Mount Kilamanjiro

Mount Kilamanjiro

Mount Kilimanjaro Challenge

Thursday 31 January 2013

Juice detox day four

Hello everyone

I'm very happy to say the headache, earache and vomiting has passed. I felt much brighter today and I have to say I'm enjoying the juice detox. I've had a different juice each day so far and I've made up a new flavour for tomorrow.It's great to try the different recipes out there, not only for a mix of fruit and vegetables, but to taste the blend of flavours each different drink gives you. Everyone I've made up so far have a blend of fruit and green  vegetables and at the moment, I can't see it been hard to complete my two weeks before deciding whether to carry on for a further two.

As I've said, I have nothing to lose from trying this detox and everything to gain for my battered body and all the harsh treatment and med's I've pumped into it in the last few years. And light of my last year and the antibiotics I've been on for 11 months - the more nutrients, vitamins, minerals and compounds I can push into my system the better.

So I'm feeling good in myself, definitely not a drop in my energy levels and no hunger. I'm hoping now I'm feeling alright again after a rough couple of days that my energy levels will start increasing. I also have to bear in mind I'm still getting over day surgery last Tuesday - so baby steps all the way!

The ingredient I'm going to give some facts on today is the almighty spinach! this green leave vegetable is brilliant , so much so that I know why Popeye loved it so! - so here goes....

One cup of spinach will give you 20% of RDA of fibre - therefore aiding digestion and helping prevent constipation, it also helps maintain low blood sugar and curbs overeating. Flavavonoids, phytonutrients with anti-cancer properties are abundant in spinach and have been shown to slow down cell division in  human stomach and skin cells. Spinach has shown significant protection against the occurrence of  prostrate cancer.

Spinach plays an important role in the regulation of inflammation. Vitamins C and E, Beta - Carotene, Maganese, Zinc and Selenium found in spinach serve as powerful antioxidants that combat the onset of Osteoporosis, High Blood Pressure and Atherosclerosis. It has shown to effectively lower blood pressure.

It is plentiful in both of the antioxidants Lutin & Zeaxanthin which help protect the eye from cataracts. One cup of spinach contains 337% of the RDA of Vitamin A - this not only protects but strengthens the entry points into the body such as mucous membranes, respiratory, urinary and intestinal tracts, but also the key compound of Lymphocytes that fight infection ( white blood cells )

The high amount of Vitamin A in spinach promotes healthy skin by allowing proper moisture retention in the epidermis, thus fighting psoriasis, acne and even wrinkles! Vitamin K is a crucial component of the process called carboxylation which produces the matrix GLA protein that directly prevents calcium from forming in tissue. Eating one cup a day contributes to this process that fights Atherosclerosis, Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke.

The abundance of Vitamin K also contributes greatly to a healthy nervous system and brain function.

What you waiting for ? -- go get that spinach!

So until tomorrow, have a great and creative day whatever you get up to!
Tracy


















Wednesday 30 January 2013

Juice detox day three

Hello everyone

This juice detox is a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. I have to say, I expected to struggle much more than I have done. I still had headache and earache this am, although the earache had eased off a bit. I feel much brighter tonight and have to say I don't think my being off colour has anything to do with the detoxing of the body.

I weighed myself first thing this am and can happily report a loss of 4.4 pounds since I started the de-tox on Monday. I've not really felt much difference in myself, but there again I would have been shocked to what with not feeling to chipper for the last couple of days. Hopefully whatever it is will be gone tomorrow. It will be great to start feeling the detox benefits!

I thought I'd give a few health facts about the fruit and veg that are been used in the juice drinks, it's amazing what we can benefit from by eating some of natures natural wonders of the plant world. Today I'm going to give you some facts about one of the superfoods - Beetroot and some of the great boosts it can give to our bodies.

Beetroot has been shown to reduce high blood pressure - which is a significant factor in Coronary Heart Disease. It contains Betacyanin which helps detox the liver. Having a good effect on the bloodstream it helps the body to eliminate toxins & possibly helping prevent the build up of fatty deposits and help reduce the risks of Cholesterol.

Beetroot is loaded with Vitamin C and Iron and the leaves are a better source of iron than spinach! Also a good source of Folic Acid, Phosphorous, Magnesium and B6. It contains the compound Betane, which enhances the body's natural mood shifter Seretonin, so is a natural mood lifter. Betane is also useful fir our Cardio health.

It's great for boosting our stamina and making our muscles work harder. It also contains the mineral Silica, this helps the body utilise Calcium, which is important for musculo- skeletal health and reducing the risk of Osteoporosis. Beetroot contains soluble fibre, which has been shown to have cholesterol lowering capabilities. It also contains carotenoids  and flavonoids, which help prevent LDL or "bad" cholesterol from been oxidised  and deposited in the arteries.

Beetroot is virtually fat free and low in calories. It converts into sugars very slowly and therefore helps to stabilise blood sugar levels. It's iron content means it's good for those suffering with Anaemia and fatigue.

So yes definitely worth having beetroot in your diet, so much to gain from it all around the body. So here's my first food fact done, tomorrow I'll give you some information on another one I'm using in my juice detox.

Until tomorrow
Tracy














Tuesday 29 January 2013

Juice de-tox day two

Hello everyone

Wow I've had a really rough night/day - don't think it's anything to do with the juice de-tox, I was up most of the night with a pounding headache, earache and being sick!. I was that bad I've not been to work, and I hate not going to work. I've stopped vomiting/ dry heaving and the earache has eased of a little, my head is still pounding and even though I've slept on and off all day I'm still very tired. Even worse was the fact I had to go get some blood taken in preparation for my CT scan on Feb 7th, at least things are moving forward now!

I'm not sure if it had anything to do with not been able to get warm yesterday and when I went to college straight after work it was worse. My feet were like blocks of ice by the time I got home at 19.30pm.

Back to the juice, it was really nice and I didn't struggle with it at all, I know I'll have to mix up what I'm drinking because I will be bored otherwise. Today I've managed some juice but not much, but have kept my fluid levels up by drinking plenty of water.

So another short update, but hopefully will be back in form tomorrow and ready to crack on again. I look forward to a headache/ earache free day tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed!

Until then
Tracy

Monday 28 January 2013

Juice de-tox day one

Hello Everyone

Hope you are all fine on this a very wet and miserable day in West Yorkshire! There was a little bit of hazy sunshine when I set off and it lulled me into a false sense of feeling it was almost a spring like weather. I got to work and I was freezing, and only in a short sleeved blouse!! Well my day has gone fine, weight myself first thing and even though I am not doing this for any weight loss, for most it is a by product of the de-tox and hey I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth! I am excited at the thought of my body re-balancing itself after all the drugs and treatments I've had -- and who knows, maybe I'll be able to get off my med's too!

The juice is really nice to drink and I must say the kitchen smelled gorgeous when I was preparing and juicing all the fruit and vegetables. I haven't felt hungry at all today ( not that I often do ) and so far I've not been sick either. I've had a couple of hot drinks ( one which I'm having now ) I had a Green Tea with Lemon this am and I am now having a peppermint tea. Both of which are really good for you. Hopefully the peppermint tea will help me sleep because I am a terrible sleeper with a very poor sleeping pattern, something that started back in 2007 and has never corrected itself.

I haven't felt any different in myself and suppose it will take a day or two before the benefits start kicking in, but it really has been easy today and I can only hope it stays the same if not improving from this. I think to myself that when I finally can get out training, walking and back to the gym I'll be feeling on top of the world with all the extra energy I will have.

Well I'll leave it there and will report back tomorrow evening when I should have more to say on how things are going.

Until then
Tracy

Sunday 27 January 2013

Juicing de-tox inspired by my friend Coleen!

Hello everyone

A massive thank you to my old school chum Coleen Campbell-Peach for sending me the link to Joe Cross and his amazing journey in Fat Sick and nearly dead. I, as you are aware have been caught in the terrible spiral of med's = side effects = more med's. It is a very hard place to be when you are ill and or have other health issues. So his personal journey really interested me for many reasons. The  combination of the weight loss to increased stamina and vastly improved health which ultimately improved his whole quality of life is fantastic and something I've been fighting to regain myself for the last couple of years. I made some very serious and potentially life threatening decisions last year based on very powerful drugs I was taking, I chose to take myself off the harsh cancer prevention drug among others to give myself a chance of a quality life. Something I really didn't have at all - in fact my reaction to the drugs were so bad I had no life at all, I could hardly get myself out of bed and dressed on my own. So yes, I understand the risks I have taken ,but I chose to have quality of life over quantity if it comes down to it. So I'm still on the road to getting my quality of life back, I have made great leaps forward but still have a way to go.

The frustration of getting a couple of steps on the road forward to be knocked back 3 or 4 is a tough place to be, especially when trying to maintain a positive outlook on everything.I see this as the final part of me grabbing back my life - not the old one, obviously I'll never be that person again,nor would I want to be, but a new me, and a new life that I have started carving out for myself.It's a simple existence I want, nothing fancy and no chasing of a career - I don't want or need that, I know from my own personal experience that I would rather be able to dedicate my spare time to War on Cancer, spending time with family & friends and going out with my camera than chasing a career and money. The essence of me will always be the same, the drive, the motivation to achieve the hard challenges I set myself, my unwavering desire -- no, my need to try and help make someone else's life better, more bearable. To get the biggest satisfaction and a feeling of calm knowing I am doing my tiny little bit towards those goals, this is who I really am and who I'll always be.



 So from tomorrow Monday Jan 28th I will be doing a juice de-tox in the hope I get somewhere near the results Joe got. I plan on starting it for a couple of weeks and will then decide whether to carry on for a further couple of weeks. I have everything to gain from this and absolutely nothing to lose.....I will do a short daily diary to update on my progress from how I'm coping to any improvements I'm getting. This is going to be a great experience for sure! As you can see in the photo, there's plenty of vitamins, nutrients and goodness going into the de-tox juice.

The juice recipe Coleen has sent me is packed to the rafters with vitamins and nutrients which are going to give my poor battered body a massive boost. For anyone who has read any of the blog in the last 12 months will know the health problems I've been having with my bladder, all the UTI and kidney issues, the 11 solid months on antibiotics and the couple of surgical procedures I've had in the last 6 months to try and eradicate it all. Not only am I still on antibiotics and still with my bladder consultant, but I am now under another consultant who is a gastro/liver specialist.

I have been suffering with terrible abdominal distention for months, I thought it was all tied into the problems with my bladder/lower pelvic area. It's hard to localize things sometimes like for instance, I can't remember a time now where I haven't had lower back ache and flank pains - sometimes the pains are dull and other times they are quite cutting, bearing in mind I've been seeing consultants for the last couple of years with my lower pelvic problems. So I didn't think the abdominal distention was anything other than another problem connected to my ongoing issues. I did have to have an urgent consult with my bladder consultant just before Xmas and I asked him to do something about the distention because it was really getting to be too much, it feels like all my internal organs are crushed against my rib cage and there's not enough room for everything. I feel sick most of the time ( I was blaming the antibiotics - could still be that of course ), I am partially sick  nearly everytime I eat....I can actually feel the food or fluid getting popped back out of my stomach back into my eophagus and there it will stay until I get up. I can in actual fact carry on doing whatever I am up to and as long as I don't stand up, it will stay there. It is very uncomfortable, but I can leave it, but as soon as I stand up I have to go be sick. It feels like there is a tightened belt or stuck in a vise all the way round my middle around the area where you last rib is, and something, I don't know just behind my lower left rib feels like it is been forced to bend in half and wrap around my last rib - uncomfortable times indeed.

My latest consultant is sending me for a CT scan - I'm waiting for a date, he did say just like my GP that all this abdominal problems could in actual fact be caused from the long term use of the antibiotics, because they kill off the good bacteria in the stomach and intestines as well as the bad, they will have killed off many strains completely and will have decimated many others.So until the scan it is unclear what is going on.

So by doing the de-tox juice I can only be helping my poor body, I'm going to be piling tons of vital nutrients and vitamins into it and no other crap - fingers crossed all the cleansing of the liver, kidneys etc will sort out the balance my body hasn't got and hopefully it will help re-address some of the issues the drugs I've been on have caused.

You want to see how things are going day to day, check out the blog.

Until next time
Tracy









Tuesday 22 January 2013

New War on Cancer site coming soon!

Hello everyone!

I have exciting news for War on Cancer! - I am now the proud owner of the domain name waroncancer.co.uk , really happy about this development indeed. I always said to myself that when I got back out there and got myself working that I would move my blog because although Blogger has been brilliant, there are a lot of things that cannot be done with my site that I want to, so I will move it to a new host.

I am extremely lucky that my nephew Damien is again going to design my new website to my specs, he is a qualified web designer and has said he will donate his time for doing this wonderfully generous thing to War on Cancer - so I thank you Damien from the bottom of my heart!

So in the near future War on Cancer will be re-launched to it's new web address and wait for it -- with it's very first two sponsors! This year is going to be great for War on Cancer - I will be moving it forward on the next step of it's journey.

Already had a great response to the announcement I made for this years annual endurance sponsored challenge - Climb Ben Nevis 2013. So for those of you undecided -- for some healthy training and the climbing of a wee hill ;)....afterwards you get to hang out with old and new friends re-living your glorious ascent to the summit and the observatory ruins with a BBQ and beers...I can for sure guarantee lots of fun & laughter and the amount of endurance challenge returnee's is a testament to how good last years event was!
So with that in mind, I hope to be hearing from some new adventurers who not only want to challenge themselves but help raise money and awareness for cancer charities.

I hope that when my new site is up and running that I can persuade you to tell all your friends and families about it, encourage people to read it and hopefully some of you will maybe sponsor my quest to climb Mt'Kilimanjaro this year. One of the new features will be an on-line sponsor form and hopefully you will take advantage of this. It will be much easier for everyone to leave comments against posts, features etc and I actively encourage you all to take advantage of this to leave feedback, question me and yes suggest challenges for myself or for team participation.

I hope you all come join me on the next leg of this wonderful journey, it's great knowing you are there supporting and encouraging me along the way.

I've had what I hope is the last surgical procedure on my bladder today, this was my second procedure in 6 months and I'm hoping for better results than the last one. It is a different procedure, both done with a rigid cystoscopy ( never again ). Last time I got an infection about 10 days after the procedure and the had an ongoing infection for practically the whole of the next 6 months. I have been on antibiotics for 11 months solid now, and it seems they may now be causing me problems and side effects.So here's hoping my issues that are preventing me from doing any real exercise will soon be a thing of the past and I can then get out there and get myself ready for what will be a really hard year of endurance events - I'm up for the challenge, are you up for one of them? let me know!

If you'd like to become a sponsor of War on Cancer....no amount is too little, then get in contact with me and we sit and chat!

Until next time
Tracy