Saturday, 28 May 2011

Let there be chocolate

One of the things that I enjoy the most about hanging out with raw food enthusiasts is their ability to throw a feast.

If anyone thinks that this lifestyle has anything to do with deprivation, think again.  You should have seen what I ate this evening.

Craig and Vannesa are colourful, wonderful friends.  They make fabulous music.  And they make really great food.

I have just returned from a Raw Chocolate Feast.  I'm pretty stuffed so this entry will be short.

I'm also fairly wired, so I may ramble....

Chocolate tacos with guacomole and salsa, florentines, hot chocolate, chocolate pizzas (how could we not take up the challenge???), hand crafted rose flavoured chocolates, tahini nibs, chocolate date and coconut balls... it just didn't stop coming.

The evening included a beautiful guided meditation by Vanessa whose voice will take anyone to another planet, focussing on the love and healing energy that cacao brings.

Deprivation.  Not a chance.  And we celebrate in all we eat!

Thursday, 19 May 2011

Nothing tastes as good as thin feels

I used to be fat.  At three different times in my life.

I was reminded of this last week when a friend asked me to send her some pictures of myself when I was overweight.  Keeping pictures of myself when I had three chins....no.  But I found a few with some help from my friends.  Hahaha, they were the pictures that were stashed away, only to be brought out on my command and when I needed a good laugh.

Any of you out there who are/have been fat will know that there are certain things that we do to avoid the truth about our size.

Don't look in the mirror.  If you don't see it, it can't be true.

Don't go clothes shopping.  If you do, always buy clothes that stretch around the middle so that they always fit, no matter what.  And do you ever find a comfortable bra?

"It doesn't count as a meal because I ate it in the car".  Therefore the car is a place where much food is consumed.  This doubles up as a good strategy, as no-one else can see how much I am eating...

I haven't eaten a thing....this actaully means, the two doughnuts I ate in the mall don't count because I wasn't sitting down.  And no-one saw me!

Excercise is what I did between meals.  It happened seldom.

We lie constantly to ourselves and those around us about why diets don't work and why we simply cannot shed those stubborn kilos.


My heaviest weight was 89 kgs.  I weighed this when I lived in Johannesburg.  I was 26, and probably the unhappiest I have ever been.

When I look back at the times when I was the most lonely, unhappy and disconnected from myself I was fat or overweight.  No doubt about it.

So what comes first?

I don't have the answer to that, but what I can say for sure is that if you are stuck in a fat body and you are unhappy, make a plan to loose weight and you will regain some happiness.  It may sound superficial, but that has been my experience.

My very wise sister Michelle once told me "Nothing tastes as good as thin feels!" I didn't get it until I had lost weight.  It seems like we store unhappy memories in our fat cells.  The fatter we get, the more unhappy we feel. 

This ties in again with my body chemistry argument.  I'll have to check this out with Carol, but can you be alkaline and fat at the same time?

I'll get back to you  on that.