Big Dreams...Nope... BIG GOALS!

For the last three years I have been laying on the couch, or the floor, or any vertical surface really, grieving over my lost opportunities to do all the things I've ever wanted to do... and wishing I'd done more with my life while my body was healthy... well, no more!
Pain free at last, I am doing yoga every day again. 

I am walking a mile a day again...
I am finally able to take five mile hikes on the weekends again! 

And even though my friends thought I was nuts, and "rushing it", I enrolled in a belly dance class (and I love it! I can't ever remember smiling so much in an hour!)

Today, I had a serious discussion with my hubby about what it will take for me to ever be in good enough physical condition to rock climb again. Yes, my joints are a still a concern because even though I am pain free, that past pain is still a very recent memory, and we don't want them to start hurting again! And the last thing I want is to have to drag the cane back out of the pantry where it is tucked for safe keeping. Hubby thinks and I believe I can build the muscle strength and tendon strength back that I will need to climb again! We talked about helpful equipment: hand grips, hangboards... weights... excercises I can do.

I am so excited! 

I know exactly which yoga postures I need to focus on to rebuild my core strength and huby is willing to supervise my daily weight training... So, I am brushing the dust off the dumbbells later today:)

And despite what my RA doctor thinks (going off my meds is a big mistake... no, staying on my meds and feeling psycho all the time would have been the mistake) or what my DO thinks (my remission is a fluke but he applauds my herculean effort of juicing and raw foods)...
I think...
RAW FOODS HAVE GIVEN ME MY LIFE BACK!

And YOU can have your life back to... just try raw foods...fresh fruit, fresh veggies... as much juice and water as you can stand... give up the meat, you don't need it, not even for the protein... give up the dairy, you seriously can live without it even though you emotionally believe you can't right now... give up the microwave!
The benefits so outweigh the negatives!

Juicing: Choosing Veggies

For me, juicing is for one purpose: HEALING

I want to to use the best veggie/fruit combination to get the job done fastest. And I have a long list of what I think needs fixed.

I think first and foremost, because I was on some horrific immune system destroying medications, I need to cleanse and get rid of the toxins. Second, I need to address my gut issues. And third, my joint issues...of course, I'd also like clearer skin, clearer eyes, and all the rest. I want my health back. I want my vitality back.

But who has the answers?

Geesh, there are so many sales pitches out there, it's hard to weed through all the branding and hype just t get to the root of the information...and that information is anemic. I want hard core. I want facts. And I found that in this book:

RAW VEGETABLE JUICES by NW WALKER
originally released in 1936

What I like about this book is there is no sales pitch, no shine, no glamour...just facts!
Every single vegetable is represented and some fruits as to what afflictions they address.

What I discovered is that life hasn't changed much in almost eighty years...the pharmaceutical companies are more sophisticated but people are still getting sick (sicker) and dying from all the diseases that perplexed man then. And the answer is still the same. Our cooked food is making us sick and raw food will make us well and juice gets to the root of the cause faster.

If I recommend one book this year. This is the book! However, everything written by NW Walker is amazing and if you have ever wondered "Why RAW?" or "Why is cooked food damaging me?" then he absolutely has the answers. I particularly liked:

The Natural Way to Vibrant Health by NW Walker, which explains the answers to all the why's.

The Vegetarian Guide to Diet and Salad by NW Walker, because the salad combinations are amazing... what is not amazing is that he does use some dairy products, and that drove me a bit insane but for vegetarians and not vegans the book is amazing and so I will recomend because it addresses even more of the reasons why in context of what food does/doesn't do for the body and overall health.

One of his books that is on my wish list that I have not gotten yet is:
Colon Health to Key Vibrant Health by N.W. Walker

These books really resonate for me and I know that one reason is because the are so reminiscent of the books I used to sit and read as a young child at my grandfather's house. I was probably a pretty bizarre-o kid but I could read for hours the dusty hardcovers he had on colonics, and herbals/tonics/tinctures, natural healing and metaphysics. All of the books were written prior to the 1950's and I would so love to have them now...

Anyway... enough chatter.

Let's start healing!

Feeling Amazing!

I was beginning to wonder if I would ever feel better...but I hang in there with the juicing and started adding fruit Saturday, and fruit and a lunch salad on Sunday...and this morning...WOW!

I have energy.
I feel great inside and out!

Going to keep doing what I am doing and know that I am on the right track:) And to think I almost succumbed to expensive testing and physician negativity... Whew!

Oops...I Did It Again...

So, I thought I had the raw vegan, super low fat diet under control, because I was feeling so much better...I then somewhere deep in my brain I decided red rice and half a tortilla should be okay...ya know, just to add variety.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.
My body is trying its best to heal...and I keep sabotaging it by eating what I want and trying to justify it. In this case, because Macrobiotics was such a big influencer in my childhood, I justified that whole grain, bran intact rice would be okay, ditto on a whole grain tortilla. Obviously my body was not ready for either...

And I need to get over the "What I Want To Eat" and embrace "Food Is My Healing Tool"... medicine isn't always pleasant... and it isn't that my raw diet isn't good, super yummy even...it's just that I am so trapped in food emotion I want things I know might be bad for me or hurt me because they seem like "comfort foods" even though they rip my guts to shreds...or leave me feeling like my guts are being ripped to shreds.

I hurt. A lot. You would think this would be lesson enough.

So, I am now facing an unplanned Juice Feast...I'm not even going to commit to a number of days... two? five? ten? at least until I feel a tremendous amount better and then a few days after that.