Let me begin by saying, that I did not really think about my health for all of my 20s and 30s. Then in 2011, in a freak accident at the age of 40, I broke a metatarsal in my foot and required surgery. The procedure was straight-forward, and I proceeded to heal on the sofa with movies, books, pasta and Lindt chocolate balls. I was strangely enjoying my situation, even though I could feel my stomach growing with all those carbs and sugars.
A few days into my blissful sofa existence, a friend came to visit with a juicing book, the number of a personal trainer and a crate full of fresh fruits and vegetables. She explained that my body wanted to heal and that my preferred diet was not doing me any favors. Going on a raw plant-based – mostly liquid diet for 8 weeks was her challenge. Give me a challenge and I will rise to it – plus I was curious and wanted my foot to heal as quickly as possible! I proceeded to only drink juice for 3 weeks, added soups in weeks 4 and 5 and then raw meals during the last three, such as marinated Portobello mushrooms and zucchini pasta marinara.
The white of my iris turned snow white. So did my teeth. My complexion was better than ever. My urine turned clear as the diet removed acid from my body. I lost about 7 pounds and had more energy than ever. I felt empowered, clean throughout. After 8 weeks, I ventured out more and was tempted by a bit of bread and a French fry or two. The reaction my body had was incredible – I almost immediately felt nauseous and unwell. Fast-forward, a few days … I try some bread again and feel a little quizzy. By the third time, no reaction – my system was back in its ‘normal’ state. This was the most important lesson I learned:
To enter the healing state, you can’t cheat, you have to go all the way – because when you cheat, your body maintains its normal state of nutritional osmosis.
I continued juicing, reading about the healing benefits of nutrition and plant-based eating and have been very grateful for my broken foot.