Wednesday, November 11, 2009

My "New" Diet

I am a type 1 diabetic & have been raw most of the last 4 1/2 years. I have had a lot of problems with insulin resistance (which isn't normally a type 1 issue) & other health challenges in those years (although some of the health issues existed before that, too). Not only have I had health problems, but in the last year and a half (since I was hospitalized for complications of diabetes), I have put on almost as much weight as I lost in the first three months of eating raw. Weird. Anyhow, I recently experimented with eating more cooked foods as I wasn't feeling great eating raw & thought maybe I was missing something. In August (while continuing to eat lots of cooked whole foods as they made me feel better than my raw diet had), I started using herbs, supplements and some amazing essential oils, which helped a lot in how I felt, and my insulin sensitivity has been gradually improving since then. I still hadn't lost weight, though. In fact, I was only three pounds away from my highest weight ever - which was pre-raw. I found Dave the Raw Food Trucker on Youtube, and watching him I felt like maybe I should get back to raw, but do a low-glycemic raw diet, since my body wasn't processing high-glycemic carbs well (I would eat a piece of fruit & get really irritable & crash & have to sleep for an hour). I recognized that I'd been drawn to low-glycemic cooked foods, so I wondered if maybe low-glycemic was the key I needed. I went to eating a low-glycemic raw diet, and I drank loads of fresh green vegetable juice for two or three days. I have never felt good/healthy being vegan long-term, but I felt that there was an element of truth/power for in Gabriel Cousens's eating plan, so I was planning to stick with the low-glycemic raw vegan diet for 6 months to see how I felt. Well, after six days, I felt a shift - that I didn't need to do it any more because I had reset the body-mind connection and now wanted to eat just what was best for my body, so I didn't need the rules any more. I added some grass-fed beef and a few more carbs into my diet & continued to feel better. At some point in this self-discovery process, I remembered a discussion about agave (months ago) in which I became aware that most of my crazy blood sugar issues started at the same time I started using agave. I dismissed it at the time, but it came back to me this past week. I use muscle-response testing (kinesiology) in my practice as a holistic health coach, so I decided to muscle-test myself to find out if there was/is a certain diet I need to follow, or if I can just eat intuitively, etc. I tested specifics of my ideal diet, based on the thoughts & intuition I'd had, and I discovered something amazing, which shouldn't have surprised me one bit! The diet my body wants is the exact diet I was following the first six months: when I lost weight, had more energy & experienced lots of health improvements (including better insulin sensitivity). One of the main things about this diet is NO AGAVE. I am eating plenty of carbs again, I have energy instead of crashing afterward, I get more energy every time I eat...in short, I feel better from my food than I have in the last four years since I started using agave. I have also finally started losing weight - seven pounds in the last two weeks since I got back to "my diet" - mainly raw but with no agave.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Whatever, Whenever

I was reading a raw website recently, which talked about people eating 100% raw amd being able to eat whatever they want, whenever they want and be completely healthy. I was reminded that in the past, when I have eaten a certain way, I can eat as much of whatever I want, whenever I want (within those parameters), and I continue to get healthier & maintain a healthy weight. The diet for me has consisted almost entirely of raw plant foods, with a little cooked meat/eggs (grass-fed or wild-caught) and raw cheese. The website I read said that the "whatever, whenever" principle goes away when cooked food is part of the diet. For me, that is true EXCEPT in the case of cooked meat/eggs. Anyway, I don't know if it's because these foods are a magic combination for my body as far as how the food is digested/used, or if it's because eating this way enables me to be more in tune with what my body needs (so that what I want is what my body needs)...or maybe this is the diet I'm drawn to BECAUSE I'm wanting to eat what my body needs...However it works, there it is. Of course, I suppose that could change tomorrow & I'll be saying I feel healthiest eating cooked grains & beans &... :)

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Something New

I have had high blood sugars (even though I have kept taking more insulin to bring them down) for the last few months. I have used essential oils, herbs, supplements, chakra balancing, etc. etc. etc. and have had somewhat lower blood sugar levels and a LOT more energy, but my blood sugars have still been too high. After watching Dave the Raw Food Trucker on Youtube (while staying home sick), I got inspired. He talked about the success he and other diabetic people (including two friends who are type I and others who were insulin-resistant) have had with green juices and using the program in the book "There is a Cure for Diabetes" by Dr. Gabriel Cousens. I have the book. Then I saw what Dave puts in his green juice, and my mind was blown. The man makes the greenest green juices I've ever seen!

After watching Dave make his juice, I made a new kind of green juice yesterday (actually closer to a dark reddish brown because of all the red bell peppers in it). It was nowhere near what Dave makes, but definitely a whole lot greener & more nutrient-dense than any juice I've ever made before! I drank the green juice all morning and into the afternoon, a couple of times alternating with water (to which I added ionic minerals). It was probably around 3 quarts of juice or so all together. I felt amazing! Not only did I feel energized, but my blood sugar went from 206 in the morning down to 99 at 4:00 pm - with no extra insulin!

I ate a raw dinner which included carbs, and my blood sugar went high (200+), but then it came down a bit when I took a correction bolus of insulin.

After the way I felt & the impact the juice had on my blood sugar, I wanted to do a juice feast. Since I don't have even close to $50 per day to buy the produce to make Dave's juice recipe, and then there's the additional cost of the blue-green algae and enzymes he adds to his juices...I got thinking of how I can afford to drink at least some green vegetable juices every day. I came up with a minimum amount of juice that I can fit into my budget.

This morning I woke up earlier & felt more energized than normal when I got up. I felt like it might be a good idea to take this experiment further than just juicing regularly. I have tried the Dr. Cousens approach twice in the past, but both times I ended up feeling poorly after two or three weeks of only the carbs in veggies, avocados, sprouts, etc. This morning I decided I can basically follow Phase 1.5 of Dr. Cousens's plan, because it allows for small amounts of low-glycemic carb-containing foods like buckwheat & blueberries, which may be enough carbs to keep me satisfied & feeling well. I may still eat cashews & nutritional yeast sometimes, but I'll be basing my diet around his low-glycemic recommendations, and I'll be drinking as much green veggie juice as I can!

My goal is 6 months.

We'll see how it goes!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

My Intention

I have created this blog to keep track of my life in whatever way I choose. I want to dream, and I want to live with joy in every moment. I can't do everything I want to do. I was sad because of what I couldn't do today, until I recognized & found joy in the unexpected wonderful things I get to experience because of the choices I made about this day.