I gave up smoking 9 years ago, as a gift to myself for my 28th birthday.

I had struggled for the 5 years that I did smoke to imagine a life without fags – I was a gig going, beer loving girl, always in the pub with my friends. Smoking, at that time, was very much a part of that.

The week after I gave up I went for my first run in Vicky Park since being nicotine free ( well I was addicted the lozenges for a wile, but hey..), and my lungs actually worked. I could breathe. Stopping smoking was hard – most of my friends still had the habit, but one by one we began to grow up and value our lungs more, so the social side of being the odd one out affected me less.

Social acceptance of a habit or behaviour has always been the nub of my ability to deal with things, and I suspect it is for most people. I am not drinking at the moment, to allow for my body to benefit as much as it can from my high raw diet and supplements. As a mum of young pre-schoolers my pub nights are few and far between so it hasn’t affected me as much as it may have done pre-Minis. I am also not drinking my beloved coffee, to avoid fatiguing my adrenal glands more and to stop the cortisol spike from happening but luckily most places have a caffeine free alternative these days.

So far I am 3 weeks no booze and 2 weeks no coffee, and alongside my high raw diet the changes in my health have been astounding. Really, really astounding. More on that to follow, but the thing about making these changes is that there is often a social shift too. When I was training last year for the Team Bangs Half Marathon it helped me no end to be surrounded by other runners, other people who would be out pounding the pavement instead of heading for the boozer.

Right now, as I start my high raw food journey I don’t know many people around me who eat in a similar way, so the social acceptance of what I am doing may be harder to manage. I know quite a few people online who are real supports to me, but not so many locally or in my social circle. I have a feeling that may change

I wrote before about the social acceptance of being sick, and I really do think that sometimes we as a society find poor health easier to understand than a diet that is different from others. Raw fruit and veg? How odd? No booze? Boring! But chronic fatigue, smoking? Ah yes, normal.

I am not saying that I will never drink again, or that a coffee will never pass my lips. I am not 100% raw and cooked food and occasional organic meat is still part of my diet, but this is how I want to eat, and more importantly to LIVE… Because, as you know I havent been living much recently.

Do you find it hard to give up bad habits? Have you had social acceptances that are hard to manage?

Let me know x

P.S if you are on this journey with me don’t forget to let me know how it’s all going. Also, news is soon to be announced on the Bude Dream Team Chronic Health retreat weekend, stay tuned!