Wow, I love reading what raw foods can do to a person! And you say you are loosing weight, right? In my opinion, you shouldn't restrict yourself too much in the beginning, if you like avocado, and it seems to fill a need, maybe your body needs it? You are still raw and I think that is the main thing!

I also have read not to eat too much fat, but your are still a sprout, lol. Enjoy your avos and being raw!!!

Keep it up girl, you are doing great! All those good changes are happening and maybe the IBS type issues will clear up eventually too. It may just take longer.

I love avocados, but I had food allergy testing done awhile back (the blood test IgG kind) that says I am allergic or sensitive to them. It also said I was sensitive to sesame seeds (which would include tahini - another raw food I love). I am eating up one last jar of tahini slowly, but I may not buy anymore when I am done. I am relying on raw olives and nuts for my fat intake. The allergy test also didn't like cashews for me - what a pain. I also cannot take fish oil or flaxseed oil without taking insulin for it, which no doctor understands that reaction. That and the Type 1 Diabetes I got at 47 years old. I'm just weird, what can I say? ;-)

But despite little problems such as that, I know we can both stick with this!

Thanks karen and bell, You are a great support for me. I don't know anyone personally who eat this way nor do I know any vegetarians. You know I have'nt even taged myself a vegetarian, but I guess that is what I am now.
I went to the health food store {Its in the city, blaa} and spent way to much. I bought three gooks, Braggs vinerer, concious eating by cousins and The raw truth by Jeremy A Safron. I indulged myself way to much but really felt I needed a different insight to eating this way and I think these will help. I have only read ann wigmores books. I so love her and how she writes, she is so informative and mother like. Any how While I was at the health food store I had a 2 oz shot of wheat grass juice and a carrot and green veggy juice. When I got home I had some cucumbers and onions soaked in vineger. I over ate on some raw cashews and hazelnuts. I did'nt even soak them I just thought they tasted so good and nibbled on them throughout the day. I also got some frech raineer cherries and ate some of those. Thats about all I ate today. For some reason I am grumpy and short tempered today. I still am having problems with b.m.'s I was thinking of grinding up some flax seedsand soaking it in water and drinking it. Maybe that will loosen up my bowels.
I go to my dads tomorrow and I hope I can get him feeling well with some wheat grass and rejuvelac. He has very little interest in food and has lost a lot of weight. I will try to make him some seasame seed milk and some green juices. That should give him some energy. We will see
Have a good weekend People.
Pam

Hi Pam! Thanks for dropping in my thread to say you got your acv and book on it. I know it's going to help you out, espeically with the bm's.

My mother was 82 when I went to live with her to help her and to care for my ill sister, and she drank the fresh green juice I made almost daily. She'd only have about 6 oz. but it was very good for her.

I hope the wheat grass and rejuvelac helps your dad.

Love,
Prism

I hope so also, prisim, He is in really bad shape.

Hi pam, I sympathize. It is really hard to do this alone. Right now, for instance, I am cooking pancakes for my son and I don't know anyone else around here that eats like this either. Anyway, that is why I like this forum. It is helping to keep me motivated.

I also feel for you with the IBS symptoms. Let us know if the Bragg's helps.

I know what you mean on the nuts. I overate on nuts this week, they were providing them at work during a class I was taking and it was better than eating the other stuff. But I am going to cut back on them now. Do nuts upset your IBS symptoms? I know it does for some people because they can be hard to digest. Soaking them would make them easier to digest. I'm going to try to start doing that again. The only thing is is that requires planning and patience, two things I'm not good at sometimes. Once I crack them, I just want to eat them right then.

You are eating lots of healthy stuff - good for you! Let us know how you enjoy those books too!

I wish you the best with your dad! I was surprised to read he had met Ann Wigmore! What a lucky man! Sad to hear though, that he is not practising what he has learned from her.

I hope you can help him get back to health with the green juices.

Hi Pam,

I had IBS when I started raw. (this is in response to your 7/12 post) I started juicing and it took several months before things finally started to firm up a bit and I could see and feel the changes. I wasn't raw 100%, more like 75% at the time.

Sounds like you're doing great. I love wheatgrass juice. The first time I had it I asked if they put sweetner in it. It was sooooo sweet, I loved it! I don't get it anymore because it's not anywhere to be seen in Panama.

Keep up the good work. You've chosen a wonderful path. Glad to have you here.

Mona

Courage is the ability to change the familiar.

In response to your constipation and grumpiness: A lot of our emotions come up through detoxing. We also detox our feelings of pain, anger, resentments, etc. I also get grumpy when I first eat too many spicy gourmet raw. Then it settles down and I'm OK again.

Are you eating fruit for breakfast or delaying your first meal of the day? That will help with the healing process, too, besides helping with BM. How much fruit do you eat? I was constipated for years, and haven't had the problem since I started eating more fruit than veggies and cutting back on fats. It will happen for you, too, once your body eliminates the problem in your intestines and colon.

You’re doing great. Keep up the good work.

Peace,
Mona

Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.

pam, i hope your dad is feeling better and is enjoying the green juices. Take care.

I'm back. I worked my butt off there and cleaned the house. I juices some wheat grass for my dad and my brother, they both loved it. I brought some rejuvelac and my dad said it helped and the next day he wanted more of the rejuvelac. His stomach hurts a lot and he has lost a lot of weight. I also juiced some watermellon rind and he enjoyed that also. I would hope to have my brother learn to grow the grass. He seemed to love it so much, he said after he drank it he felt a happy, warm feeling grow inside him. On sunday I cooked a huge pot of stew for them and they both enjoyed that. They have been eating frozen fast food and I thought they needed some food with a bit more sustanance. Sometimes it is important to realize some people will always eat cooked foods but I feel the wheat grass has a lot of healing power. It seemed my dad felt a bit better. I hope to make another trip over there soon.
As for me I still am raw. I have been drinking a cap full of braggs vineger in my water. I enjoy the tast in my drinking water. This weekend I ate wheat grass and salad and lots of watermellon. I seem to be having better b.m.'s and since my energy level is up I will start walking. I have so much weight to loose I am afraid I will have saging skin when I lose it so I better exersize, right? Thanks for the words of encouragement I have to rush off, catch ya all later
pam

Wow, you did good introducing your relatives to wheatgrass and rejuvelac. So, do you grow your own wheatgrass and make your own rejuvelac? You must have taken your juicer with you, which juicer do you use that works well with both wheatgrass and watermelon ring?

I admire you so much. You have a lot going on in your life and you are still eating raw. Good for you!

I agree with you, they are probably always going to eat cooked food and much better a homemade stew instead of frozen fast food.

karen, just three weeks ago I was sitting on my porch like a useless lump looking over my back yard sucking up a cig and sipping my coffee and mulk. I had no energy and felt hopelessly stuck in my life. I felt way to fat to do anything and my feet hurt most of the time. I read many books on liveing a healthy life, most of them were books by ann wigmore. I also have been very depressed. Every night I would go to sleap and think about all the stupid things and shortcomeings I did in my past. Something happened and I can't explaine it but something changed in my mind. I realized that I could'nt go on in this manner or my children would have to be taking care of me. I am 49 years old and not getting younger. I decided it was now or never to eat raw foods and start taking better care of myself. I tried to eat raw in the past but just could'nt do it I would get real week and sick. I started out weighing about 350 pounds, that was a little over three weeks ago. I now weigh 314 pounds that is a wopping 36 pounds lost. I feel enough energy to start walking and hope to start some other exersizes for my abs and back. My only fear right now is I will end up with saggy skin but I would rather have saggy skin than fat. I joined a group called tops, its a weight loss group and I get weighed in every monday, I lost 6 pounds in a week. I am amazed with thin and so encouraged I have found the fountain of youth and want to sit beside it and perhaps dive right in.
Growing the wheat grass seems a little easy but you have to watch your sprouts carefully for mold. I found they grow much better uneing filtered water and steralizing the bottles I soak with boiling water. The first batches of rejuvelac did not tast very good infact they smelled like my grand sons diaper. I found a web sight that was very helpful with nice pictures It is called "his healing ways" That was extreamly helpfull. I have a hand cranking old wheat grass juicer I got at a sale for 3 dollers. I get a work out cranking the juice but I think I need all the working out I can do. I have an older champion juicer I also got at a sale for 50 dollers and a omega cintrifical juicer which was a gift. I now have five trays of wheat grass reaching out for sunshine and getting greener I will need to start some more today so I will have a good rotation going. I hope to try to make some veg krout soon. All of these things are new to me. I find most of my encouragement from this sight but I also google other places

Well, I hope you are proud of yourself for making these changes because you should be. Thanks for all the information!

I really don't know what is my problem lately I have been fairly reclusive and tired I want to go to sleap all the time. I have still been eating raw in fact this is my fourth week. I have been craving nuts all the time and today nothing looked good wxcept nuts In the morning I took some flax seeds and ground them in a coffee grinder and put it in some water and drank it down. I heard the flax was good for constipation. I can't figure it out I have been eating salad and fruit and am constipated I usually don't eat in the morning time but by noon I am hungry and then I eat. I don't have any wheat grass right now but soon the trays I have can be harvested. I also grew some barley, I am curious how barley grass taste. Any how I am constipated and grumpy.

pam,

I googled for 'raw food' and constipation to see if could find anything helpful for you.

I found these testimonials at [www.sunfood.com] and one guy said the nuts made him constipated.

One website said a glass of hot milk with honey at night would cure constipation. But that's not raw food, except you can get raw honey and in some states you can get raw milk.

Some other thoughts from my research - make sure you are drinking plent of water and consider supplementing with extra digestive enzymes.

I found a constipation kit on www.rawbakery.com for 9.99 that uses raw grains. Just search for constipation kit on that site if you are interested.

This one raw fooder at [curezone.com] says "Undigested food along with high consumption of nuts always causes constipation." He says more, check it out if you are interested.

I also found this little snippet - Constipation: A lack of water or a weak digestive system can cause constipation. Fiber must accompany water to expand and activate your intestines. Eating dried raw food with insufficient water causes the fiber to tangle, resulting in constipation.

Lastly, of course, if you have read any of my diary you know that I would recommend a colonic. Go to a colon hydrotherapist and enjoy! ;-)

I hope things start moving for you soon. :-)

Thanks karen, I really would like to go for a colonic, I am going to research just where to go. I do drink lots of water but lately I have been munching on the nuts a lot. I should know better but really my mood has been foul lately. I am just starting to get a bit more positive. I have been reading that flax seeds are a good thing for keeping regular. also I hope to get some psyliam I guess that is good also. Whatever the case is it is so surprising to be constipated when all I have been eating is fruit and vegies. I still am raw even though I am not feeling so positive lately. Last night the kids had pop corn. That is one of my favs, popcorn with butter and brewers yeast on it. So I ate some brewers yeast. It actually tasted real good. I just wet my finger and diped it in, it was so good I took a couple more dips in the bag. I juiced some vegies and had t large spoons of flax so far this morning. I just put water in the flax and drank it down. Some of it I chewed, it actually has a plesant tast but after a while the texture gets a bit slimey, thats when I just drink it down like medicine.

Flaxseeds sound like a good idea to me. Hope it works!

Maybe you could sprinkle brewers yeast on your salads, if you like the taste. It has lots of B vitamins, right?

A good place to start maybe to ask at your look health food store if they know of any colon hydrotherapists.

I just recently found a new website called www.earthclinic.com when I was looking for acne cures for my son. So then I searched on constipation and found the cures they have received from people all over - [www.earthclinic.com].

karen, you have so much to offer, thanks so much.
I started some fruit dehydrating today. I got some bananas and a couple of apples that needed to be dryed because they were almost to old. I also froze some bananas. I am going to try to make some bread and I wanted to see how this dehydrator worked. I got it at a yard sale and it has a fan, my other dryer does'nt have a fan. I can't affored one of those x calibers. I still can't believe how easy a dehydrator is to make yet the price of the x-caliber is so high. I think there is some price gouging going on in the raw food business.
I bought some sour-krout at the health food store last week and finally got brave enough to eat some. Oh that stuff tasts so good I got to make some of that stuff. I also saw some recepies on marinated vegies. It seems a little easy to make sour krout and I cant wait to try it So tomorrow I am going to buy some more ingredients so I can make some.
I am doing a wee bit better and my energy is going up
My dad called and wanted to know what a electric wheat grass juicer costs. He wants to start growing the stuff I hope to take a trip out there again to teach my brother how to grow it. My dad has a good idea on how it grows but he is'nt strong enough to do it hisself
Got to go for now
pam

I am just good at researching and finding things. You're welcome.

Are you going to make sprouted bread? Share your recipe! ;-)

Yeah, I know what you mean about the prices. I finally splurged and bought a K-tec blender (kind of like a Vitamix only I like the K-tec better - it's a home version of the Blend-tec which you see at all the juicing places) and it was quite an investement! I do use it a lot though, so it is worth it. I haven't bought a dehydrator and probably won't. I think dehydrated fruits would make my blood sugars go sky high and I could easily get addicted to them.

Let us know how your sauerkraut and marinated veggies taste and share the recipes, please.

I got Karen Knowler's, a raw food coach in the UK, email newsletter today and it talked about how some raw foodists find they don't have good energy. She thinks it is due to overeating. If you overload your digestive system, it will make you sluggish whether it is raw food or cooked food. She recommends eating only when truly hungry. Anyway, I thought it was interesting.

Your dad wants to drink wheatgrass juice! Cool!

I really need a blender, I havent even looked at all the options out there. As for the vege krout The raw stuff has enzymes and other good stuff for digestion. I can't explaine just why I have been craving the stuff but right now I am listening to my body somewhat.
Today I had a couple of bites of my dried bread. I should have ground it up more because there were some hard wheat kernals in it and it was heavy and needed something else to tast better. later I had 2 oz of wheat grass juice and later I munched some of that raw sourkrout. I am so hooked on the stuff. this evening I have been eating some cherries. Thats about all for today.
I seem to be more regular today and my disposition is much better. I think if I have some flax seeds every day that will help. I came across a drink that included flax seeds ground up. I am happy now with just drinking the flax in the morning. I got some psylium seeds today, maybe I will add some of that in my drink. Whatever makes me regular. That is hell being plugged up like that. I don't see how I managed so many years not being regular.
I started some exersizing today. I am so afraid I will have saging skin when I lose all this extra fat. I have all this new energy I got to do something with it.
Well tomorrow I am planning to go find a local farmers market to see what kind of produce I can get.
Take care all and happy eating.
pam

Sounds like you are hooked on some healthy stuff, good for you!

I'm glad the flax seeds are working for you.

Maybe the raw food diet will help your skin to tighten up while you are losing weight...

Karen, I sure hope my skin will tighten up. I have noteced that my streatch marks from having five children are looking like they are actually lightening up. I found a sat farmers market. I found a lot of great produce for resonable prices. Yum yum. I got some garlic basil corn sugar peas lettuce and much more.
One more thing I noticed is I can wald without feeling tired. I had to park several blocks away. I use to not be able to walk even a block without feeling warn out. That sounds pathetic but its true. I feel so much more energy now and I can do so much more, I still am over weight, however I feel like I am not.
I don't know just why I am so addicted to the saurkrout, I think it is the spice and garlic taste. I have been craving garlic lately. At the market I got a garlic flower. I am going to sprinkle it on my salad today.

What's a garlic flower look like? You are making your own feremented veggies?

I remember when I couldn't walk a half block without turning around to go back to my couch! It was awful, and I don't ever want to be that way again. I lost 71 lbs. on raw foods in the first 6 months of going raw. It was really amazing.

I'm so glad you are doing so well on raw foods. The lessons learned from being on it seem to stick with me, even when I'm not doing as well as I want. I am far from going back to where I started at pre-raw.

Love,
Prism

prisim, so glad to see you here. Well the flower is purple kind of a ball shape you pick the little flowers off and mix them in a salad or whatever. The flowers taste like garlic. Unfortunately I did't find it in the bag. I think the gal forgot to put it in.
As for the formented veggies, I have been reading a bunch of recepies and I am getting ready to give it a try. I really like the spicy stuff right now but it does give me some foul breath.
I ate a salad and more of that saurkrout and a avacado today. I think later I will munch on some fruit. I seem to still be loseing weight. Thats a plus. Just call me the incredible shrinking woman.

Yes, of course..I remember now the big beautiful purple flower, but I didn't know you could eat what came out of it. I thought it was a bulb onion..it's not? Or can you eat the bulb too?

I know what regular little green onions look like when planted, I've planted those many times. I never planted regular large onions though.

Oh, and I wanted to ask how you make your sourcrout, or sauercrout?.

Love,
Prism



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/2007 07:09PM by Prism.

Well about the saurkrout, I have several varieties of recepies. there is ann wigmores books and the consious eating book has a couple of recepies and a noncook book i purchased. I am a bit nervous about making the stuff so I googled it and found some information. It seems fairly easy to do. I just dont understand the formenting thing but it seems I need to pound the cabbage or put it through my champion juicer in order to get the juices flowing. I think I will use some of the cabbage in the champian and just shred the rest so I will have some chunks. I am going to add some other vegies like carrots and a turnup and some brocollie. I want it spicy so I am going to add some cyanne pepper and some hot peppers. I don't have a crock but I do have a big stock pot. I boil some water to steralize the pot. I think steralizing is the most important step. I read to fill a plastic bag with water and lay it on the top or use a plate and a rock for weight to place on the cabbage mixture. It has to sit for several weeks. I'm game I'll give it a try. I've made some wierd things in the past and this seems fairly easy. I don't know why I have such a tast for this stuff but it sure does taste good to me. I also found a marinated veggie recipe that calls for soaking the vegetables in vineger That sounded interesting also. I wish I got more stuff at the farmers market yesterday though.
I am still raw. I ate two necterines today and had a glass of rejuvelac.
Got to go for now I was boiling some water in my pot while I typed this.

I haven't fermented any cabbage, but a friend has done it and she says she has to add salt. Is that true?

Yesterday I started some saurkraut I did end up puting some celtic sea salt in it to get the cabbage juices going. I ended up pounding the cabbage for a long time. the book says the cabbage needs to be juicy. The recipe did not call for salt but I ended up puting about a teaspoon of it in. I also made some marinated veggies I tasted them today and the cauli flower tast real good but the carrots I don't care for that much.
I lost only 1 pound this last week. I don't know what my problem is lately but I have been feeling depressed lately. I have plenyt of energy yet I feel tired and agitated. Not sure just what my problem is. I wonder if it is all that spicy saurkrout I have been eating. I have been contemplating going on a juice fast, I don't like the fasting though because usually it is so harsh on my system. I am frusterated with my lack not being regular but I really havenot been relegous on taking the ground flax. I gues I need to evaluate my eating and see what I can do for myself.

I am so sorry to hear that you are feeling depressed, tired, and agitated. I hope you figure out what works for you and start feeling better soon.

Have you been able to find a colon hydrotherapist?

Is you dad enjoying wheatgrass juice now?