This is a warning for those starting a high raw diet. I was about 95% high raw using at least 98% organic foods for 6 months last summer but stopped after too many health issues. About 6 weeks after initially going high raw I developed a small bump on my cheek. A week later I started to get a rash in my armpit. I thought these were signs of detoxification so I continued with a high raw diet. Later in the summer I was doing a lot of physical activity so I drank more green smoothies and tried to eat more fruit. But my energy levels started to decline; my mood changes were getting too extreme; and the bump on my cheek and the armpit rash never went away. So I decided to stop being high raw. My energy levels returned and my moods balanced out but the bump on my cheek grew into a lesion and kept growing. The rash in my armpit got larger and spread to my other armpit.

A few weeks ago I got the lesion on my face removed. I just found out that is was sqaumous cell carcinoma so I will have to keep an eye on that. I hardly spent any time in the sun so I didn’t think that was the cause. I thought the armpit rash may have been the release of stored arsenic from all of the rice products I have eaten over the years but it seems to be a fungal infection: probably due to candidiasis. My doctor prescribed an antifungal crème for the armpit rash so hopefully that will go away soon. I am hoping it is not something more serious such as Bowen’s disease which is a precursor to sqaumous cell carcinoma. I usually try to find natural or nutritional solutions to health issues but became a bit disillusioned after eating high raw, so I resorted to seeing a doctor.

My guess is that these skin problems were caused by the ridiculous amount of fat and protein I was consuming and/or the high sugar content of the agave syrup and dried fruit I was using and/or my latent nut allergy. I have wanted to go raw for the last ten years but due to a lifelong nut allergy I have been resistant to becoming a vegan or a raw foodist. Over the years this nut allergy has faded and I found that I could eat a few different nuts if they were soaked or sprouted. So I am new to eating nuts and I had no idea how much fat and protein they contained. At the time I was losing weight and felt healthy so I didn’t think all of these nuts and seeds were bad for me.

For the majority of my adult life I have been a vegetarian and I always try to eat organic food. Due to my allergies I have always tried to live a healthy lifestyle and use natural and organic products around the home and on my body. My weight fluctuates yearly due to these arctic winters. I have had a compulsive eating disorder when I was younger which would contribute to lifelong digestive problems. I have had food allergies since I was a baby. When I was a teen I was given regular allergy vaccinations but after being retested I was allergic to every food I was tested for so I decided to find natural and holistic solutions to managing my allergies and digestive problems. I have had bouts of eczema and skin rashes in the past but have never had skin cancer until I went raw. After years of research I concluded that my chronic health issues are probably due to a bacterial imbalance or disease that I born with, so the best I can do is manage it with regular fasting and healthy eating. The only thing that I have found that actually cured me for several years was fasting before few sessions of ayahuasca.

I am still a fan of raw food as I feel so good while eating raw. I am looking further into the 80/10/10 diet but am hesitant due to the contradictory information about fruit sugars about candidiasis. However I know I have to severely limit my fat and protein. There is so much conflicting information on the internet so this is a warning to those who are new to a high raw diet. My advice is to do plenty of research and pay close attention to what people call “signs or symptoms of detoxification”. I wish some of these sites that promote so many high fat recipes would also warn people about the dangers of eating too much fat. The benefits of a high raw diet can deceive you if you don’t have all of the information.

Hoping to live and learn.

borealtransition,

Thanks for your post. In reading it twice, it occurred to me that you were not well when you started raw, and that, therefore, your body might have had a particularily hard time adjusting to truly wholesome food. Remember that when one goes raw, one's fat cells and other tissues expel long-stored toxins into the bloodstream. Decades-old vaccines and other drugs would be a bear for your liver and vascular system to deal with all at once, so it isn't surprising to me that your initial reaction was severe.

Nuts are not particularly high in protein, but they are high in fat, which can cause glucose problems when consumed with large amounts of sugar. A high vegetal protein diet has not been indicated as carcinogenic the way that high animal protein has, so consuming lots of greens, so high in oxygenating chlorophyll, ought to be helpful in your case.

80/10/10 is considered a beneficial diet because it relies on fresh, rather than dried fruits, and limits fats. Quite a lot of people start raw by relying on gourmet foods with lots of fat and concentrated sugars, like agave, and then transition to 80/10/10 or something similar because they cease to benefit from dense raw concotions. So it's something to look into.

Most kinds of cancer are not fast growing; they grow for years without detection. It is possible that high sugar precipitated growth, but it is unlikely that it initiated it. The main indicator of skin cancer potentiality is Vitamin D levels. I hope that you are keeping to a strict monitoring schedule of yours.

Lastly, I wish you well on your healing journey, and hope that you are fully recovered from all that hinders vitality when you are done. Good luck.

Thanks for your reply. Your advice is highly appreciated. I will watch my vitamin D levels and 80 10 10 seems to be the way to go.

Actually I was quite healthy before I started raw. I detoxed from vaccination decades ago and my health has been getting increasing better as I grow older (until now). I had been dabbling with raw for at least 10 years before and more frequently before I went high raw last spring. I have always fasted regularly and lead a healthy life. So truly wholesome food and deep healing wasn't new to my body. .

The only things that were new were: eating lots of nuts regularly (which I had been allergic to all of my life) and as a result eating way more fat than normal; eating more fruit than usual; and eating agave. I was also eating plenty of fresh greens and fresh fruit and not just the items I just listed above.

If cancer was lurking in my body it would have appeared during past detoxes. As I have gone through deeper healing processes than eating raw foods. From what I understand some skin cancers can grow quite fast and some take longer. It didn't appear for about 6 weeks after I began high raw, but it also didn't get bigger until after I went off raw foods. But it never went away even after I reduced my fat intake towards the end of being strictly high raw.

It's quite easy to look at the few paragraphs I have written and deduce that I was unwell before going high raw but I assure you that was not the case. I have spent most of the past 30 years detoxing. Having so many food allergies while I was growing up made me quite aware of how my body reacts to food and in my experience the cancer was definitely related to eating too much of the wrong foods while being high raw.

I just want to share my experience and encourage people to question everything, research more and pay attention to their bodies when going raw.

Thanks again for your advice.

Was it the fasting or the ayahuasca that brought you relief from your symptoms? Perhaps a longer supervised fast, say like a month long fast, might help with the healing. But if it was the ayahuasca, then perhaps your illness is more of a spiritual problem.

"I just want to share my experience and encourage people to question everything, research more and pay attention to their bodies when going raw."

Well said, boreal. I've had skin cancer of the type that is not invasive and was told not to worry about it, and I don't, an occasional small patch appearing and eventually flaking off without a trace. I do keep an eye out for anomalies.

A lot of the scientific research on raw foodists has been done in the north like in Iceland, Finland, the UK and most recently in Geissen Germany. Do you find such studies useful? Nutrients and macronutrient ratios have been noted in a couple, like in Geissen. I like the Vegan Society as well for info on vegans and raw vegans, and am always interested in the experiences of others.

Thanks for the thoughtful posts.

I'm wondering where you all are getting the cancer scare warning from..by your dr.'s right? I wonder about them sometimes and their labs...many are plain wrong.

I think you could have been detoxing from inside out..and a lot of that scary stuff like cysts, etc..will show up while in middle of detoxing. How would you like it to just stay put on inside hidden and adhering and growing more anomolous cells?

I would keep going raw, revamp diet as you go along, and trust in yourelf and your body's ability to heal itself from all manner of symtoms.

Love,
Prism

"I'm wondering where you all are getting the cancer scare warning from..by your dr.'s right?"

Not in this case, Prism. I went in thinking I had cancer and might die, my doctor took a look and said, "Well, you know what skin cancer looks like don't you?", and went on to say it was nothing to worry about. Mine was of the basil cell type that is pretty common and usually not invasive for someone in good health. I try to take care of myself like you say.

That's great. I wouldn't know what skin cancer looks like though..but my son had a scare also..it was benign but they removed it. It was a sore that would never heal..a weepy small sore on his face..doesn't sound good but I would think it bears a warning.

I have had lots of weird skin anomolies come out of nowwhere doing Lugol's Iodine and then healing, and old things that are now gone. One was an open pore on my face that looked like a very tiny teeny sore..they said it was usual and it would never go away..with Iodine it did go away. I distrust Dr.'s and what they say as their truths. I love holistic, herbal, fresh raw foods, pure air, water, chemical free..although you do become intolerant of any chemicals once you have given much of them up it seems.

I just want my sarong, no bra, barefoot, and sunshine, pure water, clean air or at least some cleansing breezes to clean out toxic air.

Take care,
Love,
Prism

Prism, can you be very specific as to how you applied the iodine (amount, frequency, diluted or undiluted, etc)? Do you think it's safe & non-toxic?

Lugol's iodine can kill fungus infections.

Hi, This post caught my interest and I wanted to share some information with you about a film I recently watched called “Food Matters”. This documentary promotes organic and raw food diets, and the idea that eating the right foods can improve and maintain health. “Food Matters” is now available on Netflix - check it out!

You might have had a phototoxic reaction to some of the foods you were eating. Also consider that cancers have a long latency period, it might have been related to something before your diet change.