A problem often faced by chronic pain patients is fatigue. When I've had strong pain for a while, it has a way of devouring most of my energy, which leaves me feeling constantly drained and makes it increasingly difficult to do anything to improve my situation. It's a negative spiral that I can still fall into sometimes. Chronic pain patients over time often develop problems with concentration/memory loss and experience general symptoms of burn out - along with everything else they're dealing with. I've definitely had to deal with that too.
So I've realized that anything that may give me an energy boost is highly welcome.
Many people say that eating Raw - so called "Living Foods" provides them with greatly increased energy, so this week I've decided to try it out myself.
Raw Foodists believe that heating food above 118 degrees F. destroys valuable enzymes in food that can assist in digestion and health, and that vital nutrients in vegetables are destroyed when heated. Based on this belief, a whole new way of preparing food has been developed, where the main goal is to increase the nutritional value and help the body stay healthy and heal itself through what we eat.
I've tried a lot of different "healthy diets" before to treat my arthritis, some of them have worked a little, some of them not at all, and one actually caused my RA to go into remission for 15 yrs (wow!!) Armed with a collection of Raw Food cookbooks & recipes, and Austin's amazing Whole Foods Market right around the corner, my sister Lynnea and I are going 100% raw for a three day trial period, starting today.
Our first day featured marinated portobello mushroom fajitas and an awesome spinach-lemon-apple smoothie. But raw food doesn't necessarily mean "health nut" food. For example we had the most amazing chocolate cheesecake I've ever tried the other day at Beets raw food cafe, yum...
My first impression is that eating all raw / live foods give me a buzz, and fill me up without weighing me down. But then... I'll see how I feel tomorrow;)
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