I have been eating raw since the New Year and my digestion has been pretty bad. Before that I was eating vegan and maybe half raw with no fruit(due to candida). I had pretty bad digestion then to.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
I know that fasting helps but I am not sure how much I want or have the will power to fast right now.
Also I'm sure food combining might help.
I am on Phase 2 of the Rainbow diet.
I seem to be intolerant of fats, so I ate very low fat for a week or so and it seemed better but still not good.
Maybe I am eating too much fruit too soon after not having ate much fruit for a few months?
Its so hard to eat low fat and not eat much fruit and raw!
I had a quick consultaion with an Ayurvedic doctor and he recommended I take Triphala for digestion and something for my liver too. He also said I should do kapalabhati pranyama which I have tried but I have not stuck to it.
My liver may be congested because I used to drink a lot and do drugs and eat a lot. So I am trying to eat a lot of liver cleansing foods like lemon, dandelion, broccoli & cauliflower.
I know this is a lot but any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Last night me and my boyfriend made a cherry pie for Valentines Day and we sweetened the cherries with 5 tbsp of xylitol.We ate more than half of the pie together and I got diarrhea after that..

I have been wondering about xylitol. I love the taste but I am not so sure how good it is for me. I just watched video from 2 years ago where Gabriel Cousens OKed it, so I thought it would be OK, but if you eat more than 3 tbsp at once it can give you problems!
What do you all think of xylitol?

I am really surprised that Cousens would okay xylitol; are you sure it wasn't stevia? Xylitol is a sugar alchohol and one of the side effects of eating too much (which is a vague phrase) is diarrhea. I remember eating sugar-free candy and running to the john as a result.

I think if you tried to ferment some cabbage and made sauerkraut, your digestion would improve. It couldn't hurt to try...

If you are going to go the ferment route the "Perfect Pickler" jar is a handy and inexpensive tool for making great ferments every time.

i dont think much of artificial sweetners .. i think you are on the right path tho for starting to do liver support things .. also think gallbladder ... id stay away from any processed sweetners

i find blending some dates or figs with a bit of water and adding the liquid to pretty much anything gives me the sweetness i crave ..you would hve to experiment yourself tho

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Knowing about food combining is not the same as practicing food combining. If you know about it, but don't practice it, you will still have bad digestion. But if you practice it, in fact try mono eating for optimal digestion, you will have excellent digestion.

All the digestive aids out there are crutches. If you use them, you depend on them forever. Its best to learn and practice food combining and see that your body can digest foods on its own without help.

banana who Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am really surprised that Cousens would okay
> xylitol; are you sure it wasn't stevia? Xylitol is
> a sugar alchohol and one of the side effects of
> eating too much (which is a vague phrase) is
> diarrhea. I remember eating sugar-free candy and
> running to the john as a result.
>
> I think if you tried to ferment some cabbage and
> made sauerkraut, your digestion would improve. It
> couldn't hurt to try...


it was definitely cousens. it's on you tube. i have been eating saurkraut and kim chi..thanks though

Jgunn Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> i dont think much of artificial sweetners .. i
> think you are on the right path tho for starting
> to do liver support things .. also think
> gallbladder ... id stay away from any processed
> sweetners
>
> i find blending some dates or figs with a bit of
> water and adding the liquid to pretty much
> anything gives me the sweetness i crave ..you
> would hve to experiment yourself tho


i'd like to eat dates but that is not on the rainbow green live food cuisine. too high in sugar. thanks tho.

Bryan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Knowing about food combining is not the same as
> practicing food combining. If you know about it,
> but don't practice it, you will still have bad
> digestion. But if you practice it, in fact try
> mono eating for optimal digestion, you will have
> excellent digestion.
>
> All the digestive aids out there are crutches. If
> you use them, you depend on them forever. Its best
> to learn and practice food combining and see that
> your body can digest foods on its own without
> help.

thanks. so i only eat fruit by itself. is there anything else i need to know?

That is only the tip of the iceberg. Check out "Food Combining Made Simple" by Herbert Shelton. Or check out [www.rawfoodexplained.com]

You are completely wrong about all the digestive aids are crutches.

the best 2 aids that you can do for digestion is one replacing your good bacteria via fermented food such as kefir, sauerkraut and other cultured veggies. Couple of months and you'll be back in business.

the next is digestive bitters, which stimulate the bitter receptors at the back of the tongue which in turn stimulates stomach acid, pancreatic enzymes, bile secretion whilst cleansing the liver.

Again bitters only stimulate your production not substitute them like enzyme products, you'd only need a few months and replacing any stomach acid nutrient deficiencies such as zinc, vitamin b's.

powerlifer,

Of course digestive aids are crutches--no one suffers from bad digestion because they lack Swedish Bitters in their gut, lol! What a crutch is is something to get you through a period of crisis, and that's perfectly all right. What Bryan is saying, I think, is that it is preferable to feed yourself neatly and cleanly, and have your digestion correct itself, ultimately. I have found this to be true, and a lot of other raw foodists have. And I say all this as someone who does rely on herbal medicine in crisis; I'm not at the pinnacle of my health yet : )

As for bitters, dandelion is a classic bitter aid to digestion. It helps digest lipids. Other digestive aids are salts, sodium and chloride, part of gastric juices and scarce in most plant foods, excepting some like seaweed and celery.

A random assortment of fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds may or may not supply mineral needs depending on a lot of factors. I like nutritiondata.com as a check.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2010 02:25PM by loeve.

Here is Gabriel Cousens approving the use of XYLITOL in the Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine Phase 1 in 2008:
[www.youtube.com]

Bryan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That is only the tip of the iceberg. Check out
> "Food Combining Made Simple" by Herbert Shelton.
> Or check out [www.rawfoodexplained.com]


Thank you. I do buy raw sauerkraut everytime I go to the store, but I dont eat it every day. I tried making it before and it spiled, but I want to try again. I also want to start drinking more kefir. DO you use nut milk or coconut water? I might use the Body Ecology coconut water. It is organic & delicious, but its expensive and it comes in a plastic bottle.

Hey Jeni-

What about coconut water from a young coconut? Wouldn't that stuff from the plastic bottle be pasteurized? As for price, I live in the Chicago area and young coconuts have been priced between .79 (a real steal) and $1.99. The latter was from Whole Foods (figures) but is in line with another produce store I frequent. In any case, I have gotten as much as 12 oz. from a young coconut (maybe even two cups once!) and of course there is also the meat. I was just browsing through a new book by Bruce Fife about the health benefits of coconut water. I can't remember if digestion was in the mix but there sure were lots of things it supposedly is good for!

I have not found any organic young coconuts around here. The bottled Body Ecology coconut water is raw & organic. It is in the freezer section.

I'm feeling better!
I half fasted for the last couple of days and ate fruit by itself today.
later a made a cacao concoation with xylitol and I feel fine!
Maybe it was the fruit/nut combo or everything else combined that got me before.

jeni jolt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Bryan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > That is only the tip of the iceberg. Check out
> > "Food Combining Made Simple" by Herbert
> Shelton.
> > Or check out [www.rawfoodexplained.com]
>
>
> Thank you. I do buy raw sauerkraut everytime I go
> to the store, but I dont eat it every day. I
> tried making it before and it spiled, but I want
> to try again. I also want to start drinking more
> kefir. DO you use nut milk or coconut water? I
> might use the Body Ecology coconut water. It is
> organic & delicious, but its expensive and it
> comes in a plastic bottle.

Is the kraut you buy raw? Most jarred foods are not. I suggest again the Perfect Pickler for making ferments. I can't praise that handy little tool enough.

Tamukha Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> powerlifer,
>
> Of course digestive aids are crutches--no one
> suffers from bad digestion because they lack
> Swedish Bitters in their gut, lol! What a crutch
> is is something to get you through a period of
> crisis, and that's perfectly all right. What
> Bryan is saying, I think, is that it is preferable
> to feed yourself neatly and cleanly, and have your
> digestion correct itself, ultimately. I have
> found this to be true, and a lot of other raw
> foodists have. And I say all this as someone who
> does rely on herbal medicine in crisis; I'm not at
> the pinnacle of my health yet : )

the bitters may be a crutch but the fermented food isnt your digestion could be poor all from low levels of good bacteria and low stomach acid, you can eat as well as you like but until you get the acid dependant nutrients like zinc up your raw food will be sitting doing very little for you. Which is where the bitters come in temporarly.