RAW FOOD Journey (part 2)



Posted: Wednesday, June 02, 2010

by Robin Brown

I would like to share with you that I am somewhat experienced with this RAW FOOD path. I am currently 54 years of age and have held the health bug since my days in high school way back when! I was a top notch and highly recruited baseball player in high school until I tore my anterior ligament in my left knee in the fourth game of the season in my senior year. With only four games into that all important season, I was leading the league in batting average and home runs. This was my bread and butter season and my coach asked me before the season started if I was going to turn PRO or go to college. He needed to know because he had been getting phone calls asking about me since the end of my junior year in high school. I informed him that I was planning on going to college. I already had college scouts evaluating my skills at my first four games before I blew my knee in that fourth game playing left field. The rest of the season, I played intermittingly because of that injured left knee. I decided to continue to play instead of backing out for surgery because I didn't want to lose any of my chances for a college scholarship. I pretty much lost all pro and college scouts because of this knee injury but was still able to get an athletic scholarship from a reputable university who had been following me for prior years in the sporting sections of the newspapers in the area. After that season ended, I had my left knee operated on and my concern for my health was born!

Four years and four knee surgeries later at the age of twenty-two, I was retiring from my dream in life from The University of Texas. I could no longer play that level of baseball with two blown anterior cruciate ligaments in both knees. These were the knee injuries you read about that ends so many sporting careers. With the influx of weight training in my attempt to bring my knees back to life, I was now deeply involved with weight training and soon, body building. I was already a competitive man and learning the importance of nutrition and the understanding of kinesiology and muscle function. My focus was now as a competitive body builder. My dream had now shifted from baseball to body building. This is not a common shift because most baseball players could not take the chance of building muscle mass which could possibly effect their throwing arm or bat swing. This was in the 1970's and weight training was not yet accepted by baseball. There was not enough known about weight training's "good" or "bad" side effects. Weight training pretty much scared baseball players in those days because of its unknown. It didn't scare me because I basically could not run anymore and I needed something like body building which did not require any running to compete. I had gone back to the university and dove back into the books to learn everything I could about nutrition. It wasn't until I won my first body building contest I ever entered did I begin to realize that I was at a disadvantage in competing against other competitors. The scars on my two knees began to concern me. Scars were never a concern to me before, but now? They were a concern since I was now being judged by body building judges for physical musculature. Yes, I could get my body fat to four percent for contest time but the muscles on my legs were affected by the four back to back to back to back surgical procedures. The muscle structure in my lower quadriceps above both knees had basically atrophied and diminished considerably and it didn't matter how much I trained them, I could not bring them back to their original size and structure. Yes, I could compete in smaller contests and do well but when I moved up the ladder in competition, I could not compete! That ended my body building years but my weight training and nutritional interest remained through-out my life to this day. I have spiritually learned in my life that there was something much bigger than me at play during those injury shifts in my life. I have learned to listen and view those messages in life when a change is required and then give thanks to the Source for selecting me to be a part of what is being asked of me.

O.k., so I'm back trying to figure out when I'm going to get started on my RAW FOOD Journey. I recently ordered my juicer and it should be here in the middle of June. I've pretty much decided not to jump into this new diet until my juicer is here and I understand its operation thoroughly. I just went to my Farmer's Market today to check out the layout for my organic produce. I did buy some organic fruits just to get used to making fruity/blended drinks. The blender is perfect for those! I've already had the blended juices for the past few days for breakfast and they're great! My wife has already told me that she is going to stay Vegan and eat the RAW FOOD diet only a couple of times a week. No problem because if she is Vegan then it won't take any thunder away from my journey. If she was on a "red meat and potato diet" then keeping to the RAW FOOD diet might be difficult but her Vegan decision does not really affect my RAW FOOD diet. Am I a little nervous? Well, for a 6'2" 200lb. man? I have to be up front! Yes, a bit but I really think I can pull it off! I've been a Vegan for over six months now and I didn't ever think I could pull that off... and I did without any struggle... so, I'm just going by that history at the moment but all the readers will definitely know of any problems because if I start crying... you will be the first to know about it because this whole journey is not just a journey or a diet to me... it is a spiritual quest for enlightenment to heal myself of Multiple Sclerosis, period! How I deal with the road side condiments are just shots of WHEATGRASS to me!!!

O.k., I should now really tell you my motivation with this whole journey because I almost sound like a pretty brave soul to dive into this RAW FOOD diet. What's the Real Deal of Fear Here? On August 4th of 2008, I was diagnosed with this Multiple Sclerosis. There, I did it! It's out! All of the medical institutions around the world are pretty much all the same with Multiple Sclerosis when they try to explain it to anyone else or to one another! "Dr. Bob! Do you have any info on this disease?" Dr. Bob's like... "uhhh... I know how to spell it!" Dr. Bill's like... "Let's do an MRI and maybe we'll know something and if we don't then... then at least we'll make a couple of $grand$ off the insurance companies. My only problem is that when I fainted those three times at my place of employment, my boss told me to go to my doctor, which I did and the doctor didn't know why I fainted while standing up and then crashing to the floor... not once, not twice but three times! The funny part about all of this, if we can be honest here... and that in itself is part of my journey... I was bartending! You know, the guy that serves alcoholic beverages behind a bar? Yep and all the customers at the bar that day thought I was drunk! How do I know this? Because each time I would collect myself and rise like the phoenix from behind the bar, there would be a smart-ass asking, "Dude! Have you been drinking?" Fair enough but the funny part is that I don't drink alcohol, period! Try to convince a full bar that I don't drink after watching me fall like a "rag doll" behind the bar and then get up and watch me do it again and then again! If I was a drinker and I was watching this circus, I would probably be on the ground laughing right next to the fainting bartender so, I couldn't really be too upset at the baffled customers. I don't drink alcohol and haven't for quite a few years now but if I was there drinking a soda or juice and watching the bartender performing as Raggedy Ann well, I'd be rolling in laughter!!! It had to have been one of those "Believe It Or Not" things, ya know? Come on where are you going to get that kind of entertainment? Put aside the medical condition for a moment and just laugh out loud! Come On! See ya in PART 3!

Robin J. Brown has been published in the book anthology titled, ‘‘The Real Meaning of Life’’ and in the book anthology, "Names in a Jar" A Collection of Poetry by 100 Contemporary American Poets. His musical association,
“Secrets of the Mind" is a collection of his Internal Rhyming poetry put to music at www.umarain.com under Robin's New Music. Please provide 15 to 30 seconds for each piece on UMA RAIN to be downloaded after selection. Using earphones will help you appreciate the timing of the lyrics and rhythms of the music as one. Enjoy!

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