Raw Food Stops 35 Years of  
   Abdominal Pain  

Raw food and my story – you may be wondering why raw food and my story would be of any interest to you and that’s a reasonable question. Well let me begin by saying that if you have ever suffered with heartburn (acid reflux, indigestion symptoms), trapped wind, bloating, constipation, diarrhea or debilitating stomach pain and gripes caused by bloating then my story could be of great interest to you AND of great help to YOU.

QUITE SIMPLY FROM THE AGE OF 22 AND FOR THE FOLLOWING 35 YEARS MY LIFE WAS A RECURRING NIGHTMARE OF PAIN, DEPRESSION AND MISERY.

This is my story. This is my true story.

SUICIDAL THOUGHTS IN THE LATER YEARS WERE MY CONSTANT COMPANION but a simple raw food “cured” me in 3 days – and yes you did read that right – 35 years of pain – cured in 3 days by a simple raw food.

A simple raw food “cured” in 3 days what the medical establishment had tried for 35 years to cure but without any success.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see by these photographs the difference in my physical appearance. Sometimes it takes someone else to tell you why you look different.

I was looking at these two photos taken in 2008 a while ago and I remarked to my son that I looked like an old man in them and why did I look so awful. He said to me "It's because of the pain you were in!"

 

How soon we forget – I had literally forgotten how BAD I had felt during the Christmas of 2008 and how it had nearly destroyed me. The photograph below was taken 3 years later in February of this year (2011)
 

Before I begin my story I would like to share a simple numeric fact with you – yesterday I used Google’s keyword tool to determine how frequently the term “heartburn” was searched for globally in Google's search engine, during the previous month (April 2011).

The results may surprise you – or NOT!

As you can see from the figures displayed the words reflux and gerd were searched for one million times in ONE MONTH! More than half a million people searched for the term "heartburn" – one has to question the reason for so many "heartburn" searches.
 

In case you're wondering (because I definitely did) the word "gerd" is an acronym of Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and is a condition in which the stomach contents (food or liquid) leak backwards from the stomach into the esophagus (the tube from the mouth to the stomach).
 

This action can irritate the esophagus, causing heartburn and other symptoms and there does seem to be a body of evidence that could possibly link this condition in its chronic form to cancer of the esophagus.

Basically if you suffer with heartburn take something as quickly as you can to relieve the symptoms asap!

If any of what follows mirrors your own life then I urge you to read my story from start to finish.

My problem began like a bolt from the blue nearly 40 years ago now. I was really just starting off on life’s “grown up” journey. I had my whole future to look forward to. Girlfriend, marriage, house, children all the usual things that most young people aspire to.

I was a young man, 22 years of age holding down a very responsible job that involved working on a treble shift basis. I was working the night shift and the evening was quiet which was very unusual for those times.

Around 2:30 in the morning the phone rang and little did I know that it was to signal round one in what was to be a long, painful, uphill battle with my health.

The sound of the telephone so startled me and as I reached my hand out to pick it up I experienced the worst searing pain in my stomach that I had ever felt in my life.

The doctor at the time diagnosed a peptic ulcer and gave me the usual antacid type medication that was available at that time.

It would be 20 years of pain, sleepless nights and medication that treated the symptom but not the cause before I was to discover that in fact I did NOT have an ulcer after all!

It all made so much sense at the time. Demanding job, treble shift working (3 shifts – morning – afternoon – night) that constantly messed up my sleeping and eating patterns – result – ulcer.

To be fair the medication would ease the pain but here’s the thing, as I got older I found that the bouts of pain were occurring more frequently and with increasing intensity. My future health and all it affected became very uncertain.

After 20 years of this merry-go-round of intense pain followed by pain free intervals I asked my doctor if I could have an endoscopy – a procedure by which a camera is inserted into your stomach at the end of a tube.

At this point I have to hold my hands up and say that my doctor at the time had offered me this type of examination some years earlier. Being a devote coward I turned down his kind offer – the mere thought of a tube passing down my throat while still conscious had me gagging and running for the hills.

By this time however I was desperate and would have been happy to have a hose-pipe shoved down there if it would stop the pain.

Long story short the endoscopy revealed not an ulcer but a weak sphincter muscle between the esophagus and the stomach which was allowing acid from my stomach into the esophagus where it was eating through the esophagus lining.

The result – no change in medication – no change in the status quo!

It took me many years to realise that I had not ONE abdominal problem but TWO and they were inextricably linked. I began to notice that the frequency of a painful burning attacks were nearly always accompanied by severe constipation.

With the passing of time pain from bloated stomach and intestines became so intense I really felt as though something inside me would surely burst. The gripe pains would attack from nowhere at any time of the day or night leaving me weak, fuzzy headed and totally disorientated.

I ate senokot tablets for fun – I might as well have been sucking on Smarties for all the good they did me.

I remember towards the end of this phase of my life I remarked to my daughter that out of the previous 12 months, 9 of them had been pain filled.

For 18 months I slept on a settee in the lounge – simply because I got sick and tired of waking up at 2 and 3 in the morning curled up in pain and just wanting to die. From there I would inevitably go into the lounge and watch TV to try and take my mind off things and sooner or later I would fall asleep there with exhaustion.

It seemed easier just to sleep there in the first place so that when I woke up – and it got to the point where I woke up in pain every night – I could just grab the remote an watch some mind numbing late night television.

Anyone who has experienced chronic pain will attest to the fact that it destroys every aspect of your life – physical health, mental health, social life, business life.
Your life goes on hold – you start to avoid social events because you don’t when the pain will strike – and when it does you just have to be on your own.

Then it goes from being on hold to being in reverse – friends stop asking you out – even family tire of your constant moans or grim looks.

Death as an alternative starts to take on an appeal that is quite alluring – appealing almost!

So how did this sad little story that was my life turn a corner to find a life that most normal people live.

Well I suppose desperation was the key… and they do say (whoever THEY are) that necessity is the mother of invention – well in my case desperation was the mother of invention.

I turned to the Holistic Approach, Naturopaths, Crackpots, Nut-cases, anybody who could take this pain away I was prepared to listen to. I found them on the Internet BUT I have to say I didn’t believe them.

But Hey! I was desperate! Needs must and all that!

So enough of my tedious story of heartburn, reflux, gerd, bloating, stomach gripes and talk of topping myself.

The CURE I hear you shouting – the CURE – What single raw food dissipated all that pain, all that misery – all that spoiled life, spoiled for 35 long years?

Well the answer will I am sure surprise you as it surprised me and continues to surprise me to this very day and I have now been “pain free” for nearly 3 years.

The answer my friends was the simple, beautiful, humble, LEMON.

There I said you would find it unbelievable didn’t I?

But, but, but lemons are acidic I hear you say – surely they would aggravate a digestive disorder – and you’d be right – BUT – you’d also be wrong!

I know it sounds something of a contradiction but what I didn’t know at the time (or care, I hasten to add) is that foods are classed initially as acidic or alkaline BUT what is of greater importance is this.

What form of residue do they produce in your bowel when they are broken down through the digestive process? The resultant debris is referred to as “Ash” and depending on the food that ash will be either acidic or alkaline.

Lemons break down to an alkaline ash.

My problem, although I didn’t know it at the time is that my blood and my body was acidic.

Now let’s just take a breath here because you could write a book about acidity, alkalinity, heartburn, reflux, gerd, bloating, irritable bowel etc.

You could even write a book about the humble lemon – fact is there are many books out there already, written totally about this one raw food.

Once my son saw the change in my health and general well being he bought me a book by Margaret Briggs called Lemons and Limes Super Citrus Fruits & Their Health Benefits. You can find it in any good book store or you can buy new or second hand from Amazon and it's not expensive to buy. Depending on which side of the "pond" you live it will only cost you a few pounds or dollars to buy new.

This book will tell you about some of the amazing health benefits contained in this one raw food. Did you know for example that lemon juice has powerful anti-bacterial properties. It has been shown to kill the bacteria associated with malaria, cholera, diphtheria and typhoid. It contains anti-cancer properties, anti-inflammatory qualities and will give relief to kidney and bladder disorders.

The pectin in lemons is useful in controlling hemorrhaging and by the way if you're trying to lose weight it will help to give a feeling of fullness between meals. Research also suggests that the pectin will help with cholesterol control if consumed on a regular basis. The vitamin C helps relieve the symptoms of colds and fever and as you've read in my story it definitely relieves constipation. The antibacterial qualities of lemons can also help with a range of diseases causing diarrhoea.

This single raw food can be used in foot care, gout, hallitosis, hangover, heart and circulation, hepatitis, hiccoughs, hiv treatment, intestinal worms, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, relief from poisoning, ringworm, scurvey.

The message that I want to impart is not so much how great lemons are BUT we should all of us take our food a lot more seriously. Many other raw foods contain incredible healing properties that can enrich our lives. We've all been seduced by the so called ease and "benefits" of convenience foods - many of which are worse than junk but poison to our bodies.

The little lemon will ease a sore throat with its antibacterial qualities, it will help to withdraw splinters and infection, it will give pain relief from stings, bites and abrasions.

The juice from the lemon is used commercially for a host of uses including household cleaners and at the opposite end of the spectrum it is used in a wide array of beauty treatments.

The list goes on and on and as Margaret Briggs says in her Introduction to Lemons and Limes Super Citrus Fruits & Their Health Benefits

"Can you think of a fruit which you can put into gin and tonic, use to flavour the salad dressing, the main course or the dessert, and then use to help with the washing up afterwards? Oh and polish the copper pans with as well, and remove stains from the table cloth at the end of the meal?"

 

The humble lemon reduces to alkaline ash in your body and stimulates the formation of calcium carbonate.

And why is calcium carbonate so important in maintaining a healthy pH balance – because it neutralizes strong acids in the body and eliminates them through urination. The lemon reduces to alkaline ash because it contains many alkaline minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium and selenium.

I simply squeezed the juice of one lemon into a large glass of water and drank it first thing every morning and after 3 days my life started to return to “Normal”

I was stunned. In fact I felt sure that any time soon the pain would come back and it would be back to square one. It didn’t!

The pain literally disappeared and all that was associated with it; constipation, bloating, reflux, gripe pain, and the terrible damaging burning pain in my esophagus.

The only time the pain came back is when I would let a busy life dictate my eating habits rather than me calling the shots. If I stooped the lemons the pain eventually returned.

Now if you’ve read this far – well done! This website is going to offer the chance to improve your life immeasurably in lots of different ways.

So to wrap things up here thank you for reading my story – I tell it to you because it brought home to me not so much how fabulous lemons are – but more importantly just how powerful raw food actually is.

   I’d Like to Finish My Raw Food Story With A Message of  
  MASSIVE IMPORTANCE  

The western world has seen an explosion of obesity and ravaging diseases such as cancer heart disease etc. It has become more and more evident that the root cause of many of these ailments is too much acidity in the blood.

This excess acidity is a direct result of the western world diet which is composed of many acid forming foods.

Over acidic conditions are being attributed for example to:

tiredness and fatigue,
weight problems and obesity,
joint and muscle aches and pains,
hormone problems,
cardiovascular or heart problems,
bladder or kidney problems,
poor immunity to disease,
structural weaknesses such as brittle bones or teeth,
slow or poor digestion and elimination,
yeast or fungal overgrowth,
even cancer and degenerative diseases are according to some authorities can be due to a chronically over acidic condition.

 

I must admit that when I first found a solution to my own health problem of 35 years standing the fact that there could be many more important raw foods out there didn't even cross my mind.

My relief was so great that I just wanted to revel in my new found pain free life.

It didn't occur to me until much, much later that the whole prolonged episode had been brought about by bad diet. The thing is, that by western standards anyway I wouldn't say my diet was that bad but I was definitely misinformed about food generally.

If my diet through the years had been varied and included a bigger percentage of these alkaline foods then my life could have been so much different and definitely happier in every sphere.

When I woke up to this fact I did my due diligence as they say and started to dig deeper. Whether I realised it or not I guess I was looking for a mentor – someone who had done the spade work already – someone who could guide me along the path to a healthier lifestyle through a combination of diet, lifestyle and exercise.

My searching eventually led me to Toronto, Canada and a man called Yuri Elkaim. You can read his fascinating story next. Read how raw food turned his life around after hitting a downward spiral.

Yuri Elkaim's Story – Raw Food Revives Flagging Health

 

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