Something Tells Me I’m onto Something Good…

Isn’t it funny how you can be praying desperately for help and days, weeks, months… even years can pass and it seems no one is listening. Then, all of a sudden and quite unexpectedly, a series of events takes place that cause a light bulb to go on in your world? Such has been that past few days.
I was on to something with the nut suspicions. I’ve been bumping into information all over the place about fats. High fat intake is the reason most people fail on a raw diet. The average raw foodist consumes 60% of their calories from fat. That’s pretty significant considering the average American fast food goer gets 40% of their calories from fat, and the recommended amount for a healthy body is 10-20%. Almost all the gourmet raw recipes that people use to transition from cooked to raw include a horrific amount of fat. These foods are fine, in moderation of course, but not as part of every day. I read about how it is FAT, not SUGAR, that causes blood sugar problems. Here I was eating bread with almond butter and a ton of nuts and raw desserts, thinking the fat and protein was all that was keeping me from going unconscious from too high or too low blood sugar levels. I lived in a world where every moment was about trying balance and keep myself on middle ground, and almost always failing horribly. I read and watched video experiments where people eating low fat diets ate obscene amounts of bananas and testing their blood sugar levels to prove that fruit does not cause blood sugar to rise. I thought about my own diet. I’ve never counted fat before. I always figured it was healthy fat and I lost a ton of weight eating it so it must not be too bad. I decided to calculate my typical fat intake just for fun. In a typical day I eat between 80 and 160 grams of fat. By comparison, the RDA for fat is 65 grams. A large portion of my fat intake is from nuts, which I believe I don’t digest well.
So, I decided to conduct an experiment of my own. I mapped out what I instinctively feel my personal ideal diet would be, and I tested it for a day. I had nothing to lose. My blood sugar issues seemed to be creeping back and I was more bloated than I’ve ever been in my life. There were certain beverages I wanted to be sure to get in, and I limited my nut/seed intake to ½ cup (I measured it out in the morning and that was my allotment for the day), in addition to that I ate fruits and vegetables at will, whatever sounded good when hunger called. My blood sugar has NEVER, for as long as I can remember, been as STABLE as it was yesterday during this experiment! I felt amazing. I did still go through my late afternoon lull, and I wanted to eat compulsively most of the day, but otherwise I felt fabulous and I had great energy during the earlier half of the day.

Here is what I consumed (note: when I say “a few nuts” that is a tiny bit in the palm of my hand, totaling ½ a cup of mixed raw germinated nuts and sunflower seeds by the end of the day):

7:00-7:30 am 2 tsp apple cider vinegar in 8 oz water with a few drops Stevia
Shot wheatgrass juice
Protein Shake (Sunwarrior) with blended spinach and chia seeds
9-9:30 am 1 banana
9:45-10:15 large (plate sized) salad with mixed baby greens, tomato, cucumber, snap peas, bottled organic lemon chive dressing
10:30-10:45 am ginger tea
10:30 am a few nuts
11 am-1 pm red and black grapes (1 or 1 ½ cups)
1:15 pm green lemonade (1 c. romaine, juice from ½ lemon, ½ orange, 1 TBS lime juice, Stevia to sweeten)
1:45 pm a few nuts
2:20-2:45 pm Protein Shake (Sunwarrior) made with almond milk
3:00 pm a few nuts (I was feeling snackish, I really didn’t need them)
4:00 pm 1 pear (I felt bloated a heavy after I ate this, likely due to slow digestive energy this time of day), a few goji berries (why did I eat these, I was already feeling wrong and bloated?)
5:00-9:30 pm 64 oz. fresh vegetable juice (apple, celery, cucumber, kale, spinach and bok choy)
6:45 pm large grapefruit (by this time my digestive fire was stronger and this dinner felt pretty darn amazing)
9:40 pm a few nuts
9:50-10:15 pm ginger tea
10:50-11 pm 1 golden delicious apple
3:30 am a few nuts

My total intakes for the day followed by the RDA:
Fat 49.5g/65
Sugar 129.5g/no RDA
Protein 61.5g/46 for women 31-50, 71 for lactating women (which I am but not nursing much)
Fiber 40g/25 for women 31-50, 29 for lactating women
Water 162 oz/Recommended amount, which would be half my weight in ounces 62.5

In one day I regulated blood sugar, uplifted mood and energy, and lost 2 lbs and 1 ½ inches off my abdomen. Amazing! Could this be the missing link I’ve been searching for these past few years???