Disappearing scars

     You know how you have things that are a part of your body that you never pay much attention to because you just take for granted that they’re there and they’re not going to change…well that’s how I felt about my scars.

     Once when I was eight years old a cyst had grown in my left femur and “ate” away at the bone to the point where I was merely walking upon on icy sidewalk with my cousin and a slip, led to a split, and led to a complete breaking of said femur. Scary crap huh? Yeah at that time I had no idea that such a thing was possible. But, I did have the presence of mind to actually laugh when my cousin, before departing to get help, asked two teenage girls walking by to make sure that no cars pulled into the driveway I had fallen in front of and run me over. Well the whole ordeal of healing and physical therapy lasted MONTHS but, I figured at least this horrible incident was weird enough that I’d only have to suffer such a thing once in my life….

     So I thought, but when I had turned 16 (8years later) I had an annoying pain in my femur (same area where the original break had occurred) and I had this creeping suspicion that the cyst had re-grown. Thinking I was being silly, but trying to make me feel better my mom took me to the emergency walk-in to get  looked at. Well the doctor came back after examining the x-rays and told me not to get out of  the hospital bed, because there was a fracture in my femur caused by a large cyst! Grrrrrrr here I go again! Well more surgery, bone transplanted from my hip, an impressive set of pins and a steel plate and voila! Back in action.

     These two incidents left  a couple of funky lookin’ scars…totally ruining my future career as an underwear model! :0P  The newest scar wasn’t all that bad…a long approx 10″ scar with lil’ dots running the length of it from the staples, making it look like a big ‘ol millipede running down my leg. The former scar seemed to be lumpy sunken, abstract thing that was not appealing to look at ..at all but, was fun to try and convince people that I got it in a knife fight!

     I took for granted that these two scars we’re going to be a permanent part of my being..always there just hangin’ out on my leg ..lookin’ funky. But, a couple of months ago I happened to look down upon them while checkin’ out how much weight I had lost since being raw and …WTF?? They had faded to nearly half what they were…both in thickness and color and mass…they were diminishing! I had no idea scars this large could possibly be healed. They had shown no prior signs of fading over the years I’ve had them. The only thing that had changed in my life was…my diet. Could raw-food have done this? Well that might be the case…

     It’s not just the food but, more so what’s in the food and what my body could do with it. So I wanted to find out what causes scars to heal. And what I found in my online searches was sights offering all sorts of remedies and removal/treatment options for scars from silicone injections to energy healing. Well not quite what I was lookin’ for so I grabbed my copy of “Eating for Beauty” by David Wolfe, if there’s something related to raw-foods that would lead to diminishing of scar-tissue then I knew the Mr. Wolfe would be talkin’ about it in here. And this is what I learned….

     Raw foods are loaded with many, many things that the body can use to heal scars…even large, longstanding mamajamas like mine. One of the most important are sulfur rich foods such as broccoli, garlic, kale, onions, pumpkin seeds, radishes, and arugula to name a few. Sulfur helps diminish scars through it’s ability to build and rebuild collagen and keratin allowing our skin to do it’s own magical healing work!

     Our bodies can utilize these and other sulfur-rich foods to manufacture cysteine. Cysteine in the skin makes it more flexible and it’s presence in collagen protects tissues from damage. When there is inadequate cysteine scar tissue results. So this could be one of the many dietary additions that might’ve helped to reduce my scars.

     Zinc and Iron also play important roles in the healing of tissue damage. According to David Wolfe, “Iron generates a magnetic blood current and an electro-magnetic induction current  in the nerve spirals, which pass through the walls of the arteries and veins and help build and nourish tissues.” Niiiice!  And Zinc, without Zinc the enzymes that are responsible for digesting damaged collagen and rebuilding new collagen will not function properly! Iron rich foods include~ Spinach, collards, sea-veggies, kale, parsley and onions to name a few. And here’s a sampling of zinc rich foods~ Pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, spinach (again), coconuts, and more.

      Another important thing to mention is free-radical damage. I won’t get into a lengthy description of free-radicals in this already crazzzzy long post but, I want to mention that damage from free radicals can cause scar tissue to linger about and not heal correctly. Realizing this and considering the incredible amounts of antioxidant laden foods in my raw-diet it’s definitely played/playing a role in the healing process!

     There are many other awesome goodies in raw-foods that help the body repair all sorts of tissue damage, so to keep this post from getting too long I’ll recommend that you check out “Eating for Beauty” By David Wolfe for more info on how, why and which raw yummies can help your body look and feel great!

An easy way to get a lot of these awesome sulfur, iron and zinc rich goodies into one delicious meal!

     As for my scars… I think it’s really neat that they have healed as much as they have! Not because they were a concern of mine but, because for me it was just another sign that raw-foods kick-a$$! And I hope that sharing my story may be helpful for other people dealing with scars. I mean, if this way of eating can lead to such a diminishing of such large thick scars then what could it do for the many annoying lil’ scars that people are bothered with from the results of acne, burns etc.? 

     Now I know what some may be thinking… Where’s the photos of your scars?? Well I (and my lovely wife Amanda) thought it would be in bad taste to put pictures of my hairy leg, with a side shot that would probably show off half my butt cheek, on my site which is supposed to be showcasing lovely raw-foods!  If I had an inkling that there would be such a change I would’ve loved to have taken pics when I began my raw-journey! I have pictures of them in their current state and am looking forward to taking some a year from now and seeing whats left of them!

     Peace everyone! Have a fun weekend!  :0)