Hi,
I am still having good news with the new "No-Grain Diet." My morning blood sugar was 116 today. I was really surprised. For anyone who might not know, there is a "morning phenomenon" in which a diabetic's blood sugar nearly always seems rather high in the morning when you first get up. I have never read anywhere that anyone has an explanation for this, but I know it exists, and I see it in my own blood sugars which I consider good or acceptable at 126 -- so 116 is excellent.
I am feeling so much more "committed." I am eating lots of raw veggie salads, also cheese, and raw almonds and walnuts. I occasionally do some tuna, too. The food is filling and satisfying. I am doing the chia seed gel two to three times a day and attempting to stay on top of the water drinking. I say attempting because I feel that I am only barely keeping me from being dehydrated. There is always something to struggle with. And I need to get back on the exercise band wagon, too. But I am really quite pleased with the blood sugars I have been getting, and I think that is really good.
I talked with my cousin and good friend, Julianna, on the phone today and committed to exercising three times a week. We set up a deal where I have the whole week to decide which days and when, but at the end of the week if I have not exercised on three different days, then I have to pay her ten dollars for every day I did not exercise. We have done this before and it motivated me. The start date is Halloween (tomorrow) and the end date is New Year's Eve. So by the end of the year I will have formed the 3-day-a-week exercise habit. I am aiming for Monday, Wednesday and Friday as my days, with the days in between as backups. Since funds are limited it really helps me to save money by exercising and it actually does keep me on track with the exercise.
Julianna never misses exercising and has reached her first weight loss goal. I am the one who needs the support. But this support system works for me. You gotta do, what you gotta do. I just realized that that will also help me get through the holidays better too, I think. I am a long way from where I was last year at Thanksgiving when I first set off the eating machine and went berzerk. I have not reached the destination, but I am glad to have been in the battle. Just being engaged in the fight has brought me to a better place than where I was. Improvements have definitely been made. No matter how slow the go, "go" is better. Thank you Lord.
I have been looking around at Amazon recently looking for more information about curing diabetes and there are sure a lot of books out there. I think that if someone is actually interested in doing something about their diabetes there is a perfect solution for them out there somewhere. I like being able to read inside the books for a few pages -- often you can see the table of contents and a major portion of the first chapter which is really all you need to assess whether the program being touted is the one for you.
The right program for you is the one you will do. I have ordered three more books that should arrive on Tuesday and after that, I need to slow down on the spending. I ordered three so I could get the free shipping which is a real plus. I ordered:
"Going Against the Grain: How Reducing and Avoiding Grains Can Revitalize Your Health" by Melissa Smith
"User's Guide to Preventing and Reversing Diabetes Naturally" (Basic Health Publications User's Guide) again by Melissa Smith and
"Grain Damage: Rethinking the High-Starch Diet" by Douglas N. Graham which got a good review from Dr. Mercola.
From what I was able to read inside each one, I think the "Going Against the Grain" book and the "Grain Damage" book are the ones I will find most interesting. The "User's Guide" appears to be only a little larger than a pamphlet and was under six dollars. I will check it out when I get it and see what I think.
I now realize, even more, that eating bread and starches actually does what the research says it does to blood sugar and it is one of reasons so many Americans (including me) are overweight. Before I started all this I was on what I considered to be a "low carb" diet for many years, but I would go on it, and go off it. My playing around with the foods I am addicted to by repeatedly stopping and starting them has done a couple of things to my body. One, I think it kept me from being a full blown type 2 diabetic for a long time, so I was always on the verge (pre-diabetic) but never over the edge. Two, as I have gotten older now, it does not work so well and I have to pay more attention to doing what is right for my body. I had gotten to the stage where things were more than a little out of control. (You can read about it in my "Before Day 1" post, if you are interested.)
The other thing I was doing was eating a lot of protein but it was not good protein. It was convenient protein. I practically lived on chicken nuggets. I know. I know. Kid food. But it was fast, it was easy, and I considered it acceptable. I had read in some book somewhere that the breading was negligible so I did not bother about it. Right now, I am eating cleaner, and am actually surprised that when I am at home I am almost a vegetarian. I am not going to take on the "vegetarian" label, though, because I really don't have anything against eating meat and I will do so from time to time. Since I have incorporated so much more raw vegetables in my diet, though, the meat really does just smell bad to me. It is quite unappetizing for the most part, so I am not attracted to it. If it is cooked well and has an appetizing smell, I will partake. So it is more about taste than philosophy or training.
My weight, right now, is fluctuating at a lower level than it was previously. My range used to be 352 to 342, but my range is now 348 to 337 -- and I have not been up to 348 for a while. My usual top is really about 344 but I don't want to change to that number officially until I have done it for a little longer and can confirm that as the new true range. I am glad it is a lower range and I am taking that as an improvement.
I have another friend who recently told me she was secretly reading my blog and that she is interested in losing the weight she put on before her new and beautiful daughter was born. I noticed that she posted on a social networking site that she was eating cinnamon rolls as she watched a favorite movie last night and I wanted to say something about that. I don't want to turn into the carbohydrate police, especially when she has not asked me to do so (and I have such trouble with it myself). She has made no commitment, but has stated a desire. I could not help but notice that statement and wish that I had something wise and inspiring to say. I don't. I know the feeling, but, I don't want to commiserate and wallow in that either.
I guess the only thing I might like to actually say to her is that the longest or hardest journey always begins with the first step. Maybe the first step is checking out different plans and seeing which one might work. She is young, and beautiful, and intelligent, so I know she will figure that all out on her own, and who am I to bring this up? I weigh a whole lot more than she does, but, I'd like to say, "You are not alone," and "We differ only by degree."
"Check out a few plans and see what comes of it," would be my advice, not only to her, but to anyone who is concerned about their health and eating habits. The word "repentance" means "changing your mind." A little spark of openness will go a long way in solving a problem and changing a mind. The decision to begin the journey is always personal, and it is often hard to budge ourselves in another direction, even when we know we should, we may not really want to. Or maybe we are afraid we cannot change or just simply are afraid, knowing we like eating what we are eating, even though it is bad for us. (Heroin addicts like taking their drug of choice, too, even though they know it is bad for them.) The act of looking at plans and programs is actually the first real step to changing our minds and stepping out towards accomplishing a personal goal.
I feel like a traveler on a journey. I am not stopping here, but am going on.
Be back soon
--Marcia
Here is the recipe for the salad I mentioned a few posts ago:
Christmas Broccoli Salad
1 small broccoli head cut in small pieces (enough for one serving)
1 med tomato cut in bite sized chunks
1 or 2 radishes sliced thin to resemble ornaments (do not peel)
1/4-1/2 C whole walnuts (no need to chop)
1/4 C Feta Cheese crumbled small like snow
small amount of olive oil
small amount of vinegar
any spices you like (I use garlic powder, curry powder, and Italian seasonings -- which I sprinkle on the salad and then pour the oil over and then the vinegar over all) -- you can use any dressing you like but the oil and vinegar do not alter the colors of the ingredients
This is for a large one-person whole-meal salad -- if you are serving more than one then increase the ingredients to fit your situation.
I call this a "Christmas" salad because the broccoli cut small in the bowl reminded me of evergreen branches -- especially when I put the tomatoes and radishes on top of it. The crumbled feta even looked like snow. It just looked like Christmas and made me feel good. Enjoy!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
97
Hooty Hoo!
I was pretty surprised tonight when I checked my blood sugar and found it to read 97!! Whoo Hooo!! Leaving out the bread has made the difference. Even though it was sprouted whole grain bread and labeled "low glycemic" it still made my blood sugar shoot up. Now that I have come to my senses -- with the help of Dr Mercola's book called "The No-Grain Diet" I can see the difference myself.
Here is a link to the book on Amazon if you want to check it out:
http://www.amazon.com/No-Grain-Diet-Joseph-Mercola/dp/0452285089/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288231775&sr=1-1
If you are interested here is what I ate today before checking my blood sugar: two large raw salads. Both were made with bok choy my leafy green for this week and I normally add tomatoes. Today I also added broccoli to one and broccoli sprouts to the other. I added feta cheese, zucchini, almonds and I used olive oil alone on one and olive oil and apple cider vinegar on the other. (I do not shake the vinegar anymore, I just pour the clear vinegar out of the top of the bottle and have not had the trouble with the spots on the feet. If it comes back, I'll stop again.) I added spices to both salads: garlic powder, my own curry powder, and Italian herbs, plus a little salt just before pouring on the liquids.
I am as surprised as you are that eating these large salads fills me up, satisfies me, and sticks to my ribs, too. Who knew?
After I checked the blood sugar, I felt hungry and fried up some zucchini and eggs for dinner. That makes me about 66 and 2/3 raw. The plumbing is working very well, too, from all the raw veggies.
Don't have much to say today -- just wanted to let you know of my 97!! Yippee!!
Thank you Lord, for your kindness!!
Be back soon
--Marcia
I was pretty surprised tonight when I checked my blood sugar and found it to read 97!! Whoo Hooo!! Leaving out the bread has made the difference. Even though it was sprouted whole grain bread and labeled "low glycemic" it still made my blood sugar shoot up. Now that I have come to my senses -- with the help of Dr Mercola's book called "The No-Grain Diet" I can see the difference myself.
Here is a link to the book on Amazon if you want to check it out:
http://www.amazon.com/No-Grain-Diet-Joseph-Mercola/dp/0452285089/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288231775&sr=1-1
If you are interested here is what I ate today before checking my blood sugar: two large raw salads. Both were made with bok choy my leafy green for this week and I normally add tomatoes. Today I also added broccoli to one and broccoli sprouts to the other. I added feta cheese, zucchini, almonds and I used olive oil alone on one and olive oil and apple cider vinegar on the other. (I do not shake the vinegar anymore, I just pour the clear vinegar out of the top of the bottle and have not had the trouble with the spots on the feet. If it comes back, I'll stop again.) I added spices to both salads: garlic powder, my own curry powder, and Italian herbs, plus a little salt just before pouring on the liquids.
I am as surprised as you are that eating these large salads fills me up, satisfies me, and sticks to my ribs, too. Who knew?
After I checked the blood sugar, I felt hungry and fried up some zucchini and eggs for dinner. That makes me about 66 and 2/3 raw. The plumbing is working very well, too, from all the raw veggies.
Don't have much to say today -- just wanted to let you know of my 97!! Yippee!!
Thank you Lord, for your kindness!!
Be back soon
--Marcia
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Hi,
I just finished watching a video that I thought was rather amusing and amazing. It is of a doctor, Thomas Lodi MD, giving a lecture at a conference. I was surprised at the direction it took because it was labeled "Stop Making Cancer" and he gave some of the most convincing reasons to be eating a plant based diet that I have recently heard. By a simple logical look at "nature" he directs your thinking in a way that makes simple sense. Here is the link if you would like to see it: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4188146761750660732#
I have been eating properly except for two meals recently (tacos and a burrito). I also went to Dr Chris' health store and got some better B vitamins. At least I hope they turn out better than the ones I was taking that I had gotten from the grocery store. On the last set of tests my doctor had given me she told me that I needed B vitamins. This was a little shocking to me, because I take them every day. I figured that maybe the ones I was taking were simply inefficient and I needed something better. I wish there were some sort of insurance program for taking vitamins and supplements because they are really expensive.
I have also been reading more in "The No-Grain Diet" and getting my mind prepared for doing the EFT (emotional freedom technique) to help to control the cravings. He is talking a lot about the addiction to grains and starches and sugars and so far, it is really resonating with me. Some of the examples he has been describing could have been taken from my own life, so I think I am on the right track with this. The only thing is, he still advocates eating animal protein -- which my doctor has also suggested. I have been leaning more and more towards vegan, but have not taken that final step. I am not purposefully opposed to eating meat, but the video I just watched really made it seem like the wrong thing to do, too. I guess it is really up to the individual and what they believe and what they are trying to accomplish.
I will take it slow. I am eating way more plants than I used to eat. And I am still kind of amazed at what happens when you soak raw peanuts in water over night. I had some for breakfast this morning. They seem to swell up, get lighter in color, and the texture becomes more crisp and crunchy. Completely different from roasted peanuts which are what I might call hard and mushy as you chew them. I noticed the other day when I was pouring the water off of a mixture of raw peanuts and raw pumpkin seeds that the water had a light film on it that resembled an oil slick in my mind. It glowed with that rainbow of colors you see when the light glistens on an oil slick and I was really a little surprised to see it. I am told that soaking the nuts and seeds removes an enzyme blocker of some kind and makes them easier for the body to digest. So far I like the difference the water makes.
I have also started storing some of my raw veggies in a little water that I change when I cut off a portion to eat. I started doing this with Romaine lettuce when I noticed the tops of the leaves were a little wilted and unappetizing. I remembered that when I was a child my mother used to take a wilted stalk of celery and make a new cut on the bottom and then stand it up in a little water in the fridge and they would perk up and become hard and crunchy again. I tried that with the lettuce and it did the same thing. The leaves of the Romaine hearts got firm and crunchy again.
What I did was take a large gallon size zip close bag and put a little filtered water in the corner (about half a cup) and then position the lettuce in the bag so that the bottom stem was standing in the corner of the bag in the water. I then made sure to place them so they were upright in the fridge and it drank the water into the leaves. The water seems to change color, so I put in fresh water each time I use a few of the leaves and put the stalk back in the bag. I tried it with a seemingly dry head of leafy green lettuce (it seemed to dry out on the way home in the car) and that perked up, too. It got so full it was tight in the bag and kept the lettuce fresh longer. Yesterday I tried it with a large stalk of broccoli that seemed a little wilty and that perked up, and became firm, too.
This seems to me to be proof that those items are still living and are good for me to eat because I am living, also. I made a broccoli and tomato salad and after it was cut up and assembled it reminded me of Christmas. The broccoli looked like pine needles and the tomatoes being red just made me think of Christmas, which seemed pleasant to me. When I sprinkled on some crumbled feta cheese it looked like snow, so I might actually make one of those at Christmas time if I have to take a salad somewhere.
I am still moving along. Still studying. Still eating right. Thank you Lord, for your kindness.
Be back soon
--Marcia
I just finished watching a video that I thought was rather amusing and amazing. It is of a doctor, Thomas Lodi MD, giving a lecture at a conference. I was surprised at the direction it took because it was labeled "Stop Making Cancer" and he gave some of the most convincing reasons to be eating a plant based diet that I have recently heard. By a simple logical look at "nature" he directs your thinking in a way that makes simple sense. Here is the link if you would like to see it: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4188146761750660732#
I have been eating properly except for two meals recently (tacos and a burrito). I also went to Dr Chris' health store and got some better B vitamins. At least I hope they turn out better than the ones I was taking that I had gotten from the grocery store. On the last set of tests my doctor had given me she told me that I needed B vitamins. This was a little shocking to me, because I take them every day. I figured that maybe the ones I was taking were simply inefficient and I needed something better. I wish there were some sort of insurance program for taking vitamins and supplements because they are really expensive.
I have also been reading more in "The No-Grain Diet" and getting my mind prepared for doing the EFT (emotional freedom technique) to help to control the cravings. He is talking a lot about the addiction to grains and starches and sugars and so far, it is really resonating with me. Some of the examples he has been describing could have been taken from my own life, so I think I am on the right track with this. The only thing is, he still advocates eating animal protein -- which my doctor has also suggested. I have been leaning more and more towards vegan, but have not taken that final step. I am not purposefully opposed to eating meat, but the video I just watched really made it seem like the wrong thing to do, too. I guess it is really up to the individual and what they believe and what they are trying to accomplish.
I will take it slow. I am eating way more plants than I used to eat. And I am still kind of amazed at what happens when you soak raw peanuts in water over night. I had some for breakfast this morning. They seem to swell up, get lighter in color, and the texture becomes more crisp and crunchy. Completely different from roasted peanuts which are what I might call hard and mushy as you chew them. I noticed the other day when I was pouring the water off of a mixture of raw peanuts and raw pumpkin seeds that the water had a light film on it that resembled an oil slick in my mind. It glowed with that rainbow of colors you see when the light glistens on an oil slick and I was really a little surprised to see it. I am told that soaking the nuts and seeds removes an enzyme blocker of some kind and makes them easier for the body to digest. So far I like the difference the water makes.
I have also started storing some of my raw veggies in a little water that I change when I cut off a portion to eat. I started doing this with Romaine lettuce when I noticed the tops of the leaves were a little wilted and unappetizing. I remembered that when I was a child my mother used to take a wilted stalk of celery and make a new cut on the bottom and then stand it up in a little water in the fridge and they would perk up and become hard and crunchy again. I tried that with the lettuce and it did the same thing. The leaves of the Romaine hearts got firm and crunchy again.
What I did was take a large gallon size zip close bag and put a little filtered water in the corner (about half a cup) and then position the lettuce in the bag so that the bottom stem was standing in the corner of the bag in the water. I then made sure to place them so they were upright in the fridge and it drank the water into the leaves. The water seems to change color, so I put in fresh water each time I use a few of the leaves and put the stalk back in the bag. I tried it with a seemingly dry head of leafy green lettuce (it seemed to dry out on the way home in the car) and that perked up, too. It got so full it was tight in the bag and kept the lettuce fresh longer. Yesterday I tried it with a large stalk of broccoli that seemed a little wilty and that perked up, and became firm, too.
This seems to me to be proof that those items are still living and are good for me to eat because I am living, also. I made a broccoli and tomato salad and after it was cut up and assembled it reminded me of Christmas. The broccoli looked like pine needles and the tomatoes being red just made me think of Christmas, which seemed pleasant to me. When I sprinkled on some crumbled feta cheese it looked like snow, so I might actually make one of those at Christmas time if I have to take a salad somewhere.
I am still moving along. Still studying. Still eating right. Thank you Lord, for your kindness.
Be back soon
--Marcia
Friday, October 22, 2010
Bumbling Raw is Still Better than SAD
Hi,
I went to see my doctor four days ago and was surprised when she showed me from the results of my last round of tests taken a few weeks ago, that my A1c has gone down another tenth to 5.3. She said this was excellent. But when they measured my blood sugar at about 11:45 a.m. (I had had nothing to eat since the night before) my blood glucose level was 147. I was shocked that it was so high. But as I thought back on what I had eaten the day before I realized it had to be the bread. My addicted self had been eating Ezekial bread, again. I always chose the one with the light orange label which says it is "low glycemic" which made it OK in my fuzzy mind. The problem is that I was eating two and sometimes three sandwiches in a day, and the day before I had gone to the doctor I had had a three-sandwich day.
Since then, I have been reading "The No-Grain Diet" by Dr. Joseph Mercola and threw out the last loaf that I had in the freezer and also the left over portion of the loaf I had been eating from. I cannot eat bread. Period. If you have been following my blog, you know this is the same thing happening all over again. I am in the process of getting real with myself. I measured my blood sugar this morning before having breakfast and it was 127 which is much improved from Tuesday but not where it should be yet. Improvements are good, no matter how small.
I am beginning to see that where I struggle is in my mind and in what I allow for myself to eat. In "The No-Grain Diet" Dr. Mercola mentions the "Carbohydrate Addict" program that was started years ago by the Hellers and he says the only problem with the program they worked up is that they allow a small amount of fast carbs once a day and that is the downfall of a real addict. Like me. That is exactly where I had gotten the notion that I could have one a day -- from that program. I actually thought I needed one a day.
Please know, that I am grateful to the Heller's for what I learned from reading their books and web site, and from reading about their own experiences and how they lost weight and kept it off all those years. If the program works for you, then, please do that program. I am just saying that I got a notion from that program that my "magical thinking" turned into permission to eat one bread, or one potato, or one candy bar, per day and it would not hurt me. Wrong. It hurts me by opening the flood gate. This is not their problem and they did not cause it. This is my problem and I caused it. It is the rebel in me. I always want to do things my own way and my way lead me over the cliff. I'm not doing that anymore. If I can help it. With the Lord's help I will gain victory over this.
Today I just finished listening to an interview with Morgan Spurlock where he talks about the raw food program in relation to diabetes. Morgan Spurlock is the guy who did the "Supersize Me" documentary a few years ago. If you are not familiar with it you may want to look it up and watch it. It is a truly amazing documentary. Morgan decided he wanted to see what the effects of eating at a fast food restaurant that offers super size portions would be on his own body. For 30 days he ate every meal at these fast food restaurants and if they offered to "super size" it then he had to say "yes" and eat all the food. If they did not offer to "super size" then he ate the regular portions. From what I recall at the end of the 30 days he was in very bad shape from eating burgers and fries and soft drinks on a daily basis. He had put on weight, but I think what got most affected in him was his liver. He became quite ill which is where the documentary ended. Well, the video I just watched tells about how he and his wife corrected the problem through an eight week raw food "detox." You can watch the new video at: http://www.rawfor30days.com/VideoSeries/ You will have to give them your name and e-mail address to see it, but that is no big deal, in my mind -- they are just keeping statistics. The video is worth seeing.
Note: the streaming video on my equipment kept pausing which I find annoying -- so I let it play with all the pauses and then when it is finished I played it once more. The second time through there are no pauses because it has downloaded on your machine by then which makes it much easier to watch. If anyone knows a better way, I'd appreciate hearing about it.
I spent yesterday with a friend and we visited one of her dearly beloved friends who lives in Winder, GA. The drive was nice and I enjoyed meeting her friend a lot. During the course of the conversation it became apparent that her friend is a diabetic. I shared about how excess sugar in the blood displaces oxygen creating poor circulation. She seemed amazed to find out these few facts concerning this process and I realized through further conversation that she was not really clear on what actually causes diabetes. I had glanced at her ankles which were very red and dotted with dark spots and realized that her diabetes is not under good control. At one point my friend said she wanted to have her blood sugar checked and her friend got out her meter and checked it for her. We were all amazed that she was up to 197 and had just eaten a rather healthy looking meal that she had brought with her. She struggles with Celiac disease and is under a doctor's care and said she was going to report this to her doctor whom she is visiting on Monday. I was glad to hear that.
But I am concerned for her friend. I would like to get some information to her so I'll contact my friend and get her address and print out some stuff and send it to her. I will also get her phone number and call and talk to her, too. It is amazing to me that so few diabetics are getting good information about the disease and how to reverse it. I've been looking around at Amazon and checking out the many books which claim to show you how to reverse diabetes. The information is out there, but I guess you have to know where to look to find it. And you have to be not afraid to, perhaps, go against your doctor's or dietitian's belief systems, too.
As far as I can tell, lots of doctors still believe that the way to deal with diabetes is with drugs -- even though it is so very obvious that a person is what they eat. If you eat a lot of sugar, your blood sugar will become high. If you eat a lot of foods that turn to sugar in the blood, then your blood sugar is going to be high, and you will begin to suffer the consequences. Drugs may be a temporary help but I just don't see them being a long term solution.
Do you ever recall hearing that some diabetic person that you personally know has been taking their meds and eventually had to increase their meds because they were not helping at the lower dose anymore? Did the person doing what their doctor told them to do ever actually recover from the disease? Does anyone you know actually believe diabetes can disappear for any reason? Meds do not solve the problem, and in fact, depending on them only maintains the current problem and does nothing to turn the disease and its many complications around. It is almost like a "drug only" approach lulls the participant into wrong attitudes. The one type I diabetic that I personally knew used to plan on how much candy and junk she could eat and give herself an insulin shot calculated to fix her sugar levels, just so she could purposely eat junk. If that is not lulled in the wrong direction....
The "drug only" approach, while continuing to eat the wrong kinds of foods only prolongs the inevitable dangerous consequences. And it is flabbergasting to me that the official diabetes diets that doctors put their patients on, are simply small variations of the same old standard American diet. Did you ever stop to think that the magazines on the racks in the grocery store that deal with diabetes always have some sort of luscious dessert on the cover and promise to show you how to make this decadent dessert the "diabetic way?" Did that ever seem wrong to you? It always did to me. It just caters to the addiction, in my mind, and prolongs the agony.
I recall when my old doctor told me I was a pre-diabetic and sent me to a registered dietitian for help in changing my diet, that I was far from impressed with what I got there. First off, the dietitican, herself, whom I had been told was a real expert who had been teaching diet and nutrition for years and was very trustworthy, was about seventy five pounds over weight. I kept hearing her words and looking at her and wondering what was wrong with this picture. I had mentioned "low carb" and she strongly recommended that was a wrong approach. She showed me funky little plastic foods (1/2 cup portions of rice, and cooked broccoli, etc.) as she talked about reduced portions and what to combine and I kept looking at her girth. I asked if she ate this way, and she said she did eat the way she was teaching others to eat. So I realized that if I wanted to end up looking like her, I should follow her plan. Um. I don't think so. I already knew there was a better way, because I secretly knew I was still a "pre-diabetic" rather than a full blown diabetic because of my adventures in low carb eating.
My new doctor, while maintaining some of the characteristics of my previous doctors, advocates a real change in diet. She is the one who has recommended the raw program to me, and though I struggle with it, I am, I think, getting things realigned. The reduction in A1c is proof. I am now farther from type II diabetes than I was when I started -- and that even by my bumbling attempts at doing the right things, I am still headed in a better direction than I was. This is proof, in my mind, that even small changes in the right direction are better than small changes in the wrong direction. I believe Raw is the right direction.
Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below and I will publish and respond to all valuable information, stories, and good intentions. Let others know what you think.
Take care.
--Be back soon, Lord willing,
Marcia
I went to see my doctor four days ago and was surprised when she showed me from the results of my last round of tests taken a few weeks ago, that my A1c has gone down another tenth to 5.3. She said this was excellent. But when they measured my blood sugar at about 11:45 a.m. (I had had nothing to eat since the night before) my blood glucose level was 147. I was shocked that it was so high. But as I thought back on what I had eaten the day before I realized it had to be the bread. My addicted self had been eating Ezekial bread, again. I always chose the one with the light orange label which says it is "low glycemic" which made it OK in my fuzzy mind. The problem is that I was eating two and sometimes three sandwiches in a day, and the day before I had gone to the doctor I had had a three-sandwich day.
Since then, I have been reading "The No-Grain Diet" by Dr. Joseph Mercola and threw out the last loaf that I had in the freezer and also the left over portion of the loaf I had been eating from. I cannot eat bread. Period. If you have been following my blog, you know this is the same thing happening all over again. I am in the process of getting real with myself. I measured my blood sugar this morning before having breakfast and it was 127 which is much improved from Tuesday but not where it should be yet. Improvements are good, no matter how small.
I am beginning to see that where I struggle is in my mind and in what I allow for myself to eat. In "The No-Grain Diet" Dr. Mercola mentions the "Carbohydrate Addict" program that was started years ago by the Hellers and he says the only problem with the program they worked up is that they allow a small amount of fast carbs once a day and that is the downfall of a real addict. Like me. That is exactly where I had gotten the notion that I could have one a day -- from that program. I actually thought I needed one a day.
Please know, that I am grateful to the Heller's for what I learned from reading their books and web site, and from reading about their own experiences and how they lost weight and kept it off all those years. If the program works for you, then, please do that program. I am just saying that I got a notion from that program that my "magical thinking" turned into permission to eat one bread, or one potato, or one candy bar, per day and it would not hurt me. Wrong. It hurts me by opening the flood gate. This is not their problem and they did not cause it. This is my problem and I caused it. It is the rebel in me. I always want to do things my own way and my way lead me over the cliff. I'm not doing that anymore. If I can help it. With the Lord's help I will gain victory over this.
Today I just finished listening to an interview with Morgan Spurlock where he talks about the raw food program in relation to diabetes. Morgan Spurlock is the guy who did the "Supersize Me" documentary a few years ago. If you are not familiar with it you may want to look it up and watch it. It is a truly amazing documentary. Morgan decided he wanted to see what the effects of eating at a fast food restaurant that offers super size portions would be on his own body. For 30 days he ate every meal at these fast food restaurants and if they offered to "super size" it then he had to say "yes" and eat all the food. If they did not offer to "super size" then he ate the regular portions. From what I recall at the end of the 30 days he was in very bad shape from eating burgers and fries and soft drinks on a daily basis. He had put on weight, but I think what got most affected in him was his liver. He became quite ill which is where the documentary ended. Well, the video I just watched tells about how he and his wife corrected the problem through an eight week raw food "detox." You can watch the new video at: http://www.rawfor30days.com/VideoSeries/ You will have to give them your name and e-mail address to see it, but that is no big deal, in my mind -- they are just keeping statistics. The video is worth seeing.
Note: the streaming video on my equipment kept pausing which I find annoying -- so I let it play with all the pauses and then when it is finished I played it once more. The second time through there are no pauses because it has downloaded on your machine by then which makes it much easier to watch. If anyone knows a better way, I'd appreciate hearing about it.
I spent yesterday with a friend and we visited one of her dearly beloved friends who lives in Winder, GA. The drive was nice and I enjoyed meeting her friend a lot. During the course of the conversation it became apparent that her friend is a diabetic. I shared about how excess sugar in the blood displaces oxygen creating poor circulation. She seemed amazed to find out these few facts concerning this process and I realized through further conversation that she was not really clear on what actually causes diabetes. I had glanced at her ankles which were very red and dotted with dark spots and realized that her diabetes is not under good control. At one point my friend said she wanted to have her blood sugar checked and her friend got out her meter and checked it for her. We were all amazed that she was up to 197 and had just eaten a rather healthy looking meal that she had brought with her. She struggles with Celiac disease and is under a doctor's care and said she was going to report this to her doctor whom she is visiting on Monday. I was glad to hear that.
But I am concerned for her friend. I would like to get some information to her so I'll contact my friend and get her address and print out some stuff and send it to her. I will also get her phone number and call and talk to her, too. It is amazing to me that so few diabetics are getting good information about the disease and how to reverse it. I've been looking around at Amazon and checking out the many books which claim to show you how to reverse diabetes. The information is out there, but I guess you have to know where to look to find it. And you have to be not afraid to, perhaps, go against your doctor's or dietitian's belief systems, too.
As far as I can tell, lots of doctors still believe that the way to deal with diabetes is with drugs -- even though it is so very obvious that a person is what they eat. If you eat a lot of sugar, your blood sugar will become high. If you eat a lot of foods that turn to sugar in the blood, then your blood sugar is going to be high, and you will begin to suffer the consequences. Drugs may be a temporary help but I just don't see them being a long term solution.
Do you ever recall hearing that some diabetic person that you personally know has been taking their meds and eventually had to increase their meds because they were not helping at the lower dose anymore? Did the person doing what their doctor told them to do ever actually recover from the disease? Does anyone you know actually believe diabetes can disappear for any reason? Meds do not solve the problem, and in fact, depending on them only maintains the current problem and does nothing to turn the disease and its many complications around. It is almost like a "drug only" approach lulls the participant into wrong attitudes. The one type I diabetic that I personally knew used to plan on how much candy and junk she could eat and give herself an insulin shot calculated to fix her sugar levels, just so she could purposely eat junk. If that is not lulled in the wrong direction....
The "drug only" approach, while continuing to eat the wrong kinds of foods only prolongs the inevitable dangerous consequences. And it is flabbergasting to me that the official diabetes diets that doctors put their patients on, are simply small variations of the same old standard American diet. Did you ever stop to think that the magazines on the racks in the grocery store that deal with diabetes always have some sort of luscious dessert on the cover and promise to show you how to make this decadent dessert the "diabetic way?" Did that ever seem wrong to you? It always did to me. It just caters to the addiction, in my mind, and prolongs the agony.
I recall when my old doctor told me I was a pre-diabetic and sent me to a registered dietitian for help in changing my diet, that I was far from impressed with what I got there. First off, the dietitican, herself, whom I had been told was a real expert who had been teaching diet and nutrition for years and was very trustworthy, was about seventy five pounds over weight. I kept hearing her words and looking at her and wondering what was wrong with this picture. I had mentioned "low carb" and she strongly recommended that was a wrong approach. She showed me funky little plastic foods (1/2 cup portions of rice, and cooked broccoli, etc.) as she talked about reduced portions and what to combine and I kept looking at her girth. I asked if she ate this way, and she said she did eat the way she was teaching others to eat. So I realized that if I wanted to end up looking like her, I should follow her plan. Um. I don't think so. I already knew there was a better way, because I secretly knew I was still a "pre-diabetic" rather than a full blown diabetic because of my adventures in low carb eating.
My new doctor, while maintaining some of the characteristics of my previous doctors, advocates a real change in diet. She is the one who has recommended the raw program to me, and though I struggle with it, I am, I think, getting things realigned. The reduction in A1c is proof. I am now farther from type II diabetes than I was when I started -- and that even by my bumbling attempts at doing the right things, I am still headed in a better direction than I was. This is proof, in my mind, that even small changes in the right direction are better than small changes in the wrong direction. I believe Raw is the right direction.
Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below and I will publish and respond to all valuable information, stories, and good intentions. Let others know what you think.
Take care.
--Be back soon, Lord willing,
Marcia
Saturday, October 16, 2010
The Real Risks of Too Much Glucose in the Blood
Hi,
I am back after having fallen off the wagon. I am now in the process of beginning again. Blogging helps me to get my head on straight and it might help someone else who does the same stuff I do. You must know how embarrassing it is to be such a foolish person and have to admit it in public like this, but I know of no other way to turn things around, but through good old fashioned repentance and prayer. I was at my Bible study fellowship last night and I shared about where I have been and what I have been doing and got the kind of support I needed. The words "self control" came up, prayers were said on my behalf, and I also got my 30 Day Diabetes Cure book back from my friend.
Last night when I got home I started reading the book again. When I have been wandering around in my own head too long, and following the fiction that my addicted brain likes to hear, I need to clear out the cob webs with real facts. And the book is chock full of the kind of information I need. The thing that has most impressed me this morning is the list of dangerous things that having too much glucose in the blood stream over a long period of time causes in the body. (Reading in and around page 29). I will be paraphrasing what Dr Rip and Jim Healthy have written in an effort to cement the facts into my own mind and also to share with anyone who is in need of this information, again.
I have what is called "central obesity" which is belly fat. They are saying that the solution to belly fat is fiber rich slow carbs. Carbs are labeled fast or slow by how quickly they turn to glucose in the blood stream. The glycemic index and glycemic load charts that you can find on the internet will give you a good idea of which foods to eat and which to avoid in order to reduce glucose in the blood. My doctor has told me to eat low on the index, meaning 50 or below. The higher the number, the faster you are putting sugar in your blood stream when you eat them.
When you are eating raw foods (meaning uncooked and unprocessed) you will naturally be eating lower on the scale. Raw foods still have all their fiber intact, and they are usually slower carbs, also. The one possible exception is fruit. Since fruits in general have a lot of sugar in them, a diabetic should limit them to only the ones that are very low on the index, and not very often during the day. The best way to manage them is to simply monitor your blood sugars when you eat them. If eating a particular fruit (or anything for that matter) raises your blood sugar too high, then put that item on the outside of the circle of foods you should be eating. For me, since I am getting back on track, I am not going to be buying any fruit for a while. (Please understand I am also not advocating eating raw meat -- that is just too bizarre. I am talking about raw uncooked vegetables, nuts and seeds which should make up more than fifty percent of your diet. You can do a search for "raw food diet" to see what the complete parameters are and will also find "superfoods" you can include to further heal your body.) You can check out this web site for some good information: http://www.thebestofrawfood.com/starting-a-raw-food-diet.html -- there are others, too.
Then don't let your addiction trick you into thinking that having just one fast carb now and then is OK. If you are like me this is what happens: Just one is OK. But I can't stop at just one. I have opened the gate and conveniently forgotten that it is a flood gate. Letting in one, will open up a flood of bad foods suddenly becoming OK in my mind. I call it "magical thinking." Somehow this food that is way outside the circle of good foods for me, magically becomes OK and I buy a bag of them and sit down and eat them. Perhaps you are not like that, but I know that I am.
This is what happened to me around my birthday which is Oct 8. I accepted invitations from five different people to have five different birthday meals with them on different days, and all within one week. At each meal, I took a forbidden carb of some kind and included it in my meal. By the time the end of the week arrived I was adding three and four, not one, fast carb to each meal. A little spoonful of this, became a double portion of that, and I started buying ice cream and sitting in front of the TV eating a pint and a half of it at one sitting. I also bought a big bag of bridge mix and ate eighty-five percent of it in two days before throwing the rest out. When it comes to this kind of food, I am insane, and I must finally admit that I cannot have even one.
I want to point out that this is not the only thing I had going on. I had gotten some other disturbing news and needed help from my brother, who was kind enough to assist me. But all these things combined, allowed me to kind of crawl in a cave. It does no good to stay there -- so here I am beginning again.
Reading the book again is getting me clear on why I cannot eat these things that everyone else seems to be able to eat. I am not like everyone else. They have their problems, I have mine. I have to address mine, because the fix does not happen on its own. Here is what I read about today -- these are my layman's interpretations of what is in the book. I believe them to be accurate and reasonable although they are over simplified and you may want to do your own research (or read the book) if you need more information:
FIVE DANGEROUS SITUATIONS ARE NOW OCCURRING IN THE BODY (page 29).
1. Excess glucose and insulin in the blood cause inflammation. It is as if billions of tiny shards of glass are now coursing through your arteries. And since the volume is so high, the blood pressure is high, too, pushing against and actually injuring your arteries. The body has a healing mechanism that it uses to try to heal this artery damage. What it does is begin to deposit plaque to protect the vessel walls which creates an environment where blood clots can form and cause a heart attack or even stroke. Seventy five percent of all fatalities in diabetics are caused by cardiac arrest which is the most deadly of all the diabetes complications.
2. All this inflammation generates free radical molecules which destroy healthy tissue -- including beta cells in the pancreas. Aside from inflammation being actually painful, when the free radicals reach critical mass, the body's antioxidant defense system becomes overwhelmed and the body's DNA is now in jeopardy. This means that cancer begins to develop because the DNA pattern for creating cells is weakened or damaged. If you continue to eat foods that create high levels of glucose in your blood stream, you might just as well accept the fact that you have signed and sent an engraved invitation to cancer to come on over and take up residence any where it wants to, in your body.
3. Excess glucose molecules also displace oxygen by hijacking a ride on your red blood cells. Now your extremeties are not getting the oxygen they need which means you have "poor circulation." It is not that your blood is not circulating in these areas, it means there is not enough oxygen in the blood to keep your eyes, feet, legs, hands, and arms, in good shape. Poor circulation (meaning lack of oxygen) is the fundamental cause of serious diabetic complications from blindness and gangrene, to actual amputation of body parts.
4. Excess glucose coupled now with low levels of oxygen makes the blood thick like syrup and slow moving. The body tries to dilute this problem by sucking every bit of water it can find in any location into the blood stream and out through the kidneys. You begin frequent urination -- and soon become dehydrated. You naturally feel thirsty -- but choosing a soda to drink will actually make the problem worse by adding more sugar to the blood stream. As your body works overtime to try to flush this syrupy mess out of the blood stream it also sucks up the nutrients the body needs for healthy living and your body begins to waste away. This is why diabetes is called a "wasting disease."
5. In the end your pancreas becomes completely exhausted because it has been over producing insulin also in an effort to handle the excess glucose in the blood stream. The beta cells simply wear out and can no longer produce insulin. Type I diabetes has now occurred and you have to take insulin shots to counter the problem.
All because you won't stop eating sugars and fast carbs. How silly. Quitting fast carbs all together, eliminating sweetened drinks, sweetened and over processed breakfast cereals, and other things made with white flour is step one. Step two is replacing them with whole raw unprocessed foods that still have their fiber intact. Eating salads and raw vegetables, raw nuts and seeds, will begin to detoxify your body and reverse the damage that all that excess glucose caused. The body is an amazing healing machine. If you begin to feed it properly, you can reverse the damage that has been done. Up to a certain point. If you are not a type I, yet, you have a pretty good chance of beating this "disease" -- and even if you are a type I, you can improve your health and reduce the insulin amounts that you are taking with an improved diet.
I must also add, at this point, that the diet prescribed by the well known diabetes associations and the standard medical community is not the healing diet that Dr Ripich recommends nor that I am advocating. You will find better and healthier information at any and with all of the following web sites or books:
http://www.thebestofrawfood.com/starting-a-raw-food-diet.html --
http://www.amazon.com/There-Cure-Diabetes-21-Day-Program/dp/1556436912?tag=dogpile-20 --
http://30daydiabetescure.com/ for those who do not think they can transition directly to raw and need some steps in between -- this is Dr Ripich's program -- which I highly recommend. He walks you day by day and step by step into what you should be doing and tells you why in simple understandable language. I needed the hand holding -- perhaps you do, too. Check it out. It is very good!
"Decreasing your intake of fast carbs results in better insulin activity -- and insulin resistance clears up all by itself, without the need for drugs. Add a little extra physical activity and your cells become more sensitive to insulin, so your body needs less of it. A lovely by product of this is weight-loss," this is Dr Ripich's promise. I have done it -- now I need to get back on track. Remembering why sure makes it a lot easier for me to do.
If you have the discipline and have not fallen off, I applaud you. If you, like me, did fall off, and need to get back up, again, then join me now in starting again. This time with more resolve; knowing that I cannot let even one mouthful of bad food hamper my thinking, my actions, nor my health. I pray that the Lord will give me the vigilance I need. He is faithful. I have taken the stand and He will help me to keep it. You can take your stand whenever you are ready. Are you ready?
Praise the Lord.
Be back soon
--Marcia
I am back after having fallen off the wagon. I am now in the process of beginning again. Blogging helps me to get my head on straight and it might help someone else who does the same stuff I do. You must know how embarrassing it is to be such a foolish person and have to admit it in public like this, but I know of no other way to turn things around, but through good old fashioned repentance and prayer. I was at my Bible study fellowship last night and I shared about where I have been and what I have been doing and got the kind of support I needed. The words "self control" came up, prayers were said on my behalf, and I also got my 30 Day Diabetes Cure book back from my friend.
Last night when I got home I started reading the book again. When I have been wandering around in my own head too long, and following the fiction that my addicted brain likes to hear, I need to clear out the cob webs with real facts. And the book is chock full of the kind of information I need. The thing that has most impressed me this morning is the list of dangerous things that having too much glucose in the blood stream over a long period of time causes in the body. (Reading in and around page 29). I will be paraphrasing what Dr Rip and Jim Healthy have written in an effort to cement the facts into my own mind and also to share with anyone who is in need of this information, again.
I have what is called "central obesity" which is belly fat. They are saying that the solution to belly fat is fiber rich slow carbs. Carbs are labeled fast or slow by how quickly they turn to glucose in the blood stream. The glycemic index and glycemic load charts that you can find on the internet will give you a good idea of which foods to eat and which to avoid in order to reduce glucose in the blood. My doctor has told me to eat low on the index, meaning 50 or below. The higher the number, the faster you are putting sugar in your blood stream when you eat them.
When you are eating raw foods (meaning uncooked and unprocessed) you will naturally be eating lower on the scale. Raw foods still have all their fiber intact, and they are usually slower carbs, also. The one possible exception is fruit. Since fruits in general have a lot of sugar in them, a diabetic should limit them to only the ones that are very low on the index, and not very often during the day. The best way to manage them is to simply monitor your blood sugars when you eat them. If eating a particular fruit (or anything for that matter) raises your blood sugar too high, then put that item on the outside of the circle of foods you should be eating. For me, since I am getting back on track, I am not going to be buying any fruit for a while. (Please understand I am also not advocating eating raw meat -- that is just too bizarre. I am talking about raw uncooked vegetables, nuts and seeds which should make up more than fifty percent of your diet. You can do a search for "raw food diet" to see what the complete parameters are and will also find "superfoods" you can include to further heal your body.) You can check out this web site for some good information: http://www.thebestofrawfood.com/starting-a-raw-food-diet.html -- there are others, too.
Then don't let your addiction trick you into thinking that having just one fast carb now and then is OK. If you are like me this is what happens: Just one is OK. But I can't stop at just one. I have opened the gate and conveniently forgotten that it is a flood gate. Letting in one, will open up a flood of bad foods suddenly becoming OK in my mind. I call it "magical thinking." Somehow this food that is way outside the circle of good foods for me, magically becomes OK and I buy a bag of them and sit down and eat them. Perhaps you are not like that, but I know that I am.
This is what happened to me around my birthday which is Oct 8. I accepted invitations from five different people to have five different birthday meals with them on different days, and all within one week. At each meal, I took a forbidden carb of some kind and included it in my meal. By the time the end of the week arrived I was adding three and four, not one, fast carb to each meal. A little spoonful of this, became a double portion of that, and I started buying ice cream and sitting in front of the TV eating a pint and a half of it at one sitting. I also bought a big bag of bridge mix and ate eighty-five percent of it in two days before throwing the rest out. When it comes to this kind of food, I am insane, and I must finally admit that I cannot have even one.
I want to point out that this is not the only thing I had going on. I had gotten some other disturbing news and needed help from my brother, who was kind enough to assist me. But all these things combined, allowed me to kind of crawl in a cave. It does no good to stay there -- so here I am beginning again.
Reading the book again is getting me clear on why I cannot eat these things that everyone else seems to be able to eat. I am not like everyone else. They have their problems, I have mine. I have to address mine, because the fix does not happen on its own. Here is what I read about today -- these are my layman's interpretations of what is in the book. I believe them to be accurate and reasonable although they are over simplified and you may want to do your own research (or read the book) if you need more information:
FIVE DANGEROUS SITUATIONS ARE NOW OCCURRING IN THE BODY (page 29).
1. Excess glucose and insulin in the blood cause inflammation. It is as if billions of tiny shards of glass are now coursing through your arteries. And since the volume is so high, the blood pressure is high, too, pushing against and actually injuring your arteries. The body has a healing mechanism that it uses to try to heal this artery damage. What it does is begin to deposit plaque to protect the vessel walls which creates an environment where blood clots can form and cause a heart attack or even stroke. Seventy five percent of all fatalities in diabetics are caused by cardiac arrest which is the most deadly of all the diabetes complications.
2. All this inflammation generates free radical molecules which destroy healthy tissue -- including beta cells in the pancreas. Aside from inflammation being actually painful, when the free radicals reach critical mass, the body's antioxidant defense system becomes overwhelmed and the body's DNA is now in jeopardy. This means that cancer begins to develop because the DNA pattern for creating cells is weakened or damaged. If you continue to eat foods that create high levels of glucose in your blood stream, you might just as well accept the fact that you have signed and sent an engraved invitation to cancer to come on over and take up residence any where it wants to, in your body.
3. Excess glucose molecules also displace oxygen by hijacking a ride on your red blood cells. Now your extremeties are not getting the oxygen they need which means you have "poor circulation." It is not that your blood is not circulating in these areas, it means there is not enough oxygen in the blood to keep your eyes, feet, legs, hands, and arms, in good shape. Poor circulation (meaning lack of oxygen) is the fundamental cause of serious diabetic complications from blindness and gangrene, to actual amputation of body parts.
4. Excess glucose coupled now with low levels of oxygen makes the blood thick like syrup and slow moving. The body tries to dilute this problem by sucking every bit of water it can find in any location into the blood stream and out through the kidneys. You begin frequent urination -- and soon become dehydrated. You naturally feel thirsty -- but choosing a soda to drink will actually make the problem worse by adding more sugar to the blood stream. As your body works overtime to try to flush this syrupy mess out of the blood stream it also sucks up the nutrients the body needs for healthy living and your body begins to waste away. This is why diabetes is called a "wasting disease."
5. In the end your pancreas becomes completely exhausted because it has been over producing insulin also in an effort to handle the excess glucose in the blood stream. The beta cells simply wear out and can no longer produce insulin. Type I diabetes has now occurred and you have to take insulin shots to counter the problem.
All because you won't stop eating sugars and fast carbs. How silly. Quitting fast carbs all together, eliminating sweetened drinks, sweetened and over processed breakfast cereals, and other things made with white flour is step one. Step two is replacing them with whole raw unprocessed foods that still have their fiber intact. Eating salads and raw vegetables, raw nuts and seeds, will begin to detoxify your body and reverse the damage that all that excess glucose caused. The body is an amazing healing machine. If you begin to feed it properly, you can reverse the damage that has been done. Up to a certain point. If you are not a type I, yet, you have a pretty good chance of beating this "disease" -- and even if you are a type I, you can improve your health and reduce the insulin amounts that you are taking with an improved diet.
I must also add, at this point, that the diet prescribed by the well known diabetes associations and the standard medical community is not the healing diet that Dr Ripich recommends nor that I am advocating. You will find better and healthier information at any and with all of the following web sites or books:
http://www.thebestofrawfood.com/starting-a-raw-food-diet.html --
http://www.amazon.com/There-Cure-Diabetes-21-Day-Program/dp/1556436912?tag=dogpile-20 --
http://30daydiabetescure.com/ for those who do not think they can transition directly to raw and need some steps in between -- this is Dr Ripich's program -- which I highly recommend. He walks you day by day and step by step into what you should be doing and tells you why in simple understandable language. I needed the hand holding -- perhaps you do, too. Check it out. It is very good!
"Decreasing your intake of fast carbs results in better insulin activity -- and insulin resistance clears up all by itself, without the need for drugs. Add a little extra physical activity and your cells become more sensitive to insulin, so your body needs less of it. A lovely by product of this is weight-loss," this is Dr Ripich's promise. I have done it -- now I need to get back on track. Remembering why sure makes it a lot easier for me to do.
If you have the discipline and have not fallen off, I applaud you. If you, like me, did fall off, and need to get back up, again, then join me now in starting again. This time with more resolve; knowing that I cannot let even one mouthful of bad food hamper my thinking, my actions, nor my health. I pray that the Lord will give me the vigilance I need. He is faithful. I have taken the stand and He will help me to keep it. You can take your stand whenever you are ready. Are you ready?
Praise the Lord.
Be back soon
--Marcia
Monday, October 4, 2010
Expert Advice on Losing Weight by Using Raw Food
Hi!
I have got to tell you how good I am feeling on this raw food program. I just finished a salad made of Romaine lettuce, one small tomato, half an avocado, two cloves of garlic chopped small, a handful of walnuts, a pinch of sea salt, a sprinkle of Italian herbs, curry powder, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Absolutely nothing unusual. I am completely amazed at how a large salad (about three to four cups) simply fills me completely up -- and I feel good. The full feeling is different from the one I get with cooked foods. (I still eat some cooked foods.) It is a different kind of full feeling. I would describe the difference by saying that the cooked food makes me feel bloated, and the raw food make me feel satisfied -- both of which are "full" feelings. I am really liking the raw food kind of "full" feeling because I somehow feel more healthy and light, and most importantly to me, satisfied!
I believe a little dairy, eggs, and fish, or even chicken, is perfectly acceptable on my program, and how another person sets up their program depends entirely on their own tastes and personal goals. The thing that I am most amazed with is the experience of the raw food program itself. And by the way, I only eat eggs once or twice a week, tuna once a week, chicken a couple of times a month and the rest is raw vegetables, nuts, and seeds with a little fruit like apples and grapefruit -- and I am perfectly happy. I am now also trying to reduce the amount of Ezekial bread I eat, because I think that the two or three sandwiches a day that I was consuming until a few days ago, may have been the factor that was keeping me from losing more weight, at this point in time. I forge ahead.
I remember the "deer in the head lights" look I gave my doctor when she first suggested that I try the raw food program. She told me about a lady (a patient of hers) who was giving seminars about how she lost a ton of weight in one years time by eating raw food. I don't recall the exact amount of weight she lost, but it was in the neighborhood of 100 pounds I would guess.
What flashed through my mind was the time a few years ago when I had become a vegan by following the McDougal program, which is actually a "starch based" program. On that program I was eating a lot of starches like cooked potatoes, cooked grains, whole grain bread and I initially lost about 60 to 70 pounds, I think. But I soon reached a plateau where no more weight came off of me for a very long time, and I was also having swollen ankles every day which is associated with high blood sugars. I was unaware of what was causing the problem of the swelling feet at the time. It was all those starchy cooked foods I was eating.
Eating raw foods is not like the McDougal program, even though both of them could be done one hundred percent vegan and the McDougal program insists upon it. Vegan meaning that no animal products of any kind are consumed. No dairy, no eggs, no chicken, no fish, no red meat, or anything at all that is made from animal flesh. The difference, in my mind, between the two is the cooking factor. If you are not cooking your food, because you want to consume all the available nutrition that God put into the food He made, without turning it into something "man made", then, you begin to choose different foods to eat. A person might eat a cooked potato, but is not very likely to eat one raw, although some do, and if I find a good raw recipe, I might try it. I am not advocating veganism, though, I am simply stating what the difference between the two programs is.
The point I am making is that when my doctor suggested the raw food program, what flashed through my mind was my experience on the McDougal program and how I found out, by doing it, that it was not good for my body. It was completely wrong for me. I simply refused to even look into what she was suggesting. I was basing my response on my own bad experience. But what she was talking about is an entirely different thing. Now that I have tried it, I understand the difference, and am glad the Lord brought me around to it.
I am also thinking about how a person who is eating the standard American diet (SAD) might look at the idea of eating a raw food diet. I'm sure that it sounds like lunacy. And even if you were in a state of desperation regarding weight loss, or health issues, like diabetes, the whole idea of "going raw" seems like an insurmountable obstacle. It definitely is hard to imagine changing the proportions of foods on the plate, and starting to consume what we think of as a "side dish" as the "main dish." Raw foods also only means "salad" to the SAD mindset. In the same way that being vegetarian brings up a picture of eating green beans and corn without the meat, potatoes, and gravy. These pictures come from a mind set of "what you have to give up." They are based on the limitations of the standard American diet.
What is missing in the picture is all the amazing foods you will be adding in to your diet. And by diet, I don't mean a reduction in food, I simply mean a change in the array of things that you consume. There is no need to force yourself to eat things you don't want to eat in order to lose weight. The only willpower that is involved is the one that makes you begin to find out what is available to eat on a raw food program -- and which ones you like. You see, you only have to eat what you like to eat. There is no suffering involved.
As I have been watching videos on YouTube and searching the raw food websites that I can find I stumbled across a free video that I think bears watching if you are at all interested in trying the raw food approach to weight loss. Ani Phyo is a guest on "The Rawfoodfamily TV-Show" (I would give the host's name, but I could not quite catch it -- he has a strong Swedish accent and speaks English well, but I could not understand the name he gave). Ani shares how she helps people adjust to raw food gradually and helps them to lose weight by beginning to add more raw food to the diet. She takes nothing away, so you still eat the foods you like, but what she adds is a large raw green smoothie, or a large raw salad as the first entree. What she says happens is that the smoothie or the salad takes up most of the room in the stomach. The result is that you eat less of the "bad" foods, because you really are full. Here is the link in case you would like to see the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a-ixC6V_k4&feature=related
Based on what Ani suggests, I will begin to always have a smoothie or a large salad before the sandwich and see if that is the difference I need. I am sharing the adventure that I am on and the information I have found. As I begin to lose more weight I will share the statistics -- or the failure -- if it does not actually continue to happen.
Be back soon
--Marcia
I have got to tell you how good I am feeling on this raw food program. I just finished a salad made of Romaine lettuce, one small tomato, half an avocado, two cloves of garlic chopped small, a handful of walnuts, a pinch of sea salt, a sprinkle of Italian herbs, curry powder, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Absolutely nothing unusual. I am completely amazed at how a large salad (about three to four cups) simply fills me completely up -- and I feel good. The full feeling is different from the one I get with cooked foods. (I still eat some cooked foods.) It is a different kind of full feeling. I would describe the difference by saying that the cooked food makes me feel bloated, and the raw food make me feel satisfied -- both of which are "full" feelings. I am really liking the raw food kind of "full" feeling because I somehow feel more healthy and light, and most importantly to me, satisfied!
I believe a little dairy, eggs, and fish, or even chicken, is perfectly acceptable on my program, and how another person sets up their program depends entirely on their own tastes and personal goals. The thing that I am most amazed with is the experience of the raw food program itself. And by the way, I only eat eggs once or twice a week, tuna once a week, chicken a couple of times a month and the rest is raw vegetables, nuts, and seeds with a little fruit like apples and grapefruit -- and I am perfectly happy. I am now also trying to reduce the amount of Ezekial bread I eat, because I think that the two or three sandwiches a day that I was consuming until a few days ago, may have been the factor that was keeping me from losing more weight, at this point in time. I forge ahead.
I remember the "deer in the head lights" look I gave my doctor when she first suggested that I try the raw food program. She told me about a lady (a patient of hers) who was giving seminars about how she lost a ton of weight in one years time by eating raw food. I don't recall the exact amount of weight she lost, but it was in the neighborhood of 100 pounds I would guess.
What flashed through my mind was the time a few years ago when I had become a vegan by following the McDougal program, which is actually a "starch based" program. On that program I was eating a lot of starches like cooked potatoes, cooked grains, whole grain bread and I initially lost about 60 to 70 pounds, I think. But I soon reached a plateau where no more weight came off of me for a very long time, and I was also having swollen ankles every day which is associated with high blood sugars. I was unaware of what was causing the problem of the swelling feet at the time. It was all those starchy cooked foods I was eating.
Eating raw foods is not like the McDougal program, even though both of them could be done one hundred percent vegan and the McDougal program insists upon it. Vegan meaning that no animal products of any kind are consumed. No dairy, no eggs, no chicken, no fish, no red meat, or anything at all that is made from animal flesh. The difference, in my mind, between the two is the cooking factor. If you are not cooking your food, because you want to consume all the available nutrition that God put into the food He made, without turning it into something "man made", then, you begin to choose different foods to eat. A person might eat a cooked potato, but is not very likely to eat one raw, although some do, and if I find a good raw recipe, I might try it. I am not advocating veganism, though, I am simply stating what the difference between the two programs is.
The point I am making is that when my doctor suggested the raw food program, what flashed through my mind was my experience on the McDougal program and how I found out, by doing it, that it was not good for my body. It was completely wrong for me. I simply refused to even look into what she was suggesting. I was basing my response on my own bad experience. But what she was talking about is an entirely different thing. Now that I have tried it, I understand the difference, and am glad the Lord brought me around to it.
I am also thinking about how a person who is eating the standard American diet (SAD) might look at the idea of eating a raw food diet. I'm sure that it sounds like lunacy. And even if you were in a state of desperation regarding weight loss, or health issues, like diabetes, the whole idea of "going raw" seems like an insurmountable obstacle. It definitely is hard to imagine changing the proportions of foods on the plate, and starting to consume what we think of as a "side dish" as the "main dish." Raw foods also only means "salad" to the SAD mindset. In the same way that being vegetarian brings up a picture of eating green beans and corn without the meat, potatoes, and gravy. These pictures come from a mind set of "what you have to give up." They are based on the limitations of the standard American diet.
What is missing in the picture is all the amazing foods you will be adding in to your diet. And by diet, I don't mean a reduction in food, I simply mean a change in the array of things that you consume. There is no need to force yourself to eat things you don't want to eat in order to lose weight. The only willpower that is involved is the one that makes you begin to find out what is available to eat on a raw food program -- and which ones you like. You see, you only have to eat what you like to eat. There is no suffering involved.
As I have been watching videos on YouTube and searching the raw food websites that I can find I stumbled across a free video that I think bears watching if you are at all interested in trying the raw food approach to weight loss. Ani Phyo is a guest on "The Rawfoodfamily TV-Show" (I would give the host's name, but I could not quite catch it -- he has a strong Swedish accent and speaks English well, but I could not understand the name he gave). Ani shares how she helps people adjust to raw food gradually and helps them to lose weight by beginning to add more raw food to the diet. She takes nothing away, so you still eat the foods you like, but what she adds is a large raw green smoothie, or a large raw salad as the first entree. What she says happens is that the smoothie or the salad takes up most of the room in the stomach. The result is that you eat less of the "bad" foods, because you really are full. Here is the link in case you would like to see the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a-ixC6V_k4&feature=related
Based on what Ani suggests, I will begin to always have a smoothie or a large salad before the sandwich and see if that is the difference I need. I am sharing the adventure that I am on and the information I have found. As I begin to lose more weight I will share the statistics -- or the failure -- if it does not actually continue to happen.
Be back soon
--Marcia
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