Hi,

I starting eating raw back in January going a 100% overnight and I have to admit I'm not yet through the adaptation period.

I've gone through hard times and felt in fruit and nut binges during this time that surely did not help my health. I think that for a while I might have been sugar addicted and fat addicted and I ate until I was so full that I wasn't able to eat anymore and I waited until I was hungry again to start binging on fruit or fat again.

Anyways, I saw a lot of problems pass through (teeth getting really bad, diabetes like symptoms, sulphur burps, ...) and never really saw the raw energy and health.

However, I decided to put an end to that and take on me about a month or so ago. Reading green for life helped me a lot I think.

I now enjoy getting lots of green leafy vegetables in the form of smoothies. My typical day includes 2 1.2L green smoothies (with 2-3 fruits and a lot of greens each). I would say I eat about 2 pounds of green leafy vegetables per day. During a normal day I also include a salad with some fat (mostly avocado, hemp seeds, flax seeds or sunflower seeds).

So my fat and fruit intake is now quite low and my green leafy intake is very high.

However, I have pretty irregular bowel movements, so much that I rapidly feel bloated and can't consume a lot of food now without feeling very full. It's like if my body is full of **** and it doesn't go out fast enough. I even have a strange belly (bloated belly).

The thing is so bad that I'm not hungry most of the time and when I eat just a little, I'm full. I feel that I don't have the chance to pack on enough calories. When I have a bowel movement (which are very small, but of normal consistence), I often feel hungry afterwards like it let some room for food in my body.

All in all, I feel that my body needs calories to build up (because I lost a lot of weight with those previous raw habits and I'm now underweight) but that it is so full of **** that it doesn't have room for it.

I wonder if all this might be due to either the fact that those months of binging and addiction damaged my digestive system and that my body works hard to repair it or if it comes from the fact that my fat intake is now quite low and my body misses some fat (to absorb fat soluble vitamins for example).

I often have this weird feeling of being hungry while being bloated at the same time. I have the sensation that if the **** in me gets out once and for all, I would have to drink 5 or 6 green smoothies in a row since my body needs calories so bad.

The other symptoms (teeth problems and diabetes symptoms) are gone and the other areas of my health seem to have stabilized, but there is still this problem that I feel restrain me from good health.

All in all, my journey with raw food as been long and somewhat sad up until now and I hope it will be over soon. Any open minded advice would be great.

Thanks

what about a series of colonics?

I've never been a fan of playing around this part of my body personally, but it might be the answer.

I read on wikipedia that this medical practice is often used in alternative medicine but that it is not recommended to be done other than by a doctor.

Can anybody explain to me what exactly are colonics, what are the possible dangers or side effects and what are the costs. Also, is it something I can do myself? I don't like doctors or specialists.

Thanks

Try food combining:






Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/2008 03:11AM by Lillianswan.

oooo thanks lillian...i stole that chart for my own personal use LOL
patty

Hi Sebezz -

I could have written your original post...I didn't realize another person felt that way. I have been 100% for a couple of years. How is your energy?

My energy is quite low actually.

I also have no drive to do sports or sexual drive.

You've been raw for years and are still struggling with it?!

Exercise, exercise, exercise. If all else fails, get ACTIVE. It gets everything moving if you're looking for a last resort. I also agree with the aforementioned suggestion of proper food combining.

there are some things that I just can't eat without huge bloating and painful tummy problems and one of those things is flax seeds - so I just don't ever eat them. cooked pulses used to do the same thing. too many nuts and other seeds also.

I don't know how to advice you except maybe simplyfy each day and see if you can discover triggers.

I had a colonic once - didn't feel any different afterwards - wouldn't bother again but each to his own.

hope you feel better soon
Philippa

also try chewing a LOT! Try counting up to 20-40 chews depending on the amount of food you put in your mouth - allow the saliva to break down important starches, proteins and even fats.

Chew your smoothie too, man, no joke; that might help a tad.

I hope all your problems patch up
-Chloe

If you eat salads with lots of fat , you might be getting enough calories by that...


try nutridiary.com to calculate, you might be surprised!

I have suffered in the EXACT same way! I feel for you, but hang in there, keep trying new foods/or new ways to combine the foods and than keep a journal on your symtoms. For me, anything with sugar or wheat (processed not sprouted) would give me gas. Eating fruit too soon after a meal will give me that awful bloated feeling. Candida is something that caused the bloating...check it out online. They have a test you can take yourself to see if you suffer from candiasis. (Candida, overgrowth of candida albicans in your system)

I think your body is taking its time to adjust to teh new food. To make things easy, can you tey mono eating? Or may be a some days of juice/ water fasting?

Just my 2 cents.

Take care
A Iyer

sebzzz
I had this problem when i first went raw. Its so uncomfortable!

I did a short veggie juice fast followed by a couple of days on water, back to veggie juice then slowly added fruits. I made sure that i food combined for several months afterwards. I also did a lot of mono eating.

The second time i started raw, the bloating returned. I repeated the above and it stopped immediately.
Hope you find your way through this soon
Blessings
lorretta