Trive,
Your diary is such a source of inspiration! I love reading about your progress. I also suffered/suffer from gerd. I still refer to myself as having gerd, which is a strange thing to identify with when I think about it. But it IS a constant reminder for anyone to eat healthy, provided one doesn't silence the bodies outcry against it by medications. I developed gerd through some unhealthy habits, I am sure I don't need to tell you, or remind you.

But, before even learning about raw foods, I changed a lot of habits for the better, because I noticed that medications actually made my symptoms worse! Fortunately I didn't have full symptoms of gerd for very long, or I have good healing power or something. I pretty much recovered from gerd before discovering raw foods. I was the most sensitive to sweet acid juices, like frozen O.J. canned pineapple juice. So I replaced those with just whole fresh fruit, or just had carrot juice. I avoided fried foods, sugar, chocolate, spices, tomato sauce. I found that ground flax mixed in fresh apple juice or carrot juice to really help calm my stomach down.

Today I can have some spices, chocolate, even a lot of cooked foods without much problem, unless its too large of a meal, or too rich, or eaten too late. I still want to be raw, its my goal, because I think its what gave rise to my ultimate recovery. So hang in there! it took several years for me to consider my self recovered from gerd. But I know that I am probably more sensitive than someone else that has never had this problem.

Mislu,

Thanks for writing! I'm interested in hearing about others who have had GERD and have tried healing with a raw diet. It's particularly good (and encouraging) to hear how well you are doing now.

I thought I had a pretty good diet before I got GERD, but nonetheless that's the diet that got me sick in the first place. Like you I tried eliminating lots of things once I had symptoms, but found that didn't provide relief. You've already read my story, but I AM SO PROFOUNDLY GRATEFUL FOR RAW FOOD AND THE SUPPORT OF THIS WEBSITE. It has changed (saved?) my life!

Your comment about ground flax in juice being calming made me wonder about why I simply adore raw flax crackers. That's the only raw food that I could overeat, so I only make small amounts at a time. Maybe it meets some acid/alkaline-related need in us? Hmmm...


My favorite raw vegan

Trive,
Flax has mucilage which coats the stomach and buffers stomach acid. As you note, be careful about over consuming flax, the fiber expands so much. I can usually have only a tablespoon or two. Or perhaps one or two cracker which contain flax. Eat slowly whenever you have flax. Actually thats great advice all the time!
[www.freedomyou.com]

I am glad if I have been encouraging. I know its helpful to hear from someone else that better states of health are possible if you are recovering from a similiar condition. I was pretty lucky I guess. I experienced a lot of problems, but changed my habits pretty soon on. I got the prescriptions after relying on calcium carbonate for awhile. (also not a good idea) I count it a blessing that my symptoms got worse after taking the medication! I noticed that I started having to increase the dose...and I said 'hey, wait a minute, this isn't right'. I was taught to take minimal doses of meds, (even over the counter, maybe especially over the counter!)and only as the second best to actual health, and good habits. I guess I was taught something really good from my parents! oh the other thing which was really helpful for me was the use of digestive enzymes after meals. But this was a second best compared to living foods.

I was just astounded that the particular doctor wasn't especially helpful in informing me about changing habits, or giving me time to adjust. I hate to think bad thoughts about doctors, but the meds were expensive, so money might have been a motive, or perhaps he was also desensitized and blind to other options. Maybe other clients were less aware, and less able to make changes. Then again there are people who claim that 'nothing worked' after making suggested changes. Probably because mono diet meals, raw foods etc where not on the list. A lot of people have come to expect very rapid or instant relief, when conditions often take a long time to develop. In most cases it takes almost as long to recover than it took to develop, sometimes longer.

A visiting relative, who is experimenting with raw food, has made a big batch of kim chi. The process was an interesting to watch. It started as the-cabbage-that-took-over-the-kitchen-bench-top and then gradually became the-incredible-shrinking-cabbage as it began to ferment. There was much stirring and frequent forcing out of bubbles, but the effort was worth in the end. I have added it to salads with a mashed date /tahini/orange juice dressing (with a dash of Braggs). The salads had lettuce, grated carrot, mung bean sprouts, red bell pepper strips, and more. My, my, delish. There has been a downside, though. Noting the cabbagey smell of kim chi wafting through the house, my husband commented that it's good that we're not trying to sell our house. If we ever do want to sell, I'll have to dust off one of my cookbooks for a gingerbread recipe. They say that the smell of baked goods pushes a subconscious "Buy" button in house hunters. I wonder, would I be a traitor to raw foods if I used such subversive techniques?


My favorite raw vegan



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/2010 05:22AM by Trive.

You could always boil mulling spices on the stove.

Much better suggestion, Sundancer. Ta.

For a couple of weeks the relative that has been visiting us has been waiting for a package to be delivered. Today it finally came... and it was a surprise gift for me! She bought me a dehydrator. I had been making flax crackers in the oven at the lowest setting with the door open. Now I can expand my repertoire.


My favorite raw vegan

Well, I got carried away with a recipe for dehydrating. I guess I should have stuck with my favorite flax crackers. Instead I tried a mix of banana, ground flax seeds, raisins and cashews. What was I thinking???!!! I had been limiting nuts and doing just fine, but NOOOOOO, I had to go and include them in a recipe with fruit to try out the dehydrator I now have. Bad food combining. Why am I so impulsive? Why don't I think about these things BEFORE I do them? Hmmm. I feel like I've had my ears boxed. The up side of feeling so bad is that it'll keep me on the straight and narrow for a while... at least until it's been long enough for me to forget....


My favorite raw vegan

Trive,
How fun! There are so many creative and beautiful raw food items one can make with a dehydrator. Someone gave me one,but it wasn't that great, I also thought some of them were too much work. but I regret giving it away before giving it a real chance.

There is this wonderful curried crepes and 'yogurt sauce' one can make.
[books.google.com]

Man that is the longest link I have ever seen or used! I hope it opens. Roxanne Kleins book is amazing. You might be able to find it in a used book store. I mostly just look at the photos and get hungry!

RAW PUMPKIN
It's the middle of summer here, but I have discovered raw pumpkin. Today I put a half a small pumpkin in my food processor and divided it to make three different pumpkin recipes. One was sweet, like I used to think how pumpkins should be, with pumpkin pie-type spices and grated ginger. It wasn't as tasty as I had expected, so I added orange juice and banana - I know, not good food combining - but it was delish (and did not give me gas, luckily). The second one was savory. In it I put curry powder, sea salt, lemon juice, tahini, water, pumpkin seeds, green onion tops and minced red bell pepper, then served it on celery stalks. Woo hoo. Good. The third was also savory, using cumin, but it needs more tweaking before I share.

MANGOES
Back in November I wrote about the price of mangoes plummeting. They have been $1 a piece for a while, whereas they had been $4.95 a piece. It's been quite a bonanza. In December when I put them on the checkout belt at the grocery, the clerk said, "You must have a lot of guests with you over the holidays." Now she just says, "You must really like mangoes!" I never thought I'd tire of them, but I confess that my enthusiasm is starting to wane....

CHERRIES
My salvation may be cherries. They have always been horrifically expensive, so I just avoid them, but for some reason they were half price today.
Mmmm. Ahhhh. Oh! Oh! Yummmmmm.
I'm not quite as bad as the mayor in the movie, Chocolat, when he binged on chocolate in the display window of the chocolate shop, but I understand his indulgence totally.

As surprising as it is that I enjoy a raw food diet, it is just as surprising that I enjoy jogging. Back in July when I started eating raw food, I started walking near my house. I was in physical pain and emotionally stressed, but walking helped me feel better. I gradually lengthened my walk. Then I got my husband to let me off at a lane before the drive to our house. I'd walk down the lane and then through the reserve of native trees to our house. Each day it got a little easier. Soon I was jogging for short stretches. The cattle in the valley adjacent to the lane would all watch me go by. I started singing and humming a little tune to keep myself (and the cows?) amused. Other days I'd count the number of steps I jogged. Then I began to run for short stretches. Yes, me, running. I couldn't believe myself. That walk/jog would take less than a half hour.

I got to where I wanted more, so I changed to starting from a different trail in town and go through another reserve back home. It takes about an hour. Again, I started just walking the trail for the first few weeks. Then I began jogging a little on the flat parts. (Much of it is along two ridge tops.) Now I find myself jogging on all of the flat portions and sometimes trying to go uphill as fast as I can. What the heck?!? Who is this person I have become? I'm getting to know her and kind of like her....


My favorite raw vegan

Gosh, it's been warm lately on my hikes. Although some women prefer to say they "glisten" when exercising, I sweat! Jogging up those hills, you know....
That got me to thinking about why my body is expelling salt in perspiration. Hmmm... I've read enough times that salt is a toxin, so I have finally decided to give eliminating it from my diet a trial run. That's how I started on raw food - a 30-day trial - and haven't looked back. Maybe it'll be that way for omitting salt from my diet too.

I was successful on Day #1 and am well into Day #2. Yesterday was easy. Today I've thought about it, but have not succumbed to temptation. I keep expecting angst-inducing cravings, but none so far. Could it be that this will be a piece of (raw) cake? I certainly hope so!


My favorite raw vegan

The change to raw food changed my health and enlivened my life. It brought on so many changes in my physical and mental well-being that I found it all very fascinating. One of the surprises is how long thinking about raw food has kept my attention. However, I sense it changing from preoccupation to just an enjoyable facet of my life. That's good because there is so much I want to do. One thing I have done lately is that I have started painting again - which I love doing. I even entered a painting in an art competition. Only a fourth of the works entered will be selected for the exhibition. If I get past that hurdle, maybe I'll win a prize? Fingers crossed!


My favorite raw vegan

All is well in my raw food world. Ahhhh, blueberry-banana smoothies. I add spinach to them. Mango yesterday. My husband LOVES them as much as I do.

Alas, my painting wasn't selected for the exhibition. Truth be told... I haven't mastered painting water and it didn't deserve entry. However, here is one of my favorite paintings. (The camera flash reflected oddly around the wrist of the hand in the middle.)



Maybe I will do a painting of my favorite raw foods. Ha! The trick would be to not eat the still life while the painting was in progress!


My favorite raw vegan

I have been wanting to post some more photos, so here are a few "family photos" with our donkeys. There aren't any of raw food, but that's a project for the future and, as you know, my donks are my "favorite raw vegans."

Here is my sweetie with Ruff when he was a baby. I like to tell people that Ruff is small, dark and handsome. John's gorgeous too!


Here I am holding Fernando when he was three days old.



This one is of "our boys" all grown up and posed for a formal portrait. Aren't they beauties?

Love the photos. Thanks for sharing them.

Love,

Mona
padremickey.blogspot.com

Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.

If faith without works is dead; then willingness without action is fantasy.

And here are a few more local photos.
This one is one road into town. There are lots of houses to either side, but they don't show in the picture. The island is Whale Island. It's a nature preserve.


This is the west end of Ohope Beach at the end of the day when the lighting made it look surreal. I walk there often.


I think I posted this one on another strand somewhere, but I'm not sure. It is taken from a subdivision above Otarawairere beach. That is a secluded beach along a walking track between Ohope and Whakatane. It's a wonderful walk, although it's not passable at high tide. When you are on the beach you cannot see a house, phone line or anything but nature. Usually I am the only person on the beach or walking the trail. If you look carefully, on the horizon you can see White Island. It's an active sea volcano. Tours go there, but no one lives on it. I can see it from my house. Some days it is puffing smoke!


My next photos will be of raw food. (I promise.)


My favorite raw vegan

if you an yer donkeys ever wanna come an visit canada yer welcome out here im seriously thinking about getting another donkey now lol

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Another donkey??? You've had one, Jodi? I'd love to hear about it.

Mine are best pals. Where one goes, the other is never far behind. For example, yesterday they both "escaped" to the front lawn and were found happily "mowing" it for us. Thank you very much. So if we ever came to Canada, it would be with two donkeys. Ha! I can't imagine that trip! However, if ever you ever come to New Zealand, there is a place for you to stay.


My favorite raw vegan

Today I happened upon a big box of peaches for CHEAP!!! It was impossible to turn down such a windfall. Many of them were bruised and that's why they were on sale, but that's no worry. I cut up the worst ones and made two peach pies (not for me). I had a peach and celery salad on lettuce with a couple of sliced black olives (oops, not raw, eh?). I blended a peach with apple cider vinegar and a few drops of green chili juice as the dressing. Yum. Midday I made a peach-blueberry smoothie. I froze individual portions of sliced peaches for future smoothies. And there are still lots of peaches for tonight, tomorrow and the next day. Whew! It's a good thing I really, really like them.

On the not-so-good-side, I had cooked food the other day. I felt bad physically. Yep, acid reflux symptoms. To be entirely forth coming, I ate cooked food two days in a row (one serving each day). Why? I convinced myself that it was okay. But my body let me know that it wasn't. Oh well, get right back up on the donkey and ride, right?


My favorite raw vegan

Yep i rescued a half blind fella named Morty many years ago

there used to be this song in the 80's that was called Pass the Dutchie by Musical Youth [www.youtube.com]

i used to sing when i entered his stall Pass the Donkey on the left hand side

hed know i was there an not take a kick at me

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2010 05:49AM by Jgunn.

Thanks for that story, Jodi. I never knew the words to that song, but you can be sure that now whenever I hear it, I'll be singing, "Pass the donkey on the lefthand side."


My favorite raw vegan

Although I already responded to another thread about my secret to rejuvenation, I only addressed it in terms of raw food, but that's not really a secret on this forum. Ha! So, next to raw food, my secret is to have lots of ways to manage stress. Here are three of many:

1) Develop lots of interests. Growing up my mother wouldn't tolerate me or my sisters saying we were bored. It was up to us to find ways to amuse ourselves. Consequently, my sisters and I have always had lots of hobbies. My favorite is oil painting. When I paint I am in another world. It's a wonderful stress reliever to become engrossed in activities.

2) Get physically active. I learned to play tennis when I was 37. I started jogging just this year. I LOVE hiking in natural areas. When it's rainy I climb the stairs. I'm fortunate to live in a town that is very walkable. Physical activity is great for keeping your telemeres from deteriorating. That means your cells are in great shape. (I don't know whether I've spelled that word correctly or even what they are, but my husband assures me that healthy telemeres are a good thing and exercise helps.)

3) Find/Create healthy relationships. My most important relationship is with my husband. John is the most positive person I know. Each day he tells me at least one new and different compliment - we're talking thousands over the years! Long ago we learned how to solve disagreements without pushing the other's buttons. We laugh a lot. I could go on and on about how wonderful he is. But, in terms of stress relief, our relationship makes coping with stress manageable and even easy most of the time.

I hope you have lots of ways to avoid stress and to deal with it when it happens.


My favorite raw vegan

Hi Trive!

I have to say that I sat down on a break at work today and read through your journal and found myself smiling! Your pictures are breathtaking, your donkeys adorable and I love those banana, blueberry, spinach, mango smoothies myself! =D

I hope your day continues to be bright and sunshiny!

Diagabeoch,
Hi to you too! Thank you for writing. It feels good to get comments from others now and then. And I'm glad it brought you a smile.

It really is bright and sunshiny today. Absolutely glorious! Although I'm a New Zealand resident now, I used to live in Virginia and I just saw the snow depth there on CNN - over 2 feet deep!!!

Yesterday I made a sorbet of frozen blueberries, frozen peaches and a banana. WOW!!! The flavor is so intense.

Today I tried mashed banana, sliced banana, carob powder and buckwheat. It didn't look appealing and is probably poor food combining, but it sure was yummy.


My favorite raw vegan

Grrrrr. Despite my best intentions to quit using salt, I have failed. I tried using celery in all of my salads. When that didn't work, I tried using "just a pinch" of salt here and there. Hmmm. I really can't seem to do without a squirt of Braggs now and then. There are worse things.

In the 7+ months that I have been raw, I have had VERY few slips of cooked ANYTHING. Luckily, every time I have, I have felt bad, so that keeps me on track. It was interesting that one time something I ate had preservatives in it and I got a strange headache - rare for me. Whew! That was a painful lesson. It is great being so in touch with what my body wants and doesn't want. I used to be so numbed by cooked foods that I wasn't aware of what was causing which symptom. I didn't even see them as symptoms. Constipation, stuffy sinuses, bloated stomach - all of that and more seemed "normal" - at least, the norm for me. I feel so much better overall.

Now if I could just crack that 99% raw ceiling....


My favorite raw vegan

trive,
Thats too funny! I thought the "my favorite raw vegan" was a digital image only. I didn't think that an actual animal existed! Is it a photo or an image you made up? its difficult for me to tell in the smaller photo format. Thats great however.

I like the painting. It is odd how the light is reflected there. Is it an area you make a lot of changes to? Maybe it was still a little wet? I don't know. I like how you do the human form so well, and work on the cloth. Do you have a photo of the art piece that wasn't selected? I would like to see that.

The painting made me think of Titian. However, when I looked up images again for reference, I realize that his style is very different. Also content and subject mater is different. I can see the potential for masterpieces however.

Hi, Mislu,
No, "My Favorite Raw Vegan" is a real donkey, Fernando. I took the photo of him when he was about three days old. He was a very photogenic baby. I'll post some more photos some day. For today I'll put a large format one of him that I use in my signature.
I looked up Titian because I wasn't familiar with that artist. Gee, I wish I could paint like that. Quite a master!

Trive,
Yes, the thumbnail of him looked a little too perfect! Like a little too cute. Seeing the close up of him makes him seem way more real. He is still a little too cute!

Well, maybe you COULD paint like Titian! Be careful for what you wish for! I full expect to be invited to your masterworks show! A special discount on a special edition print would be nice too!

I have been eating 15-20% fat lately. For now it's more seeds than nuts. I love flax seeds, sesame seeds, and sunflower seeds.

I'm happy that I have been able to increase my fat percentage for two reasons. For one, I hadn't been able to tolerate much fat without getting acid reflux, but as long as I don't overdo it, fats in raw foods don't seem to bother me now. Hooray! Any improvement there is appreciated. Secondly, when I allow myself to eat a bit more fat, I don't need to eat quite as much other food. I mean, I have been really packing away the produce!

Happily, my weight is in the normal range, but, oh, to be thin for once in my life! I doubt that'll ever happen, but it still would be nice to lose two or three more kilos. Toward that end, I'm eating more the greens and veggies and a bit less fruit. Of course, health is my goal, more than weight loss. Both would be nice though....


My favorite raw vegan