Karl Loren's Personal Diary On The Raw Food  Diet

How hard should I work to find raw butter

Is non-raw butter "bad enough" to warrant skipping it in favor of the ground up animal fat??

Yes, it is not very good for our needs.

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Next, I am doing very well with the "butter drink" and raw steak -- not much variety and no temptation to jump off that wagon -- but I have a contest in my business == when the sales meet some target I reward the staff (that's only 3 or 4 persons, depending on if my wife is here) with a spa (sauna, etc.) and a Korean restaurant where they bring raw meat to the table for us to cook.  We are going there this next Tuesday night.  I have no trouble eating all the meat raw:  ostrich, pork, chicken, lamb, beef, tuna -- mostly marinated of course. But these are nice social occasions so I drink beer and eat Kim chi also.  I figure that if I do this once or twice every three weeks is could be considered an "allowable sin." Just how harmful is it to go off the diet this way -- beer mostly.  The Kim chi and salads are not regular for me, but at least they are raw.  Comments?

Ask this question at the Potluck.  [This is a potluck that I'm attending Sunday.]

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I look forward to attending your speech on Saturday, and attending the Primal Potluck on Sunday -- and hosting your dinner next year (let me know when).  Karl Loren

Monday, November 20, 2000

• Monday, November 20, 2000.  I attended the potluck dinner yesterday, Sunday, hosted by friends of Aajonus, and attended by about 60 people, mostly all on the Aajonus diet.  Aajonus was there and answered questions for about two hours, including mine.
• I had already resolved to stop eating the sweet, organic (but non-raw) butter, and had tried a new "drink" made with five eggs, three very ripe avocados, honey, coconut milk and ice cubes blended.  I drank about half, but didn't care for that combination much.

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• I have never just swallowed a raw egg in my life, even though I know that Aajonus recommends that.  So, after listening to Aajonus on  Sunday afternoon I came home, broke two of my fertile eggs into a small glass and just swallowed them.  It was not hard at all! 
• I was amazed -- very little taste and the texture was NOT unpleasant.
• So, this morning, Monday, I had three raw eggs that way -- all in a glass, and just "drank" them down in a couple swallows.  I will be doing much more of that now that I know how easy it is.
• I learned a great deal at the potluck and am even more comfortable with this diet.
• I have not much reported on how much pain I've been in for several weeks -- I just didn't think it was being caused by the diet.  I now do!
• So, it should be reported in full -- because I think you may experience similar events.
• For several years one particular muscle in my leg has caused a great deal of pain. The muscle has the fancy name of "psoas."  it is the muscle that attaches at the lower back and this muscle, unlike most other muscles, passes THROUGH the body, through the area of the groin, and comes out on the inside surfaces of the legs.  It is this muscle that you use to lift your leg upwards.
• When this muscle is strained, or harmed, you have trouble with certain motions, including, for instance, getting into or out of a car.  You put one leg in the car and you are there, standing with your legs in a peculiar arrangement -- it had been very painful for me to do that for some years.  

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• Massage is helpful, and chiropractic is helpful, but I still had the problem.
• It is NOT a problem that you experience much except when you put your body in these particular positions.
• After a few weeks on this diet, all raw meat, I found that I was starting to have constant pain no matter what position the body was in -- pain in the lower back, hip joints -- it seemed similar to the "psoas" pain, but it was constant, not just in certain positions.
• At the same time, and I didn't connect the two, I was feeling very tired by the middle of the afternoon!  I found myself wanting to go to bed very early in the evening.
• Many nights I was in bed before 8 PM, and once or twice even before 6 PM.  I had no fever no symptom other than being tired and having pain in those hip areas.
• I would usually awaken at, say, 11 PM and get up to work for a couple hours (internet research and writing), then back to bed, sometimes up again at 4 AM to work a while, and then back to sleep for a few  more hours.
• But, just lying in bed has been painful -- there seems to be no position in which I can stay for long.
• Now I welcome all this as an unusual detoxification.
• It is the fact that for 69 years I have been putting toxic foods into my body, and now for 9 weeks I'm finally putting some honest food in there.  All those stored toxins will take many years to be removed and all during that time I can expect to go through these "healing crises!"
• That may be enough to turn you off completely from this diet, but on the "other side" has to be a degree of health and vitality that would not exist otherwise.
• I commend this diet to you -- and continue with relish!
• Thursday, November 23, 2000, Thanksgiving Day.  Yes, I'll be jumping completely off my diet in order to match the social reality in my family.  So, yes, cooked turkey, etc., and I'll enjoy it for the moment.  I've already written about how social pressures can prevent someone from getting on this diet.

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• I have now quit drinking any water except bottled water with natural carbonation.  That's what Aajonus recommends and I am generally expecting to follow ALL of his concept unless I find something I disagree with.
• My hip and joint pain is greatly diminished.  I now wonder if it was caused exactly by the several weeks I was eating non-raw butter.  I remarked above that I was no longer able to buy raw butter for a while, and got sweet (no salt) organic butter instead.  I was eating as much as 2/3 pound per day of this for more than two weeks.  It now seems that the inception of my joint pains was date-coincident with the eating of non-raw butter!  I quit the non-raw butter several days ago and added whole raw eggs just a few days ago.  My hip and joint pain is much reduced, and I suspect that getting off that non-raw butter, and adding whole raw eggs (just swallow them whole!) is the explanation.

Saturday, November 25, 2000

• Saturday, November 25, 2000.  Well!  I've learned a very interesting and valuable lesson!  I had attended the Primal Potluck dinner last Sunday and heard Aajonus talk and answer questions.  I asked the question described above about deliberately getting off the raw diet for some special occasion.  Here are the results!
• I went to my son's home for Thanksgiving dinner.  I ate all the stuff that most American families eat!  There were two types of cheese dip with Fritos, then dinner with turkey, both white and dark meat, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, ambrosia salad, green beans in a casserole with onions and mushroom soup, jelled cranberry, rolls, sparkling apple cider, stuffing and then pumpkin pie for dessert.

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• Fortunately by the time of the pie I was already feeling so bad from the meal that I had no interest in the coffee or the ice cream!
• I had expected to "enjoy" the taste sensations of the food.  The first important learning experience for me was that these taste sensations were NOT exciting enough to make me want to repeat this experience.  
• I did not eat more than I have in the past at a Thanksgiving dinner -- but less.  I did have two helpings of turkey, and beans, but didn't feel that I "overate."  But, near the end of the meal I realized that I felt very different than when I eat raw steak.  It was NOT a sick feeling, but it was definitely an uncomfortable feeling I don't have when eating raw.
• Within ten minutes after finishing the meal, before the pie, I realized that I would not want to do this again!
• I found that to be an amazing "success" for the raw food diet -- to come to the realization that I might have shifted my considerations, and responses to food, so that cooked fancy meals no longer held any temptation for me.
• The pie finished me.  I felt "logy" or "groggy" and couldn't wait to get home where I could quickly swallow some raw eggs to help.

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• As I write this I am just started into my research on enzymes and am startled at the information about the damage done to our bodies by eating food where the enzymes have been destroyed by heat.
• Thanksgiving was, for me, a chance to renew my pledge to myself to stay on this raw food diet.
• The day or so before Thanksgiving I had seemed to have much less of my constant hip, joint, leg aches.  The day after?  Those pains returned with a vengeance!  The next day, Friday, I was more tired than usual, and in more pain.  It is a marvel to consider that I could experience pain in my lower back, hip joints, just because I ate cooked food.  Perhaps there will be many who would say that these are not at all related.
• I think they are!
• Today, Saturday, after a strict Friday diet of all raw, and very few carbohydrates, I'm feeling almost back to where I was the day before Thanksgiving.
• I had asked Aajonus what might happen because of going off the diet for one meal.  I think I now know!
• I had been looking forward to the social pleasure of a fancy meal with my wife. She has been away for several weeks. We talk every day on the phone and since she is NOT on this diet, I had decided that I would get off the diet so that she and I could share a fancy meal.
• Reluctantly I have to conclude that it will be more painful to get off this diet than any compensating pleasure from sharing the same food.
• Today, Saturday, I'll aim at having probably 5 or 6 raw eggs, swallowed whole.  I'll be eating a large piece of rib-eye steak, and lots of raw cheese.  I have added juiced celery juice too.
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• My exercise regime has intensified.  Yesterday I did 200 sit-ups! That's more than I have done for many years.  I do those every morning, some stretching exercises, some jumping on the trampoline, and a "Cardioglide" (bicycle) for 150 repetitions.  Aajonus doesn't exercise at all, and has a very fit figure, but I see exercise as speeding my detoxification process as well as improving my muscles, so I will continue.

Blood Pressure

• Saturday, 25 November 2000.  I checked my blood pressure after doing three of my four morning exercises.  My pulse rate would normally be high after these exercises, and it was, at 92.
• But the blood pressure, first reading, was 172/83!  That is an amazing change from the last time I took my pressure (above).  I waited several seconds and took it again. The pulse had dropped to 89 in less than one minute. The BP was 182/83.  As I have understood BP the lower figure is generally more critical than the upper figure.  It is too soon to tell, but it could be that I am, after many years of much higher readings, approaching what is considered more normal.

• December 1, 2000

• Friday, December 1, 2000.  I have arrived at one of my goals -- almost a standard pattern of food.  Recall that I feel that "desire for variety" is not logical, so I have been aiming at getting a combination of items that I am satisfied with.  I still have to determine whether it is the RIGHT combination, but a very satisfying combination now is:

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• Three or four raw eggs, swallowed whole
• At least once during the day, or twice, about 6 ounces of raw rib eye steak (the dogs get some of it).  (Incidentally my 16-year old dog has mostly had processed dog food, but loves the raw meat and I am sure it is better for him -- the young dog also loves the raw meat)
• Raw cheese -- perhaps 2/3 pound during two meals
• Raw nuts -- either filberts or pecans -- perhaps 100 or so
• Purple grapes -- about one pound per day
• Perrier Water (naturally carbonated)  More than one quart per day
• Celery (with onion, green pepper, other odds and ends) juiced in the juicer -- about one quart total
• Vitamins and MSM (I am not stopping these)
• December 2, 2000.  Well!  I have jumped completely off the diet in a way that you might also!
• My wife, Jean Ross, has been away for some weeks, and as she returned we were both looking forward to a "celebration."  What is very often seen as a celebration is a dinner "out," where, of course, there is no such thing as raw food.
• I know that I was going to do it, just as I described above for Thanksgiving.
• We went to the fancy restaurant tonight:  wine, Dungeness Crab cakes, shrimp, salad, bread, lobster and banana praline cream Brule!  Coffee too! 
• I didn't even  feel bad after it and would probably do it again.  I can't say I didn't enjoy it, but my devotion to the raw food diet is still there.  My wife has no willingness to do this diet, and while she sits with me at dinner, eating cooked stuff, while I eat raw, I still feel the need to accommodate her interest in a "dinner out" where I share her realities.
• I just want you to know that "it happens."
• I don't brag about this, and neither do I apologize about it -- it just "happens."  It may well happen to you.  Probably the important thing is to recognize that it is a deviation from "normal" and that you are simply acknowledging other (higher?) importances than even health itself in your life.
• Probably less than 5% of the people who are even interested in "good diet" will read all of my recommendations, and only a few of them will give it a try!  So, as long as you recognize that you are in a very tiny minority when you are on this diet, you will probably accept the inevitability of deviating from the diet for various reasons.
• I regularly receive messages from many people with "news" items, and just tonight got an Associated Press news item that the government will soon be requiring warning labels on eggs -- saying that they must be refrigerated and should be cooked so that the yolks are firm!
• I, of course, advocate storing your eggs at room temperature (my current supply of eggs have been in a cupboard for about 10 days -- room temperature) and swallowing them raw and whole.  
• I am terribly impressed, more and more, with the suppressive intention, with somewhat hidden true sources, to force you, deliberately, to consume food that is harmful to your health.  It takes more and more ingenuity to find food that is truly health -- raw butter and raw milk being already hard to get, and raw meat not legal to be served in most restaurants.  Now eggs to be sold with a warning label!
• It may well get worse before it gets better.
• You WILL have to work hard to get on and stay on this diet!

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• Saturday, December 2, 2000:  My wife, Jean Ross, had been away for several weeks and when she returned we both knew that we would be wanting to "go out" to a nice restaurant for a "nice" dinner.  I had already resolved that I would eat cooked food.  I did!
• So, we went to a Ritz Carlton Hotel for lobster, wine and sugar-filled dessert.
• And so I confess my transgression.  It was very enjoyable.  I have never been an "alcoholic" but I suppose that an alcoholic who joins AA and hasn't drunk alcohol for many years would still say, "I would enjoy the taste and sensation of alcohol!"
• So, I suspect that the sensation of "fancy foods" will always be appealing.  I know that I have very little desire for cooked food, but also know that if I do eat it, it will taste good!
• So, I actually didn't feel over-stuffed and things went well the next day. That day, Sunday, as the dinner hour approached, I again compromised and went out for steak and shrimp, with baked potato, etc.  I even had a Mai Tai!  It was good, but, again, I would now only do this for social reasons, not because I wanted that food.
• To finish the trilogy, the next evening, Monday, was the celebration of very high sales for Vibrant Life.  I've reported this in the past -- I set targets at the beginning of the week and when we reach the target the Company treats all the staff (all four of us!) to a "hot springs spa" and Korean Restaurant dinner.
• I've written about this same Korean restaurant before -- they serve any of many raw meats to the table where you cook it yourself.
• The Steak Tartar there is really good, and of course, raw.  So, I had two orders of that, plus helpings of raw pork, raw beef, raw ostrich and lets of Kim chi.  Also, my usual fresh fruit in sweetened whip cream for desert, and a couple large beers!  
• For whatever reason it appears that these three days of sinful eating did not harm much.  I gained less than 2 pounds and felt the same as previously.
• But, that "previous" has been a large amount of constant pain, so let's talk about that.
• I realize, now, that within a few days after no longer being able to get raw butter, I continued with the sweet (non salt) organic butter, but this is not raw.  So, for some while I was drinking my "butter drink" every day.
• Then, I asked Aajonus about this and he warned me to stay away from the non-raw butter.  I did quit eating that butter immediately.

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• THEN, within about a week, I guess, I started into a period of constantly feeling tired and having pain in my hip/back.  I didn't connect this onset of this pain with the cessation of butter, but I realized that I was not getting much fat into my daily diet.  A couple days I had large amounts of avocado, but I haven't found another source of raw fat that I can eat with any willingness.
• This pain and tiredness came on rather gradually and only NOW when I look back do I realize that it was soon AFTER I greatly reduced the fat in my diet that the pain and tiredness came back.
• That night I actually dreamed about going back to my butter drink!
• So, on Wednesday, December 6th, I still didn't have any raw butter, but I had still the organic sweet butter and I had a butter drink with 1/3 pound of butter, 5 raw eggs, a banana, and bee pollen.
• (I think my bee pollen must be rancid??  The drink doesn't taste as good as I remember.)
• I drank most of it, and found that I had much less pain and tiredness all day.
• Late in the day I hadn't yet eaten any meat, so decided to just drink a couple more raw eggs, then for dinner I had my normal raw steak.
• I went to bed with so much less pain that I couldn't believe it.

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Thursday, December 7, 2000

• I've had a nice breakthrough in understanding from the last few days.
• Today I woke up feeling less pain and feeling better than for several weeks.
• After some of my exercises, I took my blood pressure.  I was quite pleased.  It was 160/80, with the pulse at 92. Those are better figures than I've had for a long time!  I think it is the diet and the exercise causing this change.
• I am convinced, now, that the fat made the difference.  My butter drink this morning still tasted a big "odd," and my next drink I will omit the bee pollen.
• I am obviously still in my research phase on this diet -- looking for the right combination of the right foods that will speed along any detox that needs to take place, but also to minimize any pain and tiredness.
• I'm now about to leave for my Thursday Optimist Club luncheon -- where I always eat the same old Greek Salad.  I haven't felt that it was all that good for me, but at least it is raw and I hope not too bad!
• My conclusion from the past several weeks is that raw meat will probably not provide enough protein, and that 5 or more raw eggs per day is an easy way to get that protein into the body.
• I commend this diet to you, and your own research results!

Tuesday, January 9, 2001

• Tuesday, January 9, 2001.  The last time I added anything to this page was December 7, 2000.
• A great deal has happened since then.  Fortunately, during that time I kept some very detailed notes on my diet and condition, and even though these notes were not done daily, they were fairly detailed.
• So, I now paste those in below, with the dates of the various notes shown.
• December 18, 2000.  I had someone whose opinion I value ask me, gently to check in with a good doctor about what was going on in my diet and life.  I agreed.
• That doctor had no disagreement with the raw diet, but did feel that it was not OK to be in fairly constant pain.  He suggested that there was probably an imbalance in minerals, or a deficiency in B Vitamins.  He also took a hair sample for a hair analysis.  He felt that my many years on chelation therapy may have so much removed the heavy metals that now the therapy might be removing the lighter, more valuable, minerals.
• He has other patients who are or have been on this diet.
• He disagrees with the notion that you can do without vitamins on this diet.  I do too.
• He suggested that I return to taking the Clarks Minerals that I had been taking for many years.  Aajonus doesn't think highly of Clarks.  My own supply so often tastes "bad" that I actually took it for a few days, and then quit again in favor of more traditional sources of trace minerals.

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• I left the doctor's office, came home and immediately swallowed quite a bit of Clarks Minerals.  Probably 5 ounces, about noon.  I felt pretty good that morning, anyway, but I started feeling better quickly.  The tiredness has mostly gone.  I drank more during the day, and am continuing.
• There are still some achys, but less than a few days ago.
• The biggest change is the absence of feeling very tired.  It still hurts to walk, and when I get up from sitting.  No pain while sitting, as before.
• Saturday and Sunday I ate mostly cooked food, a party and out with my wife, but I’m back on the raw diet for now.
• Aajonus had told me that Udo’s cold-pressed oil was not good, but I’ve decided, now that I disagree with Aajonus on something like mineral imbalance, that I might also disagree about Udo’s Oil.  I would still prefer to have raw butter, but in its absence I’ll revert to drinking Udo’s Oil.  (In fact I just don't like the taste and have not used it more than a few days.)
• December 22, 2000.   I decided that the pain in the hips, back and groin I was having needed something new to handle it and went back to the chiropractor who had been working on this same area many months ago.
• I had a remarkable improvement after one visit yesterday.
• Several years ago I started having difficulty that, at the time, I simply described as pain in the groin.  I came to learn that it was a problem with the psoas muscle, and started learning about it.  (The psoas muscle is the muscle you use to lift your leg upwards.)
• My long-time chiropractor told me about it, but either didn’t want to, or didn’t know how to handle it – he suggested that deep massage into the psoas muscle was needed.  The massage is into the groin area and tends to be quite painful.
• I found a masseuse who did well for that, but it was still not as good as I wanted.  I would have, for instance, difficulty getting into a car.  I would have to “lift my leg” with my hands and arms to get it inside the car – it was that motion of lifting the leg from a side position that was hard.

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• I then met a new chiropractor, asked her, and she told me she could help.
• I started a series of twice-weekly adjustments with her, probably in about October 1999.  There was some traditional “adjustment” but mostly massage and manipulation of the legs – me pushing against her resistance, and her stretching the legs and joints.  She also showed me some exercises that would help.  I did well on her treatments, but did not do the exercises very regularly.
• I then decided to move this process over to a regular masseuse, and for a few weeks was doing both.  I liked the massages better and discontinued the chiropractic visits. The massages also avoided the usual pain of the chiropractic stretches, yet worked as well.  The massages seemed to work completely – and I went for about 2 hours of massage every week, for several months.
• Then I heard of the raw meat diet, decided to get on it.  As I recall, as long as I was on the raw diet, and getting the massages, I had no return of psoas problem or pain.
• The massages were rather expensive and the situation with the masseuse changed, so I discontinued the massages in September 2000.
• I now figure that the pains probably returned with the cessation of massage, but they also coincided with Aajonus’ prediction of pain and tiredness from the diet and I assumed the diet was the cause of the pain. The pain was also in a slightly different place.
• I have NOT gotten rid of the pain with the changes recommended by Dr. Denk – minerals and Vitamin B1 – although there may not have yet been enough time.
• I got back onto cooked food, but really found that I would have preferred to stay on raw.  After eating anything cooked I can detect a “difference” in my stomach and how I “feel” about the food in my body.  When I eat raw I never feel stuffed and don’t experience any unusual stomach sensation.  When I eat cooked, now, I can feel the difference.  I much prefer the feeling of my body after a raw meal.
• During these last several months I have only missed one day of for-me intensive exercise.  Unfortunately I have never done the exercises the chiropractor urged me to do – they are mostly stretching, while sitting on the floor, stretching the legs and hip joints.
• In any event, after feeling as good as I have for some time on Thursday, AM, December 21, and still not feeling much like working, and finding the pain greatly increased in the mid-day (as it usually has) I decided to go back to the chiropractor, and had a treatment at 4:30 PM Thursday, December 21.
• I have had the biggest one-day improvement that I can recall during this long period of a couple years.  On a scale of one to ten, with ten being zero pain, I am about at 7 where I had been at 2 for a long time – lots of pain when I walked or moved.
• She did what she had done before.  Massage of the back, manipulation of the legs, hip joints, some traditional DC adjustment, and showed me, again, the exercises I should do.
• She commented that my hip joints and that area were more tight than she recalled from my previous visits.  Some of those “stretches” hurt like the dickens, but I could feel an immediate increase in “openness” and flow in the hip/back area.
• She also commented that her understanding of nutrition included that a high amount of protein and/or fat would increase inflammation – I presume where it had a tendency to exist.  I suspect that Aajonus would say that is true about cooked protein and fat, but not raw.
• I’m now planning to see her weekly, with the next visit on December 27^th.
• I will inquire of my masseuse as to whether she is ready to take me back as a regular client, and add that in, perhaps only one hour per week.
• I am planning to now get back on the raw diet.
• I decided to review my diet data, including Adelle Davis.  I have one of Adelle’s books and have started reading.  I continue to work on this as one of my major research projects since I have already published 3000 pages on diet on my web and have lots more to do – so my research is for personal application as well as for publication.
• December 26, 2000.  I decided that the pain and tiredness needed more attention and went back to a chiropractor who had been treating my "psoas" muscle pain several months earlier.

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• On December 24^th, but woke up in such pain and tiredness that I didn’t even do my exercises – first time in many months to miss them.

• I cannot account for the change.  The day before was our family Christmas dinner and that seemed without a source of such a change.  I ate cooked food, but not much and felt OK, but tired during the day.  But, the pain in the hip area was back Sunday morning – in volume.

• I didn’t even dress all day, and spent some further hours in bed.

• I had about 12 egg yolks, ½ pound of (non-raw) butter, milk, honey for breakfast, and raw steak later, with cheese, nuts and grapes for other meals. 

• I did try one new thing – I took a soaking bath in hot water with about 1 pound of MSM. That left me feeling very relaxed, with the pain much less.  My blood pressure after this soak was lower than it has been for years – 151/64, and was again quite low today.  I can only ascribe the lower blood pressure to exercise and the raw diet.

• I managed to be reasonably productive after that – went to bed at 9:30 PM.

• But this morning I have again awakened with pain in the same area, and being tired.  Too tired, again, to do my exercises.  I took another soaking hot tub, this time 2.2 pounds of MSM, and again felt relaxed.

• I am puzzled by this.  After the chiropractic adjustment I felt better than for many months.  The chiropractor remarked that the adjustment was aggressive and that I might be “tender.”  That is all I can conclude, that the adjustment and manipulation of the hip area were so aggressive that my relief was temporary.

• I am taking the minerals and extra B Vitamins the doctor  suggested, but I don’t sense them making any difference.

• I did NOT have my usual cal mag on Saturday or Sunday nights -=- and should get that back in.

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• I have a 2-hour massage scheduled for Wednesday, and another chiropractic adjustment later in the day – and now figure that all that I have been trying has not changed the condition, so far, and that the massage and continued chiropractic are the only things I can think of now to try.

• January 1, 2001   Puzzle!

• Several days ago, with generally consistent pain and being nonproductive, I had my first chiropractic  treatment of the type I used 14 months ago for the psoas pain; I felt one of the biggest improvements in a long time, and reported it.
• Then, after that report, I realized that the gain did not last. There was probably some improvement that continued, but the good condition mostly relapsed.
• Then I had another chiropractic treatment from my “regular chiropractor” and that was helpful in getting rid of neck pains.  He does some of the same type of manipulations that the other chiropractor does, but no massage and not as aggressive.
• Then another of the new series of chiropractic treatments, with some relief, but no big change.  She had been urging me to do some stretch positions at home and I had to report to her that they were so painful I had done very little of them.
• My massage scheduled for that same day was postponed.  I got it last Thursday, and that was a bigger improvement than anything to date – it lasted over to Friday morning when I felt as good as I have in quite some time.  
• This massage achieves more of a relief feeling than the chiropractor – the chiropractor treatment seems to NOT have an immediate result, but it becomes apparent and is not dramatic even if good.  The massage results in a relief during the massage. 
• I can see now, however, that the massage relief doesn't last.
• But, within about 24 hours that relapsed also, so that on Saturday I was again not interested in working.  
• I decided to take much larger amounts of calcium, and got some Calcium Citrate with magnesium.   The pain I had on Saturday morning seemed to be handled in almost minutes – and within a few hours I was feeling great.
• I ate out cooked before a party, full meat and shrimp – it was good, and I was completely out of pain. 
• At the party when some pains returned, particularly in the neck, I swallowed some calcium capsules I had in my pocket and pain would leave in minutes.
• I thought I had found a miracle.  It was almost the same as the massage relief, but not quite.

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• I can now differentiate between a dramatic reduction in a “sense of pain” and a reduction in actual pain.  The massage gives a complete relief, both the sense and the actual.  The massage also added in a “state” of satisfaction and comfort.  The calcium seemed to handle both the sense of pain and much of the actual pain, but there is no higher state of feeling connected with the calcium.
• Sunday morning I felt great.  I even did a full set of exercises == something I had not done for several days – even when I felt good – not good enough to do the exercises.  I figured, then, that the calcium was the complete answer.  I had probably taken about 6 to 10 grams of Cal/Mag Citric Acid calcium in the previous 18 hours.
• But, as the day continued, by mid-day, the old pains were back.  Tired too, and now diarrhea!
• Sunday is a hard day to stay on my raw diet since my wife doesn’t share it and we always eat out at restaurants on those days.  I ate raw for some breakfast, then salad, and bread for dinner (to soak up stomach gas and upset).
• I tried taking lots more calcium – about 1 gram at a time – every hour, but now the large amounts of magnesium (probably) caused more diarrhea, and by the end of the day I was tired and in pain.  Even though I had the pains back, the old “sense of pain” was much less than previously.
• I bought some new calcium, without magnesium, and at least the diarrhea has stopped.  I feel better right now than I had 10 days ago, so there seems to be some progress.  I feel better now (8 PM Sunday) than earlier in the day and assume the new calcium is proving effective.
• I am now aiming at continuing the non-Magnesium calcium, mixing it with Cal/Mag Citric capsules, getting another chiropractic on Tuesday, and another massage on Thursday.
• I had expected something more rapid, but my overall conclusion is that the situation is getting better.
• Now, at 9 AM, Monday, I have no diarrhea and little pain.  I don’t have the “high” of after the massage, but the pain is much less.  The pain is there when I try to stoop, or pull my legs into the car.  I feel better, by far, than 10 days ago.

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• January 4, 2001
• A bit discouraged currently.
• It is quite clear now that calcium is a part of a solution to my pain.
• I continue to achieve change with calcium.
• But, I have had several days of trying to figure out which calcium to use, and to balance between calcium WITH magnesium (which causes diarrhea) and calcium WITHOUT magnesium (which causes constipation).
• I’m not getting that balance very well recently, and as a consequence have painful bowl movements, and even some slight bleeding.  This makes me apprehensive to go to the toilet, and eager to change my diet in any way that might reduce this problem.
• I still “believe in” the raw diet, but have eaten lots of cooked foods lately, sometimes just to be sociable with my wife, other times in hopes that it will solve the diarrhea problem.
• I am using Calcium Gluconate (without magnesium), Calcium Citrate (with Magnesium), Calcium Citrate (without Magnesium), Calcium Carbonate (without Magnesium) and my own personal calcium formula that includes magnesium.  I usually also take Cal-Mag as a drink at night.
• I have had several instances of experiencing considerable pain, take an (uncounted) number of tablets and capsules of various calcium, and within less than 30 minutes the pain is mostly gone.  So, I know that calcium can be effective for this situation.
• The calcium doesn’t make me feel “good,” but it seems to eliminate the bad feeling.
• I had a chiropractic treatment yesterday, Wednesday, and she continues to tell me that my muscles are very tight – and we are making some progress, I suppose.  I don’t, any more, feel “much better” after an adjustment, as I have after a massage.

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• I have a massage scheduled for later today and currently put more hope in the benefits there than from calcium or chiropractic. 
• In general my life, other than the anxiety about being productive on my job, seems very smooth.  I enjoy my work.  My business is doing well.  It seems strange that the only area of my life that is in turmoil relates to "change of diet".  
• Before, when my wife was away I never missed a day of exercises and while there was pain, it was not as extreme as it has been more recently.  I have exercised only once in more than 7 days – just too uncomfortable in the morning.  When my wife returned from her long visit, I had all those social pressures to eat cooked.
• I have a new method of judging my condition.  I generally have to get up once or twice nightly, to use the toilet and to take the dogs outside.  When I wake up I am either in considerable pain, or not.  Last night, at the 2:30 AM awakening, I was in pain (I had taken calcium at about 11 PM after waking up then, and after having gone to bed about 9 PM, taking calcium).  So, I took more calcium.  Then, at 5:30 AM, when I awoke again, there was practically no pain.  Now, at 8:45 AM, after working at my computer for 3 hours, I am relatively pain-free.
• But, I look at the problems during the night and conclude that “probably” I am not very productive this morning.
• Friday, January 6, 2001
• Quite a new awareness Friday, January 6!  From something I was told was true, and now, only, decide IS true.
• I had expected a massage on Thursday, January 5, but it was postponed.  That day I was in terrible pain, loads of calcium weren’t helping – nothing was helping.  This pain included the localized muscle pain, but much more debilitating was the over-all body sensation of low-level pain – my attention stuck on it constantly.
• The massage was rescheduled for Friday, January 6.  So, Friday morning I decided to eat cooked eggs – wondering if, perhaps, maybe, this raw food causing detox, causing pain was a valid concept.  As of Tuesday, January 9, this observation seems confirmed!
• Although I had accepted that as a working hypothesis, I didn’t yet have any understanding of the mechanism, and it appears that I am too much a researcher to accept without test such an idea.

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• So, I didn’t notice it, but by noon, time of the massage, Friday, January 6, after cooked eggs for breakfast, I was feeling pretty good.
• The massage was quite poor – the masseuse had had many problems, illnesses in her family, spent some time in jail the day before because of an unpaid speeding ticket, etc., so even though I got one hour of mediocre massage instead of the two scheduled, I was disappointed, said so.  She was in a moody mood, and said, “I quit.”  So, the massage ended abruptly and I won’t be going back to her.
• I mention this because I never expected the interrupted and poor massage to cause the type of nice change I had previously experienced.
• We had guests for dinner that night, Friday, and I ate cooked meat, potato, drank wine, even pie, and felt very good.  No calcium!
• Saturday morning I felt wonderful!  No calcium, but all cooked food the day before.
• So, was the feeling good from the poor massage, from the cooked food (or the wine??)?
• I decided to test this with more raw eggs on Saturday morning, January 7.  I was really feeling great, no pains (and no calcium to explain the absence of pain).  About 2 hours after eating 12 raw egg yolks, raw milk, mango, honey – blend – I started feeling achy and tired.
• I had to conclude that there is a truly valid mechanism at work here – that raw food (at least raw egg yolks) DOES cause pain – presumably through the detoxification mechanism.  I still don’t understand that, but I accept it.
• So, I had cooked meat sandwich for late lunch, then went out for a movie, popcorn, and some soup later.
• Sunday, January 8, I had what used to be a normal cooked omelet, toast, jelly, coffee, potatoes, then a sauna and massage.  During the sauna I could bend over and touch the floor with no pain.  I realize that is just a heat relaxing therapy, but it was startling to be able to do that.
• I took 400 mg of niacin, just before the sauna, but didn’t have a flush.  I took it on top of the large breakfast and assume that the food prevented the flush.
• I then ate steak, shrimp and wine. Big heated meal, felt good Sunday night.
• Monday morning, now cooked food for several days, I felt good.  I had not done my routine exercises for many days – just didn’t feel like doing them. But, Monday morning I was quite eager to do them, and got back to the normal schedule with no hesitation.
• Then, cooked eggs for breakfast, and felt ready to experiment again, but no raw eggs, just raw meat and green drink the rest of the day.  This “feeling good” now changed to include occasional sharp jabs of pain and a need to limp some while walking – but “I” didn’t feel the pain – it was a body thing, occasionally.
• There is no question that I feel a complete absence of the overwhelming feeling of over-all body pain.  I still have sharp shooting pains from certain motions, and pain when I rise from sitting to standing, and some limping while walking.
• I had been sleeping well and waking up without pain.  I could also lie flat on my back without pain – earlier that was not possible.

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• It is still some puzzle.  But, I won’t be eating raw eggs again until I can figure out how to neutralize them.  Early on Monday I didn’t think the raw meat was causing any adverse reaction.
• I still “believe in” the raw diet, but as a practical matter I am more interested in auditing and personal productivity.
• I’ve been very productive personally for the last several days.
• Monday night (January 8) and Tuesday (at 2 AM – up) I find the pain in the groin so sharp when I walk that I seem to have to cry out in pain. This is definitely a NEW form of this pain.  It continued at 7 AM so that I can hardly walk.  I can only conclude that the only new thing I’ve done, raw meat without raw eggs, might be the cause. So, Tuesday I’ll go back to all cooked for a day or so – see what happens.
• I also note that all during several weeks I would find some new thing that caused immediate and dramatic improvement, only to lose any effect a few days later – sounds like a sure mental mechanism that is designed to overturn any attempt at physical handling.
• I had sauna, massage and chiropractic Tuesday, January 9^th.
• Miracle at 8:30 AM.  The hot shower seems to have completely “cured” the shooting pain in the groin!  Simple muscle spasm apparently.
• But, by 9:30  AM the pains were back.
• Then, at 11 AM, in the sauna, pains were much less -- but I'm still limping.
• My wife has thrown away all my eggs -- because I had been storing them in the cupboard, not refrigerated, and she is convinced that I have low-level salmonella poisoning. She also took the rest of my non-frozen raw steak and gave it to the dogs.
• The social pressures that affect this diet are enormous.
• She doesn't like to see me in pain, doesn't agree with the diet, but I still love her despite some differences.
• Tuesday, January 9, 2001   I am pretty much completely off the raw food diet until I can figure out how to get rid of these pains in the hip and groin -- the psoas muscle.  
• I still "believe in it" because it makes so much sense, and I now am convinced that the raw food brings detox.  I truly believe in the value of detox.
• But, at 69, with a great deal to do yet in life, I cannot afford to be out of commission for weeks on end.  So, my research continues.
• I'm hosting the People's Primal Potluck on Sunday, January 21st, and will have no difficulty at all on that day, or any day, enjoying raw food.  

Very Large Interval

Dairy Started Again On March 27, 2001

• I won't much apologize, but a very great number of events occurred between January and March, relative to my diet.  I wish I had kept my diary up to day, but I just didn't.

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• I will cover that long period simply by saying that my goal with the raw food diet was not to solve all my body problems -- I have sufficient confidence in an alternative (mental) route that I only need to create a body condition such that it does not prevent me from utilizing the mental technology that I have used and will continue to use.
• Unfortunately, the detox process for me was so severe, and the pain so unpleasant, that I decided to quit the raw diet on the hopes that would eliminate the pain.
• Well, it didn't!
• It has taken me some months to come to this conclusion.  I didn't stop raw 100%.  I kept doing some raw.
• Don't get me wrong.  I very much prefer the raw diet and had no trouble with taste, etc., but I was trying to find a way to eliminate the pain.
• I was seeing a chiropractor every week, a special type of masseuse now and then, trying to get in some exercise and generally just "worrying" about it.
• So, as of today, March 27, 2001, I've not really eaten raw for a couple months.
• Today is Tuesday, March 27th.  I heard about a man who might have some answers for me == about a month ago, called, and made an appointment with Dr. Steve Nelson.  I'll be talking quite a bit about him, and eventually putting up a page or two to help you find him.
• My wife and I drove to Banning, California for our consultation.  We found him to be the most brilliant biochemist we have ever met.
• So, this is a very short comment on a very large change in my diagnosis and I am starting on a program, under his direction, that will be an experiment for me, and also, hopefully, a big improvement in my health.
• One of my targets is that on May 21, 2001, my 70th birthday, I will be doing white water rafting on the Kern River.  I see Dr. Nelson next on May 7th, but I expect to have some dramatic improvements before the 7th, and to be very fit for my 70th birthday.

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• I had thought, for some years, that my problem, the location of my pain, was the psoas muscle, and that shows up in weakness in lifting a leg into the car, or getting out of a car.  Other muscles and joints in the hip and groin were painful -- and apparently beyond the help of chiropractic and massage.
• Dr. Nelson, after about a 1 1/2 hour examination, indicated that my most basic problem was parasites (or worms).
• So, I'll soon be starting on a program to get rid of the parasites.  On September 10, 2002, I added the following.

• I have so much to tell you about!

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• One of the things the Doctor wanted me to do was very unpleasant to think about, but I decided to do it anyway.  I'm about to get a colonoscopy!  Click here for some of the research I did before going for my exam.

Would You Believe It!!

Here it is July 26, 2001

And I'm finally getting around to adding to this story

• Well, a lot has sure happened in these several months.
• First, I got an eMail from a man in Texas telling me that he was scheduled to get a colonoscopy, worried, and wanted my opinion.
• Since I had had one of these, I told him to read about it on this page.
• Here is what he wrote:
  • Dear Karl,
    
    I've spoken with you on two different occasions and feel very blessed to have had those opportunities.  I wanted to take this opportunity to ask your opinion on a personal health problem that has recently surfaced for me.  I realize that you are not a medical doctor (in fact I am VERY glad that you aren't!)  The other day I discovered bright red blood after a bowel movement.  Today I went to see my doctor and he wants me to have a colonoscopy.  I have a real aversion to any kind of invasive procedures, particularly since he told me that if they discovered any polyps during this exam, they would cut them out then and there.  What is your opinion of this procedure?  Would it be something that you would have done yourself?  Any thoughts you might share with me about all this?
    
    I really appreciate your time and thoughts........
    
     
• I wrote to him:

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• Dear Rick,  July 25, 2001
  Well, Rick, you've come to the right person.
  I would have avoided one like the plague, but I had a "nutritionist" who I trusted tell me that he wanted ME to get one!
  So, I decided to look into this procedure.
  I put this description on my web:
  http://www.karlloren.com/diet/p99.htm
  Then, on that web I have my personal diet experience at:
  http://www.karlloren.com/diet/Karl-Diary/p1.htm
  At the bottom of that page I write that I was going to get one!!!
  It was NOT unpleasant at all.
  I followed the instructions about enemas, and the doctor told me the same -- that he would cut off any polyps if he found any -- he did not find any -
  So, I was in and out in 30 minutes.
  You know, I'm 70.
  I bow a bit to traditional medicine -- I decided this was not invasive in the sense of "cutting" and so I went ahead.
  All I can say is, that I did it.
  Probably you will now go ahead?
  There are three types of this colonoscopy
  The quickest is where they go "up" straight.
  The second is where the go "up" and then turn one corner and continue
  The third is where they go up, then turn, and then turn one more time.
  The last one apparently requires anesthesia and is less pleasant.
  I had the first type -- up straight, only.
  No signs of cancer, incidentally.
  So, be of good cheer!
  Let me know what you do.
  And, your experience.
  Karl Loren
  • Well, there that is.
  • Now, the really remarkable thing to tell you about is how I got rid of some terrible body pain.  I don't even recall if I wrote it above?  But, I had gotten so bad that I had to have help getting out of bed!  I won't bore you with those details.
  • I was seeing a "personal trainer" for special exercises three days a week.  It helped some, but I was in great pain.
  • Then, on day in very early June 2001 I "just decided" that my diet was still horrible (I had quit eating raw!).  So, I decided to go back on raw -- not 100%, but mostly.  My wife was leaving for some church stuff and I knew that I could eat whatever I wanted and didn't have to socialize.  That made it easy, incidentally.

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  • As God is my witness!  I swear!  In two days back on that mostly raw diet I had zero body pain!
  • I was eating raw eggs in the mornings (usually 6 raw eggs, in a glass, and gulp them down).  Then I had some more raw stuff during the day, and mostly then cooked steaks -- I knocked out all the carbohydrates (I had badly sinned by returning to them!).
  • The pain left.
  • I had not been exercising at all then, for many days.
  • I then decided to join my wife in Clearwater, Florida, for some Church activities.
  • I arrived on June 9, 2001, and continued eating 6 raw eggs every morning, but mostly cooked the rest of the day.
  • But, I started a regular exercise program.  Eventually it got to about 2 1/4 hours every morning.  Now I don't miss it -- 7 days per week.  I usually start at 8 AM, but often get there at 6 AM.  I do 25 minutes on the treadmill -- now going 1.4 miles in that time.
  • Then I do a full set of weight exercises -- about 15 machines, various weights on different machines.  I am currently doing 2 sets of 10 repetitions.  I then do 300 "crunches" like sit-ups. Then I sit in a hot sauna for 30 minutes.
  • I tell you that there are no more body pains.  I am not taking more than 1000 mg of MSM per day, all my normal vitamins, raw eggs in the morning, mostly cooked the rest of the day.

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  • I am delighted with my physical exercise -- feel better than I have for years!
  • My wife went back home -- her church work was very short.  I am writing this FROM Clearwater, and may be here for several more months to finish what I came for.  She will join me for Thanksgiving.
  • Another big thing in my life.
  • You know that I think of biopsies and cancer treatments??
  • Well, I have had this BUMP on my chest!  Ugh!  If you must, go here to see the story.
  • http://www.karlloren.com/biopsy/index.htm
    
    There is even an ugly picture of the bump -- here:  http://www.karlloren.com/biopsy/p82.htm
  • Well, it has been cut off!
  • Yes, I won't get into the details of "why" but for particular reasons I was asked to get it handled by traditional means -- I finally decided to do that.  I talked with some doctors and their opinion was that the bump was "basal cell carcinoma"  the least dangerous type of cancer -- that almost 100% of the time it was treated by surgical removal, and never chemo or radiation.
  • So, I had the biopsy!  Yes!  And it came back as "basal cell carcinoma."  I scheduled the removal for a couple weeks later -- it was all done without anything other than surface anesthesia, in the doctor's office, and took about 30 minutes.
  • I could tell you all the details, but the point of this is that I, Karl Loren, who tell you to avoid biopsies and surgery -- got that done to me.
  • It is all smooth and the bump is gone -- no scar!
  • Would I recommend it to you?  Well, I thought I could "cure it" with the various remedies I was using, but I had had that bump for 3 years.  In the last year it was getting smaller.  But, I was so casual about it that I never even used my own suggestion of heavy doses of Taheebo Life Tea.  I was using a dilute form of iodine and  Vitamin A cream -- recommended by my nutritionist.

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  • So, you find me, Karl Loren, at 70, softening a bit in favor of some of the traditional medical treatments.
  • It may or may not be "bad" to do this, but it would be impossible for me to hide this from you, my friends, to whom I owe honesty about all else.
  • So, right now my diet is as I describe above, my bump is gone, and my 2+ hours of daily exercise is really making me very happy with my physical condition.
  • Oh, you know that I went white-water rafting and wave-running in California for my 70th birthday?  Well, I've gone wave-running out in the ocean here twice since I've been here.  It was great.  I'll be going out again.
  • Don't miss my photos of the rafting experience, at:  http://www.insteadof.com/photogallery/rafting/index.htm
  • Quite a long time has gone by with me NOT adding anything here.  Today, May 1, 2002, I'm just adding this brief line to say that I am "back" on a modified raw diet.  I normally now eat 6 raw eggs for breakfast, in a blend with one pint of raw cream, some fruit and honey.  It is delicious.  I'm eating mostly cooked the rest of the day so that I can stay sociable with my wife.  But, at least is is rare meat, no grains and no sugar.  I still think this is the best diet that someone can be on, but I am not on it all the way, for reasons I've written about.  Karl Loren

  Here we are at June 11, 2002.  I really am tardy at keeping this up -- but then only a very few people have interest in such musings.

  • I've gone on a much more strict raw diet about a week ago.  I continue to get many questions on diet, and the page that introduces my diet concepts is the most popular page on this particular web site.  So, it is still a hot subject.

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  • There was an article in the Wall Street Journal a while ago that got my attention.  Click here to read it.  It basically said that the only factor that shows persistent evidence of increasing life span is restricted calories -- not even weight.  In other words one person weighing 180 pounds could maintain his weight with exercise and say 2,500 calories per day. The other person could maintain at 180, no exercise, but eating only 1,500 calories per day. The second person would have a longer life span. That was in agreement with earlier studies I had seen, but it reminded me that I just eat a lot of stuff.
  • My wife was about to leave for a couple weeks so I would have much fewer of the social pressures -- she doesn't disagree with my raw diet, but she doesn't share it and we can't go to restaurants and get raw food (except for one of my favorites, below).
  • So, as soon as she was gone I continued with the six raw eggs in the morning, but now I am just gulping them down, whole, rather than putting them in a blended drink with raw cream and fruit.  Six eggs provides a great deal of excellent protein.  One large egg is only 75 calories, so I get a great deal of value out of six eggs.  Click here for a good story on the value of eggs in your diet -- taking them raw increases their nutrition value.
  • With that many eggs I find that I am not hungry during the day, and so dinner lately has been a bit more than a half pound of ground hamburger.  I get the hamburger with the highest content of fat I can find -- about 20%.  This is because I believe Aajonus in his advice to get a lot of raw fat into your diet.  I can't buy raw butter locally, and I don't trust any bottles oils, but the fat in meat is raw and safe.  So, I eat fatty hamburger.  I like it plain, but lately I've chopped a lot of raw onion and bell peppers to make it even better.  Meat is about 50 calories per ounce, so when I eat 9 ounces of raw hamburger I'm getting only about 450 calories.  When you add the six eggs, at 450, I'm at 900 calories per day.  I eat a banana when I wish, and some cheese other times.  I figure I'm getting less than 1500 calories, no feeling of deprivation, and I've lost 10 pounds in 8 days.  I am delighted with all this, and expect to continue, even when my wife returns.

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  • I'll try to keep this posted more regularly.
  • For two weeks in a row, and again this next Friday, I'm eating at a Korean barbecue restaurant where they serve raw meat -- the others cook their meat on the grill in the center of the table, but I eat it raw.
  • So far, at this place, I've had raw beef, beef organs, pork, lamb, chicken, duck, ostrich, shrimp, venison, Sashimi (tuna, salmon and other raw fish) and I love them all.

  July 5, 2002

  • I won't promise to keep this up daily, but I will use this page to talk personally about myself.
  • I went through a chiropractic dilemma recently.  Click here to read about that.
  • I am still very spotty in my diet -- often six raw eggs for breakfast, and often raw hamburger for another meal, but even more often I eat with my wife, all cooked.
  • Someone has asked me what supplements I take, so I'll list them here:
    • About 30 Super Life Glow daily
    • About 6 Taheebo Life Tea
    • About 3 Transfer Factor Plus
    • About 8 Bone Dense Calcium
    • One "canthaxanthin" (sun tan in a tablet)
    • One Omega 3 Oil capsule
    • About 6 MSM capsules -- 500 mg each
    • A swallow, now and then, of Clarks Colloidal Minerals
    • Two "extra" Life Glow Basic
    • BioChoice Immune Egg Mix -- about 5 tablespoons per day
    • Emerge 'nC -- Vitamin C Packet mixed with water -- about 5 per day
    • Rainbow Light, Every Day Fiber System powder -- about 3 tablespoons per day in water
    • Probably more?  My wife and housekeeper put them out for me -- I never open bottles or count them out anymore.
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  September 10, 2002

  • I am constantly amazed that this page attracts such intense interest.  Perhaps not a large number of readers, but those who start on this page often wind up spending hours on it.  Why?
  • I can only guess that it is because it is so rare to find complete honesty on what someone is doing -- someone who is in the position of recommending vitamins and diet, etc.
  • There are thousands of people who like my stuff.  For them it is important to have confidence that I speak honestly about things.
  • What is honesty?  It is telling what you think is true.  I may be wrong, but I never write stuff which I know is not true.
  • I spend more than 40 hours per week doing research, writing and publishing web pages.  I am also spending an increasing amount of time answering personal eMails -- well over 100 per week now.  My webs get 10,000+ visitors per day -- and that is a great source of satisfaction for me.  The largest single source of these visitors is "word of mouth." That is where someone thinks enough of one of my webs so as to give the address to another.  That is a separate and great source of satisfaction -- that people like my stuff well enough to tell others.

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  • I don't post much to this page any more because there is not a lot of change.
  • But, here is a current status report.
  • I still love raw meat and eat it whenever it fits into the day.
  • I've written above about a Korean Barbecue I go to often -- where they serve raw meat.  All the others cook theirs, but I eat it all raw.
  • The social pressures of wife and others usually seems to push me in the direction of typical cooked foods.
  • I am a big sinner when it comes to sugar.  I've gone through phases -- times when I was very pure on this -- no sugar, no desserts -- other times when I have, as I did last night, a large banana split ice cream.
  • I drink wine and beer fairly regularly, only with meals, usually at a restaurant.
  • I believe I would be better off without these sins, but I still do them.
  • You?
  • I advise, you decide.
  • For years I've been spoiled by having a housekeeper who cooked all our meals.  My wife and I enjoy our own company so much, and want to get out of the house where we work all day, that we very often go out to restaurants -- usually fairly fancy -- and you could say that "we eat well." That means fairly expensive and certainly rich.
  • Am I a poor role model for people trying to improve their health with proper diet?
  • I suppose.
  • But, I have another whole large part of my life -- based on achieving spiritual objectives.  I have done so very well in this area, over many years, that I have a rather casual disregard for my body.  I am well past the point of worrying about death, for instance.  I do get annoyed that I'm not as nimble or strong as I was at the youthful age of 60!  I'm 71 just now.
  • Some years ago I had arthritis so bad that I could hardly button a shirt.  I took MSM, then, in large amounts.  I'm sure that MSM can't "cure" arthritis, but all my arthritis seems to be gone!  I have no explanation for that.
  • My current physical problem is in something called the "psoas muscle." That is the muscle that allows you to get into a car and lift the "outside" leg up and over into the car.  That hurts for me.  Exercise is probably the best remedy -- or massage. 

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  • But, my spiritual achievements on a continuing and satisfactory basis are such that I tend to be very happy even if the body is not perfect.  I am still not saying this is "right."  I am only saying that this imperfect human is what he is, but not afraid to tell the truth.

  • Well, here we go!
    September 30, 2002

  • This is Monday, September 30, 2002.  My dear wife is leaving tomorrow for an important trip away from home for probably several weeks.
  • As has happened several times in the past, one of the two parts of my diet advice is going to be neutralized.  Jean  Ross, my sweet wife, does not object at all to my raw diet, but she does not share it. That may be a weak excuse for me, but say, who knows!  I have written about the social pressures as a very negative influence on sticking to the diet that others don't share.
  • When she leaves I have found it very much easier to go onto and stay on the raw diet. So, starting tomorrow I'll be eating mostly all raw.

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  • I start with a horrendous weight of 244 pounds.  I usually recommend that this raw diet is NOT intended as a weight loss diet, but I'll tell you that cooked food and desserts ARE a weight gain diet.
  • So, we'll see how it goes, and I'll post more stuff here.
  • In addition to having a big weight gain since any last measure, I have the same old pains in the psoas muscle and I expect that to get much better.  I will be increasing my modest daily exercise from about 10 minutes of bouncing on the mini-trampoline and 200 repetitions on the cardio-glide device.
  • There are the bare facts.  Now I'll see if I have the guts to keep up the report and keep up with my diet advice.
  • October 1, 2002.  I took Jean Ross to the airport this morning.  As rather expected we had no time at home for breakfast, so we stopped at McDonalds.  I had two Egg McMuffins, with ham, one hash brown potato, one large cup of Mr. Pibb and some Minute Maid orange juice.  I certainly don't recommend this for others.  I will be eating mostly raw from now on, while she is away.
  • I ate a couple more raw eggs to share with breakfast -- Kimberly and Maia.   Then about 5 devil's eggs and a few corn chips for lunch.  I had what will probably become the normal dinner -- 1/2 pound of raw hamburger with cut up raw bell peppers, onions and seasoning.  I was hungry for a snack at 8 PM, but decided to go without.

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  • A good beginning.  Lengthy exercise for tomorrow AM planned.
  • October 3, 2002.  An unbelievable 235 pounds this morning. That's 9 pounds less than at the start of the raw food on September 30th.
  • Today was a difficult day.  First I've had some losses trying to convince some bad eaters to use this diet.  It is not at all easy to persuade people, no matter how logical it is.  So, I slipped a bit, myself.
  • Breakfast I had decided I would have a smoothie, that's raw milk, on banana, 6 raw eggs, ice cubes and a gob of never-heated honey -- into a blended drink.  There are a fair number of carbohydrates in that mixture.
  • Then, lunch was OK.  I had raw cheese, carrots, radishes, some "organic" cottage cheese and water.  I would have been OK with this, but in the mid afternoon I lost it.  I ate a nectarine, then some pecans and a glass of "emergenC" the powdered (and sweetened) Vitamin C drink.
  • Dinner was OK.  My now-usual 1/2 pound of raw hamburger, with bell peppers and onions chopped up, with salt and pepper -- also a dish of that cottage cheese.

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  • Not too bad, but quite a bit more carbs than I had planned.
  • I would guess the weight loss will not continue tomorrow AM.  I'll be looking with interest.

   

  More to come.

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• Here is the new stuff, published on June 14, 2007, after my being chided by Mike in Chattanooga for not keeping this up to date.
• So, a bit later today I will be adding to this page, I promise.
• I'm doing well, at 76, but lots to report.
• Karl Loren
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• Here I am on June 18, 2007, finally getting a chance out of my increasingly busy day since Mike called and I promised to add to this diary.
• First, it is a constant source of amazement to me that ANYONE would want to or to enjoy reading this diary.
• Over the many years since it was published, and kept up to date EVERY DAY, then lapsed into non-existence, I've had many people write or call me to ask questions based on it.
• So, here, today, June 18, 2007, I can say that I am NOT on this diet currently, that I still think it is the best diet anyone could be one and that all the reasons I think it is a good diet are above, and also the reasons why I didn't stay on it!
• I still enjoy raw meat when I get a chance.
• If I wanted to summarize the reasons I'm not on this diet?
• Well, I've written about them, but here they are:
• Man has a compulsive and aberrated desire to experience "sensations." Sex and food are the two most common types of experience most people chase after.
• I am not immune to that aberration.
• Also, eating is much more a social activity than it is a necessary nourishment to the body. Yes, some people eat alone, but most do not and when your family life, and your social life, are satisfying you usually want to share the fun (and sensations) of food with your friends.
• It is not unusual, either, to have friends who do not share ALL your realities. My dear wife was more than willing for me to eat all raw, but it was still not as convenient as "eating together" in a restaurant, etc.
• It was also true, as I've reported above, that the eating sins of your past catch up with you on the raw diet and you should expect to go through various "healing crises" as your body cleans itself and you get more used to raw.
• Aajonus told me that, even at 55, he had regular healing crisis, and would actually often be on crutches for periods of time -- I felt, at the senior age when I STARTED the raw diet that I had a lot of healing crises ahead of me and tried to find a way to reduce them.
• That way didn't work.
• So, I decided that I was "mortal," and would accept the problems of old age as they crept up on me -- but enjoy my food sensations and eating social life in the meantime.
• Should you do this raw diet?
• Without question I say, "Yes," but my diary will give you a useful clue as to what ONE person did.
• The rest is up to you.
• I would continue to welcome calls or eMails to let me know what you think about all this.
• Karl Loren, age 77, Kung Fu Orange Belt, Stroke on Christmas Day, 2006, but working my steady 60 hours per week and loving it.....
• Karl Loren

   

   

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