FAQs.

Happy Memorial Day! So grateful.

For my five loyal readers *grin*, the "Straight Talk About the Talk" series all ready to go. I have a post for later this week and the subsequent installments ready to post while I'm on vacay. (This sort of planning is so out of character for me, so I couldn't resist telling you. Also out of character is the restraint not to publish all three posts back to back in one day. You're welcome.)

Do I need a reason for this pic? No.

Anyway, on to this post. It's been 14 days of "Prayin' it gone" and juicing.

If you haven't been reading, you might want to go here first. Then here. Then here. :)

I'm getting a lot of questions about this little nutrition, hippie episode I'm in the middle of right now. I get it. It's a little outside the box. I say that, but y'all have been so super encouraging to me about this decision and I have learned that my little hometown of Plant City has quite the few closet vegans/vegetarians! And, a good lot of serious and occasional juicers! I love it!

I love that several of my peeps are adding juicing to their diet, too! Some are even doing a full-on juice fast. So cool!

I have been encouraged by every story of healing, so thank you for sharing them. They increase my faith in the Healer, no doubt.
I've really only had one negative conversation, which is ok, really. I know that it is my faith that matters to the Lord in my healing process. Mostly, the questions are from curiosity and ALL are out of genuine concern for me. (I also know there is more negativity, I'm just not hearing it. Thank you for that. :) )

I'd like to answer some of your questions here, if that's alright with you, yes?
I promise I won't always post about this jazz.

Just remember:
I'm not a nurse or medical professional of any kind. I'm not a nutritionist.

I am not even a reliable source of celebrity gossip.

There. That's your disclaimer. 

Also, friends, if any of this isn't clear or doesn't make sense, let me know. I'll update it. 

FAQs:

What exactly are you eating?
The goal is 90% plant-based foods. 10% everything else. I'm drinking about 4-5 20 oz. juices a day. I'm also drinking 80 oz. of water. I've had 2 pieces of salmon. I know a lot of my foodie people would even say don't eat the fish, but I have peace about this. Evidently, Thyroid Cancer is different that other cancers in the way that iodine is a big factor in suppressing it. Leafy greens and seafood are good. I'm still sticking to my 90% raw veggie & fruit. I've made bread a couple of times.

As typical with my personality, some days I am super extreme and juice only and others I eat a piece of homemade bread or have a Lara Bar. Total schizophrenic.

Did you go through a detox?

Oh, did I. Please remind me of this if you ever see me touch another diet can of anything! Dude. For real. At the time I wrote that post about the detox days, I didn't know that the Little Sister had called Spouse at work. It was so ugly. Plus, I was embarrassed! Really? You had to go home cause your wife was vomiting from her toes as a result of HER OWN POOR CHOICES!? Bless. I just read that post. It was worse than I described. I was probably still sort of out of it when I wrote it.
I did think I was dying, though. That was the worst day, for sure, but I was tired for several days.

How do you feel?
Now? Dude. I feel grand. Brang it.

As of yesterday, the Diet Coke temptation was still there. (Now's when you remind me of the day I was hugging the toilet.)

Everybody keeps telling me that you crave what you eat/drink. I am finding that to be true so often.

Spouse is even dropping weight like crazy. I want to feel happy for him. ;)

What are you avoiding and why?
Essentially what I'm trying to avoid is Radioactive Iodine Treatment. (Notice the last paragraph of that document.) You can read more about the risks of the treatment here. (Extreme from the hippies, yes, but just think about it. I don't know.)
At the end of the day, these are the instructions I would be sent home with after the treatment. Read it. It's nuts. I would literally be poisonous to my family. I did this before and I'm just trying to avoid having to do it again. I'm not saying I won't do it. I just REALLY don't want to. And, praise the Lord, I have the option of giving it a little time. 

As far as food goes, I'm avoiding aspartame and sugar 100%. That's done. I've had 0%. I'm extremely, not 100%, avoiding animal products (meat, dairy). No milk. I'm not using salt at all.

This is not easy. At all. I guess it would be easier to take the pill and go back to normal, but then what?
I don't know...maybe I'll go schizophrenic again and one day just say 'screw it all' and take the treatment and get a steak. I hope not.

How long are you doing this?
I don't know. Y'all know I have a commitment thing! Right now, I'm doing it until. That's it. Until.
My next endocrinologist appointment is in mid July. We'll go from there.
Now, my goal is to get to the day that my scan comes back clear and continue eating this way because I feel so good! Oh my word, I really do!!

My family clearly has an end in mind. ;) So, we'll see.

Are you going to move to Colorado & build a greenhouse?

Umm... *smiling*. No. No greenhouse in Colorado. Last I looked, Colorado is landlocked. This is not okay with us.

What about your vacation?

I'm pretty pumped about this trip, as you can tell. I know the Lord's timing was perfect in it. It was bought and paid for before any appointments or scans and I'm so glad. We wouldn't have gone. I even looked into postponing it. But, at the end of the day, I believe the Lord is going to honor the time spent with my Spouse. We are going to go and enjoy. I am committed to the 90%. The resort can accommodate meal restrictions. We will pray over every. single. meal. and believe Jesus to fix it to what my body needs. Then, I'm going to be eating digestive enzymes like candy. :)

Do you eat out at all?

Uber limited, with vegan choices. (With the exception of one meal. It was planned.) Listen. The resolve here is pretty good right now. I don't know how long this will last. We not perfect at it, but we are doing well.

It seems really expensive?

We have been spending an obscene amount of money eating out. So dumb and so wasteful. The produce can be a little more expensive, but when you eat at home, cut out buying meat (Hello? Priceyyyy!) and the other junk, there is plenty in the budget.
At the end of the day, we spend on what we want, don't we?

Is it a big ole veggie mess?

I make 1 or 2 batches of juice a day. I clean the juicer twice a day. (We have the Breville.) I keep cut up fruits and veggies in the fridge. I am finding that I'm getting more efficient even to the point of washing my veggies in a certain order for less mess. Like anything else, you get a system.
Overall, I don't think it's messy. Well, other than this day.

What are you cooking for your family?

Listen. These turkeys are on their own. I'm kidding! Sort of. My fam is awesome. Spouse is on board with me 100% now. He takes juices, fruit, and nuts to work.
We are mostly eating raw, but I have cooked broccoli, mashed cauliflower, eggplant, green beans, that sort of thing. We've made some eggs. (Not for me.)
My girls are trying really hard to be supportive. If they eat something questionable, they try not to do it in front of me. They have tried several new foods in support of me, but they don't have the resolve, of course. They are operating on about 80/20 plant-based. I'd like to get them to the 90/10.
I haven't gone totally cold turkey with them...yet. :)

You have to remember that I'm eating to cure. They are eating for health. These are different things.

Are you scared?
Nope. Not even a little bit. None of this led by fear. I am not even really fearful of the treatment, I feel more...I don't know...knowledgeable? Is that the right word? I know I have choices. I know that the more I'm exposed to radiation, the higher my risk of getting leukemia later on. I know about processed foods. So now, rather than fear it, I feel like "I know something you don't want me to know and I don't have to follow along with everything you have told me to believe since elementary school." (Example: the myths of the food pyramid.)

Wanting to avoid something doesn't equal fearing it. I hate birds at the beach. I hate them. I come out of my skin when geniuses feed them. But, I don't fear them. I want to kill them. See the difference?

As a matter of fact, I feel more empowered than anything. I believe the processed foods are bad for us. I've believed that for a while, but I didn't want to admit it. Still, you can't unknow it. At the end of the day, I like food and I didn't want to detox.
Well, I detoxed and it was ugly. I'd rather give birth 10 times.

Hopefully, if some of you have been thinking that I have lost my "elder lovin' mind" (what Maddy used to say), this will at least help you see where we are coming from. Cause I know you've been awake at night wondering. 8D

Even if you read this and you still think we're nuts, can you pray it gone anyway?