Here's an email I sent to a new friend (she and her daughter were featured on Oprah's show, "Obese Families in Crisis" last week and we connected on the forum!) I decided to use this for a blog post and future reference for others who ask for information on this amazingly simple, brilliant, and easy way of attaining the ultimate goal of feelin' fit & fabulous forever :-D

Cheers ~

For me, the best part of this new way of eating with the emphasis on fresh, whole, ripe, raw, and preferably organic fruits and veggies is that it's also ALL YOU CARE TO EAT, within reason, if not the budget! My disclaimer is that this "high energy" plan is only for those who are ready and willing to make a switch and think it's worth trying something new -- otherwise, the natives (close friends and family listening to us "preach" the virtues of healthy living) are liable to get restless and resentful at the idea of being coerced into dietary "improvements" when they think the old way has little or no affect on them personally. I learned this the hard way myself :P Hopefully, most of our loved ones will be supportive and intrigued by the idea, especially with the excitement generated by the Oprah show. It's really all about you & your daughter right now, and you're blessed to have each other for encouragement.

I'll let you in on another "Secret" I picked up from Rhonda Byrne and Pals on the Powerful Intentions forum, and that's to take time to appreciate everything good about your body (eyes, hair, nails, you name it) and focus on taking joy in those features when you look in the mirror. Once I started dropping dress sizes (which also happened to occur at the same time I was participating in weekly sessions of "A New Earth" with Oprah and Eckhart -- archived on site,) I was finally able to cheer myself on and spontaneously began to declare at different times throughout the day how proud I was of myself for the progress I was (and am still) making. I also celebrate when I eliminate ;-) 'cause now I know that's moving out the undigested waste material I've been hauling around for so many years! I'm convinced this change of perspective and attitude helped raise the energy level high enough to keep up the momentum!

As I mentioned in my posts on the forum, my strategy for handling our So. SAD (Southern Standard American Diet) menu at home was/is to eat fruit to satiation 30 minutes before meals and divide my meal plate into thirds per Natalia Rose's advice in her book, "The Raw Food Detox Diet." I took whatever food DH was preparing, for example, hot dogs w/chili and cheese [I know, worst case scenario LOL,] skipped the bun and topped my salad (two thirds) with my portion of the proteins (or one third of my plate, whichever fit the bill.) If I was still hungry afterward, I made another salad base and did it all over again. I also promised myself one to two bites of the "real thing" (bun and all) if I wanted a taste. That went for dining out and special occasion foods like pizza and rich desserts. Kept me from feeling deprived and left out of all the fun till I built up my confidence and learned new ways to enjoy myself.

TIP: We used the packaged salad mixes at first for convenience, then started expanding our horizons with adding darker, protein-rich greens like romaine, spinach, red and green leaf lettuces to the water-rich iceberg base (which is great for hydration!) Nothing quicker than tossing fresh greens in a big bowl and diving in (our favorite dressing consists of juicy, ripe tomatoes, Satsuma oranges and avocado with a squeeze of lemon!)

Fresh fruit in season is the original "fast food" and once the produce manager begins to recognize you as a regular in the department (just in case he missed the show!) they'll let you know when things are going on sale and even get you a bulk discount on cases of bananas, etc., when the rest of the family decides to join the fun! I'm good friends with the outdoor market stand folks, too, who graciously put aside boxes of their ripest discount produce for us now that they've seen how many mouths we're feeding here at home LOL Every little bit helps. I've also gotten some terrific ideas on economical ways to eat fresh, if not organic, produce and successfully maintaining this new lifestyle on Dr. Doug Graham's "Raw Foods and Sports Nutrition" forum at VegSource.com.

Quite a few living foods advocates recommend eating fruit only till noon to ease the transition from cooked, but Dr. Graham points out that most people don't realize how important it is to eat enough with the conventional diet mentality as it is. I was prone to skipping and reducing meals myself to save time and effort, especially breakfast and sometimes lunch, when I got busy at the comp, and my energy levels stayed way lower than they should have because of that practice. When I increased my intake of fruits and veggies to the point where I felt satisfied, while paying attention to keeping the recommended ratio (2:1) raw to cooked, my energy levels and mood improved proportionately. Once I made this simple change (after six months of thinking less is more when it comes to eating "right") I finally had the motivation and a healthy store of essential nutrients to do something toward improving my fitness other than try to keep up with the lawn and laundry when both got too high to ignore any longer :P

Just to give you an idea of my current diet, I consume juicy, ripe fruits for breakfast in the mornings (e.g., half of a large watermelon or a whole bag of oranges (about 4 lbs.) now that I'm following Dr. Graham's recommendation to eat whole, ripe, raw, high-fiber foods rather than strained juices (either fresh or otherwise) to aid digestion. When I first took up a modified version of Natalia's program, I often had carbs like a baked sweet potato or steamed/cooked veggies with my salad at lunch and saved the proteins for dinner (based on food combining guidelines,) but there's no need to make radical changes in the beginning stages. Make it easy on everyone and work with what you've got -- just be sure to keep stocked up on the fresh stuff!

I made small changes along the way as needed to help move things along. When friends started asking how I managed to do it, I dubbed my approach (a combination of knowledge gained from NR and Dr. G in his book, "The 80/10/10 Diet") the Rainbow 1-2-3 High Energy Plan. In a nutshell, it consists of three basic parts:

1) Focus on the features you admire most about your body, praise and cheer yourself on to victory every time you pass a mirror* :-D
2) Eat favorite fruits to satiation 30 minutes before the meal to eliminate cravings (which indicate you haven't consumed enough fresh stuff) for extra carbs and sweets during/after the main meal 8-)
3) DOUBLE UP! Switch the usual cooked entree to a side dish, and increase the side salad or favorite raw fruits/veggies to twice the size for a 2:1 raw-to-cooked ratio. You'll save enough money on reduced family meal portions for two or more to finance your new fresh food habit! ;-)

Let me know if that's clear or not -- I can always use suggestions for tweaking my presentation. If you think it's doable, I'm happy to answer any other questions you have, so fire away! If you need to get in touch or just want to talk more about it, I'm also on Skype and most of the major IM's through Meebo, including Yahoo! (crrbuddy) and added your ID to my Buddy list. I'm very glad to make your acquaintance, and truly hope my experience can help make the journey as simple, easy, and joyful as it has been for me! I better get to bed before I turn into a pumpkin or follow my perfectionist tendencies to proofread and edit once & again -- please forgive any faux pas on my part and have an AWESOME WEEK!!

Sending rays of warmth & sunshine your way ~
Penne & the CanDo! Crew :o)

*Check out the Law of Increase, aka the Law of Praise/Gratitude
on "The 11 Forgotten Laws" Master Mind Alliance Study Club
12 Steps to Manifesting Our Dreams!