The Start

WEEK 1 – 3

Week 1

This thing works. That’s clear from day 1. We’re supposed to take our measurements and upload our photos. I even correspond with Wildfit support because I am reluctant to upload photos. Only my coach and I can see them, but they reserve the right to use them. Only with my permission of course. Huh? I’m European. We’re into privacy and internet security etc. We don’t like to let go of our rights, especially if we pay a substantial amount for an online program. In the end I do it anyway. I get the point, and I realize it’s important to have before and after pictures. I understood that before, but what gets me is the fact that there is a clause that says you will not get your money back if you didn’t fulfill the requirements like uploading your before pics. I upload them. With measurements I don’t have an issue, I just find it funny how it’s supposed to be a health program, and then they are totally focused on weight loss. They want you to fill in your weight and measure all sorts of parts of your body like your neck and ankle, which I find funny. I’ve never done it before, nor am I sure how much I weigh, so I do it. I skip the BMI and some other thing that every American probably knows by heart but a European couldn’t care less about.

So we start. In come the daily videos. Surprise no. 1: we are not supposed to change anything. That’s right, nothing. Eat and exercise- or don’t – exactly like you have been doing. ONLY: drink at least 6-8 glasses of water (the measurements in ounces are a problem. They shouldn’t do that on a program where people from all over the world participate.) AND: paying attention to our inner dialogue. Inner what? Well, the voices in our head, Eric calls them angel and devil, that are making us do something (as the devil usually wins) that is bad for us. Like: Come on, have a piece of chocolate, it’s just a piece of chocolate, and you eat so healthily anyway. – My dialogue usually ends here. Not much of a dialogue, I don’t need arguing. I eat the damn chocolate. For other people it’s more complicated.

Wildfit season = harvest season. Lucky coincidence.

In the evening of day 1 we have our first live call. 1277 people from all over the world are participating in the program. Eric is our guru. I will not ask for my money back. It’s clear that this is going to work and that this is a fabulous program. Eric Edmeades feeds us with a mixture of knowledge about nutrition (“Back then they had to eat whatever was in season. So in fruit season, you couldn’t stop eating fruit when you were full. You needed to stock up for the long time to the next fruit season which is why we overeat on sweets.”), facts about the evilness of the food industry (“They are worse than the tobacco industry.”), and psychology (“If you crave something, try to find out what memory you connect to the particular food item or situation. What you really crave is that feeling or the person connected to it, not the food.”). He talks to participants and encourages us. He listens, he comforts, he reassures, he is direct and honest, and he is right. We love him. By the end of week two someone writes in the live chat, which is happening simultaneously to every call, “Eric for president”. I wholeheartedly agree and demand an extra FB page for that.

FB- that’s where the group bonds, where we exchange experiences, tell our stories, ask questions, encourage each other and have fun. I love it. I spend more time in FB since the program has started than I ever have before. I’m addicted.

So I pay attention to my inner dialogue. Yes, I have dialogues, and of course they sound like every other participant’s dialogue: Angel: Be good and ignore that cookie there, it’s bad or you, and you don’t even want it. Devil: Free food! – Done deal, eaten. These bad food habits are not really why I’m in this – or are they?- t’s more the coffee, maybe the cigarettes. Does it make a difference though? Wouldn’t bad eating habits and other badies like coffee and smoking have the same roots? We wil find out. The point is that I signed up because I want more energy and dream of needing less sleep. It would be nice for my brian fog to disappear or brighten up, to have a sharper mind and to be able to stay focused. If I lost a few kilos along the way I wouldn’t complain either. Having been an overweight child the feeling of being too big has stuck with me. Though I have been perfectly normal weight and size since I was 11 I can’t seem to get rid of feeling too fat and of sucking my tummy in. At this point I can’t even imagine what it would feel like to accomplish even only 1 or two of these goals.

Meanwhile I learn something important: Nicotine is not physically addictive. There are no withdrawal symptoms when you quit. Not so with caffeine. I know, I’ve been there. Repeatedly. How often did I stop drinking coffee? It lasted for a while like with everything else, like quitting smoking, but at some point I always went back. Eric wants us to get rid of these “at some point”s. And he is so right. I love the way he does it. So first we are not changing anything, just raising awareness around our psychological connections to harmful foods. And the increased water intake of course. We learn about the 6 hungers, one of which is actually thirst as food used to be mainly vegetables which are full of water. So when our body gives us the signal: hungry!, it cannot distinguish between thirst and hunger. We learn so many interesting things that even I didn’t know. I love it. Did I mention that that was my main overall reason/ratio for spending all this money: I was very curious about how he would do it, how this would work in turning our lives around. What it would be that he would feed us so that we would better feed ourselves. So now I know, and I soak it up.

My first epiphany comes by the end of week 1. My coffee issue is nothing but the memory of these childhood morning when my dad and I were the first ones in the kitchen. He would first grind his coffee and then make himself a cup. I never noticed consciously, but the sound of that grinder is still in my ears, and I do remember vividly that this was my time with my dad alone. My dad-time so to speak. I guess I was daddy’s girl. And now I’m stuck with coffee. What a revelation. I am amazed at how his program works. And I’m sick of drinking coffee. Fed up. But there is the magic sentence: Eric said so. He forbids us to change anything. He threatens us. We are forced to continue as before. He either wants us to get really sick of our bad habits or he has a devilish plan. Neither. He says that in order to stop something for good it’s too early. So we obey. We force all this stuff that we are becoming disgusted with down our throats. And some. Eric said so is a magic trick, and not only a few of us gain some weight in these first weeks. Me too, I eat everything I come across: Eric said it was ok. Right, he said to continue as before, he never said to convert into a food sucking robot.

We may need a bigger fridge

Week 2

Somewhere in week 1 or week 2 he introduces the alkagizer, a green smoothie. We’re supposed to drink 2 glasses every day. He does it cleverly: first we are being made aware of our patterns etc. Then he makes sure our bodies get the nutrients they need. I’m amazed at how many people find the alkagizer terrible and have a hard time forcing it down their throats. I stick with my usual morning juice (the one I have been drinking for years), but am wondering whether his ingredients provide better stuff than mine. After all, his juice is green. Mine is red from the beetroot. He makes me insecure. Me! The health expert who tells everyone else how to do things. I add kale and spinach to my juice. Eric is right. I need that. And I want to succeed. I want presentable after-pictures- I’m aware that I have crossed the 30 days- threshold. Or have I ? Too late to get my money back. But I don’t want to. I want to be in this.I want to participate, want to create permanent, lasting change. I want to be the health and body I always wanted and know is right. I want to convert my body form a sugar burning engine into a fat burning engine. And I want to stay with the group. My group. And Eric. Our guru. We adore him. Which is not hard since he is this rare example of outstanding public talking abilities, knowledge, intelligence and humor. He is charming and he cracks me up. He is direct and yet polite so that people get the point. He is American enough (he is Canadian) to be polite and sensitive and European enough to be direct and honest. The truth can hurt, but we want results.

So from week 2 we are eating fruit first thing in the morning. On an empty stomach? Cold fruit? Only? I know, my old TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) heart is revolting, and if I hadn’t been eating raw for some time now, I would have a real tough time with this. But I end up removing my quinoa, my nuts, my coconut, hemp seeds, etc from my fruit platter, double the amount, and am – happy and satisfied. We are supposed to eat the fruit first, then drink our juice, then eat like always after 30 min so the fruit can digest instead of mixing with other food while fermenting, thereby creating all sort sof unwanted unhealthy gases. I don’t eat anything else. I’m full. For 4 hours or more. And I feel great. Except – my stomach is bloated. I get a little gas sometimes. I stop drinking the apple cider vinegar first thing in the morning and switch the Heilerde (healing earth) I drink to the evening. Maybe the cider reacts with the fruits? Who knows? I’ll give it a try.

Week 3

In week 3 it happens. What we have all been waiting for and been scared of. Eric takes a food off us. Not really a food, but an essence: sugar. I am relieved. Finally something removed. Finally a big step, something that’s a change for me as well. And so far – Thursday week 3, I have had no issues with it. Eric said so is a rule deeply engraved in my head. Which makes me realize- that’s exactly why he’s been so repetitive and strict on the Eric said so – it works both ways. It simply works. We have been good students, and whatever Eric says is the law. Hurray!