claire's journey

[rafaelo]

another satisfied customer!

[claireelis]

I am finding it hard to listen to my body! I either plan what I eat and tend to overeat or I decide not to worry about it and just go by what I feel. With this I tend not to eat at all while I'm busy at work and then get hungry when i get home (I worked from 7:00 til 15:00) and eat continually (OJ, fruit, avocado salad) after getting home until about 21:00. Today I am working at home, so I decided to give the 'what feels right' a try again. I started off with 3 glasses of OJ and 2 egg yolks (spread over a half hour). An hour and half later I made some apple-celery-lemon-ginger juice. Right now I don't feel hungry at all - my digestive system just feels comfortable, which is really really nice considering my often constant battle with digestive problems.

But one thing i've read that a lot 'wai-diet' people do is 'sip' their drinks. I drink a glass at a time and often 3 successively. I am guessing that that is not good for steady glucose levels.

[RRM]

It is hard, indeed, as we have never learned to do it.
But... with time you will find it easier and easier.
Just keep on trying and trying, and trying...

[Oscar]

As with most things we want to change, first we have to do it consciously, so that later it can become unconsciously. In this case: maybe first plan rather strictly and after a while slowly let go and listen more and more to your body.

[claireelis]

i am finding that the semi-planning of meals and stuff is working well. i work fulltime again now so i kind of have to, but nevertheless the following seems to do pretty good:
* i start off with a glass of fresh fruit juice (no oil)
* then have a banana on my way out the door to work
* during work (desk job) i have 1-2 pieces of fruit (usually tangerines)
every hour or hour and a half
* for lunch cucumber-tomato salad
* then continue with fruits the rest of the work day
* when i get home at around 18:00 i have about 4 pieces of fruit (e.g. kiwis)
* an a hour or two later i make my favorite banana salad (2 bananas, 4x4cm chunk fresh coconut chopped, 2 dates and a touch of olive oil)
* later in the evening i have 2-3 yolks a glass of OJ

it comes to about 2000 calories with about 30% fat and 5% protein.

I had trouble with my lunch salad (would throw up afterwards) so today i tried the same salad without avocado, but with a bit of olive oil (which i didn't use with the avocado) and that went well. i am thinking that maybe olive oil is easier for me to digest than an avocado - its less fat in one go (2.25 tbsp is about the same amount of fat as 1 california avocado and i only used about a tablespoon), but maybe b/c the oil's refined its also easier to digest?

my energy levels remain pretty steady throughout the day and i have less stomach upsets than before. i still have some digestive problems, but i feel like i'm making good progress in finding something that works for me

[Oscar]

Good to hear! Keep experimenting and fine-tuning.

[claireelis]

As I posted under the 'general health issues' my menstrual cycle is improving, which is a good indicator of improving health I still keep having so much trouble with sashimi and anything containing more than a tiny dash of olive oil! To be frank I throw up everytime I eat these things and feel very week and tired the following days. But now that I have proof that my health is improving I am very motivated to continue in this direction.

My next step is to adjust my version of the sample diet so that I don't get sick to my stomach - first goal being for 2 weeks straight. I recently tried 2 days with only fruit and yolks and had no stomach upsets, few other digestive problems and my energy levels literally soared. I then tried sashimi again for christmas dinner (no other fats that day) and got quite sick to my stomach again My plan is now to try only fruit and yolks (starting tommorrow (having another family christmas dinner tonight ) and probably also some lettuce and/or carrot juice for the next 2-3 weeks. I hope not to get sick to my stomach and have plenty of energy for the duration.

[RRM]

Im glad you have the energy and stamina to do the experimentation, as its the only way to finding out what works best for you. Please keep us posted!

[claireelis]

hi, just leaving a quick update. i am improving slowly but surely

what is changing:
1) skin is clearning up - acnes scars disappearing, no new acne, a few spots on my forehead
2) loosing weight - i am 171cm. as a raw vegan i weighed about 52 kilos which is my target weight. after incorporating new and more foods b/c i wasn't satisfied with the raw vegan with no nuts diet i gained 5 kilos. this was when i started trying the wai diet. i gained 2 more kilos in a matter of weeks. this was probs due to munch foods and that my body was completely out of wack b/c i got sick to my stomach a lot. i'd lose 2 kilos in 2 days from being sick and gain 3 a week later. i think a lot of the weight was water weight as my body couldn't digest a lot of things i was eating. anyway right now i weigh 56 kilos and although i want my petite figure back i am certainly content with my weight for now.
3) sick to stomach less often - anyway after christmas my plan was fruit, vegetable juice (mostly carrot or celery mixed with apple and ginger), yolks and some sashimi. i still cannot handle fish - so after trying a couple of times i'm not going to have any for the next month. i also tried some unshelled walnuts, but they don't go well still. but when i stick to fruit, juice and yolks i do really well - basically i've proven to myself about what really works. and when i do this i feel and look energetic and wonderful.

so what i do is: have a glass of OJ for breakfast, eat fruit all day (e.g. 5 bananas, 5 kiwis, 5 tangerines, a whole small/medium melon), drink 3/4L vegetable/fruit juice at around 20:00, then have 2 egg yolks before going to bed. i don't pay attention to portions or timing i just eat something whenever i feel like it.

i want to start making 2 egg yolks a day 'mandatory', because i only had them 3x last week for example.

some things i've learned:
CANDIDA - i got rid of it by fasting for 40 hours (see dr. doug graham's site foodnsport.com) and then not combining fat with sugar for a week. it worked for me. i think candida overgrowth is just a symptom of an out of balance body, but its annoying as hell and i've now found a simple way to get rid of it if it should ever occur again.

FASTING - is counterproductive. i've read this earlier on the site, but i want to add my story. i've tried fasting 2x for short periods, one was to get rid of candida, which worked but i also hoped for quicker weightloss and the second time because i felt ill and thought it would be *healing*. in both cases it led to uncontrollable cravings a few days later, gaining more weight than i had lost, it also stops my digestion and takes 4 days afterwards to get it back to normal, which is really unhandy b/c i already had digestive issues. i have found the best way to deal with food in relation to health and weight loss is: stick to the food plan you want to live with and both will happen gradually - which really isn't very slow anyways.

[RRM]

Thank you for the update, Claire, its very helpful!

[Oscar]

[Marty]

Claire, I did also try splitting fat and sugar intake at times in the earliest days of the diet, as I had parasitosis and some candida problem secondary to that. It was very effective.

I think there were other reasons why it did (other than the theory behind it by D. Graham)-- I will post some notes on that under my log, here: viewtopic.php?t=1056


It is amazing to find out what the body needs, and be able to provide that-- I am very, very glad you are finding this, too.

[avalon]

Claire wrote:

CANDIDA - i got rid of it by fasting for 40 hours (see dr. doug graham's site foodnsport.com) and then not combining fat with sugar for a week. it worked for me. i think candida overgrowth is just a symptom of an out of balance body, but its annoying as hell and i've now found a simple way to get rid of it if it should ever occur again.

Thanks also Claire. I'd never heard of this approach. Very interesting!

[claireelis]

hello all! i was away the past half year - i wasn't able to log in for a while (site was down?) and then didn't have an internet connection for months...

I will go ahead an be frank about my current health situation: in the mean time i have undergone extensive traditional medical testing (and am still busy with that) in order to understand exactly why i am having so many digestive problems (nausea, vomitting, bloating, abdominal pain and other typical IBS symptoms i'd prefer not to describe in detail ) i have had an acute parasitic infection, lactose intolerance and currently still have symptoms such as gastroparesis (delayed stomach emptying), inflammation of the mucus membranes, consistent low white blood cell count, swollen lymph nodes and ammenorea.

my diet has been all over the place. fruit and juice (mixed with carrots/celery/cabbage) has remained a staple but I had stopped with the egg yolks and sashimi because I was afraid of bacteria/parasites. i've had phases with lots of starches (e.g. potatoes, brown rice, lentils) and fats (e.g. olive or coconut oil, avocado's, raw (but shelled) nuts/seeds). it hasn't been working.

one of the specialists i am seeing wants to put me on hormone therapy and i really want to solve my problems naturally - so here i am. i recalled how raw egg yolks seemed to do me good so i want to incorporate them again. i also have understood that for gastroparesis and IBS frequent low fiber / low fat meals are advised. i've found i can handle an avocado alone on an empty stomach, but fish and nuts usually doesn't go well. i had my first egg yolk again last night and it actually settled my stomach. all in all this sounds like a version of the wai diet to me so now back to juices, fruits and yolks with the occasional tomo-cuke-avo salad and hopefully sashimi or nuts again soon!

[Oscar]

Maybe you'd want to avoid the nuts altogether, because they contain more fiber. I don't think low fat will help you though. As I recall, another IBS sufferer said he did better on a high fat (Wai) diet.