After a 5-month kidney problem (at age 24, my second kidney stones, which became impacted, blocking the flow of urine from my left kidney, causing back-up and kidney failure and damage) resulting in sepsis, rheumatic fever, and sugery, i never wanted to feel so sick again. i was raised to be skeptical of western medical practices, but i keep an open mind. through this ordeal my distrust was reaffirmed as i cycled through the horrors of the health care options available to an uninsured person. i realized that it was in my hands to find ways to keep myself healthy.
ok, you got me, i already had an alternative health bent, being a licensed massage therapist, and growing up with a mother who is a nurse as well as a practitioner of various holistic health modalities. i always knew about nutrition as medicine, and i ate healthfully, i thought.
after the surgery, i was ill and bed-bound for about a week with the after-effects of the anesthesia. my mom made an appointment for me to see this woman, nolini, who was visiting her yoga studio from new mexico. nolini did this intense bodywork/breathwork/meditation thing- i've never experienced anything else like it. for about an hour, i breathed the deepest, most forceful breaths that i could, while nolini chanted, stimulated lymph nodes and energetic points in my body, shook rattles, used lights and prayers all around me. it was spacey, cosmic, and healing. that session definitely exorcised the lingering cloudiness i'd been stuck in, and when it was over, there was more. she asked me about my diet. through muscle testing, nolini told me my body would prefer if i would cease to feed it gluten, dairy, and sugar. whoa! she said, try it for a week. ok.
at this point, i had felt such extreme pain in my body during the 5 months when i was so sick, that all i wanted was to feel good, better than i ever had, and i was willing. i had already given up meat, once as a teenager for about 6 years, and again a few months before this. so i figured, i was up for the challenge.
it was halloween the day after i began. Halloween! there was candy all over the place! but i had made a commitment to myself, and i stuck with it. before the week was over, i had an appointment with Dr.J, an ayurvedic doctor who had helped me with some extreme depression a few years prior. Dr.J recommended the exact same changes that nolini had. well, the gluten and dairy, and he had a list of vegetables that i shouldn't consume in excess, because of calcium oxolates which may contribute to more kidney stone formation. and he said i should never eat meat or fish or high protein meals late in the day.
that first week wasn't easy. i could no longer go to any old restaurant, or eat things that had been staples, like cereal and sandwhiches... i ate a ton of potatoes in the beginning. like, multiple times a day. and i was terribly constiptated at first.
but when that week was over, i knew. i knew i was beginning a new chapter of health and well-being in my life. before ten days had passed, i noticed new levels of energy, glowing skin, and this feeling in my lungs, like i had an extra 3 inches to breathe in... it was glorious. i grew up with asthma and allergies. i was always sick as a kid, and i got used to a certain level of illness, believing it was normal, or the way i was supposed to feel. i never knew how good it *could* be, until this change. within the first 6 months, i had easily dropped about 30 lbs. after three more, about 30 more. it wasn't even work! it was the cherry on top!
before:
after:
i must say now, my own words are motivating me. i remember how that felt. at my lowest weight i still had excess to lose, and i thought it would be easy. i've since become a bit more lenient than i was that first year. i don't pay as much attention to the sugar restriction. and i occasionally eat chocolate that i suspect has dairy products in it. i'm close to militant about wheat, but i've allowed a few glutenous things like barley to pass through my lips a few times. that first year, i did yoga regularly and i had very physically demanding jobs. after that year, i moved to baltimore, reduced my physical activity to dancing at parties, and i started drinking a lot more alcohol than i had been. i've gained back probably 15 or so of the pounds i originally lost (nearly 3 years later) and i'd like to go back down, and pass my old lowest weight on the way to my ideal weight.
anyway. changing my eating habits changed my life. i became enamoured with vegetables, which led me to apprentice on an organic farm. what an amazing experience, watching thousands of tiny seeds grow, magically, into vegetables... and learning about vegetable origins and cultivation techniques... my brain was completely cracked open and i felt more empowered with this knowledge than anything i'd ever learned before, besides, maybe reading. it was almost a spiritual awakening. this first experience led me to an obsessive gathering of seeds, planting over 200 seedlings in baltimore for myself and others, my first ever container garden, and traveling some of this enormous country through WWOOF.... i worked on 4 or 5 farms on that trip, and went as far south as miami, and as far west (from the east coast) as chicago. lucky me!!! i'm sure this new part of me will continue to lead my life in interesting directions.
i've dabbled in eating raw. there are a lot of things i love that, raw, don't suit my kidney issues. for instance, dark, leafy greens hold a ton of calicium oxolates unless they are cooked down. weird, right? when else are you told to cook the hell out of greens? but i'm inspired by raw cuisine and DO think most of us should be consuming a much higher percentage of raw foods.
i've cut out almost all processed foods, and process my own meals from whole ingredients. some exceptions are nut milks (i make my own when i'm motivated to) and occasional gluten-free baked items (though i don't prefer to eat this way, its more of a comfort food thing i've recently picked up. may be a problem)i think grains should be very limited, and ideally all consumed grains will be of the very dark variety (black, purple, or wild rice, red quinoa... )
while i don't eat meat or poultry, i do eat fish and eggs when i feel like it. poultry and meat are not at all appetizing for me (except for bacon, but i control the temptation) nor do i condone the industry. I don't condone large-scale fishing or mainstream egg production, either. my deciding to eat eggs again came from working with pastured laying hens and appreciating the rich, golden yolks they made. i was hooked. fish, well, i have a (possibly abnormal, definitely extreme) association with the ocean. maybe i was a coastal fisher in a past life. maybe i was a mermaid. i'm not sure. but i derive so much pleasure from seafood, that it feels unhealthy to restrict my consumption. that said, i avoid fish with high mercury content which also tend to be large and over-fished and whose catching threatens dolphins, so that works... i try to eat fresh, locally-caught fish wherever i am, and my consumption averages once a week or less.
ethically, i oppose consumption of animal products. health-wise, i believe every body is different and some people may need this type of protein. i'm undecided on it, though. for me, i know less is better.
oh! AND- i'm totally NOT down with the high consumption of soy products. i don't think there's anything wrong with a little tofu here and there, but i've known former dairy-consumers who replace the 6 to 8 glasses of milk they were brought up to believe they should drink with soy milk, their butter with "earth" or "smart" spreads, their meat with soy-meat, etc and on... i do not condone this style of change. i believe soy should be consumed in extreme moderation, if at all, and vegetables and fruit should take center stage in a healthy way of eating.
anyway. so, that's how i eat. no gluten or dairy, low on refined forms of sugar, up with whole food ingredients, down with packaged processed foods, down with any product ingredients i can't identify. up with veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds.
and way way up with delicious!!! it *was* a struggle at first, but it has become such a pleasure to eat this way. also, the more i learn, the more i can actually live by the hippocratic ideal "let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food."
coming attractions:
raw chocolate-creme pie for 4th of july:
raw, sprouted-quinoa nori-maki:
most, if not all, of the recipes i share will be vegan, gluten free, and sugar free. many will be raw. i will probably create a future post about sweeteners, but i will say now that agave nectar and stevia are superstars for a sweet tooth with a sugar problem.
i've been learning more and more about herbs, foraging, correcting imbalances and dis-ease through nutrition, and on... these gleanings, as well as delicious recipes and musings of food experiences, are what i would like to share with you, my dear reader. and i hope you will share your experience and knowlege with me, in turn. so, begins this journey!
