I have been reading about this for weeks now and though my family and I are lacto/ovo vegetarians, for my part it wasn't enough. I drink and I smoke (a little), so I have bad habits. Maybe one day those habits will end. In any event, I recall many years ago I tried the juicer diet and it was quite satisfying, however, my stomach is very sensitive . . . maybe more so than others'*. I have self diagnosed myself with IBS. I know the triggers now and they were all true: dairy, red meat, caffiene, soy, and possibly veg. oil.

I want to restore balance to my body as best as I can and so I am experimenting with this diet: I go the the grocery store and by any organic vegetable/fruit I think I can stomach eating it as is and I only add a little sea salt if it needs it when time to eat. These are the things I have tried raw so far:

Avocados
Tomatos
Zuchini/yellow squash
green beans
yellow bell pepper
asparagus (quite good actually)
celery
yukon gold potato (did not like the texture in my mouth)
basil
white mushrooms

red grapes
bannanas
strawberries

Initially my stomach felt a little funny. Though I was a vegetarian (lacto/ovo) most of what I ate was pasta and quorn products (which are quite good).

My main reason for posting here is to get your thoughts on #1 do I need a food processor and #2 is extra virgin olive oil really necessary/healthy in its processed form?

* I once juiced beet juice with apples and it came out the other end within 30 minutes . . . violently.


p.s. the debate really seems to be now whether my body can handle raw foods as opposed to their raw juiced counterparts. But you feel more full eating the way I do and you end up eating less and this coming from a guy who can easily eat half a box of pasta while his wife eats the other half.

i hope along with your diet , you really do consider that the alchohol and smoking is a total IBS irritant

even though you have self diagnosed yourself with IBS i would definitely get a second opinion as its kinda doubtfull you are qualified to make this kind of diagnosis .. there can be any number of things goin on down there *lol* that cause the same sort of symptoms .. ranging from a simple bacterial/parasitical disorder ..to the worse colon cancer

again i wuold make a point of learning about some food combining to find what works best for you

there are a number of people here with IBS that i hope will post some help as well as they are working through it too

do you need a food processor? probably not .. there are many great posts on here about equipment .. its really up to you .. eat things as naturally as you want or make things as complicated as you want by making gourmet raw stuff

i wouldnt say olive oil is critical if you dont want it dont take it , try other oils if olive doesnt work for you . . or none at all .. maybe your bowels cant handle oil in its present condition .. try it again later

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

I am sorry, I do remember the alcohol was an IBS trigger . . .esp. for me, beer as opposed to straight alcohol.

yep beer(n) there done that lol

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

In my experience foods are best eaten in their whole, fresh (not dehydrated and not processed) form.

I eat some cold pressed olive oil, but only a little. If you eat cold pressed olive oil or any other unwhole, processed or dehydrated raw foods (including dried fruit, nut butters, juices), my suggestion is that you really concentrate on not overeating them.

Most raw people do a lot of experimenting to see what works best for them.

While you're transitioning, maybe try to stay with whole fresh raw foods as much as you find comfortable. And if something works well for you juiced, that's OK too, in moderation. If anything doesn't work well, try to avoid it.

Things can change too over time. You may try one raw food and it feels bad during transition, but fine later on. Or maybe the opposite - it feels fine now and bad later on.

As you become more established on raw, your experience should be more and more consistent, until you know very well what's best for you to eat.

i feel bad because right now i find it easiest to eat avocados and tomatos. i can eat that till the cows come home. someone once said avocados are perhaps the perfect single food.

theres nothing wrong with eating avocados and tomatoes ... if thats what you can eat rightnow .. then eat em till the cows come home and try to incorperate different things as you go along

there are tons of receipies to discover using tomatoes and avocados you can put on top of your greens

avocados make a great creamy base for sauces and dressings and tomatoes make a great base for salsa types or spagetti type sauces / dressings

dont feel bad .. where does that get you? nowhere .. take what you got and go with it lol

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist