raw.....

Our kitchen looks like a vegetable stand. There is green in every drawer, shelf and crevice. As I blogged earlier, Kurt was doing a yeast free diet for his migraine syndrome when I brought home a free sample of recovery drink that he liked. The man who created the drink is the author of the "Thrive Diet". He is champion Iron Man competitor and he is vegan and raw. I also read (interesting timing) a book by Dr. Perricone about "ageless mind". This book gives specific nutrient advice and dietary guidelines for anti aging and optimal health.

There is some commonality between these books. It seems like these common bonds are the ones that are worth passing onto my readers. Kurt is better. He is off of coffee, sugar and processed food. His energy and mood are so great that as hard as this diet is, I want him to stay on it. He also looks younger. I can't put my finger on what it is but there is a difference. When you marry someone younger than you, you notice these things, haha.

I am not as motivated as he is. Sharp blinding pain is a pretty good motivator. I have made some changes and been very surprised by some things I have found. Let me give you the basics about what all three of these "theories" share:

1) Our bodies are aged by food that contains sugar. It causes inflammation on the cellular level.

2) We change our PH when we eat badly. This may or may not cause an over growth of yeast. This can manifest itself as illness, exhaustion, headache etc. For me (and my daughter), we get skin rashes. Really dry feet are fungal/yeast related. Very chapped lips (which I have suffered from my whole life) and pimples/rash on the back of your arms and on your behind can all be caused by yeast/fungus. When we eat sugar, we "feed" the yeast and make our PH friendly to yeast.

3) Cooking food (especially meats and oils), changes the chemical structure. High temperature alters healthy fats into unhealthy ones. Similar to sun damage on our skin, cooking meats/fats harshly ages our bodies.

4) We lose photo nutrients and enzymes in food when we cook it.

These are the claims that these three books make. My personal experience beliefs are that these facts are mostly true. The changes that I have made are big but doable:

1) I eat no sugar

2) I cook my own food and eat no canned, packages, boxed food.

3) My intake of leafy greens (spinach, Kale etc) is much higher than before.

4) I am cooking our fish at 325 degrees

What I have found is:

1) I like green juice.

2) Some veggies are great raw. They are much more filling but also give me gas.

3) I can eat a ridiculous amount of raw nuts and lose weight (I don't even want to lose weight). This is the weirdest part as if I add up the calories, the math does not make sense...

4) Ice cream does not sound good to me.

Kurt is eating all veggies raw. He is eating only fish. We have use almond milk, hemp milk, soy milk and I use skim milk in my tea. The easiest way to "eat out" is to order salads or steamed or poached fish and veggies.

I will keep you all posted on how it is going. I am not sure what further changes I will make or how long we will stay on this diet. It is interesting as a fitness/health professional to document and witness these changes. I hope you all find it interesting too. You will have to tell me if you see changes that I may not notice.

I have to say, the best part for me is that I have no desire to eat junk. NONE. The kids candy, dessert etc. is not tempting to me. That alone is huge.

Story von Holzhausen