MY RULES FOR ME OUR RULES FOR US

Good morning-This is technically Day 6 for the experiment as a whole, and I thought I would just mention a few things here.

The goal is to clear out all the old beliefs and get down to the bone and right into the body.

We want to do this from a place of true love for ourselves and to come into balance with our own body again.

It seems so strange! Raw food? I mean really, come on!
Last night I was at a gathering and they served a wonderful stew, and I smiled and said "I'm raw right now", and everyone just moved a bit away from me! I happily chose salad and the vegetarian looked intensely serious and said "you DO know that most people do very poorly on a 100% raw diet don't you?" I smiled again. I never said 100% I just said raw. That's HER rule. And not what I have found at all FOR ME! Am I supposed to quick eat her stew? Which was made with Tofu and which I very likely would have enjoyed but so what? I didn't want it, and I, for the FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE, didn't feel any obligation to eat it because she had made it. WOW.

As to experts: while it's nice to read what others before us have done, and I've looked at books and websites too, the point is to get in touch with the US inside that we haven't been listening to. This whole thing is LESS about the food and MORE about the feelings. So Pam's post let us know that she can FEEL the difference, and notices her emotions are more even-awesome! That's the sweet dessert of all this! The perfect understanding when we begin to release the obsessions around food.

Raw is just not cooked. And as we are all finding out, it does mean prepared in all sorts of other ways. Not just munching on carrots.

So, what are MY RULES FOR ME? *and this is mine, you write yours, it may well be different for you.
1. I am the authority of me, not any book, not any "expert". I bless them and their journey, but I am the expert of what my body wants and needs. Me. And that has never happened before in my life. I have never made that agreement, nor held to it. I love this! I agree with Pam, this has been the easiest thing I have ever done bar none.

2. To listen to my body. To REALLY pay attention like when I was pregnant, and could feel everything that was happening inside me.

3. To absolutely love my body inside and out. I honor me, and every molecule that holds my blueprint.

4. To keep the food beautiful, to make it my art, to feed myself like I feed my mesa, and create what feeds me with texture, color, and taste, not just because it's raw but because it smells so good, and looks wonderful.

5. To keep it simple and to play. To mash, and masticate, to chop and soak and squish and mix it up like when I was 12 and had a rainy day and my best friend and I would start taking things out of my mother's cupboards to make cookies. Sometimes it was awesome, sometimes we made a mess, we always had fun, and rarely had to throw it away. BTW we are both great cooks- but I lost that playfulness with food in the last few years. Food was a BORE!

And OUR RULES FOR US as a group?
1. A 30 day period of as close to 100% raw as we wish to maintain, and to simply notice what we notice

2. This is NOT a diet. Diet has DIE in the beginning-and this doesn't. This is an eating lifestyle change. This is a dance. This is learning once again that food is nector that feeds us. This is NOT about die-privation. And Pam so stated it! Jac so stated it. I have. It feels AWESOME when you surrender to it. You realize that so much of your emotions are connected to those OTHER foods and you let that go with them and feel happy in a silly sort of way. I smile all the time, and mean it! It doesn't ever feel forced anymore, and there were times it did.

3. To come back into honoring our body and what it says it really wants

4. To notice what it feels like whenever we eat anything else-from the scientific standpoint and not the pointing finger standpoint. "Ah! I had the crust of a pizza slice and I FELT..." was exactly what that means. Just notice.

5. No measuring, counting, weighing of foods or portions. It is to be the amount that you choose and as much as you want.

6. And not reporting it like it is weight watchers with amounts. Tell us the colors on your plate. Eat like it's your art. Have picnics. Buy a beautiful tray and bowls of different colors and lay out your snacks like you are feeding a queen! We lay out a picnice every day! It's so pretty!

7.To post on the blog YOUR progress, daily would be awesome, even if it's 6 words... We can't support you, or learn from you, if you don't post. Though we said Jan 1 as a "technical" startdate some of us have been at it longer than others so let each other know what you have noticed for those that are just beginning. If you will make a committment to once a day post SOMETHING, anything, it will make a difference. Check in, read as much as you have time for, and write a little something. It doesn't have to be anything prosaic or perfect. Just from you.

8. Read each other's posts, and comment, so that you are supporting them too as you have time. Take 10 minutes in the morning or evening. We are doing this as a group. We want to hear from you! POST>email doesn't count! :)

9. Release shame, guilt and humiliation from food and feeding ourselves by using the visibility of the blog. We are mapmakers and bushwhackers, and while there are some ahead of us, and we can read their journey, it is still our own course, and it is up to us to make it what we will, and to leave a path for those behind us that may want to follow. That's the jungle way, well the woman's jungle way. We guide. Remember Sacajaweea...how is that spelled anyway? You know who I mean.

Ok-now your turn. Tell us what your rules are for you, and any to the group that I might have missed or that you want amened.
My rules for me
Our rules for us