Day 11 & Oil Pulling

Today is my 11th day of doing a low fat raw vegan diet....sort of.
On Days 8 and 9 I pigged out on all kinds of junk that was neither raw or vegan.  The food was great, but the last few days have been horrible.  I have felt sick, tired and bloated.  Hopefully in a few days I will be back to normal.

I have been telling a few people about how I have been able to fight my gum disease and keep my teeth clean and white without going to the dentist so I thought I would share it here as well.

About 10 years ago I had some major issues with my gums.  At 27 my dentist told me I would be lucky to have any teeth left by the time I was 30.  I am happy to say that I still have ALL of my teeth and my gums are getting much better thanks to oil pulling.

I started pulling about 4 years ago after I read about it on one of my favorite website http://www.curezone.com/
Oil pulling is pretty simple.  All you need is some sort of unrefined oil and about 15-20 minutes a day.  I usually use coconut oil, but you can use sesame or sunflower as well.... most others are too thick.

First thing in the morning I take about a tablespoon of oil put it in my mouth and swish it around for about 15-20 minutes.  The oil causes you to produce saliva..lots of saliva.. which helps to break down tarter and plauque.  It also get in between teeth and under the gum line better than flossing can.  The mixture of the oil and saliva breaks up the hard stuff that collects on teeth and gums causing problems.  I noticed a huge difference in the appearance and feel of my teeth after the first time.  People are always asking me if I have had my teeth whitened.

Alof of people say that oil pulling also detoxes your body through the tongue.  I am not real sure about how well it detoxes the whole body, but I am sure that it cleans the mouth and the sinuses.  The first few times I pulled I had lots of sinus drainage, which helped to get rid of chronic sinus infections.

This webpage has some good info check it out and good luck!
http://hubpages.com/hub/Health_Benefits_of_Oil_Pulling_

Day 8....Cheat Day

I decided yesterday I wanted a cheat day even though I commited to 100 days of the low fat raw vegan diet.
I went out to eat and pigged out on all kinds of junk.  I have to admit it tasted really good!
This morning I woke up feeling like I had been hit my a truck. My body hurt, my eyes were swollen and crusted over, the fluid in my ears which had gone away was back, I was congested, groggy and in a bad mood. No more cheat days!!!

After dinner my friend took me to the asian market and I found all kinds of new and interesting fruits and veggies.  This makes me very excited since I was getting bored with the stuff I have been eating.  Today I am going to the Hillcrest  Farmers Market in San Diego.(my third in 3 days)  This market has been my favorite so far.  Most of the others I have gone to are full of prepared foods and other non food items, but they have very little produce.  Hopefully today I can find some fun stuff.

CRONO-O-Meter & Day 6

 have been using the coolest program to track my calories and nutritional targets.
It's called CRON-O-Meter and it is FREE!
The only drawback I have found is that it is not web based so you have to download the program to your computer.
You can download it for free and read more about it at:
http://cron-o-meter.en.softonic.com/

I have been doing this to make sure I get enough calories.  I have been amazed at how much food I need to eat in order to get enough calories while doing the low far raw vegan diet (LFRV).  My goal is to get between 3000 and 3500 calories a day, which is crazy to me.  In the past when trying to lose weight I have cut back to 2000 calories a day and that has been effective, but I was always hungry.  With the LFRV diet I am never hungry unless of course I wait to long to eat.  I have been trying to get 1000 calories for breakfast and eat about 3-4 additional meals.
As hard as it is for me to believe I have already lost a noticable amount of weight eating over 3000 calories a day.
I will take some new pics this wekend and maybe post my before pics and the new ones..
I have included a screen capture of my CRON-O-Meter for today.
It is almost 9pm and I may eat a little something else before bed but it will give you a general idea of how much I am eating.

I am aiming for 80 percent of calories from carbs, 10 percent from fat and 10 percent from protein.
I have had a hard time hitting my protein every day because I have not been eating my greens like I am supposed to.  I will go buy some tomorrow and get back to that.
If anyone has a good low fat raw vegan salad dressing recipe let me know.

The Dirty Dozen ... and Day 3

I saw this the other day and thought it was interesting. It's a handy list of least and most pesticide-containing produce. I used to think things with tougher peels / wrapping were "cleaner" but not so - some just don't get pests (like onions) and don't require pesticides.


The EWG, a nonprofit environmental research organization, calls the 12 fruits and vegetables that carry the most pesticide residue "the dirty dozen." These include (in order of most residue to least): peaches, apples, bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, kale, lettuce, imported grapes, carrots, and pears.

The EWG's "clean 15," the fruits and vegetables with the least pesticide residue, are (in order of least residue to most): onions, avocados, sweet corn, pineapples, mangoes, asparagus, sweet peas, kiwifruits, cabbages, eggplants, papayas, watermelons, broccoli, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes. Grapefruit is number 16. Oranges and tangerines, staples of midwinter, fall midway on the list of the 47 fruits and vegetables tested.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) says organic is cleaner but takes care to point out that "measured residues on most products, both organic and nonorganic, do not exceed government-defined thresholds for safe consumption.".... whatever that means

When it comes to foodborne illness, organic isn't immune, as the 2006 outbreak of E. coli in organic bagged spinach proved. Contamination is all about who or what touches the produce along the way. Distribution of mass-produced foods will spread a tainted batch far and wide, while small farms have a narrower reach. Organic food can't be irradiated, a controversial technique approved to kill pathogens in some foods, or genetically modified, a practice whose long-term safety is unknown.

Read more at Wholeliving.com: Fresh Thinking: How to Shop for Fruits and Vegetables
 
 
 
 
I am in day three od my 100 day low fat raw vegan experiment.  I feel pretty good so far.  I have done this is in the past for up to 15 days...  As before I have a slight sore throat going into day 3.  Last time I went for longer than 4 days the sore throat lasted about 4 days and went away. I also have sinus and ear drainage.  I have been coughing up alot of mucus and I am starting to breath better.  The best thing is I look like I have lost weight already!
Pics are coming soon..

100 Days

I have been inspired by tv.  People say tv is useless, but I have to disagree.
I saw a comercial for the TNT Network and it inspired me...
The comercial os for their 100 days of drama... now don't think I want 100 days of drama.
In the comercial they say you can do alot in 100 days...that's what inspired me.

I am commiting to 100 days of a low fat raw vegan diet to improve my health and to be honest my appearance.  I have been really bad lately, eating lots of junk.  I feel like crap and I am getting fat!  I am currently the heaviest I have been in over 15 years.  I was 240 at my heaviest..I am 190 now... not super heavy but way heavier than I like to be.

I have gone back and forth with this way of eating for about 2 years.  I go for a few days then fall off.  I have used all kinds of excuses... 
For the next 100 days there will be no excuses, no trying, ... just doing!

I guess we will see how it changes my life... if it does.

I will be posting pics soon... I'm too embarassed to post my before pics right now!