Hello everyone I am new here and thought I would introduce myself. My name is Tristane and I an a 42 year old WM 253 lbs and 6’2’’. I have been transitioning to raw over the past four weeks. I think in that time I have been 100% raw with the exception of 3 slips where I had cooked or processed food. I am always extremely fatigued, muscles and back ache and I am extremely sore and stiff all of the time (Of course I am a contractor and have a renovations business so I work hard). Also I have severe mood swings and depression to the point of hardly being able to get out of bed…the list goes on. I abused my body in an extreme way for most of my life. I burnt my adrenals out with coffee I think and along with my severe food allergies and processed food consumption I cooked my system.

Things got bad enough I ended up at the doctors and I was diagnosed with a myriad of issues. What I was diagnosed with was leaky gut, Intestinal Candida, mal-absorption and over 30 food allergies which include all meat except turkey, a list of vegetables, rice…ugh. I tried to eat the extremely restrictive diet they put me on but I was not in the place to do it…so I just stayed miserable for some time.

In January of this year I watched the movie Fat Sick & Nearly Dead which prompted me to do a 30 day juice fast in which I lost 30 lbs in 30 days and kicked the majority of my Candida. However I never got that huge energy rush that everybody talks about…I still felt extremely fatigued. I did not have an exit plan though and eventually ended back up on my typical diet…tons of high fat, meat, carbs and sugar. I even got back on coffee..I gained most of the weight back in a few months and here I am.

After reading tons and tons of raw food success stories I decided maybe there is still hope for me if I could learn to prepare raw foods in a way that is sustainable to me. So for now I have been eating tons and tons of fruit and that helps me through the day. But I have zero energy I never feel good and am still always fatigued. The depression and anger gets really bad (Probably emotional detox)…but I am worried about the horrible fatigue I can barely do my job as it takes me hours in the morning to get going. I read all of these stories about how after a week of hell people feel fantastic…that’s not me. I am getting worried. My greens intake has been minimal to none so I am changing that this week and starting to eat salads and some green smoothies.

So my question is this…

If I go 100% raw (I have had 3 cooked meals in the past month) is it common for it to take weeks or months for that matter to really start feeling good?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/2012 02:58PM by tristane.

Hi, Tristane. Welcome to the forum!

Curious--if you are "transitioning" to raw, then you would be eating cooked foods and gradually eliminating them. You mentioned being 100% except for 3 slips. So I am wondering exactly what you have been doing. It's amazing if you have been raw for a whole month save for a few times of going back to cooked. I just want to understand you correctly.

If you have a strenuous, physical job, is it seasonal? I am wondering if it's possible to not push yourself to be 100% now and slow down the detox. Because a month is nothing in terms of a lifetime of eating SAD (standard American diet). People report having different detox episodes: first they feel awful, then really great for a while and then another wave of detox as it goes deeper and deeper.

Clarification: when I asked about your work, I am wondering if maybe you can wait until it gets slower (like Nov./Dec if applicable) to do the 100% consistently and be able to rest when you need to. I can't imagine doing strenuous work and starting a totally raw diet. Maybe if I were living in a hot area it would be a lot easier.

I believe a lot of this is psychological. When I started raw diet myself I felt better almost immediately - I had stomach and digestion problems, and my stomach was hurting virtually all the time, and it *stopped* on the second day of the raw and controlled diet.

I added "controlled" there because one of my problems was eating too much, I wasn't overweight but my stomach refused to cope, and was hurting.


Anyway, personally I have not experienced any detox issues, and I've been raw since May this year. Perhaps it is because my old diet wasn't that bad - I grew up eating raw salads with every meal, and I never liked meat so ate it only occasionally, and I practiced once a week water fasting for few years before becoming raw.

But it is here where it seems to me that a lot about how you physically feel is psychological. When I eat fresh organic raw foods I think about how nice and healthy it is, and then I can feel the goodness of the food flow through me. And as a result, I feel good and elated and full of energy. Its a mindset!


My advice would be to find something very positive in your life, and focus on that. And then add your raw food diet as another positive aspect. And then another, and another. I'm sure this will contribute to the better physical health as well.

>Banana ice-cream rocks!<



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/2012 05:25PM by chat.

banana who Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hi, Tristane. Welcome to the forum!
>
> Curious--if you are "transitioning" to raw, then
> you would be eating cooked foods and gradually
> eliminating them. You mentioned being 100% except
> for 3 slips. So I am wondering exactly what you
> have been doing. It's amazing if you have been raw
> for a whole month save for a few times of going
> back to cooked. I just want to understand you
> correctly.
>
> If you have a strenuous, physical job, is it
> seasonal? I am wondering if it's possible to not
> push yourself to be 100% now and slow down the
> detox. Because a month is nothing in terms of a
> lifetime of eating SAD (standard American diet).
> People report having different detox episodes:
> first they feel awful, then really great for a
> while and then another wave of detox as it goes
> deeper and deeper.


Banana,

Thanks for the response! So here is what I am doing. I eat probably 10-15 bananas a day about 4 cups strawberries (All in smoothies). I eat lots of melon, water and cantaloupe, apples, lots of grapes and any fruit I can. I usually eat about 6 avocados a week in the form of guacamole that’s all raw. I eat raw nuts about 2 cups a week. I also eat cucumber salads with tomatoes…but mostly I eat a TON of fruit and make sure I get 2000-2500 calories a day. This mostly works for me and keeps the major hunger at bay. I dont eat organic either I dont have the cash for that...so I figured what I do is better than nothing. Just get my stuff from the local stand and Costco

I work about 6-8 hours a day (All I can take) with about 1 of those days being strenuous on average. I also lift some weights to help strengthen my core and my back.

I also have been giving myself B12 shots out of desperation to help with energy and depression (My brother gave me the stuff to do it) I also take Vitamin D sublingual (Under the tongue).

I have been eating very little greens so I am adding that in this week about a salad a day along with other raw veggies…thinking maybe all the fruit is causing the fatigue.

I am self employed so usually only January is slow but I can’t wait...I am just so sick and tired of being sick and tired.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/2012 08:48PM by tristane.

Hi and welcome Tristane

My feelings are to transition slowly for around a year. Yes, eat more greens and less fruit, an throw in some semi-cooked vegies too. The cooked food will slow down the detox, hence your fatigue, so you'll feel a little better.

It was only when I went full on raw, that I had the fatigue. It was months before I began to feel energetic.

jalan

What I meant about waiting until you have more time off is regarding the 100% raw part. You can eat very clean and eat cooked foods. Lightly steamed veggies, maybe some brown rice. I was looking at your fat intake--fat slows detox--but it seems like you're eating a fair amount of fat as it is. Eating all those water-rich foods will flush you out very quickly! It's cleansing but the side effects are as you described. Have you ever made energy soup? It's blending avocado with greens and other veggies (sometimes people also put in an apple) and making a live soup.

Hello, Tristane, and welcome! Congratulations on making the decision to treat your body better. I agree with jalanutan that you maybe should slow down a bit if you were were treating your body "hard" up until this new regimen.

Regarding the fatigue: I would make sure there isn't some underlying problem, especially if the B12 shots and Vit D aren't helping. How are your iron levels? I know that even a slight decrease in them can swamp one with tiredness that cannot be improved with any other nutrient. If you haven't been eating a lot of greens, it is past time to get some of those essential minerals into your system, and fast. Green smoothies with citrus juice can be very helpful, as can dates and figs. Lastly, a couple of years ago now, I think, I was consuming huge amounts of fructose in the form of watermelon and it seemed to irritate my liver; I was becoming jaundiced and almost breathless with fatigue day by day. Cutting melons out of my diet and spending some months consuming sweet fruits only in green smoothies(with that "buffer" of greens), and lots of big salads, helped.

Otherwise, I would recommend that you seek out some sort of stress relief program--deep breathing exercises, yoga, tai chi--to help with your lingering negative feelings. Depression, even slight, can suck the life out of one's metabolism, so stress must be dealt with head-on. You seem to have the right motivations, so I know it is disheartening that you didn't feel an instant and continuous high of good health when you first went raw. But remember: Everyone is different, and everyone's previous lifestyle is unique in how it will cause one's body to respond to raw. You are having a difficult time with this, compared to others, but still other people have more difficulty than you. It's a different journey for each person. The important thing is that you take it slowly and carefully, really listening to your body, and really believe that raw food can help you heal what is wrong with you. Good luck.

Tristane, I was a big coffee drinker before I went raw. In fact, the reaction to stopping coffee is what got me interested in raw foods. But drinking all that coffee ultimately did have a huge detox for me, it was necessary for me to take 4 months off from work and get lots of rest and sleep, sometimes sleeping 16 to 18 hours a day. But after that bout of massive sleep was over, I felt great.

Everyone,
Thanks for the replies I really appreciate the input. I started eating greens this week so we will see how it goes I just need to find a good salad dressing recipe. I tried one that used avacoado cummin paprika apple cider vinegar and it was a not very good. I am going to take Tamukha's suggestion and start putting greens on smoothie as soon as I can find a good recipe for them.. thanks again for the welcome!

Wes

Hey Tristane,

I understand exactly where you are coming from.... I was going through exactly the same a while back... low energy, grumpy, feeling rather down + depressed, massive cravings, falling off the wagon, getting back on, falling off again, back + forth struggling, frustrated, guilty, despondent, angry etc etc

First of all for me (and many others too) this is a major life shift + there are going to be some serious ups and downs en route because you are doing something transformational in your life. So, try to be gentle with yourself + "allow + accept" that this process is going to take some time.

Congratulations for working out that this is the path you need to go down!

You can do this + you'll be a new, healthier, slimmer, fitter, happier + more positive man once you get it sorted.

Some people like to transition slowly over time, some prefer to switch overnight. You'll have to make up your own mind which works best for you.

My experience has been that I had to go 100% to make it work for me. Any amount of cooked or processed food always led me back to more cooked + processed food + eventually a major falling off the wagon.

What worked for me...

1. Buy + read the "801010 Diet" book, Douglas Graham + use that as your raw food guide. It'll be similar to what you are already doing BUT keep it low-fat! I have found too much fat, even from healthy, wholefood sources avocado, durian, nuts + seeds, to be detrimental to my health + recovery in every way.

2. Buy + read "The Power Of Now", Eckhart Tolle to assist in your mental + emotional balance + transition.

3. Juice 4 litres of Fruit (40%) + Veggies (60%) every morning, drink a litre or two as you are making it + take the rest to work with you in thermos.

4. Once you've finished your Juice, eat Fruits + Veggies for the rest of the day.

I personally found that Juicing "only" is great for hydrating + detoxing BUT tough to maintain longterm.

Eating Fruits + Veggies wholefoods "only" fills your tummy, which is good, but means that your detox will be slower.

For me, the longterm, sustaintainable path is to do "both"...

Juice 4 litres each morning + eat the "wholefoods" for the rest of the day.

For me, this works really well + holds off cravings.

I still do this today + my energy levels, health + positivity grow week on week.

If you do this I think that you may well find your energy coming back after a couple of months...

I'm 45yrs old, ate crap for 43yrs of my life + had all the stiff joints, excess fat, aching knees, bad back, blocked ears, skin rashes, elevated blood pressure, extreme mood swings, constipation etc etc.

After 1 year Fruits + Veggie "Juices" and Fruits + Veggie "wholefoods" all those symptoms have vanished.

I ate 100% 811rv, Raw, Low-fat Fruits + Veggies "wholefoods" initially but my healing, detox + energy levels really increased when I combined both the Juices and the Wholefoods.

Good luck!

You "can" do this + turn your life around like many others have done.

But you do need to be committed to this lifestyle change for life!

After a year or two it'll become second nature + easy...

Then you'll be able to guide + inspire others to health because you will have already been through the process yourself + you'll know exactly how to do it!