Fabulous fasting

I have just completed my second juice fast.

It was a completely different experience to my first.  I had some interesting observations which I will share with you.

I didn't experience any obvious "spiritual revelations" during my first fast.  I was ill then.  I was seldom hungry and we went away for the second half of the fast.

This time round, I simply felt like I needed calibrating.

The first two days were a breeze.  No hunger at all, no detox symptoms, I felt really good.  Day three was another story.  My hunger kicked in at lunch time and snarled at me until I went to sleep that evening.

And sleep didn't come easily.  I discovered that fasting is very stimulating.  If any one has any trouble keeping their eyes open, stop eating for a few days and see what happens.  Millions of people out there must pay a fortune for medication to keep them hyped up.... just stop eating!

I began to think about the millions of people on our planet who do not have access to food or water (and certainly not delicious organic green vegetable juices made from a hi-tec juicing machine), who are hungry constantly, who really don't know when they will eat again, starvation.  I felt incredibly humbled and grateful in that moment for conciously choosing to stop eating for a very short time.  It made the hunger easier to deal with.  I felt very connected to another type of human experience.

On the seventh day, I drank water only.  Also, a lovely gentle experience on the day, I didn't have any hunger at all.  That evening though I think the candida realised what was going on and decided to protest!  It does this by sending reminders of sugary cream buns to your brain.  We think it's us craving something because we are daft enough to believe we are running the show.  NOT. 

I learned something interesting from my dear friend Peter Daniels at a fantastic talk on "Cleansing the body" last night.  There are more organisms of bacteria in your body than there are cells in your body.  So if those guys live on sugar and alcohol, and we stop feeding them, they freak out, just like anything else that stops being fed.  Have you ever heard a baby scream when it's hungry?  Same thing!


If I did not have some rather strenuous work committments on this week I would have taken the water fast further, because it felt like I was getting into some really good stuff.  

I first read about fasting about four years ago.  Everything about it resonated with me then, and I am delighted to have actually stepped into the experience because it is everything and more that I expected it to be.  Calm, clear, light, focussed, highly energised, more comfortable in my pants, a sense of wellness, gratitude and zero mentrual pain this week.  And more gratitude.  For the abundance that I have. 





A bloke came to my window on Tuesday evening and told me he was hungry. He needed two hands for all the change!

I am so committed to this modality of healing that I plan to include fasting into my weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual body planning along side our company strategic planning.  I found an excellent site called allaboutfasting.com, which has given me much to ponder over and rejoice about.

And did I mention gratitude?  For having decided to fast in the first place!  If you are thinking about it, just do it.  You will never look back!

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!

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.

The only way is up!

I have fallen off the coffee wagon.  Thankfully the experience was so hideous that I lept straight back on without touching the road!

Back from an Easter celebration, good vibes and happy feelings, surrounded by colourful people and great friends.  My Tuesday morning mission....go to the city of Cape Town council offices to sort out an account issue.

I skipped into the building still blissed out.  The traffic was light, not many people in the building, all the right signs for a swift experience.  I walked straight up to the counter, the lady looked at my paper, shook her head and pointed to another counter.

The queue was so long that it snaked back upon itself three times.


Now I don't understand what happens in my brain when I see a queue that long, but I am now quite certain that there is a gland somewhere which secretes something, making all rational thought impossible.

If anyone said to me "When would be the worst time ever to drink coffee, turn you into she bitch from hell and make the lives of everyone around you a sheer misery?" I would respond by saying "Sorting out an account with a lacklustre person who sits behind a sheet of bullet proof glass".

The next thing I knew I sitting in this queue with a coffee in one hand and a newspaper in the other.

I should have walked away when the lady next to me revealed that she had flown from Johannesburg to see this department about an electricity bill that remained unresolved for almost eight months. 

I won't go into the detail of my shocking behaviour, but there was a swear word involved. 

I watched myself plummet into a septic, sulky, moody cow which lasted the whole day.  As usual, I finished off with two sandwiches and a cornish pasty.  All my basic food groups covered for a particularly unpleasant outcome.  For Noel.

I am told that the best way to see how much progress you have made is to indulge in the thing that you have avoided for some time.  Point taken.  This experiment works!

Mushroom soup

Sometimes I make something that takes my breath away.  This was actually a group effort... Noel very much in on the assembly.

It is amazing what happens to flavours when you use the best possible ingredients.  Yesterday I received a load of miso from Harrewyn Organics.  It will most certainly hold a place of prominance in our shop.  Sweet white miso is not a common ingredient and OH my goodness it is delicious.

The base of the soup is so easy.  Avo, red onion, salt, pepper, hot water.  Blend.
This is the good part:  Punnet of Shitake mushrooms, sliced and tossed in  a quarter cup of olive oil.  Then take about a quarter cup of this sweet white miso and toss again.  Dehydrate for about three hours.  Add half the mushrooms into the bender and pulse.  Save the rest for the top and serve with sprouts. 

I was in rapture.  The whole process (excluding dehydrating) took us 10 minutes to assemble.

And now to get ready for my party.  Raw feasting and disco.  What more coud a girl want?

So how's it going?

OK, so I'm sure you are wondering about my progress.  Well it has been a very interesting time for sure.

Firstly, have I maintained 100% raw?  No. More on this later.

So coffee is on the naughty chair with alcohol.  The change in my mood and behaviour over the past (almost) two weeks cannot be ignored.  Think 180 degrees.  If anyone is suffering from PMS, mood swings, anxiety etc, try and kick the coffee for only three days and see what happens. 

Apart from that I look much better.  My skin tone has returned, the wrinkles have gone.  Free face lift.  Just kick the coffee.

Which leads me onto triggers.  Triggers are the emeny.  They need to be hunted down and shot.  The way to deal with an enemy is to stalk it, trick it, make sure you know where it is and how strong it is.

I discovered a fantastic way to trick my enemy this week.

I was driving home on Sunday evening.  We had had a very busy few days.  Four catering assignments, two full days of workshops.  I was buggered.  As I was driving home (see, in my car), I started to dream of the Woolworths sandwhich bar.  I was hungry and feeling run down and the last thing I wanted to do was prepare more food.  So far we have the perfect environment for the trigger to win.  My mind started to wonder, at which point I caught myself thinking about what was going on.
A. I was tired.
B. I felt run down and achy.
C. I was hungry.
D. I was in my car so I could drive anywhere for something convenient.
E. I was vulnerable!  I started to make stuff up, like "I deserved it".

Thank goodness, Noel was right behind me.  He was following me home from the course and I knew that he would see me shoot off.  I have been very honest with him about my weaknesses, so he keeps an eye on me and helps me keep on track.  How was I going to explain a ham and cheese sandwhich to him?

I stopped my car.  What I really  wanted was a nice warm meal.

Steamed vegetables.  And I gave myself permission to eat potatoes.  That was it.  That was the trick.  I had something that I did want in return for something I didn't want.  It felt like win squared. All the head stuff disappeared.

So here's how it is for me.  I now plan my meals to include some steamed vegetables and I'm loving it.  I have some rice on the go for supper tonight which I'll eat with sauerkraut and a salad. I feel like I have connected with my food again, something which I definitely have no done for a while.


I'm drinking lots of tea and enjoying the new flavours I am discovering.  And of course I have a supply of Yerba Mate, which I really love!

That's what friends are for

I had another revelation yesterday.

I was chatting to an old friend about the social aspect of alcohol, you know, when you are the only one at the braai without a drink?

It is a pretty sad state of affairs that we feel the pressure to have a pretend drink in our hand just because other people will feel uncomfortable.  What a lot of nonsense to rag someone because they are having a glass of milk instead.  But this is common hey!  We have all experienced this.  And mmmm, I have definitely done it too! 

Why as a species do we sabatage the success of another?  I have seen it everywhere, more specifically in my places of work.  Someone is doing well, talk a bunch of crap about them.  Someone is promoted, feel jealous and undermine them.  Have we not grown up?  Carol reckons it's because we never weaned ourselves off milk.  We stayed juvenile in our bodies and therefore in our heads.  

So let me take this opportunity to thank you all for being so cool and supportive about the decisions I have made.  You see I forgot to put that in my list of reasons why I have succeeded.  You guys rock.  And I love you all.