Hi All~
I'm new to the forum. A little about me: I live in the beautiful North Carolina mountains. I'm 47 and a mom to 3 sons and 1 granddaughter. I have a small dog and 2 cats. 3 1/2 years ago, I was diagnosed with Mesenteric/Portal Vein Thrombosis. It's basically just blood clots mostly blocking the pathways to my organs. It causes excruciating pain and has caused all matters of problems. My doctor said she knew someone one time that had 1 blood clot but she had never heard of anyone with several like I do. One of problems the diagnosis has caused is, because of the lack of blood supply to my stomach, my stomach acids never really calm down and my stomach is basically one big ulcer. So after a food/beverage combo reaches a certain volume in my stomach then I feel like I'm going to throw up, and it doesn't take much. I basically just eat very slowly and hope for the best. So, this situation has caused me to literally make every bite count nutrition wise because I can (and have) easily become malnourished.

The reason for this big story is because I've chose to focus on nuts and seeds for the bulk of my nutrients. However, I have been all over the internet for over a month trying to find answers to these questions and I did find an article on this site, unfortunately it's really old, so I don't know how accurate it is.
Here are my questions:
Out of all the nuts and seeds, I've picked almonds, pecans, black walnuts, sunflower kernels and pumpkin seeds to focus on. I know because of how peanuts are grown and because of all the mold issues that it's very important to buy organic peanuts and peanut butter. I know because of how sweet potatoes are grown, buying organic sweet potatoes isn't really necessary. I do believe however, if I had all the money in the world that I would buy everything that's available organic even sweet potatoes. So, I'm trying to find someone (that's unbiased) that knows the growing processes of these nuts and seeds that I'm looking at, that can tell me if paying $20 a lb for almonds is worth it. I've talked to so many companies and of course they're all biased. So, can anyone help me?
Thank you all for reading my story : )

Given your condition and preferences for nuts and seeds, I think it would be a very good idea to focus more on walnuts and chia/hemp/flax seeds for multiple reasons; 1.) omega-3's reduce blood clotting and 2.) it'll be much easier to maintain a healthy omega fatty acid ratio. This doesn't mean you have to give up other varieties of nuts and seeds, just try to make omega-3 rich nuts and seeds the staple.

Also, have you tried juicing? Sprouts, wheatgrass, cucumbers, carrots, kale, etc. This is a very effective way at getting high amounts of bioavailable nutrients without exerting much digestive effort. Coconut water is also a great source of nutrition.

Outside of omega-3's, curcumin (turmeric extract), astaxanthin, ashwagandha, and garlic should help reduce blood clotting. Staying hydrated and drinking lots of clean water is also very beneficial.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/24/2015 02:04AM by jtprindl.

Hi Donna. My sister in law has that blood clot problem and is on an extraordinarily expensive blood thinner (65K a year as I recall). She only has a small portion of her stomach left as she had most of it remove when it became cancerous. She has trouble keeping things down, too. She eats a SAD diet and will never ever change. She has, though, listened enough to start drinking juices which is probably what you would do well on, too, at least until you can get cleaned up inside.

I am on a very high fat diet myself but I take plenty of blood thinning herbs and spices which help out immensely. You won't be able to do that. I don't know why you've settled on nuts and seeds. To me it's much easier to digest some of those but always with plenty of stone ground raw oils from nuts and seeds which also helps to keep the nuts and seeds from gumming up the works.

You really need the help of a good live food nutritionist, IMO, as you can't afford too many big mistakes. (We all make them.) Please be very careful and find experienced qualified local help. I'll have you in my prayers.

Hi Donna,

Here is my File Preview from my file on Blood Clots preceded by my Recap of my File Preview...

JR’s Recap of File Preview...Garlic, Onion, Ginger, Cayenne, Pineapple, Neem, Bilberry, Vitamin C, Anthocyanins, Trans-resveratrol, Lycopene, an aspirin like substance in the yellow jelly around tomato seeds and Enzymes prevents and dissolves blood clots.

...File Preview...
• The onion contains the compound adenosine, which prevents blood clots from forming, and also dissolving those formed.
• Ginger prevents blood clots from forming, also destroys clots already formed.
• Cayenne prevents clot formation, while destroying clots that are present.
• Cayenne reduces the risk of blood clots when it thins the blood.
• Garlic prevents blood clotting, lessening the chances of blocked circulation and heart attack or stroke. (Blood clots also tend to “catch” on plaque, contributing to its growth.)
• Cayenne—Prevents Blood Clots ...cayenne pepper is able to break down blood clots.
• ...bilberry lessens blood clotting.
• It (red pepper) cuts cholesterol levels and reduces the risk of the internal blood clots that trigger heart attacks,
• Garlic also has important cardiovascular benefits, including lowering blood pressure levels, thinning the blood, and reducing platelet aggregations that cause blood clots.
• Vitamin C helps to prevent blood clots and fatty deposits in the arteries.
• In most cases a blood clot has formed in the neighborhood of an atheroscierotic deposit.
• It (cayenne) even dissolves clots...
• Neem compounds can reduce blood clotting which often close blood vessels and cause heart attacks.
• Many naturopaths and chiropractors use enzyme- containing medicines for many innovative functions including: cleaning wounds, allergic reactions, removing blood clots.
• There are a number of medical conditions in which prevention of excessive clotting within the body is desirable. Blood clots within the heart, arteries and veins can lead to heart attacks, strokes and phlebitis. One of the drugs used to prevent clot formation is a blood thinner called warfarin (trade name Coumadin). Warfarin interferes with the formation of prothrombin in the liver.
• ...if too much vitamin K is eaten, it interferes with the action of warfarin, thus lowering the P.T. and making the blood more likely to clot.
• While taking anticoagulant medications, it is not necessary to avoid vitamin K-containing foods altogether. Just keep consumption of vitamin K fairly consistent, rather than consuming a lot one day and very little the next. This will allow the medication to work and keep blood clotting function consistent.
• Pineapple aids digestion and helps to dissolve blood clots...
• Also, an aspirin like substance in the yellow jelly around tomato seeds helps thwart blood clots, according to Scottish research. The amount in only four tomatoes reduced clot-provoking blood stickiness by a surprising 72%.
• Raw tomatoes are lower in lycopene but still may be good at combatting blood clots.
• It is the trans-resveratrol (a flavonoid) content of red wine, rather than the alcohol content, that has been shown to reduce the tendency of blood clots to form.
• Garlic is known to decrease the tendency of blood clots to form, significantly lower blood cholesterol levels and decrease the risk of cancer at different sites.
• Aside from blueberries' ability to assist in the destruction of free radicals, further studies indicate that anthocyanins discourage blood clots from forming, warding off heart attack.
• ...most cancer patients get thrombolysis (blood clots that cause heart attacks), and most thrombolysis patients get cancer. He suspected that the common connection might be enzymes. On testing their blood, he found both patient groups to be lacking in three important enzymes. Recently researchers found that two of those enzymes destroy blood clots and the other creates macrophages which break down fibrin.
• ...conducted similar tests of patients who had problems with blood clots. 93% of the patients significantly improved after enzyme treatments.
• Dr. Ernst Freund noted that most tumor patients get thrombolysis (blood clots that cause heart attacks) and most thrombolysis patients get abnormal growths. He suspected the common denominator was enzyme deficiency. Upon further testing, he found that indeed, patients lacked three important blood enzymes whose role is to dissolve these dangerous clots. Upon administering the missing enzymes, he found the clots could be dissolved.
...End of File Preview...

Sometimes I wonder how many naive people get taken in by these "file previews" and contact the email of business seeking poster, who has absolutely no qualifications, to become a client/disciple. Hopefully people are smarter than that.

<<<contact the email of business seeking poster, who has absolutely no qualifications, to become a client/disciple.>>>

PSYCHO-SUE is at it again!!!

I don't come here to get business, unlike some people, otherwise, I would not be so vocal about some of my views. If you don't believe me, ask Tai. In the 15 years that I have been posting here, I have only sold 2 videos and I did so under protest. Unlike almost everyone else in the Raw Food Community, I do NOT want to work with people who already know about Raw Food - I WANT TO WAKE UP THOSE WHO DO NOT KNOW ABOUT RAW FOOD and that's why I come here to use you guys as a sounding board.

Unlike you sue, I actually care about people and I LOVE to share what I have learned. That's what people do on the Hero's Journey - we share our knowledge, but you would NOT understand that because you are obviously an Internet Shill and you have an OBVIOUS AGENDA!!!

John Rose Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> <<>>
>
> PSYCHO-SUE is at it again!!!
>
> I don't come here to get business, unlike some
> people, otherwise, I would not be so vocal about
> some of my views. If you don't believe me, ask
> Tai. In the 15 years that I have been posting
> here, I have only sold 2 videos and I did so under
> protest. Unlike almost everyone else in the Raw
> Food Community, I do NOT want to work with people
> who already know about Raw Food - I WANT TO WAKE
> UP THOSE WHO DO NOT KNOW ABOUT RAW FOOD and that's
> why I come here to use you guys as a sounding
> board.
>
> Unlike you sue, I actually care about people and I
> LOVE to share what I have learned. That's what
> people do on the Hero's Journey - we share our
> knowledge, but you would NOT understand that
> because you are obviously an Internet Shill and
> you have an OBVIOUS AGENDA!!!


So are you one of those guys who drums up business by hanging out in health food stores and produce departments at grocery stores like those guys used to do before the internet or what?

You have absolutely no qualifications to help someone with as severe a health problem as Donna has yet you dispense other researcher's accumulated info which, should ill people try to use on themselves, could very likely leave them in a much worse state than they are when they asked for help in the first place.


You really have no room to saying anyone else has an agenda when you have more of those than anyone else here.

I think John Rose's file preview is helpful and extremely kind. He did not have to take the time to do that.
John Rose wrote:
"Many naturopaths and chiropractors use enzyme- containing medicines for many innovative functions including: cleaning wounds, allergic reactions, removing blood clots. "

His preview lists some good things to sit down with a naturopath or someone similar to discuss. It gives her something to look into. Plus he lists simple raw foods that might help.

I honestly don't have time to write a lengthy post about this matter. All my info is in books. I can't cut and paste like John did.

I have helped people with blood clots and I have seen a lot of success with a combo of diet, herbs and acupuncture. I don't give out generic info, when it comes to potent herbal medicine. But I do highly recommend herbal medicine. I am not sure if she is even looking for help in that arena, but John gave some pretty innocent but useful info.

Donna wrote:
if paying $20 a lb for almonds is worth it. I've talked to so many companies and of course they're all biased.

Tai:
There is this one almond farm that is not yet organic but has been free of chemicals for 5 years. They sell a 25 lb bag for like $150 or so, maybe $170, not sure. My one organic fruit farmer sells their almonds for $7-$8/lb depending on how much you buy. Trader Joe's sometimes sells organic raw almonds for $8/lb. Lou Corona has a connection for truly Raw organic almonds. Something like $40 for 5 pounds. I recommend to keep looking. The only time I saw organic raw almonds for that price was in sprouted almond butter.

Check out Lou corona on youtube and see how he makes nut yogurt to make it more digestible. I am not recommending or endorsing your nut and seed diet, because I don't know anything about you, but Lou has helped people who were unable to digest nuts before to be able to do so. I do agree with SueZ to find someone local to work with. I would go to someone with a history of curing your problem and adhering to the diet they recommend.

First allow me to thank everyone that took the time to read my story and reply. I've attempted to sort the replies in the order they were posted and reply to them in a way (hopefully) that's easy to read : )


@jtprindl

Given your condition and preferences for nuts and seeds, I think it would be a very good idea to focus more on walnuts and chia/hemp/flax seeds for multiple reasons; 1.) omega-3's reduce blood clotting and 2.) it'll be much easier to maintain a healthy omega fatty acid ratio. This doesn't mean you have to give up other varieties of nuts and seeds, just try to make omega-3 rich nuts and seeds the staple.

I do eat a lot of chia and flax seeds, of all the nuts, my favorite is black walnuts. The thing with the blood clots is, they are not going away, they believe I could have even been born with them, they have been there so long, they are now tissue, my body is creating new pathways around the clots and after the initial diagnosis and a few months of various blood thinners, they figured out there was no need for me to even be on blood thinners.



Also, have you tried juicing? Sprouts, wheatgrass, cucumbers, carrots, kale, etc. This is a very effective way at getting high amounts of bioavailable nutrients without exerting much digestive effort. Coconut water is also a great source of nutrition.

I do actually but it's not juicing, it's smoothies, pineapple juice is my base and I add pineapples, carrots, celery, coconut, chia seeds and flax, sesame oil and coconut oil and because I have hypothyroidism I have researched the herbs and spices that help with that and I put those in too. Because I live in the woods, it's so far to a store, I have to focus on fruits and veggies that freeze well for my smoothies. For example, I love cucumbers but they don't freeze well.



Outside of omega-3's, curcumin (turmeric extract), astaxanthin, ashwagandha, and garlic should help reduce blood clotting. Staying hydrated and drinking lots of clean water is also very beneficial.

Turmeric is one of the spices in my smoothie. I have a spring that's gravity water, but my plumbing is copper, so would you know (or anyone on the forum) if a filtered water pitcher would help filter out what ever it is that the copper is leaching out. Also, I drink coffee for some of my antioxidants, would you (or anyone on the forum) know a good fair trade organic coffee. I've never bought fair trade organic coffee so I don't even know where to begin.






@SueZ

Hi Donna. My sister in law has that blood clot problem and is on an extraordinarily expensive blood thinner (65K a year as I recall). She only has a small portion of her stomach left as she had most of it remove when it became cancerous. She has trouble keeping things down, too. She eats a SAD diet and will never ever change. She has, though, listened enough to start drinking juices which is probably what you would do well on, too, at least until you can get cleaned up inside.

I would love to be able to find someone with my same diagnosis and pick their brain to learn what they've done that helped and didn't help. I've never met anyone that has the same thing, I know people get blood clots like, my husband broke his ankle a few years ago and got one in his calf, like that for example that get blood clots as a result of something else. I was a healthy person and just started having awful pain one day. I love pineapple juice, I drink a lot of pineapple juice.



I am on a very high fat diet myself but I take plenty of blood thinning herbs and spices which help out immensely. You won't be able to do that. I don't know why you've settled on nuts and seeds. To me it's much easier to digest some of those but always with plenty of stone ground raw oils from nuts and seeds which also helps to keep the nuts and seeds from gumming up the works.

I'm sorry I wasn't clear, nuts and seeds is not my whole diet, I have smoothies that have 5 or 6 fruits and vegetables and at least 10 herbs and spices, I eat a lot of tomatoes. I like all nuts and seeds but I'm not settling on the ones I named, the reason I was inquirying about the ones I named is because of all the nuts and seeds, almonds, black walnuts, sunflower kernels, pumpkin seeds and pecans are my favorite. I'm not settling because because if money were no problem, and I could buy whatever I wanted to eat, it would be those 5 nuts and seeds, and if I could get all the nutrients I need from those, I wouldn't eat anything else. I must have been a bird in a former life, lol : ) I do put sesame oil in my smoothies and sometimes sunflower oil if I'm running low on sesame oil.



You really need the help of a good live food nutritionist, IMO, as you can't afford too many big mistakes. (We all make them.) Please be very careful and find experienced qualified local help. I'll have you in my prayers.

Yes, I agree, I do. I do have and amazing doctor though so I'm good there. I agree, I can't afford too many big mistakes, that's why I'm not asking medical questions on an internet forum. I'm asking if anyone has any experience or knowledge about nuts, seeds and pesticides, because I can't afford to get cancer from pesticides on the nuts and seeds I prefer. Thank you for having me in your prayers : )





@John Rose

Thank you for all of that information on food. Since my diagnosis, researching food is what I do more than anything else, so I've learned soooo much about nutrition and which foods/herbs/spices help which organ/ailment. Fortunately, I don't have to be on blood thinners, unfortunately they can't dissolve them or break them up with a laser or anything.
It's just going to take time for my body to create sufficient pathways to my organs before the pain is going to ease up.
In my over 3 years of research, I've learned, if possible, we should eat everything organic, it's really easy to find out if a non-organic fruit or vegetable is ok to eat because of how it's grown or if cleaned properly or whatever. It is impossible to find out if eating non-organic nuts and seeds is ok, all of them are grown differently, the only thing I've been able to find out for sure is, it's ok to eat non-organic nuts and seeds as long as you don't eat them every day, well guess what, I do eat them every day, because I love them.
If I could find out just about one of the ones I'm inquiring about then I could eat more of that one. It would just really make me mad if, after all I've been through, that I got cancer from chemicals on nuts and seeds. It would be different if I were eating processed food and not paying any attention to what I'm putting in my body, then a cancer diagnosis wouldn't be surprising.







@Tai

There is this one almond farm that is not yet organic but has been free of chemicals for 5 years. They sell a 25 lb bag for like $150 or so, maybe $170, not sure. My one organic fruit farmer sells their almonds for $7-$8/lb depending on how much you buy. Trader Joe's sometimes sells organic raw almonds for $8/lb. Lou Corona has a connection for truly Raw organic almonds. Something like $40 for 5 pounds. I recommend to keep looking. The only time I saw organic raw almonds for that price was in sprouted almond butter.

Gosh, I love almonds but it would take me years to eat 25 lbs of almonds : ) I have to do the bulk of my shopping online, I guess I can see if Trader Joe's has a website. There's only 1 grocery store in my town and it's an hour and a 1/2 to civilization and I don't drive. Fortunately, my local grocery store does pretty good keeping organic fruits and veggies so I can stock up (a little, I don't have a deep freezer) on a couple of lbs of organic celery and organic carrots and such for my smoothies. So, maybe Lou Corona can answer my original questions? Does he have a website?



Check out Lou corona on youtube and see how he makes nut yogurt to make it more digestible. I am not recommending or endorsing your nut and seed diet, because I don't know anything about you, but Lou has helped people who were unable to digest nuts before to be able to do so. I do agree with SueZ to find someone local to work with. I would go to someone with a history of curing your problem and adhering to the diet they recommend.

Like I said to SueZ ^^^ nuts and seeds are not all I eat. There's a reason I've chosen the foods I have for my smoothies, they are ones that 1) are easy to find organic and are affordable organic 2) are loaded with nutrients and I enjoy them
that's the criteria I used to decide which nuts and seeds to focus on. For example, if one of the nuts and seeds that I enjoy the most (my top 5) turns out that because of the pesticides and/or organic price causes me more harm than good, then I'll simply cut waaaay back on that one.
The problem with finding someone local or otherwise is I've never been able to find anyone that has what I have or anyone that has cured what I have.

Hi Donna,

This is where I get most of my nuts and seeds. I am on the Conductivity Diet and this is the company Tavis recommended for Brazil nuts - which have plenty of protective selenium in them. I haven't ever had a problem ordering from them.

I don't want anything to do with California almonds so I get these from Spain.

[www.tierrafarm.com]

Almonds have to be from Spain or Italy. Do not believe your COOP when they tell you Oregon or California Almonds sprout. They do not. They just puff up. That is what they call sprouting. But it will not grow into a tree. Or you can just give up trying to explain this to your coop, and order on eBay. I do. TRULY RAW ALMONDS.

Cashews. Have to say hand shelled on the package for them to be raw. I order these online from sunfood.

Hemp seeds, buy from EARTH CIRCLE ORGANICS order online. Buy in bulk so it is cheaper.

Everything else I say you can eat at organic supermarkets like brazil nuts, sesame seeds for milk, walnuts and pecans...