We managed to eat between 50% - 80% raw each day and had a wonderful honeymoon. We did notice though the return of aching joints, feeling tired in the afternoon and the return of food cravings, more so me than Ross and mainly because of the candida. We also noticed that we ate more and felt uncomfortable and that the food was heavy and sat in our stomachs for longer. We didn''t realise how used to the raw food we had been getting. We were both looking forward to getting back to the 100% raw and now are starting on a 4 -5 week cleanse to clear mucoid plaque out of our intestinal tract and colon.

We are following Richard Anderson's regime and the herbs for it are arriving this week. We are combining it with Gabriel Cousens cleanup diet which we will be on for 6 months and involves having no fruit or high glycemic vegetables. These were the only guidelines I found for dealing with the Candida from a raw food point of view as neither Victoria Butenko or Alicia Cohen replied to my email requests on how to deal with Candida - even though they had both replied quickly to other emails regarding book orders and followup. I think it must be a difficult problem to get a handle on.

Ross and I are booked in for colonics in 2 and a half weeks with another follow-up one in 2 weeks after that. The colonics are excellent for speeding up the cleansing process. We are taking okra capsules until the Arise and Shine herbs arrive and a few days before the wedding they shifted some mucoid plaque in me. We were both excited about it and photographed it. We are hoping to get a lot more than that. Once we introduced the cooked foods in Queenstown it stopped the shifting of the plaque even though we were still on the okra capsules. In Richard Anderson's book it seems that the average is anywhere from 30 feet to 40 feet of plaque at one cleanse, so bring it on. Who needs that stuff in you. He also talks about releasing old negative emotions that actually get trapped with the plaque and that once released the feelings of love and joy flow more freely. Can't wait.

Starting weight for the cleanse is 65 kilos for me - don't know what Ross is at the moment, will have to weigh him tomorrow. See ya later.

I realised what it was and so we stopped having the xylitol straight away after a narrow escape. So back to the drawing board. We have decided to do a serious bowel cleanse and colonic to clear out old pockets plus I have ordered Gabriel Cousens book that talks about dealing with candida from a raw perspective and apparently lays out menus and guidelines to follow. Can't wait for the cravings to be gone completely, they are still hanging around a little and I don't like having them back at all. So beware any of you that are thinking of trying xylitol as a candida cure.

My hip and back are still giving me grief and I am so hanging out for the day when the pain fades and disappears. It fuels my determination more than anything. My candida is still going strong so I am cutting out fruit for the next 3 weeks or in other words, until our wedding. We are both eating very simply and really enjoying coleslaw (salad made with cabbage) plus olives, avocadoes and tomatoes are pretty high on the list. Felt pretty good this last week and can feel improvements in energy levels with each day that passes. Have started sprouting and did some chickpeas then made them into hummus but Ross and I decided that we didn't like that so back to the simple stuff.

We tried a raw cauliflower dish this week with a mushroom sauce but the stomachs couldn't handle it yet. I think we need to keep it simple for a while longer until our tastes adjust a bit more. Still enjoying the food anyway and have absolutely no desire to head back down the cooked food route. Even though our tummies are going through their thing at the moment we are still, in other ways, feeling better - sort of lighter and clearer on all levels. More than anything I love being free of food cravings, attachments and desires.

My relationship to food feels a whole lot heathier. We just see this early part as a necessary cleansing, not a reason to stop. My eyesight has been very poor over these 3 weeks and so as time goes by I am hoping for great improvements. Emotionally we are not as irritable and grumpy as the first week and find we both handle stress a lot better. Don't have a lot of energy yet with the tummy upset so not feeling like running out the door to the gym yet, aren't even walking as much as I used to. Our muscles just feel tired.

The candida is raging rampant in my body now that I have been having some fruit and dried fruit so I am going to cut it back for a while - probably 3 weeks and keep taking grapefruit seed extract to bring it all into balance. I also want to get the pickled vegies going for the enzymes which will also help to bring a healthy balance into my system. Ross is feeling weak and exhausted too and has lumps popping up on his legs and arms. We figure it will be at least another week of major cleansing. Hopefully, fingers crossed, it will ease after that.

Yesterday made a tomato type sauce out of the cookbook that was a bit strong for Ross and I so I adjusted it and we had it on our salads today- absolutely delicious. Plus I made the carob cake which we both took today with a lovely coconut/banana sauce poured over it. 2 of the ladies at work tried it and loved it. Feeling a bit exhausted tonight so I am going to make us very simple salads. The cake will last a few more days and it is great having it in the fridge as a backup. Still starting the day on raw green juice with green powder followed by nut/seed milk smoothie. Had Papaya in it today - yum yum. Ross and I are noticing that we savor our food more and are really aware of the different flavors.

Made delicious hazelnut milk today with added fruits and other flavors and made sure to use the 5 flavors in it that Victoria Butenko recommends. Tell you what, it sure makes a difference to the food to do that and Ross' and my appreciation of flavors has increased 10 fold. Also made the un-chocolate cake out of her recipe book - yum yum. No, I absolutely do not miss cooked food yet at all.

I weighed myself today so that I know that in the first week I have lost 1 and a half kilos and now weigh 66.5 kilos. Ross wanted me to note his weight which, 3 days ago was 65.5 Kilos. I told him I didn't want to as I told him that it is embarrassing letting people know that he weighs less than me. But then I thought, what the heck! So there you go.

Emotionally also feeling weak and overwhelmed and like going and crawling into bed with a good book for at least a week and not having to deal with anything. Victoria Boutenko's videos arrived yesterday and we have already watched one - it is excellent, highly informative and well worth getting. Have just had green juice with green powder for breakfast and will follow with sesame seed milk. Salad and nori rolls for lunch and dinner plus will make the un-chocolate cake - all very delicious. See you later.

Walking through the streets tonight I could smell food cooking and it smelled nice but not enough for me to want it. Victoria Boutenko reckons that after 2 months you don't even notice it. Still can't get over how well the body maintains its own warmth in this cold weather without the hot food - amazing really. In a lot of ways I feel warmer on the raw food, think my body processes it better - interesting.

As of yesterday I and my partner Ross are raw foodists and at this point can honestly say that we are loving it. Ross and I arrived at this point in our lives due to health issues we are both experiencing - Ross, prostate cancer which does not want to go away and myself with joint aches and pains, chronic fatigue, digestive disorders, systemic candida, failing eyesight and menstrual problems. It doesn't seem a hard decision to make after all these years of dabbling in 'health foods' and practices which now all seemed to be heading for this point. The final frontier to making this step was the realization that I was 'sugar addict', and now realize, a 'cooked food addict' and have huge emotional attachments to my food and eating that weren't doing me any favors.

In the week building up to the change I tapped on all the fears that came up (EFT - emofree.com) and it seemed to make a huge difference as there was no emotional cravings holding me back yesterday. I also made sure to read up and stock up so that Ross and I were able to prepare really delicious meals that meant we did not miss cooked food at all. Leaving work today I could hear the little voice inside me that loved to grab something sweet as a little treat as I headed home - but I just ignored it and headed home to a delicious salad. So far the funniest thing is that neither Ross and I are feeling the cold like we thought we would since we are still in Winter.

Anyway, early days yet and I look forward to sharing this journey with those of you who are interested. Lastly, have weighed my self to gauge weight loss as we go and at this point as we start I am 68 kilos or 149lbs. Cheers