|
| |
|
A Spiritually Enlightening Online Magazine ISSN# 1708-3265
|
Index
Meet Our Staff
Free Subscription
Donations
Come Shopping
Advertising
Archived Issues
***OUR NEW FORUM***
|
    |
Get On Track!with Jennifer Dillon In June of 2007, at the age of 38, I was in the worst shape of my life. Weighing in at over 200lbs, the person looking back at me in the mirror was not anyone I recognized. I looked terrible, and I felt terrible too: tired, energetically-depleted, depressed, prone to illness. I felt like I was 100 years old. How did this happen to me? A working single mother and small business owner living on the island of Maui, Hawaii, my life seemed beyond busy. There was always something more pressing to do with my time than exercising, and forget about eating right, that took time too! In my previous life before motherhood, I enjoyed cooking, but as a mom, buying heavily-processed, pre-prepared, ready-to-eat food had become part of my lifestyle. It was what I thought I needed to do in order to maintain my schedule to keep a roof over our heads. Because I was a vegetarian and shopped primarily at health food stores, I considered my diet much healthier than average. But the proof is in the pudding as they say, and the pudding was me. So when a friend at work said she was going to do a 7 day "Master Cleanse" (also known as the "Lemonade Diet") and asked me to do it with her, I was very excited. The Master Cleanse is a liquids-only detoxification program which aids in the removal of harmful toxins from within the body, it was developed by Stanley Burroughs in 1941. I'd heard about it years ago from my former yoga teacher, who had recommended it highly. I did a lot of research, bought all my supplies (lemons, grade B maple syrup, cayenne pepper, herbal laxative tea, and sea salt), and the day before we were supposed to begin my friend said "I changed my mind, I'm not doing it." I said "Okay, well, I'm going to go for it!" So I did, and I can honestly say the benefits took hold almost immediately… the first day off food my head-fog cleared, I felt amazingly energetic, positive, and alive. I felt utterly in the flow of things, and sensed my body was thanking me for taking this step, and encouraging me to continue. I did the initial 7 days, and felt so good, I just kept going. As an added bonus, I dropped about 12 lbs. On the 11th day, I sensed within myself some panic-y/obsessive type thoughts around eating, like feeling scared of food and feeling like I did not want to eat again. I also noticed my focus had switched seemingly overnight from getting healthy to getting thin, and I did not want to continue in that mind-set. So I decided to end my fast, and do some more research on how to transition back to eating solid foods. I came across the idea of raw foods. That sounded perfect, since all I wanted was to eat fresh fruits and vegetables anyway. I didn't want to put any junk into my hard-won newly-scrubbed insides! I only meant to try it a few days, but eating raw foods felt so right, again I felt so in the flow, that I started researching whether this was a sustainable long-term diet for humans. The more I read, the more enthused I became, and the more I felt called to raw foods as a way to maintain and perpetuate the level of health I had acquired during the Master Cleanse.
Greedy for knowledge, I consumed all of the information available online and at my public library. And I consumed tons of raw foods. And as a result, I lost weight at a phenomenal rate; in the first month alone, I lost almost a pound a day. It seemed unbelievable! I didn't count calories, I didn't deprive myself (in fact, one day I ate six, yes SIX avocados!) I just ate raw foods. And weight loss wasn't the only benefit I was reaping. I felt healthy. I had tons of energy. I felt happy. I felt palpably connected to the source of all things. I felt alive. This wasn't just a diet, this was a miracle! Another thing happened as a result of shedding some excess weight, my new attitude and the positive headspace I was now inhabiting. I became (incredibly it seemed at the time, now I realize this is actually our natural state) sensitive to what my body wanted. And my body wanted to MOVE. I needed to do something, anything. I needed a program. I needed help! Here was my criteria for an exercise regimen: whatever it was, it couldn't cost a whole heck of a lot, I had to be able to do it in my house, and I probably needed to do it before 6 am or after 11 pm, while my daughter was sleeping. The gym was out. So was my old standby from my younger days of getting in shape, running. I bought a few dumbbells, a fitball, some elastic bands, and a workout video. I went back to school, the school of YouTube. I consumed exercise and fitness videos as well as lectures online. I started to work out a few days a week, but I still felt insecure about what I was doing and had lots of questions. Was I really making the most of my time? How much time did I need to exercise? Long cardio sessions seemed to be out of favour. 'Muscle confusion' and 'high intensity training' seemed to be the new watchwords. Was I doing enough different stuff? Was I doing it intensely enough? Did I have the right equipment? I wanted an expert's opinion, so I found a certified personal trainer on Craigslist who would actually meet me at my house at 5 am! When I met this musclebound man at my door at the crack of dawn, things did not go as I had hoped. I excitedly laid out my story, my progress so far, my goals, and my program criteria… only to be told that it would be 'impossible' to reach my goals of increased strength and a toned physique by continuing to eat a raw vegan diet. I would catabolize my muscles before I could gain them. I would shrink away to nothing, but I would look flabby and be weak. I needed to agree to eat "at least oatmeal and tofu", and preferably fish and chicken, in order to be accepted as this man's client. Instead of being devastated by this news, I felt empowered. I believed in the research I had done on raw foods and disagreed with his version of health and fitness. It seemed obvious that the universe was telling me to continue travelling this road alone for awhile. I needed to continue tapping into my inner expert, experimenting on myself, taking what jibed with my own experience and discarding what did not. I thanked him for his time but explained that I did not think we would see eye to eye. I went back to my school. I have been eating a raw vegan diet for one year now, and it's been one of the most amazing years of my life. I have also successfully made exercise a habit that I would no more forgo than I would brushing my teeth in the morning. Yes, I have lost weight, 60 pounds to be exact, and it feels fantastic. I have also tapped back in to my inner athlete, and become markedly more fit. But more importantly I learned to check things out for myself, and trust not just my own results but my intuition above that of any "expert". I learned to trust food again, and I learned to trust my body's wisdom. I've tried lots of different things along the way. Some of them worked, some of them didn't but in the end the most valuable aspect of those experiences was the trying itself. And as a result of my experience with that personal trainer as well as other "stone wall type" experiences I had with the conventional professional health and fitness community that negated my own experience of what was true—I developed a passion for collaborating with other raw vegans who shared my goal to eat raw AND achieve their fitness goals. I created a peer support forum called rawveganfitness.com, and used my computer skills to create for myself what I needed to succeed—a community of like-minded people who want to see what happens when you eat raw food and work out regularly. I am not a fitness expert, a nutritionist, a life coach, or a personal trainer. I have no special athletic gifts or talents. I am an enthusiast (some might say a bit of a zealot!) who has personally found a very much heightened state of well-being through the combination of natural nutrition and physical exercise, and this is what sparked my interest and prompted my investigation into all things related to the physical aspect of wellness. That is what fitness is, the physical aspect of wellness. It is 75% diet, and 25% exercise, and both of these are vital components. You cannot outwork a bad diet, but if your diet is optimized, you needn't spend an inordinate amount of time exercising to achieve a solid, even exceptional, level of fitness. It can be done in as little as 3.5 hours per week! And there is not a better investment you can make in your life in terms of the return. In my experience, becoming fit gives you your best self, which allows you to better share your gifts with the world. Fitness gives you:
These are all things I want for myself, my family, the people in my community… the whole world! I hope to inspire you all with this column as we delve into the world of fitness and learn what being fit is all about. Until next time…
I am 5'10" and my starting weight was 205; 8 month - 155, 10 month (current weight) - 143 pounds.
Jennifer Dillon is a raw vegan who tapped back in to her inner athlete after "going raw" in 2007. A single mother and small business owner, in her spare time she administrates a forum offering peer support to other raw vegans interested in achieving their health and fitness goals. She describes herself as a fitness enthusiast who has personally found a very much heightened state of well-being through the combination of natural nutrition and physical exercise. Jennifer lives in Maui, Hawaii with her five-year-old daughter Mali Akilah. |
Copyright (c) 2008 by Timeless Spirit Magazine. All articles are the copyright of the particular writers and cannot be reprinted without their expressed permission. All rights reserved. International copyright laws prohibit reproduction of or distribution of this page by any means whatsoever, electronic or otherwise, without first obtaining the written permission of the copyright holder. We retain legal counsel to protect our copyrights.
Any advice given is for informational purposes only.
