Day 48 (Tuesday): That Gandhi quote . . .

"You must be the change you want to see in the world." (Mahatma Gandhi, Indian political and spiritual leader; 1869 - 1948)

“To heal the environment, you must first heal the environmentalist.” (Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh)

Confucius, in The Great Digest wrote, “. . . wanting good government in their states, they first established order in their own families; wanting order in the home, they first disciplined themselves.”

"Correcting oneself is correcting the whole world. The Sun is simply bright. It does not correct anyone. Because it shines, the whole world is full of light. Transforming yourself is a means of giving light to the whole world." (Ramana Maharshi)

"Through this (92-day Juice Feast), I offer to you a door; a place to begin greater healing through the transformation of your own self." (David Rain, nutrientdensenutrition.com.)

"Transformation of your own self" -- one of the things that makes life an adventure; always becoming, yet loving ourselves exactly as we are now.

I quoted all of the above to psych myself as I prepare (through research and assembling all the "stuff" I'll need) to embark on my 92-day juice fast/feast, which will begin on Monday, May 14. I ordered a new juicer (a Green Star) at a discount shop and it should arrive by then.

Now to the food: had a green juice in the morning and a salad w/ some pasta in the afternoon; had two raw bars as snacks during the day (think they may be high-calorie so need to cut those out for a bit, I think); had a mostly cooked meal at a commemoration dinner in my (and some others') honor tonight on the Upper East Side. Had to be polite and all so had to eat something; still I managed to have a great side salad with it. I skipped dessert AND coffee, but did have a glass and a half of vino.

Days 45, 46 and 47 (Saturday, Sunday & Monday): The "Joy of the Climb"

Thought I'd start this entry with a great quote from Sir Winston Churchill:

"Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb."

For over a year now, I've been following the life of Angela Stokes (via her newsletters, live lectures, personal emails, website, blog, etc.) and learned about her 92-day "juice feast" which she recently completed in Costa Rica. I am seriously considering embarking on the very same fast (or should I say "feast").

I did good over the weekend food-wise, not great, just good. I experimented with some recipes (both veggie and fruit) that came out absolutely awful (raw chocolate and apples do not mix well, yuck!) and so resorted to a meal from Il Fornio, Italian take out (I got the eggplant but it was smothered in gook-y cheeses so I ate a smidgen of it and gave the rest to my housemate; I did, however, have a bit too much bread and butter -- which was the only thing I wasn't happy I ate all weekend).

Oh ... said I was going to rate myself weekly on those areas I wanted to strengthen: daily exercise; meditation and prayer; better preparation of food (planning ahead); drinking more water; and taking active detoxing steps (i.e., weekly colonics/dry brush massage each evening, and perhaps even a professional massage).

I'll touch on that tomorrow. Right now I gotta catch a train.

Day 44 (Friday): Six weeks and counting.

Just a quick post today -- have a date with a new raw friend downtown (the friend is Pure Food & Wine's takeout store!) Started out early this morning with two small bananas on the train; lunch was a small salad and some broiled seafood on the side with a couple of pieces of cooked yams. For a snack mid afternoon I had a raw bar w/ all kinds of good things in it. I'm heading for "take out" to bring home tonight and so must run.

The one thing I'm feeling I need to do differently is to DRINK MORE WATER! I forget and then get really thirsty, and by that time they say you're already dehydrated.

Onwards and (down)wards, as the case may be.

Day 43 (Thursday): Spring, Glorious Spring!

Well today I took a nice long stroll in Manhattan at lunch time because it was absolutely gorgeous out ... blazing sun, crisp, clear air (yes, even in NYC) and temps in the low 60's. A perfect day. I ended up soaking up the sun for about 10 minutes on a bench near some lovely flowers. I closed my eyes and saw myself running through fields (like the one pictured to the right of this print) ... I saw myself swimming in the lake near our house, surrounded by evergreen trees, I saw myself floating in the ocean at Lanikai Beach ... I was anywhere BUT Manhattan in those brief, glorious ten minutes. Amazing, the mind ... it can take us anywhere we want to go.

So... to the mundane food recital. Ate two small bananas on the train into work; at about 10:30 I had my greens juice (with an extra cucumber and celery). I decided to have my cooked veggies (recommended to slow down detox process by my hydrotherapist) at lunch today rather than dinner, so I had some roasted veggies on a bed of 3-grain couscous from the caff here at work. I'll have a large salad for dinner w/ a smooth avacado and lemon dressing.

I just printed out three new recipes and hopefully will try at least one of them over the weekend.

Today is very mellow ... and I'm in a really peaceful place. Word is that we'll have this divine kind of weather for the next three days. I'm glad because I intend to do some heavy-duty spring cleaning this weekend and this way, I can use the outdoor deck as my base, where I plan to set up three large bins: give away, throw away, keep. When they're filled up, I'll set up another three bins, etc. I won't get it all done this weekend, but it'll be a good start, I hope. (Actually, I think I'll need about four full weekends to accomplish the cleaning and sorting of junk that I'd like!)

Well this is even boring me to tears ... I'm off to the train.

Day 42 (Wednesday): Good Day!

This will be brief, as I'm running out the door to catch a train ... but today was great in that I started it off well with a mineral-packed green juice (very little carrot, as I'm minimizing those and beets for a while). In the late morning I had two "raw" bars (all kinds of nuts, seeds and some raw cacao).

This afternoon I had my weekly colonic (second in a series of approximately 10) and that was no pleasure. However, just knowing the cleansing effect it is having on my overall physical body is encouraging and makes me realize just how serious I finally am about getting back the body I want -- both inside and out. I'm sorta seeing myself as the masterpiece that lies "within" the block of exquisite marble that the master sculptor chips away to reveal. The beauty isn't revealed until that which is not needed is removed. With my inner eye I am seeing the beauty already.

Tonight I'll have a large salad and perhaps some broiled fish ... haven't decided yet; but I'll have some cooked food, as it'll actually aid in my body detoxing better. Sounds contradictory, but it has to do with not letting the body be too "shocked" by an over abundance of living, raw food when it has not been accustomed to processing so much of it. Moderation is key, so I'm learning.

Off to the train.

Day 41 (Tuesday): You Learn Something New Every Day!

You know, just when you think you've "got the answer" (no matter what the category of life) be prepared to have the rug pulled out from under you somewhere along the way. The good thing is that often the 'fall' lands you closer to the truth than before.

I've been aware that for the last 40 days, I've been eating about five times the amount of fruit I once ate (and that's a conservative estimate), and all the while I thought it was the healthiest thing I could be doing. But I came across something today that resonated with me in a most unexpected way that has changed my mind. It dawned on me as I listened to the audio talk on fruit (linked below) by the head of the Hippocrates Institute, Dr. Brian Clement.

Ever since reading the 80/10/10 Diet book by the monofruit guy (even though I was shocked at the massive amounts of fruit he was recommending, and inately thought he must be way off base), I figured that eating mainly fruits in the mornings and early afternoons (in a much lesser volume than he) was the best way to go for me. But as I listened to Dr. Clement today, I realized that fruit -- being fructose laden, i.e., sugar laden -- isn't the best thing at all for me to be eating (in the volume that I have been eating it)!

Talk about another course correction! Well, I did know this was going to be an experiment so I shouldn't be too surprised that my "apple" cart has been flipped upside down. If one considers inventors ... specifically, Thomas Edison, it's easy to see that it takes a LOT of "experimenting" to get it right.

Anyway, the audio clip below says it all. The real amazing thing I learned was that about 80 percent of the kinds of fruits we have today didn't even exist a hundred years ago. THAT should tell us something in itself! Another astounding thing I learned was that it is hybridization practices that account for a 30-percent increase in the sweetness of fruits today over what they were just a hundred years ago. In other words, man has tampered with fruits such that they are pumping 30 times more sugar into our systems than what Nature designed our bodies to handle!

Learning this is pretty shocking. When I decided to go "mainly raw" I looked forward to eating "as much fruit as I liked" thinking it would diminish or eliminate entirely any "cravings" for sweets/desserts. Now I discover that is not to be. Onward I press. To optimum health for moi! (I love how when we want the truth, it unfolds in simple ways when we are ready to receive it. It's always just waitin' on US. Things just come together perfectly. I received my first "e-zine" from the Fresh Network this morning, and voila ... there was Dr. Clement's lecture. Delivered right to me.)

So I shall correct course once again. More greens and less fruits (less sweets). My body will LOVE it.

Fruit, Weakness and Disease

At any rate, today I ate one banana before arriving at work; during the morning I ate 3/4 of a large cantelope. Then I heard the lecture on the effects of too much fruit eating! In the late afternoon, I had a large salad. In the evening at home, I had a small salad with a side portion of soba noodle/peanut salad.

Day 40 (Monday): "Ever grateful for the gifts of health..."

I got today's entry mainly from Jinjee (a beautiful mother of four all-vegan children). She has a hippie heart if I ever saw one ... loves nature, plays several musical instruments and has a truth-seeker's spirit. (I've read her journals for a couple of years now). Here's what she wrote today:

"I was reading this month's issue of Pear Magazine in which Scott Jackson shares how he lost 110 lbs. on the raw diet. He said that you need to create a really big "why", a reason for going raw or for losing weight that will really motivate you and keep you focused. Once you have the "why" the "how" sort of takes care of itself. Desire is the key. I really want to take my diet to a higher level, cut out all cheating, do more green juices and green smoothies, and cut down on the amount of food I eat. I know it will give me more energy as I've experienced this many times over the years for weeks or months at a time. So I have been thinking about creating a really big "why" to help me to move along my path in this direction towards ever increasing health. Yesterday I was inspired to write this below piece, called "When you are truly healthy...." and I think I'm going to use this as my "why"!

(Until I sit down and write out my own BIG WHY, I'm using hers for now, as it covers things that mean a lot to me as well. I've printed it out and will be reading it each morning as I walk. I left her exclamation points in just as she wrote them).

"When you are truly healthy, you are magnetic! When you are truly healthy you radiate! When you are truly healthy you attract your dreams to you! When you are truly healthy you have so much energy to give, share, and live an amazing life! You attract your mission. You are poised and ready to do the unique work you were meant for! You move forward at the speed of light! You are accelerated! You are living at the speed of life!!! When you are truly healthy you feel so good, look so good, and love the feeling of moving in your body.

The real you is able to come out, to shine, your light is shining so bright it is like a gift to the world. You are relaxed and stress-free, your thoughts are positive and loving, your personality is balanced. You are at peace. You are a tool of the angels. You are enjoying each and every moment. You are truly alive!!! You are truly grateful for each thing, person, place, breath, experience, and moment that comes your way. When you are truly healthy, every moment is a prayer, connected.

When you are truly healthy, your presence becomes a healing force. When you are truly healthy your eyes sparkle, shine, glow and dance! When you are truly healthy your family life is harmonious, your relationships are vibrant and exciting. Your mind is clear, your ability to make decisions is sure, you are confident, you are filled with grace. You are a channel for the well-being and joy and magic of the Universe to flow through you! All is well within you and without. You are tapped in to the perfection in all things.

And how can we be truly healthy? Do everything that you already know how to do to be healthy. Eat the highest way you know of, and do the other things that you know contribute to health. You’ll become more in tune and you’ll get more knowledge, messages and guidance of how to take your health to higher and higher levels. Be sincere in your seeking of health. But do not be hard on yourself. Seek to be true. Be ever more true. Be ever more solid in your resolve. Be ever stronger in your ability to resist going off your path. Be ever more grateful for the gifts of health. Be ever more protective and safeguarding of these gifts of health. Use your health to give back, to share, to give to someone, to give energy to your children, to create something of beauty. And you’ll be given greater health yet."

Today has been going very well; I had a buttered roll this morning (ran out of my fruit stash!) For lunch I had a large salad, 90% raw veggies, with a bit of pasta salad, chick peas and a few roasted vegges. I'll be stopping on the way home at the juicer's and getting a power scrub veggie juice to sip on the train ride home (just feel I NEED some concentrated greens) and for dinner I'll have a strawberry/banana smoothie. Yum. It'll be like having dessert for dinner. And it'll be light too.

... "ever grateful for the gifts of health" ... I'm off to the juicers.