Socialized Medicine---Rant

Yesterday I received two letters from my insurance company. One dated January 5th stated that all treatment for my feet up to October 6th would be covered and that they has authorized 25 more treatments for my feet. The second letter dated January 6th stated all my physical therapy treatments after June 25th would not be covered because their physical therapist had reviewed the submitted claims and had decided I had no medical need for ultrasound and cold laser on my feet and exercises at home are just as good. Now for those of you that have insurance you know you cannot just call the doctor explain your symptoms and have him prescribe over the phone. He says because of insurance you have to come in and see him so he can diagnose the problem. When I forcefully brought this up on the phone the lady paused and her response was legally they can deny my need based on records. Of course my response was to point out I had surgery in October which was pre authorized by Aetna and yet their PT said I didn't need it? Then I told them according to her letter Aetna has to assign me a person to speak on my behalf. She didn't know about that potion of the letter. Last month Aetna refused to pay my podiatrist because they decided I had dual insurance. Now I have been working at B&W for five years and haven't married or added another person to my insurance. However they never sent me a request asking if I had a second insurance. I heard about it from my doctor's office. It seems insurance is getting worse since Obama took office and it appears our private insurance that we all pay through the nose for is turning into socialized medicine. I for one am upset that now even though I follow the rules I have to spend my days off arguing on the phone. Not because I am trying to get pain killers or collect social security or misuse the system but because I really want my feet fixed so I can be healthy and exercise so that I don't have to use my stupid insurance. At this point I assume the insurance company thought I was going to go belly up and pay but instead I made the phone call and the more I pointed out their flaws in their system all of the sudden the girl pointed out that there is a verbal appeal system in place and took my statement over the phone and promised me she would get back to me by 26th of January. Three months ago I called Aetna because they were refusing to pay lab fees associated with my annual exam because Lab Corp would not code it properly and Lab Corp is not in my network. However, when I have blood work done at work guess which lab is used? Lab corp. insurance companies are doing this because they think the majority of Americans are too passive to force them to do their jobs. They think we won't make the phone calls and we will just pay the bill when it's 100 dollars or 39 dollars at a time. Well that is BS. I think their CEOs are making plenty of money and their corporate bonuses are large enough as it is. I for one don't want to pay hundreds of dollars a month for prescriptions and going and seeing doctors for hundreds of ailments. Yesterday I purchased glasses. While my eye exam is covered, glasses are not. I pay about 10 dollars a month to cover my family and get a discount on frames and contact lenses. My total bill was over seven hundred dollars however if I break that down monthly that's still quit reasonable for someone with terrible vision. I am lucky that my work insurance is currently some of the best in the Texas panhandle but rates are rising and benefits decreasing. My only option is to become healthier. So this whole rant is one reason I am trying to juice. So far doctors and having insurance haven't fixed me feet. Right now money isn't helping nor are prescriptions. Hopefully this will and it will continue to help the inflammation and pain.

Reboot Day 1

Well as you know fell off the juice wagon yesterday. Today. I juiced about 80 % of the time. I had cantaloupe and a bell pepper for lunch. And then a tortilla with a bit of sharp cheddar cheese spinach pepperochini and Red lettuce. Actually feel quite content. I was surprised I had a breakout on my face. A bit of detox or what I had to eat yesterday? Guess I will just watch what I eat and see how my skin reacts. Tomorrow I will juice all day and have dinner at night with my group from work. So far no caffeine and still feel energized. Ttfn

Day thirteen-water and attitude

This morning I woke up. Feet hurt and just felt down. My tongue is flavorless. It's like all the tastebuds have been burned. How do I know this? I decided to cheat last night!! Took a small bite of sharp cheddar cheese. My daughter laughed at me when she saw the look on my face when I tasted the cheese. Doesn't taste so good mom? She asked. It tasted so bad I spit it out. Yesterday I drank water as much as possible and tried to get juices when I could. Not so easy when you work in a laboratory where you can't have food and water. So I guess my whole fast was off kilter. It was unproductive from a juicing standpoint and a work standpoint. They say it takes 21 days to start a habit. I can see how this will pay off. I have gotten into the habit of numerous trips to the store for fresh veggies and I am prepping my juice the night before so I will get in the habit of preparing my breakfast (most likely a green juice ) and lunch( most likely a salad or vegetable juice based soup). Today my goal is to make it through the day without giving up. Juice on!!

Well I did not make it.  The cold this morning made me realize with my active schedule at work I needed to eat. So I ate lunch.  I plan on hitting the juice again tomorrow.  I am now in a rebooters group on Facebook.  I consider myself a quitter but cannot complain.  My hair and skin feel so much better and 9 pounds lost in 12 days is a good start.  I plan on keeping meat out of the diet for awhile.  at least until I get the natural beef I ordered that will not be ready until the end of February. If I add meat protein back into my diet I will focus on organic or natural. Does anyone know the difference?  I learned about it today.   At least from a local meat producer.  If a farmer or rancher decides to go organic or natural there are many packaging issues they may encounter that can triple the price of selling their meat in that arena.  In truth many ranchers are doing grass fed beef in the Panhandle that has no added hormones and only use vaccines that are to treat diseases associated with cattle.  They only give antibiotics to treat sick cattle and keep those cattle segregated from their herds. In addition they only feed organic and know where the food their stock eats comes from.  Its not all unknown as many of the organic producers would have your believe.  In my opinion you have organic farms banging on natural and on the local rancher for the almighty dollar.  So if you live in an area where you can talk to a local rancher you might find someone you can buy from directly that will give you high quality beef.  While the advertising will continue to say who is right and who is wrong, at least we can be consumers that do our research and not believe everything media and newsprint tell us.  Check out this explanation on Maverick Ranch .  I found it very insightful and actually quite honest and what my friend the rancher told me.  While I am all for a mainly vegan diet I think I enjoy a good steak every once in awhile.

Day 12- Skin

So this morning I had to go in early to work. Decided it was a hat day because a shower this early would be a bath last night. Instead of washing my face I just did my trusty old astringent. Usually it takes two cotton pads and it comes back very brown with oil residue. As long as I can remember I have been told I have oily skin. This sometimes means two showers a day to get my hair squeaky clean. Today after using the astringent there was no oily residue. I was shocked. My skin is changing. I had no idea that 12 days could change your skin. Why?

Well our skin is our largest organ and it is exposed to damage the first day our parents expose us to the sun. Go ahead and feel your forearm. Now feel the inside of you bicep. One is smooth the other rough. That's because exposing ourselves to sun and pollution causes the skin to age more rapidly. I am not going to lie I have been to the tanning beds and love the pool in the summer. However I have read that increasing your intake of those vegetables and fruits high in beta carotene can help protect your skin from burning and help you tan more easily. I kept wondering why everyone on the juicing Facebook was talking about dry brushing their skin. I now understand that it stimulates blood flow to the skin and helps exfoliate your skin both needed to help in detoxing and skin repair.

This was sent to me by a friend. You just have to read it http://naughtynutritionist.com/soy/dr-hazel-parcells-the-original-naughty-nutritionist/

Day 11

Well I almost gave up yesterday. Somehow made it through. I finally can admit I am an emotional eater. My 7 year old boxer has compressed discs in his back and we have been trying to help him with drugs lowering his weight getting an orthopedic pad for him. No luck. He is miserable everywhere he goes in house. Last night he lost bladder control. I know I have to make a decision to euthanize him but I don't want to and when I have to start contemplating it. I think about grabbing something to eat. My dogs are like my kids but when you have an animal giving you a wild eye and snapping when you are trying to help him then it's time to do what's right. He is on steroids for ten more days and I want to see if it helps. If it doesn't I know the next step is the right one for him. Kids are mad at him for his behavior I screamed last night when he just squatted and started peeing on carpet. It's amazing that this stress was enough to make me admit I am an emotional eater. Also the weight blip from this weekend made me want to quit. Just that little nudge of disappointment and I was ready to throw in the towel? I guess I give up too easily on my personal life. I need to treat it like I do work and never give up until you fix it or find someone to help you! Amazingly this morning I walked into our standup meeting and there was banana nut bread and different types of popcorn. I didn't feel the loss of missing out on a treat. In the past it would have bee. Oooh I have to try it before its all gone. Instead I drank my herbal tea and when our meeting was finished I headed up to the office grabbed my first juice of the morning and started the day. I still have belly growls but they are not so bad. Have to admit no sugar shakes and that I am none weary tiredness haven't happened in a week. I haven't decided on juices for tomorrow but think may have some grapefruit blends and a few mean greens. The mean greens seem to keep you fuller longer. Today I had 4 juices. Don't know if I will have a fifth or not. I did take my blood pressure today. 128/82. My pulse was 72. My plan is to wait until next Monday to weigh again. I think the guys are lucky. It seems they lose much quicker than us girls do! I keep telling myself it's worth it to reset your life.

End of Day Ten

Well today is rough. I am not feeling bad as in detox but just want to eat. I have tried to do what is required and do other things but it's not working. I have decided to go twenty one days instead of the whole month of January. Food for life states it takes 21 days to start a new habit and so I want to make juicing a habit from now on. I have decided to do 21 days of raw diet afterwards. After today I realize sometime I just have to take it one day at a time. My tongue is still coated so I know I am still detoxing so maybe the mood swings today are just part of the detox. I have five juices ready for tomorrow. Will start back with my h2orange again. I think that helped during the week keeping my sugar stable. Didn't do it this weekend and didn't feel so great. I did make two mean greens for tomorrow and a triple melon---the watermelon wasn't so great that I bought so by itself would have been yucky but the triple blend had a nice flavor.

Day ten

Woke up on my own about 630 am. Usually when I wake up it's because something aches or I am uncomfortable. This morning I feel refreshed no pain in my back, fingers aren't numb from sleeping the wrong way. The only time I usually feel this good is when I am doing intense aerobic workouts five days a week. I feel loose in my muscles and joints and very mellow. I can still feel aches and pains in my feet but they are less than when I went to bed. I now think the pain was actually the juice working in my body. I read somewhere on our juicing group facebook page that you have flare ups in reverse order of injuries. Since my feet were the most recent injury it makes sense. So maybe my feet are on the road to recovery. Scale was up two pounds from yesterday. I guess I am a bit frustrated with all the additional water I drank plus the fact I limited my fruit intake yesterday. I thought it would go down but noticed I was not in the bathroom as much yesterday so maybe more water is the right answer and I am retaining.  I may start weighing myself once a week and just pick Mondays. So in reality I am still down 6.5 pounds from last Sunday so I should not complain. Today I will focus on antiinflammatory juices I do love my big book of juices with all it's great ideas. I will try to post raw vs juice pictures today.  To keep myself motivated I keep doing Internet research.  Today the topic is Leptin.

Beginning of Day Nine

I have noticed hunger pains ate starting to subside unless....I come home and watch TV. This juicing has made me realize the majority of our food commercials and centered around unhealthy food. Keebler elves selling cookies, a rabbit selling Trix, and a bird that is coocoo for coco puffs. I am searching my data banks for a single commercial featuring beets or kale or apples or lettuce. Can you think of any? It made me realize watching tv even on Hulu with limited commercials can undermine my juicing at night. Think I will have to cut out TV for awhile and find something else to do when I sit and icemy foot at night. I am hoping to start walking this week so icing may soon be a thing of the past. I do notice that the juicing detox seems cyclical. Some mornings I wake up and sinuses are clear eyes aren't gummy and mouth feels decent. This morning even though I woke refreshed I need to clear my sinuses and get rid of watery eyes. So far since I started I have lost 8 pounds. I think thi would have been higher if I had increased my water consumption. I think today I will focus on that since I am home for the weekend

Day Eight

Well no difference on scale this morning but my jeans are starting to get loose in the waist and I have noticed my arms look tighter. Not so much wrinkly skin. The picture is of what I plan on drinking today. Most days I am making it through five. Tongue is still coated but teeth did not feel so grimy this morning. This weekend I plan on juicing as needed and today I will walk at lunch. I am wearing my vibram five finger shoes today to see how my feet do. They were still sore this morning and every time I think of quitting I will remind myself of that fact as well. I have started my list of why I am juicing and will post sometime this weekend. Wonder what you do for dates why juicing? Definitely can't go to dinner unless it is a juice bar and I don't think we actually have any nice ones in Amarillo.

End of Day Seven

Well almost had a melt down this evening. I ran in to grocery store to pick up a few things. Got home and saw the big hunk of cheddar cheese. Then turned around and saw my favorite Christmas cookies. I grabbed a juice I hadn't finished at work and headed into living room to decompress did some research on green juices to keep me motivated. After recomposing myself I headed into to kitchen to make tomorrows juices. I started with a cucumber lime. Then made a lettuce, spinach, apple lime. Third juice was cantaloupe, sweet potato and half a Chinese apple pear. Fourth juice is comprised of the rest of the apple/pear some mint and blackberries. Fifth juice was grapefruit raspberries and strawberries. I had about a teaspoon of each left after filling my containers so tasted them all. They were great. Today my juices were mainly green so I don't feel guilty going a little heavy on fruit tomorrow. Hoping it doesn't stall my weight loss. Unfortunately my foot is still requiring icing at night but at least it's not throbbing when I sleep.

Why green juice is good

Today I really enjoyed the look of people watching me drink my green juices. The juices were hulk color. Everyone was making faces at them. I did get one very health conscious girl at work to take a sip. She was pleasantly surprised. So why green juices the color of the incredible hulk?

Daniel Reid states in The Tao of Detox that "The swiftest and most effective dietary alkalizers are freshly extracted raw vegetables juices". If you drink a green juice it is easily digested and absorbed with nutrients available immediately without losing time to breaking down fiber. Green juices contain the energy of the sun in the firm of chlorophyll. By injesting chlorophyll can help increase the oxygen flow in our bodies. These green juices allow us to get all our essential nutrients and enzymes while allowing us to take a break from digestion

Day seven

Woot woot. After finishing blogging last night my son came to me with a sore throat. We found a juice recipe in the big book for sore throats and I showed him how to use juicer. I then let him try the juices pictured below he is actually interested in starting to make more juices! Wow. It's amazing that we actually do affect our children's actions. They really do listen and watch what we do. I think that it is exciting my 17 year old son is interested in the health benefits of juicing. And not the steroid type. After watching food matters I am more determined to work on the 51% rule for raw foods. I want to see my skin as taut as it was at 20 and if juicing can help regenerate the elasticity of my skin then maybe I will wear a bikini in my forties!
This morning I had lost another 1.5 pounds. It was exciting! I cannot feel a difference in my pants yet but have less of a muffin top. I do admit my skin feels better. Haven't had that dry skin feeling this winter like I normally do. Come to think of it no cracked skin on my heels either. This morning I feel good feet are still sore but I realize there is a correlation to foot pain and shoe types. My tongue still feels coated and I do a hydrogen peroxide mouth rinse before I brush. Having my green juice this morning. I think the great thing about juicing is I can juice if I am hungry. Most of the time on other types of dieting styles or eating plans it was too regimented. By day seven I was already cheating a bit especially when I didn't fell better or the scale stalled. It now takes me about thirty minutes to sip on a juice. First couple of days I realized I was drinking it ten minutes or less. More after work if I have anything to add.

End of Day Six Fasting

Even though today started out really rough, the day ended better than it started.  I am sitting here watching Food Matters first time watching it and I found an interesting article on the web about why juice fasting is so good for you.  I have had several people make comments to me that I am being unhealthy.  So far everything I have read and watched on TV have said this is a good thing.   I found a great article on the internet about fasting that was written in 1971 called Benefits of Liquid Fasting  a fascinating article.  Here is my favorite part 

"

I outlined a three-month program for Miss L.
First, one monthof fasting on juices. Then a controlled raw food diet with special vitamins and mineral supplements for four weeks. After that two more weeks of fasting and two weeks of dieting. I promised that she would lose 50 pounds and look more like 40 than 60. Miss L. followed my program religiously. She received two glasses of diluted fruit juice, one glass of vegetable juice, one glass of vegetable broth, and two cups of herb tea each day.* (See next chapter for detailed program and recipe for vegetable broth). In addition, she could drink any amount of plain water she wanted. She took long walks, up to five miles a day. She was advised to take enemas twice a day. For arthritis, she followed a special program of biological treatments with dry brush massage, hot and cold showers, special exercises, castor oil packs, and thermal baths. All symptoms of her arthritis disappeared completely by the end of the first 30 day fast. And she had lost 28 pounds. She lost an additional 12 pounds during the 30 days of raw food diet. She ate three meals of the most delicious raw vegetables and tropical fruits each day in addition to the regular juices... During an additional two weeks of fasting Miss A.L. lost 12 more pounds. By the end of three months, she had a total weight loss of 52 pounds."

So  what do I get out of this? WOW we have published about fasting since 1971?  I was four years old and this is the first time in my life I have heard about a juice fast when I watched Joe Cross' movie about three months ago!   The fact is if we give our bodies what they need instead of what drug companies and processed food companies market we can heal ourselves and be healthy.  I guess I am figuring out why I am following this juice fast and actually sticking to writing this blog.  


  As the great Hippocrates said, ""Let medicine be thy food, and food be thy medicine."


However how are we treating illness? Drugs and more drugs" I needed this saying to keep my resolve. It was a bit rough today but found I only drank four juices today. Tonight I prepped my juices for tomorrow. I will post the pictures on my day seven blog. The most interesting this is finding out  that my youngest daughter is actually putting together my juicer and making her own juices and she watches me in the evening make the juices.  Maybe I can talk her into trying one of my green juices.

Day six

Rough night. After getting ready for bed I found out the business my oldest daughter bought was not doing well. Started tossing and turning in bed. She bought this business paid cash and because of the previous owner pre ordering for the year had a 50,000 bill for Christmas. Well she didn't make back what she owed and is now willing to throw in the towel due to the ex owner calling and screaming at her as well as rude customers throughout the holiday season. I want to help her have no idea how to help her and am sick she may have lost her life savings. I know they say through failure we learn success but we all want to protect our kids and stop them from making the same mistakes we did. Just six years ago I lost my life savings due to a job loss then taking a gamble on my own business. Woke up several times during the night. This morning have a headache and mouth feels yucky. In addition I dreamt that I just quit in the middle of all of it and started eating food! Right now I feel as if my heart is pounding in my chest even though I know it is not.
I weighed myself. I am down another pound yet I still have this give up attitude. Don't feel tired today but lethargic. The kind where you want to crawl in bed and do nothing. I noticed my tongue was coated as people say from detoxing. It was a bit yellow tinged. Wonder if that is from the carrots or from some drug I have been ingesting over the last year. Did not take my naprosyn this morning but taking it to work just in case. I think I will skip going to cafeteria. I have one friend that isn't supportive and afraid if I go hang out with them at lunch if she continues to talk bad about what I am doing my morale would decrease even quicker. I am taking my ice bottle to roll my foot over in case foot pain becomes intolerable. Will write more after work! Good luck to everyone!

Day five

Woke up this morning. Had my juices ready to go. I made a quart of my day one green juice and then a grapefruit tangerine orange carrot as my alternate. I also had watered down OJ. 1 oz of OJ and 7 oz of water. This I adopted from the Naturally Slim program I participated in last year. I am just now leaving work and after being up since five am have had five juices and about 32 oz of the orange juice water blend. I also had two hot herbal teas today. The wild sweet orange made by Tazo. Not feeling hunger but did get agitated by excessive noise in my office. Funny that even without caffeine for 8 days I still had good energy.  The picture is of my alternate blend.  I am finding it easier not to experiment with my green during the week and focus on what I know is fast and easy.  I am going to continue to work on the other ones and will post my successes.  Oh the two glass jars are an 8 ounce and 10 ounce jar.  

Its a little after 7 and I just finished making my juices for tomorrow. Read quite a bit of the posts on Facebook Juicing Only January. So many inspiring stories as well as some people that are much more eloquent than I am with the written word.  My feet were achy today.  However, I did not take my naprosyn which could be the reason why.  I will try not to take it tomorrow unless the pain is worse than it was this morning.  Signing off for tonight.  

End of day three

Finishing my last juice of the day. Would not reccomend my parsley tomato juice. It was way too thick. Like eating half jelled jello. Yuck. However the rest were great! Tomorrow lots of celery cucumbers and spinach blends

Juice Day 4

well i thought it is back to work for me today. Found out we have our holiday today. Today lots of spinach, celery and cucumber. I was out yesterday. I am also going to do a bit of flavoring with ginger root. There are a lot of great ginger properties and this link was shared with me on my juicing fast group on Facebook. If you would like to read about it  go to Ginger Root.  I have found too much ginger root over powers many of the subtle fruit tastes and some of the veggies so i will be using is sparingly. I did weigh myself and am down about 4 pounds I really don't feel hungry this morning but did go to bed with stomach growling. Slight headache this morning so I will drink a bunch of water befires juicing this morning. Post pictures of juice I will make later. This is my first morning juice. Added a bit of ginger to it. Got almost 16 ounces which since I will be running around this morning is the perfect amount!

Got my second juice in. I did add an additional celery piece and a parsnip. A little bland with all the lettuce but drinkable

Introduction

Me in December 2011
out of my boot for a week

Everyone always says I should blog about my dating.  Well I may during this time but this is about my 30 day juicing fast.  Even though I have a group on Facebook to keep me motivated I wanted to share pictures of the drinks I make as well as the amount of juice they make.  I also wanted to share what I am feeling during this time.  I mainly decided to do the juice fast because I had gained weight again after foot surgery.  I could no longer fit in my skinny jeans and after two months my foot that had surgery still hurt and the one that wasn't operated on was starting to hurt.  I was sick of cortisone injections and putting topical noninflammatory on my feet as well as taking 500 mg twice daily of Naprosyn.  In addition I know my cholesterol has been up because of my weight and I really am sick of feeling tired every morning.  Running/jogging helped but without it I haven't had any good endorphin releases.   As a matter of fact I read in Christopher McDougall's book Born to Run that the same nerves in the foot are related to the nerves in your genitals. Therefore I have not wanted to date or have fun to release any good endorphins.  A guy flirts with me and I pretty much shut down in most cases or as my boss says I can act like a bitch.  So this blog is actually starting on day three of my fast.  I had actually started juicing the day after Christmas but just in the mornings.  Today is day three and I woke up this morning feeling a bit of stomach upset.  I decided to stay in bed a few extra hours and then get up and make juice.  I do admit my feet are not hurting as bad as they did.
    Ok so here is a video of my juicer, its an Omega 8004 I purchased after watching Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead a film by Joe Cross.  He is using a much more high end model that can be purchased on his website but after watching many YouTube videos comparing the juicers I decided to get the Omega 8004. The price was right and the amount of juice it makes is amazing.  Watch this video and learn about both the juicers. The only thing I dislike is doesn't do so well for the citrus fruits or the tomatoes.

Ok so today I will show you what fruits and veggies I set up for my juices todayand how much juice I got out of them as well as their taste, texture, and if I would make them again. The great thing about this was learning how much juice each recipe gave me.  I have been using recipes from The Big Book of Juices.  Over 400 recipes to try including smoothies which I can using my omega 8004 with the blank to make.  I still may get a citrus juicer but haven't decided yet.
I made three juices so far:

•  Carrot apple kiwi
• Grapefruit strawberry tangerine orange
• Kale apple celery and lime
• Tomato parsley lemon and half stalk of celery

My first juice is comprised of apple (2), kiwi (2), and  carrot (3).  It had a slight orange color to it. It actually mad a bit more than 8 ounces so I took a taste.  Very smooth and thicker than an apple juice.  I think it will be yummy when I eat it shortly.

Juice two was comprised of a grapefruit a handful of strawberries and three cutie tangerines with 6 tablespoons of orange juice.  i used simply orange because it is pretty close to organic fresh squeezed juice.  It did make about 16 ounces of juice.

Juice three was a mean green juice.  5 large leaves of kale, two apples, three stalks of celery and half a lime.  I have made this one before and it tends to get frothy when you crunch up the kale.  Due to the frothiness it looked like more than 16 ounces but I think it was more like 14.  This has a clean fresh taste.

Juice four was a version of parsley salad.  One large bunch of parsley, half a lemon, and a pint of grape tomatoes.  This one came out thick. The juicer does not do a good job on tomatoes so I actually watered this one down quite a bit.  It was almost a sauce.  It made a bit over 8 ounces so i watered it down to about 12 and drank four and filled my bottle.  I would say it was thicker than V8 by a long shot.  However, I admit the parsley taste was refreshing.
There you see it all the nice juices as well as the final product.  Yes the colors aren't always beautiful but so far the tastes have been good.  Total prep time was about an hour. This included cleanup of my juicer.  I did have some carry over between juices but I wanted to see if I would have time to prep juices in the morning.  I think I will have to fix them the night before on weekdays.