No one was really surprised by either win, thanks to the sheer athleticism, power, and track record of both players.  But EVERYONE was dumbfounded by the match that began Tuesday, June 22, 2010 and finally ended Thursday, June 24, 2010.

When it was all said and done, American John Isner finally beat French player Nicolas Mahut after 11 hours and 5 minutes spread over 2 days.  The score came to 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6 and 70-68!

John Isner

That’s a total of 183 games played!!!

I think there’s a lot we can learn from John Isner and his glorious win.  And you know I can relate it to a low fat raw food diet somehow!

#1: Game Plan

If you want to be a professional/expert in any field, you have to have a game plan.

In tennis, the goal is simple: WIN!  But you must have a PLAN for winning.  You have to know when it’s the right time to serve big, to hit cross court, to slice, etc.   You also have to know your own limitations.

And this plan will change based upon the opponent and the playing conditions (whether you’re playing on clay or grass, if it’s windy outside, etc.), not to mention the physical and mental condition of the athlete himself/herself.

Raw Food Related

When going raw, the game plan also seems simple: stay raw!  But the details vary from person to person:

• What are my favorite fruits and greens?
• How much fruit do I need each day?
• Am I ready to give up salt?
• Do I want to go 100% raw?

All of these questions and more should be answered in your raw game plan.  And it may even change depending upon the given situation, i.e. when you’re traveling, at a restaurant, etc.

It all depends upon you and the dietary goals you set for yourself.

#2: Focus

In order to stick to his game plan and win the match, Isner had to be incredibly focused.

If he wasn’t, he would have been so easily distracted.  There’s the large and looming crowd, the cameras, the commentators.  It’s enough to make anyone lose their concentration and forget all about their game plan!

Raw Food Related

When going raw, you have to be focused too!

Sure, it’s pretty easy to stay raw when you’re in the comforts of your own home.  It isn’t quite the same when you’re out and about, attending lunch and learns, going out to eat with friends, visiting family members during the food-frenzied holidays, etc.

That’s when you have to bring your A-game and stay super focused on the game plan you created for yourself.  A little index card with your raw reasons printed on it and slipped into your back pocket/purse to refer to is a big help here.

#3: Action

There’s a reason athletes of all kinds play their sport of choice for multiple hours a day.  This is how you put both your game plan and your mental focus into action and really hone your skills.

Not only that, but you start to form habits.  Before the athlete knows it, he no longer has to think about watching the ball hit the racket or pronating when he serves.  It becomes automatic.

Raw Food Related

When going raw, you actually have to GO RAW!  I say that in all seriousness because so many people become inactive because of information overload.  They read books upon books upon books about going raw, but just never get around to actually deciding on a program and doing it.

You can have all the knowledge about raw foods in the world, but it won’t mean diddly squat if you don’t actually put it to good use.

If you want to go raw, you have to take that first step.  And it can be as tiny or as giant as you like.  You may even find after giving a raw food diet a go that you need to adjust your game plan.

For instance, maybe you set the bar high with a plan to go 100% low fat raw vegan without any salt, spices, or condiments of any kind.  After a few days, you realize this is a bit unrealistic for you and your current lifestyle so you decide to cut back to a 75% low fat raw vegan diet instead.

Once you stick to a game plan consistently for a bit of time, it will get easier and easier.  Making a big banana smoothie for lunch or having your favorite juicy fruit followed by greens for dinner will just be automatic.

Let’s Recap

If you want to be a successful raw foodist, you have to:

1. Set a raw game plan you can stick to
2. Stay focused on your game plan
3. Put your game plan and focus into practice

We can’t all be tenacious tennis champs, but we can ALL be radiant raw foodists!

Go raw and be fit,

Swayze

* What’s New?: NOW I’m Back

* Feature Article: My Dog is a Raw Foodist ( and SO CAN YOU!)

NOW I’m Back

Hey gang!  Here’s my little niece, Jet, rockin’ out in her brand-new fairy dress on her 5th birthday:

Jet Jammin’ on the Drums

As I mentioned last time, my big sis, brother-in-law, and niece came to visit for a few weeks recently.  It was so, so great seeing them again.  My Mom and I are actually planning to go visit them for a week or so this fall in Southern California.

I’m so excited!  I’ve never been anywhere west of Arkansas!

Anyway, my hiatus is fully over so expect lots of quality content to come.  Speaking of, enjoy the following article and some cute and cuddly animal pics.

Swayze

My Dog is a Raw Foodist (and SO CAN YOU!)

I have a dog named Bean Dip.  That’s right, Bean Dip (long story).  She’s a 12 year old Border Collie and she’s the best dog ever.  She’s super intelligent, really sweet, and just an all-around great furry friend.

What else makes her totally awesome?

She’s a raw foodist (3 years this November) and a fruit lover just like you and me!

Check it out:

Bean Dip Noshin’ on Some ‘Nanas

She absolutely loves bananas and eats them mashed up like this every day.  She also really enjoys other calorically dense fruits like persimmons, when they’re in season, and grapes.

I know what you’re thinking: “I struggle so hard to eat enough fruit and stay raw.  What does this beautiful border know that I don’t!”

Slow and Steady Wins the Race!

When Bean Dip first started eating bananas (she begged me for some while I was having lunch one day), she could only eat about two at one time.  Slowly but surely, I began increasing the amount I gave to her.  I would give her little bites at a time and she would eat about 5 bananas or so.

Then I realized it was much easier for her to eat if I mashed them up a little bit in a bowl for her.

Using this method, she nows eats between 8-10 bananas every afternoon, along with raw meat for breakfast and some other fruits during the evening.  That’s almost 1000 calories from bananas, the amount I eat during my own fruity lunch meal!

Take it from Beanie, you don’t have to go 100% low fat, high fruit, salt, spice, and condiment-free right away.  If you absolutely cannot get enough calories from sweet fruit right now, for WHATEVER reason at all, it’s no big deal.

Simply eat as much fruit as you can and slowly increase your intake as you feel comfortable.  Allow yourself time to play with recipes, find out your favorite fruits, and get used to the flavor of simple raw fruits and veggies without having to worry about being 100%.

You can even start the fool-proof way by having all the fruit you want for breakfast, while eating whatever you normally eat (cooked, high-fat raw, whatever) for lunch and dinner.

This is exactly the technique I recommend and explain in The Fool-Proof Transition to Raw, a free 5-day mini-course that you will receive by subscribing to my list.

If you haven’t subscribed, just fill out the form below:

Bottom line: If my dog can ruff it raw and fit in the fruit, I know you totally can too!

Go rrrr-aw and be rrrr-it,

Swayze

P.S. My cats are also raw and have been since 2007, but they stick to meat.  That said, here’s a pic of my maine coon, McGuirk:

McGurik Lapping Up Avocado

He also likes tomatoes, cantaloupe, grapes, and ASPARAGUS, of all the foul things.

* What’s New?: I’m Back…Kind Of

* Feature Article: Stop Waiting For That “Ah-Hah!” Moment

I’m Back…Kind Of

Hey gang! Sorry for the hiatus! Did ya miss me? I’ve sure missed you!

To make a long story short, I’ve been really busy with school and didn’t have much time for writing about fruit and fitness. I FINALLY graduated last week and so I’m back now!

Well, not quite yet.

My sister, brother-in-law, and almost 5-year old niece are coming in from California to stay with us for the rest of May. I haven’t seen them in over 2 years and I just can’t wait! They get here this afternoon!

Anyway, I’m sure I’ll be super busy while they’re here so I’ve just decided to take the rest of the month off until they leave.

I know, I know, I’m so neglectful.

But look on the bright side! I’ll be fully refreshed by the time I get back and ready to write, with all the time in the world to do it!

So enjoy the warm weather, beautiful flowers, and new Fit On Raw feature article below. I’ll be back before ya know it.

Swayze

Stop Waiting For That “Ah-Hah!” Moment

Let me guess.  You’re here because you really want to go raw the right way.  you’ve heard about all the amazing benefits (awesome digestion, clear skin, permanent weight loss, etc.) and you’re so ready to experience them for yourself.

But you’ve also heard about the dreaded COOKED FOOD CRAVINGS and are a little leery about getting started.

There MUST be some simple information out there that will keep the crazy cravings at bay, right?  And once you learn it, THEN you’ll be able to go raw and avoid any and all tempting cooked cuisine.

Might as well sit back, relax, and wait for the “ah-hah” moment.

Not so fast, my fearful “wannabe-fruity” friend…

Stop BS’ing Yourself

Waiting for the “Ah-Hah!” moment – that moment when you are suddenly bestowed with the knowledge and ability to go raw for good with little to no effort – is the same type of thinking that brings you “I’ll start for sure tomorrow” and “Just one bite won’t hurt.”

Sitting around praying for a light bulb somewhere inside your brain to turn on is lazy and completely pointless.

There is no light bulb!

There is no magical ah-hah moment in which you learn some sacred knowledge that makes all your cooked food cravings disappear.

Trust me on this one.

I spent many months on my butt stuffing my face with food, faithful that if I just kept reading more and more books and visiting more and more forums, one day someone’s pithy statement would alert me to all the wonders of the universe and I would be a 100% raw foodist just like that.

You want to know what I got out of all that waiting and reading? Diddly-squat.

Until I actually dedicated myself to going raw and began working toward that goal (i.e. actually EATING a raw food diet!), nothing changed for me at all.

You Gotta Work For It

My big point here is that if you want to stop struggling with cravings, you have to put in the work.

Luckily for you, it’s pretty simple.

Just eat as much sweet fruit to satisfy you every single day – as much as you want and whenever you have a craving – while also limiting your fat intake and getting in some tasty tender greens. Throw in some exercise, lots of sleep, some sunshine and clean water and you’re REALLY living the good life!

Hey, I said SIMPLE, not easy.

Go raw and be fit,

Swayze

The always glamorous RuPaul

Start your engine!  It’s Monday and that means an all new episode of RuPaul’s DragRace!

DragRace is a reality show hosted by Mrs. Drag Queen herself, RuPaul, in which several divas compete in areas of hair, makeup, fashion, performance, etc. to be deemed the most fierce queen of them all.

Peppered with fabulously kitschy sayings like “sashay away,” “shante, you stay,” and “lip sync for your life,” this show is my ultimate guilty pleasure…well, besides Lady Gaga, America’s Best Dance Crew, and Alton Brown.

Back to the point of this article: what in the world do both drag queens AND raw foodists need to be successful?

Balls!

No, not *those* kind of balls!  Geez, get your mind out of the gutter!

I’m talkin’ about courage, boldness, tenacity, and fortitude.  I’m talkin’ about having the guts to go against the grain and the backbone to be the best YOU you can be, despite what anyone else says or thinks!

In other words, you need CONFIDENCE and lots of it!

Just as the queens need all the confidence in the world to sashay down that stage, you need all the confidence you can muster to work it raw in this crazy cooked food kingdom!

Grow a Pair

When someone pokes fun at your diet or belittles you for it in front of others, don’t just sit there and take it.  And don’t honor their comments by arguing either.

Instead, learn a lesson from the glam girls on DragRace.  Hold your head up high, puff out your chest, and proudly exclaim that raw foods keep you fit, fine, and fabulous and that’s just the way you like it!

Once your aggressors see that you’re not swayed by their brusque behavior and are completely confident in your choices, they’ll move on to weaker prey.  No one can argue with a stone wall, no matter how fruit-filled or glammed-up!

Work It, Girl (or Guy)

So sashay away my little fruit fairies and RAWK IT RAW like never before!

Go raw and stay FIERCE,

Swayze

P.S. Having trouble keepin’ your rawness fierce and fabulous around family and friends?  Check out my program:

21 Days to Conquer Your Cooked Food Cravings

A Daily Guide for Ending Cravings on a Raw Food Diet

Option #2 includes a bonus e-book called Surviving Sticky Social Situations on a Raw Food Diet that may be just what you’re looking for.

www.cookedfoodcravings.com

My Raw Model

Going and staying raw is hard work!  Sure, the diet itself is super easy…just grab some fruit and go.  But to actually live it and stick to it takes a lot of know-how, a lot of willpower, and a lot of experience.

And so becoming a thriving raw foodist can become a bit of a process and can be enough to turn away any well-meaning health enthusiast from raw foods for good.

But wait!  There is a way to make staying raw much easier for you and perhaps even shorten the process a bit.

Have a Good Raw Model!

A raw model is a raw foodist whom you respect and trust and who inspires you to go and stay raw.  Following in someone else’s footsteps can make things much easier for you in a few different ways:

• A good raw model knows the ins-and-outs of raw and can easily explain the basics to you.
• A good raw model can provide great motivation and encouragement, which is especially handy during times of cravings or just plain laziness.
• A good raw model can help you avoid beginner mistakes by sharing his or her own experiences.

How to Find a Good Raw Model

The best raw model is someone whom you know personally.  Of course, this is very rare.  I know if I had my own thriving raw foodist at my beck and call, I would have had no problems going raw!

The next best thing would be to look for someone with a blog who posts regularly.  That last part is important.  You don’t want someone with only 3 articles who posts every few months or so.  It’s also helpful if you can interact with this person, through blog comments, private messages, or email.

If there aren’t any raw bloggers you find motivating, look for forum users instead.  Again, search for someone who is frequently on the forum, constantly posting, and whose words and actions “speak to you.”

My Raw Model

While there are many raw foodists who have kept me motivated to stay raw, there is one person in particular who really inspires me.  That person is Sarah from Going Bananas!

I remember that first visit to her blog like it was yesterday…

It was October 31, 2007, and I was polishing off some pizza and Halloween candy before my big “30 Day Low Fat Raw Experiment” that I was starting the next day.

Because it would have been a sin to start early and let all that leftover candy go to waste, right?

Anyway, I somehow came across Sarah’s blog and was immediately enamored.  Here I was, barely able to put down the fun-sized Milky Way, and this little woman had already been COMPLETELY low fat raw since January!

I just had to know her secret.

So I spent the rest of the night and into the next morning reading ALL of her blog posts (check her archives…it’s a lot of posts).  I found all of them super inspiring and packed with knowledge.  More importantly, Sarah’s silly sense of humor, kindness, and honesty really resonated with me.  I bet she could write an entire article on the molecular structure of paint thinner and I would still be completely enthralled.

Anyway, all this had me so worked up and excited about raw that I decided to document my journey as well.  Called “raw food and me,” my blog ran from November 2007 to June 2008.

Having a blog really helped me to stay accountable to my goals and made it much more difficult to justify eating “that one bite” of cooked food.

I still have all of my old posts from raw food and me.  I’m just not quite sure what to do with them yet.

So Who’s Your Raw Model?

Do you have a raw model that you just can’t stay raw without?  Let me know in the comments section!

Oh!  If you haven’t already, you’ve got to check out Sarah’s Raw Food Blog.  She just recently updated it after a year-long hiatus.  Needless to say, I was thrilled!  But she isn’t sure whether she will continue blogging or not.

It’s probably better if she doesn’t.  Otherwise, I will never leave my computer!

Go raw and be fit,

Swayze