A (sort of) cry for help/ advice from a poor, humble, partly reenergized partly discouraged recent convert.

[big al]

OK, so I am kind of like a babe in the wilderness here, and I was just wondering if some of you generous spirits who are more knowledgeable than I (which is probably most anyone reading this) could offer some advice/ guidance/ kicks in the pants to me on how to proceed. I ask this with the understanding that anything I do and all paths I follow are ultamitely mine and that I am my own responsibility.
Some background: I am a Southerner, and by Southern standards I have always been healthy (i.e. very large) I have always had problems with weight, and as I have gotten into my early thirties (I am 31), lethargy. That being said, I am kind of a fast mover, and have until recently been much more athletic than people expect. For 8 years I have been a wildland firefighter. My health has caught up to me and now I am in dispatch. To try and make a long story short, I am trying to go raw, and I have noticed some good changes since I have tried this. Being laid off for the winter, I will not be able to afford the vitamix until probably next summer, when fires once again rage. I have been juicing now for some time, but I am getting very different advices from different therapist types around here, some of whom are saying that my body is not ready for raw foods yet, as I am very clogged up and not using them. Are there any resources handy for finding a good naturopath or someone who can give me some good advice here in the land of beef and potatoes? I hate to take up so much space for just myself, but perhaps others could benefit from my excessive monologueing. If nothing else, my champion juicer and I will try to keep on keeping on despite my mother's extreme dismay that I won't eat her Christmas Turkey. One day, when I have extra money, I would love to do a stint at Tree of Life Center. Until then, need strength, guidance, sources of inspiration, and Turkey repellant.

[wayne]

Yah brah!
Help is on the way!
I had many of the same hurdles to cross, and I feel ya!
I will send ya some links, info, and articles. I'fn your on dispatch, find time to read, and check this stuff, it'll help ya... it did me.
Avoid the bird!
http://www.globaljuicefeast.com/profiles/blogs/reentry-1

[wayne]

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendI...
Copy and paste that into your browser,,,and then let's interact.
Peace, Way-know

[Sheryl]

Turkey Repellant.. that made me laugh!

There are so many people succeeding on raw foods and juice feasting and having the most incredible results... make sure you surround yourself with them daily. If you join the site at www.juicefeasting.com for 30 days ($30 I think) you also get access to the forum over there, and 92 days of a massive amount of information and research David and Katrina have done. It it worth doing that at least once to make sure you can read the topics most relevant to you, or maybe read the all. You can download them too. The 30 day juice feast starts in January, so there will be a huge influx of new people then and more activity too.

I recommend There is a Cure for Diabetes to everyone interested in this lifestyle. I don't have diabetes, and most of the people I recommend it to do not either.. but it's a magnificent book. It goes into lots of detail on juice feasting, health, the disease process etc. I knew so much more about my body and health when I finished reading it.

Grab a couple of raw recipes to try if you are not juicing all the time right now and find some you love. www.goneraw.com has thousands of recipes, as does the Raw Freedom Community.

Other favourites for recipes are raw chef blogs like Russel James.

Some basics you'll want to master a few recipes of each that you love:
Salad dressing, dips and pate, salads, smoothies

Make sure you always have easy access food to eat. Whether that be juicing 4L every morning and having it stored in the fridge ready to drink, or having a salad and dressing, or veggies and dip ready to eat.

Cherie Soria actually keeps raw soups in a blender ready to blend when they are hungry. So she'll have the chopped up ingredients with liquid and seasonings all ready to go. I love that idea.

Make it as simple as possible, surround yourself with people who understand what you are doing, and you'll do great.

Juice Feasting is considered extreme to many, as is raw, and in many cases vegan. That doesn't take away the large bodies of research and experience that show people undergo massive health changes on these diets... One thing that works for many is to give it a period of time, and tell people you are trying a new diet for 100 days, or something like that, and then you'll evaluate how you feel.

Here's another BLOG to read too.. Steve Pavlina did trials of raw fod 30 days, and also juice feasting... they make really interesting reads.

I look forward to keeping in touch.. please post often!
Sheryl

[big al]

Thanks, that's a lot of good info, and I appreciate it. January is perfect. I'll sign up for that session for sure. The summer, when I'm working will be the hardest for me, as I live in Idaho Falls, ID. They are trying to start a co-op here, and I am a member, but it's not getting a lot of community support (this is a very conservative area, and a beef producing one as well) During the winter, I live in Boise, which is a wonderful town with a relatively big co-op, especially for the size of a town that it is. Hopefully I can get a good running start this winter, maybe even pick up some equipment for indoor gardening for next year, and be on a good runner by May.

[big al]

Thanks, man. I appreciate the response. After I posted this discussion, I started wondering if I should have. I look forward to interacting with you for sure, as well as others around the internet. Not a lot of support where I am right now. I mean, the folks I work with are great, and supportive even though they don't understand what I'm trying to do, but there are jsut not a whole lot of healthy eaters around here. Lots and lots of beef.......and donuts.

[wayne]

You get a marketing line on that "Turkey Repellant", and you'll stay healthy and never work hard again! HA!
W

[wayne]

Shrinking Al!
Should be your new name! You are going to do well! I received A LOT of help from these wonderful people in the GJF.
I really thought I had a handle on it... Phhhttt! NOT! When I got in here I had been aggressively pursuing the "Raw Life", and then Phillip recomended GJF. Well I gotta tell ya SHIFT HAPPENS!!!
If I can be of more help, POST!, I'll watch for ya. Peace.
W

[Dreamscaper]

I'll tell ya, it is tough. I was in a similar predicament up until recently. Over the years I have developed incredibly poor health from eating fast food, not exercising enough, and eating/drinking unclean food/water. I also have pretty much no support (although that makes me fight harder because I am stubborn!). It took me almost a year to prepare for juice feasting. I tried early summer but only made it a little over a week. But now I am on day 20, and I plan to do the whole 92 days. I feel better every day.

I can tell that it is going to be slower for me then some though because of how toxic I was. Even with the previous week that I cleansed this summer, my skin has still not completely cleared, and there is still a lot of toxins coming out of me. Slowly but surely it is getting there though.

I really found out about juice feasting before even exploring raw foods. But don't let anyone tell you that it is too early to cleanse. It isn't. It will probably just take you longer then some who have less toxins to get better. That is the case for me anyway.

Also, it should be noted that I went for the full meal deal with all of the supplements/superfoods because I was in such bad shape that I felt I needed all of that. I am really glad that I did. This whole thing has taken incredible discipline (which I am not the greatest with) but I am making it through it all because my health is that important to me. And I am finally getting better.

Every day it is better. Before this I had incredible lethargy problems and no motivation at all. I would just lay around and watch tv or stay on the internet all day, yet wish that I had more energy to accomplish my goals. Now I finally have the energy I need, and I actually feel like going out and doing things that are good for me for a change.

For the turkey repellant I recommend juice feasting during the holidays. I have decided to do that, and it was a great decision. Now I am avoiding all that holiday eating madness. Also, lettuce, celery, and a plethora of leafy vegetables are in season and on sale, the hot/cold showers get colder, you have the winter solstice to enjoy during your fast, and the weather down south is great! To me there is no better time to juice feast. You get skinnier and healthier while everyone else gets fatter and more toxic.

One more word of advice. Practice making juice before you start. That is one of the hardest parts since you really have to get good at it. I don't use a juicer, but it is my understanding that the blender is faster if you get good at it. I am just now perfecting it after preacticing a bunch last winter/early spring, doing a little over a week JFing early summer, and now 20 days of it. I can now get everything juiced, mixed, and cleaned up in about an hour which is really fast!

Oh, and I have a thread where I found the cheapest places to purchase everything. http://www.globaljuicefeast.com/forum/topics/1993473:Topic:128

If you need a blender now, check ebay. I got a refurb blendtech there for under $150. If you have to get vitamix (it is a little better I admit, but the ktech is good too after you figure it all out and it has an extra 1HP) then get one of their refurbs. I think they go for like $250. There is also the jack lalane blender which is just like vitamix except a lot cheaper and probably not as long lasting. But I hear it does just as good of job and is only like $100.

Hope that helped,

Ben

[Melissa]

Ben,

Thank you so much for this reply to Al...I benefited from it greatly myself. I am on Day 5 of a juice feast and am hoping to do the full 92 days....having only ever completed 30 days at any one time in the past. The biggest challenge for me right now is staying warm (I live in Canada where right now its -19C) and getting past the emotional desire to eat (which this time around isn't so bad).

I wish both you and Al great success on your juice feasts.

Melissa

[big al]

OK, I avoided the bird.....and the cow.....and the pig.....and the chicken.....and even the fish, deer, elk , moose, duck, and all the other critters that always get offered to me (I live kinda out in the backwoods in Idaho during the fire season, in Boise during most winters, and I am from Alabama, so I get the full spectrum by the time I make it home for the Holidays). I stayed strong, and now my mom has given up. Hopefully one day she might follow me at least some of the way. I am really hoping to inspire her, as she is 63 and an insulin dependant diabetic. Anyway, thank you all so much for the encouragement. I will be firing up the old juice champ (it's actually pretty new) and starting a feast sometime in January when I get back to Boise. Boise has a pretty good co-op where I can bulk order organic veggies. until then I'm sticking with green smoothies just made in a food processor (I have to chew them a little). I don't know how long I will go, but I do plan on doing a 92 day feast when I get back to Idaho Falls in the summer. They are starting a co-op there and I really hope it doesn't flop during the winter in a community where most folks eat mostly beef and wild game, grow their own gardens (which is one good thing) and shop at Wal-Mart. In IF I don't have any friends outside of work, and all of my fire buddies in the woods north of town (Island Park, west of Yellowstone) will be out on fires (which I will miss, boy, I sure do use a heck of a lot of these sentences in parentheses, my father would be appalled). No friends means lots of time for reflection and focus. Anyway, there I go again babbling on. The point to all of this was supposed to be this: thanks for the comments and support, it may not seem like much, but has helped more than you probably know. If you responded, I have asked you to be friends. I am really trying to go a long way at once here, and I am really coming from a long way out, both physically and otherwise. I will subscribe in the spring, when work picks back up again, until then, peace to all of you and as Bartles and James used to say, Thanks for your support.

[wayne]

Yo Al!
Wassup? If ya email me [e-mail] I'd like o send ya a couple of things that'll make it a little easier to transition to your new life... if you need it.
I have made many inroads to archetypal health, I have been blessed with a knowledge that saved my life, and has helped others along the way. I would like to give you as much of my time, as you would like to take advantage of. I have a few things in my bag of tricks that I could send ya, and when you are done reading, and would like to interact some more... as Tom says: "we'll leave the light on for ya"
In anticipation;
Peace, Wayne