Hi all,

I've been high raw a while but am now on day 5 of my first all raw experiment, pretty much following 801010.

I'm eating a lot of fruit - apples, pears, bananas and citrus mainly. In addition, on Sunday I had virtually all of a pineapple. I found it very acidic and noticed the morning after that the corners of my mouth were sore. It hurts if I open my mouth wide and feels as if the skin right in the corner of my lip is cut slightly.

I have a history of candida (I've been down the no fruit at all path - this caused other problems, and now having read and liked Doug Graham's ideas I thought I'd give them a go), and I used to find I had really nasty cuts at the corner of my mouth, which I assumed at that time were mouth thrush (they responded to anti-fungal medication).

Does anyone have experience of little sores/cuts like this as a result of sensitivity to too much acid fruit? Any other ideas as to what this might be - a detox? I'm hoping that it isn't a return of candida as I'm quite liking the fruit based diet.

Alison

Alison

I have had a really bad case of candida that helped a lot from eating a raw foods diet. (I'm not sure but I think candida thrives on sugar- even fruit sugars) so too much may not be great. But I want to tell you that I took this herbal stuff called Vitaklenz and literally 30 hours later I felt different. My bloating went down but most of all within ONE day my sugar cravings went away. I've been telling all my friends and family about it because so many Americans have candida. I feel pretty amazing. I got mine from this website (NaturesApproved.com) and please ask me any questions. I am telling the world about this product because it helped me so much. I have had a very severe case of candida and the doctors couldn't help me so right now I feel so good that I want to share it with everyone! Good Luck!

Is this the only acid fruit you have trouble with? Or do kiwis and other fruits cause this problem for you too?

Pineapple is particularly difficult for some people to eat. It is high in both bromelain which can cause a stinging sensation on the lips or tongue. The riper it is, the less of this there is in there. So, you can try eating only very ripe fruits and in smaller quantities to see if that helps.

I got the little corner of the mouth cuts from eating not quite rotted monster fruit which is super high in oxalic acid. That stung my mouth for days.

Could be that just certain types of fruits (unfortunately) do this to you.

Another possibility: deficiency, particularly riboflavin (Vitamin B2) deficiency. According to one website ([www.health-care-clinic.org]): "The first signs and symptoms of deficiency are a sore throat and sores at the corners of the mouth. Worsening symptoms include a swollen tongue, seborrheic dermatitis, anemia and impaired nerve function."

One time I had sores/cracking at the corners of my mouth for a while. It would come and go, and it turned out to be due to an undiagnosed amoeba that was causing me to be malnourished. I didn't have most of the other deficiency symptoms, but once the amoeba was taken care of, the sores/cracking at the sides of my mouth disappeared.

If your symptom is recurring, or if you have any of these other symptoms, you might want to look into this. You might consider checking to see if your diet includes sufficient riboflavin; and also, if symptoms persist, it probably wouldn't hurt to check for possible amoeba.

Pineapples can be very problematic, especially if you're buying ones that have been shipped a long way. They pick them when they aren't fully ripe - so they will endure the shipping It seems like when they do finally ripen off of the plant, more acid remains than you'll find in pineapples that have been picked ripe.

Living in a colder climate, all of my pineapples are like this, and I'm forced to eat pineapple less often, and in smaller quantities.

Your sores may be nothing more than damage caused by the pineapple's acid that will heal itself naturally in a day or two. I would begin to look for more serious causes only after you've given it a little time and if the problem doesn't clear up on its own.

Pineapple has done that to me before. I ate one once and the next day the corners of my mouth were cut and sore. Lasted about two days. Now, I eat only one slice at a time and not very often.

It's the pineapple, I've had it "strip" my tastebuds. If you freeze pinapple it seems, to me, to lessen the effect. Pineapple has something similar to a digestive enzyme in it.

This is all really helpful stuff and reassuring that others have experienced it - thanks. I'm pleased to have this board for support.

I shan't be downhearted that the fruit is not working for me, just be careful with my pineapple intake. I'll monitor the situation closely.

I feel as if I'm discovering new things about my lifestyle and my body everyday...today is day 6 of raw, and it's going well.

Pineapple has a proteolytic enzyme in it called bromelain (digest proteins). Some people think it helps relieve inflammation and facilitate digestion.

A website I googled states that bromelain may actually be absorbed outside the digestive tract. I would think by putting an enzyme on sensitive skin, it would produce some type of redness on the area.

I've experienced the same thing as you, so that makes me think it isn't an allergic reaction or fungal infection. I bite my lip when I say it probably isn't a fungal infection.

I've had sores come and go now for maybe a year now, especially during winter time. Makes me think that maybe I should do something about it! They are not that severe, hardly shows. But sometimes in the mornings if I yawn hugely they can rip apart and start to bleed.

First I thought that maybe I had a deficiency in some fatty acid, or vitamin E. But I have been improving this intake for three weeks now, without much change. Under this time I have been improving all my diet intakes too. So I haven't had any deficiencies, not even B12, D or B2.

It might be nothing else than cold and dry winter air that is causing this. But no balms seem to help much, I have even tried to make my own out of sheabutter and honey.

Maybe I should visit a doctor if nothing else helps.

This sounds like exactly the problem I have. It's slowly getting better after my pineapple eating incident, I'll keep an eye on it, but I think that was the problem (fingers crossed!).

I used to get this very often, perhaps a year ago when my diet was much poorer. I'd monitor what fruit you are eating, but also maybe investigate whether you may have an inbalance of candida....in the past, when I had this a lot it always responded to topical anti-fungal cream.

I've had those sores after pineapple (that tasted perfectly ripe, ie sweet).

Pineapples are lovely occasionally, but I think there are reasons why 'pineapple diets' aren't popular!

Although...I've never had the problem after juiced pineapple, only after 'whole', so it must be something in the fibre/pulp part.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/2010 09:18AM by debbietook.