Monday, August 30, 2010

[Article] Amazing Results

Anecdotal Evidence
Take it or leave it...

Personal recent experience of mine:

As I mentioned a couple entries ago, I've had some set-backs when trying to become a 100% raw vegan. I actually only had my first green drink about two weeks ago. This experience, to say the least, was astonishing.

I have not been drinking green drinks all-along because the smell of blended vegetables makes me feel sick to my stomach. However, I've discovered that the smell is much worse than the taste, and that by holding my nose I find many more vegetable drinks palatable.

[Update from March 18th 2011: I've found ways to drink vegetable juices that a pleasant not. It takes some trial and error. Certain combinations taste really bad, and some combinations taste amazing. Also, it's important to note that making juice and making smoothies are two different things. Juice has the pulp removed and is made with a juicer. Smoothies still have their pulp and are made with a blender. While many people will find vegetable smoothies intolerable, they will find the same ingredients delicious when turned into a juice.]

Eye-Strain

Not so long before having my first green drink, I was suffering from severe eye strain, which I wrote about on my all-purpose blog. This severe eye strain was so intense that I walked about my days wearing eye covers with all the lights in the apartment off. Just a peek of dim light made my head explode in pain. I would suspect that it was a migraine, but I have no history of migraines, and neither do my parents or siblings. Also, I could actually feel the pain in my eye muscles. It was incredibly painful to move my eyes about in their sockets.

As I wrote about in the entry on the eye-strain, I was able to deduce the causes. But what I wasn't able to accomplish in any quick order was a solution. Even after I was able to sit at my computer again, I could not look at a light-bulb without getting a headache, and experiencing intense pain in the eyes and eye muscles, and having my eyes water.

My First Green Drink

And this is where my first amazing green drink comes into play. My husband graciously made me a mild green drink with carrots, carrot-tops (the green stalk that comes out of the top of the carrot), cucumbers and spinach. (If you've been reading my blog, then you know that I'm only just barely able to tolerate cucumbers and spinach.)


Green drink in the making!


I drank it, and was surprised that it wasn't so bad in flavor. It was mild, and only mildly unpleasant. Within minutes (minutes!!!) I was suddenly able to look at a light-bulb without any pain for the first time in well over a month! I was astounded. I had grown into the habit of tilting my line of sight down, and had become used to the slight pressure behind the eyes, and just like that: the pain was gone!

An experience that a friend of my aunt had:

A friend of my mother's oldest sister was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is a chronic condition that affects the central nervous system: the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves. The damage caused by multiple sclerosis creates scars, called lesions, that can be seen on the brain, spinal cord and optic nerve. Because the process of developing these lesions is called sclerosis, multiple sclerosis literally means "many scars."

This is not something you're expected to ever 'recover' from. It's not something that is expected to be 'cured.'

A friend of this friend of my aunt brought her a huge sack of carrots. She ate carrots three or more times a day. She said (jokingly), "I ate carrots until they were coming out of my ears!" And upon returning to the doctor, her multiple sclerosis was cured.



Carrots

This raises the question; Are carrots just that darn amazing?

Yes, they are!

But that isn't the whole and complete truth. Raw vegetables are that darn amazing. It's entirely possible that she would have experienced the same results had she eaten the same amount in raw broccoli, or fresh raw bell peppers, or fresh raw dandelions.


Delicious salad with heirloom tomatoes and garlic seasoning.


The Scientific Method

This evidence is far from scientific. However, both of these stories are true and incredible to those who experienced them. As I've said before, my mother reversed her diabetes. If you spend the time to do the research, you'll find thousands of stories of people who were cured without chemicals, harmful prescription drugs, without chemo-therapy, and so forth. You'll find that thousands of people have been cured with food. Just like the ancient Chinese saying says: food is medicine. That is, fresh raw food is medicine. Hamburgers and milkshakes are not food, (they're poison!)


PS: The FDA is full of shit.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

[Blog/Article] Crunches

A major part of my detox plan is getting plenty of exercise. When you're not eating your body goes into "starvation mode" and tries to conserve it's resources and store fat. Because I'm going to be fasting, exercise will be essential to getting my body to use the nutrients instead of just hoarding them.

By drinking lots of water, getting plenty of exercise, and not giving them anything to eat, I'll be forcing them out of my system. With the added punch of clove oil, garlic, and the detox pills I'll be taking, they won't stand a chance.

In the semi-detailed outline I posted yesterday, I mention crunches. Starting out with "100 crunches every other day" in the first week. I want to clarify that I don't mean ordinary crunches where you lift up part way and come back down. Yes, I will be doing some of those, but just doing those will build an unbalanced amount of muscle right down the center of the abdomen.


Really Raw Food


Another common misconception about crunches is that you can simply add a slew of them to your lifestyle (without other changes) and expect results. "You cannot tone your stomach and abs without an overall change in your diet and full body exercise," -Flat-Stomach Exercises. But, it could make a big difference if you're adding raw principles to your diet in addition to doing crunches every other day, or at least three times a week.

With any exercise regimen, the exercises should be performed throughout the day in short bursts until your muscles burn a little. Each time you stop you should feel somewhat energized, not exhausted. Studies indicate that you burn more fat from this method, as well as build more muscle. Meaning that three days a week means several times throughout the day, three days a week.

Now, onto some crunches variations for a full abdominal work out (from an entirely unprofessional perspective, but with real-life experience behind it):



Having your legs lifted while you perform crunches uses more muscles and provides more challenge. I personally like to do leg-lifts in between sets of crunches so that I give some parts of my abdomen a rest while working out other parts of the same area.



Crunches that involve stretching to one side or another as you come up are much more satisfying. They actually feel more effective as you're doing them. Also, gently rising up onto one's elbows on each side gives the spine a nice stretch.



Breathing is important!

"Improper breathing can greatly interfere in the burning of excess calories and it might not encourage your body in burning excess fat," - Mixer's Nutrition

"If you breathe correctly you will be able to do more repetitions of the exercise without getting tired as easily, and it will also help give you better results because your muscles will be in sync and not fighting against one another." - Tummy Toning

"When it burns to breathe while exercising, you are not breathing properly. Failure to breathe steadily and deeply while lifting weights and engaging in cardiovascular exercise can also cause cramps, side stitches and an increase in blood pressure." - Katie Leigh

Unfortunately, our natural breathing tendencies tend to be a mess. This causes lack of proper oxygen to the brain and damages cells throughout the body, as well as depriving your body of it's potential. For an excellent article on how to breath deeply and correct your breathing patterns, I recommend Yogic Breath.

I particularly liked this video for abdominal work out variations. I've been using them since I first watched the video about five months ago, and I find this work out routine to be incredibly effective.

Anyway, in conclusion, when I said I'll be doing all those crunches, I mean each count as some sort of crunch, but not any particular kind. I'll be doing every variation I know, with leg-lifts in between, through-out the day and not in one sitting.

Planning on starting this crazy three-month detox on September 3rd, 2010; this Friday. But, it kinda depends on the kitchen supplies and my husband. We need to finish eating anything that isn't a vegetable because he's going on an all-vegetable regiment while I go on my all-water regiment. Also, he'll be taking the detox pills as well.

Why is this? Well, mostly because he loves me. The reason, however, for doing it together (aside from supporting each other) is because it doesn't help for me to get parasites out of my body if he's constantly reintroducing them to me. So we'll both be doing many of the things on the detox plan together. Except he's not doing the all-water thing because he has a job where he needs to drive a lot and being underfed could be dangerous.

Wish us luck!

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Saturday, August 14, 2010

[Article] How To Add Raw To Your Diet

How To Apply Raw Principles To A “Conventional” Diet

[Links in this entry all lead to further explanations on this blog or one of my other health-related web-sites.]


You can't expect to wake up tomorrow and eat nothing but all-raw foods day in and day out for the rest of your life. Perhaps if you had cancer and desperately wanted to live, or perhaps if you were a mother facing severe health issues that prevented you from taking care of you kids – perhaps then you'd have the motivation that it takes.


Most of us, however, seem to be doing reasonably well as we are. Sure, we get headaches frequently, and take off a week or two worth of sick days in a year. Yes, there is the occasional constipation, irritated skin, wrinkles and other issues, but none of it seems all that serious. That extra fifteen or thirty pounds is annoying, but it doesn't seem to hinder you all that much. It just doesn't feel serious enough to give up a large part of “American culture.” (Perhaps it's time for a new culture?)


Even when we know in our hearts that the food we're eating is killing us, it's hard to take that plunge. You ask yourself, “Will it really work?” and “Will my friends still accept me?” and “Won't I feel like I'm starving?” and “Isn't all-raw food boring?”


Because you don't yet know for yourself that it will work, and because you don't yet realize that your friends will adjust and that you'll make new friends along the way, and because you don't realize how much your body will change for the better, you're not ready to go fully raw. You haven't tried all the amazing raw food dishes out there yet, and even if you've had a few, you're clueless as to how to make them.


And yet! You know that the way you're eating is destructive. So what can you do to start changing your eating habits and your level of health without jumping off what appears to be a cliff. (It's actually a diving board into a pleasantly warm pool; but the fall is scary, and the jump does take a lot of guts.)


Primary Principle: Enzymes


The reason why eating raw works is because of enzymes. Without them, your body can't digest your food, or build muscle or function correctly in general. Some enzymes are already made by the body, but many we need from an outside source: raw fruits and vegetables.


Certain foods are particularly hard to digest. Without an adequate supply of enzymes they will pass on to your intestines without being fully digested. This is what causes gas and various different sorts of stomach pains. This is because there is bacteria in your intestines – parasites – which lives off of the food you can't digest. The parasites eat what you leave behind, and they let out gas.


Dairy & Lactose Intolerance


This is why lactose intolerance is sky-rocketing. Pasteurized milk doesn't contain any enzymes. Ideally, I recommend not having any dairy, or at least very little. And that very little should absolutely be raw. (I can name a string of people off the top of my head who I know personally who thought they were lactose intolerant, but discovered they had no issue with raw milk, including myself.)


To gain some of the benefits of a raw diet, consume something raw with every meal at the beginning of the meal. This will ensure that there are some extra enzymes in your stomach to help you digest what's to come. I personally discovered when I was sixteen years old that eating meat and dairy upset my stomach – except when I ate a large salad first! And that was before I knew anything about a raw diet or about enzymes.


Don't Make Boring Meals


Eating something raw first could be a fruit, a salad, or a green smoothie. And don't make a boring salad! The biggest reason people get turned off of eating a raw diet is because they're eating boring salad day in a day out. Try using different greens you've never tried before. Use heirloom tomatoes (which are much, much more flavorful than conventional bred tomatoes), organic avocados, and add a little fruit. Try making a dressing in your blender with avocados, spicy peppers or peaches with cold-pressed organic olive oil. Try mache, leeks and basil on your salad.


Raw Feast


Try picking out one or two days a week to do entirely raw. This is ideally done over a period of time that starts with a day including a raw potluck. Go online and use a site like meetup.com to find a raw meet-up group near you.


If there isn't one already in your area, start one! While the idea of meeting strangers off the internet may seem a bit creepy to some people, I've found it to be one of the most rewarding things in life. When you meet a group of people or a person (in a safe public place) off the internet, you meet someone entirely removed from the circle of friends and family you already have. It can be truly eye-opening.


A raw potluck will introduce you to many new dishes you've never even dreamed were possible. Whipped toppings made from cashews and coconut 'meat', sherbets made from chilled mixed fruits (with no added sugars or artificial ingredients whatsoever), puddings made from bananas and magoes, dressings made from spicy fruits, many types of dips, sandwiches that use lettuce as the 'bread', 'crackers' made from dehydrated seeds and nuts, cakes made from dried fruits and nuts, and so on and so on.


These new dishes will inspire you. You can't give up steak until you've found a replacement. An effective method of changing your diet is picking out one thing you can stand to give up (that you know isn't good for you), and replacing it with a raw dish you're willing to make at the same frequency. For example, if you usually have a sausage once a week with dinner, and you've discovered that you love a sprouted bean salad; you can stop having that sausage and start having that sprouted bean salad.


As you become healthier and begin to have more energy, your taste-buds will begin to change and you'll begin to crave something good for you. But the key is not to make yourself feel deprived or starved. If you feel hungry, by all means; eat! But if you suspect you've already eaten enough, but still feel hungry, go for something raw. You'll have a hard time eating too much raw food.


Home Grown


The most enzymes can be found in something freshly picked. Think about how long it takes a flower to wilt after it's picked. That's about the length of time the majority of the enzymes survive after something is picked. Growing even a few things at home can make a big difference.


Something I've been doing to help with the transition is putting home grown fresh basil on top of most everything I eat. It's great on top of salads, sauces, soups... Just make sure whatever you put it on top of is cool enough to eat before adding the basil (because you don't want the heat to kill any of the enzymes.) If you have a good patch of sunlight, you can do the same with chives (which are like onions only milder). Both basil and chives are easy to come by, and easy to take care of.


Overview


  • One or two days a week of Raw Feasting.


  • Attend or host raw-food potlucks to discover new dishes.


  • Grow one or two plants at home and eat them fresh.



  • Don't eat boring salads, or anything boring at all.


  • Don't make yourself feel deprived or starved.



Continue to expand what you know about food, nutrition, health, fitness, awareness, success, happiness, fiscal interrelationships, the law of attraction, and your own personal skills at every opportunity. You'll notice that when you're eating more raw foods, you learn faster, because your mind is functioning with more correct natural fuel and less toxins.

Next step: Read this Article, outlining the four biggest mistakes people make when trying to transition to raw foods, and how to avoid them.