Within/Without

Peace. Peace. Alright so I have to lose weight. I realize this now. I’m usually good with how I look. I don’t suffer from self esteem issues. But my clothes don’t fit. Yeah I can sew some more, or I can lose some weight. Plus, the back fat and the pooch that makes me look like I’m bearing are bothering me. Also, more than before, I have begun to smell like a fat girl. You know the fragrance. It comes from flash on flesh contact that leads to sweat. Bacteria live in said sweat and that’s where the smell comes from. Yeah… I have to change. So I have decided that raw fooding it is the way to go. And it’s a good thing I have been raw before. Otherwise, I would be lost. There is way more information out there than it was when I 1st went raw in 2005. In 2005 there was only Alissa Cohen and some books with pretty pictures and ingredients I had never heard of. And Cohen’s book is only ½ recipe and ½ lifestyle explanations. I treat Cohen’s book like the Bible. But since I’m so familiar with it,...

Peace. I’m not going to blog like crazy about this self imposed food restriction. I ain’t. I swear I ain’t. But I have made some goals and had a few experiences in the last 24 hours that I want to share. First…. I have decided on a loss goal. I ain’t sharing the number because y’all don’t get to be all up in my business like that. No. Not really, Teehee… I’m ashamed of the number and recognize that this must be done in phases. So for the 1st phase I have decided to go half the distance to the 1st goal. That is the short term. And since this is January, I expect to be done with phase 1 by the end of the year. A year is enough time to complete phase 1. Now. I KNOW some of that weight was cycle weight. Yeah I still have one of those!!!! Because I am 3lbs lighter when I got on the scale this morning. And NO I will not be getting on the scale every day. It was just so disturbing yesterday I had to be sure. Here is another thing, and this is why I’m so shocked at the weight gain…. My clothes...

Peace. I’m crazy embarrassed. I have no words. If you are a long term follower of this blog, you know that I haven’t gotten on a scale since 2009. It was my resolution to not weigh myself or fool with my diet too much so that I could reset my metabolism. I was enjoying it too! My God moved down to Allah’s Garden in July 2010. He decided that he was going to transition to vegetarianism so that we had the same diet. He has lost over 20lbs. And that is to be expected. I thought I might have gained a few pounds because I have been eating with him since we are a family. I got on the scale this morning. I have gained 20 lbs since 2009. Not a good look. It’s all I can think about. I don’t know when and where this weight came from. But I do know one thing. It has to go. I have been scouring the internet for ways to decrease that matches my lifestyle. Yes this really sucks. But I intend to be successful in this affair. I have my vanity to consider after all. I am one of those people that puts w...

Peace. I really am. And… oddly enough… I’m proud of it. Let me explain…. I’m not sure if I have shared this event with you guys before. If I have move to the next paragraph…. It was maybe 6 years ago. I fast every year so it’s hard to tell which year it is. But this was during one of my 3-6 week juice fasts. It was definitely 6 years ago, that’s when my dishwasher got replaced. I remember having to wash everything by hand. I was juicing fresh juice and I was drinking store-bought juice. I left 2 identical glasses with just a smidge each of juice in the sink for about 24 hours. The glass with store-bought juice still had the smidge of juice in it. While the glass with the smidge of fresh juice had mold in it. That was an eye opener for me. I realized that what was in that store-bought juice was in me. And just as the juice was embalmed, now was I. Right then I decided to have more control over what I ingested. I know y’all have read the articles on the Happy Meal that didn’t decompose a...

Peace… Okay. I know that maybe a year or so I was singing the praises of my facial routine. About how I have been using Noxzema and Ambi for years months and days and my skin is now glowing and has always been glowing…. I need to amend that. I’m aging. I accept that. I had a good run with the Noxzema/Ambi combo, but my skin has changed and I want to tell you what has become me at the tender age of Culture Cipher…. I began to notice near the beginning of the spring that my skin was looking a little dull. And my forehead was getting mad flaky. Unlike most of the people in my family, I have dry skin. That’s great because it means I won’t be getting very many zits but it does mean that I may fall victim to premature wrinkling. And by premature I mean premature for Black people. I changed my routine a bit. Sometime just using something different for a little while can boost the previous product performance. So I tried the spare products under the sink. That didn’t help. In fact my skin got ...

Peace from the Regular East! I have been a vegetarian for a decade. Sounds a lot harder than it was. I never thought I could give up meat, but my health was begging for it so I acquiesced. I had gotten to the point where I didn't require a meat substitute to have satisfaction. I may eat a veggie burger here and there if I was out and that's all there was. I really do like those riblets that I think garden burger makes. On a bun with some raw onions and you have a sandwich tastier than the McRib. But I don't need them to hold me down. This year the God and I finally began our cohabitation. It has been 6 months of bliss. One of many things that makes it so blissful is that he wanted to become a vegetarian. I was not planning to cook meat in my home... ever again. So it is nice for better homes and gardens that he wanted to make said change. And he has! One problem though..... He likes meat. Like I said... I don't have a problem with faux meat if it is legitimately veget...

There is a difference between eating my regular vegetarian food and eating more of a whole food diet. I have been incorporating more raw food in my routine. I have been making green smoothies for breakfast and having salads for lunch. I have not been completely raw, because I might eat dinner and I definitely eat a cooked mid meal of oatmeal and a boiled egg between breakfast and lunch. So I have been eating about 60% raw for the last 2 weeks. Let me tell you what I have noticed.... The more I eat closer to nature, the less I want to eat over all. That's interesting. I have read that pesticides and additives like high fructose corn syrup will shut off the mechanism that tells you when your full. And I think there is something to that. Eating the sattvic food is better for me. Who knew? I've not noticed the detox that I had during RTR. I have had some odd feelings in my belly, gas and nausea. But I'm not sure if it's detox. It might be. It doesn't hurt like other det...