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Loads of questions & Venting session!

Love4LifeLove4Life Raw Newbie

I have posted a couple of times since joining the site, and everyone is wonderful! I wish that i was able to get on here more often as i think it would help my mood & motivate me more… but, work has to be, and i have to go … lol (crappy as my job is). Anyway, questions: Exercising for someone who is not active? What are some things I can start with (not walking outside, at least not right at this point ~ it is just to ‘big’ outside and i get dizzy…(i really have been bad to my body for years!) and i am still a smoker (grossest habit ever!)...any suggestions on craving deterents would be oohh so welcome! :) I have an idea to start the whole raw experience, and any responses would be appreciated… I want to start off my day with green smoothies ( i love greens and fruit, so it shouldn’t be that hard), for lunches i want to do one week with every lunch having steamed food or something of that nature, and for suppers salads or the taco’s from this site (although it was good the first time i made the walnut taco, i’m still tweaking it) and when i get a dehydrator i think things will be much easier. the second week i will cut the steamed food by one day and so on until i’m at least 80% and then i’ll go from there… does that sound like a good plan? Are sushi rolls considered raw? i love them so if they are not, does anyone have a viable subsitute?

Detoxing systems, what do i look for when i start? how do i know if i need to slow down the process or if i’m getting into a dangerous period?

Does anyone know if there are foods that could help aneurisms (i’m sure i spelled that wrong…lol) disapate or not occur? i’m asking that one because i just found out that i have to be tested for brain aneurisms because two of my uncles have had them, one is dead and now the other is in the hospital in a coma…it doesn’t look good for him.

okay, i have lots more questions and i’m sure (my husband would vouch for this one) i could vent for hours…lol… but i’ll close for now and write more later. Peace & Joy for all! christina

Comments

  • Hi Love 4 life..=) Good luck on your journey. It sounds like you have a good plan. I still haven’t made any crackers on my dehydrator but that would help me a lot I think. I can tell you that I made pecan carrot burgers and they were so much like meat my dogs were fighting over them. I was used to eating nature burgers but the wet pre dried ones kind of freaked me out at first but now I think I like them better. I have really been craving carrots and they are so good mixed with pecans and better when they are blended up. I had a bowl of carrots blended up un the food processor today and they were so good I didn’t put anything else on them! They are good with raisens, dates, orange segments, and jicama also.

    As far as exercising goes I was joking with my boyfriend that the only kind of excercise I can do is “the worm.” That is tensing up your body as you lie on the bed and making a violent worm motion. You will die laughing when you do it but it does use a lot of muscles!

    Aneurisms can be cause by different things like blood clots or the thinning of arterial walls. Buckwheat is a great thing to eat- soak, sprout, and add to burgers, crackers, or use in breakfast porages. I would suggest vitamin k foods too. I haven’t looked into this but will get back to you if I can.

    Good luck with everything and thanks for your honesty with what you are going through. =)

  • spiritedmamaspiritedmama Raw Newbie

    Hello! Glad to see you back on the site. It is always hard to stay motivated when life takes you away from support systems. Visit when you can!

    As far as exercise, I would recommend starting with stretching; if you do nothing else, stretching is so important for your body. If you want to “up it”, grab a few cans/bottles/jars/ anything that weighs 1-3 pounds, and do some bicep curls, and tricep extensions. You can get on the floor on hands and knees and do pelvic tilts for abdominal work. For legs, just stand with feet about hips width apart and bend your knees as much as you can, even if it ever so slight. These exercises, done once to twice daily, will give each major muscle group some work. When I do my occupational therapy work this is what I “prescribe” for my patients that either can’t do any other exercise, are incredibly out of shape, or have never exercised before. Within a few months you will see results, and maybe you can start walking.

    For your eating plan, it sounds good to me. You have to do what will work for YOU. There is no right or wrong way to “go raw”. You will however have a much slower detox process due to your smoking. But, it sounds like you know that that is something you need to work on, so no need to go into that.

    If I think of anything else, I will post again. I hope this helps for now!

  • Where do you live? I would see if there is a Raw Food Potluck in your area, that way you could meet like-minded people to help you stay motivated.

    Like spiritedmama said, stretching is GREAT! Also try doing exercises just using your body weight like squats, lunges, push ups, sit ups, ect. Start out small and then build from there. Listen to some music and dance around, anything!

    They key is to start somewhere. Start moving and paying attention to what you put in your body. You will be on track before you know it!

    Oh, and please, please, please try to quit smoking! :)

  • I think you are on the right path in even bothering to research changes to your lifestyle. Of course the first thing I suggest as others have is to quit smoking. That alone will give you more positive changes to health than any diet can ever do. After you have accomplished that great feat you should start looking at other changes. I think it would be too difficult to try to do too much at once. One step at a time.

  • Love4Life:

    You asked: “Does anyone know if there are foods that could help aneurisms (i

  • germin8germin8 Raw Master

    Hy Love4Life… there’s a raw food restaurant in Ithaca. Just south of that street west of where Moosewood Restaurant is. Does that make sense? Anyway, I visited that area a while back… didn’t get to try the food though because they were closed. I don’t even remember the name of it. Ithaca… beautiful place!

  • Foods, herbs, medicines, etc. do not heal or cure anything. It is the bad stuff that we do to ourselves that causes all of the problems, all that needs to be done is to eliminate the bad stuff and the body will return to normal health. Using herbs, foods, drugs or anything else will simply cause an imbalance temporarily which might make you feel better but will not make the underlying issue go away unless you address the cause and eliminate it. Everyone has a gene to cause some dangerous disease but the gene needs to be triggered in order for it to cause problems. Eat a low fat raw diet that doesn’t contain toxins and you are 90% of the way there. The other 10% involves doing all of the other healthy habits such as sufficient sleep, positive environment and thoughts, sun, enough clean water to stay hydrated, etc. Disease is not a normal state of a human body, believe it or not health is the normal state which requires only healthy living to be maintained.

  • Love4LifeLove4Life Raw Newbie

    Hello everyone! Thank you for all the responses :)! Writeeternity, lol, sounds like a cool exercise…i’ll have to try it!

    Spiritedmama, i agree that stretching would be great for me and have started them as of yesterday. I’m also looking into curves for women fitness center(it’s local and i have a two week trial free ).

    Lindaintheraw,I live in upstate NY near ithaca. i’ll have to check into the potlucks. Smoking is a big one… I had a much easier time giving up pepsi and coke… and i am an emotional smoker ~ I pray alot that the desire goes away and that I just don’t want them anymore…lol..but I do know that God isn’t going to hit me with a two by four! :) I’ll get there, it’s just going to take a little time and I do have a plan as well for that (tricking my brain is tricky!).

    diddiz, thanks for your response to the aneurisms question, I have a site that i regularly visit along with this one , put up by a Naturalpathic doctor. I took some of his herbs (all natural, no added anything) and started to feel great! Then money became tight, but i do plan to order some more stuff from his site once i quit smoking to help my lungs.

    SocaL, thank you for your responses, we will have to agree to disagree about herbs & food not helping in the curing department :>... but i very much appreciate your responses as i learn something new everyday! I believe that what works for someone, works, and God gave each of us a unique processing system (the way we think). I do agree that Disease is not a normal state of the human body.

    Anyways, i’ll write again soon! Thanks for all the supportive responses! ~Christina

  • I was in Ithaca at the end of April. It is very beautiful! It was very easy for me to stay raw there. To start, check out these three places.

    Raw Foods Eatery and Everything Wellness Bookstore 118 S. Cayuga Street Ithaca, NY 14850 607 254-6074 Email: ewb22@earthlink.net

    GreenStar Cooperative Market 701 W. Buffalo St. Ithaca, NY 14850

    The Mate Factor (fresh juice and great smoothies, located in the commons) (607) 272-1225 www.matefactor.com 119 3rd St Ithaca, NY 14850

    You can also go to www.meetup.com to find groups in your area.

    Start researching, create a blog and track your daily food intake, body measurements, supplement intake, # of cigarettes, moods, ect.

    Try to replace smoking with a healthy habit. ie) when you’re having emotional issues go for a walk to clear your head. You’d be AMAZED at the effect fresh air and movement (and sun if applicable – I know it gets very cold up there in fall/winter) can have on your mental health!

  • Love4LifeLove4Life Raw Newbie

    Hello germin8! i’ll check into that when i can and let you know. Lindaintheraw, i’ll have to check those places out when i get the chance! thanks for the information. Starting a daily blog and tracking things sounds like a great idea… i tried that a couple of times and stopped i think because i would forget…lol…however, i will try it again and let you know how it goes (i’ll start thursday morning)! :) I am working on replacing smoking with something else, walking right now is not an option unfortunately, I have trouble walking outside because it is too ‘big’ and i get dizzy…probably due to panic attacks… anyway thanks again for the support! ~christina

  • Here is some info I found. One of the natural substances that can be used by people when they want to quit smoking is Lobelia, or Indian tobacco, an old and controversial herb that has recently become popular to smokers who want to quit the habit and cannot. Used for centuries as an expectorant that cleans the lungs, it was used for asthma, bronchitis, whooping cough, or pleurisy. Many uses are connected with Lobelia – relaxants, antispasmodics, diaphoretics, reducing inflammations and pain, poultices, hyperactivity, easing muscle tension or convulsions – which go back in history until its recent popularity today. Many believe it makes the taste of regular tobacco “repulsive” while other naturalists use it to clam the nerves and relax the body muscles, easing mild depression. Lately, current evidence suggests the herb Lobelia can produce similar effects on the human body as nicotine, yet is not addictive and helps eliminate the desire to smoke. There is trouble when it is overused, such as vomiting, drowsiness, weak pulse, and respiratory failure.

    Another herb is the Mimosa tea (“mimosa hostilis”), a perennial evergreen shrub that is native to northeastern Brazil and also found in southern Mexico. The root bark is the choice part of the plant, traditionally used in the preparation of a psychoactive sacramental beverage. Giving up smoking may make you feel anxious, or give you a headache but a strong cup of Mimosa tea can boost your mood and help you calm down. It is not addictive and is recommended for use instead of anti-depressant medicines. Similarly, the traditional Chinese CaoSu herb diminishes the desire to smoke.

    Effectiveness of Chantix

    The new pill to stop smoking stimulates the release of small amounts of dopamine in the brain, tricking the receptors into thinking nicotine has entered the bloodstream, and alleviating the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal. But the new pill to stop smoking doesn

  • I quit smoking last year. I had tried several times in the past to quit… cold turkey, using the patch, nothing worked. Then I finally cut down slowly over time. It took about six months of cutting out one or two cigarettes every few weeks, until I finally picked a day to quit. By then I was down to two a day, and it wasn’t bad at all. The cutting down slowly was still a bit painful, but it worked better than anything else I tried.

    On the other hand, I had a friend once tell me that chewing a licorice root was the way to go: both your fingers and mouth are busy, plus it gives you a huge sweet jolt. I haven’t tried this, so can’t verify that it works, but I thought I’d mention it.

  • ZoeZoe Raw Newbie

    I stopped smoking over 10 years ago by using Alan Carr’s book called “The only way to stop smoking permanently.” It is briliant, I stopped with no cravings and have never wanted a cigarette since.

  • spiritedmamaspiritedmama Raw Newbie

    Thanks for that info. Zoe! I am trying to get my dad and brother to stop smoking (they have been trying for years without success). I think I will look into that book!

  • Try using a tincture of lobilia (spelling?) to help quit smoking- it’ll help clear your lungs. And know this… Nicotine is NOT addictive! There has been studies to prove this, although that’s not what the companies helping you “quit” want you to believe. There’s 20 TIMES the amount of nicotine in one patch compared to smoking an entire pack! What a hoax with a 96% FAILURE RATE! Oh but they convince you don’t they? Just decide to quit, tell yourself you can have a cig but choose not to ..repeat again and again and the DO IT!

    as far as aneurisms.. cleaning up your lifestyle, nutrition and detoxing your body and you won’t have to think twice about aneurisms, cancer or other crap.. build your immune system and get rid of bad habits.

    Exercises? Well I know that one of the best exercises is also one of the most fun and rewarding.. do it more often.. and longer :) or..Get a yoga or pilates video and start moving your body.

    Your plan sounds great.. best wishes and congrats on taking the first steps!

  • devittlesdevittles Raw Newbie

    my friend quit smoking after 20 years with auricular therapy. its acupressure in the ear with electrical biofeedback or stimulation. she had one or two sessions, it was less than $200 and she has not had any cravings or issues at all. even when she’s around smokers or doing her routine that was formerly accompanied by a cigarette.

    i hope this information is useful. she used http://www.drnasso.com/ in staten island, ny; but there are practitioners all over the country. good luck. it would be so great for you, Love4Life and spiritedmama, for your dad and brother, to be free to spend their money and energy on health promoting foods instead of on cigarettes!

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