MAKING VACATION WORK ON RAW....and RISING ABOVE FOOD ADDICTION WITH RAW!

Hiya Pure Raw Joy Fans :-))

Here are Cliffy and I with Cliff's catch - a large mouth bass! We're staying with friends of ours in OHIO, and having a blast!

We spent 2 days on INDIAN LAKE, staying on Ken and Debbie's trailer at the SABO'S LAKEFRONT RESORT, fishing on Ken's pontoon boat, sunning, funning, singing, relaxing, having a great time!

Ken, Debbie and Cliff all fished. (I just watched and rooted them on!)

Tomorrow I'm 7 weeks raw, yay! I'm exercising and looking better, losing weight slowly. I think i've lost about 40 lbs. Maybe more? Not sure. Still not weighing myself, which i love! I never have to get discouraged or depressed about my weight. I accept myself and feel good about me!

To keep me staying RAW on the trip, which I told Cliff was paramount, we filled our red igloo with lots of wonderful fruits and veggies, kept cold with the blue squishy freezer packs. We traded on and off with ice and the freezer packs, re-freezing the packs when they lost their cold.

I brought apples, zucchini, lettuce, tomatoes, onion, jalapenos, avocados, lots of lemons, garlic, cherries, peaches, strawberries, bananas. Everything i could think that i'd need produce-wise for smoothies and for salads.

I also brought the vitamix and the food processor. Now that we are back in Ken and Debbie's home in DAYTON, OHIO, i may use the food processor. So far, we only used the Vitamix to blend up smoothies for breakfast on the trailer patio. This morning's smoothie was so tart and refreshing - strawberry, banana, bing cherrie. Wow, yum!

We also brought carob powder and raw honey and coconut flakes and other dry smoothie ingredients (maca, etc...).

I brought a case of salad-making-raw-stuff like raw vinegar, olive oil, celtic salt, nutritional yeast, pepper, nori wraps, cashews, almonds, sunflower seeds.

So far everything has worked like a charm! We've had smoothies or fruit for breakfast, take fruit snacks with us in a small igloo on the fishing boat for lunch, and for dinner, while everyone ate fresh caught INDIAN LAKE catfish, bluegill and bass, i had most of the big fresh RAW salad which i prepared for everyone. No one even knew everything was raw (vinegar, sunflower seeds, etc...) Debbie said, "You make a GOOD salad!

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RISE ABOVE FOOD ADDICTION WITH RAW
Last night in the trailer i watched the latest episode of EXTREME MAKEOVERS WEIGHT LOSS EDITION. I usually hate those weight loss shows, but i like this one.

Last night's episode featured Wally, a fast food addict. "I don't know why I can't stop eating fast food. What's wrong with me?," Wally cried to trainer Chris Powell.

Powell reprimanded Wally when Wally lied to him about what he'd been eating, "I trusted you and you're spitting in my face to turn your back on this opportunity. This is an opportunity of a lifetime! And you lie to me? You sever my trust? The trust of your wife? And daughter? For some fast food? How often have you been eating it?"

"Every day," Wally confessed crying.

I so related to Wally. I, too, am a fast food addict. And, i, too, could not stop. I could NOT STOP. Nothing mattered but eating and getting my next fix. The more i ate it, the more I wanted it. The more I wanted it, the more depressed I got and the more I needed it. It was a vicious cycle of addiction and comfort eating. Plus, they put all kinds of stuff in there to addict you.

Wally and Powell had a 12 month agreement for the show. Wally would work out with Powell daily for 3 months, then he'd be on this own for the next 9 months, with 3 month check ins at 6 months, 9 months and finally at 12 months for the final weigh in. Wally was also to check in with Powell every few days. Wally lied in his check ins, said he was exercising and following the diet plan.

Wally never made it to the 12 month final weigh in. At the 3 month mark with Powell working him out daily, the formerly 500 lb. Wally lost over 100 lbs. At the 6 month mark, with only himself as his own trainer, Wally lost only 20 more lbs. when he should have lost an additional 70 if he followed Powell's plan. At the 9 month mark, Wally returned to his addiction full blown, couldn't stop eating fast food, and Wally had gained 60 lbs back of the 120 that he lost. No matter how hard he tried, Wally could not break the hold that fast food had on him. He never once asked for help.

Because of his lying, the trust and agreement with Powell was broken.

Wally was suicidal, unable to stop eating fast food, and Powell could no longer help him.

Powell put Wally into hospitalized food rehab.

Please read Wally's story here: http://realitytvmagazine.sheknows.com/2011/07/11/extreme-makeover-weight-loss-edition-wally-wages-war-on-food-addiction/

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I've been to 4 food rehabs.

They NEVER helped.

When you are a food addict and you eat addictive food, you have such intense cravings for it. Your stomach gurgles all day and you feel so driven to eat and eat and eat.

When i went back to eating cooked after 3.5 years on raw, i realized just how very addicted i am to cooked food. Now that i am back on raw, life is suddenly FUNCTIONAL, instead of DYSFUNCTIONAL.

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Whatever diet they put Wally on, i think, kept him in a constant state of craving. A little rice, a little chicken. His stomach probably gurgled all day, and I'm sure he felt starving like i used to on Weight Watchers. His cooked food cravings were too strong to resist. Just like mine.

On raw? My stomach NEVER gurgles. When i feel hungry it's very tolerable and never makes me feel out of control like i do on cooked. On cooked, i'm like an addict who needs a fix ALL DAY!

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MY HEART HURTS FOR WALLY. I WISH HE KNEW WHAT I KNOW
After just a few days back on raw food, (now it's been almost 7 weeks), i felt it - FREEDOM from cravings, FREEDOM from constant stomach acid gurgling.

Did you know that on raw food your stomach creates only 1/2 cup of stomach acid? And on cooked food, 1 gallon?

The freedom i feel on raw is extraordinary.

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You would think it takes a lot of miserable effort and willpower to stay raw.

Au contraire!!

It's takes a lot of miserable effort and willpower to eat cooked in moderation!!! I could NEVER stay on a diet. 1 oz of potato chips and 1/2 cup of icecream. Who are we kidding? Things slid out of control eventually. I could never maintain "moderation." Never. Dieting on cooked food feels impossible because I am a food addict. As long as i have my substance of choice in me, I'm craving it!

I am a cooked food addict.

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Yes, understanding our emotions, our hurts and how we've been abused is incredibly important (things you learn in rehab), but rehab never gave me back control with food. Never.

Finally, i have control.

RAW is EMPOWERING. It takes you OUT of the addiction loop, completely. You sever ties with all of your former binge foods and you learn to listen to YOU, to your hungers and needs.

I'm doing raw all new now. I don't binge on Brad's chips anymore. Those days are long gone.

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I actually WANT to eat the raw stuff. My body does not produce a gurgle or send growls to my stomach for cooked food anymore. I can watch Cliff and my friends eating fried fish and cheetos and potato chips and it doesn't bother me one iota. I don't even WANT to cheat. Nothing in my body urges to eat that stuff anymore. Simple awesome! I decline offers to dig in and don't feel badly about it...at all! I decline because i actually don't WANT it. And i don't want to activate my disease again. So knowing that a little will never be enough...keeps me in check. I don't even take a little.

RAW helps you rise above food addiction!!!

PURE RAW JOY is a good place to be in again!

If you are a food addict and you need to talk, please contact me: LaSoprana@aol.com.

xoxo michelle joy