Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Phew. It's Been a While

I haven't written much in a while as I've been in a very long transition cycle. It seemed futile to write if I didn't have anything of value to say. I'm still not sure if anything I have to say is worthwhile, but it does help me to sort things out if I write them down.

Many moons ago I attempted a raw vegan with my son's family to help him overcome his stage 4 brain tumor. I knew through inspiration it was the right thing to do, but I was not successful in sustaining it as a lifestyle. I won't go into the reasons (i.e. excuses) as they really aren't relevant. I do feel, however, that some of my reasons for failure are important even though at the time I did not understand them completely.

I am beginning to think I have some kind of learning disability. I read something, and my brain translates it into something completely different than was intended by the author. When someone points out to me where my logic was flawed, I can re-read the original document and realize that I didn't understand it's intended message. Is that retarded or what? (No offense to those who cannot read and comprehend what they read.) It's not that I don't comprehend; I simply comprehend it differently than it is intended. Well, I guess I should look into that.

As we traveled on our raw vegan journey, we were led to a young man eating lettuce in a farmers' market in Miami. We asked him if he was a raw vegan, and he proceeded to tell us about a high carbohydrate raw vegan (HCRV) program that recommended keeping the daily fat ratio to under 10% while eating plenty of high carbohydrate raw, whole, fresh, ripe, and hopefully organic plant foods. We bought the book he recommended by Dr. Doug Graham, 80/10/10, and proceeded to read it that very day.

This was a much different program than the initial program we learned which was calorie restricted (due to the fact that the majority of the foods are greens and sprouts which are extremely low calorie). It is not intended that this program be high fat, but in practice, everyone that ate the high green diet soaked their salads in salad dressings, avocados, and olives, all high fat foods. I never did a breakdown, but because the salads were so low calorie, the fat percent had to have been in the 50% or higher range. It's just a matter of working the numbers. (I love numbers!)

As we attempted to implement the high carbohydrate raw vegan lifestyle, I misinterpreted a few things and thus was not successful. 1) I assumed I could not live on just high carbohydrate foods and thought I would need some fat each day (an avocado, oil for salad dressing, olives) to "get the food down". 2) I did not comprehend how much high carb foods would be needed and drastically underate. 3) I thought more greens were needed than is actually the case.

I was searching for something that was sustainable, and neither of these 2 plans were it. We ate a high fat raw vegan diet for sometime (about 2 years), and I personally lost quite a bit of weight along with the other members of our family. Obviously this was not sustainable either, or I would still be doing it. I felt totally miserable and like a failure. Needless to say, I gained all of the weight back (plus a few extra for good measure). While I went through a binge phase, I eventually settled down to a standard American diet minus most of the convenience foods and eating out.

Unfortunately, the weight kept piling on, and I became more and more miserable as the pounds added up, not necessarily from being overweight, but because of what my body was going through. At this age (I'm now 61), my body simply could not manage the extra pounds as well as it did when I was younger. I started praying for some help to know what I should do. I had images of my family having to take care of me because I could no longer move. Sure I would die prematurely, I envisioned the mortician trying to stuff me into a coffin. Talk about a vision board!

Anyway, my prayers were answered in an interesting way. I was going through my e-mails on Sunday night (3/22/15) discarding 98% of them. One that I usually either filed or discarded caught my eye, and I decided to read it. It was a newsletter from Dr. Doug Graham, and they routinely do an interview with a successful HCRV. This time it was for a 55 year old woman named Diane who had lost over 100 pounds and had maintained this lifestyle for several years. I was intrigued. Most of the people on this lifestyle don't have decades of abuse and addiction to deal with, so I had always thought my age was a factor in my failures. I decided to read her interview. She invited anyone who would like to talk to her to contact her via Facebook, and I did that very night.

She wisely pointed out that nothing I had done so far was sustainable as I was not thriving nor healthy. She pointed out the things I had misinterpreted about the HCRV lifestyle and suggested a couple of websites I could check out including 30 bananas a day. What was interesting about that is that I had been to that website earlier this year and even bought the e-book, but I had not really investigated it assuming I could not be successful at it.

Well, to make a really long story a little shorter, I started my 30 day high carbohydrate raw vegan challenge on Tuesday, a week ago (3/24/15). I didn't intend to actually start the 30 day challenge; I was only practicing for the "real" one to start tomorrow, 1 April, It went so well that I decided to keep it going as long as I could, and here I am starting my second week. No one would be more surprised at this than I am. I have learned so much, and still have so much more to learn.

The main thing I have learned in this week is that I have been undernourished my entire life. I am still struggling with getting as many carbs as I need each day and am doing a little better each day. I can't wait to see what the results will bring.

Benefits so far, you ask? Already the swelling in my feet and legs has started to subside. My clothes are a little looser. (I won't be weighing.) I have serious digestive issues and must be very careful with my combining as per the chart above. This doesn't affect the young folks as much, but it is critical for me. Even a little fudging on it leads to indigestion which complicates the sleep apnea I have been experiencing. Even at that, it isn't as bad as it has been the last couple of years where I have thrown up almost every night from the acid reflux. While not resolved (though I fully expect it will be), it is improved over what I've been going through recently.

One of the biggest differences between this and what I have done previously is that I have not eaten ANY overt fats (avocado, oil, olives, nuts, etc.). My daily numbers are usually at 92/4/4 (92% carbs, 4% protein, and 4% fat). My skin is not drying out which happened previously on low fat regimes, so I was surprised at that. Obviously hydration is a bigger factor than fat.

I'm not sure what to do with all the skin when the fat leaves it, and I have yet to begin exercising as my joints are still a little stressed. It won't be long now, and Diane noted that she was a month into it before she began exercising. She now walks about 9 miles a day (she lives in Manhattan).

I am so grateful for a God that cares about me as insignificant as I am in His whole plan. I love the gospel, and I look forward to being a little more useful as my energy level increases and my health improves.