Gingko Biloba

Somewhere, somehow I found out about the power Ginkgo Biloba's to give the Homo Sapiens an extra few brain receptors.

So, whilst on my raw vegan died I took one Ginko Biloba tablet each day. Diligently.

If you read my previous posts going raw is not too easy. I did it for just over six weeks, I think. I stopped counting days after a while.

But, I also stopped the raw diet. I stopped because I felt dizzy and for the first time in my life I had headaches. I didn't even write about it. I wasn't sleeping properly. I slept about 4-6 hours each night. It was another kind of life that I had never experienced before. Yet, I was functioning.

I was on the toilet all the time. My body was not processing properly the food that I was consuming.

I figured it was the raw diet full of fibre that sent me to sit on the toilet for what seemed worthless shit. Excuse me.

I went to the doc.

Said: "I feel dizzy and I have headaches. I have to hang on to the wall sometimes to steady myself. A totally new feeling for a sober state." I didn't mention the toilet trips because I knew it was the raw food that gave them to me. (HOW VERY WRONG I WAS!!!)

The Doc checked my blood pressure, looked into my eyes and into his computer, turned around and said: "You don't have diabetes, your blood pressure is fine and you are not anaemic. It will go away by itself."

The conversation was had over a month ago.

So, I started eating bread and cooked food still under the impression if was the poor raw fruit and veg's fault. I only ate vegan food though. But, not raw. I even started drinking decaffeinated coffee hoping that it may help my headaches and dizziness. In fact I was so desperate I even had ice cream. A lot of ice cream in one day. It didn't help. It gave me lots of spots though.

I did abstain from all animal products other than an occasional organic egg. This is something that I am very happy and proud about.

The headaches have stopped, the dizziness has gone and I am sleeping my usual 8-9 hours per day.

But the reason I am feeling OK again is because I have stopped taking the Ginkgo Biloba supplement. 

There was one bit of sanity left in my head that said stop taking the supplement it may be the culprit. Just see what happens. The funny thing is that I stopped taking the pineapple enzyme before stopping Ginkgo. It is extremely laughable how much faith I had in this supplement.

It is only the other night when I noticed that the dizziness has left that I googled side effects of Ginkgo. And guess what! DIZZINESS was screaming from every link.

Not only that, I am always hungry! I eat like crazy. I wondered why. Now I know. It is the Gingko.

My body is very sensitive to all medicines.

What this has proven to me once again that raw food is absolutely nothing to blame for and as soon as I am ready again we shall be together. Together, looking out for each other and with love healing the body of all the trauma of abuse I have put it through.

My dear body, thank you for coping so well.
I shall treat you well again.

p.s. Considering how much reading I do with regards to anything that I consume it is simply baffling that I never read about the ginkgo side effects. Sometimes things just happen because they have to.

Getting back to raw: the plan

In 2012 I gave up artificial/refined sugars. I gave them up for the summer. In the winter I was back on Jaffa Cakes. So, I had a few months break.

That first stint of freedom from sugars was extremely hard. I still remember it. I was so though and so strong. Stoic, in fact.

However, the second time round it was a breeze. Abstaining from the poison of our bodies was extremely easy.

Hence, the next time I start the raw diet I know from experience that it will be easier than the first time.

Right now, I am feeding my heavy appetite. It is a temporary state. Once I am ready I will stop eating all cooked food and the food will be my medicine. Food void of any supplements.

The break from the raw

The break has been a learning experience and I am about to start it again and hope, as before, that it will make Bob and Max go away.

I will write about the progress.

Ousting fibroids on raw diet day 26

If you falter a little it doesn't mean you have failed. It means that there has been a pause and a little step back. In the grand scheme of life this falter is minuscule. As minuscule as getting a cold.

If you find your hormones going completely mental as the body is approaching the day 28 of your monthly cycle and you feel that a trip to the pub with your favourite person is what is needed then so be it. Please be aware that there are two ways of doing this and I do not mean going to the pub on a whim.  Rather, you must chose consciously, in advance, that it is the right thing to do. Seeing the situation from an outsider's perspective whilst holding your gaze on your long-term intended aims and objectives. Aim to detox fibroids out of the body. 

So, think about it for a while. Visualise the experience where you are enjoying that drink and the company. And only do it if you can enjoy it. Otherwise there really is no point. 

Accept the drink as part of the process and then walk through it consciously. Walk through the aftermath of hangover and healing consciously. You will get a little depressed. It's because you are hangover and because you have slowed down the healing. 

However, knowing that the pause on healing is only a pause and the healing process will resume shortly is what makes it alright. It's not the end of the world. Just jump straight back into it. 

We are human before and after everything. It would be completely acceptable and human to give up and say: 

"fuck it.... I am going for an operation. It will be fine. I will eat pills like most people do. I will drink coffee, eat bread, pig, milk.. etc." 

But then, saying: 

"fuck it, I will have a few glasses of wine, the liver will cope much better than it would if I had a few glasses of wine on a daily or a weekly basis. The healing will resume. Soon. I am so healthy the liver will cope well." 

Is a much better option and completely human. Weak? You may say? A part of me agrees. But strong too because I didn't give up completely.

Since researching alternative healing options for those suffering with tumours I have come across many videos and blogs where women embark on healing paths and then after a few posts: NOTHING. Silence. I assume they just give up without a note. 

DO not give up. It is all part of the process. 

One day of fun with an amazing friend has been fantastic and I am so grateful that I have my friends. I am grateful to my body and fibroids for making me cleanse my body.

The fight has only just begun. 24 days of 100% raw vegan diet is pretty hard core as it is. 

May we all be happy and healthy. 

23 days on 100% raw vegan diet and PMS

I am trying to rid me of Bob and Max (two grapefruit size fibroids) and as I am entering a final few days of my monthly cycle I am experiencing PMS and fibroids seem to be reaching their peak size.

I feel so annoyed and frustrated now. I think if Bob and Max weren't getting so flaming enraged I would be happier and PMS would be gentler.

When will this diet start working?

What else can I do to be rid of them?

I am sorry if you are reading this and I am not an inspiration for you. The fight is really tough. I am not giving up on 100% raw. NO WAY. At least one year before I think about giving up. This is my chance to make a good positive change for my body. I just wish I had more  strength and I wasn't so tired all the time. Well, not all the time. A lot of the time. Strong in terms of muscle and fitness.

I wore a lovely green dress last Thursday. I couldn't help but notice a bump as if I was pregnant. Fibroids are so annoying. At least they are not going to kill me. I hope. Unless I get run over by a car whilst running across a road to buy some special super food tomatoes.

It is all a mystery still and it's hard going through it. And I smell of garlic and onion. How charming.

Alternative therapies for fibroids

Today is my 18th day on 100% raw vegan diet. 

Last year I gave up meat, dairy, alcohol and sugar and thought that with the help of acupuncture, reiki, meditation and prayer fibroids will disappear. 

It didn't work. I had acupuncture every week for 8 weeks. Reiki most weeks and meditated every day.  Sadly I had also taken Agnus Castus which made me bleed for months. 

In this instance, alternative therapies didn't work for me. It seemed. 

My fibroids are far too big: two 7cm beasts. 

The Guardian does these wonderful Science Weekly podcasts (very similar to AAAS) where they introduce new ideas in a good informative and concise manner. 

How do placebos work? The science of mind over body - podcast is a conversation with scientist and science journalist Jo Marchant (2016) who wrote on the subject in her book titled Cure: a journey into the science of mind over body; she proposes that there should be an all inclusive health system embracing conventional medicine and alternatives because it has been proven that placebo works as well as does good GP and hospital care where patients are given time and value as a person.

In many instances it has been scientifically proven that the idea of being healed is enough for the brain to release necessary chemicals to combat some physical illness. It is not magic, she says. Placebo has a real biological affect on the body. However, this is not the case with all illness. 

Similarly, an anthropologist Anne Fadiman wrote a fantastic book about the tension between conventional and alternative medicine in the healing process of a young Hmong child in the USA. Hmong people are originally from Laos and some fled to the USA in the 1970s. Their traditional medicine is shamanic and in The spirit falls and it catches you, Fadiman provides evidence to suggest that shamanic healing worked very well with conventional medicine to prolong the child's life beyond all medical expectations. It is a beautiful read - highly recommended. 

Those are just the two references I mention but there are many more and evidence is overwhelming for the alternative therapies.  They, however, need the help from us and the conventional medicine. 

In one of my previous posts I said that I am embracing my healing process from the perspective that the body is sick and so it is what I put inside it which will make it heal. It is my strong belief that praying and meditating has given me the knowledge and the strength to embrace this 100% raw vegan diet. It is a socially enormous change that has a potential to ostracise me from others who follow a standard diet of eat whatever. 

I continue to meditate every day and keep sending the signals to my body that I am decisive and unfaltering in the quest to heal it of fibroids and anything else that may have been lurking in the background. 

A little bit on the side: 

A family friend with Parkinson's loves to dance 

because it is the only time that Parkinson's stops. 

It's like magic. 

Raw but warm mushrooms

As I write, the oven is on at 47 degrees Celsius. Inside it: organic mushrooms filled with the paste of cashew, mushrooms, long green beans, onion, garlic and salt; greased generously with hempseed oil. It will stay in the oven for a couple of hours then be served with finely chopped fresh cabbage, spinach, tomatoes, avocado, orange peppers and most likely a lot of other veg from the fridge. 

Cabbage has anti cancerous enzymes, as well as tomatoes; onions and garlic are anti-inflammatory; avocado, oil and cashew are fattening - one dares to believe! 

May we all embrace health!  

I am sure my fibroids are getting smaller on this 100% raw diet

My two fibroids, Bob (front) and Max (back) are getting smaller. I am sure they are. After only 18 days of eating 100% raw.


Although Bob feels the same every day he is not popping out as much as he had done before I begun the 100% raw diet. I have a feeling that it is actually Max that is on his way out because Bob does not protrude as much as he used to but he is the same size. I cannot feel Max because he is hiding in the back so am not sure. This is a speculation based on the fact that my abdomen is flatter. Bob doesn't protrude so far because there is more room there. Unless all of my other organs have shrunk and Max is still staying strong. Highly unlikely.

Furthermore, to rule out fullness of the large intestine it is important to note that I base my findings on the examinations I conduct after the colon is emptied.

Backache due to fibroids

I remember when Max arrived. He came first, before Bob. He gave me a massive lower back ache. It was painful to lie for a couple of weeks. I didn't take painkillers. Instead, I found a comfortable position by raising my legs up on a few pillows. That made me comfortable so I slept.

Without looking into it too much I figured my back was hurting because I hadn't done any exercise for a few years.

In many ways this was the right diagnosis. I joined the gym and started working out regularly. I was also fasting every now and again. I was taking charge of my slightly podgy body. Max got settled in and we got on with life. I was at the gym 5-6 times per week. I felt amazing. A few times when I didn't work out for a while the back ache would return.

My father's side of the family all suffer from backaches. Hereditary, they said. "My back hurts if I don't work out" - I responded, and left it at that.

It was only after about a year that Bob arrived. I remember his hard mass popping up from my finely toned abs. I'd go to the loo and then he'd be gone. I never really paid too much attention to him.



My reasoning is that maybe because Max was the first to come he is the first to go.

Since it has only been 18 days of raw detox I will leave it another 18 days then make an appointment for an ultrasound and will post here with full details. I want them to be smaller by at least 1cm than last year so that I can stay inspired to continue this quest to cleanse the body of what it would be happier without.

Testosterone and fibroids

Today is the 16th day on raw diet

Last night I read that whilst Seppo Puusa tried to heal his skin of acne by eating raw for a year he ended up with type 2 diabetes. He doesn't go into what kind of raw diet he had therefore it is hard to conclude how he got diabetes. Most other people have actually cured diabetes by eating raw. 

Puusa does a lot of research on what scientist have found out and makes his words rather valuable with such wide reaching evidence. Amongst many things he writes about the role of hormones play on formation of acne. It's an interesting read. 

Everything is connected. Researchers have proven that women with high testosterone are 1.33 times likely to develop fibroids. But, strangely, women who had both high testosterone and high estrogen levels "were less likely to have a recurrence of fibroids than women with low levels" (Frellick 2015).

I too, have always had acne which have been defined by doctors as hereditary and therefore almost permanent. Food and lifestyle are always mentioned. But - I always thought I was eating healthily! (As a lot of people do. this is a new topic.)

I read about acne and put it down to high testosterone levels. High testosterone levels also reflected in my little bit of an angry streak. But, then everyone gets angry. Don't they (?). 

This points to conclude that, if all of the above is correct, if I was to have Bob and Max surgically removed - although they may be likely to come back - they may actually not because I have both high testosterone, and high estrogen levels. This is a note to self just in case one year of eating raw is not enough to get rid of them. 

The summer of 2015 my skin was horrific. It was after spending the winter months boozing and partying, some stress with starting my own business and moving a house. My back was sore with cut skin which I got by scratching spots. It was very unsightly to say the least. 

However, after stopping the consumption of alcohol, meat, and dairy (I haven't eaten sugar since June 2013) my skin was slowly getting better. In the last 16 days of eating raw food I think I have had maybe two new spots. Rather amazing, I think.

Last year I cleansed. Now I am detoxing and the skin is healing. The scars will always stay. But I find them very attractive so that is OK.

It is generally understood by the medical profession that fibroids occur as a consequences of hormonal imbalance. Scientist have tried to link the occurrence of fibroids with thyroid but have not been able to prove any significant link. (I read this a while back and now I can't find the link for the article.)

My thyroid levels are all good when they were checked in the summer of 2015. 

In essence, I know that fibroids are not with me for just one reason. They are here as a variety of causes. Body is one unit and although some may blame the wacky balance between progesterone and estrogen other hormones are also playing a part and cannot be ignored in order to fix the problem. 

I drunk so much alcohol in my 20s and early 30s that if fibroids are all I have to suffer as a consequence, then, I am most grateful to be so lucky.

Everything is connected. The body has to be healed all together in order to combat one little object of frustration.