Juice Fast For Peace June 23, 2010

I recently finished a 7 day juice fast with Dr. Gabriel Cousens, one of the raw foodists who has inspired me.  7 days of nothing but green juice, the only fruit that was in the juice was lemon!  I cleared out a lot of mental and physical toxins.  It is amazing what the body can store over the years.  I am really grateful for everything that I learned from Dr. Cousens.  I feel that I will be able to use the knowledge in order to help heal my digestive problems.

Dr. Cousens indicated that sometimes we are deficient in minerals and vitamins because we can not absorb them (this is my situation).  This actually may have to do with the amount of HCl (hydrochloric acid) in our stomachs.  I am planning on incorporating this into my array of supplements.  In August I will get my blood drawn and see how my levels are doing!

***Also he highly recommended that women over 40 take HCl***  This is because the amount of acid decreases with age and the lack of it hinders the absorption of calcium.  This is the main reason for osteoporosis.  Calcium supplements are not very effective and it is much better to up the HCl acid so that you can actually absorb the calcium from your food.  You may not even be able to absorb the calcium from the supplement.  This applies to all other supplements as well.

The juice fast has also inspired me to go back to being raw.  Now that I have more knowledge I feel that I will be able to approach it better.  I also realize that when I was raw I was eating a lot of things I was allergic to, such as oranges, cucumbers and so forth.

Dr. Cousens has a nice approach to being raw.  The general guidelines are fruits, nuts and seeds for breakfast, a salad for lunch and a smoothie or blended soup for dinner.  I look forward to sharing my new recipes this summer with everyone!

Adaptation April 22, 2010

Ever since I decided to go vegan 2 and 1/2 years ago my diet has undergone significant changes.  At first I cut out HFCS, sugar, white flour and most processed foods.  Then I began experimenting with gluten free diets and raw diets.  I experimented with going raw for a year, but about a month ago I found that it didn’t agree with my body type entirely.  This isn’t to say that I no longer eat raw foods, but am currently trying to find a balance between cooked and raw.

I read a blog about someone who had been working with a raw food diet for 30 years and finally settled on some mixture of raw and cooked.  The one thing that really struck me in his article was not to idolize any diet, if you can digest a food, then it is good for you.  So keep it simple, keep it healthy.  That is what I have been doing as of lately.

The most important thing you can do is listen to your body.  I went to see a nutritionist about a week ago because I felt I really needed some answers about my diet.  As it turns out the fact that I was on anti-biotics during most of my childhood the good bacteria in my intestines has been completely wiped out, leaving me with practically no immune system.  Luckily I eat so many veggies that my Ph level is perfect, this acts as my immune system.I have been diagnosed with “leaky-gut syndrome” which means that there are small holes in my intestines and it is easy for toxins and undigested food to leak into my bloodstream.

My nutritionist also informed me that I am allergic to chicken, eggs, wheat, chocolate, onions, wine, corn, oranges and cucumbers.  Most of the foods I am allergic to I stopped eating at least a year ago when I started to get really in touch with my diet.  Except for the oranges, which was causing most of the bloating while I was on raw foods.  I was starting to pick up on the fact that I could combine oranges with any other food, but hadn’t quite picked up on the fact that they could be an allergen.

Now I would say I am eating a gluten-free vegan diet and the amount of raw foods I eat vary from day to day.  I do have a raw smoothie every morning and I am on ProBiotics, Enzymes and L-Glutamine to help heal my intestinal lining from all the antibiotics as a child.

I am staying away from any sugars, even honey when possible.  I have been mainly using Yacon Powder because it is a sweet root and is a pre-biotic, so it helps the ProBiotics I am on.  The cooked food I have been eating is mainly whole grains (nothing with gluten and nothing processed) pretty much brown rice, wild rice and quinoa.  I have incorporated some steamed veggies and organic tofu and tempeh.  If you eat non-organic soybeans you run the risk of eating GMO foods.  EEk!

I only post my story because I have learned from other’s stories.  I feel that we can learn from one another’s experiences.  If you have any questions or advice feel free to ask or inform me!

Haitus January 22, 2010

Hello, everyone!  I know my posts have slacked for about a year and I really apologize.  I owe this to new love in my life and moving into a raw food diet.  I had been reading a lot of nutrition literature and found it was time to move into a raw vegan diet.  The journey over the past 9 months has been amazing and I have learned a lot about my own body and what it needs.

This is something I want to invite everyone to do.  Food labels indicate RDA, and doctors and friends tell us we need protein, we need calcium we need iron…  We all have a general idea of what is healthy for our bodies, and if you don’t please ask!  We need to learn to be our own nutritionist, our own doctors.  When I was finding out about my onion allergy a nurse told me to drink gingerale.  I was dumbfounded…I knew she meant well, because ginger soothes the stomach.  But gingerale these days contains no ginger.  Why am I going to put bubbly chemical water into my body when my stomach is already in pain, how is that going to help?  You shouldn’t, instead make some ginger tea or apple juice with ginger.

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t listen to anyone else, but we shouldn’t blindly follow advice without paying attention to what our bodies are feeling.  Every body is composed differently.  Although onions and garlic can be very medicinal, my stomach is ripped to shreds by them.  So, pay attention to how your body feels after you eat.