I very recently just started eating vegan and also wanted to try a raw diet. I decided to start out with the "Raw til 4" diet meaning you only eat raw foods until dinner and then you have a high carb cooked vegan meal.
I have had some significant side effects making such a sudden change in diet and wanted to share my journal here.
Ill start with yesterday since that was day 1. (Last week i started slowly incorporating raw foods)

Day 1:

8 am- Smoothie with 1 apple, 1 banana, 2 dates and 30oz water

11:30am- 2 mangos, 2 apricots, 1/2 peach, blueberries

12:30pm- large salad with romaine, edamame, peppers, corn, onions, tomatoes.

6:00pm- 1 cup white rice with zucchini, onions, mushrooms in a low fat curry tomato sauce.

Even though it felt like i over ate on this day it was still really hard for me to get my calories in. That is one of the biggest challenges I'm facing is to not under eat.

Some of the withdrawal or "detox" symptoms I'm feeling so far are extreme fatigue and light headedness. and sorry for TMI but it is also making me really backed up. I've been trying to up the water to help this.

fatigue and lightheadedness are both symptoms of hypoglycemia. Sugar peaks (hyper) and troughs (hypo) and not good. People have a different responses to sugars depending on their condition. If you come from a SAD diet and all the sudden start eating lots of sugar, you may experience fatigue and lightheadedness. I would take it easy with the sugar at first.

Thank you for the info!

I was feeling a bit better yesterday so got back on track. This is what i ate yesterday


8am- Apple, banana, black plum, 16oz OJ

12pm- 4 small mangos, 3 kiwi

2:30pm- bowl of homemade veggie soup

7pm- Half a package of gluten free pasta with low fat low sodium sauce



Felt much less fatigued yesterday since i was getting enough calories in i assume. Although my throat is still feeling pretty sore. Anyone else have problems with sore throat as well?

Diary for August 12

8am- smoothie with 2 bananas, 2 dates, some frozen berries

9am- Apple

12pm- 2 small mangos, 3 kiwi

130pm- Homemade veggie soup

4pm- Handful of cherries

7pm- One baked potato with low fat low sodium tomato sauce.

I also cheated and had a coffee today because i was just feeling fatigued again. Its a hard habit to shake. I also feel like im maybe eating too many different types of fruits in one day and its affecting my digestion because my stomach didnt feel well all day either.

I would add greens in your morning smoothy and nuts (walnuts for omega 3) and seeds at your last meal. Don't be scared of adding sodium if you drink lots of water during the day. You may want to be out in the sun to get D3. A low D3 level makes you feel weak and lethargic. You can also find sources of iodine (seaweed) which would relate to energy. Coffee and high carb diets do not go well together at all.

8/29/14

What I ate yesterday

8am- Fruit bowl with melon, blueberry, pineapple

9am- Organic fresh sqeezed orange juice 16oz

12pm- Large salad with romaine, artichoke, peppers, mushrooms
Vegetable tomato soup

2pm- 1 Banana

6pm- Banana ice cream with only frozen bananas

7pm- Large salad with mixed greens, 1 avocado, 2 tomatoes, onions, raw corn
with half mixed as a dressing with 1 lemon


I dont usually eat 2 salads a day but I felt like it today. Ive been feeling a lot better on this diet and my major problem all along has been digestion. I added a little bit more fat and salt because i was just feeling so fatigued during my 11 hour work day. My fatigue has definitely been better although i felt like i may not have had enough calories today.

One more thing I wanted to add was that I felt amazing this morning when i had my fruit and my stomach felt great!! Then I had my salad at lunch and started getting really bloated and uncomfortable. Not really sure why that is happening.