I was 100% raw for 7 days and the only reason I stopped is because it seemed I wasn't digesting the food. It seemed to build up and become more uncomfortable so I ate some cooked food today. (When I would wake up in the morning I could tell I still had undigested food in my stomach, like lettuce - even though I stopped eating in the early evening.) This many have nothing to do with it, but according to ayurvedic medicine my dosha is Vata and vata tends to have slow digestion and is supposed to eat foods cooked. Anyway, I prefer the completely raw diet because I had energy on it. Now I feel fatigued after a cooked meal. (I have had green smoothies, juices for years without a noticeable problem.) I'm interested in hearing if anyone else overcame this problem. I was eating salads, seeds, green smoothies and fruit.

Some things you could try:
Blend or juice everything until your digestion adjusts.
Make sure to swish smoothies and juices in your mouth to mix with saliva before swallowing.
Follow food combining principles.
Think about herbs to help with liver function, digestion, adrenals, etc.

I'm sure others will have more suggestions.
Best of luck.

I was either reading or watching something along these lines. The advice was to gradually include blended raw veggies until your body gets more used to it. What sort of raw are you consuming? Are they high in water? High-fat gourmet raw might back you up.

Remember that if you were a typical SAD eater before, you might not be used to all the fiber (including the "roughage" or insoluable type).

Thanks. I've been a vegan for many years and have had green smothies, green juices, fruits for many years. However, during this time I was still eating cooked foods too and didn't experience digestive problems.

What exactly is different now? What have you eliminated and what have you added that wasn't there before. Has anything else in your routine changed?
This sounds like an odd one but there's an answer in there somewhere...

When I went 100% raw for 7 days I eliminated canned/frozen foods that I used to eat, which were typically Amy's non-dairy frozen burritos, or canned vegan chili w/ Daiya cheese or Tofurkey pizzas. (I think that may sound like odd food preferences.) Also I eliminated matcha green tea and raw nuts after 4 days raw. I added salads (which I really didn't eat before) and increased the amount of fruit. I don't think anything else changed outside of my diet.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2012 10:02PM by RawPlease.

I just think that even with vegan, it's so easy to eat the "junky" foods like processed soy and soy cheeze stuff. So there still might not be the level of cellulose which comes from plant food (your previous diet sounds like it was high in processed foods). So there is just a cleansing reaction which is normal when you're used to more cooked foods.

When you say you didn't eat salads before - do you mean you didn't eat raw vegetables before, but only raw fruits and cooked vegetables and soy?

>Banana ice-cream rocks!<

I mean I had leafy vegetables/fruit in green smoothies and vegetables in juices, but I didn't eat vegetables in salads and I didn't cook them. Also, I ate raw fruit but much, much less of it.

I see, so basically your diet consisted in mainly canned/frozen foods such as Amy's non-dairy frozen burritos, canned vegan chili w/ Daiya cheese, Tofurkey pizzas etc, plus green smoothies and vegetable juices.

If this is right, then the answer is very simple - fibre. You have never eaten whole vegetables raw or cooked before, and now you've started eating them, and your stomach goes 'Oops, what's that? Fibre? And so gas, gas, gas. As BW says, you just need to stick to it and eventually your digestion will adjust.

>Banana ice-cream rocks!<



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2012 10:54PM by chat.

LOL, Chat! Sounds like "Jumpin' Jack Flash": it's gas, gas, gas

Yeh, well - I'm English!

>Banana ice-cream rocks!<

Oh, I agree. This sounds like a case of a dramatic increase in fiber. Give yourself a bit more time to transition maybe? A slower change, add some cooked beans and/or cooked whole grains of some sort, quinoa, millet, etc, back in to stagger the transition.
Take care of you, be nice and gentle and kind and take it slow. I would consider adding in some probiotics if you aren't already, sounds like you could use a bit of help for a while.
Best of luck to you .

RawPlease Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was 100% raw for 7 days and the only reason I
> stopped is because it seemed I wasn't digesting
> the food. It seemed to build up and become more
> uncomfortable so I ate some cooked food today.
> (When I would wake up in the morning I could tell
> I still had undigested food in my stomach, like
> lettuce - even though I stopped eating in the
> early evening.) This many have nothing to do with
> it, but according to ayurvedic medicine my dosha
> is Vata and vata tends to have slow digestion and
> is supposed to eat foods cooked. Anyway, I prefer
> the completely raw diet because I had energy on
> it. Now I feel fatigued after a cooked meal. (I
> have had green smoothies, juices for years without
> a noticeable problem.) I'm interested in hearing
> if anyone else overcame this problem. I was eating
> salads, seeds, green smoothies and fruit.

Eating the vegetables on a raw food diet in never a good idea because the fiber is always tough and leads to digestion problems of the food. Personally l think you should do the following:

* juice vegetables or avoid them
* eat sprouts because the fiber is much more suitable because it is softer, easier to chew and doesn't work the body so hard on a raw vegan diet.
* have digestive enzymes
* make seed and nut pastes
* chew your food well and try to minimise blending.

Thanks for all the helpful replies. I decided to go back to my regular vegan diet and transition to replacing the frozen/canned portion of the diet with unprocessed, whole foods (some cooked) once everything goes back to normal.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/28/2012 07:39PM by RawPlease.

Hello RawPlease.

I have gone onto a raw regime four different times since 1997 and each time, except the first time (I went raw after a five day fast), I first experience constipation for four days or more. Since that's not the norm for me, it seems very unusual but I can only surmise that the added roughage is cleaning out the garbage I've been feeding myself. As Dick Gregory once said, they say this is stick-to-your-ribs food but it's more like stick to your intestines!

Since you've gone back to your previous diet with some modifications, why not make one meal a day completely raw and slowly transition over time to a complete raw food diet. I've been a vegetarian for most of my life (parents and grandparents were vegetarians) but raw takes it to the next level and I can tell you from personal experience that it will deliver a level of health that is otherwise unseen.

Raw4ever