By Guest Blogger on May 12, 2011
By Miri Eynan
Once I heard “You’ve got cancer” a few years back, I thought no other news could shake my world. I was wrong. When the doctor went over the routine scan results and casually mentioned, “Your liver is fatty and doesn’t look good at all,” I was surprised.
“What do you mean?” I asked. “It’s just a fatty liver,” he said, brushing it off. “The type of liver alcoholics sometimes have.” He suggested seeing a liver specialist and added, “In the meantime, it won’t hurt to cut down on alcohol consumption and fatty food.”
I’ve never been an alcoholic. I can’t even stand the smell of beer. I’m not overweight. I’m a high raw vegan, green organic juices queen who has lived the “Crazy Sexy Diet” lifestyle for the past four years.
I was devastated and disappointed that my body was acting out. The thought that I might have brought it upon myself was hard to swallow. My liver enzymes were elevated; the cholesterol and triglycerides in my blood sky rocketed.
All I wanted was to curl into bed in a fetal position and hide under the covers with a bag of chips in one hand and a box of Oreo cookies in the other. I wasn’t sure what to do and felt lost. It took a few days before I could get up to make myself a glass of green juice and search for information. I found out that fatty liver is as simple as it sounds. It means that the liver is being invaded by fat! As a result, the liver can’t filter and cleanse the bloodstream as much as it should and, therefore, the blood is overloaded with toxins. It’s highly linked to traditional Western diet and, if ignored, it can get worse and lead to severe inflamed liver or scarring of the liver tissue.
I tried to figure out what in my daily food intake damaged my liver so much. Being a vegan who eats 80 percent raw veggies, I wasn’t sure where to start. Is it the one avocado a week that I add to my green leafy smoothies? Is it the mixed nuts I snack on? Is it the cup of almond milk I treat myself to before bed time? The olive oil in my salads?
After many days of an agonizing search, I realized the only thing I had been putting in my body that wasn’t clean and green was the medication Tamoxifen. I had been taking it for three years to prevent breast cancer recurrence. It has many possible side effects, including liver damage.
Tamoxifen helps many people like me. But after three years, it took its toll on my body. I felt that I had to make a choice: a sick liver or increasing the risk of recurrence. Like deciding between a tall latte and a venti green tea. It took me a few lingering days to digest the information, look at the Tamoxifen container and said my goodbyes.
I will never know if Tamoxifen actually made my liver so sick. I followed my intuition like I have since I started my healing journey.
Luckily, I wasn’t alone.
Kris Carr is my hero and was my guiding light through some of my most challenging times. I go to the Crazy Sexy Life community for inspiration and information. I sought help for first time and didn’t have to wait long.
Whole Body Healer came to my rescue. She is one of several incredible My Crazy Sexy Life Ambassadors. She reached to me when I needed it most and virtually wiped my tears. Once the tears stopped, I saw things clearly. She directed me to previous posts, articles and studies about the liver. She held my hand until I had a plan. She made it look doable and easy, like a piece of sugarless, vegan cake.
“Detoxification” became my new mantra. Toxins out, vitality in. Thankfully, the liver is one of the most resilient organs in the body and can heal itself if given a chance. I was ready to show my body that we can rebuild the mutual trust we once had. I was determined to get rid of all the toxins so the yellow, greasy, enlarged liver would shine like a sparkling star.
I became a green machine. I increased my daily green intake to 6 to 8 cups of kale, lettuce, celery, sweet pea sprouts and cucumbers. I drank plenty of water to help flush out the junk. I continued to eat my vegan meals, but added more purple veggies (beets, red cabbage and burdock root), cruciferous veggies (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts) and artichokes. No sugars, refined carbohydrates, processed food or other junk. Only fresh, plant-based food. I added a few Chinese herbs and supplements. I saw my acupuncturist weekly. To get to the “bottom” of the problem, I opened my own coffee shop with a daily coffee enema followed by a wheatgrass implant and a castor oil pack. I had a colonic session every four weeks to clear my pipes. I dry brushed religiously. I used an infrared sauna few times a week; Reiki and healing energies as needed; meditation, yoga and positive thoughts. It felt like a full-time job, but with a well worthy compensation.
Fast forward five months. My liver has completely healed!
I was asked to repeat the tests to make sure they are accurate. No one believed my liver has healed in such a short time. My cholesterol and triglycerides went down many points. It looked like I was a different person. I am a different person – healthier than ever and empowered!
If I could do it, so can you. We all have Crazy Sexy bodies craving to be healthy. Educate yourself and make changes in your lifestyle. The results will soon knock on your door. “Crazy Sexy Diet” changed my life forever, and it will change yours.
Find like-minded friends who will help and support you.
You can heal yourself!
Miri Eynan is a breast canser survivor, a family therapist and full-time juicer. Lives in Richmond, VA with her wonderful husband and two awesome kids.
Photo credit: AJC1
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By Michael Greger, MD on January 15, 2010
2010 is the 20th anniversary of Dr. Dean Ornish’s landmark study that proved, for the first time, that a plant-based diet could not just slow down the progression of heart disease, not just stop it from getting worse, but actually reverse heart disease and open up clogged arteries. The list of chronic killer diseases that vegan diets can literally reverse continues to grow.
Today, the average American is overweight, and 1 in 3 are medically obese. That’s what’s fueling our epidemic of type 2 diabetes in this country. It used to be called “adult-onset” diabetes, but now so many children are getting it, now we just call it “type 2.” Over the last decade diabetes rates have skyrocketed 90% in the United States, a disease that can set people down the road to dialysis, blindness, gangrene, and multiple amputations. For those of us who think it’s hard to get enough exercise now, let us imagine trying doing it with one foot.
In 2009 the first study in human history of thousands of U.S. vegans was published in the journal of the American Diabetes Association. Vegans were found to be the only dietary group averaging an ideal body weight, 40 pounds slimmer than the average meat-eater in the country. This is consistent with what a recent interventional study found.
Overweight meat-eaters averaging 221 pounds were essentially put on a vegan diet and lost about 25 pounds a year ending up an average weight of 168 lbs at the end of the two-year study. Switching to a plant-based diet resulted in an average of 53 pounds of sustained weight loss.
The American Diabetes Association journal study concluded: “vegetarian diets may in part counteract the environmental forces leading to obesity and increased rates of type 2 diabetes, though only the vegan diets were associated with a BMI [body mass index] in the optimal range. Inclusion of meat, meat products and fish in the diet, even on a less than weekly basis, seems to limit some of the protection associated with a vegan…diet. These findings may be explained by adverse effects of meat and fish…” Even those eating just a few servings of meat a month significantly raised their risk of disease.
So we now know how to prevent diabetes, but how do we treat it? There are certainly lots of different drugs for diabetics that lower blood sugar levels, but sometimes at the expense of increasing one’s risk of heart failure and bone fractures. There has to be a better way.
Just like with heart disease, the same diet that prevents diabetes in the first place can reverse the disease once you have it. One study found that half of diabetics placed on even a near-vegetarian diet didn’t need to take insulin anymore after just 16 days, and those still on insulin were able to cut their dose in half—and that’s after only about 2 weeks!
In 2009 the gauntlet was laid down. The official American Diabetes Association diabetic diet was placed in a head-to-head challenge against a vegan diet. The ADA diet did slow the progression of disease, such that the diabetes of those on the officially recommended diet was just a little bit worse at the end of the study period. On the vegan diet, however, their diabetes actually got better. Significantly better! Just think how many lives eating vegan could save. How many lives, eyes, kidneys, feet, and families.
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By Stefanie Sacks on July 15, 2009
I am now the proud mother of two young boys. Jack is almost four years old and Hunter is 9 months. After Jack was born I went through a major adjustment period, as do all new moms. However, after Hunter’s birth (that being NOW), I am finding this need to redefine myself both personally and professionally.
Many many years ago (like 25), I wondered why the doctors I visited (all too frequently) for my asthma and allergies never questioned if my food intake was affecting my health. Around that same time I started cooking in a local health food joint and happened upon a book, Food and Healing by Annemarie Colbin, PhD. I must say my world was rocked. I became convinced that what I ate had EVERYTHING to do with my health (Duh!). Thus, I said no more to these doctors and sought out someone who could not only medicate me if needed, but also look at my diet and other lifestyle factors to determine what was really making me sick.
So, at the ripe age of 17 I had my first appointment with Dr. Sherry Rogers, a pioneer in environmental medicine (what we now call integrative medicine). To make a long story short, she put me on a special diet (to address my asthma and allergies), gave me vitamin and mineral supplements (after checking for deficiencies), allergy shots (after testing for allergies) and one or two medications (rather than the 5 I was on).
Let’s talk about the diet. Thank goodness I worked at a health food store, was passionate about food and food products and loved to cook. Compliance was easy. And what was a necessity (food lifestyle change to support my health) soon became a bleeding passion (bordering on obsession at times) and the center stone of my personal journey.
But, what if I didn’t have that knowledge and interest? How could I have changed the course of my health? This question sat with me for many years. Fast forward to 1997 when I entered culinary school. Soon after I graduated a dear friend’s father became ill with lung cancer and asked me to cook for him. This led to others. But because I wasn’t a huge fan of private cooking (too isolating for me), I figured that there had to be another way to help those in need of food lifestyle change.
New business idea! Bridge the gap between a practitioners’ dietary recommendations and what the client can and will do to implement the suggested changes—bring the nutrition prescription to the living kitchen. I traveledv this road personally, so why not turn it into my profession? By 2003 I felt comfortable calling myself a culinary nutritionist. I was a professionally trained chef and had a Masters degree from Columbia University. So, this brings me to my question: What is a nutritionist and who is qualified to call themselves this?
In the process of redefining myself professionally, I have been asking myself this question daily. I am a chef with a Masters in nutrition. Does that qualify me? Would I have been qualified if I did a 6-month program in NYC? As far as many registered dietitians (those who study nutrition—Bachelors, Masters or both—then go through an internship with clinical, food service and community rotations) are concerned, neither is enough to wear the “nutritionist badge”. I beg to differ. I believe the answer truly lies with the consumer (yes, that is YOU!). But, you must be an educated consumer!!!
I always like to use this example: When buying a car, a person takes the time to research the make, model, take it for a test drive, look into financing options, etc. So, why don’t we take the same measures when seeking a nutritionist (or other healthcare provider for that matter)? Research a potential healthcare provider as you would a car. They work for you thus it is your job to seek out your best match and “hire” them to support you in the best way possible.
As a patient, I always follow these guidelines:
-Identify my healthcare need
-Go to the people I know and trust (especially my current healthcare posse) and ask for suggestions
-Research suggested provider on web (formal education—and you need to decide what is formal enough for you to make him/her credible; philosophy; scope of services)
-Make sure that the provider is doing what he/she is qualified to do (I once worked with a woman with cancer whose yoga instructor prescribed herbs for her that were contraindicated to the medication she was on for cancer—bad news!!!). You can find this out by speaking to potential provider, other patients on the web (if he/she has a website).
-Make sure provider is not claiming to be everything under the sun (which can be the case and is just not possible). Again, you can find this out by speaking to potential provider, other patients on the web (if he/she has a website).
-If possible, speak directly to provider prior to arranging appointment
In the end, it is up to you to decide whom you want to partner with on your road to wellness. An educated consumer is the best consumer. And, asking the right questions will ensure that you are working with the right person for you.
As for me, although I am always and will always be redefining myself both personally and professionally, I am comfortable calling myself a culinary nutritionist given my formal training. In the end, I know what I know and I know what I don’t know! (And when I don’t know, I refer out to tried and true colleagues).
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