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.

musli on 100% raw

For breakfast I had a bowl of mussily with all organic almond milk. I added a banana in there too. Although I find mussily absolutely delicious, interestingly, the salads make me satisfied for longer.

The logistics of eating raw

Every day I make one salad with plenty of fresh vegetables and my favourite dressing full of cold pressed olive of hemp seed oil, salt, apple cider vinegar and garlic.

If there is fermented veg in the salad I will not use apple cider vinegar. The salad gets too wet with vinegar and fermented veg.

Mostly I use European organic garlic (avoiding garlic produced in China since there is evidence that it is toxic). Garlic is not always on the menu if I have a job where I have to speak to a lot of clients.

One large salad per day.

One half in the morning and the other half any time before 6 pm. Depending on the time I plan to exercise. I make sure I don't exercise on full stomach so will eat at least two hours prior to.

Furthermore, when eating after six it seems hard to go to sleep and also full stomach makes me get up in the middle of the night. This suggests that I may be over eating. I am aware of this and I am hanging on for the right time to reduce the portions.

The other half of the salad goes into a take-away box that travels with me where ever I go for a good vegan 100% raw lunch.

Other snacks are fruit and nuts and I have them when ever I feel like it.

Freedom.

Personal summary on fibroids and raw diet

It's been around 33 days since I started eating raw fruit veg and nuts.

Fibroids are still here.

Fibroids feel smaller today and last night.

I think it's part of their monthly cycle of shrinking within the first few days of menses. I am just hoping that they will not grow back.

One month soon, I hope, they will not come back.

If they reduce by 2cm each within the year then raw diet is working.

I am exercising. I hope that this will also help Bob and Max on their way out.

May we all have health.

Fibroids are symptoms of larger problems. Heal the body. Perhaps they will then decide to leave.

It's been around 30 days on all raw diet.

Fibroids are still here. Still strong. Still large. Still as big as a couple of grapefruits.

That's OK.
It's just the beginning.

I am still only eating raw. Plenty of greens. As few sweets as possible. Savoury is the way.

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!  

100% Raw Beetroot with fibroid affairs

I love beetroot.

It is one of the vegetables with which results are almost immediate and immediately obvious. If you are feeling lethargic just go for a bunch of beetroot. It has helped me many times in the past.

When I took Agnus Castus - Vitex as a hormone balancing, progesterone elevating herbal remedy I bled for over 20 days. I bled a lot. I lost a lot of blood. I felt awful. I was drained. Since I suffered from anaemia when I was a kid I am now able to diagnose anaemia very easily. (Childhood lessons are superior to all others.) So, I gorged on beetroot and got my energy back. A week later I had my bloods done at the doctors and all was perfect. I swear by beetroot.

You can juice it, eat it as it is, grate it into a salad, even pickle it. I have never pickled it. I rather like it fresh.

Beetroot has made me look a bit uncool though. Last January I was eating it like an apple to a total dismay of my then boyfriend. He was horrified whilst pressing a glass of gin to his lips. Juicing is a little classier. I admit. However, we were on holiday and the greengrocers were only selling whole beetroot. Not a juiced version. So, I bit into it raw. Crude.

Obviously the above story conjures up a few questions about our social life and how much our lifestyles are dictated by neoliberal ideals. In a non-neolliberal world it would be perfectly acceptable to munch on a root vegetable just as it is. In our crazy fancy world, wrapped up in plastic and pesticides, the world which runs of fossil fuels, we have to process food a million times and then decorate it with something which gives impression of freshness. In our social world it is far more acceptable to get drunk and eat dead meat than it is to connect with earth. Etcetera...

Little tip with beetroot: 

Whilst running my own market stall I discovered quite accidentally how to keep it fresh for ages. Place it in an air tight container and keep in the fridge. I asked about ten different chefs if they knew the answer and they didn't. I am rather pleased with this discovery so I am sharing.

Beetroot juice

Today, I added few carrots, ginger, celery and lemon to create this delicious juice.
It has that deep earthy taste with a little zest and a hint of spice from ginger.

It is rejuvenating, sweet and just perfect for regulating blood.

Fibroid size fluctuates

Over the last two weeks of eating strictly Raw, the fibroids Bob and Max have been fluctuating in size.

This could be for a number of reasons. I am monitoring them and will hopefully be able to figure out the causes. 

The most notable thing is that Bob and Max have spent those days mostly being smaller. Their might was only for about three out of 14 days. 

If they continue to be smaller most of the time, and perhaps start shrinking, then the raw is the right road.

The point of writing this blog is to learn how long it takes to lose fibroids through eating raw food. No one I have read so far has told me the exact time frame for saying goodbye to Bob and Max. 

There is one woman on youtube who declared that she got rid of her fibroids within one month of doing a water fast. That is drinking water for one month and having nothing else. She previously tried other things none of which worked. She was desperate and so she found a way. 

I am not brave enough to do a month water-fast. But also, although I am desperate to get rid of them I am not in pain. My periods are OK since I stopped eating meat and dairy. Fibroids don't hurt. They are uncomfortable sometimes and make me visit the loo a lot. They are unsightly as well. But, we are OK. 

Moreover, I am at a very good weight right now and there isn't much fat reserve to keep me fasting for a month. I fear I would turn into a skeleton. I am, however, still planing on doing a few fast-days to accelerate the healing process. 

Things are a little busy at the moment and I am riding my push bike a lot. Fasting and riding a bike don't go together so I must wait for a while. 

No quick fix for fibroids

No quick fix for fibroids

I have just come across this video  which has an excellent and short explanation of how embolisation procedure works. They make it look wonderfully easy and painless. This time last year I was considering embolisation to remove Bob and Max (my 6 and 7cm fibroids). In doing so i did plenty of research and found that the procedure as all medical interventions for fibroids have side effects for which women get readmitted to the hospital. 

In one scientific study which I read - and will post the link to once I find it again on the www, 8 women were observed after fibroid embolisation. One of those women had to go to an operating table to fix complications of the dying tumour. To me, one in eight chances of this happening are far too frightening. 

Also, I didn't want to have a foreign particle in my vain. They put a bit of plastic or other possibly toxic material to block the blood supply to the fibroid. Fibroid just shrivels. It dries inside the body. If I remember correctly, one lady had to "give birth' to her fibroid because it was just sitting there, dry. 

Instead, I was not drinking alcohol, not eating meat and dairy, not consuming any artificial sugars or anything with chemicals. After 8 months I started with an occasional glass of wine and was soon back on eating as vegan. Not as a vegan trying to heal their body. I thought that this may be enough. 

Sadly, there are no quick fixes. 

The raw way will take 'several months' says this woman Farhana who got rid of her fibroids on a raw diet. She told her story in a number of interviews. Last year I watched this one and it stayed in my head for all this time. I was keeping the knowledge of how to rid my body of Bob and Max but was too afraid to completely go raw. It was such a daunting prospect. I thought I could do it with Organic Apple Cider Vinegar, turmeric, garlic, and other plant based food as well as bread, coffee, soups.. etc. I also did acupuncture, colonic irrigation and an occasional fast. It didn't work. 

My subconscious would speak to me so often and say: 

               "you have the knowledge... you know how to rid your body of fibroids... fast and eat raw. It           is hard. It is the only way. There are no side affects. Your body will feel amazing." 

One thing that struck me with Farhana's story is that she was eating an unhealthy diet before she went raw. So the scope for her improvement is greater than that for me. I have always eaten a lot of fruit and veg and cooked from scratch without chemicals and pre-cooked sauces, etc. Very healthy. 

However, My diet never starved my body of all toxins. That is for sure. 

I have been completely raw since Friday 27th May. That is two weeks now. at first I felt that fibroids were loosening. Now, I feel them as they were before the start of the raw. It will take months. I want to accelerate this process a little bit and so am considering a few fast days. 

I would like to fast for four days ideally because it takes a four days fast for the body to reboot itself. All the cells will go back to their optimum function. So, if after a reboot I can then continue starving the body of toxins then Bob and Max will not like it here and will decide to eventually leave. 

I have only ever done a two day fast before and it was very hard. I was staying at a Buddhist temple surrounded with like minded people but it was tough. How will I do it living with two heavy meat eaters I have no idea. 

There has to be the right time to do it. I will find it. I will keep this space updated. 

The journey has only just begun. There are no quick fixes. Bob and Max have been growing on my uterus for 6 years and I know they will take a real effort to persuade to leave. 

Does Raw Diet Make me a Social Outcast?

I would say that it does! However, only from our unhealthy-life social circles.   

I have stopped going to the pub which used to be my main hangout with everyone that I knew. After work, after class, after a sports event, after a gig, for lunch, for dinner, for a meeting, for coffee.... Even for watching films and gigs. All with a glass of wine in my hand. And if the party is in a really good swing then some rum and coke too. 

All of that is now gone! Finished. I will go to the pub and then have to explain to people why I am not drinking and not eating. Sometimes I am in the mood to tell the full story. Sometimes I am not. It is hard to say goodbye to that part of my life. When everyone starts having an amazing tipsy time it is generally time for me to go home to my pineapple juice and some BBC drama. Nick Hornby's if I am lucky. 

The upside is that my eyes are crystal clear every day. Days become longer because they are not overcome by wasteful hangovers. I have more time to study. I have more time to be idle. And with some luck fibroids will melt away too. So, we are social outcast but only from our former lives. 

Now, I am starting to create new social circles with people who are also following raw lifestyle. People who are holistic healers, gardeners and not big drinkers. My old friends are still here. Supporting me on my quest to put the body in order and say goodbye to Bob and Max (two large fibroids the size of grapefruits). Having said this I must note the following:

Healing process as a pleasurable experience. 

 

Here, I have a deliciously crunchy salad which tastes what I imagine is like kissing heaven! I am not kidding! 

Simple raw ingredients full of sunshine. I used red cabbage which has fibroid ridding properties, red pepper which is full of vitamin C, cucumber which is hydrating and excellent for the skin, garlic: an antioxidant and kiss repellent, tomatoes: an antioxidant and a cancer fighter, alfalfa sprouts, calorific avocados, probiotic gherkins, brainy oily walnuts, lots of salt, alkalising apple cider vinegar and hemp seed oil. 

Eating this in a park full of fragrant roses whilst body was being sun kissed and bathing in vitamin D; beautiful scenery of relaxed people - eating raw was the only way to go. It smells fresh and healthy, it tastes fresh and healthy, it fills you up and it leaves you feeling light. 

Raw is the only way to go. 

The transition is hard socially. There is no pill to make everything alright. We have to work for it. 

We live in s diseased world. Socially and ecologically. We simply have to navigate as best as we can. The survival of the most gutsy. Raw foodists are gutsy! 

Raw food lifestyle may not be easy to begin with but serving my salad in a nice bowl and eating it with a proper cutlery rather than the common choice of plastic for picnics makes things so much more enjoyable. Decorate your food, take time over it. Slow the process down. Jus think how much more time we have because we don't have to slaver over a cooker. We are saving energy, time, vitamins. We are gaining every second we are not cooking and eating dead, sticky food. Joy is truly in the making. 

To life without fibroids I raise my glass of breakfast beetroot juice!!!!

After a week and a half, Bob and Max are still here. I am not expecting them to leave now but within a year, I hope. So, I shall be recording the process in case any of you need to know. Still, it is worth remembering that we are all different. I just hope that this works for me like it worked for a few others.

100% Raw - first week or so

The first week of 100% raw I was feeling tired. I googled raw diet detox symptoms rather a few times and was rest assured that it is OK to be tired for a little while. 

A few days before I went 100% raw my abdomen felt enlarged and fibroids seemed to be at their peak greatness. I was so scared that they were growing. I had to intervene. I had to take charge. So, I stopped eating cooked food. Then stopped eggs, then bread. The last to go was coffee.

Last few days I'd go to coffee shops order an espresso and sit there for a while. For half an hour, maybe longer, and only take about three sips. I didn't want to poison my body any longer. I didn't want to feed Bob and Max (the fibroids). 

About four days into my all raw lifestyle I was starting to feel tired for a while. I lost some blood through menses but not much. Therefore, it couldn't be anaemia. I didn't want to take any chances so I juiced beetroot and used spinach as the main base for my salads. I perked up after a few days. 

I was feeling lousy - to be totally frank. 

I put it down to broken heart and lack of coffee. I loved a lot, and I drunk a lot. A lot of strong black coffee which always made me happy. The weather too, was rather miserable which was not helping. Furthermore, my cat was euthanised and my father ended up in the hospital. Reflecting on the last couple of weeks like this makes me laugh and figure that perhaps it is best to suffer all pain at once. 

Today, about the 10th day into 100% raw: I feel good. I do get the odd flashing image of fresh bread and eggs. Even a cake comes to my vision sometimes which is most strange since I have lived without cake for years now. With an exception of a few months when I lived abroad. 

My transition to raw was very long. 

In 2012 I stopped eating all artificial sugars. I also gave up all saturated fats and had my steaks lean and pink. 

In April 2015, meat, dairy and booze got ousted. By January 2016 I was back on the booze, fish, chips and cooked vegan foods. Stuff which I'd hardly ever eat. Things like chips and crisps... 

Luckily, I always ate a lot of fruit and veg and I get to continue to eat it a lot more. 

What I am saying is that going raw has so far not been painless. Moody and depressive. But, like I said previously, it could be for other reasons. Giving up coffee alone is rather tough. And I still have a feeling that I will drink it again sometime. A bit like other drugs, cigarettes and men: at first the habit to think of them seems permanent. But, everything changes and so will my cravings. 

I find that practicing giving up is the best way to get there. Do it a few times until it works. One day at the time. 

I almost went raw in the summer of 2015. But, I couldn't.

I thought that socially I was already at somewhat a difficult position because I wasn't drinking. (Most of my family and friends drink booze.) Now, I just want those fibroids out. Social outcast or not the body comes first. 

What are fibroids concealing?

Can meditation help?

It was first Dan McDonald that I heard say in one of his Youtube videos that tumours are a collection of toxins which the body tried to reject to protect itself. An inflammation of some sort. The body's defence mechanism, a survival tactic keeping as much of the body working as well as possible. Essentially, making fibroids a big garbage bin. What, then is the actual problem? 

Fibroids give symptoms (heavy bleeding, maybe some pain, bulging, pressing on bladder and cologne). Removing them would be in vain. They are functioning because some other parts of the body need protecting. Hormonal imbalance, some say. Still, 'no one is certain'. If I was to take tablets for hormones I would have to suffer side effects. Some women have experienced such strong side effects from progesterone that they became socially inept, isolated, argumentative and similar. 

In 2015 I took Agnus Castus - Vitex (a herbal remedy which is unregulated - bought from Holland and Barrett) for about 20 days. As a consequence my menses lasted for 20 days. I was bleeding and spotting so randomly and most of the time. Menses slowly got back to normal in eight months. I had to go for hysteroscopy and was devastated. Although I knew it was Vitex which caused prolonged bleeding I was still questioning my self. 

I meditated. Of course I did. It helped. It always helps. It keeps me centred. Mind is very powerful and the body has been designed so beautifully that every time I learn something new, every time I make a new observation I feel elevated and exited. When I find supporting theories by others to agree with my observations somehow my ego wants to share it. It is reassuring that my brain is not in vain. 

I have some interesting evidence to support the hypothesis that illness or a tumour is body's way to protect itself as well as that meditation, or, the switching off the brain keeps the body healthy. But it is with an example of Alzheimer's Disease. 

Six years ago I observed my aunt with Alzheimer's to be in perfect health. She was agile and fast, able to use her body perfectly. Her blood results were great. She seemed fit and medically, other that her memory, she seemed perfectly fit. I decided that it was something to do with switching off the brain that the health of our body was in tact. 

I made a connection with meditation. My reasoning was that after spending spending some time attempting not to think we are are halting brain's influence on our body. We are giving the brain and the body a break. A time to fix itself. 

I mentioned this to a medical doctor looking after my aunt but we didn't discuss it. Instead, I made a mental note of if and it is only now, six years on that I have found others thinking along the same line. (Freakishly, around the same time!) Luckily they are scientist. Their hypothesis is that the ß amyloid which is a protein that wraps its fibres around brain neurones (it can affect heart, liver and kidneys) causing them to halt their previous job. However, "ß amyloid has an ancient role in the body protecting against foreign invaders". (Underwood, E. Science AAAS) So, the body is sacrificing some neurones to keep itself alive. Sickness as a way of survival. In a way, the Alzheimer's is working to keep the body working as long as possible. Alzheimer's is a consequence of a bigger problem. 

        I assume medical doctors learn this at school. I am new to it and am very excited  - and probably very flawed in my knowledge. Right now it makes sense so I find it important to  share my understanding of fibroids and how I can be rid of them. It is also a process which I would find beneficial to read if written by someone who has managed to rid their bodies of fibroids naturally. 

        I know that this reads very obvious. And, it is. Which is what is so buffling about the way we live our lives. The bodies are not harmonious. We are polluting them and they are getting sick in their quest to keep ticking.

        I am so grateful that it is only fibroids that I have to deal with and if my raw diet does not make them go away but halt their growth whilst the rest of the body gains some harmony for as long as possible, then I can be satisfied and grateful.

Treating symptoms is not enough. 

I figure Alzheimer's keep the body protected by switching off certain neurones. Does this mean that if in a healthy body we meditate - give the brain a bit of a break - will the brain be more harmonious with the rest of the body? I think so. 

I by no means profess we get ourselves an Alzheimer's rather, I believe that Moir and Tanzi (Underwood, E. Science AAAS) theory proves my hunch that my aunt's body was in good health as a consequence of her brain ignoring her body. She ended up losing all control of her body and spent the last couple of years in bed. Alive, but unable to govern her body. The body entered a survival mode and it survived for a long time after it was able to be useful. 

What I do profess is meditation. Give ourselves a break, a nourishment for brain. Don't think about the body whilst you meditate. Just be. Observe all that arises without judgment. 

Then nourish your body with food which it needs. Not the food that you want. The food which the body requires. 

Create balance and harmony and hopefully we will create our body as an environment unsuitable for fibroids. 

I give myself a year to heal my body of tumours on raw diet. I have to do all that I can.

RAW FOR JUST OVER A WEEK

I have been eating salads. They are delicious. I tend to buy small amount of ingredients and play with them whilst they last. Throwing away food has never been my forte. 

Today I had

Apple cider vinegar as soon as I got out of bed. 

A few hours later I made a salad with 

   red cabbage (anti cancerous properties)

   tomatoes
   avocados
   sprouted beans and chickpeas
   sprouted alfalfa seeds
   sea salt
   hemp seed oil 
   long green beans
   and a little organic apple cider vinegar (an excellent all rounder)\

Later, I had a punnet of strawberries, handful of walnuts, some watermelon and little pineapple juice. More as a snacks than proper dinner over a few hours.

Not to forget plenty of water too. :) 

I want to eat more but I feel very full. Raw food is very filling. 

Fibroid Diagnosis

I lived with fibroids in complete ignorance for around five years. 

I remember massaging my belly and thinking there was something not quite right. Still, I just kind of ignored it putting it down to my lack of knowledge of internal organs. Oh dear, you may read. I, however, think this was a good thing. I was kind of blissful. I didn't feel sick and other than heavier periods than before 2010 (the year fibroids came about) and PMS, I was alright. It is only upon reflection that I realise where my dysfunctional social life in those 5 years stems from. The prolonged madness that is the PMS.

However, I have always been fond of PMS because it is then that I put my foot down to terrible relationships, injustices and all other unfairness that come my way. This is why PMS exists. If we stay lovely and nice all the time nothing would change and the bullies would just keep on bullying.

So, there was me, blissfuly ignorant. Then, chatting to a friend - it was a bit of a laugh, actually - I figured it was time to look into this lump inside my abdomen. So, naturally I went for the great Google and diagnosed myself with colon cancer!!! hahah... I was calm - I wasn't sure but I was prepared.

This was all going on on my winter beach holiday where there was one lovely Italian medical doctor holidaying like me: playing volleyball, swimming, reading, drinking, socialising, taking pictures and just having a lovely time. That day of diagnosis I found him sunbathing to the sound of breaking waves. I told him that I had colon cancer to which he responded: "so, shall we burry you in the sand or set you off into the sea?" Oh, he is a funny one. And incredibly luckily an internal organs specialist.

He examined my abdomen for a while and told me that he is 99% sure that I have a couple of fibroids and that I should get it double checked in the UK. And then, he said words which had so much power that they governed my journey here. He said: "it's not a problem, they can be healed naturally with gingko , etc"

Fibroids can be healed naturally

What does it mean?

Immediately I started googling: heal fibroids naturally. Now, of course, I would only ever google things such as heal the uterus, remove fibroids naturally.. etc. Because I don't want to heal fibroids, I want them to disappear, I want them gone. 

I learned that Omega fats are needed for hormone balancing so I bought a bottle of flaxseed oil. I took a few sips and felt so sick that I couldn't eat anything for a couple of days. Perhaps this was the whole point because during a fast fibroids shrink. Depriving the body of all food puts it into healing mode. Apparently, according to a scientist in one of the millions of documentaries I have watched, 'diabetes used to be cured by starving patients... albeit some of them starving to death'. It's quite a bad side effect I suppose. 

However, from personal experience, I know that fasting shrinks them. But, it has to be done regularly.   

So, then I was just eating actual flaxseeds and I immediately stopped drinking alcohol to the horror of all of my beach friends. It didn't last long. I went back to alcohol. Being tipsy is just so fantastic. So fantastic that I spent all of my 20s and 30s drinking. That is two decades of going to the pub at least once per week and getting drunk. Not always but a lot. 

I also came across this site where I took some advice from. I started some positive thinking, Reiki healing, acupuncture, and some time later I stopped consuming meat, dairy and alcohol. 

I bought a kindle book by Allan Warshowsky called Healing Fibroids: a doctor's guide to a natural cure.  I read it in almost one sitting, soaking up everything and being reassured that it is possible to say goodbye to Bob and Max (my fibroids) without going to surgery or taking hormones. Dr. Warshowsky informed me of some crucial things to keep me hopeful such as:

'women with only nine to eleven years of education are more likely to undergo a hysterectomy than women with higher degrees..'  

Do laugh, but the odds of me keeping my uterus are getting higher with this book. 

Most importantly,  what this means is that we must read around and question everything we are told. Take control of the healing and know the ins and outs. For example, going for myomectomy removes fibroids but does not remove the cause of fibroids so they will most likely come back. If the environment for them to flourish is good they will keep coming back. Simple.

My local GP said to me: "your fibroid is the size of a grapefruit and uterus the size of a plum. Just get it all removed." I cried. But this guy is a funny one. When I was 27 I went to him with heavy lung infection. He said: "What do you want me to do? Stop smoking for you?" hahah... I laugh about it now. During that same lung infection I smoked only about one cigarette a day rather than 15. I was hooked. Lung infection came back once more before I eventually stopped smoking 5 years after the said GP visit. 

No more lung infections. 

Like I said in my previous post, the body wants us to stop giving it toxins. It doesn't want antibiotics, it just wants to be given locally grown natural nourishment. I say local because all fruit and vegetables are superfoods and there are equivalents of all of them on each continent. Such as for example goji berries and strawberries. Eat a variety of fruit and vegetables and Bob's ya uncle. (I don't mean my Bob the fibroid, rather a metaphorical English-phrase Bob.)

Reading around the problem of fibroids books and articles asked me to reflect on causes of fibroids. I did and I put it down to some stress in the past. Now, 15 months on I am certain that I cannot take back the stress that I went through in the past. I have accepted it. What I can do is to change the way I feed my body. I have stopped giving it toxic food and drink. If it was stress and not drinking, smoking, milk and meat that caused the creation of the mucus (some define fibroids as mucus) then there is nothing I can do about it. I meditate, I pray, I am certain and resolute to rid the body of Bob and Max. And, it is this resoluteness and prayers that send me on the path which is to heal the body as a physical entity which requires particular physical nourishment where each cell has to be given the right environment to live with each other in harmony. 

If the body is not correct on a chemical, molecular level then meditation, reiki, acupuncture, positive thinking are all in vain. They are only not in vain when they have led us to the right path. And, yes, continue praying but also take the necessary steps to alter the physicality of all the particles of our being. Replace the disharmony with harmony. Physically, intellectually, spiritually and with patience. Join me on this journey of fibroid free life. 

One Week being 100% Raw

Today is exactly one week since I began the all raw food consumption. I haven't even looked at nor been tempted by all those other foods that I got used to loving and depending on for nutrition, fun, pleasure, comfort and taste. I put them aside from my mind and my wants.

As a consequence my fibroids (Bob and Max - they have a minute little baby as well, a third small fibroid we shall call It if it ever needs a mention. I very much doubt it since it's even more harmless that its seniors.), so, Bob and Max are getting a little softer and a little more malleable. They seem to be more accepting of their upcoming demise. They are shrinking in fear of death and they are losing volume for the lack of toxins which they love as much as I used to. All that wine, meat, milk, sugar and bread. They loved that stuff and without it Bob and Max are finally feeling unwanted and are packing their bags.

Prior to hitting them with all the food they hate: fresh and uncooked fruit and veg as well as seeds and nuts, Bob and Max wouldn't let the bladder hold anything for longer than three hours during the night. They press on it and wake me up all through the night. Last night, my dear ladies, I was asleep for the whole six hours before I was chased to the bathroom.

I drunk plenty of water and plenty of fresh beetroot, carrot, celery and lemon juice throughout the day. Much more than a couple of litres. Therefore, six hours without emptying the bladder cannot be assumed to be lack of hydration.

Is raw diet/detox/lifestyle working. It has been one week. Fibroids are still here but it seems they will go. The negotiations and strategy is to continue until I win. For the sake of the body, for the sake of the mind, for the sake of getting my six pack back.

Dear Body,

Once, a lover said to me how nice it is for a woman to have a bit of a belly. I wasn't aware at the time that it was Bob and Max posturing their might in there. At this time in my life I was getting up at sunrise each morning running along the beach, doing sprints, sit-ups, press-ups, etc... Reclaiming my body. Yet the six pack was sitting on top of a bulge. I had no idea.

I understand that a comment that a woman with a belly is nice was just to keep things sweet and it really doesn't matter about how big our bellies are. Yet, my body was communicating with me and I didn't know what it wanted. It looked different. It behaved differently. I stopped giving it sugars and fats. I fasted. I exercised. But, I also went wild with wine and would frequently have a cup of milk after a gym session. I thought I was doing what it wanted me to do. I thought I was paying attention.

For so many people, and for me, for so very long when there is a problem in the body I worry that it is lacking something. So I give it 'stuff'.What do you want my dear body? It is only now that understand that we are destroying our bodies with the food that we consume. The body doesn't actually need as much as I have been piling into it. All those steaks, Sunday roasts, pies and breads. NO. The body never wanted any of that stuff. I wanted it. It so certainly does not need a bottle of wine, spirits and sodas all night long once or twice a week. Give the body a rest. It wants less, not more. Replace the toxins with live fresh fruits and vegetables and it will rest and get a chance to fix itself - because, the body can fix itself.

Or, at least I dare to hope. So, I eat for you not for me. Not for Bob and Max.

Fibroids, natural cure

I wanted to write this blog this time last year. I actually created one post then deleted it a few days later. I was not sure that the quest to heal my uterus would work. Now, a year on, I am more confident and reassured that my uterus is about to become fibroid free. I have a good reason and evidence to believe that fibroids will diminish sometime within the next year, if not sooner.

Why am I so sure that I will be fibroid free?

1:
In the last week they have shrunk substantially. I can see that they are smaller. I can feel that they are smaller and I also measure them with a measuring tape. Actually, I can only measure one of them since the other is at the back and my spine is in the way to have a little feel. The one in the front - lets call him Bob for the ease of communication - protrudes from my stomach so is clearly visible and feel-able. So, Bob, is a centimetre smaller all round than it was this time last year. Bear in mind that it  got a bit bigger in between. So much bigger that I didn't dare measure him.

2:
I have finally taken real steps towards cleansing my body of toxins that have made Bob and his mate Max (a kind name for a back pain producer the posterior intramural fibroid).

3:
My menses has become lighter. The volume of blood has been halved. This is due to my stopping consuming all meat and dairy a year ago.

4:
My menses is lighter because I do not consume any other sugars but those naturally occurring in fruit and vegetables.

5:
I shall do my best to inform myself of all that which will work in ushering Max and Bob out of my body. Moreover, I now have the strength and tenacity to continue on this hard road which I begun in 2012 subconsciously, and on 6th April 2015 consciously. I am all in!


I will elaborate on all of the above points with each new post. It will all make sense and if I can inspire at least one other person to take charge of healing their body and not have to go to surgery, not have their uterus meddled with or even removed (this horrifies me and even though i understand that for some people removal of organs may be life saving I still cannot help but feel utterly horrified by it. Therefore, I will do everything I possibly can to prevent such thing coming to me. And, if you can do the same and I can help us both then we shall be happier. Life on hormone replacement therapies is subservient to life without meat, alcohol, milk, bread, eggs, fish... Just one more point, fibroids are benign tumours so they are not life threatening and fibroid problems are insignificant in comparison to so many diseases out there. Still, this is no reason to be complacent about it. Our bodies are communicating with us. They are telling us something's out of balance. Lets listen to them and lets communicate with our bodies. Give them respect. They are the only ones that we will have to live with for the rest of our lives. I love mine. Please, please love yours.)

Please join me on this quest to heal our bodies of those ugly tumours. Having said this, I do feel attached to them since they have been with me for some time and we are used to each other and they are on my mind all the time. They are like an emotionally unavailable man. They love me so they take the toxins that I have fed the body with. But, their love is misplaced. They are only good for that one thing. And, they have served me well. They have awaken me to my errors of indulgence in alcohol, meat, cakes and bad relationships.

I could eat two packs of Jaffa Cakes in one go!!!

I could eat a whole Sainsbury's walnut cake in one sitting. Oh, that delicious greasy, sticky, yellowish dough with intermittent bite of a whole walnut. Yum. But, those days are over. I remember the taste well not to need another bite. And this, dear reader, makes me human. One who is able to take control  of the healing process premised on logical thinking and being adamant that it is healed body that I desire rather than a meek removal of the object of frustration.