods than others do. This may mean they require more support and encouragement than others. On the other side of the coin, some diabetics experience such dramatic changes in their health that their emotional outlook greatly improves.

Raw diabetics’ struggles are often complicated by the fact that their doctors don’t understand raw foods and refuse to work with them to make the necessary adjustments in medication dosages. Many of the diabetics I’ve interviewed and spoken with either abruptly quit taking all medication, or stop consulting their physician and make all medication changes on their own. This is potentially a very dangerous situation. One of my goals is to create a database of MDs who will work with and advise raw diabetics on making medication adjustments in a safe manner. I also hope to eventually work with MDs to provide training on the living foods lifestyle to mainstream medical professionals, but many “attitude hurdles” must be jumped before that can happen.

The second largest difference between a raw diabetic and other raw foodists is the raw diet a diabetic eats to control their glucose levels. Many diabetics go raw after seeing the movie, Simply Raw: Reversing
Diabetes in 30 Days, a movie that follows six diabetics on a 30-day raw adventure. The movie is incredibly inspiring and eye-opening. I still get misty when I watch it, and I’ve shown it more times than I can count! I encourage you to get a copy of the video to share with diabetics you know and love, your church or civic organizations to which you belong. This message needs to be heard!

The diet followed by most raw diabetics is the one proposed in Dr. Gabriel Cousen’s books, There is a Curefor Diabetes, and Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine. I highly recommend both of these books to anyone with diabetes, and highly recommend the “Rainbow Green” book to anyone seeking extreme healing from any health issue.

The diet proposed in these books has some interesting restrictions and is broken into three phases. Each phase restricts some foods but progressively allows more foods to be included in a person’s daily meals. Right off the top, the program eliminates all animal products, processed foods, white flours, white sugars, caffeine, mushrooms, nutritional yeast, and other foods considered to have high levels of minute toxins called “mycotoxins.” Phase 1 of the program strictly eliminates the intake of any and all fruits. It also eliminates the intake of high-glycemic veggies such as carrots and beets, starchy vegetables such as potatoes, all fermented foods, and raw cacao. Raw diabetics also typically need to limit the amount of grains and seeds they eat, as these can elevate blood sugars.

Some raw diabetics experience glucose spikes from nuts and therefore also need to limit their intake of nuts. Dr. Cousens explains that restricting these foods accelerates the body’s ability to heal itself in a variety of ways. His organization graciously shares an online chart showing the foods allowed in each phase at Summary of Phases.

The restricted foods can make it tricky to follow many “mainstream” raw food recipes, but I’ve found it’s very easy to adapt recipes to fit the program. In main course recipes, it’s usually OK to just delete dates and raisins from the recipe, using common sense. I also substitute Stevia for raw honey or agave, use thin cucumber slices instead of mushrooms, and so on.

This diet is anything but restrictive, though! The foods that are permitted can be combined to create a wide array of dishes that are both gorgeous and truly delicious! I feel I have more variety in the foods I eat now than I ever did before. I also never feel “deprived,” but savor and celebrate the uniqueness of every meal. Both of Dr. Cousen’s books contain a wide variety of recipes, and I’m very busy creating new recipes every day for my hubby and I to enjoy. (He went raw a few months after I started Phase 1, mainly because of the miraculous health he saw me regain.)

The final unique challenge that raw diabetics face is opposition from those who love them and who believe they are harming themselves by eating living foods. When most people go raw, their friends and family may respond with surprise, but eventually accept their lifestyle change and give it little thought. This is not always true for raw diabetics. Some raw diabetics are surrounded by people who love them dearly but who can’t believe that a simple dietary change could reverse diabetes. These family members are extremely fearful and are often angered that their loved one is trying an approach that goes beyond their physician’s recommendations. I hear repeated stories from raw diabetics who were subjected to many angry outbursts by a family member or friend, or who even had a loved one break off a relationship because of the diabetic’s switch to raw foods. This type of opposition and stress can be overwhelming and often comes during the most difficult initial stages transitioning to a raw food lifestyle. Thankfully, most of this opposition disappears once the loved ones see the dramatic healing experienced by the diabetic.

All of these challenges require a raw diabetic to have extremely high levels of determination to successfully go raw and stick to the program. Let’s not forget that in the midst of these special challenges, a raw diabetic still goes through the “normal” raw food transition challenges of changing ingrained habits, detoxing, battling cravings, and so on.

It takes a very special person to choose to reverse their health issues by adopting the raw food lifestyle. If you know a diabetic who has gone raw or is considering going raw, please go out of your way to encourage them on a daily basis. They will love you for it! I look forward to sharing with you again! Go find the abundant wellness God intends for you!

Please feel free to contact me via any of the following:

My website: Good Works Wellness Research, LLC

My Blog: Rawvolutionary Healing

Twitter: RawHealer

~ Pamela Reilly

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Editor Note: I’m so excited that Pamela is sharing her expertise here with us on the Green Smoothie Blog! Thank You Pamels! I discovered Pamela via Twitter! Are you using Twitter? Leave your Twitter link in a comment to this post so we can all connect! And be sure to check back next week for Pamela’s next post that will include green smoothie recipes that are “diebetic friendly.” These recipes and information is useful for everyone — those on a raw food diet and those simply trying to safely incorporate more greens into their diet.

And … if you have questions for Pamela — PLEASE post them in our comments to they can be answered here for everyone in future posts!

P.S. In April Pamela will be launching a 30-day “Rawvolutionary Healing” Living Foods Coaching program specifically designed
for diabetics and others on Phase 1 of the Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine. Please contact Pamela if you’d like to receive updates on this program.