Cliff and I were sitting on a park bench yesterday behind the Art Museum, by Lloyd Hall, watching the geese and the turtles and the birds and enjoying the cool breeze.
Our chatting turned introspective to how bad my feet hurt and how heavy I am, and how hopeless I feel. I'd weighed myself, 370. For all of the effort I've been making trying to balance raw and cooked, i'm just spinning my wheels and have made no progress in losing. In fact, I'm in my heavier weight zone again. Just a month or two ago, I was in the 350's again.
Cliff's noticed. And he's felt helpless for me.
Not feeling well himself, either, hasn't helped. His ankles are really bothering him. Sometimes it's hard to just walk.
We're both in the same boat. My weight, my knees, my feet. His ankles, his Buddah belly. We both have low energy. We feel stuck.
I said, "Honey, I just don't know what to do. I can't afford to go back to OHI, and i can't seem to stick to raw on my own, but I know I need to go raw. It's the only thing that ever worked."
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Michelle Joy, taken in 2009, 100 lbs lighter than i am today. This is how I will look again, I'm so excited! |
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My babe, Cliff, in 2009! He is going to be feeling so much better in 2012! |
"I know," I admitted, "I need to get back on raw."
"Honey," I asked, looking at him a little sheepishly, "You wouldn't want to go raw with me, would you?"
It would make it so much easier...no temptation at home....a partner....instant support. There could be no denying it - I need the help, and his ankles have been getting worse.
He looked at me with a pained expression and answered, "Yeah. Maybe i should. My ankles are killing me. I think that's the only thing that will calm the inflammation of my arthritis. And i'll lose weight." He shook his head and looked dead serious. "Okay."
I asked if he was serious.
He was serious.
And so was I.
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So, when we got home, I cleaned out the cabinets - bye bye pasta, rice, crackers. Bye bye tomato sauce, peanut butter and canned beans. The fridge stuff is going this weekend, and the bags of stuff from the cabinets are sitting with the garbage. We'll throw them out or donate them somewhere this weekend.
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After cleaning out the cubbard, I surmised my remaining raw stuff. Well, with bowl in hand, I said, "it's time to get soaking!" So, I soaked a bowl of almonds, one of chia seeds, one of flax mixed with buckwheat and pumpkin seeds.
That's an A#1 job for our first raw day tomorrow! Soaking cuts the fat by 40%, removes the enzyme inhibitors and begins the germination process.
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When I woke up this morning, I smiled.
I felt a new HOPE! We were going to be RAW and today was the day we would begin!
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Before work, I busied myself preparing some raw food so Cliff would have something to eat. My attempt at Hummus was foiled when i realized i had no lemons. I turned the mix into raw burgers and turned the dehydtrator on to 105. "105 alive!"
I made some salad dressing from soaked almonds that turned out crappy. I'll dehydrate it, too, probably!
With nothing ready or palatable for Cliffy's first day raw, we'd agreed Cliff would fix himself 2 giant smoothies today, one for breakfast and one for lunch, and he would eat raw trail mix or a peice of fruit in between if he needed a snack. He makes his smoothies so big, they hold him for hours. We agreed when i got home from work, I would make him a wonderful raw dinner for his first day raw!
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Having finished making the burgers just in time to head out for work, I sped off to Arnold's Way, where I work as a raw chef. I prayed to God, "Help me get through this day, dear Lord, because my feet hurt already and I don't know if these poor doggies can make it!"
When i arrived at Arnold's Way, I was blessed to discover there were 3 volunteers there to help me! What an amazing gift! God must have heard my prayers! With my aching feet, the extra help certainly was a true blessing!
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The day went well and i did pretty well with eating! I had some smoothies during the workday when I was hungry, and a lovely salad and raw veggie burgers for lunch. I snacked only a very little bit. (When I got home, I wasn't hungry for dinner until later when I had some chia pudding and a raw burger on raw bread with tomato, yum.)
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After my work day, I arrived home to my RAW babe! Our welcome kiss hello felt energized with something new - HOPE, ADVENTURE, EXCITEMENT!
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Cliff had faired well on his first day raw! The two big big smoothies and a little bit trailmix held him. But now was HUNGRY!
With what I'd brought home from work, I made him a delicious "Burger Salad" like we serve at Arnold's Way. And after whipping up a quick cashew cream, I made chia pudding (from seeds I soaked last night) for dessert. "Mmm, that was SO good!" he exclaimed after his dinner! "I feel so satisfied!"
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The PLAN: I've decided to make gourmet things, and make them taste good, and just focus on portion sizes and keeping snacking to a minimum. I hope this strategy works. It seems the easiest and most palatable way to maintain raw right now...TOGETHER.
Sure I can eat 30 bananas a day and lose 40 lbs this month, but can i "SUSTAIN that lifestyle? And can HE stick to 30 bananas a day and nothing else? Nope, we'll have to do something TOGETHER that we can BOTH sustain.
I'm actually HAPPY not to be getting too caught up in the details of too much fat, too much salt, too much oil.
Today, I know I can trust INTUITION...and THIS is what my INTUITION told me when I asked it what I should do!
"Just RAW. KEEP IT SIMPLE. There is always time to refine."
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It's 10pm, and I just made Flax, buckwheat, pumpkin, sesame, onion, garlic and tomato Krackers with the seeds I'd soaked!
I have more energy already!
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What amazes me is that we've BOTH gone from suffering to HOPE....all in ONE day. The POWER of a joint decision has just propelled us forward into a realm we both wanted to go, but we didn't know how we'd get there. We both knew we needed help.
You know what? We needed EACH OTHER!
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So, folks, it would seem that Mr. Cliff and Ms. Michelle can now officially and finally claim to be.................. a RAW COUPLE! We are now one of the many at Arnold's Way, like Megan and Joey, and Tim and Leslie... Now there is CLIFF AND MICHELLE!
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I'm feeling very happy and very supported.
I'm looking forward to feeling better soon and having my babe, right by my side, feeling better, too.
:-)))))))))))
xoxox michelle joy
1 comment:
M Joy~ What a beautiful uplifting happy post. I am so excited for you two and looking forward to reading all about the adventures of the raw couple :)
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