health, the void
amanda congdon, bestofvegan, carbthefuckup, cleaneating, cleanliving, cleanmeals, damn vegans, detoxfood, fitmom, fok, foodblog, forks over knives, fruit, gluten free, health, healthyliving, healthymeals, mario librandi, monomeal, nonviolence, plant based, plant strong, plantpower, plantpowered, plantstrong, podcast, raw, rawvegan, vegan, veganhealthy, veganlovers, vegetarian, water, weight loss, whatveganseat, wholefoods
THE VOID: Your Spring cleanse has arrived.
We’ve entered THE VOID.
You are SO in the right place. I’m literally going to tell you all my secrets in this post. This episode is going to double as a totally free training for you to show you how serious we are about improving your health.
For anyone that doesn’t know my story, here’s the recap. I healed myself of an inflammatory heart condition in January 2011 by switching to a raw vegan diet. Yup, you heard it here… The specialists at the Cleveland Clinic were no match for raw fruits and veggies, folks.
Your weight fluctuates over the years. Some periods you exercise more than others. Some seasons you eat healthier than others. When your fitness or diet OR BOTH are in a slump, it’s hard to really advocate for the healthy lifestyle you’re *not* living, right?
If you aren’t practicing kindness to your OWN body, are you practicing veganism? YOU after all count as a “sentient being”… you’re nice to animals, so be nice to you, TOO.
Are you hearing me? This is important.
There *IS* a way to practically guarantee a system reset (and yeah weight-loss as well), but who’s motivated to do it?
I know how to do it, but yet don’t always follow it. Why? Well, first because I love pasta. But also because it takes some preparation. It often takes a different mindset, too, about food. It takes a sort of inner listening and most of us “don’t have the time”… or rather, would rather not go to the effort to carve out time.
Food is fuel. Period.
Let me say that again.
Food is fuel. It’s energy.
Eating is not something to do when you feel bored. or tired. or thirsty. Make your goal this week to learn what hungry and full feel like to you. It takes mindfulness for sure but anyone can do it.
Food is not something to restrict. CALORIE RESTRICTION does not work. It might for a short time, but you’re destined to fail if you plan to restrict yourself long-term. If you’re hungry, eat more.
LISTEN to when your body says, “I’m starting to feel full”. Stop eating then. Not another bite. Fork down. That’s part of respecting your body’s natural signals.
Simply be aware of your “full response” (and please chew!) so you don’t over-ride your own system and push your body to eat beyond what it needs.
Avoid multi-tasking while eating. Set the phone down for 15 minutes and enjoy the experience of each morsel on your tongue. Notice the aroma, color, and texture of your food. Really savor it. If you aren’t liking what you’re eating, your body is telling you to eat something else.
I’ve lost 40 lbs since giving birth to my daughter last year. I still have 5-7 to go– to get back to my fighting weight. 😉 The weight where I feel my best and can resume wearing all but yoga pants. I have this adorable blue dress I can’t wait to wear again very soon. Do you have a piece of clothing you long to wear once more?
If you want to lose weight alongside me and kick to the curb, or simply PREVENT, every inflammatory disease known to man including:
- Heart Disease
- Diabetes
- Celiac Disease
- Crohn’s Disease
- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Arthritis
- Ulcerative colitis
To name a very few… seriously the list of inflammatory diseases is huge. I can’t list them all here.
But enough preamble, before I dive in deep, I want to be very clear about something. PLEASE understand, this is not medical advice. You make your own choices about what to eat, I’m just relating what worked for me and what has worked for others who have decided to follow what I’m calling, “The Cool Down Cleanse”.
So here’s the value we promised you in Damn Vegans episode 001. I’m not going to tease the cleanse and then tell you to go buy something.
You can do this yourself.
I am working with someone right now who is reversing his Type 1 Diabetes with this cleanse. He came to me for help with Pericarditis and ended up as a side effect fixing something seemingly unrelated. OR is it? No. It’s all the same thing. It’s all about the inflammation. In the plant-based certification program I took via Cornell University online, T. Colin Campbell refers to these affliction as “Diseases of Affluence”, since they aren’t nearly as prevalent in third world countries as they are in places like America and Australia.
Anyway, back to the cleanse. My client is currently eating as much as he cares for of the following foods, and nothing else:
- steamed squash
- boiled, baked or steamed potatoes (or other root veggies)
- No-oil soups
- Avocado, sprouted RAW nuts and seeds (that just means soaked in water overnight)
- fruit salads
- Fruit and Veg smoothies
- Fruit and Veg monomeals, which we covered in DAMN VEGANS, episode 004
- fresh fruit juice – not from a bottle with preservatives!!! squeeze that stuff yourself or buy it from somewhere that sells juice, like Vegan Mario’s!
If you prefer to go ALL RAW to heal, and nix the squash and root veggies, that could potentially work even faster. But all raw isn’t right for everyone’s lifestyle.
If you have access to farmers markets or local farmers, please go to the extra effort to buy your produce from these people. NOT ONLY WILL IT GIVE YOU that feel good feeling knowing that you supported a small business, but chances are smaller means better. Not always, but usually.
Definitely ask a lot of questions. One good question to ask your farmer is, “what do you use for weed control?” If they say they are out there pulling up weeds every day, that’s quality produce. If they say they spray something “but it’s non-toxic”, nod and quietly. back. away.
There’s absolutely no OIL, SALT or SPICES used on this cleanse during the first 10-21 day detox period. Give your system a break.
A typical day would look like:
Fruit and veg Smoothie for breakfast
monomeal of fruit for lunch with side sliced veggies
no oil sweet potatoes for dinner, as much as you care for and a giant salad drizzled with cashew dressing and slices of avocado
If you’re picking up what we’re putting down and decide to try this cleanse, let us know so we can support you.
We’ll be creating a “high touch” FREE Private Facebook Group for the cleanse where we’ll be supporting people daily in reducing their inflammation and getting healthy. Losing weight is often as a nice side effect.
More on this next week.
To your health,
Mario and Amanda
