My Journey from Hell
to Health
I grew up at a time
when milk, bread and potatoes formed part of basic diet and as the
granddaughter of a dairy farmer I had plenty of those in my diet.
When I was 15 I
became a vegetarian and
my family were so
unable to think in those terms that when I went to stay on
my auntie’s farm the
only thing that they could think to feed me was brown sauce
on white bread. (I
didn’t like vegetables)
I continued to eat
a vegetarian diet that was very short on vegetables and consisted mostly of tea
and toast, pizza and chips and as a special treat a whole package of Cheddars
with creamy coffee.
I suffered every winter with such painful sinusitis that I
couldn’t move my head from the vertical because when I did I was in agony and
to make matters worse every summer I had such bad hay fever that I would rub my
eyes so much that I had big red rings half way down my cheeks.
As an adult I hoped
that things would improve, that I would grow out of these childhood ills but
instead I developed acne. Then I got acute constipation so extreme that I ended
up with an anal fissure which I can assure you is one of the most painful
conditions imaginable. I also had kidney stones which are also so
incredibly painful, I ended up in hospital on pethidine.
Added to this I
suffered from reoccurring bouts of depression, self-doubt and extremes of self-loathing along
with such insecurity that I wrecked most of my relationships.
It didn’t occur to
me that all of my problems could be caused by the diet that I was eating so I
end up at the doctors being subscribed
anti- depressants, steroid creams and
anti-histamines none of which worked, I was still depressed, spotty,
overweight and had hay fever.
Then I had a complete medical examination
and to my horror discovered that not only was I spotty and in pain but I
was nearly obese with raised blood pressure and high cholesterol.
That made me
so scared that I said enough is enough I have got to do something before
it is too late.
Shortly afterwards
I visited an old school friend who I hadn't seen since I had been at
school and although I recognised her immediately I was surprised at how
much weight she had put on as she had been very sporty at school and I was even
more surprised when she said "Oh good you're fat too"!
(she was right as you can see in the picture)
At that time the
juice master, Jason Vale, had a book out called "7lbs in 7 days"
which I thought sounded a really promising start so I bought myself a juicer
and stuck religiously to the plan and was delighted to have done just that so I
continued to do the 14 day version and found that I had lost 16lbs. I was
delighted so I went out and celebrated and found 2 days later I had crept back
up 3 lbs.
I had tried so many
different diets, the low carbohydrate one; the low GI; I even tried the Special
K diet. I couldn't stick at any of these; they were just too restrictive and
took such a lot of time to work out. Not only did none of these loose me
any weight, I found that I was slowly creeping back up to the obese
marker and my acne was getting worse.
I was really feeling
my age; aches and pains; shortness of breath; none of my clothes fitted me
and I so needed to do something that really worked.
I had come across
the concept of raw food some 10 to 15 years previously when Lesley Kenton wrote
“Raw Energy” and I had thought that it made complete sense, that a living
body thrives on living foods, but at that time I was in such turmoil, with my
marriage on the rocks, no job, just about surviving on benefits and two
young sons to bring up on my own, I didn’t make any progress and there was very
little support to help me to achieve it.
This time I
discovered that there was a mass of information, resources and guidance and I
became insatiable for knowledge. I believe that there is nothing more powerful
than personal experience for confirming a belief so I put it into practice.
Since adopting a raw
life style I have discovered that there is so much variety in the foods I can
eat now that I will have to live to be at least 200 years old just to try them
all out. My weight has slowly dropped off without any effort at all so that I
am now down to a size 10 and maintain that easily. My sinus problems have disappeared
since I cut dairy products from my life and my acne has virtually completely
cleared up and all without medication.
It has been shown
that food intolerances, obesity, mood swings and diabetes are caused almost
entirely by the poor diet that the western world consumes. Also that health
problems can be solved through adopting a whole food plant based diet.
I aim to wake people
up to their true potential, through what they eat and how they think and the
ways in which they talk to themselves in the privacy of their own minds.
I believe that if I
can do it I can help others, who really want to, achieve it too.
