Tuesday, September 28, 2010

My Story: Mononucleosis

The story of my chronic health disorders, and why I no longer have them.







Doctors

Visiting the doctor was never a matter of a "general checkup." I was always sick again before six months went by. I became contemptuous of doctors by the age of ten, which was the age where I got mono a second time.

I remember at least three different occasions (and there were likely many others I don't remember) where I was sitting in the car ready to go be driven to school and telling my mother that I wasn't sure I was up to going to school. These times were sometimes out of the blue, and sometimes after being out of school for a while and still recovering.

Sometimes my mother's response was to say, "No, you're going to school today," but most of the time she gave me this choice: "You're going to school or you're going to the doctor." Whenever she asked this I sighed and thought long and hard because I felt like going to the doctor was a waste of time and energy. Later I concluded that it was also a waste of money.

Often a trip to the doctor resulted in the doctor concluding that there was "nothing wrong" with me. Despite a 100 degree fever, excessive sweating, extreme fatigue, and a runny nose, the test results showed that I was perfectly normal. The swab in the back of the throat, the check of the ears, the check of my blood-pressure (which was usually just a little lower than it ought to be), the listening to my lungs, etc... always normal.

But did that mean I felt normal? Did I have the energy to run and play and learn?

Not in the least!

But somehow doctor after doctor did nothing but shrug his shoulders.

While I know today that some doctors take their profession seriously and very knowledgeable beyond and within their curriculum, as a child I lost all respect for the profession and despised them for not being able to help me. Today, of course, I simply don't judge a person by their degree or lack thereof.

Except for the mono, and repeated strep throat... The diagnosis: normal.

Sleep Disorder

Because I was sick so often I became acquainted with many different cough medicines, antibiotics, decongestants, nasal sprays, vitamins, and so on. I discovered at the age of ten that benadryl made me sleepy.

After discovering this miraculous sleep serum I kept a bottle by my bed and took a sip each night to help me sleep. I discovered that instead of being awake until four in the morning, I was often asleep before midnight. I was overjoyed with having found a solution to at least one of my problems.

Looking back on it however, this is likely part of the reason why it started to get harder and harder to get out of bed.

As a pre-teen...

Between the ages of nine and thirteen I had mono four times. Only three of those times were diagnosed, but the fourth time I didn't bother with a doctor. My glands were huge, my spleen ached, I was too tired to do anything: I knew what was wrong with me and didn't need to pay a doctor's copay to hear him tell me I should sleep and drink plenty of fluids.





Depression

At the age of eleven I was terribly depressed. I was tired of being sick, I was tired of not having friends, I was tired of spending so much time in bed, I was tired of being tired.

I enjoyed video games, typing up stories (as I was working on my first attempt at a novel then), playing with dolls, and solving mathematical equations.

I hated exercise, since it inevitably led to being sick which made me unable to do anything I wanted to do.

I knew I needed to get exercise, but was unsure as to how to go about it.

I tried a regime of doing crunches daily, but I lacked any motivation to keep it up.

Walking made my lungs burn and my sides ache after only a few blocks, and often resulted in me becoming sick.

Anything that required a high level of energy output was liable to make me sick.

My attempts to build some stamina were generally in the form of very short bursts of cardiovascular exercise (such as dancing), or in short bursts of crunches.

But whenever I fell sick again, I lost all the progress I had made.

Gentle Baby Steps

In retrospect, I needed tiny steps. I needed some to push me very, very gently. My mother was so afraid for my health that she didn't push me. Everyone else was so disbelieving of my condition that they tried to push me too hard.

I was often accused of faking coughs, faking being sick, of staying out of school for illegitimate reasons, and for overall faking being frail when I couldn't be, since I was a child who was supposed to have tons of energy. I grew to really resent being called a faker or a liar.

Benadryl

After I had been drinking a little benadryl each night to help me sleep for eight months or so, I discovered that a little sip was no longer effective. I was often drinking huge gulps of the stuff each night. I'm sure that had a negative impact on my overall health, but since I was having so many issues overall it's impossible to say exactly what the impact of doing that was.





Cravings

I had ravenous cravings as a pre-teen. I wanted milk and bacon all the time in particular. I had several bowls of cereal daily. Usually plain Cherrios (or the plain store-brand alternative), or plain shredded wheat. Although sometimes I mixed in frosted shredded wheat with plain shredded wheat, or in with my cherrios.

I had bacon once or twice a week. I had an egg (non-organic) on wheat toast (which I discovered years later contains high fructose corn syrup) three to six days out of the week. I also particularly enjoyed chicken-flavored ramon noodles, which I microwaved. I had those two to seven times a week.

My other favorites included french fries (of all kinds), lima beans cooked for about an hour and slathered in butter, baked potatoes (or any kind of potatoes), corn chips, cheese-puffs, potato chips, steak, breaded shrimp, sweet and sour chicken (from various "Chinese" places to eat), deviled eggs (which usually contained miracle whip which also contains high fructose corn syrup), and peanut butter sandwiches (consisting of toasted wheat bread and conventional Jiff peanut-butter which contains hydrogenated oils).



Sugar

I didn't give in to my cravings for sugar very often because I knew the effects that sugar had upon me. It was evident since my response has always been so immediate. Often it came in the form of a headache. There was my first muscle cramp, which was undoubtedly a reaction to sugar; which I still remember vividly to this day. There were countless times where I had something sweetened and felt "blah" and tired within an hour of eating it.

I know sugar has a more profoundly negative effect on me than most people, but I also know that most people are unaware of how many of their problems are a result of sugar.

It's now recognized by informed doctors that sugar is incredibly detrimental to the body when had in large quantities, or when had in any refined form. Table sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and artificial sweeteners such as splenda and aspartame are now recognized as increasing the risks of every health issue on the face of the Earth.

Less recognized is that fact that any sort of sugar in high quantities is harmful. Even agave. I personally react to stevia, agave, molasses, maple syrup, xylitol, and maltodextrin virtually the same way.

However, if I had to list them from what I think is the best to use to the worst, I list them like this however;

Raw Honey (Best "refined" sweetener to use; all the refining is done by the bees.)

Raw Maple Syrup (If you can find it genuinely raw.)

Raw Organic Cane Sugar

Stevia

Agave / Yaccon

Most other sweeteners

Alcoholic alternative sweeteners, such as xylitol, sorbitol, glucitol etc.

Maltodextrin

Splenda

Aspartame / NutraSweet (Worst: disgusting toxic junk not even remotely suitable to consume.)





Splenda

I once had a terrible first-hand experience with Splenda which put me against the stuff before I had done any research on it whatsoever. I was thirteen or fourteen at the time.

I was trying to find a yogurt with flavor, but without sugar. Six or seven years ago that was impossible. I discovered there was a new brand of yogurt that used splenda. My mother asked if I was willing to give it a shot, and I said I was. So we bought a six-pack of the little tiny yogurt cups. They were about half the size of standard yogurt cups.

My mother decreed that I couldn't have more than one cup in a day. I had the first cup as soon as I got home. I had another the next morning. That second day I did feel more tired than usual, but thought nothing of it since fatigue was such a regular part of my life.

The third day I also had a yogurt cup in the morning. I experienced minor muscle pains all day, but since that was also common for me, I didn't think anything of it.

The fourth and fifth day I also had a yogurt cup first thing in the morning, and experienced severe muscle pains in my legs unlike anything I had ever felt before.

The sixth day I still hadn't caught on, and I ate the last cup. My legs were in so much pain I was nearly paralyzed. I could barely walk, and the pain was so consuming that I could barely think. I don't recall if I tried taking anything for the pain, but I do remember that by the end of the night I was suspecting the yogurt.

It wasn't until three days after I had stopped eating the yogurt that the pain finally subsided entirely. I was then fully convinced that the yogurt was to blame, and because none of the other ingredients were anything unusual for my typical diet at that age, I knew splenda was the cause of the horrendous muscle cramps. Needless to say, I have not touched anything with splenda since.

Insomnia

By the time I was thirteen the Benadryl had lost all effect and I was back to being up hours into the night, long after I had gone to bed. I had discovered by then, however, that talking or writing right before bed seemed to help a lot.

Often I took the phone to bed and talked to whomever I could find to talk to until I was ready to sleep.

That one didn't fly so well with my parents, and I was frequently discovered, much to my ire.

Being discovered would backfire my entire purpose; I'd end up lying awake unable to sleep due to my flaming anger. I can just hear my thoughts screaming out in defiance: Why can't I talk on the phone whenever I want to?!

I suspect they believed that my late nights on the phone were exacerbating my sleeping problems, not helping.

At the age of thirteen it wasn't uncommon to find me awake past three in the morning in the least, and often I didn't sleep until being awake was a great physical pain.






October 3rd, 2010
Edited & Added Information

October 6th 2010
Edited Formatting & Added Information

January 28th 2011
Edited for flow and readability. Added the banners.


Sunday, September 26, 2010

My Story: Poisoning & Illness

The story of my chronic health disorders, and why I no longer have them.




As a newborn baby...


When I was just a few months old I developed a rash. My mother believed it was serious and took me to the doctor. I hadn't had any rashes previously, but the doctor proclaimed that I was fine, and that it was "just a rash."

When I still had it two days later, my mother went back. I began running a fever as my mother waited for hours.

Finally, I was seen again after I'd had the rash for four days. I had rheumatic fever. The nurse who saw me was appalled -- "She should have been treated immediately!" Well, my mom had tried, it was the hospital's fault I wasn't treated immediately.

I was put on antibiotics as a baby.

According to Dr. Mercola:

"Antibiotic-resistant infections now claim more lives each year than AIDS."

"Every time you swallow antibiotics, you kill the beneficial bacteria within your intestines. When you do so, you upset the delicate balance of your intestinal terrain. Yeasts grow unchecked into large colonies and take over, in a condition called dysbiosis."

"In addition to possibly causing leaky gut syndrome, I believe that parasitic yeasts can also cause you to change what you eat in that they encourage you to binge on carbohydrates including pasta, bread, sugar, potatoes, etc. So, it should come as no surprise that weight gain counts as one of the telltale signs of antibiotic damage and subsequent yeast overgrowth."

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. The damage started as a newborn.




As a toddler...

When I was young my mother often liked to tell others about a particular incident that occurred when I was toddler. The incident is as follows:

When I was around four years old my mother had a friend whose sons I played with. We were going trick-or-treating for Halloween. The boys were crazy with energy and excitement, but I was nonplussed. After walking only three blocks I complained that my feet hurt, and that I was too tired. I had no interest in the candy or frolicking with the other children.

I just wanted to go home and rest.

Despite the motivation of having other children to keep my company, and despite the motivation of candy, three blocks of walking and I was already too tired to go on.

And these were not three large city blocks like some cities have. Buffalo's city blocks tend to be smaller than other blocks in other major cities of the united states.

As a toddler I didn't have energy for trick-or-treating.





Day-Care, Age Four

At some point during the year I spent in day-care (before kindergarten)...

I was sick with a fever and wanted to go home. The caretakers were skeptical and put a glass thermometer in my mouth and told me to hold it under my tongue. I vaguely remember the event mostly because I looked back on it so many times, but all the faces are a blur.

It was difficult to hold the thermometer under my tongue. It made my tongue uncomfortable. I kept moving it around, trying to make it less uncomfortable, but it still stretched my tongue in an uncomfortable way no matter how I moved it.

And then I bit the damn thing.

I don't remember biting it. I do have a vague memory of what it feels like to have glass picked out of my teeth by some instrument shoved in my mouth. My mother tells me that I had my stomach pumped due to mercury poisoning.

About Mercury Poisoning:

Mercury is a silver-white poisonous heavy metallic element. It is highly toxic. Exposure to mercury in large enough amounts can cause serious damage. A report published by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on mercury compounds reveals that "Chronic exposure to elemental mercury also affects the kidney in humans, with the development of proteinuria."

1. Psychological disturbances
Angry fits, short term memory loss, low self esteem, inability to sleep, loss of self-control, sleepiness.

2. Oral Cavity problems
Inflammation of the mouth, taste of metal, bleeding of gums.

3. Digestive tract problems
Cramps, inflamed colon, GI problems, Diarrhea and other digestive problems.

4. Cardiovascular problems
Weak pulse, blood pressure changes, chest pain, or feeling of pressure in the chest area.

5. Respiratory problems
Weakness and problems with breathing, Emphysema, Coughing persistently.

6. Neurological problems
Headaches, vertigo, tinnitus, shaking in various areas of the body (eye lids, feet etc)

7. Coordination & muscle problems
Muscle weakness, coordination loss, disturbances in sensations ("pins and needles" feelings, numbness) usually in the hands and feet

An interesting symptom is that it makes cilantro taste bad to many people. Cilantro helps you detox from mercury, but as it does so and the mercury is exposed within the body, it causes the cilantro to taste metallic. I've always hated the taste of cilantro with a passion. I didn't discover this tidbit about the herb until January 2011. Now I'm adding cilantro in small amounts to my smoothies and soups where it's taste is mostly covered. We'll see if it's flavor improves for me over time.

I've read that mercury poisoning can last eighteen years, even if you're trying to rid yourself of it with detoxification. Since this happened at the age of four, I can expect that it has affected me my entire life up until now. (I'm writing this days before my 22nd birthday.)

I also conceivably was affected by mercury in the womb. My mother has a number of amalgam fillings in her teeth.

Bleeding Gums

My gums bled even at this young age. The dentist said that I needed to brush more often, and then it would stop. Another dentist said I needed to brush with a softer tooth brush, and then it would stop. I tried those things, and other things as well. None of it worked.

My gums continued to bleed at least once a week (usually every time I brushed) until the age of twenty-one.





My diet as a toddler...

Favorites:

Mustard on white bread with a slice of American's singles cheese
Yogurt
Oatmeal
Lima beans
Potatoes
Dumplings
Hard-boiled eggs





As a child...

My mother used to say to me when I was young that she thought I was born constipated. I knew what the word meant when I was only four or so years old, since I had already experienced it a number of times.

If you've never experienced it, let me tell you; it's very, very painful.



Age 7

I remember one time, around the age of seven, I was in a bathroom at an after-school program and a "teacher" was waiting for me. I kept insisting that I was going to take a long time, but she wouldn't leave.

I told her I was constipated and she seemed incredulous: How could I even know what that word meant at that age?

After about ten minutes she accused me of faking, and demanded I leave the stall. I told her angrily that I wasn't faking, although I don't remember any of the exact words that were exchanged.

Mostly I remember being angry that she was accusing me of faking, and angry that she wouldn't leave me alone when I was doing something private.

Muscle Cramp

I vividly remember my first muscle cramp, which also occurred when I was around seven.

I was at my grandmother's house at the time. This was a place where I constantly battled my relatives against various candies and sugar cookies. They were pressed on me as though it would be absurd not to eat them.

I declined, time and time again, following my mother's cautioning words seriously. As I grew older however, there were occasions where I faltered and accepted the treats. I believe this was one of those times, although I can't be certain.

Looking back on it, it's not even relevant if I had any of the candies or not: everything at grandma's was unhealthy, from the mints, to the gum, to the cooking.

The pain was intense and sudden. I can still vividly recall the throbbing spreading through my elbow and down my forearm: molten fire flowing through my muscle. I clutched my elbow, tears welling in my eyes, helpless to fight against the invisible terror.

I complained to my mother after a minute or so. She seemed unconcerned and told me it would go away. I held my arm and cried. It didn't go away. It hurt the rest of the day. The fifth or sixth time I asked my mother for help she became exasperated and told me there was nothing she could do.

I remember feeling betrayed that nobody could help me with such an incredible pain. I felt such a sheer sense of disbelief that such pain was possible. Without any visible cause and with no viable solution! I felt as though each moment were an eternity.

It was also around the age of seven that I began to have habitual intense headaches. I'm unaware to this day if any of my headaches have been migraines or not, but light sensitivity has been acute throughout the greater part of my life.





Where my life seems to have begun...

Most of what I remember about life begins when I was nine years old. I was becoming interested in both art and writing, although I wasn't yet reading books. I was capable, but disliked reading because it gave me a headache and I found it difficult to follow unless I was being read to aloud. (These headaches, like so many things, were disregarded by doctors.) My mother, being loving and warmhearted, read to me often up until I was thirteen or so to encourage me to like books. Her tactic won out in the end.

Self Awareness

At the age of nine my own weakness became apparent to me. My life seemed to take on a new level of reality, and at that new level I was no longer able to deny my own serious problems. I was becoming aware that it wasn't normal to spend weeks out of school sick with strep throat every year. Nobody else was absent for so long except on a rare occasion. Perhaps once a year there was one other student who missed as many days as I, if that.

Poor Circulation

I also became aware of my poor circulation when I was nine. When I stood for a period of time my legs would turn red and itchy. My heart was not strong enough to pump the blood back out of my feet while I stood. My red and itchy legs were so incredibly uncomfortable that I rarely stood in place for a solid minute.

Itching Legs

The itching made me prefer laundry to dishes because carrying clothing back and forth meant my circulation stayed up enough to keep the unbearable itching at bay. Whenever my mother tried to force me to do some dishes I stopped every thirty seconds to wet my legs and then scratch them vigorously. After ten minutes my legs would be beet-red and I would be sitting on the stool in the kitchen scratching madly unwilling to stand back up.

Burning Lungs

I was the slowest runner in gym class when we ran a race. I was the last to return when running or walking around the field during recess. My lungs burned when I tried to run for more than few steps.

Side "Stitches"

Whenever walking I would get burning aches up and down both sides. I asked five different doctors about this before one of them explained to me that this pain was caused by gas. I believe I was eleven at the time I finally got that long-awaited answer. And the answer didn't give me a solution.

Fatigue & Lack of Stamina

I was constantly falling asleep on my desk. I was tired, tired, tired.

I remember in particular during the fourth or fifth grade (when I was nine or ten), the teacher decided we should go on a walk. I don't recall exactly how I felt when we set out. I don't recall how far we walked exactly, but I do recall feeling more and more nervous as we walked further away from the school building. Each step we walked was a step we needed to take on the way back. I had become very familiar with the misery that accompanied short-sightedness. If I didn't turn back before reaching half my stamina, then I might be in tears before I made it back. Or worse, I could be sick the next day.

I felt as though I had reached the full limit of my stamina before we turned back at all. I walked slower and slower, and the teacher at first tried to get me to walk faster. Eventually she gave up trying to make me walk faster and simply tried to encourage me by telling me that I was fine and that I would make it. The other students became frustrated with our slower pace. When the school building came into view the teacher told the other kids they could go on ahead and run if they liked. Most of them set off at a run, and the rest just sped up.

She stayed behind and walked with me. I was pissed off at her for having pushed me way beyond my limit and didn't feel that her staying beside me was anything other than annoying. When we finally reached the classroom I leaned against the wall beside the door and then slid down it to the floor where I sat for a good long time before I could be persuaded to move.

Sleep Disorder

Yet despite having such low stamina, despite the fatigue, at the age of nine I began to have difficulty falling asleep at night. I had a black alarm clock with red digital numbers, and I can remember it's exact shape and button configuration because I spent so much time being angry that I couldn't sleep while staring at that clock.

I remember clearly that I had to be outside for the carpool to pick me up at exactly 7:05am. It was an hour drive to the school. I was part of a carpool for fourth and fifth grade. The handful of kids that went to this school from the city all took carpools to save gas and time.

I was generally so tired in the mornings that I prepared for it by putting all of my clothing and items to go with me the next day out on the previous night and got up only five minutes before I needed to be outside. Just enough time to get dressed, brush my teeth and walk out the door.

I would lay in bed calculating how many hours of sleep I was going to get each time I looked up at the clock. I went to bed between nine and ten o'clock but it was rare that I was asleep before two o'clock in the morning. Often I was crying at four o'clock in the morning because I was so tired and exhausted but couldn't sleep.

I tried natural sleeping aids such as "sleep-aiding" teas, and dissolve-in-the-mouth tablets. Such things worked the first and second time, but then stopped working after that. At only nine years of age I was behaving like a desperate sleep-deprived adult in many ways.





My diet as a kid...

Favorites:

French Fries (especially from Burger King)
Lima beans (cooked for an hour and slathered in butter)
French Fries (especially from Wendy's)
Pizza
French Fries (baked at home in the oven with olive oil)
Steak Fries (deep fried on the stove in olive oil)
Steak (slathered in A1 sauce)
Baked Potatoes (Filled with butter)
Curly Fries
Various sweetened yogurts (including Cream Savors)
Sunny-side up eggs with bread to dip in the yoke
French Fries (from McDonalds)
Beef
Hamburgers on white buns with mustard, onion and a slice of conventional tomato
Cheerios (plain or honey-coated with whole milk)
Shredded Wheat (plain or frosted, often mixed with whole milk)
French Fries (with lots and lots of salt!)





Mononucleosis

At the age of nine I got mono for the first time. I didn't spend just a week or two out of school. I spent months out of school. My mother was afraid for my life. I had no energy to leave the bed. My glands were the size of golf balls. They jutted out from my neck and were clearly visible and appalling to see.

My spleen hurt. I became familiar with where my spleen was and exactly what a spleen pain felt like.

Many days I was too tired to leave the bed to do more than roll out of bed and use the bathroom across the hall. My parents brought me meals in bed.

I was tested and diagnosed with mono. I was told to sleep a lot. I did. I slept, and slept and slept. I slept much of my childhood away.






October 3rd 2010
Edited & Added Information

October 5th 2010
Edited Formatting

October 6th 2010
Edited Formatting & Added Information About My Sleeping Issues

October 12th 2010
Edited Formatting


January 28th 2011
Added the story of my rheumatic fever as a baby, did a lot of editing to improve the flow and clearness of what I'm relating, and added the banners/buttons. It's not an easy task, but I think the added spiffiness is worth it.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

[Discussion] Meat, Protien & Sugar

The following is a discussion about meats, proteins and sugars between myself and some other people. Join the discussion by leaving your own thoughts, research, links and experiences.




A common misconception is that meat is the best source of protein.



Consider the following animals: gorillas, cows, giraffes and elephants. All of them are raw food vegetarians! While you probably aren’t aiming to have their body types, they are great examples of how large and strong a living creature can be on a raw plant-based diet.

It's important to realize that we are not like any and every other animal on the planet, but one of the common animals we use for testings (mice) require more protein for their body mass than we do.

While animal products contain large amounts of protein, they are also high in cholesterol and saturated fat, which can lead to heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.

The raw plant-based diet is low in fat, free of cholesterol, loaded with enzymes and full of fiber. You don't see elephants cooking their greens first, and you don't see gorillas chowing down on bacon. You also don't see chronic disease among the animal kingdom except for in household pets and other domesticated animals.

What does this tell us about lab-made food vs. nature made food?

~ Raederle Phoenix






Response from qutequte:

I just watched a Chinese Traditional Medicine documentary today about peptide ulcers. The powdered medicine given to patients are derived from herbs. All plant properties: no meat.

If people think they can get well largely due to meat, they’re wrong!

Bill Clinton is an excellent example; He thinks going off meat (I think he still eats honey and drinks milk) will save his life. He will outlive the “2 more months to live” that’s been given to him by conventional doctors.

~ qutequte




Response from Patty:

Always interesting, though I have to wonder how you can compare the diet of animals to humans? We have different needs than animals and some meat proteins are probably to our benefit rather than avoiding meat altogether?

I’m not a big meat eater, but I am also not a vegetarian. I am still one who thinks moderation is key in all food groups, though I could eat more fish and veggies.

~ Patty






Even though I'm the one who started this discussion in the first place, I think meat isn’t the debate people should be having.

It’s sugar that causes meat cravings. It’s sugar that is addictive. It’s sugar that pulls calcium out of the bones. It’s sugar that’s in everything. Sugar is what has all the money and does all of the lobbying. Sugar advertising is much more insidious and sneaky. Sugar is what is marketed at children.

Even when people “go raw” they still cling to agave, honey, xylitol, stevia or whatever is being marketed as a “healthy” sweetener. There are no healthy sweeteners. While meat may or may not be extremely bad for you, I can say without a single doubt that refined sugars are extremely horribly bad for you. I just don’t think meat holds a candle to the damage caused by sugar.

~ Raederle Phoenix






Response from qutequte:

You asked a very good question Patty.

Why compare animals’ diet to human’s?

All animals that are fed with corn feed, all of them suffer from gastric and peptide ulcers. More antibiotics. More superbugs formed (MRSA). And humans eat them.

Also, much of science around food and medicine, are all based on food experiments on lab rats, mice and rabbits (because they reproduce faster than other mammals). A rat requires more protein and iron than humans, and yet they are used in the scientific experiments we base much of our understanding on!

All meat contains bad cholesterol. Meat has both good and bad fat but it isn’t the fat that is the real problem.

How do you moderate meat when you know that frying and cooking meat is cancerous; even when cooked right?

How much is “too much” meat? Do you know your body’s tolerance to meat or anything toxic, like a meter?

And can you stand the thought of calves ripped from their mothers and murdered before they even had the chance to drink milk from their mothers?

I avoid fish for three reasons.

Firstly because many of them are polluted and thereby really unhealthy.

The second problem is many fish, like Chilean seabass, are going extinct. Clams, Longtail Tuna, Yellow-banded scad, Yellowtail fusilier are all going extinct in Malaysia.

The third problem with fish, is that many of them are farm-raised (affects not very different from farmed cattle, pigs, chicken, etc).

To me, meat offers little nutrition to balance out the animal protein and fat the human body doesn’t need. The only thing that I am now looking at is Vitamin B12 which cannot be absorbed by the body (found in algae and Spirulina). I will have to look further into this.

~ qutequte




Raederle says:

From what I've read, fresh truly wild meat wouldn't be anything like what most people think of when they think of "meat." The meat that is sold in stores is from raised animals who are fed garbage diets, given shots, and all sorts of unnatural things that don't occur in the wild. Even when you buy "free range" meat, you're only paying for an animal that got a slight fraction more exercise, and is thereby leaner.

I wasn't a vegetarian before I went raw. I don't have an ethical problem with killing and eating animals. Animals kill and eat each other. That's natural survival of the fittest.

I do have a problem with penning up hundreds of animals in close quarters, letting them get diseased, malnutrition-ed and under-exercised. That alone could be considered torture.

The first thing I cut from my diet, before anything else, was high fructose corn syrup. It makes the negative side effects linked to meat look tame by comparison.

However, that said, if you want to keep improving your health over time, eventually you'll come to the conclusion that you either don't want meat in your diet at all, or that you want it in tiny portions few and far between from a carefully researched source.




Ela says: "I totally agree with you about the sugar thing - and everyone is so addicted that it's very hard even to have a sensible discussion about it."




Let's hear your thoughts and opinions! Post a comment below.

PS: Vote on my polls! There are some at the very bottom of the page.

[Article] Enzymes



Vitamins and minerals can be obtained through eating almost anything. Enzymes, however, which are just as essential to the human body, can only be obtained through eating fresh live plants: vegetables, fruits and nuts in their unprocessed and uncooked state.

The important role of enzymes is recognized by raw foodists, but not by most media or conventional medicine. While many athletes, doctors, and everyday people are discovering the importance of eating raw foods, it's still not commonly recognized. In order to understand the importance, you have to understand enzymes.


Enzymes


At any given moment, all of the work being done inside any cell is being done by enzymes. If you understand enzymes, you understand cells. A bacterium like E. coli has about 1,000 different types of enzymes floating around in the cytoplasm at any given time.

Enzymes have extremely interesting properties that make them little chemical-reaction machines. The purpose of an enzyme in a cell is to allow the cell to carry out chemical reactions very quickly. These reactions allow the cell to build things or take things apart as needed. This is how a cell grows and reproduces. At the most basic level, a cell is really a little bag full of chemical reactions that are made possible by enzymes.

In other words:

Your body can not make use of the minerals and vitamins you eat without enzymes.

Enzymes are made from amino acids, and amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. When an enzyme is formed, it is made by stringing together between 100 and 1,000 amino acids in a very specific and unique order. The chain of amino acids then folds into a unique shape. That shape allows the enzyme to carry out specific chemical reactions; an enzyme acts as a very efficient catalyst for a specific chemical reaction. The enzyme speeds that reaction up tremendously.

"Enzymes are biological compounds that increase the rate of a chemical reaction within the body. Almost all enzymes in the human body are made up of amino acids that form proteins. These 'enzyme proteins' than cause something to happen faster than it normally would. [Causing you to be able to heal faster, digest faster, etc, as well as do so more efficiently.]

"The body controls the rate at which many things happen by controlling the amount of individual enzymes it produces. If the body wants to slow down the rate at which something happens, it stops making a certain enzyme, or even creates a different enzyme to destroy the first enzyme. By using enzymes, the body is able to micromanage the rates of many different activities inside the body. There are literally thousands of different enzymes in the body that regulate nearly every activity." -Peter Sedesse


Scientists have identified over twenty-eight hundred different enzymes. There are over three thousand active enzymes at work in our bodies at one time. Thirteen hundred enzymes are required to make one cell.

Getting the picture? You need enzymes, and you need a lot of them.

Digestion

The cycle of enzyme absorption and production begins with what we ingest. The nutrients which are required to make metabolic enzymes come from the foods we eat. (Metabolic enzymes are those which are produced by the body, and are used in all stages of digestion to obtain nutrients from our food.)

But unfortunately, if you're eating the Standard American Diet (also known as S.A.D.) then you're probably not getting any enzymes. Enzymes become "bound" (sometimes called "dead") when they are cooked. Some are "killed" at 105 degrees, and some last up until 115 degrees. When the enzymes are bound, your body can no longer make use of them. They become "dead waste" inside your body, which is simply fodder for bacteria that lives inside the intestines.

According to Markus Rothkranz, a raw food enthusiast who looks remarkably young for his age and lives off of an entirely raw-food diet; Most of the enzymes a plant contains die off within the first few minutes of being picked. Which means that grocery-store raw foods don't pack nearly the punch that a fresh plant does. (Fresh plants, incidentally, are the basis of what animals eat. Notice that animals don't have exceedingly high cancer rates on the rise... Unless they're being fed by humans.) Which means it's very important to add as much extremely fresh raw food to your diet as possible. For more information on incorporating raw into your diet, regardless of how you eat now, read this article.

The Role of Digestive Plant Enzymes:
Proteases: breaks down protein
Lipases: breaks down fats
Amylase: breaks down carbohydrates/starch
Cellulases: breaks down fiber
Lactases: breaks down milk sugar
Maltases: breaks down malt sugar
Sucrases: breaks down sucrose (refines dugar)

Amino Acids

Humans can produce 10 of the 20 amino acids. The others must be supplied in the food. Failure to obtain enough of even 1 of the 10 essential amino acids, those that we cannot make, results in degradation of the body's proteins—muscle and so forth—to obtain the one amino acid that is needed. Unlike fat and starch, the human body does not store excess amino acids for later use—the amino acids must be in the food we eat every day.

The 10 amino acids that we can produce are alanine, asparagine, aspartic acid, cysteine, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine, proline, serine and tyrosine.

Tyrosine is produced from phenylalanine, so if the diet is deficient in phenylalanine, tyrosine will be required as well.

The essential amino acids are arginine (required for the young, but not for adults), histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. These amino acids are required in the diet. Plants, of course, must be able to make all the amino acids. Humans, on the other hand, do not have all the the enzymes required for the biosynthesis of all of the amino acids.


Click here for an index on amino acids.

Enzyme Rich Foods

I like to say that there is no such thing as a "superfood." All raw foods are super foods when they are fresh-picked and eaten immediately. When food is eaten in it's most fresh and pristine state, your body is flooded with powerful enzymes that allow your body to produce cells: brain cells, muscle cells, skin cells, etc. The level of enzymes in a food in it's freshest state is the amount your body is intended to get with the exact composition of the fructose, glucose, fiber, starches, fats, nutrients and vitamins. Each plant is created with a perfect balance.

To further this point, raspberry leaves, blueberry leaves, and the green parts of the top of the carrot are all immensely good for you and complement the flavor and nutrition of the part we most commonly eat.

One incredibly effective way to get incredibly fresh plants into your diet is to grow your own sprouts. If you really like sprouts, there is no reason not to get a sprouter and start growing your own immediately. It's not difficult, and it's much cheaper than simply buying sprouts at the store. You can grow sprouts without a sprouter, but I recommend getting one anyway because it makes the process easier and gives you a specific and permanent "space" for growing them.

If you don't like sprouts, consider how many types of sprouts out there are. "Sprouts" is just a general term for the very small part of the plant that grows directly from the seed. There are the sprouts of beans, the sprouts of grains, the spouts of melons, and so forth.

Also, you can add sprouts to a conventional cooked diet even if you don't like them by adding small amounts of them to cooked meals with potent flavor, like to a spicy burrito or something. It's not going to solve all of your problems just to add sprouts, but it can make a critical difference just to do that alone.

Click here to learn more about improving your health.

Friday, September 24, 2010

[Blog] Three Weeks 100% Raw



Raw Granola

Sprouted buckwheat oats, sprouted sunflower seeds, dates, dried apples, fresh banana, coconut cream, home-made milk of pecans & almonds, raw pecans


[1:30pm]

Week 1

I realized I couldn't keep up the crazy water fast, but also learned that three days of fasting is really effective at diminishing cravings in the first week. I also learned that green drinks (vegetable smoothies) have an astonishingly fast and effective result after consumption. (Think: more energy, less sensitivity to light, and increased awareness.)




Week 2

I learned that small salads and a very small piece of fruit could be deeply satisfying and provide plenty of energy to work out and get through all of my daily activities. It's made me question if I've been grossly over eating my entire life.

I also came up with an exercise plan that I've carefully stuck to in the past two weeks. It's working excellently. I'm starting to see the beginnings of a defined stomach, which is really incredibly to me since I've never had any visible muscle definition on my body previously.





Week 3

I discovered some new alternatives to conventional foods that have made this transition essentially painless.

Bearing in mind that I quit dairy, meat, pastas & breads back in 2007 (and only on rare occasion reneged on it and had a little raw cheese, a small amount of free range meat, or a bit of flourless & sugarless bread.) And sugar I gave up back in 2006 (with only the small exception of organicly milled cane sugar in a dark chocolate bar once or twice a year, and the very rare cup of tea with honey.) So I've already become accustomed to not eating certain things.

With the discovery of coconut cream, however, I stopped feeling like this was a challenge, and began to feel privileged instead. How lucky can I be that I can have my health and eat such delicious food? This was certainly not what I was raised to believe or expect!

Also, last week it was brought to my attention that my way of advertising my way of life tends to be, "Hey, look, I'm cool! So do what I do!" This information came to me from someone who has not known me very long, and thereby doesn't know the long, hard road I've traversed to get here. I was anything but a happy skipping healthy person as a child. I'm so enthusiastic about raw foods and about not eating poisonous lab-made garbage because of the profound impact it's had on my life.

The reason I'm healthy now is not because I'm young and have yet to have problems. In fact, it's the complete opposite. As a child I had a slew of chronic disorders that I've only reversed through a lot of research and hard work.

This person's lack of understanding in that capacity has led me to believe I need an "about me" page on this site to tell my story. I dislike the thought of writing a really long and detailed sob story about how I was sick a lot in the past, but if it will help show others that they can relieve their health problems too, then I won't mind.



Celery with Raw Almond Butter & Avocado

Surprisingly delicious! And I don't even like Celery!


This week I'm luxuriating in my new discoveries. I have raw ice cream in the freezer waiting for dessert after dinner tonight. I have a ripe avocado and a ripe tomato on the counter waiting to be turned into dinner. I am proud of myself. I never thought I could be this happy. Anyone who knew me years ago would be astounded that the same girl who turned her nose up at salads, who shunned being outdoors, who disliked being hugged, who was morbid and depressed could have blossomed into the married woman I am today.

I look forward to what I'll be astounded by in five years.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

[Recipe] Banana Bread Pudding Pie



Greetings friend!

This recipe has moved to my new website.

Click here to check it out.

[Detox Blog] Day 14 of 90

[1:44pm]

I'm really no longer feeling deprived about going 100% raw. After making my own raw nut milk, I suddenly feel like I can still make and eat anything I used to eat, only better. My own fresh raw nut milk tastes better than any store-bought milk alternative I've ever tasted. Beyond that, I think it might even be better than milk in the first place.

I can still have granola, I just either need to buy raw granola, or learn to make granola in a new way. Once again, that's not really an issue. I'll just learn, as I have in past. Just like when I took that first baby step and learned to make my own vinaigrette instead of buying it from the store.

After yesterday's magical creation, I'm full of confidence.

So what did I make yesterday? I guess I'll need to make a recipe page for it, huh?

[3:09pm]

I'm feeling really great doing this exercise plan. I've decided that one push-up is "equal" to five "crunches" and that leg lifts while in the yogic bridge pose (on shoulders, neck & feet with arched back) count as two crunches. Meaning that if I want half an apple and spoonful of almond butter (140 crunches) for breakfast, and then at lunch after a salad I decide I want a raw bar (80 crunches) and realize my abs are sore, I can exchange the 80 crunches for 20 crunches, 20 leg-lifts (20 crunches), 5 bridge leg-lifts (10 crunches), and 6 push-ups (30 crunches). It may sound complicated, but it makes it really easy for me to keep track of. Since I'm always starting with one number that is "crunches" for each food, and only exchanging it if I need to, it keeps it very straight-forward in my mind.

I'm feeling really excellent today.

[8:30pm]

Going to have my green drink soon. It won't be tasty, in my opinion, but I'm convinced that the daily green drinks are why I'm building muscle faster than I ever have before, even though I've worked out this regularly or more in the past. If you're confused as to why I would think this, then you may like this article.

My husband just brought in another batch of sprouts. I took pictures of them this time. There probably isn't any easier way to keep robust through the winter than sprouts. I ought to write an article about that at some point.

Day 14 of being 100% raw. I'm feeling great.


....

Random aside, I watched recently a video on dairy and felt so relieved that I don't drink milk anymore and have not for a long time. Drinking puss = disgusting.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

[Detox Blog] Day 13 of 90

[11:15am]

Feeling Inspired

I'm beginning to feel really good. Between the nothing-but-raw foods, green drinks, detox pills, IROs, and tons of exercise, I'm feeling my energy level rise, rise, rise. It's an excellent feeling. I'm also feeling pretty inspired, hence the two recent recipes; Sweet & Spicy Dip and the Chocomon Cookie.

I recently learned from a video I stumbled upon how to make my own nut milk. (Soak nuts for many hours or overnight. Stick in blender with 1 part nuts, 4 parts water, then strain through cloth.) And I'm feeling so inspired by everything that I'm thinking I'm going to experiment and discover another new favorite today. Hopefully. Not all of my creations turn out to be something blog-worthy or photograph-worthy. We'll see...

New Exercise Plan

I've come up with a new exercise system that will help alleviate a bunch of issues at once. The issues that this new plan counters:

Cravings vs. Hunger
I have difficulty telling the difference between a craving and hunger. Hunger is when you're weak and tired. Cravings are when you desire chemical reactions in your gut or brain to make you feel good, relieve stress, or when parasites in your gut are sending you messages through your spine that make you want to eat unhealthy foods. Sometimes I think I'm hungry because I feel weak, but actually I just need exercise. Staying stationary for long periods of time will make you feel weak and tired.

Cravings
I crave the sweetest fruits. This could be because I'm detoxing. My research indicates that detoxing will cause severe cravings, which is appearing to be true for both my husband and I. I particularly desire potato chips, but since I'm obviously not going to be eating those, I tend to turn to wanting to stuff apples and almond butter into my mouth all day.

Overeating
I have a tendency to want to simply keep eating once I start. I can go a long time without eating and have it not bother me in the slightest bit, but then after one bite I want to eat, eat, eat, eat, eat until the cows come home and then some.

Lack of Motivation
I set myself to exercise plans all the time, but tend to only somewhat stick to them and then at some point I burn out and then I don't get much exercise for a while and lose much of the progress made.

Guilt
I often give in to my cravings and then sit there feeling guilty about it. This is unhealthy for a number of reasons, which I'm sure you can figure out for yourself.

My new plan addresses all of the above in a way that I find quite pleasing. This won't work for everyone, but it seems to be working for me.

For each non-vegetable I'm assigning a number of crunches I have to do first. These crunches are done in reps of twenty, so the assigned number to each item is either 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120 or whatever. The point is to push myself, and I don't forget that once I get started, so if I have a lot of energy, but the item only requires 20 crunches, then I'll do the hardest crunches I can come up with.

Crunches have many variations, and I rotate between all of these variations because it's more fun and more effective. I have a short article about that here.

I'm assigning the highest numbers to the "big bads" such as dried fruit and very sweet fruits. If my abs burn too much to do crunches any more, then I may exchange them in equal number for leg lifts, or divide the number of crunches by five to get push-ups.

Here are the numbers I've assigned mentally thus far:














ItemCrunches
Half of an apple100
A kiwi40
A banana60
An orange20
A fruit ball120
A raw bar80
An avocado20
A spoonful of Almond butter40
A quarter package of seed chips40
A handful of pistachios40
Half a mango80


So far it's really helping a lot. No more guilt because I know I earned what I ate. It matters less if I was only hungry because I needed exercise because then I still get the exercise. My cravings are reduces after getting the exercise and makes me more satisfied with the amount that I eat. And I stay motivated to do it because I'm being rewarded (by myself) afterwords.

[Recipe] Spicy Sweet Tomato & Radish Dip




This recipe has moved.

It is now on my new website.

Check it out by clicking here.

(Moved on August 5th 2012.)

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

[Recipe] Kiwi Chocomon Cookie



This recipe has moved.

Click here to find out how to make delicious Chocomon Cookies!

It's on my new website. (Moved August 5th 2012.)

[Detox Blog] Day 12 of 90 - Food Addictions

Food Addiction

Julia Ross, author of The Diet Cure says in her video that in 2007 a study at The University of Burdeaux found that...

Processed sugar is four times more addicting than Cocaine and it has same effects as opiates like Heroin.

...And sugar is a lot more readily available, and has many, many more addicts.

[8:21am]

I think I need to own up to myself that I'm a food addict. I started my journey towards becoming a raw foodist long before I'd ever heard of such at thing. At ten years old I could have told you; "Soda gives me a headache and makes me feel tired." At twelve I could have told you, "I crave pasta all the time, it's addictive." And fourteen I could have said; "It's all the pizza, soda, and chicken wings that are making my skin breakout."

I've grew up in an educated household, even if we did live in a ghetto neighborhood. My mother explained me about insulin and the pancreas for the first time when I was perhaps eight or nine years old. But as I worked through my early teens I experienced the damaging effects of what I ate first hand.

I was saying to my husband last night, "I miss chips. I used to eat chips all the time. If I averaged together all the chips I've ever eaten and spread them evenly throughout my life, then I'd have eaten about seventy-five cents worth of chips every day of my life." And it's true. Before I stopped eating all sugars, I was eating Doritos a lot, which are loaded with high fructose corn syrup and other disgusting things. If those chips were once a food, they certainly are not any more.

After I quit sugar, I turned to corn chips and plain potato chips. I used to believe there was nothing wrong with eating all the oil, salt, and cooked potato I wanted. I had baked potatoes often for dinner, or boiled potatoes, and I called it healthy because I ate it with the red skins on. I didn't think anything of the butter I slathered on it because I had read that butter is actually full of good cholesterol and despite my entire family's love of real butter, none of us have cholesterol problems.

I took the step up to organic potato chips and would enjoy a luxurious bag of classic sea salt organic kettle potato chips on a regular basis last year... Now I'm facing needing to buy a dehydrator so I can make something similar to a chip from seeds and nuts, lest I go crazy and relapse into bad habits.

I took one baby step at a time for years before getting to striving for 100% raw foods. If you had told me this was the destination point seven years ago, I wouldn't have believed you. I would even touch a salad as a kid. In my early teens my idea of a salad was ice berg lettuce, a few baby tomatoes, croutons, and a store-bought vinaigrette. When I quit all sugar, I learned to make my own vinaigrette, which was a great step in the right direction. I also learned to make my own croutons. That's something that hurts to give up: home made croutons. They were of such excellent quality and flavour.

Now my idea of salad is quite different; anything from spinach, shredded raw beets, scallions, lettuce, and raw nuts to avocados, heirloom tomatoes, mache, onions, baby greens, romaine, and my home-made-vinaigrette.

I have not heard of anyone who went raw overnight from the SAD (Standard American Diet); rather people are generally non-poisonists first (like myself) or vegetarian. I wasn't a vegetarian, personally. I switched to locally-raised, grass-fed, "organic" meat when I learned about steroids and living conditions of the animals I was generally eating. But I discovered that even that meat gave me an upset stomach unless it was preceded by a nice large salad. And so that's what I did; I ate a salad, and then I ate my meat. It was an example of incorporating raw into my diet, and I didn't even know it yet.

Because of this many-year journey, I've been thinking of writing my own step-by-step plan to get someone from SAD to Raw. This step by step plan would be devised in the same way that my own steps naturally happened. At each phase I saw a huge change in my health, and I can expect those same steps to affect others on a similar chord.

An excerpt from an article talking about food addictions:

Chocolate bars are loaded with salt, sugar, caffeine and fat, up to 300 calories per bar. Like a body demanding heroin for its balance, the body will crave sugar, salt and fat. Take candy from a sugar junkie, and look out! Quitting causes withdrawals. Remove sugar, processed fat or salt from your diet, and you will crave them. You will go through the discomfort of facing withdrawal similar to the withdrawal from drugs.

Strawberries and bananas don't cause cravings. You never feel guilty about eating too many cantaloupes. You never hear little voices in the back of your head saying eat, eat, eat cantaloupe. No, because natural foods balance the body and physical cravings are caused by biochemical imbalance. Street drugs, alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, salt, saturated fat, refined starch and refined sugars cause cravings because they imbalance the body's chemistry.

Food allergies can also cause an addiction-like dependence due to homeostatic disturbance. Your favorite foods are usually the ones to which you are addicted. You usually feel better immediately after eating the food that you are addicted to, but shortly afterward the allergic reaction produces a feeling of irritability. It causes flatulence, nausea, depression or headaches. Milk, wheat and eggs are the most common allergic foods. Each contains large protein molecules with strong glue-like bonds. If the appropriate enzyme necessary for digestion is not available, these protein molecules enter the blood undigested. The immune system attacks these fragments as if they were invaders. Homeostasis has been imbalanced, and if these foods are continually eaten, the body will need them for homeostatic balance, causing an allergen-based food addiction."

- From article "Your Food Addiction is Great for Business"


Even if I'm no longer addicted to refined sugars I find that all I ever want to eat is fruit, fruit, fruit, fruit... I look down into the cup of green slosh made from fresh vegetables and I down it because I feel so good afterward, but... It's not enjoyable to drink. At least, not to me. My lucky husband thinks green drinks taste good. But then, he's never been overweight, and doesn't crave fruit, fruit, fruit all the time like I do.

This doesn't seem to be a problem for all raw foodists, and perhaps it's not even a problem for most. I have met a good number of raw foodists who make dessert after dessert which are often frozen. I can't imagine that freezing enzymes is better than cooking them. Although, I've met what seems to be a greater portion of raw foodists who love cabbage casseroles, raw succotash-like dishes, complex salads with many bitter greens and so forth.

*sigh*

If only I loved vegetables and felt addicted to them!

In her blog, Miranda Martinez says;

Food allergy is an immune system reaction that occurs soon after eating a certain food. Even a tiny amount of the allergy-causing food can trigger signs and symptoms such as digestive problems, hives or swollen airways. In some people, a food allergy can cause severe symptoms or even a life-threatening reaction known as anaphylaxis.

When you eat a food you're allergic to, your body gets inflamed. Your body thinks it's under attack. If your body feels it's under attack, it releases an anti-inflammatory hormone: cortisol (result: hypertension, fat storage, hold water). This reaction also releases endorphins, which gives you feelings of euphoria. So releasing cortisol becomes addictive, you associate the food with pleasure and this addictive behavior it's pleasurable. Then you become addicted to the food you're allergic to. You like eating it!

This food induced sense of euphoria comes from several chemical mechanisms in your brain. First of all, the sheer pleasure of tasting your trigger foods stimulates your brain's pleasure pathways and the release of dopamine and endorphins, (again, the chemicals that makes you feel exhilarated). You also get a quick surge of energy as the sugar hits your bloodstream. Unfortunately, that energized feeling lasts only as long as the sugar rush. Once your blood-sugar levels drop (about an hour or two later), you're left feeling drained and out of sorts. You're like an addict looking for another fix.


And that's how I feel about apples. I shouldn't feel that way about apples.

Of course, I also feel cravings for brown rice, french fries, cooked and buttery lima beans, and the old "granny version" of strawberry shortcake which is strawberries over hot fresh white biscuits with heavy rich cream poured over them...

Oh how I long for the days when I was only cutting out sugar and white bread! Then I had whole-grain biscuits with cold chopped strawberries on top with organic half and half on top and I thought I was doing good. Except! I knew it still wasn't good for me because without that salad first, I was in for a mighty night of pain. (Stomach bloating, headache, inability to sleep, leg cramps... All that if I didn't eat a salad first. Sound familiar? That's a lack of enzymes folks.)

But then, the craving food addict in me asks... Why can't I have that whole-grain hot biscuit with no sugar added to it with strawberries and organic cream? I could even get raw cream for it! Why can't I have it if I eat that bowl of salad first? Why stop with a salad, even? Why not a green drink and some enzyme pills? Wouldn't I then be able to digest the raw cream and biscuit...? And thereby negate the entire issue?!

But here's the problem. I don't know the answer to those questions, and the damn addict in me won't stop asking.

I would distract myself with fruit balls, except that I'm not supposed to be eating dried fruit. I'm supposed to be detoxing myself of yucky stuff that had built up inside me throughout my life, and I'm thinking about treats...

And that's the scoop. Raederle misses potato chips quite dearly...

[9:37am]

Aha!

According to David Wolfe, in this video, chewing helps relieve stress!

Perhaps that's why I keep craving potato chips. Thinking about it now, I can remember in previous relationships before I met my husband that I often went straight for the bag of chips I had tucked away in my bedroom whenever I was feeling down about something.

Double Aha!

According to Gabriel Cousens in this clip: it's not about the enzymes, but rather the fact that raw foods trigger or "turn on" as Dr. Mark Hyman would say, the anti-problem genes. The genes that prevent us from getting cancer, diabetes, and so forth. The genes that keep us young.

Which would answer my strawberry shortcake question, don'tcha think?

Monday, September 13, 2010

[Photo Gallery] Raw Meals

These photos aim to depict full balanced meals.
Photographs taken by Raederle Phoenix.

Breakfast

Breakfast should be small, but can be the sweetest meal of the day. You have the entire day to burn off all the sweet you eat in the morning, so if you're hankering for a pineapple, breakfast is the time to have a few slices.




Breakfast for two.





Fruit breakfast for one or two.



Salad breakfast for one.



Smoothie breakfast for one or two.


Brunch

Brunch should be light, like breakfast. Enough to see you through to lunch. Can contain sweet fruit, like breakfast, but also should contain vegetables and may contain nuts. Ideally, a green drink should be included for breakfast or brunch.




Brunch for two.









Crabapple, strawberries, blackberries & peach: brunch for two.




Half a grapefruit, a bit of mango, a leaf of kale and raw walnuts: Brunch for one or two.




Lunch

Lunch should be your largest meal of the day. You still have half the day to burn it off. This is a great time for a fruit smoothie a long with a salad.






Lunch for two.





Lunch & Dessert for two.



Lunch for two. (Fruit salad, salad & smoothie.)





Dessert

Dessert should not come after dinner. That's too close to bed time and will keep you up at night and prevent you from metabolizing correctly. A great time for dessert is a while after you've finished lunch.




Dessert for two.





Banana pudding for two.



Peaches, chocolate, raw nut butter, & dried fruit for two.






Snack

A snack could be a small smoothie, a drink drink, a handful of nuts, a few celery sticks with raw nut butter: you name it. Don't make it too sweet though; the day is almost at the close.




Snack for two.



Snack for one, although it could be for two.





A delicious lettuce wrap for one.



A crab apple is small and makes a perfect snack. A usual apple is quite large and very sweet and should usually be cut into two for sharing or saving for later. (Store in the fridge will fresh cut half lemon with the exposed lemon pressed the exposed inner apple to keep fresh.)



Something else interesting about crab apples is that they are natural: not bred. Many bred fruits have an imbalance of fructose to glucose. There should be a natural balance of 50% of each of these sugar parts, but there isn't anymore in bred fruits. The high level of fructose is hard on your liver and other parts of the body.

My husband, who is highly allergic to apples, just recently discovered that he can eat crab apples without a reaction. His usual reaction to even a couple bites of apple is to be very sick for one to three days.




Seasoned and sprouted raw nuts, quarter of a banana, two apple slices and a few blackberries. Snack for one.



Dinner

Dinner should be a mighty leafy salad, or a green drink with some nuts. If you're looking for a more robust salad, and don't feel like spinach, kale & cabbage is your boat, then make a salad with fruits that are tremendously sweet, like avocados, tomatoes and bell peppers.




Dinner for two.



The above should feed three or four people.



Dinner salad for one or two.



"Less sweet fruit" salad for one or two.



Sprouts and berries salad for one or two.