Mary attended one of my vegan cooking demonstrations. I spoke about juicing vegetables as a fabulous way to get raw vitamins into your bloodstream quickly. I also spoke about the danger of centering your daily diet on meat, wheat and dairy. I challenged the group to go 30 days without meat, wheat and dairy. She took me up on it.
Mary found out that she was inadvertently eating a spectacular amount of bread, pasta, tortillas, cookies, Wheat Thins and other flour products. When she got off meat, wheat and dairy she lost 10 pounds in 30 days. She made sure to stay full by eating 4-6 small meals per day. She found that she never had a feeling of "missing" anything. Her physical therapist was not told about her change in diet. She knew he had stressed the importance of protein for rehabilitation of her quad and didn't want to hear his predictable lecture. He informed her after the 30 days that "Finally your quad is firing after 3 years of therapy." Mary and I don't think it was a coincidence.
Mark had horrible TMJ - the jaw pain associated with grinding your teeth in your sleep. He is a meat-eating man in his 40's who is mindful to eat vegetables but was not open to other dietary changes. He went the month of December in terrible pain and announced to his dentist that he was coming in for a root canal and would not leave without one. His dentist examined the tooth from which Mark felt the pain emanated. The dentist took an xray - all was normal. Mark told me he was at his whit's end and needed to sleep. I cautiously advised that he try to go meat free for 3 days. "What in the world would that do?" he said. I know that meat binds muscle and can cause cramping, arthritis and stiff muscles. I asked him to just try it. Trying to go without meat for 3 days doesn't make you a vegetarian, I assured him. 3 days later, he was pain free. And incredulous!
Mark told his dentist about the vegetarian solution to his TMJ on his next visit. The dentist said it was just a coincidence. Mark is a salesman and didn't let it go. The dentist finally conceded that maybe it was true but that he didn't need his patients finding a cure for TMJ because 40% of his clients come in to be fitted for a TMJ night guard. Mark stays away from red meat and chicken. His pain returns when he eats it.
Chris told me she had severe migraines. She had been to every specialist including a cranio sacral chiropractor. She found some relief but at least once a month she was bedridden for 3 days with a migraine and vomiting. I asked her if she would ever consider going dairy free for 30 days. She said no. I said I would help her find dairy substitutes. She informed me that dairy was not the problem and that, anyway, she didn't eat much dairy.
Chris caught me at a soccer game about 6 months later. She said she had a migraine that laid her up for a week right after we spoke. She had decided to try the dairy free idea. It worked. She now has about 2 migraines per year. They are predictably near her period and she works with her chiropractor to reduce the time it takes to recover.
I believe in nutritional healing.
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