Hey guys,

I haven't posted here in a while...

I've been out of the town for two separate trips, one with my family in another mountain town close to mine, between August 20 and August 23, where we stayed in a lovely apartment in a mountain villa, and one with my mom to the seaside, between August 26 and August 29, where we shared a room in a seaside resort villa.

Regarding my food, I had a good menu on both trips, with few exceptions in the mountain town, where we ate at the restaurant available there (it was a very isolated villa and the only source of food there was this restaurant; otherwise, the center of the town was at 2.2 km away, where we went almost daily). The restaurant had vegetarian/vegan options with few raw vegan options included, such as raw tomato soup with seasonal veggies - a raw cream soup of tomatoes and other veggies (the soup had 300 g), which they served with croutons on the side - which I didn't eat. They usually added oil, salt and pepper to it, but I said "hold the oil/salt/pepper". I tasted a hint of garlic in it, not sure if onion too, but I went ahead and ate it.

Another raw vegan dish they had was raw zucchini spaghetti with raw tomato sauce (the whole dish had 400 g), to which they usually added walnut oil, salt, pepper, avocado, honey, but I said "none of these, please". The tomato sauce had onion and garlic in it, but I didn't tell the waiter to bring me a dish without onion and garlic, so I willingly accepted to eat these stimulants. Unfortunately, they decorated the zoodles with sliced black olives, and sprinkled them with dried oregano (they didn't write in the menu that the dish had olives and oregano, and it didn't occur to me to ask and then refuse). I usually don't eat dried herbs and of course olives, but I ate those zoodles just as they were, olives and oregano included, even if they weren't raw - I was with my parents at the table and it seemed awkward to me to refuse the olives and to avoid the dried oregano, so I was like "ok, what the fruit...I should eat them as well". There was like a dust of oregano and around 30 slices of olives - yes, I took a pic of the dish and later on I counted the olive slices.

Something else I ate at this restaurant was a raw vegan salad (150 g) of shredded zucchinis, shredded carrots and shredded cabbage, and I asked for fresh lemon juice as a dressing - the waitress brought me 100 ml fresh lemon juice.

Another meal I had at another restaurant, this time in the center of the town, was a large raw vegan Arabian salad (400 g) made of tomatoes, cucumbers, red bell peppers and red onion. There wasn't much onion in it, but it had quite an impact on my body.

On this mountain trip I also had lots of fresh carrot juices (they were so sweet and delicious, like they had added sugar - which they didn't have, as I saw how they were making the carrot juice at the bar), plus a fresh apple orange grapefruit juice. I'm thinking of buying a juicer to make my own carrot juice every day, as I now totally love carrot juice, it's so addicting...in a good way.

I feel I shouldn't have eaten the olives and oregano, and the onion and garlic, because in a few days' time after the first trip, I entered a strong detox period which lasted this whole week: sneezing, runny nose, headaches, stuffed nose. Plus I woke up in the following mornings with swollen eyes and lips.

On my way to the mountain villa and back home, by train, I had with me water, 500 g plums (it was a 1 hour ride by train). I also bought there lots of fruits like peaches, nectarines, grapes (both black and green). I also made huge gigantic salads with zucchini noodles, shredded carrots, cauliflower, yellow bell peppers, and a tomato dill sauce (I brought with me the hand peeler and the hand shredder) (we had our own kitchen in the apartment).

The trip to the seaside was also by train. On my way to the seaside I had with me watermelon (I put half of a remaining watermelon in a food container - around 3 kg, it was the first time I took watermelon on a trip, it was refreshing, instead of water, and it kept well, cold from the fridge). I also bought 1 kg plums to eat in the train, as the train came with 72 minutes delay (it was usually a 6 hour ride). On my way back home I had 2 kg plums and 1 kg peaches. At some point, the train had 75 minutes delay (locomotive malfunction), so instead of arriving home at 10:30 pm, I arrived at midnight (this was last night).

At the seaside I ate only fresh fruits and two salads I made, nothing at the restaurants as their salads were very expensive. And some had lots of onion in them. So I mainly ate fruits (peaches, green grapes, spotty bananas - my mom bought me a bunch of large spotty ones; I had to eat bananas for variety and to be satiated for longer), plums. I made a salad of tomatoes, cucumbers and green bell peppers, and another salad of zucchini noodles (made with my hand peeler) and tomato slices. No dill in the whole seaside resort (I only saw some dill in a bowl at a restaurant, for garnishing).

Something I didn't like was that on both trips, mostly my mom paid for my food, and I couldn't tell her to buy me the real quantity I usually eat. So I made due with what I had, and I had to make portions of what she bought for me so that I had food for the whole time. She was like "I will buy your food, just show/tell me what you want", but she also wanted to do the shopping for me, like she wanted to choose the plums she liked instead of letting me choose the ripe ones I liked, she kind of imposed her fruit preferences on me. And when I wanted to buy food with my own money, she didn't let me, because she said she wanted to pay for it. That was awful, I felt so awkward...

Some lovely things from my seaside trip: I saw a small tomato garden, and the tomatoes on the vine were ripening like every day, the owner was picking them like today and the next day there were new ripe tomatoes ready to be picked. Then I saw a fig tree (the first time I saw a fig tree in real life), with ripe purple figs, but kind of small. And then I saw green figs for sale (not those purple ones, but those green but very soft and ripe ones). They were expensive and I didn't buy, but looked like they were extremely sweet and delicious.

The weather was awsome, so sunny and hot, I was bathing in the sun and in the sea, I must've produced a lot of Vitamin D.

On both trips I took some pics with my phone, but I'm not sure I can download them, as the phone is not like these new smart phones or the like.

In between the trips and after, I had my usual menu with fresh seasonal fruits and my zoodle dinner.

Next Sunday we have another festive meal at that restaurant, with the people from my church, to celebrate the memory of our priest who past away last month. So I already e-mailed the same person I talked to this year in May, to arrange for another raw vegan menu for me. I'm looking forward to seeing what I'll have.

So yeah, that's my very long update.
Now that I'm back, I'll be posting my menu more often.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

It was interesting that people around me were attracted to my dishes (both the ones at the restaurants and the ones I made), they wanted to taste them. My father was so curious and drawn to them that he ate some, and drank some carrot juice, he was like a kid trying out new toys emoticon smile Which is a good thing. The same happened with the fruits I bought, so I shared them with my family.

After my trip to the mountain town and after eating the zoodles with dried oregano, I loved the taste so I bought 50 g of dried oregano and 50 g of dried thyme. I didn't know at the time that the dried herb was oregano, I thought it was thyme, that's why I bought both, to taste them. After using 1 teaspoon of dried oregano in my zoodles, I got sever allergic reactions from the dried oregano (I'm usually allergic to spices like pepper and cumin, so no wonder...). I got sever sneezing, runny nose, headaches, then stuffed nose. So I gave these condiments to my mom and I'll never use dried herbs (they aren't even raw anyway).

On Monday I made an awsome sauce for my zoodles: zucchinis, tomatoes, fresh dill and red bell peppers. The red bell peppers gave an amazing taste to my usual sauce, so I want to make this sauce again.

Yesterday I sent my blender in another town for repairing, as there is the only service available. Also yesterday I ordered a masticating/press veggie and fruit juicer, especially for fresh carrot juice which I totally love now, after drinking so much of it lately in my first trip. It wasn't that expensive, around $78, free shipping. The brand is LDK. This is the juicer: [www.cel.ro]

Yesterday I made another awsome sauce for my zoodles: tomatoes, red bell peppers, green bell pepper, the core of the spiralized zucchinis, fresh dill. I used the small grater for this sauce as my blender is off to being repaired. But the sauce turned out so delicious, fresh and bursting with flavours.

My menu for yesterday, September 1, 2015:

- breakfast: 2 kg plums
- lunch: 500 g green grapes
- dinner: zoodles with a sauce of tomatoes, red bell peppers, green bell pepper, the core of the spiralized zucchinis, fresh dill, next to 2 local round red bell peppers and 3 small cucumbers

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

My menu has been pretty much the same, fruits during the day (green grapes, plums), and my large zoodle dinner (zoodles with my sauce of tomatoes, zucchinis, carrot pulp from the carrot juice, bell peppers, fresh dill).

My birthday menu yesterday, September 27, 2015:

- 2 kg awsome green grapes (my birthday candies) (lunch)
- 5 tomatoes and 2 bell peppers (snack)
- 1 delicious Cockett's Red apple (snack)
- zoodles with my sauce of tomatoes, zucchinis, carrot pulp from the carrot juice, bell peppers, fresh dill (8 zucchinis, 2 kg tomatoes, 3 bell peppers, around 250 g carrot pulp, 1 large bunch of fresh dill), next to 5 cucumbers and few tomatoes (dinner)
- drinks: 2 liters still water

I wouldn't choose any other birthday menu. Raw vegan birthday for the win. I'm now 37 years young

As a health update, my weight is 100.75 lbs, my height is 5 ft 4 11/64 inch. My body fat is 16.1% and my body water is 60.2%, as compared to March this year (6 months ago), when my body fat was 24.6% and my body water was 55.5% (and my weight was pretty much in the same range, 99.42 lbs).

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

That vacation sounds so awesome! I totally understand feeling awkward about food, but it's great that you stuck to what you k own is best for you.

I really want a juicer. I can't find any that look okay and are masticating for that price, or I'd buy it.

Blankpageblankbook, yes, by all means get a masticating one, if you do end up buying a juicer, it's the best. I'm sure you'll eventually find one that you like and suits your needs.

Here is a link: [www.amazon.com]

Here is the one I bought (but they only ship it within my country):

[www.cel.ro]

My menu all this time:

- green grapes
- plums
- red apples
- 1 pear I received as a gift yesterday (it was good, I don't eat pears usually, I don't like them)
- 1 banana I received as a gift (I don't usually eat bananas as I don't buy any) (I received 2 more yesterday, they need more ripening)
- nectarines
- peaches
- black grapes (very sweet and good, again received as a gift, I don't usually eat black grapes as I only like green grapes)
- tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, butter lettuce
- carrot juice
- cauliflower tomato mash
- my zoodles with tomato, zucchini, carrot pulp, bell pepper, fresh dill sauce
- variations of the sauce for the zoodles: with cauliflower instead of carrot pulp, with shredded carrots instead of carrot pulp
- I recently experimented with fresh thyme in my sauce for the zoodles, it's good, but at times it feels too strong for me (I'll stick to my beloved fresh dill as my one and only herb)
- I recently saw fresh kale at farmers' market, the curly kind, green - grayish, affordable, but I wasn't brave enough to buy and taste-test (I never ate kale)

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

I recently had my zoodles with a great sauce made of tomatoes, zucchinis, bell peppers, fresh dill and dried thyme (I dried the bunch of fresh thyme I got from farmers' market, I like dried thyme better than the fresh one).

The last two evenings, after having this dinner with dried thyme, I felt so restless (especially a restless mind) that I had difficulty falling asleep, and even throughout the night, it was difficult for me to have a deep night sleep. From what I read, thyme is supposed to help with insomnia and sleeplessness. But not in my case. It's also great for detox, so maybe it started detox and that could explain the insomnia-like state I was in. I felt just like when I eat oranges and I can't sleep afterwards because of vitamin C.

Have you ever experienced feeling restless and having difficulty falling asleep after adding your (raw) spices to the evening meals?

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

I'm currently going through nasty strong detox: fever, very runny nose, huge headaches, chills, hot flushes, weakness, dizziness, some coughing (it started this week on Tuesday, but it was preparing since Friday last week). Today I noticed an enlarged / swollen lymph node on the right side of my neck, it's a bit painful, but it's small. From what I read online it most probably may be caused by me having this cold. However, my appetite is the same, I can say I'm even hungrier for some reason, must be from that feeling of an empty stomach that I get when having a cold and a runny nose. Now my nose becomes so stuffed at night that I can't even sleep, I have to stay up in my bed, leaning on the pillow, so that I can somehow breathe, as opposed to being in a normal sleeping position which makes my nose so stuffed that I can't breath at all. I feel like a zombie right now, so tired from the lack of sleep, and exhausted from all these symptoms.

Have you experienced swelling of a lymph node while detox or having a cold / flu? I could use some advice on this.

My menu has been pretty much the same: green grapes, red apples, my zoodles with my favourite sauce, plus 3 delicious oranges I had yesterday for the vitamin C to help with the cold symptoms (my first oranges of the season). The prices went up pretty high already and the quality is lower. The zucchinis are kind of expensive now so I can no longer make a large box of zoodles. Instead, yesterday evening I made a sort of Asian dish with 1 medium zucchini (turned into noodles with the julienne peeler), 1 very small white cabbage, cut in fine pieces (local, the softer type, from this year's crop - the leaves are softer, tender, similar to Chinese cabbage), 2 small red bell peppers (finely diced), some carrot pulp, and a sauce of 1 kg tomatoes (they are kind of discoloured now so the sauce didn't turn out red, but more like a brownish gravy), 1 small bunch of fresh dill and some raw dried thyme. It was very tasty though, and a very light dish, the cabbage bits coated in this brown sauce looked like little bits of "chicken meat". It looked kind of Asian indeed.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

How do you tell the difference between a detox and just having a cold/flue?

Blankpageblankbook, I was asked this question before.
In my case, when I'm detoxing, I feel awful of course, but I also feel somewhat energetic and happy, I'm not being weighed down by the sypmtoms. I still have my appetite, I still have the desire to do all my fun activities. Plus the detox is over more quickly. Once the detox is over, I feel so great, like a new person, cleaner, more energetic, happier.

When I used to have a cold/flu, I was feeleing down, overwhelmed by the symptoms, lethargic, no hunger, no energy. And the symptoms wouldn't go away for a long time, even with medication. After the symptoms were gone, I would still feel awful and not quite energetic.

My menu has been similar: green grapes, plums, red apples, my zoodles with my favourite sauce (I made them again for few days), carrot juice, butter lettuce juice, 8 oranges (I have a lot more for the next days). After a while I stopped buying zucchinis again, as they were way too expensive, so I've been making a veggie medley inspired by Dara Dubinet: finely chopped cabbage massaged with lemon juice, carrot pulp from my carrot juice, cauliflower rice with tomatoes, peppers, fresh dill and raw dried thyme (in the blender), then all these veggies mixed together in a food container. I made this for dinner, it was so tasty. Dara is so right, these fibrous veggies do go a long way, especially since I'm on a tight budget and I need to buy cheap but filling food.

My detox is finally over after 3 weeks.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

Update after my gallbladder attack which occurred on November 24, 2015, and it lasted from noon to around 1 - 1:30 pm. The nwhole story is in the specific thread here: [www.rawfoodsupport.com]

I feel slightly better today, but still kind of weak. On Friday I actually had 3 meals, but smaller ones and it took long to eat each one as I need to eat slow and chew very well. Right now I'm constantly worrying that the pain could come back all of a sudden after one bite. But I try to stay calm, not stress about it and hope for the better.

On Friday I had a breakfast of 14 clementines, 1.5 kg grapes for lunch, before dinner I had 220 ml carrot juice, and a zoodle dinner (3 zucchinis with a sauce of 7 tomatoes, 2 capsicums, 136 g carrot pulp, fresh dill and raw dried thyme), plus 1 capsicum, some cherry tomatoes and tiny cucumbers on the side. This meal took the longest to eat. I had 1971 cals for this day, which is good, the first days after the attack I had very little cals which I felt, as I was very weak.

I know some people don't recommend grazing. I'll try not to eat all day, but have smaller meals with breaks in between, like I would do if I had more regular meals during a day. I don't want to be eating all day, I'd rather do other things as well, plus I get tired of all the chewing. But for now, I'm still at risk, so I need to at least eat lower volume of food for each meal. Now I basically eat whenever I'm hungry, instead of having 3 meals / day at set times, no matter if I'm hungry or not. And I love that I don't get the specific belly after a meal, I feel lighter and with more energy this way (especially after sweet fruits, which I digest the fastest).

What's your opinion on grazing, guys? Someone told me the following: "Grazing is generally not recommended, because it actually impairs digestion and exhausts the digestive glands which need sufficient and periodic rest. I understand your present situation and hope you can soon get back to eating spaced out meals, like 3-4 per day with good breaks in between of 2-3 hours or more." Actually, I plan on doing exactly this, but my meals will have a smaller volume, so I guess I won't be grazing anymore, but have several small meals with breaks in between.

Plus it's not like I'm constantly eating, I just have more smaller meals (with breaks in between) that I chew very well this time, so it takes longer to finish, that's all. I basically devide the volume I would normally eat into smaller meals. Maybe I shouldn't have said grazing, as maybe grazing means constantly snacking throughout the day. I heard the opinion that animals in nature don't graze, when they find a good source of food, they stop and eat plenty of it, in case they won't find another food source soon, so people shouldn't graze either, based on this comparation. But our current situation is different, plus I can't stuff myself at each meal, as I have food available in my room any time anyway.
I remember Michael Arnstein saying in a video that grazing throughout the day is what works best for him. Here is the link to the video: [www.youtube.com]

I've been eating smaller quantities with breaks in between and it's been ok, feeling real hunger and kind of weak, and I couldn't get in more than 1200 cals per day on most days, I had only one day with almost 2000 cals. I still eat with fear for a new attack. I hope soon I can get back to eating enough calories.

My menu since the gallbladder attack:

- apples
- oranges
- mandarins
- clementines
- grapes
- zoodles with my sauce
- cherry tomatoes
- cucumbers
- capsicums

On some days I had around 900 cals, on others around 1000 cals, some days I had around 1200 cals.

Ever since the gallbladder attack, I've been having moderate pain in my middle and lower back, and also in the waist line on both sides, and sometimes in the area below the rib cage, right and left. This pain isn't severe, more or less noticeable, day and night, and it gets slightly more intense after eating oranges and apples (but not after eating zoodles). I think it's a remaining body ache/sensivity after the huge pain I experienced recently, or it's just my gallbladder still irritated after the attack. I could eat less than what I'm eating now, so that the gallbladder is happy, but I'll be feeling weaker if I do.

I want to start juicing carrots and butter lettuce every day, plus having my small but frequent mono-meals of fruits (oranges, mandarins, clementines, apples, occasionally grapes), and a veggie dinner with zucchini noodles, the carrot pulp, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, fresh dill and raw dried thyme (these are the ingredients my body tolerates and enjoys). Somebody recommended juicing bitter greens like dandelion and beet greens, but I can't even handle spinach juice.

The same person confirmed what I read online, that oranges increase the bile flow, telling me that I don't need an increased quantity of bilewhen I have gallbladder problems.

My gallbladder is malformed from birth, meaning that it's bended towards the end where bile is being evacuated, it's like a "U" shape at that end, which can makebile stagnant in there and more difficult to eliminate.

I want to get my blood work done soon, plus to get tested for thyroid and Iodine, and I plan on ordering raw organic kelp powder soon. This week 'll get my order of B12, and after finishing my current D2, I'll order another D2, from a superior source, with a higher level of D2 (probably next year in January or February).

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

blankpageblankbook Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How do you tell the difference between a detox and
> just having a cold/flue?


All flus ARE detox. You are purging the mucus, which accumulates when one is too toxic.

However,I have a hard time believing that someone who has been doing a raw diet past maybe six or nine months would be able to use detox as the reason for their illness. I think one of the old gurus like Shelton or Walker used to talk about deficiencies being the other cause of dis-ease. Maybe it was Ehret? And it makes sense that if one is not getting proper nutrients, they may cause an imbalance in their body. If I am not mistaken, fat is important for immune system function. I believe that anorexics have impaired immune systems and therefore do not have good health. I don't know why Karen Carpenter died--yes, it was due to anorexia but HOW does anorexia cause death? I remember her passing very clearly and how sad it was that such a talented woman fell prey to body dysmorphia. Unfortunately the raw food diet attracts those who have had anorexia and bulimia in the past. The need to control one's diet is in order to distract from other areas where the person feels out of control. This is the one area where they can control. And add to this the fact that our society has placed such a stigma on being overweight that people can feel they are being healthy while depriving themselves of needed nutrients and fat.

So the proof in the pudding is health. Obviously it take a while to get one's body purified enough to notice the difference but after half a year or one year, if a person is experiencing health issues, that should be looked at. Not necessarily by a doctor but one must assess the food choices and see if there is enough of everything. I have read more than one person use detox when they have been 100% raw for long periods of time. That seems to indicate a constant feeling of impurity that doesn't really exist.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/16/2015 10:09PM by banana who.

Update.

How has this Christmas been for you?

I had a weird Christmas. My body just refused eating fruits and veggies, like rejecting the food. I've experienced lack of hunger, I've been nauseated almost all the time, everytime I looked at my oranges and apples I just could't bring myself to eat them, and I have loads of them in my room (even the smell of oranges just put me off).

I started making green juice recently (from 1 head of butter lettuce / day I reached 5 heads of lettuce / day), but I haven't made my green juice either these days (I have 15 heads of lettuce in the fridge and they need to be used, I was supposed to use them for Christmas, but I couldn't).

I had some remaining peppers and dill and carrot pulp in the fridge, but I couldn't eat those either, the smell of the supermarket peppers and the thought of eating them just made me sick, so I chopped everything and put them nicely in sandwich bags and in the freezer for my mother-in-law to use in her cooking. I am now very sensitive to supermarket non-sweet fruits like peppers and tomatoes, I feel the chemicals in my body hurting me everytime I eat them (I didn't feel like this in the past). With supermarket sweet fruits I'm ok as long as they are in season (like grapes and apples and oranges).

So my menu was very simple: local apples (Golden and Jonathan), oranges (one day I peeled 12 oranges and it took me 2 hours to convince myself to finish eating them), water. I once had 2.3 kg green grapes (divided into 2 days), but they tasted awful (supermarket ones and out-of-season). One day I had 2 small ripe bananas (my husband gave them to me as I asked him to), but I didn't like them. I notice I no longer like bananas, they taste weird to me and I consider them a weird fruit, so I'll no longer eat them (I haven't eaten them in a long time until recently with these 2 anyway). I've been having 1400 - 1500 cals / day most days, only few days with 1600, 1700, 1800 cals / day here and there.

I spent my Christmas mostly in church, which was nice but also very painful for my hip, it started to hurt a lot because of the effort and I've been in huge pain for the past 3 days, I could barely walk, so I've been staying in bed, sleeping in, eating occasionally and reading on the internet / watching Youtube. My husband's parents have an electric pillow, so I've been using that on my hip as it warms the painful area and I believe the heat helps with the pain.

It's been so weird to just look at my fruit stash and only feel nausea, no craving for fruits and veggies. Instead, I've been craving cooked foods like mash potatoes and polenta, it's so weird as I haven't craved them in so long. Obviously, I'd never eat them ever again, but it's so strange how my body has been acting recently, like my body is rebelling against healthy food. I believe it's just a phase, as it always happens something like this in winter, when there is little variety and quality. In the past I used to go back to cooked food in winter, or to lots of bananas, or to my sauerkraut, or to frozen green peas. But this time it will be a clean raw vegan winter, I know it in my heart, it's a part of me, whether my body likes it or not right now.

Regarding my supplements and testing, I haven't ordered any kelp powder. I ordered my new D2, I'll start taking it on January 20 (by then I'll be finishing my other one which is Calcium + D2). I already started taking my B12 again. No blood work yet, I'll do it next year.

My gallbladder has been doing fine, just small pain here and there, I've been drinking lots of water, some carrot juice occasionally, and lots of green juice (from 450 ml to 1.2 liters / day), and eating only what feels right for my gallbladder.

I want to wish you a Happy Fruity New Year

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/28/2015 01:02PM by Ela2013.

Hey guys

I haven't posted here in a while. I decided to take some time for myself, I didn't feel like posting or getting too involved in Facebook and forums. So I've been focusing on my diet, I spent a lot of time watching Youtube and inspiring Instagram accounts - I even found some zoodle lovers

Regarding my diet, I got over my cooked food cravings by adding more raw veggies. I started making large various salads, then went back to my zoodles.

I've been eating oranges, apples, red grapes, and my zoodles with just tomato dill sauce, and cherry tomatoes and English cucumbers on the side.

I started and continued to make apple juice (instead of just eating the apples) and eating the apple pulp (yesterday I made a very good apple juice from 20 apples, mostly large and some very large ones, and it gave around 2.8 l with the foam - I like the apple foam too, it's like a fluffy apple mousse, and the apple pulp was so sweet and delicious).

I recently made OJ again (2 days in a row, from 20 oranges each time - first day it gave around 2.1 l, the next day it gave around 2.5 l), a large carrot juice (around 900 ml - from 3 kg carrots - I gave the carrot pulp to my mother-in-law, I didn't feel like eating it, even though I recently was craving raw tomato soup with carrot pulp in it) and today I made my butter lettuce juice (around 1.150 l).

This week I bought lots of food: around 30 large and very large apples (I also had a lot of apples bought by my husband, so now I have 4 cardboard boxes of apples), 6 heads of butter lettuce and 3 heads of Romaine lettuce, 8 bags of red grapes, around 40 tomatoes, red cherry tomatoes, yellow cherry tomatoes, orange cherry tomatoes (small ones and some larger oval ones), chocolate cherry tomatoes (these cherry tomatoes of different coloures are so good), 5 bunches of fresh dill, zucchinis. I spent a lot of money on these foods, but they are all worth it and will last me for quite a while.

Regarding my health, I've been feeling still tired (from my husband's snoring and less quality sleep) and my left hip pain is still there going strong, I even felt some pain in my right hip as well. However, by changing my sleeping position and moving in the opposite side of the bed, a little far away from my husband, I managed to get some good sleep with less to no snoring noise sometimes.

I went to a different physiotherapy doctor yesterday and I told her about my increasing hip pain and that I can't do kinetotherapy anymore. She is the first physiotherapy doctor who agreed on not prescribing me kinetotherapy. So I'm happy that I'll finally do only electrotherapy and other physiotherapy procedures. I start the treatment on Monday and it will also last for 2 weeks.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

I'm almost on the end of week 1 of treatment, it's been so great so far, like I go to a spa Everyone is so kind there, there is music and the atmosphere is so positive

This week I got my blood work done, free of charge through the health insurance, I only paid for 2 additional tests that were needed in order to make a certain test, and I also paid for vitamin B12 and vitamin D (these two were my personal option to take).

The blood test results turned out within the accepted range, so it's all good. There were few exceptions though: the leukocytes were lower than the range, 3.93 x 10^3/uL (the range was between 3.98 - 10.04); the serum urea was lower than the range, 4.42 mg/dL (the range was between 16.6 - 48.5); the urine PH was 8.5 (the range was between 5.5 - 7.4); the B12 level was 804.9 pg/mL, too high for the range (the range is between 200 - 663). I don't have the result for vitamin D yet, I'm looking forward to seeing it, as in December 2014 when I first got tested for vitamin B12 and vitamin D, I was severely deficient in vitamin D, and my B12 level was 208.

I actually don't worry about these issues, I guess they are normal in my case, as I have a very hydrating diet and I was supplementing with rather high doses of vitamin B12 in the past 1 year and 1 month.

My menu has been the same. I have days with green juice and apple juice, and some cherry tomatoes and an English cucumber in the evening (if I'm not too full from the huge apple juice I make, plus the satiating apple pulp), then days with red grapes and my zoodles in the evening. Yesterday for dinner I made wide zucchini pasta again, I've been craving this dish, and it was so good and incredibly filling (even if I used only 3 zucchinis). And the sauce of just tomatoes and fresh dill tasted so good, I totally love it

I made green juice from the 3 heads of Romaine lettuce for the first time, but I actually didn't like it, as it turned out too sweet (I drank it anyway). It's weird, but the Romaine juice tasted sweet as compared to butter lettuce juice...and I don't like my green juice to be sweet, I want to taste the green. I once made a green smoothie (I used spinach back then) with a banana in it and I also didn't like it, I find I don't like the sweet taste in my green drinks, so I remember I added lots of garlic to it to change the sweet taste, but still, the banana taste was so powerful that the garlic didn't do the trick...So I'll stick to my butter lettuce juice.

I'll keep you posted when I have the result for vitamin D next week.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

I just checked my results online and I got the vitamin D result. I'm still deficient, it's <5.0 ng/l (the range is 12 ng/ml for deficient, 12-20 ng/ml for insuficient and >20-160 for suficient).

This month I started to take the new vitamin D supplement, it has only D2 (I finally finished that vitamin D2 + Calcium supplement I first bought). The recommended dose is 2 capsules/day, each capsule has 1000 UI (again, non-vegan capsules, but I open them and take the powder sublingually and it dissolves quickly, it has a nice taste and it's not much powder to take).

This is a better quality of D2: "Lalmin® Vita D® yeast is inactivated dried whole cell yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) containing elevated levels of vitamin D. The yeast is subjected to ultraviolet (UV) light under controlled conditions to catalyze the conversion of the natural occurring endogenous ergosterol in yeast to ergocalciferol (vitamin D2). The yeast cream is pasteurized and then roller drum dried. This process naturally enhances the content of vitamin D in the yeast and preserves the level of vitamins, minerals and other micronutrients from yeast".

I hope this supplement works, if not, I might need to order the vegan Vitashine D3 online, though I'm imagining it's still from yeast since it's vegan, and I'm not sure it's more efficient. But I'll never take a non-vegan D supplement. Maybe vegan D doesn't work, or I need to give it more time. My first vitamin D test was in December 2014, and my vitamin D level was 5 ng/l (severe deficiency).

I need to do some more research...

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

Yesterday I got great advice from someone I really trust to take at least 5000 IU/day of vitamin D, and in my case, even 8000 IU/day.

So today I started taking 8000 IU vitamin D2, I took 4000 IU so far, I'll take the other 4000 IU in the second part of the day. Since I'm taking the powder from the caps sublingually, I took the powder from each cap one by one, so that it dissolves quickly, plus I didn't want a whole lot of powder at once under my tongue. So far it worked perfectly.

I did some reading online yesterday about vitamin D. If this high dose doesn't work, I'll go up to 10000 IU/day, which is the maximum safe dose recommended. I read that some people with vitamin D deficiency even took higher doses such as 50000 IU to raise their levels up to 30 or something, but I don't dare going there.

If taking 10000 IU doesn't work, I may have trouble absorbing vitamin D. Also, vitamin D is fat absorbable, and since I eat no overt fats, that may be an issue as well, though I'm sure there are people who take vitamin D and don't eat overt fats, and they do well, so it may not be a big deal after all.

I need to take into account the fact that I never got tested for vitamin D before, I only had my first vitamin D test ever in December 2014, so I don't know what my vitamin D level was back when I wasn't a vegan, maybe I was already vitamin D deficient prior to becoming vegan. That's something very important to consider.

I'll keep reading...

My menu yesterday:

- breakfast: 1.2 l green juice (from 3 large heads of butter lettuce)
- lunch: around 1 kg red globe grapes and 3 red apples
- almost pre-dinner: 7 apples
- dinner: zoodles (3 zucchinis) with my tomato dill sauce (7 tomatoes, 1 bunch of fresh dill), next to 250 g cherry tomatoes and 1 English cucumber

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

Update.

My menu has been similar:

- apples
- oranges
- apple juice (and the apple pulp)
- 3 bananas (I got them as a gift from my good friend)
- green juice (between 900 ml - 1100 l of butter lettuce juice from 3 heads of lettuce)
- snacks of English cucumber and cherry tomatoes
- zoodles with tomato dill sauce, next to English cucumber and cherry tomatoes
- zoodles with tomato dill sauce, next to a salad of 1 large head of butter lettuce, 1 large English cucumber (around 500 g), 3 small light green capsicums, 1 bunch of fresh dill, the juice of 4 small lemons (I had this dinner yesterday, I was craving tangy sour lettuce cucumber dill salad)

I'm still taking the 10000 IU vitamin D2 / day, I hope I see improvements in my health soon. I feel some bone pain and joint pain, plus still having my teeth issues.

I had a doctor appointment to check my lymph nodes and she said I have hypertrophy of parotid glands on both sides. She sent me to an allergy / immunology doctor. I have the appointment with the immunology doctor on March 8, and also the appointment with my dentist on this same day - it will be a busy and hopefully not painful day

I'll keep you posted.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2016 09:56AM by Ela2013.

Another update.

My menu:

- apples
- oranges
- apple juice (and the apple pulp)
- zoodles with tomato dill sauce, next to salads made of 1 large head of butter lettuce, 1 English cucumber, light green capsicums / bell peppers, 1 bunch of fresh dill, the juice of 4 small lemons (I had this dinner almost everyday, I was craving it - I bought 2 large yellow plastic bowls especially for my dinner, one for the zoodles and one for the salads, to have enough room to mix the ingredients)

Today I had the dentist appointment - she is the dentist I used to go to in the past, she changed office location, she is so great. I did a panoramic X-ray. My teeth issues aren't such a disaster (as I understood from her), but I have at least 4 cavities and a tooth to reconstruct (and possibly another one, I think), some root canals, so it's some major work to do and I already have this month and the whole next month full of dentist appointments. And the cost is a lot of money

Also today I had the immunology doctor appointment to check my lymph nodes and she said I may have the Sjögren syndrome, an autoimmune disease. She suggested some specific blood tests to see if her suspicion is true. She said I could take medication to help reduce the parotid glands, but she wants to see the test results first. I told her I'm vegan and I don't like to take medication, and that it could be a lymphatic stagnation. She said that taking the detox route and not the traditional medication could lead to health deterioration. She said I would have to take mild medication at first, then stronger medication, to fight this autoimmune disease (if the tests confirm it). I don't want to. I'm scared and worried and I must start searching online as soon as possible. I must find accesible ways to fight this disease naturally. I'm forced to take only accesible measures (cost wise) as I have very little money and a lot of costs to cover. The dental work is costing a lot and the specific blood tests also cost so much. Plus I need money for the cheapest raw vegan food (mainly apples for my juice, and also lettuce for juicing) and for my vitamin D2 which I must take daily in high doses. I liked that the immunology doctor was so nice and helpful and so lovely to talk to, she approved of the vegan diet and wasn't against natural healing. When I told her about my severe vitamin D deficiency, she even assured me that everyone has it, even those who eat meat. And that I don't have to take iodine (I told her I'm worried about my iodine intake as I believe I don't have enough - though I didn't tested for iodine level), as it's found in plants more than it's found in meat

I started searching online again about my hip problem. The pain has increased and after reading a lot, I realized that my hiking on the mountains and carrying shoppings so much and so heavy was a huge mistake, that I might've done huge damage to my hip, as I should've been relaxing and not doing any of these, not even carrying 1 kg. I hope I haven't done any damage to my hip

Also, I realized that the total hip replacement surgery could never be avoided, as it would happen sooner or later, it's unavoidable. This realization made me very scared and I finally realized I'm a disabled person - I even have an official written certificate saying that
I want to search about fighting this disability too using natural ways. So far I've been using an electric heated pillow on my hip and I'm also thinking about using my room bike again, plus using a device that uses light (and even coloured light) to reduce pain, my husband's parents have it in the house - it looks like this: www.bioptron.com

I will take those specific blood tests soon and post the results, the conclusions. I also want to start making green juice again (butter lettuce juice) to help my teeth.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

I had the blood work for the specific tests for autoimmune diseases, I'm waiting for the results this week or next week.

Today I had an ultrasound of the parotid glands, salivary glands, other lymph nodes and the thyroid. The doctor was amazing, so wonderful and kind, and well prepared profesionally, she totally agreed with my raw vegan diet and she made some interesting remarks.

The ultrasound showed that everything is good regarding my lymph nodes and thyroid (she said I have a perfect thyroid). The parotid glands are enlarged but not much, they are similar in size long wise, but the right is thicker than the left, even though the left appears to be more enlarged (as I see it). But the lymph ducts are ok and clear and not enlarged or blocked.

There are no tumours or nodes, but she saw a somehow granular appearance of the parotid glands, which may be connected to an autoimmune disease (normally they have to be smooth - she compared my granular aspect as opposed to the smooth aspect to the difference between salt / pepper and butter). Also, there is some slight vascularization in my parotid glands, more than it normally is, but nothing to be worried about (as I understood).

She told me that there is a way to test if something is wrong by having a biopsy of the small salivary gland in the lower lip (which is a bit painful). The MRI wouldn't help, as the ultrasound shows a larger image.

She said that due to my raw vegan diet and chewing so much raw veggies, I could have caused the over use of the parotid glands, making them do extra work in producing saliva to chew and digest, so they developed a lot during all this time, ever since I became raw vegan. There is nothing wrong with this, they are ment to work and produce saliva anyway (2 liters of saliva daily, she said), so it's like I started to train them really hard, like a muscle, so they developed more than those of a person with a standard diet.

Another possibility could be to have a congenital particularity, or to have a genetic issue from my family (not necessary my parents, but uncles, aunts, etc.). Or to just be born with a particularity like this - I already have some particularities, so this wouldn't surprise me.

She also said that there is no ultrasound of the parotid glands of a raw vegan that she can compare mine to, as everything that is taught and learned refers to people eating a standard diet.

My menu has been similar, except I started making carrot juice again. I eat the carrot pulp in a different way now, I like mixing it with the juice that remains from my salads (lemon juice left from salads of butter lettuce, cucumbers, fresh dill and the juice of 4 - 5 lemons), and it tastes delicious, like a carrot salad with lemon juice with dill flavour.

Starting today I'm drinking cold tea of bedstraw (1 tablespoon of dried plant for 250 ml water, left overnight covered to brew, then strained and drank the next day - they say 750 ml / day divided in 3 cups, before each meal, but I divide this quantity in 2 cups, as I usually have 2 meals / day). This is a great way to drink medicinal tea, instead of making it traditionally with boiled water, especially for raw vegans, and it preserves the properties too. This plant is great for the immune system and lymph drainage. The tea I'm using is from a great trusty local source as this plant is a local one here and very popular (and I believe the plant is dried naturally and it's also organic). The tea tastes great and it's so soothing, I had my first cup today already. More info here: [www.mariatrebenherbs.com]

Today I'm also starting using a foot spa device (not the ionic one), as my husband's parents have one in the house and I thought it wouldnt hurt. It has bubble massage, vibrations and infrared, it can be used either with warm or cold water.

My hip pain is still huge, I'm still using the heated electric pillow for thermotherapy.

I've been doing a lot of research online about all these issues and I stopped watching Youtube and other relaxing stuff for now, searching just for the issues regarding my health right now.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2016 11:33AM by Ela2013.

Update.

1) Yesterday I had an X-ray for my hips (front and side). The result (as I understand it) shows that I have osteoarthritis in my right hip too. I knew that in time it would become bilateral, but I didn't expect it to happen so soon, after only 3 years. Looks like my disease progresses fast. Also, I have a 14 mm hypertransparent lesion in my right hip bone, my left leg is shorter, the right hip has signs of osteosclerosis, there are micro bone cavities in my left hip. I'm still studying this result, I already sent it to the German doctor who has helped me so far. I also have an appointment with the best hip orthopedic surgeon in my country, who happens to be here in my town. Not planning a surgery, but I want to hear his opinion.

2) Tomorrow I was supposed to have my first appointment at the dentist, but I had to cancel all the appointments because I don't have the money. My husband told me he would give me the money, but now he said he has no money for me, feels like he backed off. Eventually I'll go to the dentist when and if he has the money for this. Meanwhile, I'll try to help my teeth with green juice.

3) Today I got the result of the specific blood tests for autoimmune diseases. As I understand it, there is no indication of an autoimmune disease (I hope I'm not wrong). There are some tests that aren't in the recommended range: the serum Complement C3 is lower; the Immunoglobuline A (IgA) is higher; the CRP is lower; in serum protein electrophoresis, the concentration of the serum protein Alpha 1 is lower (though the percentage of the Alpha 1 is within range); the TSH is higher. All these tests aren't by much out of the range. I have the appointment with the imunology doctor on April 12. I'm also going to study these results.

Other news.

1) I recently planted some dill seeds that I bought, I'm waiting to see if there are any dill sprouts coming out.

2) I now have my own fridge in my room, my personal raw vegan fridge It's the fridge me and my husband bought a long time ago, when living in rented places. I have 2 magnets from London, one with the famous red bus and one with the Buckingham Palace guard and moving snow flakes (my sister gave them to me when she went to London), they are very cute, and I put a fruit and veggie pic on my fridge using these magnets. I'm planning to make a statement (like a vision board style) and put it on my fridge, saying "Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health". So far my fridge is empty and not in use as I only have a lot of Golden apples and 3 lemons in my room, and I didn't buy anything else, knowing that I start my dentist weekly appointments and not knowing what I'll be able to eat, but I guess I'll buy more butter lettuce for juicing and more apples. I'm also thinking of starting a lymphatic cleanse consisting of grapefruit, lemon and orange juice diluted with water, 3 days in a row, nothing else (only citrus in case of hunger). I read about this online, not sure of its effect, never tried it.

3) This week I've been eating mostly veggies, on some days veggies only, as I wanted to have a lot of zoodles before starting the dentist appointments. So I had a lot of my lettuce lemon juice salads, a lot of zoodles, very little or no Golden apples, and 3 large amazingly delicious sweet bananas yesterday evening - my husband bought some bananas, I put them in a bag in the wardrobe to ripen, he considered 3 of them to be too ripe and soft for his taste - yum for me

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

Yesterday I posted my concern about my parotid glands on Dr. Graham's forum. He asked me if I could post photos and my current diet. After telling him my menu, he asked me if I had my tonsils removed. He hasn't seen the photo yet. Then I took a pic of my face and posted it there. Here is the photo of my parotid glands. Excuse the quality / lighting - I took the pic in the bathroom, in the mirror. I hope you can see the parotid glands. The doctors said the left side is more swollen.

Some details I forgot to mention about my ultrasound appointment:

- The ultrasound doctor told me that my parotid glands are connected with my submandibular glands (I understood that they usually aren’t connected).

- I also told her that I have a teeth issue on my right side so I chew almost exclusively on my right side, so she said that could explain why my left parotid gland is more swollen.

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my parotid glands

Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

This morning I realized that you need to join the forum of Dr. Graham in order to see my pic, so maybe you don't want to register just to see it.

So I uploaded it on a free photo sharing website.

Here is the link: my parotid glands

If you click on the pic, it opens it in a separate window. If you click on "view raw image" in the bottom left of the pic's frame, you get a large pic which you can zoom to get an even larger pic.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

Today I had the appointment with the best orthopedic hip surgeon in my country and it went really well. He is such a wonderful doctor and person, he examined me, explained my MRI and X-Ray, and took the time to answer my questions (he even told me to ask him questions). The conclusions are as follows:

- my left hip is very bad, the situation is very serious
- it's a miracle that I don't have such pain that reflects this serious situation (I understood that in my situation I should've had more severe pain)
- the pain I have doesn't justify having surgery
- it's good that I don't make any physical efforts, I'm thin and I'm not in menopause
- I'm not allowed to run, to jump, to carry (I'm allowed to carry 1 kg maximum, but only if it can't be avoided)
- the left hip is in venous stasis (I'm not sure if it's the same with bone avascular necrosis - which is part of my illness)
- the venous stasis causes the alteration of the metabolism (but not hormonal imbalances): the cells aren't nourished, the waste isn't eliminated (it made me think about a possible cause of my lymphatic stagnation / blockage)
- my illness doesn't cause an autoimmune disease but it can appear within an autoimmune disease
- severe vitamin D deficiency influences the bone, but doesn't cause my hip dysplasia
- there is liquid in my hip bone, a portion of my bone is missing, there are holes starting to form in my bone
- sun exposure for vitamin D is a must (vitamin D supplements are useless)
- I'm not allowed to take medication with corticosteroids and steroid antiinflammatory medication because they make my hip dysplasia worse (I wouldn't take these anyway)
- my recent back pain is caused by my hip dysplasia, due to limping (I however almost never limp, I try to walk normally)
- I don't have inflammation of the lower spine (as showed in the lower spine MRI explanation)
- I'm the one deciding when to have surgery, according to the pain I have.

I was very happy that I had this appointment, for my peace of mind, I feel I shouldn't have the surgery, now or ever, as I do hope I won't have to have surgery after all.

It looks like the cause for my swollen lymph nodes could be the alteration of my metabolism caused by the hip illness, like the doctor explained (malnourished cells, waste accumulation).

I also believe that the raw vegan foods are helping me not having the pain the doctor expected me to, given the gravity of my situation.

And, the most important thing, God is the one allowing me to have less pain than expected, I owe it all to Him

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

I just came back from my appointment with the immunology doctor. I say it's good news

- She said that I don't have an autoimmune disease.

- Seeing that my TSH was a bit higher, she mentioned hypothyroidism, but didn't say for sure.

- She said that I may have been overworking my parotid glands by chewing so many raw fruits and veggies.

- Also, she said that I may have certain anomalies like I also have in other areas of my health, like my low production of hormones coming from birth (especially low estrogen), which helped not manifest an autoimmune disease (she mentioned that especially women get autoimmune diseases due to high estrogen levels).

- She recommended salivary biopsy (of the lower lip) to see if there is any accumulation of lymphocytes in my salivary glands - which I don't want as I read it's tricky.

- She also mentioned that could be something, but at the beginning, so that's why I don't have the required symptoms yet (I hope this is not the case).

- Also, she recommended to repeat the specific antibodies after 6 months, to go see an endocrinologist for my hormones, to get tested for HIV (I remember I got tested once in my life, my husband as well, and we were both fine), and to check my parotid glands in time to see if any changes occur.

- She said that the only thing she could do is to give me anti-inflammatory medication, but she doesn't think it would help.

- She said that if I'm not bothered by the swollen parotid glands visually, then do nothing and leave it at that for these 6 months.

- She also said not to drink any tea that stimulates the lymphatic system because it could make things worse and make the parotid glands even more swollen - guys, do you think this can happen, making things worse by drinking tea that stimulates the lymphatic drainage? Do you think I should stop drinking the tea?

- In conclusion, she said that there is no reason / symptom that indicates that I have an autoimmune disease.

I want to do anything I can to help my lymphatic system naturally, so that in 6 months the blood tests won't indicate an autoimmune disease as well.

Btw, I've been working on practicing positive thinking on not having any pain in my hip, and also on not having any autoimmune disease as well, I guess it's working

But God is the only one to help me in my health

So I'm going to celebrate with my massive bowls of zoodles and lettuce salad

P.S. Guys, what do you think / know about lower lip salivary gland biopsy? She mentioned doing it in the hospital and being hospitalized, which I definitely don't want to She said that the biopsy would give her a diagnosis...

Btw, I had to pay for the consultation with her again, this time less money, but still...And when I go again after 6 months, I'll have to pay AGAIN and more money for the consultation, which I don't like and don't want. I'm thinking of finding another immunology doctor where I don't have to pay every time, but this one is really good and I really like her, plus I'm already under her observation...

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

I also told her that I noticed that in the morning the parotid glands are more swollen and towards the evening they get less swollen.
And also that when I massage the parotid glands, they get smaller.

I made an appointment at the endocrinologist she recommended, it's only on November 14, and free of charge

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

Today I went to see my family doctor about all these recent health issues and to give her copies of the medical papers to attach them to my medical file, and also to give me a refferal to cardiology (my cardiology appointment is on Monday morning).

It was a very good meeting, I really like my family doctor, she is very good and communicative. Plus she said she has nothing against vegetarianism (though I mentioned I'm a raw vegan and not just vegetarian, but here some people thing of veganism as vegetarianism).

I told her the medical conclusions of the doctors I went to, and her conclusion was the following:

- she doesn't think I have an autoimmune disease, she said that all these health issues are caused by the fact that my pituitary gland is small from birth and doesn't produce enough hormones (almost my whole life or at least the second half of it I had issues on the hormonal level - lack of menstruation and other hormone related issues).

- she mentioned hypothyroidism too, because of the TSH being slightly higher.

- she also said that my severe vitamin D deficiency is causing all these issues, affecting my bones, causing me the heart arrhythmia; she didn't want to give me a referral to the cardiologist at first, saying that it's no need to and that I should fix the vitamin D deficiency, because the heart arrhytmia and the dizziness that came with it are caused by the severe vitamin D deficiency; but since I already made the appointment with the cardiologist for Monday, she gave me the referral.

- she told me to change my appointment with the endocrinologist to a sooner date, but I'll have to pay for the consultation, because the TSH being higher shows that I need to address this issue now and not in 7 months; so I called the clinic and changed the appointment from November 14 to tomorrow morning, with the same endocrinologist as it's very well prepared and I want to benefit from her knowledge.

- she definitely didn't agree with the biopsy, she said I must not do it, she was totally against it (which I'm so glad about).

- she also said I don't need to have hip surgery, there is no need to (I'm also glad about this).

- she agreed that due to my raw vegan diet and chewing, I might have functional hypertrophy of the parotid glands, overworking the muscle.
- she wants me to take vitamin D2 in olive oil, a product for babies, 1000 IU / day (they are capsules and she recommended opening them and only taking the vitamin with the oil - I don't want to take it though she said it's natural, I need to check the ingredients anyway); I told her I already take D2 as I don't want D3, she said that D2 works as good as D3 (which I liked); I also told her I take 10000 IU / day and not 1000 IU (which is too little anyway). She said to take 2 caps / day (I imagine both caps have 2000 IU).

- she also wants me to take a combination of calcium, zinc, selenium, magnesium and probably something else, I don't remember now, it's a product for osteoporosis, but I don't want to take this either. I told her that I took calcium + vitamin D2 and that in one year it didn't solve my deficiency, my vitamin D was even lower. She said that I need calcium to absorb vitamin D, but I have no calcium deficiency.

- she saw in my blood test report that my urine PH is higher (mine is 8.5 and the accepted maximum limit is 7.4), she said it's normal for vegetarians and that it wouldn't hurt to drink more liquids. Guys, why did she said that I need to drink more liquids as my urine PH is higher than the accepted maximum limit? I thought the higher the urine PH, the better...

So I'm going to the endocrinologist tomorrow and I'll let you know how it goes.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

Today I had my appointment with the endocrinologist. She is such a wonderful person (before going, I asked God that the endocrinologist be a wonderful doctor just like all the other doctors He sent my way).

We talked a lot about all my hormonal and health history, and also about my raw vegan lifestyle. She totally approved the raw vegan diet, she was all for it, she said that looking at me she can say I am a raw vegan - she was like "you eat a lot of carrots" and "the blood tests are good like those of someone eating a lot of grass" She even knew the church I go to and the priests there and my priest, we talked a lot about that too.

She saw my MRI of the brain and said I do have a cyst near the pituitary gland, it's a congenital cyst that isn't active and doesn't need to be removed, but it needs to be checked through MRI. So she recommended an MRI since I haven't done one in like 6 years. So I misunderstood my situation saying I don't have a cyst (my husband also told me I do have a cyst, but it's not active).

She also said I could have functional hypertrophy of the parotid glands due to chewing the raw fruits and veggies.

She told me I also need to get tested every 3 months for my vitamin D level, since I take such high doses, and that taking higher doses could cause heart arrhythmia and vitamin D toxicity. But I think that since I have such severe vitamin D deficiency, toxicity in my case isn't a problem, at least for now, when I should at least up my level to 10 or above. But I'll get tested again as I also read this online.

I don't want to have the brain MRI again as it's not pleasant at all, I kind of have claustrophobic feelings when I'm in there, but I'll pray and think positive thoughts all that time and be fine, like I did in the past MRIs. So next week she will give me a referral to the MRI and complete hormonal and thyroid blood tests, and I should be able to pay less using her referral. If I remember any more details, I'll write them here.

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Raw vegan for life. Vegan for the animals. Raw for my health.

I'm glad your doctors auve been so nice. I hope you're able to improve your health and they find out what the problem is.

I got tested for hypothyroidism but the results came back negative. I have my results and am taking them to a naturopath as soon as I er the money sorted out. Feeling sick sucks.

I don't want to take supplements but I want me body to be healthy enough to get them from my diet. I've sort of started taking the ones my Doctor recommends just because it wasn't helping without and if it helps to get me healthy enough to get it from food it helps.

Just checking up hoping you're well