Our bodies are changing. And I don't mean just because we're losing weight, which is definitely happening too. We arrived in Texas pudgy and unhappy, feeling stuck and stiff physically. Terry had terrible dark circles under his eyes, and my body had curves which it may never have had before and that I certainly did not want there. We began to eat healthier, quickly jumping back into a vegetarian diet (which had been compromised by dinners and lunches at Mom-mom's, Terry's maternal grandmother who loves via food's, house on Thursdays and Sundays), then into a vegan diet, which hadn't been particularly firm or consistent to begin with, and had flown in Richmond and Pennsylvania through pizza and french fries with cheese and ice cream and such. We discovered hazlenut milk (delicious) and are still working on the perfect cashew cheese, which is narrowing down. And we started nearly daily yoga.
That said, we were feeling healthier, but not losing much weight. Then, after more reading, we decided to go raw. And not only that, but we decided to do that adventurous apple fast/gall bladder cleanse of two weeks ago. And that's when the pounds started melting off.
Daily we'd lose weight, and during the apple fast, we weren't even exercising, to avoid overtaxing our bodies (we figured they were working hard as it was). Terry shed pounds and so did I. At the end of the fast, he was at about 153 and I was at about 92. I haven't weighed that much since high school. And I'm not even trying to lose weight!
When we eat, we eat living foods, ones that naturally have digestive enzymes that haven't gotten killed via cooking so that our bodies can convert easily to energy and that we don't store as fat. No dairy means none of the associated mucous production that was so obvious within ten seconds of when Terry had a sip of chocolate milk a few weeks ago.
Usually, when I would give in to my sweets cravings (which I have LOTS of), I'd bargain with myself, figuring out just how bad this was for my body, thinking of how I'd offset that. Today, after lunch, as I was walking back to our room where we were watching Star Wars (it makes much more sense to me now, and what creativity George Lucas had! He was on the mark about so many things!), carrying our dessert of two chocolate mockaroons and a big glass of creamy rice milk, it finally hit me. My mind started to do that bargaining and figuring thing, and I realized. This was GOOD for me. I was about to eat superfoods. The mockaroons are called that (instead of macaroons) because they're made with organic raw cacao powder, shredded raw coconut, honey and/or agave nectar, and coconut butter (there may be other things, I can't recall right now). The ingredients are formed into balls and dehydrated for a day or two, but Terry and I grab them out of the dehydrator along the way and have delicious gooey chocolatey treats reminiscent of half done brownies, which I've always loved. And not only do I not have to pay for it, my body THANKS me! Those are all good fats and beneficial nutrients! A completely different approach to food, this is. And I'm loving it.
Slowly, I'm beginning to not recognize things like bread and meat as food. Seeds and nuts and fruits and greens are food, and what is bread? Grass seeds cooked and ground into powder, then mixed with a bunch of other things into a goo, and cooked until tiny holes foam up and it stays frozen that way, permanently, and is considered yummy. Meat? Muscle tissue. Of abused and tortured and poisoned animals. Not exactly delicious.
And we're still losing weight. Today Terry weighed in at 148 and I weighed in at 90. I think we'll probably even out soon, and our bodies will form the way they're supposed to be formed – after all, I eat plenty of fats. Today, so far, I've had an entire avocado (loaded with good fats), a mockaroon, which is the same, and for dinner I'll have cauliflower doused in spices like salt, pepper, dulse, cumin, and dipped in organic barbecue sauce and vegenaise, followed by a dessert of chocolate pudding made from greens, avocado, organic coconut milk creamer, agave and/or honey, and raw cacao. It tastes just like chocolate pudding and it's a recipe that Terry and I came up with ourselves (and are very proud of!).
In his Superfoods book, Wolfe says that at some point it's a good idea to go on an extended (two weeks or a bit longer) juice fast to clear out ALL toxins. That would also clear off all body fat, because that's where toxins are stored, so we'd be looking pretty emaciated. But afterwards, once you reintroduce fats, your body builds itself again from the bottom up, the way you SHOULD be. So, there are 7 weeks til the wedding. If we do the juice fast soon, we'll have a month to put back on healthy fat and not terrify everyone at the wedding by looking half starved. I like it.
Yesterday we walked through the grocery store and I saw a headline on one of those check-out rack magazines that said something about celebrity diets, ones that REALLY work. I laughed, thinking of how many women try and cry and weigh and measure, when they could just be on a raw diet and see the pounds fall off, as they ate delicious and satisfying food. Lately I've been stuffing myself every night, around 9:30pm, when my hunger kicks in if I don't go to bed, and I'm still LOSING weight. How far we've come from what the Heavenly Father and Earthly Mother intended for their children...
added note: you may be alarmed by my pound report. However, we don't look unhealthy at all. I'm 5'3" and Terry's 5'8". We look lean, thin, and toned. Because there's a shortage of info about raw eating from people who aren't already extremely well versed in it, we plan to start blogging pretty soon and posting pics of our weekly bodies, to show the changes. Wolfe says that, after all toxins are removed from the body, the bone structure of the face may even change as potentials for health and form turn into realities in health and form. So we'll see. But don't worry. We're not anorexic :) And we feel amazing. More energy and joy than ever before experienced, for my part. Maybe there's something TO this stuff, huh?
And also why I'm now drinking a glass of forest green liquid, which is, to be specific, juiced celery, cilantro, and lime.
