Getting things back into perspective

I had two disasters happen and 1 predicted challenge.

First I went to a doctor check-up and mentioned that I didn't understand if I was eating raw food, why wasn't I losing weight faster. He asked what I was eating that was fatty, and I told him I ate nuts, seeds, and avocado. So the doctor told me he'd have his diabetes educator talk to me when I checked out at the front desk.

Mind you, up until this point I was eating at least 80% raw food with no problems. No cravings, except for the cravings I felt were caused by my metformin. I could handle those. I was eating vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and seaweeds most of the time.

So I'm standing there at the front desk with a full waiting room. The educator walked out, looked me up and down, and said, "Well, when I have a SKINNY diabetic and I want them to gain weight, I tell them to eat nuts, seeds, and avocados." She stopped and looked me up and down again. Then silence. So I was like, "Ummm so.....I don't eat those?" She exclaimed, "BINGO!" Told me not to eat them, and walked out.

As I'm walking to my car, my sister calls and says she's been diagnosed with alpha-1 antitripsin deficiency and her doctor told her because both our parents were carriers, I had it too. Great...another chronic disease? So I was pissed and not really in a positive frame of mind.

Okay, so I go home and try to eat vegetables, fruits, and seaweed. I started to get really bad hunger pains and cravings. It was awful. You know....if my other foods are fruits, vegetables and seaweed - what's the big deal if I eat nuts, seeds, and avocados? And how can she make diet recommendations based on one question to her from my doctor? At least I wasn't eating hamburgers or pizza.

Combine this with my "who gives a turtle" attitude over the A-1-A deficiency, I started eating more "regular" food. I gained 4 pounds back, lost the glow, and pretty much just fell off the raw wagon.

So, I've been off the raw and therefore my diabetes control sucked. In addition, the Arizona heat was too much for me and my sister to continue the jogging/crossfit stuff in the evening when we both had time. So that stalled in May.

I had a little talk with myself and got some great feedback here and on my YouTube site. Thank you all you great people!! It's not the end of the world. And we always have more control over things than we think we have.

I'm going back on the raw - with the nuts, seeds, and avocados, thank you. My plan is mostly veggie smoothies and salads during the day and then cooked veggies or more indigenous recipes for dinner, most of the time anyway. Hopefully back to about 80% again.

I found a cheap Parks and Recreation center that looks promising with cardio machines and a weight room - so we are going to go check that out. Cross your fingers it has good cooling.

I was so bad I didn't go for the A-1-A deficiency lab...but I went ahead and did that this past Friday. See what it says, and I'll let ya'll know.

So I was down, but I'm not out. :)

I got me a brand-new chronic incurable disease - yay

Here is a video update...in a nutshell, I got sick and had something that resembled a stroke. Doctor has a feeling it wasn't, but getting tests anyway. He does not feel the diet or exercise caused it either - he thinks if anything they are helping and keeping away more serious complications.

Then my sister calls me and informs me that she has been diagnosed with an incurable chronic disease - Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. This is a disease also called inherited emphysema. And, it's supposed to come on earlier and more severe than emphysema caused by smoking.

She also informs me that she got it because both our mom and dad are carriers so...I have it too!

It is a problem with our DNA. Our bodies don't produce a protein that protects our lungs and eventually it begins to attack our lungs and our livers, eventually destroying them.

I do have a lot of the symptoms - asthma (mine is induced only by illness), difficulty drawing blood, easy for respiratory illnesses to progress, etc.

He told her diet and exercise will NOT make a difference - no matter what she does. However, I've looked around the internet and it looks like many doctors recommend vegetable juices and vegetable juice fasts with flare-ups. I myself know my illnesses don't get very bad if I keep to vegetables.

I've also seen that inflammation is a component - and most raw foodies know that when you go raw, inflammation goes down. So I'm going to up my raw and see. She is younger than me and her symptoms are worse...but she does smoke a lot. So far I don't have a lot of problems unless I catch something or the weather changes.

Anyway, here's my video.

Update - "mostly" raw food diet, weight loss, and crossfit

Here is my latest Vlog, battling diabetes, pcos and weight with a "mostly" raw food diet and crossfit.

My Grocery haul this week - staying in a budget

Groceries for three on a budget for four days. I am a 75% raw food diet eater, my 7-year-old son eats "normal" food, and my husband likes mostly vegetarian but won't eat poultry, is tired of fish, and hates cucumbers, cilantro and some other vegetables, haha. I gotta make 3 different meals sometimes!

This is what I got for $105 (including a $10 can-opener - hubby broke the other one). I'm trying to feed my family healthy wholesome foods, as much organic as possible. I show how I figured out my shopping list and tried to keep under budget.

If you have more tips - PLEASE let us know!

There are two parts below:

Is there a cure for diabetes?

When I embraced the raw food diet, it was largely due to reading Dr. Gabriel Cousen's book which answered the question "is there a cure for diabetes" with, "There Is a Cure for Diabetes: The Tree of Life 21-Day+Program."

I have a very dear friend who has lost 65+ pounds the past 3-4 months also due to this book. Like me, she was on a lot of medications and had dangerously high blood pressure. We both lost weight, brought down our blood pressure and were able to stop our medications.

My blood sugar numbers were close to "normal" as long as I was close to 100% raw. Does this mean there is a cure for diabetes? I don't know, because I was having crazy cravings for bananas, so I decided to indulge in fruit and resumed my metformin. My numbers are better than before raw foods, but not as good as when I was 100%.

I admit it is my own fault. The book recommends you maintain low blood sugar levels and remain in the first phases of the diet for a much longer period of time (years) to give your body a chance to "heal."

Maybe with more weight loss I could become more sensitive to insulin and react less to fruit. However, even if I lost weight and maintained 100% raw for a decade, I don't think I would ever be able to eat a banana/honey smoothie without my blood sugar levels spiking. I will still, for all intents and purposes, be a diabetic - I think. Is there a cure for diabetes? Will I be able to eat bananas later if I hold out and lose some more weight?

I once had an endocrinologist who told me that once my blood sugar levels got to 180 mg/dL for an extended period of time, my body underwent cellular changes that could be identified under a microscope. If I remained on raw food for a significant period of time, would those changes go away? It would be interesting if anyone could answer that question. Dr. Cousens?

So I guess the answer to "is there a cure for diabetes" depends on what your definition of "cured" is. For some reason I have a problem with that word. I have such an issue, I have a hard time recommending the book to friends, family, and especially the 4000+ members of my website, DiabeticMommy.com - even though it had a big part in changing my life.

I don't want to appear like the ads that bombard my members with advertisements for potions that will cure diabetes. Another issue, is when I was done reading the book, I felt I really should go to the Tree of Life Spa (which is literally down the road). Would I really have received more benefit going, or would I have gotten the same results and lost money? I don't want my members thinking I'm trying to get them to blow a lot of money either.

So is there a cure for diabetes?

Is there a cure for diabetes? I don't know. Should I recommend this book? Yes, I believe so, but I have to express my reservations. Thank you if you read this post all the way to end.

My personal raw food diet nutritional data

I eat a "mostly" raw food diet, and I have type 2 diabetes - so I can't get a lot of help from fruits yet. I've been trying to keep track of what I eat and trying to get my diet as complete as possible.

This is what I ate today and the nutritional breakdown from Nutritiondata.com. Most of it is fantastic. The carb, fat, protein ratio is not where I would like it yet. The highest fat thing I ate was an avocado and that really raised my fat intake. I need to lower that without lowering the nutrients I struggle to get (see below). If anyone has any suggestions or wisdom to share, I would appreciate it.

Here is a picture of my daily values chart. The yellow ones are ones I don't want to get a lot of. They are salt (Na), cholesterol (Ch), saturated fat (Sf), and total fat (TF).




I'm amazed at my vitamins and minerals! The raw food diet rocks! The total fat is high, but again that avocado threw me off, and not sure how stressed I should be over an avocado. I haven't had an avocado in a week either.

Tomorrow I could try to omit the avocado. I could also try to omit the nuts & seeds (but I need the zinc from the pumpkins seeds). I could also try to omit the olive oil.

By playing around with this site, I've gotten an idea of what nutrients I have to be especially vigilant about getting because they are harder for me personally to get from fruits and vegetables.

NUTRIENTS I STRUGGLE TO GET ON A "MOSTLY" RAW FOOD DIET

• Vitamin D. (I do get this from at least 5-15 minutes in the sun 2-3 times per week, but wont be reflected on these charts) Good sources are fish, fish oil, sardine, mushrooms, egg yolk.
  
• Vitamin B12 (don't need daily). Good sources are liver, beef, fish, poultry, meat broth, cheese, eggs.
  
• Selenium (Need to find balance, toxic in excess and the body stores it). Good sources are liver, brazil nuts, meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, nuts (not peanuts), chicken, mung, red kidney beans, lentils.
  
• Zinc (Little ability for body to store zinc). Good sources are shellfish, red meat, calf liver, poultry, giblets, pork, cheese, yogurt, peanuts, beans, yogurt, pumpkin seeds (most concentrated non-meat source). Many foods have less because often deficient in soil. Diabetes can make zinc absorption harder. Overdosing on zinc is a bad thing too.
  
• Calcium (Vitamin D necessary to absorb calcium). Good sources are broccoli, kale, spinach, oranges, legumes, salmon, sardines, sesame seeds, corn tortillas, almonds.
  
• Vitamin E. Good sources are wheat germ, vegetable oils, whole grains, nuts, peanut butter, tomato puree/paste/sauce.
  

WHAT I ATE TODAY

Breakfast (Juice)
1 apple
2 C chopped celery
1 cucumber
1 tsp ginger root
8 oz kale
juice from 1 lemon

Snack
1 banana

Lunch
1 avocado
1 tomato
raw corn cut off cob
2 scallions
handful coriander
1/2 tsp mesquite meal
1/2 tsp chia seeds
1/2 tsp sunflower seeds

Dinner
5 baby carrots
4 oz canned salmon, bone-in
1/4 cup pumpkins seeds
1 tbsp shallots
1/4 ounce sunflower greens
juice from 1/2 lime
half a head of lettuce
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt

Dessert
5 dates
4 almonds

BREAKDOWN OF MY "MOSTLY" RAW FOOD DIET

Total calories: 1753

Estimated glycemic load	92 (under 100)
Inflammation factor	1700 (over 50)
Protein quality	120 (over 100)
Ratio Carb/Fat/Protein	50/37/13 (60/30/10)
Calories	88%
Carbohydrates	187%
Fiber	202%
Total Fat	118%
Saturated Fat	57%
Cholesterol	31%
Protein	103%
Vitamin A	2500%
Vitamin C	547%
Vitamin D	261%
Vitamin E	95%
Vitamin K	2640%
Thiamin	113%
Riboflavin	145%
Niacin	160%
Vitamin B6	227%
Folate	147%
Vitamin B12	231%
Panthothenic Acid	151%
Calcium	104%
Iron	101%
Magnesium	199%
Phosphorus	223%
Potassium	177%
Sodium	84%
Zinc	188%
Copper	332%
Manganese	574%
Selenium	106%

Raw food detox noticed by dental hygenist!

A few years ago my dentist said I needed $3000 worth of work on my mouth. I had the beginnings of gingivitis, cavities, cracked teeth, etc. He scolded me for not getting my teeth cleaned for a couple years. When he poked around my mouth to make measurements for bone health, my gums bled. I would have thought detox in this area based on my diet was impossible.

Research is showing a strong relationship between diabetes and oral health. Oral health could also indicate an even higher risk for heart disease - something I have to worry about with diabetes and my family history. So this is something important for me.

I had read that raw food could not only detox your blood and organs, but also improve your mouth, gums, and even teeth. I read about some of these benefits in a Victoria Boutenko book. She is well-known in raw food diet circles.

In fact, when I read this, I questioned whether she was a quack and trying to make the raw food diet seem like it was magic. I brushed it off. It was the last thing I expected to see - raw food detox in my mouth.

I finally went to get that dental work done a couple months ago. I had been on green juice and raw foods for a few months at that time. They did X-rays and poked around my mouth. The dentist said, "Your mouth and teeth look great. You just have a couple cracked teeth and need two crowns." I was like, what? I mentioned what he told me the last time. He looked in my file, and he said hmmm, I don't know what's going on, but I don't see a lot of the problems we listed before.

I got the work done and then scheduled a cleaning with his dental hygenist. I hadn't gone to get my teeth cleaned for at least five years! Bad I know, I'm scared of the dentist! I went a few days ago to get my teeth cleaned. Finally. :)

Usually when I get my teeth cleaned, it takes a long time and requires a lot of tartar scraping. I expected it to take forever. Also part of the regular routine is some bleeding, a report on the state of gingivitis, warnings about my gums and bone health, etc.

She poked around and said, wow, looks great! She said, "Your gums are healthy, your measurements are perfect, your teeth are pretty clean. The only place I see any tartar is on the back of your lower front teeth, but that's common." Then she said I was doing a great job taking care of my teeth and obviously having regular cleanings.

I laughed and said no I wasn't. She looked at my file, and said that's odd.

I told her I was eating a lot of raw food and drinking a lot of green juices. Green juice can eat away at enamel if you don't rinse your mouth out after. I asked if it was possible the green juice had eaten away the tarter. She said no, and that my enamel was fine.

She said she suspected I changed the pH of my body from acidic to alkaline and that changed the chemistry in my mouth and made the tartar go away! What a trip!!! I still can't believe it.

I was out of there in no time. I didn't even get watch the whole episode of Oprah they had playing in the room. It seems so unbelievable, I keep expecting to wake up at any time.

How do you get protein eating fruits and vegetables?

I'm "mostly raw" myself. I do eat meat once in a while, but I try to eat fish or free-range or wild grain-fed, no-hormone-added chicken or beef. Or I try to get organ meats like liver - those have lots of B12 and your body stores it so you don't need it often.

I also get protein from nuts, seeds, and dark leafy greens - but it's a balancing act since I can't have nuts or seeds in large quantities.

Every day I usually have at least (a lot of it juiced):
1 head of red leaf lettuce: 5 g
1 head of kale: 8 g
1/4 cup nut, usually sunflower: 7.25 g
1 cucumber: 2 g
1 head of celery: 2g
1 large banana: 1 g
1/2 cup beans: 6 g

So that's almost 30 g. That's just basic, of course I eat more than that. I usually have more fruit, dark leafy greens, and other colorful vegetables. If you boil or stir-fry the greens, it seems to increase the protein...but I think that's because you can pack more cooked collards into a cup than raw (same as if you juice it).

If I choose to eat cooked food, I try to eat it at night, and separate from meals that contain a lot of raw just because raw food digests better on it's own. Mix them and you can get an upset stomach. If I choose to eat animal-based protein, 3 oz of salmon has about 22 g of protein, a boiled egg has 17g. I also tend to undercook veggies at this time.

I found this list on the About network...it has columns with non-meat-based proteins. Meat, eggs, and dairy make up complete proteins with all the amino acids. The foods below are not complete. According to the About Guide, she says to pick from two or more columns to make a complete protein:

• Grains: Barley, corn meal, oats, rice, pasta, whole grain breads
• Legumes: Beans, lentils, peas, peanuts, soy products
• Seeds & Nuts: Sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, cashews, other nuts (be careful of nut allergies especially to cashews)
• Vegetables: Leafy greens, broccoli

According to this calculator I need 74 g per day. Some people argue that's too high. This is a very heated debate with some feeling we don't need any, some saying just 40 g, etc. I do what feels right. Here is the calculator: http://www.healthcalculators.org/calculators/protein.asp

Sugar cravings - how can you beat them?

Everyone has sugar cravings, but they seem magnified when you have type 2 diabetes - or at that's how it seems to me. I have managed to maintain my weight around 175 pounds after I lost 30 pounds in April - May of last year. This is a big accomplishment for me. I have lost weight before, but it came back quickly. I also had to exercise constantly or starve myself to keep it off. I am doing neither of those now.

I think part of my success is due to including raw dark green leafy greens in dishes and in juices. This gives my body needed nutrients and cuts cravings. I also think some success is due to some deep thinking and a mental flip I had to go through. Together these things have helped keep my food cravings at bay.

Sometimes it feels like I have two people inside me. There is the good person who says, "I need to lose weight," "I shouldn't eat that," "I should exercise." Those words will even come out of my own mouth or I'll type them or make resolutions.

Then there is a soft yet persistent bad voice that says, "give in to your sugar cravings and eat that. It's okay. Just do it." Sometimes that soft little voice works some magic and makes me forget about the other voice or my goals. Then after it's gone down the hatch, I remember my resolutions and feel guilty. I'm sure Freud has a name for this, but I don't know what it is. Some people would even say it's the devil, and I could totally see that! Totally.

What a lot of people don't know is that when you have diabetes, carb and sugar cravings can be much worse than a "normal" person. Have you ever taken a sleeping pill and felt the effects of those chemicals on your body? It's really hard, if not impossible to fight off sleep. Imagine being given a pill that makes you crave sugar or carbs. That happens in diabetic bodies everyday and I'll explain why. Once you understand, it's easier to resist with practice and trying to put some mind over the matter.

We all know many people with type 2 diabetes have bellies - but there are many who don't who are slender. What we all likely have in common is some intra-abdominal visceral fat. Intra ab-what? This is a special kind of fat, it gets in around the internal organs and grows and becomes an entity unto itself. It becomes a little monster. And it sends out signals to your brain and chemicals to the rest of your hormonal system to signal for behavior that will cause it to survive and grow.

So this little monster has a lot to do with the frequency and intensity of that second bad voice. It will talk to you like it's your friend - "just have a little more cake, it's okay, you deserve it" - but it doesn't care about you at all. It's wholly self-serving. It causes feelings of discomfort and stress if it doesn't get what it wants. It really doesn't care if you live or die.

What I do before I go to sleep or find myself in a quiet state is think about these two conflicting voices. I realize and envision that first good voice. That is the beautiful, healthy me. The REAL me. I love that me. The second voice is literally an ugly disgusting little monster inside my belly. It is NOT me. I get a picture of it in my mind...what I would look and feel like if I let it have it's way.

Another way to look at it, if you have kids or pets, is those times they bug and pester for something they cannot have. You have to stick to your guns out of love for them. Eventually the pestering stops or they can be distracted. It's the same thing.

Something else that many people don't know is that when you have diabetes you have excess insulin circulating in your body due to insulin resistance. Oral meds often increase insulin in your system, and of course injecting insulin adds more. Most of us know that insulin helps to escort sugar into cells to be burned for energy. However, insulin has other duties. Insulin signals for carb cravings, fat storage, and sends signals telling the body to not release fat for energy.

What can you do about this? First of all, knowledge is power. This is where your brain comes in. You have to pay attention to what are real cravings and what aren't. Sometimes you really may crave something because your body is wanting those vitamins or you really are hungry. You will crave something familiar that has those vitamins...but doesn't necessarily have a concentrated amount of them so you over-indulge to satisfy the need. You have to be mindful. Of course you still must eat, but pay attention to what you are putting into your body and what your body is asking for. Starving yourself is asking for failure.

If you suddenly have a very strong craving for carbs or sugar, then you can assume you are low on energy or it's your little belly monster. If you start to crave something specific like fried sweet potatoes or a can of cranberries - look up what the major nutrients are. Maybe your body is needing those and you can find a healthier alternative that provides those nutrients.

I try to look at what I'm about to eat and ask myself, "Is this enough to sustain me for the next three hours?" I think about what "real" serving sizes are and what was considered a serving size for my grandparents or great-grandparents when they were younger. When I do that, I often find myself cutting my portion in half or adding something that is more nutrient dense and less calorie-filled. It's okay to have a grumbly stomach a few hours later...and to feed that stomach as well. It's a balancing act. I've come to welcome my little grumblings a few hours later and take them as a good sign. At first I was really uncomfortable with it, but now I enjoy it.

Another thing to remember is when you do eat carbs or sugar, they will cause more cravings. So if you try to cut down or eliminate white sugar or white flour, you can cut down your sugar cravings a lot. Many people will say (and I've experienced this myself) that when you cut those things out, sometimes the cravings for those things go away. You go through withdrawal at first, but then they are gone.

There are times people give in to cravings because the food in question is something special, or something they don't usually get to have. They want to have that treat now for fear they won't get another chance. Nobody wants to feel deprived. There is no reason why you can't have it if you can fit it into your diet plan.

If you can't have it now, write it down. I have a friend who religiously keeps a little notebook and pencil with her. When she sees or craves something and she's already eaten or she's trying to have a good food day, she'll write it down. When she can have a treat, she'll remember and won't feel deprived. In her diet, she is really good during the week and has treats on the weekends. So often I'll see her enjoying something with that notebook open in front of her, haha. For her it works, she is one beautiful skinny biatch.

People often say eating raw food is easy because you don't have write anything down if you follow the rules. As a diabetic who tries to be "mostly raw," I have to write down when I've eaten something outside the rules. It's too easy to forget that I had some meat yesterday morning, some roasted nuts, or some bread with dinner last night. So I write it down. That way I can really keep track of what percentage of raw I'm eating. Also, I still try to pay attention to total carbs, protein, and fat.

There is a really great website for analyzing foods - a great resource for beating sugar cravings. If you have never used that site, I highly suggest trying it out. It is really interesting to see graphical representations of the make-ups of different foods. You can put in what you ate for the day and see how nutritionally complete it was.

You CAN get a handle on those cravings, and you CAN beat down that little monster. YOU ARE NOT ALONE. As you lose weight and exercise you won't have insulin interfering as much. Remember you deserve health and happiness more than you deserve that brief pleasure from over-indulging in that chocolate cake and the detrimental effects it will cause later.

This won't happen overnight either, and you'll slip. The little belly monster will make you forget everything I've written here. When it happens, remember, it's not your fault. Forget about the mishap and move on, keep trying. Try to get into the habit of being mindful when you eat or are hungry.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE. When you start to feel down because of the struggle, remember someone over here in Arizona is going through the same thing and is sending you good vibes, wishes, and encouragement.

Need to vent? Even if you aren't "mostly raw" feel free to make use of the "Venting" folder in my Rawbetes forum: http://forums.delphiforums.com/rawbetes. We'll listen and understand. :)

Which raw diet is best?

I'm so glad you guys are interested in adding more raw foods. :) I am so excited with the talk in the forum and the emails I'm getting.

I was surfing around today, and have been reading a lot. I realize the "raw food world" might be pretty confusing to new people. So I wanted to share share something with you.

It's that there is no ONE raw food diet. There are high-fat raw food diets, low-fat, high-fruit diets. There are diets that allow some lightly cooked items, some that don't. There are some that allow beans, others that call them poison.

There here I come confusing things, saying I personally believe we need to look at the wisdom of the diets of some indigenous cultures before the Spanish explorers arrived, calling specific attention to the Tohono O'Odham and Pima Indian early traditional diets. Enough to make your mind spin! Sorry!

Currently there is a big split happening in the raw food world. At one end are the diets that say you can eat anything as long as it's raw - eat as many high-fat avocados and nuts as you want. At the other end are the ones that say, no you can't, this is way too much fat, eat fruit instead (like the 80/10/10 raw food diet). The former leans a lot on "gourmet" foods, superfoods, and manipulating raw foods into copycats of old favorites. The latter says, how can anything be or taste better than a fresh pineapple?

I know, it's confusing. So what is the RIGHT diet? The right diet is the one that makes YOU feel food and you see positive benefits from. As diabetics, of COURSE you know, we are all unique and different and what works for one person won't necessarily work for another. We know that all too well. 100% raw might not be right for you. Maybe you are someone who can handle a lot of fat. I personally can't. While my blood sugar numbers and blood pressure went down to normal eating raw foods, my cholesterol numbers did not go down to normal - they DID decrease, but not to normal. So I have to cut some more. Also some diabetics can have tahini (raw sesame seed paste) with no ill effects while others will have their blood sugar numbers skyrocket.

It's important to keep records and be observant (another curse of diabetes, haha). Pay attention to what you eat and then how your blood sugar reacts. Just because it's raw doesn't necessarily mean it wont effect your sugars. Pay attention to foods that might be irritating your digestive system - because in the end it's all connected via our hormonal systems.

MOST IMPORTANT...you have to work with your health care team. Ask your doctor before starting a new program and ask what foods you might need to avoid because of complications, medications, or any special conditions you may have. For instance, if you are on Coumadin/warfarin, you shouldn't be eating ginger - and maybe even limit the dark leafy greens. Let your doctor know what your plan is and have him or her work with you on your drug dosages and strategy. Don't make changes on your own.

So what should you do? How should you start? The basic thing these diets all can agree on is - get more raw fruits and veggies, especially green leafy vegetables into your diet. So, that is a fantastic starting point. Figure out simple ways to get more of these things into your diet. Take baby steps and see how you feel. In the meantime, research! Pay attention to your basic needs - carbs, fat, protein, calories, vitamins, minerals, water - make sure you aren't deficient or extreme on any of these. We need balance.

You can add green juice or a green smoothie. You can decide to have fruit or veggies for breakfast or replace a meal with a big salad. You try a raw recipe once in a while. It doesn't have to be complicated, and it's best to make it simple and go slow. Anything you do will be an improvement and as long as you are headed in the right direction, don't worry too much about how fast you get there. Enjoy the ride. :)

How I Make my Green Juice

This is the green juice I try to drink everyday. Diabetes-friendly juice recipes are hard to find, even for green juice. Good luck at juice bars - they are usually loaded with carrots.

Anyway here it is.....

"As Seen on TV" comes to the rescue!

Yesterday was a bear. I was totally off schedule, running behind, and out of my mind. :)

It happens.

All day long I kept feeling like I was forgetting something. Then about 9 pm I realized I hadn't had my green juice for the day. It was 9, my son had just gone to bed, I was tired, and my kitchen was a DISASTER.

I've found if my dishes and counters aren't clean, it's not conducive to making juice or raw food in general. I need to be sure to do dishes at night and empty the dishwasher upon rising and rinse stuff off and stick it in there. Because of my off day, the dishes had gotten neglected and I was not in the mood for washing them. I just wanted to go to bed.

What do do? My "regular juice" requires a clean counter and my big (clean) blender.

A while back a good friend was moving and unloading things she didn't want anymore. She gave me a Magic Bullet Blender. You've probably seen the infomercials. This thing has been really handy with raw food. I probably use it in ways it was never intended to be used, but it's working for me, haha.

Anyway, the basic thing I'm trying to get out of my green juice is chlorophyl from the dark leafy greens. The other stuff is gravy. So I packed the blender cup with as much spinach as I could and filled it with water. I screwed on the blades and blended it. FAST! I strained it really fast through my bag (while balancing the bowl on the counter with my stomach, haha). I suppose I could have just drank it as a smoothy right out of the cup, but I felt like strained juice.

So, anyway...that worked!

It's so small, I could probably pack it pretty easy for trips. It along with my paint strainer bag (or nut milk bag), and my little sprouter, and I'm set lol.

Why do raw food, diabetes, and indigenous traditions go together?

I have diabetes, eat mostly raw food, and pay attention to what, when, and how the local indigenous people ate. It all naturally goes together. Why?

I live in the southern Arizona desert. Home to the Tohono O'odham and Pima tribes--two tribes recognized for a severe diabetes epidemic. About 75% of those over 55 have obesity and diabetes.

When these people were introduced to the standard American diet and encouraged to abandon their traditional diet and native foods, it was disaster.

As diabetics, we can learn a lot from this. They have the so-called "starvation gene" that allowed them to survive through regular periods of hunger. For instance, on the tradtional Tohono O'Odham calendar, May had been listed as "The month of hunger." This is when I like to do longer fasting or juice feasting. It keeps me in touch more with the natural cycles of the desert.

Their bodies were able to store more fat for the future. Studies have found they gain more weight than the "average" person consuming the same amount of calories. This is thought to be due to a low metabolism.

A similar thing happens with diabetes. Most of us have low metabolisms. It is harder for us to lose weight sometimes because our hormonal systems are sending messages to the brain to hold on to fat - even if we already have plenty of fat. The indigenous people would store the extra fat in their bellies. That's the common storage place for us...and it's been found that our belly fat, or abdominal intra-visceral fat, even acts as an organ unto itself, sending out messages to the brain to sustain itself.

If the local Native American people return to eating traditionally, they often lose weight, belly fat, and can better control their diabetes.

Their traditional eating and a raw food diet have a lot in common. They are both low-fat, high-fiber. They both use fresh seasonal foods and nutrition is condensed into less so less empty calories, as well as less overall calories, are consumed.

In scientific circles there is high debate as to which came first, the chicken or the egg...did diabetes appear undetected and cause the weight gain or did weight gain cause diabetes.

I found this interesting article from the Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition and it explores those questions. It considers the Pima indians. The thinking seems to be that the Pima have low metabolic rates, low fidgeting, and probably genetic factors that make it easier to gain weight. Interestingly, they start out with low insulin resistance and low insulin levels. When they gain weight, the weight gain itself causes insulin resistance, higher insulin levels, and progression to diabetes and high blood sugar.

Anyway, it's pretty interesting. But all the scientific mumbo jumbo aside, regardless of the studies, for some reason traditional foods and raw foods seem to help.

I'm not going to say that either one is a magic cure in and of itself, but the components of each allow a person to eat a good amount of food with more nutrition and less calories. They also tend to help with food allergies which may complicate diabetes since many diabetics are allergic to gluten and they are both so much easier on our digestive systems.

Diabetes expert Dave Mendosa on "Raw Food People"

I came across this today surfing around the net on Dave Mendosa's site. He's a fantastic and well-respected source of diabetes information on the internet. His blog post is not an attack on raw food diets, he's writing about a study.

In a nutshell he writes how some "raw food people" may not be entirely correct when they say raw food is better for you. I agree with this and don't.

I Agree: I agree there was a reason why primitive peoples took the time to cook certain foods rather than eat them raw. They had to avoid pests & poison. Some foods had to be prepared a certain way to become safe.

In the raw food circles, I wish there was more information out there about the need for proper preparation or limited eating of: Raw kidney beans, buckwheat greens, spinach, prickly pear pads, unpeeled potatoes, alfalfa sprouts, some types of raw cassava, unfertilized raw eggs, apricot kernels, and parsnips.

For example, spinach and prickly pear pads are pretty high in oxalates which can be detrimental. They are better in limited raw amounts or cooked to reduce the amounts of oxalates.

I Don't Agree: The blog post did not talk about these foods, it talked about everyday foods like broccoli, carrots, and zucchini. It referenced a study that said cooking allowed certain nutrients to become more available, "probably because of matrix softening and increased extractability."

This is a big misconception people have about raw food (just like how some people think raw food means sushi, haha).

Most raw fooders don't eat a lot of broccoli, carrots, or zucchini in it's whole state. I personally am not going to bite into it like an apple. It will get stuck between my teeth and feel like hell going down if I eat a lot of it.

These things I either juice...or blend or grate or slice into paper-thin slices and marinate them. This causes the aforementioned "matrix softening and increased extractability."

Anyway, I wanted to throw my 2 cents into the fray as I felt this touched on a major misconception of eating common raw foods while ignoring other foods which could realistically pose a threat in their raw state.

I don't have anything against Dave and I think he has provided an INVALUABLE service to the diabetes community. Thank you Dave!

Update & Recomitting Myself

Okay, I survived the holidays without gaining weight. I actually ate normal Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners and goodies. I had re-started my metformin because I wanted to eat fruit dammit. :) I don't like the side effects...hopefully I'll be able to quit it if I lose more weight.

So my weight is pretty stable between 170-175. My percentage of raw food went down. I was probably was eating 50-75% raw food. I didn't worry since my weight was okay. However, I've noticed little problems creeping back - blurry eyesight, achy shoulder joint, inflammation in my face, skin problems. Most of all, the glow is gone. :(

So I am re-committing myself to drinking 1 quart of green juice a day and mostly raw foods. I'll post my pics below and post as I progress. I have also started a Vlog on YouTube documenting my progress. I'll post that here later. Still editing it.

Here are my progress pics:

BEFORE JUICING AND RAW FOODS

AFTER JUICE FEAST AND MOSTLY RAW FOODS

NOW...AFTER LOWERING MY PERCENTAGE OF RAW AND OCCASIONAL JUICE
(EXCUSE MY JAMMIES AND MESSY HAIR)

I'm sure you will agree...the glow is gone! And my skin seemed firmer before. Hopefully adding daily green juice and more raw foods will help.

I wish it was easy to be GREEN!

Green juice makes a HUGE difference!

I stopped doing so much juice and was eating more raw. I was feeling pretty tired and I was getting REALLY haggard looking. I was looking like I was 50 (about to turn 40).

The whites of my eyes were not bright, more of a gray. My skin was looking pretty saggy and dull. The glow was absolutely gone.

I've been reading "Beautiful on Raw" by Tonya Zavasta. In that book she has testimonials from women who have seen huge changes in their appearance. All of them juiced and one of them said she felt green juice was her beauty secret.

So I decided I would try to juice daily. I would either make myself juice or I would go down to Robek's juice bar and buy some juice. I have figured it costs me up to 6-7 dollars to make a quart of juice from 1 English cucumber ($1.99), 1 bunch of celery (up to $2.50), and a head of dark leafy greens (up to $2.50) - unless I can find good organic bargains. I can go to Robek's and get a Large green juice with 2 oz shot of wheatgrass on the side for 7.99. So I've been doing either or.

I know I would save more if I bought regular produce...but in the long run I end up saving with organic. I don't think people realize how much nutrition our food has lost over the years with modern farming methods and soil that has been depleted of nutrients. I think there was a study done in the 50's that showed commercial produce had already lost 20-30% of it's nutrition and it was estimated to get worse. Don't quote me, I can't find the book that was in. I think it was one of Dr. Norman Walker's books. I can eat less organic food and get more nutrition. I can get away with a juice and a salad along with some nuts and seeds and seaweed for the day.

The people at Robek's think I'm crazy. The "greenest" drink they offer is called a Green-V, and it has tons of carrots with celery and some spinach. It comes out orange from the carrots and very sweet. Not very good for diabetics. I don't think they realize what little options they offer for diabetics.

I ask for a large juice with 1/2 of one carrot, regular celery, and tons of spinach. I used to deplete their spinach supply, so now I bring in my own cucumber for them to add. They are really nice and try to give me what I ask, and they add the cucumber I bring in. Although it does feel a little funny walking past everyone at Starbucks and the people sitting at the tables outside the juice bar holding a long cucumber lol.

I go in and get my green juice, and have done it pretty regularly. Because I bring in the cucumber, there is often extra and they'll give it to me in a little cup. One day I saw the extra, but they didn't give it to me. I just figured they didn't feel generous that day and left. The next day I was there bright and early with my cucumber and the same two girls where at the counter from the day before. I ordered my juice and then they went about making it. Then one of the girls kind of timidly asks...do you really like this juice? I said, "Huh?" and she said, "Well do you order it because you like it or for health reasons?" I said, I guess health reasons and also I can't have all the sweet stuff because I have diabetes. They go, "OH." Then went on to explain that they had tried the extra juice from the day before and they thought it tasted horrible, haha. Oh well, hehe.

ANYWAY, long story short, within a couple days of starting up the green juice regularly, the glow was back and my skin was feeling more elastic again. I feel so much better too. Happier. The whites of my eyes are white again and little spots I was starting to get on my face are gone.

Juicing is a pain in the arse. There I said it. And it's expensive. But actually if I'm really only drinking a quart of juice (celery, cucumber, lettuce) and then having a big salad (avocado, greens, sprouts, tomato, onions, lemon, garlic, ginger, peppers, and something extra like beets, broccoli, corn, cabbage, carrots, etc.) along with an apple a day and some nuts/seeds...and pretty much skipping dinner then it's not THAT BAD. I think the problem is the three diets going on in our house - hubby vegetarian (who doesn't really like veggies), son a "normal" diet, and then me mostly raw. If it were just me, that'd be a different story. And it's a pain because I don't want to eat dinner but I gotta make dinner for them.

I'll say it again, juicing is apain in the ARSE. I hate having to buy fresh veggies every couple days. I hate all the looks from people who see my cart full of veggies. I hate when the supermarket cashiers seem to pray that I don't go into their lines with my cart full of produce - half of it they can't identify let alone remember the codes and prices for. I hate having a fridge CRAMMED with veggies. Literally, I open the door and something falls out. I hate constantly having to clean out the fridge. I hate how dealing with fresh live foods means your kitchen looks like youve been sacrificing it to the Gods for eons, with little bits of veggies here and there. I hate how it attracts all the little no-see-ums and flies. I hate prepping the veggies and juicing them. I hate straining the stuff. I hate cleaning up afterwards. I hate all the veggie garbage and pulp I have to be either creative or wasteful with. (I recently began raising earthworms to eat some of that stuff) BUT....it's worth it! REALLY!

(I don't hate the taste though. I did at first, but now I crave it. )

What I'm doing as of today

After the juice feasting I did 100% raw for a few weeks. Then I took it to 80% cause I had to halt the weight loss now I'm just "mostly" raw.

Right now I'm in a holding pattern. I still have another 20 to go for my goal weight.

I just try to make sure the majority of what I eat is raw veggies. If I go out or find myself short on time or having to buy something in a rush, I stick with a modified basic food combining law which means if I eat bread/grains/carbs or meat, I don't eat them together. So it's carbs with green leafy or lightly steamed veggies or meat with green leafy or lightly steamed veggies. If I ate the starchy carb and meat together it would sit in my gut longer and make toxins and may decide to stay on my hips lol. So I want stuff I can move in and out quicky. :)

Also, instead of tracking calories or writing things down, I just try to be mindful of the last time I wasn't 100% raw. So if yesterday I had a salad from Jack-in-the-Box with some chicken, I try to remember that and be more faithful to raw foods for a while. If I have a family party coming up and I know they are going to have some of my favorite foods, I try to be good beforehand and after. I also take plenty of raw veggies and dip to munch on. Eating this way really makes you enjoy your food more. I can remember the little bite of hamburger I had last week. Before all my hamburgers were a blur. I could barely remember what I ate the day before.

I've been watching a lot of the old Jack LaLaine shows on YouTube - he was basically a raw foodie but he did cook them somtimes, making sure they were undercooked and he did eat meat (usually fish) once in a while and dairy. Not sure if his diet is the same now. I sure would like to have the dvd copies of his shows and some of his books. He is a great inspiration.

The only "bad" issue I've had is that a lot of my hair is falling out. I have NOT had a gastic bypass, but I've reduced my calorie intake just the same. I've been reading that this usually happens with gastic bypass patients because of the sharp reduction in calories, it shocks the body. The hair loss will start about 4 months into it and continue for about 8 months. My hair started to come out right on target. I'm using some special shampoo that has slowed it down. My hubby and sis say they can't tell, so hopefully it stays that way lol cause I didn't have that much to begin with!

The first day of the juice feast I had taken my cholesterol numbers, I should redo them soon to see where they are at. My blood sugars still aren't down to where I want them, but better than with medications. I have to get more strict more of the time to get them down to perfect.

My juice feasting experience - Lost 30 pounds!

I juice feasted for 30 days and lost 20 pounds juicing and then another 10 eating mostly raw. I had to stop because I was losing weight too fast. I knew if you lost weight fast and shocked your system, you could temporarily lose hair and could take it about 8 months to regrow again. Well I was too late to save myself from the shock (will discuss this in a later post).

I would post a pic...but I'm on a different computer and my camera's software is on my broken one. I'll post one as soon as I can.

Anyway, since I'm diabetic, this meant at least 4 quarts of green juice a day. Sometimes it tasted pretty damn good, sometimes it tasted like pond scum. I really liked the experience.

I didn't have many withdrawal symptoms. On the very first day for a couple hours I was really nauseated, but that was it.

It was a time-consuming, messy experience, but it got faster and cleaner as I got a routine down.

I drank at least 4 quarts a day. Each quart usually contained the following:

1/2 pound of dark leafy greens (2 pounds total for the day)
1 bunch of celery
1-2 big cucumbers

Dark leafy greens meant spinach, collard, kale, shard, dark green lettuce, etc. For the day I tried to juice a pound of the really dark stuff (spinach, collard, kale, or shard) and then a pound of the lighter lettuces.

Keep in mind the above would usually make enough to make a quart....but if there was low water content or the celery or cucumbers were smaller, I'd end up having to throw more stuff in. If it was just like 1/2 a cup short, I'd put in 1/2 a cup of water.

The extra stuff I would throw in would be - 1/2 an apple, a carrot, bell peppers, squash, jalepeno, cilantro, parsely, jicama, ginger, green beans, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, prickly pear cactus pads (dethorned), etc. - whatever was on sale or I got given to me.

So I would buy for three days. My 3-day list looked like this:

3 pounds of dark leafy greens
3 pounds of lighter leafy greens (but not too light, no iceburg lettuce)
12 celery bunches
12 large cumbers or more smaller ones
A bag of apples
A bag of carrots
Ginger root

Then I'd cruise the veggie section, looking for what was on sale and try to buy a bunch of it.

At first I used a Juiceman juicer, but it died. Then I used a Breville juicer, but it died. Then I used a Breville blender and would strain it through a paint strainer bag (not sure how safe this is, don't copy me, nut milk bags are safe). Then I used my grandma's old Oster meat grinder from the 50's that she used to make tamale masa and strained that. Out of everything, her old meat grinder shows no signs of stopping - they sure don't make things the same do they. The Breville blender still works, but I don't want to break it, so I don't overuse it.

I would start the day with cleaning up my juicing area. I would get out the juicer, 4 jars, 4 lids, a peeler, a knife and cutting board and three huge bowls. I would fill one bowl up with the lettuces. The other with the rest of what I was using. I cleaned and rinsed the lettuce and threw it into the third bowl and put it by the juicer and rinsed out the dirty bowl. Then I peeled the cucumbers if they weren't organic and threw them into the rinsed bowl, cut them up if I had to. Then I cleaned and cut the celery and threw it in with the cucumber. Rinsed out that bowl and put the cleaned extras in. I kept my cutting board right by the sink so I could just scoop the scraps into it, I tried to have a strainer in the sink. I made a LOT of scraps. At least 1-2 plastic grocery bags full, including the pulp. I had my 4 jars ready with their lids and also had a small saucer to fill the jar on to catch spillage.

Then I juiced or blended/strained or grinded/strained. If I strained, I poured everything into a paint strainer bag and then would massage it to get all the juice out.

I would pour the juice into a quart jar with a canning lid, making sure it was overflowing a little. I pressed the canning lid on (some of the juice would squeeze out making an air-tight lid) and screwed the ring on. I kept them cold and drank them through the day. If I had to go somewhere, I stuck them in a lunchbox with an ice pack or cooler with ice.

Then the fun of cleaning up started lol.

If I used a juicer, my dogs loved eating the pulp. They didn't like the strained stuff so much. I live in Tucson and it's HOT (I did it in June) so I would scatter the pulp outside on the ground and it would dry up and I would stomp it into the soil. Sometimes I saved it in baggies and used it in soup. I used the scraps for broth when I could. Next time I'll have a compost pile and maybe even a little earthworm farm (much easier and cleaner and unsmelly than you think - and you get great fertilizer from it for your plants or to give away, this stuff is black gold believe me).

Anyway, I juiced for 30 days. At the beginning I put in supplements - spirulina, bee pollen (later found out I shouldn't have added yet as a diabetic), green powders. But I found I didn't *need* them. I also would drink some water with lemon juice and MSN. At first I did this every morning, then I tapered off.

I felt AMAZING.

About halfway through I allowed myself a little veggie broth, I would cook veggies lightly and drink the broth. It was sooooo good. Towards the end I let myself drink any broth, even if it was a meat broth, but not often. Then I started to have avocado halves once in a while.

I was bad and didn't do the "breaking of the fast" like it is suggested by so many others. I didn't want to shock myself with the sugar from soaked prunes. I just started adding more avocado, more broth, then had lightly cooked veggies. Remember I'm not 100% raw vegan.

I was doing 100% raw for a couple weeks but had to stop, I was losing weight too fast and my skin wasn't keeping up, so I put myself into a holding pattern so it could catch up. And it is.

Juicing wasn't cheap. Sometimes I could spend $60 - $100 dollars for three days - more expensive when I added the supplements and bought all organic.

I couldn't afford all organic and I figured something was better than nothing so I started to go to more discount groceries. I got some really good bargains at the local Mexican and Chinese groceries. At these places sometimes my bill got down to around $38.

I worried about the pesticides, but I read an old book, can't remember by who - Dr. Jensen or Dr. Walker...can't remember, but he mentioned that pesticides reside in the fiber of plants and have an opposite attraction to the juice - so when you juice and remove the pulp the pesticides are repelled by the juice and stay in the pulp. True? I don't know, but it made me feel better about not getting all organic. But made me feel bad for my dogs, haha.

Recently I've been sprouting alfalfa, sunflower greens, microgreens, and growing wheatgrass. Next time I do a juice fast, I'm going to do a lot of sprouting and try to have a ton of lettuce growing.

Another thing I will be more faithful about, I need to be more faithful with the techniques to help move more toxins out - like skin brushing, hot/cold showers, massages, and making sure my intestinal tract is moving thing out. When you juice feast or eat raw, your body is de-toxing big time and will do so through the skin, colon, etc. If the toxins aren't removed in a timely manner, then your body may re-absorb them.

I don't know if I will do another 30 day fast again though. I may do shorter ones through the year. Maybe even once a month or once a week, not sure yet.

Why I started this

As the editor of DiabeticMommy.com, I try to keep up on all the latest treatments, products, discoveries on the diabetes landscape.

I do what I'm told - follow a diabetes diet, take my medications, check my levels, and try to keep my blood sugar values in the accepted range. I have had diabetes for 15 years and for 15 years have had no serious complications from diabetes (knock on wood).

However, as I've been getting closer to 40, it seems like I've been really feeling my age (feeling OLDER actually) and new health issues are popping up. I know I have to get my weight down and optimally reduce or eliminate my medications, but that has been easier said than done. I've tried all sorts of diets - Adkins, South Beach, grapefruit diet, cabbage soup diet, zone diet, Slim Fast, Weight Watchers, diet pills, hypnotism, nutritionists, etc. I've done all sorts of exercise - gym memberships, personal training, jogging, training for and completing a 5K, training for a half-marathon (halted by injury), etc.I usually notice health improvements. And my body composition changes. However, I don't really lose a lot of weight - especially none of my visceral intra-abdominal fat.

I have no doubt that I have willpower - because I have always given these things a really good try and have been very good. However, I stop out of frustration when months pass and I see no results on the scale at all. Or I get injured or sick from overdoing it, and have to stop with a loss of motivation.

The past few years, I have been in a cycle - I try really hard but when nothing happens, I give up and figure why try at all. This year, I had pretty much given up. I drive a carpool, and the father of the girls I drive home often tries to give me diabetes advice. If you are a diabetic, you know how this is. Often the advice you get from non-diabetics is cockamamie. Or they will say things like, "You know, you JUST gotta lose weight and your diabetes will go away." I won't go into that now.

Basically a type 2 diabetes body has been modified into a fat-storing machine, it is streamlined for times of famine. We can make due on less. Well, I can't remember the last time we had a good famine here, but my body is busy storing away. Our hormonal system sends out chemical messages to the rest of the body - Don't release the fat! I want carbs! It's the same as if we took a pill, we are drugged by our own bodies.

ANYWAY....my friend kept giving me advice, and I'd smile and say, I'll look into that, and drive away. One day he came out with a flyer for a talk about diabetes. He told me he knew the speaker personally, and that he has "cured diabetes by giving people a bunch of green juices - made diabetics lose weight and all beautiful and everything." I asked myself, "Is he not only saying I'm fat but ugly too?" I smiled and said thanks, I'll check it out.

Not too long after, my online gaming friend Kurt decided to do some research for me after hearing me complain about diabetes. He's not a doctor, but he's a smart guy. He told me he read that I should be eating vegan, and mostly raw, and cut out cheese. Hmmmm, was it a sign to at least give it a try?

So I looked at that ad again. It was for a seminar by Gabriel Cousens, M.D., and it looked like he was promoting his book "There Is a Cure for Diabetes: The Tree of Life 21-Day+Program

I looked up that book online. I discovered the book explained how diabetics could "cure" diabetes with a raw vegan diet...WHAT? Raw Vegan diet - F THAT! So I forgot about it for a couple days.

I also didn't like that they used the word "cure." To me "cure" means that it's gone and you don't have to worry about it anymore. This program is more about gaining control - and managing with diet and exercise. To it's credit, it's not easy at all to control diabetes with diet and exercise, and often you aren't successful and then have to add in medications, but this is a way of life that almost guarantees you will get control.

In spite of my doubts, I began to wonder if I might benefit from just a vegetarian diet. So I started to surf around the net and somehow ended up watching some videos by Philip McCluskey of LovingRaw.com.

For some reason I really related to him in this video. He had lost a lot of weight, was happy and healthy. He was eating a raw vegan diet and was loving it. I wanted to be there too.

So I surfed around some more and was amazed and flabbergasted by some of the blogs, testimonials, and before/after pics I was coming across. Everyone seemed so happy, so energized. It was like you see in movies and read in books when someone becomes a vampire - they are transformed into an extraordinarily beautiful person. I'm serious, many of the blogs I found showed pictures like that. Google "raw food before and after" or "juice feast before and after."

I bought a couple books - Ani's Raw Food Kitchen: Easy, Delectable Living Foods Recipes by Ani Phyo and Raw Food Life Force Energy: Enter a Totally New Stratosphere of Weight Loss, Beauty, and Health by Natalia Rose. These were great books and got me excited about raw/living foods. I tried a couple recipes from Ani's book - and even got my son to eat one of her oatmeal recipes - very willingly.

Since then I've bought a LOT more books and will share my favorites later.

Anyway, this inspired me to at least give it a try. I never intended, and will never force myself to go 100% raw, but I try to aim for around 80% - so I still get to have my favorites once in a while.

My First Post!

Hello!

I am currently Juice Feasting...and am on my 11th day now. I'll post later about the details and WHY the hec I'm doing this .

Right now I want to go ahead and get to the kewl stuff - pics! I'm already feeling and seeing huge differences. I've lost 10 pounds. It's not really apparent on my body, and I don't hear lots of people saying they think I've lost weight, but I really see the difference in my face right now.

Here are some of the changes I've noticed:

• Clearer skin
• Liver spots going away
• Some long-time facial bumps going away
• Inflammation and puffiness going away
• Whiter teeth, plaque going away
• Softer skin
• Fresh breath, fresh body smell
• Increased energy, feeling lighter
• Arthritic aches and pains are mostly gone
• Better mood - happier, clearer thinking processes
• I also have had these yellowed/scarred areas in the inner part of my eyes. I've been told that's from sun damage because I live in the desert and often don't wear sunglasses - that's going away too!
• Oh yea, and I got a pair of denim shorts I wear all the time. I gotta hold them up now. If I jump up and down, they fall down!
• Another kewl thing is that I notice the color of my eyes changing. I have hazel, mostly brown eyes, but lately the green is really coming out.
  

Okay, here are some BEFORE pics...you can really see the inflammation going. These pics weren't taken on day 1 of the juice feast, but the first one was within the year. The second one a couple months before. I didn't like taking my pics. :( I'm trying to recall if I have an even more recent one, and searching. But I can tell you, on day 1 of the juice feast, I looked the same, if not WORSE and I weighed the same. I started this way of eating because I was so fed up:

BEFORE:

And here I am....on day day 11 of the juice feast.....

AFTER:

I don't know. I don't think that's bad for 11 days!

Hopefully I can keep this up for a bit. I would LOVE to do this for 60 days - which symbolically would represent the time I've been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. (It is said each day of a juice feast is worth about 80-120 days of healing - and I was diagnosed about 15 years ago).

ANYWAY, as much as I would love to keep it up for 60 days - I doubt I will be able to afford that. So now my new goal is to continue juice feasting until my fasting blood sugar hits 85 without medications or I run out of money - whichever comes first. I may run out of money here pretty soon, so I hope it goes down soon!

When I stop juice feasting, I am going to switch to an at least 80% raw vegan diet.

DIABETES...oh yea, I should mention how that's doing.

First of all, I want to say I am doing this on my own and taking my own risks. I try to learn all I can about diabetes. I'm the editor of DiabeticMommy.com. And my own doctor tends to let me do what I want - literally stating, "Go ahead, you seem to know what your doing."

I personally don't feel "juice feasting" is harmful for me. I don't have serious complications. Plus juice feasting is not starving or fasting. I have figured I'm still getting at least 1600 calories a day in the form of 4 quarts of special homemade green vegetable juice, 2 tbsp hemp oil, 1 tbsp bee pollen, 1 tsp powdered kelp, 1 tbsp powdered super green formula, and 1 tbsp spirulina.

Before the juice feast I was taking 2500 mg of Metformin/Glucophage (500 mg over the max recommended dosage), 40 units of Lantus at night, and 15 units of Humalog with meals.

My blood sugar levels had quite a range. In a day I could register a low of 11 (yes, 11, and I didn't pass out either) and then skyrocket to 250. On "average" my fastings were usualy between 90-120 and two hours after meals I was around 180.

When I started the juice feast, I stopped everything. The first day my levels hoovered around 250. Each day my levels went down about 10 points and they didn't fluctuate through the day. As of today my levels are pretty steady around 150 and they get lower everyday. After a juice "meal" it goes up about 10 points.

I think the missing ingredient is more exercise. I've been pretty casual with my exercise lately, and gotta do something more regular. So I'll be starting to add that in - man, if I can find time.

I'm also going to try to drink a cup of cinnamon tea with dinner from now on - just boiled water with a cinnamon stick. Yummy.