Meeting #6

August 3rd 2011

Attendees for Meeting #6

Paul, Jay, Raederle Phoenix, Toni Yank, Toni V, Donna, William, Rosalie, Becky

Book Suggestions

The Science of Good Luck

Thousandth Monkey

Raw Emotions

Raw Food Made Easy by Jennifer

Real Moments

Movie Suggestions

Beyond Autism

Buck -- Horse Whisperer

Discussion Topics

Chinese Herbs -- How can they heal if they are cooked and have no energy?

The conclusion of the discussion, in a nut shell, is that they only heal on a chemical basis, and do not influence the energy of the body.

William told us the story of the creator of Incredible Cousins, a restaurant in Chicago. It's an amazing testimonial for raw food.

If you don't feel the prayer, then it is meaningless.

What What Your Biggest Challenge In Your Journey, and How Did You Overcome It (if you've overcome it)?

Paul: Relatives. It was difficult for Paul to visit his relatives and tell them that he didn't want to eat their food anymore. He brought his own food instead of making them go out of their way to change anything for him. Over time, his relatives have adapted and there are no hard feelings from his relatives.

William: What to eat? He knew he couldn't just live on salads. He started to experiment, try new exotic vegetables, new recipes, exploring everything he could. He took classes, and studied with chefs who knew herbs thoroughly. Through knowledge he was able to overcome his struggles in his transition to raw food.

Donna: Family. Her husband (now her ex) and her children ate the Standard American Diet. While Donna started to create healthy meals for herself, her husband still wanted pop tarts and beer for dinner. She grew apart from her children and husband as she progressed along her journey. It was stressful for her to have to make something separate for herself and for her family. While she ate salad, they ate hamburger helper. To keep her motivation up she listened to motivational speakers, and sought out many outlets of inspiration. She feels that it's good that she went her own way, and now she surrounds herself with people who have the same values.

Toni Yank: Tasty easy food. Toni finds it hard not to turn to popcorn when she gets tired of eating the same old thing. She wants the recipe to be easy, and delicious, and she wants a different one all the time. This is still something Toni is working on. Raw Food Made Easy is a book suggestion that was brought up for her at the meeting.

Toni shared this quote with us: "We understand while children are afraid of the dark, but why are adults afraid of the light?"

Raederle: Previously had difficulty with variety in raw food, but she learned many recipes and gained a huge amount of knowledge about raw food and no longer has this problem. Raederle is currently struggling with emotional eating. When she becomes stressed she craves childhood comfort foods, such as french fries. In order to resist temptation for cooked, fried, unhealthy options, she turns to "raw junk food" such as throwing bananas, cocoa, almond butter, and water in the blender and drinking that. She knows that combing the high amount of sweet and fat together upsets her digestion and makes her feel sluggish, but when she feels stressed the temptation is overwhelming.

Becky suggested to Raederle: Think about the cause of the stress, and identify that it as the cause for the food craving. Let out the emotions that are pent up; cry. Write it out, talk it out, cry it out, and when it's out, the food craving will be past. Becky has also had this issue in the past, but has worked through it.

Jay: Needs to find a way to fill up on greens. Jay doesn't feel good when he eats a diet with too much fruit or too much fat. He feels best when he eats greens, greens, greens, greens and only a small amount of fat and a small amount of fruit, but when he does this, he doesn't feel full. He is still currently struggling with this issue.

Rosalie: Doesn't feel she has a raw food journey struggle. She grew up during war time and food was scarce. Any food at all was a blessing. When she came to America and learned to cook, she was proud. When she got cancer, she thought about food choices for the first time. She learned about macrobiotics and healed. She is curious about everything that has to do with food, anything new. Wants to try lots of new foods, and loves raw food potlucks for that reason.

Becky: Emotional eater. Becky went to a detox retreat for one week and had a heavy detox as her introduction to healthier eating. Wheatgrass, colonics, energy soup, the works. The experience changed her perspective. She found that she was an emotional eater, and through learning to grasp the real issues has learned to meditate through cravings and get to the root problems.