I have been in Wales all weekend – finally gaining a break from being overly busy with some projects and babying. I love seeing family, and so does my son – he always wanders off and follows my dad everywhere and it means I can get two minutes to have a ponder…

Anywho, the slow down and the rest from my mind going into overdrive with every possible thing I could be doing and do do in the space of a day was something I think I have needed in a long while. Not because I am exhausted – far from it!!! I have more energy than ever currently – but mainly because I wasn’t being as aware of myself and my body as I should (even though I am very aware). I was missing things!

Despite being an 811rv follower these days and everyday being aware of food and how I am feeling, I hadn’t noticed some of the smaller things that had disappeared from my being. And it always amazes me when I notice these things so I wanted to just make a note of them here.

So what small little thing did I notice this weekend? Well, I noticed my nose. Since embarking on the 811rv journey, I have had NO problems with my nose. You see, for years and years it was almost like I had a constant cold – a constant runny nose. In the Winter I would tell people it was a cold and in the Summer I would tell people it was hayfever and although I had suffered from hayfever, half the time it wasn’t that. I just had a runny nose. Every night I had to go to bed with a tissue. It took me ages to get to sleep because I had to keep rolling from one side to the other to unblock my nose. However, now, my nose is ALWAYS clear. I never have a problem with it. Even when I have had a cold (which I have had through some cleansing periods) I have never had to take a tissue to bed or it has never really been runny.

Now I know that seems like the smallest thing in the world, but that used to be a big annoyance for me. I wasn’t very good at blowing my nose and sniffed constantly – I always felt like I was bothering people when listening to lectures and well my sister used to throw her pillow at me at night because she couldn’t sleep as a result of my sniffing!

But it has gone and I am very happy. But I am only happy now, because I only just noticed it! This isn’t the only time I have had one of those happy moments about something small. About a month ago I noticed I no longer get pains go down my arms and have to click my fingers and wrists to get relief from it. That has gone also. That was quite frustrating too. I did it a lot daily and when it had gone I didn’t notice that at first either, but once I had, again I was very happy .

Ok rambling..I am just happy about all these little small things and I should be! Small things are just as important as the big things.

So what else have I experienced from 811? Well I have massive amounts of energy. I especially have massive amounts of energy since incorporating some green smoothies into my life, as opposed to just having a green salad. I guess I am not very good at chewing my greens sufficiently enough and have found drinking smoothies to help with this issue immensely. I feel like I am getting what I should out of the greens now. I decided upon doing this after reading Green For Life by Victoria Boutenko. I managed to get a copy of this free from a lovely woman called Debbie. It confirmed for me that green smoothies were the way to go. I do intend to work on my chewing ability, but with chasing a little 1 year old monster about, I feel that adding green smoothies in at the moment is important.

On top of the energy, I have a lot more focus. I am actually amazed about the amount of work I have gotten done in the past few months. Focused work. Not wondering off, not procrastinating but focused work. I am very happy about this.

I am also very happy that my skin is becoming smoother and smoother each and everyday. I also am consuming more and more fresh fruits and greens daily and the small cooked meal at the end of my day is well..I am not having it as often now. And I think it will be soon when I will not have it at all. However, I am taking my pace quite slowly as not to put too much pressure on myself and mess things up.

In terms of my emotional self, I think this has been the biggest challenge. I have had many periods of anger, upset and I believe that this is due to many issues surrounding my past, my mother, my mother’s death only a year ago and I think though, I have released quite a bit of repressed emotion. I feel a lot more stable these days. I guess I will have flare ups now and then and I do expect them because I know I haven’t finished offloading but each time I feel like I have progressed a lot.

I never realised how much I used food for emotional comfort. I have turned to it many times in the past few months hoping for that comfort and instant gratification it once gave me. I don’t get the same feelings from it like I used to and I am relying on it less and less, when each time I get disappointed. I am glad it disappoints me because it means I have to cope and feel my emotions, which makes me stronger. My boyfriend is very supportive in this and I guess it would be much harder to get through those times without him.

At one point I felt like I was stuck inbetween cooked food and raw. As though I was lost and not sure what to do. I felt very down for quite a while. Cooked food didn’t give me the emotional numbness I wanted and raw, well I just didn’t eat enough and it was as though I was fearful of eating enough – taking the next step to being where I wanted to be. I think this is why I have taken my time, because becoming so emotionally un-numb and having to deal with it is very daunting. If I ease myself into it I can enjoy the process more and appreciate it more.

So, so far everything is good with me. I love it, quite frankly. I never will turn my back on eating this way. I feel very grateful for stumbling across the 80/10/10 Diet and I think Dr Doug Graham is absolutely fantastic. I hope to have his confidence one day.

I would also like to mention I am very thin by society’s standards. I am about 110lbs. When I wrote my other post, at the end of August, I had about 10% body fat which was bordering on danger land for me being a lady. I think I lost this weight because well I had to cleanse and I have always read you tend to lose a lot first to cleanse and then you put it back on. Well I am up to 14% now, which is in the range Doug Graham recommends for a woman, so I am happy. I still look very skinny and people do comment, but despite that, I KNOW I am healthy. If I wasn’t I know I would feel tired constantly, but I don’t I am racing about all the time, I would probably look ill, which I don’t I look quite glowing really. Even my boyfriend tells me that if I actually looked ill then he would worry, but he sees me everyday and he sees the life in me and knows I am very healthy and happy. People comment on the fact that I am breastfeeding, but my son is a happy bouncy podgy little 1 one year old. He is full of energy and never ill.

This is me in November, just before I went to see the Mighty Boosh

And this is my son on his first birthday 15th November.

But people will always go with the weight issue because my diet isn’t “normal” by their standard. And that is ok, because the proof is in me and I know what this diet does for me and my family. It is fantastic. Yes, it takes time to learn how to eat enough fruits and greens and it takes time to acknowledge and resist cravings, but the results and the improvements and the way you feel will encourage and let you know you are on the right path.

In the end though, this diet really isn’t just about diet. I think you can gather that from my experiences.

I am very happy. And this is fantastic. I look forward to progressing further

So the Wai diet didn’t quite work out for me in the end. Having the little treats seemed to push me off the diet in the end – my cravings got out of control. Yes, the diet did give me a lot of energy and it has definitely pathed my way into the raw food lifestyle, but I felt like something was missing in it. I don’t know what it was and I found it hard to pinpoint (not to mention I started to find having the avocado salad everyday very boring. The variety in the Wai diet to me seemed hard to come by).

Anyway, I did a lot of research in raw food. There are so many ‘gurus’ that in my opinion came across fake. Promoting cacao and super foods, yet in my mind I was looking for simplicity – something natural – and super foods didn’t come under my category of what I thought was natural. And with the promotion of chocolate under these so-called raw foods ‘gurus’ I really didn’t see myself following their advice. I have had a chocolate addiction – eating in high quantities and knowing it could not at all be good for me if it was an addiction – even in the raw form. Of course at first I was happy to think that I could potentially eat chocolate on this diet, but when looking into it I decided that my instincts were right.

With all these ‘gurus’ about that I didn’t trust I finally came across the 80/10/10 diet by Dr Doug Graham. It immediately made sense – no supplements or super foods, just a diet rich in fruits and greens. The simplicity of the diet also was attractive to me. I just needed to eat a lot of fruit and some greens. No preparation needed, apart from waiting until the fruit was ripe maybe! So for the past two months I have been transitioning. I decided not to dive head first into this one but take it step by step. I eat mainly 811rv but in the evening after fruit and a big pile of spinach/celery or whatever, I will have a small cooked meal. I intend to, starting this week add a day in every 2 weeks or maybe every month which is completely raw and 811rv. Despite still having a small cooked meal my body has been cleansing – I have had a week of a strong cough that is clearing out my lungs it seems! I have a lot of phlegm, and it is affecting my asthma currently. I felt very tired and ill last week too, but I know it was my body cleansing itself. I do feel my skin has become more vibrant (I have always been told I look yellow or sickly in some respects especially when I am tired) but I know I have a long way to go.

Also despite having the cooked meal, my cravings for cooked food or chocolate are zero. I have had a few incidents where I have wanted to have cooked food for the numbing effect it has on my emotion, but the actual craving for the food has gone. I have been quite emotional the past few weeks too, but I guess the cooked food had suppressed this in me for so long. I have come to realise the Wai diet had too much fat in it, so maybe this is why I did not experience these sorts of things on that diet. My cravings having gone means I can go shopping without buying anything that is rubbish for my body.

I have also noted that for the first time in my life I am eating consistently without effort. Food ha become a function to me, which is a positive thing. I don’t want to be emotionally attached to my food. I like to just eat because I am hungry. I eat a lot in a day, and I eat everyday this way. It is quite easy. I am working on stretching out my stomach so I can eat in two sittings as opposed to four. Despite eating more than ever, I have become skinnier – probably because I have cut out a lot of fat that may have been in the diet before, although I struggled to eat consistently and a lot anyway.

This was me in June on the left and me now:

And this is me in April on the left and me now:

I was around 120lbs (5ft7) in the first pics and I now weight 105lbs.

Some people have commented that I look ill and too thin, but I don’t think I look ill – my boyfriend even thinks my face is glowing, and if it was not he would then be worried about my weight. I do think that my weight has gone down a lot because I have been training for a marathon (but after last weeks cleansing and the knee injury I had in the beginning I think I am going to ease off my body and just do a half marathon until I have gone through more cleansing) and because of cleansing. I think I may put some on once my body has finished its job!

I feel good. I feel stable. I feel like I am going in the right direction. The tension I suffer from in my shoulders has also eased off (I know that I do need to work on posture to help this further and maybe see a physio too). I know I have a long way to go, but I honestly believe I am on the right path now. I could have never got to this point without the support of my boyfriend either – he is fab for putting up with me through my emotional upsets. Generally though I feel a lot more at rest. I look forward to posting in a few more months time and to see my progress then.

For anyone considering raw food I suggest you get yourself a copy of the 80/10/10 Diet at http://www.foodnsport.com. It is worth the time to read – it will give you a new perspective on the raw food diet and well hopefully I can show you the results every few months ?

Recently I came across some information on one a numbewr of forums I participate on. Apparently, here in the good old UK they are attempting to make it illegal to breastfeed a child older than 6 months in public.

As a mother who breastfeeds (my son is now 8 months also!) in public, I would hate to see this happen. I, so far, have had no problems feeding my son in public and would like it to stay that way. Breastfeeding is natural and can continue for a long time…not just the regular 6 months that the majority of people are told to strive towards.

Here is some information:

* The worldwide average natural weaning age for a human is between 4-7 years.
* The World Health Organisation recommend mothers breastfeed exclusively for the first 6 months and continue to breastfeed well into the 2nd year.
* No healthcare professional has ever stated that full term breastfeeding is damaging. On the contrary, they state that it is healthy for both mother and child.

So why is this happening? Why can mothers feed cow milk to their children in public, when other mothers can’t publicly feed their children the milk they’re designed to have? It is ridiculous and I feel like our society moves away from everything natural and looks down on it. It is the best thing for your child!

If you too, hate the idea of thi law being passed, please sign this petition now. You must enter a valid email address, and you must be a UK resident or ex-pat.

Please forward this message to anyone who can sign this petition. It’s really important that all breastfeeding in public remains legal for children of all ages.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/breastfedright

As written before, I postposed my attempt at natural vision as a result of feeling I needed more guidance on being able to pursue the techniques properly. I wanted to attend the Eyebody retreat in Wales in August but can’t this year and I think this is for the best. Why?

Well lately I have been looking into areas of simple living and self-improvement – through healing myself physically as well as mentally. So I decided to finally get something sorted about my shoulders. I have had an issue with them since I was 13. They have always been overly tense and I have been told they are this way as a result of emotional stress. Some days I would be so tense I couldn’t sit still as it was more painful to be still. Anyway, recently I have started some intense training for the Amsterdam marathon in October and my shoulder started to play up while running. So I thought it was about time to rectify the issue that has been burdening me for over ten years.

I have only had a couple of sessions, and it has eased up only slightly. I can’t expect miracles overnight when I have suffered this issue for so long. But I realised that when attempting my natural vision. although one of the resources I used had exercises to relax shoulders and neck, that thbis probably was not really relaxing my shoulders and therefore I think my shoulders would have hindered me making any progress in naturally improving my eyes. I think, one I have relieved my shoulders and neck properly from the burden of tension (which i apparently extreme) I should be able to start my journey again in natural vision properly and without this hindrance.

If you cannot relax properly, especially in the shoulders and neck, this will hinder your vision. So if you are trying to improve your vision, it is much more than just about doing techniques. You have to be relaxed – and this is something I can’t do completely right as now. So once I can I shall be on my way. This is definitely the start of my journey.

I haven’t been posting regularly about my vision improvement because I have come to a halt already. The problem is, I feel I need more guidance than books in order to get somewhere, and from other resources this has only been confirmed. Therefore I have been on the hunt for a course or teacher. Unfortunately these options are in the distant future or a teacher is no where near I live.

I haven’t put my glasses back on since I last posted, but I haven’t been keeping up the exercises either – apart from the blinking, not staring and making sure I sun. It has been really sunny so that has beeen helpful.

I don’t feel I have made any progress – but I definitely do not need to put my glasses back on and have had no desire to.

I have also had other issues to deal with in my life, but seeing as I am having difficulty in finding a teacher nearby I will definitely be delving back into self teaching vert soon unless that changes. I have also decided to have a few lessons in the Alexander Technique.

So I made it a month…well kind of. The first 2 weeks were quite easy for me. I found it uplifting and I felt light. I felt satisfied as opposed to full (being overstuffed and then tired). I enjoyed those 2 weeks a lot. However, the second 2 weeks were quite tough. The introduction of the munch foods made it quite hard for me, and induced cravings. Wai does say to make sure the munch food is satisfying, and it was, but it made me have more cravings as a result. Not straight away but eventually (if that makes sense). It did result in some cooked food being consumed, but overall I am not too bothered by it. When I ate the cooked food with some of the avocado salad I found it better for my stomach and mood than when I just ate a munch food on its own. I felt less greasy you could say.

My skin is really tight and nice. I feel I have a lot more energy and I just feel much better and less weighed down. I shall continue the diet, but I think I will follow a more widespread raw food diet instead of sticking strictly to Wai’s ways. I recently purchased the book Eat Smart Eat Raw: Detox Recipes for a High-Energy Diet and also a book called Baby Greens: A Live-Food Approach for Children of All Ages (as my little one is slowly moving into the world of solids. I am trying to let him lead the way which is sometimes tough!). The first book I have just received and there are a lot of recipes to try. I shall be trying them out tomorrow.

I definitely would recommend the Wai diet to anyone and everyone. It is fantastic for your skin and your overall health. It is hard work to begin with but over time it does get better. I feel a lot more focused and clear headed as well, as since having a baby I definitely have a mum brain so anything that helps is great!

If you have any questions you may email me Kelly@myecoeden.com, or just visit www.waisays.com

I received my copy of Peter Grunwald’s Eyebody yesterday and have finished reading it. It was a very interesting read and I am quite interested in the technique. However in order to test this out you have to go to a retreat (the one in the UK is in August) or private lessons (and Mr Grunwald lives in New Zealand..oh how I wish I lived there (and not so I can have eye lessons!). It is fairly expensive too and as much as I am interested in this technique, it is too far in the future currently and well I would rather attempt another way before putting my hand in my pocket for that amount of money! It has, however, made me decide that I shall be booking myself in for a lesson with a natural vision teacher and will be doing that this week. It has also made me interested in the Alexander technique too (which is what the vision teacher I have contacted integrates too).

Anyway, so what is Eyebody? The eyebody method states ‘that every single area of your visual system corresponds with an associated area in the body. Specific malfunctions of vision are linked to specific tensions and contractions in the body. By learning how to ‘direct’ our visual system, the body simultaneously follows, releasing patterns of tension”.

By directing the visual system, he gives his example of how he ‘discovered’ this technique – he noticed that by focusing on his cornea he could affect his chest. If he tried to tighten his cornea his chest would also tighten and when he relaxed it his chest would open up.

This is the basic principle behind the approach (it also stems from the Bates and Alexander techniques). The book is an introduction to this method, and gives you pointers of how to start on your vision journey, however to learn the technique you must attend a retreat or find an instructor/get private lessons, which is somewhat tricky, in my opinion.

This book includes:

• An introduction and Peter’s personal story to letting go of glasses (which you can read for free here)

• How vision works – the physiology of the visual system and explanations of common visual problems. An outline of the eyebody patterns and how a part of the visual system is reflected in part of the body.

• The two types of upper visual cortex tendency – overextended or contracted. The majority of individuals are contracted. We are all one of the other or maybe both – this does not necessarily manifest to a point of making a vision problem.

• The eyebody principles and case studies for each type of visual impairment.

• The eyebody’s application to life and first steps in incorporating the eyebody method into your life. This is very general, although the first step guidance is a bit more specific – giving help for sunning and palming in relation to whether you are a contracted or overextended type. In order to actually utilise the method you do need to find a teacher or workshop as this book will not help you do that – it is only really an introduction.

Despite being interested in this technique and wanting to learn more, I feel it is too much of a stretch right now to get involved in it, so will try my vision teacher and also look into maybe the Alexander technique separate too. It is definitely a very interesting perspective and makes a lot of sense. I shall be attending a workshop for it in May in London, so hopefully I will learn more then.

So I have been eating the Wai way for two weeks now and feel fantastic. My skin is tight and feels nice, I don’t feel groggy when I wake up in the morning, and overall feel satisfied and full of energy. However, the second week was much harder than I first anticipated. Allowing myself, and introducing a munch food didn’t do me any favours whatsoever. The first day was ok – I didn’t get any real joy out of the munch food, in the way I was from my salads, but it was a nice treat. However after this I found having the munch foods made it really hard to stay focused on the diet – my addictions to these foods grew stronger and stronger. Despite these addictions I am still loving the Wai way – it just makes me feel overall much better in every sense and I really enjoy not feeling bloated and agitated like I was missing something in my meal. Hopefully I can stay focused for the next two weeks, as those munch food cravings are horrible.

I really like how I feel though despite my cravings. I like feeling fresh and light and I love my skin.

So after spending the week doing various exercises, I have been somewhat stuck on my vision improvement. My eyes do get flashes of clear vision, but there has been no permanent improvement. As a result I feel I should seek out a vision improvement teacher. This seems to be the most appropriate route and will help me utilise the techniques I have learnt much better than I am doing so at the moment.

I am also waiting on my eyebody book to learn more of how I can aid improvement of my eyes.

This is not to say the techniques have not been useful – my centralisation is a lot better for practising it, I can relax my eyes if I get stressed and generally I feel a lot better, but that is as far as I have progressed. Although I potentially have a lot of strain and emotional tension to let go of, and don’t expect it to happen in a few weeks, I feel an natural vision teacher will help me move a further step along.

Today I have had:

• A little orange juice, melon and avocado salad.

• Banana, Bombay potatoes and salad.

• Melon and hazelnuts.

• Water.

• Orange and egg yolk.

• About to have something else but haven’t decided yet.

I have felt fantastic today and I love how my skin feels and is and I just feel good. My list looks like I haven’t eaten a lot but I still feel great. My munch food was the Bombay potatoes. I was going to try for a small jacket potato and tuna (as I love it lots) but my boyfriend convinced me to have the Bombay ones as he was making some. They were lovely but it made me crave more which was the only downside. However, I got over it quickly. I feel really good. Having a munch food was good and I don’t feel it has negatively affected me either. It didn’t make me sluggish. I guess because you have to keep under a certain amount of protein (15g) I ended up not getting really full and bloated like I would in the past – that or I just managed to eat properly. I have noticed my eating has slowed down, so maybe I chew better also. Anyway I feel good.

I have noticed today my throat has been very phlegmy. Maybe this is my body clearing out crap still, I don’t know. I also think I have shrunk a little – not retaining water anymore – because a top that was tight is now loose (and I don’t think I have lost any weight).

I won’t be posting daily anymore on this diet unless I feel I have something important to say that is going on. I will however have an update at the end of the week (so next Tuesday) until I have completed the 30 days.