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Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow.
(Swedish proverb)
Only your real friends will tell you when your face is dirty.
(Sicilian proverb)
Your friend is that man who knows all about you, and still likes you.
(Elbert Hubbard)
You can always tell a real friend; when you've made a fool of yourself he doesn't feel you've done a permanent job.
(Laurence J. Peter)
Friends are family you choose for yourself.

2006
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(the previous video is no longer available and so I replaced it with this youtube video)

1st June, 2006
I decided to put the above video on my site, because I believe it contains a powerful message about the ability of the body to heal, once the cause has been removed. I would like to see more such positive audio/video messages that could be shared for free. I value the contribution of people who are open to sharing in that way. I respect them for caring about people who will benefit from this valuable information.

If you ask me whether I drink grass juice, I don't. I just don't care about its taste, which tells me that my body does not really need it. I love fruit though. If I could, I could grow all sorts of tropical fruit in my garden, but due to the type of climate I live, I have to make some adjustments.

Raw foodists often talk about addiction to cooked foods. I begin to find that I am addicted to raw foods. If I don't have them, I don't feel myself. I feel exhausted, dehydrated, and I look like run over by a truck. I can only thrive on raw foods.  I begin to find that my taste for foods is changing. Fruit is taking over! :)

Recently, Luke and I have been having coconut smoothies for dinner. We blend coconut flesh with coconut milk, and drink it. Usually, 3 coconuts is enough for us two.

2nd June, 2006
A question was asked at Alissa's board, which resulted me in writing this:

I hope that one day perhaps raw foodists will be more united and respectful of each other. Since I entered the raw scene, I've seen a lot of anti-fruit material, and I've seen a lot of sometimes abusive arguing between the pro- and ant-fruit advocates. I've seen so much animosity between various “belief” groups in the raw food movement in general. I experienced that myself, when I was attacked or even verbally abused for simply saying positive things about fruit. Sometimes I feel like withdrawing from all that and doing my own thing, but then my motivation to share my experience with others wins, and I stay. I believe that I should give back to the community what I've been given myself. I've seen things published that directly advise to avoid eating sweet fruit at all costs, warning that if you do, you might end up seriously sick. I've read stories about those who ate sweet fruit for two weeks and ended up with teeth problems, or those who ate fruit for longer and had some other health problems. At the same time, I met so many raw foodists who progressed in their raw food transition, and after a year or two, evolved to a high-fruit diet, and experienced dramatic improvements in their health, as dramatic as when they changed from cooked to raw. I’ve read stories of those who cured themselves, for example, from candida, diabetes and cancer, while on a diet high in sweet fruit; yet there are those who advocate avoiding fruit while having exactly those types of problems. I’ve seen those who grew muscles and improved their athletic performance while eating fruit-based diet; yet there are those who say that one needs to avoid fruit and eat lots of nuts in order improve their body. I’ve read published research that confirms that eating lots of fruit improves bone density in young and older people, yet there those who still think that eating fruit is not good for our bones/teeth.

I’ve been asking myself why is this contradiction here? Why on earth there could be any problems with eating fruit? I believe that I begin to understand the reasons, which have nothing to do with fruit, but rather with our attitude, the way we perceive the world and the way we process the information.

My own experience has been that I spontaneously progressed to eating more and more fruit. On occasions, I would eat only fruit for extended periods of time, and this never resulted in any teeth or other health problems. On the contrary. My hair is better than in the first stage of my raw journey, when my fruit intake was much lower. Same with my gums, my energy levels, and my general health. My husband Luke also spontaneously progressed to a high-fruit diet. My kids also prefer fruit than any other raw food. Luke told me yesterday that the real reason he eats the way he does is because he feels great. I believe that there is perhaps a little too much over-intellectualizing out there. Our bodies have all the knowledge that we need, it is a matter of accessing it. And, I am totally convinced that accessing that knowledge is totally possible. I believe that the body has means to let us know when it needs something, and one of these means is our taste. Interestingly, in another post there is a reference to a published research that highlights that scientists begin to understand how that may happen (1). Thankfully, we do not need scientists to tell us what’s good for us. Thankfully, once we get to become raw foodists, which may be an accidental and lucky event, our body will give us many hints about what to do or not to do, and eventually, we will discover that feeding ourselves can be a very easy and joyful process. I begin to come to the stage where I eat when I am hungry and I eat what makes me feel great. Food is just fuel. I do not need to think about it. I just grab it and eat. Fruit is delicious, so I eat it!

Sincerely,
Gosia.


(1)  Gietzen DW, Rogers QR
Nutritional homeostasis and indispensable amino acid sensing: a new solution to an old puzzle
TRENDS IN NEUROSCIENCES 29 (2): 91-99 FEB 2006
(see the full-text article here and a plain language commentary at http://www.bio.com/newsfeatures/newsfeatures_features.jhtml?cid=9200001)

3rd June, 2006
We indulged ourselves over the last weekend. We bought a box of persimmons! They are not cheap here in Hobart ($1.68 per fruit), but I figured out that if it is OK to spend about $30-$40 for a family fish and chips meal, then it is OK to spend about that much on persimmons. I love this fruit. My kids are not much into it, but Luke and I simply adore it. Luke calculated that about 3 large persimmons are enough for a meal, so it actually is a good deal. I had been buying persimmons before, but usually a few only. I had been secretly wishing that I could eat as many as I wanted. Well, this weekend I satisfied my wish! Furthermore, I learned that growing persimmons in Hobart is a viable option, so we will be planting them in our backyard. Hooray!

13th June, 2006
I have had a very relaxing long weekend. Lots of staying in bed and reading. I love doing that sometimes. I've been eating mostly mandarines during that time. Yesterday, we had a coconut smoothie again. Also, I had a little bite of lettuce as I was preparing a salad for Odys. I liked the taste. It seems that my taste for greens might be coming back. Today, we planned a salad for dinner, for the first time since quite a while!

My kids had a couple of all-raw days. We encouraged them to do this, because of Julia's running nose and Odys's smelly breath. It was easier than I thought it would be. They enjoyed having smoothies, fruit and some sweet carob/coconut treats. They each seem to have different tastes. For example, Julia likes avocadoes, but Odyst has an aversion to it (as he does towards all "sloppy" foods, it is his autistic tendency).
Odys loves salads, but Julia is not much into them at all. Luke and I are optimistic about their transition to all-raw.

16th June, 2006
I would like to share a couple of wonderful moments with you. Just some daily family life. :)

One, my children were getting hungry, so there was time for them to decide what to have. "Banana smoothie!" Julia exclaimed. Odys, who is the master of ceremony, went and made one, for Julia and himself, like he often does. My children often feed themselves, you know.
Also, Luke makes a daily salad for Odys. Julia only likes the crunchy lettuce leaves.

Two, last night as I was sitting with Julia in her bed, looking through the family albums with the photographs when she was "little" (she is a big girl now :)), Julia grabbed a bowl of mandarines and ate them as we chatted. Her hand kept going to the bowl and then her mouth, and then, after some time, it went in, only to find the empty bowl. I asked her, "Would you like some more?", she nodded her head, and so I went and broguh her some more from our kitchen. Back to our albums.

Displaying raw foods around the house allows my children choose what they want to eat when hungry. This is what I call effortless nutrition.

23rd June, 2006
I have been fighting salt addiction recently. At times it is just going nowhere. I decided to ban myself from attending school morning teas. I will let you know how I am doing as I go.

That's it, I am doing it!!! Yep, I am going to commit myself. Looking at Audrey's fantastic photos  was an inspiration. My daily entries go to my journal at the 30 Day Raw Challenge Gallery at the Alissa's forum, but I decided to record them here as well, in case I need to clean up my journal there again.

Commitment Day 1
I am eating grapes now.

23rd June, 2006
Commitment Day 4

Today is Monday.  During the weekend, I had mainly fruit. I ate lots and lots of mandarines, I just seem to have a huge appetite for them now. Yesterday, I had them all day, plus the young coconut smoothie in the evening, and a few coconut delights (one of my recipes). Day before yesterday, I decided to use a leftover pizza base (made from buckwheat, carrot and tomatoes blended, dehydrated) with a leftover salad as a topping.

On Saturday, our family went to a satsang (devotional singing). We all had such a wonderful and uplifting time. I would like to mention that Luke and I felt completely not tempted by the cooked food that was offered there. Instead, we were very happy to munch on the fruit that we brought for sharing. In the past, Indian was my favourite cousine and I would find it hard to resist an opportunity like that.

Friday is the day when we have morning tea time in the maths department, time which has proven to me very testing for my salt addiction.

Well, I had young coconuts, and some buckwheat pizza later on.

27 June, 2006
Commitment Day 5

Pears before noon.

I have not been much into pears recently. I took a couple of pears with me to work today, because they looked ripe. Well, I loved them! I think it is the over-ripe pears that I dislike. That is, those mushy ones. When they are firm, sweet and juicy, I love them!

I have 5 persimmons on the window in my office. I can't wait till they ripen up. Mmm.

Pst, pst. I think that my whole family has been all-raw recently. I am being really quiet about this. :)

Mono eating mandarines, later grapes. In the evening a salad, and later a couple of coconut delights.

I had a very emotional moment at night, but this time I made a firm decision not to spiral into cooked, because I know that it only makes things worse. Having made a commitment certainly did help to stay raw.

28 June, 2006
Commitment Day 6

Mandarines in the morning. Mandarines in the afternoon. All gone. Time for apples now.

A salad in the evening.

Family moment: Excited Odys, with sparkling eyes, telling me, as he eats his salad, how he loves salads and how eating them makes him feel good. :)

29 June, 2006
Commitment Day 7

Mandarines, yay!

I got a pimple on my cheek. Detox?

More mandraines. Pears. A salad in the evening.

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Copyright © Dr Gosia O'Reilly. All Rights Reserved.
Acknowledgements: Maura (logo).
Quotes on raw foods by fellow raw foodists.
Other quotes from The Quote Garden.
Photos: Geek Philosopher