Seeds of Change: A Personal Tale of Health, Hope, and Hippocrates

I started the program four years ago. It took me a long time to finish it, but it was a busy and rewarding time, full of amazing experiences. During this time I truly lived my inner version of the Hippocrates lifestyle, I learned, processed, shared with others and created an amazing job opportunity, all in connection with this program. This time was full of insights, intensity, and inner growth.

Six years ago I started suffering from an undiagnosed digestive problem that resulted in severe abdominal pain and most likely also caused erosive gastritis in the stomach and duodenitis. Just a few weeks ago the doctors were eventually able to detect an obstruction in the extra hepatic biliary duct. For these six years I have been continuously struggling with severe pains, persistent itching, occasional nausea, and couldn’t tolerate any supplements, synthetic or natural. Being a persistent person, as I am, I searched for every possible way to cure and relieve the symptoms. I tried an allopathic approach for a very short spell, Naturopathy,  Ayurveda and Chinese medicine, only to discover that everything I had tried was making me feel much worse. I was already extremely conscious of a need for a healthy food, and lifestyle regime. My mom passed away when I was 21 due to stomach cancer, and I was struggling myself for many years with depression, anorexia and bulimia. Soon I discovered that only a very natural plant based, organic, mainly raw food diet was relieving my emotional symptoms and helped control bulimic attacks.

Sadly, due to a stomach erosion and hepatic obstruction, I have lost capacity to eat raw fibers, and I could only drink some fresh, vegetable juices, but even this was causing pain. I started losing all vitality; feeling fatigued all the time, sleeping long hours and struggling with my demanding job.

I kept persistently searching for ways to diagnose and cure my condition, but with more acceptance and serenity. I gave myself up to pain and discomfort. That was when I heard the name of Hippocrates Institute cropping up in several American podcasts about natural healing approaches.

I knew that raw food was giving me more vitality so healing with the raw food approach really appealed to me. I tapped into The Hippocrates Short Start Course and bought some sprouting jars. I had no idea how to start eating fibers again without pain, so I decided I will be only juicing and eating 100 percent sprout salads. I cooked the mature plants to soften the tougher fibers.

The effect was outstanding. The salads based only on sprouts were causing no pain and brought an immediate surge of vitality.  Life was less of a struggle, I could sleep less, and do more, start doing some sport, and look after my family without exhaustion.

Highly encouraged, I enrolled in The Hippocrates Lifestyle Course in 2019.

Many things have happened in my life since then and a lot of it has been influenced by this amazing, exciting and fulfilling course. From a perspective of a few last years it has been more like a journey, that has brought me to completely undiscovered realms, giving  me knowledge and insights, and bodily experiences, that have affected my emotional and spiritual life.

At first the Hippocrates Program gave me hope. The hope that comes with the feeling that something worked for me, that my body accepted something with no pain, hope that I could have energy again, recover my life force.

On a mental level, the knowledge that there is a lifestyle that can rebalance our health without any special medication or heavy supplementation, just with the power of nature, lowered substantially my levels of fear. Since I was very young I had a fear of dying of cancer. My Mom was diagnosed with the stomach cancer when I was 19 and died within two years after a horrible ordeal of chemotherapy, surgeries and pain. Ever since then I struggled with this fear and I dedicated a substantial part of my life to discovering cancer healing natural protocols. As valuable as they were, they were relying heavily on very specific, expensive and abundant supplementation. With my stomach damage and hepatic obstruction being severe in the last few years I could not take any natural supplements.

That raised the levels of fear of cancer and left me with the feeling of lack of protection and vulnerability.

When I started sprouting, eating spirulina, and sea vegetables I started to feel so good, so much stronger, and the knowledge that I can feel like this without all these fancy supplements and maybe prevent cancer and other diseases made me feel so ecstatic and independent.

On a physical level I had experienced numerous health benefits: my energy levels rose so I could exercise, and that in turn improved my energy even more. I felt much less pain, and I could start eating things that were prohibitive for me before and enrich my diet. After a few years some damage in my digestive tract started repairing itself: the erosion in the stomach was repaired, however I am still suffering from metaplasia of the stomach lining, the general inflammation of the digestive tract diminished. During the time I suffered most from the digestive pain, my periods become less abundant, with the very black blood, and I was often irritable. After I started with the Hippocrates lifestyle my periods become more abundant, with red, clear blood, I didn’t feel so much of the PMS. As a result of all of it, my husband and I decided to try for a baby together      (we have raised 3 children together, but we really wanted to have one who would be of both of us. We abandoned the idea because of my health problems and my age they were beginning to be advanced). After my health improved, we went for it and within four months I got pregnant naturally and successfully. I had a healthy baby daughter at the age of 46 and I have been already breastfeeding her for 19 months and planning on carrying on until she is 2.

As a result of the Hippocrates course, my husband and I became vegans as, is our baby. My older teenage son stopped eating meat and my teenage daughter diminished the amount of animal products and started paying more attention to her diet.

On an emotional level I notice that my emotional patterns have shifted steadily and gradually from feeling a sacrificing and resentful victim, discouraged and unsteady, to completely different levels where the courage, love, satisfaction, patience, acceptance, persistence, calm and bliss are consistently present. I love this new Ania and feel much more comfortable with this more effortless emotional functioning.

There were a lot of inspiring lectures on the course. They affected me on many levels. Being on the course helped me confront a profound loss that happened just a few months ago. We lost our oldest child, the 19-year-old biological son of my husband, who lived with us almost all of his childhood. The loss was sudden and happened as a result of an accident, when our youngest daughter was only 1. The violence of what had happened affected us profoundly on all levels: we all felt sick numerous times, went through despair, panic attacks, intense fear and sense of unimaginable loss within just a few first weeks of the accident. Because of the shock my milk production diminished and this and our ongoing sadness affected our baby. In this trying moment the Hippocrates lifestyle was a Godsend. As soon as we were able to stand on our feet and sprout again and drink some green juices, we felt like we were standing on a solid base that was carrying us through this crisis. We started looking for spiritual help and it was coming through the love and care of our friends looking after us, books and knowledge about the travel of the soul, and people who shared their experiences about the death of their beloved. I am very positive that the Hippocrates lifestyle gave us physical and emotional strength and enough of a calm of mind to get us through the initial moments of loss.

My whole family, have been impacted by the course, and I think, mainly positively. My husband followed my path and now eats vegan, sprouts and drinks green juices every day. He controls his psoriasis problem with the diet, although he didn’t succeed to rid himself of it entirely. He lost almost 20 kg of weight and looks really great. My baby girls eats vegan too and loves sprouts. She looks really healthy and has fallen sick only once since she was born. My two teenage children have became really mindful of their diet, especially my son, who became a vegetarian and cured his severe acne with the combination of diet and conventional and Ayurvedic treatment.

Two years ago we started a business: we sell the organic, seeds for sprouting which are of excellent quality and a fantastic price, so that everybody can become independent in their home and sprout for a few pennies. Our company is called Germinamore and it is most likely the only company in Spain that sells seeds for sprouting to the particular clients for a fair price that allows them to eat sprouts in abundance. We run training workshops and show people how to go about the sprouting in practice. My teenagers got involved in the parallel activity and started producing microgreens for local clients and they are earning extra pocket money. As you see, the Hippocrates Lifestyle influenced our family on many levels.

I had some strong beliefs about food that have shifted as I followed the lifestyle.  The strongest change by far was the one about eating fish and Omega 3, and another one, that it is easier to absorb are the proteins of animal origin. I, myself wasn’t an enormous animal product eater, but still would eat some fish once or twice a week. During my menstruation I had some enormous cravings for meat too. I was subconsciously encouraging the animal products intake in my children, because I felt insecure and not sure if I could meet their nutritional needs without them, especially in terms of protein. The lectures on the course shifted all these beliefs and I felt more secure in changing the diet of my whole family. I found it quite liberating. Especially, since I started eating sprouts my cravings for meat have disappeared, so it is  much easier for me to follow my beliefs and stop eating meat altogether.

I think financially this lifestyle is not inexpensive, at least here in Southern Spain. We eat almost 100% ecological and it doubles the cost of food even though we purchase a lot of fruits and vegetables from local market and growers. Especially with the teenagers, looking for nutritious options, but at the same time the ones that agree with their taste buds, are sometimes extremely costly and challenging. As long as we have means to do it, we will remain committed to making the best choices possible.

I was extremely motivated to get onto a Hippocrates program and it was frankly quite easy taking into account my situation: at that time I could hardly eat anything, so the fact that the sprouts were so easy for me to digest was a fantastic starter. We lived in a small flat in France at that time, and in my tiny kitchen I managed to sprout almost anything. I had three medium size sprouting jars and the small set of 7 drawers (that I recovered from the rubbish bin; ha-ha!) where I grew hydroponically wheatgrass and peas shoots. I worked hard as a teacher at that time, so I would wake up every day at 6 am to prepare my fresh salad for lunch.

In the morning I would have only a flask of warm herb tea and I would fast till midday. I would have my salad with sprouts, sea vegetables and spirulina at school, together with some avocados or nuts.

I would have my wheatgrass and my green juice at home around 5 pm. I would then share a cooked meal with my family in the evening. I would have some soaked and cooked legumes, gluten free grains and vegetables.

As soon as I gained more strength I would go for walks every day after work, jump on the trampoline for 15 min, do some bike, followed by stretching exercises.

My main success was regaining vitality, diminishing pain, healing erosive gastritis, increasing my fertility and general health.  On a mental and emotional level, I felt diminished fear and anxiety levels, gained more focus and persistence, and that ultimately led to my final diagnosis (that was extremely hard to receive): the extra hepatic duct congestion. These objectives I didn’t achieve: couldn’t clear my biliary tract with the natural methods, and I am still suffering from the metaplasia in my stomach and it’s symptoms on daily basis.

I find that it is very challenging to take full responsibility for one’s health in a system that doesn’t favor this attitude. Even though, all of us, the whole society, suffer enormously tragic and painful consequences of bad lifestyle habits, and at the same time, we are being highly discouraged from taking a real responsibility for our life.  Even our closest family and friends tend to discourage us from getting healthier. It is illogical but real, that the system prefers to sustain people with poor health, which is costly in every way, rather than educate them into being independent on the health path. I was very lucky, because from the beginning I had the unconditional support of my husband and that for me was a game changer.

One of the most amazing impacts the course had on me was realizing our, culturally maintained, superficial and insincere relationship with the food and what follows, with nature and the entire planet. I was deeply impacted by the lectures and the book by Dr.Tuttle and the realization that through the way we eat we manifest our attitude towards all the living beings and the planet itself. I have never thought of it this way and so it entirely changed my life and my relationship with the world. Now my way of eating is more conscious and full of gratitude towards all these beings which bodies nurture us (plants, seeds, fruits, sunshine, etc.) I decided to eat vegan, as much as it is possible, in a world that is not made easy for vegans. I treat it as taking responsibility for my health, the health of my close community and the health of our planet.

I try to be as honest with myself and others about my lifestyle and beliefs as only I can. I believe that my biggest contribution to the world is giving and receiving unconditional love. I try to live daily according to Gandhi’s words: “Be the change you want to see in the world”. Showing generous, loving attitude towards my children, husband, friends, family, animals, plants and strangers in the streets, being mindful and kind, inclusive and cooperative, allow myself mistakes and bad days, love and understand myself and the rest of the world. Hippocrates Lifestyle brings a lot of love into my life through eating vibrationaly high food, being around and caring for little live beings every day and sharing this marvelous knowledge with our community.

I think feeling and sharing love and peace are the practices that make the biggest difference to live my best life. Part of giving and sharing this love and peace is eating plant based food, full of sprouts, blue green algae, and sea vegetables. Our house is always open to those who want to share our midday salad with us, which is full of nutrients. I have observed that my compassion has extended and deepened greatly towards a lot more living beings: the animals around me and people in difficulties. The communication with my children has become much more sincere and meaningful thanks to this compassion.

I always loved movement and considered it extremely important for my body. I dance, go for long walks, jump on a trampoline and do chi kung and basic yoga stretching exercises. The last few months however, since our oldest child passed away, it has become extremely challenging to maintain my usual movement routine. The fact that I am 47 and still breastfeeding, the shock of the sudden death of our beloved child, sustaining grief and sorrow of my husband and the rest of our three children, was extremely overwhelming and the feeling of physical and emotional exhaustion is very significant. I prioritized sleep and rest whenever it was possible and the exercise I found was very hard to achieve. My husband supports me with drinking plenty of green juices every day and my son took over sprouting for us and the clients, so every day we eat our fresh, fantastic sprouts, and hopefully soon I will be able to exercise some more.

I am really looking forward to finishing the course. I have been already mentoring informally for quite a long time. People around are so sick and have so many problems, so it felt only right to share what I have learned and help out whenever someone shows an  interest and opened up.

Closing the chapter on online training will probably give way to more formal mentoring, more sprouting courses and our Germinamore company development. I and my husband have so many projects that are not yet realized but already present in our imagination: more Hippocrates type centers in Europe, chains of vegan sprouts diners, reaching out to natural health clinics and propose them our sprouting courses and so on.

We await the future and live the present with joy and fascination, wondering what is awaiting us around the corner. We welcome with acceptance all what is coming. As my late son, Noe used to say: “Accept what you cannot change”. The Hippocrates Lifestyle gave me strength to change things I can change and Noe showed me to accept the things I cannot change. Thank you for everything.