Once again 2 pounds lost...16! Seems that loosing 2 pounds a day is pretty standard for me at this point. From what I have read I am expecting it to slow down, but I hope not :)
Today is going to be another out and about day. And like yesterday I started with my berry smoothie, made a to go mean green, and hit the road. We got home late, so I made another mean green and went to bed. Only three glasses of juice, but I didn't feel hungry lacking the fourth.
I am again noticing the many health benefits of juicing. My hair is definitely softer, shinier, and thicker. My skin is soft and naturally moisturized. My skin also seems much less oily, which I'm sure will help minimize the few breakouts I do have.
For me one of the best things I have noticed (aside from the weight loss) is the decrease in the arthritis in my knees. As you may already know I have the knees of an 80 year old. My kneecaps are crooked, which has caused many problems through physical activity and everyday life. This has resulted in multiple surgeries and arthritis so terrible that I have no cartilage left in my right knee at all, and minimal cartilage in my left. I finally saw an orthopedic surgeon at the Kennedy Center in Oshkosh late last winter. Steroid injections didn't help so at this point my only option for my horribly painful right knee was a knee cap resurfacing, which is merely a fancy name for kneecap replacement. 27 and already having parts of my knee replaced. I had an arthroscopic surgery first to make sure he was going to be able to perform the replacement, then two weeks later I was back for the big one. My surgical recovery from this was amazingly quick. But since I had two surgeries in two weeks, my thigh muscles suffered severe muscle atrophy. This made the reconditioning phase of recovery long and difficult. Once recovered from that I was back for my left knee. This time I was scheduled for a scope and replacement at the same time. Fortunately the deterioration of my left knee is not as severe as my right so a replacement can be put off for at least another 5 years.
Long story short after having three knee surgeries in a year I was still having quite a bit of pain and more in my right than I felt I should be having. Some of the worst pain is climbing stairs or hills...without the necessary cartilage, my bones just grind together, which is rather painful. I believe it was day 3 of my cleanse that I noticed I was gracefully and quickly going down our stairs...typically I have to take them one by one or need the support of a handrail or wall and walk very slowly. I didn't think anything of it the first time I did it, but once I reached the bottom of the stairs on my second time I stopped and thought "Did I really just reach the bottom so quickly and smoothly"? I sure had because I notice it everyday since. I also realized today that I had almost no pain in my knees at all, only seeming to affect me when stuck in one position for a while (such as riding in the car and then having to get out..it literally can take me 5 minutes to be able to walk). And that pain was less severe than it has been in a long time. Not only was my pain generally less, but I had no pain at all in my right knee, it has all been coming from the left. Conclusion: the combination of weight loss (I have been told weight should not affect my knees due to the disease being centralized in the kneecap, but having some extra pounds has still gotta add some stress) and the nutrients from the juice have decreased the inflammation in my knees resulting in less pain.
No comments:
Post a Comment