Blood tests are in...

Drum roll please.....ba da da da dum... I'm allergic to this planet.  This spring I started to get really sick.  Basically it took every ounce of strength and energy to get out of my bed for only 4 hours a day and the time spent awake was a constant hell!  I called my mom up and told her I needed help or I didn't think there was much time left for me on this earth.  I went up to Salt Lake and met with Dr. Darren Scott a thyroid specialist.  He was quite shocked to see my blood test results because my antibodies were almost 300!!!  They should never go past single digits and should be much much lower if you don't eat gluten.  He said it was likely my numbers were in the 800's when I did consume wheat.  He also checked my adrenal glands and they were in the last stage before they shut down completely. Yikes!  High antibodies are caused by food allergies.  Who knew that food allergies could shut your organs down???  I guess instead of attacking my lungs and skin like most allergic reactions, it was attacking my pancreas, intestines, liver, kidneys, thyroid, adrenal glands and even progressed to some parts of my brain.  Did you know that there about 18 foods that trick your body into thinking its gluten?  Weird right?!  Eggs, yeast, corn, millet, coffee and dairy all react like gluten in my body and trick my body into attacking healthy tissue.  It's called cross-reactivity.  There's a lab called Cyrex that can confirm what's causing your inflammatory response.  Since getting these results two months ago, I have followed a strict diet.  I only eat chicken grilled in olive oil and seasoned with salt, some veggies, some fruits and some nuts.  Nothing processed, no dressings, no seasonings, no sugar, no caffine, no grains, eggs, dairy, corn, peppers or tomatoes.  Also, for the first month I took a product called repairvite, which is suppose to help heal the intestinal villi damaged from the gluten allergy.  The second month, I took a product called clearvite which is super awesome.  It has 1,000ish% of vitamin B that doesn't turn your pee bright yellow because you actually absorb it.  Other supplements I've been taking are vitamin D, fish oil, and a blend of herbs that kill parasites.  Within this short period of time, I feel like a completely new person.  I sleep 8-10 hours a day instead of the 14-18 and I feel well enough that I can actually get a job!!! I'll have to do this diet for the rest of my life.  It actually doesn't bother me.  I don't have any cravings or miss food.  Seriously, someone could eat a doughnut in front of me and I wouldn't care.  I think it's because I am eating how the body is meant to eat.  The thought of junk food makes me ill.  In fact, I had some almond butter with a little honey and even that made me so sick because its junk food.  If you've gone gluten free and still have negative symptoms, I highly recommend doing the cross-reactivity test.  It could be your answer. Who knew allergies could be such a bugger?

New Video I Made. Enjoy!

Eating meat agian

Well, its been a few weeks since adding meat and processed foods back into my diet.  Let's see how well that's doing for me.

  I've been known to get the occasional zit from time to time but never 47 of them all at once!  (maybe when I was a teen but definitely not at 28!)  They're also not discriminatory as they are on my arms, my back and my chest.

What the heck man?!

  I've gained 5 lbs even though I'm only eating 1500 calories a day.  Also Mother Nature skipped her present this month. (I'm celibate.)  The signs all point to something messing with my hormones...... What could that be?  Possibly hormone injected animal products??  The USDA and FDA both admit there is residual hormones in meat products and claim that they are safe to eat.  But who's to say they aren't lying?  If you had a product that could make you billions but also possibly could make others sick would you claim your product to be safe?  What if you knew no one could shut you down because the labs conducting the research all work for you?

  I just finished a book called Quantum Wellness.  It's about the science that everything is made up of a vibrating energy.  Every thought you have has a vibration.  Every emotion has a vibration.  Your whole being has a vibration.  If this is true than an animal who has been treated poorly is embedded with negative vibrational energy and when eaten that vibration becomes a part of you.  When I went vegan it was for the sole purpose of better physical health.  I didn't do it for the animals sake or to feel connected to the earth.  I was amazed though when I experienced a significant change.  I felt a deep abiding respect for the earth and all living things.  I was consumed with love for life and all of God's creations.  There was a sudden emotional connection and oneness to the world that I have never felt before.  I wonder if it was because I stopped gorging on hormone drenched meats.  Or maybe it had something to do with not consuming negative vibrational energy. 

  I never thought about where meat comes from.  I guess I thought dear Betsy the cow lived with Old McDonald on a cozy farm with a bright red barn to call her own.  After dear sweet Betsy lives a long fruitful life she is taken to a state of the art cow hotel and served her favorite 5 star meal and then while being sung her favorite lullaby she is quickly and painlessly taken from this world.  I wish this were true.  Instead I learned the horrible truth.  Sweet Betsy lives in a over packed feedlot inside a warehouse.  Her hooves aren't designed to stand on concrete floors.  She has developed inflamed legs and cannot walk.  She's feed an unnatural diet and has severe digestive problems.  Her skin was scorched with no pain killers to dull the ache.  She's artificially inseminated once a year to keep her milk production going.  She injected with 6 types of hormones, some of which are synthetic to make her produce 100 lbs of milk a day.  These hormones have caused an infection in her breast and she has mastitis.  She's given antibiotics but no pain medication.  Once her precious baby is born he is quickly taken away.  Betsy's baby is put into a small crate not large enough to move around in so that his muscle will atrophy and won't be tough to chew.  Bestys baby boy spends 4 months of his life in this crate and can't stand due to his muscles wasting away.  He is drug by a rope around his neck to the slaughter house where his vocal cords are ripped out so that he won't scream when he is skinned alive!!!!  Betsy is a tad bit luckier.  Her body can't take any more abuse and she is sent to the slaughterhouse where she is stun gunned until she can't move.  She's then hung upside down while still concious.  Her artery is sliced open and she hangs there without pain killers until she bleeds to death.  Other animals face the same kind of cruelty.  Chickens live in extremely small cages with so many other chickens that they can't move.  They have their beaks cut off so they can't take out aggression on each other and live in complete darkness.  They're also given hormones and a unnatural diet.

  Why do we do this?  Is it tradition?  Is it greed?  Is it having witnessed and done so many horrific things that we become numb?  I can't even comprehend hunters who find joy in purposely inflicting pain and taking the life of a living being.  And then they mount the head to the wall.  Isn't that the same thing as ancient tribes that would mount their enemies decapitated heads on a stick?  It's all for status.  It's barbaric.  It's sick.  It's making us sick.  I don't want to be the annoying animal rights activist that drives everyone away.  I just want people to wake up and to say no to whats wrong.  I'm not saying eating meat is wrong.  I'm saying that supporting an industry that is poisoning you while abusing animals is wrong.  All I want is for people to be happy and healthy.  I think animals deserve that too.

The Plank Wins Gold!!!

I've been doing the 30 day plank challenge.  I'm only on day 13 and I can't believe the results.  The other day when I got out of the shower I was shocked when I realized that I couldn't find any cellulite.  BOOM Baby!   I used to be a cardio junkie and ran 56 miles a week once upon a time.  Even though I was 35 lbs smaller then and super fit I still had cellulite.  Almost 2 weeks of doing the plank and I am wearing the same size of clothes I was wearing when I was 35 lbs smaller.  I was curious so I checked my body fat percentage.  It has drop by 11% and its exactly the same as when I was a cardio junkie.  Here's the awesome thing, I spend about 1 minute a day doing the plank and 1 minute a day holding 90 degree squat.  I'm getting better results working out 2 minutes a day then when I was running 8 miles a day!!  I'm loving this!

30 Day Raw Vegan Challenge

  I just finished up my 30 day challenge and the results are in.
Day 14 to day 30 data-
Mean blood sugars- 144
Mean insulin dose- 9 units fast acting and 4 units long acting per day
Mean carb intake-100 grams per day

  According to my data from the last 16 days, my insulin dosage didn't change meaning that my pancreas didn't show signs of reversing.  Overall, I feel that adding more vegetables and some fruits and nuts to my diet did help my health.  My plan now is to stick to a Paleo based diet concentrating on high fiber vegies and up my exercise.

Day 13 of Raw Vegan

Here are the updates folks,

The negatives-
  I've had low energy and concentration problems.  School has become increasingly difficult because I feel major brain fog.  I can't concentrate for very long and am extremely forgetful.  I have to think about how to do simple tasks such as turn on my car radio.  Over the past week, I added more fats to my diet and it has helped me concentrate a little better.  I have had low energy the last couple of weeks.  Last night, I slept for 15 hours.  In high school I was a vegetarian for a year and towards the end I was diagnosed as extremely anemic.  Whenever metal touched my skin it would turn my skin black.  I remember playing tic tac toe in church by drawing on my skin using a ring.   When I started eating meat again my skin stopped reacting to metal.  Some people say this isn't an accurate test to tell if you are iron deficient or not but for me it coincides with my blood tests too well to not have any correlation.  My recent symptoms have matched up with how I felt when I was iron deficient in high school and I decided to try my at home anemic test. 

 *If you wear makeup, metal will likely have a reaction and cause a black line to appear.   To double check, I also tested my arms and had the same reaction.
 
  Because I have the symptoms of a iron deficiency I decided to indulge in some chicken today.  I'm hoping that will provide me with enough iron to last a couple more weeks as I still plan on following the raw vegan for 2 more weeks.

The Positives -
  My skin has become clear and vibrant.  I've lost 10 lbs and I'm getting a lot of compliments that I look good.  I'm also able to digest food well.  Despite having low energy I have the desire to work out.  I sleep better at night and don't require naps during the day.  My insulin needs has decreased slightly.  Before I needed 1 unit for every 10 carbs that I ate, now I need 1 unit for every 15 carbs that I eat.

Day 1 through Day 13 Data
Average blood sugar- 131
Average carbohydrate instake-100 carbs per day
Average Insulin dose-7 units fast acting insulin and 3 units long lasting per day
Average caloric intake-1,579

Typical meal plan-
Breakfast- 1 avocado, 1 tomato, 1 green pepper and a protein shake
Lunch- 2 large carrots, Celery, 1/4 cup almonds, 1/4 cup pecans, 1/2 cup spinach and a protein shake
Dinner- 1 avocado, 1/4 cup cauliflower, 1/4 cup broccoli, some type of fruit and a protein shake

Why Not Insulin? My Goal and My Plan

Why not just take insulin?  First, I don't like how its made.  Insulin is made synthetically by adding DNA into bacteria and yeast and letting it reproduce then killing off the bacteria and yeast.  Second, insulin is a inflammatory hormone that progresses disease.  Third, it is the hormone responsible for storing fat.  Fourth,  I don't like to cover up disease with a bandaid.  I really feel that you should fix the problem and not sweep it under the rug with medications. Fifth, it's expensive.  And last,  I hate constantly worrying if I took too much or too little.   Things that used to be enjoyable are painful now.  Going to the lake with my friends is nerve wracking.  I worry that I might have an insulin reaction and pass out with no one knowing what to do.  I worry that I didn't take enough and I'll feel sick.  I worry that the hospital is too far away and how I will get there.  I wonder if I swam too much and need some extra carbohydrates.
  My Goal-  I don't expect my pancreas to heal 100%.  I would just like to feel healthy again.  I would like to enjoy time with my friends and not have to leave early because I feel light headed.  I want to go to school and not worry about taking my glucose meter with me.  I DON'T want to be cured so that I can go binge on donuts and ice cream.  I would like to attend my friends birthday party and not have ask for a nutrition menu and worry if the chef put extra dressing on my salad.  I'd like to occasionally go out to eat and not worry about the effect it will have on my blood sugars.
My Plan- I want to try eating raw vegan for a month to see what happens.  After I plan on staying on a Paleo/gluten free diet that focuses on raw organic.  I plan on adding meats sparingly and avoiding inflammation trigger foods.  I plan on doing this for the rest of my life with the occasional "It's my birthday, I'll have a half cup of frozen yogurt and pay for it the next couple of days."