Well, hello there my good friends!

How is everything going with you?  Are you holding up okay despite the yo-yo behavior of the stock market and the results of the third presidential debate?

I have to tell you that I didn’t watch the 3rd debate on TV but followed everything on Twitter.   I was lucky enough to have a pretty good idea of what was happening throughout the debate because of funny, snarky Twitter commentators like Michael Martine from Remarkablogger.  He was quite the character, giving his no holds-barred opinions throughout the debate, which made me laugh and smile.

Okay, let’s talk about gratitude.

I’m telling you, ever since I started the raw food lifestyle in September 2008, my emotions have been, well, RAW.  While I’ve always believed in the power of gratitude, somehow this new journey has opened the way for getting in touch with my emotions even more.   While it doesn’t happen all the time, I’m noticing that when I’m in a state of calm, blissful state of awareness, I tend to cry rivers of tears when I’m feeling grateful.   You can’t get more emotionally raw than that!

If you want my take on things, the more I take care of my body with the right kind of foods, the cleaner I feel.  This leads me to being more in touch with my inner self.    Even after 30 days of eating mostly raw food, my body is still “detoxifying,” eliminating excess weight left behind by the foods I used to eat over the years.  When your body “detoxifies,” you become more in touch with your emotions.

How is that possible?

Because you’re no longer an “emotional eater.”  Oprah is famous for eating comfort food, stuffing herself regardless of whether she was excited, happy, sad or depressed.  That led her to “out of control” binge eating.  I think most of us can relate to that in some way, form or shape.

The moment I went raw, I became captain of my ship once again.   Because I am fully aware of what I put in my body, I am back in control.  The cleaner my body becomes, the more I get in touch with my emotions because all that junk is now leaving me.

I am so inspired and grateful that I am devoting one whole gratitude post to one person.  That’s right, just one person.

Meet Philip McCluskey Who Lost 200 lbs Eating Raw!

To my surprise and delight, a good handful of you have told me you’ve been inspired by my new raw food lifestyle.  You’ve sent me emails, commented at this blog and left messages on both Facebook and Twitter.

In fact, some of you have already begun your foray into the raw food lifestyle while others have been “thinking about it…….”

Today, I wish to inspire you even more.

Enter Philip McCluskey of LovingRaw.

He is a young man who has one of the most inspiring stories of all time in the raw food community.  The more you delve into this way of life, the more you’ll see and hear of him - it’s inevitable.   (Photo:  Philip in LA.)

I found out about him almost immediately after starting my foray into this unique world and I’m incredibly grateful for it.  I think you will be too.

Here’s a guy who once weighed 400 lbs!!!!

As he tells it, he’s tried every diet out there but nothing worked.  My impression was that he was an unhappy, emotional eater who simply didn’t care about his body.  But one day it all started with a trip overseas, particularly Amsterdam, where one woman asked him point blank,  “How did you get to be so big?”

That was a divine light bulb of a moment for him.   It’s not clear how he discovered raw foods but he has since lost over 200 lbs and looks absolutely radiant in all of his videos and photos.  Take a look at Before/After pictures and you’ll see what I’m talking about.   You’ll have to read his bio for the rest of the story.

I have to tell you that sometimes (more often than not) I suddenly start to cry whenever I watch him on video or look at his photos.   All I can tell you is that this happens because I see the love in his heart and the pure spirit that he is.   He’s like a mirror looking right back at me.  Remember, all of us are mirror images of one another.  If you love or hate something about someone else, it’s because you see an aspect of yourself in that other person.

He has a quote that I love:  “I am half the man I once was but…………”

How can anyone NOT respond to that?

From what I’ve gathered from the raw food community, there are reports of people who simply radiate love and light from within.  You’ve heard of Steve Pavlina, right?   He’s one of the most famous personal development bloggers who decided to try the raw food journey himself and even blogged about it for 30 days.

Well, in September 2008, Pavlina went to a raw food festival, after which he wrote up a fascinating summary of his experience, Raw Spirit Festival Report.  Here’s the best part of the report:

I have to remark that the people at the festival were just gorgeous - beautiful bodies, skin, hair, eyes, etc. Sometimes I just wanted to sit and people-watch. This might sound strange, but I found myself feeling attracted to almost everyone. Even people who were 20 years older than me seemed to exude a certain sensuality and chemistry I found intoxicating. It’s almost like everyone had this inner radiance that was coming out. As far as I could tell, not many people were wearing makeup, although there was an abundance of jewelry and tattoos.

In closing, let me present you an inspiring YouTube video taken from the CBS show, “The Doctors,” where Philip made an appearance about two and a half minutes into the raw food segment.   (NOTE:  if you are seeing this article via email or RSS, please click on the title of this article to see the video):

Thank you Philip for inspiring me more than you’ll ever realize!  I look forward to the day we meet.  The rest of you, have a blessed weekend until the next time I write to you.

UPDATE:  I FINALLY TOOK THE PLUNGE AND CREATED A NEW DOMAIN NAME FOR MY FUTURE RAW FOOD BLOG.

YEP, I REGISTERED IT THIS MORNING.

IT WILL BE CALLED “STEPHEN GONE RAW DOT COM”  STAY TUNED FOR UPDATES - WOOT!

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