princessbee

I don't think it's gross at all. I'm amazed at women who are grossed out by their own period, I'm sure it's just more culturally induced bullshit. Kudos to you for exploring and embracing your own body. you're officially a rockin' guy! no pad or tampon has a proper design it absolutely blows my mind... they are not effective. and here in australia they are taxed as a LUXURY can you freaking believe that? hate this misogynistic government we have *head explodes* and the waste! the unbelievable waste! i used to use sponges but they can get a bit "caught" up there, i've been meaning to get a keeper for years... maybe it's time i did!

how can it be normal to be in pain? it might be normal for our hormones to be slightly out of whack, making us a bit moody, but that pain? i can't believe that is normal or natural... your period should be a natural bodily process that is done painlessly and easily. why some indigenous australian tribes, the women had learned how to control their bodies to the point they could expel their entire period in a matter of hours. so if raw keeps a period pain free, i say that's GOOD!!!!!!!!! as to whether it completely stops or not well... I don't know. could you maybe direct me to some of these theories please. really, i'm inclined to say it's GOOD as well. i mean, it's a lovely indication of the ability to give life, but all that waste, all the time? i have heard of many athletic and healthy women with very light or non existent periods... i find it hard to believe something brought on by a healthy lifestyle is bad... i think there's probably more to it than most people know as yet.

I can tell you my experience from being only one month raw. For two years or more I have been on birth control to stop my period... the reason is because I found it very inconvenient with my lifestyle and also very painful... really bad cramps, a general feeling of unwellness, dizziness, lower back pain. Not as bad as some women get, but pretty rotten. I got into the habit of taking birth control and then got too scared to go off it, scared of the pain again. I was pretty pigheaded about it, all I wanted was to stop my period, no doctors ever went into much detail about the side effects... or how it could mess up your body and since I didn't want to bleed I didn't bother to check it out. Now this year I learn it can make you store fat (directly contradicts something a doctor told me, she said it just makes you hungrier so sometimes people gain weight on it!), provide food for candida bacteria and mess up your hormones... I decided to just face my fear when I started detoxing and went off it one week before my detox started. I was told it could take two months to a year before I got it back. Well, four days into my juice fast (six weeks after detox started and three weeks into being raw) I got it back... last week. Since I'm not taking painkillers at the moment I was prepared for the worst, but the worst never came! I had the mildest of cramps, barely cramps at all really. Just a slight and very bearable discomfort for the first day and then nothing at all. None of the other stuff - the back pain or the head sickness - was present. I really believe it was the juice fast that helped bring my period back on and eating raw that kept it so painfree and stress free. I hope to see this continue next month but already I believe I am enjoying the great things raw can do for your body... the truth is, periods shouldn't be painful.

hey Rawbert that's rawesome! great progress! even a couple of days raw a week will make a huge difference i'm sure. i'm really enjoying being 95% raw (discluding some herbal tea now and then) and find that so long as i eat plenty of fruit i'm not missing out on the heavy cooked foods at all really, apart from psychologically.

lol scared everyone away talking about my period! day nine and i'm still on the fast and still doing well. when i get to ten tomorrow i will think about going to 14 and see how i feel with that idea. my period was completely pain free and everything was fine for my show on sunday night. people are telling me i'm glowing which is lovely and i've lost an inch around my waist. my energy has been fine, not through the roof but good enough so that i feel perky and focused. a one hour workout on the pole yesterday and two hours this morning has me feeling well exercised too. all is well in juice land.

hey matty maybe you can have a mix for your party? you can drink too much water, but it is important during a fast to try and drink 1-2 litres as usual. great you are listening to your body and going with it.

hey matty, keep your chin up. i empathise with the cooked food smelling revoltingly good right now, but i am on day five and kicking well. i don't really feel desperate for food, more the psychological want.

still fasting, this is day five. i'd like to make it to seven, and then see how i feel about going to ten. have been sticking to carrot and ginger and wondering if my eyesight will improve i should add... went for another walk/jog, better than the first, figured the distance i have been doing is 6km so pleased with that. detox symptoms, well, my period started! i have been on birth control to stop my period for two years, didn't know how badly it messes your hormones and body up... stopped six weeks ago was told it could take 2months - year before it returned!!! well, I think it has been brought on by the fast, like my body isn't working so hard to process food it can do other things, take care of other areas. much to my pleasure, the truly excrutiating pain of the past seem to be a thing of the past... cramps have been very dull to date and very bearable. this is truly miraculous. now i have my period i feel a bit bleh but otherwise have been feeling great, calm, able to handle things, getting things done, feeling good.

great robert, that's fabulash! maybe you need to learn to make raw burritos so you never break again!

day one and two of juice fast success! i have had about five juices each day, mostly carrot and ginger though last night i did have a blended rock melon and this morning some blended watermelon. i also did the salt water flush both mornings and what an interesting experience that is! tomorrow is a colonic so i won't worry about the flush then, but will be back at it on thursday. at this rate i will definitely do the fast longer than three days although solid food does look awful good especially when it smells so fragrant. i can do it though, no sweat.

thanks bighead. to the others - this isn't flaming, just genuine curiosity. what about raw eating threatens you so much that you have to diss the lifestyle? did it actually occur to you that the reason people lapse is due to environment - that we're surrounded by cooked food at all times, and that in moments of great stress or trauma people often turn to food, given the incredibly contested and confused relationship we as a society have with food? not that because proper healthy raw eating isn't sustainable? why would you be prepared to be severely flamed if you're bringing the information out of a genuine desire to share knowledge and discuss a topic? no one would flame you for that - so what spirit is the information brought in that makes you feel you would be flamed?

Well it is Monday 26th in the merry old land of oz now so I have started my juice fast! I admit, I almost chickened out over the weekend, but woke up today and thought: WHY? So here I am. I have never done a fast before and am not sure what to expect so I am committing to 3 days only. If at the end of 3 days I want to continue, I will, up to 7, then maybe 10. I woke up late today as it is my one day off then got up for a stretch and a walk/jog for an hour. That was nice. Got home and drank two litres of salt water... maybe I didn't put enough salt in, but I didn't mind the flavour at all. I just finished that a couple of minutes ago. I had to drink it while rehearsing a show with my dance partner for this Sunday so it took ages. I got my juices across the road at the fruit and veg market where they have a huge juicer and make you fresh juices for about $2.50. I got a carrot, beet and ginger and a carrot and ginger for later. It is a quarter to one here and I'm doing fine. Would've liked to have done salt water early this morning and started juices earlier, but the day just didn't work out like that for me especially as I didn't want to consume anything for at least an hour after my cardio. So I will blog here over the next three days to let everyone know how I'm going. Would love to hear from others as well!

you hear about people who smoke like chimneys, drink like fish and eat like pigs and who still live to be 90 - 100+ with few health ailments... but those people are freaks of nature! amazing story, andesuma, I'm pleased raw has been such a new lease on life for you... truly inspirational. of course, your story wouldn't help the phameceutical companies make their billion smackers. you can't bottle healthy eating. I have only ever heard bad things about zoloft and prozac, people who seem to get worse the longer they are on this medication that's meant to help them! I am now commencing my third week of raw... well, in the beginning I admit I thought it was too extremist! But the more I read about it the more intrigued I became. All of the really wonderful stories where people had huge turnarounds in their lives... to their health... I dont' have any major health concerns but I still wanted a better quality of life for myself... to be stronger, fitter, more healthy on the inside. and now, the more I think about it the less sense it makes to eat foods with preservatives or that are modified. Not to say I don't still feel that cooked food temptation/addiction, though it has lessened, but it is feeling more and more unnatural to me. I want to continue being raw, taking each day as it comes, and hopefully years will pass and I will still be raw! It is a diet unlike any other I have tried and it feels cleaner... and fresher and better. today I saw friends I haven't seen for a couple of weeks and they asked if I'd had my teeth cleaned... I felt a bit confused... and they said your teeth are white and sparkling... a small change like that bears well for things to come!! being raw is great, even when today it was hard, being at a pub surrounded by fried food and alcohol, i got to come home to a raw vegetable feast and i'm glad i didn't give in to the rubbish. now, just from me talking about it, both my parents are interested in it.... my father has diabetes and my mum is a bit overweight and both are over 55... i am hoping they will give it a dedicated go and reap the rewards!!!

yes I learned that lesson too TF1... when I started loving myself last year, suddenly my life turned around in a major way!

sooo for those in the know... would a series of colonics, say 4-6, one a week, dislodge those mucoid plaques and all? I'm getting my first one tomorrow.

The purpose of yogurt is the friendly bacteria cultures in it, don't overlook that, there is some sugar, but not usually high fructose corn syrup. in that case, I'd recommend a pro-biotic. I used to love my soyghurts and soy cheeses... until I read the ingredients. (look out Blossom, most brands stocked in Australia contain casein)

Hey Bloom, soy yoghurt is basically soy milk and sugar. Skip it! Stick to fruit... it is tastier and juicier. Pig out on a big juicy mango or two mmmm I agree with the others re the grains and the extra snacks. Cut back on grains, a lot more fruit and vegies! Have legumes with your night time dins instead of rice. Quinoa is also delicious.

*pounces on the local* thank goodness another aussie! there's only a couple of us here!

I'm completely with Zack on this. I was raised Catholic and the thing that now binds me most to my religion, which I don't practice, is Jesus and his ideals... but I have a general spirituality these days. At work I have a statue of Jesus net to one of Kali... lol I can't participate in the denying thing I'm afraid. Noone is more critical of the cult of Christianity than an ex-Catholic but that doesn't mean I'm going to disrespect millions of people's faith in such a way... I wouldn't do it for any other faith or religion, either. I believe true Catholics are not the ones who tell you you're hellbound if you don't believe their way but simply try to live every day as Jesus did... trying to be a better person.

hey Matty, nope it's the fast of your choosing, for the length of time you want. We're just doing it together for support.

it's great isn't it, even if there is no vegan or rawbies near you you can get on the internet and find some

hey Matty, join Zack and me in our fast it starts next Monday and then you can go 30 days raw nice and clean! find a colonics place in your area to help you detox. good luck buddy and if you want support just post here to the forum!

why not shelve a vitamin supplement too?

have a great time... I have been eating all fruit except for gs and it's fabulous... yummy, refreshing and cleansing.

the master cleanse sounds great, ok now I want to do it! where do you get the booklet from? though mind you that girl, did you read what she did after, the somersizing one? three burger patties a day! O-o