Giving Thanks

Hi,

Been thinking about Thanksgiving. Been thinking of how my health has improved since I began eating the raw food program diet and giving thanks to God for this.

I am seeing subtle and surprising changes in my body since I have been eating so many more greens and raw vegetables. I am still in the process of testing things, too. I have been eating one or two apples per day and seeing good results. I have had to rethink the "no fruit" idea. I am not about to go overboard, but an apple a day, or some grapefruit, as my doctor has suggested does not seem to be going overboard. Then, of course, I think about the fact that I have not been testing my blood sugars after eating the fruit, so I think I should begin doing that.

The changes I am seeing in my body started with my skin becoming soft and supple, instead of dry and rough. I think that was one of the first changes I noticed. It happened within about three days of stopping the sugar intake. I have now also noticed the disappearance of a few "lumps" that I had before.

I have this large pad of fatty tissue at the base of my neck in the back, kind of at the top of my shoulders and it has for the past few years contained some rather large "lumps" that you can only notice by feel. When I asked my doctor about them, she said they were "fatty deposits" and that I need not be alarmed about them. They seem to be completely gone, now. I had had another one on the front of my left shoulder ever since the 70's and it, too, is now almost completely gone. I can just barely find it.

I used to have a couple of small ball shaped "knots" on the ligaments at the base of my fingers on my left hand. One of them is gone, the other one is much smaller than it previously was -- it is almost imperceptible. They were just under the size of a pea and now I have a hard time finding the one that remains.

As long as I continue to take my diuretic, my ankles very rarely swell up. I have tried to cut down on that medication, but the swelling comes back, so still have to continue taking it. But, and I believe this is a large one, I used to have swollen ankles all the time, even while taking the diuretic. Now I do not. Now, my ankles are normal sized for the most part, most of the time.

I used to be aware of the carbohydrate addiction by how it made me "act" -- and it has been a struggle, but I am learning to be more keenly aware of the symptoms when they show up. I tested out eating some cheese again and the results and symptoms were not good. I can still eat the Feta cheese which must be different in some way from the other cheeses because Feta adds good flavor and processes through my body without any side effects that I can see. But that is not the case if I eat American cheese (even though I do not buy the "cheese food" kind). And string cheese is only slightly better.

What I have become aware of is that I tend to binge on cheese, too, if it is in the house, just like I used to binge on grain in the form of bread. I was amazed when I recognized that if I got hungry I went for the cheese first. (A huge clue.) As I ate it, I noticed that the more I ate it, the more I wanted. (A second huge clue.) I soon recognized the sitting and eating with a package of American cheese in my hand as I watched TV while I ate slice after slice. I finally recognized that "eating and eating" without a quenching of the hunger was reminiscent of the eating machine. I just went right on compulsively eating until the package was gone. (And that was the third huge clue.) Any one of these are symptoms of my addiction, so I am not going to purchase that any more. I don't know what it has in it that causes this, and have also noticed it simply has too much salt which oddly enough, I didn't notice as I ate it, but noticed right after, that my mouth was salty. The thing is, I was amazed that American cheese would set off the addiction, again. But I am very glad I recognized it and know what to do about it. After all, that is the main point: Knowing what to do about it, and then doing it.

Dr Mercola says that we need to let go of the grains and also of pasteurized dairy. Taken from one of Dr Mercola's posts:

"As Sally Fallon of the Weston Price Foundation stated: 'Pasteurization (of milk) destroys enzymes, diminishes vitamin content, denatures fragile milk proteins, destroys vitamin B12 and vitamin B6, kills beneficial bacteria, promotes pathogens and is associated with allergies, increased tooth decay, colic in infants, growth problems in children, osteoporosis, arthritis, heart disease and cancer.' ”

Here is the URL to his article if you would like to copy and paste and read it:  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/11/24/nutrition-secrets-from-cavemen.aspx

Another side effect of having eaten the cheese was that I had a lot more "stuff" in my throat that I had to keep clearing out and coughing up. I know that is gross, but I prefer to make note of the bad with the good. So I need to remember about the dairy and the post nasal drip issues.

I also noticed that the pain in the body seems to be worse again, after eating the cheese. I really had no idea that both of those things (grain and dairy) were causing me problems. I recognized the carb stuff, but I had not recognized the dairy problems before. That recognition came from isolating the problem.

I had already eliminated the starchy carbs (in the form of sprouted whole grain bread) and was only eating large amounts of green leafy vegetables, avocado, tomato, cucumber, zucchini, etc. I was eating more raw nuts and seeds, too. When I wanted something "heavier" in my tummy, I gravitated to the nuts and seeds (sunflower seeds, almonds, and walnuts) which I would put in a small bowl, sprinkle with salt, garlic powder, curry powder, and olive oil -- almost like a dressing. My weight loss seemed to speed up while I was in that phase. But then I tried out cheese again and all the addiction symptoms came back like a train wreck. So. Now I know.

So, even though this may seem like much ado about nothing, I am grateful that the Lord has opened my eyes to these things. I am grateful that He lead me in the direction of the raw food program and that I am seeing such good results with it. I pray that I may have enough sense to continue doing it.

I am grateful for my church, and for my family and friends. I am looking forward to being with friends tomorrow and possibly hearing from family, too.

By the way, my friends specifically requested that I make my sausage dressing so I have purchased the ingredients and will make it just before I go to their house. I may partake of a serving or two, but I think this will be the last time I make it -- at least for this year.

I thank God for saving my soul and guiding me to learn and incorporate more healthy things into my life. I am grateful for a roof over my head, plenty of food to eat, and a warm bed to sleep in. Not everyone has that. I thank God for everything. May you be blessed this day to have a thousand things for which to thank God and may you feel the joy of His presence in your life.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Be back soon
--Marcia