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 ?

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

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.

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.

Today I have had:

• pineapple, honeydew melon and an avocado salad.

• A banana and avocado salad.

• Grapes and avocado salad.

• And about to have some orange juice and egg yolk.

Not a very good day with food, but the salads filled me up a treat so didn’t find it necessary to have too much. I have felt really good still. I have had some cravings, very weak though and they have been when I have been hungry (a little too hungry). I look forward tomorrow though when I can have a munch food, but I am wondering whether I will enjoy it or not.

So I have made it through one week of this diet and have found it to be quite enlightening. I know that I can listen to when my body needs food and I know that the food I have been eating is satisfying, more so than I have ever felt with food. Thus, I know that I am getting all the right nutrients. Despite only being a week into this diet, I do feel already this is something I will stick to on a long term basis, of course with munch food every so often. But before I decide on that I have to get through 3 more weeks ?.

Today I have had

• An orange, mango/banana/orange smoothie, egg yolk with orange juice

• Mango/banana/orange smoothie and avocado salad (consisting of red onions, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, avocado and extra virgin olive oil).

• 2 bananas, pineapple and avocado salad.

• raspberry/blackberry/orange smoothie and avocado salad.

Today I have felt a bit weak. I took a run this morning before I had eaten and on top of this then eating the egg yolk, I don’t think it set me up very well for the day. Having to wait 2 and half hous after the egg yolk was quite tough because I was busy. I think I should stick to having the egg yolk in the evening instead. Apart from this I feel really good and no cravings. I have been quite hungry at times but this is because I have been a bit slow getting food to my mouth (busy day!). I think this is reflected in what I have eaten today though. I may have some fruit and nuts this evening as well.

Today I have had

• 3 bananas and hazelnuts.

• some water

• a smoothie of raspberries, blackberries, bananas, some orange juice and some hazlenuts.

• a smoothie of raspberries, blackberries, bananas, some orange juice and some hazelnuts

• 2 bananas and an avocado salad (consisting of red onion, lettuce, avocado, tomatoes and cucumbers wit lots of cold pressed extra virgin olive oil on top)

• Orange juice and egg yolk.

I had a really good day again today and had no cravings. Nothing new really to report.

For those who would be interested in this for acne (although I am not on the strict diet) my skin seems to have tightened up, and my pores are smaller. I really like the condition of my skin and it seems to be improving.

Today has been a good day also. On my old diet I used to get agitated, as though I needed something in my diet and it was missing. Even though it is only four days in,I don’t feel this agitation and just eat when I am hungry and am completely satisfied. I am also not bloated as I would be before. I do feel quite good, not tired and generally very stable.

Today I have eaten:

• Cantaloupe melon (muskmelon) and avocado salad (I just love this so much, it is so satisfying to me).

• Smoothie consisting of raspberries and blueberries and some hazelnuts.

• 2 bananas, some more cantaloupemelon (muskmelon) and avocado salad again.

• More homemade smoothie with hazelnuts.

• I shall have a few oranges this evening and some more nuts.

I haven’t been that hungry today. The avocado salad is extremely satisfying and I could eat it all the time! I will, however, be trying some other suggestions in the future, because well I should have some variety and I am guessing the salad may eventually get boring? Or maybe it won’t. For now I love it.

Nothing really to report, apart from I am feel really good.

I woke up this morning at 7am I was ok, I changed my son and then we both fell back to sleep for a few hours while I was feeding him. When I woke up after this I felt quite drained and a bit shakey. My muscles ached too. As soon as my boyfriend got me some fruit I started to feel ok again. Every bit of fruit I had I wanted more! I think this might be a result of breastfeeding and going so long without food (overnight). On this diet you have to eat regularly so my body can’t be used to the big pause on top of feeding my son. Anyway after this I felt a lot better and had an ok day. I felt tired today but all has been good.

This is what I have eaten:

• 1 orange, a banana, a bowl of cantaloupe melon (muskmelon), handful of grapes and some hazelnuts.

• A bowl of grapes and salad (consisting of avocado, red onion, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and lots of extra virgin olive oil).

• Grapes, cantaloupe and big bowl of salad (same as above).

• 1 ½ oranges and bowl of salad (as above..I actually LOVE this salad).

• Raisins and Hazelnuts.

I also intend to have my egg yolk in a minute with a little freshly squeezed orange juice and will continue to have raisins and hazelnuts. I really love the avocado salad, especially with red onions. It is very satisfying.