Healing Type 1 Diabetes

Friday - Juicing & Success

I read the chapter on juicing today in Matt's book "Raw Success." It has motivated me to start drinking and perhaps making more veggie juice. I used to drink a lot of carrot/veggie juice but then since it now requires insulin for me to drink it and the time/cost factor, I don't drink it very often. I blend more often - quicker and less cleanup and for the insulin required, more filling.

But I believe in veggie juice. My original mentor, Dr. Joel Robbins, taught us about juicing and told us many stories of healing. I believe it helped my scar tissue to be reabsorbed after my Lasik in 1995. I believe it helped my body to eliminate one of my Epstein-Barr viruses. I have been told that my skin looks better when I juice, except that I did develop an orange tinge after drinking a lot of carrot juice for awhile. I know the orange tinge is not a danger signal, but I didn't enjoy the way it looked. So, more green juices would probably be ideal.

Tonight, on the way home, I am going to try to stop at a Java Jives that happens to make fresh veggie juice. I haven't been there is a couple of months, so I hope they are still doing it.

I also read this great article today - Listen, Believe, Apply. Here's an excerpt:

In the opening minutes of his talk Gable said that success boils down to three things. First, you need to LISTEN to good people. These are people who are knowledgeable and want the best for you.

Second, you need to BELIEVE in what these people teach you.

Third, you need to APPLY what you are taught. This is the hardest part. Nothing much is going to happen in your life if you don't APPLY what you listened to and believed. And unless you are willing to apply what you've learned over and over again, unless you practice the art of "relentless repetition," you will never become a success.

So, I am going to listen to Matt, believe what he is teaching me in his book, and apply it!

• 6:30 am - 158
• 12:00 pm - 157 - 2 1/2 bananas - 5 units
• I used a different meter during this time and left it at work, so that's why this reading is missing. - afternoon snack of 1 golden delicious apple - 1 units
• 5:00 pm - 76 - 1 apple without insulin before driving because I thought I might be crashing.
• 6:00 pm - green smoothie (that Java Jives is not doing juice anymore, darn) - 2 units
• 8:00 pm - 297 - wasn't enough insulin to cover that smoothie or eating the apple without insulin did this - 2 units
• 11:45 pm - 139 - 10 units lantus

Thursday - Feel Refreshed Today

I had a horrible morning yesterday. I drove my daughter to school and I gave her my cellphone to call me later to pick her up. So then sans cellphone (my fault, I have bought another Tracfone but I haven't set it up to use yet) my van broke down. I was driving 45 miles per hour and it suddenly quit like if I had turned it off. I turned on the flashers and went inside a business and called AAA. Then I went back to sit in my car and wait for the tow truck and a car nearly ran into me. What was weird was that the guy in that car started yelling and waving his arms at me, like I had pulled over and turned on the flashers for the fun of it? Road rage, I guess. Maybe he needs a better diet...

Then a motorcycle policeman came by and told me to put my van in neutral and roll backwards down the hill into a parking lot across the street while he blocked traffic. At first I protested, because I am not a good backer and I was scared I would miss the opening to the parking lot, but he intimidated me into doing it and so I did. Now my van has power steering so without it being on it was very hard to turn the wheel and I pull something under my left arm. I felt like crying. The policeman asked me if I was okay. I told him I pulled something and it hurt but I would live. And then guess what? Within 5 minutes the tow truck showed up! Turns out this was all caused by some sort of sensor going out. Just $250 worth of damage, so not too bad.

Anyway, the stress and pain upset my stomach and I left work a little early yesterday afternoon. I hadn't done a colonic in over a month and I had gotten to the chapter on colonics in Matt Monarch's book "Raw Success" so I decided to do a colonic. I know, sounds weird. My side is hurting so I do a colonic? But I knew if I dumped my buildup of toxic waste that my body would have more energy to deal with my pulled muscle and heal it quicker. I used my Bib kit. It took about 15 or so minutes to clean up the 5 gallon bucket & the piping (I clean them after I use them & then before I use them too because mold sometimes starts growing in the bucket & piping after sitting around for a few weeks) and then an hour to do the colonic.

Boy, do I feel refreshed today! I dumped so much stuff! Lots of black specks and gas, along with the regular stuff. My side just feels sore now. I know, it might have felt just sore today even if I hadn't done a colonic but there are other benefits. I feel lighter and any subtle cravings are gone. Norman Walker lived to 118 and did colonics and required all his clients to do regular colonics also.

There are other ways to detox and I have tried many of them. I used to belong to a small gym that has since gone out of business and use their Far Infrared Sauna weekly. I have used and will probably continue to use the Foot Detox Patches. I have done the foot baths at a local clinic. I jump on my mini-tramp that helps move stuff through your lymph nodes. I go for regular massages, acupuncture, and chiropractic work which all helps. Most of these methods eliminate toxins through our skin, which is great but our colon is our biggest elimination system and it get so much more out at once. Like the Nobel laureate Ilya Mechnikov said: “Death begins in the colon.”

Matt thinks colonics (or enemas) are essential for success on a longterm raw food lifestyle and I agree. So many people yo-yo from raw foods to cooked foods because of the cravings or because they run into problems. If you don't do regular colonics, toxins buildup because you are eliminating so fast on the raw food diet and some of them get recirculated and set off cravings - maybe for foods you haven't eaten in years because that is the toxin your body is trying to get rid of. This buildup of toxins can also lead to other problems that cause people to give up on the raw food diet.

If one cannot do regular colonics, then a high raw diet is probably best to slow down the rate of detox.

The time was not set right on my new meter, so here are a few readings from my old meter & then my new meter after I reset it. Yesterday I had a couple of raw bars for supper after the stress of the day. I like this Raw Food Bar and another green/raspberry/chocolate bar. Today I ate bananas, apples, and nuts at work and a salad for supper - dandelion greens, red leaf lettuce, tomatoe, mushrooms, thyme, cucumber with a dressing of coconut oil, black tahini, water, and the non-green veggies. Then one square of raw chocolate at bedtime.

Yesterday:

• 6:30am - 115

Today:

• 12:45pm - 85
• 9:15 pm - 111
• 11:30 pm - 104

Tuesday - High Raw is Good Too!

I decided that every 3 hours is the most often I should test my blood sugars, because sometimes it takes the insulin that long to work after a meal. If I test too soon, I am tempted to take more insulin and then I crash.

In Matt Monarch's book and on Angela Stokes' website they point out that a high raw diet is great too and can heal many chronic diseases. I like their message of consistency over perfection, as I've mentioned before in a previous post.

Nomi Shannon, www.rawgourmet.com, conveys the same message:

I personally would rather see a person consume 50% raw food for the rest of their life than be 100% raw for three weeks. Don't allow extreme attitudes or the all-or-nothing-approach to make you feel like you can't cut it, that you are a failure or less-than in your raw food attempts. Any amount of raw food that you eat daily is better than none at all. Perhaps you could shoot for never any less than 50% daily. Don't allow yourself to feel a sense of failure if you do not follow some ideology perfectly. The greatest cause of depression is striving for perfection and feeling bad when it is not attained....

Please do not think that what I am saying is that it is OK (healthy) to eat a lot of cooked food and or junk. What I am saying is striving for 'perfection' can create a lot of unhappiness and feelings of failure which almost always results in giving up on the goal so that you don't have to feel those bad feelings. When someone is telling you that 95% isn't good enough, they are telling you that unless you are absolutely perfect you are not doing it right. This message often boomerangs and results in many people giving up on raw food entirely. Do your best!! Choose Happiness!! Do not judge yourself (or others).

If you maintain your happy outlook, treat your food as just that-your food, not your religion, you will find that sticking to your goals is much easier. If you can't be all raw, all the time, you can still be high raw most of the time, all raw some of the time and happy with it all of the time.

Well said!

• 6:40 am - 254 - 2 units
• 10:35 am - 161 - 1 unit for the high bs & 5 units for 2 1/2 bananas
• 12:00 pm - walked outside to and from a class, up and downhill
• 1:45 pm - 44 - crashing - 1 apple without insulin
• 5:30 pm - 161 - large salad of green leaf lettuce, fresh mint, yellow bell pepper & seeds, tomato, mushrooms, & a dressing made up of black tahini, water, & a little of all the veggies (except lettuce) blended in my small food processor - 3 units
• 10:00 pm - 10 units lantus
• 11:45 pm - 228 - 1 1/2 units

Monday - Back from the Holidays

I took a break from posting to work on my story, which I have now made my home page and then also took an extended break for the holidays.

I tried out some raw recipes over the holidays. I even got out my saladacco and made some raw zucchini pasta and topped it with raw pasta sauce - yummy! I am definitely going to use that more often! I also made raw potatoes & gravy, which was pretty good but not my favorite. I tried to make Angela Stoke's banana bread but I don't have a large food processor so I used my blender and ended up with a pretty good pudding instead. I want to buy a food processor before Christmas though and make her bread correctly next time. I also need to get me a digital camera so I can post pictures in the future!

All this helped me to not feel deprived as my family ate their old cooked favorites that I prepared for them. Surprisingly, even with these fairly high fat recipes my blood sugars did real well and my weight (which had gone back up a few pounds) fell back down to 101. I think high fat works much better for me than high fruit. Which agrees with what Matt Monarch says in his books.

• 6:30 am - 77
• 12:15 pm - 163 - 3 apples - 4 units
• 4:00 pm - 117
• 8:40 pm - 77 - isn't that weird, the exact same as this morning - that never happens! - yellow squash pasta & sauce & black olives (all raw, of course) & a substitute raw parmesan - 2 units
• 10:00 pm - 10 units lantus
• 11:50 pm - 62 - ate 1 small flax cracker with nut butter so I wouldn't crash during the night

Monday - Consistency over Perfection

I just started reading Matt Monarch's "Raw Success" book today and I am loving it already. At the front he suggests reading Appendix A on What Not to Eat first, so I did. It really points out why it is important to totally avoid certain foods - sugar and processed starches being at the top of the list - consistently and forever. He also points out that you don't have to do a 100% raw diet to gain health, a high raw diet works for many also. The idea is consistency over perfection.

Dhrumil of www.welikeitraw.com also points this out in an interview in the Pear magazine at www.pearmagazine.com when he concludes with the following:

A) If you feel great and raw food has changed your life, it is your duty to let people know! Start a blog, write a personal essay, post a testimonial - whatever! If we all work together, this Earth will surely be a Sexier/Healthier place.
B) Consistency over perfection. A healthy body and spirit aren’t built by eating a healthy meal once a week - they are created by consistently making progress at your own pace.
C) Read “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle.

Saturday - Struggling to Live in the Moment

Sometimes I still struggle with trying to live in the moment. For so long I have rushed through life, just trying to get my list of tasks completed and it is hard to break that habit. But I am still working on it. Lately I have been admiring the fall foliage a lot - I love the gold and red trees in particular. I try to smell what is in the air when I am outside. I try to really taste and savor every bite of food I eat.

I guess my biggest struggle is at work. I am in a fairly new position as a software tester and I just want to get through my various tasks and get them done. But I do try to stop and appreciate the analytical puzzles of my new job.

I don't always succeed at living in the moment, but I keep trying. I like this thought from Dhrumil of www.welikeitraw.com excerpted from an interview in Pear magazine available at www.pearmagazine.com.

Melissa - What does the word “consciousness” mean to you?

Dhrumil - Living in the present moment. Your ego doesn’t want you to, but really the present moment is all that we have. All the beauty that life is can be found by living in the present moment.

• 11:30 am - 183 - fruit smoothie - 6 units
• 3:00 pm - 162 - green salad - 3 units 
• 6:10 pm - 181 - raw bar, raw peanuts, flax cracker with walnut butter - 3 units

Friday - Why Can't I Eat Junk Food Like Everybody Else?

Do you sometimes get jealous and wish you could eat junk food like everybody else? Occasionally that happens to me. Eating out with friends, picking up Taco Bell for the family, looking at the junk food in the breakroom... Sometimes self-pity hits for a minute and I wish I could be carefree about what I put into my mouth like everybody else seems to be. Some even seem to get away with it and stay slim and look happy.

But then I realize that it will catch up with everyone eventually if it hasn't already. Why else are chronic diseases on the rise - like diabetes (type 2 mostly), cancer, obesity, allergies, etc. I even read an article recently about how the high starchy carb diet is the main cause of macular degeneration. Most people my age are taking statins or betablockers or some other legal drug. I am taking insulin, true. But my doctor wanted to put me on statins also at one point, no longer.

So, then I snap out of my momentary self pity and realize as a raw foodist (being lucky enough to discover and enjoy this lifestyle) I am enjoying life as a whole and the tastes of 'real food' much more than most people.

• 6:40 am - 259 - 2 units
• 10:00 am - 3 1/2 bananas - 7 units
• 12:00 pm - green salad with olive oil & lemon - 2 units
• 3:45 pm - 136
• 7:20 pm - 234 - raw bar & fruit smoothie - 8 units
• 10:00 pm - 10 units lantus

Thursday - Nori Rolls

Yesterday I had some nori rolls for supper, which is an occasional nice change of pace from salads or smoothies. I used to overstuff them and then the stuff was falling out and they were messy to eat. Now I have learned to put less in them and just eat more rolls. It's a good way to get some sea vegetables into my diet.

This great video by Karen Knowler originally inspired me to start making and eating nori rolls http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xegCiiKFnFQ.

• 7:00 am - 95
• 11:15 am - 78 - 2 1/2 bananas - 4 units
• 3:00 pm - handful of nuts - 2 units
• 5:45 pm - 290 - 2 units
• 8:00 pm - raw bar at high school play that my daughter was doing the lights for - 2 units
• 11:15 pm - 215 - handful of raw peanuts, 1 square raw chocolate, tiny piece of flax cracker with raw pecan butter - 1 unit - 10 units lantus

Wednesday - Dirty Fish Bowl Analogy

We have made our environment and food so toxic that I feel we are like a fish in a dirty fish bowl. Many of us are at the top trying desperately to gasp for some clean air - eating raw vegan food, buying organic food and cleaning products, etc. But if the trend does not reverse soon - if we don't stop dumping so many toxins into the environment and stop growing genetically modified food - even that won't be enough.

Here is an article http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/10/22/body.burden/index.html#cnnSTCText about finding high levels of chemical toxins in kids' bodies.

I am continuing to have drainage - no sneezing anymore, but a fair amount of blowing my nose and a raw throat from the drainage. The mucus is very clear though, which is good. No sign of infection. I'm glad my body is continuing to detox!

• 6:30 am - 132 - handful of nuts - 2 units
• 11:00 am - 190 - 2 1/2 bananas - 6 units
• 3:15 pm - 258 - 2 units
• 6:20 pm - 66 - I could feel myself crashing so I ate an apple without taking any insulin
• 8:40 pm - 268 - Now I am too high, it's a roller coaster ride. But at least the dips and peaks aren't as extreme as they used to be. - 2 units - 4 nori rolls - 2 more units
• 11:40 pm - 84 - 1 square raw chocolate & a handful of raw peanuts - 10 units lantus

Tuesday - Opening a Young Coconut

I opened a young coconut yesterday to make a yummy tropical smoothie - a nice occasional treat. I love this video that shows how to open one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkJJZuf2Voc.

• 6:30 am - 90
• 10:00 am - snacked on some cedar pine nuts
• 10:50 am - 135 - 2 1/2 bananas - 5 units
• 3:45 pm - 120 - 1 apple - 1 unit
• 7:00 pm - 128 - went to school meeting, 1 raw bar - 2 units
• 8:00 pm - another raw bar - 2 units
• 9:00 pm - handful of raw peanuts, 1 square of raw chocolate
• 11:45 pm - 80 - 10 units lantus

Monday - Missing Cooked Food, My Old Friend

Sometimes I miss cooked food like an old friend. But then I realize that this friend wasn't kind to me. In the past when I would give in and revisit my old friend, I would always regret it. Raw food is my new friend and it is much nicer to me.

Saturday & Sunday - I know these numbers don't look great, but when I eat cooked foods it is even worse with numbers in the 300s and higher. That's how unkind cooked food is to me. I ate salads, green smoothies, 2 raw bars, some raw peanuts, a couple squares of raw chocolate, a few raw olives, and 2 bananas dipped in raw chocolate. I do need to cut back on the raw chocolate and it is getting less appealing to me. It is mostly a transitional food.

• 9:30 am - 213
• 1:00 pm - 95
• 3:30 pm - 43
• 7:00 pm - 201
• 9:15 pm - 218
• 1:15 am - 210
• 10:30 am - 149
• 11:30 am - 167
• 5:30 pm - 213
• 9:45 pm - 244

Today - The kids are out of school today for Veteran's day so I slept in a little. But it threw me off my schedule & I forgot to test this morning or take my meter to work. I went home during lunch and got my meter.

• 12:00 am - 155
• 1:00 pm - 122 - 2 1/2 bananas - 5 units
• 4:15 pm - 159 - 1 apple - 2 units
• 8:00 pm - 75 - smoothie made up of young coconut water & meat, 2 1/2 frozen smoothies, 3 frozen strawberries, 1/3 package of frozen mango, small container of fresh pineapple - so yummy!! - 5 units
• 11:50 pm - 291 - 2 units - 10 units lantus

Friday - Supplements & Juicing

I take some supplements and I think Shazzie of www.shazzie.com sums it up succintly when she says:

Some people ask "What do you think of supplements?"

They definitely have their place. I didn't believe it when I first went raw, because I thought raw is the perfect diet. And it should be, but not as our planet has been stripped of minerals and other stuff. Also, my body had 30 years of bad nutrition (malnutrition), and I've still a lot of making up to do. And on top of that, I'm a vegan, and though raw food is natural, veganism isn't -- there are no tribes/societies that are naturally vegan. So I take a multivit/min and DHA most days. The vitamin tablet has B12 in it. I'm not a walking experiment and would rather supplement, at no expence to the raw vibrancy I feel, than risk possible irreversible nerve damage by not having any at all. As well as those supplements, I just have mega nutrition, which makes me feel totally fab. What about you?

All good points as to why we might need some supplements. I will sum them up and add a few more:

• The food, even organic produce, that we eat today isn't as nutritious as it used to be because of toxins in the environment, picking before ripe, long shipping & storage time, and minerals stripped from the earth they are grown in.
• We need to rebuild from the previous years of eating cooked, processed, & junk food.
• Raw veganism has never been found to be a natural diet for any human culture. In the early 1930s Price and his wife travelled more than 100,000 miles to study the diets and health of isolated primitive peoples in Africa, South America, Australia, Polynesia, Europe and northern Canada, at a time when such communities still existed. He did not find one raw vegan community. This doesn't mean they have never existed. But this is why raw foodists, such as Victoria Boutenko, often look to our nearest relatives the primates to figure out what we need in our diet. But most raw foodists don't want to eat bugs like primates and that may be where they get some essential nutrients such as Vitamin B-12.
• Humans used to live closer to nature, not wash everything, and be in contact with the soil more which may have also been a source of Vitamin B-12.
• Even medical books state that our intestines produce Vitamin B-12, but perhaps years of bad eating have damaged our intestines to where we can't produce this vitamin or assimilate all the other nutrients out of our food that we need as well.
• One good way to get some whole food supplements is to juice! Juicing bypasses 90% of digestion and goes straight to assimilation.

• 6:40 am - 225 - 1 1/2 units
• 10:00 am - 142
• 11:00 am - 156 - 2 1/2 bananas - 5 units
• 2:30 pm - 104
• 3:30 pm - large veggie salad - 2 units
• 4:00 pm - 56 - I guess that was too much insulin for that salad - 1 apple without insulin
• 5:30 pm - 295 - oops, overshot with the apple. - 2 units
• 7:00 pm - green smoothie, small piece of raw flax cracker with raw pecan butter, & 1 square raw chocolate - 2 units
• 10:35 pm - 205 - 1 unit - 10 units lantus

Thursday - Still Detoxing & Matt & Angela

I am feeling somewhat better and don't want to miss more work, so I came in. But I am still experiencing a lot of drainage & sneezing. I weigh 101 pounds today.

I wanted to mention today two of my main inspirations for trying the raw food diet again and sticking with it are Matt Monarch of http://www.rawspirit.org/ & http://www.therawfoodworld.com/ & Angela Stokes of http://www.rawreform.com/. As Matt Monarch says "It is what you leave out of your diet completely without cheating that heals you." I saw Matt speak live right before I committed to eating 100% raw and what he said made sense. Anyway, I recommend their websites & books to anybody interested in eating more raw food.

• 7:00 am - 191 - I'm not supposed to take insulin without eating if my blood sugar is under 200, but this is a little high so I ate 1/2 a banana & took 2 units.
• 10:00 am - 220 - might be the stress of being at work & being sick. 1 1/2 units.
• 11:40 am - 205 - 2 bananas - 4 units
• noon - walked outside
• 3:00 pm - started nibbling on my green salad without checking my bs or taking insulin.
• 3:45 pm - 348 - that'll teach me, I could feel it was high and it didn't feel good. I felt a cloud start to develop around me. - 3 units.
• 7:00 pm - 102 - great blood sugar!
• 8:30 pm - 60 - I could feel myself starting to crash. Green smoothie without insulin at first and then I felt my blood sugar climbing so I took 2 units.
• 10:00 pm - 10 units lantus.

Wednesday - Home Sick

I called in sick to work and stayed home to rest up and drink lots of fresh citrus juice. Lots of drainage, sneezing, tired, achy - all good as my body is taking advantage of this cold to detox and I haven't had a good cold in a long time.

• 8:45 am - 220 - this high morning bs is probably because I was conservative last night on my dosage. - 1 1/2 units - citrus juice - 5 units
• 1:00 pm - 129 - I am surprised I guessed so well on the dosage for the juice, or else my body is cooperating to some extent.
• 4:30 pm - 163 - 1 units - citrus juice - 5 units.
• 8:20 pm - 88 - wow, awesome bs!
• 10:45 pm - 179 - 1 units - citrus juice - 5 units & 10 units lantus.

Tuesday - Simplicity, Fats, & Attitude

I forgot to check my blood sugars before taking care of everyone else this morning. Oh well, old habits are hard to break. I will try to remember tomorrow.

I am still experiencing a cold/healing crisis and blowing my nose a lot, which is good. The more detox the better.

I think my eyesight is all recovered, the road signs did not seem blurry today. I had Lasik done in 1998 and drank carrot juice a lot during and after the surgery. The scar tissue was reabsorbed and my 20/10,000 and 20/6,000 vision became 20/20. It is now 20/40 - barely legal to drive without glasses. I am waiting for glasses to be required for driving before I buy any. I am also hoping the raw food diet will improve my vision and then I won't ever need glasses.

I am trying to repeat these thoughts during my walk to and from the parking lot at work each day:

• Everyday, in every way, I keep getting better and better.
• I am thankful for everything I have, there is nothing that I want.

I like today's Daily Raw Inspiration from Jinjee of www.TheGardenDiet.com:

Most people try to make things more complicated than they are.
- Johnathan Goodwin, co-founder, SAE Energy

Isn’t that the truth! Storm often says everything you need to know to be healthy you can put in four simple words... Don’t cook your food! That’s assuming you already know not to eat animals and their products. And that you know that you have to move your body vigorously every day. And that you should think positive, creative thoughts. That’s it. Eat right. Exercise. Think happy thoughts. And you can fly! - Jinjee

That really sums it up and they are so right, we try to make things too complicated. Some people who start eating raw food try to cook gourmet meals, dehydrate everything, and buy lots of gadgets when really all we need to do is eat fruits, veggies, nuts, and seeds. But, I must admit, some of the extras do help to resist cooked foods and get adequate nutrition in our busy lives - like a nice blender for smoothies which I rely on a lot!

I wanted to mention that our dog, Twinkie, a mixed lab got lymphoma over a year ago and I feel the one of the many alternative therapies I have tried that has helped the most is a zapper from http://www.theultimatezapper.com/. We have been able to get her off the prednisone and her lymphocytes count has stayed barely above normal instead of the previously off the charts high count. Then she recently contracted a gut infection - I gave her the first antibiotic pill last night (she hadn't eaten in a couple of days) and zapped her for the second night in a row. She ate her supper in the middle of the night and was hungrily eating breakfast when I left this morning.

I liked this information from www.jonnybowden.com:

Walter Willet, MD, the chairman of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health and arguably the most important nutritional epidemiologist of our time, has said of his own monumental "Nurses Health Study" that the percentage of fat in the diet has shown no relationship to any major health outcome. However, the type of fat (trans fats, for example) and the type of carbohydrate (sugar, processed carbs), does.

There's no doubt that obesity puts you at increased risk for a host of diseases, including some cancers. This may turn out to be because the fat cells are mini-endocrine glands that secrete all kinds of hormones that can be problematic for some cancers (including estrogen). But fat on the body isn't the same as fat in the diet. Once we get over the idea that "fat makes you fat" and realize that insulin makes you fat, and carbohydrates especially processed carbs drive up insulin, we'll begin to concentrate on the real culprits in our diet: Sugar, processed carbs and junk food.

Fat not so much.

Another good one from the same site:

What happens in your head affects your physiology, and what happens in your physiology affects what happens in your head. It's an open loop, and the "division" between mind and body is completely fictional.

• 7:30 am - 267 - 2 units - may have gotten stressed by this morning's routine. My daughter wanted to leave a little early (without any advance notice) and then my husband had hidden the coconut macaroons that I use to feed the dog her medicine. We didn't leave early, but lucked out on the lights and got there a couple of minutes early.
• 11:00 am - 62 - 2 1/2 bananas - 4 units
• 4:00 pm - 55 - I waited too long to test, felt myself crashing a little bit. Ate a salad without taking any insulin to bring my blood sugars up.
• 7:40 pm - 213 - BS went up from salad. - 1 1/2 units - fresh citrus juice (5 oranges, 1 grapefruit, 1 lemon, 1 lime), felt a craving for this with my cold/healing crisis - 5 units
• 9:30 pm - 242 - 1 unit (purposefully playing it safe because I can crash more when sick) & 10 units insulin. Went to bed early. Tired and my body needs rest to help detox.

Monday - Healing Crisis & Greens

I lost another pound and weigh 102 pounds now. I always feel my best when I weight 100 pounds. But I am not trying to lose weight, just to gain health.

My eyesight is better today, the road signs are only slightly blurry and my sores are starting to heal. I feel more energetic and light. When I went up and downstairs this weekend, I felt like running up and down them.

I am in a full blown healing crisis now - lots of drainage, sneezing, blowing my nose. I think it's great that my body is healthy enough to dump toxins!

I like this quote emphasizing one reason why we need to consume greens:

The modern food diet of cooked, de-mineralized, devitaminized food
accompanied by poor elimination, produces a great deal of acid poisons which
bathe the cells of the body causing pain, swelling, and inflammation. When
accompanied by a lack of organic sodium, calcium tends to settle in the
various parts of the system, for sodium is the mineral which helps to keep
calcium in proper solution so the body can utilize it. When this calcium
settles in the joints, we have the condition known as arthritis. When it
settles in the gall bladder or the kidneys, then we have gall stones or
kidney stones. And when it settles in the walls of the arteries, then we
have high blood pressure or hardening of the arteries. So in light of these
facts you can see how important it is for us to consume green leafy
vegetables which are abundant in organic sodium.
- from Healing with Raw Foods, by Storm of www.thegardendiet.com

I am trying to make a concerted effort to check my blood sugars more often. First thing when I go downstairs in the morning (I used to do everything else first like fix my kids' breakfast & feed the dog & cat, now I check my bs and THEN fix their bowls of fruit & boiled eggs & feed the animals) and every 2 hours after that during my waking hours.

• 6:40 am - 106
• 8:45 am - 95
• 10:20 am - 80
• 11:20 am - 2 1/2 bananas - 5 units
• 1:10 pm - 219 - it can take 3 hours for the insulin to take care of the food I ate, so I decided to not take any insulin and see if it goes down on its own
• 2:30 pm - 136 - yep, it did. - salad I made at home with mushrooms, tomatoes, red cabbage, cucumbers, red & yellow bell peppers, raw green olives, corn, celery, yellow squash, mushrooms, almonds, red leaf lettuce - 2 units
• 5:10 pm - 70 - this is good as long as it doesn't drop anymore. I have a banana with me in case I feel my blood sugar crashing.
• 6:00 pm - started sweating & feeling like I was crashing, so I ate a handful of peanuts and a banana.
• 7:15 pm - 187 - green smoothie & 1 square of raw chocolate - 3 units
• 11:30 pm - 277 - 2 units & 10 units of lantus

Sunday - Food & Blood Sugars

Today I ate another raw bar, a banana, an apple, a raw flax cracker with raw pecan butter, and a green salad with lots of veggies in it. I sneezed a lot today, had to blow my nose a lot, and felt drainage down my throat. This is good. I know my body is dumping toxins that it wants to get rid of in the mucus that is coming out. Yeah!

I made a huge salad today and some green smoothies to last me through the week.

• 11:05 am - 252
• 12:30 pm - 120
• 5:10 pm - 99
• 8:50 pm - 110
• 11:30 pm - 82

Saturday - Food & Blood Sugars

I didn't write down everything I ate today nor the units I took. I did eat 2 apples, a handful of raw peanuts, 1 raw bar, a salad, and a fruit smoothie with the meat & water from a young coconut. I'm starting to get the sniffles today. Perhaps the start of a healing crisis/detox?

• 7:40 am - 143
• 10:10 am - 234
• 2:00 pm - 117
• 5:50 pm - 92
• 7:45 pm - 121
• 1:00 am - 289

Continuing the Journey

I got up at 5:45 am and headed to the shower. I want to mention today that I first take a warm shower and then I turn the water to as cold as possible for my final rinse. Dr. Joel Robbins, a holistic doctor who I earned a Naturopathic Doctor certificate from, believed in this. Actually, he believed in going back and forth from warm to cold several times but I don't do that. I just make sure the cold hits every part of my body for a few seconds. I feel like a member of the Polar Bear club when I do this.

After the shower, I weighed myself and I've lost 2 pounds. I weigh 103 pounds now.

Dr. Foster at http://www.drfostersessentials.com/store/Q_diabetes.php believes a raw vegan diet and warm then cold showers (plus many herbs that I can't afford yet) can heal Type 1 Diabetes. It is always encouraging to hear someone say it can be cured.

Jinjee from www.thegardendiet.com sent these quotes out today which emphasize living in the moment:

Life, we learn too late, is in the living, the tissue of every day and hour.
- Stephen B. Leacooke

That is will never come again is what makes life so sweet.
- Emily Dickinson

After I drop my daughter off at school at 7:15 in the morning, I park some place and apply my makeup, read a small section of a book, and take a short power nap. I work 9 - 5 and I find this quiet time to myself is really nice.

I finished reading the Anastasia book today. I guess this Ringing Cedar series of books has quite a following amongst many raw foodists and others worldwide. I feel like a heretic saying it didn't ring true with me, but I still enjoyed reading it and it has some good messages.

I don't normally eat breakfast. Dr. Robbins taught me, and many others have confirmed since then, that you shouldn't break your fast until you are truly hungry. Your body uses the morning to continue with the cleansing and detox it started while you were sleeping. If I get hungry, I do eat breakfast. But usually I wait until noon or later to eat some fruit. All studies that have shown that people do better with a breakfast were eating the S.A.D. (Standard American Diet) and needed a stimulant to get going in the morning. Today, I did get hungry at 10:00.

• 6:30 am - 241 - 1 1/2 units
• 8:30 am - 146
• 10:00 am - 169 - 1 1/2 bananas - 4 units (3 for the bananas and 1 for my high bs)
• 1:00 pm - 92
• 3:30 pm - 81 - 2 apples - 2 units
• 6:10 pm - 218 - got stressed at work trying to get some new tasks accomplished and stopped living in the moment - 1 1/2 units
• 7:00 pm - handful of raw peanuts
• 8:00 pm - fruit smoothy with raw chocolate - 5 units
• 10:00 pm - 10 units lantus
• 12:00 pm - 272 - underestimated the fruit smoothie (I'd rather underestimate than overestimate, I hate going low & crashing) - 2 units

Background & Starting Out

I know the name of my blog is a little hopeful, but I want to think positively and send my message out to the universe. For those who don't know a lot about Diabetes, it is generally accepted and has been shown that Type II can be healed with diet and exercise but most don't believe that Type I can be healed. This blog will follow my journey towards improved health and my thoughts while making that journey.

In 2002, at the age of 47, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes caused by the Epstein-Barr virus. My latest A1c results from 2 weeks ago, after 3 1/2 months on a raw vegan diet, were the best ever at 7.2. The goal for diabetics is less than 7. My previous test 4 months prior had been 8.6 and it has been in the double digits at times.

During the last couple of weeks, I let some cooked and junk food sneak back into my life so now I want to start fresh. The cooked food did not taste as good as it used to and it made me feel heavy.

My health stats today:

• 5'4" & 105 pounds
• 2 sores on upper right arm, 1 sore on upper left back, 5 sores on upper neck near hairline (I'm mentioning these because they appeared during the last couple of weeks and I'm hoping they will heal fairly soon)
• slightly blurry vision (road signs are a little blurry)
• blood sugars go very high everyday
• tired & irritable at times
• ridges on the fingernails of my left hand (this is a symptom that has been around for years, but I am hoping it will resolve some day)

My goal is to continue with the raw vegan diet, with some improvements, and log what I eat and my blood sugars here.  I am going to try to eat less nuts, more greens, more veggies that are technically fruits, and less of the sweet fruits. I think these changes will help as nuts and sweet fruits require a lot of insulin. But I will still treat myself occasionally to a fruit smoothie or raw nut bar - I mean, I am only human. :-)

I also want to work at reducing my stress level and living more in the moment. I tend to rush through life and always think about what is coming up next. Beyond that, anything that feels right in the area of alternative treatments I will try and post about here. I am always reading books and newsletters for ideas on things to try.

Here is an excerpt from an article at http://health.msn.com/guides/agingwell/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100172869 that talks about living in the moment:

Now, try this when you're doing a simple activity, like waking up. Instead of just rolling out of bed, splashing water on your face, and dreading your 8 a.m. meeting, think about your surroundings—listen for birds, notice the drips of water beading down your leg in the shower, savor the sips from your orange juice, think about every tooth you're brushing. It doesn't take any more time; it just helps train your brain. We're not trying to go all philosophic on you; thinking about the thought process is really about awareness and is one of the tools you can use to strengthen your neural connections.

The insulin I take during the day is humalog. I take 1 unit for every 80 over 100 bs (blood sugar). I take whatever is needed with food based on my experience. For example, I know a banana requires 2 units.

I take 10 units of lantus at bedtime. I do take some supplements. Currently I am taking:

• 2000 units Vitamin D (my doctor tested me and told me I needed to take this amount)
• garlic
• B-complex
• probiotics
• powdered Vitamin C (1 t in water twice a day)
• 2 drops of floral essences in my water
• Diabeticine (just trying to use it up, don't think it is a quality supplement)
• ginger root
• extra hot cayenne
• no-flush niacin.

Today's blood sugars and food:

• 7:30 am - 485 bs - 5 units
• 10:30 am - 154
• 1:07 pm - 140 - ate 2 1/2 bananas - 5 units
• 2:50 pm - 279 - got stressed at work and wasn't living in the moment - 2 units
• 3:00 pm - 1 raw organic bar - 2 units
• 4:52 pm - 113 - a few raw almonds
• 7:30 pm - 116 - large salad of celery, leaf lettuce, seaweed, orange bell pepper, cucumber, handful of raw almonds - 2 units
• 10:00 pm - 1 square of raw dark chocolate - 10 units lantus
• 11:00 pm - 145 - still hungry so ate an apple - 1 unit