Today is the day I shall try to make some sense of what my body has been telling me for years. I am about 20 pounds overweight and in constant agony from rheumatoid arthritis for twenty-five years. Doctors, drugs and surgeries is all i ever hear and nothing works! I know there must be a better way to go and here I am willing to follow the rest of you. Honestly, I have no clue but today I started my day with an apple and a cup of peppermint tea. I am making alfalfa sprouts and will cut up some celery and carrots. I do have some romaine lettuce and can make a salad 2 but wondering what to include? dairy has always bothered my pain levels and certainly, salad dressing is a no-no right? or maybe vinegar and oil but i think vinegar is bad 2. i read a book that says apple cider vinegar can cure all kinds of ills. guess what I am really saying is anybody wanna chat and offer some insight???? i shall also hit the book store and look for a good book on raw foods.

Can you get to a library? The books are all a bit different in what they 'preach' and i have bought one or two that I no longer enjoy or follow what they say.

Personally the best book i have bought is the 80/10/10 diet by Dr. Doug Graham. Although I am not yet at the stage where i can follow this regime completely, I am working towards it and believe that this is the right direction for me.

I think at the beginning it is easy to believe that you 'need' so called superfoods, pills, powders, algae and goodness knows what else. It's a fear factor really as you don't have much experience of what works for you and you see it written down that you must have this, that or the other. I bought spirulina tablets and hemp powder in the beginning of my raw journey, hated them and ended up throwing them away when i realised it was just marketing hype.

You didn't mention fruit - for me this is an absolute staple - it will also stop you getting too hungry. I do not add salad dressing or oil to anything.

I have no experience of Rheumatoid arthritis so I can give no advice regarding that. I do know that people with all sorts of complaints seem to have a signifigant improvement in their health once they take the raw path.

The book called The China Study by T.Colin Campbell is a fascinating read - he discusses the relationship between diet and disease. There is a little bit about juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and milk.

All the best

Philippa

I agree with jan about the so called super foods. I think it is important to be well informed especially concerning the calcium and protien issues. You will find most people are very afraid to not eat meat or milk because of these things. The book called the china study is helpfull in that respect. I enjoy the books that give a testimonial about how changing over to eating raw has helped that person so I tend to enjoy victoria boutenko, Matt Monarch and ann wigmore books. I love reading other peoples blogs as well because I get so much encouragement from reading about how others have overcome their struggles in making the changes.

There is a progression our bodies make when we change our diet and the first is our blood changes for the better. I think it takes about 21 days to really start feeling great and it takes about 21 days to change a habit as well. Jso what I am saying is to make short goals of change for yourself and feel good about that.

I am hopeing your arthritis has not altered your joints to badly but in many ways eating raw really helps in most people who have arthritis. I am trying to get my oldest daughter to change over to eating raw because she believes she has rumitoid arthritus. She is taking some awful pain pills for that and experiances bowel problems and personality changes.

One more helpfull tip is to look into the wheat grass juice and its bennifitts as well as experiment with green smoothies. Fruits are great but a proper balance of greens has its bennies as well and when eating green smoothies you don't have to have salad dressings so you bypass the problems that arise with oil or to much vineger.

Oh about vineger, make sure you use the non processed vinegers such as bragg's because the processed can make you very sick and has much of its nutrients processed out.

Keep us informed of your progress. I really hope you do this for your health and happiness. I am excited for you.

Pam

I like cold pressed olive oil and lemon juice (not vinegar) on my salads.

I would not have made it without green smoothies. They don't neccesarily fill you up but fill you with readily availble nutrients.

Learn to make a meal of your favourite fruit. I eat 6 - 7 bananas for lunch most every day. You have to stay on top of your hunger or you will cave and eat foods you shouldn't and this will give you strong cravings for more bread/crackers/rice/salt and make it very hard for you to stay on course and you will quickly forget why you are doing this.

Stay away from too many nuts in the begginning, it can mess up your digestion. Avocado is a more easily digestible fat I've found. This new way of eating may sound bizarre to you now but I assure you if you stick to a raw whole foods low fat diet you will think you've discovered a fountain of healing and will become part of a minority of folks who know how to heal and lose weight but very few will believe you, that's kind of a down side.

Here's one of many recipes I have scribbled down-

finely shredded cabbage
favourite sprouts
sunflower seeds
lime juice

Please keep us posted of your progress. My sister has RH too.

Thank you Philippa I shall find the book tomorrow. Everybody has been so kind on this site I am grateful to have found it. I love fruit but only had apples in the fridge. Today I had a delightful berry mix with fresh pineapple I just enjoyed from Whole Foods. I just wanna feel better and am looking to find a way to avoid surgeries which seems to be the doctors only answers. It is so frustrating but I am sooooo excited at my 2pd weight loss and my energy this morning. Now...if only the pain would subside. I bought some raw goat cheese as I heard goats milk was good for arthritis but could not find any unpasteurized and was enlightened that it is not allowed in the state of illinois. soooo bought the cheese and gonna try tomorrow.

Thank you Pam I have written all the authors down and shall head out tomorrow for some good reads. It is very frustrating when u are sick and go to the doctor and get medicine that often leads to another symptom and so u go round and round until...like me u finally say enough there must be a better way. My joints are quite damaged but i am still managing. they want to do surgery on my swollen elbow now but i am gonna try to get the swelling down and eat natural foods and take measurements of the swelling and progress my report. I pray for a better solution than surgery and more drugs. I have tried fasting and had excellent results with pain but u cant do it forever. Also I have always heard not to combine fruits with veggies so how can u make a smoothie with wheat grass? ~L

Thx for the idea i just bought some first cold pressed olive oil and shall get some lemons. also got some braggs apple cider vinegar. thank u again ~L

No it does not sound bizarre at all to me actually i am very intrigued just need some direction. For me it sounds bizarre to take pills that suppress my immune system and make me feel like crap cause its the only solution offered. nope i wanna different path. I love ur recipe so thank u. By lime juice u mean just squeeze a few fresh ones in there? is this blender or a juicer? i dont have a juicer but can certainly buy one. ~L

oops and almost 4got to mention i am eating nuts for protein. only about 8 a day. not sure how else to get my protein and suppose i sound kinda like dumbo....~L

CB:

Congratulations on your healthy decision. Your concerns are certainly valid. Your basic deal about eating raw is to try to switch out as many (or all) of the things you are eating with fresh fruits & vegetables...and the freshest nuts you can get your hands on. It is my personal experience that you will experience great healthy if you do this. Some caveats:

1) Stay full
2) Eat a very WIDE variety of fresh fruits & vegetables
3) The more poor your lifestyle is, I would advise changing your diet slowly to ease any discomfort or detox.

-A good 30 day plan (or longer) is great. A steady, slow 6-12 month plan is also not too much time to invest in changing a lifetime of eating habits.

-Don't worry too much about what is actually 'raw'. If you concentrate on filling your diet with mostly fresh fruits and vegetables....the other stuff probably won't hurt you anyway! Ha! ha! It sound like what you are doing is fine.

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

Hey sweet message David and I am going to head over to your website now. Day three is going marvelous and I do actually feel better. I am trying to do exactly what u recommended as it seems unreasonable that a baked potatoe or sweet potatoe would cause me harm. So I am moving gradually along and checked out some books online and have found a wealth of recipes on here. I am going for variety on my veggies to avoid boredom and have only better days in sight ahead. Thank you for your kindness. ~L