Day 8 ...Intentional Eating for Energy and Well Being

For all my new readers out there...this is what I am doing...THIS IS A RE-POST here at the top~
I am trying an old approach to my eating pattern. One that I used when trying to recover from multiple issues stemming from systemic candida. I do not have a problem from candida right now, but I want to use this approach to re-set my metabolism and gain muscle and tone up a bit. When I ate in this fashion before, I lost excess weight quickly and re-shaped my body by adding exercise to my life. I am not really trying to lose weight, but I have been feeling a bit out of balance from not having sufficient fuel from not eating as much or as often as I should.
I will be endeavoring to eat at least six small meals a day with a bit more protein than I have previously been accustomed to. I am also going to add some brown rice cakes and Mary's Gone Crackers to my menu. I am wanting a bit more carbs for my workouts and my physically demanding work. I am not sure how my body will take the grain, but we will see.
I will still be on a High Raw Vegan Diet, but I want to be more thoughtful about timing and content.
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Today has been another busy day attending to some legal matters.
I did manage to get in a 30 min. power walk before I came home to take care of my family.

Eats~
a.m. smoothie~raw almond milk, banana, maca, mesquite, lucuma, cacao nibs, ice

kiwi, strawberries, oranges (small bowl)

Greek Salad & whole grain bread~

red and yellow bell pepper
rice cake with raw almond butter

hummus
kefir water

mini clif bar

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Gluten~Grains

Recently a friend of mine explained that she had discovered a connection with her young daughter's severe Pain in her toes, to gluten and nightshades.
Interesting, I thought....mmmmmmmmmmmm......
In my very recent past...for about 2 to 3 years prior to going high raw...no grains....I had had severe toe pain. My mother thought it was some type of neuropathy. She has diabetes and said my pain was identical to hers. So, I checked out the symptoms and it sounded just like what I was experiencing. The pain I had was so bad, every night for over a year I paid my children to rub on my feet and squeeze them to try to distract me from the pain, sometimes I would get in the tub and run extremely hot water on them. I just couldn't figure out what was causing this pain, and of course I wasn't going to go to the doctor.
Well...the more I increased raw foods in my diet the less pain I had...until..I didn't remember when I last had pain in my toes, but I hadn't connected it to gluten/grains....so when I heard about my friends daughter, I thought I would do an experiment.
This is why you have been seeing me eating whole grain bread from time to time.
The first time I ate the bread it wasn't part of the experiment. My daughter and I had a veggie sub and that night and for a couple nights I realized my toes were hurting...but I didn't make the connection...hindsight...then a few days later I remembered eating the bread...mmmm...I wondered could it be...so this is when I thought I would try it again the following week. Yep, it happened again but it didn't last as long...so I thought it was my imagination....again....yep, toe pain returned, but still not very long.....
if you look over my last week or so of eating, I have had whole grain bread a few times..not sure of the count..a little every few days...
Well, today I believe without a doubt that the bread/grain/gluten is causing my pain. I had a piece of whole grain baguette today and it didn't take too long before they began to hurt. Each time the pain seems to be getting worse. With that said, I am finished with my experiment!
Brown Rice cakes will be my carb from now on. :)

Perhaps you have some issues that may unknowingly be related to gluten.
You may want to read this article by Mark Hyman MD, Gluten, What You Don't Know Might Kill You

I encourage you to do your own research and try an elimination diet to see if you have improvements.

I have shared this hoping to help someone else discover what is causing their pain. If this helps you in any way, please let me know.