Our Bodies are Begging for Help

And we are the only ones who can save ourselves. Every ache and pain, every abnormality, every symptom and sign, is a cry for help from our bodies. Hippocrates said, "Let thy medicine be thy food, and let thy food be thy medicine." Nutritional therapy is widely recommended for illnesses in pets and all animals. Elimination diets are used to find food sensitivities in humans. So many people are lactose intolerant and/or have celiac disease. Doesn't it make sense that if such a huge percent of our population are having serious problems digesting this food, that its really not good for us to begin with? I mean, these people live perfectly fine for years without needing supplements of any kind because they had to cut out several food groups. My point is, people need to start listening to their bodies, and tailoring their diets to their body's needs. 

The information is out there, but it can be hard to find. I have fibromyalgia and have been told since my diagnoses that its incurable, chronic, and I will be on medication for the rest of my life to try to control the pain. I went into such a deep depression. I wanted to die every day because I saw no use in living like this. I did research but it all came back to the same things that were not helping me to begin with. I felt like the medical community was failing me and all other patients with this disorder. I felt like no one else understood because they all said it was in my head. I couldn't hold a job and had to apply for disability, which was extremely disappointing to my father. My fiance had to take on two full time jobs to support us. How shitty does that feel when her coworkers say, "What is Melynda doing?" and she has to reply with, "She's sick." People look at me as a leech, a mooch, and in all honesty, useless to society. I reached the end of the line because there was no hope, no light in my future, a hope for a medical cure maybe? But doubtful. 

I started being more conscious about what I put in my mouth because I became a vegetarian for ethical and environmental reasons. I knew there were health benefits, but didn't know what they were or how to take advantage of them, so I just kept eating what I did before, without the meat. When about a year passed with no change in my health, I felt that all hope was lost. I was never destined to lose weight or be healthy, and I accepted that.

When I watched my first health food documentary, I was completely blown away. The answer to all of my questions was staring me in the face the whole time and I didn't realize it. I knew organic was better, I knew GMO was bad, I knew MSG was bad, I knew fresh fruits an veggies were the best thing for you. But I had no idea why. I honestly didn't know how our cells work, what they need to work properly, and how to give that to them. Now that I understand this, it makes sense that every time we order pizza, I get a headache. 

Our bodies have evolved over millions of years to survive on fresh organic plant food, so of course that's what we need to give it to thrive.  

You Are What You Eat

And I am leftover booze and munchies from my New Years Eve party. I'm forcing myself to write this one so bear with me. Now that the holidays are over(Yes, I go with "Happy Holidays" because there are more than one. There are several. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Yule type holidays, and New Years.) all that stocks my fridge is a sad drawer of weepy veggies and all the wonderful, bad for you foods that we save stockpiled in the kitchen. If we didn't, we would be living off of water after all the veggies we bought on payday are gone and the bank account is dry. So this evening I'm eating a wonderful dinner of instant mashed potatoes, cashews, and(Mmm!) organic dark chocolate covered raisins.

It'll be another 8 days before payday comes. We have several root veggies that should last a while in the fridge so I can spread out my veggie consumption throughout the week. I just need to take it day by day. Christi said something to me the other day that really stuck with me, "I'm going to eat only the things that are either really good for me, or taste really good. French fries don't taste good enough to justify eating them." This really rings true, but for me, it can feel like those french fries ARE worth the health risk most days. I fight with myself constantly about this. I will go entire days not eating until 8 or 9 o'clock because I feel so guilty about what is in my cupboards. Then, because I am so hungry and have given in to eating the only food we have in the house, I binge until I can't eat anymore. The problem is, this is all food bank food. So we get white bread, donuts, sugary cereal, eggs, canned soups and veggies, and half of the food has meat in it so I have to give that away. Then on top of all that junk food, they give you a bag of potatoes or onions and maybe a seasonal fruit like a melon or pumpkin. The ratio of fresh, organic fruits an veggies to processed poison in our culture's diet is completely destructive. Trying to get out of the rut every other poor person is in is the most difficult thing to overcome. Of course we are going to eat at the drive thru and have hot fresh pizza delivered to our doors for only $12. It's cheap and is exactly what our taste buds want. That's the sick part of this whole thing. Processed foods are made to taste like they are the most nutritionally sound thing your body is eating. The only conscious part about digestion is actually eating the food, and when our tongue tells us to keep eating what we are eating, we just do. This is how we run into trouble, high volumes of high calorie, nutrient deficient food.

I am trying to solve this problem by growing an indoor organic vegetable garden. This doesn't seem too promising right now. None of my plants have sprouted yet, even though I am using seeds that are "guaranteed to grow!"  I will keep my fingers crossed. I planted two blackberry seeds today and I ran out of soil. When the next bag of soil comes in the mail, I am going to use my leftover disposable cups as make-shift pea pots to start my plants and hope that by the time they are too big for the cups, I will have big enough containers to re-pot them.

I think what frustrates me the most is that I have all this knowledge, but no funds whatsoever to try to fix the problems in my diet. If more and more people start eating fresh, organic food, then industry will turn to it as a  money source and it will ultimately become cheaper. We just need to change our habits and beliefs about food as a society and culture.

"One Quarter of What You Eat Keeps You Alive"

"The other three quarters keeps your doctor alive." When you go into a medical office and ask for nutritional counseling, they sit you down and give you a diet that specifically meets your lifestyle and needs. They talk about counting calories and fat, good cholesterol and bad cholesterol, weighing portions, and so forth. You hear about these things on a day to day basis. Milk grows strong bones, meat builds muscle. What you don't hear about, however, are the nutrients our cells need in order to function properly. Why isn't this information easily accessible as well as good food sources that provide these nutrients?

It makes me so sad that fresh, local, organic produce is extremely hard to find, expensive, and often found places that do not accept EBT cards. I am lucky, however, to have a local grocery store that offers all the foods and organic produce I want. I buy my vegan soaps there, which I LOVE! Kiss My Face Chamomile and olive oil soap and some kind of bar shampoo are my favorites. Both come in a an earth friendly recyclable paper package and the do wonders for my skin and hair. 

My parents sent me a wonderful Christmas present, an Amazon gift card. I was able to purchase more soil and organic seeds. I can't wait to plant the whole garden and especially when I can start harvesting the fruits and veggies. I'm going to have a full garden of vine ripened organic fruits and veggies at my disposal. Building this garden is going to be so much fun. I was at Big Lots the other day and found that they had topsy turvey tomato and strawberry growers for $1.50. I picked up three of them. I plan to use one for my blackberries, one for tomatoes, and the other for bell peppers. For everything else, I'm still on the quest to find empty plastic two liter bottles.

 Apples are going to be difficult, however. I can't easily grow an organic apple tree in my apartment, but they are the best things to put in juice. They have a great sweet flavor that covers up the yucky veggie taste and can really bulk up the juice. Juices are my favorite means of incorporating fresh produce in my diet because you can get so many essential nutrients and enzymes in so little time. Its like drinking pure life nectar goodness for your body! The only thing that irritates me is that you need to both clean the juicer and drink the juice immediately after juicing. So I have to have a sponge in one hand a my juice in the other which is not very conducive to actually enjoying the juice.

My next step is to research composting and see if its something I can do. I haven't the slightest clue as to where to begin with composting. Can you even do it in the winter? Can you do it indoors? How do you tend to it? How do you deal with pests or the smell while keeping it organic? How is it used and when is it ready to be used? You guys should answer any of these in the comments if you know it.. Otherwise, it's off to google for me! No more produce waste!

Christmas is Gone, A New Year Comes

The new year is coming and I am set on going vegan as well as organic as possible.  I figure the new year ought to be a good place to start, you know, resolutions an all. My ultimate goal is to be able to go on juice fasts with ease. I'm also excited about losing weight an looking and feeling good. I have been far too sick for far too long. I've decided that I'm going to recycle and compost as much as possible and whenever possible. This will help me be able to afford an organic lifestyle and also lessen my carbon footprint while doing so.

Old habits die hard and new, better ones are much harder to learn. I'm addicted to cheese and potatoes. I have literally been living off of refined sugars, flours, fats, and dairy for most of my life. These are all my favorite foods. All my life I've been taught that what goes in your mouth comes off of a shelf and whatever comes off of a shelf is perfectly harmless to put into your mouth. Of course I've been blind all of my life. I lost 60 lbs on the "atkins" diet. I ate nothing but meat and cheese and very little vegetables. I would go to Burger King and order a whopper without the bun for breakfast. I would eat a bowl of meatballs doused in parmesan cheese for lunch. And for dinner? Parmesan cheese crusted chicken breast with a home made five cheese alfredo sauce topping and dip. Yeah, I was destroying my body from the inside out and I still am. I've had fibromyalgia since I was 19 and have been overweight since the age of 12.

I have finally realized that I have been poisoning myself all these years. I finally learned to start questioning everything I know because you never know the truth in a world of lies and corporate control. I learned that Pharmaceutical companies put out ads, pay for the certification of drugs, and pay doctors to prescribe them, and make a huge profit on keeping the customer coming back for more. It's not a cure. Its a life sentence of needing pills and drugs on a daily basis and a life sentence of giving your money to the makers of this drug.

People love, and I mean LOVE, to pin the cause of their problems on someone else. If the kids aren't getting good grades, it's because the teacher isn't spending enough one on one time with their child. If a kid gets autism or diabetes or asthma, it's caused by vaccines. Why do we blame the doctor for the illness and not what we choose to shovel into our children's mouth on a daily basis? Our bodies are made to eat and digest plant foods. We salivate at the sight of plant foods. Everything we need, every vitamin and mineral vital to our survival, we can get from plant foods. Our bodies can virtually never have too much plant foods, they do not link to cancer, obesity, or disease. Yet the average american diet consists of about 15% or less of fresh fruit and veggies. Mine certainly does. But for me, it's all about cost. I literally cant afford more than a few dollars a day to eat and to survive on plant food, we need about 15 to 20 pounds a day. That can cost up to $30 a day. It's much easier to justify the box of refined white flour pasta and corn syrup infested jar of tomato sauce when the meal for a whole family costs about two bucks, tastes good, and fills you up.

My plan, as a broke 23 year old in the middle of winter, is to build a vast indoor verticle organic vegetable and herb garden. I have one hanging piece right now. I used four 2 liter bottles, hung them upside down over each other in front of the window. They are full of organic soil and seeds. I planted cherry tomatoes, green onions, and I think carrots. We have been buying and juicing as much fresh produce as we can afford right now. We no longer go out to eat, we spend that money on fresh fruit and veggies. I plan to add as many fruits and veggies into my diet as possible until i get to about 90%. I hope to one day be 100% plant based and animal free. I guess that's what the point is about this blog. I also hope to inspire people to be more conscious about the choices that make, the things they spend their money on and put into their body, as well as myself.