Dad

My dad went in for a cardio-aversion procedure today. I went in with him, my mom, and my sister. My dad has had heart problems pretty much as far back as I can remember. He's somewhat active and quite athletic when he wants to be but does not choose his food very carefully. Unfortunately this has manifested in his body as heart issues. He had a heart attack about 8 years ago.

This was a huge wake up call for him and I've never seen him more motivated to eat a diet high in fruits and vegetables. He was also involved in a cardio rehab group. He was exercising like crazy and eating well and lost a lot of weight...and he's not heavy to begin with. He did so well for about two years, and then slowly the eating habits began to slip, and fried, fatty foods were again entering the system. He also loves his wine and beer, and sweet treats. You can encourage someone to eat a healthy diet, with many fruits and vegetables but you will have a hard time changing the wiring unless the owner of the house wants new circuits.

He has had tachycardia for many years as well, but it seemed to be in the background. He did join bootcamp with me in July of 2005. I needed to lose excess baby weight and he needed to get active. He loved it and was motivated and went about three times a week and beat me at every run we did together in those first two years. Since going raw, I beat him every time...60 pounds lighter and feeling full of energy, my athleticism is better now than when I was in high school!

Still, the eating habits have not been great for him. He's seen my dramatic changes but still not interested, even when I make him a green smoothie, he is polite and drinks some but it's not his thing.

He started getting tachy's every time we did bootcamp. We signed up for the Vancouver Sun Run and again, he'd get these tachy's each time we ran. It didn't seem normal but the doctors didn't seem alarmed...that was until my dad thought he was having a heart attack on Jan.28th of this year. He went to the hospital and they ran tests but found nothing abnormal. The did however refer him to a heart specialist.

There he was diagnosed with an "arrhythmia" where he was told that they would not even administer a stress test as that could cause my dad to go into cardiac arrest...and the night before and many nights before that we had been out running for an hour?!! Arrhythmia is what Victoria Boutenko (http://www.rawfamily.com/) was diagnosed with at age 38 and told that there was nothing else she could do for her health but pray! Her whole family went raw shortly thereafter due to a type one diabetes diagnosis for her son and they all benefited from it! Her arrhythmia is a thing of the past, naturally.

My dad was told that he had to have the cardio-aversion procedure done to help his arrhythmia. He was put on even more meds than he's already on and then told he had to wait a while to thin his blood enough so that he wouldn't stroke out when the procedure was done. WHAT?! I'd be feeling aversion to having this procedure too, no wonder it got it's name! So, it's now May 27th...exactly 4 months almost to the day that he got the procedure done. They put him out and basically reset his heart rhythm with an electric jolt. Not quite like you see in the movies with the paddles, but you get an idea anyhow.

I am actually reading Victoria Boutenko's 12 Steps to Raw food as it was re-released with a lot of new information. I am enjoying it this time round...and really relate to much of what she's saying. It's extremely informative and she's done a lot of research to back up her thinking. I was reading this in the hospital waiting room but couldn't really concentrate. Instead my sister, mom and I reminisced about all our past operations and our feelings around them and why they happened, and how things have changed so much in our thinking. For example...my dad had his tonsils out along with two of his brothers because they were a nuisance. My mom, sister and I all have had ours removed. How would our bodies be different if we still had them I wonder. I didn't have huge issues with them but when I was six they flared up a little and it was like they were waiting for that to happen and they got me in and out they came, along with the adenoids.

These days it seems like ear infections are far more common than tonsils and that tubes in the ears is the "operation of the day". I only hope that it was in part due to my constant nursing that helped my kids steer clear of any ear infections. It is extremely common today however for kids to have this procedure.

So us three girls just talked and reminisced about operations, family, life, death and the circle of life for the three hours we were in the hospital. It was great bonding time as I know we were all nervous in some way about what dad was going through.

As my dad was being discharged, the nurse told him not to exert himself for 24 hours (no problem there if there's hockey or golf on t.v.!) and to stay away from alcohol for 24 hours (how about for a lifetime!?) and to resume his usual diet when he felt like eating again (I says pardon?!?! No telling him to keep away from fats, and sweets and processed goods and to focus on a more vegetarian diet...I questioned this and the response was that diet had nothing to do with it). I beg to differ. Food matters. More than we'd like to admit. So I'll continue to make him raw desserts, dishes, salads, smoothies, and hope that he'll eventually gain a liking for all things raw. I can encourage, but I cannot force.

Arrhythmia is supposedly genetic...all the more reason for me to continue eating a high raw diet!! I do not want to put my family through what we went through today with my dad.

Sleep's important too, so I'm off to bed.

In green goodness.
Eat Raw, Live Well.

Melinda

Subtle

I'm reminiscing by reading a journal that I wrote when I did my juice fast in September. When I first went "raw", I think it really swept me up. It's like a romance when you first start dating someone that you're drawn to everything they are. You talk about them constantly, think about them day and night, get heart palpitations when they touch you, or just when you see them across the room.

This is what it was like for me with raw and living foods. I do believe that I was probably quite overbearing about it all to begin with. I thought about it all the time, dreamed about it, lived it in every facet. I was telling people that they should go raw because when you feel that good you want everyone to feel that good...but most aren't in that space yet. It's like falling in love and telling everyone how wonderful it is and then telling them that they should fall in love too. How absurd is that?! Many things have to come together for someone to fall in love and I feel that it is the same with finding raw and living foods.

If I'd found it sooner, I too would not have welcomed it like I did in Jan. of 2007.

So, now I am much more subtle about how I eat. Most who know me know that this is how I choose to live. Others who do not know me see how I am and some even ask what I do to have so much energy and seem so alive! I wait for others to ask for my guidance, my suggetions, and this way I will not be as overbearing.

The last thing I want to do is turn others off of raw foods because of how I have approached the subject. If I have offended anyone in the past, I am truly sorry. In the future it's subtlety that I'll focus on.

In green smoothie goodness,

Melinda

Farmers' Market

One of my favourite times of the year is when the Coquitlam Farmers Market opens. It symbolizes the start of the summer season for me, even if the calendar does not. Each year there are more and more items available, and more and more people coming there to purchase their goods. If you'd like to visit their website you can do so HERE. They are in their 12th season this year. Hard to believe that I've only been going for four years. It's fun for the kids too.

This year I am going to ask the farmers about wild greens growing on their farms. This is something the Boutenko family did to reduce their costs on edible greens. Wild edibles are full of nutrition and usually they are just discarded by the farmers.

Speaking of wild edibles...Raw BC is holding a Wild Edibles Nature Walk in South Surrey this coming weekend. Here's the info from the site:

June 1: Nature Walk - Finding Wild Edible Plants in our own backyard, or close to it...
In March, RawBC sponsored a presentation by Sergei Boutenko, of the RawFamily, where Sergei spoke about the abundance of wild edible plants that grow naturally in the Wild.
Several of you who attended requested that we create a Nature walk here in the Lower Mainland, where we could go out and discover and identify plants that grow wild and are edible right here in our own backyard.
We are fortunate to have as our guide, Linda Holley, a graduate of the Dominion Herbal College (www.dominionherbal.com) and has also studied nutrition with the Alive Academy.
Date: Sunday, June 1st
Time: Meeting time 9:30 am. Nature Walk begins: 10:00 - 12:00 noon
Location: Historic Steward Farm, 13723 Crescent Road, Surrey
Meeting Spot: Parking lot by the Heritage Stewart House
Registration: Must RSVP to info@rawbc.org as space is limited.
Details, such as ride sharing, location map, what to bring, will be sent as soon as you are registered.
Cost: General Public $15
RawBC* members $10
*RawBC membership available at event, if arranged beforehand

I'll be there for sure, rain or shine as I live nestled at the bottom of Burke Mountain and have plenty of room to roam for wild edibles just outside my door! Hope to see you there.

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to market I go...

Melinda

Food Matters

Well, it's gaining momentum, like I've said before...check out this trailer for an incredibly important movie that's set to come out soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4DOQ6Xhqss

David Wolfe (the cute curly headed one...) is looking great. I'm so excited to see he's a part of this movie! His book The Sunfood Diet Success System was one of my first raw food reads...and continues to be at my bedside for nightly reference. He also cowrote the book with the most impactful sentence I've read thus far: "Cooked food is poison". I had a hard time accepting that sentence, but as I get further into my studies and understanding of food I truly believe it to be a statement of truth.

Food Matters also has a website:

http://www.foodmatters.tv/

Food does matter, no matter how you look at it. BUT!! Even with this information, what percentage of the population would be willing to substantially change their diet???

Something to chew on.

In green goodness,

Melinda

WOW! I WON!

Well,

Two nights ago while casually writing in my blog, minding my own business I glanced through to see if anyone had commented on any of my recent blogs...and there were two comments on my Hiccups blog entry.

How shocked was I to see that I had won the Ann Wigmore CHI diet Home Study Course from the Raw Divas!! Oh my gosh, how exciting is that?!?!

I am completely THRILLED beyond belief that this course is coming into my hands. It is something I have contemplated purchasing, but could never gather up the funds to do so. It is going to be such an amazing tool! Not only will it help me on my raw food journey, but it will help me to continue to help others with their raw adventures. I really enjoy teaching and coaching people through their journeys and this course will further my knowledge and allow me to help even more people.

If you have linked here through the Raw Divas' site! Welcome, I am so excited to have you reading. I've blogged about my journey from the beginning of this year, reflecting back on the last year of my raw journey. I began in January of 2007 and continue to learn so much every day and will be learning so much more as soon as this course arrives in the mail.

I will be writing some updates for the Divas and will of course update here in the blog about what I am learning and how I am using the information to help others!

Thank you to Jim at:

http://www.chidiet.com/

And to Tera and Amy from the Raw Divas.

http://www.therawdivas.com/

You can check out their Raw Diva blog at:

http://www.therawdivas.com/blog/

and the Raw Moms blog at:

http://rawmom.com/blog/

So there's some great reading for you!

Thanks again to the Divas Tera and Amy! Thanks to Jim for all his tireless work and amazing effort in getting this important course together so that the work of Ann Wigmore can live on.

In green goodness,

Melinda

Oprah goes Vegan

Oprah is doing a 21 day vegan diet cleanse and she's apparently raving about it. Many raw foodies are talking about this and it's a huge thing for the world in the fact that so many people follow Oprah's lead and she has a huge impact on society.

She did raw food vegan in the past but felt unwell. Maybe this vegan cleanse will be a good transition for her to try raw again...here's hoping! Check out her blog. Go to Oprah.com and look for it on her home page.

The wave is coming in fast. I can feel the momentum. Raw is today what veganism was ten years ago...

Had a green smoothie today...yum! Day two of the green smoothie challenge.

Did a hill training run tonight. It was intense. Bob's a great trainer and keeps us pushing ourselves. It did surprise me tonight when he said that he'd take it easy on us and would only do two of the final three uphills in the final set...but we all did three!

I have to remember not to eat about two hours before the training. I did feel a wee bit vomitous (is that a word?!) as I'd eaten up until 6pm and we began the warm up at 6:30pm.

OK. back to reality here.
In green goodness,

Melinda

Green Smoothie Challenge

Anand from Raw Power in Australia has two great things going on right now. The first is a huge green smoothie challenge. It's free to join! There is more info at this address:

www.greensmoothiechallenge.org

I have signed up to be a part of this and to motivate myself to drink at least one litre of green smoothie a day. I find I am not enjoying them as much as I'd like as it seems I get bloated now when I drink them. I am going to tone down the fruit this time, and experiment with the larger variety of fruits now available (in May) as well to be sure not to over drink. Just like when you over eat, over drinking these smoothies too much or too quickly can lead to bloating, and a general tiredness. Simple is key I believe! No more than three or four ingredients at a time for your body to take in the nutrients from.

I'll talk more about his other initiative in a bit but first you have to watch this trailer on Youtube. I HAVE to see this movie. The cutie with the curls is raw food guru David Wolfe. Food does matter, and I am living proof of that!

Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4DOQ6Xhqss

If the link doesn't work just copy paste it into a new window. It's well worth the look and be sure to see the whole thing when it comes out in June! Can't wait!

Well, green smoothie dreams to you all. I'm fasting on water until 6pm tomorrow (another BES with the Raw Divas) and then it's green smoothie time!!

Day one of the Green Smoothie Challenge with Anand's group and up is the only way to go.

Eat Raw, Live Well!

Melinda