Feeling fatigued on raw diet

So I ate raw food for three days and felt terrific. My only complain was that I felt very fatigued those days. So when I woke up on the third day, still felling fatigued. I decided that I would eat cooked food that day.  Turned out that was a good decision, I felt great that day. I even manged to get back on track with my exercises. However I didn't do as well yesterday. My husband made pizza and I couldn't resist so I had two slices. Then today I had cookie, cake and three bites of quality chocolate. 

 

I tend to this, eat nothing but spinach and coconut water for days and then eat all the cakes and chocolate that I can get my hands on. Worst of all was that after I ate the cakes and chocolate the pain came back. I'm a little bit mad at myself now. Specially since this weekend is packed with events containing unhealthy food. There's birthday dinner at Friday night, wedding on Saturday and brunch on Sunday. 

Well at least I know that I should stay away from

sugar

and wheat

Which diet does the magic trick for arthritis suffers

I have tried different kind of diets in hope that it would ease the pain from the arthritis. I haven't been able to stick to one specific. Sadly I need my candy day and diversity when it comes to food. But that doesn't stop me from looking up different diets that could be beneficial. Gradually me diet habits are getting more and more healthy. I eat whole foods, don't eat red meat, try to stay away from candy and sodas. Which is okay to do when I'm taking medicines for the arthritis. Now when I'm not taking any I think I have to do some drastic change in my eating habits. One thing is to try to find out what foods are triggering flares.  Other thing is learning to eat healthy even though I'm going out with friends or partying or something similar. I have to admit I find it so difficult to eat healthy and clean food when I go out with my friends or attending a party.

Back to the diets. I find it to say at least overwhelming to choose what diet should I follow. There are so many diet's out there that could be an aid to fight the arthritis. The problem is to choose one and stick to it.

There's the option going raw. 

or turning a vegan

Instead of vegan I could try to become a vegetarian 

Then there are the something-free diets like Gluten-free diet

This one, Sugar-free diet, I think is very important for people with arthritis to follow.

I have seen people recommending the Eat to live diet

This one I find a little bit scary, Food Elimination

Fasting, is something that I could do. People have been fasting for centuries  

There's this diet which I'm going to call alkaline

The Gerson therapy seems to be challenge to follow but I think could be very beneficial. 

At last but not least there is the macrobiotic diet. 

I'm leaning towards going raw and vegetarian. But I definitively have to a lot more research  on these diet to see what of those diet's seems to fit me and my arthritis.

 

Eating raw

For three days I only ate raw food

For three days I didn't have the pain that has been keeping me up on nights

For three days I have been very tired

For three days I made some great raw food including these awesome desserts

For three days I knitted the I-Pad cover

This one is made by me

I'm almost done with I-Pad cover

I got this recipe from rawdorable

 

Going raw

I decided to try the raw diet. My pain is going worse by every day and I need to do something to ease the pain. I have been reading on the internet, raw success stories, e.g. people with arthritis that went on raw food diet and got better. In the beginning I will try to be 100% raw but I don't think it is going to be possible to 100% raw there. It's just so cold there and the selection of fruits and vegetables aren't great.

I have been doing a lot of reading about healing arthritis with food. I gain a little bit more knowledge about what is wise to do when you have arthritis. However I'm also getting confused there is so much information out there. Some of the information contradict other information. So the more I read, the more I get confused.

Raw diet, juicing and fasting are however things that I think could be benefical.

• I don't have a juicer right now but I will have one after three weeks
• Today was my first day on 100% raw diet
• I'm planing to fast (with juices) this week

Raw diet

Is thinking very seriously about going raw

Day 14, week no. 2

It's been two weeks since I started the blog, two weeks since I decided to eat healthy food for 30 days minus 4 candy-days. Week number two did not go as I planned. I didn't eat healthy food and I didn't exercise. I'm going to do better. 

Recap of the week

For four days, I ate unhealthy food

I ate good food for three days, sigh. 

I only walked twice this week

I bicycled twice

I never made it to the gym nor did yoga, not good at all.

I WILL do better next week

My husband and I spent the whole day at a coffee shop. I had white tea, it doesn't have a great taste but it's mild and suits the warm spring days, we're having now.  I made some progress on the I-Pad cover.

Vitamins, supplements and other remedies for arthritis

Currently I'm taking D-vitamin, B-12 vitamin, C-vitamin, MSM for my arthritis. To increase fertility I'm taking folic acid and Freyja. Freyja is herbal tablets which I bought in Iceland at Jurtaapótek. 

Another vitamins that have been recommending for RA are:

B-6 vitamin

B-5 vitamin

Calcium

Magnesium

Zinc

Alfafla

Cetyl myrist-oleat

My concern is do I have to take all these vitamins or is it possible for me to get enough from my food?

I always thought that antioxidants where for people who were trying to keep their youth. After I read more on the internet about RA, antioxidants seems to keep popping up. Therefore that's another thing that I'm wondering whether I should add to my growing vitamin cabin.

E-vitamin

C-vitamin

Beta-carotene 

Selenium

I don't know, it's sounds so overwhelming. I eat a lot of berries, almost every day. Is it necessary for my to take antioxidants vitamins?

When I lived in Iceland, I ate fish at least once a week. My goal was always to try to eat it at least three times a week, didn't always work. Sadly when I moved to USA I stopped eating fish. Partly because it's more expensive here than in Iceland but also I don't  know how to cook the fish they're selling here in NC. Therefore when I was living in Iceland I wasn't so worry about my omega-3. I also took fish oil so I was pretty sure I was getting some omega-3 in my body. Since I moved to USA I eat those seeds to get my omega-3

flax-seeds

chia-seeds

But I suspect that I'm not getting enough omega-3 which isn't good.

I found on an Icelandic website heilsa that they recommended this oil

náttljósaolíur (I have no idea what that is in English)

Is there any more vitamins or supplements that you think would benefit RA patient?

Is it all my fault? Day 13, week no. 2

I feel like it is all my fault that I have arthritis, that I haven't been able to keep the flares under control and that I haven't been able to get pregnant. 

I feel like I got the arthritis because of my lifestyle and think if I had liven a different lifestyle then I hadn't gotten arthritis. Then I keep going on thinking since I already have the arthritis it's my fault that I still got it. I should be able to cure myself by living the right lifestyle. If I would do the right things then I would cure myself. Some times I even think I have arthritis because of my thoughts. That I have thought too negatively, I don't love my body enough,  I'm not positive enough, I do not embrace being sick, I feel too often sorry for myself. If I would be able to be cheerful everyday, grateful, positive and etc. I could be healthy again. 

Last but not least because I have arthritis and haven't be able to cure myself.  I blame myself for not being able to get pregnant. If I didn't have this stupid disease I could probably get pregnant.

When I have spent the day blaming myself for all my problems and feeling sorry for myself. I often feel ashamed. My life is not bad, I can get the arthritis under control if I go back on the medicines. I don't know sometimes I feel I should accept that it isn't going to work out, I should go back on the medicines and look at other options.

I hope that it's just the fertility medicines that makes me so emotional and I will back to be myself next month. Not only am I feeling sorry for myself all the time these days. I'm always on the burst of crying. I think I have cried almost every day this week. 

To stop all these awful thoughts I knit. I can still knit as long as I don't over do it. Now I'm knitting an I-Pad case for my husband. This a test piece, I trying out the yarn, deciding in what style I should knit it in and finding out how wide it should be.

I-Pad Day 12, week no. 2

My husband and I woke up this morning half past four, rushed out of the house, drove for 40 minutes and then waited in line for three hours. All this to buy an I-pad for the husband. I have never done anything like this before so I'm pretty excited about having done this. Couldn't care less about the I-pad.

I'm still not eating  properly nor exercising just spending a lot of time sulking and feeling sorry for myself. I have heard that is supposed to do wonders for your arthritis. Sometime I have days when I feel sorry for myself, sometimes it lasts for days. The current sulkiness and feeling sorry for myself are still going strong and it's their third day. You have to give them credit for sticking to it.

It's not just the arthritis that is keeping me down. I'm specially feeling sorry because of the fertility problems that my husband and I are facing. This cycle was or is the last cycle before our appointment at our fertility clinic. And of course the cycle is all messed up and I haven't ovulated so there's no chance that something happened this time. Last time when my arthritis was all flared up, my period stopped. I'm so afraid that is what is going on this cycle. That my body have decided that I'm too sick to be having periods, the body should be concentrating on healing the broken parts. 

I don't know, I just feel rotten these days and can't get me in the groove again.

 

Day 11, week no. 2. Bad decicions

After two wonderful days after the detox day where I was almost pain-free, had so much energy and almost felt like a normal person again. 

I woke up this morning and instantly knew that it was over

You may ask yourself why would it be over just like that. Well, in those two wonderful days where I was feeling good. I could have continued to practice good lifestyle that benefits my arthritis but sadly I didn't. 

The day after the detox-day I had slice of pizza, one slice of cake and coke (which is so absolutely on my no-no list). I wanted something "good" to eat because I had cleaned the house and I wanted to reward myself. 

Yesterday started okay, I had a healthy breakfast and lunch and had brown rice sushi for dinner.  My husband hand to attend a party in the evening so I decided it was time for cozy night for Erla. So I bought not one but two slices of cakes.

úff

Today I have been yearning for more cakes and sweets. WHAT'S wrong with me? I know it's better for me to stay way from certain foods but still I eat them. 

Day 10, week no. 2

• Woke early this morning and still felt good. 
• Spent the day at a coffee shop with friends and knitted
• Watched a movie
• Still felt energetic 
• Bicycled for 2 x 15 minutes
• Had two slice of a cakes
• I'm not doing good job sticking to the plan 
• Nevertheless I'm feeling happy and good
• Therefore I'm now a huge fan of Detox-days

My next steps are doing more research on:

vitamins and supplements

diets

exercises

second week: what to eat?

Second week has arrived and I'm not prepared. I can't decided what will work best for me this week. The detoxing day really took a toll of me even though I felt better of my arthritis. 

I'm more and more leaning toward raw food. I have been reading how people get remarkable result by eating raw. I already have two raw food recipe books so that's not problem. Plus there's so many good free raw recipe site out there. You have to love the internet. Eating only raw food isn't something that I see I will be able to. I live with my husband that eats cooked food and I always want to get a taste of it.  I could instead have one or two raw days a week then I could still enjoy some of my husbands delicious cooked food.

I got great result by detoxing though next time I have to be more prepared. So that's something I want to do regular from now.  

Friday: detox day

Saturday: oatmeal, raw sushi, Indian potatoes, pizza, cake, coke

Sunday: black berries smoothie, vegetable plate at Waever Street sweet potatoes. 

Monday: oatmeal, sour chick peas, soba noodle salad

Tuesday: Mediterranean Wrap, mango lassi, teriyaki noodles

Wednesday: Maki with spinach, garden scramble, oatmeal

Thursday: oatmeal, sushi at Kurama, Chicken soup

Vitamins, supplements and other remedies

 Vitamins and supplements

Currently I'm taking 

D-vitamin

B-12 vitamin

C-vitamin

MSM

for my arthritis

I don't eat fish after I moved to USA so I eat these seeds to get my omega-3. Sadly I don't think I'm getting enough. 

Flax-seeds
Chia-seeds 

Therefore I have thinking about buying some omega-3 pills. 

 Other remedies

I take long hot baths to ease the pain and pour a lot of 

sea-salt

in the bath. I find it helpful and it definitely helps with the psoriasis. I also use my wonder cream from Iceland called
 

vöðva og liðagaldur

from company called Villimey. I don't whether it's possible to buy it here in USA. That cream did wonders for my and it worked like painkillers for me. I rubbed it to my joints and it eased the pain. Best of all it's organic and made from Icelandic herbs. 

To keep the psoriasis patches off I use

Organic Green tea with ginger 

dermovat - cream

Surprisingly the cream which I get from the doctors doesn't work nearly as well as the tea. I recommend the tea for everyone with psoriasis. Maybe it won't work for all people but when I drink this tea my patches go away. 

 

 
Fertility supplements

To increase fertility I'm taking

folic acid

Freyja

Freyja is herbal tablets which I bought in Iceland at Jurtaapótek.

Do you recommend any other vitamins, supplement or remedies. I would love to hear your opinion. 

Healing RA naturally

Trying to heal RA naturally takes a lot of research on the internet. Unfortunately the doctors are so reluctant to advise their patient to do anything other than take drugs. For example when we had decided to try to have a baby, I went to my doctor to get guidelines for the next steps. I got advice how to quit on my meds but nothing else except he told me that I could come back if the pain would be really bad and then he would get me started on prednisone. 

For next months I didn't do any research nor tried different diets to keep the RA down. We just kept trying for a baby and hoping for the best. The baby making is taking a longer time than we expected so I have started to search on the internet for information  about how to keep RA down naturally. And I just wished that my doctor would guide me in this search because there's a lot of crap out there. You have to be able to distinguish between the crap and the good stuff. When you are a newbie to this like I'm. I find it at a time confusing.

I recently found a website that I think is trustworthy it is called Alternative RA treatments.  They seem to cover a lot of alternative treatments for RA. I'm excited to read up because I'm trying to decide which alternative treatments I should try. I don't want to waste my money on something that is a nonsense. 

Do you recommend any special treatment for RA? I would love to hear your opinion. 

Day 9, week no. 2

Last night when I went to sleep I was feeling AWFUL. I had headache, at one point I thought I was going to vomit so I went to bed absolutely exhausted and my last thought was that this DETOXING was a bad idea. 

Then when I woke up this morning the strangest thing happen; I felt so GOOD. I divide my arthritis pain and trouble in three categories.

Tiredness in my body: then I don't have extreme pain but I still have some BUT is manageble

Movement: I have trouble with movements and doing things

Pain: Extreme pain which makes life no fun:(

This morning I only had tiredness in my body and just slight trouble with moving around and the best part of all I felt so energetic. 

I even cleaned my entire flat. Something that I have been putting off because I haven't been feeling good. My flat hasn't been so clean since Christmas. It took me the whole day to clean the flat because I had to a few breaks over the day nevertheless I managed to clean. I even vacuumed which I haven't been able to do for a quite long time. My husband pitched in on the last meters when I was getting tired. Then he made the supper and went out to buy treats for me. I have been craving SUGAR all day. 

What I did wrong regarding the detox was that I didn't prepare enough. I didn't have enough detox food at home.