Raw food success!

Well, here I am 8 months after our first post on our raw food experiment; one dose LESS of methotrexate (*loud cheering*) and 21 pounds lighter. This “science experiment” was to see if eating fresh, unprocessed, uncooked food could cleanse and heal my body’s cells enough that they could start to heal my rheumatoid arthritis.

It is important to note that I have not been 100% faithful to eating raw vegan these last 8 months; I have typically been “raw until dinner” and then had cooked food and meat at dinner. And then there are the times where we ordered pizza, or went to Freddy’s for some frozen custard. Or the cannoli at Il Vicino. Mmm. But I digress. The point is that my body is at a point now where it requires less medication, even only eating 50-60% raw each day. I would call this experiment a success!

My rheumatologist and family doctor have closely monitored me and have been very happy with the results. Because of my medication they check my blood every six weeks and my kidneys and liver every three months. I have been in remission for over a year now, meaning that while still on the medication I show no clinical signs or symptoms of the disease. In the last 8 months since decreasing my methotrexate dose and increasing fruits and veggies my lab results have actually improved!

I’ve also noticed other positive things about eating fresh, real food: my chronic acne has almost completely disappeared, as has my rosacea. My energy level has increased, I rarely have migraines now, my hair is thicker (a side effect of methotrexate is hair loss), and the whites of my eyes are solid and bright white again.

Using the books The Raw Food Detox Diet: The Five-Step Plan for Vibrant Health and Maximum Weight Loss, Raw Food/Real World: 100 Recipes to Get the Glow, and the web site Raw Epicurean, we slowly replaced the type of food we ate. We replaced refined sugar for natural sugars like agave nectar or stevia; instead of white or wheat bread we started eating sprouted grain breads (like Ezekiel 4:9 products). We shifted our whole food mentality from convenience food to “how close is this food to its natural state?” Another change was the “quick-exit” eating schedule itself; fruit till lunch, add in greens and grains at lunch, then add meat at dinner (optional).

The next 8 months of the experiment will continue to see more “standard American diet” replaced with more natural ingredients. I’ll work on increasing to 80% raw each day, and start exercising (which up to this point I have not once exercised). Given the past success I expect to see continued improvement. My next rheumatologist appointment is in August, at which time they may decrease my dosage again…