I am still here

Hello friends.

I just wanted to drop a line and let you know I am still here and I am also still plugging away at the E2L Diet....

To say I am happy about the diet would to be lying, but if you ask me about the results I am ecstatic. I have lost a whopping 13 lbs. in 3 weeks.
My plaques have all but vanished and I my hair is insane. It is this huge thick mane of hair that I haven't seen since I was 16 years old.

I have received some well intentioned e-mails. I appreciate all of the letters I get from my followers, you all mean so much to me.

I have also received some not very nice e-mails from people who think that I am a quitter, a whiner, and bad mouthing the E2L diet.

I am not a quitter, I am still doing the diet.

I am not a whiner.

This diet is hard, especially if you have given up as much as I have in my lifetime, and as far as the E2L diet...IT WORKS.
If you do not know about my illness, but would like to see what my skin normally looks like please look here .

Now, for the reasons I am not happy about this diet.

I live a very restricted life. I do not go to crowded places often, I do not visit sick relatives and I do not under any circumstances go to the hospital if someone is ill. I am immune deficient, what that means is, I can catch a staph infection quicker than you can say, OH NO......
So you can imagine what my life is like.

I have contracted staph twice in the last three years. I have been bed ridden twice in the last two years. I have had my body lock up on me and I was unable to assist myself to the bathroom for 6 months. My body is no picnic. I used to talk 13 pills a day to maintain my body and my mind. This disease is very emotionally destructive. Three of the 13 pills were depression and anti-panic attack meds.

So 9 years ago I stopped all meds, became a vegan over night and I have maintained my illness thus far. But.....I still had some plaques, and I am in constant pain from my Psoriatic Arthritis. I have spondilitis and mutilans associated with the PsA that are slowly deteriorating my spine and hips. There is no cure.

When Alicia told me about eat to live, I was skeptical.

I had already drastically changed my lifestyle. I became a vegan for health reasons, not animals. I was given a premature death sentence and I was going to fight it all the way.

I have given up all of my favorite foods for my illness.

Now I had to restructure my entire life again for my illness? Was I willing to once again start over from scratch?

The answer is yes.

But am I going in quietly?

NO!

Alicia told me when she first started the E2L diet she was like a small child stomping their feet and having temper tantrums all the time. I cannot eat this way she screamed!

I also feel the exact same way. I love fresh fruit and fresh veggies, but on this diet I am having a hard time chewing so much.... lol

I have received e-mails from people telling me how easy they transitioned into E2L and how they love the food..

Now....
Either they are lying or they are cheating, because I am not transitioning well, I am less than thrilled with the food and I am so not thrilled with the lack of salt.

I am following the straight plan. It is the most restricted and it is difficult to chew so many vegetables and fruits in one day.

I eat several pounds of raw and cooked vegetables and fruits everyday.

I also eat beans and some grains.

I am not on a 85/15 plan.

I do not cheat. I do not use oil.

I do not eat bread, margarine, meat, meat substitutes, sugar or dates.

In the beginning I tried the whole date/nut bar thing.

In my own opinion, it is just another way to sneak sugar back in your diet, and I felt it was defeating the purpose of detoxing my body.

I do not go over any of the specified regulations of this diet. I am hard core, all the way......

I drink 8 bottles of water a day. I drink 4 glasses of double strength green tea in the morning and two in the evening.

I thought you might like to See what I eat in a single day.

Here is my daily food regime: this varies from day to day, this is today's.

Wake up: Double strength green tea, I drink this all morning long.

Breakfast smoothie: Banana/strawberry with flax

Breakfast: Oatmeal with cinnamon and apples

Snack: Celery and apple slices with 1 oz. homemade cashew butter

Lunch:

4 cups romaine and spinach salad with the following toppings

radish

tomatoes

celery

cucumber

scallions

broccoli

stone ground mustard, vinegar dressing

1 tbls. red pepper hummus

Snack: 1 grapefruit and 1/4 cup pistachio's

Dinner:

Vegetable soup: onions, celery, green beans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, cabbage, tomatoes, fresh tomato juice.

Snack: popcorn with chamomile tea

I try to stay as close to natural food as possible. I do not try to recreate foods I used to eat. I do not eat all raw. I have mainly been eating alot of organic watermelon and cantaloupe for snacks. I also have been on a grape fest... Lots of grapes

I walk three miles a day. I also swim three times a week and I am doing crunches and some cardio dance, when I feel like it.

I hope to be an inspiration to those of you that are struggling. I am being honest in my struggles, in my pain and in my temper tantrums. It is who I am. I am not going to sugar coat my dietary changes or the hardships I am facing. It might be simple for some to eat this way. For me it is not.

This is the hardest diet I ever tried.

I am making amazing progress. I feel the changes. I see the changes.

I am hoping for a cure. I think I might have found one.....

If you would like me to let you know what I eat, I would be glad to post my menu's. I am not ready to post recipes yet.

When I feel more self assured I will start posting my pictures again.

So.. Why is there a picture of an angry cat on the top of this blog? Because this is the way I feel most of the time lately and it cracks me up!!!!

I hope it cracked you up too!