I've been vegetarian for the past 7 years and decided to take the plunge and go raw. I began by eating approximately 75% raw all last week, then went 100% this week. On cooked foods, I've found that I have a compulsive eating issue that revolves around junk food. While eating raw I haven't done it a single time; in the past several years I have been unable to do that for even 1 day! It's amazing!

But, here's where the problem comes in: Yesterday I began feeling a pain on my left side, along the bottom of my ribcage, that is accompanied by a sort of "fullness". It reminds me of when I had mono a couple years ago, only more intense, which makes me think it is an issue with my spleen. I've also had the chills, heart palpitations, some aching on the right side of my abdomen and my stomach has become bloated & noisy. In looking my symptoms up, I've come across information regarding the possibility of raw foods having a negative effect on some peoples' spleens, as they can upset the energy balance or cause "dampness" (according to Chinese medicine).

Has anyone heard of this or experienced such symptoms? What should I do, if anything? I'm loving the impact raw food has on every other aspect of my life and would hate to abandon the lifestyle, but I'm becoming concerned. I wonder if I shouldn't ease up for a few days, then ease back into raw a little more slowly? Or maybe fast for a bit? Any input would be appreciated!

Maybe ease back a bit and go more slowly. Have you been eating 'industrial' quantities of any one thing? The stomach 'bloating and noisy' could be a bad combination of some kind - possibly

Some of your symptoms sound like detox. Can you do mono meals and juicing for a bit?

Good job on healthy food eating!

flipperjan - I've been trying to keep my diet pretty varied - fruits, vegetables, nuts, sprouts, etc., so bad food combining may be a culprit. I haven't eaten mass amounts of any one food.

Utopian Life - I'm willing to give it a shot! Are there any foods I should avoid?

I don't know that you should indefinitely avoid any raw ones, but maybe cut out nuts and seeds for now and just do fresh fruits, vegetables, and sprouts?

If you are interested in balancing out 'dampness' and the like, I highly recommend:

Healing with WHole Foods by Pitchford.

[ my stomach has become bloated & noisy.]

This is not a spleen issue, it's a fiber issue. You're not use to the fiber and antinutrient content. I had this once and only once and will NEVER make the same mistake. It's painful!

Try:

smaller meals

less food eat each meal

more of the "easier" stuff (lettuce, fruit, juice, smoothies)

less of the "difficult" stuff (raw hard vegetables, spinach, cruciferous leaves unless blended or juiced or even (gasp) steamed)

I also think that you may be having some digestive challenge. The simpler the meal, the easier it is to digest.

That being said, it may take a while for your body to adapt to eating only raw foods. The foods that are easiest to digest are fresh ripe fruits and tender leafy greens.

So having a meal of only one kind of food, and that food being either a fresh ripe fruit or a tender leafy green will be the easiest to digest.

By the way, most fruit you buy at the store is not ripe and ready to eat, but often needs to sit in your kitchen a few days before eating. A case of orange in the store will have a few that are ready to eat on the first day, but other oranges in that same case may need to sit for a few days or a week before it is really ripe.

As you eat more fruits, you will begin to notice which fruits are ripe by the way they smell, feel, and ultimately taste.

Personally, I would be concerned about the pain on the right and left sides, and about the heart palpitations. I get palpitations when something is wrong with my diet. If I am eating too many acid-forming foods, that seems to cause my palpitations. I also seem to correct them if make sure I get enough calcium and magnesium from my foods and watch sodium intake (sea salt is all I use...the processed stuff is very bad. Even with sea salt, I watch intake). Figs and prunes are good for calcium and magnesium (can't remember what's good for what) but have to be careful not to eat too much or I get gas. Potassium is also critical for proper heart function. Bananas are well known for this.
Certain raw foods are toxic in their raw state. These include kidney beans (need to be boiled for ten minutes to remove the poison, which is highly toxic), button mushrooms (raw food cookbooks don't warn about this!), and other raw mushrooms, like portabella and shiitake, to a lesser degree. The mustard oil in raw onions can be very irritating to your insides, and eating a lot of them will cause anemia. I feel much better since limiting mushrooms and onions (which I love). I've heard you must be careful about mold when it comes to sprouts. Store bought sprouts are bigger culprits with this. I'd go easy on sprouts.
Soak your nuts and seeds to make them more alkaline. Swiss chard and spinach contain a lot of oxalic acid (that's what it's called right? This is from the top of my head) and can reduce your body's ability to absorb calcium.
These are all just some things I would consider if I were experiencing the same problems as you.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2009 02:04PM by musicbebe.