6. The good list and the bad

Today has been a day of all raw fruit and vegetables. I have been running around a bit so I was not able to record the times of the meals and snacks. It has been all raw all day, a variety of lettuce, cabbage, cucumber, onion, carrot. Dry figs, banana, orange, pear, grapefruit & kiwi . Not bad for someone addicted to food.

the following is a list of the foods I know I can have and also a list of what I can't have. Blueberries will be going onto the bad list as I can see that I have had a reaction to them. 

(This list will be updated regularly) 

The Good                                                         The Bad
All lettuces                                                         All meat (except fish, needs to be tested)
Cucumber                                                          All dairy
Onion                                                                 All grain (including quinoa & rice for now)
Scallion                                                              Eggplant
Beets and beet greens                                         Peppers
Avocado                                                            Tomatoes
Carrot                                                                 Potato
Broccoli                                                              Blueberries
Cauliflower                                                          Strawberries
Spinach
Wild greens
Sweet potato
Celery
Red radish
Seaweed
Banana
Apple
Pear
Kiwi
Orange
Grapefruit
Tangerine
Pineapple
Lemons

Disease update
Overall doing OK considering the small set back from the blueberries.( had similar results with strawberries a few weeks ago). Skin was a bit raised and started to flake but I would not say it was a full on flare up because it did not become very red. Skin is still pale. Joints are hurting less even though it is very humid and raining outside. Lungs are stable with very little mucus production. Stll feel a bit weaker then I would like. I need to up the amount of protein I am taking in. If I was home I would juice a bunch of stuff to get proper intake of protein but I will not be home until Thursday.  

5. Testing certain items

Sunday February 25th
On Friday I found some dry blueberries. I bought a few and had a hand full. I will wait until tomorrow night to see if my body agrees with them. Up until now I have been eating things I know agree with me. The only thing I have done differently is the blueberries. Usually when ever I eat something bad my body react three days later. I don't know how or why that works the way it does but that's what I have noticed over the years. So my testing begins and also starting tomorrow I will begin my all raw diet. For the next week I will be eating only raw fruits and vegetables. Nothing cooked.

 Diet of the day
9:30am
vegetable soup (same as yesterday)

11:00 am
1 apple, 1 banana, 1 orange

12:15 pm
boiled beats & their greens topped with olive oil and lemon

3:00 pm
1 apple 4 dry figs

5:00 pm
boiled beats & their greens topped with olive oil and lemon
salad- romaine lettuce , scallion topped with olive oil and lemon

9:00pm
salad- cabbage, carrot topped with olive oil & lemon
1 large sweet potato
1 boiled apple with cinnamon

Disease update
Skin is getting paler by the day. Not as much flaking today and spots not as raised. Overall I would say the skin has a 25% improvement so far. Joints are still achy especially the feet and the right thumb. I also noticed that i was not feeling as weak today as I have other days. Breathing is still shallow but something is different and i cant explain exactly what, just different. Eyes were great today. No itchiness or redness at all.  

4. In Athens for errands

Saturday February 25th 2012


I am in Athens for a few days trying to take care of some paperwork and other errands for my trip back to the U.S. in March. I don’t have my ticket yet but I think I will be traveling around the 10th of March. Being in Athens is not easy, having almost no place to eat outside of  my Aunts home. She is very kind, understanding and  tries to feed me the way I need to be fed, even though it goes against everything she was brought up to believe. We are in Greece after all and if you don’t wake up having a piece of pork or spinach pie in your mouth, you just have not had breakfast. She is worried about me and feels I am making my conditions worse by not eating everything in site. I hope I can prove her wrong. I wish I did not have to prove her wrong because I would love to stuff my face with some spinach pie right about now. So normally when I am not in Athens I live on the island of Chios. It is very quiet in the winters and not very touristy in the summers, over all it is a quiet island, my island.
I am able to follow my diet easily there because I also try to grow my own food. My family owns some land there  and we are able to grow our own onions, broccoli, cauliflower, arugala, spinach, tomatoes and peppers which I can’t eat and a bunch of other stuff. We also have a fruit trees, olive trees for our oil (thank God for that) and also a variety of wild herbs spices and greens that are picked in the mountains. This is all good because there are things that are not available in the super markets they way they are in the U.S.
For example, you can’t find kale here because people don’t eat it. As well as swiss chard, bock choy, brussel sprouts and others. When I did see asparagus at the market it was so ridiculously priced that I just laughed (7.50 euro for a small bunch). The upside is my lemons are free, as well as my oranges and soon I

Yesterday I found some sweet potatoes at a market and so they will be on the menu for a couple of days.
Trying to stick to things that I know wont hurt me, then I will work my way onto a list of stuff that I need to test because I am just not sure if they are OK. I will make that list and try to post tomorrow.




Diet of the day

8:30 am
2 slices of pineapple
1 banana
2 tangerines

10:00 am
wakame salad with lemon
1 small boiled sweet potato

12:30
1 orange 4 dry figs

2:30
curly red leaf lettuce & cucumber salad w/ ginger & olive oil
1 medium sweet potato

4:30
a bowl of vegetable soup- carrot, celery, onion, broccoli, cauliflower, olive oil, salt pepper, ginger powder & cumin powder.

6:30
a bowl of soup same as above
a banana, kiwi, pineapple smoothie

9:30
salad- red leaf curly lettuce, scallion and red radishes, topped w/ olive oil & lemon
4 dry figs

Disease update
Skin is starting to smooth and flaking is much less. Certain spots on my forarms and elbows starting to look paler. Unusually higher pain in feet ankles and wrists. Thumbs and low back still hurting but no more then yesterday. Lungs are same as yesterday with shallow breathing still present. Very little itching in the eyes and not very red. 

3. Coming to Greece

Friday February 24th

As soon as I arrived in Greece I immediately felt better. I believe it was the hot dry climate. I did come over in summer which seems to help. Winters still affect me even here, just not as bad since they are milder the winters of Connecticut & New York.  Found a new bunch of Doctors here and was given their prescription medications and sent on my way. In November of 2009 I started to feel a strange kind of weakness which evolved into partial paralysis all over. I was sent for tests and Myasthenia Gravis was discovered. Here is a medical definition of the disease:

Myasthenia Gravis causes weakness that fluctuates from hour to hour and day to day. The muscles usually affected by this weakness control the eyes, face, neck, and throat. In half of patients weakness affects the arms or legs as well. The disease results from an auto-immune attack of the patient's immune system against receptors that stimulate muscle contraction.
The initial symptom in 40% of cases of myasthenia gravis is weakness of the eye muscles and eyelid. This results in double vision (diplopia) and drooping of the eyelids (ptosis). These two symptoms will eventually occur in 85% of patients with myasthenia gravis.
Weakness of the lips, mouth, tongue and throat can lead to dysarthria (slurred speech) and dysphagia (difficulty in swallowing). Aspiration of food into the wind-pipe and lungs can lead to pneumonia, which can in turn precipitate respiratory failure.
Approximately 20% of patients experience an attack of myasthenic weakness so severe that the muscles of breathing fail, necessitating placement on a respirator. This condition is called myasthenic crisis.

Except for having to go on a respirator, I have or have had ALL of these symptoms before medication. Even with the medication I still feel weakness and just a general uncomfortable feeling in my body. It was then discovered that the lung problems I have been having for years now was due to Myasthenia Gravis which means I have had Myasthenia Gravis for a while before it was diagnosed. Having surgery to remove the thymus gland now made since, Myasthenia Gravis affects the thymus and makes it enlarge. It is removed in the hopes of making you feel better. In my case it made me worse or at least did not help in making me better. Heat seems to aggravate the condition so the summers in Greece are overwhelming for this condition and the winters affect the psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. So all in all I have a couple of months in the spring and a couple in the fall that I can tolerate being alive.    

Diet of the day
DAY 6, Friday February 24rd

9:30 am
Small cabbage & carrot salad with lemon and olive oil
1 orange

11:30 am
1 apple
1 pear

2:30 pm
1 large salad- curly lettuce, cucumber and ginger with olive oil & lemon
1 banana

5:00 pm
Medium cabbage & carrot salad with lemon and olive oil
1 large boiled sweet potato with salt

6:30 pm
4 dry figs
1 small handful of dry blueberries

7:45 pm
Large salad- cucumber, parsley, arugala topped with lemon & olive oil

11:00 pm
1 banana

Disease update  
Yesterdays status was similar to the day previous, so nothing new to report. Today skin is still flaking and very itchy but not as red and starting to calm down a bit. Pain in the joints (feet, ankles, thumbs and low back) is still hurting. Been drinking more water so pee looks clearer but going #2 (once today) is not great, had a bit of constipation with mucus. The lungs were the same today with some mucus coming up through out the day and breathing still shallow. Eyes are getting better by the day, still red but much less itchier.
I have been at this stage before, nothing new yet.

2. My journey into sickness

Thursday February 23rd 2012


Psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis


I believe it was the year 1999 when a spot of psoriasis first appeared on my left eyebrow.
A strange small bump, kinda like a large pimple that was constantly itching and flaking.
It remained there for several years because I just did not think it was that important. The
few Dr's I had shown it too said it was dry skin, but not an official visit to a Dr's office
was set up until after a few years. It started to spread to my elbows then the side of my face
on my temple, then the back of my ears, my entire scalp, my knees, calves, inner thighs etc, etc.
Today February of 2012 after having done everything under the sun for psoriasis from tar, to UV
lights, creams, ointments (over the counter, under the counter, prescription), steroid creams,
3 different prescription medications (over the past 6-7 years) the psoriasis is at its worse. I am
literally covered in spots from head to toe, it has traveled up my nose and inside my ear canals,
on my genitals including my anus, in my belly button, I even have it in my eyes if that is possible.
When I have flare ups my eyes get red and itchy (the white of my eyes), and that’s just naming the
odd places, it is all over my legs and arms my back and stomach.


In 2005 I had some pain in my knees.
I was working allot back then and thought I had some tendonitis in my knees. I know the symptoms
being that I am a massage therapist, so naturally I was massaging my knees for some relief. Strangely
there was no affect. Not only was there no relief it was getting worse by the day. When I finally
went to the Dr. I was in so much pain that I could hardly walk and this was only about a month after the pain first began. It was diagnosed as psoriatic arthritis, the bonus package to psoriasis if you one of
the chosen lucky ones. Many people don’t know what this disease is and they ask me. Its tough to put
into words because only if you have experienced this type of pain can you know what it is.
A throbbing pain that is present all the time with absolutely no relief that was traveling from my
fingers to my knees, ankles, low back, mid back upper back, neck and the bottom of my feet. Basically
every major joint. Do the following experiment: put a finger in a vice a tighten it up to where you feel
the metal on both sides of your finger, then turn it a half turn more making sure you are squeezing bone
not just the pads of your finger. That is what psoriatic pain feels like. Try living with that
24 hours a day every day. I was not a happy camper. I am still not a happy camper. Actually the most
accurate way to describe me right now would be a very sick and very depressed camper.
At around the time the psoriatic arthritis was making its presence I also started having this weird cough,
which I just shrugged off as being a smokers cough. I used to smoke at the time. I never gave it much thought  as usual (looking back I have been such an idiot), until it got to the point where I was coughing all day and all night, keeping me up and not sleeping well or at all. After having some tests done and a chest x-ray I was told by the Dr. to go for an MRI because they found some kind of growth. I immediately thought it was cancer but it turned out that it was the thymus gland that had enlarged. I was scheduled for a procedure where they basically stick a needle in your chest into the enlarged thymus to extract thymus tissue and some kind of liquid that was accumulating in there. Very unpleasant procedure that feels like you are literally getting the life sucked out of you. Then I was told I have a lung infection and have had it for some time which is why my lungs have permanent damage. After the biopsy cleared me of really bad stuff from the thymus gland procedure I was then scheduled to have lymph glands removed so they can biopsy those. (totally unnecessary procedure if you ask me, I think the surgeon needed some new rims for his Ferrari). In the process of getting some sample lymph tissue the surgeon managed to give me pneumonia (pnumo something or other). I then had another procedure after having spent a night in the hospital where they proceeded to implant a tube that went from my bicep of  my left arm inside my vein all the way to my heart. I was then given loads of antibiotics in syringes and I was taught to shoot them up my self. After this fiasco I decided to find another set of doctors. So found a new hospital, new lung Dr and a new chest surgeon.  The lung Dr. decided it would be best to remove the thymus. Tests had been done but I am not sure if one was done for myasthenia gravis. I was still not diagnosed with that disease yet and my lungs were not cooperating so that I can have the chest surgery. The Dr. was having a difficult time getting the lung infection under control. I had taken so much medication at that
time I honestly think someone in a pharmaceutical company has a villa in the Hampton’s because of me.
Meanwhile the surgeon is saying "lets wait, and see, I don’t think you need to remove the thymus". I was desperately trying to have these 2 Dr.s communicate but they just would not (funny thing is they worked in the same building, their offices probably 100 yards or so apart). So out of frustration and not knowing what to do, I went looking for yet another set of doctors who might be able to help me. Found a good lung specialist  in Yale. I was told to buy a nebulizer and started sucking in medication and saline water 2-3 times a day. This went on for many months while all the time monitoring the thymus gland and trying to manage the psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. Finally the lungs started to show improvement and I was scheduled to have chest surgery in January of 2009. The scariest and most uncomfortable thing that I have
ever had to endure in my life. The way that they remove the thymus gland is basically similar to open heart surgery. They split your chest in half, remove your parts, staple you bone back together sow you up and send you on your way. In my case because I had a lung condition that was complicating things I needed to remain in ICU for a little over a week. Then came the fun part. I was sent home and was supposed to continue the nebulizer so that I can extricate as much mucus as possible. The way this is done is by sucking in meds in liquid for along with saline and then waiting for the mucus to soften and then you cough it out. Coughing is not very pleasant when you have a 10 inch crack down your chest. Slowly over the next few months I recovered from the surgery and my lungs were showing improvement. I was still having a very hard time working and so finally in the summer of 2009 I stopped work, I sold my
house in Connecticut, I broke off my engagement and decided to move to Greece...




By the way the experiment has begun. I am on day 5 of having just fruits and vegetables.
At this time I am doing raw & cooked, fruit & vegetable, except for those in the night shade family (potato, tomato, peppers, eggplant.). All meat dairy, and grain has been removed from the diet including rice, millet quinoa & buckwheat. Also no soy, corn, seeds or nuts of any kind will be consumed. I will be making a list of all foods I will be eating and also make a list of foods that I need to test because there are some items that I don’t know my reaction to.  I will do this for about 10 days and then I will start
playing around with the ratios of raw: cooked and fruit: veggie. I will also throw in there a few days of juicing, but will not do long periods of juicing, and I will explain why in a later post.



Diet of the day
DAY 5, Thursday February 23rd


8:00 -9:30am
glass of water w/ juice from half a lemon 
1 orange 
1 small bunch of spinach (raw)
1 glass of water with  green powder (raw green super food)



11:30
1 large plain cabbage leaf
Large salad- curly lettuce, arugala and parsley topped with olive oil, lemon and ginger
Small plate full of wakame seaweed topped with olive oil and lemon


1:15pm
½ of a cucumber plain
1 glass of water with  green powder (raw green super food)


2:45pm
A plate full of boiled cauliflower and broccoli topped with lemon and oil. 
1 medium sized salad- carrot and cabbage, with lemon & olive oil


5:45pm
1 medium sized salad- carrot and cabbage, with lemon & olive oil
1 glass of water with  green powder (raw green super food)

8:30pm
1 banana
1 orange

11:00pm
5 dry figs
small handful of goji berries

1. An attempt to prove or disprove whether a raw, vegan, juice, cooked veggie diet can help cure or relieve psoriasis/psoriatic arthritis/myesthenia gravis.

Hi, I am George. This is the first time at creating a blog. Never even 
really commented on blogs in the past, I am new to this sort of thing so 
don't be too critical of my blogging skills, instead concentrate on the 
essence of the blog itself for it might turn out to be a success, in which 
case many people that suffer from psoriasis/psoriatic arthritis/myasthenia gravis/bronchiectasis will benefit. Or it may turn out to be a complete failure in 
which case I have wasted a bunch of my time and yours as well not to mention 
putting myself throough hell. 


I am determined to prove or disprove what I keep finding in every 
direction I turn to, which is: Can avegan/ raw/juice diet help psoriasis/psoriatic 
arthritis (and the rest), and if yes what diet and to what extent?


In the first few blog entries I will attempt to give you my past medical history. 
It will be long and maybe boring to some of you so feel free to skip to the later 
days where I will be experimenting with my diet. I will try to be as accurate as 
possible,  I will also try to keep a log of stressful days and sleep patterns and 
amounts, and also if i am doing anything new like breathing exercises and meditation 
which can help my conditions. 


Why am I doing this? 
For the past 13 years I have been dealing with psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis,
bronchiectasis and myesthenia gravis. I am taking a large dose of  methotraxate 
and also mestinon for the myasthenia gravis but still the diseases are progressing. I am in
constant pain & constant weekness I have become disabled with no means of income and 
have not had disability approved yet. I have tried many things and nothing seems to work.
For the past few years I have been watching my diet, eliminating meat up to 99% out of my 
diet along with dairy 95% this past year, and other things as i will discuss. Raw diets and 
veganism and juicing keeps popping up everywhere on the Internet, books & documentaries, 
but no one is clear about anything, so it has become overwhelmingly confusing.. There is no 
proven and reliable guide as to what you can and can't eat. Some say citrus is OK and others 
say no. Some say fruit in general is OK others say no. Some say cook the veggies others say go all raw. My attempt here will be a very long process of experimentation on myself, the end 
result being to prove or disprove whether a raw, vegan, juice, cooked diet can help psoriasis/psoriatic arthritis, and if yes WHICH diet and to what extent?


Why the blog?
I have been trying to follow a vegeterian diet for a while now. I have been going through a transition over the past few years where I have cut out meat and many other things. Recently 
I decided to get more disciplined and do this right or not do it at all. The blog will actually help keep me on track. In the past when I cheated I felt like crap and then I would just start the diet again the next day. If I have a following of people and support, it will make me think twice before I cheat. I would not only be letting myself down but also a bunch of people who will be following and supporting my progress. Even if I have no followers it will still be a good way of keeping track of my progress, sort of like a journal and to be able to go back and see what I have done in the past so I can correct future behavior.
If this does work, people will have a guide as to what worked for me so that they can then make the decision to either do this as well or not waste the time. From all similar blogs done like this, people where either cheating too much or did not do the diet long enough or was just eating all the wrong stuff. 


I am not a doctor, a nutritionist or an expert on this in any way shape or form. I am frustrated with my conditions and the lack of relief I am getting from the medications that I am on. Having spent thousands of dollars and euro on Dr's, tests, books, more expensive tests, supplements, salts, 1000 pounds of Vaseline over the past 13 years, medication, a nebulizer machine, gauze, special teas, homeopathic remedies, tar shampoo and the shaman I paid to pray for me, I have finally reached the point where I need to figure out how to fix myself.  I  had maid a promise to myself a while back that if I ever figured this out I would help people for free. 
This blog is free, the information is free, I am not trying to sell you 
a juicer, a cream, an ointment, a way of life, any kind of machine, a magic pill, a magic potion or a book. I am not trying to sell anything.  I am doing this for me and if anyone out there finds this info usefull, pass it on, if not God bless you and happy life to you. All points of views are respected but please keep frommaking silly comments. This will be the most challenging thing I have ever tried to do, I would appreciate some support but it is not expected. So onward... 





Day 1, 2 & 3 I cant remember exactly what I ate but it was 3 days of all  raw vegetable and fruit. I have never done more then one day of raw in the past. It just never felt natural to not eat cooked food. It will be interesting to see if there is a difference.


Diet of the day
DAY 4, Wednesday February 22nd


8:00 -9:30am
glass of water w/ juice from half a lemon 
1 banana
1 orange 


10:45am
1 medium to large cucumber (raw)


1:00 pm 
1 apple


2:30 pm
1 medium size salad- romaine lettuce, onion, cucumber and dill
1 medium size salad- carrot and cabbage
Both were topped with olive oil and lemon


4:30 
1 banana
7:20 pm (first bunch of cooked food since 3 and ½ days ago)
A plate full of boiled cauliflower, broccoli and celery topped with lemon. 
1 bunch of raw spinach 

11:00pm
1 orange 
6 dry figs
A small bunch of goji berries


Disease update  
Skin is flaking and sort of angry, raised and very itchy due to cheating that went on 6 days ago. Feet, ankles and thumbs are hurting. Low back is hurting. It is also very cold and raining here and so maybe that also has an influence. Pee has been very yellow, I am not drinking enough water. Went to the bathroom once today, I guess its normal. At least there was no mucus today. Some mucus in my lungs and my breathing is still shallow. My eyes are better then yesterday. They were very itchy and red, today much less.  I have been here before, nothing new.