ABOVE: Tim and Leslie Arnold, with their son and two greyhounds....BEFORE RAW
BELOW: Tim and Leslie Arnold....AFTER RAW!!!! Tanned, glowing, vibrant, full of energy and LIFE!!! Leslie lost 30+ lbs and Tim lost over 100lbs!!!
Tim and Leslie are dear friends of mine, who I met at Arnold's Way. They are loyal customers and frequent lecturers at Arnold's Way.
They are also spiritual leaders in an organization called AKATHA. They lead a discussion at Arnold's Way every 2nd & 4th Tuesday at 6:30p.m. on AKATHA. You can read about AKATHA at http://www.akatha.org/.
Tim is an international financier, who works at home presently. He is also a black belt in Karate, and practices yoga daily, and well as runs daily. Tim's athletic potential completely blossomed when he began a raw diet only one short year ago. Since then, he has run 4 marathons!
Tim was kind enough to offer his thoughts, his advice, his routines, his beliefs concerning he and his wife's strict 100% raw vegan diet in a wonderful interview here on PURE RAW JOY. Enjoy!
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Q: TIM, WHAT IS YOUR SECRET TO LOSING over 100 LBS IN 8 MONTHS?
A: You know me very well. The answer is very simple discipline in eating and exercise. The latter is hard for most people, but one hundred percent raw veganism provides the energy for exercise. In your situation being too busy for exercise was your problem and cooked food desire still there. But I think mainly not enough focus on patience is a problem for most and lack of inner stamina.
Q: WILL YOU EVER GO BACK TO EATING COOKED FOOD?
A: I have no desire for cooked food because sincerely it is poison like arsenic to me. I will remain 100% raw or if not, become breatharian eventually, but I will never, I mean never eat cooked food again. I think you know me well enough that I sincerely mean that.
Q: [We were discussing a good friend of ours we'll call "Mary." Mary follows a 'mostly raw' diet. She eats 80-10-10 for the majority of her diet, and about once a month goes out for a gourmet raw meal, or a cooked vegetarian meal. She is completely at peace with this plan, but Tim has been critical of it, as well as others who do not practice a 100% raw vegan diet.] Tim, what would you say to someone like "Mary" who is not 100% raw. Is that 'bad' in your eyes?
A: "Mary" is wise beyond her age. I really like her. And my, doesn't she look good! But remember, she has youth on her side and has revealed to me that 100% is better, but she has not gotten there yet (she was for sixth months). I think [her boyfriend] is, but they don't believe in the enzyme importance theory in which that is a major one for me regarding enzyme life. Eventually, she will get back as of conceptual seeds she has within her, but we all need to support each other more - you and I lost touch and partly this was the problem - conceptual reinforcement is critical - I get that with Leslie daily and its great! - I am lucky and surely you agree having such a great support mechanism in my own home. How is Cliff doing on raw?
Q: ISN'T MOSTLY RAW...OKAY?
A: "Mary" and I are a little at odds because she is part of Arnold's 90% raw thing, which I think is contradictory. Essentially, it is being vegan. When I was vegan, I weighed the most ever at 280 (my fat picture). I was saddened lately finding that everyone is expecting us to fail at 100%, which stunned me at first. (That infrastructural idea did not help you either - it is important to get all this stuff out and then take the best from it and move on). Most believe that 100% is impossible to maintain, but it comes as of two comments you made in your last email, "falling off the wagon," and "awoke cravings." Remember, concepts need changing firstly.
What wagon? If raw veganism is a wagon to fall off, we need to uncreate the wagon and put ourselves on the ground - a better metaphor being grounded instead of on a wagon. I probably even said the phrase "falling off the wagon." I don't remember, but if I did that is a wrong metaphor. Also, the idea of awakening cravings shows a struggle. I say one will never maintain raw veganism until the struggle with cooked food is over. My best concept is believing thoroughly that cooked food is like eating arsenic or poison.
Q: WHAT IS YOUR FEELING/BELIEF REGARDING THE IMPORTANCE OF ENZYMES?
A: It is true if over 105 degrees, the enzyme is denatured or inactive (dies - argument on this because enzymes are crystals and not considered biological but the Andromeda Strain experiment [1960' proved crystalline procreation in a diracuum {a dirac vacuum Dr. Paul Dirac - a major genius physicist that I recommend highly - mathematically linked quantum physics with relativity] and therefore sentience exists. In my opinion, if sentience exists, life exists and therefore, an enzyme can die. Having said that, if enzymes are indeed important and most believe this especially since the whole dehydration concept revolves around it, we must do whatever we can to keep the enzyme alive. But we know that cooked food kills or makes the enzyme dormant (that is another concept of conservation being neither created nor destroyed, but if dormant it is not working and the latter is the key to this discussion - if enzymes do not work nothing catalyzes our nutrients resulting in fat on our bodies. Hence, when a man or woman gets to a certain age (40 is my parameter), they must started thinking about living.
Q: WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON LONGEVITY?
A: You said to me once that you didn't know about living long. In other words, you hesitated about longevity. What are your feelings now about it because I believe in order to maintain raw veganism, one needs a healthy attitude about longevity. That is a must, otherwise what is the point?
Q: WHAT IS YOUR DIET AND EXERCISE REGIME?
A: Of course, other activities exist, but here it is!...
1. Wake-up
2. Contemplate (30 minute meditation-like behaviour – if meditatator, do 30 minutes; if religionist, pray closing the eyes for 30 minutes – the 30 minutes is mathematically precise regarding every five minutes gives four hours of vibrational harmony [24 hours = 30 minutes] – helps maintain the diet - important for inner stamina as a raw vegan in staying grounded not having the aphasic or "space-out" dysfunctional feeling or experience)
3. Run (6:00AM - one hour - water and carbo load station [bananas and sea salt – water [10 oz.- 138 ozs for entire day – 1 oz water for every pound] and salt [teaspoon] every 7 laps, half banana every 10 laps [25 laps 10K – 20 laps 5M]] - I run for ten days to two weeks and then take a day off - Leslie takes two days off per week) I run 10K (6.25 miles – run longer on Leslie’s days off – have run 10 + miles 70 times now in 1 ½ years – four marathons last year), Leslie runs 5 miles. We run fast at world class speeds for our ages (much faster [double] than average times – you need to come to the track with us every day – you don’t need to run at first, but I assure you running is really easy and fun – like being a kid again – raw gives us a lot of potential for running and exercise energy and stamina – we have yet begun to tap our strengths – I am trying to run under a four minute mile again – I did unofficially when I was 27).
4. Yoga (7:00 AM 2 or 3 hours - really it is power isometrics for me – but looks like yoga. I hold postures a long time (isometrics) and really cuts (definition) the muscles and gives me great strength – karate katas [karate dance with strikes incorporated] are included.
5. Breakfast Green Smoothie – 9 or 10:00 AM 32 oz. minimum every day - never miss one - albeit Hippocrates Institute disagrees, I find they do not know much about anything in my opinion. I am not a fan of Brian Clement. The Vita-mix is a must regarding pulverisation of the smoothie. Our body cells spin at much faster rates than 300mph. Thus, the Vita-mix creates an important consistency that allows the greens to assimilate in the body properly penetrating the cell walls thoroughly.
The chlorophyll makes cooked food repugnant and repulsive – too good words to keep cooked food away – I even do not like the smell insofar as I discovered the “Grim Reaper” regarding the cloying smell of cooked food is just the dying essence of it permeating in the air. If one can be so aware, a membrane of burned fragrance comes first in the aroma cloud of cooked food that hits you. This burned layer is the sickle and black cloak of the Grim Reaper who carries the death aroma as his substance smoke or cloud. Really gruesome! And these images keep one away from cooked food. If you like aromas of cooked food, just know you are smelling death like a flower’s aroma. The smell of raw food is its live aura and not its cooked essence leaving it. Quite a difference, when you understand the concept in which is very important aforementioned. Our words and their images create and carry so much power.
6. Lunch – "jumble salad" and "banana rush" shake!
- Jumble salad as presumed has many things in it and varies a bit: sunflower seed pate [spreads are important for getting rid of the rabbit food image - food process 1 lb. sunflower seeds, juice of two lemons, on stalk celery, ½ onion, four garlic cloves, two red peppers (or green peppers – combo good), ¼ cup fresh dill, sea salt, and black pepper. If lemon juice is no liquid enough sometimes, add ½ oz of water], jumble salad continued: lettuce or spinach or combined, diced onion, diced tomato, diced red or green pepper or both, olive oil, diced celery, sprouts, nuts, hemp seed, diced pickles, diced beets – I might have forgotten some things - mix and cut with sharp knife in a glass bowl.- I like the diced consistency and the crunch of onions, nuts, and seeds, etc.
- Banana rush shake – five or six frozen bananas, two tblspns of ginger, and agave if bananas are not real sweet. I am pretty consistent on lunch, but may vary regarding replacing a smoothie with the shake or changing the salad a bit. The amount is an entire serving bowl – so very substantial and really fills me up. I do not count calories because you cannot see one, but I can see ounces and measure them. I recommend sight recognition of ounces as it is very important regarding water intake and measuring in general.
7. Dinner – around 5 or 6 even 7, because I do not do circadian timing measures either. Mainly, this problem smacks of intake issues again. My theory is that timing means depravation and joy should be the raw vegan way of a golden age and not regimes of pain and austerity. I think we are all tired of that. You know you need to exercise more and that gets the weight off combined with diet.
Dinners vary and Leslie makes them. Salads, Nori wraps. Collard wraps, etc., dehydrated bread with it, banana whips, and durian for dessert
8. Snacks – any time I am hungry – eat two or three bananas because they are quick, lara bars and other one hundred percent raw snacks (awesome foods). Nightime is not an issue with me insofar as depravation is austerity and I do not believe in it. Life is hard enough without added to it. I think it could be easier if we were healthier and what better way than one hundred percent raw veganism?
I know that time is a problem especially when you see 2 or 3 hours of yoga. It means one would need to be financially independent. I am trying to retire Leslie again soon. We both were in the 90’s. I work on the computer and cell phone (I do not like the home work image as it smacks of condescension – I am very busy working my international banking business and will soon have a large institute to run).
xxxxxxxxxxoooooooooooTim
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Before this interview, on Fri, Feb 19, 2010 at 3:39 AM, Pure Raw Joy
I am so grateful to Tim for his caring, his honesty, his time, his love. A BIG hug and Kiss to him and to lovely Leslie from all of us at PURE RAW JOY!
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Howdy, Timmy,
i LOVE the pictures of you, thank you! i'm very excited about my next blog entry. it will be on you :-))
i had a talk with "Mary" today and she mentioned you had spoken with her about being very concerned about me, and dissappointed in my 'falling off the wagon.' it hurt to hear it, but i want you to know i get it, you're just concerned about me and want the best for me. you certainly look better than ever and feel better than ever and feel you have found the fountain of youth. i really get your viewpoint. i wish i didn't go off of raw in the first place. what happened was i began eating cooked beans thinking they are healthier and more digestable than nuts. i was profoundly influenced at the time by my catering partner, Susan, who is so healthy and vibrant, yet she partakes of cooked food when the mood strikes. she is able to take it or leave it. and cooked beans, being so low in fat, seemed healthier to me. whether they are or they aren't, that was my thinking at the time.
you've been a poster child for raw gourmet, for no deprivation, for just eating 'whatever you want' and reeping the benefits.
Mary mentioned you reiterated, "it's all a mindset".
I remember when i was at the raw retreat and i discovered the raw food gourmet eateries. No one told us there was anything wrong with them, that the food they served was too fatty or too heavy or too fattening. i ate the food with so much love and excitement 'knowing' and 'believing' it was GOOD for me. i didn't do this daily, but i would say up to 4x/week sometimes. i did find my weight loss slowed when i ate the gourmet meals, and i used to gain 3 lbs each time from the salt, but would quickly lose the weight once i went back to the retreat regiment and lost weekly without fail. I lost 140 lbs in 8 months eating gourmet raw FREQUENTLY!
this 'worked' for me. it felt like a dream come true. eat wisely (low fat and no salt) for the bulk of the time, and then indulge every once in a while...and STILL lose weight!!
at the time i was doing ALOT of exercise, swimming for an hour and walking about 5 miles a day.
when i began to work at arnolds, i was still in that 'honeymoon' phase of eating whatever i wanted and actually began stuffing myself daily...with all of that raw gourmet food around. surprisingly, i STILL lost weight, but very slowly.
being around food all day was a challenge i hadn't encountered at the retreat. gourmet raw was something i had to walk FAR to access at the retreat and i never took leftovers back to my condo. I ate the meal...and was supremely happy...and then i was done with it, and went back to light salt free raw eating...until the next time.
at arnold's way, food is everywhere. under the circumstances, the challenge of this, i mostly maintained my weight. pretty magical nevertheless. i was still exercising regarularly at this point, but not as much as i had been while i was away, but enough to keep the metabolism stoked.
at some point, the exercise began to die down and i began to gain weight. but now that i think back, i was eating a lot of Rita's Waterice at the time. Definitely not raw. I have to wonder if this contributed to the weight gain. I hadn't been gaining at Arnold's Way previously.
That's when i discovered 80-10-10. I turned from gourmet raw like it was 'poison' and i began to lose again by severely lowering the fat and getting rid of the salt and sustaining on mostly raw fruit.
The problem was that the minute I went off of 80-10-10, i was insatiable for fat and salt. i would binge on gourmet raw after being on 80-10-10 for a while and gain 20+ lbs back.
but as soon as i began 80-10-10 again, the weight would come right off. it wasn't an ideal situation, but i was managing.
and i managed to get down to 249 lbs this way.
when i began with the beans, i felt like, maybe this was a way to eat low fat EASIER than with nuts, and that i'd be able to lose weight easier and faster.
my intent didn't manifest. it only awoke the cravings for cooked food again and soon i was eating pizza and eggrolls and bread and butter. i gained weight so quickly. much quicker than on gourmet raw binges. and the weight didn't come off because i was hooked on cooked now.
lately i've been working with a coach on a 50% raw diet, and i lost some of the weight i gained during this pizza/eggroll time. but i'm dissappointed with the results.
plus, my elimination is not as good as when i was raw and i can't seem to lose weight like i did when i was on raw 80-10-10, even though i'm exercising more NOW than i have been in some time.
From "Mary", i understand that you think 80-10-10 is unnecessary and everyone should be able to eat anything, as long as it's raw, and still lose weight. i understand now your viewpoint. you exercise roughly 4 hours a day some days, so no wonder you can eat anything you want. Come to think of it, at the raw retreat, i also spent hours exercising. I walked, then walked more, then walked more, then i went swimming and sometimes did yoga class. this enabled me to magically take in gourmet raw and STILL lose weight. it fell OFF of me.
"Mary" and i were discussing this.
i was very intrigued by your answer of having 'discipline' when it comes to eating. and of course, you demonstrate this in your running. discipline is something i have ALWAYS struggled with, so no wonder i struggle in general. i had much more discipline in california. working in the raw cafe, it became a free for all. if i could somehow get back to that disciplined way of eating gourmet...and upped the exercise big time, but kept the bulk of my diet low fat and no salt, i think i'd be back on the path of losing. and back on the path of RAW forever. I'm really struggling with the cooked. I had a few days of raw recently and my beautiful face came back. No more swelling! But then, something happened...and i broke.
Your concept of cooked as poison has been on my mind. I'd really need to believe that again to get back on track. You can't do something unless you believe it.
anyway, this past summer when we saw each other at the movies and i looked so good i was doing 80-10-10. I did look good. and i was the lowest i had been, 250. it DID work for me as a good basis of a diet. i just need to control gourmet better. and never give into cooked again. look where it's gotten me. nowhere but fatter and more and more frustrated.
I'd like to go back to raw and to 80-10-10 because it seemed to produce really quick weight loss, but i need to have those gourmet treats. and of course, i will continue my walking program as this is crucial for me.
What i was hoping to find from you is what your daily diet looks like. I'm just very curious. What do you eat for breakfast usually? snacks? lunch? dinner? snacks at night? how many times a week do you run?
Let's keep up this dialogue.
Love to you and Leslie, xoxo michelle
2 comments:
Just wondering why tim eats the salt with the bananas? To balance out the potassium?
Hey there, Debbie,
Tim and Leslie use rock sea salt extremely liberally and medicinally. I have always found this pretty amazing and bizarre, but it really seems to work for them. They report finding sea salt extremely energizing. I have always reported that salt completely bloats me and that i actually feel better without it. But, they practice, first of all, 100% no deprivation, meaning, they love salt, they love the way it tastes, and make no excuses for that. Secondly, they feel it gives them energy, epecially DURING their running work outs. Tim also carries around in his pockets DAILY chunks of rock himalayan salt, which he munches on like a snack, whenever he feels an energy slump. The 80-10-10 crowd feel sodium is a poison, but Tim and Leslie do not. It seems to work for them. I've also heard that atheletes NEED sodium...so, it's just fascinating to hear their story and see where they are with it. They love it and it works for them.
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