There are so many things I'm supposed to do on my list of daily goals that the naturopath gave me that I had to make myself a spread sheet because I couldn't remember if I had done such and such three times a day or just two. And he emphasized that these were just goals, not to stress about any of them. In fact, one of the scriptures he gave me to memorize starts with Philippians 4:6 --- Be anxious for nothing!
I thought about the Coneheads yesterday as I was preparing "mass quantities" of fruits and vegetables (pictured above) to consume for my daily allotment of juice. Roger thought that was funny and was going to photoshop a picture of me as a conehead consuming my juice for this blog! Guess you can just use your imagination for that one!
And for those of you who think I'm so amazing and missed the correction of my last blog...please note I have great difficulty converting ounces, quarts, pints and gallons. All those fruits and vegetables you see pictured above will equal a day's goal of 96 ounces in fresh juice. That is not three gallons as I stated in my last blog. It just seems like three gallons!
People keep asking me why juice...why not just eat those things...don't you need the fiber too?
As I understand it, juicing is THE most effective way to get all the nutrients, enzymes and minerals these foods have to offer. When the juice enters my body, the body is not required to break anything down - it's already broken down - so my internal enzymes don't have to work and can save their energy for doing other things in my body, like cleaning house and getting rid of cancer cells. And, I think I would die if I had to look at that pile and sit down to eat it all!
So what am I eating? That's another point of confusion with a lot of people. I am not just eating fruits and vegetables and nuts and seeds; I am eating all those things RAW - i.e. not cooked. I would kill for a plain ole baked potato right now. Raw is hard. There aren't too many places you can go out and join your friends for a meal of raw organic fruits and vegetables. And frankly, I'm tired of just eating salads. It's been about eight weeks on this diet, and I'm bored with it.
Why is raw important? Because any time we heat our food above 105 degrees or so we start killing the enzymes and other nutrients. I need my enzymes! Our cells are living things and they need living nutrients especially when we are fighting disease.
Obviously, what I am choosing to do as my option for healing is not for everybody. And I once again want to salute all the people who go the route of conventional medicine for treating cancer - chemo, radiation and surgery. That isn't easy either. The best thing we can all do is learn to take better care of ourselves.
That's one of the reasons I wanted to share my journey through this blog. The National Cancer Institute says that one in every two men and one in every three women will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their life! It's the second leading cause of death in the U.S. Heart disease is number one yet people don't seem to be so afraid of it. I think it's because there appears to be a lot that can be done for people with heart disease - stents, bypass surgeries, pacemakers, medicines, etc. Lots of things that are apparently saving lives. With cancer, the prognosis is a lot less sure.
Because of my disease, I'm having to make a lot of radical lifestyle changes all at the same time. That's what is so hard for me. I can't just eat MORE raw fruits and vegetables, I have to eat ONLY raw fruits and vegetables. Maybe, you can just start taking better care of yourself by making one change. Choose to eat more raw fruits and vegetables. Choose to eliminate processed foods or sugar or dairy or white flour from your diet. Choose to exercise more. Choose to quit smoking. Choose to eliminate some of the stress in your life. Choose to go organic. I encourage you to do something to take control of your health. Don't wait until you have to make all the choices at the same time because your body is diseased.
Once again, I appreciate all your prayers. It is amazing to me when people tell me they are remembering me every morning in prayer. I love my brothers and sisters in Christ. Without your support, I would be in the pits! And I am forever thanking God for you and for His strength which has girded me for this journey!
"I love you, O Lord, my strength."
Dawn, I really "get" what you are dealing with in terms of your diet and focusing on healing in everything you do. I chose to do the ketogenic diet for the first two months after my cancer diagnosis in an effort to starve my cancer cells. I stopped it because my blood tests started to come back odd and I was getting weak. I would have killed for a baked potato too!
ReplyDeleteI juice massive quantites of veggies and some fruit now daily too. I love my Angel juicer. I've been growing things to juice too to cut down the cost. Chard is easy to grow in the spring and fall. Have you tried juicing beets? I used to hate beets, but my cousin who is both and MD (from Yale) and an Ayruvedic doctor suggested I add them to my juice. I put about a third of a beet in each juice. I've also started growing moringa which can be juiced.
My typical juice right now has carrots (2), apple (1) , limes(2), chard, alphafa sprouts, beet (1/3), moringa leaves, cucumber, garlic (small amount), carrot tops, beet tops. I sometimes add tomatoes too.
That's the way I usually drink it, but sometimes I take the juice I've made and pour it in the vitamix and add frozen organic fruit (from Costco) and banana.
I also make a chia slurry (chia seeds soaked overnight in organic juice or filtered water) and add a couple tablespoonfuls of it to my juice.
I'm not doing 100% raw or 100% vegetarian like you are because I don't have a colon and I don't think my body could handle all that fiber so I have a lot more variety in my diet than you do these days. If I did have a colon, I'd would be vegetarian.
I was reading Radical Remission this morning and I thought of you. I was thinking that it would be great if there was a cancer support group specifically geared to the nine parts described in Radical Remission. Have you found anything like that either in Nashville or on-line? If you have, could you PM me about it through Facebook? I live in Crossville.
As I go through my own healing practices, I think of you often. Although I chose to do both conventional and alternative treatments, we are on a similar path with very similar ideas as to how to help heal our bodies (and minds).
Wishing you the best.
Kay Harvey Kratunis