Wednesday, 19 March 2008

• RAW TRIAL DAY 19 AND THE REVELATION

  DAY 19

  Hey guys! So um…I was re-reading my last post and I guess I said I was going to reveal something today. Actually…I’ve decided to go ahead and not discuss that particular issue for personal reasons….

  Okay, I’m kidding =). I wouldn’t do that to you! But I will have to warn you though, today’s post is a very touchy subject and has been a part of my life since I was probably 9 or 10 years old. Not to many people know this part of me -- my parents don’t even know about this! But for the sake of this trial, and for the individuals who have been following and supporting my raw food journey, I will not hold back any information and/or observation that I feel have substantial significance regarding this trial . So sit tight because this one’s gonna be a doozy.

  I`ll just tell you guys straight up, I suffer from an anxiety disorder. I’d get daily panic attacks -- sometimes usually brought on by stress, but most of the time, it would happen for absolutely no reason at all. I don't know what instigates it, or if anything promotes it.  It just...happens. One minute I’m in class taking notes on a lecture, the next minute my hands are trembling, my thoughts are racing, I can’t breathe, and it feels like someone is repeatedly punching me in the chest.

  The first time it happened to me, I felt like I was dying. I didn’t understand it. I remember running to the nearest washroom, grasping my chest, and then throwing up repeatedly. I was barely in Junior high that time so you could imagine what was going on in my head while this was happening. I wasn’t sick that day nor did I feel like I was starting to get sick. It just…sort of happened. But I think the strangest part of that first attack for me was the aftermath. I felt fine. I didn’t feel sick. My breathing normalized. My chest stopped hurting. I was fine. As if nothing had happened at all.

  As I got older, these panic attacks became more frequent and predictable -- as if it became a apart of my daily routine. I’d wake up, have a small attack, wait for it to pass, eat breakfast, and get ready for the day. I might get one mid-day. And then by the end of the night, when I am about to go to sleep, I get another one. Again, my thoughts would race, and my heart would feel like it was palpitating rigorously out of my chest. Oddly enough, this became normal to me. Sometimes it actually helped me go to sleep -- I would literally pass out because of how draining the attack was to my body and mentality.

  I guess the only upside (if you can even consider it an upside) is that they didn’t last long. Five to ten minutes was the average, 30 minutes tops. Still, it was very draining.

  I`ve learned how to cope through the years by focusing on my breathing and trying to calm down my thoughts. When one usually hits, I would make sure to seclude myself in a vacant room and just wait for it to pass. I’ve also thought about taking over the counter anxiety meds like Proloftin to help deal with the stress of the attacks but I was never really crazy for drugs. And I certainly wasn’t going to tell my family doctor about my situation.

  Now what’s this whole revelation have anything to do with this trial, you ask? Recall from a previous post explaining how I got into this RAW craze. It basically started from an illness which lead me to go on a strict fruit and veggie diet (and absolutely no meds). In about 4 days, I was better! I found this quite interesting considering it usually takes me about 2 weeks to fully recover from a cold let alone a virus! And that’s with meds! Intrigued, I googled around for a bit and found out that there is actually a food lifestyle out there similar to the one I had gone through for the past four days. It is called the Raw Food lifestyle. It is very similar to a vegan-based diet except when eating raw, everything is uncooked or at least, has not been heated over 116 degrees Fahrenheit (in order to maintain the foods "life force"). Click here for more details.

  After spending a couple of hours reading through websites, blogs, and watching some youtube videos, I decided to try a 30 day trial. I spent the first few weeks preparing for it, being about 90% raw. Not having even started the trial, I started noticing a lot of changes both mentally and physically. My thoughts became more clear. I have very few mental blocks while in the past, I was fogged with many. I feel more active and I have so much more energy than before. But what really took me by surprise was that my panic attacks have stopped. And it hasn’t returned since starting this diet! I think it has even shocked my body a little because I guess…it’s been so used to preparing for these attacks that when one doesn’t come along, my body doesn’t know what to do with itself. Just the other day, I went out with some friends and just when it would usually hit, nothing happened. It was strange because I felt like my body was expecting something to happen -- like saying "Hey? Shouldn’t you be going crazy right about now?" -- and so my body was left dumb-founded a little. I really don’t know how to explain the sensation.

  Although my body hasn’t fully grasped this new situation, I think that since starting this diet, it has improved my well-being dramatically! Now even if I don’t become 100% raw, I think that this is reason enough (for me at least) to base a lot of my meals on raw foods. I’d take eating a crate of bananas than having put through excruciating anxiety attacks any day! Plus, I love bananas so I win either way =).

  

  The reason for such improvement is probably due to all the good foods I`ve been consuming on this trial. A lot of the foods I`ve been eating are quite rich in complex carbohydrates. Carbohydrates have this calming effect on our body because it creates these important neurotransmitters called serotonin also know as the calming hormone. Serotonin relieves stress by stimulating the production of endorphins in your brain. But consuming foods with complex carbohydrates is proven to be much more beneficial to our body (harder to digest) as opposed to simple carbs (which too much will cause weight gain).

  I have been consuming a lot of bananas on this diet and bananas are loaded with vitamin B6. Also, I have been incorporating a lot of green veggies and avocadoes into this diet which are also loaded with B vitamins. B Vitamins is vital for the production of serotonin. These foods are also chalked full of potassium which is heaven for our nerves and calms them down when stressful situations arise.

  I have included blueberries and a lot of citrus fruits in this diet (pomelos, tangelos, grapefruits) which are full of Vitamin C. Vitamin C is an anti-stress antioxidant. When a stressful situation arises, more free radicals are released into our system. Vitamin C helps our adrenal glands to work harder and fight off these free radicals.

  I have introduced foods that are rich in magnesium. Things like almonds, cashews, flaxseed, and bananas(!) are foods rich in magnesium. There have been studies done proving that magnesium helps reduce heart palpitations brought on by stress.

  And chocolate is an excellent stress buster! Yes, I said chocolate! Dark, preferably. Dark chocolate contains serotonin and relieves stress by stimulating the production of endorphins in your brain. If you’ve been reading my intake, you'd notice that I have been drink looooads of the raw cacao drinks. Cacao (not cocoa!) is the purest form of chocolate because it come straight from the cacao bean.
  

  OKAAY, I’ve babbled on long enough! Time for the in take, baby!

  Today:

  * cacao drink (tbsp cacao powder,2 tbsp raw agave syrup) and 3 bananas (2 medium, 1 small)

  I decided to switch things up a little and try out a glass of an ICED cacao drink. Deeelish! Tim Horton’s, eat your heart out!

  * 1 coco glace (an all natural young coconut dessert)

  * 1 pomelo, 2 nori wraps (stuffing consisted of 1 large mushroom, ½ a plumb tomato, and a few strips of green pepper in each wrap) and 1 tbsp of nama shoyu as a dipping sauce.

  

  * smoothie (consisting of 3 large bananas, 3 tbsp flaxseed, 1 ½ tbsp cacao powder, 1 1/3 cup water)

  * 1 tangelo

  * green smoothie (consisting of 1 cup blueberries, 2 small bananas, a handful of watercress, and 1 cup of water)

  I ran out of my usual greens today so I thought I’d try out some watercress. I opted out putting more than a handful of the watercress for they do kind of have this pungent taste to it (sort of like a herb) and I was afraid it would overpower the smoothie. Luckily, the banana and blueberries balanced out the taste well. Yet still, I’d say the banana and spinach combo remain supreme =).

   

  ;)

   

  Till next time!

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