Life Changing Health Update
Published: Sat, 05/27/23
I consider this a Life-Changing Health update. Wait until you hear about all of the life-changes that I am going through in this health update, on a physical and spiritual level.
Let’s first just get through the drama of the month.
As many of you know, last month I came off of the Prednisone completely 100%. I am actually off of it 100% right now. However, I had a relapse to where I had to take it briefly again.
As many of you know, I generally go on a 3 mile walk every single day. I decided to get a hair cut and walk to the Barber Shop, because Angela and the girls had the car.
It’s pretty close to the market, which I walk to on rare occasion. However, I thought that I would take a different route this time since the Barber Shop is more on the North Side, and I thought it would be faster.
I knew it was a busy street, but I had no idea that I’d be breathing in heavy car fumes for over an hour straight while doing heavy walking. It was one of the most miserable walks of my entire life as I couldn’t stop inhaling the heavy car fumes until I got there. I was even coughing on the way. That evening, I ended up coughing throughout the night in bed. The next morning my colon was a wreck. It felt like I was in some sort of battle and someone took a Samurai Sword to my stomach.
Last time something like this happened, I went on a dose of 20mg’s of Prednisone for one day, which doctors consider a low dose, then I went down to 10mg’s the next day and got better fast. I would then wean from there. However, this time around, I decided to just take only 1mg to see what would happen. I didn’t get better and I only got worse. Therefore, I doubled the dose to about 2.25 mg’s the next day. I surprisingly actually started to get better fast at that dose. I was on 2.25mg’s for only a few days and I was then able to go down to 1.25mg’s shortly after. I am now completely off of it once again, and just wait until you hear the reason why I jumped off of it again so fast this time around. I'm very excited that such a low dose can heal a severe situation like that.
For the last couple of months, I was weaning down from 10mg of Prednisone. Whenever I wean off of Prednisone, I lose my appetite. It almost feels like I'm getting sick when I wean off of Prednisone. As many of you know, I am a fasting man. I have the ability to live on very little food with no problem. However, I didn’t realize until yesterday that this may be a big part of the cause of my demise.
As I have been weaning over the months, eggs just started to sound revolting to me. I went from 3 eggs per morning, to 2 eggs, to one egg, until at one point I couldn’t stomach them anymore, so I eliminated them. Everything was so hard to eat that I ended up back to eating just one time a day. I then recently just started getting out of breath on my walks again. As many of you know from my previous health updates, this generally would occur from either a low sodium or low iron level in my blood. I learned to avoid the sodium issue by drinking less water, drinking more coconut water, and eating more salt.
I was back into this situation and I was pissed. It just so happened that I had my yearly physical with my Primary Doctor, and he always orders me to get a million blood tests. I actually thought that was one of the reasons I was out of breath, because he took 8 vials of blood from me. In my head, I was blaming doctors like I normally do, and I was just pissed. I was not looking forward to this doctors appointment at all. However, it turned out to possibly be a life-changing experience.
I showed up, I’m out of breath, I’m pissed off, just watching him type on the computer. He told me that my blood tests revealed that my protein levels were extremely low, and my Hemoglobin was low, which shows that I’m deficient in Iron. Furthermore, just as my GI doctors are always telling me, my blood tests revealed that my inflammation markers were heavily elevated.
I've been in this 'out-of-breath' situation so many times and I asked if I should go to the ER before it gets worse in order to fix this? The ER always fixes me up, but I tend to always wait until I'm bed ridden before I go.
He said, no don't go to the ER, you need to find out what the cause of the problem is. I was in another kind of dangerous spot with my health. He said that I needed to see another GI doctor ASAP to see if there are any issues with my colon as I might not be absorbing properly. He said that either I am not absorbing protein and iron and other things due to something being wrong with my colon internally after the operations, or I'm not getting enough of protein and iron. It's most likely one, or the other, or maybe even both.
I'm going to hit it from both ends to get this taken care of once and for all.
If I go to the GI doctors to try to figure this out, they are going to do crazy amounts of invasive tests on me including a colonoscopy and an endoscopy. I have been avoiding that, because I hadn't healed perfectly yet, and I felt that I was too weak to get these serious invasive tests done. However, at that point in that meeting with my primary doctor, I actually felt stronger and more healed in order to get everything checked out by a GI doctor.
He also explained that I needed to go see a nutritionist lol.
He continued on saying that if you are not getting enough protein, you can end up with an Iron Deficiency, because the two are connected. My blood tests revealed that low iron is why I was out of breath. He continues to go on stating that since my inflammation markers are up, my body also requires more protein. Next he tells me, that also when you are on Prednisone, it uses up your protein. He told me to get off of it, and I got off of it that day.
Everything just started to click in my head. I didn't need a nutritionist, I just needed to freaking eat!
As I said earlier, I get nauseas and practically sick when I come off of meds and I lose my appetite. I was at two meals a day eating three eggs for breakfast and lots of tuna for lunch. I lowered it to two eggs, then one egg when I was nauseous. Then eggs started to become revolting to me and I eliminated them completely, and I started eating just once a day. Then tuna started sounding revolting so I ate something that tasted better with lower protein levels just to get some food in me. I am now realizing that I would be lucky if I was even getting 20% of my daily needs met of protein at this point.
I'm a little embarrassed to share all of this lol. I always think that I know what is going on with me, but I tend to be wrong.
You guys, for 25 years I was indoctrinated into the madness of extreme Raw Foods and fasting concepts. From reading Luigi Cornaro who healed his bowel disease from eating only 12oz of food every single day and not a morsel more, to Dr. Fred Bisci who endlessly shared with me his belief system about how sensitive long-term Raw Food Eaters are, how anesthesia could kill a long-term Raw Foodist like me, how meat would most likely give a long-term Raw Food eater like me cancer due to being so sensitive, and so much more.
I spent hours upon hours, for years upon years, listening to Dr. Fred Bisci and absorbing things like this. It was all embedded in me. For years I've been removing these programs that became implanted in my head. I've been a fasting man for decades. Don't get me wrong, I also learned many positive things. However, I have been under anesthesia 5 times, and I went through a long phase of eating meat. I didn't run into any problems.
Anyway, back to my story, I realized that at that moment and time that I am probably malnourished from not eating enough protein, and that is most likely causing the iron deficiency, but maybe even the cause of the high inflammation markers?
If I'm not repairing tissues due to a lack of protein, I would think inflammation would occur. However, the inflammation markers might be from my body attacking itself from the Autoimmune disease. However, the surgery was supposed to heal that. However, they may have misdiagnosed me. Nobody knows! This is why I need the new GI doctor to finally get to the bottom of what is going on. These are just some of the possibilities, and as I'm learning, I'm not putting anything in stone anymore. I've worked really hard breaking the bonds of crazy belief systems and I am making crazy major progress here.
When I look at it though, it's just so obvious that I have not been eating enough protein. It gives me great hope that it is the root of all my health issues. A sedimentary man should eat a minimum of 56 grams of protein. At that point, I wasn't even coming close to that. Plus I'm not sedimentary. Furthermore, a person with Inflammation needs even more protein than that. Lastly, if a person is on Prednisone, they also need more protein.
So here I am at the doctors office, where everything is clicking in my head where I knew exactly what I needed to do. I was realizing that I need to eat more protein, which might be a key to solving all of my problems.
So, I'm doing this physical check-up with my primary doctor, and he squeezes my muscles and he says that my muscles shouldn't be this deteriorated at my age. He then squeezes my legs and says that my bones should not be this frail at my age. Then he continues to say that I should also have more weight at this age. I'm telling you, as much as I can't stand doctors, he was drilling it in really good for me, and I was just so excited, and kind of grateful lol.
I'm sitting there wondering that if I started eating the amount of protein my body requires per day, that maybe I could bring my health back a couple of notches closer to where I was before.
Maybe my joints, bones, muscles and everything will start to repair, because I'm actually eating enough protein to get what my body requires. Maybe I can start being like an active 48 year old again. Maybe the inflammation will just magically go away. 5 Years ago, before all of this happened to me, I was able to go to a chair, put my hands on the arm rests, jump up, and do a full handstand with my feet straight up in the air as I'm holding on to the arm rests of that chair. I was able to do the craziest yoga poses for hours on end with no problem just five years ago. However, now, I'm just happy if I can get my leg through the underwear hole and stay in balance. If this situation didn't happen to me, I still believe I would be doing those crazy hand stands on the chair. I'm very active with my children, but not nearly as active as I would like to be.
So I'm still at my doctors appointment as he's squeezing my body parts, and I'm just thinking in my head, "Dang, it's already 3pm and I haven't eaten yet today. How on earth am I going to get this protein in my body today?" lol.
I just wanted to get home and eat. He was telling me that I should drink those nasty protein drinks like Ensure or Boost in order to get my protein. There is no way I was going to do that due to the horrible ingredients within them. However, I had a better idea. In the past I mentioned that I was eating these Oikos Pro Yogurts that have 20 grams of protein in a small little cup without the garbage found in those protein drinks. It's just yogurt, kind of like a blended smoothie, easily digested, and just a little bit gives you a whole lot of protein.
I know that some of you are thinking that I am going to kill myself, because I am eating dairy. Trust me, I miss nut butters just as much as I miss lettuce, but I can't do those right now without heaving over in pain. Maybe in the future after I become stronger and repair more from eating lots of protein I can.
So I bashfully said to the doctor that I eat once a day lol. Then I asked embarrassingly, "isn't fasting good". He's Indian and knew the benefits of fasting. He said, "Yes, but not for you". Lol, It's so true. It's not for everyone. For someone who is over weight sure, they will get incredible healing results as shown in all of the fasting books. However, I am deteriorating. I thought I was doing something so powerful and so good, but look at me.
My bodies requirements for protein are extremely high, due to the Prednisone, the high inflammation markers, and being malnourished from not eating enough protein for a good amount of time.
As soon as I left the doctors office, I went home and made a tuna patty, by mixing tuna with an egg, and putting it on a pan. I just ate the straight tuna with tomatoes, condiments, and left out the fluff that I normally ate in the past. At 8:00 at night, I had 2 Oikos Pro yogurts, which equaled 40 grams of protein. I was a little nervous about eating that late while moving back to two meals at the same time. However, I did realize that I needed to drop that fear BS and just do it. I'm done with that fear nonsense.
So the next morning was Mothers Day. I woke up, went on my walk, and literally had two more Oikos Pro Yogurts for another 40 grams of protein. I haven't eaten that early in years. I'm telling you, I have been mental and I am done with my fears and programs that were implanted in my head.
For the extremists, this next part might get pretty ugly for you, so you might want to stop reading here.
So it was Mothers Day and I straight went up to Angela and said, "Hey, you want to go to a restaurant for Mothers Day today?" She was actually excited. I told her that I was thinking of the buffet that they all like. However, she suggested the Deland Fish House. She said to me, "You won't mind correct? You are not going to eat anyway?" She said that, because she could never imagine me eating restaurant food ever.
However, I'm sitting here trying to get rid of these programs in my head. I knew that I might get a runny nose or a sore throat, but I would only eat Whole Foods at whatever restaurant we go to. I actually said, "yes, I am going to eat, and I actually would prefer the Deland Fish House". I was thinking in my head that it was perfect, because I could just eat some grilled fish with steamed vegetables, and nothing else.
I have been telling her about this health situation too, and I told her that I just wanted to blow my diet wide open, and going to a restaurant would be the perfect start lol. I told her, yeah, I might feel sick afterwards, but I plan to start eating more anyhow and this will aid in this mission. So that morning I had 40 grams of Protein by eating two Yogurts, and at the restaurant I had a grilled filet of a fish called Grouper and steamed vegetables. Oh my God, it was so good. I felt so nourished after it. Yeah, I got a little sore throat from probably the oils they used to cook it, but nothing too bad as I only ate fish and veggies.
That night I even took a huge step and had a third meal of two more yogurts for another 40 grams of protein. I've been now eating three meals a day since Mothers Day, which is a huge step and change for me lol.
Many people are scared of digestive and bodily discomfort in this health industry. I've gone through so many changes over the years, I knew I could just blow my diet wide open like this. The fear of digestive and bodily discomfort is actually worst than going through your desired dietary changes. Yes, things are different, but it's actually better the longer I go.
I just came off of prednisone completely four days ago so the withdrawals are getting kind of intense. However, since I just blew my diet wide open like this, I'm not revolted by food anymore. I'm actually ravenous and excited to eat at every meal. It actually somehow masks the uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms. I'm breaking this continual cycle of, weaning off prednisone, feeling sick, fasting, getting sick from fasting, going to the ER and getting injected with nutrients and more prednisone. Then I'm loaded up on prednisone again and I eat really well again. Then the cycle begins again. I wean, get nauseas and feeling sick from weaning, fast, get sick from fasting, go to the ER and so on.
I am hoping that what I am doing is finally breaking the cycle now, and I hope that I will only see healthy days from here on out due to getting proper nourishment lol. I'm having so much fun here.
I've been expanding my diet daily, researching the top protein foods that I can eat. I don't eat meat, bread products, or grains, but I do eat fish, eggs, and dairy. I don't shy away from natural sugar like people who are into Keto. However, I love the Keto recipes, because they include all the foods I eat. You wouldn't believe some of the delicious meals that I've been making. I am having so much fun. Today I had 3 full meals that are heavy meals for me. Most people wouldn't consider these meals heavy lol, such as an omelette. Normally, I would just do one heavy meal a day. I am absolutely loving it. I watch recipe videos and then I make my own cool stuff from all of the ideas that I got from the videos.
I've already gained a few pounds. My muscles actually feel more repaired. I am nourishing my undernourished body! I'm also taking a heavier daily dosage of the Beet Juice Powder every single day to rebuild my blood. It feels like it is working wonders every single time I take it.
I used to never make it out of these low iron situations, and I always end up back at the ER, which I guess has just been acting as a bandaid all these times. However, this time around, I hope to move forward with my new approach. If it's something to do with my colon, then I'll have to get it fixed and may negate this theory. However, it might be both low protein and a colon issue. I hope it's not the colon issue, but I have an appointment with a new GI doctor next week just to get this over with. My colon actually feels great right now and it's handling this "scary' way of eating like a super star lol. It's not even scary anymore. I'm just so excited for every meal it's funny.
Anyway, as I told you that surgeon was abusive, and I pray that he didn't intentionally do anything bad in the surgery to where I'm not absorbing properly. I am pretty certain that he would not go that far. I'm kind of embarrassed about this, because it's so obvious that I have been malnourishing myself. I wonder how many "Duh!'s" I got when I revealed this protein situation. I'm sure I got an equal amount of, "No, don't eat yogurt or more food Matt." Lol.
I do hope that all of these issues are due to the protein. It's too early to tell anyway. Recovering from a protein and iron deficiency like this can take 2-4 months so I'm not expecting to be back to my 3 mile walk any time soon. However, I'm already back to 1.5 miles per day, but I'm moving much slower as I push through being out of breath. Each day it seems that I am getting a little bit better. I think a lot of my energy issues also has to do with coming off Prednisone too. It's intense, and I'm excited to get over the weaning hump. I feel so good and clean to be off that drug. It will be so amazing if I recover from this on my own with my new diet.
Don't worry, I'm not going to go crazy with my diet and become unhealthy. It's all Whole Foods. I'm just doing high protein meals for now. Whenever I overdo the food on my new diet like yesterday lol, the next day I just go back to two yogurt in the morning, a nice sized meal in the afternoon, and two more yogurts in the evening. That gives me a bit over 120 grams of protein per day.
Keep in mind, that me overdoing it with food like yesterday, is still way healthier compared to most people. I was just so excited yesterday with these recipes, that I did 3 heavier meals in one day for a guy like me. Just so you can see what 3 heavier meals looks like for me, below is exactly what I ate yesterday.
In the morning, I made a 1 egg omelette, filled with cottage cheese (is very high in protein), tomatoes, and a slice of regular cheese. For lunch I had 5 ounces of fish that I personally baked from the fish counter with condiments on top. For dinner, I made a pizza crust out of a small canister of wild caught tuna, 1 egg, and some shredded cheese. I mixed those three ingredients together in a bowl, and put it on parchment paper to make the crust. I threw this crust in the oven at 350 degrees for just a few minutes just to cook the egg a tad bit for safety purposes, but not for too long.
I then took the crust out of the oven and put a healthier store bought tomato sauce on it (Rao's), topped the entire thing completely with many sliced tomatoes, sprinkled shredded mozzarella cheese all over it, and put it back in the oven until the cheese melted. I made it up myself and it freaking worked, with no bread at all. I was expecting to eat it with a fork, because I was certain it was going to crumble. However, it actually formed into a perfect pizza lol. I cut it up and picked up each piece like a piece of pizza. It was totally unexpected. I'm a natural. I can't wait to make it again with more cheese on top and more tomato sauce lol!
Three days ago, I would have never considered using a store bought tomato sauce. Three days ago, I would have never cooked a tomato, because of what I have read on cooked versus raw tomatoes. I would have never used shredded cheese from a bag, or even cheese at all 3-days ago. However, it was so good, just like a healthy whole food pizza, loaded with protein, and I can't wait to make it again. Three days ago, I would also have never eaten 3 heavy meals like this in one day ever.
So today from being completely food logged from yesterdays three heavy meals, I had to eat the the two yogurt two times, no big deal. The programs in my head that I had to break were just ridiculous in order for me to get this far. It started with eating cooked foods just under a decade ago. That was a big one.
Anyway, I'm not saying that this protein thing is the reason why I have my issues. I just hope it is lol. I may very well just still have the autoimmune disease, which is attacking my own body, and this may be why my inflammation markers up always elevated. This is what we will be discovering soon. However, I'm just excited to see what happens from consuming proper amounts of protein and food for my body every single day.
If the protein is a big cause of many of my issues, and I start to repair my body like crazy from here on out, that just really excites me. Maybe my joints, bones and muscles will actually start to repair. Maybe then I can bring my body and health up a few notches closer to how I was before. Maybe my sore tail bone will be less sore from sitting on it all of the time, because I am actually repairing my body now. All of these different possibilities, and I am so excited to see what happens in 2-4 months as I recover from this protein deficiency.
If that's not the issue, I'm so grateful that I am now strong enough to get the tests done to see what the problem is with my colon, and take it from there.
As usual, I will keep you updated monthly in all of my health updates. I'm probably going to give you a few health updates in June, because we are discovering a lot here daily.
Here is a little call to action for ya. What action can you take right now that you would never consider in a million years, but realize deep down inside that it might help you? Just do it lol. I'm not a doctor, please consult one before making any changes, everything I say is from my experience, which as you can see is full of complete madness lol.
Anyway, what a huge month of 'At-Cost' specials that we have here today, and they all end this upcoming Wednesday.
We've got the Raw Organic Juice Powders that are, for the first time ever, going off sale on July 1st. On top of that, we've got the Marine Phytoplankton $39.95 blowout. We also have 'At-Cost' the Quintessential, Ionic Angstrom Zinc, Ionic Angstrom Copper, all of the Living Libations beauty products at 15% off, Walnuts, Brazil Nuts, Pili Nuts, Pili Nut Butter, Cacao Powder, Cacao Nibs, Chocolate Covered Cacao Nibs, Cacao Paste, Cacao Butter, Super Fine Coconut Sugar, Ashwagandha, Organic Castor Oil in a glass jar, Yacon Syrup, Ceylon Cinnamon, Vanilla Powder, Vanilla Beans, Sprouting Seeds, Nut Milk and Sprouting Bags, Bamboo Straws and (Deep Breath) Bamboo Flatware.
Wow! What a month.
To order these specials before the month ends, click the link below:
https://therawfoodworld.com/product-category/at-cost/
Thanks everyone for your support!
Sincerely,
Matt