28th
03 -
2010
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One of my pet hates is putting people in boxes, that’s one of the reasons that I don’t like to call myself a raw vegan. I do happen to eat almost exclusively low fat raw vegan food, but I feel calling myself a raw vegan puts pressure on me and others. It is with that pressure that some people may feel guilty for deviating slightly from their intended diet and the subsequent feeling of failure. A feeling of failure often stops people getting on and moving forward.
I do get a little annoyed as well by the doomsayers who may criticise others for following a slightly different path than something that they pronounce as ‘the way’.
Many say that garlic is not optimal food (including myself), yet I recently did a blog post with it in a recipe. So what! I probably had it then for the first time in couple of months. There are actually some health benefits from eating it, and if it helps you stay on the raw food then go for it. The same goes for fat, or even an odd bit of non-raw food. The important thing to remember is to learn how your body responds to all these various foods and do whatever is necessary to optimise your health and move forward.
I couldn’t do much exercise during the 2nd half of last year due to my hernia operation. As far as I was aware I went 6 months only on raw food. I feel better now though. I’ve backed off slightly to 95% low fat raw, mainly for social reasons. I’m doing exercising and getting other areas of my life in balance. I’m enjoying things more than I did then. I actually feel healthier now (probably due to exercise), and I seem to be able to comunicate this message to more people. My objective is not to impress those few who have ‘made it’, but to somehow encourage the masses to begin moving forward in the right direction to help their own health.
I’ve helped out in some schools recently, the primary objective is to get kids to eat fruit and salads, preferably raw. During one activity I had arranged egg mayonaise, on another honey. These are both often frowned upon in ‘health’ circles. However, 95% of the ingrediants in the activities are based on raw fruit and vegetables. We had kids who have NEVER eaten fruit before actually eating fruit and kids trying out their first salads. I was blessed so much during one activity when a child looked directly at me and said, “can I do what you do when I’m older?”!!!
4th
09 -
2009
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Today it’s 1 week since my operation and for some reason things have suddenly improved and I’ve been so much more comfortable and mobile. I’ve had my dressing changed 3 times now, and the nurses were very impressed at both the neatness of the scar (to the surgeons credit) and how quickly I appear to be healing. I am really pleased that I chose to ignore two pieces of their advice though.
The first piece of advice was to use several types of painkillers that I was given (3 bumper packs). I managed to get by and use absolutely none of them. I applied what I’d learned with water – drinking more water eases pain. I’ve heard that this is a reason why headache tablets appear to work, they are consumed with water! The second piece of advice I was given was to eat plenty of ‘protein’ foods (meat, fish, eggs, etc). In avoiding these very foods, I really do feel great! To get my protein, I’ve been eating plenty of fruit and green smoothies. I’ve had no problems building muscle using just fruit, salads and greens before my operation and I see no reason why I should change now. Last night I had so much energy that I couldn’t sleep. I wanted to go for a run! I guess eating cooked food may help to subdue me and slow me down, I also guess it may also slow down the healing process.
Now I can get around for most of the day without discomfort. When it does get uncomfortable I just go and have a lie down to rest. Earlier in the week I spent most time resting with the occasional 5 or 10 minutes up and about. I am pleasantly surprised at how pain free it has been, although it was excruciating attempting to sit on the loo! It was so painful that I didn’t actually have a poo until Monday – that’s 3 whole days. For someone eating a 100% raw vegan diet that’s a long time! After managing to do my business, I had to lie down and recover for an hour! Since then things have steadily become easier. I can’t even feel any pain at all from the very neat scar. Any pain or discomfort is internal, it feels like a ripping and burning sensation. I guess it comes from the mesh that was implanted inside of me. My tissues will eventually grow into it and the whole thing should become stabilised and pain free. I’m certainly on the mend.
I was however reminded that I’m not fully mended yet. I was in the garage looking for something and I moved my daughter’s bike. My insides were becoming very uncomfortable, hence I’m now resting and writing this blog!
Highlight of the day.
Malcolm, a good friend and neighbour was in hospital at the same time as me, only he had a kidney out – a rather more severe condition than mine! I was just finishing off eating my water melon and was planning to pay him a visit, but who should knock at my door?, Malcolm – my dear old friend! We compared scars. Mine was a few inches, his looked like he’d been cut in half with a chain saw! Malcolm was like a spring chicken, full of energy and bounce! I thought I was doing well until I saw how well he was doing in his circumstances! Thank you for visiting Malcolm – you are such a blessing.
29th
08 -
2009
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no comment »
I couldn’t sleep much last night after my hernia operation yesterday. I think it must have been all the toxins coming out and making me a little hyperactive. Also for the first time in a couple of years I’ve had Flem in my throat coming up from my lungs (this had a very unpleasant taste). My guess is that it was my lung’s reaction to the general anaesthetics and they were doing a clean up exercise. It’s gone now. In the night, every time I swallowed I developed slightly worse and then very bad indigestion. In the end I got up at 3am as I was feeling quite nauseous and I watched a kids film with all the extras, ‘The Fantastic Four’ – it’s a fun action film for kids!. I sipped my way through another 1.5 litres of water and the indigestion went away after a couple of hours. Amazingly I’m not tired, in fact I have lots of energy and feel good, but I am forcing myself to chill out and rest.
After anaesthetics, I think drinking water slowly and sipping steadily is the key (for me anyway). High water content foods like oranges and melons help as well.
I had my half hour obligatory snooze after they woke me up the first time from the operation. Afterwards I had the very beginnings of a migraine, ie very slight shimmering vision. I was thirsty yet I didn’t want to drink. Then I remembered that migraines can be caused by dehydration and it was nearly 12 hours since I’d had a drink the night before. It was then that I started to sip the water and the oncoming migraine quickly vanished. I felt pretty good and chilled out anyway, but I guess I was rather drugged up!
I’ve still not needed any pain killers. It isn’t even painful unless I get up and move around. I’d rather keep off painkillers and tablets if I can, as I don’t want them to mess up my digestion. I really do think that water is a key to managing pain and it helps to manage toxin overload symptoms.
Now all that water is making me want the loo, that’s when it hurts a little!
28th
08 -
2009
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no comment »
I changed my diet to mainly low fat raw vegan foods. Earlier this year I had so much energy that I didn’t know what to do with it! I started training and going mad on doing upper body conditioning, press-ups, sit-ups, scissors, crunches, etc. I really did feel great and nothing I did seemed to wear me out… or so I thought!
I developed a lump above my groan area, it didn’t hurt at all. I was advised that I needed a hernia operation! A word of warning to anyone else who has such a dramatic change in energy levels, go gently at first! If you need to burn off some energy and feed that enthusiasm then do something like cycling, walking or slow jogging.
There were a few delays, cancellations and re-appointments because I thought that I may be able to get away without an operation (and I had too much work on at home to take time out to recover). I finally had my hernia operation this morning and I’m currently laying on my bed at home recovering as I type!
After hearing Dr Doug Graham 9 months ago, I cut out fat from my already raw diet and overcame major digestive issues, chronic fatigue and occasional depression (as well as some other niggling things). For 10 days, prior to my hernia operation this morning, I ate NO fat foods at all (no nuts, seeds, oil, durian, avocado etc). I was very strict on eating low fat raw foods with plenty of fruit and tender greens. Incredibly I feel fantastic! You’re not supposed to feel this good after general anaesthetics! On waking, over a 1 hour period, I drank 1.5 litres of distilled water, ate 1 grapefruit, 2 bananas & 4 large oranges.
I was expecting to feel awful for a week, but on the contrary, even on day one I think the raw diet has helped me cope with the general anaesthetic. I was given three bumper packs of different pain killers, but I haven’t needed any so far. Tomorrow is supposed to be worse than today but I’ll hopefully not need them. From many things I’ve read, one of the biggest causes of pain is lack of hydration. Keep hydrated to keep pain at bay!
I remember being woken up from a very peaceful sleep in the room next to the operating theatre. I’m interested in knowing how the body responds to my diet, and the very first words I said were, “what were my heart rate and blood pressure like?”! They were both normal. Previously I explained my diet to the anaesthetist, this was to avoid any complications from possibly being too sensitive to the anaesthetics. The anaesthetist came to see me afterwards and explained that I needed a normal amount (i.e. my body responded normally to the anaesthetics).
My blood pressure was 105/70 before the operation. The nurse commented that I must be fit. My blood pressure was very slightly lower after the operation and still within the fit range.
A nice gentleman in a bed next to me was struggling, he was very pale and the nurses were concerned that he had very high pain levels and he’d already reached the limit on what could be given to help him. Food was mentioned, I overheard part of a conversation. It went like this: (nurse) “would you like some toast and a cup of tea?“. (gentleman) “would you perhaps have a banana?”. (nurse) “no I’m sorry we can only get toast and tea”. (me) “I have a couple of bananas that you may have! They are quite ripe though, with brown bits on them”. The nurse repeated my banana offer to him. (gentleman) Yes please that’s very kind.
I gave him a couple of my spotty brown ripe bananas which he devoured along with a cup of hospital water. He seemed to very quickly recover and we had a good old chat about life the universe and everything, including the answer to my prayers – raw food!
I have a few other observations and comments on my experience:
I asked prior to my admittance to hospital if they had any fruit and salad on offer. Unfortunately they don’t but they said that I could bring my own. Toast, although very tasty, is usually laden with fat to make it palatable. It is a very dead, nutrient deficient and dehydrating food. On the contrary, fruit is alive. It’s packed with nutrients, it’s hydrating and very tasty without having to add anything. Surely fruit should be
on offer in hospitals round the clock. I think it would even save money by helping people to recover more quickly.
Tea does have some beneficial properties, however it is very dehydrating. For every cup of tea that you drink it will make your body attempt to urinate two cups of fluid. Tea is also a stimulant, which is not good if you want to see if your body is recovering properly. Another chap next to me drank tea on waking. He was discharged before me because he had a wee before me! In actual fact I was very thirsty on waking (I normally have a litre of water for breakfast), so I drank my own distilled water. My body hung onto the water as I needed it! If I had drunk tea then not only would I have had a wee much sooner but I would have had the shakes from caffeine stimulation! I was given a plastic cupful of hospital water, which was a nice consolation. I opted to drink my own distilled water instead. I drank over 1.5 litres, more than 10 times what was brought to me!
The nurses and doctors and everyone I met today were lovely. I had an excellent (albeit short) stay!
The biggest challenge for me over the next 8 weeks is avoiding the temptation to lift anything, and no mad intensive training either!
