Tim Arnold 100+ lbs lighter talks about extending the lifespan with the raw vegan diet!

Say HELLO again to the skinny, svelte, fit and toned, handsome almost 60 year old Energy Force, Tim Arnold! Tim is a tremendous inspiration to so many. He's graciously offered to share more with us at 'pure raw joy' about what drives his total committment to raw veganism. Everyone please thank Tim, and enjoy this 2nd interview!

Tim, I touched on it last week, but tell me more about your business, family and educational background. Last week I mentioned that you work from home. I am a retired trust attorney having had a business with forty employees in the 90's. So, I am not a house husband or a home based business networker - no nonsense like this, albeit people don’t think these are so bad – they still have negative connotations. We say it does not matter, but people still cringe or react when hearing it. My family is the Bauer-Rothschilds. I have a Ph.D. in English common Law from a California university. My international banking business grew out of my expertise in trust law and I have consulted pro bono in that field since I retired five years ago (I am nearly sixty years old - July). At the same time, my banking business is pulling me into outside admin work again looking at opening offices shortly in a 20K square foot office space. Hence, the retirement is short-lived, being drawn back into the fray. That is okay because being 100% raw vegan (ORv) allows me the energy to do it!!

So, you're a very smart guy with a very impressive background!

ORv? I take it that stands for 100% Organic Raw Vegan.

I know you are a very prolific writer and very involved spiritually. Tell me more. I’ve written 60 books so far, with one published, my spiritual intro book for AKATHA.

Where can people find out about AKATHA? The website is www.akatha.com. Keep in mind, we do not sell anything and do not take donations or contributions - everything is free. We do have a free introduction to AKATHA that meets at Arnold’s Way in Lansdale every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. We also have get-togethers in East Falls in Philadelphia, PA.

How do people react to you, being a raw vegan? I have social and professional credibility - I’m not some declared idiot touting wacky raw veganism, but sadly, yes, many people have this condescending attitude about it. However, I never directly hear much negativity about my diet, insofar as it is left in the thinking realms instead. I have many very professionally credible friends, top business associates including company CEO's, doctors, lawyers, international financiers, etc., many, in whom, I have influenced in becoming raw vegan.

That’s fantastic! You certainly do believe very strongly in raw veganism and never turn from discussing it, one of the things i love so much about you. It’s wonderful to have influenced so many!

I know the idea of immortality is something I have heard you talk about frequently. Can you expound on that for us? My firm belief exists that raw veganism makes one virtually immortal (let’s call it ‘virimmortal’) and a very important topic to discuss. The "virtual" part qualifies the word “immortal” in being "almost" and that no one can live forever physically in my opinion.

The book Life and Teachings of the Masters of the Far East by Baird Spaulding in the earlier part of the twentieth century made claims of eternal life in the physical body. I strongly disagree. My opinion is that at some point either nature or the Supreme Deity, depending whether one is atheist or theist respectively, destroys the physical world.

I consider this factor a physical matter, like the raw food diet, and not a spiritual one. Thus, no physical bodies exist then and throws-out the idea of living forever physically.

So, if we can't live forever physically, talk more about this idea of virtual immortality or ‘virimmortalism’ for us. ‘Virimmortalism’ is a long time (not forever, mind you) and, of course, not necessarily the three score and ten we are subjected to here in the west. That means we can live perhaps hundreds of years, not unlike Methuselah of Old Testament lore.

Wow! Hundreds of years! Talk about the role of diet in living longer. To me, diet has nothing to do with religion, politics, philosophy, etc. It is a diet that has extenuating circumstances, of course, in other affairs of our life. Whereby, we need again keeping a perspective here taking first things first. Let us talk about diet and stay on the subject.

What can the diet do for us is an obvious, regarding a healthy longer life in what we have been taught here in the western world.

What is the motivation for living longer? What is the motivation for living longer if the subject is diet only? My opinion remains if we leave the other subjects out of the picture initially, the long life will help in gaining knowledge that we need of other subjects when trying to get our physical lives in order. If we die at 70, what is the point? That means I only have about ten years left. I can’t get anything done.

So, if we live longer, we can certainly get alot accomplished! I always wanted to be a great pianist or perhaps play the violin. But we know that these things take years to become competent. Many say I have a professional quality singing voice, but to refine these skills, again, takes time. That old saying is “Jack of all trades and master of none” to me should be as a raw vegan “jack of all trades and master of all” when one has time.

Okay, so having more time as raw vegans sounds great! In that funny movie “Multiplicity,” they cited the same idea of getting more time, but through cloning.

I’m not sure many raw vegans give much time to thinking about cloning. That is another sensitive subject, but I agree is important in getting us some help for menial tasks.

Hmm. Since we as humans are the slaves now, why not create clones to help instead? Sorry for digressing, but sometimes it is important for stimulating ideas regarding reasons for maintaining the ORv lifestyle. If we have help, we can spend the time in creative arts to perfect them or in any endeavor.

Okay, I don't know anything about the ramifications of cloning or how ethical it is, but it would certainly allow us to get more done, if our clones were doing the dishes and vacuming, while we were pursuing the arts until we're 200!! To me, it [being a raw vegan] becomes an issue not to live in the death system we have today, but in a life system instead.

So cooked food is a death system because it doesn't allow us to elongate our lives? And raw veganism, or ORv as you call it, is a life system because it allows us to possibly live much, much longer? I think the latter [raw vegan life system] makes sense and I am sure once one reflects upon a life system, instead of a death system, the former is obviously more acceptable. Eating the cooked food, no matter how much, is part of the death system. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

How has obesity impacted our life expectancy? Our western society is not set-up for people living two or three hundred years or more, aforesaid, about 70, if that, since 65% of Americans are obese now.

People are obviously getting alot fatter. In the 1950’s, if one was twenty pounds overweight, they were considered obese. The movie “Fatso” in 1981 with Dom Delouise showed a man who would be considered chubby or stocky now, but surely not like the extremely obese people walking about now. When I was 280 (my picture last week), I was no 4X4, but still obese.

How did you get fat? For me it just crept-up on me, but that is the nature of the cooked food battle.

What do you mean by the cooked food battle? I do not battle any longer in the ORv life system, whilst the SAD cooked food death system to me is horrible and irresponsible! I was the latter for 57 years and truly apologize for my idiocy.

So, in your opinion, people should not eat any cooked food? People should own up to this [SAD cooked food death system], and admit it, too, and then be intelligent enough to turn to ORv. Most say they need to change gradually, or transition to it, but especially, if one is over 50, they take great risks in being mamby pamby.

So, cooked food and raw food are very black and white for you? Simply, it is a matter of life and death. You make the choice.

Talk more about 'virimmortalism', since that seems to be paramount to you in your committment to stay a raw vegan. As I intimated last week, if one does not have a strong life force, insofar as our society puts such a limitation on it nearly splitting it in half (according to Rig Veda text of the far east) (I spent time in India learning to read higher Sanskrit), the ORv lifestyle means nothing. One might as well eat at McDonald’s everyday if it does not matter. Why do people bother with attempting ORv unless a reason exists? I think the ‘virimmortal' factor is the real reason. We know it, and simply changing the diet is really easy when considering the great result of ‘virimmortalism’.

What is that great result? Now we have time with ORv.

Having more time certainly appeals to me! As a 42 year old woman, one of the reasons raw appealed to me was that it would elongate my period of fertility. I was told it was possible to bear children well into the 50's and even possibly the 60's if I stayed raw. So, if i still want to have a child by birth, I might now still have a chance as a raw foodist.

However, for the last 6 months, i was eating cooked food, alot of it REALLY toxic fried processed stuff, so i don’t know what impact that will have on me entering into menopause sooner, but I certainly hope returning to raw, as i have, will delay menopause!

And, as an opera singer in a youth obsessed culture and artform, singing well late into my 50's and even 60's or longer, would mean that there would STILL be a chance for a viable professional career for me. It would be gratifying to participate in breaking AGE-ISM barriers in the opera world, as a raw vegan!

Speaking of time...unfortunately, we've run out for this interview!

So, thank you, dear Tim, for your thought-provoking ideas! You certainly are an original thinker! I cannot thank you enough for your influence. Though I may not agree or understand your perspective always, you have nevertheless been a terrific influence on me. Your labelling cooked food as “poison” and a “death system” doesn't intellectually always make sense to me. (For example, lightly steamed veggies still retain enzymes and nutrition), but emotionally and spiritually, this concept is a tremendously powerful tool that is helping me enormously to overcome my sometimes tremendous cravings for cooked food. To draw that line in the sand is necessary for some of us.

I'd like to explore more with you that cooked food 'death system' concept. I want to talk more about enzymes next week as it is a paramount study regarding ORv!

OKAY! I know we are all looking forward to it!!! Blessings to you, dear Tim, and to your beautiful wife, Leslie!

xoxo michelle joy

5th Day Raw - Raw Feelings

Howdy,

I wish I could say I felt happier this today...especially this being my 5th day raw, but I think i'm going through a little emotional cleansing. A necessary, but not a happy pleasant thing.

It reminds me of something Dustin talked about, crying alot after he started raw and after he released cooked food.

Last night i was feeling seriously depressed and cried almost the whole evening. Today i'm feeling out of sorts. And i got my period. So, there you go.

Yesterday, I went to the opera with my mother's cousin, Pauline (we have a subscription together), and as I watched the soprano up on the stage, i fully realized and I KNEW in my heart of hearts that "I could do that."

Before the opera started, Pauline and I talked about a PBS special we had both seen, a documentary of auditions at the Metropolitan Opera. 3 of the winners were plus sized women. And we were certain they had ALL lied about their age, having to meet the requirement of being under 31. I acknowledged that I could do it, audition professionally, and should do it, and i replied, "Yes, i know. I'll do it."

Later, i looked at myself in the bathroom mirror of the Academy of Music, and my heart sank. Wrinkles. How am i going to say i'm 28, when i'm 42??? Suddenly, "I'll do it" felt like an impossibility.

Why does every push to change in me feel like it gets beaten down internally before i even try to do it?

When i got home from the opera, i was feeling seriously down, but I wasn't really aware of what was bothering me. You know, hindsight is 20-20. I knew I wanted comfort. That means food. Was i hungry? I really don't think so, but I ate a big raw meal, and a big raw shake, which really filled me, but didn't satisfy me. I suppose it wasn't food i needed. A little late to recognize that. You 'd think i'd be more advanced skillwise than this with my eating, but i am not. It's a long frustrating journey with food and emotional eating and feeding myself and comforting myself and what kind of raw food i need. It's exhausting to be me...

Feeling too full and like I had done a really bad thing, i had seriously enormous binge impulses. I wanted bread and butter and i wanted to fill this hole in me. I wanted to FEEL better. What was wierd was i was already overly full. How would being any fuller make me feel BETTER? I realized and even SAID to myself, "there's not enough food in the world to fill this hole, this ache." I skulked away from the kitchen no bread and butter in hand, plopped on the sofa and started to cry. Cliff tried to comfort me, but i couldn't even verbalise what was bothering me. I just kept repeating, "I'm so depressed. I'm so depressed."

Cliffy held me and hugged me on the sofa and we popped in a movie, "Antwone Fisher," starring Denzel Washington. Talk about an emotional movie. Not exactly uplifting, but amazingly moving to me. Have you seen it? It's a slow character and relationship study, very moving, about a young man in the navy who has anger issues and is sent to the base psychiatrist. Abuse and abandonment on so many levels is uncovered in this young man's life. And through his healing relationship with the psychiatrist played by Denzel Washington, he is able to move through his anger and overcome his need to constantly fight. He is reunited with his birth family at the end of the movie and he falls in love, now able to accept love and give love.

It was so good. Being adopted (abandonment issue) and having lived through familial abuse myself (emotional and sexual), this movie touched me to the core, and I literally couldn't stop crying. I kept feeling such a deep sadness for this character, for myself, for my lack of children, and how i wanted a child. I've been wanting to adopt a foster child, a child no one else wanted, and this movie really stirred all of that up.

Somehow this is all related to the opera. My fear of pursuing music is akin to my fear of having a child.

I just have never felt 'good enough.' I never wanted to fuck up a child. And I never felt i was strong enough to go through the audition process to actually become a professional singer.

Dustin's interview brought up powerful realizations. That i'm not shit. That i'm worthy. Remember that visual i had heard of that his interview reminded me of? Of that giant diamond in each of us, that we've allowed to cake over with shit...that we then paint with nailpolish, thinking no one can see the shit beneath it?

I've always focused on the shit part of myself. Not good enough. Not thin enough. Not smart enough, or musical enough or strong enough. And then i think of those kids on American Idol. Some of them aren't even that GOOD, but their self image is so strong, they SEE and KNOW and BELIEVE they are the diamond.

Some people like the Simon Cowell's of the world see through somebody's "nailpolish" surface like a radar detector. They can see the shit OR the diamond, depending on which you project.

Some good souls look at people and only SEE the diamond. They can see right through to the good in you and overlook everything else. Some people look at you and all they see is the shit caked. They're the abusers, the ones who called you names and made me feel like you were never good enough.

So, how do i view myself? It's the most important point of view of all.

Robert Driver, the head of the Opera Company of Philadelphia, walked past me yesterday at the opera. My mouth dropped open and i whispered to Pauline, "It's Robert Driver!" I stared over at him, not a foot away from me and I imagined myself going up to him, "Sir, my name is Michelle Schulman. Michelle Schulman! Remember that name! I'd like to come and audition for you! You have quite literally never heard a voice like mine. Michelle Schulman, remember that name."

And then i thought of how easy it would be for him to discover on the internet that i am actually 42 and i felt defeated almost immediately.

Not good enough. Not young enough. Not thin enough. It's like a mantra in how NOT to succeed. Now, i'm being real honest right now. I'm not trying to be an inspiration, i'm just telling you how it IS for me. I KNOW, i recognize i have ALOT of work to do on my self esteem and my...what i feel are my limitations.

So, as i looked in the fridge to fill that hole, i actually FELT myself fighting that idea of being the 'diamond.' "Yeah, right, that is SUCH bullshit. Who am I to think i am that diamond!"

All of the crying that came afterwards when i didn't shove down the feelings with anymore food was cathartic. It was self love. I was telling myself i was better than all of that food.

After Cliff went upstairs, I held this stuffed animal we call 'Wendy,' right there on the living room sofa, and i comforted her, and my tears made her wet and cold. I comforted her like she was MY child, and like she was the child in ME. "I love you so much and i'll never let anything happen to you. You're perfect just the way you are."

Antwone Fisher was a diamond, who believed he was crap, an then that fine doctor made him realize his own strength. At the end of the movie, he confronted his abusers and his abandoners, "I just want you to know you didn't kill me. I'm strong. I'm a good person. I made it out alive even though you tried to get me. But, you didn't get me. I'm good and i'm strong."

I'm so sensitive and insecure, if someone tells me i'm shit, i'll believe them.

[i'm practicing] "I'm good. I'm strong. I am the diamond. I'm not the shit, OR the nailpolish on top."

I really am the diamond, but i just don't always realize it. Cliff knows it.

And sometimes there's just not enough comfort in the world for me. There is never enough bread and butter. There is never enough of Cliff hugging me or telling me he loves me and will never leave me. My needs for comfort are ENORMOUS.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

So, since there is never enough cooked food to make me feel better....my new venture has just been to eat raw, eat what i want, walk daily, forget about losing weight, satisfy myself, give up dieting, give up binge eating....and just live and re-embrace, re-fall in love with raw food. Love myself. Accept myself. Just BE. I always gain the weight back after I diet, anyway, so why even bother?

Loving a fatter me is NOT easy. But, i don't think self hatred is the way to heal. I have to love me fat if i'm going to love myself thin. My boss, Arnold, always says, "Love is the answer."

I worked with Carlene for a month, lost like 20 lbs and then gained it back with fried onion rings. She was so controlling. Not loving at all. There was no joy in it.

So, why deprive myself any longer? If i need comfort, i'll give myself comfort FOOD and it'll be RAW comfort food. I swear, I can't fight anymore. I feel like a burnt out race horse.

I surrender.

Plus, practically speaking, I couldn't shit on cooked, i snored again, and looked bloated every morning and still dreamed of onion rings and fried eggrolls.

I was kidding myself, but I turned to cooked food in desperation trying to lose weight even quicker than with raw. I supposed that cooked veggies were calorie free, much LESS than fruit, and i'd lose like crazy. When i didn't, i mean i did lose, but not like crazy, and when that taste for cooked junk food was still being lit daily by cooking food, and I ended gaining weight with cooked instead of losing even quicker, I realized eating cooked was not really bringing me any closer to my goals. No, pizza and eggrolls is not making me any healthier.

So, I re-draw that line in the sand. To say that Dustin and Tim Arnold didn't help, i'd be lying. How powerful is it to hear them BOTH say, "cooked food is POISON!" To me, it's like a DRUG. There is just NOT enough fried food, not enough bread and butter in the world to fill that hole inside of me.

I chuckle when i think of what Dustin said to explain his intense cravings for cooked food sometimes, "Sometimes i want to take a pizza and stuff it with everything and just roll it up and deep fry it." I'm so THERE with you, brother!

I am so wild about anything fried. Did you happen to catch Richard Simmons on TV last week talking about fried food? "A sliver becomes a slab becomes a slob." How profound is THAT. Simmons is from Louisianna. Home of the fried catfish and fried shrimp and fried hushpuppies. Fry it, and i'm sure i'd like it.

But, what's amazing is, Dustin doesn't do it. He may verbalize it. But he doesn't do it. And he eats avocados and Tim eats dressing on his salad and 10 banana-banana whips at night. And they got skinny. Seriously skinny!!!!

They are both MEN...and i do have my intellectual doubts about women eating like that on raw and losing. If there are any, please write in!

Yet, I'm willing to suspend disbelief for now because what i've been doing obviously isn't working..... I have to keep reminding myself...i lost 140 lbs eating raw gourmet sometimes 4-5x a week. The rest of the time i ate lightly. I can learn a LOT from that.

Dustin's highlghting how we have to work out the emotions and how we have to let them flow through us and let go of them, let go of the false limiting beliefs, and how we have to be creative and let that flow through us has had a very big impact on me.

Also, both men's ability to draw thinness into their lives still astounds me. Dustin told himself, "I weigh 200 lbs." and a year later, he did. Tim Arnold, literally, every time i saw him at Arnold's Way, he stated, "I want to be SVELTE." (His favorite word for thin). "I want to be svelte. I want to be svelte. Guess what? I want to be svelte."

Successful people have mantras for success!!!!! (Clue to self!)

I WANT TO BE THIN. I WANT TO EAT WHAT I WANT, RAW. I WANT TO BE A PROFESSIONAL OPERA SINGER. I WANT TO LIVE IN A NICE HOME. I WANT TO BE HAPPY AND BE FREE OF AN EATING DISORDER.

And Tim and Dustin just eating what they want as long as it's raw has also impacted me hugely. I'm TRYING with all my might to really believe that could be true for me. I'm praying alot more. I'm eating raw fattening food and i'm asking it to make me healthy and thin. And i'm trying to turn this all over to God, for him to work in me and make me thin. I think if i let him, he could do it. I think he could lead me and guide me better than i've been guiding myself. I mean, if you read this blog frequently, you KNOW how nuts it is to TRY to guide yourself using EFFORT. It just don't work. I try it every day. I drive myself nuts doing it.

There has GOT to be something much more powerful at work here. Tim meditates EVERY morning. Dustin has this amazing positive attitude. As does his wife, Meredith. The soul has GOT to lead. I just don't think the intellect is enough.

Anyway, I'm also determined i'm going to stop TRYING to lose weight with effort, i mean, with dieting. I've stopped weighing myself.

I still eat emotionally. I tend toward everything fatty and fattening and salty. It tastes good but bloats me. But, it's what i WANT. But, i'm hoping God will make it like-calorie free to my body and heal me with it. That would be really nice. Or he will change my desires and lead me through this. I will be led through AWARENESS instead of EFFORT. You know what i mean?

The phone is ringing...and that's my signal to say SHALOM for now. Peace, and goodbye~! There will be more 'pure raw joy' coming... Not everyday is sad. I've been feeling a lot of joy, too, over the last days. But my greatest joy will be when i have overcome all of this shit with food, when i KNOW i'm the diamond, when i'm on stage at the Opera Company of Philadelphia singing my heart out and everyone else knows i'm the diamond, too :-))) Then all of these daily frustrations on 'pure raw joy' will have made sense and will have lead to something truly amazing.

Thank you for your support.

P.S. Who can make me a fake I.D.?

xoxo michelle joy

Dustin Kellogg Interview Part II - "Surrendering Completely To Imagination, Creativity & Creation!"

Q: I've always heard cannabis makes people have the munchies!! It seems to have had the opposite effect on you!

A: There is a bunch of info coming out about the healing effects of cannabis... I would like to help get this info out along with raw food.

Q: Something you said in your interview really made a huge impression on me about being "blocked" artistically. I've always believed that one of the keys to overcoming my addictive needs for food would be to be flowing artistically and creatively. I see very much that you and meredith are fully FLOWING!!! Talk to me about this.


A: When Meredith and I got together about five or so years ago, it wasn't easy at first. We moved-in together after dating for 4 months and we had a lot to learn about each other. She had just left 'Fashion School' and she wasn't doing anything creative. She would just work and then sit around like a lump and usually give me some sort of guff about what I was doing. I finally had to tell her to "start being creative!"... I told her that she was a creative person by nature, most of us are (I would say we all are, in some form), but I said "you're a creative person and you're not creating... instead you're worrying about what I'm doing all the time"... it was driving me a little crazy at the time, but I loved this girl... so I shot it to her straight. A couple weeks later she started sewing and then started making cookies, cakes and all sort of yummy treats and she was transforming before my eyes. What has saved my life, Meredith's life and our Relationship is surrendering, completely, to Imagination, Creativity and Creation... I think these are the foundational forces of all living things. When we create we are in the flow... and it can be cosmic... we realize it's our purpose, "why we are here" and I see that you are a fellow creative as well. This life is really magical, it's really special and we are all Divine Beings... no bullshit. Forget religious rhetoric and fluffy nansy-pamsy talk... I'm talking about brass-tax... we are DIVINE.


Q: Fear and self-doubt have stopped me from pursuing a professional singing career. Fear i'm too old, fear i'm too fat, fear i'm not good enough. Talk to me about fear.

A: We have to face the fear, at some point or another, that we are Divine, God-Like Beings. That we are capable of soooooooooo much more than what we are exhibiting. And I don't want to get down on humanity but we are not supposed to live the way we are living... we are destroying ourselves. We are soooo not the fat, lazy, ignorant, unmotivated, unmoving, individuals that we all pretend to be. I believe what happens is that either our Parents, or our Society, most of the time both, fuck us up so bad that we think that we aren't worth it... we think no one loves us and that we are alone. This just isn't the case.

Q: Wow, this really reminds me of that saying attributed to Nelson Mandella...that we are afraid of our own divine light...and NOT that we are weak....but POWERFUL beyond our wildest imagination. I also heard someone say that each of us is this huge sparkling diamond. But we've allowed the diamond to be caked over with shit. And then we put nailpolish on the caked on shit. Instead we have to KNOW we are the diamond and get rid of the shit.

A: Even if we were locked up in the darkest cave, in the most remote part of this planet, we are never alone... and we are always worth it. The sooner I realized that, the sooner I could allow myself to heal. And the crazy thing is it's only been a Year and Three months... and so many things have happened and changed.

Q: On another topic, how do you deal with cravings?
A: One thing that kept me going through the cravings, is that one time I asked you "Michelle, have you eaten cooked food since you went Raw, two years ago?" You gave me this funny look like I was out of my mind and then you said "No, why would I do that?"... I can honestly say that there have been times when I wanted to take, since being Raw, bacon cheese burgers and deep fry them... stuff them inside an "everything" pizza, and deep-fry that, with a side of large fries (with mounds of ketchup and vinegar) and a super-sized cherry coke and just go to town... but then I think back to the response you said "... why would I do that?"... and I always get through the craving.

Q: Wow, i'm honored that i had an impact on you about staying raw, now that i've been struggling myself! Now that i've been to the other side and have had the fried onion rings and the fried eggrolls, i'll say, it's definitely NOT worth it. You have PURE RAW JOY! And fried food doesn't offer any joy! Well, maybe a very temporary one. But, it's like heroin. It leaves you only wanting more and more. At the expense of your entire life. I don't know why i ever gave in. I'm sorry i did. I'd much RATHER have stayed raw. These last months have been full of struggle and lots of steps backwards. It wasn't worth it. I hope i can influence you again in knowing that you don't want to go there....!

A: I say that Raw food is easy and it is effortless, which it really is, but there are times when I just crave the worst food ever... and I just put myself back to that time when I ate that food... it's not worth it... it's poison... it really is fucking poison. I wish it wasn't because I love food. I love smelling it. I love tasting it. I love it. I want to eat it all. But my body doesn't want me to and it feels so much better to listen to my body.


Q: I was also really strongly impacted by what you said about you telling yourself 'I weigh 200lbs' and then a year later, you did. I forget so often to apply what I know about the law of attraction. People with cancer can cure themselves by just thinking about being healthy. So why can't i think myself thin like you and Tim Arnold have done????!!!! I'm a strong person, but I don't act like it often, and get to a place where i feel so utterly helpless, especially when it comes to being caught up in cooked food. I need to put so much more time and effort into thinking about what i WANT and in manifesting my desires and dreams, because I know that if I put energy there, things will begin to happen. Talk to me more about this.

A: And I totally see you as an opera singer, you are amazing and you know it! Now start acting like it!!! hahaha... and you know you can take it as far as you want to take it. I see you as being anything you want... really. You have so much life and you have a deep, deep story to tell... you have so much to express, so much to tell the world. And you have the best thing going for you... you are super-honest person... some may say a little tooo-honest, but fuck those people, we need more honest people these days. Hahaha.


Q: Also, what shone forth in the interveiw through all of the technical diet questions is that you direct yourself....and believe your desires for food...are GOOD! You have totally inspired ME to commit to getting more in touch with who I really am, honoring what I really like, honoring my music and art and pursuing it more, falling in love again with raw food and not seeing it as bad or dangerous or fattening...and believing what i'm doing is good. When i first went raw, i 'believed' gourmet was GREAT for me, healing me, and it did! I lost 140 lbs eating gourmet raw. I know i can do it again! I can learn to trust myself and allow my 'best' highest self to lead me.

A: I remember the night that really turned things for me with the "raw-thing". It was my third night RAW and I was lying in bed, completely freaking out staring up at the ceiling. I knew that this was "real" and that in a very short while I was going to be skinny. I was freaking out because I was scared not to be "big" or "fat". I had accepted this about myself and even though I wasn't "really" comfortable with being overweight, I had tricked myself into thinking that I was fat and that's the way it was going to be. What would people think if I wasn't fat? Would they think I was weird? Would they think I wasn't me? Everyone knew me as Dustin "THE BIG GUY". That night, I faced my self and I let the fat kid go... I cried a bunch... fell asleep and when I woke up the next morning, It was On!! I knew after that night, there was no looking back. I knew that I had to lose weight and heal myself and I knew that I was going to do it.

Q: Thank you so much for your empowering viewpoint, for your honesty and your strength! Any last words?


A: Michele, stay strong... listen to your heart and your body and let them guide you... no one else. ::)

Dustin

website: http://www.dustinkellogg.com/
blog: http://www.hundredthmonkeyeffect.net/
EMAIL: dustinkellogg@yahoo.com

"Om Eim Saraswatyei Swaha!"

xoxox michelle joy

DUSTIN KELLOGG: 110lbs lighter! "You Are Beautiful. You Are Not What People Have Told you You Are...You Are Not The Fat...Love Yourself!"

Dustin Kellogg is an amazing man! That skinny hot guy is my good friend Meredith Frantz's husband. [You remember Meredith from her website, which i've mentioned frequently here: http://www.therawseed.com/.]

Dustin and i met for the first time at Arnold's Way and we knew immediately that we were kindred spirits! Dustin and Meredith were pretty new to raw at the time, and had just discovered Arnold's Way, and had just taken a bite of some kind of special raw sushi roll i made for them, when their eyes just lit up, they started giggling, and they exclaimed, "Oh, my god! This is sooooo good!"

Since that time, Meredith and Dustin and I have shared several blissful times making raw food together, every bite inducing orgasmic responses from all of us.

[My catering partner, Susan, and I like to say about people who react so strongly to food like us, "They're ONE OF US...!" and then we smile and roll our eyes...!] Dustin and Meredith are DEFINITELY one of us....foodies who LOVE food.

What's so amazing is that Dustin got SKINNY doing just that! Whereas I turned from gourmet raw, and from raw in general, thinking i was helping myself (only to get fatter), Dustin has stood the course...and became one of my poster children for gourmet raw. He eats what he wants...and gets to be skinny! I HAD to find out his secret because since the time of our first meeting, Dustin has just transformed before my eyes. He's lost over 100 lbs in under a year and quite literally does NOT look like the same person!

Dustin agreed to share his thoughts, guiding forces, his beliefs, and his routines with us. Thank you, Dustin!!

What you will find is an exceedingly honest and open look at a man filled with spirit, love, wisdom, creativity, who will just inspire you to learn to listen to yourself...and guide yourself...like he does!

This interview is long on technical diet questions, but Part II is coming next, which will reveal more about Dustin's attitudes about creativity and the creative force that has forever changed his and his wife's world. For those of you that don't know, Dustin is an amazing professional graphic artist and tattoo artist. He and his wife recently moved to Boulder, CO, where they are thriving professionally, and in their raw life together.

You can read more about Dustin and see his work on his website: http://www.dustinkellogg.com/ or on his blog: http://www.hundredthmonkeyeffect.net/. Dustin's email is below at the end of the interview.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hey Michelle! Here are the answers to the questions.

Q: How long have you been eating raw and how much weight have you lost?
A: I have been eating 'Raw' since November of 2008, so that would be a Year and 3 months. I have lost 110 Pounds. (Starting Weight: 285/290 Current Weight: 172)


Q: Do you eat 100% raw? Why? or Why not?
A: I eat 100% Organic (Most of the time) Raw Plant-Based Diet (No raw sushi, No raw meat). I eat this way because it's what spoke to me and it seems to be really work well. I will note that I say 100% but I'm not a stickler... like I eat mustard every once in a while, and ketchup (I try to use the highest quality I can). I also eat agave which may or may not be Raw, depends on the source and I drink Hot Tea. I also ingest substantial quantities of cannabis, which I will smoke... some may say I am not a truly 100% Raw, but this doesn't really bother me because I don't really like labels as much.


Q: Why did you go raw? Describe.
A: I struggled with weight my whole life. I was sick of being depressed, over-weight, and pretty much everything that I thought I knew is backwards... so I was tired of being confused and I was tired of suffering. I heard about liberation, freedom and enlightenment but every where I turned I just saw more systems of slavery... and not just physical slavery; Spiritual, Mental, Emotional and Physical Slavery. The Raw Food Lifestyle, to me, seemed like Freedom it smelled of Truth. I had very little knowledge of "Raw Food" but I knew that it would help liberate me and I could finally be who I am.


Q: How important are the role of enzymes and optimal nutrition to you?
A: Obviously, Enzymes are super important in the functioning of our digestive system and I think the more clear/clean and understanding We are (in our essence), the purer our cells will become, thus creating more substantial enzymatic connections... for the "science" I will defer to people who know more about Enzymes (David Wolfe, Gabriel Cousens, Daniel Vitalis, Angela and Matt Monarch).

"Optimal Nutrition" to me is not just about what we eat... Optimal Nutrition is Ultimate Heath... combing the four corners of Creation... Spiritual, Mental, Emotional, Physical symbiosis. I am not as concerned with "Optimal" as I am with living the Dharma... or Living the Middle Path. Optimal, to me is a positive word but it seems competitive... as if I am in a "better position" than you because I eat "such and such" a way... that seems silly to me because the extremes of polarity are always fluctuating and expanding... so what is "Optimal" to One may not be to another.... I guess I would say that I am concerned with Individual Optimization... not compared to anything other than my own expression... I am a Optimal Agnostic... haha.


Q: Was losing weight your main motivation to going raw? Or was it just a wonderful byproduct of the diet?
A: I would be lying if I said that I didn't have fantasies of being a super-fit dude with abs and a collar bone... But I feel like my motivation came more from a place of wanting to be accepted and listened-to. I felt like I had something to say, that I had an expression to share with the World, with You... and I was held back because I thought people didn't listen to me because I was fat (a product of my individual psychosis). I know now that people don't listen because they are afraid of what they might hear. So I was motivated to lose weight because I thought if I was beautiful on the outside then people would finally be able to see the beauty on the inside. I was motivated to lose weight, I don't think anyone likes being 'over-weight'... but we get used to... we accept that we can never be anything more than "Fat", so it become comfortable. Losing weight is definitely more of a byproduct of the Raw Lifestyle, to me, because the Spiritual benefits have out-weighed (pardon the pun) the Physical benefits... although they are wholly connected.


Q: What was your attitude toward losing weight during the process? Did you give it much attention? Did you weigh frequently? Were there frustrations with your progress, or was your attitude easy going and full of gratitude? Describe.
A: Okay, I'm going to be super-honest here... I have very little choice in honesty these days... so Losing Weight Blew My Fucking Mind (excuse the language, it was just that intense). A month after I went "Raw" I got in a really bad Bike accident and I sprained both of my elbows. My left elbow couldn't move past a 45 degree angle for over 3 months. In the first 3 - 4 months, I lost 50 pounds... I was literally shedding the weight.. every day I woke up, I had lost weight, literally!!! And for the first 4 months of being "Raw" I sat on my couch, and ingested high-quantities of Cannabis... and I watched a lot of internet television. But my mind was blown because I lost 50 pounds and all I did was sit on a couch, smoke weed, and eat the most amazing food on the planet... although I couldn't move my arms for three months... I couldn't believe the transformation. I have completely lost any sense of physical identity... Now, I have very little self-consciousness (in terms of physical negativity). I have had people tell me I look great, or that I am beautiful, and although this is waaaay better than being ridiculed for being "fat", I don't even care how other people see me... and not in a negative aloof kind of way, but I just don't trust other people's sight these days... I listen and take it into account but my physical appearance is more fun to me these days, I take it less seriously. I am finding that I can have more fun with my body then I ever thought I could.

I would also like to add, and I think this is integral to the Raw Psychological Transformation, that can occur. I watched the show "The Biggest Loser" while I was losing all of the weight... and is was uncannily synchronistic that the characters on the show were losing the same amount of weight that I was losing... so rapidly... watching their transformation helped me understand mine. To be honest I think the show is a little backwards in it's understanding and commercialism but what the People go through on the show is Real... and it gave me incredible insight into the nature of Food Addiction, Suppressed Emotions and Psychosis. I cried a lot, and I still do. I cry now more than I have ever cried in my life... it feels so real and I feel so alive to finally let the emotions out. I saw, not only on the show, but in my Non-Reality-Television Waking State, that all my weight was actually a physical manifestation of Emotional blockages, which is actually "Stuck Energy"... when we remove the Stuckness, we allow the energy to flow freely, so the "Weight" will not gather on the body... it's flowing.

I am extremely grateful... every day... and I would say that my attitude was and is more of an " in-Awe" than anything else.


Q: Did the law of attraction, or a positive mental attitude figure into your weight loss? Please describe!
A: I think it's apparent that the Law of Attraction is built into the Fabric of Our Consciousness... the law of attraction, to me, is a mathematical foundation for the form of our individual/collective reality. I think it played a huge role. One thing that I didn't share above is that when I was 285 or so, I got on the treadmill ( about a year before I went Raw) and I would just repeat while I ran: "I'm 200 pounds, I'm Happy, and I'm Healthy"... less than a year later all of my dreams had come true and so much more. I think Mantra is a integral part of the Law Of Attraction... if we want something we ask for it, and then we do everything in our power to receive it. I do not put "faith" in the Law of Attraction... I grab it by the horns and I rangle it to the ground.


Q: Do you feel like weight loss has been a spiritual gift? A manifestation of a right spirit? Or is weight loss a practical matter of what and how much you eat?
A: I think I answered this question above but I can elaborate. I think one can be Enlightened and not a Raw Foodist... but I see that our Diet, what we eat, is what we Are.... I think "Spiritual" is a weird word because it kind of implies a Hierarchy to some people... but when I say Spiritual, I mean a connection to all that Is... no Gods, no Goddesses, no Rules, No Dogma, No Bullshit. Each individual's spirituality can be different from another's but we can understand each other a bit more by connecting our Spirituality into Cosmic Consciousness, then Divine Consciousness, then we become all that Is... all that I Am... Spirit. Weight-loss, for me, was a physical gift... Raw Food was the spiritual gift.


Q: How would you describe your diet? Gourmet raw? Simple Raw? 80-10-10? What does that mean to you?
A: If I had to label it (I just have a hard time with labels, I'm working on though, trying to have more fun), I would say I am a Mystically RAW Anarchist... I follow my intuition and I have a handful of people that I turn to in times of confusion. I am open to all Forms of all Lifestyles, if they bring about the desired results, i.e whatever we want. I think the labels and categories that what we put on Raw Food are Silly... to be honest.... like Vegan, and Vegetarian even Raw Foodist implies separation maybe even hierarchy. I try to eat what is best for me ... I tend to drink a lot of fruit/superfood smoothies. I drink Green Juices (all shapes and sizes) and of course Meredith makes the most amazing "Gourmet" Raw food... so I eat that a lot as well. I eat a lot of Cacao.

I think humans tend to make more chaos out of not only Raw Food, but Life in general because we like the Drama... without the drama things seem boring... but when we learn to silence the mind and bathe in Consciousness, nothing is boring, no thing is mundane... Everything is a Miracle... I use words, labels, concepts and abstracts as pointers to truth... to healthy living... but words, labels, concepts and abstracts are Nothing if they don't point us to Everything.

I also smoke and eat Cannabis ( I prefer to eat it, because I cough a lot less but I love smoking as well... I think Smoke is bridge between the Here and the Now, so I connect to it). ... I know this a point of contention amongst the Raw Foodies, but I don't pay attention to that as much... I do what is best for Me, and the only person who knows that is Me. This may be radical for some, or maybe it seems arrogant... but Intuition is a powerful force and when we devote our selves to an expanded mode of being, we can open our selves up to trusting this intuition more and more.

I love fruit... I love vegetables... especially carrots, cucumbers and spinach. I basically eat whatever I want, when I want, and my digestion varies a bit, but overall I have remained in a relatively peaceful stage of being since going Raw. If I was being the most honest I would say that Allah created Raw Foodism for Me... as soon as I started, I had no idea what I was getting into but it just resonated with my Being... it was a serious missing piece in my development... and it has helped me move past judgments. If Our Intentions our Pure, then we could eat McDonalds everyday and become what we've always wanted to Be... it just depends on one's journey, what they need to go-through in order to see Their Divinity. It seems like we have a hard time accepting that we are Divine, instead we created Boxes, Labels, and Judgments.


Q: How big a role does fat play in your daily diet? How much fat would you say you eat a day? Describe all the fats you ate today and yesterday and the day before. Where do you get your fat from? Avocado, nuts, etc..
A: I love Guacamole and Avocados, and I eat them frequently... I would say 1 - 2 a day, but sometimes none... I'm more of a Smoothie kind-of-guy. I eat coconut oil... and hemp seed butter. I also eat a lot of nuts... Pistachios... Cashews... Almonds... Pine Nuts... Walnuts. But I would say Avocados are Key.


Q: Do you eat more than one avo at a time? Do you eat handfuls of nuts? Do you eat more than fat source per day? Do you keep track of this, or just let your body guide you?
A: Yes... Yes... Yes.... No... and I just let my body guide me.


Q: Do you intentionally try to keep the fat low, or do you use fat freely? Describe how you do this.
A: I intentionally just eat the most amazing food I can... I try not to Think about it too much... the Mind has the incredible ability of keeping us locked in patterns, so I try to operate more from a space of no-mind... but this can be difficult especially when we are trying to break out of old habits.


Q: Do you soak your nuts/seeds? Why?
A: Some of them... some of the time... Meredith handles most of the nut-soaking, so mostly in Gourmet, I will eat soaked nuts. They are easier on the digestion... I would definitely agree with that.


Q: What nut or seed do you use the most and why?
A: Pistachios... because they remind me of being a kid for some reason?


Q: Do you use olive oil daily? why or why not? If so, how much would you use on a salad?
A: Yes... because it tastes good, it's Raw, it's good for Salad Dressings and Sauces and such. When I first stared eating Raw I would use tons of dressing... now I use a moderate amount, I like everything coated in dressing but not soaking (like I used to).


Q: Do you eat bananas freely, or do you limit them? why?
A: I usually eat One banana a day in my Smoothie. I'm not into eating a lot of fruit at one time, unless it's in a smoothie. I think the most bananas I have eaten at one time... are 3 bananas... but that is when I first went Raw.


Q: Do you drink green smoothies? Describe three typical green smoothies with all ingredients. How many bananas do you put in your smoothies? Do you use dates/agave/honey as well?
A: Yes, I try to drink One a day, sometimes I don't, and sometimes I drink Two in a day... I call it "The Man Smoothie"... hahaha:

-20 oz. of Spring Water (or Revers Osmosis (Re-Mineralized "Avia-Clarity" and Re-Structured with "Sacred G") when we can't get spring water.)
-Bee Pollen (Two Scoops)
-Honey (As much as I want, I usually go-overboard because I love Honey)
-Ormus Greens ( Sunwarrior)
-Amazing Grass Cacao Super - Food Mix
-Coconut Oil (Scoop)
-X-tra Cacao Powder (David Wolfe's or Gnosis Chocolate)
-Spirulina
-Maca Powder (One/Two Scoops)
-Hemp Seed Butter or Hemp Seed Oil (I love anything and everything connected to the beautiful Cannabis Flower).
-One Banana (fresh, a little browner for a sweeter taste)
-A bag of mixed Organic Tropical Fruit (365 Brand... not the best "nutritionally" but it makes the smoothie cold, and more like a Shake)


Q: What 5 things do you attribute your fantastic weight loss to?
A: 1.) Being open to as much Information as I could handle... and it didn't matter the source or the credentials, I just listened.
2.) Shattering my Ego into a million pieces and having no desire to put them back together.
3.) Not believing the Government Lies. The Teachers' Lies. The Doctors' Lies. The Scientists Lies... and researching as much information on related matters, for my-Self and starting to trust myself.
4.) Doing What I Love (what I really love, not the "story-line" love)
5.) Self Realization


Q: Describe an entire typical day's food.
A: This is the day in the life of the Mystically RAW Anarchist named Dustin Kellogg... hahaha:

- I wake up and smoke some of the freshest Colorado Kind-bud I can find... or we make Raw Cacao/Cannabis Chocolates... which are amazingly amazing, and I will eat 1-3 of those a day.

- I make a Green smoothie (as stated above).

- I usually start writing, drawing, or painting... or reading something and I get wrapped up in that for hours... I try to drink water or kombucha all through the day.

- I drink 1 - 2 "High Country" Kombuchas a day... sometimes none though, I like to take breaks, Kombucha can get a bit much after a while but I love it. (JUN is better though).

- I will usually snack on some sort of Raw Cacao product throughout the day.

- I like the "Two-Moms-in-The-Raw" Granola... I think it's the Awesomeness!!

- Lydia's Crackers with Guacamole is one of my favorite meals.

- And I will eat Meredith's Raw Gourmet (when it's available, which is virutally every day when she is in the flow, but sometimes we go days without "Gourmet".)

- I will snack on some nuts here and there... and I might have a piece of fruit (This past summer, I would eat Peaches almost everyday, about 3-4). Working on the organic farm, completely changed my eating habits, I was waaaay more excited about the food I was eating... especially Strawberries... I think I was Strawberry in a past life).

- Oh! And i eat Raw cake, pie, brownies, cookies... whatevs... all day long... somedays I will have 2 pieces of cake. The other day I ate a whole small Cake... the next morning I had a huge Poop though... but I made it through... haha.


Q: Do you try to limit heavy raw desserts, heavy nut pates? Why or why not?
A: I'm going to answer this question with a question: Why have limitations when everything in nature is Infinite?


Q: Do you eat a lot of dehydrated food?
A: I eat dehydrated food on a daily basis... I wouldn't say "a lot" but I don't know what a lot is? I guess compared to Breatharian or a Liquidarian it is a lot?


Q: Do you cleanse periodly in any way? (juicing, fasting, only fruit, etc...)
A: I did a series of 10 colonics over a 10 week period... this changed my life ( i lost 5-10 extra pounds, my stomach skin tightened-up tremendously, my skin cleared and my digestive system balanced out)... I will continue to get "maintenance" colonics. I haven't dove into the Fasts/Cleanses and that sort of discipline yet... I'm having too much fun with Food right this minute... I figure as I develop I will probably Fast more... but I am not in a hurry... I think the benefits are astonishing though, Meredith is a Floating Bodhisattva when she is juice-feasting... And Angela Stokes-Monarch is a glowing Light Being when she juice-feasts. I honestly think women thrive the most off of juice-feasting. Green juice plays such a huge role in bringing about that refined clarity and extra-sensory perception... plus it helps to get at those demons that are buried deep.


Q: Do you have days when you eat lightly and days when you eat heavier?
A: Yes... it varies from day to day.... or week to week.


Q: How does eating raw food make you feel, in general? When you eat something too heavy, how do you feel? Describe.
A: I love Raw Food... it's fresh, it's alive, it's vibrant, it almost always makes me feel good (except when I'm a bit gassy)... but I generally Love how I feel.


Q: Do you struggle with compulsions to overeat or eat very fatty foods?
A: No, and I honestly can't say how or why because I weighed 285... I just think cooked-food was that poisonous to my body, it was less about "over-eating" and more about the types of food I would eat.


Q: Do you often take seconds, or do you control your portion sizes?
A: At potlucks I will take Thirds, maybe even Fourths... but when I'm home (which is most of the time) I usually just make a smoothie or a meal and stick to that. I will have 2 sandwiches or "Burgers" at a time... but not all the time.


Q: Do you often overeat or ever binge eat on raw?
A: Like I said above, to some I could "over-eat" but I never feel like I binge eat or that I can't stop myself. I have definitely eaten passed the point of hunger, to full-fill a psychological need, but this doesn't happen too often... and compared to when I ate cooked food, it's laughable.


Q: Do you meditate or do anything to control yourself while eating meals?
A: Raw Food is meditation to me... my life is a meditation at this point... and I don't eat food in "meals" as much... I just eat when I eat... and I am mindful of most things that I do, Raw Food has assisted with that tremendously. Life seems effortless, most of the time.


Q: Do you eat slowly...or fast? Do you chew your juice? Do you chew thoroughly?
A: I eat relatively slowly... if it's Gourmet I will devoir it in One Bite sometimes... but I would say I'm a moderate chewer... at times a pay more attention (depending on what I'm eating).


Q: What self controls do you use, if any are necessary?
A: I don't fully understand this question.


Q: Do you practice any spiritual teaching? How has this impacted your raw diet, or your health?
A: If I had to label my spiritual practice I would say that I am a Mystically Raw Anarchist... but I'm not a big fan of labels, and boxes, and the compartmentalization of information. I prefer autonomy... freedom... enlightenment... in whatever shape or form that takes. I try to stay as open as I can, I won't deny that it is difficult at times with all the Misinformation/Disinformation but I try to live Life from a Unity Perspective rather than a Duality Perspective (which paradoxically implies duality???).... it's a learning process.


Q: Do you juice daily? Describe.
A: No... but I should... This summer I was drinking juice 3 - 5 times a week. During the winter I do more smoothies.


Q: What are your favorite raw foods and how often do you eat them?
A: Cacao, Honey, Bee Pollen, Spirulina, All of Meredith's Gourmet food (tacos, pizzas, desserts)... I really like peaches and apples. I like carrots and spinach a lot. I really like it all, I'm not too bias. I don't like zucchini as much... and I have moments with tomatoes, but for the most part I will eat everything and anything.


Q: What is the best part of your day, foodwise?
A: Green Smoothie Time.


Q: Do you keep busy, occupied with work/art? How does this impact your raw diet?
A: I would say the main focus of my day is to do as much stuff as I love to do. I keep busy with creative work, like drawing, painting, writing, and researching. And I don't really think about food too often, unless I am contemplating how awesome it is to eat the Best Food on the Planet. Creation and Creativity are the foundations of the Universe to me... Raw Food combines Health, Nutrition, and Creation... they all seem to enhance each other, in ways that I could never imagine.


Q: Do you ever eat from boredom or stress?
A; I can't say that I do... because I'm rarely bored or stressed? Usually when I'm stressed I eat less.


Q: How many meals do you eat a day?
A: Smoothie/Snacks/Gourmet/Dessert, in no particular order and all through out the day... I don't really eat "meals" per-se.


Q: Do you have any idea how many calories you are taking in, or what percentage fat you are eating? Do you use fitday.com or any other online supports to manage your diet?
A: No... I don't even know what calories are?


Q: Do you weigh yourself regularly?
A: When I first started, Once/Twice a week. Now.... once a every two weeks or a month... but I've been holding strong at 172-175, so I don't really need to weigh myself to know.


Q: Does your weight go up and down, or stay the same?
A: Answered above.


Q: Do you gain weight eating heavy raw foods?
A: No. I maintain it.


Q: Do you eat a lot of fruit?
A: Not really. Pretty Moderate.


Q: How has your raw diet changed since you've been raw? Has it gone through any transformations? Describe.
A: I used to eat Raw Dairy cheese, which I don't really eat anymore it just naturally stopped. I loved cheese too, it was one of my last addictions to really face. Now I can eat it every once in a while and I'm chill... but I haven't had cheese in a few months. My taste has changed, I like more Bitter things now... I like to eat something savory and then something sweet right after, where before I would go through phases of sweet and phases of savory.


Q: Are you now maintaining your weight, or still losing? Describe.
A: My skin is tightening up... so I think I will lose a pound or two here and there... but I've been maintaing for the past 5 months or so.


Q: Do you exercise regulaly? Daily? Or how many times a week? For what intensity and duration.
A: Before I went Raw, I exercised 4 - 6 times a week. Now.... 10 times a month... maybe? But I go to the Dry Sauna, the Steam Room, and the hot tub 3 - 5 times a week. I like to walk and ride my bike mostly.


Q: Have you been exercising the entire time of your raw weight loss?
A: NO... I didn't work-out for over a year... and when I finally went back to the gym I ran 3.5 miles... no problem... and I've ran a couple times since and I think if I trained a bit more I could really explore my peak performance. But I'm kind of a chiller these days... I paint/draw and research a lot... and I ride my bike and go for walks/hikes and such.


Q: How has exercise impacted your weight?
A: I want to eat more... but it more effects the shape of my body, rather than the weight.


Q: Do you drink alot of fluids? Has that been important in your weight loss?
A: Yes... I could totally see being a "Liquidarian"... in fact I kind of see that being more of my diet as I progress through this miraculous process called life.


Q: Do you use sea salt freely or try to limit salt?
A: Yes... I love sea salt.


Q: Do you eat any fruit you want, or try to limit fruit? Do you limit low glycemic fruits?
A: Whatever I want.


Q: Would you say you eat BIG portions...or small portions? Do you struggle with portion control? Explain.
- Do you stop eating when you're satisfied....or stuffed? How important is it to you to stop just when you've had enough?
- Do you eat when it's "time" or when you're hungry?
- How do you DECIDE what you will eat? Do you follow your inner guide and listen" to your bodies needs, and then make food?
A: I listen to my body and my needs... and I follow my Intuition. (Answer to all of the questions above.)


Q: Does a spouse or someone else prepare food for you? Do you ever want more or less?
A: Meredith is pretty much my personal Chef. She takes really good care of me, and usually makes sure I am well fed. I enjoy making smoothies and once I start juicing, I like juicing (just not the clean-up)... without Meredith I would be either working at Arnold's Way or Cafe Gratitude. I think it's important to be around enthusiastic people who are excited about food, especially Living Food. Sometimes I want more... very rarely do I want less.


Q: Do you ever push away your plate when there is still food on it, because you've had enough?
A: All the time. But I try to eat all the food on my plate, sometimes I just get full really fast.


Q: Did you always have good eating habits or bad eating habits? Explain.
A: I don't know what is good or bad... only what feels right.


Q: How often do you eat out in raw restaurants or at raw potlucks? Do you overeat? Or make sure NOT to?
A: Not often... especially in Boulder Colorado... there are no Raw Restaurants out here.


Q: Can you overeat raw food without gaining weight? Or overeat raw food and lose weight? Do you find raw food somehow "magical" in that way?
A: It's magical alright!


Q: What health benefits have you experienced since going raw?
A: I was obese, I had sinus problems, digestive problems and TMJ (Jaw Pain/discomfort) and I started to develop Migraines... ALL GONE... except my Jaw still gets a little tight sometimes. Oh yeah! And I sprained both of my elbows really really bad... and I self-healed them in 5 months, and within the year I could do 10 pull - ups.


Q: Do you eat dessert daily? (raw chocolate, raw pie, raw pudding, banana whips, etc...) Describe.
A: Yes.... anything and everything all day long... if I feel like it.


Q: Do you find raw gourmet food in the fridge CALLS to you? Do you try to limit what you have in the house, or do you exist freely with plenty of gourmet raw in abundance in the house? Does this make you feel safe or is this troublesome for you?
A: Food has less of a pull in my life... it's sounds insane because Raw Food seems "extreme" but I actually think about food a lot less... it has less of a pull in my life.


Q: Do you pack food when you go out? Describe what you might bring.
A: Yes... smoothies... raw granola bars... nuts... seeds... fruit.... sometimes Gourmet if we have it.


Q: Do you feel there would EVER be a reason for you to want to eat cooked food?
A: Yes... for the taste. Cooked food tastes amazing... I love food... and I love tasting it... I definitely miss all the Classics: burritos, enchiladas, pizza, burgers, hoagies (Oh sweet hoagies!)... I used to eat so many chicken wings... I would take down 30 - 40 chicken wings in no time. I miss salmon, and sushi... I really miss potatoes and bread. I can't say that I will "never" eat cooked food again but I think I will turn into a Being of Light before I ever, intentionally, eat cooked food again.

Q: What keeps you raw?
A: Being Raw is Effortless at this point. No - thing keeps me Raw. I have seen the results that it has produced... there is no denying the facts.


Q: Why do you continue to eat raw?
A: Because my life is so much more amazing. I have met the most amazing people. I have had the most amazing experiences. And I plan on continuing this journey of Awesomeness... most things are literally so Awe-some now, it's almost unbearable at times. Plus, I would like to contribute to the Raw Community and the Community of Humanity, by bringing a fresh perspective to Life. I want to smash walls... break down barriers and help people open their Hearts, their Minds and their Spirit. I continue to eat Raw because it's the only way to eat... if you want to Live. It's hard to eat this way in the Land of the Dead... but once you Live there is no going back.


Q: Did you diet previously before going raw?
A: I lost 60 pounds when I was 19, because I would work out 2 - 3 hours a day... but then I broke my thumb, got really caught up in school, and I gained all the weight back. I cut out soda and ice cream at that point but I pretty much ate the standard american diet. Then I went vegetarian for two years... but I ate more unhealthy then when I wasn't vegetarian. I was a potato and pizza vegetarian. I rarely ate fruits and vegetables.


Q: What kind of success did you have previously on conventional diets? Explain.
A: Answered above.


Q: How long had you been heavy before going raw?
A: I started gaining weight when I was around 7 or 8 years old... and I exponentially got bigger as the years went on... except for when I lost that 60 pounds... but that was for about 8 months or so.


Q: How grateful are you for the raw diet?
A: I say this with the upmost respect and honesty, that the Raw Food Lifestyle has saved my life. Anything I want, I can manifest... Raw Food has helped me see that... to know that. I am so grateful for all the Beings who have brought the Light to this Dark, Chaotic, Ass-backwards world. Raw Food is absolutely a solution and if harnessed and utilized correctly it could lead us into the New Earth we all desire. I fear that people will think it is a gimmick, or a "Fad" or that "Raw Foodies" are "extremists". But, I feel as if the Raw Food Lifestyle is the Dharma that the Buddha talked about 2,500 years ago. I feel as if the Gnostics, Jesus and the Essenes lived a very balanced, spiritual life with Raw Food as a major tenet in their ethos (Gospel of Thomas). But beyond the rhetoric and propaganda of Raw Food there lies a Truth. This Truth is too deep for some to experience, so they run from it because it is too foreign, or perhaps it's too real... but if you dive in and you trust the process Raw Food can help you transition and it can help you transform from a life lived by scarcity to a Life lived in Abundance.


Q: What is the biggest advice you can give to other suffers of obesity?
A: For those of Us who have struggled with obesity I would say this: You are beautiful. You are not what people have told you, you are... you are not the fat, you are not the pain, you are not the suppressed energy and the stuck emotions. Food is not the problem. Not facing, experiencing and expressing our emotions and our past is the problem; dealing with and healing these emotions are the Solutions. Food is a tool... it is not the means to an end. If you suffer from obesity, start to Love your self, and this does not necessarily mean standing in a mirror and lying to your - self, repeating an empty mantra of suffering. Love is doing what you Love. Doing what you Love as much as you can Love doing it and then move on to something else you Love doing. Love your food, Love your Self and try to Love those around you... the more Love energy we produce the quicker we come into alignment with our True Selves. Obesity is not a disease... it is a mindset, a mode of operation, a state of being... all it takes is a shift in Consciousness and the weight will fall off faster than you can count to One.

email: dustinkellogg@yahoo.com

website: http://www.dustinkellogg.com/

blog: http://www.hundredthmonkeyeffect.net/

Thank you, Dustin,
xoxo michelle joy

Raw Foodist, TIM ARNOLD loses 100+lbs - "I will never, I mean never eat cooked food again!"

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!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

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

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Before this interview, on Fri, Feb 19, 2010 at 3:39 AM, Pure Raw Joy wrote the following note to Tim. [Actually, some of it was edited afterwards to provide more clarity.] The note will help to shed some more light on my struggle with raw/cooked and on perhaps why i had so much success with gourmet raw previously....

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!

+ + + + + + + + + + + +

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