Complete lifestyle reconfiguration-going raw-round 2

[Eric Dwyer]

 Hello one and all and thank you for allowing me to be part of this wonderful community. Well here I am 6 days later still juice fasting/feasting. I am Eric, a 38 yo daddy of a 5 yo son and husband to an awesome wife living in sunny Wesley Chapel ,FL. I started this journey last year by transitioning to a 99.99% raw diet for a 4 month period of time losing over 30lbs of weight. I say 99.99% becasue I love my fish and from time to time would have a grilled grouper filet seasoned with lemon, fresh cracked pepper, and celtic salt. I would always have a handmade raw mango salsa for the topping as well, yum!! Anyways, back to the subject. I fell off the wagon in June of 2012 after going on a cruise and having my wife drill me to eat a nice dinner and have some drinks with her. Well, thats all it took for me to deep 6 the raw. 

By November I was back up from 175lbs to 205lbs along with the bad eating habbits and poor overall health, yuk. I think this was the best thing for me to experience though because I deffinately know what I had before and missed all the benefits that came with this lifestyle. I have always been active and ate as healthy as I knew how (at the time) before going raw but once I did I really felt like I never have before. I became wrapped up in work and did not take the time out for my own health and well being. Things started going down the tubes with my health, energy, and self well being.

By December I had enough. I began researching and reading up on the raw lifestyle once again to start motivating myself to get back up on the horse. Through my research I decided to begin this round 2 journey with a juice fast/feast. I did not want to set any long term goals for this so I set out with a decission to take it day by day. I began on January 7th, 2013 and here we are 6 days later. I have been doing things by the book but at my own pace and comfort level. I am not following a stringent by the hour routine but rather a how I am feeling routine. If I am hungry I address it with whatever I am feeing in the mood for either juice, water, or a handful of refrigerated pomogranate seeds (which I only chew out the juice and spit out the seeds and such.) The only rule that I am following is the 80/20 mixture of vegtables vs fruits.

I weighed myself on 1/5/13 at was at 205lbs. Today at midnight 1/12/13 I am currently at 194.5, thats a 10.5 lbs off. If that isn't a motivator I do not know what is! I have had some ups and downs but nothing that was extreme. Day 5 brought on alot of energy and i ended up only sleeping for about 1.5 hours but I still felt sharp and focused. I am not sure how much longer I will fast for, I geuss I will let my body tell me when its time to transition. I am working on getting my wife and mother to now start down their own paths with the lifestyle and now that they see my success they are motivated more than ever. I cannot wait to try many of the reciptes on this forum  and continue growing with you all. More to come on my own journey. Respectfully, Eric

[Eric Dwyer]

Sorry its been so long. I have recently had to under go 3 surgerys in a row. #1 Appendicitus, #2 Umbelical Hernia Repair, and #3 cauterization of a hole in my esophagus. Now I am taking things as slow as possible. I can't even run or workout for 5 more weeks :-( Even though this has been a blow to me spiritually I have not stopped my focus on my healthy lifestyle. I am off the juice fast now and eating 100% raw. I am doing 1-2 green smoothies a day and eating a ton of fuit and a large salad for dinner. I am maintaing my weight now at 188lbs still 17lbs lighter then before. I have energy coming out of my ears and I can't workout, thats the hardest thing for me right now.

My favorite green smoothy thus far is kale, spinach, broccoli, hemp seed, flax seed, banana, date, and spring water! YUM! Anyways, I am back on track with the RFR and plan on cathing up on my reading here! Hope everyone is well! Respectfully, E

[Avril]

Enjoyed reading your story Eric and everyone's postings - It's probably best not to have fruitier type juices late in the evening.  I've been lead to believe it's better to havevgreen juice early morning and evening and more fruitier juicers in the middle of the day to keep up energy levels.  Fruit juice in the evening will make you lively as you've come to find out......Isn't it great to juice!  Every juice fast I do - they are all different....  Sucking on pomegranate seeds gave me a chuckle - never thought of doing that but it sure does sound like an awesome plan!

[Peggy Speir]

That's awesome!

Colonics: there is a "The Loo" forum on here that has some personal testimonies on it that you might find useful. Also Matt Monarch of The Raw Food World is a huge advocate for colonics - have you checked out his YouTube channel? I personally find them amazing...the colonics, and Matt Monarch's passion for poop! LOL

 

Leading by example: I find I don't start off my raw journey with partners....but I end it with people joining in once they see my transformation. And yes, I start and stop alot on my raw food journey, but each time I start I dive deeper into it and when I go back to cooked foods my eating habits change - for the better.

 

"I believe I may feast for another week or two depending on my weight loss. I am not sure if I can gain anything more going any further."

You would be suprised how much more you can get out of it. Watch Bill Barlow's videos to see what happens to him around his 4th or 5th month of juice feating. As our bodies clean out it is continually making room for different layers of detox.

For me, I have about 4 more days of juicing and then I am going to add in one clean meal in the evening....otherwise it will be juices and smoothies for the rest of the day.

I love that you have this huge community of family joining you on this journey!

[Eric Dwyer]

Ok, here we go! Day 9: Here is my pre-flight juice plan before work. I am now consuming approximately 3.5 liters a day and feel like I can do more. I am also downing a gallon of water throughout the day. If anyone sees anything here I can improve upon please feel free to offer your advice! I am open to learning more.

Today I am feeling extremely well and looking forward to getting something to drink here! ;-) I am already modifying my juicer to suite my needs. My son has also begun juicing! He made his first apple and spinach juice all by himself. Ok, now it’s my turn, I gotta run. C-ya, E

[Eric Dwyer]

Day 8 Update

 Weighed myself this morning and couldn’t believe my eyes, I have lost a total of 15 lbs since I started on 1/7/13.  I began this journey on my own through research online and a lot of reading. I just happened upon the movie Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. I have been trying to convince my family and friends to begin their own journey to a healthier lifestyle.  Now thanks to my own progress and now this movie I was able to convince my mother, sister, wife, and friend to begin their own feast! Now it’s all we ever talk about. It is truly amazing how infectious the TRUTH can be!

I believe I may feast for another week or two depending on my weight loss. I am not sure if I can gain anything more going any further. My goal was to get to 175 lbs from my original starting weight of 205. So far the past couple of days have been really easy. No major issues to report of, I am sleeping much better and still have plenty of energy throughout the day.

I would like to try a colonic but I have seen a lot of different approaches out there. I would like to do one to introduce bacteria back into my digestive track, anyone have any advice on that? Best health to all. E

[Peggy Speir]

Awesome.

I made the mistake of drinking a smoothie close to bedtime and I had very busy dreams all night.....9 hrs later and I am exhausted!

Have fun planting - there is nothing sweeter than pulling your own veggies from the garden and juicing/eating them.

[Eric Dwyer]

My juice fast day 7 coming to an end. I had to learn the hard way to drink your juice atleast 3 hrs before bed time. With that simple trick I am sleeping like a baby now. I think the worse of the detox is behind me know. My taste buds have been recalibrated and I am really enoying even the all vegtable juices. I plan on starting some light exercise Monday now that I am more stabalized. If I stay the course I sould be ready for my raw diet by mid February. I will do a smoothy week before hand to ease back into things. I have also decided to begin a small organic food plot in the backyard. I definately should have juiced before my last raw food transition, this is really a game changer that everyone should experience. Will have more updates later. E

[Peggy Speir]

right on! Sometimes we need to go back to where we were to get a deeper understanding of how poorly that way of eating makes us feel. Looking forward to hearing more of your journey