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| Russell Mariani Digestive Wellness Counselor Author, Healing Digestive Illness |
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| The Center for Functional Nutrition Assisting in the quest for better health through better nutrition since 1980 |
| The statements or information on this website have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. |
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The Center for Functional Nutrition News from Russell Mariani
Creating Digestive Wellness E-Letter Volume 1: Number 9:
Danica's Story: Proctitis, Ulcerative Colitis
Dear Megan, April 22, 2010
Editor's Note:
Since we have received such great responses after sending out Mark's Story, (March 17) and Richie's Story,
(March 31) we decided to continue to share more client testimonials. Danica first contacted Russell on
December 30, 2009 and began her program in the first week of January, 2010. Her first email inquiry to Russell
appears below. It's so helpful to get a sense of how people describe themselves and their conditions before
working with Russell and after completing the Intestinal Regeneration Program. We haven't always been quick
enough to save those original emails, but seeing the impact of Danica's we will do our best to keep as many
original email inquiries as possible from now on.
Megan Moore
Note from Russell:
Danica is a great example of someone who really changed the nature of her relationship with her own body and
to her relationship with food, and as a result of this "internal transformation" was able to heal herself pretty
quickly. Keep in mind that technically speaking, a confirmed medical diagnosis of "ulcerative colitis or ulcerative
proctitus" is considered "medically incurable." Danica struggled for several weeks, testimonial below, and I
remember that we had a few heart to heart conversations that really seemed to help. But no matter how effective
your coach may be, the ultimate performance of any student or athlete, comes down to the commitment level of
that student or athlete. Danica is a great example of someone who looked deeply into her own heart and mind,
saw clearly the error of her former dietary ways, and made some serious corrections; not only about what she
was eating, but "how" she was approaching the whole relationship between herself, her food, her kitchen, and
her way of eating. Danica is one of my heroes too!
Danica's Story: Proctitis, Ulcerative Colitis
I'm 28 yrs old, and I am going on 3 months now of working with Russell. I am feeling so much better now than I
was 3 months ago. It's unbelievable. I had suffered from Ulcerative Colitis (UC) for about a year and a half before
I began Russell's program. I spent most of that time trying on my own to figure out how to naturally heal myself of
UC, doing all kinds of different diets, fasts, etc. I never really went on medication for the disease because I don't
have the health insurance to cover it but I did have a colonoscopy in January 2009 and was officially diagnosed
with UC. The doctors seemed like they either didn't know what was really going on, or they didn't care and were
just there to hand out the steroids and they even went so far as to tell me that diet had NOTHING to do with the
disease and that I should continue eating a "Standard American Diet" (Pizza, hotdogs, burgers, ice cream?) (I
still don't really know what they meant by that).
Anyhow, I was seeing a natural doctor in the city I live in, who was not a specialist in intestinal disorders, and the
anti-inflammatory diet they had me on was still not working (they still had me eating raw foods and a lot of fruit). I
couldn't eat anything at that point without causing a cramping episode where I was running to the bathroom
many times a day with blood, mucus, etc. And I was feeling weaker and more depressed than ever.
Around Christmas (2009) it was so bad that I didn't want to leave my bed for a couple weeks except to go to the
bathroom a million times. I was searching on the internet for specialists in UC and I found Russell's website. I
emailed him a long winded story about my troubles (see below) and he got back to me right away. First thing he
told me to do was stop eating fruit and sugar and stop eating raw foods. We scheduled our Initial Consultation
for the following week, the first week in January 2010. Just the simple act of eliminating the fruit and raw foods
calmed my system down and I started to think that maybe this guy knows what he's talking about.
When we first talked on the phone I was very unsure. I don't have money to throw around and I had already spent
god knows how much on stuff that didn't work. Then I started thinking about it and realized that had it been, say,
my car that was broken I wouldn't hesitate to fix it. I probably spent more on car repair last year than I have the
whole program with Russell.
Anyway, you can't put a price on your health and I couldn't work feeling how I was feeling. The UC was honestly
ruining my life! Also I read the testimonials on his website and some of them (especially Grant's story) really hit
close to home. Like almost identically describing what was going on with me. Also having Russell there to talk
to, someone who has also been through the same thing and has beaten it, well it felt like really the right thing to
do. I can't really explain it, but after our first phone call I knew that this connection was happening for a reason.
Now is where it gets a little difficult and its why I really recommend going through the program with Russell
guiding you and not just doing it on your own (unless you have a TON of willpower and are just totally confident in
what you need to do). Your diet has to completely change. Not forever but for awhile. You have to stop eating the
things that are "insulting" to your digestive system. You have to stop eating some of the things you love. Your
friends and family will still be eating them and you will smell them and be around them but you can't eat them.
I'm not going to lie. It's hard. It was hard for me. You will need support and you will need to spend time alone
working through and breaking through some of your old habits. You have to re-learn your relationship with food
altogether and with your body. At least I did.
This is where Russell becomes an invaluable asset. Even though I immediately started to feel better when I
changed my diet, after a little while things got worse again and I didn't understand why. Had I been going it
alone, I would have probably given up at this point feeling like oh well it's not working and now I feel worse. Once
again having Russell there to keep you on track, explain exactly why what's happening is happening, and to
reassure you and motivate you will become a crucial part of your healing. At least that was the case for me.
I have now completed phase one of his program (about 7 weeks of bowel reconditioning, a few weeks of
stabilization, and a couple weeks of the kidney and liver cleansing along with simple diet changes). At this point I
don't ever have to urgently run to the bathroom. The cramping episodes have ceased. The bleeding has
stopped. I have a thousand times more energy than I did just a couple months ago. I am at a healthy weight. I
enjoy the nourishing foods that I eat. I take time with food and really enjoy it. I have learned more about my body
and how it interacts with my environment and how it responds to how I treat it than I ever have in my entire life
just over the past few months.
I know I made the right choice in making the commitment to heal myself. There is no magic pill or procedure that
will have you fixed over the next weekend. Healing is an organic process, sometimes uncomfortable but
ultimately an extraordinarily rewarding experience that will really balance you out as a person if you are willing to
commit yourself to the process. If you have the desire to be free of these horrible diseases I encourage you to
take the next step.
Good luck and just take it one day at a time!
Here is an exact copy of the email we received from Danica on December 30, 2009.
Hello Russell,
I am a 28 year old female and was diagnosed with proctitis over a year ago via colonoscopy. The symptoms of
this disease mysteriously began to appear one day after a 3 week long camping trip where I drank questionable
water (this was in the US, but a main water source during the camping trip was a spigot coming out of the
ground near a river, I don't know where the water was coming from). I am not saying this is definitely the cause, it
is just something that correlated with the symptoms of proctitis beginning, i.e. blood in the stool. (I have a long
time history of other inflammatory conditions, however, such as asthma and eczema). At first there was not
much blood, and sometimes there was mucus. No diarrhea, no cramping.
Since then it has progressively gotten worse and worse even though I have tried various diets (gluten-free/dairy,
vegan, low residue, low fiber, high fiber). Although I definitely see an improvement with the gluten-free and
dairy-free diet, sometimes just the simple act of eating causes my guts to violently cramp and I have to literally
run to the bathroom just to expel nothing more than what looks to be bloody mucus. I can do nothing more than
sit there and bear it as wave after wave of cramps, nausea and pain run over me. Most times there are bright red
blood clots. I can go through the whole day feeling fine, and then at night when I eat dinner (and after) suddenly I
get spasms, cramps, intense pain, gas. I am now chronically fatigued, more and more unable to do my normal
activities, light headed, out of breath, I've lost a lot of weight, I have headaches, etc. Just feeling miserable.
I have an appointment with a Naturopath here where I live but he can't see me for another two months. However I
did get in to see his nutritionist and he put me on an anti-inflammatory diet with enzymes and probiotics, a
parasite cleanse, and a nutritional powder drink (rice based) meant to heal GI tract and support health! However
I am not seeing much improvement (it's be en about a month) and the thought of waiting two more months
before I can talk to the Naturopath is making me feel hopeless! I was hoping to talk to someone with experience
in these issues before that time. If you are able please contact me! Any advice would be a godsend. I am so
frustrated and depressed by this illness it is really destroying my life at this point. Thanks for your time, sorry for
the long story but that's it in a nutshell.
Danica from Pensylvania
And what can I possibly add to this great story? Simple. Congratulations Danica! Thank you for your willingness
to learn. Thank you for your commitment to being and becoming more proactive in your own self-care. Thank you
for being another beautiful example of someone who has healed herself completely from a debilitating digestive
disorder. May your story inspire many people to take the actions that will heal themselves too!
Find and do the things that nourish you best; and all will be well.
Today and always,
Sincerely,
Russell Mariani
Russell Mariani
Director of Client Services
The Center for Functional Nutrition 514 Amherst Road, South Hadley, MA 01075
Tel:(413) 536-0275 (Consultations Only) Tel:(413) 536-3322 (All Other Inquiries)
Back to Newsletter Archive List
Creating Digestive Wellness E-Letter Volume 1: Number 9:
Danica's Story: Proctitis, Ulcerative Colitis
Dear Megan, April 22, 2010
Editor's Note:
Since we have received such great responses after sending out Mark's Story, (March 17) and Richie's Story,
(March 31) we decided to continue to share more client testimonials. Danica first contacted Russell on
December 30, 2009 and began her program in the first week of January, 2010. Her first email inquiry to Russell
appears below. It's so helpful to get a sense of how people describe themselves and their conditions before
working with Russell and after completing the Intestinal Regeneration Program. We haven't always been quick
enough to save those original emails, but seeing the impact of Danica's we will do our best to keep as many
original email inquiries as possible from now on.
Megan Moore
Note from Russell:
Danica is a great example of someone who really changed the nature of her relationship with her own body and
to her relationship with food, and as a result of this "internal transformation" was able to heal herself pretty
quickly. Keep in mind that technically speaking, a confirmed medical diagnosis of "ulcerative colitis or ulcerative
proctitus" is considered "medically incurable." Danica struggled for several weeks, testimonial below, and I
remember that we had a few heart to heart conversations that really seemed to help. But no matter how effective
your coach may be, the ultimate performance of any student or athlete, comes down to the commitment level of
that student or athlete. Danica is a great example of someone who looked deeply into her own heart and mind,
saw clearly the error of her former dietary ways, and made some serious corrections; not only about what she
was eating, but "how" she was approaching the whole relationship between herself, her food, her kitchen, and
her way of eating. Danica is one of my heroes too!
Danica's Story: Proctitis, Ulcerative Colitis
I'm 28 yrs old, and I am going on 3 months now of working with Russell. I am feeling so much better now than I
was 3 months ago. It's unbelievable. I had suffered from Ulcerative Colitis (UC) for about a year and a half before
I began Russell's program. I spent most of that time trying on my own to figure out how to naturally heal myself of
UC, doing all kinds of different diets, fasts, etc. I never really went on medication for the disease because I don't
have the health insurance to cover it but I did have a colonoscopy in January 2009 and was officially diagnosed
with UC. The doctors seemed like they either didn't know what was really going on, or they didn't care and were
just there to hand out the steroids and they even went so far as to tell me that diet had NOTHING to do with the
disease and that I should continue eating a "Standard American Diet" (Pizza, hotdogs, burgers, ice cream?) (I
still don't really know what they meant by that).
Anyhow, I was seeing a natural doctor in the city I live in, who was not a specialist in intestinal disorders, and the
anti-inflammatory diet they had me on was still not working (they still had me eating raw foods and a lot of fruit). I
couldn't eat anything at that point without causing a cramping episode where I was running to the bathroom
many times a day with blood, mucus, etc. And I was feeling weaker and more depressed than ever.
Around Christmas (2009) it was so bad that I didn't want to leave my bed for a couple weeks except to go to the
bathroom a million times. I was searching on the internet for specialists in UC and I found Russell's website. I
emailed him a long winded story about my troubles (see below) and he got back to me right away. First thing he
told me to do was stop eating fruit and sugar and stop eating raw foods. We scheduled our Initial Consultation
for the following week, the first week in January 2010. Just the simple act of eliminating the fruit and raw foods
calmed my system down and I started to think that maybe this guy knows what he's talking about.
When we first talked on the phone I was very unsure. I don't have money to throw around and I had already spent
god knows how much on stuff that didn't work. Then I started thinking about it and realized that had it been, say,
my car that was broken I wouldn't hesitate to fix it. I probably spent more on car repair last year than I have the
whole program with Russell.
Anyway, you can't put a price on your health and I couldn't work feeling how I was feeling. The UC was honestly
ruining my life! Also I read the testimonials on his website and some of them (especially Grant's story) really hit
close to home. Like almost identically describing what was going on with me. Also having Russell there to talk
to, someone who has also been through the same thing and has beaten it, well it felt like really the right thing to
do. I can't really explain it, but after our first phone call I knew that this connection was happening for a reason.
Now is where it gets a little difficult and its why I really recommend going through the program with Russell
guiding you and not just doing it on your own (unless you have a TON of willpower and are just totally confident in
what you need to do). Your diet has to completely change. Not forever but for awhile. You have to stop eating the
things that are "insulting" to your digestive system. You have to stop eating some of the things you love. Your
friends and family will still be eating them and you will smell them and be around them but you can't eat them.
I'm not going to lie. It's hard. It was hard for me. You will need support and you will need to spend time alone
working through and breaking through some of your old habits. You have to re-learn your relationship with food
altogether and with your body. At least I did.
This is where Russell becomes an invaluable asset. Even though I immediately started to feel better when I
changed my diet, after a little while things got worse again and I didn't understand why. Had I been going it
alone, I would have probably given up at this point feeling like oh well it's not working and now I feel worse. Once
again having Russell there to keep you on track, explain exactly why what's happening is happening, and to
reassure you and motivate you will become a crucial part of your healing. At least that was the case for me.
I have now completed phase one of his program (about 7 weeks of bowel reconditioning, a few weeks of
stabilization, and a couple weeks of the kidney and liver cleansing along with simple diet changes). At this point I
don't ever have to urgently run to the bathroom. The cramping episodes have ceased. The bleeding has
stopped. I have a thousand times more energy than I did just a couple months ago. I am at a healthy weight. I
enjoy the nourishing foods that I eat. I take time with food and really enjoy it. I have learned more about my body
and how it interacts with my environment and how it responds to how I treat it than I ever have in my entire life
just over the past few months.
I know I made the right choice in making the commitment to heal myself. There is no magic pill or procedure that
will have you fixed over the next weekend. Healing is an organic process, sometimes uncomfortable but
ultimately an extraordinarily rewarding experience that will really balance you out as a person if you are willing to
commit yourself to the process. If you have the desire to be free of these horrible diseases I encourage you to
take the next step.
Good luck and just take it one day at a time!
Here is an exact copy of the email we received from Danica on December 30, 2009.
Hello Russell,
I am a 28 year old female and was diagnosed with proctitis over a year ago via colonoscopy. The symptoms of
this disease mysteriously began to appear one day after a 3 week long camping trip where I drank questionable
water (this was in the US, but a main water source during the camping trip was a spigot coming out of the
ground near a river, I don't know where the water was coming from). I am not saying this is definitely the cause, it
is just something that correlated with the symptoms of proctitis beginning, i.e. blood in the stool. (I have a long
time history of other inflammatory conditions, however, such as asthma and eczema). At first there was not
much blood, and sometimes there was mucus. No diarrhea, no cramping.
Since then it has progressively gotten worse and worse even though I have tried various diets (gluten-free/dairy,
vegan, low residue, low fiber, high fiber). Although I definitely see an improvement with the gluten-free and
dairy-free diet, sometimes just the simple act of eating causes my guts to violently cramp and I have to literally
run to the bathroom just to expel nothing more than what looks to be bloody mucus. I can do nothing more than
sit there and bear it as wave after wave of cramps, nausea and pain run over me. Most times there are bright red
blood clots. I can go through the whole day feeling fine, and then at night when I eat dinner (and after) suddenly I
get spasms, cramps, intense pain, gas. I am now chronically fatigued, more and more unable to do my normal
activities, light headed, out of breath, I've lost a lot of weight, I have headaches, etc. Just feeling miserable.
I have an appointment with a Naturopath here where I live but he can't see me for another two months. However I
did get in to see his nutritionist and he put me on an anti-inflammatory diet with enzymes and probiotics, a
parasite cleanse, and a nutritional powder drink (rice based) meant to heal GI tract and support health! However
I am not seeing much improvement (it's be en about a month) and the thought of waiting two more months
before I can talk to the Naturopath is making me feel hopeless! I was hoping to talk to someone with experience
in these issues before that time. If you are able please contact me! Any advice would be a godsend. I am so
frustrated and depressed by this illness it is really destroying my life at this point. Thanks for your time, sorry for
the long story but that's it in a nutshell.
Danica from Pensylvania
And what can I possibly add to this great story? Simple. Congratulations Danica! Thank you for your willingness
to learn. Thank you for your commitment to being and becoming more proactive in your own self-care. Thank you
for being another beautiful example of someone who has healed herself completely from a debilitating digestive
disorder. May your story inspire many people to take the actions that will heal themselves too!
Find and do the things that nourish you best; and all will be well.
Today and always,
Sincerely,
Russell Mariani
Russell Mariani
Director of Client Services
The Center for Functional Nutrition 514 Amherst Road, South Hadley, MA 01075
Tel:(413) 536-0275 (Consultations Only) Tel:(413) 536-3322 (All Other Inquiries)
Back to Newsletter Archive List
| HEALING DIGESTIVE ILLNESS Root Causes and Solutions |
| 413-536-0275 (Consultations Only) 413-536-3322 (All Other Inquiries) |
| --------------------------------------------------------------- A step–by–step intestinal regeneration program |
| Read my book and learn how to end your digestive problems for good! Click here. |
| ||||||||||
