Fat, Sick and Almost Dead - Documentary

Did anyone see this? I saw it on NetFlix and it was a real eye opener. Food for thought!

Sandi is this the movie where the men do nothing but juicing for a couple of months? I do believe a lot of peoples issues is related to the food we put in our mouth.

Yes, that's the one. He juiced for 60 days and was able to taper off of 15 mg's of Prednisone that he'd been on for years. He also lost a ton of weight and his autoimmune disorder went into remission. It was pretty convincing. I went out the next day and bought a juicer.

I'm not going to just do juicing, but I am going to add it to a gluten free, carb free diet.

I saw it too, it was great to see those guys get so much healthier. That particular diet would make me much much sicker, so your mileage may vary. They also started exercising which helped them a lot.
Erica

Yeah, I'm not at the point where I can do any exercising. I'm hoping to start with stretches at least.

You can't eat fruit right? What about vegetables? I'm just going to stay away from night shades.

This was a great movie, I agree.

After seeing this movie a year ago, I did the juice fast. I did it for 2 weeks with only juice. It's actually not as hard as people think it would be - the first three days are tough, but then your stomach gets used to the new situation and you get into a rhythm with it and it's not bad at all.

My favorite part of it was the way I felt - it made my body function much better. And everyone seems to think that it's all about how your bowels will change - but just to let you know, that part doesn't change at all! It's more how your BRAIN changes, it's weird. It's like your body gets a reboot and you get this strange natural high from it. It happens around the 5th day, and it's so common that regular juicers will call it the "juice high".

It would be very difficult to do without fruits, as they are a huge component of any juice.

one important note though: the two times I've done a juice fast, my platets went down, not up. And they went down pretty significantly - i think each time they dropped about 20k to the teens. It's because of this that I've discontinued the full-on two week fasts. I'm not saying that would happen for everyone, but that was my result.

I asked Dr Furhman about the platelet drop with the juicing at the conference in July, and he thought it could be because it was spiking my sugars so much, and creating an imbalance. It is unfortunate, but pretty much all decent juices have a ton of sugars in them. The best ingredients are apples, pears, and carrots - loaded with sugars.

I have been reading a new book that just came out in late Dec called the Virgin Diet. Concept being that a lot of health issues are food intolerances that are much more subtle than allergies. You give up 7 foods for 21 days (gluten included), then reintroduce them one at at time. I certainly recognize many of the symptoms they describe, I just haven't made the plunge to try it yet.

They recommend a version of the "Green" shake or smoothie. Like Sandy, I believe you have to take into consideration other conditions and avoid those items. In my case, I also have thyroid issues and should avoid raw foods that contain goitrogens (most are okay if cooked).

I saw the Virgin diet on TV the other day. It excluded all of the things that I planned to exclude anyway, except for eggs, I think.

A juice high? I didn't know about that. I don't know if that will happen because I am still going to eat fish, eggs, etc.

@Sandi, I am very limited with fruit and vegetables. I can eat bananas and citrus (small portions) and I'm experimenting with one slice of dried kiwi a day, it's going well. Vegetables, again have to watch portions carefully. No onions at all. Best for me is leafy greens (my favorite!), celery, cucumber, green beans, broccoli, hot peppers (thank goodness!), mushrooms, avocado, brown skin potatoes, peeled. Can also eat tomato. I will have a tiny portion of most vegetables. I've been having gut problems in the last few months again and I think it's because I let the portions get too big.
Erica

Watched this yesterday - WOW - I would rather have ITP than what the Host has :sick: if I had to choose one.

I'm going to give this a try once I speak with my Primary Care Physician Aug 2nd - and will post progress as I go.

Wish me luck and platelets

My husband is going to do it with me for moral support Prednisone can play havoc with a body maybe this will take away the weight and pain.

Cindy Ann

Talked with my Hemo about this and she said "Just monitor yourself and then Quoted her Mom "too much of anything is not good"" So I began with caution.

Well, it's been 8 days on the plant based diet - big difference already! My skin (I have pustular psoriasis on my hands) looks great and my hands are almost soft My allergies are behaving - not taking meds right now. And best of all lost 10 pounds of the 84 pounds I gained on prednisone :woohoo: My platelets are holding fast at 40K I will check again in two weeks.

Cindy Ann

Well, I thought I would try an experiment - I ate a couple of biscuits on Thursday just to see about this gluten thing and Friday my hands swelled up and today they broke out in blisters (part of the pustular psoriasis). My digestion was a bit off as well. So maybe that is how I react to gluten?

I will try the experiment again in a few weeks after sticking with just a plant based diet - just might find that "food" can be the cause and cure to some of this

Cindy Ann

Wow, Cindy, that is amazing! Looks like you definitely have a gluten sensitivity. I really need to start again.

If you're going to cheat, biscuits are the best thing with which to do it!

I believe food plays a major role as well. I have a kidney disorder and my nephrologist recommended I go vegan and it's been a life saver for me. My son with itp has always had a glass of fresh veggie/fruit juice daily but never any greens. I'm trying to sneak kale and spinach into it to add vitamin k to his diet. I've talked to him about trying to go off gluten for a bit and see if that helps. He has had diarrhea at least twice a day since dx in June. I know probably treatment issues but I do believe there is a link with intolerances and increase in autoimmune disorders. I know he feels better when limits dairy but he loves it.

Kjenkinsap: look up fructose malabsorption regarding your son. A glass of fruit/veg juice daily would keep me locked in the bathroom all day. Figuring out I had FM and changing my diet has improved my daily life a ton and I see a clear pattern with my platelets as well.

There is an easy breath test to diagnose. Regular gastro doctors can do it and probably pediatricians as well.
Erica

Erica, thanks I will look up right now. I will ask his doctor as well. I feel like there has to be more than what we are doing right now. He's a senior this year and he cannot function well how he is now.

Kjenkinsap, also google FODMAP diet.
Erica

I have been looking up information since you guys have been talking about this! All I found was this guy drinking a green drink and the more I look at it the worse it looks!


I wish I liked vegetables cause than maybe I have a healthier diet! I would love to see if something like this would help my IBS!

The movie is "Fat Sick & Nearly Dead" by Joe Cross. He also has a website www.rebootwithjoe.com that explains the specific diet/plan. Great information there.

Cindy Ann

I haven't seen this documentary yet, but I can say for myself that food/diet did a wonder to my platelet count. I am in early stages of pregnancy and was diagnosed with ITP after my OB sent me to Hematologist seeing that i have lower than average platelet count. my numbers kept dropping, and I was around 80 at the last test. Now, I know that isn't too bad compared to many other people who suffer from ITP, but still it was a threat to the baby, and if it kept dropping, they told me I would have to go on steroids despite my pregnant state. I was determined not to go on Steroids as I feared the side affects to my baby.

I began concentrating on taking as much vitamin K as I could in my daily diet, starting with making kale smoothie every morning (16 oz of it) and just being conscious about including vitamin K rich food in every meal. Also, being Japanese, I had no problem eating Natto (fermented soybeans- really stinky but super rich in Vitamin K2) so i ate that almost everyday, and at the hematologist appointment 2 weeks later, I found that the count more than doubled @ 202! The doctor couldn't believe it and she drew the blood twice just to make sure the number was real (second time was even higher, at 206).
This is the same doctor who told me that there's nothing I could do to increase the platelets besides using steroids or other conventional treatments. In the end, she just said "whatever you're doing, just keep on doing it".

I understand there are individual differences in whether it is effective or not, but at least in my case it has been a miracle!

kaba,
Wow natto. I can eat almost any food (at least in terms of the taste and texture of it) and natto is one that stopped me. I was excited to try it, and I love strong flavors, but that texture! How can a little bean throw out so much stringy mucus! I couldn't do it. I don't mind the okra type of mucus but wow, natto.

I'm on a sea urchin (uni) kick, a lot of people think that is gross but I love it.
Erica

My husband really wants to do this. He seems to think this is the cause of all my problems. I'm not so sure though.

Couldn't hurt to try. I find that certain foods really affect how I feel.