beet, carrot and orange shake supposed to boost red cell production

Where I'm from, people say that these kind of beverages improve the production of red cells in the blood. My questions is:
Do u know if these are real facts or just urban myths?
And to all those that know about veggies, light meals or beverages I would apprecaite recipes that could be used during TX and are tasty? (not like the apple cider- vinegar mix) please let me know...
saludos
scubadoo

[52TELE]

I think your right! My grandmother ate beets all the time and she never got the HCV virus.(god rest her soul) I think we should look in to it.
I love the smell of RIBAVIRIN in the morning , it smells like victory!!!

[scubadiver30]

I'm no Private Pile. I was just asking about it. Jesus...
I guess is the RIBA that gets people in a feisty mood :(

[52TELE]

Sorry scooby , I often dont have answers to any of these questions and should really keep my mouth shut. I get this way if I sleep more than 4 hours. I mean no disrespect. smile.

[scubadiver30]

my apologies Tele...My wife keeps telling me I ask silly questions all the time..I guess this was one of them.
And here I am, mixin Apocalipse Now and Full Metal Jacket...
I met brian fog already even with no tx
salu2

[52TELE]

Two of my favorite movies of all time.(you probably already realized my statement about ribavirin(napalm) in the morning is from AN). They dont make um like that anymore. When it was time to get serious about teaching my son about VN , we watched those two movies. nuff said. Are you going to be around today?

[52TELE]

Whats up with your treatment? Are you  going to participate in the activities? Its lots of fuuun!

[scubadiver30]

Yep. I'll be around...
And you said it...best movies I've ever seen (and Platoon) about Nam. They do teach stuff specially to people like me (foreigner) about how you guys felt on those bad times (these bad times)
salut

[scubadiver30]

Supposedly gonna start in November...But I haven't been feelin too well these days... I have mild pain in the side but constant, and I'm getting paranoid with all this talk about IFN and heat and damages post tx :-(

[52TELE]

what are your HCV stats?   Where are you scooby?

[NYgirl]

I couldn't eat beets no matter what ewww.  If it would cure me I'd try and hide them inside something and eat them but otherwise yuck!

It's so odd this is the second time by 9:00 today that I've heard beets discussed. First on the radio on the way in and now this.  ODD

[52TELE]

Hey you guys , I just saw on CNN that Castro relinquished  power in Cuba . THEY ARE FREE! After how long? 50 years?

[scubadiver30]

NYG
I don't like beets either, but my wife fixed me a shake with beeds, carrot and oranges and she called it 3 in 1. It was good, you could hardly taste the beet, and it was like a strawberry shake. And if its true what they say about helping the liver and the blood, let's go for it :-)

52Tele
I'm in Spain. i'm geno 2b, VL 5 mill, 44 years old male. Asymptomatic until diagnosed one year ago. ALT 95 AST 40 until I started messing wiht the vaccines :-(

[52TELE]

What do you think of the general attitude and treatment methods in Spain right now? Are they pretty much the same as in the US?

[scubadiver30]

Castro gone? I believe it when I see it.
He probably has colon cancer. Don't know what's going to happen. If he dies maybe the US should lift the embargo in order to help those people (they're really down u know)...
Maybe the Miami community will start fixing thing up down there..
If having HCV is bad imagine having HCV in cuba.

[scubadiver30]

Rocker:
Thanks for all the info. You are a great guy...As soon as i get home I'm going to fix me a 3 and 1 shake :-)..keep posting sutff about good things to eat

52Tele
The TX is the same over here, but the private insurance companies are a bit more cynical and they slow everythin down so we end up in social security (which is pretty good but somewhat slow in response. Very stingy with Procrit or Neupogen)... For instance I had 2 fibroscans, 4 PCRs but no BX yet.
They gonna put me in IFN & RIBA as soon as my LFT stabilize..in the fall.Maybe the doc just wanted to go on vacation in the summer without somebody calling up for rescue drugs

[friole]

Castro relinquished power temporarily to his 75 year old brother while he recuperates from extensive colon surgery.  He is supposed to be out several weeks.  Believe me, there will be no change in the regime

[52TELE]

It is sooo hard to try and guess what tx is going to be like for you. Am I right that the tx length for 2b is 24 weeks? It seems like that is correct. If thats the case , thats a major bonus for you.Scooby , do you think that the forum has too much information , or lack of information , about potential long term sx from the tx. Its a virtually unexplored fact of the treatment so its a lot of speculation. Do you think its too scary for new patients?

[52TELE]

I hate the media. No one said a word about the surrounding circumstances in the segment I was watching. Thanks Friole.
I wonder what his brother is like?

[susan400]

NYGirl, I'm with you.  I've never liked beets.  I do have a juicer machine here. Once I tried juicing beets and it made such a huge mess that I decided to me FORGET ABOUT IT.  It made me have more work to do.  I wonder if any of the health food stores have it for sale already made up?  I could then doctor it up with other good tasting juices in the blender and perhaps get it down without GAGGING!  I have had a stomach ache/nausea feeling since last night, took some Compazine, and I'm not even on treatment right now.  UGH.  Feel like the hangover without even the fun of getting there!  It's definitely not due to drinking!  Can you get a hangover from using cooking wine in a recipe?  I sort of doubt it, isn't the wine/alcohol all cooked out of there? And trust me, I DIDN'T DRINK THE COOKING WINE!!  Ha.

Susan

[scubadiver30]

I think that new patients might get a bit scared with the forum and the stories told over here. However, I have learned so much here, that I'll keep coming no matter what. The good info surpasses any paranoia I might get.
For instance. My docs haven't told me anything about rescue drugs or hemolitic effects of RIBA...They just told me the procedure, the timingm and take ibuprofen/paracetamol if you feel bad... I have learned so many things here (more than books)
it is reality TV

[Snookmiester]

I'm in Miami, so I have first hand info in regards to Cuba.. Nothing is going to change!! Castro handed power over to his brother, who is no better than him. Castro had severe GI bleeding, possibly from ulcers, and is undergoing surgery. Rumor has it, that he might in fact have died, but no confirmations yet. Cubans are celebrating in streets here, but it is too early to speculate what will truely happen.
But as far as change in Cuba, nothing will happen until the brother dies. He will not bring about any changes under his regimen...
Snook, reporting live from "little Havana"..

[copyman]

i bought the  beet root powder and it will not dissolve in water. it turns clumpy and floats on top. besides it takes awful in water.  any ideas on how to take this without a juicer? thanks

[mikesimon]

From: Viral Hepat.  2006;13(7):482-488
Found at: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/537728?src=mp

Lifestyle Changes and Beliefs Regarding Disease Severity in Patients With Chronic Hepatitis C
Posted 07/19/2006  

Although there is no scientific data to justify a special diet because of HCV infection,[30] nearly half of our patients modified their dietary habits following hepatitis C diagnosis. Most of them (68%) engaged in a low-fat diet, 32% in a low-sugar diet, and 31% in a low-protein diet. It has been recently suggested that weight loss and exercise in overweight patients with CHC or with other chronic liver diseases may be associated with a reduction in steatosis and abnormal liver enzymes and an improvement in fibrosis and quality of life, despite the persistence of the virus.[31,32] It must be stressed, however, that few patients in our study were overweight [mean body mass index (BMI) 23.7

[52TELE]

wow. I cant imagine where they would START to install a new government in the event that the Castro Bros. cant maintain control.

[scubadiver30]

I've read that Raul Castro is a recovering alcoholic and does not agree to many of Fidels ways. He's got no charisma and no saying in political issues..Supposedly the "upper management" will back him up but not the people at large..He might open up his government in order to get foreign investment and get the embargo lifted, doing so to improve his public image with the cuban people...Maybe the young cubans fed up with tiranny will revolt. Hopefully
Over here in Spain, as soon as Franco died (after 40 years of ****) things started to change (different times though) and different regimes (this was far right catholic and the other one is communist hardliner)...

[Forseegood]

I went to Cuba about 20 years ago, (from Europe, not here) and it was a horrible/beautiful place, with a lot of hardship on the poor...I wouldn't suggest communism to anybody, but I will say this, their medical services were completely free (I had the same experience in Europe) and there were many, many doctors trained there in all sorts of medical fields...as far as their medical and their education? the people were very satisfied, as for the other things we take for granted here? that's a whole other subject....

I'm with Friole on this, I don't think the regime will change a whole lot but they might be more open to diplomacy with the US, and the US might be more open to diplomacy with them, if only because they don't have to deal with Castro....who is such a flashpoint to the Cuban community (and Florida voting) here...

I think Castro kicking the bucket will be a good thing, even though we share the same birthday, Aug 13, ha ha! (Alfred Hichcock too).

[Forseegood]

oh, been drinking carrot and beet juice for years, really tastes good and good for you....

But then I'm one of these California whackos, I've even had high colonics! ha ha!

[scubadiver30]

After Franco died, the sucessor appointed by him was killed by ETA in a car bomb (Carrero Blanco)...That started a new different a terrible route in Spain, (800 people dead in 25 years) but stopped the franco regime from continuing and all spaniards went to the voting stations like crazy.
About the cuban medicine being free, I agree, is available to all (but to tell you the truth, the only one with access to western and updated medicine is Castro)..The rest live with aspirines and not much more. Is more herbs and stuff

Anyway, I'm gonna go fix me a beet shake for the time being :-)

[Forseegood]

I was just browsing here one day recently and saw that a poster was asking about progesterone and estrogen? While there isn't a lot on progesterone, here's a number of articles on the benefits of estrogen (transdermal, etc) on women with Hep C...in case youre interested...

Here's an article on the benefits of estrogen as to fibrosis progresssion

http://tinyurl.com/pz9n2


Here's an article as to the protective effects of estrogen in hep c induced liver cancer

http://tinyurl.com/g94wg

Here's an article as to the effects of transdermal estrogen and women with hep c (menopause, etc.) saying this type of estrogen is relatively safe...

http://tinyurl.com/h96ol

Hope this helps....

[Forseegood]

Can you post a link to those beet capsules? thanks!!! I'm with NY Girl, wouldn't eat beets on a bet, and I'm pretty good with veggies, but I have my limits, ha ha!

[dyce]

Don't know how but after a tx low hmg 9.5 lab results , yesterdays bloodwork came back hmg 11. The highest it's been for 12 weeks. Could it be cause I layed up from work a couple days ? Who knows but I been made a happy camper, thease labs were done on me birthday and mean almost as much to the dyce as the 12 week undetectable pcr done in may. Yippeeee!!!!!

[Forseegood]

Hey Dyce good news! very happy for you, guess we're both Leo's huh?

[jmjm530]

Congratulations ! No studies on this, but maybe it was that Cheeseburger you've been thinking about that pushed the hgb up.

[dyce]

Thats right foresee 7-31 . Gotta still see a blood doc , but ha, I'm not complainin now. I've been still eatin alot better ,For some reoson the appetite came back and stayed even with the low level hmg . I'm still hopin I don't have to go on the procrit shots. So you were just a birthday girl , ha? How have ya been?

[Forseegood]

I was hoping to read that your skin issues are on the wane, sorry to read the other day that they aren't...here's hoping they'll leave the state pretty soon....

[dyce]

Isn't it funny how some of us have hmg that yo yo's like this. I don't recall this here but right now there is alot I don't recall. I still eat some meat but for a short spell there it was hard to eat at all. Cheese burger time.

[Forseegood]

Well, don't want to sound like your second grade teacher, Mrs. Backbrace, but it is good to see that youre changing your diet for the better, even though the occasional cheeseburger! Hey Leo's are good people huh? Need to be the center of attention, but, (there's ALWAYS a big butt) we are loyal and kind...happy belated birthday Dyceman, and many, many more!!!!

[Forseegood]

in case my post got buried, can you give the link to those beet capsules you take?

[goldyn]

Im a leo to july 29th, i wonder if there is a higher percentage of leos infected with the hcv than the other signs...hmmmm...

[dyce]

Well goldyn, you just had a birthday too. Sorry I'm late , happy birthday. You know goldyn we leos growl alot at times but purr alot too. Our strong spirit will help us prevail in the end on the prey . Bein summer babies may makses us more sucessiple(LOL). I'll think I'll shake this hcv outta me mane.

[goldyn]

Loved your post dyce its so true...well HAPPY BIRTHDAY yall, next summer will really be are time to let are manes down, and feel the call of the WILD again RRRROAR!!!!!!!