This is an attempt to fill in the blogging holes I left on this food journey. I am not a very good diary maker. Still...I want a record. So I am going to try and remember and write. Here goes....
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That raw food thing. Yeah. I didn't do very well with that.
Let's just say I got surly.
Surly is a good word.
Raw food can be icky. It can be tasteless. It can make your jaw cramp from chewing so much roughage. It can make your poop green...constantly. It can make you think bad thoughts about the food ..... the lovely lovely cooked food, and the people, the despicable carnivores that love to rub their warm lovely cooked sustenance into your face....eating the food at your lovely dinner table. Evil thoughts. (yeah I know that didn't make sense...deal with it)
I couldn't hack it ok? Hush.
I tried it. It was hard. Also...ulcer. I got one.
I think I have had an ulcer for years. A gnawing little pain up under my left ribcage. It hasn't bothered me much. Just a little pinch now and then.
Then...I started eating lots and lots and lots of enzymes. Raw tomato sauce, raw pineapple, raw everything. One pineapple too many and I woke with lots of burning in my stomach. Then it progressed to pain. Agony. Childbirth type agony.
I went to the doctor. I praised God for that acid suppressing pill. Praised God I tell ya.
Ok dear reader...if you do not know me well you will not think much of that last statement. You do not have the benefit of knowing that, for the most part, I think medical doctors are a waste of time and money. Personally I know some very fine doctors. I believe that they do their very best to do no harm. But doctors in general...nope. Not for me.
Then I met my ulcer. He doesn't play nice.
Ok, so I took the evil pharmaceuticals. And I felt sooo much better. And I started researching about how taking these kinds of meds can lead to severe malnutrition (because you are suppressing your stomach acid...thus not digesting your food properly) and how your skin gets brittle and your hair starts falling out. EEEEK!!
Also...the dr. wanted me to take two different kinds of antibiotics to heal this little bug that had caused the ulcer. no. no. NO.
So I did even more research into how to heal an ulcer naturally.
I found out that there are two different schools of thought on ulcers. Either you make too much acid...or you don't make enough. If you make too much you start to digest yourself. If you dont make enough you set yourself up for invaders like H. pilori...the little bug that causes ulcers. See your stomach acid kills these little buggers. But if you don't make enough acid...they can bury into your stomach lining and cause a sore place. (think canker sore) and then when you do have acid in your stomach it eats away at the sore place making it bigger and meaner. Then if you blast yourself...like I did...(eating all so healthy and all I was consuming enormous amounts of live digestive enzymes. My stomach was not used to it. My ulcer was ill prepared. It said HEY! cut that out!!)
So what do I do now?? Well...it seemed logical to protect the wound, heal it, and continue to find a healthier way to eat so that I could digest properly.
I began by finding out how to protect and heal.
Here is what I found.
Licorice and cabbage.
More specifically...LDG licorice. Where they take out the part that raises your blood pressure. What is left is stuff that increases your stomach mucus so that you don't continue to digest yourself.
Cabbage...high in glutamine. Glutamine is something that helps in wound healing. An ulcer is a wound. Athletes take glutamine to help their muscles regenerate after a work out.
Glutamine tablets are concentrated. They also don't taste bad like cabbage does. (Later I would get back to cabbage juice but for now I did the tablets)
Cutting out pineapples and tomatoes. High in acid. High in digestive enzymes. I will try them again someday but not soon. I miss salsa. Sigh.
I amended my raw ways by adding in brown rice and turkey. Oh my goodness. Cooked food. Warm food. Lovely.
I still ate lots of raw but tried to stay away from acidic foods.
Bland.
I like bland.
I did this for awhile. I let my stomach rest. I did good. Smile.
This is April. This is where I am. Eating bland. Lots of fresh food. No tomato sauces. No salsa. Makes me sad to remember it.
Rice, turkey, chicken, salad....fruits and veges. It is a good diet.
Next we are going to jump to middle of summer and a mad mad attempt at yet another...deeper...level of health.
Stay tuned.
