Re-start

This slide show is for my fresh new start. Sorry so long before posts, I'm over having a tantrum over my alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency diagnosis and back into a positive frame of mind. :)



See it larger here: http://www.scrapblog.com/viewer/viewer.aspx?sbid=2327530

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 3/31/09

Been exercising and planning my son's birthday party and dealing with all the unexpected stuff that pop up...so been really short on time lately.

In addition to my cousin joining me when I workout at the park, his girlfriend and my sister have joined us. My son comes too. I have another friend with 4 kids...and they might all join us too. So pretty kewl. :)

I'm not superwoman yet...but I've made some nice improvements! Little steps in the right direction, woohoo. I hope to get a video uploaded soon. I'm way behind on the videos! Need to set aside a day for that.

Oh ya, a big update as far as a weird health issue. I started getting strange heart palpitations. They happen when I'm angry, stressed, or tired. They also happen when I've had a lot of chocolate or caffeine.

It started with one big hard heartbeat that I could feel in my whole body followed by a few seconds of no heartbeat. It happened once in a while. Then it started to happen for a couple hours. Now for most nights, they go through the night and morning. It doesn't hurt. When my heartbeat pauses, it seems like it's hard to breathe. It's annoying. It started happening after I started to do a lot of jogging.

I saw my doctor yesterday. I have to wear a holter heart monitor tomorrow for 24 hours and get that evaluated. I also took a slew of lab tests yesterday. Seems like he might be worried about my thyroid. I have big cow eyes, so he's always worried about that anyway lol. I'll let ya'll know when I find out.

Update 3-23-09

I'm still doing "mostly" raw. With the economic situation it gets tough...but been trying to be creative.

I just discovered my local swap meet actually sells fruits, vegetables, and nuts at pretty good prices. They even claim it's organic. That would be kewl...but not sure if they just stick the stickers on regular produce haha. I got some stuff, even a few bags of acorns I plan to make some acorn flour with to use for mushes.

I have some friends who get fruits and veggies from this guy and they give me their extras. He doesn't really share where he gets the stuff from...but I highly suspect some of it may be dumpster dived. LOL. There's lots of stuff, even avocados. One time I got an entire box of avocados. The outsides were a little wrinkly looking, but when I cut them open they were green with no black spots whatsoever. I also get bags and bags of bagged greens and greens in sealed containers. Just about everything is labeled organic. I never know what I'm going to get, could be all squash for a week or all cauliflower.

It's actually pretty sad if this is dumpster diving stuff - because some days we get tons (like up to 8 big boxes)....we couldn't possibly eat it before it goes bad and we have to throw most of it away. So sad to think of how much stuff like this goes to the dump. My neighbors won't take any because I told them it could be from a dumpster haha. Well, one will but they are just a young couple and don't eat much. My sister and her hubby also gladly take some.

I've also picked up an exercise pal...one of my cousins who decided to put his money where his mouth is and try to get fit. He's been walking around the park with me and trying to get familiar with the exercise equipment they have there. It's been a lot of fun spending time with him.

I've been faithful pretty much with the daily jogs, doing at least a mile a day. Partway through the course I do some situps (up to 3 sets of 20 now - up from one set of 1 a couple weeks ago). I also do 3 sets of 10 of push-ups (on an elevated bar) and 10 pull-ups on a chin-high bar that I hang from with my legs extended out at a slant and on my heels. I also have gone from not being able to hang from the pull-up bar at all to hanging for about 5 seconds and even getting in a couple swings. My achy right shoulder has been the main obstacle. It really hurts. I think I need to start some special exercises to break up the scar tissue in my arm.

My sister has been wanting to come...and tried to tonight but she has some dental problems..an infection going on, that is making it hard for her. Hopefully she'll be able to get that worked on (expensive though!) and come out with me and our cousin.

I hope to put up a video soon of my starting workouts at the equipment - kind of to show where I began. It's really amazing to see how much progress you can make in a couple weeks.

As far as the CrossFit beginner plan - I have still been working with a weight bar with no weights on it as I'm not all that confident with my form. Not sure whether to remain at week 1 - I think I may and maybe next week put a little bit of weight on the bar if I feel I've got the form right.

That's pretty amazing too. I used to hate deadlifts. HATE THEM. My back and neck would hurt after doing them. But I've been pretty good watching videos and reading the instructions on the CrossFit site before I do a session and now they are actually enjoyable. Doing it with the correct form makes a huge difference.

I'm also really enjoying jogging with the new method. I bend at the knees and try to have my whole body slightly lean forward. I try to have my foot hit the ground underneath me and because my knees are bent, it's easier to be "springy." I don't strike with my heel, but try to have the mid and forefoot strike more...pretty much running on the balls of my feet. When I lean, my body is kind of in a "fall" and my legs act more like vaulting poles or like the wheels on a car instead of being pounded on or acting like a motor. I let gravity propell me forward.

I jog with very little steps and I'm not very fast, but I can go a whole lot farther with more comfort and enjoy the sunshine, the birds, the plants, the mountains.

In the past when I've tried to run regularly I've gotten shin splints, foot pain, head and neck pain. My spine is not formed right and is not naturally springy. I have no curve in my neck - so before my skull literally pounded on my rigid spine. I also don't have the curve in the back like I should...meaning a curve you would see from the side. Instead, my spine is curved sideways and I have a big extra vertebra at the bottom - kind of like a deformity. So it wouldn't "spring" like it should. That would give me a lot of problems.

This time, no problems. Again, what a great difference good form makes. It's amazing.

Oh yea, one more weird thing. I've actually GAINED at least 4 pounds. Which is odd because finally I have tons of people telling me I look like I've lost weight - at least a couple times a day now. Also, my clothes are looser. My shorts used to be really tight and now kind of hang. My doctor gave me an article on body composition, to illustrate how that can happen - because muscle can displace fat and muscle weighs more than the fat did.

Also, this weekend I was browsing a store with mirrored walls. Once in a while I would look up and catch a glimpse of myself and be surprised because I would expect more pudginess...but there's a lot less now and almost seems like looking at another person.

Anyway...that's my update. Sorry haven't done more - been busy exercising and planning a birthday party! :)

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.

Sorry no update the past couple days - sick as a dawg

I've been sick, so no update for the past couple days. I always get sick when the weather changes and the weather here in Tucson is CRAZY.

One day we are freezing, a bitter wet cold. The next day we are almost 100 degrees fahrenheit! The other day we were the hottest in the whole country. Even Phoenix was at least 10 degrees cooler than us! We are about 20 degrees above average right now.

So the weather gets me sick and then my asthma acts up. It's not as bad as it could be. Before I started raw I had to go into the doctor for inhalation treatments on a machine and I could barely breathe at all. Now I might have to have a puff or two of an inhaler before I go to sleep.

Anyway, wanted to let you all know I was still alive and kicking. I'm sure I'll get better soon but pissed I missed the Rodeo Parade they have here every year. :(

As far as raw, it's hard because I haven't been able to get to the store. I had a big green juice when this first started and I felt better that day. Then the next couple days I didn't have very high raw and no juice. Tomorrow I'm making a point to make a big fat green juice with lots of lemon in it and later have a salad with tons of garlic and onion in it. I'll let you know how I feel. :)

That's the nice thing about raw. If I have bad days, if I make up with a lot of really high-raw days afterwards, I'm fine.

Belated BMI calculator dance

I forgot to have a party when my BMI went down. I really never gave it a lot of thought until today when I entered my weight into a BMI calculator. So I'm doing it now!

WOOHOO! CHA-CHA-CHA-CHA, CHA-CHA!

Here are the facts friend:

• My ideal weight is between 114.6 - 154.9. My ideal BMI is under 25
• At my highest I weighed 280. My BMI was 45.2 or extremely obese.
• I got down to 205 for many years. My BMI was 33.1 or obese.
• After juice and raw foods I got down to 175, my current weight. My BMI is 28.2 or overweight. Overweight! Never thought I would be so excited being called overweight, haha.

Want use a BMI calculator? Go here: BMI calculator

My First Vlog

I made a video showing my pics before raw food, after raw food, and also showing how I look now. I weigh the same but there is definately something different. So I have re-committed to raw food and this first vlog is a documentation of my journey and where I am now.

If you would like get updates to my vlog, subscribe to my channel on YouTube and or subscribe to this blog:
http://www.youtube.com/user/bjay100

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.

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.

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.