Day 3- Cooked Food body bang

I was running out of juice so I fixed my batches the night before work.  I have to take my juice to work and so a fair amount of preparation is needed to continue on this modified juice fast.  After Day 2 I had a chat with myself and decided that I will eat one organic meal a day- be it cooked or raw.  My energy level just plummets too much between 12 and 1 in the afternoon. 

I started my Basic Carrot juice (see recipe below) with a base of celery.  Celery has natural sodium for the body and is a nice primer for the sweetness of the carrots I was about to add.

Nutritional Benefits of Celery

Celery leaves has high content of vitamin A, whilst the stems are an excellent source of vitamins B1, B2, B6 and C with rich supplies of potassium, folic acid, calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, sodium and plenty essential amino acids.

Nutrients in the fiber are released during juicing, aiding bowel movements. The natural organic sodium (salt) in celery is very safe for consumption, in fact is essential for the body. Even individuals who are salt-sensitive can safely take the sodium in celery, unlike table salt (iodised sodium) which is harmful for those with high blood pressure.  While many foods lose nutrients during cooking, most of the compounds in celery hold up well during cooking. (http://www.juicing-for-health.com)

 To the celery base, I added 12 carrots and  some ginger.  I love carrot juice.  It has a milky texture with just the right amount of sweetness.  I find that carrot does well on its own to sweeten juices but some may like to add other fruits if you like it sweeter.

 Nutritional Benefits of Carrots

Carrot is one of the most healing foods that provides the finest and highest quality in nutrients, especially from its juice.  It is an excellent source of pro-vitamin A, vitamins C, D, E, K, B1 and B6. It is rich with biotin, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, organic sodium and some trace minerals.

 The known phytonutrients in carrots are lutein, lycopene, anti-oxidants alpha, beta and gamma carotenes, zeaxanthin and xanthophyll.  You don't need to remember these fancy names, but just remember that phytonutrients are nature's marvelous provision for healing of various diseases. (http://www.juicing-for-health.com)

Day 3 was better  

I drank all my juices but this time I really focused on water- warm water.  I drink either room-temperature or warm water.  It's easier on the digestive system. At lunch I went to the Farmers Market near work.  Here the bounty of fresh vegetables and fruit helped inspire me for my next batch of juices.

  

Cooked Dinner

 I was looking forward to my husband's organic beef stew for dinner but it wasn't as satisfying as I thought it would be. I think drinking mostly raw juices made my digestive system rebel against cooked food. While the flavor was fine, it was the way it made me feel that was pretty gross. I became bloated, achy, my nose started to run and my asthma turned on within minutes of eating it.  I'm not feel that well so I'm going to keep this blog short today.  Perhaps, my digestive system will clear itself up by Day 4.

Best health wishes to you!

Recipe:

Basic Carrot Juice
12 carrots
1 head of celery
1 cup of spring water
1/4 inch of ginger

Day 2- Better but no prize

Today I had better discipline-mmm- well, sort of.  I woke energized and had an all-fruit smoothie at 7am. ( recipe below).  Around 10:45am I had 16 ounces of my carrot, kale, apple blast. (recipe below)  This was so good. I've never eaten kale in my life before becoming raw.  I tried it before juicing and thought, "Oh Man- I'm eating grass." I found an Italian-food trick to break down the bitterness. Wash, and rub with red wine vinegar and olive oil.  I so love it now especially in salads. 

 Back to the food journey, so the energy train slowed down right about 1:30 p.m. and soup was still on my mind from yesterday.   Funny how the change in cold weather can trigger emotional cues for warming home-made foods.  I am a soup freak during fall and winter thanks to my favorite aunt.  I was honest with myself and knew that going raw was going to be hard during the chilly months.  I gave in to a hot small but satisfying bowl of vegetarian won ton soup with some hot Chinese oil.  I have a good friend who says if you deprive yourself of what you want you only eat more of everything else.  In the end you only end up eating what you wanted wanted in the first place.  She's right. 
The soup gave me the energy I needed to get through the rest of the afternoon. Around 4 pm I finished my carrot, kale, apple blast and headed home.  I'm starting to think that maybe an all-juice fast is not for me quite yet.  I'm doing well with one cooked meal and juice the rest of the day.  Let's see what Day 3 brings.   I have a carrot-juice blend planned for tomorrow and organic beef stew for dinner.

Best health wishes to you!

RECIPES:

Cherry Surprise
 1.5 cups of unsweetened coconut milk
1 banana
1 cup of frozen organic cherries
2 tbsp of ground flax seeds
Blend and enjoy


Carrot, Kale, Apple Blast
6 carrots
1 head of kale
6 apples
1/4 inch of ginger

Day 1- Disaster

I was doing well having my juices all day and 12 pm hit.  Oh, boy, was I hungry.  I started to get headaches, shaky and cold!   We had our first rains in Silicon Valley so I'll I kept craving was my organic  Butternut Squash soup and cup of herbal tea.  I had the tea and  a raw revolution bar.  Yes, I ate. BEING HONEST!  I'm a working mom who commutes so I think I need to drink more juice or an all-fruit smoothie. The program I'm on said it's OK to warm the vegetable juice but not over 118 degrees.  I'm going to try that for day 2. 

I only drank one type of juice on Day 1 or mono-juiced.  It's hard to create different juices when you have to cart it on your commute and store it under you desk at work in a cooler.  I work in the public sector so we have limited refrigeration access at work.  I'm considering buying a fridge for under my desk.  Our fridge at work is growing fuzz, while organic it's not fit for consumption- although it might eat my juice if I leave it in there.
Good news- I still managed to lose .04 lbs.  I'll take it.

Trying better for Day 2.

Best heath wishes you !

Juice for Day 1:

Green Monster

Ingredients
3  apples
4 carrots
2 cucumbers
1 head of green kale
1 head of celery
1/4 inch slice of ginger
1/2 buch of parsley

A raw challenge


The First Step 




So I decided to make an extreme diet change when I was diagnosed in late July 2011 with Stage 1 endometriosis ("endo"). What is endo?  Endometriosis is a painful disorder in which tissue that normally lines the inside of your uterus — the endometrium — grows outside your uterus. The result is painful monthly cycles, infertility and other issues.  The Western medical treatment is to shoot me up with hormones to suppress the pain but the same medication would also put me in menopause.  Since my husband and I are still trying for a second child, this was not a choice for me.

I had been researching a raw food diet for some time prior to my “official” endo diagnosis. According to a second doctor’s opinion endo can only be confirmed by surgery but I suspected that I had it based on my symptoms.  There is no cure to endo just very potent and liver-damaging medications to suppress the symptoms.  I discussed the diet change with my endo doctor and he said he’s seen great results with such a diet change.  He warned me it wouldn’t be easy be easy but would help me lose weight and improve my health overall.  

 

Fertility

I've read that some raw food diets/treatments can help the body heal itself from cancer. (See http://gerson.org/GersonTherapy/gersontherapy.htm)  The raw food diet has even been shown to reverse endo and even restore fertility. Not only is my quest for health but to see if I can restore fertility naturally. I know it’s a gamble so close to 40.

My mom had me at 41.  Although she died some years ago, I remember her having some similar female issues- fertility being one of them.

I've had two back-to back miscarriages and have been trying to conceive since 2007. I'm a working mom approaching age 40, like in four-weeks, and the doctors are pushing IVF.  We can't afford $15,000 for the procedures, nor do I want to be shot up with hormones.  If it's meant to be then it will.  If the raw path doesn't lead to pregnancy, I will still be happy to be a healthier mom for the one beautiful and precious child that I do have. 

The Road to Raw

So the raw path I'm doing is about 75-80 percent consumption of raw and organic foods.   I don't eat anything processed except this Raw Evolution Bar.  It's raw so not cooked over 118 degrees. It is a great fix for a chocolate craving. I gave up soda almost two years ago. I'm lactose intolerant so that was easy. I'm also gluten-free since my child is too. I still have cravings -I'm human.  I'm eating one organic cooked meal with some organic meat every other day to keep up my vitamin B-12 stores in my liver rather than from a supplement. I'm not here to pontificate about the ethical treatment of animals and not eating them.  I leave this choice to you and for you to respect mine.  This is the beauty about Raw Food and how it can fit you and not you it.

The Raw Food school of thought sees cooked foods as causing acidosis in the body leading to many ailments including mucus build up, inflammation, asthma, digestive disorders, diabetes, cancer, and yes, infertility.  What is acidosis? According to the U.S National Library on Medicine, acidosis is a condition in which there is excessive acid in the body fluids thus causing your internal pH to be over then normal. Raw food can help balance or alkalize the body so your blood pH comes closer to the optimal 7.3.

 (See for more information,  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002164/)


How the path has been progressing

I've slowly lost 10lbs since late July. I'm not counting calories and my exercise is walking. My goal is to get to the gym 3 times a week.  I feel great so far. And the best news is that my endo is getting better. I have significantly less pain around cycle time. My asthma is under control. And the list goes on and on.

I do have one word of warning.  If you’re interested in starting on the raw food path I would suggest starting slowly. I was so anxious to get rid of my endo that as soon as the doctor said yes I went 100% the first two weeks.  I experienced what some call “a healing crisis” but I’m just going to call it detoxing.  I woke up one day with a massive migraine.  I never get them so I knew something wasn’t right.  I was nauseous, light headed, shaky and sick.  I’ll spare you the bathroom details.  I thought it was something to do with my cycle so I went to my Western doctor who gave me injectable Advil and oxygen, which is apparently the common treatment for migraines. I was angry with my ignorance about raw food when I  later realized that I was detoxing and after eating pure for two weeks.   The symptoms continued to a lesser degree for the next 5 days. What happens is that as you begin to release the toxins stored in you fat cells they pour into your blood stream causing what happened to me.

COMMON DETOX SYMPTOMS

·         Cravings

·         Fatigue

·         Irritability/Emotional Pain

·         Physical pains

I know now that I should have slowly gone to raw but I’m glad that large detox load is gone.  Apparently, I will be having more as I lose more weight but the big difference is now I know what it is and how to manage it. 

DEALING WITH DETOX SYMPTOMS

·         Rest/Sleep (help your cells heal from the release)

·         Water- 16 glasses per day (helps move the toxins out of the body)

·         Exercise/Saunas (purge toxins out of your skin and get your lymphatic system going)

·         Eating a cooked meal of steam vegetables ( cooked food creates acidosis thus slowing the detox)

10-DAY JUICE FAST

Because I want to be as healthy as I can I’m challenging myself starting on October 3, 2011 with a juice fast by one of my favorite raw foodist-Natasha St. Michael.  She’s down to earth and easy to follow. You can catch her vlogs here (http://www.rawradianthealth.com/blog/) I invite you to follow my blog over the next ten-days and see how I do.  I’ll post my juice recipes as I go.  Comments and questions welcomed.

 Best health wishes to you!

Photo Credits:

Raw Man: http://www.lunchboxmagazine.com/food/getting-healthier-and-prettier-with-raw-food/

Fertility: http://www.fertilityproregistry.com/blog/2009/01/

Farm Road: http://dizorb.com/user-walls/mobile/user-wallpaper-gallery-1024x1024-ipad/
Weight Loss: http://www.123rf.com/clipart-vector/weightloss.html