Day 2 was HI-Jacked! The daughter and grandson came to visit, and what does every grandmother do? She cooks..... and for fun she bakes. This has been my downfall in this lifestyle... the clinging to traditional roles and my own ingrained beliefs of what that role dictates. To my credit I didn't go out and buy additional goods. I used up grocery items already inhouse. Oh dear, except the big brown C.... my grandson loves the stuff and the local supermarket has a phenomenal special price on slabs... I fell crashed and burned with all the Cs.

But I pick myself up, dust myself off and carry on with the plan. I will not allow this to derail me completely as has happened in previous attempts to return to RAW. Celene Bernstein gives good advice in her book "Health Seekers". She lays out a plan for handling those times when you feel like a binge or you know that you're going to a celebratory event and you will be tempted. The day before eat only fruit. The day of, eat a mono diet (only one type of fruit) until an hour before. After the binge drink only water for 12 to 18 hours then eat just one type of fruit until supper. So water it will be  and then melon for the rest of the day until supper/salad time on Day 3.

I don't plan my crashes... but the amazing cleansing effect of a pile (5) of mangos for lunch on day one and the huge mixed salad for supper before my crash on Day 2 encouraged me to get back on course. Also, Celene stresses that you must not feel guilt, eat and enjoy when you do go off course. Call it Treating not Cheating. And I won't blame others either. I had already started cheating in the morning. I ate decadent black figs and exotic Dragon Fruit for breakfast with a few slivers of brie.  You may have noticed it peeking out amongst the produce I purchased on day 0. Its not a part of RAW Vegan  but I had recently read an article by Weston Price and the fat soluble nutrient he discovered called Activator X and now known as K2 which is only found in Shellfish, Organ meats, fishliver and butter from cows eating rapidly growing green grass. Thus I have been giving myself leave to eat the mature cheddar and creamy dreamy butter I so love. A few minutes further research has revealed that K1 is profuse in green leafy plants especially kale which contains a thousand plus times our daily requirement and this nutrient is converted by our intestinal flora into K2. Again the incredible necessity to have a healthy gut.

I didn't want to mention the actual items I treated myself and my family with soas not to bring your mind to what you shouldn't eat, however, I do want to bring awareness to some factors around those choices you make. There is a difference between going out and buying a factory made box of cookies with all sorts of unknown contents and a home made batch created with love and stone ground non gmo flour, free range eggs, butter..... you get the picture. There is a world between a MacDonalds Burger and fettuccini tossed with lightly sauted portabello mushrooms and red onion served with a generous salad. Make the better choices when you want to detour.

A final thought.... my grandson will still love me and he will be happy with the distilled water he loves so much, grapes, cucumber, pistachios and cashews. I can be the modern off the wall grandmother who runs and cycles instead of knitting and crocheting, who doesn't cook roast dinner on Sundays and tries to force green smoothies down his throat instead of soggy cooked green beans. Yum.