Check out my NEW Youtube channel!

Hey friends!

Welcome to 2012! It's a new year with new beginnings. Time for cleansing and reaching new levels of health. My candida and Interstitial Cystitis symptoms came back again around Jan. 1, so I took it as a sign that I needed to focus on detoxing. And I also want to share my experiences with you through vlogs on my brand spanking new YOUTUBE channel! This is a very exciting endeavor and I hope it will help you as much as it helps me. :)

http://www.youtube.com/user/melissaintheraw

Make sure to subscribe so that you get updates on when I add new videos! I hope to add a vlog at least once a week. I welcome all comments & never hesitate to contact me with any questions you have.

peace, love, & light.
melissaintheraw.

Raw Green Gringo Soup

My 7 Day juice FEAST is officially over. I experienced really intense detox symptoms, so I'm introducing smoothies and soups so that I can continue to detox, but at a slower pace, with more tolerable cleansing. So I'm sticking to an all liquid diet as much as possible right now!

I've been searching for soup recipes with no fat because the more research I do, the more I hear about fat causing candida symptoms. So I'm trying to stick to an all raw, fruit & veggie diet for now, and see how that goes. I finally found a GREAT raw soup recipe with no fat, no sugar, all greens and candida fighters.

RAW GREEN GRINGO SOUP

4 stalks celery
1 cup cherry tomatos
handful of spinach
1/4 cup onion
1 clove garlic
1/4 bunch of cilantro
juice of 1 lime
1T apple cider vinegar

Put the tomatos & liquids in first and it will blend in any blender.

The lime & vinegar really add a nice zing to the soup. I ate is cold & it was yummy!

Lemon Ginger Blast

I am currently doing a juice FEAST & candida cleanse. Candida feeds on sugar, so I'm trying to minimize the sugars in my juices. This is a great, alkalizing juice, and the lemon & ginger do a great job at masking the veggie flavor!

5 leaves of kale
5 stalks of celery
1 handful parsley
1 cucumber
1 inch ginger
1/2 - 1 lemon
(add in 1 apple if you can tolerate it)


Get your greens on! :)

Raw Cacao Banana Ice Cream

OMG you guys... this is the easiest, simplest healthy dessert! I simply love it. I wish I could take the credit for this one, but the idea comes from my good friend, Shana.

Simply mix frozen bananas, raw cacao, and a small touch of water (just enough to get it to blend...you may not need any) in a food processor or blender!

Another delish variation: cinnamon & dates instead of cacao.

You may add sweetener like agave nectar, honey, or stevia, but it really tastes yummy all on it's own!

Raw Apple Pie

Sweet & simple.

I made this for a Thanksgiving raw food potluck & it was gone in a few minutes! :)

Crust

12 oz raw pecans
6 oz dates
Cinnamon to taste

Put in food processor until you have a doughy consistency. Line bottom of pan, bowl, etc.

Filling

6 apples
6 oz dates
Cinnamon to taste
Lemon juice to taste

Put 4 apples, dates, cinnamon, & lemon juice in food processor until you have an apple sauce consistency. Chop up the other 2 apples and add in afterwards. This adds to the consistency with some nice big apple chunks.

That's it!

I topped mine with shredded coconut, apple chunks, & some dates with the pits removed and pecans in their place. If you can find them, try to get fresh, de-pitted dates that are still juicy. They taste sooo much better than the pitted, dehydrated dates. I got some local AZ black sphinx dates, which are seasonal and only grow in a few places! So yummy!!

Raw Zucchini Hummus

OMG. I have an obsession with hummus. It is one of my favorite foods! This is a great raw recipe that does not involve beans, which can be difficult to digest.

2-3 medium sized zucchini
1/3 cup tahini
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon pink himalayan sea salt
1 teaspoon cumin
1-2 garlic clove(s)

As always, you can play around with the ingredients to get the flavor you want. I like lots of garlic & lemon juice, with less fat.

The power of natural healing

November is a celebration of sorts for myself. This past year has been one big roller coaster ride. Last October, I cleansed myself of a negative relationship, bad thoughts, and my chronic, incurable illness, Interstitial Cystitis. Little did I know, it would completely change my life (for the better!). I've transformed my mind, body, and soul, and feel like I am finally on a positive healing path, taking more steps every day.

The raw food diet has provided me with so much relief this past year. I am so happy to see how far I've come. I used to be in pain, 24/7, depressed, miserable, and alone. I used to be scared of food, not wanting to eat anything. I avoided social interactions due to pain, depression, or difficulty of explaining my situation to others. I've come a long way since then. When I switched to raw foods, my pain decreased dramatically. So I stuck with it. I added green smoothies to my morning routine and big salads for lunch. Dinner was sometimes raw. The changes didn't happen all at once, I gradually adjusted to this new way of eating. My detox symptoms were not as extreme this way. Over time, I noticed more and more positive health changes. My weight was evening out (I was sickly skinny before because of my condition). I wake up energized, I have more energy and it lasts through the whole day. My mind is clearer. I'm more sensitive and aware of my environment. My skin is clearer and softer and it glows. My constant pain is gone. I get excited about foods now! Making a tasty, vibrate, fresh, organic, whole food meal is lots of fun. And I know I can eat lots of it and not feel sick after. My acid reflux has subsided. My digestion is becoming more regular. No more allergies. No more headaches. I don't remember the last time I got sick with a cold or something of the sort. I feel healthier and stronger every day.

Now, I know I'm not cured. I still struggle with my health issues. As I said, it's been a crazy roller coaster ride. I've gone long periods of time where I felt no IC symptoms, but I've also had times where it's still there. It's definitely never as bad as it used to be though. Through this past year, I've learned so much about health, nutrition, and my body, that I feel much more equipped with the knowledge I need to heal myself. And I definitely have come a long way in this past year. I would consider my quality of life to be through the roof compared to where I was one year ago. But I still have more to go. I'm still in this healing journey, just like we all are. Will I ever be completely cured? I don't know. But I know I feel a lot healthier than ever and I can't wait to see what comes next. How good can I feel?

I still struggle with candida overgrowth issues. While I've been doing really well, I do cheat sometimes, with some alcohol or sweets or a cooked dish here or there. If I cheat too much on the wrong things, I can definitely feel it. I've experienced a few yeast infections the past few months and have felt my IC symptoms coming back to haunt me. I have read a lot about candida overgrowth and how it can cause or mimic symptoms of IC. I know that candida is one of the parts to my IC puzzle. Currently, I am on a strict anti-candida diet. This means no sugar, yeast, alcohol, and a whole list of other things that feed candida. It's been a struggle to come up with delicious dishes without any fruit, but it's pushed me to get creative in the kitchen! And no matter how much I struggle with my health, I still manage to keep a smile on my face. I can't help it...eating living things makes me feel ALIVE. I am so grateful to be in this moment, despite how difficult things may be at times. I'm making it through the best way I know how and it will all work out in the end. "I trust, I accept, and I let go, knowing that when I do, everything always works out perfectly for me."

I'm also eating candida fighting foods, like garlic, ginger, and onions, and trying to work them into my recipes. I work with stevia as a sweetener to carb those sugar cravings. I'm also taking probiotics, grapefruit seed extract, aloe vera, kelp. Drinking lots of Kombucha and eating Kimchi. Covering all my stops.

I believe I still have issues with leaky gut syndrome, so I will be continuing to research this topic to see how I can improve upon this.

The future looks exciting... I have plans for recipe books and look out for some vlogs soon. If you have any questions about what I'm doing or how to heal candida, IC, or anything else, don't hesitate to contact me.

And come check out our support group on Facebook, Healing Interstitial Cystitis Naturally. We're always welcoming new faces! :)

When I was told that IC was incurable and I would have it for the rest of my life, I was devastated. But I discovered that nothing is permanent and your body will heal. Your body has the natural ability to heal itself. Just like when you fall and scrap your knee, your skin naturally heals itself. The same happens with your insides! But it needs the right environment and tools for the job. And it all takes time, hard work, and a little bit of faith.

Let's take this journey together.


love & light.
melissaintheraw.

Zucchini Pasta (with Hemp Pesto or Tomato Basil)

Simple, light, yummy & raw. Some of my favorite things!

Regular pasta is a heavy dish that is acidic to the body. Using zucchini instead of pasta noodles is a great way to get the same hearty flavor with much added health benefits!

First, peel & grate a zucchini. Then pick a sauce, whip it up & enjoy! The sauce ideas are endless. Here are two of my favs!

Vegan Hemp Pesto

Hemp seed oil is sooo tasty and good for you! It has a high amount of beneficial essential fatty acids, up to 80%, the highest amount of any other plant. The 3:1 ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 fatty acids is important in preventing heart disease, promoting heart health, and alleviating acne, psoriasis and ezcema. It is also good for building strong hair, nails, and skin, as well as helping your body to fight and ward off degenerative diseases including cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

In addition, hemp is the only plant containing Vitamin D, which is necessary for calcium absorption. This is especially helpful to those on a vegan diet.

Hemp seed oil is also a good source of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) which makes the oil a rival to flax seed oil and Evening Primrose Oil.

Hemp seed oil also contains ingredients that give it unique anti-inflammatory properties that are not often found in other oils. This, added to its antioxidant properties, allows hemp oil to detoxify and clean your skin, as well as evening out your skin tone.

Ingredients:
1 cup walnuts
1 1/2 cups basil
1/8 cup olive oil
1/4 cup hemp seed oil
4 medium cloves of garlic
Pink Himalayan sea salt to taste

Put all ingredients in food processor & blend!

I added a few tomatoes on top for flavor. :D


Basic Tomato & Basil Sauce

Ingredients:
4-6 tomatoes
1/2 cup basil
Add onion, garlic, and salt to taste

Put into food processor and blend until desired consistency.

Flackers & Guacamole

Sometimes you crave something salty & crunchy and it's hard to find a raw treat that meets those requirements. I made this recipe for a potluck and everyone loved them! I love it when I can prove to others that eating raw food doesn't mean that you won't be eating tasty treats.


Flackers

Ingredients:
2 cups of flax seeds
2 cups of water
Pink Himalayan sea salt
1 tbsp of minced herbs (optional)

What to do:
1. Cover the flax seeds with water and soak for at least 1.5 hours. You want the mixture to be gooey, but not runny and not too thick.
2. Stir in herbs/salt if you choose.
3. Spread the mixture about 1/8 inch thick on parchment paper in the dehydrator.
4. Dehydrate at 110 degrees F for about 4-6 hours.

Guacamole

Ingredients:
1 whole avocado
1 clove of garlic
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
Pink Himalayan sea salt as desired
1/4 cup onions (optional)
1/4 cup tomatoes (optional)

What to do:

Pop everything into a food processor and whiz it up! If the mix is a little too thick, just add a little bit more olive oil to the processor to loosen the mixture. You can also do it by hand if you don't have a processor.


I put a tomato on top to garnish, but you can use anything you want!


A note for those with IC...
I have always been afraid of tomatoes, thinking they are not IC friendly, but I decided to give them a try. The ICN Diet List has homegrown tomatoes on the "Try it" section. The tomatoes I used I got from the farmers market, so I know they are organic and local, which is considered to be homegrown. I know that store-bought tomatoes are more acidic than homegrown ones, I think it has something to do with the time they are picked, if they are ripe when picked or not. Either way, I tried them, and I'm glad I did, because they were delicious and not painful! It's a good recipe without them, too, so don't push yourself if you don't think you can tolerate them.

Cabbage Veggie Wraps with Coconut Garlic Nut Pate

There are so many great recipes out there for veggie wraps! Some use collard greens, cabbage, or rainbow chard as the wrap, then just throw in a variety of veggies, and pick a delicious sauce and you have yourself a great, raw wrap. The sauce ideas are endless, but here's one of my favs.

Ingredients:
1 Thai coconut (meat & water)
2 cups of soaked almonds
4 cloves of garlic
4-5 pitted dates
Small piece of ginger
A couple shakes of dill

What you do: Put all ingredients inside of a food processor and blend until smooth. That's it!

Put some sauce on a piece of cabbage, add your choice of veggies and it's a wrap! Or just use it as a veggie dip or salad dressing.

MMMMMMMMM good.

Banana Nut Rawies

This can be a granola bar, raw cookie (rawie!), or cereal, depending on how long you dehydrate it and how you shape them! So good, so raw.

Ingredients:
4 bananas
1 1/4 cup pitted dates
1.5 cups soaked (& dried) almonds, roughly chopped
1.5 cups dried, shaved coconut meat
1/8 cup flax meal

What to do:
1. Blend bananas, dates, and flax meal in food processor until smooth.
2. Stir in nuts and coconut.
3. Evenly spread mixture on dehydrator tray lined with teflex sheets, wax or parchment paper. Make it into the size and shape you prefer.
4. Dehydrate at 105 degrees. After 6 hours, they become warm, chewy granola bars! You can leave them in for longer (up to 20 hours) to make them crispier is you prefer.
5. Store in fridge or freezer for up to 4 months.

YUM!

Avocado & Cucumber Soup

Delicious & creamy raw soup.

1 avocado
1 cucumber, sliced & seeded
1 garlic clove
Dash of dill
Pinch of Pink Himalayan sea salt
Lime juice

Put all ingredients into food processor & enjoy! Sweet & simple.
If you're craving a hot soup, you can boil 1/4 cup water than add that to the mix.

Raw Chocolate Truffles

OMG, you guys. This is my favorite raw food desert I've made (so far)! It's so yummy, all raw, and so totally good for you.


Ingredients:

1 cup raw cacao powder
2 cups raw shredded coconut
8 large dates (pitted)
1/3 cup raw coconut oil
1/3 cup filtered water
1 tsp cinnamon
A touch of vanilla extract
A dash of pink Himalayan sea salt

Topping ideas (to roll the truffles in):

raw cacao powder
raw cacao nibs
vegan chocolate chips
pistachio bits
goji berries
shredded coconut

What to do...

1. Mix the dates & water in food processor until it forms a paste.
2. Mix in cacao powder.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the shredded coconut with the coconut oil.
4. Add the two pastes together in the bowl, then add cinnamon, vanilla, and sea salt. Mix ingredients until it forms a thick batter.
5. Form into small balls and roll in the toppings. Toppings are not necessary, but just add a fun touch and great flavor.
6. Place on wax paper in fridge for 15 min. Enjoy!

If you want more of a sweetener than dates, you could add honey, agave nectar, or stevia.

I couldn't believe how much these tasted like pure dark chocolate treats. Everyone loved them and were very surprised to hear the ingredients & that they were raw and healthy!

Raw cacao is different than it's sad, processed brother, cocoa. Cacao is a superfood because it is extremely high in antioxidants and flavonoids. It turns out that all the bad things commonly attributed to non-raw chocolate bars, such as cavities, weight gain and diabetes, are actually caused by the dairy, sugar and others fillers added to the chocolate. Health benefits of chocolate when it is in the form of raw cacao beans, butter, nibs and/or the powder include; weight loss (because of its high chromium and coumarin content), prevention of cavities (theobromine actually kills streptococci mutans one of the strains of bacteria that cause tooth decay) and regulation of blood sugar which is beneficial for diabetes (chromium can naturally regulate blood sugar). Also, raw cacao benefits the heart and the entire cardiovascular system as a whole.

Cacao is the highest whole food source of magnesium, which also happens to be the most deficient mineral in the diet of modern cultures. Magnesium relaxes muscles, improves peristalsis in the bowels and relaxes the heart and cardiovascular system. The dark chocolate antioxidants have been clinically proven to literally dissolve plaque built up in the arteries, which helps in reversing heart disease and causes naturally lower blood pressure. Also, various other vitamins and minerals in raw cacao benefits the cardiovascular system.

And I love that this recipe uses coconut oil! Out of all the oils out there, coconut is one of the healthiest. The health benefits of coconut oil are immense and it adds great flavor to desserts!

Definitely going to make this one again for the holidays. :)

Fruit Salad

This is fast & easy. Chop up whatever fruits you have on hand, add some rasins, goji berries, walnuts, honey, cinnamon, etc. and you have a fantastic, healthy RAW desert right there. Get creative and make it your own. Enjoy!

Apple Cinnamon GRAWnola

This is awesome because it satisfies that crunchy, sweet craving, but is still completely RAW and healthy for you!

Binding ingredients:
1 cored apple, chopped 1 ½ cups date paste (dates soaked in water for 1-2 hours, then pureed with ¼ cup of water until smooth)
1-2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons sea salt

Raw seeds/nuts/fruits:
½-1 cup sunflower seeds
2 ½ cups pecans
2 cups walnuts
2 cups almonds
1 cup pumpkin seeds
½ cup chia seeds
½ cup flax meal
1 cup raisins
½-1 cup organic dried unsweetened coconut

These ingredients are just suggestions. You can add or subtract whatever you want, just make sure to have something sticky (ie date paste) in the binding ingredient list you use.

What to do...
1. Grind the binding ingredients and ¼ cup of the sunflower seeds in a food processor until smooth. Place in a large mixing bowl.
2. Put the nuts and seeds into a food processor (you’ll probably need to do it in 2 batches). Chop coarsely, using a few quick pulses. Place this mixture into the large bowl with the apple/date (binding) mixture, add the dried fruit, and mix the rest by hand.
3. Spread granola on a Teflex sheet (parchment paper will work too).
4. Dehydrate at 105-110 degrees Fahrenheit for about 5 hours or until the granola is crunchy.

Serve with fresh fruit and almond milk or coconut milk. YUM! Or just eat it on it's own.
Store in an airtight place and keep refrigerated for freshness.

Purple & Green Dream Juice

I just threw this together from what I had in the fridge and it turned out great!

Ingredients
3 leaves of kale
4 leaves of purple cabbage
3 stalks of celery
1 cucumber
1 orange
~30 concord grapes

Put through juicer and enjoy!

Remember: Try to eat (or drink!) all the colors of the rainbow, EVERY DAY!


peace, love, & light.
melissaintheraw.

IC Green Smoothie!

The green smoothie changed my life. There are tons of different great recipes out there! This is the one I started out with when I first started my IC healing journey. With IC, our bladders and bodies are more sensitive, so our food choices are pretty limited. This was my daily breakfast when I started my raw food plan!

Ingredients:
1 Thai coconut (use water & meat)
1 pear (or apple if you can tolerate it)
1 banana
3 stalks of celery
1-2 cups of spinach
1 tbsp flax meal
1 tbsp spirulina powder
ice if desired

Instructions:
1. Put all ingredients inside blender and blend! May need to add in some water if there is problems blending.

Suggestions:

If you find you can't tolerate the apple and/or banana, leave them out. You can use stevia as a sweetener if desired.

Coconut: It's hard to always have a fresh coconut, and even harder to open them! Don't be intimidated. These tasty treats have electrolytes and alkalizing properties, as well as many other health benefits. So it's worth it! I've made friends with the produce guy at Whole Foods and he always opens them for me, then wraps it back up. The downside to this is I have to use it soon, but that's usually not a problem, since I have smoothies every day. You can also search Youtube for how to open a coconut. Sometimes when coconuts are too expensive or I am too busy, I use coconut water or make my own almond milk. Be careful when buying things in cartons because they are not raw and have added ingredients that can hurt IC.

Seeds: I use flax for the Omegas and fiber, but feel free to get creative and try other ideas!

Spirulina is a great superfood that helps alkalize your body! It also is a good source of protein and vitamin B12. It's also been proven to help IC. But if you don't want to use it, find another green super food powder that you want to try.

Healthy breakfast: This is a great, healthy way to start your day! Ever since I started drinking 1 green smoothie a day, I've experienced many positive health benefits, including extreme IC pain reduction. :)

Liquid Feasting

I don't write many diary-like entries, so I thought I'd change it up a bit! I'd like to update you on what's going on in my life.

Today I started a liquid feast! There's tons of terms out there to describe this type of detoxification program...juice fast/feast, liquid fast/feast, etc. They're all pretty similar, but the names vary depending on what exactly you are consuming. Fasting is defined as abstinence from all food and drink except water for a specific period of time, usually for a therapeutic or religious purpose. It is often used as a detoxification method, as it is one of the quickest ways to increase elimination of wastes and enhance the healing processes of the body.* Living on liquids is much easier for your body to digest and assimilate than chewing and swallowing whole foods. Drinking nutrient dense, high alkaline liquids creates an atmosphere in which an advanced level of cleansing and healing can take place, as you are allowing your body to be flooded with immediate usable nutrition, without taxing your digestive system.

I'm calling my chosen program a liquid feast because I am not limiting my diet to just juices. I am drinking juices, as well as other liquids, such as water, smoothies, coconut water, and kombucha. And it's a FEAST because I am not counting calories here. :)

I decided to do this for a few reasons. (1) I have never done any kind of fast before and I wanted to try it out! (2) I am feeling a bit lethargic lately, since I've been cheating on my raw food diet recently with naughty things like alcohol and sugars. I don't feel as healthy and energetic as I did when I first started out on raw foods and I can just tell that my digestive system is not happy. (3) I have a sprained ankle that is taking FOREVER to heal and I am hoping that this will help it. I twisted it over 1 month ago while hiking in Flagstaff and I did not give it enough time to heal, which turned it into a very severe sprain. I was in extreme pain (it still hurts but is manageable now) and could not walk on it. I have been in a walking boot (a big strap on cast) for 3 weeks now and I'm still unable to walk without it! This is getting a bit frustrating, since I'm unable to work with the boot and I'm getting a bit stir crazy from sitting in bed all day every day. But I have hope and my liquid feasting to keep me busy!

So today is DAY 1 of the liquid feast. So far, I've had 1 green smoothie, 1 watermelon/ginger/lime shake (YUM), 1 green juice, 1 coconut water and 1 GT trilogy kombucha. And I feel GREAT! I am so surprised at how much energy I've had today. I'm wide awake right now and it's almost 10pm! Every time I get hungry, I just grab (or prepare!) a liquid and take my time drinking it. I feel pretty satisfied and happy today. No negative feelings...yet. I think I can do this! My goal is to go 5 days. Let's see what happens!

I don't know how I'm going to fall asleep tonight!

The Complexities of Naturally Healing a Chronic Disease

"Just because "they" say there is no cure;
it does not mean that you can't get better.
It only means that "they" haven't figured it out yet.
That's all it means.
It does not mean that you can't get better."
- Catherine Simone

So I have a lot of things going on in my mind right now and I just want to get them off my chest. So sorry if it sounds a little rocky. I just want to stress a few things that are important to understand about natural healing.

So often we are told that Interstitial Cystitis is an incurable, chronic disease. When I was diagnosed, I believed this. I was in pain, suffering, and hopeless, taking pills and not getting anywhere. I did this for a year without really changing any of my other habits, besides for a slight IC Diet modification. After a while, I decided I had enough of all this devastation. I had let IC take over my life and it had crushed my hopes, dreams, and spirit. I had passed the responsibility of my own health onto these strangers who had no idea what causes IC or how to treat it. So, I decided to take my health back into my own hands. I decided to mindlessly stop paying the big pharmaceutical companies because they weren't doing me any good and start finding my own way to heal my body naturally. I decided to search for the cause and the cure to my problems. I did not want to live or "manage" a life with IC anymore.

(Please note that I am not degrading modern medicine, for it does have great uses in lots of different scenarios. However, I believe that it is not helpful for many chronic conditions.)

There is a growing number of individuals out there who are refusing to accept that IC is incurable and have managed to heal themselves of IC. I am one of them. It is possible. But it's not going to be easy.

You've got to remember that there is no quick-fix with IC. It took your body a lot time to build up all those toxins and get sick, so it's going to take a long time to get the toxins out and regain your health. With Western medicine, we are used to these easy-outs, a quick pill that solves all our problems with little effort. But with a chronic condition like IC, this method is not going to cure anything, it is simply covering up the symptom of a much bigger problem. Natural healing focuses on restoring health by detoxifying and regenerating the whole body, and this takes time and effort. But the results of long-lasting health and definitely worth it.

I just want to stress the fact that everyone's healing path is going to be different. So what worked for me, or someone else, may or may not work for you. That's why it is important to look at all your options. Do loads of research in your spare time! Read articles and books, watch documentaries, etc. about IC, diet, and natural healing methods. See what other people have done, learn about the body, and most importantly, learn to listen to your body. Read the signs your body gives you! If your stomach/bladder hurts after you eat something, then what did you eat that caused that? If you have constipation, what do you think caused it? Try to interpret what your body is telling you and make adjustments in your life to attempt to counteract the issue. I advocate the things that I do because they worked for me and I want to spread the message. But my way is not the only way! It may or may not help you. That's why it is important to know all your options and make decisions based on your own situation. I firmly believe that IC has many different causes, so therefore, there will be many different ways to heal it. That is why it is important for you to research, listen to your body, and try to figure out what causes your specific case of IC (and other related conditions). Then you will get a better idea of how to treat it. Once you know the cause, you can try to remedy it.

The fact that there are many different ways to heal brings me to my next point. Healing your IC is about whole body health! A healthy diet is only one part to the whole. Same goes for things like herbs, supplements, physical therapy, yoga, exercise , meditation, getting sun, etc. When using all these different aspects of healing, you will experience much more results than just using one or two.

So really, it's all about lifestyle change. Somehow, our current lifestyle has caused us to get sick with IC and maybe other related conditions too (I had GERD, allergies, lactose intolerance, and eosinophilic esophagitis, others have IBS, fibromyalgia, etc...) It's time to take charge of our health and change the lifestyle that created our health problems. The time is now.

“You cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it."
-Albert Einstein

Conventional Meat Contains Antibiotics

*What the USDA Doesn't Want You to Know About Antibiotics and Factory Farms: This is a great article that explains the dangers of antibiotics that are found inside most of the conventional meat supply today.

"Altogether, the US meat industry uses 29 million pounds of antibiotics every year. To put that number in perspective, consider that we humans in the United States—in all of our prescription fill-ups and hospital stays combined—use just over 7 million pounds per year. Thus the vast bulk of antibiotics consumed in this country, some 80 percent, goes to factory animal farms."*

Therefore, it is safe to say that if you are eating conventional meat, you are indirectly consuming antibiotics. What does this mean? Well, first of all, it is creating antibiotic resistant bacteria inside of you, which is very dangerous. "A single antibiotic-resistant pathogen, MRSA—just one of many now circulating among Americans—now claims more lives each year than AIDS."*

But second of all, eating meat may be making your health worse. Remember when I mentioned IC and the yeast connection? (If you don't know what this means, please go read my last post!) An overgrowth of yeast candida is caused by use of antibiotics, birth control pills and/or improper diet. This can cause a variety of different health problems, including IC. From the Yeast Connection:

"Chronic health conditions are quite a mystery. Every book you read, every physician you visit says something different. You collect clues but rarely find clear-cut answers on one basic cause that experts agree on of what is influencing your body and making you feel bad.

The role candida plays in chronic pain and disease is no exception. Yeast overgrowth disturbs your intestinal tract lining, allowing allergens and toxins into your circulation while your immune system becomes to weak to handle the influx. This combination is one of many variables that play a role in a diverse group of seemingly unrelated health problems – not just vaginal yeast infections. These range from PMS, chronic fatigue syndrome, migraines, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, and interstitial cystitis, just to name a few."

Unfortunately, eating conventional meat contributes to the amount of antibiotics you ingest, leading to an imbalance in your body. This is one of the many reasons I choose to be a raw vegan. (Abstaining from meat while doing a healing or detox program is also a good idea.) If you do choose to eat meat, make sure it's organic and free-range to assure you do not eat any antibiotics. I would also suggest taking some good probiotics to help supply you with good bacteria to balance yourself back out!