I only learned how to make flax crackers a couple of months ago (in my excalibur dehydrator), but I am totally addicted. I also put a little Udo's oil in my morning smoothie, which is mostly flax oil plus a tbsp of flaxseed.

A couple of days ago I had a health reading done on myself and came up sensitive to flax - I was told to cut it out, it's not good for me. I'd like to think the whole thing is ridiculous, but every single other thing that came up was completely accurate, so it's hard to doubt.

Anyone know any good substitutes (especially for the flax crackers) - I can't believe I have problems with one of my favorite foods, but I think I should probably cut it out for a month or two and see what happens. I'm sure going to miss it! (I'm also supposed to cut tomatoes, which will also be difficult). I add the oil to my morning smoothie to keep the EFA's in balance - what other oils might be good? I don't want to use fish oils.

Dear Sapphire,

What is a "health reading"?

-Ally

in your yard - wild weed. Do a search. Best plant source of the good Omega's. Free - it grows everywhere. Pull it up and toss it in the blender with the smoothies.

Dear Sapphire,

Another question: What does it mean that you are sensitive to flax? In other words, according to the health reading, what reaction should eating the flax have on your body?

-Ally

hey Sapphire,

If you are eating flax in one form or another every single day then it doesn't surprise me that you are showing a sensitivity. This is the main reason that many of the "new" nutritionists recommend rotating our foods every three or four days. In other words, don't eat the same food twice in a three or four day period. The more often you eat a single food the more likely you will develop an allergy or sensitivity to it.

Craving a particular food btw is a pretty good indication of a sensitivity to it...think sugar for diabetics, alcohol for alcoholics etc.

However, there are plenty people here that eat the same foods day after day, or at least it appears that way. I'm not sure how much you should worry about this "sensitivity". If it were me I'd simply eat flax less often rather than giving it up altogether. But, that's me.

hope this helps,

~Kath

khale Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Craving a particular food btw is a pretty good
> indication of a sensitivity to it...think sugar
> for diabetics, alcohol for alcoholics etc.

I've got to completly disagree with that. Sugar and alcohol are not foods. Personally I think that craving for foods (real natural raw foods) are nutritional requests from the body for that particular food.

Sapphire, did you have a particular problem you went for alergy testing for? If so, cut out all the foods suggested and see if the symptoms go away. If they don't then you know none of the foods were a problem.

If your symptoms do go away, then you know one of the foods you cut out was causing the problem. Then you can re-introduce each food one at a time and see if your symptoms come back.

I eat some of the same foods every day while they are in season, usually several months at a time, and don't develop sensitivities to them. Actually, before I was raw I had loads of supposed "alergies" all of which went away when I went raw.

Rob

--
Rob Hull - Funky Raw
My blog: [www.rawrob.com]

you could try hemp seeds

Thanks for all the input - the tests I underwent were Quantum Biofeedback. I had this done a couple of years ago, and in was uncanny how accurately it diagnosed everything I could think of about my health at that time, so I decided to do it again.

As for sensitivities, I haven't been having allergy symptoms per se, but I do have a bunch of health issues, the biggest of which was being diagnosed and treated for breast cancer in 2002 at the age of 40. I never got my energy back up to where it should be since the end of my chemotherapy in 2003, and I am trying to do whatever I can to address this constant fatigue. At the time I was diagnosed, I was a cooked vegetarian, non smoker, no family history, and thought I was in pretty good health (going to the gym, maintaining about the right body weight and so on.) Flax and flax oil keep coming up as a wonderful addition to the diet for someone like me (see: Johanna Budwig), so I try to incorporate it frequently.

One thing I have a hard time with - my big junk food thing that I slip up on from time to time is potato chips (I know, they are soooooo bad!), but those nice crunchy flax crackers seemed to be a perfect substitute! Haven't touched a chip since I started making those! (Even though I try to be raw as much as possible, I have four teen-aged kids, and there are all kinds of food in this house, healthy or otherwise, and the temptations can be big sometimes).

I am finding alternative therapies are really the way to go. For example, one of the side effects of the drugs I have to take is lack of sleep - my doctor immediately offered to prescribe me an anti-depressant. My naturopath did much better, and while I still have a lot of trouble sleeping in hot weather, the improvements are drastic. I just can't see how antidepressants would have helped me, and I have learned the hard way that every drug in the world has some kind of side effect - if you take em, you better be prepared for any kind of unexpected surprises!

When you have a serious disease like this, and can't find any reason for it, it's really hard sometimes to know the best direction for health decisions. The hardest part for me was that I really believed I was following a healthy lifestyle - much more so than many other family members, and yet, they are all still healthy to this day, while I am not. Some of the friends I made when I went through this are already dead, or dying, some even younger than me. I'd like to believe raw food will make a big difference, but you never know - time will tell. If I could just get myself to a place that I am not tired all the time, I am sure I would feel so much more positive about things.

Dear Sapphire,

Sounds like you've had a pretty hard time of it recently.

Hope you're feeling lots better real soon!

Best wishes, -Ally

> Craving a particular food btw is a pretty good
> indication of a sensitivity to it...think sugar
> for diabetics, alcohol for alcoholics etc.

Funky Rob wrote:

"I've got to completly disagree with that. Sugar and alcohol are not foods. Personally I think that craving for foods (real natural raw foods) are nutritional requests from the body for that particular food."

"Craving" as such is not a "nutritional request" Rob. I agree that our bodies will naturally gravitate through desire and attraction to the foods it needs, especially as we become more clean and balanced. But "craving" by definition is more a compulsion than a healthy desire. It's subtle, very much like the difference between pseudo-hunger and true-hunger, which many here have learned to recognize.

Sugar as a common craving for diabetics, or alcohol as a craving for the alcoholic was stated in an effort to address a principle, ie, that the body/mind will often CRAVE precisely what is worse for it and will often actually feel better as a result of satisfying the craving. My mother is a diabetic and a sugar junkie. She will literally crave sugar both physically and mentally and will noticeably calm in both body and mind when she eats it. Does this mean that she needs sugar? Of course not. It's absolutely the worse thing for her. As another and less obvious example I have a friend that CRAVES labni (pasteurized goats milk yoghurt) and swears up and down that her body just loves it and that therefore it is good for her. But she is constantly battling yeast infections, habitual clearing of the throat, and sinusitis and bloating. Is it the labni? hmmmm. The fact that she craves it, according to the principle I've stated, theres a good chance that it is (or just dairy in general).

Both sugar and alcohol enter the body through the mouth, enter the digestive system and are eliminated by the eliminative organs of the body. To say that these substances are not foods is to belabor the point. We all know that these are not nutritious foods, but a great many people use them as food or drink nevertheless, and in any good text on nutrition, ie food and its affect on the health and growth of the body, you are going to find sugar and alcohol discussed. (sugar and alcohol are basically the same poison)

thanks for the discussion Rob,

~Kathleen

Hi Sapphire! My hat's off to you! It's got to be hard to do the healthy thing with all those teenagers and their teenager foods around! I have never understood the "crunchy thing" but I have it too. Potato chips have always been my biggest weakness. And - they are one of the most unhealthy foods in the world!!! I'm sorry to hear about your flax dilema. One of the ways I satisfy my crunch craving is to soak and dehydrate pumpkin seeds. Seeds and nuts get crunchier after soaking and dehydrating. Plus they are sprouted at that point and the nutrition is increased. Also, you can sprout buckwheat groats and then dehydrate them. Or sprout them and then use them in crackers. They don't have quite the same crispy crunch as flax, but it might help you with the crunch craving.

You can use Nama Shoyu, lemon juice and cumin to make a marinade for seeds, nuts or buckwheat. After sprouting, soak them in the marinade and then dehydrate. I'm not sure it's the healthiest thing - pretty salty, but it keeps me away from my husbands bag o chips!!!! I sometimes mix some un-marinated nuts or seeds in with the marinated ones - to reduce the salt level.


One of the biggest problems in our society is that the "powers that be" like to keep us all confused about health issues. The China Study has removed a lot of the confusion. Many vegetarians increase their dairy consumption and are still getting so much ANIMAL PROTEIN that they don't see their efforts translate into increased health. imho - we have to cut out all animal protein. Hang in there, and good luck with your health and your "crunch thing".

Life Is Good!

alive!

PS. Maybe you might want to try starting out your day by making a gratitude list! It helps so much to keep things in perspective. Think about all the people around the planet that have life so much harder than we do in the USA.

I can understand that a lack of energy can make for a less positive attitude. By being grateful for all the abundance in your life, you might be able to increase and cultivate an attitude of gratitude and maybe even see your energy increase and your sleep improve. Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying that you're not grateful. It's just that we sometimes need to discipline our minds to FOCUS on what we're grateful for and not on "what's wrong now". Follow me?

Anyway - taking the time to actually sit down and WRITE out what you're grateful for and allow yourself a little time to actually FEEL it can do wonders for your day-life-happiness-energy. And here's the deal - you can't get by on yesterday's gratitude. You have to renew it each day to get the benefits. It's not that we're slow learners - it's that we're quick forgetters!!!! And then get out there and pass some JOY around!

Life Is Good! My prayers go with you!

alive!

Wow - well, I think the point that because I am eating it too frequently might have something to do with it coming up as a sensitivity is a really great point - thanks Kath! I will go off it altogether, and then maybe I will discover that it is something I can have, just not constantly like I've been doing.

The craving stuff is really interesting also. I think that there are good cravings, but there are also bad ones. For nearly a year before I was diagnosed with cancer (and I must have had it for some time, because it was fairly advanced by the time we found it) - I craved sugar off the charts. My kids thought they had gone to heaven, there was always so much candy around the house, and while I thought it was a little strange to want candy so much, I never thought it was anything quite so serious. I have since spoken to a couple of naturopaths who feel that sugar feeds cancer, which would make a lot of sense. I no longer have those cravings, thank goodness! Lesson for me, is that any kind of unusual craving may very well be an alarm to pay attention to!
My oldest daughter "craves" soda pop all the time, except when she drinks lots of water. Then the cravings go away. I think it is easy to misinterperet a craving like that - she's simply thirsty.

I love the idea of eating more nuts and seeds, and using the dehydrator on them, haven't tried that yet. I have to be sneaky with my nuts and seeds - I bought a $19.00 bag of almonds one day, and a couple of days later when I went looking for them, the kids had polished them off. They can also inhale a grocery bag of organic fruit in seconds. I am thrilled that my kids love healthy food so much, but it sure can get expensive! I just have to learn to set aside a little bit for myself.

I'll have to see if I can find out what purslane is and whether I have any around here - would love to discover a food that is totally healthy and free as well!

Thanks again for all the ideas!

Sapphire



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/2006 04:58PM by Sapphire.

Correction on my last previous post: Alcohol does not digest like other substances that we ingest (being careful not to call it food here). It actually gets absorbed into the blood stream by way of osmosis and then goes directly to the brain.

~Kathleen

What a wonderful response from you, "Alive!"! Your thoughts are so beautiful.

I think I might have made things sound different that they really are in my previous posting. I am actually very good at the gratitude thing. I have four wonderful kids, and every moment I get to spend with them is a treasure to me. I still think my husband is wonderful after 21 years of marriage, and that is yet another of my special treasures. I could write pages about how lucky I am.

The part of me that can't get positive as I would like is the part that fears my cancer. When they cut me, and took away my breast (it was filled with cancer), and my lymph nodes (they were also filled with cancer), I learned some very scary stuff. When it spreads that much, it tends to just keep spreading. The consequences were not nice. I had to have the most aggressive chemotherapy and other treatments they could think of, and even then, there is a very big chance of recurrence. The fact that I am still "ok" four years later is a big surprise. If I just wasn't so tired all the time, I might even begin to believe I really, actually am ok. And even if I could put my mind at rest, I still have to stay vigilant in watching for the tiniest little symptoms.

For any ladies reading this - I never had a lump (well I did, but even when my doctor showed me where it was, I couldn't feel it). I got a little dimple that didn't belong there. I didn't even think it was anything to worry about. It was! So don't think it is just about lumps - question any abnormality, no matter how harmless it might seem - it could save your life. For any men reading this - if you ever notice anything like that on your partner, tell her to get it checked RIGHT AWAY!

So I don't have any problems sleeping because I am stressed or negative or anything. It's just that the tamoxifen that I have to take every day to try to keep the cancer away causes me to have symptoms similar to hot flushes - except way more severely. It wakes me up many times over the course of a night, and makes me so uncomfortable that I just can't fall asleep again. That's why I can't believe that anti-depressants would do anything for me. The doctor is just looking for a reasonably harmless drug that may have a side effect of sleepiness. The hot weather makes things really hard on me. And losing sleep every single night is likely a huge contributor to my constant fatigue.

I don't know if being raw will make a huge difference - hope it will, but I seem to slip up a lot - too many temptations around here. Hopefully, I can do better in September once everyone is back in school and my days are a bit quieter.

Hi Sapphire! I'm glad to read your response and find out that you have all that gratitude going on. It is such a powerful principle.

Do you attend any kind of support group? I have found that being in a support group can be a VERY helpful and loving thing to do for yourself. Being with like minded people that you can relate with can work wonders. You might find yourself being helped or maybe the next moment you're helping someone else. Kind of like feeding each other. Sometimes just talking about things (maybe things that you have little or no control over) brings it up and out and then you can release it and go on.

Also, I love this "raw lifestyle" so much because I find that I have positive visualizations automatically. I can see my healthy green food literally picking up toxins and whisking them out of my body. I can see the healthy fruits and veggies working like a snow plow - pushing toxins out of my system, etc. I can see my insides as healthy and vibrant and clean. If you can practice that kind of visuals on a daily basis (even if you need to get someone to guide you through them at first) you will probably find that you begin to believe it. Than you might start to feel like you can afford to relax a bit. Some things just take some repetition for a little while.

Thank you for your concern and for your advice to all of us concerning the "dimple versus the lump". I didn't know that.

Keep us posted and please take care, time, effort, for yourself. We Moms sometimes have a way of neglecting ourselves in favor of our families. Do everything you can for yourself. Would it really HURT anyone if you were to get rid of all the junk food in the house? Would it be asking too much of anyone when you have so much to gain by eating healthy raw foods? Is it selfish for you to take the best care that you know how of yourself so that you can be around for them? Just some thoughts. You're worth it, ya know?

OK - I'm off the soapbox. I hope I didn't offend.

I hope you sleep well tonight!

Life Is Good!

alive!

Good thoughts, "Alive".

Unfortunately, I have found that the cancer support groups aren't really the best thing for me, at least not at this time. The only times I attended were shortly after I was diagnosed, when I was still having a lot of trouble wrapping my head around the whole idea that this could actually happen to me, and worse yet, all the chemotherapy stuff I was going to have to endure, etc, etc.

Turned out, at the meetings, were a lot of women who had not only gotten through this, but many of whom had gone on to develop other medical problems, or to have the cancer spread, and were dealing with problems a hundred times more scary than my own. I just wasn't in a place to be able to look at that possibility - one step at a time!

I recently joined both a yoga group and a fitness club, so I am trying to direct as much of my free time as possible in those directions. I would really love to join the dragon boat team, but I just can't fit the time committment in right now, but maybe next year - I have met many of the ladies there, and I like them a lot! I am sure it would do me a lot of good to spend time with others like me.

The day I posted my last entry, I later learned that a dear friend of mine had died of breast cancer. She had it shortly after me, and was 45 years old. She left a husband and two teenaged kids. An absolutely wonderful and well-loved lady, it is just so sad. It spread first to her liver, then her brain. Our kids used to go to school together. Funny, even when you know this will happen, it is still a big shock when it does!

You are so right about the mom thing. Now that my kids are in their teens, I am just starting to be able to do some of my own stuff again. Taking a yoga class is a huge deal after so many years of doing nothing myself, but signing everyone else in the family for swimming, gymnastics, soccer, piano, singing, etc, etc - now it's going to be MY turn to do a few things I want to do! (I also took roller-blading lessons last month, but I'm not good!) I'd also like to build a big vegetable garden before summer ends, but things are pretty busy here, that might take longer than planned.

Hope you are having a lovely summer!

Sappire

Hi there,

I must agree with Alive...growing sprouts is very easy if you're a busy person, all yuu have to do is remember to rinse them once in the morning and again in the evening before sleeping. Since less than a minute to do...I tend to mix bowls of sprouts when growing them, eg, adzuki, mung and lentil grow at about the same rate and look nice...I tend to blend them in the food processor and eat them in a smoothie.

Adding Dr Richard Schulze's Superfood to the blend is good as well, keeps your blood sugar stable. The sprouts make a good source of protein and are very cheap to obtain. The SproutPeople have lots of info on sprouts and if you're in the States, you'll be able to get them at a good price. I'm in the UK, but still buy my sprouts every 2 months for just £14. And that's at least 7 types of sprouteable beans, lentils, seeds I'm buying.

They are very energy giving as well...

Hope it goes well for you...

Star241

Sapphire Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
[snip]
>I never got my energy back up to
> where it should be since the end of my
> chemotherapy in 2003,...

[snip]
....one of the side effects
> of the drugs I have to take is lack of sleep -

[snip]

If I could just
> get myself to a place that I am not tired all the
> time,

Sapphire, if you're not sleeping, look no further for the source of the fatigue. Having 4 teenagers would do it for me, too.

There could also be a large emotional component to health issues. I'm a Life Coach and one tool I use constantly with clients is the Sedona Method. You can learn it from a book, "The Sedona Method". The short description is it shows you how to let go of unwanted emotions on the spot. But it's more than that. It lets you release even the subtle feelings and energies that structure experience, including the experience of fatigue and illness. I have had really amazing results with clients letting go of symptoms of kidney stones, Rheumatoid arthritis, MS, back pain, and more I can't think of off the top of my head. I've met others who felt it helped them get rid of cancer (they also did chemo, etc). It is absolutely not a replacement for medical care, and doesn't diagnose, cure, or treat disease. But it gives you tools to clean up the emotional/mental component and that can be huge.

I hope this helps. Feel free to email me off the board if you want.