Day 189 - Wednesday 10th June 2009

Day 4 Food Consumption

3 Med. Oranges
3 Lge. Mandarines
12 Medium Strawberries
1 Med. Apple
150g Papaya
4 Bananas

To be continued.......

Day 188 - Tuesday 8th June 2009

Well an awful lot has happened since my last post, with the majority of it not being good.

My stint back eating 100% raw, as mentioned in that post, lasted all of about 3 or 4 days and then I caved in again and started eating some cooked vegan.

Since then my arthritis has got progressively worse and although I have still not succumbed to taking medication again, the pain at times has been quite unbearable to the extent of interrupted sleep. When I roll over while asleep, I find myself waking, because of the pain. This happens more than 1/2 dozen times a night.

I am still exercising, but with pain 98% of the time.

The weather is getting colder here now by the day and a lot of my pain could be associated with this, however I don't believe it is all to blame.

As of three days ago I have begun to record the foods I am eating, as a diary of food consumption, moods, pain etc... I hope to get some sort of indication if anything raw I am eating is affecting the arthritis, or whether it was strictly the cooked foods in my diet or just the cold weather without medication.

I have now been left with no choice, due to giving in to the cooked temptation. It's pain-free or painful, that it's now come down to and you certainly don't need to be an Einstein to work out the choice I made. I am back - 100% raw, again (this is now the third day).

Here, I will also record my daily eats, moods etc...

Day 1 Menu

2 Med. Custard Apples

1 Lge Dragon fruit

4 Passion fruits

2 Sm. Bananas

5 Sm. Mandarines

10 Almonds

Salad - 16 slices continential cucumber

4 cups mixed lettuce

1/2 cup baby spinach leaves

2 sm. mushrooms

3 snowpeas

1/2 grated carrot

1 sm. avocado

1 lge. tomato

1 Glass Lemon Water

2 litres water

Day 2

2 Glasses Lemon Water

800g Mandarines (juiced)

450g Papaya

3 Med. Bananas

6 Brazil Nuts

4 Sm. Mandarines

200g Med. Strawberries

2 Lge. Pears

5 Macadamia Nuts

12 Cashews

10 Almonds

2 Med. Oranges

5 Passion fruits

Today's menu: (Day 3 - 100% Raw)

6 Med. Passion fruit

1 Lge Dragon fruit

1 Med. Apple

2 Med. Pears

12 Med. Strawberries

5 small Mandarines

8 Brazil Nuts

8 Macadamia Nuts

18 Slices Continental Cucumber

1 Med. Tomato

1/2 Med. Carrot

1 Stick Celery

1 Glass of Lemon Water

2.5 litres of Water

Pain: Seems to be subsiding some what since starting 100% raw again.

Not as painful rolling over in bed and can actually now lie on my side for short periods without intense pain and discomfort.

Only woke twice during night.

Still very painful first thing after waking in morning, until I do my exercises. Find it hard to get out of bed until the joints warm up and then the pain is manageable providing I keep moving regularly.

On scale 1-10 today's pain - 7.5 to 8

Mood: Feeling really tired and worn out today.

Detox has well and truly set in. Have had a headache on and off for the last couple of days and the bad wind, stomach curdling and diarrhea started today. (Oh, how I love detox!!!)

Day 170 - Thursday 21st May 2009

So, I'm back on my 100% raw journey again, after a bit of a hiccup.

It's been only the second day now and already my digestion pains have eased and my bloating has almost subsided. I no longer feel nausea and I'm beginning to feel a lot less wrecked. Now I just need to wait for the onset of detox to hit and I'll then know my body is almost back on track.

My arthritis pain returning has me a little worried, although I do tend to think that it could be related to the oncoming cold weather we are experiencing, with winter coming on and all. I have not yet experienced a winter without drugs, so do not really know how my body reacts to the cold. Obviously, time will tell.

Day 168 - Tuesday 19th May 2009

Okay, well I guess I'm finally here today after a couple of weeks, to pretty much confess that it seriously looks like I've become addicted to cooked food again. Don't get me wrong it's certainly not the typical SAD - I'm still a strict vegan (no grains, dairy, meat etc...) but I've resorted to cooking my vegetables, particularly now that it is getting colder here and have started to consume more nuts, avocados and dates for some reason. As a result this is killing my digestive system and I'm feeling bloated, have indigestion and stomach pains, yet continue to eat cooked.
Why???
I know the reason why, yet it certainly doesn't help me or solve the problem. You see the last month or so my fruit intake has declined which has meant I crave cooked food and overt fats (nuts, avocado's) more. I know I have to increase my fruit intake again in order to take the cooked cravings away, but what do you do if you quite simply don't want the fruit?
There are a few fruits that I use to really like eating that now turn my stomach and as the days go by I'm finding that I'm wanting and eating less and less fruit. I can't actually believe I'm saying that, because I love fruit, but it's true.
As well as the problems I'm experiencing with indigestion, I've also found that my arthritis pain has increased again, particularly in the morning when it is quite bad and that if it wasn't for exercising I don't think I would get through the day. I still haven't resorted to taking medication again, although some days I could easily do so because of the pain.
Whether my pain has returned because of the cooked food, the salt I put on the cooked food, the increase in overt fats, or even the weather turning colder, I am yet to discover.
At the end of each day, when I go to bed feeling quite frankly wrecked, I tell myself that tomorrow will be different, however I have been telling myself this now for weeks and still nothing has changed.
I feel like I have totally failed, when this is something that I so wanted. I know how raw and then 811LFRV (80/10/10 Low Fat Raw Vegan) made me feel, yet I still allowed myself to get to this point.
The mind is a powerful thing and willpower is something I generally have a lot of...........where has it gone now that I need it so much?

Day 155 - Wednesday 6th May 2009

Well, a few days after recording my last post I suffered severe heartburn, indigestion problems along with a lower back ache. This lasted for two days before I thought that perhaps it could be the cooked food I was eating, so I went back to strictly raw again and within a day the pain dissappeared.

So what did I learn from this? A cooked meal every now and again is fine, but too frequently and it starts playing havoc with my digestion. I can't believe how different is made me feel and how quickly it upset everything internally, just by having one cooked meal a day over a period of about ten days. It wrecked me!

Saying that though, I did make a homemade vegie soup the other day.

Monday here, was a public holiday and was a really cold, windy day (I'd hate to see what winter is going to be like). I suffer terribly in the cold and just could not get warm all day, even after having a couple of hot lemon waters. I needed to warm up, so decided to make a soup (vegies only in water on the stove top for about three hours). It made a chunky veg soup that went down really well and certainly did its job of warming me.

If winter is going to be colder than normal this year, I will need something to keep me warm and if too much cooked food is going to affect me, then I might have to try vegie soups, but broths only, with the vegetables discarded after cooking so just the liquid is left. Perhaps this might digest better over longer consumption. Will give it a go anyway if I need to.

Everything else has been going along smoothly for me and other than the small hiccup I mentioned, am feeling pretty good.

Day 146 - Monday 27th April 2009

Have been keeping an eye on my weight of late and have noticed that I have again lost more weight and am now down to 52kgs. My goal weight was 55kgs, but somehow I went below that. Maintaining my goal weight is harder than I expected, but hey, having the difficulty of putting on or maintaining my weight is a hell of a lot better than trying to get the weight off. I think this is probably the first time in my life that I've had to deal with this. That makes a nice change in a way.

Since my last entry, I can honestly say that my diet has changed for the better. Although I am still a strict vegan, I have incorporated one cooked meal a day back into my diet. This is another reason I believe I am still losing the weight, as vegetables are low in fat and carbs, so have little on their own to increase the weight. I have dropped off eating as much fruit as I use to, so will have to increase the higher fat/carb fruits like dragonfruit, bananas, avocado's and include more nuts and seeds. I want to still stick to a low fat diet, because high fat plays havoc with my digestion, but by including more of the above my weight should start to plateau. I will have to make a point of doing my measurements again this week, as it has been quite a while since I last recorded them.

Made a delicious nut cheese the other day, which is awesome and have been putting it into my salads and stir fries of late. Discovered a really great wrap bread, called Mountain Bread that has no dairy, eggs, sugar etc... that I have been eating of late also. It does have a rice wheat in it though, which probably shouldn't really be in my eating plan, but I'm enjoying it and it doesn't make me feel bloated and digests quite well. I generally fill up the wrap with salad or stir fry veg and with a little nut cheese is really tasty.

I'm happy with how I feel at the moment and the foods I'm eating are really agreeing with me. My cravings for SAD have pretty much dissappeared and although I will admit that a lot of the foods smell great when they are cooking, that's as far as I generally want to take it. Tasting these foods now, does not even enter my head, but instead I look forward to eating vegan.

Changing my way of living and eating vegan has made a huge difference in my life. The difference is not only noticeable on the outside, but also on the inside, which is why I feel so much more healthier than I have ever felt before. My body now teaches me what to feed it and what agrees with it. Just the other day hubby took me out to dinner at Sizzler for my birthday where I could choose from a large array of fruits and salad items to fill me up. Upon eating a salad that I thought was tomato, onion, capscium, herbs, I soon discovered it was actually a very spicy salsa salad that gave me stomach and digestion pains that made me literally feel sick. The next day I was still recovering.

Since becoming vegan I have discovered the following about my digestion and the foods I eat.

I cannot consume melons on an empty stomach.

Too many nuts and seeds causes constipation, bloating and stomach pains.

I need to avoid spices in foods.

Fresh, whole raw foods do digest easier, but so does cooked vegetables also.

My body quickly tells me what it likes and what it doesn't and while it continues to, I will continue eating this way.

Day 134 - Wednesday 15th April 2009

Well Easter has now gone and our few days away did us the world of good - very relaxing and enjoyable.

Was expecting and fully prepared to eat cooked while away and did so, but still vegan. Had stir fried vegetables on two occasions and a vegan pizza without cheese on another. The food went down a lot better than I expected and did tend to give me a lot more energy.

Have been feeling quite tired and lethargic lately and the cooked foods seemed to give me a bit of a boost. Have now decided to incorporate a few low fat cooked vegan meals into my diet, but with no dairy, wheat or eggs, to see if I start to feel any better. Basically, I just have no oil, stir fried vegies in mind as the alternative, this way I can incorporate a lot of greens into it, seeing I can't stomach the taste of green smoothies.

I still want to follow all the raw vegan guidelines, except a few days a week my evening meal will be cooked. If after a few weeks it makes no difference or I feel any adverse effects, I will go back to all raw. The last thing I want is for my health to start to suffer, my wellbeing now is my main priority.

Day 121 - Thursday 2nd April 2009

Yesterday was officially 4 months since I became a Raw Vegan and today is day 75 without medication.
I'm now getting out of bed each morning, without feeling really stiff and sore from arthritis and that feels fantastic. I move a lot freer and can tend to do a lot more now than I use to and I'm also gaining strength back in my upper arms. My health is improving all the time and from this point, I can only get better.

This month, I also experienced my first pain free menstruation in years. The fibroid has always made that time of the month very painful for me and in the last 12months extremely heavy bleeding also. This time around everything was different. Not only totally pain free, but also light bleeding. Hopefully, this is a sign that it will continue this way.

Checked my weight again yesterday morning and it seems I've lost another 1/2 kg in the last two weeks, which brings me down to 53.5kgs.
I'm trying to maintain the weight at the moment and it looks like I'm nearly there. If I just increase my calories a little more I should have my food consumption and calorie intake right.
I've been on the Nutridiary site a couple of times trying to record and log foods and meals, but it's so time consuming, that I give up after a couple of days. I think it's just easier for me to continue the way I'm going, which is to eat higher fat fruits more frequently, which will balance out the weeks food intake and have me maintaining my weight rather than losing.

After reviewing a few things I've written over the last month or so, I saw at one point that I mentioned I was taking ACV (Apple Cidar Vinegar) daily, for my fibroid. Well while reading
80 10 10 in late February, I stopped taking it, due to the acidity in it. If it is suppose to get rid of fibroids, by slowly eating them away, imagine what else it would do to me. ACV hasn't been a part of my diet since then and it will remain that way.

I'm currently really keen to get an idea I have in regards to the raw lifestyle, up and running and am in the process of doing research and gathering information. As the idea has only been floating around in my head and on paper for a few weeks, I'll keep it under wraps for the moment, until I've progressed a little more with it. I feel really positive about it and want to make it work, so am treading slowly, to ensure everything is right. When I feel the time is right, all will be revealed.

Day 114 - Thursday 26th March 2009

Custard Apples are in season at the moment, so I'm really enjoying the abundance of this super sweet fruit. Thought for sure that they would be high in calories, considering the quantity of sugar they have in them, however I was very surprised to find that they are only around 100 calories for a whole fruit. They are so delicious and I really love this time of year, particulary too at the moment, as they are so cheap. I got them at the markets last weekend and they only cost me eighty cents each. It's just a pity that I ate the last one about 1/2 an hour ago and now will have to wait until I can get more.

Oh well, I guess you can't have what you've already eaten.

Discovered something quite, well I really don't know how to explain it actually, but it's sort of exciting I think. On Sunday when I went to shave my legs (my weekly ritual) I discovered that the hair was only half the length it usually is after a week and in actual fact I didn't really need to shave (although I did anyway). I can only put this down to the raw diet as this has never happened to me before and only seems to have happened in the last week, although I can't say I actually took much notice the week prior. If this is actually the case, it has to be a huge bonus, after all what woman likes to shave her legs? We all, I'm sure, find it a task that just has to be done, if we don't want to look like something that's just come out of the pre-historic days that is.

Day 113 - Wednesday 25th March 2009

Have purchased myself another piece or exercise equipment - an AB PRO machine, that tones the abs. Today is the second day that I have had it and find it gives you a really good workout. I can already start to feel the ab muscles being worked, so should hopefully start to see some minor results within the next few weeks.

At the moment toning is my main priority, as there is quite a bit of flab that looks unsightly, that I'm aiming to be rid of. I'm noticing now I've got more muscle tone in my upper arms, although the tuckshop arms are still there and this I'm also working on.

Prior to becoming a raw vegan, I hated exercise, now it is a part of my life and something I make sure I do. There has been days where I would rather sleep in, than get up and exercise, but I just remember why I'm here and what I am striving for. There is only one person that can get me where I want to go - and that's me. I know I can do it and that's what keeps me going.