It looks like my last day of water-only will be Nov 20, since back to work I go Nov 30. This should be enough time to really put a dent in the arterial blockage and get more blood flow. I am continuing to experience improvement in blood pressure and heart rate. The improvements are slow, but promising. I am optimistic.
It's still a bit monotonous, day in and day out, but doable. I really have no appetite, but I look forward to eating really good food when the time comes - I'm building my catalogue of favorite recipes. I look at my boredom, discomfort and sometimes long days this way: If a person with cancer can endure weeks of chemo and radiation, accompanied by the usual nausea and associated sickness, get poked and prodded, lose all their hair, get body parts cut out, get so weak and miserable they can't stand up, AND afterwards live with a compromised immune system with chemo residue AND cancer still lurking in the body, I can put up with this mild discomfort. It's all perspective, so I've got it easy.
So here's where I am today:
Weight: 126.8
BP: 140/90
Temp: 96.9
Pulse: 60-68 (depending on the day)
To put this weight in perspective, I wrestled in the 123 pound weight class as a sophomore in high school and I think I might have been an inch shorter. Funny, I sure felt stronger back then for some reason!
The rate at which I am losing weight seems to be slowing, so I doubt I'll blow away with the first fall breeze. I do find it difficult to stay at a comfortable temperature. A temperature difference of 5 degrees has a much more pronounced effect on a fasting body that has an internal temp of 97 degrees. I am the most comfortable just lying in bed under the down comforter - now that's perfect!
I walk 10-12 laps daily in the small courtyard here. It'll make you dizzy if you walk too fast - not because you're fasting, but because the inner court is small and surrounded by two levels of apartments, so the view is essentially the same on four sides. It would be great if True North was plopped out into the middle of a nice country farm setting surrounded by some of those farsical 'happy' cows of California I hear so much about on tv, away from the bustling noise of town, where you could really unwind the mind as well as the body. The center is doing well, but a change in venue would make for an irresistable retreat.
But it serves the purpose where it is located. People come in, heal, and leave changed. You can't beat that. Many get off their meds, and return to a drug-free life. Some reduce their meds substantially. All return home empowered with life-saving information so they can maintain a lifestyle that, Lord willing, will carry them healthily into their last days, whenever that is, juxtaposed to the likelihood that they may wither slowly between periods of illnesses, existing in quiet anxiety and fear, lying awake at night wondering when the next bout of this or that will strike (and hoping they have enough insurance to cover it), and whether or not they'll survive it. Sadness.
One must be pro-active and pursue good health. Basic principles of proper nutrition and lifestyle have been forgotten and overidden by the bombardment of advertisements for so-called food products that are designed solely to stimulate the senses rather than to satisfy. They have no interest in satisfying you - profit lies in that percentage of over-consumption that begins just above the satisfaction level. That, to me, sounds like the very foundation of gluttony. When the chip maker says, "Bet you can't eat just one", they are absolutely right - it's the perfect seduction. Who can resist, but the one who knows the truth and avoids that first chip altogether. One hundred eighty degrees is the only direction you can turn.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Nov 08, 2009 - Thoughts on Food
Not that I'm hungry or anything, even as my weight has plummeted to 130 pounds (my appetite was suppressed a week ago), I really needed to refine my understanding of how to choose the right foods, prepare them so they are tasty, get full at mealtime, maximize nutrition, continue to reverse my condition, and protect my health. Yes, all that! This is what I have learned.
I was very excited about raw foods when I discovered this way of eating two years ago. It goes down easy and tastes great, and if you can stick to it faithfully, you'll receive great benefit. But it is a discipline ALL THE TIME. The proper ratio of fats, fruits and leafy greens is important. Invariably, to get enough to eat, you tend to drift to the fats like avacodos, oils, and certain nuts. Or you eat more fruits, which presents it's own set of issues. Salads just don't have the calories. The high fat dressing might, but the salad just does not. You should be able to eat anything raw, but the high fats just did not work for me - something was missing.
I know a few raw foodists who are overweight because they live off the fat of the land, but most who follow the principles get really thin at first then tend to plump up and even out after a couple of years. Good for them! I love seeing someone being successful.
Eating raw foods can become quite dogmatic adversely affecting your quest for the right foods if you become serious about it, at least until you can develop enough meal plans and can actually find a good variety of these foods locally. Soak and sprout. Don't eat this, can't eat that. You start feeling a bit like a primitive cave dweller who, after breakfast has just been eaten, immediately begins in earnest looking for enough food for the next meal. Forget about chasing down that gazelle, they're too fast - you could try, but if you miss, there goes lunch. And if you ran long and hard enough, you return from the failed hunt too darned tired to stay awake for dinner, which isn't the worse thing, since you already know it's going to be leftovers.
But I still enjoy most raw foods. The nutrition is high, the taste is great, and they have the potential to be very health-restorative. I have two issues with this lifestyle, however - high fats and low calories.
High fats and oils put me right where I am, among other things I'm sure, even though I was not considered overweight. Low calories of the non-fat foods caused me to gravitate to the fats and oils. I needed to get full and if I was to stay within the parameters of the raw food diet (as I knew it), I'd have to rely on fats and oils, which only partially solves the problem - I just couldn't eat a great deal of these type of products - way too rich. I needed to get full. This desire to get full is biological in nature.
Just as a caution, if you are diabetic or know someone who is, you already know that diet is critical and knowing the glycemic load of foods is vitally important to understanding how to maintain a consistent blood sugar level. You can't just rush into a diet change without careful research. I would not suggest plunging into the lifestyle I am advocating or what anybody else advocates without seeing the facts and proven results for yourself -there's not a great margin for error.
But allow me to offer these words of encouragement. Dr. Gabriel Cousens produced a video in which he invited diabetics, type I and type II, of all races from every part of the US and invited them to his center in Patagonia, Arizona to show them how raw foods could stabilize their blood sugar and dramatically reduce their need for insulin or remove the need altogether in thirty days or less. For most people, this happened in half the time. For those who stuck it out for the duration, they went home insulin free, lighter, and healthier with real empowerment over their disease just by making better food choices. One person, a young alcoholic, continued to drink heavily (much to the chagrin of those around him) throughout his time there, and still, his insulin needs dropped to almost nothing by the end of the period. The video is titled, 'Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days'. Get it on Amazon. Or, ask me and I'll loan it to you. It is inspiring. Food is powerful medicine.
The stomach is designed to feel satiated and believe it or not, it's entirely based on how much you eat, that is, volume, and not on what you eat. Too little volume, you'll want to eat more. Too much and you'll get pain. You can fight the low volume for a little while. This is called dieting - aka, caloric restriction. Doesn't it suck?? Pick most diet plans marketed today - all based on the same principle of calorie restriction. Or they use fiber (wood? cellulose? bran? styrofoam??) to fill the stomach, or some other unnatural trick to make the brain think it has received all the nutrition and food volume it needs. Most people can't do this forever, it usually lasts until that special food gets put on the table and starts calling irresistably. Then the swing back to meeting the biological need to feel satiated returns with a vengeance and keeps on coming and coming until all the weight, and more, has returned. And don't get me started on the sugar high if that special something is chocolate cake! Calorie restriction does not work - it lasts as long as willpower lasts (which is like fighting the black knight with a rubber knife), is miserable to endure and is doomed to failure. We aren't designed to do that at all.
So what do we really want? Good old fashioned, unprocessed, natural complex carbohydrates. Not bread or ground wheat products or 5 minute reconstituted rice, but high starch vegetables right out of the ground like brown rice, potatoes, turnips, rudebegas, carrots, squash, etc. I thought this was odd at first, but it makes sense now. This now will replace the meat as the center of the meal and doesn't need ketchup, steak sauce, or barbecue sauce. Spices (except salt) come in real handy here. Get to know them. No fats or oils needed. Use fresh ground flax seed to get the omega-3 fatty acids which corporations insist you can only get from their processed oils. Pure bunk.
You could fill the stomach with potatoes and you'll take in only 500 calories. Potatoes are not fat food. Butter and sour cream on the potatoes are the fat foods. Eat all you want. Boiled preferred, or sauteed quickly in vegetable broth with onions and other veggies sounds good, too. I just ordered a potato cookbook from Amazon so I can really learn how to make this vegetable a centerpiece.
Interesting facts about how the body stores reserves. It requires 30 percent of the energy in carbohydrates to convert this fuel source to fat. The body really doesn't want to do that - too expensive. It will make every effort to burn this food as fuel, which is to our benefit. Fat, on the other hand, requires only 3% or less of it's energy to move (notice I didn't say convert) itself to storage. It is effortless and painless - and worthless for all but the anorexic. As a matter of fact, you could take a core sample through any stored fat section of your body and easily determine exactly which type of fat was stored! Polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, satured - makes no difference - fat does not get converted, it just gets moved. This process was designed to get us through some tough winters when there was no food, but honestly, when was the last time that happened to you or me? If a famine hits, keep a bottle of rancid olive oil handy and see how long you last.
I still love my salads and fruits, which I'll be eating in abundance, just not as the center of my meal - these foods are important and taste fantastic, but I will be adding suateed (NOT in oil), steamed and boiled vegetables to my diet to meet my caloric needs. No more pushing away from the table before I'm fully satisfied. There's no need when the food is right. I'll still keep all animal products from my diet and refrain from fats and oils, except those found in the vegetables naturally, and limit the foods that are exceptionally high in fat like avocados and certain nuts. This sounds entirely sensible to me.
Just a note on cooking - Steam or boil all that you can. The temp never gets over 212 degrees. Maybe I said this already, but it bears repeating. When the food gets cooked to the higher degrees, bad compounds form, most of which is concentrated on the outer layers of the food exposed directly to the heat but found in abundance throughout the food. Put a lid on this type of cooking as much as possible.
Even so, once a year I plan to break the rules and make an oversized pot of my famous seafood gumbo for our friends and family who are willing to make the trip up the hill. Instead of having three bowls, though, I'll cut back to one, and eat more salad. I'm thinking mid-July.
If you're interested, there's a sign-up sheet in the breakroom.
I was very excited about raw foods when I discovered this way of eating two years ago. It goes down easy and tastes great, and if you can stick to it faithfully, you'll receive great benefit. But it is a discipline ALL THE TIME. The proper ratio of fats, fruits and leafy greens is important. Invariably, to get enough to eat, you tend to drift to the fats like avacodos, oils, and certain nuts. Or you eat more fruits, which presents it's own set of issues. Salads just don't have the calories. The high fat dressing might, but the salad just does not. You should be able to eat anything raw, but the high fats just did not work for me - something was missing.
I know a few raw foodists who are overweight because they live off the fat of the land, but most who follow the principles get really thin at first then tend to plump up and even out after a couple of years. Good for them! I love seeing someone being successful.
Eating raw foods can become quite dogmatic adversely affecting your quest for the right foods if you become serious about it, at least until you can develop enough meal plans and can actually find a good variety of these foods locally. Soak and sprout. Don't eat this, can't eat that. You start feeling a bit like a primitive cave dweller who, after breakfast has just been eaten, immediately begins in earnest looking for enough food for the next meal. Forget about chasing down that gazelle, they're too fast - you could try, but if you miss, there goes lunch. And if you ran long and hard enough, you return from the failed hunt too darned tired to stay awake for dinner, which isn't the worse thing, since you already know it's going to be leftovers.
But I still enjoy most raw foods. The nutrition is high, the taste is great, and they have the potential to be very health-restorative. I have two issues with this lifestyle, however - high fats and low calories.
High fats and oils put me right where I am, among other things I'm sure, even though I was not considered overweight. Low calories of the non-fat foods caused me to gravitate to the fats and oils. I needed to get full and if I was to stay within the parameters of the raw food diet (as I knew it), I'd have to rely on fats and oils, which only partially solves the problem - I just couldn't eat a great deal of these type of products - way too rich. I needed to get full. This desire to get full is biological in nature.
Just as a caution, if you are diabetic or know someone who is, you already know that diet is critical and knowing the glycemic load of foods is vitally important to understanding how to maintain a consistent blood sugar level. You can't just rush into a diet change without careful research. I would not suggest plunging into the lifestyle I am advocating or what anybody else advocates without seeing the facts and proven results for yourself -there's not a great margin for error.
But allow me to offer these words of encouragement. Dr. Gabriel Cousens produced a video in which he invited diabetics, type I and type II, of all races from every part of the US and invited them to his center in Patagonia, Arizona to show them how raw foods could stabilize their blood sugar and dramatically reduce their need for insulin or remove the need altogether in thirty days or less. For most people, this happened in half the time. For those who stuck it out for the duration, they went home insulin free, lighter, and healthier with real empowerment over their disease just by making better food choices. One person, a young alcoholic, continued to drink heavily (much to the chagrin of those around him) throughout his time there, and still, his insulin needs dropped to almost nothing by the end of the period. The video is titled, 'Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days'. Get it on Amazon. Or, ask me and I'll loan it to you. It is inspiring. Food is powerful medicine.
The stomach is designed to feel satiated and believe it or not, it's entirely based on how much you eat, that is, volume, and not on what you eat. Too little volume, you'll want to eat more. Too much and you'll get pain. You can fight the low volume for a little while. This is called dieting - aka, caloric restriction. Doesn't it suck?? Pick most diet plans marketed today - all based on the same principle of calorie restriction. Or they use fiber (wood? cellulose? bran? styrofoam??) to fill the stomach, or some other unnatural trick to make the brain think it has received all the nutrition and food volume it needs. Most people can't do this forever, it usually lasts until that special food gets put on the table and starts calling irresistably. Then the swing back to meeting the biological need to feel satiated returns with a vengeance and keeps on coming and coming until all the weight, and more, has returned. And don't get me started on the sugar high if that special something is chocolate cake! Calorie restriction does not work - it lasts as long as willpower lasts (which is like fighting the black knight with a rubber knife), is miserable to endure and is doomed to failure. We aren't designed to do that at all.
So what do we really want? Good old fashioned, unprocessed, natural complex carbohydrates. Not bread or ground wheat products or 5 minute reconstituted rice, but high starch vegetables right out of the ground like brown rice, potatoes, turnips, rudebegas, carrots, squash, etc. I thought this was odd at first, but it makes sense now. This now will replace the meat as the center of the meal and doesn't need ketchup, steak sauce, or barbecue sauce. Spices (except salt) come in real handy here. Get to know them. No fats or oils needed. Use fresh ground flax seed to get the omega-3 fatty acids which corporations insist you can only get from their processed oils. Pure bunk.
You could fill the stomach with potatoes and you'll take in only 500 calories. Potatoes are not fat food. Butter and sour cream on the potatoes are the fat foods. Eat all you want. Boiled preferred, or sauteed quickly in vegetable broth with onions and other veggies sounds good, too. I just ordered a potato cookbook from Amazon so I can really learn how to make this vegetable a centerpiece.
Interesting facts about how the body stores reserves. It requires 30 percent of the energy in carbohydrates to convert this fuel source to fat. The body really doesn't want to do that - too expensive. It will make every effort to burn this food as fuel, which is to our benefit. Fat, on the other hand, requires only 3% or less of it's energy to move (notice I didn't say convert) itself to storage. It is effortless and painless - and worthless for all but the anorexic. As a matter of fact, you could take a core sample through any stored fat section of your body and easily determine exactly which type of fat was stored! Polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, satured - makes no difference - fat does not get converted, it just gets moved. This process was designed to get us through some tough winters when there was no food, but honestly, when was the last time that happened to you or me? If a famine hits, keep a bottle of rancid olive oil handy and see how long you last.
I still love my salads and fruits, which I'll be eating in abundance, just not as the center of my meal - these foods are important and taste fantastic, but I will be adding suateed (NOT in oil), steamed and boiled vegetables to my diet to meet my caloric needs. No more pushing away from the table before I'm fully satisfied. There's no need when the food is right. I'll still keep all animal products from my diet and refrain from fats and oils, except those found in the vegetables naturally, and limit the foods that are exceptionally high in fat like avocados and certain nuts. This sounds entirely sensible to me.
Just a note on cooking - Steam or boil all that you can. The temp never gets over 212 degrees. Maybe I said this already, but it bears repeating. When the food gets cooked to the higher degrees, bad compounds form, most of which is concentrated on the outer layers of the food exposed directly to the heat but found in abundance throughout the food. Put a lid on this type of cooking as much as possible.
Even so, once a year I plan to break the rules and make an oversized pot of my famous seafood gumbo for our friends and family who are willing to make the trip up the hill. Instead of having three bowls, though, I'll cut back to one, and eat more salad. I'm thinking mid-July.
If you're interested, there's a sign-up sheet in the breakroom.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Nov 04, 2009 - Day 10 (day 3 water only)
I made it to Sacramento Monday on 6 ounces of vegetable broth and 6 small chunks of watermelon then I shut down the digestive system for the duration. So I'm counting Monday as day 1 of my water fast due to the next to no calories I took in. This was validated by a ketone measurement of my urine sample the next morning which was a +3 on a scale of 1 to 3. So I've been in full ketosis for some time.
And I can now say I am happily done with this particular brand of broth for awhile - it's very saturating when it's essentially all you take in after a few days. It's main benefit is to supply a relatively high amount of minerals which is important, but knowing I was leaving this liquid behind made even water-only fasting that much more appealing. Am I still tasting that stuff?
My weight loss rate has not changed. I'm continuing to lose the same amount of weight on water as I was on broth and the weak veggie juice - 1.2 pounds per day. I came in 10 days ago at 150 pounds and I am now at 134.8. I don't know if that works out to exactly 1.2 pounds per day but it has amounted to as much since I recognized the trend a few days ago. But I get checked every morning and night and I'm still feeling very vital, just a bit weaker.
My blood pressure has increased to 158/96 since going all water, which is a little higher than what it was when I arrived 10 days ago on bp drugs. I enjoyed a week of really low pressure (as low as 110/70) which was great, not that I could tell outwardly. This is very common for most fasters as the body detoxifies in earnest. It will drop steadily once the crisis is past, but estimating how long that will take is impossible.
I know another patient here who had been fasting for 14 days without effort and no change to his normal blood pressure. His higher percentage of bodyfat was being readily used for fuel so he had a 14 day buffer - and a reprieve. But now he's getting to the good stuff as evidenced by his increase in blood pressure and general disposition. I did not have a lot of body fat coming in so when I cut the broth, my body seemed to go right to work. Based on my bp readings this afternoon, it must be working pretty hard.
Water only fasting began producing some different symptoms relative to the measly one hundred calorie diet I was consuming. I experience a small knot in my stomach, no hunger at all, and I get light heartburn and a sour stomach in the evening, fortunately unlike some folks who experience nasty nausea from the increased bile (most likely), as a result of peeling back and processing years of nasty toxins. You just never know how much toxic waste you have stored over your lifetime or what your constitution is for extended fasting, but I have many days to go, so maybe my day is yet to come. I could sure do without the vomiting. The only other symptom is lightheadedness upon standing too quicky, so I take my time to avoid this condition.
I try to keep the day from dragging on too long by taking classes and attending lectures. The class this morning was a cooking class, though it was mostly raw food. When you have the raw incredients handy, you can throw together some really tasty dishes in less than five minutes. Our instructor showed us fresh-cut baked hash browns, a no bake cake with a ground date/pecan crust (very rich), a no mayo waldorf salad (she used small cut banana pieces to hold it all together), variations for oatmeal, a fruit salad and even ice cream which was essentially all frozen fruit and a few frozen cashews to add some creaminess and then run through a champion juicer. It looked very tasty, though the only thing I wanted were those hash browns. I'll definitely be building a repertoire of my personal favorites so we can eat even better when I get home.
The lecture addressed some misconceptions on a couple of current dietary trends (raw vs. cooked, and food combining) based on an understanding of how the body actually processes food. Essentially, a good variety of raw foods (like salads) and lightly steamed and boiled starch-type foods is about all your body needs for a robust and long life. Except for vitamin B12, your body figures it all out just fine - you'll stay healthy, disease free, and maintain your correct weight.
As B-12 goes, we can't get the B12 as vegans because our vegetable and fruit sources are much more hygenic as a rule than they were back in the day, when the bugs and worms were one with the crop. There is research on plant sources of B-12, but these sources are likely to be unavailable to the human body so don't bank on them. One thousand mcg of methylcobalimum (my choice) every couple of days seems to work just fine to keep the levels high.
It takes three years or so to deplete B12 reserves, so it stays in the body quite a long time and you don't need much of it, but it is essential. Even a yearly 8 ounce slab of organic calf's liver would do the job just fine, so I'm told, but I know that's a big EEWWWW!! for most people, but I used to really enjoy fried liver and onions when I was younger, just ask my mom.
Hmmm, come to think of it, I don't remember turning down anything mom made, experimental or otherwise.
Otherwise, you don't need meat. You don't need oils or added fats and just limited amounts of vegetable fats, like avacodos and walnuts. Eliminate sugars entirely, don't use fruit as a main course, and back off the bread. Alcohol is a destroyer always, regardless of what the wine industry says, and antibiotics really deplete the good bacteria in the intestine allowing the bad bacteria (they're always there, just kept in check) to get a foothold and proliferate once the course of drugs is finished, opening up a whole host of disease opportunities if left unchecked. In this case, three weeks of live probiotics appears to be a great start to getting the intestinal flora quickly back on track and in proper balance, along with a proper diet.
The big rule for healthy cooking is to avoid frying and baking - the temp just gets too high and changes the molecular structure of the food in a way that promotes the formation of an enormous quantity of carcinogenic and poisonous compounds that just aren't found in the uncooked food, especially in the darkened outer layers (think baked potato skins). Not to say there aren't any harmful compounds in the raw food, but they are more easily and readily dispatched by the body due to the much lower amounts and types of compounds.
Your body has to fight these compounds to keep you alive. White blood cells to the rescue! If they were fighting something else in the body, they must retreat and rush to deal with the more immediate threat, which is unfortunately the food. This explains why my cat hid itself in a quiet corner and refused to eat while healing from an abcess, just as every animal but man instinctively knows to do. Food and healing, most of the time, just don't mix - unless you're healing from starvation. My unscientific explanation is over simplified as usual, but you get the idea. If you cook, lightly steam. Otherwise, stick to no higher than 212 degress (boiling) and you can keep the body humming along just like our Creator designed it to do.
This day is wrapping up quite nicely so I can put another big, fat 'X' on the calender as I countdown my days of water fasting to the 18th, unless the doctors pull the plug first.
So reduce the size of that rib-eye and instead enjoy a double serving of those delicious purple potatoes with a side of steamed broccoli. Bon appetit!
And I can now say I am happily done with this particular brand of broth for awhile - it's very saturating when it's essentially all you take in after a few days. It's main benefit is to supply a relatively high amount of minerals which is important, but knowing I was leaving this liquid behind made even water-only fasting that much more appealing. Am I still tasting that stuff?
My weight loss rate has not changed. I'm continuing to lose the same amount of weight on water as I was on broth and the weak veggie juice - 1.2 pounds per day. I came in 10 days ago at 150 pounds and I am now at 134.8. I don't know if that works out to exactly 1.2 pounds per day but it has amounted to as much since I recognized the trend a few days ago. But I get checked every morning and night and I'm still feeling very vital, just a bit weaker.
My blood pressure has increased to 158/96 since going all water, which is a little higher than what it was when I arrived 10 days ago on bp drugs. I enjoyed a week of really low pressure (as low as 110/70) which was great, not that I could tell outwardly. This is very common for most fasters as the body detoxifies in earnest. It will drop steadily once the crisis is past, but estimating how long that will take is impossible.
I know another patient here who had been fasting for 14 days without effort and no change to his normal blood pressure. His higher percentage of bodyfat was being readily used for fuel so he had a 14 day buffer - and a reprieve. But now he's getting to the good stuff as evidenced by his increase in blood pressure and general disposition. I did not have a lot of body fat coming in so when I cut the broth, my body seemed to go right to work. Based on my bp readings this afternoon, it must be working pretty hard.
Water only fasting began producing some different symptoms relative to the measly one hundred calorie diet I was consuming. I experience a small knot in my stomach, no hunger at all, and I get light heartburn and a sour stomach in the evening, fortunately unlike some folks who experience nasty nausea from the increased bile (most likely), as a result of peeling back and processing years of nasty toxins. You just never know how much toxic waste you have stored over your lifetime or what your constitution is for extended fasting, but I have many days to go, so maybe my day is yet to come. I could sure do without the vomiting. The only other symptom is lightheadedness upon standing too quicky, so I take my time to avoid this condition.
I try to keep the day from dragging on too long by taking classes and attending lectures. The class this morning was a cooking class, though it was mostly raw food. When you have the raw incredients handy, you can throw together some really tasty dishes in less than five minutes. Our instructor showed us fresh-cut baked hash browns, a no bake cake with a ground date/pecan crust (very rich), a no mayo waldorf salad (she used small cut banana pieces to hold it all together), variations for oatmeal, a fruit salad and even ice cream which was essentially all frozen fruit and a few frozen cashews to add some creaminess and then run through a champion juicer. It looked very tasty, though the only thing I wanted were those hash browns. I'll definitely be building a repertoire of my personal favorites so we can eat even better when I get home.
The lecture addressed some misconceptions on a couple of current dietary trends (raw vs. cooked, and food combining) based on an understanding of how the body actually processes food. Essentially, a good variety of raw foods (like salads) and lightly steamed and boiled starch-type foods is about all your body needs for a robust and long life. Except for vitamin B12, your body figures it all out just fine - you'll stay healthy, disease free, and maintain your correct weight.
As B-12 goes, we can't get the B12 as vegans because our vegetable and fruit sources are much more hygenic as a rule than they were back in the day, when the bugs and worms were one with the crop. There is research on plant sources of B-12, but these sources are likely to be unavailable to the human body so don't bank on them. One thousand mcg of methylcobalimum (my choice) every couple of days seems to work just fine to keep the levels high.
It takes three years or so to deplete B12 reserves, so it stays in the body quite a long time and you don't need much of it, but it is essential. Even a yearly 8 ounce slab of organic calf's liver would do the job just fine, so I'm told, but I know that's a big EEWWWW!! for most people, but I used to really enjoy fried liver and onions when I was younger, just ask my mom.
Hmmm, come to think of it, I don't remember turning down anything mom made, experimental or otherwise.
Otherwise, you don't need meat. You don't need oils or added fats and just limited amounts of vegetable fats, like avacodos and walnuts. Eliminate sugars entirely, don't use fruit as a main course, and back off the bread. Alcohol is a destroyer always, regardless of what the wine industry says, and antibiotics really deplete the good bacteria in the intestine allowing the bad bacteria (they're always there, just kept in check) to get a foothold and proliferate once the course of drugs is finished, opening up a whole host of disease opportunities if left unchecked. In this case, three weeks of live probiotics appears to be a great start to getting the intestinal flora quickly back on track and in proper balance, along with a proper diet.
The big rule for healthy cooking is to avoid frying and baking - the temp just gets too high and changes the molecular structure of the food in a way that promotes the formation of an enormous quantity of carcinogenic and poisonous compounds that just aren't found in the uncooked food, especially in the darkened outer layers (think baked potato skins). Not to say there aren't any harmful compounds in the raw food, but they are more easily and readily dispatched by the body due to the much lower amounts and types of compounds.
Your body has to fight these compounds to keep you alive. White blood cells to the rescue! If they were fighting something else in the body, they must retreat and rush to deal with the more immediate threat, which is unfortunately the food. This explains why my cat hid itself in a quiet corner and refused to eat while healing from an abcess, just as every animal but man instinctively knows to do. Food and healing, most of the time, just don't mix - unless you're healing from starvation. My unscientific explanation is over simplified as usual, but you get the idea. If you cook, lightly steam. Otherwise, stick to no higher than 212 degress (boiling) and you can keep the body humming along just like our Creator designed it to do.
This day is wrapping up quite nicely so I can put another big, fat 'X' on the calender as I countdown my days of water fasting to the 18th, unless the doctors pull the plug first.
So reduce the size of that rib-eye and instead enjoy a double serving of those delicious purple potatoes with a side of steamed broccoli. Bon appetit!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Nov 01, 2009 - Encouraging news
Sure, it's natural to be skeptical about genuine, proven healing methods when it challenges our beloved lifestyle, no matter how disabling our lifestyle might be. The first thing that enters our mind is "If I have to give up this or that, there is no way I'm doing this new thing". Apply it to anything - the physical or spiritual - it makes no difference. I hear it all the time even when the words are not spoken. We shoot down possible paradigm shifts, not because we know them to be false (because we really haven't explored them at all), but because we are afraid we'll have to give up some harmful practice that we have grown to love. It could be the burger joint across the street, the morning latte, the porterhouse, the bacon and eggs or the alcohol. We are convinced our quality of life will be drastically reduced if we give up these things because we have grown to love these things - they have become our comfort and our best friend.
I submit to you that life gets better when we make the decision to swap our unhealthy living for the things that are better by design – it then becomes just a learning curve. For those in reasonable health, there is no need to make a big noisy production of it - just make small changes, measure the benefits, and go forward to the next step. You'll get results. If your health is compromised, and even if you choose a traditional path for treatment, plunge right in headfirst, the water's fine - I'm right there swimming with you!
For those who are facing difficult decisions in the face of rapidly declining health, I offer this: When we come to the end of ourselves, and we are backed into the proverbial corner, these strange, new choices can become VERY appealing, because for the first time, we accept the fact that the current way of living and popular methods of treatment just don't prove out upon closer examination of the mortality tables, and we deserve better than that. And quite frankly, we want to live and we'll do most anything to do it!
But sometimes it's too late by then. We wait too long and we're finished. Now if we can take a small step forward into the unfamiliar and open our minds to truth, we always find in retrospect that these new choices were the best we've made. I do not regret this path I'm on. In all ways, I am better off.
Just as I have never regretted becoming a Christian 18 years ago, giving up the harmful things as I have come to know them as harmful (I'm still learning and growing), I find that the truth-proven choices I have adopted have done nothing but improve my life, and have helped me to release my death grip on those things that drag me to the grave. And the longer I practice, the easier it gets - new challenges become ever easier to tackle and the things that appear to be difficult just don't have the same weight they used to have. But I, like everyone else, have hung on to the wrong things in life for far longer than I should have. It's only by the grace of God that I'm living today.
We have been led to believe that traditional allopathic medicine is the only answer. As I have said before, in the case of chronic illness, it many times offers no permanent relief at all. Does the doctor, when he prescribes cholesterol meds, ever say to you, "Take these for a year then you'll be cured"? The reality is, you're in the system for life, all other factors remaining the same. Go off the drugs, the problem will return, because it never left. We should take every step to remove the cause of the disease and let the body heal itself - it has been designed beautifully to do just that. That's where the real magic is!
But we should not wait too long - there can be, short of immediate and direct Divine intervention, a point of no return. But the real beauty is, no matter what your current state of health, or how many treatments or surgeries you've had, or how many prescriptions you are taking, correct eating and lifestyle change begins having immediate and lasting benefits.
Keep searching for the truth, settle for nothing less, question everything. Become convinced. There is no reason to fade into the darkness, clinging to the things that mean nothing, and having no hope.
Today...
....is day seven here at the center. I am still drinking broth and a very watery vegetable juice - about 100 total calories total. I'll begin water fasting in earnest Monday afternoon. I would have started this morning but I need to make a trip to Sacramento tomorrow morning (Monday) and I can't leave while water fasting. It is house policy and a very wise one. Blood pressure could change suddenly after standing up too quickly and the next thing you know you awake on the pavement clutching a big bump on your noggin faintly pleading to passerbys, "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up!". So a little caloric intake can prevent this from happening.
Even with this modest caloric intake, I experience some pretty typical fasting symptoms - I occasionally feel light headed when I stand up too quickly and I have experienced feeling a pounding pulse in what seems like every cell in my body - it's very strange. This last symptom can be attributed to two things, one a possible cause and the other a sensation. The cause being, according to the doctors, the result of the usual stress the body experiences when detoxifying, very similar to the increased pulse rate and pounding I would experience in the middle of the night after drinking one too many margaritas. Good reason to quit drinking, would you not agree? The sensation, in the case of fasting, I attribute to the low body fat, which makes it seem like the larger vessels are right on the surface, especially in the abdominal area. Last night the sensation was minimal, but the night before it was going on pretty strong for most of the night. Drinking water eases the symptom considerably.
I have continued to steadily lose weight. I came in last week at 148 lbs and I'm at 139.6 today, about the same weight as when I graduated high school in 1977, believe it or not. I had already done much work in real diet correction in the month before coming to the center, dropping from 162 lbs, so I am that much closer to getting the results I want.
I'm right on track for some real housecleaning, and it has begun in earnest. I have been off all blood pressure and cholesterol-lowering medications for three days and my total cholesterol is now 120 (with 20 mg of simvistatin and the new diet it was 115), and while my blood pressure has been a bit scattered across the board, this morning it was 114/70. This is the lowest it has been in my life. Ever.
Some of this drop can be attributed to the slight dehydration and salt loss that occurs in all fasts, but over time, a steady baseline will be revealed. With diet and lifestyle change, ninety percent of all patients never need blood pressure meds again in their entire life. I am thinking 110/70 by the time I leave in a month. I saw this number in my head this morning and I expect the best.
I submit to you that life gets better when we make the decision to swap our unhealthy living for the things that are better by design – it then becomes just a learning curve. For those in reasonable health, there is no need to make a big noisy production of it - just make small changes, measure the benefits, and go forward to the next step. You'll get results. If your health is compromised, and even if you choose a traditional path for treatment, plunge right in headfirst, the water's fine - I'm right there swimming with you!
For those who are facing difficult decisions in the face of rapidly declining health, I offer this: When we come to the end of ourselves, and we are backed into the proverbial corner, these strange, new choices can become VERY appealing, because for the first time, we accept the fact that the current way of living and popular methods of treatment just don't prove out upon closer examination of the mortality tables, and we deserve better than that. And quite frankly, we want to live and we'll do most anything to do it!
But sometimes it's too late by then. We wait too long and we're finished. Now if we can take a small step forward into the unfamiliar and open our minds to truth, we always find in retrospect that these new choices were the best we've made. I do not regret this path I'm on. In all ways, I am better off.
Just as I have never regretted becoming a Christian 18 years ago, giving up the harmful things as I have come to know them as harmful (I'm still learning and growing), I find that the truth-proven choices I have adopted have done nothing but improve my life, and have helped me to release my death grip on those things that drag me to the grave. And the longer I practice, the easier it gets - new challenges become ever easier to tackle and the things that appear to be difficult just don't have the same weight they used to have. But I, like everyone else, have hung on to the wrong things in life for far longer than I should have. It's only by the grace of God that I'm living today.
We have been led to believe that traditional allopathic medicine is the only answer. As I have said before, in the case of chronic illness, it many times offers no permanent relief at all. Does the doctor, when he prescribes cholesterol meds, ever say to you, "Take these for a year then you'll be cured"? The reality is, you're in the system for life, all other factors remaining the same. Go off the drugs, the problem will return, because it never left. We should take every step to remove the cause of the disease and let the body heal itself - it has been designed beautifully to do just that. That's where the real magic is!
But we should not wait too long - there can be, short of immediate and direct Divine intervention, a point of no return. But the real beauty is, no matter what your current state of health, or how many treatments or surgeries you've had, or how many prescriptions you are taking, correct eating and lifestyle change begins having immediate and lasting benefits.
Keep searching for the truth, settle for nothing less, question everything. Become convinced. There is no reason to fade into the darkness, clinging to the things that mean nothing, and having no hope.
Today...
....is day seven here at the center. I am still drinking broth and a very watery vegetable juice - about 100 total calories total. I'll begin water fasting in earnest Monday afternoon. I would have started this morning but I need to make a trip to Sacramento tomorrow morning (Monday) and I can't leave while water fasting. It is house policy and a very wise one. Blood pressure could change suddenly after standing up too quickly and the next thing you know you awake on the pavement clutching a big bump on your noggin faintly pleading to passerbys, "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up!". So a little caloric intake can prevent this from happening.
Even with this modest caloric intake, I experience some pretty typical fasting symptoms - I occasionally feel light headed when I stand up too quickly and I have experienced feeling a pounding pulse in what seems like every cell in my body - it's very strange. This last symptom can be attributed to two things, one a possible cause and the other a sensation. The cause being, according to the doctors, the result of the usual stress the body experiences when detoxifying, very similar to the increased pulse rate and pounding I would experience in the middle of the night after drinking one too many margaritas. Good reason to quit drinking, would you not agree? The sensation, in the case of fasting, I attribute to the low body fat, which makes it seem like the larger vessels are right on the surface, especially in the abdominal area. Last night the sensation was minimal, but the night before it was going on pretty strong for most of the night. Drinking water eases the symptom considerably.
I have continued to steadily lose weight. I came in last week at 148 lbs and I'm at 139.6 today, about the same weight as when I graduated high school in 1977, believe it or not. I had already done much work in real diet correction in the month before coming to the center, dropping from 162 lbs, so I am that much closer to getting the results I want.
I'm right on track for some real housecleaning, and it has begun in earnest. I have been off all blood pressure and cholesterol-lowering medications for three days and my total cholesterol is now 120 (with 20 mg of simvistatin and the new diet it was 115), and while my blood pressure has been a bit scattered across the board, this morning it was 114/70. This is the lowest it has been in my life. Ever.
Some of this drop can be attributed to the slight dehydration and salt loss that occurs in all fasts, but over time, a steady baseline will be revealed. With diet and lifestyle change, ninety percent of all patients never need blood pressure meds again in their entire life. I am thinking 110/70 by the time I leave in a month. I saw this number in my head this morning and I expect the best.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Oct 29, 2009 - Ketosis
Ketosis is an amazing survival mechanism built into our bodies that enables us to burn fat for energy. This spares essential tissue when carbohydrate sources, which the body prefers, deplete. Fasting (water only) puts the body into full ketosis more quickly and more completely than any pseudo-fasting cleanse/diet method known, bar none. It takes on average two days for women and three days for men from the beginning of the fast to reach ketosis. If you want to spare protein, you need to get into a full fast as quickly as possible.
The first fuel source to be depleted is the supply of carbohydrates, followed by protein, then fat, then the good stuff, which I'll expain a little later. In the absence of food as ready fuel, the body quickly figures out that protein is more essential to the survival of the body than fat, and quickly switches to burning fat for fuel. You lose virtually no protein, even on an extended fast. You will no doubt shrink, but it is not difficult to recover all the muscle you want after the fast if you train, eat and rest properly.
Fat, however, is not the ideal energy source, reducing energy output, so much rest is required and time literally slows to a crawl while you are awake.
No wonder bears and other animals hibernate. What else is there to do in the middle of winter? Unfortunately, we have bears around our house that I swear have never taken longer than a 20 minute powernap between trash cans. And why would they? With such an abundance of 'food' and mild winters they can enjoy fine dining year round. When it gets cold, they migrate like snowbirds to the lower elevations and harrass my valley neighbors for a spell. This works fine for awhile, but I know what's in the average trash can and these poor critters are no more likely to avoid chronic disease than the people who filled the can!
But I digress....
When fat reserves reach a low point, guess what the next source of fuel becomes? Adispose tissue. Non-essential tissue. Cancer cells. Scar tissue. Lesions. Tumors. Arterial plaque.
abnormal cells. Who would not want to kick the living daylights out some of these bad boys?
So ketosis brings us into 'safe mode' physically and sets up the internal environment for incredible healing. This where we contribute. Our part in this process is to rest, rest, rest. Limit all stress sources. Hang up the phone, shutdown the tv, turn off the computer (obviously I am breaking this rule), pray, stay positive, and relax.
This isn't just lip service. When we physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually rest, we allow our cells to freely travel far and wide to search and destroy, knowing that the organs and essential functions are safe. This happens most powerfully when we have used up most fat reserves and are resting comfortably.
To varying degrees, it happens all the time. The less stress on the whole person, the more healing can occur. When we stress, the cells retreat to the core and stay there until the stress has passed. The essential function of the body is to protect the essential functions of the body! We are built for survival and our bodies will act in the interest of self-preservation. Never underestimate the power of full, uninterrupted rest.
So how do we know when we are in ketosis? Plain and simple - for most people, the breath smells. I never got hit too bad when I fasted in 2008, but I have even smelled ketosis on the breath of people doing the master cleanse. It is a very reassuring sign that you are where you need to be to begin fasting effectively. The best one can do is brush the teeth and tongue with plain water and live with it. I did not suffer too badly on the my 10 day water fast in 2008, but maybe that's because, in the words of one infamous character in one of the Austin Power's trilogys, "Everyone loves the smell of their own brand" - it's your stink, you get used to it!
I have highly summarized and generalized in this blog entry of my explanation of the fasting process.
There is so much more precise information available that better explains the fasting process with just a simple google search. I must also state that the best and safest place to fast is not at home, though many have done so successfully, but at a center where there are vast resources available and experienced professionals on hand who can supervise the best healing experience tailored to your specific needs and goals. I spent a considerable amount of time researching water fasting before I fasted for ten days in 2008, so I had a high level of confidence that I would do well for that length of time. But everyone is different, and part of the formula for a successful extended fast is being in an environment where you are safe and well cared for. I'm there now.
The first fuel source to be depleted is the supply of carbohydrates, followed by protein, then fat, then the good stuff, which I'll expain a little later. In the absence of food as ready fuel, the body quickly figures out that protein is more essential to the survival of the body than fat, and quickly switches to burning fat for fuel. You lose virtually no protein, even on an extended fast. You will no doubt shrink, but it is not difficult to recover all the muscle you want after the fast if you train, eat and rest properly.
Fat, however, is not the ideal energy source, reducing energy output, so much rest is required and time literally slows to a crawl while you are awake.
No wonder bears and other animals hibernate. What else is there to do in the middle of winter? Unfortunately, we have bears around our house that I swear have never taken longer than a 20 minute powernap between trash cans. And why would they? With such an abundance of 'food' and mild winters they can enjoy fine dining year round. When it gets cold, they migrate like snowbirds to the lower elevations and harrass my valley neighbors for a spell. This works fine for awhile, but I know what's in the average trash can and these poor critters are no more likely to avoid chronic disease than the people who filled the can!
But I digress....
When fat reserves reach a low point, guess what the next source of fuel becomes? Adispose tissue. Non-essential tissue. Cancer cells. Scar tissue. Lesions. Tumors. Arterial plaque.
abnormal cells. Who would not want to kick the living daylights out some of these bad boys?
So ketosis brings us into 'safe mode' physically and sets up the internal environment for incredible healing. This where we contribute. Our part in this process is to rest, rest, rest. Limit all stress sources. Hang up the phone, shutdown the tv, turn off the computer (obviously I am breaking this rule), pray, stay positive, and relax.
This isn't just lip service. When we physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually rest, we allow our cells to freely travel far and wide to search and destroy, knowing that the organs and essential functions are safe. This happens most powerfully when we have used up most fat reserves and are resting comfortably.
To varying degrees, it happens all the time. The less stress on the whole person, the more healing can occur. When we stress, the cells retreat to the core and stay there until the stress has passed. The essential function of the body is to protect the essential functions of the body! We are built for survival and our bodies will act in the interest of self-preservation. Never underestimate the power of full, uninterrupted rest.
So how do we know when we are in ketosis? Plain and simple - for most people, the breath smells. I never got hit too bad when I fasted in 2008, but I have even smelled ketosis on the breath of people doing the master cleanse. It is a very reassuring sign that you are where you need to be to begin fasting effectively. The best one can do is brush the teeth and tongue with plain water and live with it. I did not suffer too badly on the my 10 day water fast in 2008, but maybe that's because, in the words of one infamous character in one of the Austin Power's trilogys, "Everyone loves the smell of their own brand" - it's your stink, you get used to it!
I have highly summarized and generalized in this blog entry of my explanation of the fasting process.
There is so much more precise information available that better explains the fasting process with just a simple google search. I must also state that the best and safest place to fast is not at home, though many have done so successfully, but at a center where there are vast resources available and experienced professionals on hand who can supervise the best healing experience tailored to your specific needs and goals. I spent a considerable amount of time researching water fasting before I fasted for ten days in 2008, so I had a high level of confidence that I would do well for that length of time. But everyone is different, and part of the formula for a successful extended fast is being in an environment where you are safe and well cared for. I'm there now.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Oct 27, 2009 - Preparing to Fast
Yesterday was an interesting day. Because I'm still weaning off my blood pressure medications, I am easing into the water fast, which will begin in earnest Saturday.
Beginning last Sunday and ending two days ago (Tuesday), I ate freely from the raw foods bar and the steamed vegetable trays. Absolutely excellent. I ate as much as I wanted and steadily lost a pound a day with no hunger. There is one woman here who is in her golden years (it is hard to tell exactly how old a person is when they have been eating well for quite awhile - they seem eternally young in many respects), who lives nearby and just comes for the food and the mealtime comraderee. This isn't food you find in the old folks home - this is food that promotes life with every bite. My blood pressure steadily declined every day since Sunday to 136/84 as an added bonus.
Yesterday I was shifted to the next phase: juice. This is simply just a vegetable, fruit and distilled water mixture that really wakes up the taste buds. The first drink in the morning was celery and watermelon. The next three were pineapple and celery or carrot.
Here's the problem with this. Though these drinks are tasty, and designed to drop your caloric intake substantially to help transition you into a fast, while giving you SOMETHING to put into your stomach so you can take meds, they are incredibly sweet. Without the fiber of the whole fruit, you may just as well feed me a cup of sugar. By 5:00 pm I was on an utterly stupendous sugar high that made me want to lie, cheat and steal to break all the laws of fasting and rush to the little store behind the center to slam some barbequed chicken. But since I hadn't eaten chicken in two years, my good sense reminded me of how unwise that would be, since I paid good money to be here NOT to eat. However, I did settle on taking the 20 step walk to the market and get some bottled water, since my roommate and I thought the distilled water here tasted odd.
Shortly after returning, this little sugar trip left me feeling guilty for even going to the store in the first place, and wishing I had just stayed in my room and drank the prescribed distilled water instead. I am now pretty sure it was just me and my sugar-bombed brain falsely convicting me of all manner of imaginary crimes against self and humanity. The lesson here is: stay away from sugar that has been separated from it's source, especially if you've been eating clean for a while. Your glucose and insulin levels will thank you and your brain will thank you. Lesson learned.
Consequently, due to the calorie reduction, a healing crisis(doubtful), or the sugar high, I was chilled to the bone all day, my hands and feet were numb from internal cold, and no amount of external heat helped. I finally was able to lay down at midnight, now starving (thanks, sugar!), and shaking like a leaf with the electric blanket set on high. I finally passed out around 12:45 AM I'm guessing, slept pretty good until 3:30 a.m., at which time my eyes popped open to stare at the clock and rehearse what I would say (in a nice way) to my doctors that there was no way in hades I was drinking that devil juice sugar water again today, I don't care how fresh squeezed, enymatic or vitamin-loaded it is. But at least I was now warm through and through after my 'nap'.
When they arrived for morning rounds at 8:00 AM, they sympathized with my symptoms, and agreed that vegetable broth would most certainly be a better option for me today and tomorrow. They don't need a madman running around off campus, looking a bit like an emaciated street dog and salivating over three day old road kill - it's so undignifying and doesn't bode well for the reputation of the center.
It's going to be a good, stable day and I'm ready to go into ketosis...
Beginning last Sunday and ending two days ago (Tuesday), I ate freely from the raw foods bar and the steamed vegetable trays. Absolutely excellent. I ate as much as I wanted and steadily lost a pound a day with no hunger. There is one woman here who is in her golden years (it is hard to tell exactly how old a person is when they have been eating well for quite awhile - they seem eternally young in many respects), who lives nearby and just comes for the food and the mealtime comraderee. This isn't food you find in the old folks home - this is food that promotes life with every bite. My blood pressure steadily declined every day since Sunday to 136/84 as an added bonus.
Yesterday I was shifted to the next phase: juice. This is simply just a vegetable, fruit and distilled water mixture that really wakes up the taste buds. The first drink in the morning was celery and watermelon. The next three were pineapple and celery or carrot.
Here's the problem with this. Though these drinks are tasty, and designed to drop your caloric intake substantially to help transition you into a fast, while giving you SOMETHING to put into your stomach so you can take meds, they are incredibly sweet. Without the fiber of the whole fruit, you may just as well feed me a cup of sugar. By 5:00 pm I was on an utterly stupendous sugar high that made me want to lie, cheat and steal to break all the laws of fasting and rush to the little store behind the center to slam some barbequed chicken. But since I hadn't eaten chicken in two years, my good sense reminded me of how unwise that would be, since I paid good money to be here NOT to eat. However, I did settle on taking the 20 step walk to the market and get some bottled water, since my roommate and I thought the distilled water here tasted odd.
Shortly after returning, this little sugar trip left me feeling guilty for even going to the store in the first place, and wishing I had just stayed in my room and drank the prescribed distilled water instead. I am now pretty sure it was just me and my sugar-bombed brain falsely convicting me of all manner of imaginary crimes against self and humanity. The lesson here is: stay away from sugar that has been separated from it's source, especially if you've been eating clean for a while. Your glucose and insulin levels will thank you and your brain will thank you. Lesson learned.
Consequently, due to the calorie reduction, a healing crisis(doubtful), or the sugar high, I was chilled to the bone all day, my hands and feet were numb from internal cold, and no amount of external heat helped. I finally was able to lay down at midnight, now starving (thanks, sugar!), and shaking like a leaf with the electric blanket set on high. I finally passed out around 12:45 AM I'm guessing, slept pretty good until 3:30 a.m., at which time my eyes popped open to stare at the clock and rehearse what I would say (in a nice way) to my doctors that there was no way in hades I was drinking that devil juice sugar water again today, I don't care how fresh squeezed, enymatic or vitamin-loaded it is. But at least I was now warm through and through after my 'nap'.
When they arrived for morning rounds at 8:00 AM, they sympathized with my symptoms, and agreed that vegetable broth would most certainly be a better option for me today and tomorrow. They don't need a madman running around off campus, looking a bit like an emaciated street dog and salivating over three day old road kill - it's so undignifying and doesn't bode well for the reputation of the center.
It's going to be a good, stable day and I'm ready to go into ketosis...
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Oct 27, 2009 - True North
I checked into the center on Sunday the 25th of October. I share a two bedroom apartment with another person who is on day 14 of an 18 day water fast. He looks GREAT. The interns take vitals twice a day, urine and blood once a week. This place is well staffed and they certainly choose people who are passionate about this age-old healing approach, and treatment is custom tailored to a person's specific medical condition and goals. They have been in business twenty-five years and have NEVER lost a patient. What hospital has that kind of record?
My treatment is three days raw foods, two days juice and one day broth followed by a water only fasting period, to be determined by my desire to continue and the doctors approval to allow the fast to continue. I can choose to discontinue the fast at any time, since a positive attitude is critical to receive maximum benefits from any healing approach, especially a water fast. Then I spend half again as much time gradually re-feeding here at the center before I am released. This could take awhile.
While on some type of nutrition, I am free to come and go once I sign out. I almost 'check out', but that might imply something else entirely. Therefore, I chose to take a drive to Starbucks in Windsot, just a few miles north on hwy 101, sip a mint herbal tea and catch up on this blog for the benefit of my thousands of rabid fans who wait with baited breath the next article of declaration from this questionably enlightened, soon to be perhaps medically emancipated, individual.
Once on water-only - lockdown.
While at the center, there are lectures to attend if one feels like it along with videos to sign out and watch in your room if you wish. So much to learn, with the purpose of sending all patients home with the tools necessary to keep the tent of the soul and temple of the Spirit healthy.
This is going to be a great experience.
Really, though, why am I here for a blocked artery?
I read,'Fasting and Eating for Health', by Dr Joel Fuhrman, who practices in New Jersey. He has vast experience in natural and medicinal healing approaches with great success, especially in the area of reversing heart disease. He has seen complete blockages open up - ateries that have been blocked for YEARS. The greater the blockage, the greater the improvement. I can believe it, so I'm just going to have to experience it for myself. I have nothing to lose but weight, which I can regain if I want to. Weight is so easy to change when you know how. I'll keep you posted.
My treatment is three days raw foods, two days juice and one day broth followed by a water only fasting period, to be determined by my desire to continue and the doctors approval to allow the fast to continue. I can choose to discontinue the fast at any time, since a positive attitude is critical to receive maximum benefits from any healing approach, especially a water fast. Then I spend half again as much time gradually re-feeding here at the center before I am released. This could take awhile.
While on some type of nutrition, I am free to come and go once I sign out. I almost 'check out', but that might imply something else entirely. Therefore, I chose to take a drive to Starbucks in Windsot, just a few miles north on hwy 101, sip a mint herbal tea and catch up on this blog for the benefit of my thousands of rabid fans who wait with baited breath the next article of declaration from this questionably enlightened, soon to be perhaps medically emancipated, individual.
Once on water-only - lockdown.
While at the center, there are lectures to attend if one feels like it along with videos to sign out and watch in your room if you wish. So much to learn, with the purpose of sending all patients home with the tools necessary to keep the tent of the soul and temple of the Spirit healthy.
This is going to be a great experience.
Really, though, why am I here for a blocked artery?
I read,'Fasting and Eating for Health', by Dr Joel Fuhrman, who practices in New Jersey. He has vast experience in natural and medicinal healing approaches with great success, especially in the area of reversing heart disease. He has seen complete blockages open up - ateries that have been blocked for YEARS. The greater the blockage, the greater the improvement. I can believe it, so I'm just going to have to experience it for myself. I have nothing to lose but weight, which I can regain if I want to. Weight is so easy to change when you know how. I'll keep you posted.
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