Cindy Sawyer felt sick after almost every meal and had so much arthritis in her legs, stairs were almost insurmountable.

"I decided 47 was too young to feel this bad," she said.

That decision led the Lovington woman and her husband, Aaron, to make a life-transforming one to go on a vegan diet consisting primarily of raw vegetables and fruits. Known as the Hallelujah Diet, it's based on the diet God intended for Adam and Eve.

Since getting started in October, Cindy, now 48, has lost 30 pounds and Aaron, 46, has lost 40 pounds. She feels 20 years younger, he no longer needs to take medication for high blood pressure or acid reflux, and both have stepped up to a more active lifestyle that includes membership in a Sullivan-based Christian motorcycling club called Road Riders for Jesus.

"I find myself doing things now that I didn't have the energy to do before," Cindy said. "It's nice to feel this good."

The Sawyers are among disciples of a diet developed by the Rev. George Malkmus of Shelby, N.C., who says he overcame colon cancer 30 years ago solely by changing his diet to raw vegetables and fruits and drinking lots of fresh carrot juice.

Their teachers were Terry and Jean Titus of Sullivan, who have been on the diet for two years and who teach it through their business, Get Healthy! Stay Balanced.

Terry, 49, has lost 15 pounds, while Jean, 51, has lost 40 pounds, and both have experienced fewer, milder colds on the diet. "It's just so exciting to see what it can do," Jean said.

They, like other practitioners, have realized health benefits but offer no guarantees that the diet will cure cancer or any other illness.

Dr. James Wade, co-medical director of Decatur Memorial Hospital's Cancer Care Institute, said he is not familiar with the Hallelujah Diet but said prevention of obesity is beneficial to health. "There is no scientific data on the health benefits of this diet," he said.

The main features of the Hallelujah Diet are organic vegetables and fruits - grown without chemical fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides - distilled water, twice daily doses of carrot juice, a teaspoon of a barley-alfalfa powder mixed with water three times a day and a small amount (about 15 percent of the diet) of cooked food, such as potatoes, brown rice, steamed vegetables or whole grain bread or pasta, eaten during one meal per day.

Raw food is emphasized, Terry explained, because temperatures of 105 degrees to 107 degrees kill the living enzymes in food.

"We're talking about living food versus dead food," he said. "You don't feel bloated and tired because it's not as much of a drain on the body to digest."

Foods to avoid include animal protein (including dairy and eggs), hydrogenated oils, sugar, artificial sweeteners, salt, white rice, white flour, caffeine and beverages other than distilled water and freshly extracted vegetable juices.

Terry said it may take time to acquire a taste for carrot juice, but he and his wife enjoy it both plain and with other vegetables thrown in.

"When we juice carrots, we often put celery in it or maybe some red or green or yellow peppers. Sometimes we put kale or broccoli in it," he said. "Eight ounces twice a day are recommended, but if you have an illness, it's recommended you drink more."

Rita Haley, 61, of Pawnee completed her second round of classes with the Tituses in the spring and has been on the diet since fall to cope with a second bout of breast cancer diagnosed in August. The chemotherapy she received after her first diagnosis in 1994 may have damaged her heart, and she didn't want to go through that - or surgery - again.

"If breast cancer is going to be my end-of-life experience, I'm more interested in quality than quantity," she said. "So far, I've lost 40 pounds, and I feel great."

Following the Hallelujah Diet does present challenges, however, especially when dining out, trying to find appropriate foods, paying higher prices for groceries and spending more time on food preparation.

"The hardest part is standing and fixing foods that are not cooked after working eight hours," Haley said.

A cookbook by Malkmus' wife, Rhonda, gives practitioners more options, and that's what Dale and Donna Long of rural Elwin were looking for after beginning their health improvement process in 2003 with a low-fat diet.

"We thought it would give us new menu ideas," said Dale, 59. "It's hard to do 100 percent of the time."

Donna, 55, finds it particularly difficult to live on such a small amount of cooked food. "We eat more than the Hallelujah Diet recommends, especially during the winter months," she said.

He has lost an additional five pounds, after losing 35 on the low-fat diet, and she has lost an additional 10 pounds after losing 10. Both have also seen their cholesterol numbers and energy levels improve.

Even Dale's allergies have subsided.

"Now I look around and see more to do than needs to be done," he said. "I feel so much better now."

If you go

WHAT: Get Healthy! Stay Balanced workshops featuring the Hallelujah Diet

WHEN: 5:45 to 7:45 p.m. weekly for nine weeks at two locations this fall

WHERE: Tuesdays, Sept. 13 through Nov. 8, at the New Life Ministry Center of New Life Tabernacle Church east of Sullivan; Thursdays, Sept. 15 through Nov. 10, Mari-Mann Herb Co., north end of St. Louis Bridge Road in Decatur

COST: $250 per person includes workbook, recipe book and meal each evening

TO REGISTER: For Sullivan, call 728-4638, for Decatur, call 429-1555

OPTIONS: Cooking demonstrations are offered at a cost of $10 per person from 10 a.m. to noon the second Saturday of every month at the New Life Ministry Center near Sullivan. Also, a free support group meets there at 7 p.m. the fourth Monday of the month.

Theresa Churchill can be reached at tchurchill@;herald-review.com or 421-7978.