Thursday, May 29, 2008

A Doctor's Visit About Raw Food

Last Friday I went to the “Oh so dreaded” doctor’s appointment. I broke the news to him gently that I was not on any med now other than my hormone (because I have had an hysterectomy) and waited for his reaction. He was a little skeptical I think, about the whole diet thing but he took my blood pressure, blood sugar and then weighted me and we talked a little more about how I got there. My blood pressure is in the normal range, just a little higher in the normal range, and my blood sugar was normal. My weight was down 45 pounds from my visit about 6 months ago. My doctor is a Seventh Day Adventist so I think that he is a little more aware of lifestyles impact on health. He was also interested in the fact that I needed no psyche meds or pain meds. I was surprised too that he had never heard of the raw food approach. He generally just gave me the thumbs up so that was a big relief.
I went to the hardware store today and picked up my “monster tool”. It is a pick thing that has a flat head on the other side. I have not been able to do any gardening because the place I am going to plant has been just grass and weeds for a very long time. I knew that it was going to take a big tool to get through it. The price was ridicules but I plan on keeping this tool the rest of my life. I figure if I just dig on hole a day, in a week I would have gotten in seven plants. I am going to mulch on top of newspaper around them later when I can get some mulch. I thought that I could get free mulch but after checking around I found out that was not going to happen. The local green-waste place is now sending it to a worm farm so I have to buy it from them at $20.00 for a cubic yard. It will be chopped so I don’t think I will have to lay it down really thick. I am thankful though that I have a pickup so that I can pick it up as I go along. I am a little late getting my plants in but I think that is going to be fine. I am planning on getting a dehydrator so that I can dry some of these tomatoes. Some of the ones I planted are the San Marzano kind which is supposed to be a yummy paste tomato for drying. It is the one they dry in Italy. When I get my mulch on I also plan to plant some greens including some kale for winter use. Some of the pepper seed that are also an Italian variety came up so I plan on getting them in as well as a few plants from a nursery. Thinking about the dehydrator, I tasted some raw crackers from the natural food store that were so delicious. They were made from sprouted seeds that were left in their whole form. They had sesame, flax and sunflower seeds plus a little onion and spice. I better get a dehydrator because at five bucks for two servings I just cannot buy them. So anyway, can’t wait to start churning those things out but I am going to add pumpkin seeds to mine, as for some reason, I am really into pumpkin seeds.
I do encourage all of my readers to go to the http://www.goneraw.com/ site for some great recipes and support for raw-fooders. I am on that site almost every day in anticipation for new recipes being posted and also for the forum activity.

6 comments:

Kristen's Raw said...

Congrats on your success, and that's great news about your doctor's visit.

Cheers,
Kristen

Anonymous said...

Looks like you have a great start. If you keep the waste from your juicer, salads, chopped veggies ... you can compost it and use that in your gardening. Much cheaper than mulch and it's organic. Newspapers have ink and feeding your plants ink is not so great.
As for the dehydrator, go for it. I use mine for wilting and marinating as well as the typical burgers, breads, falafle, chips, crackers and cookies.
I have a ton of helpful videos, free recipes and my Tip Of The Week to help you fill your plate with fun, exciting and tasty food. Check it out at http://www.rawchefdan.com and my blog at http://www.rawchefdan.typepade.com
Keep up the good work!
Peace and Gratitude Raw Chef Dan

Rosemary said...

Thank you both for the comments and encouragement. I just love it when people visit my blog!
Raw chef dan, your site is great. I went there and it made me hungry!
Rosemary

Andrea said...

Where is your after picture? Just curious.

Viv

Rosemary said...

Hi Viv,
Good point about the need of a new after picture but my camera died so I have to wait to get another one. I am a work in progress though as I still have got about 40 more to go. Thanks for visiting and I plan on posting again soon.
Rosemary

Anonymous said...

Wow, that's a great (and pleasantly surprising!) reaction from your doctor.

I look forward to when doctors consider diet and nutrition as a prescription worthy of at least as much consideration as a man-made drug.

Chuck