Day 51

Just had my last lesson with Gary Gibson! Six months ago I signed up for his health coaching program, The Vegan Effect. I consider myself an expert diet-er. I've done Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, Slimfast, counting calories, a 21-day Cleanse, way too many 3-day fad diets, SparkPeople . . .etc, etc, etc. I used to religiously run 3 miles around the Cooper River in Pennsauken, NJ. I ran a 5k a couple of years ago. I've hiked 20 miles through the Appalachian Trail. I did weight training programs. I've trained on bikes, rowers, treadmills - used every weight machine in multiple gyms. All of these things work! But none of them stuck. So the weight would start to come off, I would get tired of whatever I was doing, and the weight would come back on. I realized that while I was doing these things, two things never mattered to me. Health and nutrition. I didn't care if I was healthy. I didn't care what I was putting into my body - as long as it wasn't an animal. I think the reason I didn't care, is that I was healthy. I had to have a physical when I got into my grad school program - and every number was normal. Cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure - you name it. So who cares?

Honestly, I was hesitant to commit to 6 months of health and nutrition being shoved down my throat. What if I got tired of it? What if I didn't commit? It would be a waste of time and money. And for the first few months, it was. I would follow some direction - but I wasn't whole-heartedly invested. Because it really didn't matter to me. And my habits - my addictions - were so strong that I couldn't realistically see me ever breaking them. I was convinced that all I had to do was figure out a way to lose weight by still getting my daily fix of Wendy's french fries.

I started to feel bad that I wasn't changing the way I was eating. I felt accountable to Gary. I felt guilty that I would show up having done virtually nothing that he asked. He kept mentioning the documentary Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. (Which I think you can watch for free on Hulu!) And I kept putting off watching it. Finally, I figured the least I could do was watch a stupid movie. So I did. And that was it.

For the first time, I actually think about food as energy. I actually think about food in terms of what it can do for my body - my mental and physical health. For the first time, I imagine a life in which I eat to live. I'm hoping this is the revolutionary shift in thinking that really changes my relationship with food.

Having been on my juice fast now for 51 days, all of Gary's lessons take on a whole new meaning than they did when I didn't care about health. I can't wait to eat - but I can't wait to eat in a NEW way. I'm excited to eat an alkaline diet. A raw diet. A vegan diet. I've always been a cautiously optimistic kind of person. So I won't say I'm changed for life. But I can say I've never felt this way before.

If you're thinking about changing the way you eat or you're looking for health coaching or fitness coaching or you just want more information - definitely, definitely check out his website! I thought I had heard everything there was to hear about healthy eating. But I was way wrong! He offered so much information that was totally brand new to me - and pushed me into an entirely new way of living. And it doesn't matter where you are in the world, because he Skypes.

I had to dedicate a blog to Gary - because he's the reason this is happening at all! Thanks, Gary.