I’ve read a lot of information online about teeth and eating raw foods. Of course, we know that not everything we read online is true, so I was curious how eating raw would help (or hurt) my teeth. I began having tooth pain about six years ago… maybe it was seven. Anyway, the dentists couldn’t figure out what was causing it. So, they filled a “cavity” (still not convinced it was a cavity)… since I wanted the pain to go away, I didn’t object. Well, not long after, the pain became worse. I told another dentist that I thought it might be cracked, they saw no evidence of this. He redid the filling, thinking that maybe the other filling was just “sensitive”. That helped for a little while, but a few months later, the pain was back and even worse. I stopped chewing on that side of my mouth. When it flared up I would be in tears and popping ibuprofen… praying for it to stop. The pain would radiate all the way up the left side of my face. Over all, my teeth had become so sensitive. Even the special toothpastes didn’t help with it.

When we went vegan, the dentists stopped finding things to fill. However, it was when I went raw that the tooth pain began to subside. It rarely flares up now, and when pain does occur, it’s usually the tooth that has the amalgam filling (from when I was a teenager) and not the one that has been bothering me. Another thing I’ve noticed is that my teeth are far less sensitive, which is awesome! They are also whiter. When I floss (no, not daily), my gums don’t flare up anymore either. Also, my breath has less odor. I won’t say it’s odorless just yet because I know my body is still detoxing on some level and that means my breath sometimes has that detox smell.

I don’t understand how people can say that eating fruits and veggies will ruin your teeth. That has not been our experience at all. My kids are vegan and their teeth appear to be stronger since we converted too. Of course we do eat primarily whole foods (very little processed stuff). I suspect that processed foods are really the culprit when it comes to tooth decay… as is the case with most dietary disease. God made our bodies with miraculous healing ability, but we can’t be malnourished and expect our bodies to work properly. He didn’t plop Adam and Eve in the garden with a toothbrush, so He must have had a plan for our teeth to stay healthy… and He did. A healthy body typically has healthy teeth, with or without oral care. Just do some google searches on studies of indigenous peoples and tooth decay. Very interesting reading.

Are you looking to make some changes in 2013? Check out The Journey for more information.

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What I read: Leviticus 16-18

What I ate:

• Breakfast – 8 oranges juiced
• AM Snack – Shared a Lara Bar with a couple of the kids
• Lunch – Green Smoothie (6oz apple juice, 6oz coconut water, 3 bananas, 2oz Kale, 2 oz Spinach, 6 oz strawberries)
  
• Afternoon Snack – banana
  
• Dinner – smoothie (1/4C coconut, 8 oz coconut water, 3 bananas, 8 dates, 2 stalks of celery)
  
• PM Snack – 6 oranges juiced
  

What I did: Busy day prepping for our homeschool co-op

Here are the notes I made regarding my symptoms throughout Day 49:

• slowed digestion (gas, abdominal pain, bloating)
  
• headaches
  
• puffy hands, feet, and face
  
• sinus congestion
  
• dry/itchy eyes, skin, and scalp
  
• acne
  
• aching muscles and muscle spasms
  
• foggy brain
• irritability
  
• mood swings
  
• blood sugar fluctuations
  
• fatigue – still having bouts of fatigue, but not as bad
  
• unable to sleep well
  
• unquenchable thirst
  
• cravings
  
• chest pain
• cold sores – last one 1/13/2013
  
• kidney stones – eliminated when we went vegan Oct 2011
• tooth pain