Healing Journey Part 2

By: mellowsong Mood: Hopeful Date: 10/30/2007 11:28:45 Music: None

Ok, so here's this guy telling me to eat MORE fat, but then he told me it had to be very specific kinds of fat.  Everything I'd been indoctrinated to believe was healthy was part of what was making me sick.  Yeah, right!!!  Thank God for the internet.  I came home, got online and started searching for info on fats and found out that things like Canola oil, corn oil, safflower oil, margarines are really really really bad for your arteries!  It took several hours over many days to convince me there might be something to what he was saying.  Basically, it turns out that saturated fats are NOT the bad boys they are made out to be.  All your cell walls are made up of lipids (fats) and all your nerves are covered with a fatty sheath, including the spinal cord.  I learned that without the right fats in your diet, you were compromising your cells and especially your nerves and brain.  So, I decided to make some changes.  I quit using Promise and went to butter.  I started cooking only with virgin coconut oil and using only extra virgin olive oil in salads etc and I started feeling better, less pain more energy.  Ok, maybe he's on to something.

Dr. James also told me I had to eat more...thatwas a bigger shock than telling me eat fat, but actually, I had eaten so little for so long, my body had gone into starvation mode, so that made sense, so I did that too, adding tons of fresh veggies.  I had to force myself to eat, it took several weeks to even get up to 1200 calories a day, but amazingly, I was losing weight.  It's nearly 6 months later, I still have to remind myself to eat.  In the first 3 months I lost about 45 lbs.  I made lots of other changes too.

I always knew aspartame was bad for me, so I rarely used anything that contained aspartame except that I went on a diet Mountain Dew kick for several months figuring I "deserved" something I liked.  When they started coming out with soda using Splenda I thought I was in hog heaven, until my sister sent me a bunch of info on Splenda that totally shocked me and made me angry.  Turns out that the "made from sugar" etc was all a big con.  Again, to the internet, again, many many hours of research and again, I was convinced, Splenda is poison just like aspartame.  So, I gave up diet sodas.

Next, I'm told to follow the dietary laws of Leviticus.  No shellfish,pork etc.  Well, so far, everything Dr. James and my sister has proven to be true, so, I decide to check this out too.  Amazingly, science has PROVEN there is a reason for the rules way more than just giving the Jewish people more rules to follow.  Yes, Jesus released Christians from the letter of Jewish law, but He didn't say it was wrong to follow.  What we know now is that shellfish and pork (to use the 2 most common examples) have very poor excretion systems and toxins and waste are concentrated in their bodies so when we eat them, we are getting heavy doses of toxic waste.  So, I now follow the laws of Leviticus.

After doing all these changes for a month, I was losing weight rapidly and starting to feel better.  Dr. James said I needed to go on to the "Advanced Healing Diet" so I attended a class.  Here I learned about how insulin resistance and leptin resistance tie in to obesity and why it was so hard to lose weight.  I learned about the toxic overload in processed foods and how we Americans are killing ourselves with our diet.  On top of the other changes I had already made, I needed to:

1.  Eat only range fed meats and eggs, use only raw dairy products.

2.  Eat only organic fruits and veggies, unless locally grown and known to be grown with little or no pesticides and chemical fertilizers.

3.  The only fruits allowed were berries and granny smith apples and only one serving of these a day.

4.  Absolutely NO sugar or grains of any kind.  (This part doesn't necessarily have to be a lifetime).

5.  No SOY unless fermented...Yes SOY is very bad for you, it is NOT the health food it's made out to be.  Avoid it!

My new rule is that if it has more than one ingredient and/or God didn't make it, don't eat it.

There's more to it, but that's the basics and through probably hundreds of hours of research, I'm convinced of the correctness of this information.  Honestly, the grace of God has made following the diet easy.  I have no desire to cheat.

From May through July, the change in me was incredible and miraculous.  My energy levels increased dramatically.  I walked with a cane because I was always falling due to the pressure on my spinal cord and used a scooter to get around outside the house.  By July I realized I was no longer falling and haven't used the cane in months.  I rarely use my scooter anymore.  Pain became manageable and I stayed out of bed all day.  My days had been spent between bed and my recliner.  I ate sandwiches because it hurt too much to stand up at the stove and cook.  I found I was cooking every day and enjoying it. I still hate cleaning up the kitchen afterwards.  My family and friends were totally amazed at what was happening as was I.  I felt better than I had in years.

By April, I was on 27 prescription medications.  My reading was showing me just how bad these drugs are for your body and I decided to start seeing if I could get off some of these meds.  A new Christian friend taught me about the importance of adequate hydration and magnesium, so I started drinking a gallon of water a day and taking magnesium supplements.  The real water rule is 1/2 OZ for every pound of body weight, not 8 glasses a day.  Simply drinking enough water and taking magnesium I was able to get off my heart medication and avoid going on blood pressure medications.  I kept dropping them one by one and doing fine.  It got down to my asthma inhalers, an antidepressant, Coumadin, a blood thinner, and Synthroid.

Through a lot of prayer, I was feeling strongly the need to get off the antidepressant.  This was extremely difficult and took several months of tapering the dose.  I found out that Cymbalta causes more PHYSICAL dependency than do narcotics and that taking it gives you the equivalent of a chemical lobotomy.  I had been on one antidepressant or another for 25 years and I was scared.  On the other hand, God gave me peace about it and the assurance I would be OK.  I've been off it about 2 months.  I occasionally get really weird physical sensations in my head, but not near as often as when I first stopped taking it.  I feel depressed sometimes yes, but that's OK, because I can feel happy now, enjoy things, I'm no longer an emotional zombie.

I never even thought about getting off the Coumadin.  I had had blood clots in my lungs in 1998 and was told I had a genetic clotting disorder and would have to be on Coumadin the rest of my life.  Because of the dramatic change in my diet, I was now getting a lot of Vit K which antagonizes Coumadin and for about 4 months, my blood levels were sub-therapeutic, meaning it was doing nothing to prevent clots.  The doctor basically doubled the dose and I broke out in sores, had terrible pain in my feet, severe nausea and through research found out all of these can be related to taking Coumadin, so I called my doctor and told her I wanted to stop taking it.  I researched supplements that prevent clotting and now take fish oil, Vit E, garlic and Ginko. 

I'M NOT TELLING ANYBODY TO GET OFF THEIR MEDICATIONS.  I'm telling you my story and that I did this by listening closely to the Holy Spirit.  I feel at peace with the decisions I've made.  I HAVE come to believe that for every drug out there, God made something already that's better for you.

It turns out that the dietary changes were the easy part.  For the last 3 months, I've lost only 5lbs and I feel really sick.  I think I know why.  Part 3 to follow.