Day 3 complete, now onto Day 4 - *hump day*

This week is really going by quickly... The fasting is going very well - I'm managing to just *be* with my hunger, which is new. ;) I also realize how *much* I eat when I'm not fasting. 2 or 2.5L of smoothie is not an entire day's worth of sustenance when I'm eating, but I'm managing quite well on only the smoothie, a little herbal tea, some kombucha, and water. So I guess normally I tend to overeat.

[I'm working into juice fasting, in case you're wondering; in the past I've jumped into juicing, but I find smoothies are great when life continues around me and I need to be away from home (we have no juice bar in our town) and I find juicing quite time-consuming to prepare a day's worth of juices in the morning - like, an hour or more; and smoothies are about 10 minutes to prepare a day's worth... hopefully over the course of 2012, since I'll be fasting the first 7 days of EVERY month, I'll be on juices soon enough. I don't consider this week's fast a "non-fast" because it's smoothies rather than juices. Smoothies are liquid, and are also one way of slowing detox down a little, and I am fully aware that my weight crept up (shockingly) on me in 2012, I didn't exercise regularly all year (tai chi notwithstanding). So smoothies are my choice of fuel this week; we'll see next month if I'm ready to take on juicing.]

Overeating: It's a gradual thing - something that builds up over weeks and months, and before you know it, I'm eating for the sensory experience that eating brings, and not because my body is actually needing nourishment/fuel. (good grief! how many of us are like that!!) Learning appropriate portion sizes will be one thing I master in 2012. :)

It's interesting, I've read my intentions/resolutions every morning and every night for, well, 4 days now I guess, and I'm starting to really *feel* them. It's not just a rush-through read; I read them slowly, aloud, and try to be fully present while reading them. It takes about 5 minutes. I envision my life at the end of this year, so changed - especially moving house after nearly 15 years, dh moving job locations, and my renewed commitment to raw foods and health.

I've been vegan for nearly 6 years now (and a raw vegan for nearly 4 years) - an overnight change from eating an omnivorous standard american diet to becoming a whole foods vegan - and that first year of exercising... ohhhh, those first few months were really challenging, as I attempted to exercise with so much extra weight on my body - the chaffing, the sweat, the struggle to be active when you're carrying extra weight around. I *truly* understand what that's like. The embarassment you feel, the disappointment in your Self. How could I have let this happen?! Being surrounded by family or roommates who continue to eat SAD foods. Feeling like a social misfit, when you go out with friends or family and no longer choose to consume alcohol, or meat, or dairy. Oh yes, I've been there. I've worked through it all.

But being active, healthy, and a raw vegan is not about deprivation. Nor is fasting. It is about choosing to be healthy. I am worthy. I deserve to be healthy. It is my body's optimal condition, and my body will heal itself if I just give it the time, the opportunity, to do so. So that's what 2012 is: an opportunity to heal.

I am sooooooooooo looking forward to this year - to this very moment! CARPE DIEM!!!! SEIZE THE DAY!!!! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!