Well, in my ongoing quest to finally embrace a living foods lifestyle, permanently, I'm learning some interesting things here. 

Last night, I went out for a bday celebration with some friends who are moving away for good soon so I indulged in some cooked and very unhealthy appetizers and half of a Cosmo...man, did I have hard time sleeping, even with taking enzymes to help! The last time I felt this kind of body backlash for an eating choice was back in the days of the Topanga Ranch. The last sweat lodge I took part in, which was WAAAAY too hot because the guy running it was showing off for a guest, was followed by a homemade meal by our amazing chef...but it was meatloaf and mashed potatoes, which sounded and tasted great after a near death experience in a sweat lodge, but later that night myself and another participant had the same conundrum of trying to sleep but feeling overheated and our hearts were pounding and racing! I attribute that to the heat, not rehydrating enough (though we were on guard for that during lodges) and putting food that was way too energy taxing into our bodies at the wrong time. I felt a bit of that last night; tossing and turning, feeling hot and dry, heart pounding...and I got the message.

I can handle some cooked foods, just not THAT kind of cooked crap. And even a little it of alcohol isn't working for me. Didn't taste good either, and I usually love Cosmos. 

There was also an interesting bit of info from a fellow raw fooder who made the shift 5 years ago and made a total life transformation, so she's become a source of support and info for me.  She had a similar chronic candida issue to I asked her about that in regards to raw food living.  Her advice was the opposite of what some people advise for a candida eliminating raw diet; she advocates keeping fats and nuts low, eating mostly fruits and greens. Other say to avoid fruits and eat mostly greens and nuts/fats. It's a whole debate in the candida world and it's almost like the chasm between PC people and Mac people. But I can tell you this, I feel good when I eat a lot of fruit; light, healthy, joyful, energetic.  When I eat lots of nuts and seeds (fats) I feel more sluggish, heavy, bloated (even when the nuts are soaked).  So I'm taking Christy's advice. 

When I did predominantly fruit last year for a few weeks, I was feeling amazing. I panicked and jumped ship when candida symptoms started, but Christy said hers did that for about a week and then subsided and never came back. In hindsight, it seems like it was cleansing. It was a bit too intense, but according to my journals (thank goodness I was blogging about that) I was taking a couple of intense cleansing herbs too and there's just no need when you're eating lots of fruit. It's nature's cleansing agent as it is. I get that now. Raw living requires no supplementation, at least not for me and not in terms of cleansing. My body's got it all under control. ;)

So today I bought a bag of gorgeous fruit with me to work; pineapple, peaches, strawberries, banana, goji berries...and I started the day with one of my power smoothies.  

It  was quite reassuring to hear Christy advise eating lots of fruit. I know it feels better, but sometimes outside validation is good with a new path.

I'm noticing my skin breaking out on my lower face, neck and chest, which happened last year on my fruitarian shift and I believe that's just cleansing. I'll ride it out. This is so worth it.