Happy birthday to me! I turn 52 years young today and I have been dealing with Type 1 Diabetes for about 5 years now.

I have tried the raw vegan/living foods diet before several times and the longest I have made it is about 6 weeks. My blood sugars still go up and I still have to use insulin, but I feel better (emotionally, physically, and spiritually) and need less insulin.

My latest inspiration is Matt Monarch, as I have listened to (rawveganradio.com) and read (Jinjee and Storm's newsletter on their Paradigm website) a couple of interviews with him. Then I went to hear him talk in Charlotte, NC (3 hour drive for me but well worth it) and now I am reading his book called Raw Spirit. He and Dr. Bisci say if you are going to do the raw diet that you need to stick with it as going back and forth is very bad for us physically. They use an analogy about arsenic, saying how if we ate a tablespoon of arsenic right now we would drop dead but if we started with a few drops and slowly increased it we could, after a few years, eat a tablespoon and survive. I guess that is one reason the Hallelujah Diet is good, because they include a little cooked food everyday for those that cannot stick with a raw food diet.

But, my body does best on 100% raw food so I am trying again. I am going to include green juices and smoothies and colonics (yuk, I know) this time. These are also inspirations from Matt Monarch and they match up with what I learned from Dr. Joel Robbins when I earned a Naturopathic certificate from him years ago. You put the good stuff in, in the most absorbable way for your body, but then this causes your body to dump toxins as it heals and you have to get those toxins out (thus colonics) or else they recirculate in your body and create horrible cravings. I have a colema board at home with legs (no chair required) that makes the colonics as convenient as possible. I have had several professional colonics also in the past, which I recommend to any newcomers considering this.

I made my kids some fresh squeezed orange juice this morning and had a little bit myself also (with a little frozen banana, raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries - all frozen - in my K-tec blender). Yum! Then I tried to get a green juice at the local Java Jive (most don't do veggie juices, but this one does) before work but it was too early and they hadn't started them yet. I will try to get one tonight. Maybe I will drive over there during lunch and get a juice, we'll see.

The cravings have always been my downfall in the past, but supposedly the colonics will help with that. So I will keep this journal and post my raw food journey. Wish me luck!

hi karen! great that you are giving it another go. happy birthday! raw foods life style is one of the best gifts you can give yourself. i see you are a carolina girl! i used to live in charlotte. i loved it loved it loved it. i live in ireland now. i really miss the weather there. my parents still live there now. we are from bulgaria originally, and have lived all over the place due to my dad's job, but i will always think of myself as a carolina girl, best in the world!

good luck to you. i hope this helps with your diabetes. i dont have any experience with that but i am sure someone on this forum will.

love and luck

Thanks, pihourova, I appreciate the encouragement.

So, you are a carolina girl, cool! I love NC. We've lived here a little over 6 years now and it is awesome - the beaches, the mountains, the great universities, etc. But, I really consider myself an Oklahoma girl since that is where I grew up. Loved it too. Lots of lakes, rolling hills, wide open spaces.

I hope you love Ireland now too! Sounds like you still get to visit Charlotte though since your parents still live there, so that's good.

Yes, I would love to hear from anyone with experience with Type 1 Diabetes. 95% of diabetics are Type 2 and the same things do not work with both. I am not insulin insensitive, I just (big just!) don't produce any insulin due to an Epstein Barr virus.

So far, so good. I had a shot of wheatgrass and a green juice for lunch and no hunger pains or cravings - yet.

I had a really high blood sugar this morning because of the cooked food over the weekend. But I just checked and it is 98 - woo hoo! I did have to take insulin for my juice, but just a couple of units. I feel good!!

woo. i had no idea epstein barr virus could affect insulin. wow. it can cause organ failure, so i guess it makes sense.

ireland is okay. i have lived in much worse places.

good that you have not had any cravings yet. i did not have any either when i first went raw. i am 2 months in now and i have cravings at night.

glad you are feeling good. i know you are on your way to health!

I was told by a chiropractor and an MD that the Epstein Barr virus caused the diabetes. We had just moved to NC, the kids were not adjusting well, I was looking for a job, not getting enough sleep, craving sweets and eating them and I remember finding swollen lymph nodes behind my ears. So, I think my immune system was too compromised to fight off the EB virus and it was suppressed by my body (our body's first goal is survival, right?) so I still have that virus at chronic levels. Actually, blood tests showed I had two variants of the virus but I did eventually eliminate one of them - with juicing, etc. I have met two other adults that say they got Type 1 from a virus as an adult also. I met one other person that got it from taking antibiotics for her acne as a kid for years (at least that is what the doctors deduce). She is also celiac - gluten intolerant.

Pihourova, how are you handling the cravings and what is helping you through them?

More on my raw food journey: I got hungry yesterday afternoon and had a yummy peach. Then I ate some almonds and macadamia nuts that I cracked myself - just 5 each. Macadamia nuts are hard to crack - I have to put them in a sack, take them out to the garage, and hit them with a hammer. But yummy!

Then I had tomatoes and celery with some raw olive dip I got from David Wolfe's website awhile back. Very good!

I thought about eating something later, but then I realized I wasn't really and truly hungry so I went to bed. I had to take a few units of insulin with my food and took my 11 units of 24 hour insulin also.

I woke up with a 102 blood sugar. Whoopee! That is so awesome. My body is saying thank you already for switching back to raw foods. I had my fruit slushie/smoothie again and took 3 units of insulin for it. Got hungry in the mid afternoon and ate half of a banana. My bs was 154 - still pretty darn good and took one unit for the banana.

I think I will have a salad from the salad at work for lunch today and get a green juice after work. So far so good.

My stomach is gurgling today some, so with the 4th of July holiday being tomorrow I think I will celebrate my freedom from cooked foods and do a colonic to get rid of the toxins I'm sure my body is dumping. Don't worry, I will not post the details about my colonic. ;-)

very interesting, about eb. knock on wood, i have never had it.

sounds like you are doing really well so far. your bs is lower than mine and i am not even diabetic. mine stays between 110-120. i have a bs monitor. at one time i thought i might have had problems with bs. but was told 120 was normal by a friend. is that true? i wonder now after reading your post.

i want to order stuff from DW's website so bad, but the customs tax is ridiculous!

i bet it would be difficult to stay raw over the 4th. all the beer and french fries.

i have never done a colonic. i want to but i can not seem to work up the courage. lol!

as far as dealing with cravings, well when i first started i just tried to keep busy and think of something else till it went away. that worked really well. then i went through a stage where i would just give in. but i quickly realized that this was not working for me because if i give in 1 night, then the next night the urge to cheat would be even stronger. and i would give in again. till i was at a point where i was raw all day and then at night i would eat ice cream and chocalate.

now, i know that giving in to cravings and cheating does not work for me. for some people this helps as they do not feel so restricted. but i need restriction or its a free for all!! lol! so basically, i just deal with it. i fill up on different types of melons through out the day. i might eat an entire watermelon between lunch and dinner. this helps immensely for some reason. more so than any other type of fruit! i keep telling myself that if i give in, it only makes me crave it more and if i dont give in then it gets easier and easier.

keep up the great work and the great attitude. i look forward to reading about your progress and watching your spirit grow!

Hey there welcome to the forum and congrats on going raw again!@!! happy belated birthday.......i have type 1 diabetes as well....all type 1 diabetes is usually from an illness and your body's immune system shutting down the pancreas d/t the disease...so don't worry..everyone in our boat has gotten it from some illness....and there are some born with type 1 and that is caused by an attack of the mother's immune system while in the womb........you are doing really well...that is awesome!! congrats on keeping your bs down and keeping up with raw.....i am still taking insulin and i have been doing 100% raw since January 24th....but i feel better so that is what counts for me!!!!

oh hey btw the 120 bs is normal the range is 70-120.....when you get past that you are in prediabetic range.....and below that you are hypoglycemic......most people will range in the 90's though....but it is looked at as normal now ...at least that is what we were taught in nursing school and in the hospitals......

well take care hun and good luck
love earthangel
xoxoxoxo

Much peace and love!!!
EarthAngel
Xoxo

The official normal range for blood sugar is 70 - 120 and being Type 1 I am very happy when my numbers fall within that range or even stay under 200 post meals.

I definitely don't want to worry you, pihourova. If you feel good and your doctor says everything is good, then don't worry about your blood sugars. But I did want to also point out that Dr. Mercola is of the opinion that blood sugars should be under 100 [www.mercola.com], especially the fasting bs. Is your fasting bs in the morning (after eating an early supper) still between 110 - 120?

Yeah, we are invited to a neighbor's house for the 4th. I will probably just eat a few veggies, socialize, and leave fairly early. I'll do the colonic first to get rid of any cravings that might develop.

I know what you mean too, I am an all or nothing type of person too. I used to think, oh just one cookie - I can get right back to raw. Nope. Then it was cheating all the time. I can definitely relate. I have to be 100% raw to stick with it.

Thanks for the encouragement. I definitely need it as my family eats pizza, taco bell, macaroni & cheese, etc. I fix a bowl of fruit and sometimes juice for the kids in the morning and they eat a nice salad at night - but other than that it is mostly white flour and dairy. But dad likes that stuff too so everyone has to follow their own path. My 14 yr old daughter has been vegetarian for 5 years and she has tried the raw food diet a couple of times and couldn't stick with it. I admire her for trying but she just doesn't like enough of a variety of raw foods to be able to stick with it long term.

Earthangel, a fellow Type 1, nice to know. The raw diet definitely helps me feel better too. Have you been able to reduce the amount of insulin that you take?

More on the raw food journey:

My eyes are a little blurry today. That happens sometimes when I switch to raw food. It is like my body is busy healing them and then they eventually become crystal clear again. I had Lasik about 9 years ago and I used to have 20/6,000 and 20/10,000 vision (very, very bad) along with astigmatism. Now I have between 20/20 and 20/40 vision. I was drinking carrot juice a lot when I had the Lasik done, so I think that helped as my scar tissue totally disappeared the eye doctor said.

A very green salad with no dressing at lunch plus 4 strawberries for a treat. My bs was 188 so I took 3 units. Now I have eaten the salad and I can feel my bs crashing. So I better sign off now and hurry up and eat those strawberries!

good morning and happy birthday usa!! i know you can do it, karen! just keep looking at the faces of those people stuffing themselves with hotdogs. and then remember earthangel's sweet face!! that will keep you motivated.

i think my bs might have been that high because i usually take it late in the day. i will try to remember to take it when i wake up. what do you guys think?

i love carrot juice. i have always had good vision but since being raw, i can see much better. i have even heard of a girl who began to see auras once she went raw. amazing.

love and luck to you!

Well, I felt bad that I didn't eat hardly anything at the neighborhood 4th of July cookout. I had some fruit and one slice of tomatoe, that might have been drenched with a non-raw dressing. All the salads were cooked and they had ribs from the grill. I never liked ribs that much anyway, so no temptation there. I just felt bad because they cooked a lot of ribs and one family didn't show up that they were expecting and they weren't being eaten much.

Yes, an early morning bs is more informative - after an early supper and before breakfast.

Do you still drink carrot juice? I've kind of gotten away from it because of the work of cleaning the juicer and because I have to take more insulin for it. Cool, I would love to start seeing auras!

On the 4th I woke up early with a low bs of 64, so I ate a banana and went back to bed.

I had a frozen fruit smoothie before I went to the cookout. And then had a huge salad later and some almonds. The salad was a little romaine lettuce (I eat the inner leaves left from the bunch that the kids don't like), yellow bell pepper, parsley, celery, yellow tomato, raw olives, sunflower & pumpkin seeds, and then half and half tahini/water dressing. I had to put it in a huge bowl because I made so much, but I ate every bit and loved it. Oh, and then I had blackberries for dessert. Still had to take about 5 units of insulin and I struggled with my bs going over 200 all day. Probably because I ate fruit without take insulin at the cookout. But, hey, when I am eating junk food - I sometimes struggle with my bs going over 300 or 400 during the day.

I did not get around to doing a colonic. I have poison ivy (first time in my life!) and I kept treating that all day long. It is driving me crazy. I wish the raw food diet would heal that. ;-) I will do a colonic this weekend.

This morning I woke up with a bs of 84 -- Woo Hoo!! I wasn't hungry for breakfast and my bs was still 91 at 11:00 -- yea!

congrats on your bs! i am really proud of you. you are doing great so far. especially at the bbq. even if you were not tempted by the food i can see how you would feel bad that they made alot of food that did not get eatten.

maybe next time you could try to bring something that is gourmet raw for everyone to try.


do you find that you get less pressure than say someone like me to eat what everyone else is eatting? i mean, due to having diabetes. people are always trying so hard to get me to eat what they eat. when i say no, its like they think i am anorexic or on a diet. that is the funniest one ever for me. they always say, "you dont need to diet!" so funny. when i say i am not on diet they look so confused. like "why would you eat healthy if you are not on a diet?" so funny.

but do you, personally, have much experience with this? or do you find that since you are diabetic you can just say that its due to diabetes and they leave you alone? i am just curious.

yes, i still drink carrot juice all the time. and yes, it is as mess! lol. but its worth it for me. lately, however i have been addicted to watermelon juice.

sorry you got poison ivy. and the first time as well. wow. i guess you have been lucky. i got it alot as a kid. i have not had that in a long time. we used pee and poo in the woods as kids and use leaves to wipe. lol. my parents were always so concerned that we make sure we did not use poison ivy or poison oak leaves!! can you imagine? that makes me laugh.

Btw, this forum is keeping me so motivated! I just know this time I will stick with this wonderful diet for life! The only tough thing on the near horizon is a visit with the family in Oklahoma in August. Oh well, they are pretty used to me being weird. I have juiced, etc. at their house before. ;-)

Thanks, I am pretty happy with my bs numbers too. Hopefully, my A1c number will be much better at my next visit with my endocrinologist in October. She wouldn't like this diet for me because she thinks Type 1s need starches for energy. But with trying her approach I was not improving and she said she was kind of out of ideas on how to help me. So, I am going to prove that a raw vegan diet is a better approach!

That is a good idea about bringing something raw to share. But he asked us not to bring anything and there was so-o-o much food. Also, I am not much of a gourmet raw cook yet. I really expected more raw salads, but that's okay. It was so nice of him to invite us. Poor guy ended up getting sick, he stayed in the lower bathroom for over a half hour (I was dying to go in and treat my poison ivy is why I noticed), and then went to lay down. Maybe some raw food would help him, I don't know.

Well, you know, I didn't bring up my diabetes at the cookout - maybe I should have. When the host's girlfriend tried to get me to eat some ribs, I just said I was vegetarian right now. The diabetes is not usually a good excuse to not eat meat. But, you're right, I have used it for avoiding starches when out socially. I say things like I would have to fight my blood sugar all day if I ate that - so true too.

It's funny but also sad, isn't it? Like the only reason to eat healthy is to lose weight. Hmmm, maybe if we said we've been having some health problems and have had to change what we eat. In my case, that would be true. :-)

I hear some people juice the watermelon rind too. Do you do that? I've given up on watermelon for me, it made my bs go sky hi last time I tried it.

Yeah, I thought I wasn't allergic to poison ivy (15 to 30% or people aren't) since I hiked and camped a lot when I was younger. Either I was just lucky before now or I think I really rubbed it into my skin by weeding the yard and holding it in my hand to dispose of later. Whoa, leaf wiping - how funny! That would not be fun to have poison ivy down there! :-)

no, i dont use the rind or the seeds. i have heard its good for you but i have to draw the line somewhere. i think its gross. this forum is great for staying motivated. you get so much support from such great people. its the only forum i ever joined. most people here are really positive cool people. like me

yes, its hard to convince some doctors that what they recommended does not work as well as what you are doing yourself. keep me posted on those numbers. you are doing amazingly!

i used to be a dental hygienist in the usa. i worked only with periodontal disease at a specialist pratice. me and the doctor would be baffled at times by patients that told us they had not followed any of our recommendations yet they had found some other routine or rememdy that worked for them and were able to mainitain there gingival health after surgeries we performed or root planning. strange how what works for some does not work for others. the human body is still such a mystery to us.

i have already eatten 2 whole watermelons today! lol! this is becoming a mono diet for me. i have gone melon crazy!

love to you karen!

Dr. Robbins always said not to juice what you wouldn't normally eat, so he would agree with you that juicing the rinds and seeds is gross (and I agree too). I tried including the pineapple rind one time when I juiced a pineapple a long time ago because some guru recommended it, and it WAS gross! ;-)

You are so right, the human body is such a mystery. Dr. Robbins used to say our body is smarter than we can ever be (or something like that). Dental Hygienist, huh? Interesting! I bet it was sad to see the state of some people's teeth and gums though.

You are doing a great detox there with the watermelon mono diet! Good for you!!

love to you pilhourova!

More on my raw food journey:

I forgot to mention that my vision cleared up the very next day (things happen like that and you don't notice it, you kind of take it for granted I guess). Yesterday I got a green juice with a tiny bit of carrot juice at that Java Jive on the way home from work. That dash of carrot juice sure helped the taste. :-)

I drank it up while running my errands. Then I cracked a few almonds and macadamia nuts when I got home and ate them. I didn't take insulin for the juice and insulin and turns out I should have. My bs jumped up to 276 and I had to give myself 2 units to bring it down and another 2 units to cover my salad.

This time I made a tahini, raw olive tampenaude, and water dressing. Yummy.

Then I was craving something sweet so I ate 3 frozen lychee fruits. I peeled them by hand and ate the white creamy fruit around the pit. Reminds me of ice cream, only better. Whenever I see lychee at Whole Foods I buy some and freeze them since I don't see them very often. I don't think they are usually organic and they are from China. But, hey, it is better for me than ice cream!

Oh, I discovered this great new raw food guy and website. He has a video on his website at [www.markusrothkranz.com] that is very inspiring to watch!

My bs was 129 this morning. Yeah me! ;-) I had a yummy frozen fruit smoothie for breakfast and took 3 units to cover it.

very motivating video. thanks for posting that. the guy is a little bit over the top though. made me laugh a little. but very motivating all the same. it just makes so much sense.

i want to taste a lychee.

yay you! way to go on your bs. how long are u raw now?

I am one week raw, this time, today! Thanks for the encouragement, camille. I saw your name on another posting, is it okay to use it? My father's name was Camile and so is my daughter's middle name. Love that name!

Yeah, I thought it was funny. He's kind of like a rock star but he is promoting raw foods instead of singing, so he is a raw star I guess. It is nice to see the message getting spread around though.

My body really wanted to dump some toxins. So Friday night I did a colonic using my colema board. A little bit of a hassle, but I felt much better afterwards and made room for more toxins to be dumped this week!

My poison ivy got so bad that I finally went to the health care center at work on Friday and got a prescription for Prednisone and an antihistamine. My very first time to take prednisone, but I am desperate from the lack of sleep from the itching. The Nurse Practitioner said the antihistamine would knock me out for 6 hours. No such luck! I still wake up after 4 hours scratching and then I can't take another antihistamine for 2 more hours. So, I am still tired but I can see that the poison ivy is starting to abate. I am going to a new holistic doctor tomorrow, so I will see if she has anything new to suggest for the poison ivy.

The bad thing about the Prednisone is that one side effect is that it can send your blood sugar up, and it definitely does that. I can't seem to get my bs below 200 no matter what I do. I have to take 2 units of insulin for every tiny pill I take and still I can't get my bs levels normal. Oh well, it is only for one week and if I was still eating cooked food it would be even worse I know.

I was so tired and frustrated with the poison ivy and expecting to get knocked out by the antihistamine, so I used my backup plan for raw foods for part of the time this weekend. I read in this one exercise book that you should have the perfect exercise plan but then you should also have a backup exercise plan for when everything goes crazy in your life. This doctor said so many people would say "I was doing great until..." - so she has them design a backup plan for those times. I think we need the same thing for raw diets - for those times we just don't feel like cutting up a salad or making a smoothie.

My backup plan is raw olives and raw food bars -- not great, I know. But as Matt and Dr. Bisci say, it is what we don't eat that heals us - so it is better than getting a pizza or something. I ate my backup plan for one meal each on Saturday and Sunday - it was a nice treat. Then I ate fruit, nuts, and salads also.

So far so good!

I'm still going up and down on the blood sugars due to the prednisone, but I will be done with it in a few more days - thank goodness. The poison ivy is healing and I think that is what is itching now, the healing and flaking of skin. I can see the end in sight though, so that's good.

Okay, yesterday I had a frozen fruit smoothie for breakfast (so yummy!) and then later half of a banana to take with the prednisone. Then for lunch I went to the Java Jive that juices and got a shot of wheatgrass, a green juice with some beet and ginger & ground up brazil nuts in it, and a green smoothie for later. I drank the green smoothie on the way home and took the kiddos to the gym at work to workout - the first time in a long time. My daughter was so happy. She said she had forgotten how much she loved it! My son was neutral but didn't seem to mind it too much. I think he does get tired of playing W.O.W. all day (well, not all day. We do make him do chores and go outside each day) - even though he wouldn't admit it.

Last night I had a huge salad for supper with everything in it - romaine, celery, cucumber, parsley, olives, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, alfalfa sprouts, sprouted lentils, tomatoe - topped with tahini, black olive tampenaude, and water dressing. Yum! Then I had a few frozen lychees for dessert.

It is 11:00am now and so far I have had 1/2 a banana and then an apple to eat with my medicine. I woke up with 123 bs - best in a long time with the medicine and all! Then I guess I took too much insulin (2 units per pill and 1 unit for the banana) and I crashed to 57 without even realizing it. The weird thing is that I didn't sweat this time - which I always do when I crash. I thought it was high and it was lo. So then I ate the apple and took the medicine without any insulin. So now I will probably go too high. Oh well. It is a constant juggling act. :-)

I am going to a new holistic doctor this afternoon. I am hopeful she will have some new ideas.

Well, that new holistic doctor was nice and wants to run a lot of tests on me. She emphasizes preventive medicine, which is good. I am most interested in the Spectracell test which will show all my vitamin levels - including Vitamin D which is in the news a lot lately as being a big problem for everybody. The only thing that I was a little disappointed in is that she wasn't interested in my diet, it wasn't on the questionnaire anywhere and she didn't ask. Oh well, at least that way if she doesn't agree with the raw vegan diet we won't have to disagree about it.

So far so good on the living foods eating. I may have sort of cheated a little bit two nights ago. That Java Jive had a new fruit smoothie with almond milk, coconut, pineapple, etc - all natural and organic but the almond milk probably wasn't raw. It tasted great but then I had trouble sleeping that night, so I think that was a one time treat.

I talked to the owner of the Java Jive a few days ago, the one who looks great and I am guessing she is in her 60s and taking no medication because she follows Joel Fuhrmann's eating plan and juices a lot, about the 80/10/10 diet. She thought it was a little backwards and that veggies should predominate in the diet instead of fruit. That was interesting.

Still sticking to the veggies, fruits, and nuts. Last night my daughter had a sleepover guest, so I got them the requested junk food and a green juice with beet, raw olives, and a raw bar for me. I wanted to be able to stay out of the kitchen as much as possible because they wanted the family room to themselves all night, so no salad making.

I think my complexion might be rosier and my skin looking a little younger. I could be imagining it, but it seems that way to me. ;-)

I sounds like you are doing real great. You are an inspiration to me. I juice the watermellon rind. The rind has the most nutrients in it. I would suggest only a organic mellon though.
pam

That's interesting, pampam. I was curious if anyone included the watermelon rind when they juiced. Have you ever included the rind with any other fruits - like pineapple?

Just 2 more days of taking the prednisone for my poison ivy and the higher resulting blood sugars. I've gained a few pounds because of the increased insulin I've had to take, but I'm not worrying about it. They should go away once I am done with the prednisone and reduce the insulin I am taking.

But at least this morning's bs was good -- 123! Woo-hoo!

I moved to a new job at the beginning of June and my new work group is very nice. One of the women is the 'social director' and once a month she plans for the group to go out to eat together, at someplace other than the work cafeteria. That's the only thing about the living foods diet is trying to eat out socially with people. Most places you can get a salad, but there are a few places where you just can't get a raw meal. The first time we went to a Lebanese restaurant, so I planned ahead of time and thought I had a meal all picked out but they couldn't hold the meat. So, finally, I got a salad without the meat (just lettuce and drenched with a vinagrette) - very boring and not really raw since I forgot to say hold the dressing. And by the time it was all over, everybody knew about my weird eating habits. ;-) I did blame it on the diabetes, but I know it still seems weird because people know other diabetics who don't eat this way... Now, they are talking about going out for Mexican. We'll see how it works out this month...

I had a salad at work today, I am starting to enjoy them without any dressing (which is about the only way to do it and stay raw when I am eating with someone at the cafeteria at work). Then I got an orange cranberry smoothie at that Java Jive after work.

No bigtime cravings, yet... ;-)

I don't juice the rind of any other things but I like the watermellon because it has so many nutrients in it. Watermellon rind is high in protien and vitamons and minerals. It is a good cleanser for the urinary tract, kidneys and is an aid in flushing out uric acid. When I juice the rind I make sure it is an organic watermellon and I mix some red in with the rind and it comes out not to sweet but it seems to satisfy me in hot weather.
Keep up the good work and you will be rewarded with a healthy body.
Pam

of course you can use my name! i dont mind. thats so cool that your dad and daughter have the same name as me. are you french?

sorry i dont have much time to write. i am actually in greece at the moment. i just wanted to check in on you and see how things were going!

love

camille

pampam, thanks for that information on juicing organic watermelons. Sounds good! I may have to try it someday.

camille, my dad was from Louisiana, which has a lot of french descendants, but we are not french ourselves. But then I went and married someone from up north of french descent. So, my daughter has a french first, last, and middle name - funny how it worked out.

Hope the raw food is yummy in greece!!

Today I had lunch again, 3 days in a row, with someone I met in class at work that I have really hit it off with. We have so many weird little things in common! Like she didn't believe in lying to her kids about Santa Claus either. ;-) Turns out she also had an allergy to wheat when she was little and now she eats it but she feels better when she doesn't. So, as a result, I think she understands that I don't eat wheat. We plan on meeting for lunch again. She works just one floor above me, so should be convenient.

I ate too many nuts today in class but I did stay raw so yeah me. I think I will cut back on the nuts or start soaking them. I have to take insulin when I eat them without soaking them, so that's not good.

Anyway, I picked up another green/beet juice tonight for supper but I'm not hungry for it yet so it may wait until tomorrow. I also have a leftover cherry/banana/frozen fruit/raw chocolate smoothie waiting for me that I am not hungry for yet. I drank half of it last night and it sure was good.

I know this isn't great to talk about, but I had a bigger than usual bm last night that felt like a good detox. I will probably do a colonic this weekend too. I am feeling proud of myself and more level on my emotions. Anger has been coming up sometimes, but overall I feel happier and lighter.

I drank that green beet juice after all last night AND ate the left over cherry/frozen fruit/raw chocolate smoothie. I think I accidentally came up with a good recipe for raw pudding. The smoothie hardened up in the frig overnight and was just like a pudding - and it was very yummy! I pitted a bunch of cherries and put it in my K-tec blender and added a frozen banana, 5 frozen strawberries, 10 frozen blueberries, 10 frozen rasperberries, and 1 scoop of raw chocolate powder and blended it all up. I drank half of it right away but the other half turned into a pudding over night in the frig. I bought some more cherries to try this again in a few days.

I had a massage this morning and it felt so good! I am so lucky my health insurance pays for part of my massages and I have been going weekly for a couple of months now and my neck and back just feel great now. She did reflexology on my feet and I was still tender in the small intestines and pancreas areas, but I think it is because I am detoxing. We'll see if those areas get less tender as I continue on the raw food diet.

Then I went to Whole Foods and was intrigued by some new types of produce and splurged so I could experience some new taste sensations. I bought something weird looking called fiddleback fern (just got a little bit for 50 cents) that I thought I would try on a salad. It reminded me of the wild food foraging event I went to a couple of months back, where we ate things like Kudzu leaves. But they surprised me and deep fried a lot of the food. ;-)

Anyway, I also bought a lemon cucumber and some mini colorful bell peppers that looked yummy. I hope they taste as good as they look.

I am feeling good and in control. I feel so out of control when I am eating cooked food - this is so much better and you wish everyone could experience this.

Oh, I forgot, I think my pudding recipe also included 1/2 c of water.

I felt the need for a colonic yesterday and did one. It felt good but now my stomach is gurgling for some reason. Of course, it could be gurgling because of what I ate, not the colonic. I ate a big salad with many veggies and a tahini dressing kind of late last night. I'm not hungry, so that's not why my stomach is gurgling but I hope it settles down before I go to work tomorrow - the noise could be a little embarassing around others.

Other than that salad, I ate a few macadamia nuts, half of a banana, and a mango yesterday. I bought a bunch of strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries yesterday and froze them for future smoothies for when I am craving something sweet.

No intense cravings so far. Supposedly, the colonics will help to keep that from happening but they usually don't hit me really hard until after 3 or 4 weeks.

My bs this morning was 150. Not high enough to have to take any insulin but not a fantastic number either. It's probably because I ate too much too late the night before. Oh well, it's still better than waking up with a 300 bs like I do sometimes when I am eating cooked food.

Ok, with my gurgling stomach or intestines yesterday, I found once I ate something it gurgled less and eventually not at all. I wasn't really hungry but I ate a few macadamia nuts and it's like it gave them something to chew on. ;-) Maybe my intestines were just too clean from the colonic.

I weighed myself this morning and I have not only lost the couple pounds I gained while taking prednisone, but I also lost 3 more! Weight loss wasn't a big goal for me with the raw diet, but I do feel better with those few pounds off. My jeans are fitting better and there is no fat hanging over the tops of my jeans.

My bs was in the 100s all day yesterday, that is so awesome for me! I went to bed with an 89 bs and woke up a little low with a 65. I ate half of a banana to bring it up.

I am feeling happier and lighter inside. There is one thing I've noticed lately - that I am watching way too much TV. It's like I am using TV as a replacement crutch for cooked food - particularly sweets. But I've decided not to worry about it right now. I was thinking - eat raw foods for 1 year and then work on reducing the TV watching. One addiction at a time.

Got my usual salad at work and strawberries for dessert. I am hoping to take the kiddos to workout tonight.

You sound like you are doing real well. I also got some baby peppers, They looked so yummey and cuit. Do you think your diebetes is getting better with eating just raw foods? Wheat grass juice has a lot of sugar in it and I am not sure if a diabetic can drink it or not. In fact I don't know how to answer questions for diebetics concerning eating raw. Are there any books that help people who are diabetic? I'll catch you later got to go
pam

I remember what I was going to say now........ When I was smoking I used the smoking like you use the t.v. watching. Sounds like you are becomeing aware of things a lot. I have noticed that with me also. Its kind of weird and handy. Its like we have an instinct for what we really need and by eating raw foods we are becoming aware of how we feel a certain way. I am not sure if I am making myself clear or not. You mentioned you were raw before? For how long? Keep up the good work and your body will reward you
pam

Those baby peppers are good - yellow, orange, and red. I haven't eaten the lemon cucumber or fiddleback ferns yet, hopefully tonight. I bought some pluots last night at Trader Joe's. I've never tried those before either. It's fun to experiment.

I don't expect the raw food to cure my diabetes, but I expect it to help and it has already. My blood sugars are easier to control without any grains. I found that when I eat grains (even say brown rice) I have to take a lot of insulin, and then no matter how much I take there is a rebound effect later where I have to take more insulin to counteract the grains hours later. I know Sergei of the Raw Family cured his Type 1 Diabetes, but thankfully he had not started on insulin. His mom has also that the diet along didn't cure him, she also credits sunshine and jogging when his bs went high.

Yeah, I may not grow wheatgrass. I do buy a small shot of it occasionally at that one Java Jive and then follow it with a green juice and it doesn't seem to affect my bs too much on those occasions. I have read a variety of books and get a Diabetesincontrol email newsletter, but they recommend a high protein diet which doesn't work for me. I have to take insulin when I eat meat too. So, I am kind of trying this on my own. In fact, my endocrinologist was very much against a raw vegan diet but I tried her approach and last time I went to see her she said she couldn't think of much else to help me. So I am helping myself and I will see if she is impressed with the results on my next visit!

I agree, the raw food makes you more aware of your other addictions and changes you need to make. The longest I made it in the past on raw food was 6 weeks, when the cravings would finally get to me. I think this forum and the colonics will be the ticket this time. Matt said the colonics really help with the cravings.

I woke up this morning with a low bs for the second day in a row. So, based on what my endocrinologist has taught me I am going to reduce my 24 hour insulin by 1 unit tonight to 10 units. She also taught me that my body will take up to 3 days to adjust to this new dosage, so I am not going to worry about it if I have high bs for a few days. Woo hoo - I am excited to reduce my 24 hr insulin by another unit. I think it is because I am at an all time low of weight since I became diabetic. I always have to reduce it when I lose a few pounds.

I forgot to reduce my 24 hour insulin by one unit last night, because I do it so automatically nowadays. So then I crashed again this morning with a low bs. I put a yellow sticky on my insulin pen case to remind myself tonight.

I tried the lemon cucumber last night in my salad. It tasted good but not much different than a regular cucumber.

Tonight is Taco Bell night for the family, which I have to pick up on the way home. I think I will stop at Whole Foods and get me some raw olives so I won't be too jealous of what they are eating.

My daughter and I went to workout last night and hopefully we are going again tonight. I am starting slow and just doing the stationery bike and the treadmill while I watch TV and wear headsets. I like to watch Law & Order reruns. Once again, I am addicted to TV but oh well for now.

I read that even organic vegetables are contaminated with antibiotics because they use manure for fertilizer. A friend and I are trying to find someone local who could teach us how to forage in the wild. We went to an wild foraging event a few hours away one time, but you can't learn it in a couple of hours unfortunately.