hi everyone,

despite all your (lovely and appreciated) advice as to why i was eating so much, ive experimented and taken advice and tried so many different things, and im STILL always hungry, eating heaps, and not feeling all the high energy raw-ers talk about. im hungry 30 mins after i eat a huge salad with an avo in it. i wake up hungry and usually go to sleep hungry. im ALWAYS bloated and my stomach feels funny a fair bit. when i first went raw i was fine and got hungry at about 11am everyday - i dont know why this has changed? could my body maybe be craving something specific its not getting? (i have a varied and quite good 100% raw diet) OR--

a naturopath friend suggested this may be parasites in my stomach - what do you guys think? should i go on a parasite cleanse, or a colon cleanse? should i fast?

a friend of mine had a similiar problem when she first went raw - she was alllways hungry and kept losing weight - then she did banana island for a week (only eating nanas) and it fixed it - she felt she had an absorbtion issue, could this perhaps be what i have?

any thoughts appreciated,

hungry,

lilbear

lilbear,

Have you tried eating nothing but bananas for a while? Maybe do that and see. The parasite that commonly induces insatiable hunger is the tapeworm; taenia solium or taenia saginata or diphyllobothrium latum. You can and should get a special bloodtest and/or occult fecal test to confirm this--it's pretty hard to miss, as the worms grow large enough to be visible with the naked eye. Here's a site that may explain things, including typical symptoms, better:
[www.allergyescape.com]

hi tamukha, thanks for your response

im now not so sure that i have a gut parasite as i dont seem to have many of those symptoms, except insatiable hunger, and bloating, and generally not having great overall health (ive had more colds on 4months of raw than 4yrs of vegan). thanks for the link!

im now taking an anti-parasitic 3x a day so hopefully that will eliminate one possibility when im finished it.

i was going to try banana island this weekend, which ive never done before, but now im concerned as i spoke briefly to a few other naturopaths who said it may be a fructose/blood sugar level thing - because i do only fruit till about 12,1pm everyday they think thats causing it - they think i need to either eat nuts with my fruit or cut down on fruit altogether, but fruit seems like such a fantastic nutritional staple of a raw diet? i also know that combining fruit with nuts is a huge food combining no no - does anyone on this forum do it successfully?

another naturopath says im not getting enough protein (fairly predictable), but my diet does mainly consist of fruit, veges and overt fats (avos, coconuts, coconut oil, cacao) - i probably only make a concious decision to eat nuts and seeds every 2nd or 3rd day - maybe i should be having these more like 2x a day? what does everyone think?

thanks everyone!

lilbear

lilbear, don't worry about it.

Use a scales, the scales doesn't lie. Just keep off nuts, seeds and oils!!!! I swear those are the only things... and notice how they're not readily available in nature much.

Humans are designed to eat a lot. We're trained by society that it's "glutonous" to eat so much. That we should sit extremely straight. That we should sterelize everything. That we should do as others tell us to. That you should have a big sandwich and be done for a while, then depending on how mentally strong you are, binge on biscuits in between and get fat. What a load of tosh.

Keep slurping down plum after plum. That's GOOD!!!! My advice is don't let others see you do it, they'll disturb you, you'll disturb them... it's just generally not a good idea. Keep telling yourself "Yes, I eat so much and yet I'm going to get/maintain being skinny", pretty soon you'll be not wanting to eat so much, but pushing it into yourself in case you're hungry and tempted later.

Primevally we're programmed to think "volume = energy/calories", that's why you feel glutonous eating so much. The fact is that that's the RIGHT amount to eat and if you ate anything like that in bread you'd become so obese you'd die! It's a reprogramming.

At first years ago the food authorities such as the USDA said: "raw foodists are never satisfied, they keep eating and gain weight", then when the exact opposite occurred they said "screw that, we'll tell them that they may lose weight but they won't have any energy and won't menstruate properly etc.". Obviously all complete lies and rubbish.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/2009 04:17AM by SuperInfinity.

lilbear,

I would STRONGLY urge you to not, NOT mix nuts or other fats with fruit. Yes, some raw foodists do this, but typically, you hear people who ended up being high fruit or veg, but low fat saying, "After a while I just started feeling so tired and bloated on gourmet raw." This is because you probably cannot do weird food combining forever without it affecting your system badly. Eventually, the liver and pancreas start to have a hard time on high fat.

And as for protein deficiency, rubbish. Ask the naturopaths when they have ever seen a case of protein deficiency. They won't be able to say. There is this new idea in vogue that protein satiates you and that's why a lot of it should be consumed. This is what was being said about fat, which chemically is the only truly satiating macronutrient, just a few years ago. In a curious parallel to what I described above regarding ending up high fruit after initially being high nuts and seeds, people on high protein diets almost inevitably backslide into eating high carbs. How many people do you know who have been on the Atkins Plan for twenty years, for example? It almost can't be done. The brain would literally starve.

Make sure you are eating as many pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables as you can, including mineral rich, hunger-smothering green smoothies, and see if this doesn't help after a while.

Hello Lilbear,

As noted in a separate post, I've been seeking ways to wash produce so pathogens will be removed (and have received wonderful suggestions I am going to try, thank you!) In my research on the internet trying to find what I as a raw foodist can do to prevent food-borne problems, I came across this article on Prevention's website: [www.prevention.com]

Especially interesting is page for of that article recommending that anyone who gets food poisoning log on to a Michigan State University website to record their symptoms, what they ate, etc., to help track outbreaks. In case that terribly long link doesn't work, the article is titled "Is Your Produce Poisoned?
Tainted fruits and vegetables are a hidden health threat to you and your family. Here's what you need to do about it" and the MSU website is: RUsick2.com

All best wishes!

Gee

hey everyone,

the problem is i AM eating heaps of fruit and greens, and i have BIG green smoothies (6 bananas, 5 strawberries, HUGE bunch of kale) and it doesnt satiate me - im hungry before i even finish it! it just doesnt make sense.

the problem is not that im concerned with eating lots, im not, i know that raw is different - its that i always seem to be hungry and nothing seems to fill me up. i think this is my body telling me im missing something which is concerning. i eat probably 3 big bunches of greens a day, so i dont think it could be magnesium, iron or calcium. i eat nuts and seeds, avo and coconut so it cant be overt fats. i was thinking it could be zinc cos i dont eat very many pumpkin seeds? so ive started eating more of them. im also constantly bloated. tonight i had a HUGE salad with half a leek, a huge bunch of kale, and one avo - and an hour later im still hungry.

im just getting so frustrated with going to bed hungry all the time and its having a serious toll on my mental health.

*sigh, sorry for the winging.

One thing that comes to mind that helps me to get good signals is to eat more mono meals. The mono meal dosn't have the confusion of different foods in it to confuse the body. Its a simple signal. Are you eating a continuous feed of mixed foods ?

EDIT: I just thought of another possibility - mucoid plaque: [en.wikipedia.org]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/09/2009 12:43PM by EZ rider.

Running through the list of possible mineral deficiencies, chloride comes to mind, that needed for production of hydrochloric acid and digestion.

lilbear -- I've just been doing some reading from the google links and it looks like "mucoid plaque" is very controversial. I think a high fiber diet is the best way to keep the intestines clean. Sorry for posting a link to something so controversial.

hey everyone, thansk for your responses

- yep, i am eating a continuous mix of foods - not mono, so that may be an idea..
- chloride is something i havent thought of - im getting a blood test this afternoon so ill let everyone know what that brings up
-im halfway through my detox capsules and my appetite hasnt changed so im beginning to think its not a tummy bug..
- yep ive heard of the mucoid plaque thing - and i think also a lot of those colon cleanse/detox programs have dodgy things actually INSIDE them that produce things in your poo so you go 'oh there are the worms/toxins etc!'. dodgy bastards.

thanks everyone,

lilbear