Day 39 – Dare to Tell
Jane’s Story
Raw
It was 11 years ago. I was working as a full time corporate accountant, in a high flying well paid job, in London. I was working hard and playing hard (going out clubbing all the time). I was a smoker and a drinker. Nothing I ate was good for me, just ‘take-away’ and fast food.
Then my body broke down.
I had been travelling around the world and I picked up a parasite called Giardia. Whatever I ate was feeding the parasite and I wasn’t getting any nutrition. I had very skinny arms and legs and a fat stomach. I looked like a starving Cambodian child, or like I was pregnant.
I remember feeling constant hunger and all I wanted pure sugar or pure fat. It’s all that the parasite wanted. The cravings were very strong; I had allergies and constant emotional upset.
Every now and then I would want to eat something healthy but my body could not tolerate anything. Even if I had an apple, I would have severe reaction.
I had no stamina, no energy; the doctor’s didn’t know what to do with me. They thought I was suffering from IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and gave me drugs. It made things worse. I knew I was really ill and no one was listening to me. I was so alone and very fearful. My intuition was shouting that it was more than irritable bowel. I didn’t believe in what the doctors were doing.
I started researching on the internet. I found a Canadian doctor and wrote to tell him of my symptoms. He sent me to do bowel test and we discovered severe candida, tape worms and all the rest. I had been strangling my colon, I wasn’t getting fed; I was suffering from malnutrition, I was dying.
I felt like finally someone was taking this seriously. I gave up my job, packed up and went off to Canada for a month. For the first two weeks I was put on a diet of water, vitamins and minerals and a colonic every day. It was an emotional roller-coaster. I was lonely and scared. For the first three days I was starving and I thought I was going crazy. Then my hunger stopped and I started to feel better. My energy level started to creep up and I looked forward to not eating and the ‘colonics’.
The next week was a pleasure, it was so liberating. I was on a juice diet and I had so much energy I would go off on treks. My body weight went down drastically but I was looking healthy and I had glowing skin. Within 3 weeks I was cleared of my condition. Then I went on blended smoothies, fruits then green smoothies. On the last day I was given a raw food diet to follow for the next 2 weeks and to continue when I got home.
In a month I had cured myself on a raw food diet. During the next year I went back and forth, I got candida twice and realized that I needed to stick with raw food. So I taught myself all about it.
It’s been 11 years. I have been completely cured. The hikes turned into runs and then I became an athlete for long distance running. Now I run high endurance 100 kilometer races, on raw food.
During this process, I found a new part of me that I’d never touched before; my spirituality, my authentic self. I love living so much closer to nature; I have more confidence and self-esteem, a very healthy body image, good body weight and optimal health.
Best of all, I’m happy all the time, I’m happy for no reason; no more emotional roller coaster, no more mood swings.
Now I teach nutrition and fitness in the raw food area. I help people create a proper diet – get off processed, refined foods onto a healthy fresh, plant based diet. I help people become healthy, happy and fit – and I love being the best example of that!
Jane Manthorpe is the Happy Uncooked Athlete of www.happyuncookedathlete.com
