Hi to all my good friends and family,

I have now watched all five of the free videos at:

http://www.rawfor30days.com/VideoSeries/?page_id=82

Each one is from a different expert in either raw food eating or in diabetes, itself:

Morgan Spurlock has personal documented experience (film documentary: "Supersize Me) of what happens to the body when eating every meal from a fast food restaurant and super sizing those meals over a 30 day period. This video shares what it took to heal the major health problems that arose afterward. He did a detox and changed to eating more raw vegetables and all of the illnesses he had after eating the fast food diet cleared up and were cured.

Dr Joel Fuhrman is a medical doctor with lots of experience with healing people by using a raw food program, who gives lots of insight through anecdotal stories of particular patients and also his expert view point of the "powers that be" such as drug companies, the FDA, the food industry. His perspective and message is worth hearing.

David Wolfe is a well-known and popular speaker on the raw food experience. His perspective is down to earth but very studied and intelligent. He has traveled the country for years helping people heal themselves by changing what they eat.

Mike Adams is one that I was not familiar with, but after listening to him on this video segment, I can see his unique perspective and way of putting things together in a logical no-nonsense way that is obviously helpful to those who need his expertise.

If you have any curiosity at all about curing diabetes, plus a few other chronic illnesses, I recommend watching these videos. The only thing I don't like, is that each time I visit the site I have to give my name and e-mail address one more time. I have not balked at this, because the videos are so very good. They also have the trailer for the movie "Simply Raw" available too. The actual "Simply Raw" video is the only one you have to buy to view. But right now it is on sale for 50% off until the 19th.  You will be getting the video for half of what I paid for it -- but it was worth it, even at full price, so I think half price is a great deal. And that is aside from the extra stuff they include for free with the purchase.

And no, they don't know me from Adam and I am not being paid to share this information with you. I am simply learning as much as I can on the subject to keep me focused and continue my education in this area. I get excited to find answers to questions and solutions to problems and am simply sharing with you. If you find anything of value in looking at this stuff, I hope it is that you might begin to make healthy changes in your eating habits, too.

For me, changing my eating program has taken a bit of time and effort, but I am glad for the current results I am seeing. I am finally beginning to feel settled into my program and have made some new habits for myself. My weight this morning was 336.75 which is a loss of 15.25 pounds for me. Wow. My weight usually fluctuates up and down but this is the lowest I have weighed in a long time. Blood pressure was 145 over 84 with a heart rate of 73. Still moderately high, but not outrageously high, as it has been in the past.

This morning I had eaten my usual breakfast salad and was feeling hungry for something more. Pictures of protein were passing through my head but I had half of a grapefruit in the fridge and pulled it out. I wanted to test to see if I really should be including fruit in my diet and wanted to see the results in my blood sugar. Before I ate it, I was at 128 which was about an hour after having eaten my breakfast salad. I cut up the grapefruit halve into medium to thin slices and simply ate the fruit and as much of the pith as I could get off of the skin. I waited half an hour and measured again and it was 119. Wow. Not what I was expecting. I think I will have to measure in about another half hour and see what it says.

My doctor had said I could eat grapefruit and apples but I have been very leery of actually doing that. This is my first test of fruit in relation to blood sugars. I am taking a "wait and see" attitude to make sure this was not a "one time" reaction or a fluke of some kind. Better safe than sorry.

I have been trying out greens that I have never eaten before. Yesterday I bought some "macha" which I had read about in the food encyclopedia but had never noticed at the store before. When my eyes landed on the name I had to try some. What I bought had small leaves about the size of a quarter with short stems which are tender like spinach and taste very pleasant, so I am pleased with the purchase and will be adding them to my salads.

One thing about testing blood sugars after eating food is that you need to be careful to make sure you don't have any juice on your hands, because the meter will measure the juice on your hands right along with the blood coming out of your finger. I did one time before check my blood sugar after eating a grapefruit and was flabbergasted that it was something like 347. I just don't usually get blood sugars that high but I realized what had happened and washed my hands and checked again. The second test was taken within a minute of the first one and it was 147, a whole lot better. So be careful to make sure there is no juice on your hands when you test because it really can give you a false reading.

I am pleased with the numbers I am getting (blood glucose numbers, weight, and blood pressure) and am hoping that when I go to the doctor in December, they will be even better. I am still taking my prescribed high blood pressure medications (Losartan and Triamterene) but am hoping to get off of those, too. I had been having a lot of time pass without any swollen feet so, I cut back on the diuretic to see if I could get by without it, but my feet started swelling again, so I had to start taking it properly again. I used to strongly believe that the swelling was caused by eating starchy carbs, but now... I am not so sure. I had always noticed a relationship between eating sweets or carbs and the next day having swollen feet, but it does not seem to be acting as I thought. It also seems funny to me that usually a diabetic has to pee a lot -- but I need to have a diuretic to make me go.  I wonder what is up with that. (Please pardon the TMI.)

Well, I waited the half hour and checked again. It is now 117 so it is heading downward and not up. So maybe grapefruit are acceptable in my diet, just like my doctor said. That is kind of nice.  One other thing I have noticed is that my blood actually seems to be thinner than it was in the past. It used to be that I would prick my finger and often would have to do it more than once because I could not get any blood out of my finger. I wasted a lot of test strips from not having enough blood to properly measure and you cannot use them again. But now, after changing my diet, my blood is a lot more "watery" in consistency and I sometimes even have to blot it to make it stop bleeding. Progress is showing up in many small ways. At least I hope that is progress.

One of the things that I heard Dr. Fuhrman talk about was that the "symptoms" that show up in our bodies are actually our bodies trying to heal themselves. He gave the example that if you eat something that is poisoned then you usually vomit and get diarrhia which is actually the body riding itself of the poison. Even though we don't like those "symptoms" they are actually good for us. He was talking about how when a person first goes on a raw food program the first feelings they may run into are not called "good." He explained that the body may be in the process of riding itself of toxins and other stuff, and that after that, a person starts to feel better. I think that may be what happened to the man who quit the 30 day diabetes experiment when he began to feel bad. He took those symptoms and feelings as "truth" instead of "reaction" and quit the program. I hope he tries it again, since it had already lowered his blood sugar levels and reduced his blood pressure, too.

I've just been rambling today in the blog, but staying on track in the eating department. It is much easier to do when you have the right kinds of food on hand.

Here is to your success!!

God bless you,

Be back soon
--Marcia