july 31/august 1: raw fu hits 1001!!!

that's just incredible. one little bunny made a video, and 1001 people watched it and were inspired and decided to do as she did. if that doesn't say something about the power of ONE PERSON to change the world, then nothing will. and when these 1001 people accomplish 100 days of raw food, even if they only moderately increase their consumption - things are going to change. you can't change 1001 people's consciousness that radically without it starting to shift. each in their own community, these 1001 people are going to go out in the world, spend their consumer currency on fresh produce and not junk, not garbage, and we are going to inspire our neighbors to do the same. something beyond big is going to happen as a result of this challenge, and i'm so glad and proud to say that i'm in the first group. i felt such a strong, powerful "must-do" urge the day before i found bunny's rawfu video, and now i know why. it was to be in this community and participating in this consciousness raising. and to not back down and to be a strong member of this community. to use my knowledge and my voice and to support the 35+ people who have chosen to "friend" me. and most importantly, to support myself and to do this for myself, the person i abandon and neglect the most. i feel so strong and clear and happy and joyous to be a part of raw fu. without even officially starting, i already know that this is one of the best decisions i've ever made.

thank you bunny beth berry. i owe you a debt of service - i'm going 100% raw for YOU.

july 31: challenge starts tomorrow!!

Raw Fu is buzzing! there's so much going on over there, people getting all excited and planning their adventure and getting their kitchens ready and going shopping and a few having last hurrahs and saying good-bye to old food loves - it's like we're heading off to college or something. it's really, incredibly, sweet and cute and charming and exciting and fun fun fun.

and me - tomorrow is just another day on the 811 wagon. i love it so much, and i've been on it now for a full week, 8 days actually, and i haven't fallen off yet. i'm very proud of that. tonight my gorgeous friend Ruth is coming over and we're having a proper 811 meal of watermelon followed by a beautiful salad. i made an amazing dressing - 1 heirloom tomato and 4 fresh leaves of basil, blended - and since i'll have company, and since it's the night before the challenge, i'm celebrating a little by sharing an avocado with her and a sprinkling of hemp seeds on the salad! a little overt fat, not much at all. i don't feel the "need" for it, it just sounds like a nice opportunity. i don't get many chances to share an avocado, and i can't eat them leftover. open and eat, that's all. i think i might make "fries" by rolling the avo slices in the hemp seeds! yummy. haven't had that in awhile.

july 31: woo-hoo!

i'm just so excited. first of all, it's been 19 days that i've been 100% RAW. of those 19, 7 of them have officially been 811. i've lost 6 pounds (remember me boo-hooing a few days ago? ha!), and i feel like i've already been transformed from the wanna-be "girl-i-always-wanted-to-be" into actually being the Girl I Always Wanted To Be. (lol, i just wrote "bed!") i feel fantastic. yesterday i had several people notice my weight loss, we always love that, and one of them wants to fix me up with her husband's brother!! i'm totally down with that as both her husband and his brother are rather famous and do things that are really impressive - turns out the brother is also a raw foodist! among other things.

and last night, i got to dance with my sun chips craving again! we danced, i almost gave in, but then i just thought, "why? what would be sodding point?" i made it safely home, ate my tomato and was totally happy.

and now i'm off to work! love my life!

july 30: 2 more days until...

until the challenge starts and my life will look exactly the same as it does now! ha-ha!! i really love that. for me, the challenge is mostly to keep me in line and on track when i feel a pull to step off. can't imagine it right now, and i don't want to. this is too awesome just on its own.

the one thing - there's SO MUCH on the internet. so much. a very cool girl named Autumn has been commenting here (hi autumn! thanks!!), and i finally got around to checking out her blog, which has links to other blogs, which have links to other blogs, and so on and so on, down the deep dark rabbit hole to awesome raw community and never ever getting out into the sunshine and having my own life to write about! there are worse problems to have! so if you're reading this, please leave me a comment with a link to your blog and i'll check you out and say heyyy-yyy. and i'm new to the blogosphere, so any tips on subscribing or how do i know when you've updated and how can i follow you, etc, totally appreciated!

my peaches are now totally ripe and have about a minute left before they self-destruct, so i made a big awesome peach-celery-1nana smoothie this morning. the peaches had been leaving me feeling a bit like i had rubbed peach fuzz all over my lips, a little itchy, but these super-ripe peaches are not giving me that reaction at all. so there you go. fruit needs to be ripe, really ripe.

yesterday i ate mucho cherries. i love cherries, and i hogpig out on them in the summer. summer is expensive eating time for me, because i nosh out on cherries and heirloom tomatoes and melons and all kinds of stuff that i don't eat the rest of the year. but man! my body is not sure what to do with all this fruit! it's sitting back, rubbing it's chin, saying, "hmmmm. i know we have the equipment to handle this, but it's a bit rusty. well, we'll do what we can!" i feel AMAZING, but i also feel quite gurgly and more than a little gassy. i think this is going to take a while to sort itself out.

july 29: i LOVE RAW FU

just gonna put that out there. it's so awesome. that bunny berry is so funny and full of sparkle and life. she has created something so amazing by the sheer pull of her own radiant energy and there are like 1000 people signing up!!! we're over 800 and there are 2 more days to sign up? incredible. just incredible. and we're gonna have t-shirts and bumper stickers and there's a real sense of being a part of something. more than i've felt in a long time. so much of my raw food experience has been solitary, and now i have these friends. we don't know each other well yet, but we're getting started.

it's so amazing.

i love it.

i'm so glad i joined.

if you're reading this and you haven't joined raw fu and you think you want to eat more raw, join the challenge before august 1. www.rawfu.com

i've never laughed so much while eating a bowl of tomatoes.

july 29: what's the 811 hon?

you know, i think if mary j blige knew what 811 could do for her, she wouldn't mind that little paraphrase. she's a smart one.

i was thinking on my walk this morning - 100 days is nothing. 100 days is nothing more than the beginning of establishing a habit. 100 days to get that habit, another 100 days to completely eliminate the old habits, another 100 days to actually make the switch, you know? 100 days are just the beginning. i can't wait for 7 years from now. takes the body 7 years to completely recycle every cell, including brain and nerve cells. in that time, if you're consistent, you can really reeducate your body and give it something powerfully different. is it possible for me to stay 100% 811 for 7 years? i don't see why not. i don't see any reason, whatsoever, to do anything differently. and i don't feel any conflict. this protocol feels totally liberating.

and that's not to say i haven't seen profound changes already! i have, and it's amazing! and such tiny things, too. this morning, i was enjoying the skin on the back of my arms. i've had those rough bumps on the back of my arms for 15-20 years, i don't remember when they showed up. and today, totally smooth. yesterday, i got random compliments on my complexion, which i hadn't noticed looking any different. my teeth feel clean, and i'm looking forward to noticing what happens to them over the next few months. it seems like it would be too soon for this, but my nails seem better. my nails feel firmer and stronger and cleaner. everything feels cleaner.

i finally remembered to do my dry skin brushing this morning too!

this will be something like the 5th day without my tea. no tea, no agave, no lemonade. i'm just drinking plain water. this is so hugely radical. before, i was lugging around a full gallon's worth of liquids for the day. now, i just pack up a bunch of fruit. it's really cut back on the number of dishes i use, too! but i've never gone without SOMETHING to drink. coffee, or tea, or lemonade, something tasty, something sweetened. eating all this sweet fruit, i don't want the externally sweetened. it's very interesting.

july 28: part trois

my eyes are killing me. between my contacts which are too old and i need a new prescription, and yoga which gets sweat in my eyes, when i practice, my eyes just ooze and ooze and ooze and detox for hours. it's so annoying. and pretty.

so last night, big tooth pain, lots of bleeding gums? this morning, nothing. NADA. like it had never happened. a little sensitivity, but nothing major. i was even able to eat cherries on that side without even blinking, which i haven't been able to do for awhile.

power of 811?

today was the first time i've practiced since the 811 switch, and i'm pleased to report that it felt great. i felt strong and flexible, although my legs were tight from running. that will change. so today was totally active - i ran about 2 miles, i did my 90 minutes yoga practice, then i walked for about 45 minutes, taught 2 yoga classes! pretty good! i ate a lot too! i calculated my calories, and i estimated that they came in around 1957!! that seems crazy high, like it's gotta be too much, but i feel good, i don't feel like i've eaten too much. and it might actually be lower than that, because i might not finish this smoothie which went into the calculation. it might be more like 1600.

so i'm just more pleased with this than words can express. i feel so good and it's so easy. aside from a ravenous appetite for cherries (that's an expensive habit!), this is just no big deal. it's a no brainer. and i lost 3 pounds and my teeth don't hurt.

so here's what i ate today:

5-nana smoothie with 3 celery stalks
about 15 small (thumb-sized) figs
over a pound of cherries
smoothie with 6 small peaches, 2 nanas, and half a bunch of kale

yummy, easy, good