Author Archives: brianzajac

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Looks like the chicken with my vegetarian chili did a number on me.  Tired, inflammed, & still have my pulled neck this morning.  Last night I had to fight the flatulence too.  Not too easy with company over.  Thank God for lighting the scented candle in the room.   In the morning I made my own type of smoothy with 2 fried eggs.  It included 2 (old) pieces of Kale, at least 3 handfuls of spinach, frozen berries (about ¼ – ½ a cup), big gob of almond butter (unsweetened), water, cinnamon, and a banana.  I don’t feel the inflammation as much and do feel full.  The shower & head weights / denny roll (used a rolled ice pack instead) help out too.Lunch consisted of some almonds, dried cherries & a smoothie.  The smoothie consisted of 3 bunches of spinach, 4 dried figs, yogurt, bee pollen, 3 sweet peppers, and an apple.

I had a variety of nuts in the afternoon – cashews, macadamia, walnuts, almonds, dried cherries, and dried cranberries.  I did notice some inflammation afterwards, so cashews or macadamia nuts might have done it.

Went to a raw foods class (taught by Julie, Bethany created the meal plan).  They made a fruit smoothie (too sweet, drank a sip), collard green wraps,  zucchini marinara, and avocado pudding.  Out of all the ingredients in all the dishes, flare ups could be from the cocoa powder (avocado pudding) or garlic (although I doubt it).  I also bought the items Jamie mentioned in her email and will finish my grocery list for the week at the farmer’s market tomorrow.  Cost for supplies around $110.

Doing the denny roll & getting out of the bed exacerbates the pain / inflammation in my right hip area.  I’m also 1 week exactly without Enbrel.

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Today I woke up with my neck pulled.  I went to Jubilee Chiropractic and did light exercise along with Dr. T cracking my neck.  Although I don’t have full range of motion tonight, I see a definite improvement.  During lunch I discussed my issues with Julie Joyner.  She used to sell produce to local stores through her fathers farm & knows the farmers around town.  She will be helping me find my USDA Organic local farmers here in Naples and will help in praying for my 100% healing.  Finding something to eat at lunch (we went to Agave) was difficult due to not knowing about what I can / cannot eat plus having a restaurant prepare uncooked portions / all of the meal.  The good news is Agave makes guacamole for you right on the spot.  So I had that along with some cooked / uncooked vegetables.  Nothing seemed to increase the inflammation.

In the last two days I’ve started taking a fiber supplement called Konsyl (Original Forumla).  Until I can start my juicing, I’m going to keep focusing on cooked vegetables.  Tonight I reheated (on the stove) my vegetarian chili.  However, this was an “older” batch with chicken.  I’m noticing more bloating than usual.  I’m assuming that is either coming from the beans and/or chicken.  At this point either the Psyllium in Konsyl is not taking enough effect or I have issues with beans / chicken.  Based on previous history, it’s the beans.  The NSD guidelines also confirm it’s high in starch.  So I need to remove those from my diet (especially when I start juicing).  I’m hoping that I don’t get a flare-up tomorrow morning because of it.  I had just vegetarian chili with white rice last week and did get a flare-up due to it.  So it’ll be interesting to see if I tolerate beans more than rice.

I met up with Mary Anne tonight.  She has gone through a raw diet but had an adverse reaction to it.  Part of the reason, IMO, was all the years she took antibiotics.  It’s ruined the lining in her gut and rejected the nutrition in it.  As always, she takes a scientific approach to what else is out there.  While her points are very valid and helpful, but I plan to stick to the divine strategy brought to me.  Time will tell if any adjustments will need to be made.  But I must move on & focus on getting the food I need tomorrow & Wednesday so I can start on Thursday.

Lastly, and more importantly, Jamie sent her information over today.  I’ll be reviewing the 21 day meal plan, modifying it with NSD & reading the supplemental articles to better understand what foods will I get the most benefit from & why.

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Today was weird;  I have the knowledge, but I don’t have the meal plan from Jamie.  Because I don’t have the plan, I modified my eating habits with what I think could get me by the day.  After having Jamie’s smoothy from yesterday, eggs and fruit are not going to cut it for me in the morning.  By time I was in the middle of church service (around 11:15) I was starving.  I didn’t end up eating until 1pm and I wanted to eat anything I could get my hands on.  Luckily I was in a “safe house” – I went to Neia’s house where she made me a salad with what I thought wouldn’t have any starches / low starches.  It worked + I had some Ezekial bread with almond butter (pure ground up, not from store).  However, it only lasted for 2 hours.  Some more walnuts & 1 ½ hours after that, Neia made a vegetable smoothy that was bought through local farmers & organic.  It worked and I was able to continue on another few hours but my mind had to “chew” on something.  Since I’m not “officially” in the program, I ended up going to Applebees and eating tilapia (fish) with steamed broccoli.  It comes with rice, but I told them not to add it – they did anyways.  I have a feeling I’m going to have to deal with this type of issue the rest of my life.

I’m suspecting the next few days are like this:

Monday – Meet with Julie, find out over lunch which farmers are USDA organic.  She used to sell crops locally.  After that, make a run to Costco & build up on ingredients Jamie might request.  All organic of course.  I’m not here to detox on vegetables that only have 40% or less of their nutrition value.  I’m also thinking I’ll get the 21 day meal plan from Jamie.

Tuesday – Bethany Tait has a raw foods class in the evening.  I’ll add all the USDA Organic + non-vegetable material (Himilayan Sea Salt, HCL, Good Belly, etc.).

Wednesday – There’s a farmer’s market nearby me that a local church makes.  I’m hoping to spot some USDA Organic food here locally grown.  If this market doesn’t turn out, I’ll have to wait the weekend for the “good stuff” at the farmer’s market on Vanderbilt beach road.